Welcome to Becca's Blog!

Halloween Cookies

2011-10-22T11:01:00.000-06:00

A super fun, but very tiring activity for a Friday. I don't recommend making these all in one day. I should have made the dough and baked the cookies ahead of time.

Suz was my over-the-phone cookie consultant - thanks to her and this blog she recommended they turned out ok.

Royal Icing really is tricky. I think it would work better next time with a real tip. I couldn't find my plain decorating tip, so I just cut the corner off of a decorating bag. I also like the idea in this blog of using the squeezie bottles. We had one squeezy bottle that we used for the orange and it worked great.

Austin LOVED the spider web cookies. When it was bedtime he said, "sleeping is NOT fun, making cookies is fun. Can we make Christmas Cookies tomorrow?"

Anthony's 6th Birthday / Suz's Marathon

2011-10-05T20:05:00.000-06:00

Lately I have felt too overwhelmed to blog, especially since it has been almost a year since my last post. I got some inspiration from two of my sisters - Mary & Bina, who started up again recently without having to recount everything that they hadn't blogged, so thanks!

Anthony's birthday was lots of fun, especially since we had Suz's family staying with us. We went to the Marathon Expo with the little kids on Friday and bought lots of running junk. Who would have thought that a sport that only involves moving one foot in front of the other could have so much junk and accessories for sale. We didn't sleep very well the night before Suz's race because both Scott (from AZ) and Paul (from Provo) were on the road and did not get to our house until 3:30 and 4:00. At 4:00 (just before Scott arrived), I dropped Suz off with her friends to go to the marathon. I went back to bed, fed the kids, cleaned up a little, went on a 3 mile run, showered, etc, etc. - the whole time I was thinking "Suz is still running!" We arrived at the finish and were able to see her at the last 100 meters - it was so inspiring to watch all of those runners finish that race. We spent the rest of Sat watching conference and getting ready for the party. Sunday was a fun, lazy day with lots of good food and watching conference. We went to a cool site on the border of AZ & UT called the glitter hole - lots of sparkly white rocks that look like crystals. The kids were in heaven there and brought back their share of the rocks. (Suz will have to share those pics with me later.)

Here are some pictures of this weekend:

Anthony on his 6th birthday. Anthony is such a happy sweet boy. We love having him in our family. He is so kind to everyone and all of his friends and cousins love playing with him. He was so excited to get a bunch of new lego sets and is pretty good at building them all by himself.

The dinosaur cake. - this was my first attempt using fondant, and it was really a fun project. Suz helped me make the fondant. We used this recipe from about.com. It is pretty easy as long as you keep lots of powdered sugar, or butter on your hands and counter to keep things from sticking. I also used this site for the original idea of the 3D dino, and I used Cathy's buttercream recipe for under the fondant.

Here are some of the kids digging for Dinosaurs. It is nice to have a natural sandbox in the backyard - endless hours of fun.

Cleaning the boys after a day of sand, cake, candy, and playing at the park.

Here is Suz finishing her marathon and right after. I love how the girls' signs match her outfit.

More Fall Pictures

2010-11-08T17:02:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of some fun things that have kept us busy this fall:

Taking 5 kids to a BYU game - Needless to say, I could hardly watch the game.

Abby, Anthony, Andrew, Austin at the top of Lavell Edwards Stadium

A fall trip to St. George

All the boys enjoying the hot St. George weather

At the park in St. George

Conference Weekend:

Kim and her family came up for the weekend and camped in the trailer. We also saw Cathy and Pete that weekend because they were staying at their cabin in Midway.

Robert and Paul took all the kids on the Heber Creeper

Austin was so happy to ride the train after watching it pass our house everyday.

Hailee, Anthony, Austin, Andrew, Phillip, & Abby

It was about 90 degrees on Oct 2nd, so we pulled out the waterslide - how fun!

Cathy & I enjoyed her new I-PAD while the boys went to priesthood session.

Lots of kids watching a movie while we were enjoying Cathy's IPAD

Cascade Springs

Dallin, Andrew, Austin, Abby, Hailee, Avonlea

Anthony, Abby, and Joseph at the Pumpkin Patch

Abigail

Our trip to Phoenix for Fall Break:

We were not much help to Suz, but we made some great food.

I recommend a trip to AZ, just for Suz's home-made chilaquiles.

Juju, Alexander, and Andrew

Susan & Alexander

Swimming in Susan's hot-tub

Somewhere along HWY 89 on our drive home.

What a beautiful rest-stop.

Fall Birthdays

2010-11-04T10:31:00.001-06:00

Here are some pictures from our birthdays this fall. Abby's birthday sneaked up on me really fast because it was less than 2 weeks after Alex was born.

On the night before her birthday, we celebrated with Dad and the boys at the Zermatt resort, because they were gone on her actual birthday to go to a BYU game in Colorado:

My kids have made it a tradition that they get breakfast in bed on their birthday:

Abby had a small slumber party with just a few cousins.

They had fun playing outside and watching movies together.

Here is Abby on her birthday.

Abigail is such a sweet daughter and sister. I am so proud of her and excited for her to get baptized.

What a cutie! (Because of the new baby, I did not make a home-made cake.)

The morning after the sleep-over:

Grandma Hatch saved the day by sleeping over that night and helping with the girls and baby Alex:

Anthony's birthday was just a few weeks after Abby's.

Anthony chose a HALLOWEEN theme for his birthday

Here he is on his birthday with some of his cousins:

Anthony really wanted a pinata for his party, but I could not find one that was a Halloween theme. The only ones I saw were transformers and they cost about $20. So, on the afternoon of the party about an hour before everyone came, I decided to put this home-made pinata together. I did not have time for paper- mache, so I used a box, glue gun, tape and paint. Paul thought I was crazy for doing this at the last minute, but Anthony was so happy about it.

Here is Anthony with his Vampire Jack-o-Lantern cake:

We love Anthony - he is such a sweet, good boy. I am glad that I get to spend everyday with him!

Our little baby Alexander

2010-11-01T12:38:00.000-06:00

Here are some pictures of Alexander. He is now 2 months old, and I am starting to slowly get in a routine with 5 kids, but life is very busy right now for me. Alexander has been such a sweet baby and we are all so happy to have him in our family. It is so cute to see how kids fall in love with a new sibling immediately. They all love to hold him and talk to him to get him to smile. They are great helpers, too by finding things for me like diapers, binkie, etc. We are excited for his baby blessing this weekend along with Abigail's baptism.

In the hospital with Oma & Opa Wirthlin

Alexander: on the day he was born:

Happy Mommy:

Alexander meeting his sister and brothers:

Super Daddy! - Alexander loves Paul and smile and talks to him more than any other person. I think Paul is his favorite person by far. (except when he is hungry - then he likes me best)

Abigail is a great helper and big sister

Here are a couple more recent pictures from last week:

First Day of School (catching-up on blogging)

2010-10-24T23:22:00.002-06:00

It has been a while since I have blogged anything and we have had lots going on. Maybe I can catch up and add some pictures this week.

Here are Abby and Andrew on their first day at their new elementary school. The bus stops right in front of our house, which has been so nice especially with a new baby. I cried after they hopped on this bus and waved to me out the window - going to a new school as the new kids. They have been there two months now and really like it and and are making friends. I love this picture because you can see me huge pregnant belly in the shadow:

Baby Alexander

2010-09-08T12:49:00.003-06:00

Birth Announcements by WiddlyTinks.com
More pictures to come later.

Enjoying Charleston

2010-08-24T21:44:00.006-06:00

Now that we have been here one month and are unpacked and settled, we have been able to enjoy living here in Charleston and the beautiful surrounding Heber Valley. I love the peace and quiet around here - the sounds we hear during the day are sprinklers, birds, and the Heber Creeper railroad.

I have also noticed some advantages of a smaller home - although it messes up quick - a small house is easy and quick to clean-up. The kids get lots of toys out, but they don't get spread as far, so they have an easier time cleaning up after themselves. I like having a cozy kitchen with no sit-up bar. Now that there is no bar - I actually sit down for each meal at our little table with the kids rather than standing behind the counter while they ate on the other side.

As part of my nesting and getting settled, I have been baking and trying to cook more to prove to myself that I can still do it even though the kitchen is smaller. I have successfully made bagels, pizza, sour-dough bread, baguettes, brownies, cake, and lots of other good food. So far, we haven't eaten out too much - even though there is lots of fast food in nearby Heber, we sort-of have that camping or BearLake feeling where you have to plan your food and take care of it all without going out all the time. Hopefully I can keep this up.

Well, enjoy the pictures and check out my other posts. Al says that all this blogging I have done today must be part of my "nesting" instinct.

Here is the view of Mt. Timp from the front yard:

A sunset over the chicken coop and garden:

Paul has been taking the kids on lots of 4-wheeler rides - it takes about 5 minutes to ride to the Provo river.

Here is Pepper enjoying the farm. She and Kaya are loving the open spaces up here and they get into stuff all the time. This was the worst she has ever been and I am not even sure what she is covered in. (probably mud from the cow pasture). We will get her shaved this week. I guess we should have thought twice about getting a shih zhu knowing that we were moving to a farm.

Austin - he is playing on the path that leads to the hayfields and haybarns.

Paul cleared out some junk and mowed this area of the property - across from the house to make a little picnic area and fire-pit. We have had some fun evenings with visitors having campfires out here.

The kids playing at Deer Creek

Strawberry Reservoir

Here is Austin and Abby getting a horse ride - there are some horses that are kept on this property, so the kids got invited to ride. We will probably not buy horses while living here, but since everyone around us has at least one horse, we hope to make some friends that will occasionally let us ride.

Kids on the tramp.

Our Move to Charleston

2010-08-24T17:10:00.006-06:00

The content of this post is the real reason I have not blogged for 3 months. Renovating an old house and moving takes a lot of time and energy - especially for a pregnant lady.

We just moved in July out here to Grandpa McEntire's farm in Charleston (the southwest corner of Heber Valley). Although the past few months have been busy making this change - we are settling in and enjoying our new adventure.

We spent most of our free-time during the month of June driving up here and working on this home. I wish we would have taken pictures before we started working, so you would have an idea of the transformation we made to this 100 year old home. But we were eager to get started and didn't think about pulling out the camera at the time.

Here is how some of us slept our first night in our home - camped out amidst all the moving boxes: the real moving miracle was that we made it to church the next morning at 9:00. I unpacked random boxes that morning to find our shoes and church clothes.

