Almost Ready

Serving Area for the food............


Coffins for spoons, forks and knives....plates and napkins

Not a field...........but it's the pumpkin patch!

Tables and chairs ready for a friendly body!

Funny Bone Joke cards for the kids to laugh at!

Freaky Friday

Tomorrow is the big Halloween Haunt.....we are expecting around 35 - 40 people. Again I gave up the "I can do everything" assumption! Everyone is doing their part by bringing some ghoulish but delicious concoction. Today I will spend most of the day getting the facilities ready. Hope you all come back and see the pictures in a few days. Here you see our spread from 2006........doesn't he look stunning!

Thirsty Thursday

A few weeks ago my teaching partner introduced me to Starbuck's Chai Tea....made with Soy! OMG I loved it, but the cost was more than I wanted to paid for a cup of tea. So I search through recipe books, the internet, and asked around if anyone knew how to make this delicious mix! I put several recipes together and came up with one that is so dang good....even my son and grandson love it! Creamy Delightful Chai Tea with Soy Milk .................and I'm up this late having a cup of it right now.

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)
1 cup nonfat dry milk powder
1 cup powdered non-dairy creamer
1 cup Italian flavored powdered non-dairy creamer
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 1/2 cups unsweetened instant tea
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cardamom (a bit pricey but the flavor is oh so good)


DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl, combine milk powder, non-dairy creamer, Italian flavored creamer, sugar and instant tea. Stir in ginger, cinnamon, cloves and cardamom. In a blender or food processor, blend 1 cup at a time, until mixture is the consistency of fine powder.
To serve: Stir 2 heaping tablespoons Chai tea mixture into a mug of hot soy milk.

Now of course I have a gadget that makes Cocoa Latte and I make 3 cups of this at a time! Stop by if you would like a cup. Can't wait to share it with you!

Wordless Wednesday

Creamy Vegetable Soup

What a day for nice hot pot of fall soup! It’s cold outside, windy and overcast…..but better than the stock market forecast. And you know, with the temperature here dropping like the stocks, a good bowl of hot soup is just what I need.

Dave Ramsey, the financial guru, suggests that you live on rice and beans….but I think pasta and vegetables…….doesn’t that sound robust, resilient, and strong.

Since DH is still doing the vegetarian thing I came up with this “believe you me” yummy recipe all by myself.

4 cups water
1 can evaporated milk
1 can vegetable stock
1 chopped onion
2 cups julienne carrots
2 cups chopped celery
8 oz fresh mushrooms
1 cube butter
1 pkg Knorr's Vegetable recipe mix
3 cups dry egg noodles
2 cans mushrooms soup
Salt and Pepper to taste

Saute chopped onion, carrots, celery and mushrooms with 1 cube of butter. Cook until tender, add Knorr's Vegetable recipe mix, vegetable stock and 4 cups of water. Continue cooking until everything is good and tender. Add noodles and cook for 10 minute or until noodles are tender. Mix cream of mushroom soup and evaporated milk and add to vegetables. Let it simmer until you are ready to serve. This is definitely a keeper..........or I'm dang hungry today!

Vote Early 2008

Yippee............................................I Voted

This is what my voting place looked like this afternoon at 1:00. Fairly large crowd of people, all with their friendly faces on today!

Although every American citizen over the age of 18 is allowed to vote, according to statistics only about half of those turn out to vote on election day. For the last 50 years we have never had a higher percentage than 62.8 of eligible Americans voting. The percentage of voters tends to be between 60% and 50% during a presidential election year.

This year the polls say things will be different, they are estimating that 80% of Americans will vote. I voted early……..yes! I only had a 20 minute wait in line before I received my voting credit card. I am but a small voice, but a voice is a wonderful thing to have in this government.

Come Election Day if the weather is stormy and the lines are long...I'll be home having an Election Night Bash.....ala Rachael Ray style:

Campaign Trail Mix

Uncle Sammies

Bipartisan Salad

We are also going to have a US Map that we will color in each state as the results come in......................wonder if I'll make it to work November 5th?

