Thanksgiving Weekend

I am late with my post on the holiday weekend. I battled a terrible cold the week after, but finally won! We enjoyed family here and all the wonderful things that come when we get together to play, eat, and count blessings! The leaves in my front yard had been bothering me for a long time, just didn't get a chance to get out and rake them up. So, I enlisted some great helpers that really worked hard. Thanks (L to R) Logan, Cole, Mason and Uncle Chad (below) for a great job! One question, Chad and Logan....raking leaves or practicing for Guitar Hero??? The boys really enjoyed working with Uncle Chad and everyone was sad when Chad had to leave Friday morning to get back to Pocatello for work.
Alisa and family were able to make it down from Montana, leaving a foot of snow behind.

They planned and helped carry out the Orr family dinner on Thanksgiving, but we loved visiting with them the rest of the week. We celebrated Avery's birthday on Wednesday. My little shadow, Zadyn, loved helping Grandma with everything, especially unloading the dishwasher.

Chad appreciated the traditional turkey and stuffing dinner that he had missed out on the last two years being in the mission field. Jef, Sarah, and the boys were here for dinner, too, and we had a great feast. While they were here, they did what they do best...give service to their family! Sarah's sister is expecting and so they helped her paint and get the nursery ready for the new baby. We missed Cameron, Mary, and family, they were enjoying Thanksgiving in Ogden with Mary's family and Jeremy, Sarah, and Isaak were in Shelly, Idaho with her family. I am always so appreciative for my chef husband...Dale always cooks a yummy turkey and a unique dressing each year. I cheated and let CostCo furnish the rolls, pumpkin, cheesecake, and pecan pies. Dale and I went up to Kuna Friday night to stay over night with Jef so that we could attend a young single adult wedding in the Boise Temple early Saturday morning. Logan and Mason rode up with us Friday after supper and we snapped this cute photo of the boys before we took off. The cousins had a fun time playing together.

L to R: Mason, Logan, Avery and Kyler.

Saturday afternoon, Jeremy, Sarah, and Isaak came to visit and we had fun watching Isaak walk and smile all the time! They went with us to the wedding reception that evening. It was fun to see and spend time with them, even for just one day.

The Lord has blessed me so much and I have a wonderful family. I love them all and can't wait for Christmas when almost everyone will be here for Christmas day or after...except Alisa and family...too far and too stormy for another trip.

Gift of Love

A big "thank you" to Audrey for my new blog header. Isn't it fabulous? She is the best! I was thinking the other day how fun it was going to be to see new holiday blog headers and how I should ask Audrey if she had some time to create one for me. When I finally got around to my email today....about 12:30....she had sent me this beautiful header with a Merry Christmas greeting. This is a special gift from a special person. Thanks again, Audrey.

Dale is doing great after his surgery. You can read of his progress on The Clark Family Blog.

Another Great Weekend

I think sometimes that I can't post great happenings when I forget my camera and don't take any pictures. But, I had such a terrific weekend, I wanted to write about it anyway and I will "borrow" a picture from my inspirational blogger who is more on the ball than I am! Dale and I headed to Pocatello Friday to see our two boys and help broadcast the Jerome High School Tigers football 2nd playoff game on the local radio. We haven't had to worry about a Jerome football 2nd playoff game since Cameron's team played for the championship

10 years ago! We had planned on going to my sister Julie's birthday party that evening, but had to honor the commitment we have with the radio station. I was able to sit with Jeremy and his little guy, Isaak, instead of being in the announcer's booth. That was a highlight for me. Isaak loved the band playing and cheered and clapped right along with all the fans. Even though Jerome lost, they put forth a great effort. One of Jerome's finest running back was put in the hospital that week, diagnosed with a muscle disease that critically affected his kidneys. It seemed to damper the spirit of his twin brother, another great player and the team in the long run. Adversity sometimes takes it toll.

Chad and his roommate, Matt and Jeremy's wife, Sarah, joined us at Winger's after the game for a late, crazy dinner. They were all working earlier, so we cherished the short visit over popcorn and sticky fingers!

