Salt Lake City, Utah 2014

I went to a S.T.A.B.L.E. Instructor course in Salt Lake City in September/October 2014.  It was a beautiful city.  We went to the Temple Square and also visited the Cathedral of the Madeline.  Both very beautiful architecture and breathtaking beauty.

this is one of the assemblies there in Temple Square.  Notice the Star of David in the stained glass?

this was just a beautiful fountain

this statue of Jesus was at the top of a huge spiral ramp that wound up a couple of stories, there was a beautiful mural on the wall even to the ceiling.  It was quite breathtaking. 

this was the convention center.  You cannot see it very well, but there was a water feature from the top all the way down the bottom.  It was neat. 

this isn't a great picture of the temple, but the pool out front looks like black ice.

They were getting ready for Christmas....I guess this person got tired of lighting the trees. 

wonder if this is a fire hazard having that many strands connected together?

if you could see this close up, the lights are wound all the way to the ends of the tiniest branches

this is the Cathedral of the Madeline 

Beautiful! It was completed in 1909.....way before any of our current heavy equipment was built.  Hard to imagine how they built something so big and tall and on a hill to boot!

the Tabernacle

Now that's a Pipe Organ - reminded me of Beauty and the Beast

The bride that got away.....we were walking through Temple Square and this bride came running past with the groom following close behind.  I'm guessing it was a photo shoot of some sort.  

Hot Roller Hair

Happy 3rd Birthday Hunter

Not my circus - not my monkeys

Happy Birthday to Sarah, Noah and Hunter

Happy 26th Birthday Sarah

This was at Sarah's birthday dinner in 2009.  We were at Red Lobster, Uncle Howard and Kathy had come to visit, the whole family was there.  It was great fun.  Momma was her silly self as usual.  Mom then went on a road trip with Howard to the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, she saw cactus and all of God's country.  She loved it.  When she returned from her trip she had an appointment with the doctor and that's when she found out she had cancer.  She died just 3 short months after this picture was taken.  It will always be bittersweet to me.  She was still her happy-go-lucky self because we didn't know yet.

Sarah, you were something special to momma and she loved you best.

Happy Birthday sweet girl.

Annabeth's 15th Birthday

Hunter LOVES Buttercream

Noah likes it himself

Noah and Auntie Annie

Annabeth and Mawmaw Conlee

Annabeth and Pawpaw Lanier

Annabeth and her turquoise zebra print birthday cake

Sam, Annabeth and Cori at Macaroni Grill

sweet friends

A gift they made for her

Banana Pudding

2 large boxes of instant vanilla pudding
5 cups cold milk
1 can of Eagle Brand millk
1 small tub cool whip
1 box of vanilla wafers
4 bananas

Mix pudding, milk and eagle brand milk.  Fold in cool whip.  In 9x13 pan or glass bowl, layer in cookies, sliced bananas and pudding mixture.  Chill overnight so the cookies will soften.

YUMMY!!!

Breakfast with Josh Pastner

We went to Life Choice's Breakfast with Josh Pastner this morning.  Ahhh!  Our coach is cuter than your coach - Ha!   But seriously, our family is Ole Miss Football - University of Memphis Basketball.

Dwayne took me to see James Taylor for my birthday

James Taylor was coming to Memphis on August 6th, but he was appearing at the Mud Island Ampitheater.  We were thinking August - Memphis - Outside - we might melt for sure, so Dwayne knowing me and my hot flashes bought tickets to see JT in Little Rock, on my birthday, inside, in the air conditioning.  That is why I love that man :O)

James Taylor - "Carolina In My Mind"

THIS is why we went!  I was in heaven.  My favorite James Taylor song....ever!

My Birthday weekend to Little Rock to see James Taylor

 

Chicken & Dumplings

4 cups of Gluten Free Bisquick (each box holds a little over 2 cups, so I needed 2 boxes)
8 oz. sour cream
1-1 1/2 cups of 7-up or sprite
3 teaspoons salt

I rolled them out thin, and dense, cut them with a pizza cutter and froze them, then dropped them into the boiling chicken broth.........yummy!)

