Shower Refreshments

Very chocolaty cupcakes and grasshopper pie. I will post the recipe later. But I wanted to post the way I displayed it all. I thought about cupcakes, and there are so many cute cupcake holders now out there, but I do not have one. I just decided to use what I had and I think it turned out into a lovely dessert display.

I used my candlesticks, and attached plates to the top with glue dots.

No-Bake Grasshopper Pie: Prep time 20 minutes

Crust:
1 bag (7 oz.) oval chocolate and mint-filled sandwich cookies.
1/2 cup slivered almond
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
Filling:
8 oz. mascarpone cheese, softened
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup creme de menthe syrup or 1/2 cup mint jelly
2 Tblp. powdered sugar
1 1/4 cup plus 1/3 cup heavy cream
Garnish:
mint leaves and chocolate curls

1. slice 1 inch off one end of each sandwich cookie, Pulse these pieces in food processor with almonds until crumbs are formed. Add softened butter and pat in bottom of glass pie plate. Arrange all the rest of the cookies around the entire edge of the plate, and chill.
2. Filling: Beat mascarpone slightly with hand mixer until smooth. Meanwhile, sprinkle gelatin over 1/4 cup water in 1 cup glass measuring cup. Let soften 2 minutes, microwave 15 seconds until gelatin is dissolved. Cool slightly.
3. Gradually beat mint jelly into the cheese and add sugar, beat. Then add gelatin and beat until all mixed. Then add 1 1/4 cup
heavy cream. Beat until soft peaks form. Pour into prepared crust, swirling top Refrigerate 4 hours before serving.
4. Once pie is set, beat remaining 1/3 cup cream to soft peaks, dollop on top of pie. Sprinkle with chocolate and garnish with mint leaves,
optional

This pedestal was my Mercury glass candlestick stuck to my beautiful big milkglass platter on top. It worked out really great and I love the way it looked.

Baby Shower for Kylee

We had a baby Shower for Kylee on Saturday the 24th. I had lots of fun getting ready for it, and Elliah made adorable invitations and planned the games. We did not know how many we would have, but there was a good turn out. I needed a reason to get my front yard in shape and my flower boxes planted. I really worked hard on cleaning things up out there, and buying flowers for all my pots and boxes. I can't get enough of flowers right now. I am thinking about many more for the front yard too, and hope to work on my secret garden. Anyway, Kylee looks great and is due to have baby Maddox in about 6 weeks. We love you Kylee.

New Life, New Changes

New change in our life, especially forTodd and that is because he is the new Bishop of the Logandale 6th ward. This picture was taken Sunday April 18th and we were lucky to have half of our children home for the event and a great family dinner. We had a great weekend with those kids who came, even though one side of our air conditioner went out so some of the house was quite hot. We handled it and had so much fun anyway, and we all know that Dad and (Todd) will be a great Bishop for the next five years. Boy, I sure love this man!

Early this morning I took these pictures of a brand new little baby across the street from our home. How wonderful it was to see this wobbly legged little creature nursing on it's mommy. It was a wonderful sight.

I took this picture after one of my blogging buddies who happens to live right buy our chapel and this wonderful alfalfa field, let me know in a comment on my blog, that there were hay bales bundled in the field. I hopped in the car to get a picture of it at 8:00 this morning. I am not sure why, I guess it comes from my childhood, but this is one of my favorite sites, and I just feel like such a proud American when I see it. I JUST LOVE THIS! And I just love living out in the Moapa Valley, where we have such a rural feel. Elliah commented as we walked down our quiet street on Saturday, that she had forgotten how very slow paced it was out here. She lives in Santa Clara, Utah and it is really active there in the St. George area. She used to think it was boring, but now she appreciates it so much!

First Hours

Here is some very cool photography of Sailor's first few hours from her own Daddy.

Introducing the newest addition

This one done by her Daddy, he has one one of those big cameras.



This picture was taken about 2;40 a. m. Grammy and Sailor. I love her very much! She comes from the first pregnant daughter in 2010. 1 down and two more to come soon. The picture below is of Kendra's profile, Thursday morning just before getting induced.

We have a new addition to the family. Her name is Sailor Anne and she was born on Friday, April 9th at 2:00 a.m. after a long labor. Her parents are Kendra and Sterling Morris. I got to watch her be born and was that ever a special experience. She weighed 8 lbs. 2 0z. and was 20 inches long. Today we took her to the Dr. and she only weighed 7 lbs 3 oz. so the Dr. said she needs to eat more often. She also is jaundice and has to be on the bili lights. Poor little girl, that is not that much fun for her, in these first few little issues will take care of themselves, and since she is so cute, that makes up for any of it. WE LOVE Sailor Anne.

missing in action!

