I haven't been doing daily official thanksgiving posts like some do, but that doesn't mean I haven't been feeling grateful...in fact I feel so full of gratitude, and awe at the blessings in my life

every single day that I think I could just burst.  I hope I reflect that in the other posts I make...

 

Yesterday was a lovely Thanksgiving day. I was surely missing Katie and Camille's family though ( Katie went to Camille's this year)  It was Camille's turn to be with Kellen's family...gosh I don't like sharing..they get to have them all the time! waaaah waaah!  OK, I guess that's all I will say about that. (Thanks for the pictures Camille...they got me through the day...

 Candice came over about 10 and we started baking.  I just cant say enough what a joy and delight she is in my life!  She has got to have the most kind, generous, loving heart of anyone I know. She is always thinking of others and is a great example to me.

We decided to start with the pies.  flour, salt, shortening.. .ice water...now shake it back an forth till the little balls form...more water..more shaking repeat then voila!  pie dough.  I rolled them out but Candice make the edges beautiful!  She is so creative.  We decided in honor of grampa we would make a coconut cream pie ( also one of Kelley's favorites)  The last few days of Grampas life, he wasn't eating much...nothing sounded good to him.  Then Chris asked him is there was anything at all that he would like and he said a coconut cream pie, so he went and got him one.  That was the last thing he ate. 

Anyway,  we have been missing him...we've always had his birthday party around this weekend when everyone was in town for thanksgiving.  Gonna feel pretty empty this year without  him.

So anyway, Candice found a recipe for coconut cream pie (I've never made one from scratch before) and we went to town on it.  It's pretty involved making the custard but Candice pulled it off like a champ!  Her first experience tempering eggs and scalding milk went very well.  She even toasted coconut for the top.  I have to say, it was delicious...probably one of the best pies I've ever had.

This is how I like to remember him.  He would always make killer chicken enchiladas for our Christmas eve party.

 Kelley has been over at this dads the past few days with his brothers going through more of grandma and grampas things.  They found her stash of Christmas ornaments and little houses.  She has an amazing collection of real fancy ornaments (she would get a few new ones each year over at ZCMI) and Kelley said about 16 houses (they all lit up too!) We would make fun cause she would get always get a skinny charlie brown tree then load up each branch with so many ornaments they would be bending right down.   

 ha ha they ran across this old picture of Kelley and Pat.  I think Kelley's face looks like KC  without the beard.  Gosh I miss Pat too...he always made holidays fun.   Doesn't seem like just a year ago, him and grampa were at our house for Thanksgiving dinner.

 Anyway, back to Thanksgiving....so we continued baking...rolls, yams, green beans brussel sprouts,green salad, creamed corn ( ooh we tried a new recipe for this too...made in the crock pot with cream cheese and lots of butter...it was delicious!) mashed potatoes and gravy (thanks Kelley!) pumpkin pie,  Oh and the big fat turkey we started baking early in the morning.  Candice made a fabulous cheese ball too!

While we were baking Tiffany stopped by and visited for a while.  She had her little chihuahua dog with her and her and Lizzy had a sniffing fest.  It was good to visit with Tiffany.I could tell she was missing the family too.  We had invited her for dinner, but she said she was going to her sisters.  I'm glad she will stay in touch with us anyway.

At about 4, Curtis, his mom and kids came over.  I was so glad she would come.  This is the first thanksgiving after Curtis's dad had died so I'm sure it was a difficult one.  She was great though...she brought the stuffing and it was just delicious!  Benny played and jumped on the trampoline and Leila sat and visited with us.  She is pretty much a grown up girl now.  Very cute and sweet.

We squished around the kitchen table, but it was fine and cozy.  We all ate till we could bust, then talked a while before pie.   The coconut cream was a big hit and pumpkin is always my favorite. 

KC tried to go take a nap on the couch in the living room, but Benny had found a Nerf blow dart set and was pelting him with them.  We could hear them from the kitchen..."you got me!"  KC was so cute with him...they got out the race track and played cars after that. 

We talked for a while and I hope Curtis's mom had a good time.  Just as they were leaving, Chris and Andrew came over.  We watched some old home movies he had put onto a DVD.  They were of the boys growing up...there were some real good ones of their family.  I seriously don't know how Kelley's mom survived without his dad around much to help raise those 6 boys. I guess that's what made her the awesome lady that she was.  Anyway, it was fun to watch and listen to Kelley and Chris remember and laugh about their younger days.  We didn't want the movies to end.

