Karen's Dangling Conversation

W ell here goes!  I'm going to take up with Musings of a Housewife , throw caution to the wind and   look back over the year and share the first line of the first post of each month.  (I know, take a moment to digest that...it will help.)  So here goes: ( If I have a current comment it will be in parenthesis)  1.   January :   We carried on our new tradition of having a Christmas Tea at the Grand America in SLC.                    (Really love, love, love this tradition) 2.   February :   Mom celebrated her 85th birthday this week and we all got together to celebrate the day!   3.  March :   O ne thing I have always wanted to do is to attend the annual Spring Colors Festival at the Hare Krishna Temple in Salem Utah! (You have to look at the pictures of this it is so much fun!) 4.   April :   I think I am the only one in our family who LOVES April Fool's ...

My nephew Joseph Perry is heading off on a mission to Norway!  We got to spend one of his last days in the states with him as a family.  We all went to the temple with him this morning!  It was really fun to attend the temple with family....loved it!  Afterward we all met for lunch at a cute little Mexican Restaurant, picked out by Jeanette!  Very fun, we had a great time visiting with everyone and wishing this handsome young man a "Bon Voyage" on his next adventure for two years!  Joseph we love you and know you are going to make a great missionary.....how can you miss with all the great advice Aaron was giving you at the other end of the table!  May God bless and protect you on your journey! Me, kicking Amanda out of my solo picture with Joseph! My really cute solo picture with Joesph! The Steagles Poising it up with, yep, you guessed it J-O-S-E-P-H!  (And cute Courtney!)

Jeanette and I have started a tradition of taking our girls out for a formal Christmas Tea Date during the Christmas holiday.  Well this year was very special because we got to include Brad's mom on our adventure.  The sad part was we couldn't actually get in for the tea because they were booked up and so we did lunch at the Grand America Hotel instead and then stopped for special treats at the little bakery next door afterward.  It was our lesson in being flexible and going with the flow.  It all worked out and we had a great time.  Dorothy (Brad's Mom) regaled us with the story of when she was a Radio City Rockette dancer at the young age of 15!  She told us how she auditioned to be a dancer and had to learn how to dance on top of these big balls that were painted to look like easter eggs.  She said one of the girls fell and broke her leg when the ball ran over it.  She also said sometime she would sleep over at the theater when it was too late...

We had a lovely Christmas this December 2010 at the Beagles.  The kids are growing up and it seems not quite as fun to run around purchasing items for them....since they seem to have every little thing that they need already.  And so I decided to do a "Hand-made Christmas" for everyone.  I have to admit it was difficult and although every item I gave was handmade, not every item was handmade by me!  But never fear it all worked out! Brad is always a puzzle for me to buy for since he gets whatever he wants, when he wants it but I stumbled upon this lovely little site called Etsy  and purchased two things for him.  This lovely set of handmade cufflinks...bonus that they came from Sweden (my family roots). And this lovely set of Vintage Fuerstenberg Composer Plates made in Germany.  I just thought they were adorable and luckily he loved them too.  It was one of those things that could have been a big hit or a big flop....you never know! For Br...

Wow, can you believe that once again it is time for the famous Dunkley Steagles Christmas Party!  We made the trek over the river and through the woods to Benj & Nalene's house!  Such a perfect place for a party!  The traditional gathering entails lots of good food and what we have come to find out is a main essential element......the DoLLaR Gifts! Jeanette was all festive as usual! She told me not to post this picture on face book.....this is NOT facebook! Here's a little video clip just so you can enjoy and be a part of the Dunkley Steagles Christmas Party! Merry Christmas! Stay Tuned for the Video  Blogger is being weird and I can't load it today but I will load it tomorrow!

We had a very special date night last friday and two lucky boys got to come along.  We had tickets to the Christmas Performance at the Conference Center, featuring David Archuleta.  We had two extra tickets and so we decided to take Mackay and his best cousin Jacob along.  It was quite a special night out for me to be on a date with 3 good looking guys. First stop was a real guy place, Rich's Burgers in Salt Lake.  Nothing but burgers and fries and smothered burgers and fries........oh, I did have some sauted zuchinni that was nice.   There was only one very busy girl working there and so it took a long while to get our food which made us late and made Brad very cranky.  From there we caught tracks, along with all of the other five thousand people who were heading to the conference center.  Then we got to stand in a really long line to get in to the building.  Luckily they started to really shuffle us all in fast by then....it was CoLd! At Ri...