I just returned from being up in first Cedar City, and then Provo area, waiting for my daughter Kendra's baby to come. Todd wanted me to be closer to Logan since it is about 7-8 hours to get there. He said go spend time with the family. So I did and I had a blast for a week and a half, but alas, no baby. I came home late Friday night because although my daughters give every indication of going into labor and having their babies, they in fact do not. The waiting gets really crazy. And I have decided, as has Kendra also, that Sailor likes it in there.
I am very glad to be back home, but I will have my phone handy and my car loaded up. I am really
happy to have a little bit of time home. While I was up there, I . . . . . . .

1) spent time with Kylee and Clinton.

2) went to DI and Roberts which is going out of business so everything was on sale.

3) ate Kelli's really good homemade pizza at a dinner at their place. They are so busy, it was good to get together for a short while with them.

4) Went on my first ride along with my son in his patrol car for an hour and a half. It was really really cool, until he had to actually arrest someone. I became invisible at that point, but he is truly a great cop, and a really nice and fair one too. I was so proud of him.

5) Saw the house that Isaac and Tiffany are building in Enoch, Utah, and spent quality time with Caleb and Ella. She is one cuddly squishy baby and they are so adorable.

6) Headed to Tara and Trent's house and slept there and got to babysit Evelyn a couple of times and she is just a cute cute little thing.

7) Hit antique shops in the Provo/Orem area, and also hit the DI there.

8) Went to Heber to stay with Josh and Courtney and play with the girls. Courtney and I looked at many antique newspapers and books that she had. We also went to the catholic thrift shop in Heber. I found treasures where ever I went.

9) Went to Carla Morris' house and stayed a couple of nights there. (Carla is the coolest) and that is Kendra's mother-in-law. I felt like I was staying in a nice hotel there.

10) Got to spend quality time with my best friend Linda Liddle, and some of her family members. I had dinner with them one night. We had fun going through antique buttons and looking around at antique shops.

11) Finally decided to return home and wait it out here. Wish me luck in getting to see the birth of the baby. I hope I make it there whenever it is!!!!!

Must be almost Easter!

I am egg crazy lately. That is fresh farm chicken eggs. Especially the ones like these which I got from one of Todd's patients, who has lots of different kinds of chickens. They told me to come and get some lavender ones. I will go over there tomorrow. Turns out I did not know that different kinds of chickens lay different colored eggs. These look like they have just been dyed. I am planning on doing some interesting things with these shells. My favorite ones are the speckled ones.
I had a craving the other day for these little babies. So I whipped some up. Ate about three of them and didn't crave them anymore.

Kendra's Baby Shower

Kendra holding up the little dress I made for Sailor, with her Mother-in-law beside her.
It is a bit blurry, and Kendra's eyes were closed, this is one of my favorite pictures lately of our four wonderful daughters in the last picture all together, before Kendra delivers. Elliah sometimes feels left out, but she is the skinny one and her sisters are all looking at her wishing they had their flat little tummies back.
Measuring to see just how big that belly was.
Lots of hormones floating around here. That is Justine Slade Cook, Venetta Astin ? Kendra, Tara, and Kylee. There was one other friend there, (Brooke Lytle) who was pregnant, but she had to leave before the picture was taken. I thought that I had better update a little bit on the family blog. I just got these pictures from Kendra's baby shower that was only a month ago. I just have not taken the time to do much blogging with Go ahead and Ask. So I am going to do a few posts.

My newest layout.

Here she is! Beautiful, adorable, and so lovable, Ella Mae Askeroth. Okay, I know I am the Grandmother, but seriously she is just the epitomy of adorable baby girl, don't you think? Love her so much. I just don't get to see her enough! But when I do get to hold her, I just cannot stop kissing her cheeks and neck! I was going to just post the pictures, but I saw the pictures and just had to get to a layout right away. I thought that the layout speaks femininity, and sweetness and that is ELLA! Oh and by the way. Her mother Tiffany took these pictures. They are so good. Even Tara our resident photographer thinks so. Way to go Tiffany! The title of the layout is "Those dazzling
Baby blues"

Tribute to Todd's father

This is Jerrold Marvin Askeroth, or better known as Gramps. He passed away on Wednesday, March 3, 2010. We will miss him very much. This picture was taken on his birthday, March 17, 2007. It was his 75th birthday. I made this cake for his party at Elliah's house. In this picture one can see how kind his demeanor was (you can see it in his face). Always considerate, kind and gentle, with a very good sense of humor. We will honor him with a family get-together on March 20th. He stood 6' 6" tall. . . He truly was a giant of a man.

