Lump In My Throat

This past week I reconnected with a friend I met quite a few years back.  It has been so fun to get to know more about her and her beautiful family.  She is amazing; has three handsome sons and then adopted three adorable daughters.  I wish you could all meet her and hear her story.  She told me about a blog of a young couple in Idaho whose little 18 month old daughter drowned in a canal.  I was just reading through parts of it, and I just had to come and blog some more pictures of our family.  She said the only thing she would have done differently would have been to get out the video camera more and write in her journal/blog more.  Man, my heart feels like it will break and my throat really has a huge lump in it.  It is so hard to read about the suffering that some people are asked to endure through.  It seems like too much~

As an overview this week, I had a fun "spaghetti and pretzel" late night for the kids last Thursday.  They love having friends over, so we rented Toy Story III and had a PARTY.  Creative and cute is far from my specialty, but quick, easy, and home baked is up my alley.  I'll share our homemade pretzel recipe down at the bottom.  There were 15 of us, and it was a little chaotic, but I guess I'm used to that!

Saturday a.m. I got up early to try and tackle the bookkeeping for the cabinet shop that I was five months behind on.  It was grueling, but I am almost there now.  Groan..We also went to Dallin's last football game -  way more fun!  That night the girls and I had some more fun with awesome friends over to chat with.  We made baby s'mores over the kitchen stove burner.  Yum.

Sunday Tess and Derek woke up with runny noses and sore throats, so I stayed home from church with them. Thankfully they have been feeling better since then!  I showed up for stake choir practice an hour early thanks to me not fixing my bedroom clock for daylight savings, then I showed up again on time and was surrounded by strangers and was told it was some young women's fireside.  Nice.  Guess I shouldn't have ditched it last week and I would have had a clue what was going on!


Monday night, a sweet and thoughtful friend texted me at 6:45 and asked if I had FHE plans yet.  Cedar High School was putting on their last night of the play "The Wizard of Oz."  What the heck, we brushed our teeth and hopped in and headed over and made it just in time to watch it at 7.  Bless her heart, she even paid for all of us against my protests.  It was way fun.  The songs brought back lots of memories.  I hadn't seen the movie since I was probably 6 years old.  The Wicked Witch of the West pretty much freaked the pants off me back then.  It was much more enjoyable now that I am old enough to melt her myself.

And, here it is Tuesday.  Ryan has been away hunting for about a week, so we are missing him.   Oh, and of course we had our first snow.  Here are a few more pictures.....~Hug on tight to those around you!!!~

QB Tess

Sharpie + spice cake batter

Boogers and chocolate pudding

FIRST SNOW!

A girl in Dev's seminary class asked him to write her a song by Thursday??  The heck??  It was great to hear him playing, though.  It's a sweet melody!

Dallin, his moves, and his clone

Tuesday Treat: 

 Cinnamon Sugar Pretzels

These fun and filling pretzels are delicious sprinkled with salt and served with pasta or sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar and dipped in honey butter (our personal favorite!!)

4 c. flour (I do half wheat, half white)

1 T. sugar

2-1/2 tsp. quick-rise yeast

1-1/2 tsp. salt

1-1/2 c. warm water

1 beaten egg

In a large bowl, combine the yeast, sugar, and water.  (I do it in my Bosch).  Let sit a couple of minutes and then add flour and salt.  Beat just until moist.  Add in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.  Beat with hand mixer or Bosch for about 5 minutes. 

Cover and let rest 10 minutes.  Divide dought into 10-15 equal portions.  Roll into ropes.  Cover and let rest 10 more minutes (we don't always do this if we're impatient!)

Form into pretzel shapes.  Place on greased cookie sheets.  Brush with beaten egg.  Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.  Take out, brush again with egg and then sprinkle with salt or cinnamon and sugar.  Bake about 10 more minutes until golden brown. 

Soooo goood!!

**G'night**