The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

A Light Unto All: A Christmas Gift

Gluten-Free Cuties

My cutie nieces are now gluten free, and I feel bad. I love bread, and so I feel bad that they can no longer eat a "regular" dinner roll. I spent a little time tonight finding a few gluten-free recipes, and thought it might be a good idea to post some of the resources I found here.

cinnamon rolls:
http://iamglutenfree.blogspot.com/2007/03/cinammon-roll-of-your-dreams.html (these look SO delicious)


Gluten free, soy free All purpose flour mix
http://www.glutenfreecookingschool.com/archives/gluten-free-soy-free-all-purpose-flour-mix/

Sandwich bread (uses the above flour mix):
http://www.glutenfreecookingschool.com/archives/yummy-sandwich-bread-gluten-free-casein-free-soy-free/

As I find more I'll post more.

Grandma Glenys is a Farmer

We're spending the weekend with my parents, and it has been a lot of fun. On Saturday morning we all went out to the garden and harvested apples, acorn squash, potatoes, and anasazi beans. The anasazi beans are cool - they are red and white like a cow. When Jera (the German Shepard) walked on them the beans fell out of the shells and we had to pick them up off the ground. Cute Miss Mya said she was herding cows and picked them all up. As we were picking the beans, Zane asked "Is Grandma a farmer? I think I kind of like her. No, I really like her."

Lost Keys & Answered Prayers

If you are LDS you've heard this story a million times in sacrament meeting: "I looked and looked, but I couldn't find my keys anywhere, so I knelt down and said a prayer, asking Heavenly Father to help me find them. As soon as I was done I stood up and walked right to my keys." Here's our version....We were fishing on the north side of Ferron Reservoir. The fishing was good, so we kept fishing, right up to dark. Jayci had walked back to the car at some point to get the fish chain, and as far as any of us knew, still had the keys. She didn't, and it was too dark to find them. We looked and looked, all over the beach, in the tall grass and bulrush, in the rocks, in the tackle boxes, and in our pockets. Over and over. Finally it was pitch black, so we stopped looked and started walking. We walked across the dam. It was so dark that Zane and I got lost for a few minutes. We knew where we were, but we couldn't see anybody else. After we all made it across the dam we walked up the road to the creek and took a little shortcut up to the road that leads to the cabin. Thank goodness for that shortcut because it probably cut 1/2 mile off our evening stroll. We finally got to the cabin, made dinner, and ate. That is when we realized that the tackle box had also been left on the other side of the lake. We decided that Del would take a lantern and our only flashlight and walk back to where we were fishing, look for the keys, and get the tackle box. If he couldn't find the keys, at least he wouldn't loose his tackle box, too. Before he left we decided to have a family prayer and ask for help in finding the keys and keeping Del safe. Within forty minutes, Del was back at the cabin with the car and the tackle box. He found the keys in the tall grass. The way he did it is he would put the lantern down and then start walking, using the flashlight to canvas the ground. Eventually, he spotted the glint of the keys in the grass. Our lost keys prayer was answered, and answered fast, but I'm not going to be telling about it in sacrament meeting any time soon.

Little Grand Canyon Marathon

Del ran the half-marathon on Saturday, September 12th. He ran it in 2:04 - his new Personal Record (PR). He'll be even faster in October when he runs the 25k in Goblin Valley. His time would have been faster, but our good friend was having some leg trouble (shin splints) and they ran a little slower than they would have liked to. I took this picture as Del approached the finish line. It was a great day.

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
IN A NATIONAL ADDRESS TO AMERICA'S SCHOOLCHILDREN

Wakefield High School
Arlington, Virginia

If you haven't taken the time to watch this with your children and discuss with them what President Obama is trying to teach them, please do it today. I understand that many of you disagree with our president on many issues, but the message that he is trying to share with our children is important. He talks about responsibility, taking responsibility for your education and your life. He also talks about overcoming the challenges in this life. The message is good.