Thank you

This past Sunday, our Relief Society President and her counselors were released.  They have served the sisters of our ward with love and diligence.  We thank you for all you have done that we were able to witness and for all that you have done that some of us will never know of.  We love you!

recipes from the ward Christmas Dinner

Below are some of the recipes we used for our ward Christmas dinner. We've had a couple requests for these, so here they are. Enjoy. 

Irish Potato Soup
INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
3 leeks, sliced
3 large baking potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
3 (14 1/2-ounce) cans vegetable broth
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Toppings: shredded Cheddar cheese, crumbled cooked bacon, chopped fresh chives

DIRECTIONS:
1.  Melt butter in a large saucepan over low heat; stir in onion and leek. Cover and cook 20 minutes. 
2.  Stir in potato; cover and cook 15 minutes. Stir in broth, salt, and pepper; bring to a boil.
3.  Reduce heat, and simmer 30 minutes or until potato is tender. Remove from heat, and cool slightly. 
4.  Process soup in batches in a blender until smooth, stopping to scrape down sides; return to saucepan, and cook over medium heat until thoroughly heated. 
5.  Serve with desired toppings. 

Yield: 11 cups
PRINTABLE VERSION

Spiced Sweet Potato Casserole
You can assemble this casserole in its baking dish and store it, covered, in the refrigerator for up to a day.
INGREDIENTS:
3 pounds sweet potatoes
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons orange juice concentrate
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 large eggs
1/4 cup chopped pecans

DIRECTIONS:
1.  Preheat oven to 350°.
2.  Pierce potatoes with a fork; arrange in a circle on paper towels in microwave oven. 
3.  Microwave at HIGH 16 minutes or until tender, rearranging potatoes after 8 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes. 
4.  Cut each potato in half lengthwise; scoop out pulp into a large bowl. Discard skins. 
5.  Add sugar and next 5 ingredients (sugar through nutmeg), and beat with a mixer at low speed until combined. Add eggs; beat until smooth. 
6.  Spoon mixture into a 1 1/2-quart baking dish; sprinkle with pecans. 
7.  Bake at 350° for 45 minutes or until thoroughly heated. 

Yield: 8 servings (serving size: 1/2 cup)
Cooking Light, NOVEMBER 2001
PRINTABLE VERSION

Vegetable Tian {aka Roasted Vegetables}

INGREDIENTS:
2 tbsp olive oil (divided)

1 large sweet yellow onion cut in half and sliced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1-2 russet potatoes, unpeeled

1 zucchini

1 yellow squash

3 large Roma tomatoes

Sea salt, freshly cracked black pepper, to taste

Dried thyme, to taste

1/2 cup of grated Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Coat a baking dish with olive oil cooking spray. Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Once hot, add the onions and saute until translucent, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another 60 seconds. Spread the onion mixture on the bottom of the greased baking dish.

Slice the potatoes, zucchini, squash and tomatoes in 1/4 inch thick slices. Layer them alternately in the dish on top of the onions, fitting them tightly into a spiral, making only one layer. Season with sea salt, black pepper and dried thyme, to taste. Drizzle the last tablespoon of olive oil over the top.

Cover the dish with tin foil and bake for 35 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender. Uncover and sprinkle the Parmesan cheese on top and bake for another 25-30 minutes or until browned. Enjoy.
PRINTABLE VERSION

Chieko Okazaki

   Some of you may have already heard that our beloved Sister Chieko Okazaki passed away on August 1, 2011.  Here is a link about her from the Salt Lake Tribune.  What a beautiful leader and woman she is. There is something for each of us to learn from her great life. Just thought I'd share a couple quotes by her.

"Sisters, we are mighty together. There is consolation in our caring. There is strength in our sharing. There is power in our commitment to righteousness. Let us come unto Christ. Let us rejoice in him, the giver of all good things, and rejoice in those good things he has given, including the diversity and the unity of our sisterhood, and in our chance to be his hands in doing his compassionate work upon the earth.." Rejoice in Every Good Thing, November 1991     


"Perfect people don’t need a savior. He came to save his people in their imperfections. He is the Lord of the living and the living make mistakes. He’s not embarrassed by us, angry at us, or shocked. He wants us in our brokenness, in our unhappiness, in our guilt and our grief.”  from her book, Lighten Up, p. 176

"Adversity is frequently a call to do something great with our lives.”

from her book, Aloha, p. 154

Color Code Dinner

Are you a Blue, Red, Yellow or White? 

