My Version of Molasses Cookies

I have been neglecting my blog for the past few months. Here is a past post about my favorite Christmas cookie (or anytime cookie).


I really like this Molasses Cookie recipe given to me by Nancy Madsen. I decided to make it my version by dipping the cookies in melted almond bark. Boy are they good!I think they look pretty-like cookies dipped in a little snow for Christmas!

MOLASSES COOKIES

3/4 cup shortening (I use 1/2 Crisco and 1/2 margarine)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1 egg
2 tsp. baking soda
2-1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. cloves
1/2 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt

Melt shortening-let cool. Add in sugar, molasses, and egg-beat well. Mix dries together and add to molasses mixture. Chill for at least 1 hour. Roll into 1" balls-roll balls in sugar and place 2" apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 for 10 minutes or until done. Remove from cookie sheet and cool on wire rack.

P.S.-Don't forget the baking soda. I made them the other day and I forgot to put it in. The cookies were little hard lumps of dough when I baked them

Halloween Treats

I was inspired by the candy corn cookies on the "Our Best Bites" website. They were really fun and easy to do but did take several steps to complete. I used the link she used for the sugar cookie recipe and the cookies were muy bueno! It was fun dipping the "white" ends of the cookies in almond bark and using sprinkles to jazz up a very cute cookie!

I also took some left-over fondant from my previous cake (the good homemade marshmallow fondant-see last post) and cut out circles to drape over mini tootsie roll pops-stuck them in the cupcake, punched out eyes with the end of a small decorator's tip and made ghosts! I added
the candy corn pumpkins for an accent. They were a hit with the
Young Women at Mutual the other night.

The Garden Isle

Every time I come to Kauai, I remember why I love it so much. It is such a beautiful place with many things to do or you can just do nothing and enjoy the surroundings! Brent and I have been here for about 4 days and we have a few more left before returning to all the obligations of regular life. It has been so nice to be here.

We found a couple of great places to eat. Yesterday we went to a place called Monico's Taqueria in Wailua. I had 2 fish tostadas that were gourmet, to say the least. The fish was ahi which was seared, served on a bed of delicious pinto beans, avacado, fancy lettuce with a radish slice on top and oh, that was all on a corn tostada. Brent had a huge burrito with carnitas inside served with a delicious tomatillo sauce. Today we stopped at a little shrimp shack in Waimea and had coconut shrimp. Yummy!

If you have ever been to Hawaii, you know that there are chickens and roosters everywhere. Well, there is this mother hen with 8 new little chickies running around our timeshare. Yesterday we saw one of the chicks running all by itself by the pool. Brent went over to see if he could steer him in the direction of his mom and he ran faster than Brent! Too funny. I later saw the mother hen with all 8-guess the chick caught up with his family.

These photos aren't intended to make you jealous-we just wanted to share some of the great things to see while you are here.

Wailua Falls

At Opaekaa Falls

Spouting Horn

Waimea Canyon

Looking over the Kalalau Valley

A little of this and a little of that...

Mauri (our oldest grandchild) just turned sweet sixteen on Saturday. She is such a great girl-can't believe she is that old! I forgot my camera to take her picture but I have the cake. I tried a recipe for homemade marshmallow fondant. It turned out great and tasted better than the stuff you buy in a box. I used my Kitchen Aid to mix it all up and stayed up late playing with my "play dough". After the cake was all finished, I was sad that I didn't do a more feminine looking cake with pinks and 16's but hey, it tasted good.

Brent's Dad passed away on Aug. 27th at the age of 93. We will miss Grandpa Ross.

This was the first time in a long time that all our children were in one place at the same time!

My heart was happy!

I got to go to Kentucky at the end of September to visit these little munchkins!

I saw Boston pitch a really great inning-he struck a few guys out!

Mallory loved to pose for the camera and I got in some good practicing.

Traci's house was all decorated for Halloween. Did you know that the seasons change everywhere else in the country? We miss that in California-sometimes.

We found a candy corn tutu on a blog and decided to make it. So cute, don't you think?

