Our Christmas Tree

Here is a picture of our Christmas tree with part of the fireplace showing. My spaniel, Shadow, is under the date in the picture. The tree looks much prettier in person! Come on over and see it...I will be posting more decoration pictures soon.

Ann Beck

Black Friday Schedule

• Up at 4:30 am
• Wal-Mart- blu-ray player for $128!
• Sam's- breakfast, looked at blu-ray movies...really old ones!
• Best Buy- line too long, we left
• Lowes- saved $50 on a shop vac for the man
• Home Depot- lots of gifts for the men in the family
• Target- DVD's
• Wal-Mart- stocking stuffers after the crowd had thinned
• Michaels- outdoor lighted penguins and snowman cantainers to give as gifts
• Wal-Mart grocery store- rest of food for Iron Bowl party
• Home and nap!
• Decorate for Christmas and prepare for Iron Bowl Party

Some Food Storage Recipes

Here are three food storage recipes that I made for some cannery meetings at the Semmes Ward. I will add more recipes as I can. These recipes use items that can be purchased at the cannery along with a few items that most people already have in their pantry.

Bean Dip

Bring one cup of water to a boil. Add in one rounded cup of dehydrated refried beans. Let sit a couple of minutes then add a handful of shredded cheese (or to taste) and a good size squirt of taco sauce (the heat is up to you!) or salsa. Stir until the cheese melts. Serve with tortilla chips or use to make bean burritos. This is also good as a side dish when having a "Mexican" dinner. This is an approximate recipe because I don't measure anything when I make this. If the mixture seems runny add more beans and if it seems too thick add more water or sauce/salsa. I have also rehydrated onions and added to this mix when I want some onion in it. If you have carnivores in the house add in some browned ground beef.

Rice Pudding

4 cups cooked cold rice
1 egg
1/2-1 cups of sugar, to taste
cinnamon to taste
raisins or chopped nuts (optional)
milk

Stir together the rice, egg, sugar, cinnamon, and raisins or nuts if using. Pour in milk, stirring as you go, until the mixture is soupy. Bake at 350* until the pudding is set and browned on top. This is a great use for leftover rice. It can be eaten cold or warm and is great for any meal of the day.

Apple Crisp

4 cups dehydrated apples
4 cups boiling water

Put apples in the water and let sit for five minutes. Drain excess water.

Stir into the apples:

1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 cup flour, and cinnamon to taste. Put this into a 9x13 pan.

In a bowl mix together one stick of butter or margarine, softened, 1/2 cup of packed brown sugar, 1/2 cup flour, 2 cups oats, and cinnamon to taste. Mix until crumbly. Sprinkle onto the apple mixture. Bake at 350* until the topping is golden brown. For something extra serve with some vanilla ice cream...yum!


I hope you enjoy!

Ann B

Randy's Birthday

Five years ago today my sweet husband was baptized and joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I had been planning a surprise party for his 40th birthday, but he in turn surprised me by announcing that he wanted to be baptized on his birthday. I was flabbergasted! It may have been his birthday, but we both received the gift when he joined the church.

We had a lot of fun today. We went to Sam's Club, Home Depot, Harbor Freight, Red Lobster, and the mall. We had a lot of fun! Then we went to the video store for him to pick out movies he wanted to watch and the grocery store to get what he wanted for dinner. Guess what he wanted?? Junk Food!! We had pizza rolls, chicken nuggets, pork egg rolls, chili cheese dip with nacho chips, and cherry cheesecake. My cholesterol went up ten points! At least he is happy!

I sure do love my man. He has been a very good husband to me, and a great father to our kids. I have only wanted to strangle him a few times in our 24 years together...lol.

I love you, Randy Beck!!!

Ann B

I am Alive!!

But just barely...lol. I have had a cold for about three weeks. As a matter of fact, we were planning on going to North Alabama this weekend to visit family but we can't because I still have the crud. I have severely neglected my blog. I suppose you can say I have been cheating on it with facebook. Now I feel guilty for not paying attention to my blog.

I have a new calling in the Semmes Ward. I am the Enrichment Leader. We recently had a meeting where we made FHE kits for the Monday before Christmas. The kit includes hot chocolate, popcorn, hersheys kisses, candy canes, a Christmas ornament, jingle bells and yarn to make necklaces, an inspiring Christmas story (I will put the story in another post if you are interested), and coloring pages for the kids. We also had peppermint bath salts that we put in snack sized bags to give to those sisters we visit teach for Christmas. We had a short lesson on the importance of FHE, even if there are no children at home. I also had a list of FHE resourses that can be found on the internet (I will list them too!). For refreshments we had popcorn with white chocolate and all sorts of yummy add ins made by Keli Allen, popcorn with white cheddar cheese, and hot chocolate. We had a lot of fun! Next month we are having a cookie exchange and Christmas ornament dirty santa.

