A Baby in the Kitchen

Katherine is such a sweet fun little girl. She is happy if she is busy with something. (I have a friend who calls her "Little Marilyn"). When I'm in the kitchen, she loves to be up on a chair--"doing dishes", or sorting silverware. The other day I got the urge to clean out some of the drawers in the kitchen--how is it that the silverware drawer is littered with crumbs?--Do people just drop crumbs in when they walk by? Anyway, I had a GREAT helper. She was content for hours just putting the contents of every drawer in and out several times. It is fun to have her around and watch her grow up. Our sweet little KK!

How Firm a Foundation

I've been experimenting with different bread recipes and have had some real FLOPS! The other day I made some bricks that would be great for a solid foundation in the food guide pyramid! My kids are sure good to put up with all of my experimenting. I try lots of new recipes and sometimes they are not too tasty. The other day I had a craving for a dessert and the recipe called for graham crackers--we didn't have any, and I would have ran to the store, but our van was in the shop--so I made some! They weren't too bad and worked great in the recipe--but to eat them plain was a different story. Peter took a few bites and said, "They're just a little yuck!" I guess that is a step up from A LOT yuck. A while back, Eliza suggested that I "save this for the 2nd coming". Another meal that wasn't too satisfying.

Well, the other day, I went to visit my friend, Faye--she is the master bread maker, I shared my woes and she shared her tips and recipe. I went home and made a WONDERFUL batch of bread. Here is the simple, foolproof (or at least Marilyn proof) recipe:

Great Bread
5 cups hot water
1 1/4 cups oil
3/4 cup honey
2 1/2 T. yeast
12-13 cups flour
5 tsp. salt

Combine water, oil, and honey. Add 8 cups of the flour (I used about 10 cups whole wheat flour and the rest white), yeast, and salt. Mix thoroughly. Add the remaining flour and mix until smooth and elastic. (I mixed mine for 10 minutes on the lowest speed). Let rest for about 10 minutes, shape into 5 loaves. Let rise until double. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

The bread was great. Come over and I'll cut you a big, thick slice!

Family Pictures

Our great friend Cheryl Kiss took these pictures in October 2008. Thanks, Cheryl!
A friend at work said we were the "cutest little Aryan family she had ever seen." :)

Family pictures

These were taken October 2008 by our great friend, Cheryl Kiss. Thanks, Cheryl!

Flooding in East TN

Idaho 2007 - Squirrel Meadows

Marilyn looks great no matter what!

Update: David here...I found some pictures.

Boy, it really has been raining a lot around here—I am prepared for the floods!

I have long legs and have always had a hard time finding pants that fit good and are long enough. I don’t have a full length mirror, so I never know what I look like from the waist down—and especially now, since I can’t see beyond my big round belly! Well, my wardrobe is VERY limited right now and when I don’t do laundry every few days a have to resort to some other options. I was very excited when my friend, April gave me some cute khaki maternity pants. She had a baby a few months ago and we’ve been trading clothes—it’s great to have something “new” to wear! I pulled on the pants, they fit and were comfortable and I thought I looked pretty good in them—that is until I went to run errands and saw my reflection in the glass doors at Little Caesar’s—oh boy, am I ever ready for the floods—they were TOTAL highwaters! (Sorry—no photo with this!—I’m sure that most of you have seen me wearing “floods” anyway!) At least I wasn’t in my pajamas--which has been my choice of attire as of late!

Everything Relates Back to Star Wars

I love having church at 9AM! At 8:30 it is a bit crazy, but it is all worth it when you are home at noon and have the rest of the day together—to rest, make desserts, visit people, and play games. Lately, we have put KK to bed early and had some VERY wonderful evenings of really studying the scriptures with the older kids. We usually just pick a topic, or a story and read and learn. Last night we did Adam and Eve and then it led to their posterity, including Enoch and his righteous city. We got talking about how old they lived many over 900 years! The kids were amazed that someone could live that long—“that is older than YODA!” They were also impressed with the prophets’ abilities to command mountains to move and rivers to turn in the course. Parker thought that would be like using the “force”—only better. Hopefully, they are gaining something from these discussions!

Best friends

Since these two are home from school without the other kids, they have become best friends. Being best friends also means you are worst enemies, but those times are few and far between.
Here is a picture of them together out in the mountains of North Carolina. It is actually two pictures that I put together, but who's counting?
Thanks to Cheryl Kiss for taking these pictures!