We had a really fun Thanksgiving. The Clarks came over from Minneapolis. We played lots of games, ate lots of good food, went on a fun hike at the Dells of the Eau Claire, did a couple of puzzles and Mary Ann and I even did our traditional craft day. It was fun to have the house full of people. Here are some photos. Janet even made one of the pies, a pumpkin one. I guess she's trying to compete with her brothers. The picture is of a little pie she made with the leftovers.

Here are some of the things I'm thankful for this year:

1. Two beautiful, talented, kind, and smart daughters-in-law and one wonderful, sweet, talented, intelligent son-in-law. It's such a blessing to our family that our oldest three children have found spouses who are such good people, trying to live the gospel. We love you, guys!

2. Safe travel. Our family travels a lot, for fun, for work and for school. I'm thankful for all the years of safe travel that we've had.

3. Missionaries. It's been awhile since we've had a missionary out and it brings a special spirit to our home. Now we'll have two. I don't know exactly how we'll afford it, but I'm thankful for Joanna and Sarah's desires to serve missions.

4. Health and strength. We all have our ups and downs, but the little granddaughter on the way and the return to health and strength of Sarah's knee are miracles to me.

5. I think we have the best friends in the world. They're scattered all over the world, and we don't get to see them much, but they have made us so happy over so many years. This summer, I had the opportunity to get together with one of my college roommates. I hadn't seen her for almost 30 years, but we still have the bond that existed back then. I count some of my seminary students, who are now adults, as friends, too, and that's a wonderful blessing.

There are really too many other things to list, but I know that the Lord has blessed us. I hope you will all spend a few minutes pondering all that you have to be thankful for.

Well, basketball season has started. Last night, Janet had a game in Kaukauna, which is 1 hour and 40 minutes away. On a school night, no less! She got home at 11:50 and still had homework to finish. Obviously, none of the coaches care too much about academics. None of them have kids older than elementary school, either.

Anyway, the DC Everest Evergreens lost to the Kaukauna Galloping Ghosts, 66-64. (Don't you just love these mascots?) Janet played well, scoring 13 points, including three 3's. The team has 11 girls on it and 10 of them got a lot of playing time, so Janet did well for the time she was in. Everyone is still trying to figure out the coach's strategy (or lack thereof!) Just when the starters are picking it up and coming on, he pulls them out and puts in the subs.

This was a non-conference game. The conference season starts Friday when Everest plays Marshfield. Incidentally, both Kaukauna and Marshfield's colors are orange and black. It makes me a little nostalgic!

Can't wait 'til Sarah can join us for twice a week games!

Go Evergreens!

Okay, okay. I know it's been awhile since I posted anything. I guess life has been boring here. But finally, I have something new to post.

This past weekend, we made a quick trip to Fargo, ND, to go to Brandon Hendrickson's wedding reception. It was very nice, but the best part, as always, was being with family and friends. We stayed overnight with the Hendricksons and went to church in the Fargo 2nd Ward. When we lived there 25 years ago, there was only one ward, but now there are two wards and a student branch. There were only a couple of people we knew there, but that's okay. It was fun visiting our old haunts.

Here is a picture of the chapel. It's the building where Ben, Emily and Joanna were blessed. Janet went to YW in the room that used to be the nursery. It's where Joseph figured out that if he sat at the head of the table and ate his snack quickly, he'd get another one, because the teachers couldn't remember where they started passing them out. It's also the place where Joseph was a big hero with the boys in Primary when he was a Sunbeam because he could "Name That Tune" in one note. I think it was "Book of Mormon Stories".

After church, we drove around and showed Janet the married student housing where we lived. She was thrilled. :( But Rene and I enjoyed it. Here's a picture of the very apartment we lived in for 3 1/2 years, 264 E University Village. It looks exactly the same, just a little more run-down.

Sorry, Sarah and Janet. Since we moved when Joanna was three weeks old, this probably doesn't have much relevance to you. But we have happy, happy memories of living in Fargo, ND.

We enjoyed our trip to Utah for Richard's wedding, even though it was lots of driving for a short visit. As always, the best part was being with family. I just wanted to share a few pictures of the trip. Oh, by the way, Janet is fully invested in every sport at BYU, not just basketball!

Culination

I don't think "culination" is a real word, but I like it. I know that culinarian is a real word. So to me, culination is what a culinarian does. I guess the root word would be "culinary"--having to do with or relating to cookery or the kitchen. So, this is a picture of the cheesecake I made last night when we had the missionaries over for dinner. It comes from the Libby's pumpkin company and is called Pumpkin Toffee Cheesecake. I have to admit, it was pretty darn good. Rene said I need to add it to my Best Recipes. In the description, it was listed as challenging. It was a little time consuming, but there really was nothing hard about it--no special cooking techniques or fancy terms. I was happy with it.

I don't know when cooking came to be something I enjoy. I remember well that I didn't really enjoy it as a child or teen. Miriam was always the chef at our house (besides Grandma, whom I have always considered a great cook). I remember that it was a challenge to cook decent meals on a graduate school budget. One year, Joe Giles, a professor at NDSU and a member of the stake presidency, brought us two 50 lb bags of potatoes, so we had potatoes cooked in every imaginable way. Actually, I think he did that more than once.

