Two posts from me in one day - aren't you all lucky?!?

I got this recipe from HERE. I thought it looked like a fun cake for this time of year. I haven't tried it yet so if anyone does let me know how it tastes.

Spice Pumpkin Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 pkg Duncan Hines® Moist Deluxe® Spice Cake Mix
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 cup chopped nuts
• 2 tubs Duncan Hines® Creamy Home-Style Classic Vanilla Frosting
• green, red and yellow food coloring
• 1 flat bottom ice cream cone

Baking Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour 10-inch Bundt pan.
2. Combine cake mix, eggs, water and pumpkin in large bowl. Beat at medium speed with electric mixer for 2 minutes. Stir in nuts. Pour into pan.
3. Bake 40 to 50 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 25 minutes. Invert onto serving plate. Cool completely.
4. Measure 1/4 cup frosting into small bowl. Tint with green food coloring. Place ice cream cone upside down on waxed paper. Frost with green frosting. Refrigerate.
5. Tint remaining frosting with red and yellow food coloring until frosting is desired orange color. Measure 3 tablespoons orange frosting in small bowl; add green food coloring to brown frosting.
6. Frost cake with orange frosting. Make eyes, mouth and nose with brown frosting as desired on pumpkin. Place green frosted ice cream cone in center hole of cake for stem.

Food Storage

Do your food storage shelves look like this?


Would you like them to look like this?
I have been feeling lately like I really need to get on top of my food storage. But sometimes it just seems so overwhelming and like such a big task. But with the way things are in our country right now I think it is more important now than it has ever been to be prepared. We have been told for years to have our food storage and for the first time in my life I am actually feeling like it is possible that we may all actually need to fall back on it for one reason or another.

One of my friends (thanks Sam I hope you dont mind me sharing) had a post on her blog about this very thing and she had a link to a Basic Food Storage Plan that is do-able, affordable, and not so overwhelming.

By the end of 52 weeks you will have:

700 lbs of wheat, 240 lbs of sugar, 40 lbs of powdered milk, 13 lbs of salt, 10 albs of honey, 5 lbs of peanut butter, 45 cans of tomato soup, 32 cans of mushroom soup, 15 cans of tuna fish, 10 boxes of macaroni and cheese, 500 aspirin, 730 multiple vitamins, 6 lbs of dried yeast, and 6 lbs of shortening. This should sustain 2 people for 1 year. All for only $5.00 a week. (Add $5.00 for each additional 2 people in your family.)

You can find the list HERE.

I just wanted to share this with you all. I am going to get started on it right away. We never know what the future has in store for us yet we have no need to fear if we are prepared.

If any of you have any other great ideas about food storage or even 72 hr kits please share.

Just a few of my thoughts

Obviously we all love blogging.

It is such a great way to keep in touch with family and friends. I enjoy so much going to all of your blogs and seeing what you are doing and how your families are growing and changing.

It is so nice to keep in touch with family members that normally I wouldn't see or talk to very often. And yet through your blogs I know you and your families as if you live right next door.

I have been able to reconnect with friends that I haven't seen in years and now, through your blogs, I feel as though I am all caught up on what you have been doing for the past 30 yrs, and it seems like we are still as good of friends as we were way back when.

New friends or old, good friends or acquaintances - I love you all and you touch my life each day in some way through your blogs.

Some of your posts are informative ~ some are creative and fun.

It is fun to go to different blogs and see how you have "decorated" them with your own personal touches.

Some of you have recipe blogs that I use all of the time. Some of you have links to other fun blogs and websites that I enjoy going to. Thanks for sharing! It is amazng to me that we have this technology and that we can be a part of this blogging world.

In the Ensign this month is a great article on blogging. It is entitled, "Finding and Sharing the Gospel Online" and you can find it HERE.

It talks about how we can do even more with our blogs and make a difference one post at a time.

Some of the topics are:

* Blogging about the church in Everyday Life

* Being a Blogging Missionary

* Creating Blogs about Full-Time Missionaries

(Here is Mindys blog if you are interested in following her)

* A Strong Medium for Sharing Testimony

* Safety tips for Better Blogging.

