Favorite Holliday Appetizer / Bacon Wrapped Chestnuts

1 can whole chestnuts cut into half
1 pd bacon strips cut into 1/4 pieces
1/2 cup catsup
1/2 cup brown sugar




Wrap bacon strip around chestnut and secure with a toothpick.


Place in un-greased baking dish and bake for 45 minutes @325 or until bacon is cooked.


Mix catsup and sugar, transfer baked chestnuts to a plate and drain grease from baking dish.
Dip chestnuts in sugar mixture and return to baking dish. Bake an additional 20 minutes. 
Serve warm


*You can cut the last 20 minutes in half by heating the sauce until the sugar is melted before
dipping. Also, you can cook the chestnuts ahead and then add the sauce to bake just before 
serving.

Mormon Muffins

If anyone has ever gone to the Greenery Restaurant at Rainbow Garden's located at the mouth of Ogden Canyon, you know how yummy these muffins are!! Mormon Muffin Recipe
	Ingredients
	2 5 1 2 4 1 5 1 4 2 1	cups teaspoons cup cups each quart cups teaspoon cups cups cup	boiling water baking soda shortening sugar eggs buttermilk flour salt All Bran Cereal 40% Bran Flakes walnuts (chopped)
Directions: Add soda to boiling water and set aside.  Whip shortening and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add the eggs slowly.  Mix well.  Add the buttermilk, flour, salt and mix again.  Add the soda water very slowly.  Gently fold the cereals and the walnuts into the mix. Spoon 1/8 cup into greased muffin tins.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  Let cool for 5 minutes. Muffin mix must sit in the refrigerator over night before baking.  Muffin mix will last one week, covered and refrigerated.  Yields 3 dozen muffins.

Christmas Lesson

     As quoted from The Living Christ, we read, 

"As we commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ two millennia ago, we offer our testimony of the reality of His matchless life and the infinite virtue of His great atoning sacrifice  None other has had so profound an influence upon all who have lived and will yet live upon the earth... 

His way is the path that leads to happiness in this life and eternal life in the world to come.  

God be thanked for the matchless gift of His divine Son."

       The entire Christian world now moves into the happiest season of the year.  In the most humble of surroundings, the most precious infant in all history was born.  This child was, "The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."

     Our Prophet, President Monson said, "With the birth of the babe in Bethlehem, there emerged a great endowment, a power stronger than weapons, a wealth more lasting than the coins of Caesar.  This child was to be the King of kings the promised Messiah - even Jesus Christ, the Son of God". There is no better time than now, this very Christmas season, for all of us to rededicate ourselves to the principles taught by Jesus the Christ.  It is the time to love the Lord our God with all our heart - and our neighbors as ourselves.  It is well to remember that he who gives money gives much, he who gives time gives more, but he who gives of himself gives all.

I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:  And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.

So think of Him this Christmas season. He was born, and He lives now. Think of Him and all that He has done for us.  He came from and lived in the most humble of circumstances and yet He is our King, our Lord, and our Savior.

Let us ponder how we can 
repay his love.  

Let us lay our gifts at this feet.

Happy Day!

All of the prayers in Sue's behalf have been heard by our 
Father in Heaven.

It was a very happy day on Wednesday, 
December 21st.

Sue defied all the odds 

and was able to come home!

Look at that smile on her face!

She worked her tail off in therapy, so the Doctors decided she 

could come home under the care of her ever 
doting, wonderful husband Brad.

He will be doing her therapy with her at home 
for the next couple of weeks. 
In the meantime they will wait for the swelling to subside the rest of the way. Then the doctors will be able to go in and replace the bone flap in her head.
Following that she will continue therapy for a few more months.

We have witnessed a true miracle in our midst. 

From the doctors saying "not much hope", to

being able to walk, talk and move in such a miraculously short time, reminds us that the power of the priesthood is real. 

We are so blessed to have that knowledge 
and power to bless our life's.

It is an incredible day for Sue to get to be home and sleep in her own bed!

It's the best Christmas present ever! 

*We ask that you still be respectful of her need to do therapy and rest. 
You can send a note of encouragement or leave a message on the blog in the "post a comment box" below. 
Sue has been so touched by the outpouring of love
and support from all of you.

Christmas Social / Recipe share ~ Holly Wreath ~ Molasses Cookies ~ Rice Krispie Scotcheroos

We had a blast!!

Tuesday nights recipe share / Christmas Social 
was sooo much fun!

First there were so many wonderful things to sample....

Crackers, Cakes and Cookies, Oh my!

Kerri H. brought awesome home made caramels!

There was delicious Chex mix, wonderful snikerdoodlish cookies and thank Heaven 

Tina B.brought some veggies to balance us out, teehee! 

Then we moved on to the 

"White Elephant Gift Exchange"

....a complete laugh attack!!

It was AWESOME!!

The gifts were lets just say, 

for being something totally useless from home...

PRICELESS!

 First gift opened... A charming teepee, 
complete with indian doll!

You can see Danielle's uncontrollable excitement 

with her newly acquired treasure!

Ingar beams at her gift......all the adds from Tina's counter 

with a bonus...

an LDS living magazine featuring David Archuletta!

