Puppy power!

Three of the four orphans - being fostered at the Wright Zoo!  3 weeks and growing...

Morning light...

Strong families don't just "happen".  It takes time, training, lots of love, lots of activities together, true commitment to each other - both kids and parents.  A key element for LDS families is scripture reading as a family, as well as family prayers.

The Wrights start off their day together, after breakfast, reading and studying scriptures. The older boys have returned from early morning seminary by this time, so they have already had time in the scriptures with their peers and instructors. 

Gathering around the kitchen table as a family, helping the younger boys read and understand gospel principles, sharing the light of Christ, lends a special and unique strength to a family.

The new look of "the good book"... all the scriptures and standard works of the church, downloaded to ipods and ipads.  Amazing!  No one need be without an encouraging word throughout the day!

A happy family, led by the Spirit, dedicated to doing the Lord's work.

Family - sealed for time and eternity.

PUCKER UP

Winter in Arizona is citrus season.  Lemons, grapefruit, limes, oranges of all sorts. 

One of my friends just down the street has a HUGE lemon tree.  I brought home 70 pounds of lemons last week. Honestly, folks just GIVE them away. Every other yard has a lemon tree, or other citrus - wonderful!

Now what do you do with 70 pounds of lemons???  You juice them and freeze the juice!  Summer lemonade is a BIG thing around the citrus zone! So you start preparing for those tall frosty glasses of reviving juice when the citrus is in season - NOW!  By the time it's 105 degrees here, the lemons are long gone.  Freezing is fast, easy, and preserves all the good pucker power!

So here's the process:

Than helped - to the end!!!  All the guys had a turn using the squeezer! That was a LOT of lemons.

Our lemonade recipe uses

1 1/2 cups lemon juice, so we froze the juice in sandwich bags - just the right amount!

ARIZONA LEMONADE

Make a simple syrup: 1 3/4 c. sugar and 1 c. water heated to boiling, stirring to dissolve sugar.

Chill the syrup (we keep some in the fridge in a quart jar, ready to go!).  Mix the syrup with 1 1/2 c. fresh squeezed (or frozen) lemon juice and 7 cups cold water.  Add a few ice cubes to tall glasses, pour in the fresh lemonade,  lean back and enjoy!!

You don't have to come to Arizona to enjoy this lemonade.  But it really does seem to be better here! We have the patio and chairs just waiting for you!

PS:  If you try this with bottled processed lemonade, you will NOT be getting the real deal!!

Pear Pie

At age 7, Collin became famous for his Fresh Strawberry Pie.  It was memorable.  Fresh berries from our own garden, hand picked by Collin.  Perfect crust, just-right glaze - and luscious sweet ruby berries. That family reunion was crowned by Strawberry Pie.  I still get an occasional "I'll never forget Collin's pie, it was the BEST strawberry pie I ever ate" comment from Anne and Matt!
Well, he's done it again.  This time, he collaborated with friend Madeleine, who sadly cannot eat strawberries.  They opted for a fruit she CAN have - pears! 

They deemed their Pear Pie a success last year, and vowed to do it again.  During Maddie's recent visit to Arizona, they once again presented us with PEAR PIE.

Using your favorite pie crust recipe (or purchased refrigerated crust works just dandy), put bottom crust in 9" pie pan; prepare the filling:

5 firm ripe pears, peeled, cored and sliced

scant 1/2 c. sugar

1-2 T flour, depending on juiciness of pears

Gently mix, then spoon into crust; dot with butter; top with lattice crust.

Bake 15 min. at 400 degrees; lower oven temperature to 350 and bake about 40 minutes until the pears are fork-tender in center of pie with the filling bubbling.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

Don't let the simplicity of the filling fool you - this pie is bursting with fresh pear flavor, unmasked by spices.  Divine!

Baby, it's COLD outside!

The Wright New Year Tradition:  POLAR DIP!!

First - you have to talk the guests into the idea.  (Maddie, visiting from Wisconsin for a few weeks, has been sadly disillusioned by the chilly Arizona winter weather - it's only been in the 50's during the day and low 30s at night. What about all that touted SUN???)

Really?  Outside?

 Pool temp:  45 CHILLY degrees.

 Jayden: "Hey, that's MY place, Max - switch."  Than:  "Oh my.  Why am I doing this??"  Maddy:  "Really?  Really?"

On the count of five.  Five - four - three - two - one - ...

 ...  SPLASH DOWN!

 Where's Jayden?  Oops - look under Collin's right hand...

Maddy adds another credential to her Life Guard resume!  She is a Life Guard at the Green Bay YMCA.  So Jayden really didn't need to panic when Collin accidently pushed him under as they scrampled for the side. Honest Jayden, she was there for you.  CPR and everything. 

 Now THIS is more like celebrating the New Year - the Tri-Stake Youth dance!  What a good looking couple!  That gorgeous girl and dress came 2000 miles for the occasion!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Champurado

Our Empty Nester's Family Home Evening group does a potluck dinner every Monday.  We're a pretty eclectic group, in age and interests and ethnic "flavors" - which makes for a lot of fun conversation and knoshing!