I encourage you all to read this article and maybe we can all find ways to use our blogs not only to uplift and strengthen each other but to also use them to reach out and share Heavenly Father's love and truth of the gospel.

"We have entered a new age of technology, so we have new avenues of missionary work open to us. With a little creativity and boldness, we can help others to learn more about the gospel." ~quote from 'Be a blogging missionary'

I will return. . . . .

. . . Someday

. . . maybe around Dec 18th

. . . . . when this semester is done!!!!!

But for now. . . . . .

all I do is

. . . .homework. . . . . eat. . . . . . read . . . . .read. . . . . . go to class . . . . . . eat. . . . . . homework. . . .

. . . . . read. . . . . more reading. . . . . . write papers. . . . research . . . . . . homework

. . . . . . sleep ( very little) and more homework and more homework and more. . . . .

Ok ~ you get the point!!!!

check back soon. . . . .

When in California. . . .

. . . . go to the Happiest Place on Earth!

. . . . and have a good scream or two!!!!

Can you find us?

More baby pics

Please indulge this new grandma a little bit and go to this website and see how

handsome my new little grandson Trent is.

Check it out HERE.

Sister Gneiting

This is a picture of Mindy in the MTC after about 5 weeks. This is Sister Emily Hegerhorst, one of Mindys BYUI roomates who is serving a mission in Tennessee. This was the day that Emily was leaving the MTC to head out. I actually stole this picture of off Emilys website.

Mindy is doing well. She has 5 more weeks in the MTC and then she will head for Russia. She is getting really anxious to get out there and serve the Lord and the people of Russia.

If any of you are interested in following her I am posting her letters at: http://sistergneiting.blogspot.com/

You can also write to her at:

Sister Mindy L. Gneiting
MTC Mailbox # 189-0928
Russia Novosibirsk Mission
2005 N. 900 E.
Provo, Utah 84604-1793

I know that she would love to hear from you.

Grandma's baby boy!

I just can't get enough of this scrumptious little morsel!!

Isn't he yummy!!!

Being a grandma is so great!

I never imagined it would be so wonderful.

The only problem is~ I live too far away from him.

What will this grandma do?

How am I ever going to be able to leave him?

Well I can't think about that right now -

I am just loving being here and spending time with him and

watching him grow and change everyday.

Grandma's little sweetheart!!!!!

Waiting and waiting. . . . . .

The BIG question of the day:

When am I going to have my grandchild?!?!?!

The answer: Hopefully Soon!!

For those of you wanting a "baby" update ~ Amy Joy is due 2 weeks from today.

We are all getting really anxious to meet this new little member of our family.

And no (the answer to the next question) we don't know if its a he or a she.

It is going to be a big surprise!!!!!

and we can't wait!!!

It's kind of ironic. Amy had surgery to sew her cervix shut, spent about 23 weeks on bedrest, had several scares with contractions and hospital stays, had meds to stop the contractions, etc.

NOW she is off of bedrest, off the meds, living life like normal, coming and going...........

.......and NOTHING!!!!

No contractions, no baby!!! (but we really are glad that this little one is still cooking and is gonna come out well done!)

I guess we can see WHO is in charge of their family already!!

What do you think??

When do you think this baby is coming?

And is it a boy or girl?

Let the guessing begin!

Violets Custom Cakes

I just have to give a shout out to a friend of mine and her custom cake business.

For those of you in the Rexburg / Idaho Falls area ~ if you are looking for a

great cake decorator you need to check this out.

For my Montana friends this is Justin Moss' wife Annette's business.

She is amazing and I just had to show you how talented she is.

Way to go Annette!!

Check it out HERE!

(and if you are interested in checking out their family blog it is HERE)

Golfing buddies

About 4 yrs ago I told Joe that I wanted to learn to golf. I thought that it would be something fun that we could do together. So he started teaching me. I was really pretty bad at first. He felt sorry for me so he would always spot me several strokes so our scores would be closer and I wouldn't feel so bad when he beat me by alot. What a nice guy, right?

Well I kept working hard and improving and by the end of the summer I could give him a pretty good game all on my own without any extra help.

