MIchelle is 21!

Today is my youngest birthday and she is 21!! She and her husband are at Disneyland celebrating, while we are here. So I made a cake anyway and posted about it here: http://mymomsfilebox.blogspot.com/2011/03/pound-cake.html
Michelle is always happy!!

Christmas Gifts I Made

 I wanted to put on why I was so busy in December, but never got around to it. So here they are!

The first apron is for my granddaughter, Kalene, she is into retro!
The next 2 are for Charleen, she likes the beach and teal colors.
I wanted to make something warm for my son, who is on a mission in Idaho. The scarf is made from fleece and flannel. The red is my trademark.
For Michelle an apron with snow people and a Christmas skirt.

To Cynthia a sunflower apron and a reversible Christmas apron.
My sister's apron is also reversible, to Karen.
And for my grandson, a pair of pj shorts. He likes different and bright colors.

A Treasure

Here is an article about my father- Glenn Utterback. I was excitied to find it among the recipes from my mother's recipe file box. What a treasure to me!

I received this box yesterday from my sister and read every recipe in it. It makes me remember all the times my mom baked from these special recipes during the holiday seasons. I will be adding the recipes to the group, 'My Best Recipes" on facebook.

Back to the article, it says: "Glenn Utterback, who will soon be resigning as Cubmaster of Santa Fe Springs Pack 553-C, due to a job transfer to the Azusa area, was given an appreciation party at the home of the Hugh Hartleys at .... L...... Ave, Friday evening. Over two dozen adult leaders and parents of the pack were in attendance and Utterback was presented a plaque from the pack attesting to his popularity during the time he served as Cubmaster as well as in other roles during the life of the pack. He was also presented a wrist watch by interested parents who wished to show him their personal appreciation for the time he'd given the Cub Scouts.

His wife, Emma, who has served as den mother of the Den 2 for the past two years also received a gift."

I am so glad to have found this and remind me of my father as a Cubmaster, it is nice to know that others cared for my parents. We moved to Azusa back in 1959, so this article is from that time period. I can remember when we put on a little skit that was done as a small movie. It was in the backyard of our house and my mother painted on huge cardboards the scene of a western general store, the cub scouts all had parts and even I got to be in it. Everywhere my older brother went as a scout, I got to tag along. Sometimes I wonder if he minded me being active in his scouting program. That was a time when I liked being the younger sister.

Anyway, my father and mother were both active in the scouting programs for both Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. I am hoping some of the pictures show up of these scouting days.

My Daughters' Wedding

Haven't taken a chance to write about my daughters wedding. It's almost two months now. I don't write much, because I don't know how to express my feelings well. But here goes.

It was beautiful!!! A nice day and we didn't see any rain until we were almost home.

In our church we are sealed for time and eternity, so we go to our temples and have the ceremony there. Very special, very sacred, very peaceful. It is just a special feeling inside, not that all marriage ceremonies are not special and beautiful, they are. I love how you know that you are seal to your spouse always, and because of this sacredness, you strive hard to stay married and work on your relationship with your spouse. In the ceremony Michelle cried tears of happiness and we all felt the spirit there. She is a good example to her nephews and nieces and cousins.

The reception was at our church building and the lady who was in charge of decoration did a fabulous job! It was magical and beautiful!!!! Words cannot describe it all, so hopefully the pictures will.

As I drove to my house to finish and pick up the cake, I started to panic. It was hot and steamy out side and I was worried the frosting on the cake would melt. So we packed each tier carefully and away we went. Whenever I make wedding cakes I finished them at the reception, in case the decorations fall from the driving. Well we didn’t get home early enough from the wedding ceremony, so I was rushed and got to the church as the reception was starting. A few people suggested to hurry up and get in the reception line as the mother-of-the bride should do. But how do you hurry the decorations on the cake. I did my best and one of the corners of the bottom tier fell off, so I had to ‘glue’ it back together with more frosting and toothpicks. Any way for all that panic, Michelle thought the cake looked great!

At the reception there were lots of guests and things went well. She looked lovely and we all liked the tux, Alex chose to wear. They both are a good looking couple and are very happy.

