My most favorite time of the year

I love Christmas, don't get me wrong, but when it comes to favorite holidays Thanksgiving rates #1 in my book.
When did this happen. I don't know. Growing up I was the one pushing for the Christmas decorations, I wanted them out after Halloween. I was the first one to wake up and sit staring at the tree and gifts until the rest of the family got up on Christmas morning.
It may have been when I moved to Connecticut. The environment was different. There were trees, trees with leaves that changed shades, trees everywhere the eye could see. There was the new foods and smells of walking around New York City on Thanksgiving morning. The excitement at watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. Riding the train back to a wonderful meal joined by dozens of close friends, who like me, where away from their family and the normal holiday traditions.
My first thanksgiving was spent in an ancient home just 30 minutes outside of the city. I shared a double bed in the old servants quarters of this house the night before. We arose the next morning and bundled for our trip into the city. Around noon, after the parade, we headed back to Grand Central for our trip back. We enjoyed the warmth and coziness of the old home that evening. (this is also where I fell in love with colonial period homes)
My second was spent with my best friends. I had volunteered my home of employment for the ward thanksgiving. My good friend Teresa, a German nanny from across the street and my best friend Kelli from Utah came over that week and we tackled the feast. It was the best time of my life. Kelli can cook like no ones business, especially baking. Teresa didn't mind digging in even if it was her first Thanksgiving. We cooked two turkeys, pies, potatoes, stuffing, cakes, and then had the guests bring their favorite dish.
These two years where the best Thanksgivings of my life. I learned love and appreciation for my forefathers and fellow men. I learned that this is the one day a year where I can make sure those around me don't go without a warm place to join in on a good meal. Since then friends and family are invited to thanksgiving at my home. I have had many when the space was large and few when it was small. Everyone leaves with plenty of food and hopefully a good time. I look forward to the day when I have a place where the number doesn't have to be limited due to space constraints.

All of this was the back story to this recipe I am about to share. One thanksgiving when my dear Kelli was living back in Utah with her family, she shared what has to be one of the best yam dishes I have ever enjoyed. My sisters have been asking me for this recipe for some time and I always forget to get it to them. So here goes.

Kelli's Yams

2 40 oz cans of unsweetened yams or sweet potatoes
1 cup of sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 stick of melted butter

Drain majority of the syrup from the yams. Mix all of the ingredients together until creamy. Spreed out in a 9x13 casserole dish.

Topping
2 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup melted butter
2/3 cup flour
2 cup pecans

Mix together and crumble over yams. Bake at 375 F until topping is golden and yams are bubbling.

Please enjoy. Over the next month I will be trying to share a few more recipes that are frequently asked for. This is a task because most recipes I just make "my way" which means I look at the recipe and then go for it, changing things as I go. I frequently forget to write down my changes as well. So each time my goodies change.

Life is Crazy

Warning: This port may contain techy slang. I have been with Akahige geekisims for over 8 years you should expect this language from me.

I seem to be really good at breaking electronics this year. First was the USB connections on my work pc, back in January. (this should have been a sign of things to come) Though I really can't be blamed for this since that mo bo had previous offenses with the USB ports. In transfering the datea via partially working usb ports to my laptop the SOAP notes became corrupted and I lost all of the data since my last back up. This was 2 months worth. Yeah Yeah I know I need to back up more.

PC two. My home PC had been boggish for a while and finally blue screened. This meant a complete reinstall. (still waiting on important programs to be reinstalled so I can do my business printing, including the mailing that has to be out this weekend. Which mailing I would be currently working on, but again I am missing the programs) SO my home PC is happier once more.

Yesterday my laptop became really jealous of all the attention my other pc's have been receiving. I was taking care of some business emails and getting ready to address the business mailing when it became temperamental and crashed.

Thankfully my Oto is the best and he was able to rescue that without having to do a complete wipe.

Life Crazy #2
My mother and I belong to an online quilting group. It is lots of fun. I have 5 packages sitting here waiting to go to the post office, for exchanges. Some where supposed to be mailed out 2 weeks ago. I am waiting on tips to come in so I can afford to get them mailed.

Life Crazy #3
My family is doing a different kind of Christmas this year. It simplifies matters if it is held at my home. This means fitting 22 bodies into my kitchen and living room which total about 250 sq feet and then you have to factor in some furniture that is where it is and can't be moved. Now I can fit them all but it will be cozy. In order to reduce the crampness I am dejunking and rearranging. This summer I tackled the second bedroom (secretly in hopes of a child with in the next year, this wont be happening, so don't get hopes up people!) Well now I have room for some of the living room to be moved into that bedroom, but it requires a lot of packing up stuff and unpacking stuff and moving things around. Last night I started a little of this before Japanese class. I managed to get the coat closet/tool shed reorganized and put back in order. I have a second shelving unit in the bedroom now to start piling items on and I have part of a book case cleaned off to take the home where the other shelving unit was. The Christmas tree will be making its home in that corner this year. I will also be hosting my in laws for Thanksgiving post dinner on Saturday. So I will have Friday to get my Christmas decorations out and put together.

