I appreciated Mom's cooking but I especially enjoyed her baking. Mom helped me learn to love pies at an early age. Mom worked as a professional pie maker at The Heather in order to help pay for Cor's and Darell's missions. But even before that Mom was a great pie maker.
Pies were a big part of my youth. With Mom's help and influence I became kind of a pie connoisseur and a pie fanatic... a pie guy.
Mom taught me how to make pie crusts so they were flakey and just right. You have to use ice-water and you definitely cannot over mix the dough or use too much water. You have to cut up the mixture of Crisco and flour by mashing with a fork. I was making my own pies by the time I was twelve and some may remember the chocolate dream pies I made.
I preferred pies over cakes for my birthdays. There are photos of me and my pies. I don't have the photos with me but I can visualize me sitting at the end of the table with three pies in front of me, each pie with 3 or 4 candles in them, and my arms stretched out to embrace them. I'm sure I had a big smile on my face too. My favorite was banana cream pie. Mom made the best banana cream pies.
I really looked forward to Thanksgiving. Real people, good people, look forward to Thanksgiving because they can be with relatives and think about things they are grateful for but for me it was all about the pies. Maybe that's not all that bad, I am thankful for pie.
I was a pie spy. I think Mom made me that way because she made me love pies.
There was one Sunday where we went to visit one of Dad's friends. We would sometimes do this on Sunday's. We would pile into Dad's yellow Subaru... like 6 of us in a 4 passenger car. Mom, Dad, Joann, Susan, me and Charles. This was while Cor and Darell were on their missions. We went to visit Dad's friend Alan Hyde. Mom asked if any of us kid's wanted to go in or just wait in the car. I volunteered to go in. I'm not sure if I thought it would be interesting or if it was because I was hungry and thought maybe I could score some food. Anyway, while Mom and Dad were visiting I was wandering around their house and in no time I spotted a pie. So I went and grabbed Mom and pointed out the pie to her. She knew what to do. She very politely asked the Hyde's if it would be ok if I could have a piece of pie. To my joy, they said it would be ok. They asked if the rest of the family would like to come in for some pie so Mom went outside to get the rest of the family. She called to them "Matt found a pie" and that they could come in now to have some. It was almost like it was my mission to find that pie that day. I needed it, we all needed it.
Later after I was married and had my own family. We moved away to Kansas City. We moved just a few months before Thanksgiving. As Thanksgiving neared, I was missing Utah and Mom and Dad and the rest of the family. I was also missing pie, Mom's pie. Especially Mom's apple pie. Once while talking to Mom on the phone, I mentioned how I missed her apple pies. A few days later a fresh apple pie showed up in the mail! It was Mom's apple pie, the best. It was amazing because the pie was perfect and virtually unharmed by the shipping process. This is classic Mom, full of love. She wanted to please me and make me happy. She wasn't worried that the USPS would mess up the pie. She didn't pack it very well, just a box and some saran wrap. She just wanted to serve and she had faith. We very much enjoyed that pie, probably more than any other pie.
Matt
Happy 80th Birthday! We love you,
Matt & Maria, Taffin, Madi, Sydney and Lance
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When I first started dating
Darell I ate over at the Bagley’s home.
Gloria said, “She was serving enchiladas and told me it wasn’t very spicy”. Well when I tasted this yummy meal my mouth
was on fire! Being raised with meat and
potatoes, and mild kind of meals, I was no match for this Mexican dish. Through the years I have enjoyed everything
Gloria has cooked. Gloria has had lots
of experiences cooking for her family along with many years, cooking for the
Heather Restaurant making and creating the most amazing meals. She can take food storage from the cellar and
make the most appetizing meal. Thank you
for showing me some of your great cooking skills. I know you’re the best mother-in-law in the
world. Happy Birthday Mom Gloria! Love,