It was sad to see them leave for their honeymoon, as I realized I won’t see her everyday, anymore. She now has her own life to live. So to me it is a happy day and a sad day. I hope and pray the best for them and that they will strive to live a great married life!

(By the way, no one ate the toothpicks, as luckily it was the last piece of cake to be cut.)

I want to thank all who helped by taking these pictures: Sarah, Julie, Joey, Cynthia, and Seth. (I also took some.)

Anniversary Surprise!

Saturaday would have been mine and James 23rd anniversary. I think about our anniversaries, but don't do anything special.Of course when James was alive, we did do special things on our anniversary day. Today I was cleaning out my hope chest (cedar chest) so that I could give it to Michelle as part of her wedding present. My mother gave my oldest daughter her hope chest and my second daughter bought one, so I thought it approciate to give mine to daughter number three. 

As I got down to the bottom of the chest I saw little scraps of paper and thought nothing of it, except that it was for the trash. As I turned it over and saw it was a little card you can get when you buy flowers, I read it and it said, 'Happy Anniversary'! It was a card from James that I must have saved from before. At first I read it and thought nothing about the day, but then realized it was my anniversary, that day! So then, I thought wow, how nice to find this card. Who knew for my 23rd and on May 23, I would refind this card? 

A very happy day! Can't wait to see him again....                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there and am hoping you are being spoiled for the weekend!

Recipes for Jamie!

Jamie, I hope you enjoy these recipes. They were fun to look at!

KAUAI BANANA BREAD

2 cups sugar

4 well beaten eggs

1 cup shortening

6 ripe bananas

2 ½ cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking soda

Cream sugar and shortening. Mix together well beaten eggs and bananas. Combine them.  Sift dry ingredients together, put into mixture.  Stir until all ingredients are blended in and batter is smooth.  Place in greased and floured loaf pans.  Bake at 350° for 40-50 minutes. Watch cooking time for the size of pan you use.  Can be served with ice cream.

PIG LICKEN CAKE        

1 box Duncan Hines Golden Butter Cake

Beat: 4 eggs

Add: ¾ cup oil

         1 cup Mandarin oranges

Beat well and put in three 8” layer pans.  Bake at 350° - 25-30 minutes, until done.

ICING

1 box instant vanilla pudding

1 medium can crushed pineapple, juice and all

Mix well.  Fold into 1 large bowl of Cool Whip.  Spread between layers and on top and sides.  Keep in refrigerator.

MIRACLE CHEESECAKE

1 ½ (3 ounces) package lemon Jell-O

1 cup boiling water

1 1/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Juice of 1 lemon and the grated rind from lemon

1 (8 ounces) package cream cheese (soften)

1 tall can Carnation Milk, chilled and whipped

3 cups graham crackers or vanilla wafers (crumbled)

½ cup melted butter, mixed with crumbs, line bottom of a 9x13” pan (save some for top)

Dissolve Jell-O in boiling water, add lemon juice and rind.  Cool to partly set (soft).  Mix cream cheese, sugar and vanilla together.  Add Jell-O and mix well.  Fold in whipped milk.  Pour into pan and sprinkle crumbs on top.  Refrigerate until ready to use.

E-Z GOOD PIE

1 can Eagle Brand Condensed milk (14 ounces)

1 can frozen concentrate, lemon or limeade (6 ounces)

1 (9 ounces) Cool Whip

1 graham cracker crust

Mix milk, lemonade or limeade and Cool Whip together in medium bowl of mixer.  Pour into crust and refrigerate.

SODA CRACKER PIE

16 soda crackers crumbled not too fine)

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

12 dates (pitted and chopped fine)

½ cup chopped nuts

Mix all together. 

Beat 4 egg whites stiff.  Fold in dry ingredients and add 1 teaspoon vanilla.  Pour into buttered pie pan (9”).  Bake 25 minutes at 325°.

Serve with whip cream.

