Familial Research and Development

AFTON'S SUGAR COOKIES CREAM TOGETHER: 1 c. margarine 1 1/2 c. sugar 1 tsp. vanilla Add one at a time: 2 eggs Add alternately with dry ingredients: 1 c. sour cream Dry ingredients: 5 c. flour 2 t. baking powder 1 t. soda 1/2 t salt Chill overnight, roll out. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet at 350 deg. for 10 to 12 min. (don't over bake) PEANUT BRITTLE Butter large cookie sheet or spray with Pam. Arrange wax paper under cookie sheet for stretching brittle later. Measure peanuts; have butter, soda and vanilla measured and ready to add. 1 c. water 2 c. sugar 1 c. white Karo Syrup 2 c. raw spanish peanuts 2 t. soda 1 t. vanilla 1/4 c. butter In heavy saucepan, combine first 3 ingredients. Cook to soft crack or 250 deg.; add 2 c. peanuts, cook to 300 deg., stirring constantly. Remove pan from heat, immediately add 2 t. soda; 1 t. vanilla and 1/4 c. butter. Beat with wooden spoon un til mixture foams up and mixed well. Pour onto prepared cookie sheet. (Optional - You may stret

A family who lived in our ward when we first moved to Salem had a boy-their youngest-about the age of our oldest. He may have been a year or two older, but I thought he was close to our oldest child's age. He suffered an accidental death. But he had written this really cool story before-hand and his dad, who had been our home teacher for a while shared it with us. I love the story. Maybe you will appreciate it too: WHY CHRISTMAS IS SO NICE Once upon a time in the days before anything much was organized, and when people were all pretty much alike and had not yet learned to be doctors or politicians or secretaries or movie stars or optometrists, there were never any holidays, because everyone was too busy. What they were busy doing was...TAKING STUFF! They spent all of their time either taking stuff, or trying to take stuff, or planning to take stuff from each other. Or fixing the walls and fences and barbed-wire in their section of the village so no one could take stuff from th

How could she possibly have known the one thing that I'm struggling with more so than anything else? Of all the 'empty-nest' syndrome pains this has to be the biggest. There were few to none of the Christmas traditions in my life as a child. And when I found out you could make some I did. We would start on a Sunday after Thanksgiving with a Family Home Evening lesson on what can we give the Savior for Christmas. We would each write a letter to Christ, seal them in envelopes and put them in a wrapped box. The box would be open on April 6-Christ's true birthday and we'd read through them and see how well we were doing. I loved this tradition. Another tradition was to pick out one new ornament every year for each child. I'd buy some and let them choose which one they wanted to keep. When they moved out of our home to be on their own, they'd have a dozen and a half (or more) Christmas ornaments to bring back memories of their Christmas's past. Another tradit

Our dishes were interesting. Dad had been given some aluminum (gold tinted on the outside) 12" round dinner plates from his parents. There were four of them. They (his parents) ran the motel/diner in Buellton and we lived in one of the rooms (had a kitchenette) while dad searched for a job. We were there for several months (remind me to tell the story about the field I inadvertently set afire). There were also about 3 oval pewter plates (these were thick-about 1/4" thick) that were about 12" wide and 8" tall. I have since found out that neither of these are good things to use for dishes-because of the aluminum that gets into your food. But hey, they didn't know that back then so, we survived anyway AND the plates never broke. I recall being about 9 years old and was learning how to do the dishes. I was supposed to be working with Bob (it was his chore and I was supposed to help-do what he told me to do). Well, it didn't take too long before I wasn't doin

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL 13 December 2008 THE reason for the season. We have celebrated Christmas as a married couple for 35 years now. It’s an interesting journey. Many symbols represent Christmas-many from marketing born of commercialism. Others are deeply seated from the scriptures. Many Christian symbols are being attributed to non-Christian worship (paganism, druids, etc.). To this ‘new’ knowledge I say, whatever. Christ existed before druids and paganism and He will exist after. If puny mankind thinks he knows better and knows all there is to know about religion (purportedly created by man to explain the unexplainable), well, they’ve got another think coming. I’m certain that many in mortality who were so sure of their ‘absolute’ and ‘perfect’ knowledge have had and will have quite a rude awakening when they pass to the other side of that thin fragile veil between mortality and both pre- and post-mortality. We crossed it once getting here, we’ll cross it again returning home. Ch

Riddley, Riddley Ree, I see something you don't see. And the color(s) of it is(are): (list goes here). My mom used to spend hours (it seemed like to me) with us kids playing this game. She'd pick an ornament on the tree and start the game. Sometimes the other kids would play for a while. I would keep playing and playing. I loved the game. When I became a mom I would play this same game with my kids. I found it fun to continue the tradition and I found it useful to keep the kids entertained. Of course with my kids we had to come up with rules. They pushed all kinds of boundaries. So there were rules like the lights don't count, the stand doesn't count, only the ornaments count, you can't switch which ornament you were thinking of just because someone guessed yours on the first try. The only rule my mom ever had to use with us was if no one guessed it after a reasonable time, then you got to pick another ornament and do it again. Mom seemed to have infinite patience w

I was 11 or 12 years old (so 5th or 6th grade) when my parents decided to be kind and throw a birthday party for me. I don't know where they got the hare-brained idea-just that they did. I don't recall them throwing one for Bob, and maybe they did for Barbara but I don't remember one for Chipper either. For two weeks before 'my party' anytime they wanted something done and done now it was, "If you don't get it done, do it right, do it right now... ...then we can call everyone and cancel your party. You don't have to have one you know." By the day of the party, with mom sitting in her chair like normal, and telling me to come here and do this and go there and do that, I was ready to call everyone and cancel it and save them the trouble-well if I knew their phone numbers or how to get them. I hadn't been allowed to use the phone. It was a tool and belonged to my parents. During the party I was allowed to play the games but not allowed to win the