Gratitude for Don

It's that time of year when we are reminded to express gratitude for the blessings in our lives. I honestly think that we should express that gratitude more often, even daily to our spouses.

A year ago we were homeless and living with Don's parents in California. This year we are in our own home and enjoying Arizona. Don always had faith that the Lord would bless us beyond our wildest dreams and He has.

I so grateful for a wonderful husband. I could list all of the things that he is not (that I unfortunately had to endure with other husbands), but instead will say what he is.

Don is kind and generous to all he comes in contact with. He will give the beggar our last $20 and know that it really wasn't his (Don's) money in the first place. I have seen him raise the spirits of those in need so many times.

Don is compassionate with me. He empathizes with me when I get sick and is right there to take care of me and serve me. It's so amazing the things he does for me, not only when I'm sick, but every day.

Don is dedicated to the Lord. He takes his relationship with the Lord seriously, scripture study and prayer are not hit and miss with him. They are daily habits. He is always ready, willing and worthy to give a Priesthood blessing. He magnifies his calling. He truly loves those he serves and we spend hours each day talking about the Young Single Adults and how we can help them.

Don loves his children. He loves being a daddy and a grandpa. He helps them in any way he can and is committed to being a good daddy.

Don increases his knowledge daily. He doesn't watch TV, but instead reads and learns new things that will help us become more healthy and strong. Sometimes it seems like he is a walking medical encyclopedia. I can ask him questions and he knows the answers, thus saving me the task of looking them up.

Don encourages me to be creative. Early in our marriage Don noticed how happy I was as a homemaker and creator. I love to make things and he has been so supportive in my quest to create.

Don is my sweetheart. He is the one who holds me when I get anxious and nervous. He is the one I love to dance with.

He is a gentleman and will hold my hand, open the door, help me with my coat and put his coat on me if I get cold. He lets me sit by the window on the airplane. He'll carry my purse and scriptures for me.

He lets me drive if I want to, he doesn't always have to drive. He takes me for walks. He give me back rubs and foot massages. He makes special music CDs for me with all of my favorite songs. He always offers to buy me a soda or a candy bar when we're checking out at the store.

He is my traveling companion and will read books to me while we drive, or vice versa. He makes sure we have a private room whenever we travel. He lets me sleep in EVERYDAY. He makes me treats, like ice cream and cheese w/apples.

He likes having his picture take with me. I love having my picture taken with him.

He exercises at least once a day, if not twice. He eats good things and watches his diet.

He can fix things. He can fix the car, the motorcycle, the plumbing, the pool, the walls, the lights, the speakers, the fridge, the cabinets, the dishwasher, and the list goes on. He is a great handyman and mechanic.

He is my true love and I love him with all of my heart, forever and ever.

Switzerland

We took a trip to Switzerland to visit Don's mission area and a couple of  people that he baptized on his mission. Jean has been very ill and Don wanted to visit him.  Jean asked the missionaries to teach a single lady and her daughter the discussions.  It was in Lausanne, Switzerland that Don and his companion, Elder Cornette taught Christiane and Isabelle about the Church.  They were baptized and later Jean and Christiane were married.

Jean and Don

Don, Christiane and Isabelle at the Church where they were baptized.

 Isabelle, Don, and Christiane in front of the baptismal font where they were baptized.

The French Alps behind Lake Geneva.  Taken from Lausanne, Switzerland.

Gruyere Castle, where Gruyere cheese originated.

Gruyere cheese factory.

Dessert of Raspberries, Fresh Cream, and Meringue. Yummy.

Michelle, Isabelle and Christiane sharing lots of laughs and good times.

We spent the entire day sightseeing and had such a wonderful time.  It was hard to say goodbye, not knowing when we would see each other again.