Here is the day we actually moved. It was a great help to have Suz and her kids around - she stayed at our house the week before the move - (even though just the thought of moving gave her anxiety because she moved 4 times in a year.) She helped me pack up the house and helped with our big yard sale. Also, I think my kids were distracted having their cousins around to play with- so they were not upset at all seeing all of their stuff taken out of the house. My mom was also great and came over and cleaned for hours and helped at the yard sale, too.

LaMar helping to load the moving trunk - Where did all this junk come from?

This picture is Caroline helping to entertain the kids while Suz and I did last minute packing and ordering the guys around. (Thanks for your help Caroline.)

Paul painting the kitchen doors: He worked really hard drove up here about every other day before we moved in to paint, work on the floors, clean up the yard, and take care of the garden and chickens. (you can check out Cathy's cute chicken video if you want). So, I guess the fact that we are now moved in is somewhat of a relief. We are not driving back and forth so much. We still have lots of projects we want to do, but at least the interior is pretty much done and livable.

Here I am in early June planting our garden. It is now producing zucchini, squash, and tomatoes. Unfortunately, the cucumber plants didn't make it and we'll have to see about the potato plants come fall:

Here I am working on painting Abigail's room. It turned out cute - I should add a picture of it now that it is furnished and decorated. Thanks to Pete for having the idea of painting the floors and ripping out the carpet that smelled like cat pee.

Here is Pete and Paul clearing some junk out of the old milking house - or what we call the "Cat House" - Pete has been a great help with our projects - Thanks so much!

Bear Lake

2010-08-24T16:42:00.005-06:00

We spent a few days last month in Bear Lake with Suz and her kids. It was a nice relaxing break to sit in a chair for hours under an umbrella and watch the kids have fun. Overall, everyone got along really nicely and they entertained each-other for hours.

Paul joined us on Saturday and the kids were glad to have him:

Abby and Julianna:

Alexandra and Andrew:

Tilly and Anthony - they are the cutest cousin pair and best friends. They play so cute together.

Austin and Timothy - these two were "hot and cold" with each-other - but I guess that is normal for 2 year olds.

Lake Powell

2010-08-24T16:04:00.004-06:00

Although there were many reasons to not go, including being 8 mo pregnant and moving the next week, we decided to accept an invitation to go to Lake Powell with Cheryl and her family and some other family We just couldn't refuse such a generous offer to go to one of our favorite, and most beautiful places on Earth.

Here is Paul taking some of the teenagers out for twilight wake-boarding:

Abby and some cousins enjoying a fire and smores.

Andrew on the waterslide:

Girl cousins playing Mermaids.

Here is a really funny, embarrassing picture of me jumping off the rocks at 8 months pregnant. Suz loved the picture and wanted me to post it as my new profile picture on Facebook - I don't think I'll go that far - but those of you who happen to read this blog can enjoy my awkwardness:

The banana - we borrowed this from some friends of Cheryl's and it really saved the day. The kids all loved it and the fights over tubing turns came to an end when we started using this toy.

Mom & Dad's 50th Anniversary and Reunion

2010-08-24T11:55:00.005-06:00

The whole family: 100+ people at the Joseph Smith Building:

Fun at the Park with cousins:

Another fun party at Oma & Opa's house:

The kids loved the dance party/reception - Andrew especially loved the photo booth.

Blog update - its about time!

2010-08-24T11:22:00.004-06:00

We have been so busy this summer, I have had no time to update my blog. But, I guess since a new baby is coming soon, and school starting and birthdays and a baptism coming up soon... I better catch up before all that begins.

Here are a few pictures from this spring that are cute and sum up the end of the school year:

Austin's 2nd birthday

He actually chose this theme himself - he loves superman and has been able to hum the superman theme since about 16 months old. He loves for Daddy to fly him around and he puts his hands up in the air.

We all love Superman!

Andrew played the cat in the play "the Little Red Hen:" It was so cute!

Andrew gets a little annoyed with me because I repeat his solo all the time

(because of my ever-growing midsection)

"I feel too fat, said Ned the Cat... I just feel too fat."

Abby's spring dance recital - here is her cute tap outfit:

Abigail as "Mrs. Hannigan:"

Andrew's 6th Birthday: He wanted a BYU party - that was sure easy - we already had tons of decorations!

Our new little Puppy - Pepper

2010-05-14T08:43:00.005-06:00

While in St. George, Paul bought me a puppy Shih-tzu. This was totally spontaneous. They were a good price, but he mostly got it because he could tell I was really jealous when Pete brought one back to the house for Cathy. Check out her post for more on that story and some really cute pictures of Pepper's brother, Rhino.

Pepper is such a cute puppy with a really sweet personality. I can already tell that she is a smart dog because she has hardly had any accidents and just mostly likes to pee outside. She loves Kaya and the two of them are getting along great - they are such a funny looking pair. Pepper cried the first two nights she was home. Then the next night, I let her out of her crate and she slept by Kaya and did not cry at all the whole night. Kaya is so happy, too and treating Pepper like the puppy she never had. The kids love her and are really enjoying having a puppy.

With now 2 dogs in and out of the house, we had to move the chicks (which are now getting huge) to the garage until we make them a coop outside. We also couldn't really stand their smell much longer.

Mothers' Day in St George

2010-05-14T08:35:00.003-06:00

We had a fun little escape last weekend to St. George. Cathy and Pete and their kids came along. We went on a couple of fun hikes at Snow Canyon (hopefully Cathy will post some of those pics since I forgot my camera that day), went swimming a lot, ate great food, The Dads took the kids to a movie, and we did some garage sale-ing. One of our best finds were the pool chairs pictured here for just a $1 each. I was almost not going to buy them because they looked so junky and dirty on someone's driveway - but they were a hit! It is funny how junky things can look at yard sales. Oh yes, and we spontaneously bought a new puppy for Mothers' Day. (next post)

Springtime Birthday Gift

2010-04-22T07:13:00.005-06:00

Paul showed his true love for me this birthday and suprised me by bringing home 6 little chicks. (He really didn't want to get chickens and he thought I was crazy that I wanted some.) The kids love them and stand around the box and just watch them. Austin calls them "cute." Last night when we left to go somewhere, in the car - he kept saying "Bye Bye Cute!"

Here are a few of the names the kids have chosen: Stinker - Anthony named his this because it pooped in my hand, Chirpie - Abby, Cutie- Austin and Paul has lots of names that he wants to give them like BBQ, Honey, Rotisserie, etc - we may just use Honey for his.

Thanks for all the chick advice Cathy and Pete!

It's Another BOY!!!!!

2010-04-12T11:11:00.003-06:00

We just found out that we are having another boy! We are so excited! These boys are cute and lots of fun!

Mom Look Blog

2010-03-23T09:37:00.003-06:00

I know I don't update this blog often, but I just posted to my sister's new blog: "MOM LOOK", so I thought I should add a link.

This is blog of realistic and funny pictures/stories from real moms to make us all feel better and let us all know that we all are NOT Perfect!

Spaghetti Sauce & Baked Ziti

2010-03-10T15:29:00.006-07:00

This recipe came from Emily's friend that she worked with to make all the food for Stake Girls Camp. I made it a few weeks ago and changed a couple of things. I wanted to type up what I did, so I figured I might as well type it right into the blog:

Spaghetti Sauce (this makes a lot! - about 8 quarts - we ate some and froze the rest in 4 cup increments)

1 lb italian sausage

2 lbs ground beef

1 large white onion, chopped

3 large garlic cloves, minced

3 big cans crushed tomatoes

12 oz tomato paste

3 Tbsp brown sugar (you may use less - we like our sauce a little sweet)

1 Tbsp basil

1 Tbsp oregano

1 Tbsp parsley

1 tsp marjoram

1 1/2 tsp salt (be careful with this and add to taste - some canned tomatoes have more salt than others)

2 bay leafs

couple shakes red pepper flakes

Cook sausage and rinse and drain. - set aside. cook ground beef. Drain - set aside (cook these separately because the sausage requires a higher cooking temp and could dry out the beef. Saute onion in olive oil, then add garlic and saute one more minute. (If you want you can brown the beef with the onion--however this will make your sauce retain extra fat.) Add meat and rest of ingredients. Simmer for 1 hour. Be really careful not to let the temperature get too high or the bottom will burn and your whole pot of sauce will taste burnt and weird (like my mom used to make!) Serve over pasta w/ parmesan cheese.

Here is something I made with some of the sauce that w

as frozen a few weeks later. It normally calls for sauce w/ no meat, but it tasted really good w/ this meat sauce:

Baked Ziti (Emily's old recipe)

1 lb. Ziti (or penne)

¼ t. pepper

12 oz. ricotta cheese

2 T. parsley

2 eggs beaten ( I may try this with just one egg next time)

8 oz. mozzarella cheese

¾ c. parmesan cheese

6-8 c. spaghetti sauce (pre-made in a jar or see recipe above)

¼ t. salt

Cook ziti according to directions; drain and rinse with cold water. Combine ricotta cheese with eggs, ½ c. parmesan, salt, pepper, and parsley. Blend well. Toss ziti with 2-3 c. spaghetti sauce. Place ½ the pasta in a baking dish. Top with ricotta mixture and ½ of the mozzarella cheese. Top with remaining ziti, sauce, mozzarella and parmesan. Bake @ 350° for about 40 minutes – until heated through.

Flylady.... where are you?

2010-02-11T08:40:00.004-07:00

These are some images of what I woke up to this morning. (by the way - that is showing just a small portion of my laundry - I have two big bags still of dirty clothes from being gone last week). For the sake of not getting too embarrassed, I decided to not take pictures of the basement, my office, or the boys room. I was a little too depressed about the dishes this morning, so I decided to take a picture and complain about them - maybe this will give me some inspiration. For about a year and a half we were having these ladies from Argentina come and help clean the house one or two times a month - it was great and helped me keep on top of things. Recently, I decided I really can't afford that, so they haven't been here for over 2 months and I am really feeling buried in housework and disorganized closets and drawers. A few years ago, I got some good cleaning ideas from the flylady.net website. I even created the following cleaning schedule which really only works in a perfect world, or if you are really committed to it.

Luckily I found this document on my computer, so I guess it is a good place to start - I will have to go through this schedule, adjust it a little and start implementing it again so that I don't get so behind. One good thing is that lately my kids have been pretty good at making their beds every day and cleaning their rooms and the basement (if I enforce it).

Here is my IDEAL cleaning schedule: (sorry it is long) - I would appreciate any input - like I can already see a flaw - way too much on Monday - there is no way I could shop, and do all that mopping and stuff. I also need to take into account my daily work schedule as I think about this.

