Pre Christmas Thoughts

This season of the reflection of the Christ Child brings 

so many feelings and thoughts of how I have lived my life.

(not to worry, I am not going to get too deep in thought here.)

Family and friends are such a big part of who I am, I used to think that 

my religion was too, but in recent years, I have come to a conclusion 

that I am influenced by so many good 

people (outside of my religious roots) that 

 really want to make the world a safe, happy and 

productive place for humankind to experience 

the goodness that exists in our world (universe).

As a person that was really living in a small isolated sphere, I was left out

 of what the rest of humanity was doing to exists on a daily basis.

I forced myself to read, act, and think differently.

I have been to places that others might consider dangerous or unsafe.

I have read of others' tragedies and challenges to even survive a day.

I have seen poverty and injustices that I have never experienced myself.

I do believe that God and Christ will heal all 

wounds and will make up the difference.

I will be more kind, loving and thoughtful in my actions.

I will be more tolerant, and see "both sides."

I will be an activist for equal rights for all.

I am amazed by the good that 

my world family does for one another.

Happy to be a part of it.

This is a wonderful life.

-Melanie 

Pepperidge Farms

Tonight, I made Palmiers -
Palmiers are made from puff pastry, a laminated dough 

similar to the dough used for croissant, but without the yeast. 

Puff pastry is alternating layers of dough and melted butter. 

The puff pastry is rolled out, coated with sugar, and then the two sides 

are rolled up together so that they meet in the middle, making a roll that is
 then cut into 

about 1/4" slices and baked. 
Usually it is rolled in sugar before baking.

I thawed out my Peppridge Farms Puff Pastry,

I love anything that has FARMS in the name.

There is a truth in that it must be fresh and natural.

I jumped onto PF's website to get some ideas as to what 

I should make with this buttery rich dough.

I was so impressed by their site that I had to share 

it with this post. click her to go and discover so many delicious

 ideas for your holiday entertaining!

click here

Postlude to Gratitude.

A big thanks to my sister-in -law Kim (and family) for hosting and cooking

 a wonderfully delicious turkey dinner!

 The Kitchen Crew

The next generation of cooks

Photo BoothPhoto enhanced 
 We actually had all those pies to choose from. :)

The Utah Swenson's
Grateful for family!

Life of Pi

This is a book I highly recommend..

The Life of Pi

 The minute I started to read it, I was so transformed and hooked on the

 place, characters and events. This novel is a mystical tale.

Here is a brief summary

Life of Pi

and here is a sneak peek

I maybe the first one in line at the theater for this great adventure!

Childhood innocence

Many of you have either read on the 

news or read on Facebook about Malala.

Today
 is 
Malala Day

“Today the President of Pakistan has agreed to work with the United Nations to ensure urgent delivery of education for all and to get Pakistan's five million out-of-school children into education for the first time. On the eve of Malala Day, I presented petitions signed by over 1 million people from the international community in honour of Malala Yousafzai.

These signatures were joined with another one million signatures collected by Pakistani civil society's One Million Signature Campaign to demand free and compulsory education. Another 100,000 signatures from out-of-school Pakistani children have been collected on the way to another million by the end of January. We will now work together to identify the bottlenecks to meeting the 2015 goal of universal education and develop concrete steps to deliver the world's promise on schedule.

Pakistan has requested to join the Accelerated Millennium Development Goal Framework process that will allow the country to assess its current education plans, strategies and bottlenecks in consultation with international organizations.

A deadline for an agreement on an accelerated plan for reaching MDG 2 has been set for April 2013 when the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, President of the World Bank Jim Kim and myself, alongside the heads of major international agencies such as UNESCO, UNICEF, UNDP, UNFPA and the Global Partnership for Education, will meet in Washington with the Ministers of Education and Finance of Pakistan. We will harness international and domestic support for realizing the 2015 goal.

The April meeting will be preceded by five months of intensive in-country work with the Pakistan government, civil authorities and foundations, as well as international organizations, to ensure that a detailed, budgeted plan delivers quality education for every girl and boy with teachers, books and classrooms by 2015.

I have suggested to the President that he consider convening all educational organisations from civil society interested in achieving the universal goal.

I am pleased that as part of the measures announced today, 3 million children in poor families will receive cash transfers in return for going to school.

Malala's dreams represent what is best about Pakistan. Three million girls should not be denied their right to schooling any longer. Children who are barred from school today should be provided quality learning opportunities as quickly as possible.

I have said that the international community will work to provide financial and technical support to Pakistan as long as it also makes a domestic commitment and delivers on putting education first.

Pakistan and the international community share the same goals - and now the issue is delivery. No bombs, bullets, threats or intimidation can deter the international community, working in partnership with Pakistan, to ensure we build the schools, train teachers, provide learning materials, and ensure that there is no discrimination against girls.

The plans we announce today are designed to speed up educational opportunities for every child to go to school, learn and become truly global citizens.”

Autumnial

The Harvest

 by: Manniemae

Golden sheaves stand ripening

in the setting sun,
Bounty of a fruitful harvest,
A year's labor well spent.

From tiniest seed to trees laden
with sweet promise
The earth gives forth her joy
in abundance.