We had a special dinner on Saturday night. The theme was centered on the "Color Code" personality test. Dinner was an array of yummy salads and breadsticks. We had lots of color coded treats including fruit pizza. Sister Child did a presentation on the Color Code including all of the sisters taking the test and chatting about their colors. We learned that as we understand more about ourselves and our personality traits, the better able we can be to fulfill Heavenly Father's plan for us. What a blessing it can be to know ourselves better. It was a great evening of food, fun and friendship. Thank you to Sister Child for her presentation and to everyone who brought a contribution for dinner. 

72 hour kits

Below are links to printer friendly versions of the the menus and checklists handed out in our most recent assembly of 72-hour kits.

• MENUS
• 72-HOUR KIT CHECKLIST

Also, be sure to check out our recently added "Emergency Prep" page where we will keep adding information that may be useful to you.

RS Birthday Dinner

Adrianne Millan was baptized recently by her husband Marco.

Welcome to the Ward Adrianne!

"Oil in Our Lamps" - Santa Rosa Ward Relief Society 2011 Theme

We are so excited, as your Relief Society presidency, to announce that we will be joining you in taking a very special journey. We have prayerfully decided on a theme for this year based on the parable of the ten virgins, called "Oil in Our Lamps". Every month we will center our presidency message around a gospel theme. We invite you to review these principles with us and set meaningful goals that will enrich and bless your lives. The "drop" of oil that will begin to fill your lamp for the month of January is "Temple Preparedness and Worthiness". If you have not received a packet to begin your planning and preparation please see a member of the presidency.

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Maple Frosting

PUMPKIN CUPCAKES WITH MAPLE FROSTING
brought by Portia Walker
October 2010, SR RS Cooking Group, Pumpkins
Makes 10 cupcakes

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup canned pumpkin purée {8 ounces}
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
½ cup vegetable oil
Maple Frosting {recipe follows}
½ cup coarsely chopped Heath bars, for serving (2 1.4-ounce bars)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Brush or spray the top of 10 muffin tins with vegetable oil and line them with 10 paper liners.

2. Into a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. In a larger bowl, whisk together the eggs, pumpkin purée, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vegetable oil. Add the flour mixture and stir until combined.

3. Divide the batter among the prepared tins {I use a level 2 ¼ -inch ice cream scoop} and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Set aside to cool completely.

4. Spread the cupcakes with the Maple Frosting and sprinkle with the chopped toffee bits.

MAPLE FROSTING
INGREDIENTS:
6 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
¼ teaspoon Boyajian Natural Maple Flavor {or whatever brand you may have on hand}
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups sifted confectioners sugar

DIRECTIONS:
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the cream cheese and butter on low speed until smooth. Stir in the maple flavoring and vanilla extract. With the mixer still on low, slowly add the confectioners' sugar and mix until smooth.

PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION

PUMPKIN AND SPICE SUGAR COOKIES
brought by Mandie White

INGREDIENTS:

¾ cup {1 ½ sticks} butter, softened

2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

6 cups flour

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

½ cup pureed pumpkin

½ cup buttermilk

DIRECTIONS:

1.         In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and the sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.

2.         Meanwhile, in a large bowl, mix together the flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Whisk until combined. In another small bowl, whisk together the buttermilk and pumpkin. Set both aside.

3.         In the mixer, add the eggs, one at a time to the butter and sugar mixture, mixing well after each egg. Add the vanilla and mix until combined.

4.         Add 1/3 of the flour mixture, mixing until almost combined. Now add 1/2 of the buttermilk mixture and then another third of the flour. Repeat with the last of the buttermilk and then the flour, mixing until just combined.

5.         Divide the dough into thirds, shape into disks and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least an hour to firm the dough up.

6.         Preheat the oven to 350°, roll out dough on a well floured counter and cut into desired shape. Bake on a cookie sheet for 8-10 minutes. Let cool for a minute on the cookie sheet and then remove cookies to a cooling rack. Once cooled frost as desired.

PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION

Meet the New Sisters!

Mandie White and her adorable family recently moved to the desert... did she know what she was getting herself into? She recently posted to friends, "I think I moved next door to the sun." True! More about Mandie: She was born and raised in northern Utah, graduated from Utah State and massage therapy school and then practiced professionally for 10 years. She loves cooking, reading, camping and hiking (when her plantar fasciitis isn't bothering her), and playing games. She reports being competitive by nature. Mandie and her husband have a 3 1/2 year old son, Ian, and a 14 month old daughter, Carly. Mandie's husband Greg is the new Vector Ecologist for the Coachella Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District. We welcome the White family to our ward and we are glad you're here!

