Today is my husband and my 45th wedding anniversary!  I looked back on this post from 5 years ago and decided that I couldn't put my feelings much better, so I just made a few updates and I'm sharing it with you again. 

    Sorry we have been absent since Christmas.  But, I couldn't be silent today.  Today is my 40th wedding anniversary! Wow!  It is weird to say those words because in some ways it feels like yesterday that my husband Glen and I met each other in college and began on this grand adventure of life together.  

    I've thought about how I could pay tribute to the most wonderful husband in the world.  I've seen ideas like giving successful marriage tips or writing 40 reasons why I love him.  I won't be so presumptuous to think that I know the secrets to a successful marriage because of course we have had our ups and downs throughout these 40 years and we certainly aren't perfect.  And, making a list of 40 things would be boring for you and limiting for me.  So, I'm just going to tell you a few things about us and you can glean what you may! It is going to be really nice for me to reminisce a bit. 

    So, that was the start!  Here are a few other interesting things: 

• We were so broke when were first married that Glen decided to re-enlist in the army. He was a linguist in army intelligence .  His language was Russian.  We lived in Montery, CA for a year while he learned the language.  We met life long friends there.
• We lived in Texas and learned to sail!  (But, we haven't sailed since we left Texas!)
• We lived in West Germany for 2 years.  Our oldest son was born there! 
• We lived in Kansas until Glen's time in the service was over.  
• We moved to Phoenix, AZ.  We had 5 more children! We have 3 boys and 3 girls.
• I started substitute teaching in elementary school after my first 4 children were born.  We never had to have daycare because Glen worked the graveyard shift and took care of them during the days that I worked.  
• ​Thanks to my sister and brother-in-law, we were able to go with them and visit Tahiti, where Glen had served his mission.  It was amazing! 
• We've owned 3 dogs, a cat, some fish, 6 chickens and my son had a rabbit for awhile throughout our marriage. 
• We now have 15 grandchildren. 
• We both ended up with Covid during the Pandemic.  Glen was hospitalized for 4 months!  He had just finished cancer treatments previous to that, so he was already in a weakened state when he caught the disease.  We saw miracles in our lives as friends and family across the country prayed for him.  He was able to recover and come home to me!
  

    Now, just look at my cute husband!  I am so blessed!  He loves me!  I love being with him more than anyone else.  He makes me laugh.  He is a great Dad and Grandpa.  He loves the Lord and serves diligently.  He is strong and hard working.  He is smart and wise and keeps me calm when I am worried.  He is warm and good and I am safe with him.  He tells me he loves me daily.  He does things for me that he doesn't want to do but because I want them done he does them anyway.   Okay, I wasn't going to make a list but I had to tell you a few things about him.  And while I am at it I will tell you one marriage tip to success (or 2).  Keep your eyes on the eternal goal of loving each other forever and giving 100% of yourself to your spouse and him to you.  Trust each other and be trustworthy.  Be unselfish! Communicate about everything.  Pray together, forgive each other and keep God in your marriage.  Don't forget to have fun, too!  I am so excited for the next 40 years!  (Make that 45!)

     During times like the holidays, I always feel concerned about what to feed to my family members and friends who have allergies and special dietary needs.  I don't want them to feel left out from all of the special foods that we eat at this time of year.  Food is such a big part of the holiday season.  So, I'm always on the lookout for special recipes to try that will be delicious, not just for those who have such a limited diet, but for everyone to enjoy so that no ones feels isolated or singled out! 

      I have a friend who is not only gluten free, but totally grain free!  On top of that, she is dairy free!  What a bummer!   We were both going to a small holiday gathering, so I was searching for a treat that would fit all of her criteria.  Imagine my surprise when I came across a recipe on A Modern Homestead for a chocolate cake that used squash flour instead of any type of grain flour to make a delicious chocolate cake!  I was amazed! 
       I have made squash (zucchini) flour before.  I shared a post about it here.  But, I didn't realize that you could use all squash flour and zero grain flour and get such a wonderful result! Not only that, this cake that fits a 9" square cake pan only requires 1/2 cup of squash flour!  
        Victoria on A Modern Homestead gives an excellent tutorial for making squash flour here.  If you grow your own zucchini, this will be a great way to use up all of that bumper crop of zucchini that home gardeners get every year! 
      Luckily, I already had dehydrated zucchini stored in my pantry, so I was able to grind it into zucchini flour.  If you don't have any dried or freeze dried zucchini, you can pick some up at the grocery store, dehydrate it and give this recipe a try! 

      I was excited to give the cake recipe a try, but I had to tweak it to meet our particular needs.  So, I'm sharing with the the adapted version of A Modern Homestead's recipe.  Her version uses cacao and dairy and is a little less sweet that our family likes in a cake.   If you want your cake to be dairy free and a bit sweeter, my version is the one you will want to try. 
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     You may be wondering about that dollop of frosting on the top.  Here is what the cake looks like at first:

     You can use vegan butter and honey to make a delicious butter cream.  Here is a great recipe at Recipes to Nourish.  I substituted vegan butter and it came out so good!  We even used to to decorate cookies!  (No white frosting though, because it will be honey colored!)  I just put a dollop on the top of the cake with an almond slice, since almonds are okay for everyone here. 

Have you all heard of the Light the World campaign run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints each year during December?
The whole point of Light the World is to inspire and encourage others to find ways to share the Light of Christ during the Christmas season. One way you can do this is by finding a local Giving Machine and donating to a charity or two. Additionally, you can sign up for daily text messages with little things you can do to Light the World around you during the holiday season.

A theme with Light the World this year has been about angels. Like the angels who came to proclaim Christ's birth, there are angels around us always, working to help us and lift us up to feel the light of Christ. In many videos shared by the Church this season I have seen the question, "who is an angel in your life?"

Each time I've seen an iteration of this video my answer is always, "my mom." You know and love her here. Mom is our main blog poster (sorry we are all such slackers mom!) What I love about my mom is she always wants to share things to make people's lives easier and better. She makes heartfelt Christmas gifts and shares the ideas with you here. 
She is always doing things for her children, grandchildren, husband, friends, siblings, you name someone and I can tell you with 100% certainty she has served them in some way. Although I'm not as good as participating in blog work as I should be, I love being part of this blog with my mom, my sisters, and all of you because my mom tries to light the world here in our little corner of the internet with her positive, kind, informative, and uplifting posts.
My prayer for each of you today is that you have an angel in your life whom you can thank for all they are to you. If you feel you don't have that, keep coming back here and reading our blog because my mom is an angel.

Merry Christmas from Lindsey, Alicia, Madalynn, and our angel mother Helen!

    I've been something like a mad scientist this year, creating all kinds of concoctions as Christmas gifts!  Essential oils have played a big part in this endeavor and I have enjoyed every minute of it.  

     The great thing about using essential oils to make these gifts is that you get a beautiful result from very little effort and very few ingredients.  The products come together fairly quickly and packaging them up is a lot of fun because they can go into all kinds of little bottles or pretty wrappings.  All of these ideas make lovely and well appreciated gifts.  

     My good friend Jaci, who is my go-to for all things essential oil posted some really fun ideas this year for a 25 days of Christmas using Doterra Essential Oils.  If you want to shop Doterra, click the link.)  I'm borrowing some of her ideas for this list! (She had so many good ones!)