Sounds like a movie star!

Olivia Kate. Isn't that a beautiful name?

I got a call yesterday in Philadelphia from Katie, during my little nap. Alexander and I spent some quality time in the middle of the night discussing that the sun goes to bed and the moon comes up, and we are not supposed to get up in the middle of the night, it is sleeping time. But I digress.

So. Back to the phone call. I was about to ask Katie to call me back later since I had just gone to sleep, when she said "hey mom my water broke! I am taking a shower, packing a bag, and heading over to the hospital with Rode" And that was the end of my nap.

I jumped in the shower, raced around Kelley and Brian's apartment packing my things and trying to rebook my flight that was scheduled for next Friday from Manchester. Thank heavens I booked on Southwest, they have a VERY liberal change policy.

In two hours, I was on a flight headed to Salt Lake City. Wow. I also told Katie to let the Dr. know she needed to have this baby after 10pm.

Heather and Denver picked me up and we raced up to Heber City. We arrived to Katie's room by 10:05 pm. She started pushing at 10:15 pm and...

Olivia Kate Pedersen was born at 11:30 pm weighing 7 lbs 14 oz. and 20 inches long on Tuesday July 29th, 2008.

There is no prouder papa.


There isn't a happier mama.

The beautiful family...

And I don't have a picture of the crowd, but this baby was given a proper greeting by important people-Grammie Kane (me), Nanny Pedersen (Rode's mom), Aunt Hezzie, Aunt Holly (Rode's sister), Mama Winterton (photographer) and dear friend Auntie Anita (Katie's beloved college roommate and our adopted daughter) and well of course, nurse Robyn and the Dr. along with...Daddy Rode. Poppie Pedersen and Uncle Denver (Hezzie's hubby) waited in the hall.

Momma Katie and Papa Rode are doing great, and love this beautiful baby girl movie star

OLIVIA KATE PEDERSEN

Drumroll, please....

And...she has a name! Baby girl Boston was finally given her official "printed on a birth certificate" name!

Are you ready?

Her name is...

Lillian Wyn Boston

Quite name for such a wee one, wouldn't you say? Here is the history:

Lillian is my mother's name. Kelley had quite a connection to my mom, her Grammie Small, since birth. We were living with my parents when she was born and my mom was right there through thick and thin the first six months of Kelley's life. Their special relationship continued until my mom passed away when Kelley was still a young girl.

Wyn is a name given in honor of Larry's Dad: Roger Elwyn Kane. Dad passed away this last Saturday, one day before Lillian was born. Lillian's great-grampie Roger Elwyn's funeral was today, the day she was given this special name. Also, her Grampie (Buddy's) name is Larish Elwyn Kane, so she is named after both her Grampie and her Great Grampie.

And the funny part is this: if you look at her initial of her first name it is L. "L. Wyn". Get it? Named after Elwyn. Brian figured that out after she was named. Cool, huh?

And her official name by which she shall be called by all who speak to her? Lil. (Or Ian-Alexander has a little problem with all those L's in her name). Those are the only nicknames allowed. Got it?

And you know me, the rebellious granny. I shall probably call her Wynnie. But don't tell Kelley!

For pictures of one of the two most beautiful granddaughters in the whole wide world, check out Kelley and Brian's blog: brianslittlefamily.blogspot.com. Well, the most beautiful one right now, but in two weeks...well you know, then she will have some competition for that title.

She's here!

Baby Girl Boston was born last night, July 20 at 11:21 pm. She is BEAUTIFUL. She weighed 8 lbs 4 oz and is 21 1/2 inches long. In my opinion she looks a lot like Alexander, just with petite little girl features like her ears, her fingers, her little face.
SHE doesn't have a name yet, but I am sure I will have a name to go with pictures as soon as I can use Brian's computer with the pics on it.
Mom is doing fine, this was an entirely different birth than the last. She loves this hospital and is getting great care. She did end up with a C section but she gave it her best shot. Kelley's babies just like to get turned around in there and then don't want to come out! AND, Nursing the baby is going great so far.
So, before I start giving vital statistics and gruesome details, I will close - keep watching for the pics soon to come!

No baby yet!

Well as babies go none in this family ever seem to be in a hurry to get out into the real world. They are content to ride around inside mom, so we are still waiting. Kelley is ready ready ready. I will keep you posted! Their internet connection is not so great, so I am at the library posting. I promise to keep you updated as we know more!

Pizza!

Here is the recipe for the BEST homemade pizza sauce:

1 (6oz.) can tomato paste
6 fluid oz. warm water
3 Tbsp. Grated Parmesan Cheese
1 tsp minced garlic
2 Tbsp. honey
3/4 tsp. onion powder
1/4 tsp. dried oregano
1/4 tsp. dried marjoram
1/4 tsp. dried basil
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp. dried red pepper flakes
salt to taste

Mix this all together stirring to break up any clumps. Let it sit for 30 minutes to blend flavors. This will do a couple of pizzas easily.

