Kenneth & Sarah lunch

With Jody and Kirsten in town, we met for lunch in Salt Lake. It was so good to see those that came. Gene was also there but left before this picture was taken.

Robert & the Baltimore Marathon

Five men who have completed every BaltimoreMarathon explain what the race means to them

Why do they run? Different people have different reasons. But they all keep going.

6:21 p.m. EDT, October 13, 2010

There are 36 runners — 34 men and two women — who have run in every one of the previous nine Baltimore Marathons.
Here's the story of five of those men, all locals who have different motivations and varied views on running 26.2 miles through the city's streets.

The energized one

He was, admittedly, a geek as a kid.

"In junior high, I was always the last one chosen in baseball and basketball," Robert Olsen said. "I had a hard time hitting or catching anything. My hand-eye coordination was very bad."

His feet? They're another story.

Olsen's feet have taken him around the world. The Fells Point resident has run marathons on all seven continents. He has raced along The Great Wall of China and in Antarctica. Saturday will find him chugging down the streets of Baltimore where, at 71, Olsen will be the oldest 10-time marathoner in the field.

A retired architect, his goal is to break five hours, no small feat for one his age.

"Friends call me 'The Energizer Bunny,' " Olsen said. "I'm not terribly fast, but I'm persistent."

Consider his obstinacy in 2006, when he pulled a calf muscle at mile 11 and nearly quit the race. At 67, who'd have blamed him?

"I was ready to give up but thought, 'My streak (of consecutive Baltimore Marathons) will be over,' " Olsen said. "So I took some Advil at the aid station and slogged it out. At the finish line, I kept yelling, 'I made it! I made it! I made it!' "

Pardon his exhuberance. Olsen didn't take up marathoning until almost 50. Before that, he said, "I had a belly because I liked the deli. The first time I ran anything was one-quarter mile around the Baltimore Museum of Art. I almost died."

But he finished. Then, as now.

The Ties that Bind

Grandpa's Sister's Grandson moved to Alaska last year with his family. It has been so fun to have family close, for our kids to have a cousin, for relationships that are forever.

We've had dinners with the Fishers, celebrated birthdays together, and gone out on Brent's long boat. Just little events here and there that remind me that there is nothing in this world like family.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday Dad. March 7, 1905.

Cookie Exchange ~ Kinda

Hey since we can't really all get together for a cookie exchange would you be willing to post your favorite cookie recipe here? Then it would be like we had one but not really. If you want to then just post it. Here is a scone recipe I want to try:

Pumpkin Scones/Nancy

2 cups flour
2 teas. baking powder
1/2 teas. salt
1/2 teas. cinnamon
1/2 teas. nutmeg
1/4 teas. allspice
1/4 teas. ginger
1/2 cup raisins(optional)
Mix altogether

1/2 cup pumpkin puree
3/4 cup cream
3 Tablespoon maple syrup
1 teas. vanilla
Mix together and add to dry ing. until moist then roll out into a circle and cut like a pizza. Bake at 425 for 15-18 minutes then brush cream and sprinkle with sugar. These kind of scones are like biscuits so be careful not to over mix or they will be really dry and ucky. Now get the hot cocoa and enjoy these little morsel's.

Carrot Cookies/ Grandma Sarah's recipe Delicious!

3/4 c. shortening
3/4 c. sugar
1 egg
2 c. flour
1 c. cooked, mashed carrots
1 c. chopped nuts
½ tsp salt
1 tsp B. P.
1 tsp vanilla

Frosting:
powdered sugar, abt. 2 c.
butter, 2 T.
canned evaporated milk
Cook and mash carrots.
Cream shortening, sugar, and egg. Add other ingredients. Drop dough onto cookie sheet. Bake 350 for 10-15 minutes. Frost.

Pumpkin Cookies/Aunt Mary

1 ½ cups pumpkin
½ c. butter
1 c. sugar
½ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 c. walnuts
1 egg
2 c. flour
1 tsp soda
1 tsp B.P.
1 tsp cinnamon
1 c. chocolate chips

Mix all ingredients in order given.
Drop by spoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet.
Bake at 375 degrees for 12-14 minutes.

Gratitude

Ten things I’m grateful for:

1. Our newly painted master bedroom and bathroom.
2. The fact that I didn’t have to do any of the work to take down the old wallpaper or do the painting on the above mentioned.
3. A sister and brother-in-law who are going to Argentina on a mission.
4. My digital camera and computer
5. Scott putting up the Christmas trees, helping me with my “To Do” list, and
running errands.
6. Table games.
7. Family dinners and get togethers.
8. 94 % fat free popcorn
9. A handy (fix anything) husband.
10. A deep freeze to keep homemade ‘ready to eat meals’.

10 Things

10 Things We are Grateful for:

10. Disposable Diapers.

9. Slipper Crocs.

8. Friendly Neighbors.

7. Outgoing, Loving Ward.

6. Indoor Plumbing. . . I simply cannot imagine using an outhouse in -20 degree weather.

5. Heating, Refrigeration, Dishwashers. . . all the perks of modern day houses.

4. General Conference.

3. The Clearplay DVD player. Thanks Greg for recommending that.

2. Our $35 dollar garage sale Treadmill and the dream of fitting back into my clothes

1. Getting to raise five of the best boys in the world.

Happy Thanksgiving
Top ten Things we are grateful for:
10~ Books to read
9~ The basement being finished
8~ Food storage
7~ Brian's job
6~ The Beautiful area we live in
5~ Friends
4~ Our nice warm home
3~ Family
2~ Our Children
1~ God in our lives

What are you grateful for? post a picture and share, I can't wait to read yours.

