"Miss Manning Marries in S. L. Temple" - Provo Daily Herald 11 Jun 1961

Marriage of Marilyn Manning and Carl Reed described in Provo Daily Herald on 11 Jun 1961. - on Newspapers.com

Marti, Becky, Kim: Do you remember being flower girls at aunt Marilyn's wedding in 1961? Did you know that Gordon B. Hinckley (you may have heard of him) officiated the ceremony in the Salt Lake LDS Temple?

Happy Birthday Melissa

Today is Melissa's birthday. Melissa is Marilyn's daughter. Therefore she is my cousin.

Wishing you a very Happy Birthday!


We love you Melissa! Wish we lived closer so we could see you. Just remember that even though we are far away in distance, you are never far in our hearts.

P.S. If you missed Eric's Christmas photos, be sure to scroll down to see.

In celebration of what would have been Grandma's 99th b-day

Today is August 23rd which is Grandma Manning's birthday. If she were still alive she would have been 99 years old today. I thought this was the perfect day to post an essay that Melissa wrote about Grandma.

Melissa had written this essay as an entry to a contest that Deseret News was having asking their readers what they had learned from their own Julia Child. The 4 best entries would get 2 tickets to see the movie Julie & Julia.

I asked Melissa if it was OK if I posted her essay here on the family blog & she gave me her permission. If you want to see the entire Deseret News article click here.

EDITH WAS MAGIC

A visit to the house of my grandmother, Edith Paulson Manning, always greeted me with savory smells from the kitchen. She was an excellent cook, known for her signature dishes: homemade bread and rolls, chocolate roll, lemon pie, chili sauce, divinity, emerald Jell-O salad, seven-minute icing, fudge ... I could go on.

A meal at Grandma's house was always served on a beautifully set table with tablecloth and centerpiece. Meals were the main course of the visit; they were savored and enjoyed in both appetite and conversation.

Edith was magic. She could conjure up a delicious meal cooked from scratch and lure the entire family — teenagers included — into sitting around the table for hours eating and talking.

Food was Edith's potion to bind our family. She graciously served her love on the plates of all who came to her home. She didn't have to fix an extravagant meal every night. The fulfillment was the same whether it was tuna casserole or Sunday's roast. She took the time to make mealtime and food meaningful.

One Thanksgiving, she made 13 pumpkins pies, one for each grandchild.

She noted on her recipe cards when and with whom she made the recipe. She listed grandchildren's names, ages and dates of baking together.

Edith also taught me that good cooks aren't just born. It takes practice and a lifetime to master.

When I became discouraged learning how to bake bread or make candy, she would tell me stories about her early cooking experiences: When she was a young newlywed, she was learning to make bread. She was unfamiliar with using yeast. When her dough didn't instantly rise, she kept adding more yeast. A short time later, the dough had expanded over the entire kitchen counter. Not willing to admit failure, she took the dough and buried it in the flower garden outside. The bread continued to rise and Grandpa immediately started to treat the garden for gophers and hired an exterminator. Edith refused to fess up.

For another meal, Edith made too much rice. Wasting food during the Great Depression was a sin, so she secretly took the extra rice to the outhouse and dumped it. Her landlord, after visiting the outhouse, promptly called the exterminator because he had seen maggots!

To honor her life, three generations (my mother, myself and my daughters) compiled a cookbook of her trademark recipes. We included our memories in the kitchen, photos of mealtimes and quotes she had written and filed in her recipe box. This became her life history and cherished legacy for our family.

Edith's Chocolate Roll

(You'll never find a better recipe!)

Chocolate roll:

6 egg yolks (beaten)

4 tablespoon sugar (rounded)

5 teaspoons cocoa (heaping)

1 tablespoon flour (heaping)

6 egg whites

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Sauce:

1 cup sugar

2 level teaspoons cocoa

1/2 cup water

Dash vanilla

For Chocolate Roll: Mix sugar, cocoa and flour and add to beaten egg yolks. Whip egg whites stiff; add baking powder to egg whites while beating. Fold into the egg-yolk mixture. Line a jelly roll pan with parchment or waxed paper and pour batter in pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes. Cool. Turn on cloth and remove paper. Spread sweetened whipped cream (1/2 to 3/4 pint cream, sugar and vanilla to taste) on cake. Roll and store in refrigerator until ready to serve. Slice and serve with sauce.

For sauce: Mix ingredients and cook 3 minutes and cool. Pour over each slice of chocolate roll.

— Melissa Mecham,

Salt Lake City

Thanks Melissa! I remember Grandma telling us those stories of her early cooking experience. They were so funny. Grandma was the best cook.

Melissa suggested that we should all make Grandma's chocolate roll today in celebration of her birthday & post about it later. I'm not sure if I will be participating in this challenge or not. I'm not much of a baker or a cook (I guess I didn't inherit the cooking gene). Plus it's too hot to turn on the oven here (more excuses). But if anyone out there wants to try, please do so, and don't forget to post about it. And send me a piece!!!

