Happy Birthday

Today my baby turns 4! Sometimes he seems so much older than 4. F is such a joy to have in our family. He can say the funniest things that make us all laugh...then wonder...'Where does he come up with that?'

Today after swim, we went to Dairy Queen to get him an ice cream cake! We are so excited to eat it. While we waited we ate DQ lunch. Their chicken strips are soo good. After F was done, he got to pick an ice cream treat. He chose a Strawberry dipped Dilly Bar. So good. He let me eat half...because he said he was done.

Tonight we will celebrate as a family. He can't wait to open his presents. Then tomorrow is his 'Friends' party. He is so excited!

We love you, F. Happy Birthday, Fudder Beans!

SWIM

We tried to sign F up for baseball...but he was too young, again. And he has no desire to play soccer...so we signed him up for swim lessons! He was way excited. And I got excited when I realized that it would be during the day and not during after school sports and madness! Hurray. F learned how to float on his back and use his arms and legs to move through the water. He really enjoyed showing me that he could walk to the 'deep' end and look, 'No hands!' What a cutie. Love you, F.

Friday is was a pretty day so I took the kids to the park with friends to play. They had fun kicking the soccer ball around and playing tag. The girls were playing something that looked like house but with tons of sticks! What fun.

I spent most of the day trying to get rid of spyware, malware, and trojans. Luckily my knight is shining armor came to my rescue. Thanks, honey!

And lastly, M and F are feeling so much better. I kept M home from school on Tuesday and ventured out...because I couldn't stand being home one more day. Well I paid for it. We were checking out and M starts walking away from me. I called to her but she kept walking. 'Is she delirious?' I thought. I called again and she spun around with her hand over her mouth and her cheeks puffed out. The cashier said, 'Oh! Just go!' So we ran to the bathroom and she threw up. Poor little girl. I felt terrible. But she's doing much better now.

FOUR

Four simple directions.
1. Go to your computer 'photos' file.
2. Click on the fourth file you see.
3. Choose the fourth picture in that file.
4. Journal about that picture...who, what, where, when, and why.

Here's mine.

We took a trip with Aunt Leah to check out her new school summer of 2005. Utah State College. Go Aggies! I was having fun with my (new) camera and wanted to see what kind of closeups I could produce. This is A. He was 5 and was so cute! And that smile is contagious. He's grown a bit now and sometimes I wish he were still a little boy.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day was so relaxing. We started our day with pink HEART pancakes, pink eggs, bacon, and cranberry juice. Everything was so yummy. While we finished up our breakfast, we opened our Valentine's mailbox. So many cards and candy from our family. Thanks, Grandmas and Grandpas for sending us your love. We miss you all and hope you know we love you, too!

Brandon stuck to the rules I made for the day...'If it doesn't fit into the mailbox...you can't buy it. Unless it's flowers.' And I got the most beautiful roses. Thanks, hon. I love you!

Then we were off cleaning the house and getting the kids to their Valentine's Primary Activity. After the activity and the house was clean...it's amazing how much we can get done with no kids in the house...we were all able to relax. Brandon and I even took a nap. Brandon watched some chic flicks that were on TV...in between his ball games, of course. 'How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days' and 'Along Came Polly'. Too funny...he won't watch them normally if I have the DVD on but he'll watch them to pass the time during a ball game. Love you, babe. This was such a nice way to spend Valentine's Day.

Frog and Toad

Miss M woke up this morning with a book from her classroom entitled 'Days With Frog and Toad. 'This book is sooo funny, Mom.' I had to laugh. I then went into my Craft room and found this...

I showed M and told her that there were 5 books in here all about 'Frog and Toad'. She got so excited and asked if she could take it to school and show her teacher. I just love little readers. They're so excited to read anything they can get their little hands on.

Powder

Soft . Fluffy . White . Powder . Floating . Drifting . Gliding along . Weaving in and out . Making s's in the snow...and I am woken by a painfully raspy cough coming from my youngest child. Oh no! Not today! F woke with a burning fever and the most painful sounding cough.

Today marked the last day for boarding at Mt. Rose. The ski resorts reported 'the biggest snow fall of the season' and 'this weekend will be the best skiing so far this season' and...I missed it! Oh well. Paula assured me that we would go up for $29 Ladies Day.

I was so sad to miss it but glad to be home with F. He was so cute. About every 10 min. he would come up to me...holding his hand over his forehead and ask, 'Do I feel better?' Mostly he didn't. But he has been so good. He wanted to play the Wii this morning but I told him that he needed to relax and take a nap first. So after watching Star Wars: The Clone Wars...he got in bed next to me...yes, I was showered and dressed reading a book...and took a nap. Then he was ready to play the Wii. I read Five Monkeys Wash a Car twice and then relented. He stayed in his pajamas all day and told me, 'If you're sick, you have to stay in your jammies.' So cute.

K and A came home early from snowboarding. They said the wind was so strong at times they couldn't see because it was blowing the powder everywhere. K also told me that while boarding, they got caught in some snow that was up to her thighs! Wow. Paula said once you got of the lift you just stood there because the wind was so strong you couldn't move. Emma was blown backwards and couldn't move forward. Poor Emma. It's tough being so little and light. But they had fun and K bought everyone hot chocolates. She's so sweet.