For Time and All Eternity!

Congratulations to the Cotton and Hinchen families! Wednesday they were endowed in the San Diego Temple and then sealed right afterwards. What a special day for this family.

A few words of council for all of us given by President Howard W. Hunter: "Truly, the Lord desires that His people be a temple-motivated people. It would be the deepest desire of my heart to have every member of the Church be temple worthy. I would hope that every adult member would be worthy of—and carry—a current temple recommend, even if proximity to a temple does not allow immediate or frequent use of it.

Let us be a temple-attending and a temple-loving people. Let us hasten to the temple as frequently as time and means and personal circumstances allow. Let us go not only for our kindred dead, but let us also go for the personal blessing of temple worship, for the sanctity and safety which are provided within those hallowed and consecrated walls. The temple is a place of beauty; it is a place of revelation; it is a place of peace. It is the house of the Lord. It is holy unto the Lord. It should be holy unto us.

Let us share with our children the spiritual feelings we have in the temple. And let us teach them more earnestly and more comfortably the things we can appropriately say about the purposes of the house of the Lord. Keep a picture of a temple in your home that your children may see it. Teach them about the purposes of the house of the Lord. Have them plan from their earliest years to go there and to remain worthy of that blessing."

I encourage all of us as sisters in the Santa Rosa Ward to go to the temple often! If you do not have a current recommend....get one...If you have not had one before, talk to the bishop to see what you can do to get one and live your lives accordingly to get a recommend in the future. If you have one...attend, as Pres. Hunter said, "hasten to the temple as frequently as time and means and personal circumstances allow."

Saturday Evening Stake Conference

President Steve Jackson:
2 Nephi 31:20
*Press forward with a steadfastness in Christ
*Feasting on the word
*Endure to end
*Then ye shall have eternal life
It is our responsibility to teach our children of Jesus Christ and his gospel
What do we teach:
*He brings Salvation to our soul
*He helps us through difficult trials in our life
*He knows how to help us
*Doubt NOT
*The Savior will heal us
*Faith in the Savior
How do we teach:
Have family council (parents) ask “How are we going to help our children have
Faith in Jesus Christ?"
*Keep the commandments
*Obedience
*If you want to know the doctrine….Live it!
*Go to the temple regularly
*Listen to blessings given in the temple ordinances
*Teach children of Repentance
*Read the Book of Mormon (children will gain a love for it)
*Bear spontaneous testimony often to your children
*Pray always as a family morning and evening
Two questions Pres. Jackson asked missionaries returning from their missions that we should ask ourselves: 1) Did you feel the promptings of the spirit? 2) Did you follow those promptings? If the answer was yes, then he said they had a successful mission. As parents we should ask ourselves these same questions and often!
*We have testimonies of the gospel and it is our responsibility to help our children gain their own testimonies.

President Stanger:
*We are the deciders of the spirit of our home
*Never cease from teaching our children
*Teach our children gospel principles
*Teach and testify
“We don’t plan to fail, we fail to plan”
*How do I strengthen my family?
*Have you read the “Family Proclamation” and do you know it?
*Make a plan as head of household using the “Family Proclamation” then see how you can change the spirit of your home
*The key to strengthen our families is the SPIRIT of the Lord in our homes
*Family Prayer
*Family Home Evening
*Set goals for success
*Get kids involved in goal setting

Elder Cordova:
“The Future can never look brighter than it is today” Sis. Beck
He quoted an apostle (of whom I forgot) “We have been at war with the advisory for many years….He is no longer knocking at the doors of our churches anymore, he is knocking at the doors of our homes.”
*Protect our youth
*Do what I do – Not what I say (Pres. Uchdorf)
*Be doers, not hearers
*Strengthen our faith…Do this in the House of the Lord
*3 Nephi 13:32-33

Bro. & Sis. Hafen:
*Move from active members of the church to consecrated FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST
*What motivates us – Being with our family and the Savior
*Absorb the pain that we may have experienced in the past and don’t pass it on to the next generation
*2 Nephi 2
*Plan of Salvation – Our purpose in coming to this earth
*Atonement – Life story of Adam and Eve
*Atone – Story of Life of Christ is GIVING
*Fall – Story of Adam and Eve is RECEIVING
*Lehi’s words: If Adam and Eve would have stayed in the garden they would have had no children….Garden of Edan/No joy/No misery
*Misery/sweat/tears = part of the plan
*Joy/happiness = part of the plan

Sisters ~ I’m not the best note taker and some of this will probably not make sense…But it was a wonderful meeting with a strong spirit present. I didn’t take notes when the Lowell’s spoke, but they both gave great talks on how to have a successful marriage. They are great speakers!

