Oh What A Cake

As part of our Birthday Gifts we each are so lucky to have Jen make a cake for each one of us. Her and Steven design what they want to make and then surprise us at our Family Party. This year for John's present you could not tell it was a cake instead it looked like a Big Bowl of Spaghetti with Meat Balls. Want to take a guess on how she made it. By the way it was so good like the rest of her cakes. Let me know if you think you have an idea on what she used to make it look the way she did.

GRAMMY LOVES TO BRAG

Well I am going to brag tonight about my two Grandson's. On Oct.25th we had a Birthday Party for my Grandmother who would have been 115 years old. It was for her Grand Daughter's and Daughter In-Laws. I was in charge of bringing the cake. So as I was thinking after Angie's birthday just how cute the cake Max helped his mother make for Angie that I would ask him to make the cake for me and I would pay him for making it. I told him that he had to pay for the ingredients to make it as well as pay his Tithing and the rest of the money was his. So he made the cake all by himself. He had to do this for his Reflection project as well. I am posting the picture I took of him with the cake he made as well as a picture of him and Jordan at McDonald's when Angie and I took them there. I might brag about these two little boys more than most Grammy's but they are such a joy in my life. We have great times together whether it is going places with them or just sitting around the table playing games we have so much fun.

This Is The Time To Have Some Fun

Well it has been a long time since I have posted anything on this blog. So here we go in sharing some of the fun things we have been doing as a family. I love being a Mother and a Grammy. I love spending as much time with my children and grandchildren as well. We had Angie's Birthday Party this is an important time in our family as for the next few months it seems like we are always together in having a Birthday Party or enjoying Halloween,Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Year's. Isn't it a great time of the year. I do not like the cold but I love all of the wonderful things that happen during this time of the year. About a month ago Angie and I took Max and Jordan bowling Jordan was so funny as he runs on his tip toes like Fred Flintstone when he gets to the line he stops and then rolls the ball. There were many times that Angie and I thought the ball would not make it down the lane. Max is amazing in how young he is yet he got close to 100 in both games. He is really good for his age. Then we were off to McDonald's for lunch and a fun time in the play area. I am posting some of the pictures of this outing as well as Angie's Birthday Party,and of course Halloween. This year Max was Indiana Jones, and Jordan of course was an Astronaut. Even though life seems a bit of a Challenge right now we can all be grateful that we have our families and friends to help us during these times it gives us a chance to able to forget our problems for a small time in enjoying each other. As Winter is upon us as well as the Holidays we are looking forward in being with those we love in our families as well as our good friends. May you all look forward to the Holidays knowing that we are truly blessed in our lives and reflect on the blessings in our lives.

Our Thrid Annual Neighborhood Parade and Breakfast !!!!!

Three years ago our Neighborhood started to have a Parade and Breakfast to honor the early pioneers who came to the Salt Lake Valley on July 24th 1847. For the past two years I have been in charge of this. This year turned out really well we had about 140 people show up most of course were children from around 2 to 11. I had the young men who were 12 and 13 years old squirt the people as they came around the parade route to cool them off. A few houses down from them were the young women the same age with juice for the people to drink as it becomes hot at 9:30. We had all of the those who wanted to dress up or decorate a bike or make a small float receive a prize at the end of the Parade. After which we had a big breakfast it was a great day and a lot of fun.It is a great way to get to know your neighbors better and mingle with them. I have posted some of the pictures of the parade and some of the costumes as well as bikes and floats.

