Well, it has been almost two years since I posted to my blog and a lot has happened since then. I have two married kids now, a young women's cooking class and I am trying to self publish a cookbook! Our son, Trey married our favorite daughter-in-law Debbie in September of 2010 and our daughter, Aubra married our favorite son-in-law Colby in October of 2011. They both have the most amazing marriages. My husband Bill and I are challenged daily to be as kind to each other as they are. It's interesting how now they are teaching us! I attended a wedding of one of Trey's friends in November of 2010 and all the wives of the friends were talking about their family lives - about cooking, eating at the table together, having family time, etc. They all said they didn't know how to cook very well and one even stated she wished she could do something with chicken besides be disgusted with it! I suggested we do a cooking class once a month and we will have been going for 1 1/2 years now. It is sooooooooo much fun. They are all like sponges and they really to go home and cook the food we learn to prepare. Also, they get a night out without the kids, but since hubby gets fabulous food, he doesn't mind babysitting. Here are some of the topics of our classes: "Italian Cooking", "Cook Once, Eat Twice", "Basic Cooking", "Mexican", "Thanksgiving","Christmas", "Cooking with Herbs", and always "Freeze, Freeze, Freeze". If any of these interest you, let me know and we can discuss some of the recipes. I am very family oriented and cooking is one of the best ways to keep the family together. I have a few rules - 1)everyone helps with dinner - making the salad, setting the table (that's right, I said "setting the table"), filling water glasses, and clean up. If your kids are a little older, you cannot imagine the conversations that will naturally come up while you are in the kitchen together! Don't let anything shock you, keep quiet, and you will find out all sorts of great information. 2) No discussion of negative topics. Now is not the time to talk about grades, taking the trash out, or that new friend of theirs that you do not like!. Some good subjects are: Name one thing you learned in school today. What is your favorite season of the year and why. Who is your favorite Bible character, etc. 3) Do not make them eat everything on their plate. They should sample everything, but if they don't like it, that's ok as long as they are not allowed to eat twinkles the rest of the evening. If you do not have children yet, or they are very small, now is the time to develop your habits with your spouse to teach them later. My cookbook will be all my favorite recipes from my store I used to own called "Joyce's". I just secured a photographer and I am very excited to do some beautiful recipe and table displays for my book. It should be completed by October. I will try to share some pictures along the way. I am very excited to meet all of you out there who are interested in cooking, gardening, decorating and all those wonderfully domestic things. As I said before, I may not know a lot about a particular subject, but I'll know a little and you can teach me more. Joyce