LOL completely!!!

Tina scored some home made limbo sticks 

from Jenny N.

(The next pictures are compliments of Tina B. since my phone died. Sorry they didn't transfer to well! *Someone needs to drop a hint to the Bishop that I need a new camera for Christmas to fulfill my calling!)

Nancy picked up a nifty new, so impressive I can't remember what it was, video.

Cayla scored a toothbrush sterilizer!

Brittany will be working out to her new 

Denise Austin video 

while she gazes happily at her new lovely 

Christmas Door hanging.

Terry tries to tempt people to take her gift card

that Kerri H. brought. 

Make that a -0- balance gift card haha!

Andrea ends up with a very coveted gnome from Gabby!

We all wanted these beut's .....home made 

maxi pad slippers

from Nancy S!

There was quite a bit of jockeying for a two foot long big fat gummy worm, and Karen R. brought an unwanted old cassette tape, only to end up getting a whole box full of cassettes from Heidi S! 

It was awesome!! 

Here are some of the yummy recipes shared that night shown in the top picture.

Holly Wreath

"Brittani W"

1 Package (10 1/2 ounces/298 g) miniature marshmallows

1/2 cup butter or margarine

1 teaspoon green food coloring

1 teaspoon vanilla

6 cups cornflakes

red cinnamon candies

1. Melt marshmallows and butter over low heat; remove from heat.

2. Quickly stir in food coloring and vanilla.

3. Add cornflakes; gently mix until just coated.

4. Grease hands, and shape mixture into large wreath on greased waxed paper. Optional: Make several small wreaths instead of large one.

5. Decorate wreath with cinnamon candies for holly berries.  Refrigerate until firm.

Rice Krispie Scotcheroos 

(*Tweaked to perfection)

Name:  Withheld until I find out who brought this awesome yumminess!

1 cup corn syrup

1 cup sugar

1 cup peanut butter (I like crunchy)

4 cups Rice Krispies

1 cup party peanuts

1 pkg milk choc chips

1 pkg butterscotch chips

In large saucepan put the syrup and sugar.

Cook over medium heat stirring frequently until sugar dissolves and begins to boil.

Add peanut butter and mix well.

Add Rice Krispies and peanuts. Stir until well coated.

Put in sprayed 9/13 pan.

Melt chips in microwave.  Spread evenly over the top of Krispie mixture.

Cool at room temperature for 4 hours and then cut in small squares.

*This recipe is much better than the original Rice Krispie Box recipe!!!

Some of the other recipes we sampled;

Darling Peanut Butter Reindeer cookies

Picture Perfect Chocolate Dipped Oreos

Delicious Carrot Cake

Awesome Chex Mix

Melt in your mouth Caramels

*Sue had a wonderful Christmas Story prepared to share for the evening. Everyone went home with a copy and a little bag of cookies. She is doing so well! She is so happy everyone had a great time and is very sad she couldn't be there. Her every thought is for what responsibilities she has with family, friends and church. She is sad she's not able to do them. She is determined to come home and get to work as soon as possible. She has been moved out of critical care and is doing therapy from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm. She is working hard!  

WE LOVE SUE!!

Sue in her decked out brain bucket to

 protect that wonderful head!

We missed all of you that weren't 

able to come!

We hope to see you at the next activity.

Pie Night Recipes

Recipe Group taught by Leslie F.
Recipes from her Great Grandmother Bang

Pie Crust

1 1/3 cups all purpose flour, sifted
1/2 cup shortening
enough milk to work the dough, where the dough pulls away from the bowl (about 1/3 cup)
Blend together with a pastry blender.  Place on a lightly floured work surface.  Roll out to desired thickness and or size of pie plate.

Squash Pie

Do in order
1 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons Flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp all spice
1/2 tsp nutmeg
Stir in with sugar and flour
3 eggs
1 can of squash or pumpkin (if using fresh squash/pumpkin it equals two cups)
1 Tbs of Molasses
1 cup evaporated milk (the can of evaporated milk is more than 1 cup so make sure you measure this out)
1/2 cup of whole milk
Preheat oven to 450 degrees and lower to 350 when you put the pie in.  Pie is done when the center does not giggle. My oven takes about 45-50 minutes

Apple Pie

Granny Smith apples sliced thin
1 cup sugar with four (1-1/12 Tbs depending on many apples you use. I heap the apples on so I use 1 1/2)
sprinkle nutmeg into sugar and mix (I put a couple of shakes of cinnamon too with 1 tsp of nutmeg)
Sprinkle sugar mixture over apples and dot with butter. Place top crust on. Melt real butter to place on top for a flakier crust.  Use a crust shield or tin foil to prevent the crust edge from burning.

Bake at 350 for 1 1/2 hours or till a tooth pick can go through the apples smoothly.

Chapter 45: The Millennium

Given by Mary L.....
(or would have if the storm hadn't happened)

People on the Earth During the Millennium

          Who will be on the earth  during the Millennium? A thousand years of peace, love, and joy will begin on the earth at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.  This thousand-year period is called the Millennium.  The scriptures and the prophets help us understand what it will be like to live on the earth during the Millennium.