HOT COMPANY SALAD

5 cups finely shredded cabbage                             

1 cup finely shredded carrots

½ cup chopped green onion tops and all

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

Put in sauce pan.  Dissolve 1 bouillon (beef) in ¼ cup boiling water and add to cabbage and carrots.  Toss with fork to blend.  Cover and cook 5 minutes stirring only one time.  Drain if necessary and put in warm serving dish.  Then melt ¼ cup butter and 1 tablespoon prepared mustard and 1/3 cup chopped pecans.  Add ¼ teaspoon paprika and pour over cabbage and carrots and serve.  Real Good

MILLIIONAIRE SALAD

2 eggs, beaten well

4 tablespoon vinegar

4 tablespoon sugar

2 tablespoons butter

3 bananas, sliced

2 cups pineapple chunks or tidbits

2-3 cups miniature marshmallows

½ cup nuts

½ pint of whipping cream, whipped

Put beaten eggs in sauce pan.  Add vinegar and sugar.  Place on medium fire and cook beating constantly until smooth and thick.  Remove from heat.  Add butter.  Cool (cold).

Fold cream into cooled cooked dressing.  Fold into fruit, nuts and marshmallows.

NINE-DAY COLE SLAW

1 large head of cabbage (chopped small)

1 cup sugar

1 green pepper, chopped

1 onion, chopped

1 large or 2 small carrots, shredded

Mix all ingredients together in large bowl or pan.  Work real good with hands squeezing hard to bruise cabbage (old fashioned way).

½ cup salad oil

½ cup sugar

¾ cup vinegar (may need more)

Bring to full rolling boil.  Add 1 teaspoon celery seed, garlic, salt to taste.  When boiling, pour over cabbage.  Stir well and chill.

(This salad keeps well for 2 weeks in refrigerator.)

7-UP SALAD

1 large package lemon gelatin

2 cup boiling water

2 cups 7-Up

1 large can crushed pineapple

4 large bananas

1 cup pineapple juice

½ cup sugar

2 tablespoons flour

1 egg

2 tablespoons butter or oleo

2 cups whipped topping

1 cup shredded coconut

1 cup pecan pieces

To make the base, combine gelatin, boiling water, 7-Up, drained pineapple and sliced bananas.  Pour mixture into a 9x12 pan and chill until firm.

The topping is made by combining the pineapple juice, sugar, flour, egg and butter and cooking over low heat until thick.

Cool and fold whipped topping and coconut into the topping mixture and spread over base.

Sprinkle with pecan pieces.

Do you have an Aunt Woody?

Clara Mae Riggs (1907-1988) and Gladys Naomi Riggs (1913-1990)

 

Do you have an Aunt Woody and Aunt Gladys who live next door to each other? I do and love and miss them as they have now passed on.  But I have a few memories of them from when I lived in Texas. They lived in Oklahoma and I was able to visit them a few times, back in the 70's. They are my grandmother's sisters and granny would tell fun stories of growing up with them. 

At one time during their teen-age years there was this dress they all love and would borrow from each other. One night all three girls wanted to wear the dress and I guess they fought over it, well you can image what happened. No more dress, it got shredded. They laughed and giggled over that story many times.

My grandmother moved to Califorina and Aunt Woody and Aunt Gladys married had families of there own and somehow moved next door to each other. This is when I new them, as neighbors.

Aunt Woody's real name is Clara Mae (Riggs) Woodring. As you can guess she got her nickname from her married  name.

         (Aunt Woody at her house.)

When I would visit I was married to my first husband and had my first daughter, so she and I would drive up to Oklahoma and stay with Aunt Woody.  Oh, I loved her house. She would tell my daughter she could have any food in the house as long as she stayed in the kitchen to eat. Aunt Woody made sure we had full tummys, she was a good cook, like my grandmother.  We would walk over to Aunt Gladys through the back door. No fences were there, but in the back of Aunt Gladys' yard, there was a storm shelter in case of tornados. So dusty down there, and luckily we never saw a tornado when we visited. 

Noble, Oklahoma is so small that we would walk over to Uncle JE's plumbing shop to give him his lunch.  Some days he would close down for lunch and come home.

At 10:00 a.m. sharp Aunt Woody and Aunt Gladys, each in their own homes would watch a soap opera and it was like the town closed down. No one was allow to call each other for that hour.

But by the time it was over, got lunches made and some phone calling done, all in time for the noon hour.  

