Soft Pretzels

We did a great recipe on Monday for our "Cooking Day". We made soft pretzels and the kids each made the letter of their names with the dough. It was an easy recipe and they turned out good.

Soft Pretzels
2 - 16 oz. loaves frozen bread dough
1 egg white, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon water
Coarse salt

Separate thawed bread into 24 - 1 1/2" balls. Roll each ball into a rope 14 1/2" long. Have children plan and design pretzel shapes (letters or numerals). Put pretzels one inch apart on greased cookie sheet. Let stand for 20 minutes and brush with combined egg white and water. Sprinkle with coarse salt. Place a shallow pan containing 1" of boiling water on bottom rack of oven; bake pretzels at 350 degrees on rack above water for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Summer Poem

July Midnight
By: Amy Lowell

Fireflies flicker in the tops of trees,
Flicker in the lower branches,
Skim along the ground.
Over the moon-white lilies
Is a flashing and ceasing of small, lemon-green stars.
As you lean against me,
Moon-white,
The air all about you
Is slit, and pricked, and pointed with
sparkles of lemon-green flame
Starting out of a background of vague,
blue trees.

This is one of my favorite poems. I learned it my Senior year of High School. When I recited it to my class, my teacher (Mr. Pile) told me not to forget it and to recite it to my "lover" (the whole class laughed when he said "lover") someday. I did mention it to Paul, I guess he's not into poems because he laughed and made some comment about how you can't enjoy the fireflies when there are so many mosquitoes around. Ah, true love!!

I do miss fireflies though. When we lived in Kansas you could see them in the bushes or trees at night. I think they are truly beautiful, yes beautiful, insects.

Seth's Special Day

Sorry I haven't blogged in awhile. Summer is here and the kids are home, so life is crazy.

We did go on a trip out to Utah for our nephew, Seth's baptism. The baptism was great! We saw a lot of family members that we haven't seen for awhile. Seth was so happy. His dad, Paul's brother Phillip, had given him a set of scriptures with his name engraved on them. Seth was so proud of the scriptures he carried them around all day long. Everywhere we went he had his scriptures, it was so sweet.

After the baptism we ate, and played. That night there was a fireworks show at the local park (Laura's house where we stayed backs up to the park) we had a great view! Then Uncle Phillip put on another show just for us. That night the kids slept in tents in the backyard. The rest of the time was filled with games, talking, laughing, and eating. The best part was that 5 of his sisters were there. It is rare that so many of them are together at one time. We were only missing Leslie, and we did miss her. All in all we had a wonderful time!


Seth and his parents after his baptism


All of the cousins together




Games at the park behind Aunt Laura's house


The accommodations


The "after show" show

I've been tagged...

I've been tagged...Okay Rachael, I'm game.

* Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.
* People who are tagged, write a blog post about their own 8 random things, and post these rules.
* At the end of your post you need to tag 8 people and include their names.
* Don’t forget to leave them a comment on their blog and tell them they’ve been tagged, and to come back and read your blog for the whole story


1. I imagine myself as a beautiful person that everyone loves, and am shocked to find out otherwise (I know I'm crazy).

2. I love Poison and Def Leppard, and still listen to them all the time.

3. I love mushrooms.

4. I long to go back to the Canary Islands where I served my mission. I truly miss the people that I left behind, it really feels like there is a hole in my heart and I desperately want to see them and hug them and make sure they are doing good.

5. I grew up in Wyoming and I love Wyoming. I even get nostalgic when I see a tumbleweed.

6. My greatest goal is to raise successful children. I want them to be happy and have strong testimonies.

7. I'm excited for the day when I can spend alone time with Paul, and travel and just be together all the time.

8. I desperately want to be organized and have a clean house. Sometimes I will invite people over just to force me to clean the house.

Happy Father's Day

This post is dedicated to the best Dads I've ever known!




My dad is a strong, sensitive man with a great sense of humor. As I was growing up he always gave me good advice and loved me unconditionally. I never wanted to let him down, having his respect was one of my greatest desires. He is a great Papa to my children and we all love him!





My Paul is also a great dad! He loves me and he loves our children. He plays with them, reads to them, takes them on "date nights", and has their best interest in mind at all times.

Taekwondo

Tyler and Brayden just got their Green Belts in Taekwondo. I guess we don't need to worry about walking down dark alleys. We just need to protect them from each other.

Brayden is 7 yrs. old

Today is Brayden's birthday. Brayden has always been a happy, sweet boy. He loves playing with his friends, and helping others to be happy too. He loves music and plays the piano and loves to sing.








Brayden will always put a positive spin on any occasion. His first grade teacher was telling me that she just loves his sense of humor. One day he had forgotten his show and tell (each kid was assigned a day to bring something) and instead of being upset about it he decided to show the class his shoe. He took it off and explained to everyone the things he does while he wears those shoes and then showed them every little detail. Everyone laughed and thought he was so funny. He came home thinking that he had the best show and tell ever (it didn't matter that someone else had an Emu egg).