Tradition, tradition!

Every year we go out as Beckstead women & shop for the Christmas holiday. We meet at an eating establishment which Grandma chooses. Once we eat, we are off to the shopping. We used to include boutiques in our day of shopping, but as we have scheduled our day prior to Thanksgiving, the shopping is limited to Modern Display & The Basket Loft. After we have seen more decorations than is probably good for us - we dessert. Again, in the olden days we would eat at Snelgrove Ice Cream on South Temple each getting our own sundae with small pitcher of hot fudge and choice of nuts...but it long ago closed, as did the other locations in the valley. For the past couple of years we have desserted at Marie Calender's with PIE. This year, Grandma was kind enough to share her double cream lemon with me & I enjoyed razzleberry. Jane and her two daughters Randi & Jessica joined us from California, as did Aunt Anet. Dallas drove from Vegas, arriving at o'dark thirty, to be a part of the festivities. My sisters-in-law Brandy & Sara joined Jessica, me & my mom. Our group also included Michelle, Aunt Max & Elizabeth, Jeana and her two daughters Jaylynn and Janessa. Only Aunt Lynn, Jackie and her daughter(s) were missing - but they were with us in our hearts. Once upon a time we were five or six, now we number 17 and will grow next year when my niece Kyra joins us. All these wonderful women, women I am lucky enough to be related to, continue to gathering for a tradition that we all enjoy and look forward to.

Thanks to my coolest of cool Grandma Beckstead for inspiring and continuing such a fun tradition.

Montana

Eastern Montana sort of looks like Price, UT.

Day one : lots to see, lots to shoot, Annie & Blue working hard for the money & flushing 30+ birds.

Small success: no birds taken but a pesky cat treed. It enjoyed flushing the birds too - way too soon to shoot them.

Day two: lots to see, not much too shoot, Blue working hard & floating down the river with the current. Annie at home in the kennel - she had a bad rear wheel and could only walk on three legs. I guess when you are 10, you are entitled to a down day after brush busting in the cold river for 4+ hours.

so beautiful...

Captain Jancen Hook

Annie

Who Knew??

[Source: Registered dietitian Keri Glassman, author of The Snack Factor Diet (Three Rivers Press, 2008); from www.msn.com]

With so many American children struggling with obesity, you may not find joy in handing out globules of empty Halloween calories.

The typical jack-o'-lantern bucket holds 250 small chocolate bars (about 9,000 calories), and 20 percent of kids eat every last piece they collect. If you don't want to be the neighborhood Scrooge who's giving out apples and dental floss—or worse, pulling toilet paper from your trees the next day—try these tricks to treat their sweet tooths without expanding their waistlines.

Best Candy Choices

Type of Candy / Calories

1. Trident gum (1 stick) / 6
2. Reese's Mini Cup (1) / 35
3. Kit Kat Bites (3) / 40
4. Mr. Goodbar (1 miniature) / 42
5. Snack-Size Raisins / 45
6. Hershey's Milk Chocolate Miniature (1) / 50
7. Jolly Rancher (3 pieces) / 50
8. Tootsie Roll (1 small roll) / 50
9. Miniature York Peppermint Patties (1) / 53
10. Charms Blow Pop (1) / 60

Worst Candy Choices

Type of Candy / Calories

1. Snickers (1 fun size) / 70
2. Milky Way (1 fun size) / 75
3. Kit Kat (1 fun size) / 80
4. Skittles Original Fruit (1 fun size) / 80
5. Wild n' Fruity Gummy Bears (10 pieces) / 87
6. Butterfinger (1 fun size) / 100
7. M&M's Plain (1 fun size) / 100
8. M&M's Peanut (1 fun size) / 110
9. Twizzler Twists (snack size) / 130

Oktoberfest 2008

Robert & the accordion

Jordan & jill

broken Bill

the musical talent - Milena & her accordion

Kendall, patron saint of fire, enjoying a libation

kung fu Chuck

autumn

pumpkins & dogs & garden

pumpkins & dogs & deck

Logan Canyon colors

final bounty

Our last harvest was bitter sweet. Nothing tastes like fresh vegetables...I wish we could have home grown goodness year-round. Trying to save the tastes of summer I bottled five batches of salsa, one batch of pasta sauce and we still have six or seven large tomatoes (those on top of the pile in the sink) sitting on the counter. Yes, you may refer to me as the goddess of domestication, I will answer you, eventually.


Our final picking (pictures below) took place Saturday. Only an inch of snow, but that was enough to "end the season".

Tons of tomatoes.

Two measly peppers.

Blue allowed me only these two sad peppers - stupid dog with no taste buds.

Nine pumpkins.

Sad pickings - the mean-spirited thief took the biggest and the best.

pumpkin stealers

Two of the prize volta house pumpkins have been stolen during the past week. It is so sad when you can't even trust people not to take things from your own front (fenced) yard. I am going to pick the remainder (the biggest one was the first to go) and hope that I have enough for my nieces and nephews to pick from...I guess I shouldn't be surprised, these are the times we live in.

Blue is two!

My fellaguybuddy turned 2 on October 1st. To honor him, I am posting a favorite photo. He is such a pretty boy. Brains, not so much, but pretty!

Cancer-free

I just found out that my OTR (Olympic Torch Relay) husband Bill, via his blog at http://lymphnotes.blogspot.com/, is CANCER-FREE. I can't stop smiling and want to tell everyone how lucky we are that we live in a world with Bill in it. He kept me sane visiting 20-something countries with my p.i.t.a.'s, has the most amazing sense of humor (see photo below taken during the year of chemo), and was a constant comfort to have buckled in the seats behind me. Despite his inability to know where the stage ends...maybe he just liked the attention that facial laceration & stitches bring...he is my S U P E R S T A R! CONGRATULATIONS, husband!!! I can't wait to see what's next for you.

can't....stop.....laughing!!!!!

