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