"A- WARD" WINNING SALSA

25 medium tomatoes peeled & diced
cook for 1 hour

ADD:
2 green peppers chopped
1 red peppers chopped
2 jalapeno's (seeds removed if you don't like it hot) minced
2 onions minced
cook for 45 mins

ADD:
4T brown sugar
2T white sugar
3T vinegar
2T salt
3/4 c lemon juice
cook 1/2 hour

Process 20 mins.

I like mine chunky but others like their's smooth so you make it the way you like. I use a food processer for the onion and jalapeno's, but hand chop the rest. It does take a long time but it is well worth it. Now go get the chips and enjoy!

The farewell

Lots of family and friends gathered to wish the missionaries well on their adventure.

The fruits of my labor

I love to can. I find it very relaxing to me. I know you are thinking what a crazy woman, canning relaxing? Well, yes, peaches are my favorite mostly because of the ease. Blanch, cool, cut/peel -that usually happens at the same time.
Diane taught me how to can the first year that Brain and I were married. I went to Cheryl's house and learned how to do peaches and pears.Later it was salsa (I think the recipe was Grandma Sarah's) I was hooked. I found it so neat that I could do this that I went straight to a lady in my wards house and asked if she wanted my left over peaches to can. She told me that she didn't know how to can and had been praying to God to send her someone to teach her this art. Then that day I show up to teach her and I had peaches too.

Since then I have been the "teacher" to many. Just this year it was my sister. She shared her garden with me and I shared my knowledge with her.

I have made the salsa for a great friend of mine every year but this one (spending 5hrs with Baby G is more important than spending 5hrs making salsa for a great friend). The salsa is a favorite in the ward salsa contest, I call it "A-ward winning"! Maddie says "mommy you make the best salsa ever". I have to agree, no pace here.

It feels good to have this stash in my cold storage ready and waiting for the cold months of winter (even if I am stingy with the pears) It also feels good to know that I have good foods to feed Baby G when he is ready for them.

Thanks Diane for being my teacher, with this one thing you have blessed many.

Grandma Sarah

Grandma Sarah or mom to Richard, Robert, Diane, and Mary would have been 97 years old on September 21. Happy Birthday Mom! We love you.

New great-grandchild

This is from Richard and LaVina. Gene's daughter Jenny and her husband Nate had a son born on Sept. 8th at 6:00 pm. So we have a new great-grandson. His name is Jonah Kenneth and is doing just fine. This is Jen and Nate's second child. Apparently, Brock likes his little baby brother a lot.

Elder Scott

Missionary comp with a Jewish Rabi

This is part of the letter that we just got from Scott last Monday.

My companion is Elder Wigington. He is from North Carolina and has been about for about 11 transfers. He was called Spanish speaking; butfor the first third of his mission, he was put in the English/Hebrewspeaking program. Hebrew? You might ask. Why does he speak Hebrew?
Well, he used to be a Jew, of course! Elder Wigington joined the Church about 29 months ago. Thirteen months after his baptism he entered into the MTC. He is quite remarkable but still has a lot of his little Jewishtraits.

Elder Wigington was actually going to school to become a Rabi; andwhile in the MTC, he received his certificate of completion. So, I amcompanions with a Jewish Rabi. Who would have thought? He got an awesomescholarship for $450,000 at the school he went to and had been offered a

job that would send him to California to be a Rabi there. The job paid $270,000 a year and included a house, cars... pretty much everything but his cell phone bill. One day he was coming home, and he heard a lot of noise coming from his

neighbor's house. He was upset because he had to get up at 4:30 to make some bread or something for the Sabbath, so he went over to the house to give them a piece of his mind. When he walked up to them the first thing that popped out of his mouth was "Do you need some help?" They said, "Yes," and they also happened to be members of the church. The Elders were there helping and asked him two questions: "Where do you get you authority? and why was Malachi the last prophet?" Two questions that hecouldn't answer. He called up his head Rabi at his school and asked him; and apparently, he told him that he had authority because he was a scholar and Malachi was the last prophet because the Jews fell away from the truth. The missionaries gave him a Book of Mormon which he flung into hisroom; and later he walked in and saw it opened up on his bed facing him,so he started to read; and he read something that was identical to something found in the Talmud, (the law of the Jews). It was in Mosiah chapter 3:9 (I think), then he realized that if you take the Hebrew characters that mean Jehovah and re-arrange them, it spells Jeshua,which is the Hebrew name of Jesus. He was shocked and fell to his knees

telling God that he has always been trying to get close to him, and heneeded to know NOW if Jesus Christ was the messiah.

At that moment he knew without a doubt and hasn't looked back since. His family pretty much disowned him. They kicked him out of their house, and he lived with the missionaries for 10 months. His parents write him still and love him, but things aren't the same as they used to be,
obviously.

That, in a nutshell is my companion. Ta-dah!

Mission call

Aunt Diane and Uncle Frank are going to the Argentina, Buenos Aires, North Mission.
Frank will serve as the Country Director of the Welfare and Humanitarian Office and
Diane will serve as the Assistant Country Director of the Welfare and Humanitarian Office.
I'm really proud of my sister. She was very excited when she called with the news. The family got together and they opened the call tonight at 8:00 P.M.

Congrats to the newly called missionaries.

Look at the newlyweds on their wedding day. A lot has happened since then. Diane and Frank have raised six fun, close-knit children, have become the grandparents of 15 (?) and are now going to Argentina to be the Country Directors of the Welfare and Humanitarian Office. Congratulations!

Old family pictures

Diane had some slides scanned recently and I've enjoyed so much looking at them. I may have seen them years ago but if so, I've forgotten so it is like looking at pictures for the first time. I'll send more later. We are all beauties! What do you think?

I think Cheryl's Rachel looks so much like Diane in this picture.