Hot Springs, Grandma and Cookies!

HOT SPRINGS...
For the LOVE of Hot Springs!
Even though our family is frugal, we do allow a certain percentage of our money each month to be able to do something FUN as a family. We sit down with the kids and decide what we will do that month. Most months in the summer we save the money away so we can go on a little family trip.
HOWEVER, during the cold Fall, Winter and early Spring months our favorite thing to do is to go and warm up in the Hot Water and at our local Hot Springs (Heise).

(photo circa 1980...
somewhere along the Colorado RiverKimmie is the one in the yellow swim suit)

It's amazing to me
how the smallest event can make such a big difference in your life.
Since I was the oldest of six kids,
I was the lucky one that got to accompany my parents on a seven day River Rafting Trip (with Moki Mac River Expeditions) down the Colorado River in 1980.
You had to be at least eight years old to go.

This one experience was life changing for me in gaining a LOVE and appreciation for nature and someone that thrives on and LOVES the outdoors in all forms.

I LOVED the river, the ever changing scenery and LOVED camping each night along the river bank in tents, hiking to see Native American Ruins and cooking all of our food over a fire or in dutch ovens.

Along the way we would stop and enjoy Hot Springs and I was just so fascinated that hot water spontaneously came out of the ground that I was hooked on Hot Springs.
We had a local Hot Springs (Crystal Hot Springs) in the town where I grew up and I have such fond memories of going there in the winter with my parents and being so warm in the water, but have a hair full of ice crystals because it was so cold outside.

I'm SO thrilled to be able to pass similar memories on to my own kids.

Here are some photos
showing some of the FUN and beauty that we have had as a family enjoying local Hot Springs...
My Sweet Ethan...
LOVE this photo SO much!

LAVA Hot Springs July 2007
getting ready for the sun to set so we could enjoy watching the Fourth of July Fireworks be launched off the mountain while we enjoyed soaking in the warm water.

One of our favorite natural Hot Springs...
it's a three hour drive to the trailhead, a two mile hike to the hot springs with 1,000 foot elevation gain the last 1/2 mile of the hike in,
but the view and the HOT water is worth it!!
I just wished we lived closer to this wonderful spot!

GRANDMA...
My Sweet Grandma
Laura Hannah Hunsaker Tolman

January of this year,
while Tracy's brother and family were visiting from Tennessee, they had certain things they wanted to do while they were here and soaking in Hot Water was on the list.
So, we made the Trek to Lava Hot Springs, despite bad weather and enjoyed very much warming up in the hot water on a cold and snowy winter's day.
One of the fun things about soaking at Hot Springs is getting to meet people from many different places and learning more about them through great conversation. Tracy and I very much enjoy talking and getting to know other people.

I'm not sure how the conversation started, but there was a nice man that said he was from Corrine, Utah. I overheard him talking and kind of went up to him and told him that I graduated from Box Elder High School. We then proceeded to make small talk and he asked who my parents were, what year I graduated, etc...

This sweet couple we met was
Delwin "Butch" and Margie Mills.
They told me that my Grandma Laura had delivered 4 out of their 5 children and they LOVED her SO much.
Their fourth child was born with a hole in his stomach and when my grandma asked them what they were going to name the baby they said that they didn't have any boy names picked out because they were hoping it would be a girl.
Apparently, since they were transporting the baby to a different hospital they had to have a name for the baby. They asked my grandma what name she liked. My grandma said "I really like the name Dustin". My grandma then looked up the meaning of the name in a book that they had with baby names at the nurses station and the name Dustin meant "Valiant fighter".
The couple LOVED the name (since their son was struggling for his life) and were so grateful for her suggestion and that's what he was named...thanks to my sweet grandma.

October 20, 1970
Proud Grandma... holding me after I was born

The couple was sad that my grandma had died before their last child was born. They had never dealt with a nicer, more compassionate nurse than my Grandma and they loved her!

What sweet words these were to my ears
to hear this couple speak so highly of my grandma. I had always been told by my parents and aunts and uncles how wonderful my Grandma was, but to hear it from someone else, meant SO much more to me.

My Sweet Grandma, who was a nurse and had never smoked a day in her life had to fight a battle of lung cancer and only lived a few months after being diagnosed.

Living in a small town, our Elementary school was right across the street from my Grandma's house and I would go there everyday after school when she was sick and take care of her.
For some reason, my grandma loved, enjoyed and needed the companionship of her eight year-old grand-daughter each day and I cherished those moments of walking to her house each afternoon and hearing her voice SO excited I was there and helping her out, although 32 years later they are just "distant memories" as she died 2 weeks before my 9th birthday. (although I still to this day can remember the "Smell" of her house).
I wished I could have had more years to spend with her.

Four things I remember most about going to my grandma's house...
...her dried fruit that she made on her dehydrator,
...cracking open and eating the pits of her apricots
(they reminded me of the taste of almonds)
...her homemade scones
...and her Carrot Cookies.

And now to Cookies...
I'm grateful for recipes that have been passed down from one generation to the next, so I can enjoy making yummy things for my kids that were such a treat to me when I was a young girl going to visit my Sweet Grandma Laura.
Here is her yummy recipe
for Carrot Cookies that are also a favorite at my house as well.

Carrot Cookies (my Grandma Laura's recipe)

¾ cup sugar
¾ cup REAL butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 cup boiled carrots mashed
2 cups flour
1/2 cup chopped nuts

Cream together sugar and butter.
Then beat in egg, vanilla and baking powder.
Add mashed carrots and then flour and nuts.
Drop by teaspoons onto cookie sheet and bake at 400 degrees for 12 minutes.
Ice with powdered sugar and orange juice.
Coconut is also yummy on the top of the icing. This was my grandma's recipe.

Grandmas hold our tiny hands
for just a little while, but our hearts forever.
My heart is full of gratitude
for my rich heritage, my wonderful memories from my youth and my married life, having all five senses to be able to appreciate and enjoy the BEAUTY of nature and being abundantly blessed with all the things that truly give life meaning...
family, friends, nature in all her beauty, laughter and most of all...a home full of an abundance of Love!!