Well this is an update into our crazies. Akahige's work hasn't been too bad but it is expected to become nuttier the week of Thanksgiving and Christmas. So if you see us much in that month count yourself fortunate. We will probably try to have our friends gifts out that Sunday after Thanksgiving just so we don't miss anyone.

We love you all and hope you have a great holiday season!

Sushi ranting

Not long ago, we went out to eat at Black Pearl in Logan. It's a Chinese restaurant, and they do good, recommendable Chinese food. But Black Pearl fed us the worst restaurant sushi I have had. It was like they saw someone make sushi once on TV and thought "How hard can it be?" We ordered 4 or 5 maki sushi, and I ordered quite a few nigiri sushi. It didn't go well.

When we asked for recommendations, they claimed the salmon and tuna were very fresh. Eh... not so much. That could be luck of the draw, but I hope they would recommend the best if someone knew to ask.

Another warning sign was when we noticed they were using long-grain white rice instead of actual sushi rice. The rice wasn't prepared and seasoned properly. It was falling apart. They doused everything with soya sauce. I wondered if they grabbed the wrong bottle? Five times?

I ought to share some positive recommendation to balance out the negativity.

For decent sushi in Cache Valley, try Takara Sushi on 1000 N. (I think there used to be a place called "Tanpopo" there. I'm not as excited about it as I was before Bong left, but Mr. Lee does a good job. At least they do the rice right. If you can make it to the Ogden area, the choices expand considerably.

Near 36th & Washington in Ogden, there's a little hole-in-the-wall, family-run place called Hanamaru that serves some of the most authentic and tasty Japanese cuisine around. Their sushi menu is limited and seasonal, but it is always very well done. They also do small cooking classes, for those who may be interested in learning how to prepare traditional Japanese cuisine.

There's also Kobe in South Ogden. Less traditional (Chinese-run), but decent selection done well. They used to have an amazingly good itamaesan, one of the best I've ever met, but he left for higher pay out of state. The only time I've not been totally satisfied at Kobe is when the regular chef (Scott) is out, and the owner (Spencer) fills in for him.

Tona, on 25th street in Ogden, is usually good too, preferable to ShinSei, also on 25th, which is not on our list of favorites.

Missing Person

This is a client's child. Please if you have any information call the number listed!

MISSING
IF YOU HAVE INFORMATION ABOUT JOSHUA DOXEY
CALL THE PLEASANT GROVE POLICE 801-785-3506

JOSHUA TYLER DOXEY

Missing From: PLEASANT GROVE, UT
Date Missing: OCTOBER 8, 2009
Date of Birth: 09/21/1992
Age: 17 YEARS OLD
Sex: Male
Height: 5’8”
Weight: 145 lbs
Build: MEDIUM, MUSCULAR BUILD
Eyes: HAZEL
Hair: BROWN - WORN VERY SHORT
Race: Caucasian
Complexion: FAIR
Clothing: Not Known.

IDENTIFYING FEATURE:
Josh has a scar on the left side of his
Head from his forehead to his ear and
Small scars on his nose.

CIRCUMSTANCES

Runaway from the Pleasant Grove area, last seen with
Another teenage male who was tall, skinny, dark hair
And glasses. Josh had a bus pass.

Gideon Phillip Nielson

A dear friend from High School introduced me to this wonderful site a month back. She too had bid farewell to a baby and looks forward to holding her son in the eternities as do we.

We were fortunate to get on the request list this go around. As this will be the last time, until the artist has her baby, for requests to be fulfilled. We are extremely grateful. We don't have much to remind us that we are parents of a beautiful child. Our attempts to become parents again have not been as easy as some I know. So to have this beautiful piece to remind us on Gideon means more then we can say.

If any of you are wondering about gifts for us. We are short on extra funds this year and would really like this in print form. Thanks for considering this. Thanks for remembering our son.

Thank you Carly for taking precious time to do this for others.

(to view the image click on Gideon's name)