Closing for the Season

Just 10 minutes up a steep hill away from the busy streets you will find this beautiful cozy cabin that my DIL has had a full time job building as a construction contractor. Soon it will become my kids perfect hassle free get-away! Up here, time has no meaning and stress is non-existent. Our family(me for sure) is looking forward to many trips here after all the hard work has been done. The cabin is beautiful and the times we spend here will never be forgotten.

Next year you will soon find many of these amenities:

Six-person hot tub on the deck - well maybe I dreaming -


Fully equipped kitchen with dishwasher, ice maker, microwave, blender, and cocoa latte


Mountain views and the sound of canyon from three levels

Access to a fishing pond up the path from the cabin

Fully furnished, including linens, towels, and paper products

Fireplace


All-wood lodge interior professionally decorated(that means Julie) with rustic furnishings

Interior beams and railings handmade from lodge pole pine

Carpet on loft and lower levels for quiet footsteps

Washer/dryer

No Telephones -Maybe no TV


Ceiling fans

Gas grill


Rocking chairs, double glider, and porch swing -

Parking area for several cars - I'll be inviting my friends for a nights stay

The Pool

Here is the picture I promised from J.

I told him he should sell it to the Regency for a brochure photo. The kids absolutely love this place. We stayed in a smallllllllllllll 1 bedroom unit for 4 days, and still had a great time. The kids were in the pool for 2 1/2 hours Thursday, 3 hours Friday.... I stopped counting Saturday ~ Halie's eyes were finally to sore from all the chlorine. But as soon as she could blink it was "CAN WE GO SWIMMING NOW!" and we did!

Fall Break ~ What a great weekend!

There have been more than a handful of times in my life when God has allowed me to see things with a bit more clarity; taking away a layer of earthly muck, mire, and drama you might say. This weekend I was reminded that there is nothing more valuable on this earth than God's blessings and its all too easy to get caught in life's dizzying pace and not even recognize them.

The family spent the weekend at our get-away in Park City.........we hiked the beautiful trails.

We saw the beauty of nature all around us.
We spent hours and hours of time together.......eating, laughing, and swimming. I didn't get any pictures at the pool, but Jason got a shot that I can't wait to show you. I'll steal it from his flickr page as soon as he posts it.
We watched movies, played games, and shopped the outlets. I knew the movie "The Secret Life of Bees" was opening this weekend, so Daughter -in -love and I spent this afternoon crying, laughing and remembering how important family really is. My favorite quote from the movie........ Some things don't matter much, like the color of a house, how big is that in the overall scheme of life? But lifting a person's heart--now, that matters.

The whole problem with people is ... they know what matters, but they don't choose it... The hardest thing on earth is choosing what matters.

I know that I'm trying my best to choose what matters. These are the things that truly matter in my life – family, friends, love, kindness, compassion, understanding, concern, and childlike wonder at nature’s magnificence that’s all around us. These are the things which carry me through life’s long journey happily. These are my real treasures. Thanks for a wonderful weekend kids.....you bring a smile to my face each and every day.

My BFF Nancy did this awesome Image Tag on her blog......check out her blog ENCHANTED.
It sounded like my kind of fun.....so here goes!

Here is what you do:
Type the answer to the questions below in Google/Yahoo Image and post an image from the first page of pictures. PS --remember to load your pictures from the bottom up!

Your Age : 58 ----- Brussels Expo 58-2008......I remember those hairstyles for sure.

Where you live: Clearfield.......it will look like this soon enough!
Places I want to travel: Italy Favorite Food: Mashed Potatoes and Pasta


Where I grew up: Spanish Fork

Favorite Color: Blue

Favorite Animal(s): I cheated and got my own pictures!

Romeo

Keykers
The Girl ~ Gidget


Something that I used to love: Tianne - a very nice perfume that my mom used to buy for me from CLARK'S in Provo on University Avenue. They would spray the tissue paper they put around the clothes you bought from their store. It is still available but at $145.00 for 1 ounce I don't really think I will be using it again.

My name..........First - Maiden - Last
LeAnn.....I really should have been a performer!

Tag to any one who wants to try this. Interesting, but a little time consuming.

I think it was tons of fun!