Before Bed Routine

1. Clean up the house (20 minutes - tops)

a. Living/Dining room: Pick up and put away things, toys, dishes, garbage, shoes. Straiten pillows.

b. Kitchen: Clean it up, sweep, wipe counter, shine sink, lay out clean dishcloths, and run the dishwasher. Clear hot-spots

c. Laundry/Den: Clear the hot spots- put things away.

d. Empty dishwasher if finished before bed.

2. Think about tomorrow

a. Check calendar for appointments.

b. Think about: What can I do tonight that will make tomorrow morning easier? (make a to-do list)

c. Set out stuff for breakfast.

d. Lay out clothes for tomorrow (including kids).

e. Get laundry ready for morning.

3. Get ready for bed.

a. Brush teeth, clean face, take out contacts.

b. Bath.

c. Write in journal or read for fun.

d. Say prayers.

Early - Morning Routine

1. Make bed.

2. Say prayers.

3. Scriptures – 10 minutes.

4. Get dressed.

5. Start laundry.

6. Exercise.

7. Switch laundry to dryer.

8. Get ready and clean bathroom

9. Dress kids and eat breakfast.

Morning Routine

1. Empty dishwasher

2. Get stuff ready for dinner.

3. Water plants/flowers.

4. Fold clothes.

5. Check to-do list.

6. Clear hotspots.

WEEKLY PLAN

Monday:

1. Clean out Fridge

2. Meal Plan and make grocery list.

3. Grocery shop

4. Mop kitchen, laundry, hallway, and bathroom.

5. Vacuum.

6. Laundry – kids

7. Dinner - leftovers

Tuesday:

1. 30 min in Zone.

2. Laundry – whites.

Wednesday:

1. Zone Cleaning Chores – 30-60 min.

2. Laundry – Darks.

Thursday:

1. Water and fertilize plants, flowers, garden.

2. Dust furniture, clean mirrors and doors.

3. Laundry – Towels.

4. 15 min in zone.

5. Clean bathrooms.

Friday:

1. Empty and take out Trash – Paul.

2. Change sheets on beds.

3. File papers.

4. Pay bills and work on budget.

5. Clean off computer desk.

6. Clean out purse.

7. Clean out car.

8. Laundry – sheets, misc.

ZONE 1: Kitchen & Laundry Room.

Kitchen Detailed Cleaning List:

1. Empty and thoroughly clean refrigerator.

2. Clean microwave inside and out.

3. Clean stove & oven.

4. Wash canisters & knick-knacks.

5. Straiten drawers and cupboards.

6. Wash walls.

7. Wash inside of window and door.

8. Clean light fixture.

9. Scrub cabinet doors (a few at a time).

10. Clean under sink.

11. Clean big stove in corner.

12. Wash rugs.

Laundry Detailed Cleaning List:

1. Wipe down the top of washer and dryer.

2. Clear of counter.

3. Clean gunk inside washer dispenser and clean door.

4. Organize cupboards

5. Check for needed supplies.

6. Wash doors and window.

7. Wash rug.

8. Wash dog bed and dog bowls.

ZONE 2: Master Bedroom and Bathroom

Master Bedroom - Detailed Cleaning

1. Polish furniture.

2. Clean off top of dressers and nightstands.

3. Wash bedding and decorative pillows.

4. Flip mattress.

5. Wash windows and door.

6. Dust moldings and baseboards.

7. Clean light fixtures and fan.

Closet – Detailed Cleaning

1. Organize clothes – get rid of stuff.

2. Arrange shoes.

3. Straiten top shelves.

4. Wash mirror.

Master Bathroom – Detailed Cleaning

1. Scrub shower and door.

2. Wash rugs.

3. Clean mirror.

4. Clean scale.

5. Dust fixtures.

6. Organize cupboards and drawers.

7. Mop floor.

ZONE 3: Living/Dining room, Den, and Downstairs Bathroom

Living/Dining – Detailed Cleaning

1. Dust windowsills and blinds.

2. Clean windows.

3. Clean baseboards and moldings.

4. Vacuum rugs.

5. Vacuum couches.

6. Clean mirror.

7. Clean light fixtures.

8. Dust and polish furniture.

Den – Detailed Cleaning

1. Dust windowsills and blinds.

2. Clean windows.

3. Clean baseboards and moldings.

4. Dust/clean computer screen & keyboard.

5. Clear off desk and organize office supplies.

6. Organize bookshelf.

7. Clean out files.

8. Organize closet.

9. Check for needed supplies – cd’s, paper, stamps, etc.

Downstairs Bathroom – Detailed Cleaning

1. Scrub sinks.

2. Wash rug.

3. Clean mirrors.

4. Mop floor.

5. Stock with supplies.

ZONE 4: Kids rooms and Bathroom

Kids’ Rooms – Detailed Cleaning

1. Dust windowsills and blinds.

2. Clean windows.

3. Clean baseboards and moldings.

4. Vacuum under crib/ beds and rocker and in closet.

5. Flip mattresses.

6. Clean mirrors.

7. Clean light fixtures and fans.

8. Wash all bedding including decorative and curtains.

9. Straiten drawers, baskets, and closet.

10. Put away/get rid of out-grown clothes.

Upstairs Bathroom – Detailed Cleaning

1. Scrub counter and sinks.

2. Organize drawers.

3. Wash rugs.

4. Scrub tub.

5. Clean mirrors.

6. Wash window.

7. Mop floor.

ZONE 5: Basement

Basement Family Room – Detailed Cleaning

1. Dust windowsills and blinds.

2. Clean inside of windows.

3. Vacuum floor including stairs.

4. Clean mirror.

5. Dust/Clean TV & furniture.

6. Dust/polish furniture.

7. Organize toys/ get rid of junk.

Basement Bathroom – Detailed Cleaning

7. Scrub counter and sink.

8. Check for needed supplies.

9. Dust light fixture

10. Wash bath mat.

11. Scrub shower and tub.

12. Clean mirror.

13. Mop floor.

Basement Bedroom – Detailed Cleaning

1. Dust windowsills and blinds.

2. Clean windows.

3. Clean baseboards and moldings.

4. Wash bedding and decorative pillows.

5. Straiten closet.

Theater/Workout Room – Detailed Cleaning

1. Clean baseboards.

2. Vacuum couch.

3. Organize DVDs.

4. Dust exercise equipment.

5. Organize & inventory food storage.

Everyone has Flops!

2010-02-05T10:37:00.002-07:00

This is a picture of my most recent cooking flop. I had started a sourdough sponge late one night and wrapped it in this cute black and white damp towel and placed it in the oven (draft-free spot) overnight. The next morning, I was boiling and baking bagels, so I turned the ovens on to 500 degrees. When I opened the oven to put in the bagels I noticed the sourdough sponge. "Ahhhh!!" I took it out and the towel was all burnt and the sponge turned into a sticky hot mess. I threw the towel away, (after trying to rinse it out and time after time it bled black liquid). and washed the bowl after it cooled. The bagels turned out really good and I was able to make a new sponge that day and bake sourdough bread the next. Cathy made me feel a little better by saying, "At least you used an oven-proof glass bowl - if it were me, it would have been a plastic bowl - melted all over and ruin the oven." Thanks, Cathy. I guess it is a good general rule to not put anything in the oven that is not oven-proof. Or even a better rule - Maybe I should open my oven and make sure it is clear before I turn it on.

Hopefully next week I can catch up and blog some new pictures of my kids.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-26T00:05:00.002-07:00

Our Nativity on Christmas Eve at Oma and Opa's house:

It was a great night and as you can see Abigail was so happy to be Mary.

Grand Prize Winner

2009-12-18T10:42:00.003-07:00

I went to the Larson& Rosenberger Christmas party and won one of the 3 Dell Netbooks! I was a little shocked as I never win anything usually. This is a really cute tiny laptop with about a 9 inch screen- I have just wasted an hour on it reading blogs in the basement as the little boys played with toys. I may have to get used to typing on this with my chubby fingers! I felt a little bad winning a big prize since I did not work very many hours this year. This will be a fun little portable internet device and maybe I'll use it in the kitchen for searching for new recipes.

Productive Playdate

2009-12-01T19:19:00.002-07:00

Cathy and I had lots of fun doing cooking projects together today. It is amazing what you can get done when you work together.

Here is what we made:

Ground wheat flour

6 loaves of whole wheat bread

whole wheat pitas

a wheat pancake mix for Cathy to take home

Tabouleh

Hummus

Pico de Gallo

Taco Soup

And we took care of the 7 kids!

Thanks for all of your help Cathy! We'll have to get together again for another productive playdate!

Navajo Tacos

2009-11-20T15:57:00.004-07:00

I made this on Sunday for Paul's family - it was a huge croud-pleaser. Sorry no picture - they were eaten too quickly.

Navajo Tacos

2 lbs ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
Approx 8 cups cooked pinto beans – (see below) or use 3-4 cans, drained (Also ok to use kidney beans)
1 6 oz. can tomato sauce
1 10 oz. can mild red enchilada sauce (or just use another tomato sauce)
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
½ tsp basil
½ tsp oregano
¼ tsp garlic powder
2 1/2 - 3 tsp salt (only if you made your own beans – otherwise use just a few sprinkles of saltbecause canned beans are usually pre-salted)
pepper to taste

Toppings:
Chopped lettuce
Shredded cheese
Salsa
Fresh pico de gallo
Tomatoes
Corn
Jalapeños or green chilies
Sour cream
Ranch

Brown meat w/ chopped onion. Drain and rinse meat to remove fat. Put back in pot or in a crockpot. Add all other ingredients, stir, and simmer at least 20 minutes or for a few hours on low in the crockpot. I made this in the crock pot, so it could be done ahead of time and just kept warm. Serve on warm fry-bread and pile high with toppings.

This made a big pot that served about 15-18. You can easily half the recipe. Also, you can adjust the spice amounts to your own tastes. Note: I have made this with home-made beans and canned – I liked it a lot better with homemade, but the canned is a great quick substitute.

Beans – I soaked 3 cups of dry pinto beans overnight. Drain. Cook in pressure cooker for 19 minutes on high w/ about 10-12 cups of water, a slice of onion, garlic clove, bay leaves, and some cilantro stems. Don’t add salt, yet. When beans are done, use a slotted spoon to place into your pot or crock pot with the meat and onion. You can also cook beans in a crock pot – after soaked, cook w/ water and spices for 3-4 hours on high. (they turn out better for me in the pressure cooker)

Navajo Fry Bread (you will need 3-4 batches if making the entire bean recipe)

500 g. bread flour (4 cups)
8 g. salt (1 teaspoon)
14 g. sugar (1 Tbsp)
14 g. baking powder (1 Tbsp)
20 g. shortening (1 Tbsp)
10 oz warm water

Mix dry ingredients. Cut in shortening. Then gradually add warm water and knead. (I use the food processor for this and it only takes a minute). Cut into 6-10 pieces depending how large you want them. Cover, and let rest 10-15 minutes. Flatten by hand about 1/8 - 1/4 inch and fry for 1-2 minutes in a couple of inches of oil (375 degrees). Keep warm in 200 degree oven until ready to serve. Authentic fry bread does not have sugar or shortening - so feel free to omitt - this just makes it a little sweeter and softer. Also notice - there is no yeast - the baking powder makes it rise - do not use regular dough for fry bread, or else it will be too chewy.