What will life be like during the Millennium?

• There will be no war (see Isaiah 2:4, 2 Nephi 12:4, Micah 4:3).
• The earth will be changed so that it is again like it was at the time of the Garden of Eden (see Ezekiel 36:35).
• Satan will have no power over the people, and righteousness, love of neighbors, and peace will reign (see 1 Nephi 22:26).
• People will continue to have children, and parents will have the joy of watching their children grow up in righteousness: And the earth shall be given unto them for an inheritance; and they shall multiply and wax strong, and their children shall grow up without sin unto salvation. For the Lord shall be in their midst, and his glory shall be upon them, and he will be their king and their lawgiver (Doctrine and Covenants 45:58).
• People will continue to live, but when they get old they will not suffer death, they will be automatically changed from having a mortal body to having an immortal body: And he that liveth when the Lord shall come, and hath kept the faith, blessed is he; nevertheless, it is appointed to him to die at the age of man. Wherefore, children shall grow up until they become old; old men shall die; but they shall not sleep in the dust, but they shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye (Doctrine and Covenants 63:51, 52).
• The members of the Church will be engaged in performing temple work for the living and the dead. Resurrected beings (those who have passed away) will be able to help the living find the names of their ancestors and correct any mistakes that may have been made.
• Through temple work, all of the earthly family will be linked in eternal covenants from generation to generation all the way back to Adam. Those who wish to accept these eternal covenants will have the opportunity to do so.
• Members will also be busy teaching the gospel of Christ. Everyone will have the opportunity to hear it and choose for themselves whether or not they will accept it.
• Christ will rule over the Church and the government in perfection.
• There will be two capital cities: Jerusalem and the New Jerusalem in North America.
• Every living creature will live in peace, including animals.
• There will be no disease.
• There will be an increase of understanding and knowledge.
• People will continue to marry, have families, plant food, harvest crops, and build houses. They will help each other to build Zion, "the pure in heart," and there will be no poor among them. In many ways, life will be much as it is now, except that everything will be done in righteousness.

One Final Struggle after the Millennium
          What will be the final destiny of the earth?  At the end of the 1,000 years, Satan will be set free for a short time.  Some people will turn away from Heavenly Father.  Satan will gather his armies, and Michael (Adam) will gather the hosts of heaven.  
In this great struggle, Satan and his followers will be cast out forever.  The earth will be changed into a celestial kingdom. (see D&C 29:22-29, 88:17-20, 110-1115).

A Whirlwind of Togetherness

Last Thursday was a day for the History Book!

The winds blew up to 106 miles an hour here in our neck of the woods!

The carnage of trees, shingles, fences, gutters, soffits and facia were astounding.

As each thing in our Earthly life has it's opposite, 

so did this devastation.

When the wind died down and the aftermath lay about, people started coming out of their homes, pulled up their sleeves and just got to work helping each other. 

It was a beautiful sight amidst the terrible scene of wreckage! 

Much was accomplished, 

but much was still ahead.

It is always a moving experience to see not only the goodness in mankind but the wonderful organization of the Church and it's people in action! 

On Sunday, the call was made and in moments spread from Stake to Stake, Ward to Ward and 
instant action took place. 


Like a well oiled machine, church was changed to a shortened sacrament meeting while trucks, trailers, chainsaws, rakes and bodies both young and old, male and female were organized to finish cleaning up the debri in preparation for the potential strong winds expected that evening. 


It was a sight that made your heart swell. 

It was a great reminder of the scripture in 

Doctrine and Covenants 38:30, which tells us, 

"if ye are prepared ye shall not fear".  

It surely made us all realize just how prepared or unprepared we are both spiritually and physically for a natural disaster. 

 

May we suggest that you take a family night or two and discuss what things you could work on 

to be prepared incase of another disaster.

I for one will be gathering what few preparedness items we have that have somehow managed to be scattered hither and thither, and start repairing, updating and locating them all to one accessible convenient location! 

It is crazy to search for batteries, flashlights, 
candles etc. in the dark!


* Watch for an upcoming video post of the whole
event from Tracy H. 
You can email her any pictures or video you took to be used for this video by clicking here... tharris99@comcast.net

Our Dear Sweet Sue

As all of you know, Sue had a severe brain aneurism on Tuesday evening.

She is under the great care at the Neuro-ICU at the University of Utah Hospital.

We know so many of you have been touched by her loving service. 

We have been blessed by her wonderful Relief Society lessons, Young Women lessons, Book of Mormon lessons, great Relief Society activities and countless acts of service, both outward and silent.

We are sending our thoughts and prayers to you our friend Sue.

May the Lord bless you and be with your family at this time.  

Because of the tender state she is in we are not able to visit or send flowers.

We are collecting well wishes to put in a book to give to Brad and Sue to show our love and support.

You can email or deliver them to any of the Relief Society Presidency 

at willowwoodwardrs@yahoo.com 

Brad will be able to read these to Sue and we know positive words of 

love and encouragement help people heal.

Sue's family has set up a blog to keep us updated you can visit it here...

SUE'S JOURNEY or on the blog link at the right of this Relief Society blog.