We left early Saturday morning and headed to Utah to see my sister Julie. Thanks to my sister, Polly, for this darling picture of her. I don't get to visit with her or family in Utah as often as I like, so we were glad we could have such a nice time with Julie. She is always so glad to see us and loves to fill me in on all the things that the family is doing(yes, she talks about everyone!) and all the happenings of good ole' AF! She is an avid Jazz fan and could give me their win/loss record so far in their early season play. Julie is getting a new hearing aid so we recommitted to call each other and talk more often.

My sister, Polly, and my sister-in-law, Sonya, came by the convalescent home to say hi. It is always such fun to catch up and visit. Those two are angels in their love and care for Julie and I appreciate everything they do for her. We met up with my brother Dennis and his wife, Katie, and Dave, Polly's husband, to eat a bite before we headed home. Good times eating AGAIN and sharing news about our lives and our families. I just wanted to thank my family with all my heart for such a wonderul visit. All of your generousity and all that you have done and continue to do for the family and for others touch me deeply. Talking about the trials we face and how the Lord has blessed us and given each one of us tender mercies will continue to inspire me to be forever grateful for such blessing and for the greatest family ever this Thanksgiving time.

A Big Thanks!

I asked my niece, Audrey, who designed the original header for my blog when I started it, that I maybe would like to do a little fallish makeover. And WOW! She designed this one and it took my breath away. Thanks you, Audrey, for the very creative, awesome, and beautiful header...it is perfect!
You are amazing!

Preparing for the changing weather...

As most of you know, I love the fall season and its beauty that changes our world. But it does bring with it much colder weather and waking up most mornings to heavy frost. Silly as it may seem, I enjoy the Saturday we get around to "winterizing" the yard. We pick what's left from the garden to finish canning or put in storage. Dale always grows lots of beans and he's put up some bottles of our favorite...dill beans.

Our pumpkins and squash didn't do that well, but we've already enjoyed some. A favorite recipe Dale cooks is his zuchinni lasagna, with the marinara sauce he cans from the tomatoes. What a guy!! These last smaller ones I like to decorate with. (Check out Collette's blog, she has posted some great decorating projects she did with pumkins.)

We put all the garden stakes, coverings, and tools in the shed and then gather up the hoses. We stretch the hoses down the slope so that all the water will drain out and not freeze, which will split the hose.We are glad that we have had some rain so that we don't have to water anymore. Our irrigation water has been shut off now for the season. Most of my flowers protected under the tree in the front yard stay so pretty through the fall and winter. And with the cooler weather and some rain, they really flourish better now than they to in the hot summer! Dale planted a rhubarb plant this year for the first time. Our neighbor usually gives us plenty, but he wanted some of his own. The first year produces few shoots, but we picked enough for my favorite recipe... rhubarb cobbler. It is my Mother's recipe and my mouth just waters as I think about making it. I have always loved her cobbler and think of her so much when I make it. And served warm with cream, it really is a great fall treat. Happy fall to everyone and hope you all are enjoying this season with all its splendor.

Oktoberfest Weekend

This weekend - Friday and Saturday - October 5th and 6th - brought the annual Oktoberfest celebration held in down town Twin Falls. The weather was blustery and rainy and cold! I braved the elements on Friday and cheerfully greeted what few people who came out in the rain during the morning hours to check things out. Even though many booths closed up until late afternoon, I stayed and actually sold a few bottles. A bright spot of the day was when Mary brought the kids to check on Grandma. They enjoyed climbing around the fountain by our booth and sharing some crackers and cheese. Thanks for coming to see me in the cold and for sharing your blanket with me.

As the day wore on, the rain stopped intermittantly and more people came out. Dale joined me in the early evening and we had fun talking to people, selling our sauce and listening to the different local bands entertain by the fountain. Cameron and Mary came back with the kids. Bailee and Braden danced with us to the music and enjoyed some of the booths further down the street that featured fun things for kids. Our booth was located right next to the beer and brautworst booth, so plenty of action came our way as the night wore on! We stuck it out until 10pm when the vendors closed.