Happy Halloween!!!

2009-11-02T14:28:00.003-07:00

We had a fun time this weekend on Halloween. The kids loved trick-or-treating. This was Austin's first time - the neighbors couldn't refuse when he would say, "More..?" We had Paul's family over after trick-or-treating with lots of yummy food - popcorn balls, homemade doughnuts, pumpkin seeds, bratwurst, cheese fondue, apple cider, and caramel apples. It tasted great, but we have now been recovering from this for the past two days - the messy kitchen and our upset stomachs.

I helped out with Abby's class party and had to bring the boys along - they had lots of fun and were really well behaved - I should have let them wear their costumes, though.

Austin loved joining the 1st grade party!

Fall Update

2009-11-02T13:35:00.008-07:00

Anther update of the last few months - I will add Halloween pics soon.

Homecoming game: We had lots of fun camping in Provo for the Homecoming game. We woke up early to go see the ESPN gameday show, then went to the parade, rode around on our bikes and scooters, and went to the bookstore. I also went for a run around Provo which I haven't done for about 9 years - that was fun. It was a great day until the football game started and BYU had a horrible loss to TCU - we still had a fun weekend, though.

Austin at the BYU parade:

Fall picnic in AF canyon:

We spent conference weekend at a cabin close to Zion National Park. Kim and her family stayed there as well. We had a great time hiking through the park. Paul, Robert, McKinley, Dallin, and even Andrew hiked up most of Angels' Landing.

Mt Carmel overlook:

Emerald Pools

4-wheeling by the cabin:

Hiking up to the overlook:

Anthony's 4th birthday: We had a pirate celebration at home with a few cousins and some neighbor kids and then we went to Pirate Island. He loved it!

Abigail's 7th birthday: We were blessed with good weather so we were able to have a waterslide party for Abby's birthday. I can't believe she is allready 7!

School starts: Abby is now in 1st grade and goes to school all day. Here she is on her first day:

Andrew's first day of kindergarten after a wipe-out on his bike and scooter that week. He loves riding the bus with Abby in the morning.

Yummy Greek Pizza

2009-10-26T21:29:00.005-06:00

I made some really good pizza the other day. For one of the pizzas, Cathy gave me the idea to make a greek pizza and I found the recipe she used at allrecipes.com . I made my own crust, rather than buying a pre-baked one like the recipe says. My favorite pizza crust recipe now it the one from "The Bread Bible" that Suz introduced to me. I also made two other pizzas - a pepperoni for the kids and an everything for Paul.

Toppings for the greek pizza:

1/4 cup mayo mixed w/ garlic and 1/2 cup of feta

sundried tomatoes

chopped baby spinach (use a lot because it really cooks down)

red onions

oregano

kalamata olives (i didn't have these)

more feta on top

(i added a few pickled peppers for spice even though the recipe didn't call for them - it was good)

Thin Crust Pizza Dough “the Bread Bible” (makes 3 thin-crust pizzas 12-14'')

600 g. or 4 ½ cups all-purpose flour (all-purpose is important)

15 g. or 2 ½ tsp. sea salt

9 g. or 2 tsp. sugar

2 ¼ tsp instant yeast

about 1 ½ cups water or 360 g.

a few tablespoons olive oil.

Wisk flour, salt and sugar in a bowl. Add yeast – whisk again. Measure water and put in a 2 qt bowl. Mix in dry ingredients and stir about 20 – 30 times by hand (if you don't mind your hands getting a little sticky, it is easiest to just use your hands instead of a spoon). Mix together just until is starts to sort of come together. It is ok if it is a little flaky - it is supposed to be flaky. Form into ball and coat generously with olive oil. Cover, and let rise ½ hour. Cover and put in refrigerator for at least 4 hours up to 4 days. Take out of fridge. Brush a little of the extra olive oil from the bowl onto the 3 pizza pans. Form 3 flat balls – smash down and let rest for 20 minutes on a pizza pan or baking sheet. Spread dough out thin on the pan. Let rest 20 more minutes, then cook for 5 minutes at 500 degrees. Take out and top with sauce and toppings. Place back in the oven to finish cooking for about 5 minutes more. If you like a crispy crust, place the pizza directly on the rack or stone without the pizza pan when you put it in the oven the 2nd time.

This dough is really easy to stretch out and the crust it makes is thin, crispy, and chewy. I like that you can make the dough anytime up to 4 days in advance - this actually makes the crust taste better because of a slow fermentation.

Summer = too busy to blog!

2009-09-22T11:05:00.010-06:00

Here is an update of what we have been up to since my last post:

Trip to Cancun - it was so great to see Suz and her kids.

Abby, Andrew, and Anthony loved playing with their cousins at the beach.

Ruins at Xcaret.

Becca turns 30!

Andrew turns 5!

Kaley and Grant come to visit from Florida!

Mom's 70th birthday suprise!

Abby graduates from Kindergarten.

A trip to St. George w/ a stop at Cove fort on the way.

Hiking at snow canyon.

Austin's 1st birthday.

He was just about to grab the flame.

Wasatch Back relay = 187 mile run from Logan to Park City - what an event! This picture only shows 7 of the 12 on our team.

Here are Doug and Douglas - they just ran up ragnar (a steep climb 8% up Gaurdsmans Pass for 7 miles) Way to go!

A trip to Michigan w/o the kids - this is the Michigan temple where we were married 9 years ago.

We also toured northern MI and Mackinac Island.

BEAR LAKE - we went for the 4th with my family and then again for Paul's family reuinion.

Paul testing out his new 4-wheeler at BearLake.

A weekend in Lake Powell with Cheryl, Emily, Rick and their families - so much fun!

A weekend in Park City - here is the Art Festival.

Abby and I got to ride in a hot air balloon.

Anthony and Paul on the Coaster at Park City

We finished the summer off with a trip to Disneyland with the Hatch family.

We extended our trip to go to LA and see Uncle Rick.

Now that I am somewhat up-to-date, I may resume blogging again.

Tulip festival

2009-05-01T15:54:00.007-06:00

After eating some huge burritos at Barbacoa, Cathy and I spent the afternoon at Thanksgiving Point Gardens. The tulips were beautiful and the lighting was perfect. We only wish we had gotten ready and dressed our kids cuter....oh, well....these pictures are a more accurate description of us, I guess. I also wish I would have brought my other camera lens.

Here is Lily and Austin sharing my single stroller.

Abby is our best poser.

Cathy and Lily

Whole Wheat Pitas

2009-03-31T09:33:00.004-06:00

It has been a while since I have blogged, but Al really wanted me to blog the pitas I made. They are delicious. As I type this, I am eating my pita stuffed w/ hummus, scrambled, eggs, ham and warm spinach. Here is the recipe and some tips:

Whole Wheat Pitas

(Adapted from a recipe in "The Best Bread Ever" by Charles Van Over (my hero))

500 g. whole wheat flour

10 g. sea salt

10-12 g. sugar

1 tsp instant yeast

1 Tbsp olive oil

approx 320-330 ml water

Place flour, salt, sugar, and yeast in food processor. Pulse to mix. Add the olive oil and most of the water and process for about 30 seconds. Add more water if needed and process about 25 more seconds until dough is soft, warm, and well incorporated. Place in a greased bowl, cover and let rise for at least 3 hours. (the last time I made this i forgot about the dough and I think it sat out for about 8 hours - it was still fine).

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees with a baking stone if possible. After the dough has risen, dump it out and cut into 12 pieces - form each into a small ball and flatten slightly. Cover and let these rest about 15 - 20 minutes. Roll out to about a 7 inch circle using a little flour. Cover and let rest 5-10 more minutes. Make sure they do not stick together if they are overlapped at all - flour will help with this. I had a few that stuck a little and had to be pulled apart and then did not puff very well in the oven. Place about 3 pitas on the stone at a time - be careful not to handle them too much at this point, or they will not puff up. You can use a pizza peel and flour for this step, or you can just use your hands like I do and risk more oven burns.

They will be done in about 6 minutes and you can watch them puff up like a ball in the oven (I should have taken a picture of this). Do not over-bake, as this will cause them to be brittle later when filling the pita. Take them out of the oven and cool on a wire rack for about 1 minute. Then I put them right into a plastic bread bag. The steam will cause them to deflate and soften. When serving the pitas, I think they are best if warmed slightly before stuffing.

Here is the Hummus Recipe:

15 oz. garbanzo beans, drained - reserve some liquid

3 Tbs. Tahini (you can omit this and add more olive oil if there is a sesame allergy)

1 clove minced garlic

2 Tbs. lemon juice

2 Tbs. olive oil

cumin (optional)

paprika (optional)

salt and pepper to taste

Just puree everything in a blender or food processor. Add some of the bean liquid at the end if too thick. This will also thicken a little in the fridge. The amounts in this recipe can be adjusted to your individual tastes.

Paul's Christmas Gift

2009-01-19T21:45:00.004-07:00

This is Paul's Christmas Gift - a BYU T-shirt quilt. It was a little tricky to find time to work on this and keep it a surprise from him - especially since my sewing machine broke just as I started piecing it together. Thanks to a great neighbor (who let me come over to use her machine while she watched my kids and fed them dinner) and to Paul's mom for letting me use her machine to finish up, I was able to get it mostly pieced together before Christmas.

I was really excited to have him open it on Christmas morning because I knew he had no idea. I actually shed a few tears because I never saw him so happy opening a gift. Last night, I finally got around to finishing the open end, top-stitching, and putting in a few ties.

Merry Christmas!

2009-01-01T23:58:00.003-07:00

This is for all of you who are so sick of seeing Halloween on my Blog. I will post more about our Holiday later, but for now, here are a few cute Holiday pics.

Halloween Highlights

2008-11-06T22:06:00.005-07:00

Here are some highlights from Halloween:

Carving 12 pumpkins and roasting 0ver 10 cups of pumpkin seeds.

Great halloween

parties at Cathy's house and at Debby's.

Paul trick or treating as Darth Vader with the kids in the warm rain.

Home-made donuts, bratwurst, and fondue on Halloween night.

