for you Momma!

oh this brings back memories of your laughter.

Everywhere we looked, thoughts of you!

WE love YOU! Miss YOU terribly too!!!

think'n bout Mom

 

Now I can say that I have taken my photo with the famous cow at Tillamook, OR 

at the Tillamook Cheese Factory... like how many others in our family?

I know Kris and Em

Celestial

anybody else???

remembering Grandma Elaine...

Yvette gave this to my Mother...

her Grandma

and she kept it on her fridge.

When Mom/Grandma

passed away it is the one thing that Yvette wanted.

I saw it hanging on her fan last night...

and I smiled.

It seems we all miss you!

and it really is the little things that matter most.

Mother, I LOVE YOU!

Mother, I do.

Father in Heaven has sent me to you!!!

Want to be near you, I want to hear you

Whisper so sweetly that You Love Me too!!

I am missing you so much today. Thank you

for loving me, no matter what.

I could not have asked for anyone better to show

me the ropes. I only pray that I can be half the

mother you were and ARE!!!

I feel you every day, and long to be with you again.

All my Love,

your Angela

grand-daughter at Tillamook, OR

Chelsea and Celestial

Harris??? Who is that?

Oh yeah that would be my Dad. When I saw this post and sign it made me think of the good ole days when Mom and Dad lived together in Logandale... and all of us girls loved to visit... all of the time.

the CUTEST bowl EVER!

Thoughts of Mom!

Abi brought home this craft that she made at school and of course it made me think of mom. I thought that it was a cute idea!

I wanted to figure out a way...

to take this home from the Gossner Cheese Factory in Logan, UT

I couldn't steal it... but I may need to find one just like it.

Thinking of you always Mom!

I used to sew all of the time. I even sewed clothes for my kids when they were little... then it fell by the wayside... no time to sew. I took sewing in high school and I admit honestly that I am not a seamstress... I just know enough to get me by.

Yvette recently asked me to make her a couple skirts... and I told her if they didn't include a zipper... or buttons... then sure... I was up for the task. I should have taken her measurements while I was there... but I didn't. So the first skirt was too small... but with some adjustments will be fine.

The first skirt I actually pinned the pattern to the material like I learned in high school. Then I remembered... using pins is time consuming and my Mother taught me a better way. Take your kitchen knives to hold the pattern in place while cutting out the pieces. It doesn't take much time to slide the knives off the pattern and it works great!!!

thinking about Elaine (aka Mom/Grandma)

Today Emelie and Carma and Sheila were at Pike's Market in Seattle and

we saw this cow... and we thought about Elaine.

COW's ...

We visited the Tillamook Cheese Factory in Tillamook Oregon, and all the cows brought my thoughts many times to Mom. So we took a few pictures to share on HER blog.

COWS

I accidentally added an update and then had to delete it because it was on the wrong blog, but then it still said this blog had been updated, so I thought I would update this blog so you wouldn't be mislead. (photo was taken in June 2010, When I saw all the cows I thought of Mom).

Thinking of YOU, Mom.

This photo taken at Gossners Cheese Factory in Logan, UT.

Dear Mom,

It's all about the little things that remind me of you.

Lot's of the things I cannot show what I mean with a photo...

when I am doing laundry and folding something the way you did...

or cooking dinner and making something you made...

or saying something that I vowed never to say to my children

because I didn't like hearing it myself.

So many wonderful things remind me of you...

and it is not just cows but I love cows because you collected them

and it's only proper that your collection go on.

Love, Sheila

These two little salt and pepper cows on top of the stove at Yvette and Jordan's apartment.

cake decorator... extraordinaire

I know that most everybody loves their Mother. Most never fully appreciate what Mother's do until they do it for themselves.

I have never been a cake decorator. (My kids were lucky to get a cake decorated by my Mother or Carma... mine were mostly kept in the pan and frosted... no dramatic design) But I love seeing the designs of people that do have this talent... either natural or developed.

Yesterday while looking through some photos I found these. My Mother made this cake for Yvette and Amy. Yvette is my daughter. Amy is my niece. They share a birthday 12 years apart... on October 24th. They also share the same birthday with one of my Mother's favorite people ever... Anne Whitney.

How blessed I feel to remember this moment in time... a celebration of Yvette (13) and Amy (1).

Thanks Mom for all of the special moments and all the work that made our days a bit more extraordinary.

50th Anniversary

Dear Mom,

Today would have been your 50th wedding anniversary...
I am sorry you are not here to see that time in your life.

I miss you so much.

I have not posted here for awhile...
but I think about you constantly and wish you were here.

I love you Mom.

enjoying a quiet summer evening...

walking with Giggles... and missing you Mom.

Cows!

Like most of us sisters, everytime I see a cow I think of mom. One of the girls I used to babysit when we first moved, put this picture on her FB and I thought it was cute and know that mom would have also.



Awhile ago David went to Wisconsin for a business trip and came back with presents for us. He found this cow for me and knew I would love it because of mom.

saw this... just now...

and thought of you MOM.

photo borrowed from my Little friend Miss Esme

Penny the Cow

'to remind me of you'



Thanks Tony... this was a thoughtful gift.

dear Mom,

YOU have been on my mind a whole lot lately.