Saturday was a horrible day, weather wise...no rain, but the wind was very strong with heavy gusts. I bundled up pretty good, not really making a fashion statement, but had a hard time keeping warm. Dale took cases of our sauce to Rudy's, a cooking specialty store down town, that features our sauce and arranged for an in-store demonstration on the last Saturday of October. While he was gone, the wind actually upended our booth. I was barely able to catch one side and to hold it back down. It surprised me because we have very heavy weights hanging down on all sides. We joked with the few people that stayed around when they asked how we were doing, saying we were "holding up our end...literally" because when the wind became so strong, Dale had to stand and hold the booth on one end so that it wouldn't collaspe.

When the wind became stronger and the gusts became more frequent, we had to pack up and leave a few hours early. It actually bent some of the poles. But all in all, I had a good time inspite of the chills and wind burn on my face. Oktoberfest had different sponsors this year and there were only half the vendors there compared to last year. And the weather discouraged lots of people from coming out. But, we were invited to go to the big Craft Show held in the expo center at the College of Southern Idaho the first weekend in November and to also participate in the big finale celebration of the Twin Falls Farmer's Market the end of the month. Even though it was a difficult show, I enjoyed talking to people and was "warmed" when those that came took the time to taste and buy our sauce!

Fun Family Day

This past Friday, the 21st, we attended the wedding at the Bountiful Temple of Chad's best friend and his bride, both members of our Young Single Adult Branch. That is certainly one of the highlights serving in a singles branch...attending temple weddings. I loved the gentleman who performed the sealing, he spoke from his heart with the Spirit and gave so much excellent counsel and gospel knowledge about just what a temple sealing entails and the covenants and blessings of it. It was so wonderful to see these two young people so happy because they made the right choice in their lives. We have four more temple weddings this year from the singles branch(that we know of!) and hope to be able to witness them all.
Dale and I loved being able to spend a day with Chad and Collette. We sat by Cameron and Mary and the kids at the Jerome Homecoming football game that evening. Fun, fun, fun. Dale helps announce Jerome football games on a local radio station so we sat just below the broadcaster's booth so we could keep making faces at him throughout the game.
Collette has posted this fun day on her blog, check it out with all the great pictures!

Check out Collette and my latest adventures on the Clark Family Blog!

34 Years...Then and Now

August 24th marked our 34th Wedding Anniversary. We were in Boise making our bbq sauce (see previous post) on that day and I didn't really think we would celebrate it. In fact, I offered to tend for Jef and Sarah that evening so they could have a chance to go out and we could spend more time with the boys.
I was informed that Jef and Sarah were taking us out for the evening and that Collette had offered to babysit (thanks again, Collette). I even got to pick the restaurant! I chose a favorite, a Tai place, we were all pretty hungry after a grueling day of making sauce
I was feeling pretty bold and ordered Pad Tai (I think that is what it is called) with about a 2 1/2 spice level. Man, was it good! I think the chef for the night was a little generous with the heat. Needless to say, we really "spiced" it up for our anniversary. We cooled down with some fancy ice cream and a fun shopping trip to Burlington Coat Factory. Thanks again, Jef and Sarah for a great evening.

I have been reflecting on the past 34 years of marriage with my sweetheart, Dale. As you can see, "John Denver" may have changed in appearance, but he has been the same solid, loving, supportive husband all these years. And he just gets better and better at making me feel important and special. We have had our ups and downs and he has stuck with me through it all. I could not have asked for a better husband and friend. He is a great father, much more patient than me and a wonderful, fun grandpa. His testimony of the church has never wavored and his commitment to service has been an inspiring example to me and our family. His whole life has been built around his family and they have been more important to him than any fame or fortune. The youth he has worked with over the years, his "other kids"... have also felt so much love and support from Dale in all they try to do. Words to a song that we liked by Captain and Teneille (which we also sang for Dennis and Katie's wedding breakfast) says "love...love will keep us together..." I know that love has kept us together these 34 years. Looking forward to many, many more!