Krispy Kreme Donut Recipe

2008-11-01T00:40:00.006-06:00

Halloween is time for home-made donuts at our house. For the past three years we have been making cider donuts. This year was my first attempt at raised donuts and I think I'm hooked. These were a lot lighter and airy. They didn't soak up as much oil as the apple cider donuts.

I found this recipe online and I changed it a little so that I could make the dough in my food processor. (You will need to adjust this recipe smaller if you have a 7 or 11 cup food processor.)

Here is the food processor version of the recipe:

1 1/2 c. milk

1/4 c. warm water (105 degrees)

2 tsp. instant yeast

1/2 c. sugar

2 eggs, beaten

5 cups all-purpose flour - approx. 750 grams (I'm sure if you have cake flour, that would even be better)

1 tsp or 9 grams salt

1/3 cup shortening

Oil for frying

Glaze

Gently heat milk on stovetop until smoking slightly, do net let burn or boil. Remove from heat. Add sugar to dissolve. Mix yeast with warm water. Stir and let sit. When milk has cooled a little, add beaten eggs. Make sure your milk is not hot, or little pieces of egg can cook. You can temper the eggs by adding a tablespoon or two of warm milk to the eggs and quickly whisking it in and then add those eggs to the milk mixture. Place flour, salt and shortening into food processor. Mix. Then, with the machine running, add water and yeast mixture and then the milk mixture. Let it mix and knead until smooth. You can add more flour or water as needed. This is a very sticky dough. Be careful not to add too much flour. When the dough is kneaded, transfer into a large greased bowl and cover. (When I cover bread dough, I always put one layer of saran wrap right on the dough, and then another layer on the bowl - this helps the dough to not dry out.) Let rise until double - at least an hour. Mine sat on the counter for probably about 4 or 5 hours (because I was doing a lot of other things) and it was fine. Slide dough onto a floured surface and gently roll to 1/4 - 1/2 inch thick. Cut into donuts approx 3 inches. Do not attempt to re-roll the dough and make more donuts. (I didn't want to waste the extra dough, so I quickly formed some long rolls, let them rise and then baked them to eat our Bratwurst in. - they were good) Place cut donuts on a floured baking sheet. Let rise for 30-40 minutes. (I actually cut out the donuts and then put them in the fridge for an hour or two, then I sat them out for 40 minutes before frying because I wanted our guests to have warm, fresh donuts.) Heat oil to 365-375 degrees. Fry until golden brown - about a minute (less for the donut holes), turning halfway. The donut holes are hard to flip once one side is brown. I found that it is easier to constantly stir them a little as they fry for more even browning. Carefully remove from oil and drain on a cooling rack placed on top of paper towels. Then dip the donuts in the creamy glaze or chocolate glaze. You can then dip them in candy or sprinkles if you want. I haven't tried the chocolate glaze. With the overload of chocolate on Haloween, we just stuck with the creamy glaze.

Creamy Glaze:

1/3 cup butter

2 cups powdered sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

4-6 Tbsp hot water

Heat butter until melted. (I just put it in a bowl and carefully microwaved it). Remove from heat and stir in powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth. Stir in water, 1 Tbsp at a time until reaches desired consistency. I think I made my glaze a little too thick - but there were no complaints.

Chocolate Glaze:

To make the chocolate glaze, it is basically the same as making the creamy glaze, except you melt 4 oz of milk or semi-sweet chocolate chips with the butter in the first step.

*If you don't have a food processor, here is how you mix the dough. You still mix the yeast with the water and scald the milk. Let milk cool until lukewarm, then transfer to your mixing bowl or mixer. Start with your whisk or paddle. Add sugar, salt, shortening, eggs, and yeast mixture. Add 2 cups of flour and mix really well. Then you can change to your kneading hook and gradually add the remaining flour- remember this is sort of a sticky dough.

Fall Break in St George

2008-10-23T12:03:00.005-06:00

We had a great long weekend in St. George for UEA break. It was so nice to be in warm weather again. Suz and her girls stayed with us one night and the kids had fun swimming together. We had a great time on Saturday wakeboarding and surfing behind Kimberly and Robert's boat at Sand Hollow Reservoir (even though the water was a little cold). Abigail lost her first tooth and the toothfairy found her at our St. George home! We are now trying to adjust to a greater than 30 degree temp drop!

Happy Birthday Superman!!

2008-10-05T18:28:00.004-06:00

Phillip and William working as a team at the Gateway Museum.

The life-flight helicopter

Anthony having fun at Chuck E Cheese!

Here are some photo highlights from Anthony's 3rd birthday. He has been begging for a Superman birthday for months. On the morning of Anthony's birthday, he came running into my room and gave me a hug. I told him Happy Birthday and he touched his head and said "I'm still little.... I want another birthday!"

On Monday we met a whole bunch of cousins at the gateway. We celebrated Anthony, Phillip, and Joseph's birthday at the food court and gave all of the kids happy meals and Cathy made some yummy cupcakes. We all then went to the Discovery Gateway Museum to play. The kids had so much fun playing there. I loved watching all of the cousins work as a team building things with the oversized-stuffed blocks in the construction area.

On Wednesday, Anthony's actual birthday, we had a Superman party at Chuck E Cheese with some more cousins. They all had a great time. Ally was the best at winning tickets with over 400. Grandpa said, "thats great - now you can get a plastic little ball." It was nice not to have a party at home, because I didn't have to worry about much mess - only the mess of making and decorating a cake and trying to figure out where to put all of the new toys.

Happy Birthday Abigail!

2008-09-19T10:27:00.004-06:00

We had a fun time celebrating Abby's birthday. We had 16 cousins come over for a fun party the day before her birthday. On her birthday we celebrated at Kangaroo Zoo. (A fun place with big blow up slides and jumping things.)

I can't believe Abigail is 6! She is such a sweet girl, very smart and obedient. She is also very patient and kind to her 3 brothers.

We love you Abby!

Abigail wanted a barbie cake again this year. This is Rosella from the Island Princess Barbie movie. This cake was actually pretty easy to make because I just looked at my barbie cake tips that I blogged last year.

Quick trip to Washington

2008-09-08T16:47:00.007-06:00

We made a blitz trip out to Washington to support the Cougars against the Washington Huskies. Paul, Austin, and I flew to Spokane on Friday. We arrived late and stayed up late talking to Rob, Eva, and Jeff, we also happened to see Al and Paul that night. We woke up early Saturday and drove 300 miles to Husky Stadium for the game. We met Paul's dad and brother, Tyson at the game and had lots of fun cheering for BYU. The weather was really great for Seattle, too. After a fun game that was a little closer than we would have liked, we drove back to Spokane and stayed with Jeff and Tami. Sunday morning, we drove to Coeur d' Alene Lake to check it out, then back to Spokane for a little tour of the city given by Rob, Eva, and the girls. It was a fun trip, but I would like to stay longer next time and bring the whole family. Rob, Eva, Jeff, and Tami were great hosts and provided lots of good food and hospitality. Thanks so much to Stephanie for watching the three amigos in Provo!

Cute little Cougar Fan

At Husky Stadium in Seattle - we were very glad to have a victory!

Austin with Cousin Leo

University of Washington Campus

Coeur d' Alene Lake, Idaho

First Day of School

2008-08-27T21:50:00.005-06:00

Here is Abigail at her first day of school:

Abigail is really enjoying Kindergarten so far. She loves being able to ride the bus home and I can tell she feels so big and important. I have to admit that I did choke up a bit and I shed a tear as she walked into the classroom on Monday. It makes me feel like I'm getting old and becoming a real "mom" because I have a child in school. After a few days of school, she said "I'm never bad at school, because I don't like to get in trouble." Also, on Monday, as Abigail came off the bus, Anthony was so excited to see her, but he was really disappointed that he couldn't ride. He said "I want to go to kindergarten and ride the bus. no fair!"

Busy Summer Continues

2008-08-13T14:48:00.005-06:00

Unsuccessful fishing at Wahsatch St park in Midway

Playing in the sprinklers at the Olsen's cabin.

Henry, Timothy, Kate, Austin, and Isabelle - hanging out at Opa's house.

Morning view from Dad's Bear Lake Farm (pic taken by Al)

The biggest challenge of the Bear Lake trip - Here is Emily feeding 13 kids at once (yes, the babies count, too because usually one or both of them were hungry during meal times.) This shows the kids favorite meal - Breakfast for Dinner.

Austin enjoying at day at Bear Lake.

"This is the summer of fair weather." That is a line from the movie Saturday's Warrior that applies to us right now. We have just been on-the-go and having fun all summer ever since Austin was born. We had visits from Suz and Mary and their families. We spent a weekend in Midway with Cathy and Pete, and then we went back to Bear Lake (while Paul traveled for business) with Al and Emily and their kids.

The Wake Kite

2008-07-30T20:18:00.002-06:00

This is Paul enjoying his new favorite toy: the wakekite. This video shows him trying out Robert's wakekite in Bear Lake. Paul liked it so much that he bought his own Kite to take to Lake Powell. However, he was very frustrated in Lake Powell because our rental boat was nothing like Robert's Mastercraft and it had a hard time getting the kite to stay in the air. (All that did was make Paul really want a boat of his own.)

Busy Summer

2008-07-30T10:16:00.000-06:00

Here are some photo highlights from the last few weeks since Austin was born:

My kids with Suzanne's kids at Bear Lake

Paul and Austin at Stadium of Fire

Lake Powell - Cheryl, Emily, and Mary's family all crowded on one boat to go back to the dock.

The kids loved riding the tube at Bear Lake

Andrew with his cousin, Paul on a tube in Lake Powell

Baby Blessing Day: Timothy Paylor, Austin Hatch, and Katherine Williams

Things have been busy here since Austin was born. We had about 2 1/2 weeks of quiet and not going anywhere, and then we've been on the go ever since.

When Austin was 3 weeks old, we went to Stadium of Fire on the 4th of July, then we went to St. George for a week the day after that. The next weekend we were off to Bear Lake for the Hatch Family Reunion. We came home for 2 days before going to Lake Powell for the 24th. The day after we came back from Lake Powell, Paul blessed Austin in my Dad's ward with 2 of his cousins. This has been a fun month. Luckily Austin has been a very good baby and does great with all of the traveling and action.

Now I am just trying to catch up on cleaning and laundry before our next adventure.

Baby Austin is Here!

2008-06-14T09:05:00.002-06:00

Here is our baby boy:

Austin LeRoy Hatch

He weighed 8 lbs 5 oz - 20 in long

He was born on "Friday the 13th" of June

at 5:44 a.m.

We all are so happy and love him so much. It has been so fun to have the other kids here and witness their instant love for their little brother. They love to hold him and give him kisses.

