Welcome Back, Anziano Lowe!

Last week Matt returned from his mission. Everyone was so excited as they waited at the airport! Then we saw him coming through security--and a wonderful reunion followed.

Welcome Back!

Emily Christiansen's Wedding

Today Roger and Wendy Christiansen's daughter Emily was married to David Hogg in the Manti Temple. It was wonderful to be in the temple with so much of our extended family!Roger and Wendy and their family.
Emily was a beautiful bride.
How about this good looking group!

The happy parents of the bride.
The Manti temple is so pretty. It was built by the pioneers in the days of their poverty. It was a beautiful setting for Emily and David's sealing.

Visit to St. Louis

Brent and I just had a great visit in St. Louis and Chicago! Here are a few pictures. I'll post the rest on Facebook. It was so fun to see Mom and Dad, Lisa and Kurt, Dave and Lizzie, Dan and Stephanie, and all the cousins.

We stopped at Lisa and Kurt's to see their family. Uncle Brent helped the kids get rid of the monster downstairs with his lightsaber on the iphone. Too bad, no picture of that, but here's a picture of Lisa and me!We took a day to drive to Chicago to see Dan and Stephanieand their family. Here are Corinne, Amanda and Emily...Amanda reminded us that she's the oldest, if not the tallest!
Ryan was making magic wands to take to the Harry Potter movie...
Back in St. Louis, Dillon showed us the impressive hole he dug...
Max was happy to see everyone and liked wrestling with Uncle Brent. (Sorry, no picture of that either. Where was I?)
(Out of order again...why can't I figure out how to change the order of my pictures when I'm posting them?) At Dan and Stephanie's we sat around the kitchen counter and visited for hours! We loved it!
Alex played the cello for us and Annie read us a story.
Mom and Dad took us all over town, including Shaw's Gardens and Forest Park. Thanks for spending so much time with us!
Brady helped Grandpa feed the fish at the Botanical Gardens.
Lisa, Kurt, and all the kids! So fun to see everyone. We love you!

Past*a House Pasta Con Broccoli Recipe

I just found this online and haven't tried it, but I can't wait to see if it's as good as the real thing!

Ingredients:
14 ounces noodles
8 ounces half & half
1 ounce butter
1/2 teaspoon garlic
1 ounce tomato sauce
1 ounce broccoli
1 ounce fresh mushrooms
1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Directions:

Cook the noodles until half done (not quite al dente). Drain the water. Add the half & half, butter, garlic, tomato sauce, and broccoli; bring to a hard boil. When noodles are fully cooked, add the mushrooms.

Remove from heat; add the parmesan cheese. Serve hot.

This recipe from CDKitchen for Pasta House's Pasta Con Broccoli serves/makes 4

Print this recipe

Reunion Suggestion

This is the link to the website for the house we stayed at last week for Josh's family reunion. I am thinking of looking into more places like this so we can all stay together and have more time to chat after kids to go bed - or don't. They book well in advance, that's why I'm already exploring next summer. I need some serious family time! You're all too far away.

Questions, comments, suggestions please!

Happy Birthday, Grandma Oscarson

Today I've been thinking of Grandma Oscarson on her 100th Birthday.  In honor of the occasion, I got out the audiocassette tape I recorded at their home on Devondale Lane in August, 1981.  Grandma was reading a history of her mother, Maud Knight Brown.  I have wanted to convert it to a digital format to preserve it, and today Brent was nice enough to find a way to do that.  It's in MP3 format.  I don't have the software to post it here on the blog, but I can email the file.  The tape ended kind of abruptly and I can only guess that we had left the topic and I just turned the tape off at that point.  Still, it's fun to hear Grandma's voice.  I can still see myself in her living room, sitting on the little footstool and holding the tape recorder while Grandma sat in the chair by the fireplace and shared her memories of her mother.  Her voice was younger and stronger than in later years, and it just makes me smile to hear it.  I hope you enjoy it, too.  


Vera Brown Oscarson

Christmas in May

What can you do with your Spritz cookie press? I made these for a baby shower yesterday and loved the Christmas smell in the house. I made yellow butterflies with orange and purple sugar, pink roses, and purple hearts. Who knew they could make more than poinsettias and Christmas trees?

They tasted great, as always, and the boys were snitching them.