Fathers Day 2009

Boyd and Dale Lake

Father's Day 2009

For Father's Day we had a big Family Dinner. We wanted to celebrate Boyd Lake and all of the fathers in our family. We had three of Don's brothers (Blaine, Brace and Bryan) and their families as well as three of Don's children (Scott, Val and Brent) and their families. We had quite a group (about 30) and it was so great to see how well everyone gets along. All of the kids were having a blast and the the adults enjoyed visiting with each other. The older kids would look out for the younger ones and the young adults, well, let's just say they love to hang out together. Our backyard worked well. We brought our easy up canopies and tables from work and it turned out very nice. 

Don took pictures of the kids with Grandma and Grandpa Lake and then took family pictures with them as well.  Some of the kids were missing, but they turned out really good. Here are just a few.

Don & Michelle with Dale & Boyd

Blaine's Family with Boyd & Dale

Brace's Family with Boyd & Dale 

Bryan's Family with Boyd & Dale

Scott's Family with Boyd & Dale

Val & Tony with Boyd & Dale

Brent with Boyd & Dale

Madison Lake with Ryan Brown (Madison is Dana's daughter and we were so glad she came. They left before Don took the formal pictures.)

Green Garden

All of Don's hard work preparing our garden is paying off. We have a lot of planter boxes and pots that we are growing in since our neighborhood is infested with gophers.

We have green stuff growing everywhere and we love it.  Don did a lot of research on the internet and even did "refrigerator incubation" on the spinach seeds to get them to sprout.  I just water, fertilize and harvest.  It's been great to have food from our garden every day.It was so wonderful to come home from our trip to Utah/Idaho and have everything going strong.  Our tomatoes have reached the rooftop. Click here to see how they used to look.

On the side of our house Don built a planter box system that grows all of our lettuce, spinach, swiss chard, chives, green beans, snap peas and some of our strawberries. Ethan helped plant our lettuce when he was here the beginning of March.  We haven't had store bought lettuce since April. 

This is the planter box that Don designed, his dad built and Don painted.  It is lined to lengthen it's usefulness and even has a drain system that Don installed.

This is the view from our back door. Totally green and mostly edible. It looks almost like a park until you get up close and see that the greenery is really edible stuff like tomatoes and squash.

Idaho Trip

We dropped off Brent in Provo (BYU meetings) and got a "free" hotel room thanks to our points. In the morning we got up and Don said, "Let's go to Idaho and see Julie."  Thank heavens Julie didn't mind our barging in on their weekend and changing their plans.  

We had a blast with Julie and Aaron Thursday and then Friday evening we drove to Boise and picked up Athena. We got a great view of the Boise Temple on our way to pick up Athena. We stayed at another "free hotel" and then on Saturday we drove up to Idaho City to visit Isabelle, Dale and Annabelle Hope. Isabelle is one of Don's converts from his mission in France and Switzerland.

  Dale and Isabelle Hope

Annabelle with Athena and Julie

We went to lunch at the cool place called "Trudy's". 

Here we are with Trudy.

Annabelle, Athena, Julie, Aaron, Dale, Isabelle, Michelle, and Don

We visited over lunch for quite awhile before heading back down the mountain. We had a wonderful time visiting. Isabelle and Don called one of his former missionary companions, Elder Cornette and the were able to visit for a little bit. Don even got to talk to Isabelle's mother in France, whom he also baptized. We are so grateful that we were able to take a couple of extra days to visit family and friends in Idaho.

Wedding Family Pictures

Don walked Melody down the aisle.

 SISTERS and BEST FRIENDS

   

                                Brent (favorite step-brother) and Melody

      Melody's Family (Sammie and Laci were getting pretty tired by this time.

Mark and Cass, Kiana, Kasen and Kamron

Wedding Guest Pictures

Braden and Jen and Tyler came to the wedding to give support to Melody and Bryan.

Jen, Braden and Tyler

Tyler pushing Melody's Chair

Of course, Don made Tyler very happy with Smarties.  By the end of the evening Tyler was calling us grandma and grandpa.  Such a cutie!! This was our first time seeing the three of them since he was adopted in March 2008.

