Our Story

 I celebration of our 6th wedding anniversary, here is the post about us.


Dear or darling Hubby and I met in 1992 when we were in high school; he was 17 and I 16 years old. He lived in Sacramento CA I lived in SLC UT, we met through a youth mission’s trip “Harvest Utah.” I was hyper and talkative and he was focused and quiet. Since I distracted the other boys from our team work, I was paired with DH so we would remain on task. I thought he was so handsome. He almost left with out asking if he could write to me, I was not allowed to ask him for his number or address, but he conquered his shyness and we wrote for a year. DH was my first date flying out the next summer to be with me.

Christmas 1993

We broke up New Years 1994 at a party, but he kissed me at the airport when I was to get on the plane, he was my first kiss. I was so upset that he would kiss me after breaking up with me, we found out much later we had a huge mis-communication. I thought he broke up with me, he didn’t. We went our separate ways but never forgot each other. Every year we either wrote or called, about every second year DH came out to Utah to see me or my family.

July 1993

In 1998 we got back together and then broke up again. He was afraid to ask me to marry him because he had not been at his job very long. In 2000 he came to visit over Easter weekend for a surprise visit. I had invited another friend for the holiday, and my grandma kept teasing me about having 2 boyfriends. I kept explaining that I didn’t have a boy friend, to both of them.

1998 Impromptu Visit

In 2004 DH flew me to Sacramento for an all expense paid vacation, and we finally told each other that we loved one another in the airport and had our second kiss.

2004 all expense paid vacation

When we got back together in 2004 my mom knew we would be engaged by Christmas. She passed suddenly just before, on Dec 11, and never saw us get together. But she was right. He asked me to marry him Christmas Eve night. We were married May 7, 2005. We have worked hard and have gotten through some struggles together. Our story was worth waiting for.

Secret Spaghetti Sauce

Old Family Recipe - Spaghetti Sauce
Written by my mom - Julie

     Paul & I (Julie) met in 1970 at Olympic Jr. College, in Bremerton, Washington.  A year, maybe a year and a half later, we are talking about spaghetti his favorite food.  Paul explained how his Aunt and Uncle would fix this for him when he went to visit them and how much he liked it.  He also said that his family (I assume Peggie & George) had an old family recipe for Spaghetti that took all day to cook. It had a lot of special spices and tasted great.
     We married in June of 1972.  We as many newly married couples were on a budget and needed to watch pennies.  I fixed a lot of low cost recipes for dinners but spaghetti was not one of the meals.  Once in a while Paul would ask if I would fix spaghetti, and I told him he should fix it because he knew the recipe. This went on for several years.
     Around seven to ten years later, Paul asked again if I would fix spaghetti.  He was rather hurt, I knew that it was his favorite food and I had refused to fix the meal.  I again mentioned he knew the old family recipe, and I would be happy for him to fix it.
"What old family recipe?" I retorted, "the one that has been in your family for years and takes all day to fix!"
"What are you talking about?"
"What do you mean what am I talking about.  You told me years ago that you had a special old family recipe for fixing spaghetti, that took all day to cook."
"I did? We never had any old family recipe for spaghetti."
"What?"
"I don't remember telling you that, is that why you never fix me spaghetti?"
"Yes"
"Well, why don't you find a recipe for spaghetti sauce that has a lot of spices and takes a long time to cook?"
     Actually now our budget could handle the extra spices, and I thought I remembered a recipe that I had found in "Spices of the World" by McCormick for a great sounding spaghetti sauce.  So I fixed it either the next day or by the weekend.  Paul loves it!
And ever since, we laughingly call it our "Old Family Recipe for Spaghetti Sauce."

Julie

This was written to be included in a family cookbook that my sister and I were working on, but my father did not want her to share the story.  She decided not to share it, but I am, not for the story itself but because it was from my mom. She died Dec 11, 2004 of congestive heart failure.  I love her and I miss her.

Here is the recipe as it ended up, changes were made from the original recipe, and I've made some since then.  My sister has also made changes to her version of the spaghetti sauce as well.  I do add more spices and things than are listed here, but I'll keep those as my secret.  I have made some notes of swaps, but I have not included the additional items that I now add.

