Crazy Icicles

Earlier this month, I shared a couple of photos from our visit to Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah. We went there to see the beautiful Christmas lights.

During the week we spent in Utah, the temperatures never rose above freezing. And it snowed at the beginning of our week-long visit.

As we drove around town, I saw lots of icicles. Even some cars had icicles hanging from them. Our car was no different.

See what I mean? Here are two photos of our car.



This isn't a sight I'm used to seeing every day since I live in a warmer climate. So, of course I had to take pictures.



I don't know who owns this car, but it looks like it had been sitting there for a while. Lots of snow and icicles.



There were some crazy long icicles hanging from buildings too.



And check out this row of icicles on this house and those snow-covered bikes and that car.



There were even icicles hanging from bushes.


We spent our vacation week in a beautiful winter wonderland and had a great time with our family. I'll share more photos from our trip in a future post.

Thanks for reading!


© 2015 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

The Latest Happenings ~ Missionary Son Update – Snow…ish Stuff

I thought I'd share some of the latest happenings regarding our youngest son, who's serving a two-year full-time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Arizona.

After Christmas our family, minus our missionary son of course, spent time together in Utah. It snowed the first two days of our vacation. And the temperatures the rest of the week didn't get above freezing. So there was snow and ice on the ground the whole week.

In one of our weekly emails, we told our missionary son about our experiences with the snowy and freezing conditions in Utah and he told us about the cold weather he experienced at the beginning of 2015.

He said, "…on New Years Eve, we got rain. A good portion of rain. Which is rather unfortunate, because this Stake started their Pioneer Trek on New Years Eve. So, the kids got a nice muddy start. And the dirt here has a lot of clay in it. Unlike Sandy Mud, which is just kind of moist, this Mud is thick and clings to anything it touches. So, the youth had to pull handcarts in six inches of mud the whole eleven miles of the first day. Then, on that night, it got a little below freezing, and so some of that rain turned into ice. Which, actually iced our trash can shut the next morning. A sight and a feeling I thought I would never see on my mission!"

Wow! I have to hand it to those kids on their Pioneer Trek. And it's pretty funny that our son's trash can was iced shut.

In an email from our son with the subject line "Our own bit of snow...ish stuff" he sent two very similar pictures of the same mountain range. Here's one of the photos.



Yes. I think I see some "snow...ish stuff" on top of those mountains.

It sure is fun receiving emails and photos from our missionary son. He's doing great and loves his mission so much.

Thanks for stopping by!


© 2015 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

It Was So Cold, Our Camera Quit Working

We spent a wonderful time visiting family in Utah last week. While we were there, we went to see the Christmas lights at Temple Square in Salt Lake City.

It turned out that the week we spent in Utah was one of the coldest of the season so far. We arrived on Saturday, December 27. It snowed on Sunday and Monday, and the temperatures stayed below freezing, so there was snow and ice on the ground the whole week we were there.

We went to Temple Square on Tuesday. It was absolutely freezing that night. I mean literally. Our son said that the "feels like" temperature was 5 degrees!

Our family walked around bundled up as best as we could for a while, but it was just too cold to stay outside for very long. I had brought along our DSLR camera and our compact point and shoot digital camera. I took pictures using both cameras.

I had taken several pictures and was about to take a picture with the DSLR camera when it seemed to just freeze up. I pressed the button to take a picture and it just stopped working. Thankfully, our point and shoot digital camera kept on working, so I was able to take more pictures.

I took the picture below with our DSLR camera before it quit working. By the way, the camera was fine once it warmed back up.



Finally our group couldn't take the cold anymore so we went to the 10th floor of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building to see the Christmas lights from there.

This is one of the pictures I took from one of the huge observation windows on the 10th floor.



As you can see, the sun had set not too long before I took this photo. On the horizon is the reddish-orange color from the setting sun. I'm thrilled that I was able to take the picture at just the right time to catch that.

It was wonderful to visit Temple Square and see the Christmas lights before they were taken down for the year, even if it was bitter cold. If you ever visit Salt Lake City during the Christmas season, I hope you'll take the opportunity to visit Temple Square and see the stunning Christmas lights and displays. They are even more beautiful in person.

Thanks for stopping by!


© 2015 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Merry Christmas ~ 2014

Tomorrow is Christmas Day. And I wanted to share a very special video with you. It's beautiful and moving. I love it! And I hope you will love it too.

This beautiful video includes the musical talents of The Piano Guys, David Archuleta, Peter Hollens, and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

In early December, over 1,000 people came together to break the Guinness Book of World Record's title for the largest live Nativity scene. The video I'm sharing with you today shows this record-breaking live Nativity scene. I hope you enjoy this wonderful video.

I am thankful for this time of year that we celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I'm thankful for His birth and for His mission here on earth. 

May you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

 
© 2014 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Molasses Fruit Bars

I shared this recipe on my genealogy blog last week and thought I'd share it here as well.