One time we were there for Easter, we went to their church and afterwards, cousins came from Oklahoma City and we had an egg hunt. My daughter had a blast meeting her Oklahoma cousins, Jay, Jeff and Jan. They are Aunt Gladys' grandchildren.

Clara married Pete Woodring and had one son, Joe.

Gladys married JE Jordan and has one son, Sonny.

Interesting enough that each son, married and has 3 children.

           (Aunt Woody,Uncle Pete and Joe)    

I still keep in touch with my cousins from there and am glad that we can visit through facebook.

We also got to go to a football game, when the twins, (Jay and Jeff) were in high school.  Towards the end of the game, some men came over and told my cousin to get the women out as soon as the game was over, as they heard their might be a big fight. That never happen to me before, so we all left quickly and were so happy nothing happen.

Granny and her sisters were very crafty, they could make the newest craft and it would turn out great. I think they would of love how we scrapbook.

Their were 8 girls and 3 boys in that family. Could you imagine growing up in the early 1900's and 1920's with this fun group? Good times and hard times, as they lived through the dust bowl, the great depression, WWI andWWII, time periods.

Sometime I will have to write about the 2 uncles that I knew.

To Uncle Pete, Aunt Woody, Uncle JE and Aunt Gladys: love and miss you and can't wait to see you on the other side some day.

                                                                                                                                                                         

Aunt Gladys, Uncle JE and Sonny.

                                Uncle JE (on couch) and Uncle Pete (in chair)

Aunt Woody (sitting in the chair) and Aunt Gladys (on the arm of the chair). These were taken in Aunt Gladys' house.

(Lea, if you or anyone else reads this and knows of my Aunts, please comment and leave your story, so I know how you remember them.  If you have pictures, that would be nice too. Thanks.)

A Wedding - part 1

Well, my youngest daughter is getting married in June! We will be busy, busy for the next few months. I am hoping I will find the time to do my other hobbies as this will now take over. Find a dress, baking the cake, getting the flowers, etc., etc. We are going to try and do a budget of less than $1000. I am sure we can do it, but my daughter has doubts and is worried.  I look at it as an adventure and a challenge!

First I made her a planning book, to help them know what to get when and how to budget. It turn out cute. She can add color schemes or anything she thinks needs to be added into it. There is a place for the flowers, music, program and hopefully everything one needs to have a perfect wedding. Mostly I made it so that nothing is overlooked.  By the way, it didn't cost me a thing as I had scrapbooking papers and the notebook, what a good deal!

We did go out looking for a dress, oh my! First, my daughter is having a time deciding what type of dress to get. She said she thinks she can afford up to $200. I figured if we sew it ourselves she should be able to make the dress for $100, depending on how much material and the trimmings. She is also finding it hard to find a modest dress, one with sleeves and no low cuts in front or bake.  We have friends who sew much better than I and have asked to help, what a blessing.

I have made a few wedding cakes and have found where the bargains are for the ingredients.

My oldest daughter is the person to do the flowers! She knows where to look and how to make beautiful bouquets.  

It will be quite interesting how all this falls into place, I think it will be quite elegant. I hope they will have a great day!

Here is a picture of the happy couple.

 

 

Dilbeck side of family

Have had a couple of distant cousins email me through the Ancestry.com with questions of family members.  I have over 3,000 family names and they just keep coming! That might not sound like a lot to some, but I have been working on this for over 30 years off and on.  Just the last few years, I have really concentrated on doing my family history and am amazed everyday what is out there online. I know I have mentioned this before, but it still amazes me.

One distant relative has asked about her mother's family and I found some answers for her. It is on the Dilbeck side.

My grandmother's, mother is a Dilbeck. As I researched and found these answers, I came across 3-4 different articles that I have and was surprised at how different names were given for the same people. I really need to do some extra research and get this corrected. Some skipped a generation and added a brother as a father. Sometimes doing genealogy gets confusing, so please re-research before you think you have everything correct.

I try to go by census and family Bibles. Whoever writes in the census usually spells the names as they hear them and not by how the family may have spelled them. The family Bibles, I think are correct as the mother of the family should know how she wants her child's name to be spelled.

I love when people write their stories and are able to pass them down, these are precious to me.

