This and that

Last week was our first time mowing the lawn this year. It was nice to see it cut.

Today was Stuart's first time tye dyeing. I tried to convince him to tye dye a shirt - not his feet.

It wasn't Goldie's first tye dye experience, but she still got her hands good.

The missionaries invited us to do this with them in our home for a zone activity day. So we had eight young men here all at once. It was our most ever. But fun, lots of fun.

Wearing Breakfast

Don't you like to wear your breakfast? I do.

DC Temple Trip

We recently went to the Washington DC temple. Our car doesn't have air conditioning. It gets a little windy so I dress like this.

It was a beautiful spring day.

While Mike and I were inside the children were involved in a program.

Goldie and Josiah both touched the temple.

Stuart touched it as well after everyone was finished.


While admiring the gorgeous view we were also able to go into the visitor's center to see the statue of Christ.

I especially wanted Josiah to see this. For the last several months he has been excited by pictures of the Christus. He keeps talking about going to see it. As I held him and we looked at the statue together he told me that it almost looked like a God. How right he is!

Most of the pictures I attempted to take he is staring at it, adoring it.

It was a fun trip. On the way home we stopped for lunch at a rest stop and had a little fun with Aztec who we'd taken with us.

It was definitely nice to get away!

Waking Up

Slowly, surely, the West Virginia earth around us is waking up! Is your world (as Goldie so aptly calls it) coming to life?

Some Sewing Projects

We've had some sickness during the month of March. It was a real whopper. I haven't felt much like doing anything. On the days when I wanted to feel productive but didn't want to think, create, or move - I did this:

Mom sent it with the thread. It was something that had been in a bag unfinished by someone. She thought she'd picked it up at a garage sale. While its still not finished, it was nice to see progress.


One day when we were feeling somewhat better I went to the basement and got out my old sewing machine that we'd been saving for the kids. Josiah sewed about ten blocks together. I was very nervous. I'm fine if he waits another year or so to really start sewing.

In very short order Goldie had this completed to decorate her bedroom.

Within 48 hours she had completed four walls of decoration for our kitchen. I was impressed, and not quite so mother hen"ish" with her time at the machine.

Slowly, I am gathering my strength and gearing up for somebody's birthday at the end of this month. I have many projects in the wings. I just hope I can accomplish all of them. Here is a sneak peek at her quilt:

Happy April!

Aztec

I'd like to introduce you to a new member of our family:
Aztec

After a day or so of cleaning up after this dog he became an outside dweller. (I'm trying to potty train the boy...and, well a dog and a boy was just too much!)

But we still love Aztec. We are spending a lot more time outside these days because of him.

20 extra minutes

Okay, so here they are and let me tell you, they were scrumptious. I'll share.

In your bread maker put:

1 egg (room temperature) plus enough water to equal 1 cup + 1 tbsp
1 teaspoon lemon juice
3 tablespoons oil
6 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon
3 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoon yeast

Monkey Sugar: Put equal parts brown and white sugar in a bag with cinnamon to taste. We put lots of cinnamon because I love it.

Put it on the dough setting and when its finished divide into little pieces of dough. Shake the pieces in your monkey sugar. Put in the pan and let it rise overnight. When you wake up heat up your oven to 350 and cook for 15-20 minutes.

When I made this recipe compared to the dough out of a can recipe I found it took ten extra minutes to put the ingredients in the pan and another ten extra minutes to divide the sticky dough.  But it was worth it!