Kim

Getting to know your family-Melissa

Yay!!!! The responses are already coming back. Melissa is the next one who responded. Welcome, welcome Melissa. For those of you who don't know Melissa, she is my cousin, Aunt Marilyn's daughter, grandaughter to Edith & Merlin and she is a fabulous person. Here are her answers.

1.	What is your occupation right now?	Ski bum
2.	What color are your socks right now?	Grey
3.	What are you listening to right now?	oprah
4.	What was the last thing that you ate?	Dutch chocolate mint
5.	Can you drive a stick shift?	yes
6.	Last person you spoke to on the phone?	Neighbor
7.	Do you like the person who sent this to you?	Of course or I wouldn’t be filling this out!
8.	How old are you today?	44
9.	What is your favorite sport to watch on TV?	Not golf
10.	What is your favorite drink?	water
11.	Have you ever dyed your hair?	yes
12.	Favorite Food?	raspberries
13.	What is the last movie you watched?	HBO John Adams
14.	Favorite day of the year?	today
15.	How do you vent anger?	yell and scream
16.	What was your favorite toy as a child?	Barbie
17.	What is your favorite season?	fall
18.	Cherries or Blueberries?	Blueberries,. What psychological insight does this mean?
19.	Do you want your friends to e-mail you back?	yes
20.	Who is the most likely to respond
21.	Who is least likely to respond?
22.	Living arrangements?	Comfortable
23.	When was the last time you cried?	When I listened to the YW meeting last week
24.	What is on the floor of your closet?	Lots of shoes
25.	Who is the friend you have had the longest that you are sending to?	I don’t forward emails often.
26.	What did you do last night?	Go to a wedding reception
27.	What are you most afraid of?	snakes
28.	Plain, cheese, or spicy hamburgers?	Cheese, forget the burger
29.	Favorite dog breed?	Maltese, of course. Loyalty to our dog.
30.	Favorite day of the week?	Friday
31.	How many states have you lived in?	5: Utah, California, Iowa, New York, Virginia
32.	Diamonds or pearls?	diamonds
33.	What is your favorite flower?	pansies

Thanks Melissa. Everyone needs to be sure to check back often as I probably will be posting answers more than once a day. I already know I have a response from Danica (Eric's daughter). So keep checking back.

Ahhhh

Jamey & I just got back from a quick trip to Utah... the company he works for is in Park City & he had to go there for some sales meetings & their Christmas party, so I tagged along. We left Wednesday & were back home by Friday afternoon (I said it was a quick trip). We had a fantastic time. Although it does make me happy that I live in Southern Cali, as it was about 35 degrees during the day in Utah. It was beautiful since it had just snowed the Monday before we went - they still had several inches of snow on the ground & on the buildings/houses. The sky was blue but the air was still cold, it was fun for a day or two. On Thursday I was able to drive to SLC to meet up with Melissa. It was great being able to see her again & in Utah! It's sad to say that was only the second time in about 17 or 18 years that we had been together... I was able to see her home & meet one of her daughters! I was so excited!! We had a great (quick) visit, thanks for lunch Melissa!!
I hope next time I am there I can meet the rest of her girls, see Ryan & his family as well as see Aunt Marilyn & Clark. It will need to be a longer trip for sure since I really should have driven a little further to see Todd & the kids!! Sorry Todd! I will see you next time. With only one full day in Utah, there just wasn't enough time to do everything that I wanted.
It was nice being away without the boys. Park City definately is a romantic place & this time of year it was fantastic. Jamey's company had something planned for a lot of the time we were there, but it was fun to meet the people he works with & see him in his element. I love being with him & had a great time - thanks for letting me come along!!
When we got home we were surprised by Nate & a bald head... those of you who don't know him or see him very often wouldn't know but Nate was growing dreadlocks (or whatever you want to call them) - they were actually getting pretty long. Some people bugged him about cutting them off but I wasn't going to be one of them. I knew he would cut them when it was really important.

I guess my patience worked because when we got home Nate had cut them all off!! (sorry I don't have a picture of the bald head, the battery is dead in the camera). I will post one later. Anyway, I got my Christmas present from him early!!! Who says you need to have money for a great gift???

Caitlin in Peru

This is an excerpt from Caitlin's letter to family and friends:

My Peru Experience was absolutely incredible. I never expected to learn so much about love and service in a short time. I learned from the examples of the sweet children at the orphanage what it truly means to love another and look out for each other. They have so little yet give so much. I learned a very special lesson from a young girl in the village of Tuscan, Peru. In this very poor village, we bathed the youngest children and gave them new clothes (many had never had a bath), and gave blankets to the older children. In particular, I noticed a young girl who watched with much excitement as her little sister was bathed and dressed in brand new clothes. We ran out of clean water and clothes before the older sister could be bathed and she was too young to receive a blanket. My heart ached for her and I imagined how disappointed she must have been to not get anything. To my amazement, she kept smiling and continued to hug and kiss her little sister. She was so thrilled and concerned for her sister's happiness that she didn't seem to mind that she received nothing for herself. I was so touched and I keep replaying that experience in my mind.