Now I left out the anchovy paste, but you can add 1 tsp of that if you would like. I also didn't use the cayenne pepper cause I didn't have any in the house. The honey offsets the heat so it is a nice balance.

I give this one 5 stars.

Three Beautiful Dresses

I've been watching wedding videos over at Denver's blog and it got me thinking about the three beautiful dresses my daughters wore on their wedding day.

I had been dreaming of the day I could go help my girls choose a wedding dress for their special day. But they had different plans. Kelley wanted something that didn't exist, so we turned to our good friend Linda Chaston who has made wedding dresses/prom dresses etc for just about every special occasion for the girls in the Somersworth Ward (and beyond, I am sure!) Linda was waiting in the wings and as soon as the wedding was announced she was happy to meet with Kelley and come up with a plan. Of course not only did this dress not exist, but no pattern existed. With sketches from Kelley and a couple of fittings, Linda made the dress of Kelley's dreams. It was perfect and fit Kelley's personality to a T.
Kelley and Brian were married in the Manti Temple and she wanted a tea length dress with a fitted bodice, an overlay of tulle and a split neckline. She was very specific of how it should look, and the end result was exactly what she wanted. I think this dress is as beautiful as the bride !

Katie also wanted a very specific dress, made of very specific fabric (shantung?) in a very specific style. Of course this dress didn't exist either, but Katie was in Utah, Linda was in New Hampshire, and I was pulling my hair out because the wedding was weeks away and still...no dress. Anthony's mom Brooke came to the rescue! She offered to make Katie's dress! I was nervous at first, I hadn't even met Brooke and asked Katie if she had seen anything Brooke had sewn. She hadn't because Brooke hadn't sewn in years! All my worries were for not - because Katie's dress was gorgeous too. Brooke spend many hours on this beauty, and she should be very proud. I was blown away when I finally got to see Katie in the dress of her dreams.

Don't you think this dress just screams Katie? She looked stunning. Again, it fits her personality to a T. Katie made her momma very happy when she and Anthony were married in the Boston Temple!


Finally, with Heather I got my wedding dress shopping trip. Heather also had a very specific wedding dress in mind, and I was not really thrilled with the choice she proposed. I encouraged her to try on an array of dresses to find the one that was perfect for her. There was one in particular that I spied that she adamantly refused to try on because of, well, because it was downright ugly. I insisted she try it anyway. It had an atrocious sash with a gaudy costumey bejeweled thing where the sash gathered in an awkward way. She put it on and stood glumly looking in the mirror. It was not a dream dress. But all was not lost. We grabbed a yellow sash, covered the ugly sash with the jewels and VOILA! A whole new dress appeared. Heather tried on about 50 more dresses and put this dress on between each one! By the time we were down to making a final decision Heather had quite an audience. Me, Dad, Katie, Cheylena, Mama and Papa Winterton. We knew we had a winner. A little sash modification and Heather had her dream dress.
I just wish I had remembered to iron the sash on her wedding day at the Manti Temple. Oh well.
We got it ironed for the reception in Utah, and for the reception in NH as shown here. Even after a wedding and two receptions - the dress stilled looked great and you can tell Heather still loves the dress. It has a beautiful lace overlay (look at that beautiful hemline) and a fuller skirt. Look at her twirl. She was beautiful, and again, don't you think the dress fits her to a T? (Sorry Heather that there are no face shots of you and Denver!!)Well, in another 20+ years, we can start this wedding dress shopping thing all over again, with the granddaughters!

Hear the fisher cat?

Occasionally the sounds outside our window are not as pleasant as the loons. Living by the lake has its ups and downs.
This week I was rudely awakened at 5 am by the worst high pitched screams you ever heard. It sounded like little children being hurt, or a woman being attacked. The screams went on and on, and were RIGHT OUTSIDE MY WINDOW! Needless to say I jumped up and looked out to see what was going on. Soon an animal came into view, skulking and looking back at another animal, a small dog that was running away. The animal looked like a fox, but didn't have a pointy nose and wasn't colored right. (Although it was not as dark as the above picture). A little investigation tells me I was one of the ?privileged? few to witness a fisher cat! It is neither a fisher (as in catches fish) or a cat, but that is its name. It is from the weasel family. The fisher cat has the MOST DISTINCTIVE high pitched scream. I am amazed that dog got away, because the fisher has 2" fang and claws that do not retract. It is very mean, sneaky, and fast. It went running on our lawn towards the back of our house to the woods.
My heart was pounding so fast, and I hurried and got our crazy cat into the house. It is pointless to try and convince Schnookums our cat to be an inside cat in the summer, so I guess we will just take our chances with her and the fisher cat. Hopefully this cat won't be back soon. To think, I used to be scared of encountering a skunk in the yard. Now I have to worry about the fisher.
I would much rather go to sleep to the sound of rain on the roof, and get woken up by the loons!

Hear the duckies?

When Katie was little she would climb into our bed in the summer asking us "Hear the duckies?" The loons would be crying on the lake and wake her up.
I love to hear the loons cry. They carry on with a very distinctive wail and chatter with each other. They get busy late at night, and again in the early morning hours. I love to lay in bed with the windows up, listening to the loons. I can still hear Katie asking "Hear the duckies?" How blessed we are to live on a lake, and get to hear the loons in the summer!

lions and tigers and BEARS, oh my!

Guess what was hanging out in a tree in downtown Rochester on Sunday. This friendly but confused black bear took a stroll down the center of town around 6:30 am, and got spooked up into this tree by a passerby. Doesn't he look squishy and cuddly? It was a very hot day and he napped up there all day. Finally they tranqulized him in the cool of the evening and by 11pm they had him out of there and on his way to the woods.
When I say downtown, I am talking MIDDLE OF THE CITY - this tree is in the triangle across from Kelly's Gymnastics, right in the center of the town. This certainly caused quite a stir, and lots of onlookers.
By the way, it is right down the street from the old Clinton Headquarters where some guy took a couple of hostages last year.
Rochester NH certainly is a happening place.

Cooking by Blog 101

After over 30 years of cooking family dinners night after night, the repertoire tends to get a little old. As a blog lurker, I have discovered some great recipes that I thought I should try. So this week was "Cooking by Blog" at our house. Let me share some of our favorites. (Click on the title to go to the recipe)
Well OK the first one wasn't from a blog at all, but it was a recipe I got off the internet.
Sweet and Sour Kielbasa
I actually already put this recipe on my blog but thought it was worthy to mention. It is what got me started on this adventure. I found it on allrecipes.com and find it to be very much like the Chester Fried Kielbasa. Delicious!
I give it Five Stars. Easy to prepare, great taste and Larry loved it.
Dani's Chicken Pot Pie
This is the Vest Best! Dani is the wife of a 1st year dental student at Temple University (the school my son Brian attends), and she writes a pretty funny commentary on life in Philadelphia and some amazing recipes, among other things. I have only tried a few, but I am working my way through her list! This Chicken Pot Pie is reminiscent of those great pot pies of my childhood, only much better!
I give it FIVE + stars. Easy to prepare, great taste, Larry loved it, and I LOVED IT! Larish says it deserves a TEN.
Hoisin and Honey Glazed Pork Chops
Another Dani recipe. This one was delicious too, but not my favorite. I think I either put too much ginger in, or I just need to half the ginger cause I found it overpowering. The pork was fork tender and very tasty.
I give it Three 1/2 Stars. Easy to prepare, fast for an after work meal.
Tortellini Soup
Dani once again. This was delicious and super easy to make. We loved it.
I give it a Four 3/4 Stars. Also very easy to prepare and fast to make. Great with a salad and rolls or breadsticks.
Pineapple Glazed Ribs
Gotta love Dani. This one was amazing as well. The only problem with these ribs is that they are so tender that they fall off the bone and it drove Larry crazy trying not to lose any meat in the grill. I suspect more went in his mouth than down to the bottom of the grill but whatever. Maybe cook the ribs on low instead of high? I will try that next time.
I give these ribs a 4 1/2 stars, only because they are more labor intensive and caused Larry stress on the grill. Great flavor and very filling. A good recipe for a cookout with guests.
Marlboro Man's Favorite Sandwich
This is from Ree over at The Pioneer Woman. She is one of those famous bloggers, making tons of money by running great contests and getting a million hits on her blog so every advertiser in town pays her big bucks. I am pretty sure she is one of the original strike it big bloggers, and I love her writing so I look past the ads. You gotta read her love story. And, she is a great cook.
This sandwich is amazing. If you don't like Worcestershire sauce, you won't like it, but we love the stuff around here, especially mixed with some good beef, so this sandwich was a hit. I did add a slice of Provolone which added a few more calories for the heck of it. I left off the hot sauce cause I am hot enough already.
I give this sandwich five stars, but then again I love spicy things. And I firmly believe and adhere to the principle that a stick of butter makes anything taste good.
It was a Pork heavy week, so gotta work on getting some variety in the diet. Probably ought to go look for a diet blog too. ;-) wink wink
I don't want to steal photos - so if you wanna see what this food looks like - you gotta go to the links. I promise, you won't regret it!