Secret Spaghetti Sauce


1 1/2 pds hamburger meat - I use lean turkey meat most of the time, or a very lean hamburger
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp celery salt
1 tsp black pepper
2 tsp sugar - I use 1 packet of stevia
1/4 crushed red pepper
1/2 tsp season all
1/4 MSG - I never add this
2 bay leaves
1 tbls oregano
1 tbls basil
1 tbls parsley
1/2 tsp rosemary
1/8 tsp (secret ingredient)
1 tbls Italian seasoning
4 6 ounce cans tomato paste
2 quarts water or 8 C's water

1 C red wine (optional)
1 C sliced olives
2 4 ounce cans mushrooms - I use fresh mushrooms that I've cooked
spaghetti
Grated Parmesan cheese

Cook hamburger meat with the seasonings from the garlic powder to the msg (which I omit) when meat is cooked add it into a huge stock pot with the remaining ingredients minus the spaghetti or grated parmesan cheese. Cover tightly and simmer 2 hours longer, stirring occasionally. Remove cover and continue cooking until sauce thickens to desired consistency, scoop out the 2 bay leaves throw away. Cook spaghetti following directions on pkg, allowing 1 pound for 4 servings. Ladle sauce over spaghetti. Top with grated cheese and serve.
Makes about 3 1/2 quarts sauce enough for 4 pounds spaghetti, since you may not need such a large quantity of sauce you can freeze it for several months. 

Julie, Grandma Peggie, and Aunt Bessie

 No pictures of food this time, but the spaghetti sauce is great.  I really wanted to share the story above since it was the last thing that my mom wrote.  She and I used to write things together, funny stories and letters to my pen pals.  These are memories beyond just the story themselves, and I wanted to share them.  Today I remember momma.  This is the 6th anniversary of her passing and I miss her as much as ever, I just don't break out into tears every time I mention her now, except at night when I'm drinking tea and quietly thinking.

Halloween and Movies - Story time

I was told a while back to write down some of my life stories.  I've been thinking of where to start, and until now I was stuck on looking for one story that I had previously written.  But this month holds a holiday that my family did not celebrate like every other American family, we did have a small family party, but we did not Trick or Treat for Halloween.  Dressing up to go to the church Harvest Festival was a real treat, and did not happen that often.  Now most of my class mates teased me for not dressing up, but I liked how we celebrated much better.  First of all, since we did not dress up (with the exception of the church event) my mom would let us skip school that day.  I loved that, and then she would take us to the mall to get Mrs Fields cookies and Julius Cesar drinks.  My parents would then get us our favorite candy to eat, we'd make caramel apples and watch movies by firelight.  It seemed to rain quite often on Halloween.

Our movies got progressively scary as we got older.  So we started out with the Peanuts cartoon The great pumpkin.  Well it was not long before we began to watch Abbot and Costello's Meet Frankenstein. 

I happen to love this film, as I love all of their films.  But eventually this was just to funny and not scary at all, and so we then moved on to CharadeCharade, Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn in the Alfred Hitchcock film.  The suspense was great, and I just loved Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn. 

I just watched this film tonight, it's a classic.  But eventually we did have to throw in another movie, I mean we did stay up later and need new things to keep it all interesting.  So we shook things up a bit by adding in another Audrey Hepburn film, this time it was Wait Until Dark. 

Wait Until Dark

This movie still has me jumping in surprise in one place, my DH laughs at me since he never jumps.  He really has only watched any of these to humor me, he'd rather not watch anything filmed before the 80's.  The next movie thrown in for fun, and to make it a double feature night was Death Trap, another suspense film. 

Video clip - Death Trap Trailer

Charade (1963) [Remastered Edition]

In my second grade year, I chose not to be checked out of school, it was the only year.  I went to school and watched the kids parade in their costumes.  I did not have a costume, and so my teacher kept trying to get me to do all the things the other kids were doing including dressing me in a costume.  I was very uncomfortable with that especially as this teacher and I already had bad blood between us.  The whole day was uncomfortable and I was actually defended by a friend of mine in the grade above me, Emily.  I can not remember the details, but I was unhappy and she came over and took care of the situation.

