102nd Dipsea Race

For years, Mike has wanted to run the Dipsea Race. His father ran on this trail and talked about his runs and because his father talked about it, Mike wanted to do it. This race is the oldest race in the nation...102 years old this year. For this race, Mike ran 7.4 miles up and up and up the coastal mountains starting in Mill Valley and ending in Stinson Beach. There are also about 668 stairs which aren't even, there are rocks and roots sticking out of the trail and this year there was heat.  Of course, Mike did it and I'm proud of all his training and efforts to be in shape enough to run this. You'll never believe who won the race, not it wasn't Mike but a 72 year old man! (They add different handicaps to the runner's times.) Mike finished #967 out of 1438 runners - amazing considering the difficulty. 

His good friend, John Boro, ran in this race several years ago and on Saturday took Mike and myself over the tough parts of the race and offered Mike tips to finish. 

 Coming through the finish line.

So Blessed to Live Now - William Miller 1775 - 1840

I have been going thru all the papers concerning the history of my ancestors (my mother was really into geneology) and came across a document called "Inventory of the Estate of William Miller" which was filed on 27 August 1840.  William lived in South Whitehall Township, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania from 1775 until 1840.  His father, Adam Miller, actually bought his land from the Indians sometime around 1769.  Amazing heritage.  He had nine or ten children. Anyway, as I was typing up a transcript of all of his early goods, I got an overwhelming feeling of being so blessed to have been born in this day and age.  Here is a list of his worldly goods, and according to history books, he was quite wealthy.  Neighbors owed him close to $1,000 pounds or was it dollars by then...hum? His records look like a mini loan statement from a bank.

1 - Stove and pipe



2 - Iron Ports


Gunsmith tools and box


2 - Smoothern Irons


Sundrys


Dunk and tools


Basket and Sundrys


1 - Saddle Bag


1 - Gradel


2 - Kettels


1 - Rifel and Sundrys


2 - Pairs of Boots


1 - Wearing Apparel


1 - Bed and bedding


1 - Table


1 - Small table and one Waiter


1 - Looking glass


6 - Chairs


1 - Coverlid and one blanket


5 - Books and one map


1 - Trunk and Sundrys


1 - Clock or cloack (not sure which)


1 - Tea pot and sugar bowl, pitcher


1 - Dozen knives and forks


2 - Bottles and 5 glasses


1 - Waiter and Sundrys


1 - Prayer book and Sundrys


Bedding and Sundrys


Dishes, Plates, Cuts and saucers


1 - Drawer


3 - Pictures


2 - Hats

How long do you think it would take you to make a list of all of our worldly possessions?

Marshmallow & Cutout Cake Ideas

Do these images inspire you to be creative?

More fun ideas with Marshmallows,

I've never made these but always wanted to

...maybe for the grandchildren.

Can you guess that I think cut-out cakes are adorable? 

Again, the grandchildren will benefit

from my love of being creative.

Fun Recipes for Children

While cleaning out my recipes last night, I came across the following favorite recipes.

• Monster Munchies were a favorite of Rob's.  This came out of a Star Wars activity book. 
• The bird's nests are super easy and fun to make around Easter or what about after talking about birds or going bird watching with your child?  This came from a magazine called Ranger Rick. 
• The cutout cakes are so fun.  I made the space ship for an outer space birthday party for Rob right after we moved to Utah.  I think these adorable cake ideas were from Good Housekeeping Magazine.  Brittany, how about the truck or giraffe for James? 
• I added Cheesy Pizza Soup onto our family recipe sharing blog: http://candriangirls.blogspot.com/

Candrian Relatives



The little boy in the middle, behind his grandfather is Robert Lincoln Candrian.  The old man is Frederick Hauser. I just love this photo.  I can see the love in Frederick Hauser's face for his grandsons. Can you?

  This is one of the few family photos I've ever seen of both of Robert's parents and his brother, Bill. 
Robert is the taller boy in the photo.

Don't you just love the old car?  I wonder what kind it is?



Robert L. Candrian winning a high school track race.
 He held a record for his running that wasn't broken for something like 40 years!

Such a wonderful thing has happened, I've become acquainted with a lost relative.  So, for you Gabby and all the rest of my nieces that read this blog, here are a few photos of your Candrian relatives.  Sorry, they aren't cropped.  These were scanned a long time ago and I had no idea what I was doing back then.

Crafting Saturday

Saturday afternoon was family bonding - craft time. My sister Carol, niece Lorain, great-niece Aubree and sister-in-law, Priscilla joined me for some crafting at my home.  Loved the girl bonding time . We made cards, Carol sorted photos (we laughed at how young some of us looked... we may have laughed at how you looked too), Lorain worked on a cute month to month craft kit and Priscilla whips out the most adorable thank you cards I have ever seen. We diverted our attention by showing the video of Andrea's date on http://www.themormonbachelor.com/ (Please go to date #4 and "like" Andrea...if you agree with me that she's the most amazing person out there and how could you not agree with me)! We read the clever date review of Andrea on http://realitymormon.blogspot.com/  (seriously cleaver blog on these dates) had lunch ,  crafted some more and then enjoyed a little cup of frozen yogurt...oh so yummy and healthy too.  Thanks for coming and crafting with me!

Quiet Book



Brittany thought I should make a quiet book for little boy, so I thought, if I was making one, why not make four?
Doesn't everyone just love a cute quiet book to take to church? I had fun looking on-line and getting ideas.   This project has already taken me a  little over a month to create but I want our grandchildren to enjoy this special grandma & Brittany made books  for years . . .who knows, maybe for generations! 
Here are our pages:
This is the back page...it's a tic tac toe game but with various sports balls (some of the books have basket balls and footballs - love these foam pre-decorated balls) I commented to Mike that this activity is a little old for our grandsons but Mike thought our children could play it to keep themselves entertained.

This funny guy has different eyes, a set of glasses, various noses and mustaches, and varous crazy smiles, lips and whatever I could come up with. The bow tie was Brittany's idea. I like his fake fur hair.

Inside the barn are five animal finger puppets. The page zips up so the critters won't fall out.
On the right, is an aquarium where the fish can swim by sliding across the page and the seahorse swims up and down ...I used a clear sheet protector and foam fish, shells bubbles foam coral, sand paper for the bottom of the aquarium and a shinny fabric for the water effect. (My very own idea...I wish the photo had of turned out better...it's so easy to play with.

The car on the right has button-on wheels and a button-on sun. The window was made with a clear sheet protector. The house with a little car can be driven around on the road.

My robots have pipe cleaner legs and arms so that they can be taken off the page and played with.
The bodies and heads are interchangeable.
The monster page has a place for a pad of paper and pencil or pen. The noses are pom poms and the monsters have googly eyes. The little white monster is very soft...he's made from chenille yarn.  He's a mini stuffed creature that can be removed and played with.

I found silver ribbon for the blade part of the ice skate.  When I saw this idea, I loved that it was different and not a shoe...hopefully children are still learning to tie...are they?
The mitten has soft red fabric on it's cuff and soft warm fleece for the hand to slide into. I wish I had of made this a little bigger, my hand doesn't fit into it.

The snowman with pipe cleaner arms has accessories like hats and scarves in the brown bucket -type pocket. 
The grass page has varous things hiding in the grass like a dragonfly button, two little flannel kittens, a heart, a key and whatever I could find that was little. I love the embroidered felt butterfly coming out of the grass.  Brittany used all her sewing skills to attach the items that are hiding! Can you see the black feather?