Am I old enough?

Ben finally did it. He received his learners permit yesterday. I took him out driving in the church parking lot. He did pretty good and only had me saying "slow down" a couple of times. He was very nervous. After about a 30 minutes in the parking lot I told him he got to drive home. He was very scared but did a great job and got us home safe. 

Am I old enough to have a kid driving? 

I certainly don't think so. 

Cousin's, Camels and Cash: Thanksgiving 2009

WOW! What a wonderful Thanksgiving week! It is hard to express in words what a wonderful week we have had but I am going to try.

First and probably the best was I got to meet Ginger and RJ. Ginger is the wife of my cousin, Justin, who is currently serving in Iraq. I got acquainted with Ginger this past fall through Facebook. I was one of those who kept saying I didn't have time for Facebook (I still don't) and wasn't interested. After realizing I was missing many things going on in my immediate family I joined and after a couple of posts I met Ginger. We instantly clicked and I knew she was part of the family. I need to add that I haven't seen or heard from my cousin Justin in probably 15 years. Ginger and I have kept talking for a few months and then Wednesday I got the best phone call.
My Aunt Diana, cousin Justin's mom, was calling to let me know she was in town and that Ginger was with her and she wanted to meet me. Surprise! What a great visit.

Ginger, I love you and you were meant for this family. I hope for to keep in touch and pray for you, Justin, and sweet baby RJ. Thanks for making my Thanksgiving!

After visiting with Ginger we headed to Vernal for what I would say has the best day after Thanksgiving activities of any town I have ever known! And to make it all better it's FREE! Everything we did all day on Friday from Camel rides ands and churros. FREE, FREE, FREE!

Here is Whitney and Corinne being silly riding the pony's. They thought it was pretty funny to be the big kids on these tiny horses.

Below is a picture of my 2 nephew's Gabe and Abram and my sister in law Sundrina. (Sorry the pict is sideways) All over town the city has these big trough full of fire to keep you warm. The fires included free marshmallows and roasters.
One of the activities for the kids was a chalk art contest. Whitney and Corinne had a great time drawing on the sidewalk and guess what Whitney won:
$50 Cash!

She told Corinne she would take her shopping and they would split the money! I love my Whitney and her big heart.

Have you ever ridden a Camel? My entire family is now ready for a Safari! Maybe!

Above you will see Jason and Sadie.

Here is Will and I.

My dad and Corinne.

My mom and Whitney.

After all the fun outdoor activities we headed indoors to get warm and to play. Again remember this is all FREE!
The above is my brother Jerry and Ben playing sports challenge. They are connected to each other with a bungee cord and they would run to stick the foot ball. It was funny to watch them pull each other around.
The entire area was filled with giant blow up toys. The Alligator was Williams favorite. Ben was an awesome big brother and went through the Alligator with William at least 30 times.
Whitney and Corinne enjoyed the climbing wall. Climbing the wall around 15 times each. They each reached the top 3 times. They are amazing climbers.
Last is my brother on the Mechanical Bull. He was funny waving his arm and slapping the bull.
Thanks Vernal City and my mom and dad for hosting a great Thanksgiving! Dinner was delicious!

P.S. Pecan pie makes a great Thanksgiving Day Breakfast especially when it is shared with someone you love! Thanks Mom!

Yeah, Mom, I'm not a tween anymore!

Happy 13th Birthday to my beautiful daughter Whitney. How do I describe Whitney?

Beautiful, fun, brave, leader, silly, great sister, great friend, loves music, singing and laughter.

Helpful, kind to others, positive, fun to be with, hard worker, doesn't stress, and includes everyone.

Christlike, cheerful, daring, happy, artistic, and best of all Lovable!

I hope the next 13 years are as fun and memorable as the last 13!

Sadie is 1!

Wow time sure does fly. I knew it would but it still seems crazy. My baby turns one today. She is so much fun and we love having the sweet girl. Her funny faces and army crawl have helped her get wrapped around everyones finger.

She's a keeper!

Before and After

I have lived in my current residence for 8 years but have only owned the house for a little over 3 years. During the rental time there was carpet all over the floors. I new there were hardwood floors hiding under the carpet because of one beautiful closet. One closet in this house has hardwood. I used to open that closet and dream of ripping up the carpet in my entire house to reveal a beautiful, shiny, sliver free, hardwood floor.