Freebies 2 Deals

This is a great website if you are looking for daily deals! I got a free steak dinner at Outback Steakhouse just by watching the deals and then logging on to Outback's website at the right time. They had a big give-away and I scored! I also was able to use a coupon from a link on their site to get 30% off my total purchase at Old Navy. The deals are endless and they come by the minute-almost. Check them out.

And the Bullets Flew

Friday night Jennilee and Logan woke up to a shoot-out between La Mesa police and a distraught, shotgun- wielding man. The police tried to get the man to drop his gun but he racked it and pointed it at them, so the police had to do their duty. The man was killed and the Calkin's home was in the line of fire. Five bullets hit their home and two entered it-luckily with no harm to their family. Logan's Dad was supposed to visit but changed his plans due to "not feeling good" about the trip. He would have been in the living room where the bullets entered. The story was on the news and can be found HERE. Check out the videos on the right hand side of that website-you'll see Logan and Velzy.

We are so thankful that they were protected!
The arrows show where the bullets hit their home.


Their living room-a bullet hole in the window frame and one above the lamp.

Yosemite + Family

Two weeks ago we were in Yosemite with some of our family. I can't believe that I lived in California all these years (since 1974) and didn't ever visit Yosemite National Park. Tanya and Shawn visited the park a few years ago when they stayed at Bass Lake and I was intrigued by their pictures. Then, this older guy at the gym, who worked out on the eliptical next to me told me stories about his family's camping trips to Yosemite and I wanted to find out for myself if it was really so great.

Well, this is our third year camping at Yosemite and I am hooked! But the best part is being there with people you love. It is wonderful to get away and enjoy the beauties of nature and change your pace for a few days. It is work but it is so much fun.

There are many photos of us in the river-that was our bath! This year the water was running pretty forcefully. It was also very cold! We were made aware of the dangers of nature as well. Two weeks before our trip, 3 hikers were swept over Vernal Falls and killed when they ventured beyond the warning signs. We learned also that the same day we arrived, a hiker had slipped while going up the cables at Half Dome and fallen to her death. While we were visiting Yosemite Falls, a man slipped and gashed his head open and the paramedics had to come and get him. You just have to be careful and watch what you are doing.

This year, we didn't have any bears come into our camp. What a relief!!! We did see a lot of deer-especially at Tuolumine Meadows.

I thank my Heavenly Father for the beauties of the earth but I am most thankful for my family. That is what life is all about-FAMILY.

July was Family Month

July has been a wonderful month for having family around. After Girl's Camp (the first week in July), I was ready for some family time. Traci came out from Kentucky on the 12th of July with Trevor, Boston, Gage and Mallory. Zane flew in the next week. We got together with the Rivera's, Calkins, Duvall's, and some of the rest of the Ross gang for some great times. We were fortunate to have the Underwood's here for two weeks.
On a beautiful Saturday afternoon, Traci, her kids, Jennilee and her kids and I went down to the waterfront and walked along by the Star of India and down to SeaPort Village. It was so good just to get out in the sun and fresh air.
An afternoon by the water:

One of our favorite places to eat breakfast is Kono's in Pacific Beach. The food is great and you can eat outside if the weather permits. We went one morning and then topped off our meal with a walk down Crystal Pier.



Boston treated us to brownies on two different occasions. I think a future chef is in the making!


One night we all got together and had an "Old Town Night". The Mormon Battalion Visitor's Center has recently been remodeled and so we decided to go on a tour. Wow, was it great. The kids also got to "pan" for gold after the tour. After we went through the visitor's center, we all went to El Indio's for some great Mexican food.














A few days before the Underwood's left, Kory and Zelia drove down from L.A. to visit. I must have been asleep at the wheel because I didn't get any pictures of them. Devin also flew in and had a few days visit with Traci, Zane and the kids. It was wonderful to have them here.


All during their stay, Gage had a loose tooth. Finally Zane tied a piece of dental floss around it one night and told Gage he could pull on it at any time. The next morning, while Gage was still asleep, Zane checked his tooth and it was so loose, it just fell out easily. Of course, the tooth fairy always knows where to pick up lost teeth and leave a reward-even when you are out of town!


So Brett and Amy and their family are still in the process of moving! They are in Portland waiting for their house to be available. Wish they could have camped out here with us instead of waiting it out in an old motel in Portland!