I guess as I had more time and more opportunity, cooking become more enjoyable. When the kids were all little, it was easy to make bread in between taking care of them. Little by little, I started to collect recipes that we liked and that fit our budget and lifestyle. Along with that came the enjoyment of reading cookbooks. I'll admit, I have looked at lots of cookbooks without cooking a thing from them. But it's fun to imagine what I could do if I felt like it. And some things that I tried, we liked and still cook them today.

I think different people react differently to different types of food. For example, Glazed Apple Pie Bars, which were such a huge hit in Ohio and requested for every potluck, have not gone over well at potlucks here. The original recipe came from Miriam. I don't know if she ever used it, but I passed it along to Mary Ann and she made them to great acclaim in Cincinnati. I don't know if she's tried them in their new home in Minneapolis.

So, I guess culination and the enjoyment of what it produces has become a part of our family synergy. And it's not just us. At the family reunion, I enjoyed a conversation with Matthew Pitts about Alton Brown's pizza dough. What's can I say? It's all GOOD EATS!

Since Janet and Emily started a trend with their posts of lists, I've decided that I will post a list too. Mine is limited, however. This is a list of the books (and genres) of books I like to read.

1. The scriptures--today was parents day at seminary and I really enjoyed reviewing the stories and scripture masteries from the Old Testament. I have to confess that it is one of my favorites in the canon of scripture. Besides that, I dominated at the game we played today.

2. Mysteries--I've read and enjoyed many different mysteries, but my favorites are the cozy English mysteries. I recently finished Agatha Christie's The Secret Adversary, one of the early Tommy and Tuppence novels. I highly recommend it. I'm not quite as thrilled by Poirot and Miss Marple, but they'll do in a pinch. I also highly recommend Josephine Tey and Ngaio Marsh. Also, believe it or not, Georgette Heyer also wrote some mysteries that I like very much. Some of them are hard to get your hands on, so I try to read them when I can find them.

3. Okay, Georgette Heyer. I started reading her many years ago. For those who don't know, she writes romances set in the Regency period in England. Many people abhor these, but I love them. The plainer, but more intelligent, girl always gets her man and there is a great deal of humor. When we lived in Fargo, I saw a complete set of Georgette Heyer romances at the Salvation Army. Since we were poor students, I only bought half of them. Now I wish I had bought them all. I've added to my collection over the years, but a few of them are pretty obscure, so I do have a few gaps in my collection. I haven't read any lately--I've read them so often that I remember all of them--but they're always good to come back to.

4. There is a certain type of novel that I call "midwestern" American novels that I enjoy. I really like Bess Streeter Aldrich and Booth Tarkington. I recently reread The Magnificent Ambersons and liked it. If you've not read Booth Tarkington's Seventeen, you ought to. I would probably include Betty Smith, author of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, in this group, although she is from New York. Her Joy in the Morning, which is also set in the Midwest, is one of my long-time favorites. Perhaps it shouldn't be called "Midwest" but "Turn of the Century."

5. Sorry to all you sci-fi fans, but I heartily dislike science fiction and fantasy. I've never read any Harry Potter, nor do I want to. There are two exceptions to this: I read and very much enjoyed Isaac Asimov's The Foundation trilogy and Susan Cooper's children's series The Dark is Rising. I see that they are now making a movie out of the Susan Cooper series.

6. I have been trying to read some Shakespeare, specifically Twelfth Night, but it's a struggle. I don't think I do well with the dramatic format. If it were written in novel form, I think I would find it easier. My favorite Shakespeare at this point is still The Taming of the Shrew. The Richard Burton/Elizabeth Taylor movie version of it is very, very good.

7. Like Emily, I like children's literature. I have read some very good ones. Here again, I like many different kinds, but that does include many older books. Sorry, Sarah--I've never really gotten into the Anne of Green Gables books. Does anyone remember the books we read aloud when you were all little? I remember that Dad even came in and listened to Farmer Boy.

8. I also like poetry. One of my favorites is Robert Browning's Home Thoughts from Abroad. I helped Janet with some literary analysis of this poem by Ronsard this week and like it:
Sonnets Pour Helene Book II: XLIII

When you are truly old, beside the evening candle,
Sitting by the fire, winding wool and spinning,
Murmuring my verses, you’ll marvel then, in saying,
‘Long ago, Ronsard sang me, when I was beautiful.’

There’ll be no serving-girl of yours, who hears it all,
Even if, tired from toil, she’s already drowsing,
Fails to rouse at the sound of my name’s echoing,
And blesses your name, then, with praise immortal.

I’ll be under the earth, a boneless phantom,
At rest in the myrtle groves of the dark kingdom:
You’ll be an old woman hunched over the fire,

Regretting my love for you, your fierce disdain,
So live, believe me: don’t wait for another day,
Gather them now the roses of life, and desire.

There's much, much more in the world of literature that I enjoy. I'm thankful for parents who passed on to me the desire to read and to learn of what is "of good report" in our world.

Friday was Grandpa Allred's birthday. He would have been 79 years old. It's hard to believe that he has been gone for 7 years. We are luckier than many families, however. We have access to lots of things to remind us of Grandpa--letters, photos, the Bugle, etc. Each of you have scriptures with a personal message from Grandpa to you. I hope that all of us will remember Grandpa (and all of our grandparents) with love and try to honor the heritage he left us. His overriding concern all of his life was that he and his family would be faithful to the Lord.

Here is a copy of one of Granpa's slides. It was taken the weekend that Ben was blessed in Fargo, ND.