Reaching Virginia!

Finding the angels!

An angel gets her wings!

Visitng Williamsburg!

She's a natural born model!

'I think you guys should quit taking my picture!'

Your dad and I are in paradise!







                                                                   Outside Carthage Jail!

The living area where the jailer and his wife and 7 children lived.

We were unaware that the jail cell was separate from the Martyr Room.

The Martyr Room!

This is the window the Prophet Joseph fell through.

Carthage Jail.

Such an amazingly spiritual visit! Again let me express my appreciation for all that the Prophet Joseph did to bring forth the gospel. We are blessed because of his sacrifice.

                                                 The beautiful Nauvoo Temple!!!

It is truly breath-taking!

And my heroes Joseph and Hyrum on the road to Carthage!

A big thank you to my dear, sweet husband who included this stop at Nauvoo in our amazing vacation. Truly a wonderful detour!!!

Random Thoughts From Home

Only half our family but we look good! This is in front of the Hill Cumorah statue. It was beautiful but not as gorgeous as our family. Amazing to get the attention of everyone for the picture isn't it? So much to tell you but I'm going to do it in increments, otherwise I'll go crazy.

But I want to start by saying that although I've had a crazy day I went to the library this morning and got 3 books on Amish cooking. And yes I got the recipe for 'STICKY BUNS'. It's out of a book called 'The Best of Amish Cooking' by Phyllus Pellman Good. I will try the recipe out probably Wednesday morning and let you know what I think. If you'd like to try it yourself let me know and I'll e-mail it to you. I'm not sure of recipe rights when it comes to books and such so we'll play it safe. I do so admire the Amish and their work ethic and I thought I'd try to discover recipes for some of the goodies we had in New York.

 It was a glorious vacation and Dad and I are still recovering! I went to the garden this morning and picked, with Sue and Byron's help two huge bowls of green beans. Unfortunately the majority of them had gone woody so I'll probably only get about 5 pints. But I'm ready for the rest of the green beans. And our tomatoes are starting to come on as well. It's going to be a busy end of summer and autumn! Isn't it great when your day is full and you can't get it all done? It means your life is very full to overflowing and you should be grateful! I love you all and wish you a great week! Mom







Random Thoughts From Home!

I am so excited that Nolan will begin playing soccer this Fall! Another generation of Mitchell's on the socceer field. I love watching the game and  if we lived closer you can bet we'd be at every game! I'll be there in spirit for sure!

I found out my grades for this last quarter of school. I received a 3.5, a 3.9 and a 4.0! Tell the grandchildren that it's never too late to learn new things and that I'm having the time of my life discovering the joys of education!

Jordan and Ginanne have just a little over a week left before they head out on their new adventure. I'm sure proud of both of them for all the hard work and effort they put into achieving Jordan's teaching degree and now they step out into the world ready to conquer Arizona! Go San Luis Sidewinders! This little family is going to do great!

Dad's garden is doing great and he's almost got my strawberry patch finished. Can't wait to post pictures! I start volunteering at West Central Community Center next Thursday working with Mrs. Fowler doing storytime with the children. This will be a great opportunity to apply some of what I've learned in my classes. Can't wait!

Have a great week and we'll talk to each of you soon!

Love, Mom



Shopping for Bargains!

I went to Cash & Carry this morning. It's a bulk product place that I really enjoy. But here too, you have to make sure you're getting the best deal. For instance, C&C has a 5-lb block of Tillamook cheese for $17.87. Not a great deal but usually here you'll find a good deal on cheese. However, I noticed in the Yoke's ad this week they have a 2-lb baby Tillamook for $6.99. That would be $16.50 for 5 lbs worth. I would never pay this much for cheese anyway but it's an example of making sure you're paying the least amount. I ended up buying a 5-lb bag of shredded cheddar Jack for $9.98! Whoo-hoo! I also bought a 50 lb bag of flour for which I paid $13.87. The last time I bought flour was back in 2010 and I paid $11.69 for 50-lbs. How do I remember these things? I don't. I use a price book which some of you will recognize as an idea from The Tightwad Gazette. Mine is just half sheets of paper which has been used on one side. I hole punched it and started keeping track of main groceries I buy. Because of my book I know that I used to pay $3.75 for a #10 can of pizza sauce at C&C. Now I pay $4.39 for the same can. I like comparing the past to the present and keeping track where I got the best price for a product. I also bought 2 #10 cans of tomato sauce and 1 #10 can of tomato paste. I'll be canning spaghetti sauce soon and I'll post my recipe on my other blog. I paid about $11.00 for all three cans and should get about 14 quarts or more of sauce.

Happy thrifty shopping and here's to 'a penny saved, a penny earned'!

Love Mom

Random Thoughts from Home!

Ever since I read Lindsay's blog and saw Nolan's picture of his garden I've started getting excited for Spring! Dad's started a new raised flower bed for me in the northeast corner of the backyard and that meant using the dirt from my raised strawberry patch. But this year I'm going to take my sister Patty's amazing strawberry patch idea and put it in my garden. I'll share pictures as soon as we get going. Patty is an amazing gardener! And she shares her bounty of veggies and flowers with me. She makes my yard look good. Isn't it amazing how you never realize the gifts of your siblings until you're older? But thank you Nolan for your inspiring picture. You are wonderful and you are a great artist! Hurry up Spring!

Love

Grandma Mitchell