"Sauced" in Caldwell, Idaho

A lot of people have asked about where we make our bbq sauce and how we make it. So here is the perfect place to post our last "sauce run" we did on August 24th. I took pictures of the process and will try to explain it best I can! We make our sauce in a Small Business Incubation Kitchen run by the Universary of Idaho located in Caldwell, Idaho, a town near Boise.

We rent the kitchen and depending on the kinds and quantity of sauce, we usually are there from 8am to 5pm. Sarah does most of the shopping for all the ingredients, Dale orders the pepper powder. At the beginning preparation stage, the girls do the honors of cutting up pounds and pounds of onions. Yes, it brings tears to our eyes, but not for long, compared the great aroma of the habenero peppers. As you can see from the picture, Collette and Sarah are such "cut ups" when we work! We used to sort and prepare the peppers, but have refined our recipe to using pepper powder. We have found that using real onions combined with powder keeps the substance of the sauce in tact.

Dale begins pouring the "secret" recipe ingredients in a big vat.

As you see from the pictures, we wear aprons, hairnets, and rubber gloves throughout the different stages of the process to keep the health department happy. I think Dale looks cute in a hairnet!

Next is a picture of Jefrey carefully measuring out the different powders we use. He listens to favorite tunes on his ipod, but I know he really misses the stimulating conversation that his Mother provides.

You can see one of the big vats that we use to cook our sauce in. Dale is making sure the sides and bottom get scraped well in the stirring process. There is alot more to making our sauce, like blending all the onions in a machine, cleaning out all the ingredient containers after use that can be recycled, and cleaning, cleaning, cleaning to keep a sanitary environment. The time the sauce is cooking to perfection, another batch of a different kind has most likely started and we can usually eat the yummy lunch Sarah always provides for us in the break room.

The bottling stage is the busy stage. There are lots of things that need to get prepared. Bottles need to be sanitized in the big dishwasher. Lids are all laid out and sanitized, as the picture of Collette shows. Jefrey and Sarah get the label machine set up with our labels on (you can see their arms). Most important, Dale and Jef makes sure the sauce is exactly right in consistancy and then pours it into the funnel looking machine that is set to dispense just the right amount of sauce into a bottle.

When Dale gets each bottle filled, he hands them to Collette to put on the lids. We have to make sure that the machine pours out just the right amount for a single bottle. We don't want too little in the bottles and too much spills over. We adjust this level it seems a couple of times during this filling process. Collette is sporting a nice glove to prevent blisters that can appear from turning 750 caps! This comes from the voice of experience, as I have done that job myself!

The bottles are placed on a turn table that goes around to position the bottles for the labeler to pick up and place on the label machine.

Jefrey is our labeler, he runs that machine pretty slick and knows just when a tiny glitch needs to be adjusted so that the labels wrap around the bottles correctly.

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Sarah puts on the black shrink bands that go around the cap to seal the bottles. The bottles are then sent through the machine pictured on the left that heats the shrink bands. We place the bottles one by one on a turning belt that sends them through. A person takes them out and places them right in the boxes ready to go. When I do the shrink bands, Sarah receives the bottles and boxes them. This also includes labeling the boxes with the name of the right product and stacking them on a pallot for storage.

We are usually grateful for this stage when the bottles are done! Sarah always does a good job of keeping track of the numbers of bottles we did of each product for our inventory. Then comes the final clean up, which is another process in itself. We do keep the working stations clean as we go but there is the big job of cleaning the big vats and bottling machine. That's when it gets fun! When the cold water from the cleaning hoses hits the vats, the habenero sauce smell intensifies greatly.

I know that I have probably left out lots of details, but that is how we make our habby sauce...one bottle at a time. I actually enjoy doing this and Dale has said he loves making the sauce. I know it is because we get to spend time getting "sauced" with family!

Another Fun Weekend: Destination Pocatello - Logan - Jerome

On Friday, August 31st, Collette and I once again embarked on another road trip. A friend of Collette's and a dear young single adult from our Branch was getting married in the Logan Temple Saturday morning, so that gave us a good reason to travel to Pocatello and stay with Jeremy and Sarah. We could make the sealing session at 8am Saturday morning in the Logan Temple much easier from there. And because Dale and Chad were selling our sauce at the market in Idaho Falls on Saturday, we drove the pick-up full of Habby Too sauce, supplies, and equipment. We had to stop three times to secure the tarp but finally made it to Pokey with all safe and sound. Dale came up late Friday night after helping announce the Jerome High School football game.