Now, I'm all grown up, and my DH grew up in a family that felt similarly about Halloween celebrations, and we have decided that our kids will go to the church celebrations, but not trick or treat, and I'm going to take them out of class that day and we will make our own memories.  I treasure those times, and even now I wish that I could take that day off, and not dress up for work, because now that I'm grown my employer feels the need to dress up for Halloween, and in an office of 10 you get noticed real quick when you don't do what the boss asks.  I miss my mom at Halloween, for our shopping trips and candy apple making times, and even when my sister and her made pumpkin seeds. I was not a big fan, and did not help much with that food item. 

I will get into greater detail in my stories in future posts, but for now these are some of my Halloween memories.

Thank you, for those from whom I have learned the most

 Paternal Grandparents - one known as the "Dragon-Lady"

Mother and daughter's

Today I have been thinking, dangerous I know, but today it's been meaningful.  I've actually been thinking about this for a very long time, and today I've decided to put it out there.  I have learned most things from my mother, who really should be up for sainthood, and if we were Catholic I would try.  But honestly there are others I have learned a great many things from, one of whom is my little sister.  She is stubborn and feisty, and all sorts of other good and troublesome things, but one thing she did was teach me how to love the unlovable.

My cousin and my little sister

I have many life stories to tell, and some day I will share them all, but today I will focus on one.  My grandma, the one nicknamed the "Dragon Lady". She had a great relationship with me, and my cousins, but not my sister.  I did not really notice it that much until one day when I was in Junior high, and we were visiting for Easter.  Walking around the Phoenix Zoo was not really a cool thing in my book back then, but I was looped arm in arm with Grandma and we were shopping.  Shopping was always fun with Grandma, she loved bags and jewelry and I loved those things as well.  As we were leaving the park, my sister came to join us, to also hug on grandma and to loop her arm through her other arm.  That's when Grandma became someone I had not known before, she physically pushed my sister away.  My parents noticed, I saw it, the whole world took notice.  I really was like time stood still. How could a grandparent push their grandchild away? Isn't there an unwritten rule, Grandparents must unconditionally love their grandchildren?  Maybe not their own children, but their grandchildren, yes they are the innocent and loved ones.  Not having been able to be old enough to make mistakes, talk back, and fight with grandparents, how could they not be just adored?  My father did something that day that was impressive and scary, he took a stand.  It was the best thing a father could do for his child, he would not allow his daughter to be treated like that. 

The parents

 Mind you, I'm not sure where this part of my father has gone now, but at the time he was completely there for my sister.  He stood up to his mother and exploded, letting her know that she was not allowed to treat my lil' sis in such a way.  My grandparents had a choice, they could choose to love and appreciate both of us, or see none of us.  When we left from that vacation we did not see them except holidays for a long long time.  When we did see them again, my grandparents had decided to treat us both with equal fairness, but I'm not sure if my grandmother really knew how to love my sister.  I saw though how my sister loved on my grandmother, through all her prickles and nettles, my sister hugged her anyways.  She visited her when she lived near her summer home, and no one else was there to take care of her, and somewhere during that time my grandma started to love and appreciate her back.  Grandma even took on the school where my sister was at, to claim the time that she was promised, to have my sister's company.

This was the trip, and here are my grandma and my sister

Love is messy, and problematic, and mostly it's a choice.  We don't get to choose our family, or how they will behave or respond to us, but we do get to choose how we respond to them.  I firmly believe in standing up for your children, and protecting them from those who would hurt them.  I believe in walking away from those who can not appreciate the gifts they have been given in their family.  I also know that I have a family member that has not loved me, and that I need to love through the nettles and the barbs.  I'm not sure how all of this will play out, and while my sister needs to do all she can to protect her family from a similar rottenness that she experienced, I have to still be there to point out the profound idiocy and hurt to the ones who are being hurtful.

Keep your family close, and protect the ones you love.  Learn the life lessons you need, and pass on the ones you can. Today I'm sharing a life story, one I've learned from.  You have stories as well, things that you have learned, hold onto the good.