By the time they left, we were all pooped so we called it a very good day.

 Wednesday evening, Kelley decided he would get the honey out of the hives.   He had chased all the bees down into the lower part of the boxes...that was quite the job right there. then brought the boxes with the frames full of honey over to the house.  He set them in the back room for a few days to warm them up a bit.

 To get started they brought in the big propane tank and warmed up the garage real nice. Then Kelley would get out each frame and shave off the wax coating the bees had made over the honey. each little honeycomb is so perfectly shaped...how do they do that? Can I just say again how amazing bees are!  Truly one of God's greatest creations.

It was a super sticky messy job!  Tommy had given Kelley a neat electric knife that heated up so it could slice right through the wax, but there was really no easy way to get this part done.  Then KC took the frames and put them in this neat extractor machine.  It spun the frames around and pulled the honey out of them (and when I say it spun, I meant we cranked the handle to make it spin), then it would collect in the bottom of the machine.  Pretty cool.

Chris came over and helped for a while too.  Kelley had the machine just sitting on the floor at first, but it was jiggling all over the place so he got a pallet and screwed the thing right to it.  That worked much better, but it helped if someone stood on the pallet and held the machine down while someone else turned the handle.

It got to be pretty funny cause we were all so sticky.  We started out pretty good and tried to keep at least one hand clean to turn the handle on the extractor, but pretty soon we just let it happen.  Kelley was in it up to his elbows ( and all over the rest of him)  It was on the garage floor ( which soon was tracked into the kitchen floor, and I guess from our clothes and hands onto the kitchen counters...everywhere you would touch, there was stickiness) Kelley was cleaning off some things at the kitchen sink and when he tried to walk away, the rug went with him...totally stuck to him!

 

 When the bottom of the tank got  full, he just opened up the valve and out came the honey.  He had a couple fancy strainers to put the honey through, but we learned through trial and error that we needed to start with a bigger strainer and warm honey.  Where there was still so much wax in the honey, it just clogged the strainers right up. So we used some of my kitchen strainers first and got all the wax out, then heated it up a little and sent it through his finer strainers again.  It came out just beautiful this time.  

Kelley has watched a hundred you tube videos about doing this, but I think you just have to experience it to figure out how to make it work for you.

Kelleyand I have been trying to come up with a name for the honey company...Candice was helping him bottle some up and rightfully named it.

 I don't know if it was the work, ( ...Kelley has put in a whole summer of work into these bees...he doesn't look at it that way though..he throroughly enjoys them) love, or just memories of the experience that went into it, but that was the best tasting honey I've ever had.

 