In a large bowl, combine bisquick, sourcream and 1 cup of sprite. Mix together.  The original recipe said to use only 1 cup of sprite, but mine was very very dry, I added an ounce at a time until I had 1 1/2 cups of sprite total and when you stirred it together, it looked kind of like a very dry cottage cheese (that's how I remember my grandmother telling me that you want the biscuit dough to look).  I then turned the dough out onto the counter covered in wax paper (I hate clean up) with a bit of bisquick on the paper.  I patted it out and folded it over a couple of times, then rolled it out fairly thin. I used a pizza cutter to make the dumplings and put them on a pan covered in wax paper.  I froze them until ready to use later in the day.

I put chicken in the crock put.  I used chicken breasts (the broth is better if there is skin on them).  They cooked on high for 6-8 hours.  I then pulled the chicken out, poured the broth over into a large stock pot.  I put more salt and pepper and poultry seasoning into the broth, put pulled chicken meat back into the broth without bones and skin, brought it to a rolling boil and dropped the frozen dumplings in there....Gramps always said to drop them into a hole that is bubbling up, not just one dumpling on top of the other - that way they don't stick together.  Once all of the dumplings were in, I poured 2 cups of milk in and 2 tablespoons of butter.  Mrs. Conlee says to stir it only once, then put a lid on it and cover for 15-20 minutes.  I always ended up adding a little more black pepper.....I LOVE it!

7-up Biscuits and Chicken & Dumplings - Gluten Free

So, I got this recipe off of Facebook and decided to make a Gluten Free version.

4 cups of Gluten Free Bisquick (each box holds a little over 2 cups, so I needed 2 boxes)
8 oz. sour cream
1-1 1/2 cups of 7-up or sprite
1 stick of butter melted
1 egg
3 tsp salt (originally they were very sweet

(I also used the same recipe for Chicken & Dumplings....I rolled them out thin, cut them with a pizza cutter and froze them, then dropped them into the boiling chicken broth.........yummy! there is a separate recipe in this blog for the Chicken and dumplings recipe)

In a large bowl, combine bisquick, sourcream and 1 cup of sprite. Mix together.  The original recipe said to use only 1 cup of sprite, but mine was very very dry, I added an ounce at a time until I had 1 1/2 cups of sprite total and when you stirred it together, it looked kind of like a very dry cottage cheese (that's how I remember my grandmother telling me that you want the biscuit dough to look).  I then turned the dough out onto the counter covered in wax paper (I hate clean up) with a bit of bisquick on the paper.  I patted it out and folded it over a couple of times, then I used a pizza cutter and made into little rectangles so they would fit into the pan better.

In the meantime, I melted the butter and poured it into a 9x13 pan.  The oven was pre-heathed to 425 degrees.  Bake 12-15 minutes until lightly browned.

I decided to use a pizza cutter just because it was easier and they would fit better.  Also they look more "organic" - ha!

Annabeth snatched one out of the pan before I could even take a picture.  They are good a buttery.  They were a tiny, tiny bit sweeter than I remember biscuits being, so maybe next time I will use just a pinch of salt.  She liked it so that is good....we NEVER tell her when anything is gluten free or she won't even try it....so SHhhh! don't tell her.

Now the true test will be if Dwayne likes them.  He LOVES biscuits with all of his heart and has missed them greatly since being gluten free for the last couple of years.  I have tried making drop biscuits but they were not the same.  We shall see.  He should be home any minutes. 

Oh and don't mind my pan.....it is old and black and seasoned :O)  Yea, that's what they say when it is old and stained and no matter how much elbow grease you put into it, it will never shine like before. 

Sneaky Hunter

Look at sneaky little Hunter.....driving Noah's car when he wasn't looking when he was just a year old and now taking Kristoff as Noah goes on to open another present.  

Family

Got the idea off of pinterest.  Hope it doesn't look too busy????
I put it over the couch.  We just don't have very much hallway and we have all of the family 3 year old pictures going up the stairs.

Happy 4th Birthday Noah

 

Austin and Max became sweet friends. 

 The birthday boy - 4 years old

 Noah showing his mommy all of his gifts.

 He's gonna be a teenage mutant ninja turtle

 I think he likes the movie Frozen

 Hunter is gonna sneak off with Frozen's Kristoff and maybe Noah won't notice.

 thanking Mawmaw Conlee for the Spiderman

 

Annabeth and Noah

Noah and Peepaw



We are going to seeTim Hawkins

December 12th at Central Church -He is so funny!