The Confession

The Confession by John Grisham

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


When my husband and I go on road trips we like to listen to a book to keep us awake (Usually works for him; Usually doesn’t work for me. It’s a good thing he does most of the driving!) Grisham is a favorite author for this purpose as his books are suspenseful and engrossing (and our local library has a lot of them). This one was well-read in the recording and certainly was suspenseful. But I have to say that this book was upsetting in many ways. More than once I wanted to turn it off. But we persevered and I think I’m glad we did. Grisham’s theme was over-obvious: Abolish the death penalty! If I had to give this book a one-word label, I think I would choose “thought-provoking.” Is that one word?



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Celebrating Ancestor's Birthdays

Our daughters are mindful of their ancestors and anxious to teach their children about them.  One way they do this is to have an ancestor day or celebrate the ancestor's birthday or hold an Heritage Dinner.  Recently, Kristen's children had the day off of school, so they had an ancestor day.  The kids got up early and made foods from recipes of their ancestors. They google chatted with me and I told them about their great- great grandmas on my side:  Libby Fox Peterson and Beena Gabrielsen.  The children made foods from recipes from these ancestors:  Libby's Potato soup and Grandma Beena's rolls (nobody made rolls like Grandma Beena!)

I loved talking and reminiscing with these kids about my grandmas.

Shonna was inspired and made Grandma Beena's rolls, too.  She sent a picture. She made half of them into cinnamon rolls.

Kristen made my mom's tamales:

Dorothy's Tamales

1 Pre-made tamale (She loved Lynn Wilson brand, but they don't make them anymore)

1 Sunny side up egg

Chopped onion

Shredded Cheese

1/2 can Tomato Sauce

Tabasco sauce to taste

Cook tamale according to package directions. Meanwhile fry an egg to desired consistency and heat tomato sauce. Then plate tamale and top with egg, onion, cheese and tomato sauce. Enjoy!

We do a food blog, too.  This made me realize I need to post more of my ancestor's recipes on there so that they are preserved for their posterity.  We have posted a few.  Kristen posted the tamale recipe:  http://hungryhintons.blogspot.jp/2012/02/dorothys-tamales-and-chilies-rellenos.html
Kristen's family also made recipes from Ken's mom.

We were in Logan with Shonna's family on my Dad's birthday- February 18th.  My dad was an excellent cook and did most of the cooking in his later years.  I shared with my grandchildren this memory:

At one time, my dad got very sick and was hospitalized for a long time.  He was so anxious to get out of the hospital and get home- and do his own cooking.  I was in Idaho with them when he was finally released.  The first thing he wanted to do was make his delicious Beef and Vegetable soup.  He really wasn't strong enough yet to cook, but he was so excited to try.  I got him all of the ingredients and we set up a stool in the kitchen, so he could sit while he chopped, etc.  

 I made his Hamburger/ Vegetable soup to eat on his birthday and think about Grandpa Gabe.  The kids really liked it.

I am so grateful my daughters are mindful of their ancestors and teach their children about them.

Brielle is in the Friend Magazine!

A few years ago, Brielle submitted her experience of reading the Book of Mormon and picture to the Friend magazine.  Since she was a little girl, she loved the Friend magazine, especially the little articles submitted by children.  She wanted to be part of that, so she tried it.  The Friend wrote back and said they would print her story.  Soon thereafter, it appeared on the digital version of the Friend online.  Brielle's family thought that was the end of it.  But a few months ago they contacted Kristen and asked for a more updated photo of Brielle. But then they didn't hear of anything.
At the end of February, Caleb (Shonna's son- Brielle's cousin) was playing at a friend's house.  His friend's mom brought in the March Friend magazine from the mail.  Caleb started looking through it and found his cousin in there!

This is the article.  Isn't she cute?  We are so proud of her!

Brielle's dream came true!

We love you, Brielle!

Shonna Has Surgery

On Friday, February 16th, we went to Logan, Utah, arriving in time for Ken's 2:00pm appointment with Blake for dental work.  He spent the afternoon in the dental chair and I spent the afternoon with

Shonna and family.

That evening, we attended a very fun party with all of the Hinton cousins that live in Cache Valley.  It was Chinese New Years, so each family brought Chinese dishes to share.  It was so fun to see these wonderful people.  The little cousins and the older ones had a very fun time together.

Mindy (Spencer's cute wife) and baby Oliver

Nephi(his wife Aubrey kind of shows), Janelle and her husband, Mark, and Spencer.

The kids had a craft table where they made Chinese lanterns

I sure wish I had gathered all of the cousins together for a nice photo . . . story of my life!  I think of it afterward!

Early the next morning, Blake performed oral surgery on Shonna.  She has had bite/jaw problems her whole life, so for the past four years, she has worn braces and had metal plates in her mouth to correct the problem.  On Saturday, he removed all of the above.  It was a long and difficult surgery.

So, Ken and I helped out with the kids, cooking, cleaning, nursing, etc.

In the evenings, I would sneak out and take pictures of the gorgeous mountains.  Shonna and Blake have such a pretty view from their home.

We read a lot of story books. 

For the first few days, Shonna was on a regimen of ice- 20 minutes on; 20 minutes off.  She got very swollen and sore.

Grandpa doing his morning exercises

On Sunday, we let Shonna rest and went to church.  While we were in church (3 hours) it snowed 6-8 inches!  No, I am not kidding!  Even the locals were amazed.

After Blake got his kids in his van, he came and scraped our windows- such a good guy!  To say we were ill-equipped is an understatement!  We're from St. George!

I was the cheerleader from inside the car.

We made baked eggs, toast, bacon and Julius for dinner.

And Grandpa did the "Grandpa machine"

And horsey rides that turned into dog piles.

I thought it was cute that little Caleb then treated Gabe to his back.

Family hugs goodnight.  Poor swollen, sore Shonna.

Ready to head out the door for school!  Whew!

My little chef helpers.  I don't remember what we made, but I'm sure they were lots of help!

While the older kids were at school, we put on our princess dresses and danced to Keynote music!

Blake had Wednesday off, so Ken helped him haul in boxes of furniture to the basement and everyone helped assemble it!

Mommy was sore, so Gabe did the reading.  So cute!

The beautiful new table- all assembled.

Winter wonderland!

I did Hannah's hair- all ready for pre-school.

We gave Lily this dollhouse when she was three.  It is a favorite toy of all the kids.  Sometimes all four are gathered around it, playing.

It looks like Grandpa turned the horsey riding over to the kids.

Too tired to finish

Goodbye hugs on Thursday.  Oh, bad hair day!  Yuck!

It was a tiring, but wonderful week with the Cameron family.  We are happy to report that Shonna now has her smile back!