Our good neighbor and friend who lives on the other side of the canal shared a page he had written  ( It looks like something he had done maybe for one of those things they do where you can learn about peoples different occupations) all about when he used to haul milk.  It was a great read and sure got the memories flowing and took me back to the 60's when I would get to go (on very special occasions...probably when mum needed a babysitter) with daddy on his milk route.
Daddy would boost me up into the big seat...(that truck seemed enormous to me back then) and I would ride along quietly...taking in everything around me.
First there was just the inside of the truck...I can still remember the smell...a combination of oil, (seems like he was always working on the truck, keeping it in good shape) leather, (probably from the big apron daddy wore to protect him from the wear and milk from the cans) and then a smell of farm...it wasn't bad ...I actually love the smell of a farm....a little like cows, milk and hay.
I can remember the inside of the cab seemed kind of magical to me...I was fascinated by all the gear shifts, clutches, and the huge steering wheel.  Once in a while, daddy would let me sit on his lap and pretend like I was driving.  I couldn't even budge that steering wheel...now that I think about it, it must have been a beast to drive without power steering.
We would leave at what seemed like the middle of the night,,and it was...he had to be there to pick up the milk at the farms out in Hyrum, Black Smith fork Canyon, Wellsville and Mt. Sterling super early in the morning, so he could get them to the plant on time.
We would pull into a farm and up close to the barn, there would be a row of cans waiting for him.  He would hop out of the truck and open the big side doors of the trailer.  Then he would go pick up one of the big milk cans and hoist it from his knee up into the deck of the trailer.  I didn't think much about the weight of each can at the time, but now as I hear Gary describe it, I have a whole new appreciation for daddy's strength.  He said in his story "The  farmers only fill their cans 3/4 full.  That's so the milk sloshes around in the can, not out of the can.  A full milk can is heavy.  An empty milk can weighs 35 or 40 pounds.  A gallon of milk weighs about 8 pounds.  You do the math:  7 1/2 gallons at 8 pounds per gallon, or so, plus 40 pounds of can, is about a hundred pounds.  Now, lift-throw 100 pounds to the deck of the truck, the better part of 48 inches from the ground...now, do ya understand why men who haul milk for a living really ought to be called 'Mister'?"
After the milk was loaded, he would leave that many empty clean cans for them to fill the next morning.
There was usually a wave to the farmer (or at some places, the owner would want to chat...much to daddy's dismay...he liked to visit with them, but some would go on and on, making him late at getting his route done)
I loved seeing all the farms...the cows, the barns, the chickens wandering and usually a dog or two that would come up and follow daddy around as he loaded the milk.
After we had been around to all the farms, we headed for the milk factory.  I think it was Pet milk at the time.  He would pull up to the plant and next to the big conveyor belts and daddy would load the full cans onto the moving belt...I love the way Gary describes this part...just the way I remember it...
"The milk haulers off-loaded their milk cans onto a mechanized conveyor that pushed/pulled the full cans up to the dumping platform where a man tipped a can over a fulcrum to upside down.  It's all leverage and can be done with one hand.  it also dumps the milk almost instantly...Better look alive, if ya want to get the weight and a sample (for Pappy's butter-fat test) , before I step on the  dump-lever.  The operator slid the empty can to the can washer and it came out the other end right-side up and wearing the same lid it came to town with, everything clean as a hounds tooth.
The clean can rolled down a roller conveyor that was ahead of and slightly below the mechanized conveyor.  Both conveyors together held all but the largest trucks full allotment of cans."
I was quite mesmerized watching the cans chug along until they disappeared into the building, then they would come out another opening a few minutes later...all clean and ready to refill.
After he was all finished, daddy would boost me down from the truck and we would walk into the little store there at the plant and daddy would buy me an ice cream.  His favorite treat was a snickers bar and a Pepsi. Then he'd boost me back up on the big seat and we'd head for home.
He would do this every single day....you couldn't miss a day....ever.  The cows make milk, it has to be picked up and delivered every day.  I don't think daddy ever missed...rain or shine...and lots of freezing cold days...when he was sick or on the holidays...even Christmas..we would get up so so early before he went on his route so we could all be together. I guess that's a farmers life.  Daddy never complained about it.  He is truly my hero.
On the way home, we always stopped at the post office to get ours, grandma Braeggers and Aunt Pat and Uncle Clyde's mail.  I loved going into the post office...just the tiny building there on main street next to the gas station, but it seemed magical.  I can still picture exactly what it looked like.  You walk in the door and there is a whole wall of little gold square doors with a little dial on them.  I loved watching daddy turn the knob just right, then left, then right again and then pop open the little door and pull out the mail. If there was something that wouldn't fit in the box, there would be a little note and we would  go through a door over to the left and talk to the post master (dang! I can't think of his name!) who would be sitting behind a big counter. Him and daddy would chat a bit, then we would head down the street to grandmas house.
I can sure picture her there in the kitchen with her apron on.  Her and grampa were pretty old when I was born so I don't have a lot of memories of them.  Grampa died when I was quite young but grandma lived well into her 90's.  I remember grampa bouncing me on his knee and rubbing his whiskers on my cheek...he kind of scared me. Grandma was kind and always had a molasses cookie for me out of her aunt Jemimah cookie jar
After we delivered the mail and visited with  grandma a bit, we walked the short path next door to see Pat and Clyde.  They always made everyone that came into their home feel pretty special.  I remember being timid around them with their handicaps, but they were both so  kind and comfortable and easy to be with, the uneasiness soon left and I loved to be there with them.
We would get home about noon and mum would have some lunch ready for us. Daddy would come in and get the chicken bucket and head for the coop.  I tagged along beside him...(I was kind of his shadow when I was a little girl...he probably got tired of me always under his feet) and he'd let me gather the eggs  I was a bit scared of the chickens so I would hang back as he scattered the goodies from the chicken bucket and some grain in the chicken run.  They would get so excited and flop around and squawk so I didn't want to get to close.  I liked carrying the basket of eggs  into the house though and would proudly report to mum how many they had laid as if I had done it myself.
Just a little memory that I have stored safely in my heart..it's kind of nice to take them out and look at them ...reminds me again of the blessing I've had of growing up in a home with good, loving, hard working parents. Sure do love and miss them.
ps...thanks to Gary for reminding me....