Molasses Fruit Bars are one of our family's favorite recipes. And it's another recipe that was printed in the Relief Society cookbook called "The Best of Everything." Last year I shared a recipe for Peanut Butter Fingers from this same cookbook.

Relief Society is the women's organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.


This cookbook has been in our family for over 48 years. It first belonged to my mom and she handed it down to me. Here's the cookbook page showing the Molasses Fruit Bars recipe.


Beverly Green originally shared this recipe. As you can see, my mom made notations next to the recipe amounts. The recipe I'm sharing today will fit into a large (approx. 17½" x 11½") cookie sheet.


As you can see from the photo above, these cookie bars contain raisins. If you aren't a fan of raisins, they can be left out of the recipe. Or (and I've done this), prior to adding the raisins, place part of the mixed dough onto the cookie sheet. Spread the dough to fill part of the sheet. Add the raisins to the rest of the dough in the mixing bowl, mix and spread the remaining dough onto the empty part of the cookie sheet. Spread both kinds of dough out so they fill the whole cookie sheet.

Here's a picture to show you what I mean. It doesn't have to be perfect. You can adjust the amount of non-raisin dough depending on how many people don't like raisins.


I hope you enjoy these soft and delicious cookie bars. 

RECIPE

Molasses Fruit Bars

Ingredients

1-1/2 cups shortening (I use butter flavored shortening)
2 cups light brown sugar
2 large eggs
½ cup light (golden) molasses
4 cups sifted flour
4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. cloves
1-2 cups chopped raisins

Directions

Place shortening, brown sugar, eggs and molasses into large mixing bowl. Beat with electric mixer until well blended. Add the following sifted ingredients: flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves. Blend well.

Stir in 1 to 2 cups chopped raisins (depending on your love of raisins; you can also omit raisins). Grease and flour large jelly roll size (1 inch deep) cookie sheet. Pat dough evenly into pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

While warm, frost whole pan of cookies with:

1-1/2 Cups powdered sugar
Hot water to make paste
Approx. 2 drops of vanilla

Cool. Cut into squares and enjoy. These keep well and have more flavor after being stored.

Thanks for reading!


© 2014 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

A Special Christmas Video

It's early December and the beautiful Christmas season has begun. It's so easy to let this time of year become filled with the hustle and bustle of buying and wrapping gifts, decorating, baking, mailing Christmas cards, and all of the other things that go along with the Christmas season.

As we go about our busy days, I hope we will pause to remember the real reason we celebrate Christmas, which is the birth of our dear Savior, Jesus Christ.

I hope you enjoy this special video called "He is the Gift" which reminds us in a beautiful way that Jesus Christ was the first gift of Christmas so many years ago.

May we all keep the true meaning of Christmas in our hearts throughout this Christmas season.

Thanks for stopping by!


© 2014 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Sweet Songs For Grandma

This last Saturday my husband, our son, and I went to visit my mother-in-law. She's 89 years old and suffers from dementia. She lives in the dementia care center at a senior care facility about two and a half hours from us.

My husband and I have five adult children. We had been empty nesters for about a year while our two youngest sons served two-year full-time missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A couple of months ago, our son (pictured here with his guitar) completed his two-year mission. I shared pictures of the happy homecoming on this blog. If you'd like to see that post, click HERE. Our youngest son is still serving his mission in Arizona. The rest of our kids live out-of-state right now.

My mother-in-law has been suffering from dementia for several years. It's so difficult to see her as she is now. She can't really speak anymore. And we don't really know if she even recognizes us. Before dementia took hold, my mother-in-law was a very well-read, sharp-minded and knowledgeable woman. She was a gospel scholar, having taught seminary for a total of 30 years at church. Seminary is a gospel class taught to high school kids. The course of study centers on the scriptures. You can read more about seminary by clicking HERE. She also taught the adult Sunday School class, called Gospel Doctrine, at church for many years as well.

My mother-in-law was also very politically active. She even ran for congress twice.

For our visit with my mother-in-law, our son decided to bring his guitar to play for her. We took her for a little walk in her wheel chair (which we usually do when we visit her), and ended up at this pretty bench on the care facility property. Our son played a couple of hymns for his grandma and then sang and played for her too. It was just so sweet! My mother-in-law didn't really have any reaction. But, I'm hoping that her spirit was touched anyway. Music is a powerful way to connect with people. And hopefully, she felt something wonderful as our son sang and played for her.

While our son was singing, a sweet elderly lady, who we found out is a new resident at the care facility, stopped walking and came over to listen to our son. She inched her way forward towards us. It was so cute! When our son finished singing, she asked if she could pull up a chair to listen. She also asked if he was performing later at the facility. How sweet! It was about time for us to take my mother-in-law back so she could have lunch, but there was time for one more song. So our son sang and played I Am a Child of God. The sweet lady seemed to really enjoy the song and asked our son for a hug as we left.

I'm so glad our son decided to bring his guitar so he could play and sing for his grandma. He really is a kind and thoughtful person.

Thanks for stopping by!


© 2014 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved