A Video Tribute to Our Beloved Prophet, Gordon B. Hinckley

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

Isn't it beautiful? This wreath is on the Benham front door, and it shows just a smidgen of the snow that is piled all around us. We had a real live blizzard earlier today, and it is snow, snow, snow everywhere! Will we ever get tired of the beauty of it? We hope not!

Give Me the Track Ball

Or to quote Opa, "What a time we live in!" Opa has always wanted to hook up his computer to the television screen. To me that would be "going down in technology" to something like WebTV. But today he finally did it. In our little temporary quarters in the Benham home we now have a computer hooked up to our television. It's very cool, actually. The only problem is such a small one..... While Opa lays up on the bed watching his computer screen, the keyboard and trackball are on the floor in front of the tv. Of course Gavin noticed those two items first thing, and discovered that he could remove the big shiny red ball out of the track ball, and bang it on the keyboard and it makes a really cool noise. He is walking all over the place now, and as soon as he toddled into our room, he made a bee-line for that track ball. He is so cute and happy that we don't want to have to fuss at him, so when his little back was turned, Opa hid the track ball behind the bed. Of course when we wanted to turn off the music to take a nap, no track ball. Hence, "Hand me the track ball" is our new cue to changing the sound, screen, and all things technological in Mimi and Opa's room. Bless Gavin's little heart!

By tomorrow this small inconvenience will have "gone the way of the great white buffalo" because Opa has ordered a wireless keyboard with the mouse attached to it. But for now, we will continue to hide the track ball.

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing

A Classic American hymn, which happens to be Mimi's favorite, sung by the Choirs of Brigham Young University,
along with gorgeous slides of Utah's natural beauty.

Our Restauranteurs

Last night Opa and I had the pleasure of enjoying dinner at Pine American Restaurant in Murray, where Dave is the very able manager. Gail Goodwin, a friend of Grandma Jeannie met us there for dinner. The conversation was pleasant, the food exceptional and the best treat of the night was that Dave sat with us while we ate. We had a table in front of a blazing warm fire in a beautiful see-through fireplace.

After enjoying delicious sour-dough bread and butter, we chose a light meal of soups and salads. Jim was pleased with the Onion Soup made with Sourdough Toast and Aged Gruyère cheese. Gail and I both enjoyed our Arugula Salad with Balsamic Roasted Beets, Pine Nuts, Shaved Fennel, Grilled Red Onions and Parmesan Cheese, to which we both requested salmon to be served on the side. We also shared some delicious butternut squash soup. The meal was topped off with Butterscotch Creme Brulee with sliced strawberries. Such a treat!

David can be proud of his restaurant which was named best new restaurant of the year by Salt Lake Magazine. Good eats and good times!

Josh, our other restaurant manager son, very ably manages 350 Main Brasserie in Park City. I'm sure he is very busy this week as Sundance Film Festival is in full swing. 350 Main is a favorite gathering spot during this yearly event in Park City.
Opa and I have enjoyed a meal or two at Josh's place in the past and look forward to visiting him there soon.

The food at 350 Main is just too good, and the ambiance is very fine. Josh, who is a Sommelier, welcomes family and friends whenever they have time to drop by.

350 Main Brasserie was named best restaurant in Park City by the Salt Lake Magazine last year.

Christmas Eve Josh and 350 Main hosted Katherine Heigl, her fiance, family and friends for a rehearsal party prior to their wedding. That was fun to hear about!

We are proud of our restaurant-managing sons and love to be part of their lives.
As I said before, Good Times and Good Eats!

A Slice of Life in Utah County

There are some things that make life here in Utah County especially unique and wonderful. We experienced a few of them this past week. The first one has to do with temples.

When Jim and I joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1972, there were no temples even remotely close to our home at Fort Rucker, Alabama. When we made plans to go to the temple to be sealed together as a family, we had to drive to Manti, Utah, which was our temple district at the time.

We were happy when the Washington D.C. temple was dedicated in the fall of 1974. In order to serve in the temple, we would drive 18 hours and spend several days there.

When we PCS'd to Permasens, Germany, we were excited to be able to attend the temple in Berne, Switzerland, only a four hour drive away.

Back at Fort Rucker three years later, we were able to attend the new Atlanta Temple, five hours away.

Once again in Germany, we were only an hour and a half from the new Frankfurt Temple, where we were called as temple workers.

When we retired from the Army five years later, we found ourselves in Mobile, where eventually we had the opportunity to be part of the new Birmingham Temple district, only five hours away.

And then we moved to Utah..... From our new home we live about 20 minutes from our temple in American Fork.







We look forward to the day in the not to distant future, when the Oquirrh Mountain Temple will be our nearest temple, only fifteen minutes away from our home in Saratoga Springs.