Happy Birthday baby sister!

Happy belated Birthday, Jessica!!!!!

Words can not even begin to express how lucky I am to have a sister who is as talented and generous and gorgeous and loving as my Jessica-bean. A 16 year wait for a sister like this was worth it! I LOVE YOU BEAN!

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One of the many things I shared with my baby sister was taking her to her first rock concert! I know, BSB & N'SYNC aren't all that rock-ish but she was, what, 10? They rocked for her. I wanted to make sure she was able to knock if off her list early. Jessica & I thoroughly enjoyed these two raucous concerts (I can't forget to note that jordan joined us for BSB and swooned along with her). Fellow concert-goers asked if my "daughter" was having a good time. I guess when you have 16 years between you & your sister, you can expect that...at least in Utah. It was pretty cool to spend time with her & treat her to something she really wanted.

Country concert, next? Maybe a little Tim? xoxo

** You all know you can, or could, do the bye bye bye dance & when that chair-dance thing was new it was pretty cool!**

we picked the first cantaloupe...

...and it was yummy yummy yummy for my tummy tummy tummy. Also, it was HUGE!

cabin dogs

Tuckered dogs after a day of big exploration & deer chasing!

labor day weekend get away

Sleeping in, hiking, fishing, humming birds, lunching by the waterfall, laughing, napping, building fires, making meals, watching it snow...everything a long weekend at the first of September should include. Except the snow, that can go away until November.

Oh My!

One huge Hungarian Heart made into homemade pasta sauce...life doesn't get much better than that!

R.I.P. little watermelon

To my dismay, when I ventured to the garden last Saturday to harvest corn & more tomatoes, I found the largest of the two watermelon split from end to end. I took him inside where rob & I respectfully dined on his light pink flesh. Slightly reminiscent of Homer & pinchy...but sweeter.

Rest in peace, mini melon, rest in peace.

photographer Jancen

Jancen & Jentry stopped by to visit on Saturday. Jancen tried his hand at photography.
I helped with this half headed photo of Jentry & Blue.
This is his photo of the kitchen,
and the fridge,
and the table. Interesting to see the world from his point of view. How long ago was I that small?

Happy 7th Birthday Joslyn!

My Joslyn, the cow-woman (she is not a gir-la), turned 7 on Saturday. We had dinner & lots of birthday fun at Chili's.

soon

The cantaloupe are growing faster than the watermelon. We should be harvesting this guy soon!

summers guilty pleasures

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love these!

who is in charge here?

There are several rules for the dogs at the Volta house - we probably have more than most. Lately, the dogs have been breaking them left and right. The rules below are not the only house rules but those broken most recently. They are not put in any particular order.

Rule 1: no dogs on the furniture. Rob & I both know that the minute we leave the house, Annie takes up her place on the couch (see photo of Annie sprawled on couch). Usually when you come home she hops off the furniture, leaving a warm spot & a drool circle evidencing her disobedience, and gives you the “I wasn’t doing anything / who me?” look. Lately, however, she has been more brazen about her rule breaking. I was able to get into the house, put my bags down, find my camera, and take this photo before she even feigned an attempt to get off the couch. I guess at nearly 10 she thinks she is in charge.

Rule 2: dogs don’t eat veggies from the garden. Annie is an evil teacher of bad habits. Poor Blue, not a chance to learn how to live at the Volta house without a kenneling every day. Last year, we planted the back garden barrels with tomatoes. Annie, bad dog Annie, ate every last one. She would walk between the barrels and pick off those tomatoes just turning red…the one you looked at in the morning & thought “that will be perfect when I get home from work tonight”. This year, I decided to outsmart the thieving Annie & planted all 16 tomato plants in the front yard – take that, Annie. In addition, I planted peppers in the back yard – Anaheim, green bell, orange bell, lavender/lilac bell (photo below), and Poblano. I figured I would teach her (an him if he followed in her foot steps) a lesson about stealing my veggies. To no avail…they are devouring my peppers. Yesterday Blue ate all 5 cute little lavender peppers. Bad Dog! A sure fire sign that the dogs have gone a picking is their heads smell wonderfully of rosemary (another barrel is planted with herbs).

Give the dog lovin. Smell the noggin.Thump the noggin. Kennel the dog. UGHHH! I can't win - I am never going to be able to make salsa completely from my garden!!

Rule 3: no barking, there is no need. Annie barks at fireworks, neighbors in their own backyards, sounds, her shadow...she barks a lot! Blue, the non-barking dog, now follows her lead & barks when she does even though he has no clue why he is barking. July & fireworks always mean TOO much barking! No wonder I have constant headaches....

beautiful harvest

My dinner included corn, mortgage lifter tomatoes and black russian tomatoes from our garden. I love harvest time!

my babaloo

me & deputy grandma b

Every year, grandma's block has a party during Midvale Harvest Days. Lucky me, she asked me to be her date. We ate homemade ice cream, talked with neighbors, met two city council members, were visited by an ambulance & fire truck, were given deputy stickers by Vince the Crash Test Dummy, and befriended several police officers - including the chief. It was a fun night and I appreciate Melanie for doing all the work to put the gathering together for the block. Can't wait for next year - maybe the mayor will show up!

Afterwards, grandma & I split a carls jr burger & played cards. I only mention the cards because I WON this time & that hasn't happened for a while.

I am so lucky to get to spend time with my grandma and friend - she is an amazing woman! And card shark, but that is for another day.

pretty princess

mary mary quite contrary, how does your garden grow?

With squash, pumpkin, watermelon & two (of the eight) kinds of tomatoes!