This is a recipe that really reminded me of my grandma. She'd make it for Christmas and holidays sometimes. It's so, so very good! It's like candy. Try it sometimes you'll love it:)

Boston Brown Bread

1 c. whole wheat flour 1 c. med. rye flour 1 c. yellow cornmeal 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. salt 1 c. raisins (opt.) 2 c. buttermilk, room temp. 3/4 c. molasses Generously grease 2 (1 pound) coffee cans or 3 (1 lb.) vegetable or fruit cans; set aside. In a large bowl, combine whole wheat flour, rye flour, cornmeal, baking soda and salt. Add raisins, if desired. Toss to separate and coat with flour mixture. In a medium bowl, combine buttermilk and molasses. Stir into flour mixture only until dry ingredients are moistened. Turn into prepared cans, filling evenly. Cover cans tightly with 2 layers of foil; tie with string. Place a rack in a large kettle. Place cans on rack. Place kettle over low heat. Add boiling water until halfway up cans. Cover; bring water to a gentle boil. Steam bread 2 1/2 to 3 hours or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Add more boiling water during steaming, if necessary. Carefully remove bread from cans. Cool on racks at least 30 minutes before slicing. Makes 2 or 3 small loaves.

This is my grandma and my dad when he was little. If you look closely, my dad is making a funny face - a face that looks just like my brother Tyler!

This is my grandma when she was about collage age I believe. She was a brown eyed beauty! She always had great thick hair, and I wished I'd inherited it. My mom has had a great time looking through all the old photos. She scanned a lot of them for the grandkids. I didn't have as much time to go through all of them so I'm very glad she did that for us:)

My grandma was also up to date and very stylish. She always looked so sharp and cute! When I was about 17 I even borrowed a shirt from her. That's how cool and up to date she was all her life! How many people can say the wanted to wear something at age 17 that their grandma was currently wearing!?

My grandma was so unselfish. I didn't even realize how unselfish until this past week that I've really been thinking a lot about her. She always asked about how we were doing, what we were doing, and she meant it. Never did she ask just to be nice. She always cared. She always asked about and talked to my husband and the boys girlfriends as if they were her own grandchildren. She never talked about herself and if she did it was always positive and it was almost always about how blessed she was. All along she was a huge blessing to others! This is a way I want to be more like my grandma.

She was simple. I think that's really how God wants us to live. She did not get wrapped up in money or things. Those were just things she had to deal with in this life. That makes me realize even more how heavenly minded she was. She knew she'd leave this earth someday and wouldn't be taking anything with her. What a great hope we have in that! What a great hope we have to know we will meet Jesus face to face and we won't need anything but him!?

If you thought I wasn't telling you the truth about talking w/ my grandma on the phone all the time.....

Here's the proof! The only person I talked to on the phone at this age was my grandma! Chattin' it up with my grandma. What did one old lady and a three year old talk about!?!? :) That's the amazing grandma I had, putting up w/ me:)

I am having a great time editing baby pictures... :)

Great picture, though, right!?

I love this song right now.

I'm a dork and sometimes love country music.

It's what's going on in the barn, and that's the only time I listen to the radio.

Enjoy:)

Remember when I was young and so were you
and time stood still and love was all we knew
You were the first, so was IWe made love and then you cried
Remember when

Remember when we vowed the vows
and walked the walk
Gave our hearts, made the start, it was hard
We lived and learned, life threw curves
There was joy, there was hurt
Remember when

Remember when old ones died and new were born
And life was changed, disassembled, rearranged
We came together, fell apart
And broke each other's hearts
Remember when

Remember when the sound of little feet
was the music
We danced to week to week
Brought back the love, we found trust
Vowed we'd never give it up
Remember when

Remember when thirty seemed so old
Now lookn' back it's just a steppin' stone
To where we are,
Where we've been
Said we'd do it all again
Remember when
Remember when we said when we turned gray
When the children grow up and move away
We won't be sad, we'll be glad
For all the life we've had
And we'll remember when

Many tears. Of Joy. Of sadness.

At 1:24 this morning my grandma went home to be w/ the LORD. What a blessing it was that she was able to live at home, healthy and happy right up until just before she passed away. She wanted it that way! Just her and her kitty. Another huge blessing is that my mom was able to be w/ her when she took her last breath here on earth and the angles came and got her. I can't think of a better person to be w/ her for that amazing moment!

I have so many memories and thoughts that I can't even express all of them. I will write more as I remember, because she was worth many posts, not just one!

I dreaded this day from the first moment I learned what death was I think. I spend hours on the phone w/ my grandma when I was little. Sometimes I would call her many times a day. Hers was the first phone number I learned, even before my own. She was grandma, she was my grandma. It wasn't a birthday, Christmas or real family get together unless it was at grandma's.

I do want to be just like her when I grow up. Feisty, fun loving, loved her family w/ her whole heart, always positive, always saw the best in people and situations, loved the LORD, always had a huge interest in our lives no matter where we were in life (even prison:), tough as nails, giving and had a great sense of humor for a 90 year old!

There was a spot on the top of her right hand and when we were little fascinated us. We always asked her what it was and she always told us that it was a pice of lead that had broken off in her hand, under her skin. I think a class mate stabbed her w/ it, it broke off and there is stayed. I now wish I had remembered the details better. I have a feeling I am going to wish that a lot about the memories I have of grandma. You take for granted your grandma when you're so young. It makes me realize that I shouldn't take for granted anything or anyone around me. I wished I hugged her last time I saw her, I wished I'd told her how much she meant to me one more time, told her how much she was loved so thoroughly by all that knew her, especially her grandkids! I know she knew, but everyone likes to hear that.