Have I mentioned lately how I love Sunday's?  Well I do.This one started off a bit wild...I got a call from Donna at about ten to nine.  She said she had fallen down the stairs the day before and thought she would feel better but was worse that next day so she wasn't going to be coming to teach the class.

So I went and print off the lesson, called Stacey to see if she would download this video that went with the lesson and just figured we would  try to wing it.  We divided the girls into groups and gave them a section of the lesson to study, then had them each teach to the rest of the girls. It went surprisingly well.The girls really are great and Bonnie and Stacey are so good to jump in and help.

I stayed for choir, then had tithing settlement  (this is Kelley's life for the next two weeks)  It was good to visit with the Bishop.  He really loves Kelley and always tells me so.  I think having him to tell the bishopric about people on our side of the ward has been a big help to the bishop.

I love how the bishop will spend time with you and shows a genuine interest in your life.

When I got home Candice was there.  She is taking a watercolor class at school and since KC already took that class, they decided to paint together.   Candice had a pretty picture of a recent sunset so they both painted their version of it.

  I love to watch those two together.  They are each so very special in their own ways. Some good things going on here I won't expound on. Sometimes I just think my hearts going to burst with love for them.

 We went out to feed the chickens and saw they were all out of water...they all escaped from the coop and followed that water can till they got a good drink.  They have been laying a lot less this last month.  Only about two or three a day.  I guess it's the cold weather.  Kelley got a nice roof on their outside pen so that will be nice and keep it from getting so muddy in there.

Chasing the stragglers back into the coop

We ended up the day with a nice round of Racko. 

Just simple things that make up a good day...being with family is the best part.

I was looking for some iron on patterns that I had got from mum the other day and instead found this sack of pictures.  They were from all of the albums mum had made over the years.  We dismantled them and divided the pictures between my sisters and me.  I had so much stuff that I was bringing home at the time, I was just trying to find a place for everything and I stuck this sack under the bed.

I spent about three hours yesterday just looking through them and sorting them into different piles to put into my own album.  It was pretty cool to see a summary of my life from birth up until probably about 6 or 7 years ago when mum stopped taking pictures.  What is so cool, is that she took these pictures with an actual camera and then had them developed!  It's so easy with the phone camera just to take and store pictures on the computer, I hardly ever print any of them.  I like being able to pick up an album and hold it in my hands!

These were some of my favorites...  in no particular order

 Miss my mom

 The first milk truck...the back of the old dodge

 Daddy's beloved horse...Brenda sent us a little snippet from mum and daddy's journal of him talking about the horse...

"I have noticed for the past few days that the horse isn't eating very well and when he doesn't eat I know that something is wrong.  He is so old that I know that he will be dying any day now so I decided I'd better have him put out of his misery before nature takes it's course.  I knew that Joe knew those people over at the Fur Breeders Co-op so I asked him if he would help me take the horse over there.  It's really hard to say goodbye to a pet you have had for over twenty five years but I can do that easier than I can see hm suffer.  The old place won't be the same without him around and even tho I haven't ridden him for the past couple of years still I had him there to look at and it was nice having him around. 

Sure seems funny not to have the horse any more.  Every time I go up home I look for him up on the hill where he always used to stand and at night when I go to milk, I expect to hear him whiny at me when I go up there.  I'd feel pretty bad about him if I  didn't know he is much better off where he is now.  He was so old that every move he made hurt him and I couldn't stand to see him suffer."

Love to hear these stories from their journal!  Thanks to Brenda for sharing

 The back of the picture said this was daddy at age 17...cutting the grass

 ...remember those stilts?  Daddy built them for us when I was about 10...I can still remember what it felt like to hop up on them.  We got pretty good on them!

 Katie's graduation from Snow College

 I remember this day very well...freezing day in January when I was baptized! 

I'm not sure why, but in all my pictures my bangs look like this   Ha!    I was a cute little stinker anyway and that dress??? mum was an amazing seamstress!