We are excited about our new stake presidency:
President – Matt Morris (La Quinta Ward)
1st Counselor – Ty Broadhead (Bermuda Dunes Ward)
2nd Counselor – Alfredo Verdusco (Thermal Ward)

Our appreciation goes out to President’s Jackson, Stanger & Stearman who gave great sacrifice and service these past nine years!

The passing of Sister Wilma Long

Wilma Long, 93, was born on June 12, 1917, in Leeds, Utah to John William and Dallice Hartman, and passed away peacefully in Rancho Mirage with loved ones by her side on Sunday June 13, 2010. She married John Long in 1936 and they lived in Cedar City, Eagle Mtn. and Indio. She is survived by her three daughters, Cherie Ball of Indio, Golda Jones (Harry) of Salt Lake and Jacquie Freeman (Vern) of Riverside. Services were held Friday, June 18, 2010, with internment at Coachella Valley Cemetery afterwards, followed with a light luncheon prepared by the Relief Society and held at the Indio LDS Chapel.

Thank you to all who helped with Sister Long's Funeral Luncheon...The setup, the food, the beautiful table linens, the table decorations, the cleanup and all who organized. The family was so grateful for kindness shown toward them and the efforts to make the luncheon a success.

The passing of Sister Martha Lowell and Sister Linda Millan

I am sorry I took so long to post the passing of Sister Martha Lowell and Sister Linda Millan. But I wanted to recognize these wonderful women of our ward. Sister Lowell was a long time member of the Indio Ward and Sister. Millan only came to our ward last year. Each sister will be missed.

Martha Maxine Lowell passed away Wednesday, February 10, 2010, surrounded by her family at the home of her son Calvin and his wife Michelle in Indio, Calif. She was 87 years old. Sister Lowell was the third of five children born to Elsie and Chester Neeld on a farm in Nevada, Iowa. Martha's living siblings are Ken, Norma and Shirley. She lived with her family on the farm until she graduated from high school and left to attend business school. At 20, she met John Clark Lowell, an Army man, in Webster City, Iowa at a USO dance. At 21, they married in Riverside, Calif. They had a very eventful, exciting life traveling through the U.S. and Japan with his career. Her surviving children were born during her travels, Stephanie Reid, Lauretta Lowell, Ronald Lowell (Karen Knight), and Calvin Lowell. Martha and John converted to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in 1957 where they were sealed for eternity in the Logan, Utah Temple in 1959. Their strong belief in the church and their loving hearts helped them positively influence many people during their lives. In 1973, John and Martha moved from Hawaii to Indio where he taught at Indio High School for 27 years. There was no better love story than her relationship and marriage to her husband of 59 years. They shared a passion for bicycling along California's coast. For their 50th wedding anniversary they rode their bikes 50 miles along Venice Beach. They adored each other and set a wonderful standard of devotion for their children to follow. Not only was Sister Lowell passionate about her marriage and children, but she was very passionate in her creativity. She was an amazing artist who mastered cooking, flower arranging, and dress designing. Her children were dressed in her designs from childhood through high school. Their friends and family enjoyed her prom dress and wedding dress designs, and her grandchildren enjoyed many years of wearing the best Halloween costumes in town. Sister Lowell was very involved in her role as grandmother of 14 grandchildren, Wendy, Stephen, John, Patrick, Holly, Tommy, Kristi, Kari, Jessica, Hannah, Julia, Aaron, Spencer, and Virginia; and five great-grandchildren, Tristan, Kendra, Emma Mayfield and Lennon and Larry Wever. Her thoughtfulness and love are felt deeply by them all. She leaves a void in the lives of her family, who miss her terribly. Their faith in their Heavenly Father and Savior is strong. There is no doubt that she was met by her husband, friends and family and that she is in their care even now.

Sister Linda Lee Millan was Born April 24, 1944 and passed away on March 12, 2010. She came to Indio last year to live with her son Marco Millan. She had lived the past 20 years in Mexico where she was a teacher. We were lucky to have her in our ward for a short time. She was a sweet woman who always had a smile on her face. She loved the temple and loved her family.

We appreciate all the help given in behalf of these women for the luncheon served to the families after the funerals. We are truly grateful for such a loving and caring ward who help so much to make these special events successful!