M had fun at her V-day party and got so much candy. And Grandma Sanchez sent V-day packages that the kids were so excited for they HAD to open them today. They couldn't wait any longer. They loved all their candy and goodies that were inside. Thanks, Mom. You're the best! I did put their envelopes in our V-day mailbox. They have to wait to open those tomorrow. I told M that I would make pink scrambled eggs, pink pancakes, and purple butter for breakfast. She wanted something red but I can't bring myself to make anything red...unless it's juice. That would just be gross looking. We'll see what we come up with tomorrow.

Valentine's

I have to thank Jeanni Jones for these Valentine treats. They were so dang cute that I HAD to make them for Valentine parties! I had to make close to 100 but they turned out so cute and were way easy.

This morning was late start so the girls helped me while A got his V-day bag decorated. Why do I always wait till the last minute? We made pink, purple, and chocolate dipped marshmellows for their classmates, visiting teachees, and friends. I love the variety. I even made 2 with heath bar toppings for Brandon and K. I stuck them in our Valentine's Mailbox. Don't ask me to eat them because I think I have had my fill and never want to eat anymore chocolate for a long time. But they are good.

Ice Skating

Last night we went ice skating for one of the last FREE nights. K, M, and F were so good and had so much fun. I had fun but couldn't get the right setting on my camera...thus I am left with a whole lot of blurry pictures. Nighttime, arena lights, fast moving...is there a setting? I know there is...I just can't ever get it. Oh well. We had lots of fun. F and M borrowed some of Jenni's double bladed skates and did really well. Jumping, running...of course all these things were done while holding onto mom or the wall. K had fun but her skates kept rubbing against a bone in her foot. This is only the second time she's gone skating but also the second time this bone has been hurting her. When you look at her foot she has a really low arch and this bone kind of sticks out. But this is the only time we really notice it. I wonder if we should get it checked out...or just stop ice skating. Thanks, Jenni for helping with M. She just adores you!

An Added Ingredient

Okay so this will tell all you bread makers out there just how much I know about making bread! When Brandon and I were first married, he got me a really thick bread recipe book. Half, if not all, the recipes called for gluten. Well, I'd never made gluten before so...away went the book. It became burried in the pile of cookbooks.

For Christmas this past year, I got dough enhancer and Saf-instant yeast. I had a recipe that called for both and I was eager to try it. Who knew that by adding these two special ingredients one could make the perfect bread loaf. I cannot tell you how...bouncy this bread's crust was! I think the technical term is Elasticity. AND it was tasty, too! It tasted homemade...but the durability was like store bought bread. Great for sandwiches! It didn't crumble and was really good toasted.

The recipe called for 10-12 cups of flour and even in my 6 qt. Kitchen Aid it was too much. So next time I will be halving the recipe. I used 3 large bread pans and 1 tiny one. This recipe halved will easily make at least 4 medium loaves. So enough story telling...here's the recipe!

Ann's Best Whole Wheat Bread

5 C. hot tap water

1/4 C. vegetable oil*

2 tbsp. Saf-instant yeast

2 tbsp. gluten or dough enhancer**

1 tbsp. salt

3/4 C. honey
10-12 C. whole wheat flour or 1/2 white and 1/2 wheat

Using a bread mixer: add the water, salt, gluten or dough enhancer, oil, honey, and half the flour. Mix until blended, then add the yeast and the rest of the flour just until the dough cleans the sides of the bowl. The dough will be sticky. Be careful not to add too much flour, it will dry out the bread. Cover and let the machine knead for 5 min. Remove dough hook, cover and let rise for 10-15 min. Oil your cutting board and lightly oil your hands. Turn the doiugh out onto the board and divide into loaves. Do not over-work the dough. Let raise once more for 10-15 min. For standard size loaves bake at 350 for 30 min., and small loaves for 22 minutes. Makes five 1lb. loaves.

*Add more if using hard red wheat.

**The gluten or dough enhancer contributes in the bread making process by aiding the development of gluten in the dough which is vital to the elasticity and smooth texture; especially when using older wheat or varieties with less moisture.

Happy Birthday

Today is K's 11th birthday. Last night she had a 'Girls Night Out' with 10 of her girlfriends. They played the candybar game...thank you, Kathryn...made homemade pizzas, decorated cupcakes, and made bracelets. Those girls were so fun to have. They laughed, joked, squealed, and ate a ton! Okay not a ton...but enough. K had so much fun.


She got over $100 including gift cards and is so excited to spend her money. The question is 'WHAT' will she buy. She got a cute pink and red fleece-like blanket and heart pillow, clothes, boots, HSM3 soundtrack, makeup carrier (no, she does not wear makeup), candy, gel candle kit, Cuttlebug die cuts, air spray marker set, pina colada lotion, and chapstick. She was able to eat caramel and chewy candy for the first time in a long while because she got her braces off. But on Tuesday she'll be back to her rules with her retainer.

For dinner she requested meatloaf, mashed potatoes, rolls, and salad. And for dessert...K wanted a Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake. Everything was so tasty and we all thanked K for having her birthday so we could enjoy a yummy dinner.

We love you, K. Our family wouldn't be complete without you. Happy Birthday!

Here Today...Gone Tomorrow!

Kennidy was so excited for today. She got her braces off! The orthodontist asked her what color she'd like her retainer to be...and of course if purple is an option she's taking it. We'll get it fitted on Tuesday. Your teeth look beautiful, K!