Don's Birthday Dinner

A week ago we celebrated Don's birthday with some of his kids, grandkids and his parents. I made his favorite dinner and his mom brought over Angel Food cake for dessert. It was a hectic day. We spent a couple of hours in the morning planting some vegetables with Ethan's help and then we visited with the kids and cooked up dinner for everyone. While the meatballs were cooking I took off with the girls for a pedicure. Yeah, I know it was Don's birthday so why did I get the pedicure? So I could get that "sexy red toe nail polish". I made Spaghetti and Meatballs for dinner and have had many requests for my recipe so here it is.

"Michelle's Red Sauce"

1 #10 can crushed tomatoes (Sam's)
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons Basil
2 Tablespoons Oregano
1 teaspoon Salt
1/4 cup minced garlic (bottled)

Simmer, stirring occasionally for at least an hour.

"Michelle's Meatballs"

5 lbs. Ground Beef
5 eggs
1 1/2 cup oatmeal
1/4 cup minced garlic (bottled)
2 Tablespoons Basil
2 Tablespoons Oregano
3/4 cup rice milk (or regular milk)
1/2 cup Catsup
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Mix together all ingredients. Use ice cream scoop to get even proportions for the meatballs and mold with hands. Place in pans sprayed with Pam (must have sides to catch grease). Bake at 375 degrees for about an hour. Transfer to pans lined with paper towels to drain excess grease. Makes about 4 dozen meatballs (1/2 cup size).

Happy Birthday to the best Husband!! You're Awesome! I love you more than you know!!

Don's Green Thumb

Don has been busy at work, but has also been making very good use of his time at home.  Upon our return from our mission he was called to be the Family Preparedness Specialist - he loves this kind of stuff.  Actually we both love this kind of stuff.

I've been the gardener most of our married life, but Don has recently become very involved in it. This is an amazing thing, since he's allergic to grass and a lot of plants.  So allergic that we had the grass in our backyard replaced with cement a couple of years ago.  While on our mission his health dramatically increased and now he is in the garden every day.  Oh, but then the problem of gophers and no ground to till was not going to stop him.  We call it growing "food". We go to the plant store to look for "food".  It's actually quite fun.

This has been a great joy for me to share this time outside in the yard with him.

His project this week - old whiskey barrels.  We bought four of them and he put in drainage holes with tubing, wheels on the bottom so they roll around and then he painted them white for me.  They are so beautiful and watertight. 

We planted tomatoes in all of them.  Roma tomatoes, Early Girl tomatoes and cherry tomatoes.  

Then it rained, and rained and rained some more.  Then we had a really cold night, so they got to have covers on them that night.  

Here they are tonight.  Still alive and so in about three months if you come visit, we will probably be having something with tomatoes in it.

By the way, lettuce and squash are next.  We'll see what he comes up with next.  As for me, I'm still working on the weeds and dead growth in the back yard.  My strawberries in the front are doing great and we should see a nice harvest this year.

Don's Apple Dip

2 packages cream cheese (8 ozs.)
1 jar Mrs. Richardson's Butterscotch Topping

Soften cream cheese. Mix together cream cheese and butterscotch topping until smooth. Refrigerate in airtight container. Use as a dip for cut up fresh apples.

At one family gathering we had a Family Fruit Dip contest. This was Don's entry. Very yummy and rich tasting. We used this dip at Valerie's Wedding Reception and it disappeared.

Peanut Butter Rice Krispy Treats (Don's)

1 cup white Karo syrup
1 cup sugar
1 cup peanut butter
7 cups Rice Krispies

Spray square pan with Pam spray. Bring syrup and sugar to a slow boil. Cook until sugar is dissolved. Stir in peanut butter. Remove from heat and add Rice Krispies. Spread mixture in pan. Spray large piece of plastic wrap with Pam spray and use in to pat down the Krispy Treats into the pan. Treats will harden as they cool. Store in airtight container. Cut into squares.

While we were evacuated for Hurricane Gustav, Don wanted to make the missionaries a treat. We made dozens of these using an electric skillet, since the power was out. They disappeared as fast as we could make them.