This is Grandpa LeRoy Wirthin and Grandma Wirthlin holding their 64th grandchild and immediate family member #100

Here is his dramatic birth story:

After a few days of false labor (see post below), I went to bed Thursday night again feeling contractions. I was going to have my mom come and sleep over, but I didn't want to disappoint myself if this was more false labor. Luckily, I was able to sleep for a few hours waking up only occasionally as I felt something. Around 2:30, I was definately awake and could not sleep between contractions. Around 3:30, Paul was up, too as I kept squeezing his arm hard every 6 or 7 minutes. About an hour later, my neighbor came over, who is a doula and brought her teenage daughter to stay with our kids. I remained in bed as this was the best position for me to comfortably deal with the labor. As Paul was loading the car, the pain became very intense and my neighbor was getting nervous. The contractions were still a little bit irregular - about 4-6 minutes apart, so I didn't think that I should worry. The last contraction before getting in the car, was the worst one, yet - and after that things were very different.

I am not usually a very loud or dramatic person, but at this moment I was not much like myself. I was screaming in the car as the pain and pressure increased. As Paul approached the stop sign by the timpanogas temple, I yelled "don't stop! don't stop!" Luckily it was about 5:30 a.m. and not much traffic - he ony had to zoom around a few cars on a road that is usually pretty busy. We pulled up to the front of the hospital - left the car running and rushed in. I laid down on the floor of the elevator (still screaming) to releive some pressure. Paul yelled to the nurses and they helped me into a delivery room. They told me I would have to wait as the doctor was on his way. I yelled again, "I'm not waiting for anyone!" A few minutes later, the baby was born and delivered by a midwife who was on call in the hospital.

When asked if I would do another natural birth - I think I would (but I would probably try to go to the hospital a little sooner). Right now I feel so great (other than the sleep deprivation from 3 nights of labor). Immediately after the birth, I felt awesome, and it was so nice not to have an IV or to be stuck in bed unable to feel half your body. There was extreme pain, but it was manageable knowing that it would be over soon. It was also nice not to feel any weird side effects from Pitocin or Epidural. When Anthony was born, his heart rate reacted poorly with the Pitocin and I had some weird side effects to the epidural like itchiness and extreme drop in blood pressure. I have to say that even thought I felt the most pain with this birth, I feel that it has been my easiest delivery and recovery out of all of them.

False Labor

2008-06-14T08:17:00.000-06:00

False labor is a cruel trick to be played on pregnant women, especially when you are almost a week overdue. This picture was taken on the 12th before taking the kids to the babysiter because I was sure the baby was coming that day.

Tuesday night I was up from about 2:00 - 7:00 having contractions every 5-10 minutes, so, I thought Wednesday was going to be the day. However, around 10:00 am, the contractions slowed down and only came irregularly throughout the day.

Wednesday night I went to bed very depressed - then the same thing happened, although this time the contractions hurt. I was up at about 2:00 a.m. again. I thought for sure this was real labor. So we sent the kids to the babysitter and Paul stayed home from work. Around 11:00 the contractions slowed down and became very irregular, although they were still strong. I was about to break down and cry, then we decided to make a fun day out of it to get my mind off if. So, we went out to lunch, went shopping at IKEA, went to look at boats, and went to a movie together. It was a fun day-off with Paul and it brought my spirits up a little. That evening, Paul took the kids out for dinner and to the Thanksgiving Point gardens while I took a nap. That is when the contractions started again - I did not know it at the time - but this time it was the real thing. (see next post)

Being almost a week overdue and having so much false labor, I was beginning to think that my body would never go into labor on its own. I was convinced that I would need to be induced with pitocin - like how I had my other babies. But I am so glad I waited it out.

I decided since me and four sisters have gone overdue for our babies in the past few months (Cathy - 10 days, Mary 9 days, and Alison - 12 days), that we need to make a song entitled "What do you do when you're overdue?" This is sung to the tune of the primary song "what do you do in the summertime." Cathy has allready given me the lyrics to her verse:

What do you do when you're overdue

And all of your projects are done?

Do you excercise on a ball?
Or walk around the mall?

Or sit in your car and cry?

Is that what you do?........So do I!

Happy Due Date at Lagoon

2008-06-08T08:52:00.001-06:00

Friday was my due date and we spent the day with the kids at Lagoon. (along with thousands of other people). The kids all had a great time on all of the rides. The weather was great for Lagoon with overcast skies and highs in the upper 60s. I mostly just sat around and watched, but Paul did convince me to ride the log ride with the family hoping that it would put me into labor. Unfortunately, it did nothing - so we are now at 2 days overdue.

New Mom Haircut

2008-05-29T20:49:00.000-06:00

Before and After

I thought I should blog my new haircut to keep with the trend since both Al, Cathy, and Mary blogged theirs.

I know the before picture is really weird, but it is the only picture I could find of me where my hair was not pulled back.

It feels good to get rid of a lot of hair - it is a little shorter than I hoped, but my hair grows fast. The kids hardly recognized me when I picked them up.

Crazy Wind Storm

2008-05-21T07:09:00.001-06:00

Last night, we were all outside as I was trying to finish planting the veggie garden. It started getting winding and we felt a few rain drops, so Andrew went to get his umbrella. A few minutes later, I was still planting and a huge gust of wind came. A large piece of siding blew through the air, just above my head, then I looked over and noticed this huge tree was down on the lawn. Poor little Andrew, who was still trying to hold on to his umbrella was really freaked out because his umbrella caught a huge gust of wind, which flipped the umbrella backwards (like on Mary Poppins) and broke it. Meanwhile, Abby and Anthony were getting blasted in the face with dirt and debris. I picked up Andrew, and Paul got the other two and we ran inside with everyone upset. (Andrew is still a little nervous to go back outside).

I am still shocked and sad that this big, nice tree fell. We will have to call a tree service to come and chop it up and then plant a small one in its place. We will miss its nice shade this summer.

Lots of Junk!

2008-05-19T16:43:00.000-06:00

I decided to blog my yard sale purchases since Al and Emily both did. I am still not very good at being selective at yard sales and I end up buying junky stuff. Andrew really liked it when I set up all of the stuff on the porch.

Abigail went with me since the boys were at the Father/Son Camp-out - I realized that you buy more junk if your kids go with you because they will want to buy random things that you never would.

Here is what I got (favorites 1st):

New with tag - size large black board shorts - for my post-pregnancy summer - .25

Conair hot sticks - these made the best curls for Abby's dance recital - 1.00

Race car ramp - I thought this was junky, but it has been entertaining the boys for 3 days now - .50

Bucket of dublo legos - $3

Barefoot dreams blankie for Lilly - $0.25

Cloth diapers for Al - $4

Newborn sunhat - .50

yellow rain boots for Anthony - .75

picnic basket - .25 (this was Abby's purchase)

Wired flowers - .25 (Abigail picked these, too)

Polly pocket clock - .25

lizards and snakes - .50 (she picked these out for the boys)

books - about $2 - some are not pictured

red umbrella - .25

hot chocolate maker - .50 (I already have one, but maybe I can leave it in the trailer)

baby backpak - $1 - why did I buy this? - I allready have a nice one - maybe Cathy wants it

Not pictured - some really old, junky barbies that Abigail picked out - .50

BBQ Pork

2008-05-12T22:02:00.000-06:00

The last few times that I have made BBQ pork, I have not been happy with the results, using recipes that are basically a piece of meat slow-cooked in BBQ sauce. These recipes are easy, but do not have very much depth of flavor. They were also a little too sweet for me. Here is what I did: first I read a few recipes in cookbooks and online.

BBQ Pulled Pork

4-5 lb pork roast (I used a shoulder with bone-in) - remove as much fat as you can before cooking

Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper and place in crock-pot.

Add:

1 chopped onion

about 1 T Worcestershire sauce

a couple of tablespoons of brown sugar

1/2 c cider vinegar

1/2 - 1 cup BBQ sauce

Then fill with water to just about the top of the meat.

Cook on low 10-12 hours.

After it is cooked, take meat out - remove bones and fat and shred.

Dump out most of water - reserving the onions to mix with meat if desired. Leave a little liquid to keep shredded meat moist.

Return shredded meat to crock pot.

At this point you can simply season with salt and pepper and let each person add his or her own BBQ sauce. Or you can add BBQ sauce to the crock-pot, mix with meat before serving.

Hamburger Buns

2008-05-12T21:52:00.000-06:00

Last week I made pulled pork sandwiches w/ BBQ sauce for dinner. Paul thought it was funny because I said I didn't feel like going to the grocery store (with all the kids) to buy buns, so I just made some instead. He said usually it is the opposite - people buy things at the store because they don't feel like making them.

I looked up a bunch of recipes online and combined them a little and adjusted the recipe to be made with the food processor. I think they turned out pretty good. They are not as soft and airy as the $.98 8-pack of buns you can buy - but these were bigger and had much better flavor, and they held up good with the pork and BBQ sauce - they would be great with a burger, too.

Here is the recipe:

Hamburger Buns

650 g. All-purpose flour
13 g. salt
30 g. sugar
1 ½ tsp instant yeast
200 ml milk
2-3 Tbsp butter or 30 g.
230-240 ml water

1 egg yolk + 1 Tbsp water

In a small saucepan, heat milk and butter. Heat over low heat just until butter melts – before milk bubbles. (This is a similar method as the Cinnamon rolls and Lion House Rolls – the reason to heat the milk is to break down the milk enzymes that can inhibit yeast production – you can also increase the water in this recipe and add powdered milk). Let milk mixture cool.

Put flour, salt, sugar and yeast in food processor and pulse a few times. Add cooled milk mixture with machine running. Then add enough of the water so the mixture comes together into a ball. Process for about 45 seconds to knead the dough. The dough is soft and feels similar to roll dough.

Place dough in a greased bowl and let rise about 2 hours until double. Divide risen dough into 12 pieces. Form into 12 balls and flatten slightly on the pan. I baked these on a jelly-roll pan lined with parchment paper. Let proof about 45 minutes. Before baking, brush with egg yolk mixture and sprinkle with seeds if desired.

Bake at 400 degrees in a preheated oven for about 15 minutes or until golden brown. Slice and serve.

St George and Zions

2008-05-09T12:07:00.000-06:00

We had a fun time last week in St. George. We went down to celebrate Grandpa Hatch's 60th birthday. It felt great to escape the spring snow storms and enjoy the warm sunny weather of Southern Utah.

We were glad to have Pete, Cathy, and their 2 cute kids with us. The kids loved being able to swim so much. We also had a fun hiking adventure at Zion National Park. See Cathy's blog for a funny video of Phillip hiking.