.......uh oh....... Not good for a man's ego!!!!!!

Well he started getting quite competitive and he would get frustrated when I would do good and almost beat him. (Wives just aren't suppossed to beat their husband in sports....right?

I can't help it that I seem to be a natural at golf.......and at bowling.....

............but that's a whole different post for later. hahahaha)

So we both decided that it would be much more fun if we didn't compete against each other and only compete against ourselves. So each week we only keep score so that we can see if we improved our own game. (Yeah right!!!!)

So after each game we total up our scores and see if we beat ourselves from the week before. Who ever looses (to themselves) has to buy the other one a milkshake. Sounds fair, right? .............hmmmmm

Today we went golfing!!!!

This is the first time for me this summer do to a bad back and shoulder. It felt so good to be back out on the golf coarse. I love it!!!

I only got a few pictures taken but here they are. (Just so you know.......don't tell anyone......Joe made me stop taking pictures after he started getting frustrated!!!!! I wonder why?!?! LOL!!!!!)


This is a funny picture. Where is Joe's golf club? It's there....somewhere....I promise!!

Taking a break for a drink. This is a beautiful coarse! We love to golf here. If you look really hard you can see a river in the background.

Oh......oh......oh.......is it going in?

Darn......so close!!!!

I know - I know....I have terrible form. But whose looking?

Well ~ I'm not saying who had the best score.........

But look who is drinking water.........

........and who got the huckleberry milkshake!!!!!!!!

Let's just say.........not only did I beat my score from my last game back in the fall.......

.........but I beat Joe by TWO STROKES!!!!!

Victory is SWEET in more ways than one!!!!!!

(In Joe's defense....he claims he was going easy on me since it was my

first time back golfing in 9 months.

Ohhh..........what a great guy I'm married to.

Wait till next saturday dear!!!!!!! I think I'll get a chocolate milkshake!!

Mindy's missionary blog

I have created a blog to journal Mindy's mission experience. I will upload her emails and pictures so if you are interested in following her journey for the next 18 months in Russia

check it out HERE

The MTC - Land of the Missionaries

We left on Tuesday to head to Salt Lake City to take Mindy to the MTC. It was just Joe and I because no one else could get away. I really wasn't looking forward to dropping her off, especially at the curb, it just sounded so harsh. Plus I hate to cry and I knew that I would be a blubbering idiot and that I wouldn't even be able to talk.

She didn't have to go in until noon on Wed. So we woke up at our motel and spent a nice relaxing morning just talking and going over everything to make sure we hadn't forgotten anything important. We gave our last pieces of advice to her. Then Joe gave her a father's blessing and we had our last family prayer with her, well at least for 18 months. It was a calm, relaxing atmosphere. There were tears shed but not uncontrollably. The spirit bore witness to me that she is ready, prepared, and heading to where the Lord wants her to be at this time in her life. I know that He needs her and she is going to do great things.

I am so grateful for that peace and comfort.

Then we loaded up and headed for the MTC. As we left our motel Joe pulled into a Carl's Jr. restaurant and pulled up next to a car that had Rhiana and Amy in it. They had gotten up early and drove down to see her off.

It was a nice surprise.

We got to the MTC early so we could park and walk around and take some pictures before she had to go in. Then when it was time we all piled into the car and drove into the MTC. They directed us to the curb in front of the main building. They checked her arrival on a list and two nice Elders unloaded her luggage. They took pictures of us and then after some quick hugs and good lucks, and good byes they whisked her off quite quickly. She was gone and out of sight before we even got back in our car.

They were very friendly, efficient and fast. It was much better to do it this way rather than going inside and feeling the strong spirit that is there, and crying and crying

and just dragging on the agony of saying good bye. It is one time that feeling the spirit feels like torture! LOL

Even though saying goodbye is never easy - this definately was a better way of doing it.

We are so proud of Mindy and I know that the people of Novosibirsk Russia are going to love her as much as we do. We have heard that they are a sad people with no hope. I am so greatful that Mindy can serve the Lord and the people of Russia by bringing them hope through the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the love of the Savior.