WHY I LOVE THE 4TH OF JULY SO MUCH

As a child I loved the 4th of July in fact back then it was one of my favorite Holidays. I remember waking up so excited that I was going up to my Grandma and Grandpa Rudd's to be with my cousins as well as all of the fun that my dad and uncles were going to create by putting a firecracker in can of water to see how high it would go. Not to mention the fact of getting into the cars and racing to see where the fire trucks were going with their sirens on.I also loved playing leap frog with not only a few cousins but all of them,as well as lighting the fireworks at night. Grandma would always take me aside and put my braids into my shirt so they would not catch on fire. She would always tell me something that made me feel like for a quick moment I was special to her and her favorite. All I know is the 4th of July was a very special day in my life each year.
Now that I am a grandmother myself it still is one of my favorite days. Although now I reflect more on just how great the nation is what we call America. I was blessed by living outside of this great country. I saw how others live and how they yearned to have something more in their lives when it comes to their freedoms. As a young Missionary in Argentina I witnessed people who would protest and cause riots so they could bring back Juan Peron. One day my companion and I were in the city plaza eating our dinner. All of a sudden we could hear a lot of commotion we looked over and there were hundreds of people marching in the streets yelling PERON,PERON,PERON. My companion told me to hide under the bench because if they saw me and talked to me they would harm me because I was an American. It was very frightening, but what it did was made me start to think just how I took for granted what I did have as an American. There were times we could not go out of our houses for a week at a time because of all of the strikes they were having to fight against one another. They would turn over buses filled with people and catch them on fire just because some one said something about the Government they did not like. People were so poor there that it made me cry at times. How blessed we are to be Americans.
When our Plane landed in California all of us Missionaries who were returning home kissed the ground with tears in our eyes and feelings that one could not imagine unless you lived somewhere else besides this great Nation of America.
So this is why I love the 4th of July so much. Since that time I have grown to love American History more than before. This year especially I am reading a lot of what took place the days before the signing of the Declaration Of Independence. It makes one feel even more proud to be an American ( as song by Lee Greenwood) I hope that each one of you will thank the Lord above of what we enjoy. GOD BLESS AMERICA

A TRIBUTE TO OUR FATHER'S

Not many couples out there have Father's who share the same name. John and I were blessed to have great Father's. They both were named Sam. So as we just celebrated Father's day I wanted to pay TRIBUTE to the two men in our lives who were everything to us.I don't know if it came with the name Sam but both of our Father's were great men many loved them and respected them. I don't think either one of them had an enemy in this world. They both had big hearts that would give their shirts off their backs if they needed to. They both had a great sense of humor you knew when you were around them that you were going to laugh and laugh a lot. They both were hard working they taught their children to be trustworthy as well as a good work ethic. My Father Sam Rudd was a very giving person in serving others especially he made sure that the widows or widowers were always taken care of. I know many times my father made sure those who were in need were taken care of no matter what they needed. My Father in Law Sam Acquisto did what he needed to to make sure his family was always taken care of.He taught by example in how to treat other's. Our family both were blessed by these two men when times were hard and painful for our families. I will always be so grateful for my Father in Law in letting our family live with him and his wife for five months when things were so challenging. It was a great time for our children to get to know their Grandparents better as well as witness what a giving heart they both had. I know it was hard on them at times as Sam and his wife Kay were newlyweds for a year and here comes our family of six to live with them. Then when we moved to Utah my parents left off with what Kay and Sam did by helping us get on our feet and make the transfer here in Utah. I think I could go on and on about these great men who both shared the same name as Sam. Maybe it is just a feeling I have but just maybe it has something to do with the name Sam that they are great Father's I sure do hope so as I have a son named Sam I hope that one day he will be a great Father as well. WE LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU BOTH. Thanks for being such good men.

BEING YOUNG AT HEART

As you can see John and I at times still think we are young.Here are a few of the pictures that will tell you that we are out playing like we were in our 20's or 30's. Some of these pictures are from Hawaii when we went on a Hike, Kayaking and Zip line.In the hike we had to go around a pastor of cattle we then went and had lunch in a natural pool with water falls John went on the zip line I stayed back and took the pictures. There are pictures from a boat ride we took for four hrs with a dinner at sunset the one picture of John waving is with his best friend Burt who has been his friend since they were young. When we were in the Bahama's we went on a Sig Way tour. It goes to show that no matter how old you are you can still have fun.