So last Thursday evening I went to the temple with my new friend, Mary Bucklew. We planned to attend the 7:00 session, and left in plenty of time. When we arrived at the temple, we found ourselves having to park on the very back row, as the parking lot was completely full. When we got into the temple, there was a line to get into the chapel to wait for the session. Needless to say, we had to wait in the chapel for the 7:30 session, and even that one was full, so we finally were able to get into the 8:00 session, sitting in the very last row. The endowment rooms each hold 100 people, I think (I actually counted the seats while waiting for the session to start.), so there were at least 300 people in the temple Thursday evening, trying to get into a session. What a blessing to be a part of all this! I am anxious to attend the temple again in the near future, and hopefully I will be able to, despite the fact that I lost my recommend as soon as I showed it at the desk upon entering! I should have a new one by the end of this weekend.

Note to self: Don't put off writing in this blog next time... I have forgotten all my cool "slice of Utah County" stuff I was going to write about!

Opa, Mimi, and Grandchildren

Justin was baptised last Saturday evening, and Stacey took the opportunity to take a picture of Opa and me with our precious grandchildren. They are, from left: Brant B - 6, Payton E - 7, Taylor E - 8, Chris V - 13, Ashli V - 18, Justin V - 8, Andrew V - 15, Lance B - 3, Trent B - 11, Tyler V - 11, Riley B - 9, Gavin B (sitting on Opa) - 11 months, and Hayden E (with Mimi) - 4.

Be sure and click on the picture for a close-up of these darling grandchildren of ours.

Grandma's Cheese Ball and Other Traditional Delicacies

For our Annual Christmas Food Blowout, I fixed that cheese ball Grandma Jeannie makes, and as usual it was a big hit. For anyone who would like the recipe, here it is:

Grandma's Cheese Ball

Equal parts of hand-grated medium cheddar cheese and cream cheese
Half as much blue cheese
Finely grated onion to taste (we like plenty!)
Worchestershire Sauce to taste
Garlic powder and pepper to taste

Mix in Cuisinart or with other mixer.
Form into a ball, fending off those who stand by with crackers, trying to eat it up before you get to this step.
Roll ball in paprika.
Wrap in Saran Wrap and leave in refrigerator until ready to serve.

Serve with crackers. Our traditional favorites are all by Nabisco: Chick'n in a Bisket, Bacon Thins, Triscuits, and Wheat Thins.

Although the Cheese Ball was and is, in my opinion, the piece de resistance of our annual Christmas Food Trough, the whole menu deserves sharing. This list of goodies was formulated many years ago by Grandma Jeannie, as we all looked forward to Christmas eatin's at her house. Over the years we have added to and is seems to get better every year. The following is what we pigged-out on yesterday as we enjoyed Christmas here in the Benham home:

Sausage Balls with Ricky's homemade scuppernong (southern grapes) jelly
Pigs in Blankets
Chex Mix (homemade, of course)
Hot Rotel and Cheese Dip with Santino Chips
Spinach dip in a big bread bowl
Baby Quiches
Grandma Jeannie's Cheese Ball with assorted crackers
Wavy Lays with onion dip
Herbed Cheese Spread with Pretzel Crackers
Little Smokies in bbque sauce (on the menu but inedible after I burnt em in the microwave!)
Rice Krispie Squares
Gingersnaps
Sugar Cookies
Assorted chocolate treats, generously donated by Brant Benham from his stocking
Hot Wassail
Cold Punches
Tums

Let me know if I left anything off the menu.

Hope yall ate as well as we did!

The Gauntlet Has Passed!

Well, I salute Stacey for stealing my thunder with some killer pizza! Our family pizza recipe is one I got back at Fort Rucker from Carol Patillo, who said it originated with Mani Sorensen. It served me well for many years, as my homemade pizza became almost legendary in our circle of friends. It is not a quicky recipe, but one of those "love recipes" that only works when plenty of love is kneaded into the dough. I had heard that Stacey had perfected the recipe and taken it beyond my meager abilities, but I had no idea how literal that perfection was. Such as making killer cheese-stuffed rolls to dip in her home-made pizza sauce! Suffice it to say that I no longer need to be the pizza maker extraordinaire for our family. Stacey, I salute you! When you gonna bake some again?

Our Kinder and 'em

My good friend Edna asked me to post some pictures of our grown kids, their spouses, etc. So here we go:

This is my favorite picture of Stacey and her husband Rich.


Here is one of Stace, Rich, Ashli, Andrew, Chris, Tyler and Justin last year at Josh and Amanda's wedding.



This is Dave and Boris, our granddog, surrounded by some of my grandchildren.



Here are Lynne, her husband Ricky and their five children during an autumn hike in Provo Canyon. The children are Trent, Riley, Brant, Lance and baby Gavin.


This is Annie, her husband Bryan, and their three daughter - Taylor, Payton, and Hayden.


This is Josh and Amanda, his bride of one year.


And here are Jake and his girlfriend, Sheree.