Our blessed harvest

From our garden and four "reds".

They all came to CARVE...

Twas October 27, 2012

Katlin decided to have a lunch and a pumpkin carving event
(no official contest)

So we gathered together with pumpkins in hand
and began to create the most unique faces on our jack-o-lanterns.

This strange couple appeared from the EAST...
(dad & Juana in their headdresses from Egypt)

Dallas & JT with Mr Skeleton head

Blake was very out there with his "Heisenberg"
(Breaking Bad) 

the "swede" brought out his hammer and dremel

 his was voted the BEST

Ariel with "poo emoticon.

....don't ask....

My niece Brianne said that this was her

first pumpkin she has ever carved....

she went all out and carved a moustache!

:)

I think these two really won with their "old fashion" face
 and of course the funny photo they took with pumkin head!

The end results..
Nightime Madness!!

Spooky House

Spooky family lives here

International Day of the Girl Child

Why we need an International Day of the Girl Child

Read more: here

A very sad example of how some countries treat

 their children or want to kill their children is this story. 

(Reuters) - A 14-year-old Pakistani schoolgirl campaigner shot

 by the Taliban had defied threats for years, believing

 the good work she was doing for

 her community was her best protection.

Read more here

The United Nations is hosting events this day and include:

The theme for the first-ever observance of
 the Day will be "Ending Child Marriage," chosen because child marriage
 is a phenomenon that violates millions of girls' rights, disrupts their
 education, jeopardizes their health, and denies them their childhood,
 limiting their opportunities and impacting all aspects of a girl's life.

I believe that we all can become more proactive and support others

 in their challenge to make a better life for themselves.

Cheers to all the children of the World!

Front foyer welcome

This is what you will see when you enter the 

Haunted Swenson Home.

Just feeling the "spirit" early this year!

I think I might watch "The Birds"

Happy anniversay

Celebrate with us as we celebrate our 20th year anniversary.

The "swede" and I spent the Saturday and Sunday up at Deer Valley, UT 

at the

 St Regis Hotel

Our daughters were the gift givers and we couldn't have 

asked for a more magnificent playground.

 We drove up from Provo Canyon into Midway, then up

 the Empire Pass road and down to Deer Valley.

 Here we are at the cross roads.

Sunday afternoon we drove up hwy 150 into the Wasatch National Forest,

 then into the Uinta National Forest to see where the Provo River starts.

(a long way from the Provo river we tubed down this summer.)

Here we are at the Provo Falls.

What an 

Amazing, Awesome, Astonishing

20 years

with 

the 

Swede!

Baking on Saturday

Really,
.. can't tell you why I have this impulse...
to bake on Saturday mornings..

I have done this for some time now...years and years...

I think it is my purpose

to feed

my

confidence

and my family.

One of the pleasure I take when baking is using the veggies, fruits from my garden.
add chopped pistachios

Voila...apple zucchini nut bread!!

Close up: can you see the zucchini meat and the green pistachio nuts?

 I couldn't help myself by making a autumnal lieu to celebrate the season!

HAPPY AUTUMN!

The hike that busted me

As previously mention in yesterdays post, the "swede" and 

I hiked up the Timpangos Mountain trail.

We got a late start  at 9:30 am. 

We had our Geigerrig Hydration Packs and our hiker attire. 

This was the goal-top of the trail leading to emerald lake.

-the sky has been extremely smoky.

Backside of (me) and the mountain. 

The trail was a mixture of material, soft powdery dirt, large boulders, 

asphalt, dirt, mud, creek beds, logs, it was a very difficult trail to climb.

You will approach two falls on this hike, nice place to rest in 

the shade and cool your beet red face from heat exhaustion.

This view is looking towards Alpine Lodge and the

 mountains by Deer Creek Reservoir.

We used Nike's elevation/mileage app and when the "swede"

 calculated our miles and altitude climb.

 We had gone over 2000 miles in elevation and round trip 8 miles.

It took 6-7 hours to reach the top. 

I was busted and did not have 

anything left, so the "swede" reached the goal by himself.

This hike for me was the longest and most challenging I have done in years. 

 In the end I cried, and just wanted 

to get back to the base. 

At home

Both of us were wasted...spent and could barely move the 

rest of the night as we lumbered on the couch 

popping ibuprofen and complaining of our aces and pains.

I don't regret it, but I will probably not climb it again.

The end.

The swede and I decieded late last night thay we were going to the Emerald (city) lake today. Packing our gear. Will post later on the outcome.

 My creativity is back to start blogging again.

I think that summer just gets me hyper foused on so many other things that 

I can't sit behind a computer and write.

Summer was awesome except that I had to work...

but, I am glad to see fall colors and

 know that ski & snowshoeing season is approaching very soon.

 Halloween
will be here in no time and here is a glimpse of what I will be harvesting soon.
I counted 16 beautiful unique pumpkins.

 The hens found this "big boy" and started to peck at it.

A Must See Special

I have read Half the Sky.

Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women

 I highly recommend it to anyone over the age of 12.

PBS has a special that will air on October 1 & 2 for two nights.

Here is the link to the whole buzz that is sounding about the book and the special.

Let me know your thoughts on this subject and how you can make

 a difference in the lives of other women.