The day we purchased this house we pulled the carpet out of the living room and then a few days after that I took it out of the hall. Wow, what a surprise! There were hardwood floors for sure. Floors covered with carpet glue, paint spot, gashes, nails, and more nail and they were anything but pretty. We new what it would take to finish the floors and it was not easy or clean.

After years of hating my floor, cursing at every sliver and it not looking clean when it way, we finally took the plunge.

And the results bring a tear to my eye every time I walk in the room.
Now I just have to get the baseboards up and the quarter round and it will be magnificent. I hope I don't have to wait another 3 years for that.

Pumpkin Pancakes

Nothing says fall like pumpkin pancakes. All of my kids, including the adult one, were thrilled when they got up to the smell of pumpkin pancakes this morning. It is a really simple recipe so I thought I would share. I originally got this recipe from my visiting teaching companion 15 years ago. She was a wonderful lady and always had great ideas. Her recipe calls for pancake mix. I don't normally have pancake mix so I adapted the recipe to go with my homemade pancakes. I will include both recipes so you can make it which ever is easier for you.

From Scratch Pumpkin Pancakes

1 3/4 cup flour

2 tablespoons baking powder

3 tablespoons powdered milk

3 tablespoons sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup water

2 eggs

1/2 cup pumpkin

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/4 tsp ginger

1/4 cup oil

Mix all the ingredients together and bake.

I always open a large can of pumpkin and then split it up in 1/2 cup increments and freeze it. That way I don't waste any and it is ready to go for the next time.

These pancakes get darker faster than regular ones so turn your griddle or pan way down.

After all my kids had gone to school this is what was on the fridge. I am not sure who wrote it but they were very happy to have pumpkin pie for breakfast. Enjoy!

To make these pancakes using a mix substitute first 5 ingredients for 2 cups pancake mix and add 1 tablespoon sugar.

Our Stay-cation Fall break

This year for fall break (uea weekend) we chose to stay at home and just hang out. We invited my nephew down from Logan to spend a couple of days with us. This is pictures of us at the aquarium. The kids couldn't get enough of petting the stingrays. They spent 80% of their time getting wet.

Will was fascinated with everything. I just love him using the magnifying glass to look at some slimy creature.

Proof that Ben came with us. He wasn't to fond of having is picture taken until he climbed on this frog.

We had a great weekend.

My parents came on Sat and brought us some giant pumpkins they grew in their garden. They always grow pumpkins for the grandkids. This years were amazing. They had to bring the truck in order to bring out 9 pumpkins.

Thanks mom and dad we love them.

Ben's new Hobby

Ben decided it was time to get real with his sword fighting and wanted to learn to fence. We have a place right here by us that is teaching Ben this awesome sport. I am excited that he wants to try something new. These are all pictures of his first lesson.I am not sure what it is about the fencing clothes but I think it makes Ben look really handsome. The place he is going it great. They want all kids that want to learn to be able to afford it so they set their prices at $50 a month but if you can't do that they will take anything. The instructors don't get paid they are all volunteers.
Ben can go up the 3 days a week and fence if he wants. So far he is loving it.

Homemade Honey Wheat Bread

Have you ever made homemade bread before? What a pain! All the kneading and waiting and rising and kneading and waiting. And then your bread turns out hard as a rock.

I remember the first time I made bread. I was a Jr. in high school and I asked my mom to teach me. We had a great time and I learned the basics. Through the years I have made bread here and there when I felt like being domestic and spending the entire day in the kitchen. Now with 5 active kids I don't have 4 hours to make 2 loaves of bread!

So this past summer when I needed to start cutting back in our family budget I started looking for bread recipes that wouldn't take me forever and would still taste good. I looked all over the internet and couldn't find a recipe that didn't call for some special mixer or ingredients. So I decided to go through my recipes and come up with my own.

The results have been wonderful so I am now sharing them with you.

In bowl put:

3 cups hot tap water

2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons Saf-Instant yeast

Use the good yeast. If you don't use this yeast don't complain to me about your bread. This is the only yeast that works and I won't use anything else.

Let your yeast get all bubbly like the photo below. This takes about 5 -10 minutes. If your yeast doesn't get bubbly at all please don't continue. Your water was probably to cold or wayyyyy to hot. Dump it out and start over.

Next add:

1 tsp salt

1/3 cup honey

3 cups whole wheat flour

3-4 cups white flour

Mix altogether and dump out and knead in about another 1 cup of flour. Now don't go right off and add all the flour and then complain to me. Different humidity, and flour will make you add more or less flour.

