Coyaba Gardens

For Preparation Day today the Russells and the Smiths went to the Coyaba Gardens, right here in Ocho Rios. Here are a few of the interesting flowers and trees, with our tour guide - David.

Different Food

In the Ethnic foods section of our local grocery store - I found these packaged foods - just wanted all of you to save those: 'dried orange peels' - for what, I don't know!

Sister Anderson's cookies

One of the other senior couples came to Ochie on CES business - Sister Anderson shared some of these fantastic cookies - so I'll share the recipe with you!

Sister Anderson's Cookies (Nieman Marcus Oatmeal Chocolate Chip)
Cream together: 2 cups butter, 2 cups white sugar, 2 cups brown sugar
Add and mix together well - 5 eggs, 2 Tbl. vanilla
Add dry ingredients and mix until well blended:
5 cups oatmeal - blended to flour consistency (blender or food processor)
4 coups flour, 1 small package instant vanilla pudding, 2 teaspoons baking soda,
two teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt.
Add in: 2 packages of chocolate chips, semi=sweet, milk, white or butterscotch
raisins, chopped nuts - almonds, walnuts, pecans.
Drop onto baking sheet with a teaspoon, bake at 350 for about 10 minutes, being careful not to overbake - this recipe makes about 130 cookies! This recipe can be halved easily - except for the pudding use it all! But Sister Anderson makes the whole batch and then puts a few cookies in a plastic bag in the freezer and they last a long time - yummy! enjoy!!

Visitors

We love to walk the sidewalks when there is a cruise ship in Ochie - we meet the most interesting people! Those who are members of the Church recognize our name tags and it is a delight to speak with them - here are two families of Jacksons from Vancouver, WA - yeah for visitors! They have a son on a mission in Mexico - and parents serving a Church Service mission in WA. Hooray for Missionary Work - and Spring Break!

Tribute to a special lady

Today is the funeral service of a dear friend of ours - Norma Jackson Leggett. We met in Northridge when she moved into our ward - she is a very special lady and we will miss her. thanks Norma, for all the fun laughs, wonderful dinners and great times - glad you are out of pain and at peace. Sister Leggett's husband e-mailed us that she had Elder Smith listed on her 'pre-need' list as the main speaker at her funeral - that can't happen, but I'm sure there will be happy memories of such a sweet friend.

General Conference lunch

This is Elder Peterson on the shoulders of Elder Fangaloa as they try to block out the sun so the TV screen isn't a glare for those of us watching General Conference. Elder Russell was offering emotional support! Also the nice Pot Luck that we had between conference sessions on Sunday - yummy food and fun! Sister Russell and I both made and brought three items - that helped on the food end! I will miss them when they head back to Utah the first week of May. I made a big pot of Cowboy Beans for both Sat. and Sun. and a chicken/grapes/macaroni salad plus Sister Jeske's chocolate cake - that recipe fills two pans and was great to cut into small pieces.

Mom or Mum??

When our computer crashed a while ago - we had the shop downtown install a new program - actually we didn't have much choice in the matter!! The program is out of the UK and it is funny when the spell check tells us we are spelling things wrong. I first noticed it with Savior - spell check wants Saviour - same with color, colour and neighbor, neighbour. The thing that got me laughing most was mom - what?- I DO know how to spell mom and it is M-O-M - but spell check from England wants MUM - pretty funny I think. So if the spelling in my posts is a little bit suspect - just blame it on the new program!