I am also working with the ward to get orders for the cannery. For three weeks we met informally after meetings to discuss our cannery orders and to answer any questions that the members had about the cannery. I brought a different item each Sunday for the members to try so they could think outside the box on their orders. The first week we had bean dip with chips, then we had rice pudding, and the final week we had an apple crisp. I will put the recipes on another post if you are interested. Sometimes we see things from the cannery and don't really know how we can use them in ways our entire family will enjoy. By trying different things we can use our food storage as more than something we keep for twenty years and then dispose of!!

More later!!

Ann Beck

Joshua Stephen Collins

Jenn and Tim before surgery.
Joshua Stephen Collins
Daddy and Josh in the nursery.

WOW! My newest nephew must take after his mommy's family! Josh decided to make his appearence early Monday morning. My sister was scheduled for a c-section on Friday the 12th, but Josh had other plans. After my brother-in-law and I went for a sail with a couple of his friends we picked up Jennifer, Mother, and Jack to go to the yacht club for a BBQ. After we all (including my very pregnant sister) walked around the club following Jack and ate our fill of hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken, salads, and desserts we took a drive to a pair of historic lighthouses. We walked around enjoying the view. We could see about fifty miles out...it was a beautiful day!! We then went for a drive to see the house Tim lived in before he and Jenn bought the house they live in now. On the way we stopped for ice cream at the cutest ice cream parlor. I mentioned to Tim at the ice cream parlor that Jenn was having contractions, but I don't think he was listening to me at the time. We head back to the house, and upon getting there Jenn said she needed to call her Dr. Tim was like "Why didn't you tell me!!!!" I then told him that she had been having back labor since that morning and had been having full contractions for about two hours (remember, she has to have c-sections).

Tim starts ordering everyone around. He has to go back to his sailboat and get his blackberry that he left that afternoon. I am to make sure Jennifer lays on the couch and drinks water, then bathe Jack. Grandma was to worry...lol. He gets back from the boat about 1/2 hour later and tries to rush Jennifer our the door. Jennifer tells him that the baby isn't coming immediately and sent him to take a shower (he had been on the boat for two hours that day). Then off to the hospital.

About thirty minutes later we get a call that Tim's mom is coming to get my mom so they can be there for the birth. I stayed at the house with Jack. Mother got back to the house about 4:30 am and gave me the particulars.

Joshua (after my Dad's grandfather, John Joshua) Stephen (after Tim's Dad) Collins. He will be called Josh. He was due on September 25, but born on September 8 (exactly 18 months after his big brother, Jack, born on March 8, 2007). He is 19 1/2 inches long and 6 pounds 12 ounces. He looks as much like his mommy as Jack looks like his daddy.

Jack isn't doing well with his parents gone. He keeps asking for them, and cried himself to sleep tonight because they weren't here to sing him to sleep. Grandma and I just won't get it when he wants Mama and Daddy. Even the dogs are depressed because they miss their parents. Mom and I are taking Jack to the hospital tomorrow to see his Daddy, but he can't meet his brother yet because he has a little cold. He will meet Josh when he gets home.

Okay, now that I have bored everyone with my nephew worship, I will sign off....more later!!

Ann B

I have not disappeared!

Wow...there have been tons of stuff going on. I have been reading everyone else's blogs, but not posting on my own.

I will make a quick update (in no particular order):

1) Thank's to the Singleton/Presley families for letting me host Allie's wedding shower here. It made me get the living area of my house in order.

2) The pool is in. We have had a lot of fun in the evenings going out and playing in the water. The only exception is the night Alan found a snake in the water. You have never see an overweight woman in her 40's jump out of a pool faster!!

3) I now have contact lenses. I have tried them before and they didn't work because I have an astigmatism. Now there are contacts for this problem and I am enjoying them. I bought my first pair of regular sunglasses in years today.

4) I finally found curtains to match the bedding in my bedroom. It only took Randy going on night shift so he had to sleep during the day to hang them ;).

5) I finally found the end table for between mine and Randy's chair and the bench for the entry that matches the furniture in the living room. Now I just have to order them.

6) Randy and Alan used the tractor and a chain to pull the bushes out of the ground in the front. I have ordered twelve miniature blueberry bushes to replace them. Now all I have to do is dig out all of the roots, level the ground, put in the landscaping fabric, put in the landscaping timbers, and put in the mulch. Then I will be ready for the delivery, hopefully in October because.....

7) I leave for New Jersey on September 4. My sister is having baby boy #2 and I will be there for the month of September to help her out. The c-section is scheduled for September 12, but she has been having pre-term labor and goes off the meds to stop contractions tomorrow. I told her she needed to tell the little one that he had to wait until September 5 when his Aunt Ann was there.

I guess this is it for now. I now wish I had taken pictures of Randy and Alan ripping out the five feet tall bushes...but I am sure you can imagine. We are still planning on having a big party in October so everyone can come over and see the house, play in the pool, and eat some bbq.

I will keep in touch from NJ....until then SEE YA!

Ann B