And I thought I had it hard

I don't handle stress well. Depression runs in both sides of my family and it takes a lot of work to find a happy place. When I feel like my security blanket is unstable I become additionally stressed. Now don't get me wrong. We are great, things are great, almost too great. I am grateful to have a job and to be appreciated. Akahige is awesome as always. But this whole being a grown up thing sucks! I wish I could have a summer vacation, where I didn't have to think about the future. Growing up all you can do is think about how great things will be when you are grown and on your own. There are so many choices and things can become overwhelming. Every time I find myself there I have to remind myself that things aren't so bad.
My dearest friend passed away last week. Who was this person. She was the one female, who I felt understood my heartbreak when we buried Gideon, for she had lost so many children herself I forgot the total. She always cheered us on and felt bad for our unsuccessful attempts to have more, even while she was fighting for her life and knew that eventually she would have to hug her 3 beautiful daughters goodbye for a time. She taught me what a true visiting teacher was. She was my companion for over a year. She taught me how to truly care. She cared so much for the less actives we visited and she continued to make sure I was doing alright. She wouldn't just bring treats and leave them on the door she would really put forth an effort to connect and befriend these wonderful sisters. She is beautiful, compassionate, and an angel that had to go home to our Father in Heaven a little early. Her words touched the lives of many local and afar through the Friend and New Era magazines. And thankfully she had the insight and strength to compose letters to the daughters whom she gets to watch grow from behind the veil. Cancer is one of those things that happens, I never thought it to be beautiful until I watched Anne conquer it. Some may say that it is the other way around but when you can look at your trials and still put a smile on your face then you are the conqueror. This is the Anne Creager I knew. I hope I can honor her this week and weeks to come by finding things to be grateful and joyful for.

I am grateful that I got to hold my little niece and rock her to sleep. Many people feel uncomfortable letting me hold their children because we don't have Gideon. So I don't get to rock babies to sleep very often. My sister will never know really how grateful I am that she lets me hold her babies. And that I would hold them for hours and hours if I could.

We got accepted into our Japanese class. For an Audit. My clients really are the best in the world. One of them pulled some inner strings and Akehige and I get to sit in for this semester on Japanese. We start tomorrow.

Here's to life, cause I don't have it that hard.

Busily Behind

I know it has been a few months since my last update. A few weeks back my home pc became quite ill. So my time at home has been focused on trying to catch up on quilting projects rather then pc time. Hopefully it will be fixed by next week and I can add pictures to this lengthy post.

In May I got an orchid for Mothers Day. My back went south again. We went on a camping trip up to Southern Idaho with Akahiges family over Memorial Day weekend. We enjoyed their company but not that of our inconsiderate neighbors. Gave Akahige and I a new distaste for ATV owners. We also had a BBQ with my siblings after they attended a Dave Ramsey show in SLC. We hope that they were all able to gain some knowledge from him about finances, since it was a topic not taught well at our home growing up.

Work has been quite unbalanced this month. I am tired of procrastinators trying to cram their lack of caring into my busy schedule. I have been telling many people that I am not really feeling like a nice therapist at the current moment. If you have a gift certificate for 6 months and fail to use it until last minute and can't get in because I am booked for 3 weeks in advance do not demand that I extend your certificate. Work becomes a little unbalanced when I take time off anyways, but it is something I have to do for me from time to time.

This month has been crazy in the personal front too. We had a fun weekend watching my 5 nephews while my oneesan and her husband took the baby and went to a mission reunion. We set up our tent in our living room and piled the blankets, pillows, and stuffed teddy bears high. We enjoyed hot dogs for dinner and watched the pirate Backyard Agains. About bedtime the youngest came to realize that he was actually sleeping over and not just having a fun play date. He found comfort in the teddy bears bigger then him and soon feel asleep. The second to oldest was really intrigued by the game our friends brought to play and was bummed out the next morning to find that they took it home with them. Sunday morning they were all up bright and early so I started on a Pancake breakfast. We got them all cleaned up and ready for church. We went and visited our old ward, because they had an earlier meeting schedule and I had a VT appointment that day, that I needed to make it too. The youngest was pretty exhausted and not feeling the best so he slept in my arms with a big teddy during Relief Society. Overall I think everyone had a good time, but they were glad to be going home. Not too scary for their first time having a sleep over without mom and dad. Akahige and I survived the sudden increase of 5 boys in our family as well.


Our next adventure takes us to Boise. We had a marvelous time, and I did enjoy our fabulous hotel. Akahige and I attended our first Iaido National Seminar. It was wonderful. Our instructors for the 3 days were 70+year old men from Japan. We learned so much and look forward to being able to apply it in our Iaido. We also became acquainted with many of the fellow practitioners around the USA and even some from other countries. Akahige also competed in the tournament. He won his first match and his iai was magnificent. He lost his second match to the fellow who ended up placing 2nd in our rank. We all think he did great, and he can hardly wait to compete again. He thrives well in competition when I usually shut down.

We celebrated our son's 5th birthday with a nice dinner at Goodwood BBQ. The last 5 years have been life changing and I hope for our eternal family's sake, Akahige and I are improving ourselves to be able to see our son and be with him again one day.

July is suppose to be my 10 year class reunion. Prices for tickets where announced last week and we are still trying to decide if it is an even that we want to spend $90 on. Especially since the people I really want to see are not going. July will also bring one of my dear friends Kelly, her husband, and her daughter in for a visit. They are staying at our place for a night. I can barely wait to see them. Hopefully they will bring in som e of that nice Washington rain with them, since July gets so blasted hot.

Well time to get back to the gind.