When I went to Peru I expected to work hard and get dirty (which I did) but I did not expect to be so inspired and humbled. I saw how first hand how little these people have and how hard they must work just to keep going each day. We were able to build a security tower for the orphanage, a farm house, and a school in Tuscan so the children don't have to walk 3 hrs. to school.

If you are interested in learning more about Southern Cross Humanitarian, or taking an expedition to El Girasol orphanage or would like to donate to their projects to improve the lives of street children in Peru, please visit http://www.sxhu.org/

Update from the Mechams

Summer 2008

Hello from Salt Lake City! We are doing well despite the fact that Scott is the only male in a household with 4 hormonal women! We got a male puppy this summer to balance out the hormone levels. We named him D. Willy (we call him Willy) after Caitlin's favorite Jazz player, Deron Williams (D. Will).

Caitlin (19) spent this summer at home after being in Logan at Utah State University last school year. She spent a couple weeks in August in Peru working in an orphanage El Girosel (The Sunflower) which cares for street children. She had an incredible experience. She raised all her own money to go as well as money to contribute to the projects they accomplished to build waterways, security systems and school house. She got to got to Machu Pichu and climb before she came home. I will try to post her blog separately. Caitlin is back up at USU this fall and loving school. She is majoring in Dietetics and hopes to get a masters degree so she can travel the world to help women and children with nutritional needs in developing countries.

Sarah (14) is our typical teenage girl. She is with her friends 25 hours a day. She started high school this fall at East High (yes, the famous "High School Musical" school). She is on the soccer team and is busy this fall with soccer season. Their record is 2-2 so far. Sarah scored the winning goal in their game against Park City last week. She plays the piano and is active in Young Women.

Emily (12) started middle school last week. She is full of energy. She is either going to grow up to be an architect or a litigator. She spends hours playing Sims on the computer or arguing her point of view with her Mom in her spare time. She also plays soccer and plays 5 days a week for a competitive team. She plays the piano too.

Our family spent a couple of weeks in Mexico in June attending a cousin's wedding on the Mecham side. (This is the photo we took at the reception). The wedding was in the Colonial Juarez temple in Chihuahua. We then traveled to central Mexico to another wedding party in Queretero, home of the groom. We spent a week traveling through some amazing colonial places in central Mexico: Guanajuato, San Miguel, Mexico City and the Sun and the Moon pyramids. It felt like we were in Spain, Italy and France all combined. We had a great time.

Scott, Sarah and I had a great experience in July treking the Mormon trail in Wyoming for our stake youth trek. We accompanied 250 youth from our stake to Martin's Cove along the Sweetwater river trail and into Rock Creek Hollow. We walked on the actual pioneer trail where the Willey and Martin Handcart companies died and were rescued. The land has been dedicated by Pres. Hinckley. It is sacred ground and has an incredible spirit. Scott was the official historian and compiled a video of the experience that will be shown at a fireside this month and given to the youth who participated. We did some pioneer research and discovered I have an ancestors on my dad's side who was a survivor, Margaretta Clark of the Martin Handcart company who married her rescuer, Anson Call. (Ryan, Allyson and Whitney did the same trail this summer for their stake trek. Allyson has true pioneer stock, she did it 7 months pregnant!)

Scott and I are doing the typical parent juggling act: Working hard, catering to all the kids needs, dishing out money, nagging to get practicing done, church callings, making a living, shooing away the teenage boys, setting curfews, driving everywhere for a soccer game, and collapsing in bed exhausted every night. We wouldn't want it any other way. These are the days!

Welcome

Welcome to the new Manning Family Tree blog spot. I made this as a place where we can all come to find out what is going on in each of our lives. As we get older it gets harder & harder to keep in touch with one another. I really miss when we were kids & we would get together and have fun. I miss that connection with each of you.

I want this to be a place where you can post what is going on in your life, or the lives of your children and/or grandchildren. You can even post pictures. Or you can just write down favorite memories of Grandma and Grandpa Manning, or anyone else connected to this family. It doesn't matter how mundane you think your life is or how exciting for that matter, someone in our family wants to know about it.

I've wanted to do this for about a year now, but I am such a procrastinator. So I figured Christmas was the perfect time of year to kick this off. I loved how Melissa and Aunt Marilyn did the recipe book. It brought back lots of great memories. That is what I want this blog to be about, a place to remember great memories & create new memories and reconnect with one another.

I hope that all of you are exited as me to contribute to this blog. It will get boring real quick if I am the only one to contribute. If you have any questions, email me at kasmlc@hotmail.com.

Love to you all & I can't wait to find out what is going on in all your lives.

Kim