Lorenza, from Mexico, has a good handle on her English, with a strong accent.  She is helping us all improve our Spanish!  With a large hispanic population in the Buckeye area and at church, it's a good idea to get at least a few pertinant words and phrases on board.

We celebrated our Christmas dinner gathering with some traditional tamales - several of the ladies make them, in various flavors.  Lorenza treated us with "champurado", an authentic Mexican hot chocolate drink.  Oh my - love at first sip!  Not overly sweet, with some thickness that gives a wonderful mouth feel - like drinking hot chocolate pudding! It can be made as thin or thick as you wish.

Champurado reminds me of Starbucks "Drinking Chocolate" - which I swore to only have once a year, it was so rich.  This is better, 'cuz I can drink more of it! 

I was put in charge of getting the recipe on paper, because Lorenza cooks like most of us seniors - "about this much of this" and "about this much of that"! 


From Lorenza's instruction, a bit of help from Google, and tweaking my first batch, here is: 

CHAMPURADO

 Ingredients: 2 1/2 c. water, divided (agua)
                   1/4 c. masa harina (maseca)
                   2 oz. bittersweet  chocolate, chopped (or 1/4 c. semisweet
                      chocolate chips) Quality of chocolate makes a difference...    
                   1 stick cinnamon (canela)
                   1 whole clove (clavo deolor)
                   2 T. brown sugar (azucar morales)
                   1 can (5 oz.) evaporated milk (leche)
                  
Measure 1 cup cold water; slowly sprinkle 1/4 c. masa into the water stirring constantly to form a smooth mixture. Set aside for 15 min. 

Meanwhile, bring 1 1/2 c. water to boil; add 1 stick cinnamon broken into 4 pieces, and one whole clove; cover with lid, simmer until water turns pinkish, about 10 min.  Strain out the spices, return water to boil.

Remove lid, and quickly stir in the masa mixture and chocolate.  Immediately reduce heat, cook on low stirring constantly until thickened - about 8 min.  Stir in brown sugar and milk.  Taste and adjust amount of sugar if needed. 

Makes 4 generous servings.

If you want to be really authentic, whip the hot chocolate frothy with a traditional molinillo about 5 minutes. 

And if you want to die happy, give it a dollop of unsweetened whipped cream!

I served myself in a small Japanese tea cup - the rich chocolate drink was a wonderful treat on a chilly desert morning.

Try a new Christmas treat this year - Champurado!

Road trip with the punks!

Amazing how flexible life can be - in the space of about three days, I got word that I had a car waiting for me in Oregon, schedules were shuffled, calenders consulted, a flurry of calls and emails, and wahlah!  Plane tickets for me, Than, Collin and Lee!

We left Phoenx/Mesa VERY early on Monday, Dec. 3. arriving in Eugene, Oregon at about 9:45 a.m.

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Becky picked us up at the airport, took us home to

 the wonderful Farr B&B. We loved the misty rain, crackling fire, and the glorious Christmas tree!

 Mom came over for dinner, and some nutcracking with Lee.

There's always music with this gang...

The highlight was a little Christmas concert at mom's home, "Sweet By and By".  The five residents and caregivers really enjoyed the songs and joined right in with singing some favorite Christmas carols.

 A visit with mom (great-gramma) is never complete without a couple hands of cribbage.  We played teams, with Collin claiming Gramma G. for partner - he figured it was a sure win...since she had just beat me!

However, the LEE/Gramma Candy team won - yay!

 Cousins were a big part of the trip.  We diverted up to Washington to see Pat and Tonya, and got in some game time with Stephen and Elyse - a spirited contest with lots of laughs!

Then back to Salem, a last breakfast with cousins Paul (soon leaving on his mission to Baltimore, MD), and Kate (returned from her mission in McAllen, TX).  Becky can testify that this is a pancake-eatin' crew!

 Collin, Paul, Than, and Lee  ... until next time.

 Leaving Oregon, entering California, we got some wonderful views of Mt. Shasta - which we had seen from the air on the way up!   Lee was bummed that there was no snow close to the road.  The drivers were happy!

Than was relief driver, officially passing his mom in milage the past three months!  He's a good driver, I was happy to turn the wheel over to him.  He got some unexpected experience driving in fog over the Grapevine into LA!

 One of the most unusual rest areas I've visited - southern California.  Looked like a big open barn, providing lots of shade for weary travelers.

 Affectionately called "the goat's belly", our little home-away-from-home.  Two days of solid driving, with an overnight stop in Sacramento. Not real roomy, but only one to a seat so they couldn't complain.  Too much. 

My last driving stage was through LA.  Oh my.  The guys sang all of Les Mis and all of Phantom, all the way through that wretched traffic. They are good traveling companions, non-stop entertainment.  Every rest area was an adventure!     

Oh, the car?  My mom's van, now mine!

We were glad to have special time to visit with Great Gramma Griffin (85), and Great Gramma Stauffer (91) in Puyuallup, Washington along with a short visit with Roy and Sharon.

 A wonderful trip, short but sweet.  That's what family is all about, those precious bits and pieces of time we spend together, making memories.