In my family the Dilbeck's and Riggs' are close first cousins and "3 of the cousins, just before 1920's were riding a bareback together on an old horse. The old horse had been eating grass and had a bad case of flatulence. When they kicked him into a trot, he began to expel gas every time his feet hit the ground. This got the girls so tickled that they couldn't hold on and all three fell off the horse." This story brought laugher to all three girls even after 50 years. This story I received from a cousin and now as silly as this must have been then, I have it to pass down to my children. (Poor horse.) I like how he said the girls were 'tickled'. You don't hear of that word used that way anymore. The cousin that I received this from also sent me a CD with many generations back and 32 pictures of relatives I have never met, pretty cool.

Ok, back to the Dilbeck's story, as told by John C. Montgomery:

It looks like the Dibeck's line entered the USA in August of 1683 when Isaac Dilbeeck and his wife Marieke landed in Philadelphia in the ship, "America". They may have had two boys with them, Jacob and Abraham, according to Samuel W. Pennypacker in his book, "The Settlement of Germantown." They apparently were hired as indentured servants by a wealthy German writer and colonizer, Francis Daniel Pastorius, while the "America" was docked at Deal, England in June 1683. Because he was a writer, there is a wealth of infomation availabe about Pastorius and the early days of Philadelphia, so we are able to deduce much about what life was like for this ancestor. In addition, Pastorius mentions Isaac and Marieke by name (or as servant) several times; he tells us that Dilbeck was a "Dutchman", a "Hollander", a weaver, and was of the Calvinist religion.

This story goes on to explain how the Dilbecks' went to Georgia and came to Oklahoma. I need to ask if I can print the rest. As one can see there is a lot of work for each side of your family. 

Here are a couple of pictures of my great,great-grandparents:

David Nuel Dilbeck and his wife, Amanda Matilda Allen (Dilbeck)                    

 

Still here....

I know I haven't written for awhile, but nothing new is happening here. 

I have been doing a lot of family history searching and am pleased with what is out there.

So many people are doing their families, it is so cool! I love finding my family and putting a name to a date into time periods of history.

Have you ever put a name and birthdate of a family member on google.com and see what comes up? It's great, especially if they are born before 1890. Most names that I have done have had some sort of story online. Thanks to all my unknown ancestors out there doing the work, you are great and I love the stories and pictures.

One distant cousin that I met online had a picture of my parents when they were first married and he didn't know who they were. What a surprise to both of us, as I was thrill to print off that picture and he got to know me and my parents!

If you have family pictures without names, please put them on a picture site as deadfred.com or ancestry.com or many other picture sites. Some will see it and let you know who it is. There is a group on facebook called: "Genealogy Photos" where you can also put unknown pictures.

On most of my family lines, that I have been working on have at least 14-15 generations back!

Here is the famous picture of my parents, that might of been lost if I didn't email my cousin and find out if we were related or not.

What a treasure! Aren't they cute? 

Great Aunt Iza, my dad (Glenn Utterback), my mom (Emma Armstrong Utterback), 

Great Aunt Iola and my grandfather (William Everett Utterback).  Iza and Iola came down to visit their brother, my grandfather. The picture is taken at the house of my parents around 1950, where I lived until 8 years old.

Valentine's Day

Just wanted to share my nice Valentine surprise.

My daughter, Cynthia, came over last night with a beautiful pot of red tulips.

Aren't they pretty?

Since my husband death, Cynthia has been pretty good at the different holidays and other times, to bring little gifts. 

I also recieved a nice card in the mail from a good friend.

How thoughtful this year has been.

Riggs side of Family

Here is a couple of pictures of my great-grandfather and some of his children. Are any of you, Riggs? I am still working on this side of the family and am happy to say I have found many generations back. 

This picture is of William Emerson Riggs (great-grandfather), Denver (my uncle) and (Ted another uncle).

Denver's real name is William Denver Riggs born in 1896 and Ted's real name is Bernie Miller Riggs, born in 1904. 

I knew Uncle Denver and Uncle Ted as we had many family picnics together when I was little with my family. They are my grandmothers' brothers. We had such fun picnics at different parks throughout southern California.  The food, games and lots of visiting with relatives. 