I have the sweetest memory of you.
Sitting in your recliner...
not being able to sleep.
What were you doing?
Reading your scriptures...
or reading church hymns
or church magazines.

I love that memory!
YOU taught by example.
YOU were my very best teacher.

I love you Mom
and I miss you a ton too!

a Mother's treasure...

her children.


top row L-R: Lisa, Debra, Karena
bottom row: L-R Carma, Angela, Sheila, Teresa


Sheila, Lisa, Debra, Angela, Teresa, Carma, Karena (L-R)

Poinsettias to honor mother!

All decked out for CHRISTMAS~~

Thanks to Sheila!!

of course I helped a little.

'little women'

I was just channel surfing... looking to see if there is anything worth watching on TV.

On Turner Classic Movies... Little Women.

Seeing this reminded me when I was a girl. Indoors durning the hot hot summer and laying in the cooler air on my Mother's bed as she read to anyone willing to listen. One of Mom's favorite books was Louisa May Alcott's 'Little Women'. She wrote the novel in 1867-1868 she wrote it in just two and a half months. This novel published in 1868-1869 (in two parts). It is about the lives of four sisters (it was loosely based on the life of the author and her three sisters).

Well I have six sisters and I like to think that we all are our Mother's 'Little Women'.

thinking of you Mom...

I remember that you and Dad used to get the biggest turkeys... which was out of necessity because you fed us all.

So you would get up at the crack of dawn.... I mean earlier than that and you would get the turkey in. Many years we helped... Angela would do the mashed potatoes. The rest of us would help with whatever was left. YOU never would let us cook the turkey though. YOU knew just how good a home can smell with the aroma waifting through the air. So you always cooked the bird... as you called it.

I learned so many things from just watching you work your magic in the kitchen. I may not have been allowed to cook my own turkey dinner for many a year... but I am so glad that I paid attention. Now with a house full of my own children and grand-girls... I am so thankful for a Mother.

Happy Birthday!

I love you... I miss you!

Dear Mom,

I was at Walgreens a few weeks ago...

and as I headed for the check out I noticed this chunk of peanut brittle and I thought of you.

I did not give into the temptation until a couple of days ago...

I spied it once again.

I bought two chunks and I have been enjoying every last bite in your honor.

Almond Roca [from Debra]

Almond Roca Recipe

Use an inexpensive chocolate such as Hershey's. It has low cocoa butter content. If you use a premium chocolate with a high cocoa butter content, unless you temper the chocolate first (look up directions online), the cocoa butter may separate into white streaks as the melted chocolate cools.

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1 Tbsp light corn syrup
1/2 lb butter (2 sticks - NO substitutes!)
1/2 lb. slivered almonds (2 cups)
1/2 lb. bar of regular Hershey's dark chocolate (7 oz okay)

Method:
Do not attempt to make this on a humid or rainy day. Do not double the recipe, make one batch at a time.

1 Melt butter with sugar, syrup and water in a pan (such as a large non-stick frying pan) on medium to medium-high temperature. Stir continuously with a wooden spoon. When butter is melted, add the almonds.

2 When mixture comes to a rolling boil, set your timer for a minimum of 10 minutes and keep stirring (no more than 15 minutes). The mixture will thicken and turn darker in color. The almonds will roast. Keep stirring and cooking until you hear it crackle. If you don't cook it long enough it will not harden, so keep stirring and listen for the crackling sound.

Elise's note: I have found it very hard to distinguish between the boiling sound and the crackling sound in this recipe. A better guideline for me is by color. When the mixture turns a warm amber color, at about 11 or 12 minutes into the boiling, that's the time to pour it out. Wait too long and it will burn. If you try to make this, please read all the comments listed below. It's actually trickier than one would think.

3 When the mixture crackles, pour the mixture out onto a large cookie sheet and spread it as thin as possible with a fork. While it is still hot, break up the chocolate into chunks and distribute it over the almond mixture and let it melt. Spread it evenly on the top.

4 Let it cool to room temperature. When cool you can lift the whole thing off the pan and break into small pieces.

Mom's Favorite Actress

I was trying to remember some of Mom's favorites...
and I thought of Debbie Reynolds. So I want to challenge
my sisters... what favorites do you remember?

Post them here on the blog. In honor of Mom's
birthday... one month from today.

Sisters-Sisters!

Teresa e.mailed this out to the Murry Girls... aka Elaine's daughters. Thanks Tess!

Sisters... something special about that bond. Elaine was one of six... and I am one of seven.

Mom's Sisters!!

I love pictures of when mom was younger. (Left to Right: Janice, Jean, Loris,Dad,Cheryl,Mom,Elaine,Judy) I am not sure how old she is in this picture but I enjoy seeing how her family looked!

Mom and my Babies...

Mom and "Little Elaine," as she would always call her.

Mom and Luke.
Luke is enjoying the magic belly.

And Mom with Kristopher.