I spent HOURS baking w/ my grandma when I was little. She taught me a lot in the kitchen. She made a mean pie and chiffon cake:) I wish w/ all my heart that my kids could have known her. I told my mom that she has some huge shoes to fill if she's going to live up to grandma! I think she'll do just fine w/ that:)

Well, grandma would tell me to get on with my day and stop crying over her. It was her time to go, but it just doesn't seem fair here on earth that she won't be w/ us anymore and that all we have is the memories. But, I thank the LORD for all those great memories and that I got to know my amazing grandma as well as I did. I just feel like a 5 year old who was just told her grandma died, not the 27 year old I am. In the map of my life there is a huge empty pice missing, but it was a beautiful pice when it was still in the puzzle and it gives me hope that I might be as great a woman as she was.

This is the book I'm reading right now and I LOVE IT! I am so sad she only has three books!

:(

I LOVE this author, she's my newest favorite!

A good book to read

For now I've burned out a little on mysteries and want something a little more light hearted. It my also be because my life has enough crazy, busy, drama of it's own.

Loving this weather!

I have a bad chest cold that's making me feel pretty crummy but I'm still able to enjoy life:)

{Cora Ruth}

Cora with her aunty, Ester.

We had the great honor of being one of Cora's two's sponsors for her baptism last weekend. What a precious little girl:)

When great grandma was holding her she kept yawning like she was thoroughly bored. And then grandma would pinch those little cheeks.

Mom trying to get her to smile:)

I LOVE the look on Cora's face here. Carol is holding her talking to her and she looks so... interested... or confused:)

Her gown. It was first worn by Becca's great, great grandma (I think!?). Anyway, it's old and has been warn by many of the ladies in her family. Very special!

Do you think Matt's a natural?

Getting into her gown... *my pictures loading backwards, sorry:(*

can you tell Kristi loves being a grandma!??!

The grandparents

mom and dad.

What a blessing that day was in so many ways!

What a wonderful other family I have:) And how wonderful that these ppl love the LORD like they do and want their children to grow up in a loving, Godly home. This little girl is so blessed! All of Kristi's sisters and brother came. They are such neat woman (and guys!). They just bless my heart so much every time to see them. They come to every family get together like this that they can make it to. They are great, loving, family orientated, Godly woman who could certainly teach me a thing or two. Like I said, what a blessing this day was!

I want to be like this photographer!.... we'll see! haha... I have to do a LOT more hard work to get there... but I can dream!

{ps this is NOT my bread! Mine doesn't look this good...}

Sourdough Bread

1 1/4 cups sourdough starter

3/4 cup warm water

4 cups bread flour

1 3/4 teaspoons salt

3 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 3/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

1. Place ingredients in the bread machine pan in the order suggested by the manufacturer. Select Basic bread cycle and start machine.

Makes one (2 pound) loaf.

This is a new recipe. I lost my bread machine recipe book for now. ugh. I'll find it. So far the sourdough bread has been my favorite. It's the lightest and most fluffy. We will see if I like this recipe as well as the last.

When it was warm enough we were out for a walk and he was out for a swim.

Doesn't he look like he's enjoying himself!?

some books I have read and enjoyed..

The Diary was short and sweet. It was a good quick read. And a great ending that I didn't really expect in a way. love it when that happens.

The Castaways was more intense and complicated. I enjoyed the very interesting and different characters. They were, however, rather dysfunctional. That always annoys me a little and I'm not sure why. I just want a simple story (unless I'm reading a mystery) that makes me feel good:) I feel like my life is complicated enough, when I read a book like this I want to get away through it. It was a good book, though.

Amazing Bean Casserole

Stir together and put in a 9x13 pan:

2 cans pork n' beans

1 can kidney beans

1 can lima beans (I hate these, so I do navy beans instead)

1 can onion rings

1 cup sugar

Top with 1 lb. fried bacon and 1/4 cup catsup. Add a little bit of bacon grease on top of that.

Bake at 350 degrees until it's browned and bubbly.

It's like candy. I hate beans and I love this dish. My whole family loves it and all the boys request it for their birthday.

in my spare time

this is what I do.

I do a lot of this.

I do love it, though.

And my cows are probably as thrilled about it as this one looks:)

And every day I go home with at least that much cash;-)

Never judge a book my it's cover

Do you judge books by their covers?

I sure do!

I love some good art on the front of my book.

I want that to be eye candy to me.

I want to look at it and know I have to read that book.

Sometimes I just go to the library and if I don't know what I want or haven't looked into an author I just pull them out, glance at the cover and from then decide if I want to read what it's about - silly, I know, but I want to like what I'm looking at first.

I've thought if I were every to write a book (and that will never happen!), I would want Rae to design my cover. I know I'd love it. I know that would be a book I'd want to read just by looking at the cover. I've thought about how important that is since I do it all the time.

So if you read/like different kinds of stories do you suppose to like different art on your covers?

My thoughts.

Don't these book covers just make you want to read them?

(ps, I've never read these or seem then in my life;-)

Me and Ollie on a walk

The tracks. When we first moved here I was a little disturbed by the tracks and how much we could hear them. Now, it feels so much like home. I would miss the trains so much if they weren't there.

HaPpY sUmMeR fEeT!!!!

Thanks to my amazing husband and my wonderful sister-in-law I now have a magnolia tree!!! I love it! It's blooms lasted for a long time this year! I just love how large and floppy the flowers get. Love it.

Lilly of the Valley. I don't know what flower is my favorite. They are all amazing. The smell of these is heavenly!

So pretty!

I love this time of year.