I had my camera, but didn't take pictures, so I borrowed some from Collette. (can you tell?) It was fun to play with Isaak, he is really growing up fast and on the verge of walking. Jeremy is enjoying his grad work and being a TA for one of his professors and Sarah is doing well with her new CNA job.
We met up with Chad and his roommate, Matt, at McDonald's (love those student recommended dollar menu places) before we headed to the ISU Cinema (also love those student discounted movie theaters). We watched Pirates of the Caribbean III, which I hadn't seen yet. It was a kick to see Keith Richards as a pirate, probably didn't need very much make-up for that role! It was tons of fun and Isaak was a good boy at the movies.
Chad is settled in at school and way busy, joining a major-related club (he wants to be an Optometrist) and serving as Elder's Quorum President in his student ward. We got up way early on Saturday morning, around 5am, not completely knowing how long it would take to get to Logan. We found out that it only took about an hour and a half. It was a beautiful ceremony and we enjoyed a luncheon afterward with Aaron and Matt's family and friends.

This is a fun picture of Collette and friends, they are so "uplifting" to each other! (Collette is 3rd from the left)

We headed back to Jerome and were anxious to see Alisa and her family, they came the night before for the weekend. For those of you that have made that trip to Idaho, you know how hot and "scenic" it is, but we had our pop and music to get us through!

We were glad to see Grant, Alisa, and the kids and Zadyn kept telling everyone that there was Grandma...finally... as they stayed at our place the night before without us. After supper, we headed in for the wedding reception where Collette sang two songs and sounded beautiful. Later on, we all enjoyed root beer floats and taking crazy pictures with Grandpa!

Alisa and family spent most of the day on Sunday with the Orrs but we had fun again before bed with chocolate chip cookies (yes, I hit the gym pretty hard on Tuesday) and stories.After the kids were in bed, we played Encore, the game where you get a word or category and then come up with as many songs as you can think of. That is tons of fun and makes you realize just how many songs your brain can store. I think Collette was the ultimate winner (Uncle Dennis would be proud!).

Alisa and family headed home for Montana Monday morning. We will miss them and look forward to seeing them when they come back for Thanksgiving, weather permitting. We packed up and left for the traditional Labor Day trip to the Bruneu Sand Dunes which will be the next upcoming blog.

Paul and Marcelene

I was viewing some of my photos that I have stored in My Pictures on the computer and found this precious one in my Heritage Photos folder. This is my Dad, Paul George Gauger and my mother, Marcelene Bennett Gauger. This I believe is their engagement/wedding photo, my family can correct me if I am mistaken. We have commented over the years of how my son Jeremy Paul, and Paulene's son Paul look like Grandpa Gauger. And as I have mentioned, my sweet new grand daughter, Cameron and Mary's little girl Malia Marcelene, was named after my Mother. Paulene's oldest daughter Audrey named their first girl Amanda Marcelene after Mother, as well. I thought that you would like to see this beautiful picture of them. I hope as you look at this picture of Mom and Dad or Grandpa and Grandma Gauger or even Great Grandpa and Grandma Gauger, you can appreciate the names that are being carried on in the family and can feel of their loving spirits as I do.

Montana Trip August 6th - 11th

On the road again...this time to Florence, Montana. Collette and I enjoyed the 6 1/2 hour drive chatting and singing to the oldies stations on the radio and when they faded out, we rocked on with favorites from Collette's ipod. Heading over the mountain pass just past Salmon, we saw a big horned sheep and lots of deer on the side of the road. We wondered if we were really in Montana when we hit Darby, just south of Hamilton, because the smoke from forest fires had the area completely socked in with what looked like thick fog. You couldn't see any of the beautiful Montana mountains on either side. The kids were waiting up for us and were so excited to have us come for the whole week.
Tuesday morning we headed to Hamilton for Zadyn's physical therapy. We had a fun time playing at the park near by with Avery and Kyler while Zadyn had her session.