If any of you would like to write to her she would love to hear from you.

For the next 3 months her MTC address is:

Sister Mindy LeAnn Gneiting

MTC Mailbox # 189-0928

Russia Novosibirsk Mission

2005 N. 900 E.

Provo, UT 84604-1793

Here are some of the pictures we took.

Heading to the MTC.

Rhiana and Amy following behind.

Being the great photographer that I am.........The only picture I got of her standing alone in front of the sign...........and her eyes are closed. Ughhhh!!!!

Daddys baby girl is all grown up!!!

Sisters......sisters!!!!!

Trying not to cry!!!!!

Do you think we have spent enough time at the sign?

Just posponing the inevitable of taking her inside!!!

More pictures ....... more delaying!!!!!

Having fun helps keep the tears away!!

More fun........

.........and more!!!!!!!

Even the dogs came to send her off!!

Only moments away from drop-off time!!

One last picture in front of the MTC.

Getting instructions before being whisked off into the Land of Missionaries!!

Bye Bye!!!! See you in 18 months!!!!!

We love you Sister Gneiting!!!!!!!!!!!

Sister Gneiting

We had a wonderful day yesterday!

It was Mindy's farewell. All of my kids, except my son Scott and his wife, were here and it was fantastic!!

We had so much fun together.

Mindy gave a beautiful talk and testimony. She was pretty much the only speaker and had to take 25 minutes. I was worried for her but I didn't need to because she was filled with the spirit and she taught us and touched our hearts and spirits. I know that the Lord needs her to serve this mission and I know that she will do great. I have no problem with letting her go. I will miss her terribly but I am looking so forward to her letters and every other great thing that comes from having a child out serving the Lord. But I'm really not looking forward to taking her to the MTC on Wed though and dropping her off at the curb. That just sounds so harsh. But I think it will be better than the old way of going inside to the "Mothers Torture Chamber" (as my friend calls it - LOL!!!) just to stretch out the agony of saying goodbye. I'm glad that they have changed that policy.

She is so anxious to just get going that I am more happy for her than sad for me.

After church we went over to the park and had a nice luncheon with many friends and family. It was perfect weather and we all had a very enjoyable time. Then we visited with relatives at our house for most of the afternoon. Then at 6:00 Sunday evening she was set apart as a full time missionary with all of our kids there (minus Scott & Amy Joy ~ we missed you guys!) to witness it. The counseler in our stake presidency did it and his counsel to her was very inspiring. He gave her a beautiful blessing when he set her apart. He told her that she would have angels surrounding her and guarding her every minute. As he said that I had a picture come into my mind of my parents and Joes dad, who have all passed away, standing there with her.

It was so absolutely comforting for me and it gave me great peace. Just one of the Lord's tender mercies given to mothers of missionaries.

Then we came home and topped off the night with root beer floats and watched the DVD of Pres Monson.

It was such a super great day.

As usual, I took my camera but forgot to take any pictures until everyone was gone and we were just cleaning up from the luncheon. Here are a few of the family:

Mindy with Cameron and Hollie

Sisters.......sisters!!!!

A couple of weeks ago Mindy and I were in Utah and we went to a place called the Sister Missionary Mall to shop for mission clothes. We were there about 3 hours and we had a great time picking outfits for her. The gals that work there and other women and future missionaries shopping all enjoyed watching her come out of the dressing room with each outfit on. She got alot of things that she can mix and match, layer and un-layer.....which makes it more fun.

Tonight she did a fashion show for us of some of the clothes that she got. See if you can count all of the different outfits she can put together. I personally think that she is going to be one of the best dressed sister missionaries out there. Enjoy the fashion show!

How do I tie this scarf??

Ready to hit the streets of Russia!!

Waa laaa!!!!! 3 outfits with just a little layering!!!

What can I say? I Love purple!!

Another 3 outfits in 1!!!!!!

#1

#2

#3

We are so excited for Mindy and know that she is going to have an amazing experience for the next 18 months. I know that the people of Russia are going to love her as much as we do, especially as she brings to them the joy of the gospel and the love of the Savior.

We love you Sister Gneiting!!!!