Book of Mormon Mosiah 18:8-9 8 And it came to pass that he said unto them: Behold, here are the waters of Mormon (for thus were they called) and now, as ye are  a desirous  to come into the  b fold  of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light;   9 Yea, and are  a willing  to mourn with those that  b mourn ; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as c witnesses  of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the  d first  resurrection, that ye may have eternal life— I have had two very clear examples of this very scripture happen in my life lately and I wanted to stop and write down my thoughts about it, as it has been on my mind a lot lately.   I was having a really hard time a few months ago.  Without going into det...

I just finished making my first ever batch of cinnamon ice cream.  I was inspired by a video of the Green Smoothie Girl and her friend Desiree making it on you tube.  I had purchased ice cream made with coconut milk and agave from the store but I had never attempted to make it.  They made it look easy and so I decided to give it a go. Almond Milk....straight from almonds! I didn't have any almond milk and so I made it.  That was a first for me too and again it was so easy!  I learned how by watching, yep, another video by the Green Smoothie Girl .  Yeah for the Green Smoothie Girl.....she's been teaching me a lot lately. I used a Cuisinart Frozen Yogurt and Ice Cream Maker Mmmmm the Cinnamon is key! The finished product!  So yummy! Loved the Cinnamon Ice Cream......loved learning how to make almond and coconut milk!  I think I will go and have one more little spoonful before bed!  Try it, you might like it too! Cinnamon ...

Blogging is a really fun outlet for me.  Leave it to the world to take something that is supposed to be fun and turn it in to a big old guilt trip.  I don't know if you have noticed but blogging has become the new outlet for women.  Okay I stand corrected, I just read a list of the top 50 bloggers in the world and they are mostly men. It has become a profession for many and you can find people to design your blog, get great gift ideas and even get your house organized....all over the internet.  What I mean about the guilt trip is that I only blog for fun and to create a history, with pictures and video for my family, but I now receive emails from bloggers who blog every single stinking day.  So everyday I am reminded that I haven't blogged that day, week or month.  SIGH!  I'm also consumed with their cute little blogs that have probably cost big bucks to design.  I covet their cute little buttons and smartly organized content.  It is just a...

Okay people, listen up!  This was the absolute highlight of our whole trip and I’m pretty sure it will end up being one of the highlights of a lifetime!  Before we get started here I want to just query each of my family about what they thought of this lava flow experience.  Here’s a sampling:   Walking is not something I do.....as in physically exerting myself much, but if I had to walk for this experience I would have gone twice as far to see this!  --Bradley K Beagles   (And that is the truth, I have traveled with this guy extensively and he doesn’t go very far on foot to see anything!)  It’s dope! --Mackay Beagles       (Is that good?)  It was cool!  One of the coolest things I’ve ever seen --Liz Beagles  (She should know, she is the closest thing to cool, hip and happening at our house.) This should be illegal! --Amanda Beagles  (Who does by the way have first hand knowledge about what is legal.....T.P. ing so...

Just a note to say that things aren't always the lap of luxury on our vacations.  I had to post a few pictures of the motel.....or more like it the hostel that we stayed in while going on our adventure tours.  If we booked one night there we got a substantial discount on our two tours that we took and so we did.  If we had known what the accomodations would be like we might have reconsidered.  It was about a two hour drive from our beautiful condo in Waikoloa to the other side of the island where we climbed the mountain and then the next day we wanted to stay over and see the volcanos and hike the lava flow.  So we stayed.   As you can see Mackay would not even sleep on the bed, he chose the floor.......scarey.  I didn't want to sleep in the bed either, but the floor didn't look any better.  Good times....this is was makes vacations memorable. Mackay refused to sleep on the bed! I was really worried about him sleeping on the floor nex...

We took a tour to the top of Mauna Kea.  It is a climb of over 13,000 feet.  On the way up we stopped at 9,000 feet to get acclaimated to the height.  Of course those of us from Utah had a little bit of an advantage.  At the 9,000 foot point is a visitors center and we stopped there along with the bus loads of tours to eat and get used to breathing thin air, I guess.  Amanda and I took the little adventure walk out to see a Silver Sword.  A plant that only thrives above 9,000 feet.  Supposedly it only blooms once and then dies.....this gave me pause to think about that....what if I had only one chance to bloom in a lifetime...hmmmmm.  Back on the road again and our trusty guide Daniel took us to the top.  Well, I should say, not the tippey top.  That you had to hike on your own.  We took pictures of all the cool huge telescopes and waited for the sunset.  Just before sunset Amanda and I decided to hike to the tippey top of M...