They loved playing with Aunt Collette, especially taking imaginary trips in the jeep!

We snuck in at the end of Zadyn's therapy session and I was impressed as I observed the interaction between Zaydn and her therapist, Holly. Zady enjoyed showing off for us as she "worked" in her swing. She is really making great progress and had a successful day.
We celebrated Zadyn's 2nd birthday on Thursday, the 9th. Alisa made her a Princess Cake, aka the traditional Barbie in the bunt pan. It turned out way cute and Zady was excited. She loved the purple and pink streamers and her special balloons, but she didn't quite know what to think about the candles to blow out. She loved all her presents and was really the "Princess" on her special day.

I loved going to school with Avery and Kyler in the afternoon. Alisa home schools them and I was very impressed with their skills. Avery read to me, I watched them do Math pages, they did art projects, and we played so many fun games together. Friday morning we went to the library for story time and learned all about panda bears. We went for a hike on a nature trial in the afternoon and then had a "reward" treat they earned for completing points from their library summer reading program. They shared the new "Charlotte's Web" movie with Grandma and Aunt Letty, we really liked it.

It was hard to leave Saturday morning, knowing that it would be a long time before we could visit again, due to distance and weather conditions of fall and winter. Avery and Kyler promised to write me letters and send art projects so that we can keep in touch. I am thankful for the blog sites so that we can stay tuned "heart to heart", too. Thanks for a great week!

Thoughts from recent funeral...

I have written some insights I gleaned from the funeral of President James E. Faust and posted them on the Clark Family Blog. I felt they were worth sharing.

Weekend in Pocatello - August 3-5

We attended Idaho State University Summer Commencement on Friday, August 3rd. Cameron graduated with a Master of Physician Assistant Studies. We are so proud of him and his family for this great accomplishment. We also attended the ISU Physician Assistant Certificate Ceremony and Reception afterwards, where Cameron and 28 other graduates in the PA Program were honored and given their awards. I especially enjoyed the video presentation showing the graduates practicing on each other in their classes drawing blood, taking blood pressure and other fun activities. We all celebrated that evening at Butterburrs, my favorite family restaurant in Pocatello, with our family and Mary's family.

We stayed at Jeremy and Sarah's apartment for the weekend and loved visiting and playing with Isaak. He is really growing and is such a happy-go-lucky guy. Collette, Sarah and I walked in the cool evenings by the old houses featured in the "historical district" near the campus. We were fascinated with the colonial styles and had a ball chatting about this and that. Chad and Jeremy (yea, that was one of my favorite 60's British Invasion rock groups) were involved in some pretty intense X-box competitions, too.

Dale and Chad sold our bbq sauce at the Idaho Falls Market on Saturday from 9 am to 1 pm. As you can tell from their shirts, they have a great time selling and interacting with customers! They had another record sales day... the habenero original sauce (hot) featured on the left tied with the new mexico green sauce (mild) on the right, with the chipoltle (medium) in the middle coming in a close second.

It is "the bbq sauce your mom warned you about"!
Our sweet Malia Marcelene was blessed in Cameron and Mary's former ward Sunday afternoon. Cameron gave a beautiful blessing and Malia was so good. It is traditional in the families to take a picture on blessing day of all the guys who stood in the circle to help with the blessing. The Clark men are on the back row left to right...Jeremy, Chad, Dale, and Jefrey. Cameron is sitting holding Malea, with a friend on his left and Paul, Mary's dad, on the right. Lucky Malia to be surrounded by all those handsome gentlemen!




Malia's grandmothers and older sister, Bailee, were sure bustin' their buttons, too, as you can tell. I am so thrilled that Malia was named after my mother, Marcelene. I am sure that she was smiling down and that her heart was in this picture, too!





We traveled home Sunday evening and reflected all the way home on what a wonderful weekend it was and what a wonderful family we have. Stay tuned for the upcoming Grandma travels to Montana!