I grind my own wheat flour. No I don't have a fancy grinder, I wish I did, but the church does. :) In every LDS church kitchen there should be a wheat grinder for anyone to use. It has to stay at the church but I don't mind. I usually head to the church once a week and grind me some wheat. Contact your Relief Society President about the one where you live. ( you don't have to be a member of the LDS church to use the grinder. Just ask around and someone will take you to the church to use one)

Let you dough raise for about 10 minutes. Divided into 3 portions and place in well oiled bread pans. If someone can help me figure out a way to divide my dough into 3's evenly that would be great. I always have one loaf that is bigger than the rest.
Let rise again until it looks like the above picture. The amount of time will depend on how warm your house is. But don't let it over rise. I did that and your bread will be hollow. It is really hard to make peanut butter sandwiches on bread with a big whole in the middle.

Bake your bread for 25 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Pull out of the over and rub a little butter on top while the bread is hot. Turn bread pans on their side for about 10 minutes and then remove from pans. If you try and get your bread out of the pans right away it will stick and you will be mad. If you wait just a bit with the bread resting on it sides then it comes out beautifully. I normally run a butter knife around the edges and my bread comes right out.

Yummm! I have some cooking right now. We always eat one loaf all gone the first day. Nice and hot with butter and jam. The other 2 will last a couple of days.

Some people may wonder if I am really saving money by making my own bread. By far the answer is yes. At 45 cents for 3 loaves it is well worth it.

Side note: today I made bread again and lost track of time again and let it raise to long in the pans. I was so mad I just dumped the dough out kneaded it together again and started the raising process over again.

Today's bread was the best bread I have ever made. So try letting your bread raise once for 10 minutes and then punch it down and let it raise again for 10 minutes then put it in you loaf pans. I think you will like the texture better. I sure did.

Lotoja 2009

This past weekend was our annual Lotoja (bicycle race from Logan, UT to Jackson Hole, Wy) trip. This year Jason and his buddies decided that trying to concur all 206 miles alone did not sound like fun. So they got a group together to ride a relay. It was so worth it. Jason rode 47 miles up Salt River pass. He was amazing, putting all his might into that one leg of the race and he averaged 19.5 miles an hour. That is excellent for an incredible climb with grades as much as 7%.

Everyone on the team did a great job coming in 5th place out of the 120 fun ride relay entries.

The above picture is of the team from left to right, Mitch Bouge, Jason, Matt Pack, David King, and Randy King

We all stayed in Teton Village. This is the view from the back balcony of our condo. This was a great Lotoja year and we look forward to next year.

The Hair Hideout

The Hair Hideout is finally up and running. I am really excited to have this place in my home to do hair. My girls are loving it as well. All services include a shampoo with a scalp massage. My family loves that part. At this time my hours are very flexible. As I start to get busier I will set days in the salon. I do cuts, color, highlights, perms, shampoo sets, and many other services. Many of my friends and family have already come to see me and I can't wait to see many more of you.

Do you need a break?

When the day is seeming overwhelming and you don't know what to do. Spend an afternoon playing with your baby or someone else's baby.

I took a 15 minute break from canning pears and played on the grass with Sadie. She needed it as much as I did. She is so cute and just loves to make funny faces. These are just a few of the pictures I took.

I think the above picture is my favorite. So calm and sweet.

(Sadie is 10 months old)

Another funny place to sleep

Will just wanted to help dad at work and listen to music. One minute he is singing to the songs and the next he is sleeping.

It might be cute but he didn't fall asleep last night until 11:30 pm. I hate naps! Ahhhhh!

How to get what you want?

Brought to you by Sadie the scooch.

Bellybutton Mmmmm! Mmmmm!

Ben loves rolls. Yummy, buttery rolls warm and fresh out of the oven. I have been making homemade rolls for as long as I can remember. I have revised the recipe a little to work with the way I do things. Ben asked last night if I would teach him how to make rolls so he can enjoy the warm yumminess whenever he wants. We had so much fun. Ben asked all sorts of questions and the answer to most of them was,

"I don't know Ben, that is just how my mom did it."

And I am sure her mom did it that way and so on.

Maybe I should find out the answer.

When I first got married and made these rolls my brother in law, who was about 12 at the time, said the rolls look like they had bellybuttons. So the name has stuck.

Belly Button Rolls. Ben did a great job and he know thinks he is ready to make these on his mission. I told him cooking is a good way to impress the ladies.

He just smiled.