Alyssa and Lee

Sunset

Alyssa and Lee were hanging out with us tonight, had supper with us and watched American Idol. I heard Alyssa say, "Grandma, bring your camera!" This is what we captured. It was beautiful.

Art work

Taken through the front window of our car as we were driving home from Alison's the other night. This is called "Posterize"

Angels Landing

I can check one more thing on my bucket list, climb Angels Landing. I have a much greater appreciation for people who say they hiked to Angels Landing. It is a 2.5 mile hike but a 1,500 foot change in elevation. And the last .5 miles you can't even describe adequately so I will try to show you with pictures. Bretten and I and some friends from work made the trek on Saturday. It was a bit brezy and cool but better than having it be hot. We did some extra hiking and I figure we did about 8 miles all together. I think I held up pretty good for being and old fart.

Spring Break with the Lowes

We had a nice visit with the Lowes last week. They arrived Monday evening, just in time for a late supper of soup and hot rolls.

We started early Tuesday morning with a visit to a local plantation home called Ayr Mount. Here we are after our hour-long tour. We had planned to go on the walk around the grounds and then have a picnic but it tuned out to be too cold for a picnic so we went back to our house for lunch and some quiet time..

That night we had a big meal with ribs, cornbread, a couple of salads, sweet potato fries and key lime pie for dessert. Then we played Dalmuti (pictured above: Chris, Great Dalmuti; Jared, the Greater Pee-on) and taught the Lowes how to play Mexican Trains.

Thursday the weather was a little bit nicer. Chris took Steve, Kristin and Jared to Duke campus while I took Mandy and Jack to the Life and Science Museum.

While Jack napped that afternoon I took the Lowes to Bennett Place Memorial which is just down the road from our house and is the site of the largest Civil War troop surrender. We went to dinner that night and then more Mexican Trains.

Thursday morning was departure time for the Lowes but we were able to visit one more historical site before they left: Duke Homestead, aka The Tobacco Museum.

I have to say, my kids loved having company. Even though it wasn't their spring break we were able to do some fun things together. It was nice for my kids to get to know their cousins better and, it's hard to say, but I think there was a little "hero worship" going on in our home. . .

Panorama

Utah Lake Scenery

On our way home from Alison's the other day we took the back way. It was just the right time of the day for some fantastic pictures. Alyssa and I had a ball snapping pictures out of the window.

A real flare

River shot

We've got more snow

Grandpa and I took a ride up the mountain today to see for ourselves if there was snow up there. We did find some.

"I didn't even get the call"

Jeff took a charge at the ward basketball game the other night. Although he didn't get the call, he did get a trip to the ER, seven stitches and a shiner worthy of a post on the family blog. He says it looks worse than it hurts. Good thing.

flare

This flare has been added in photoshop

Sunflare attempt

This is a sunflare with a little photoshop interferrance

Sunflare attempt

I was trying to come up with a sunflare picture but got this instead. Oh well!

Alyssa

Lyssy Loo

A couple more pictures of Alyssa taken at the court house

Alyssa's First Experience With Photoshop

These images were taken at the old court house in Beaver.

Corn Bread

We had a stake relief society activity last week that was really fun. Some of you may have heard of The Food Nanny . She has a program on BYU TV. She is a cute little lady. I was really excited to see her in action on Saturday. I had my friend who's in the stake RS presidency save me a front row seat. When I got to the church my friend was on the stage helping her set up. I asked my friend where my seat was then I was able to talk to the Food Nanny. I told her I had made her cornbread for dinner and that I liked it better than the recipe I have been using for years. She got really excited about that. She asked me where I was from and I told her Beaver. She then said that she was born in Cedar City. Then she asked me if I had known April Yardley. I told her yes that April was my drill team advisor. It was really fun to make that connection. I didn't get much more time to talk to her.
I know you have all had my cornbread and have the recipe. Here is Food Nanny's recipe. I liked it better because it made a smaller batch for my smaller family and it uses some canola oil instead of so much butter. I thought it was similar but maybe a bit more moist.

Northern-Style Cornbread
9 Servings

1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons flour 1 1/4 cups milk
2/3 cup sugar 2 eggs
1/2 cup cornmeal 1/3 cup canola oil
1 Tbs baking powder 3 1/2 Tbs butter, melted
1/2 tsp salt

Butter and Honey

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8x8-inch baking pan.
2. Combine the flour, sugar, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl
3. In a small bowl, combine the milk, eggs, oil and butter and mix well. Add to the flour mixture and stir just until blended. Do not over mix.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 35 minutes. The corn bread is done when the edges are lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Serve with honey butter.

A Couple of Recipes

Christi and I were just discussing recipes. She promises to share a cornbread recipe that's even better than her other one. Hard to imagine, I know. I served it at a teacher dinner, along with the following reicpe for honey butter, and received raves. So here's the honey butter, or, as the neighbor who gave me the recipe called it,

Flutter Butter
1 lb honey
1 lb butter or margarine
8 oz marshmallow creme (my neighbor uses the bigger bottle)
whip all together.

I attended a class at Thanksgiving Point last week by Lori Bennett on Soups and Easy Breads. Here are a couple of my favorites from the class.

Creamy Italian Basil Pesto Soup
1-2 jars good spaghetti sauce
2-4 T prepared pesto
1-2 cups half and half (fat free might work)
1/2 -1 tsp worcestershire sauce
1-2 Tbsp brown sugar
Mix ingredients all together and warm through.

Butter Pull-a-parts
4 tsp yeast (2 pkgs)
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
3 cubes butter, divided
1-1/2 tsp salt
1 cup boiling water
6 cups flour
Add yeast to 1 cup warm water and let rest for 10 minutes. Set aside. Put sugar, salt, and 1 cube butter (cut into slices) into a large bowl. Pour the cup of boiling water into the bowl and let cool until all the butter is melted and liquid is luke warm. (Lori suggested just melting the butter in the microwave if you're in a hurry). Add yeast to mixture as well as the two beaten eggs. Stir in flour. Don't knead. Dough will be sticky). Cover tightly and refrigerate dough at least four hours or overnight. When ready, set out 2 bundt pans and melt one cube of butter per pan. On a floured surface roll out dough to 1/4 inch thick. Cut with a 2" cookie cutter. Arrange cut pieces of dough standing upright in a ring. Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Invert onto a serving plate immediately. (If dough seems to stick, spray pans with cooking spray before adding butter.)
Variations: Before putting dough in pan, put cinnamon and sugar in melted butter or add raisins, cheese, herbs, or orange sugar (3/4 cup sugar + 1 orange rind + 1/2 tsp almond extract).