I never got to meet my great-grandfather as he died before I was born. But his wife, Emma Elizabeth Dilbeck Riggs lived until my junior year in high school. I only saw pictures of her, as she lived in Oklahoma, and we didn't vacation there. 

The second picture is of my great-grandfather with more of his children. This picture must have been taken around 1909, as that is the year my grandmother was born, and that is her in the carriage or chair. Her name is Leona Catherine Riggs. I could guess on the others, but it would only be a guess. 

A Tribute to my Husband – James Paul Staples (1951-2003)

James at age 3.
James just before his leaving on a mission to Mexico.
Our new family on our wedding day, 1986.
Our Christmas picture for 1992.

This has been awhile in coming, as I just couldn’t seem to write the words down.

James was one of the very intellectual people on this earth, who had a very spiritual intelligence.  He graduated from BYU and then onto chiropractic schooling. He graduated from Palmer Chiropractic School and chose that as his profession.

He could sing, play the piano, write music, did drama in high school, gardener, and had many other talents. He loved his children and was a great father and grandfather.

We got married in 1986. James married all 3 of us, me and my two daughters from a previous marriage. James and I have 2 children, giving us 3 daughters and 1 son. We also have thus far 5 grandchildren.

When we first were married I moved with my daughters from Los Angeles area to Lompoc where James had a chiropractic business. We loved Lompoc and our son was born there. James next job landed us in Salinas, California, so moved up there. I liked Salinas to see how vegetables were grown and bought to market. Our youngest was born there. Our oldest daughter got married, her husband was in the Army and they moved to Kansas. When they had our first grandchild, we thought it would be nice to live close by to have the fun of being grandparents.  Second daughter graduated from high school and lived with my sister, due to a scholarship in that area, so we moved. We have been in Kansas ever since.

In August of 2002, James had two great jobs. One was teaching at a local college and one at the local airport, as a TSA person. In October we went to our doctors to see if he had pneumonia, the doctor came back after a chest x-ray and told us James had two weeks to live. He had Adenocarsanoma, lung cancer. James never smoked, so that really shocked us. We were grateful that James made it through the holiday season to be with us. At the end of December we thought he was getting better as more x-rays, showed improvement. He also had over 15 tumors in his brain and they were dissolving during the 2 months of treatment. He never had chemo, but did have radiation treatments for his lung and brain. We decided together to try natural treatments and they seemed to help especially with the pain, but the cancer just took over his body everywhere. The many doctors we went to, were surprised at how much James knew on what was going on with his body. I think he might have taught them a thing or two on his treatments. A couple of them told me at the knowledge he had.

We looked at all the test results and x-rays. James and I both agreed that even though cancer destroys the body, it was interesting to look at the x-rays and see what’s inside.

In our wedding book there is a page that asked a question of “Will you marry me?” Since James was kind enough to answer that for me, I will write down why I married him.

James and I dated for almost 2 years.  He was at the time dating 3 women and he chose me, who knows why, but I am glad he did.  I really enjoyed talking to him. Especially about church and spiritual things, we had many great conversions about this, even to the end. I miss our Sundays of coming home from church and discussing what we had learned. And of course, I thought he was cute. He said I was cute in “a kinda sort of way.” Go figure that one, as I never did, but am glad he said I was his Miss America at our wedding. I realized that after he was gone we really did compliment each other.

We were married for just a little over 16 ½ years, things were not always “rosey”, but we knew we wanted to succeed in our marriage and be an eternal family someday.  We would have had six children, but I had 4 miscarriages, so we are grateful to have the two healthy children we do have. I am so glad James got to be a grandfather before he passed; his grandchildren loved him so much. We went to his gravesite every Sunday after church and one of our grandchildren, looked down and asked, “Grandpa, are you still down there?” Children are so innocent. We don’t go as often anymore, but do remember him everyday; he will always be in our hearts. I strive everyday to live to be worthy to be with him again.

James died 6 years ago today.

I miss you JP……

If you are wondering, what church we belong to, it is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. One thing that I can say that I have succeeded in is that being a member of His church for 35+ years. Go to Mormon.org to find out more information, it is a cool site.