She is 29

Can this be true. My oldest Daughter
and sweet little girl turned 29 Saturday, Feb. 27, 2010
Am I old enough for this? Well I do have one that is 30. But Elliah was my tiny little baby girl
born 2 weeks after I turned 24. She weighed in at 5 lbs. 5 oz and was 18" long.
In this picture she weighed 8 lbs. and was 2 months old. I still forget how petite she is
until I stand next to her, and put my arm around her. She is little, but has a giant of a personality. I admire her so much. She is one of my very closests friends and confidants, and
is such an example to me. She never wavers, has very high standards, and tries to always improve herself. She is a good wife, wonderful Mother, sweet daughter and thoughtful sister.
Todd and I feel very privileged to have been able to be her parents. We love you Elliah and
want to wish you a very Happy Birthday. Enjoy this next year.
and know that we love you so much. I could write a short novel here in this post about Elliah
and all the things I like about her, but instead I will just say, that she is really NEAT! And I just can't believe that you are 29!

Valentines make me happy, BUT floods do not!

I am posting some of the Valentines I made this year
because this is something that makes me happy.
I loved making Valentines and sharing them on my
creative blog. I swapped some with some other
bloggers and gave some away, and made one just
for a little decoration. This was very satisfying!

The part that makes me really unhappy, is when
we have a flood in our basement. Yes, we had another
flood in our basement yesterday. This is the second time
in 9 months for us. Maybe we have hit our quota for our lifetime.
We woke up to water coming in a basement window because of a broken water
main outside. No insurance covers this one folks. It turns
out, that if you do not carry flood insurance, and you have
a pipe break outside your house and it floods inside it is not
covered unless you carry the Flood insurance. Oh Joy! It
flooded the entire family room and storage room this time.
We spent all day yesterday cleaning up this one. A professional
flood cleaner upper came and pulled the water out of our 6 month old carpeting. I will be okay,
and many professional fans are going right now downstairs for a few days. We did a lot of forced
spring cleaning because of it, and we were not able to
travel up to Provo for a very important funeral. We
just could not leave our house in that state.
This morning already I have been doing some
more cleaning in the storage room.
I have decided that this is just the way life is. And I
have definateily decided that the best way to handle
things like this happening is to KEEP YOUR SENSE OF HUMOR!
p.s. my house smells musty and is feels humid. And I hope you like the Valentines!

We are amazed and we are sad!

Well, I sure never thought I would be posting this post, but in regards to Jerry Askeroth, Todd's dad, well we thought for sure he was going to pass away this past week. This is what every indication gave us. We did not realize the will to live and determination of one's soul really makes a difference sometimes. Jerry has been battling with life and death with pneumonia and a bad fungus throughout his body for a month now, not to mention recovery from Colon cancer surgery, in and out of ICU and completely showing the Dr.s a thing or two. These past three days he has been drinking nourishment sitting up, and carrying on conversations, and speaking and swallowing more clearly than he has in years. On Wed. we were all just waiting for him to pass away. It is another miracle.

SAD NEWS. . .
Now for the sad news. Todd has lost one of his very best friends in his life. Steve Rowley, who was his missionary companion 3 times died on Thursday night in a skiing accident up near Salt Lake City. He was 52. He leaves a lovely wife and five children, son in laws, and grandchildren. What a great man he was. We got an early morning call from his dear wife, and all day on Friday, all we talked about were the many stories of Steve. He had a great sense of Humor, and was a lot of fun., but was also a spiritual giant. He and Todd have stayed such close friends over the years, and even worked together cleaning grocery store floors together after we they were married, back in the early 80's. I am sure he will be sorely missed by all who knew him.

Big announcement!

Giveaway that is happening over at my Creative blog "Something Special"
Check it out. This will be fun! Click on my Something Special Button!

Update on Gramps!

Jerry Askeroth is doing so amazingly well the past few days. He was moved from the hospital to a rehabilitation center yesterday, and once he is able to get back on his feet (literally) he will be able to go home. It is a miracle. We thought we would loose him for sure. We love you Gramps!

Skin like that!

As I was editing the photos of my granddaughters who were visiting last week. I thought to myself, how not only how adorable they are, but how beautiful their skin was. I had also stayed with Elliah and her family over night two weekends ago. and got to sleep with Breya, who is seven and has the softest facial skin I have felt. Did I ever have skin like that? Probably, but how come we can't keep our gorgeous skin we are born with. I think we abuse it for one thing, or our genes affect it when we get to be teenagers. But I was always taught to believe that bad skin was for teenagers. I am in my early fifties and still have acne! Since the teenage years, it has never left me. Go figure!
Anyway, love all these granddaughters and their personalities and their beautiful skin so much and am so thankful for them in my life.
p.s. that mark on Carys' chin was from her faceplant into the coffee table, at our house!