Happy Birthday Andrew!

2008-05-05T21:45:00.000-06:00

Andrew is now 4 years old!

We had such a fun time on his birthday. For his Star Wars party, Daddy and Andrew both dressed up as Darth Vader (which made some of the kids nervous).

Here is my first attempt at adding a video to my blog:

Curacao Trip

2008-04-16T11:25:00.001-06:00

We just got back from a fun week in Curacao. It is a small island in the Caribbean just north of Venezuela. It is owned by the Netherlands just like Aruba and Bonaire. These pictures show some of our highlights from the fun week: (We got a new digital video camera and I thought it would be neat to add video to our blog, but when I tried to upload the video the computer kept crashing....I guess it is time to upgrade to a Mac. like Al, Cathy, Emily, and Cheryl.)In Willemsted - Punda district. The kids loved all of the colorful buildings and the floating bridge.

They got their faces painted with a Curacoan Flag at the Kids Club.

Jumping on the floating trampoline with Daddy and Grandpa.

Sailboat snorkel trip.

Andrew and Abby were so brave to snorkel all by themselves.

Kayak rides and searching for crabs.

Playing at the beach! (Anthony's favorite activity)

Abigail's favorite part of the trip: doing "tricks" in the swimming pool.

This is the kids enjoying their last "Miami Vice" drink before we left. (mix of Strawberry daquari and Pina Colada). Andrew said that was his favorite part of the trip - drinking lots of Miami Vices.

Al's got me sewing

2008-03-30T20:25:00.001-06:00

Last year, Al posted a blog called "Becca's got me baking," so I thought "Al's got me sewing" was an appropriate title for this post.

This all started when I was shopping for spring clothes for Abigail and frustrated because I did not really like any of the styles at stores like Gap, Old Navy, and Target. They were a little too sassy and seemed to old for Abby. So Al convinced me that we could sew something for her.

We had a crazy day yesterday sewing together. The kids were fending for themselves and Alison's house got a little messy. But we had some cute results.

It took me all day to make the blue twirly skirt and the white biker shorts. The shorts are for Abigail to wear under her dresses and skirts and were made with an old maternity tank top. We drafted a pattern off a similar pair of shorts that Abby had. We used the bottom part of the tank top as the bottom of the shorts so we didn't have to hem or finish them. (That was not my idea - it was Al's)

Alison made the cute yellow dress - she designed it, drafted the pattern herself, and sewed it. She also made the green under-shorts (from an old navy Tshirt) in about 2 minutes. Abby loves this dress because it is long, ruffly, and very comfy. And if you know her personality, you would agree that this bright, sweet, springy dress is perfect for her.

Al had some great projects going on yesterday: making new covers for a baby swing and car seat, and some cute summer shirts for Maryanna. Check out Al's blog for all her great sewing projects. I know there is no way I could have made those 2 items without her help. Thanks.

Happy Easter

2008-03-30T16:39:00.001-06:00

We had a fun time celebrating Easter with 3 Easter egg hunts - Preschool, Wirthlin party, and an Easter dinner and hunt at Grandma Hatch's. The kids also enjoyed coloring eggs (and eating them.)

Spring Fever

2008-03-30T16:28:00.000-06:00

We have had a little taste of warmer weather lately and it has really given us spring fever. (But know as I type this, there is snow falling and 2 inches accumulated on our lawn.)

Last fall, we did some revamping of our landscaping right before the first snowfall. So the kids didn't even know until the last few weeks that we now have a sandbox. They love it! They also re-discovered the climbing gym and Abby and Andrew have progressed to climbing up to the second level.

We even spent one evening outside with our new fire pit and roasted our first set of hot dogs, hamburgers, and s'mores of the year over the open flame. It was a lot of fun, but a little too chilly.

We can't wait for the warmer weather to come and hopefully we will get a new swing set some time this spring.

Busy 1st Quarter

2008-03-12T21:07:00.000-06:00

I guess it is too far into 2008 for my blog to say "Merry Christmas." (Easter is only 10 days away).

I have been extremely busy the past 10 weeks and right now I am feeling all of it as I am very exhausted. But as I have learned from Al, that is no excuse to not update a blog and keep in touch with those you love.

This January, I started back at work part-time at Larson & Rosenberger helping with financial audits of insurance companies. I was only planning on working 16 hours a week, but things have gotten very busy, so I have picked up more hours lately. The kids enjoy their new preschool/daycare that is close to home. They do fun art projects and like playing with the other kids.

In addition to going back to work, our traveling pace has not slowed a bit. In January, we spent 5 days in Sun Valley, ID. It was a winter wonderland with Mountains of snow piled up everywhere. We went sledding behind the house and without snowshoes, I sank up to my hip in the snow. This was a great trip full of fun winter activities: skiing, sledding, ice skating, bowling, and hot-tubing. Paul made great progress with Abigail and Andrew and at the end of their ski day, they were both going down by themselves with Paul following. They were so cute encouraging and racing with eachother.
February started very uneventful, until the terrible flu hit our home. We had about 2 1/2 weeks with at least one person in our family very sick. I was wiped out for about 10 days myself. Check out Al's blog to see an even worse case of this flu.

After feeling better, and working a 40 hour week to make up for sick days missed, I went on a business trip with Paul to Cancun. He had a conference there for the Printing Industries of America. The conference kept him pretty busy, so I mostly just sat in a chair at the beach under a canopy and did nothing. It was very nice and relaxing. The beach and the water are beautiful there.

We arrived home late last Thursday night and drove down to Emily's house in Mapleton to pick up the kids. I had to quickly re-pack and the next morning we were at the airport again on our way to Phoenix with the kids. Paul is part of a networking group in SLC that had planned a trip to Phoenix for a Jazz/Suns game. We had to bring the kids with us since this is their favorite vacation spot (even over Hawaii and Disneyland according to Abigail). While Paul went to the basketball game, we drove over to Suz's house and the kids were so happy to see eachother. Julianna was so cute and had saved her money and bought little prizes for each of my kids from her school book fair. Even Matilda was excited to see us - she gave me a huge hug when I got there and patted my back several times. Saturday we spent the afternoon at the hotel swimming and going on the waterslide.

We really wore the kids out - Saturday night Julianna was actually begging to go to bed! On Sunday, we headed back to Utah, but not without stuffing our suitcases, plus an extra box with fresh grapefruit and lemons from Suzanne's and her neighbor's grapefruit trees. Those are so yummy. It is alway fun to visit Suz and her kids. We also love the AZ sun and the yummy grapefruits.
We are now home and I have mountains of laundry calling to me, but not enough energy to fold it all--so I decided to type this up instead.

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-28T12:54:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful Christmas including the following highlights: Hatch party with Santa Claus. Christmas eve at Oma and Opa's (minus driving through the blizzard in the minivan on the way up), Lots of yummy food and treats, and fun new toys. My best surprise was telling everyone that we are having a boy!

Las Vegas Bowl

2007-12-28T12:14:00.001-07:00

We joined thousands of other Cougar Fans for a pre-Christmas road trip to Las Vegas for BYU's bowl game. We had fun staying at Kimberly and Robert's new home in St. George on Friday night. On Saturday, the whole family went down to Las Vegas and we stuffed ourselves at a buffet on the strip before the game. We were lucky to find a good babysitter in Las Vegas so that our kids did not have to sit in the cold. BYU was even luckier to win the game by blocking a last minute field goal attempt by UCLA. We rushed the field with hundreds of others to celebrate. GO COUGARS!

Christmas Cookies

2007-12-28T11:45:00.000-07:00

We had a fun cookie making and decoration party here a few weeks before Christmas. We had large gingerbread boys and girls, sugar cookies, and I made a garland with some of the smaller gingerbread men. (I felt like the "elf" when hanging up the garland.) We froze a few cookies to decorate on Christmas eve for Santa. A few days later, the kids and I decorated a gingerbread house.

Here is a good tip for gingerbread houses my neighbor told me: If you don't ever plan on actually eating the house, then first decorate each piece of the house. Then assemble the house together with a hot glue gun. This held great and was very easy. We covered up some of the hot glue with our extra frosting.

Thanksgiving

2007-12-28T11:33:00.000-07:00

We had a great thanksgiving feast at Oma and Opa Wirthlin's house. Every dish that was there was delicious. Dad made the best smoked turkey. I had a lot of fun cooking for 2 days before Thanksgiving, I made the following dishes: fresh cranberry chutney, rolls, sourdough bread, pumpkin pies, oreo custard pie, spinach artichoke dip, stuffing, and I also made 2 dozen bagels to have around the house.

We were so glad that Suzanne and Scott came for Thanksgiving and stayed with us. Abby and Alexandra had fun going to the same church class and wearing their matching Costco dresses. They were lucky to be here for a big snow storm the day before they left to go back to sunny Arizona.

Disney World!

2007-11-19T12:51:00.001-07:00

We just got back from a week in Orlando, Fl, where we spent 6 days at Disney World. It was a great trip and the kids are allready asking to go back. We really wore the kids out as you can see by the last picture of us on the way to the airport. There were so many fun things that we did, but here are just a few of our trip highlights:

Spending time with John and Kaley. See John & Kaley's blog for more pics. http://jkwirthlin@blogspot.com/
Getting free upgrades on both our rental car and our timeshare room.
Princess breakfast
Pirates of the carribean and hearing Anthony sing "yo ho yo ho a pirates life for me"
Buzz lightyear ride
The petting zoo at Animal Kingdom
The Safari ride with real African animals
Jedi training - watching a live fight between Darth Vader and Jedis
Abigail in her Pocahontas outfit.
Tom Sawyer's island - Anthony and Andrew loved exploring the caves there.
Paul doing most of the pushing of all three kids in the stroller at once.
Seeing fireworks almost everyday.

Happy Halloween!

2007-11-19T12:23:00.000-07:00

We had a fun Halloween and the weather here cooperated so the kids got lots of candy - they loved Trick or Treating. For Anthony, I wanted to use an old Tigger costume that I have, but every time someone asked him what he was going to be for Halloween, I said "Tigger", Then Anthony would say, "no Tigger, I pirate!" So, Paul thought I should get him a pirate costume and I'm glad I did because he was the cutest little pirate ever.

I spent a day and a half carving the seven pumpkins you see there - the most dificult was the pirate ship. I broke 2 pumpkin saws because those pumpkins were so big and thick. But it was worth it after it was all done, they looked really good lit up at night and all of the trickortreaters loved them.

I also toasted 10 cups of pumpkin seeds using Emily's recipe. They are pretty good:

Pumpkin seeds

2 C pumpkin seeds 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp. butter (melted) 1 tsp. salt

Boil washed seeds in salted water for 15 min. drain mix with butter and Worcestershire sauce and salt. Pour in pan toast seeds 250° for 2 hours stirring often.

Anthony's 2nd Birthday

2007-11-19T12:07:00.000-07:00

We had a fun combined 2 year old birthday party for Anthony and Phillip. The best part about it was staying up until 1:30 with Cathy making the train cakes.

Go Cougars!

2007-09-25T20:08:00.001-06:00

Here is our nerdy BYU family at the BYU Homecoming parade. We camped out in the trailer the night before and then walked over to the parade. We got a lot of attention and candy because we were so dressed up and because I had this big comfy swivel chair. This picture was taken by a random photographer from the Alumni Association. He thought we were great cougar fans. We ended the day with a great football game with BYU beating AirForce (and Utah losing to UNLV). The kids have fun at the game - they love singing the fight song. We had a little bit of a scare at the game - I took all three kids by myself to get popcorn, Andrew turned the wrong direction and was out of my sight. I started looking for him the wrong way and couldn't find him. Someone took him to the security office and we recovered him about 10 minutes later there. We were all very shaken up, but glad to have Andrew back. Later when talking about the experience, Andrew said "Mom, which way did you go?" I told him, then he said..."oh, I went that way."

Abby's 5th birthday and Barbie Cake Tips

2007-09-19T23:49:00.001-06:00

Abigail had her 5th birthday celebration at Grandma's pool. She has enjoyed riding her new princess bike for the past couple of weeks. She loved her barbie cake. The morning of the party, she sat and stared at it for quite a while. She was a little worried, however, that Cinderella was going to get all ruined and sticky.

Tips for making a barbie cake:
I used 2 cake mixes: The first one is a double-layer cake (2 9 inch pans) - bake as directed on box and remove from oven and cool on racks. The second mix I baked in a Pampered Chef 2 quart batter bowl. This glass bowl is perfect for the job. Make sure to spray the bowl well. (I used the spray that has flour as well). Also, don't be surprised if it takes forever to cook. I think this one took about an hour.

Let the cake cool in the glass bowl - this is important. If you dump it out while it is still hot, it may crumble and the edges will fall off.

When completely cool, make hole in center using tongs. If you don't hollow it out a little, the cake will crack when the Barbie is inserted.

I placed the two round cakes and the one from the glass bowl in the freezer for about 15 minutes to chill them before frosting. This helps them keep their shape.

Place a big blob of frosting on a cake plate and put a leveled 9" circle cake on top.
Lots more frosting then the other leveled 9" circle.
More frosting.
Skirt cake on top of that.
Wrap Barbie tightly in saran wrap from chest down - this will keep her from getting dirty from cake and frosting.
Insert Barbie into the hole until the cake is at waist level. The reason I added the extra cake is because the batter bowl makes a cake that is a little shorter than Barbie's legs.

Now frost the entire cake generously and smooth it out. Put in fridge or let sit until that frosting is set before you begin decorating.

For decorating, I only used 2 colors and a couple of decorating tips. My secret to making this look pretty was to buy the pre-made flowers from the candy factory outlet. These were inexpensive and makes the dress look great without a lot of work.

Butter cream frosting:
1 stick butter (you can use up to one half shortening)
1 lb powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
a couple of Tablespoons of milk - to desired consistency

Whip butter - add vanilla, slowly mix in powdered sugar. Then add milk - one TBSP at a time and whip till creamy and the consistency you like.

If not using any store-bought frosting, you will have to make a couple batches of this for the Barbie cake.

Summer 2007

2007-09-19T23:17:00.001-06:00

Highlights from of our Summer 2007:

June: Week long trip to St George with Cathy, Suz, and Al all coming at different times. See picture (11 kids being fed around one table). We ended the trip by touring Bryce Canyon Natl park on the way home.

Bear Lake - we made 3 trips to Bear Lake this summer: 4th of July with Mom/Dad and Al and her family.
Paul took the kids to his family reunion right after my surgery.
And we went with Suz for a week - just two weeks after my surgery. We love Bear Lake!

August:
Family reunion - great times, good food! (See pic of kids with ice cream)

Lake Powell - We went on a week long trip on a houseboat with Paul's family. We did lots of water sports, the kids liked playing in the orange sand, and we took a boat ride and hike to see the Rainbow Bridge.

Hawaii Trip April - May 2007

2007-09-09T21:45:00.001-06:00

We went to Hawaii for a week with our kids and with Debby, LaMar, and Tyson. We stayed at a condo on the beach in Kahana, Maui. It was such a fun trip and we were so glad to have the kids with us. Anthony loved seeing the water and as he first saw the ocean from his seat in our rental car, he screamed out "Yo, ho!" and he would sing the pirates "yo ho" song everytime we saw the ocean. All of the kids loved playing in the sand and they even swam in the ocean with their floaties on. We went to a Luau for Andrew's 3rd birthday and we also took a boatride to go snorkeling at Molokini crater.

March and April 2007

2007-09-09T21:27:00.000-06:00

We have had such a fun, busy year and we are way behind on our postings. Here are some pictures from some of our trips during March and April.

We spent a week in Phoenix, AZ and hung out with Suz and Scott and took the kids to rawhide villiage.

In March we went on a trip to a really nice all-inclusive resort in Jamaica with some sales people from Printech. This was a fun trip and a nice getaway for a few days without the kids.

The last picutre shows the kids with their cousins about to search for Easter Eggs.

Sick/Snow Day

2007-02-26T09:30:00.000-07:00

I did not go to work today because Anthony has been throwing up. (Also, I have no cooking to report on because I had stomach flu all weekend as well.)

So I let Abigail and Andrew enjoy the freshly fallen snow. They thought it was fun making snow angels because they have never made these before. (Poor, sick Anthony is sleeping and could not enjoy the new snow.)

Pizza

2007-02-23T10:48:00.000-07:00

Pizza Tips:

Use unbleached all-purpose flour (this makes it more stretchy and makes the crust chewy, yet, soft)

I like to make the pizza dough 2-3 days before I make pizza and keep it in the fridge. This give the dough a nice flavor.

1 lb flour, 1 3/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp yeast, approx 10 oz. water - Form in cuisinart and then let rise 2-3 hours. Punch down and store a large tupperware bowl to allow for expansion. I also place a small amount of plastic wrap directly on the dough even though you use a lid, so that a crust does not form.

If you use the refrigerator method, divide the dough in thirds when you take it out of the fridge and push down slightly on a floured surface. Cover. Let rest and come closer to room temp before stretching/forming. (30 min)

Work with a smaller pizza - the pizzas above are about 10-11 inches diameter. I made three of these with one pizza dough recipe (1 lb of flour) If your pizza is smaller it will be easier to form and transfer into the oven.

Don't overload with toppings - too many toppings=soggy crust.

Use a mix of cheeses - today I used Mozz (mostly), then on top of the toppings I sprinkled Romano and Asiago. Parmesan is also good. Suz premixes all of her cheeses and uses her 4-cheese blend for all Italian cooking.

Both flour and cornmeal on the peal will help the pizza slide onto the stone.

Oven needs to be at 500 degrees - preheat with the stone in for at least 45 min. Don not take the stone out of the oven.

Place end of peel towards back of stone and very slowly and gently wiggle the pizza off. (That way your toppings won't all fall off and get burned on the pizza stone.)

After you remove your pizza from the oven with the peel - transfer immediately to a cooling rack. This will help the bottom crust to stay crisp and not get soggy.

Here is the Pizza Sauce recipe:

14 oz. diced tomatoes

1 can tomato paste

1 T. oil

1 t. salt

½ t. basil

1 T. brown sugar

½ t. marjoram

½ t. thyme

½ t. oregano

¼ t. garlic powder

Blend in cuisinart
If you double this, you'll have to use a blender or vitamix - this is too much liquid for the cuisinart, unless you do two batches.

Simmer about 20 minutes on low to enhance flavor.

I always double this amount and divide the whole thing into thirds. If you double it, then 1/3 of the doubled recipe is about perfect for a regular batch of pizza 2-3 pizzas. I freeze the other two portions separately to use the next two times I make pizza.

I go this recipe originally from Alison, who got it from Emily (i think). The original recipe did not contain sugar and did not say anything about simmering. Suz was the first to add sugar to make the sauce a little sweeter like Little Ceasers. Last year, I came accross this same recipe (almost exactly) in a Top Secret Recipe Cookbook for a clone of Little Ceasers Pizza Sauce. That is where I got the idea to simmer the sauce for better flavor

I was thinking it might be nice to make a big batch of pizza seasoning: equal portions of basil, marjoram, thyme, oregano, 1/2 portion of garlic powder, and double portion of salt. you could add sugar to this, too, but not brown. Then when you go to make pizza sauce, you would just add 1 Tbsp + 1/4 tsp of the mix to one can of tomatoes, tomato paste, 1 T. sugar and 1 T. olive oil.

What do you think?

Anthony

2007-02-22T21:56:00.000-07:00

Anthony is 17 months old. He is very funny and keeps us busy. Today he was very quiet for a long time and I found him re-arranging the pantry and he had dumped out half a box of potato flakes. He is beginning to talk a lot. He loves his daddy best, but he likes to call Daddy, Mommy. Anthony is the biggest BYU fan in the family. One of his first words was football and he walks around the house clapping his hands and begging us to sing the fight song. He likes to wave his fist and say "Ra, ra, ra, ra, ra." He loves his big brother and sister and follows them all over. He is finally feeling ok after about a week of feeling awful with an ear infection. : (

Andrew

2007-02-22T21:53:00.000-07:00

Andrew is 2 years old and is always very busy doing something. He loves to help mom with with whatever projects she is working on, especially making chocolate chip bagels. He is just starting to go pee on the toilet - a fact he is very proud of (but we'll probably wait until summer to fully graduate him to big-boy underwear.) He just barely got rid of his beloved binkies by stuffing them into a cute monkey at the BuildaBear Workshop. He was so cute and excited to do that. Andrew loves batman, spiderman, buzz lightyear, and BYU football and basketball.

Abby

2007-02-22T21:49:00.000-07:00

Abby is such a sweetheart. She is very smart and thoughtful. Although she may seem shy at first, she is a very sweet and her cousins and friends that know her well love to be around her. She has an amazing imagination and can keep herself easily entertained even if she has to play with her fingers and pretend they are a family. Abigail is in preschool and dance. She loves both. She loves her little brothers and is very protective of them.

Hello

2007-02-22T21:24:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my blog, bloggers!

Lets hope I find time to keep this up.

Here is our most recent picture from our fun California trip.