How to Hide Old Age...

The other night Jeff was watching football, (a favorite thing this time of year) and Payton climbed up into his lap to watch a bit with him. After a few minutes he turned and looked at Jeff and said, "Dad, if you love football so much, why don't you just go play?". Jeff replied, "Payton, I'm too old to play pro football." Payton innocently responded, "Dad, just wear your helmet and no one will know that your bald!" We have been laughing for days over that and I just had to write it down before I forget.
Alana

Sunset Over the Tetons

This summer we were looking for new furniture for our living room after finishing our remodel. We found an amazing deal on a practically brand new chocolate brown leather set on Craigs List. The seller happened to live in Jackson Hole, WY. We realized we hadn't ever taken the kids over there, so we all loaded up and went over the pass to Jackson. We had a great time. It had been raining much of the day, so I was unsure if we would be able to get any good shots of the Tetons at all, but I took my camera along just in case. We got out of town where we could see the Tetons well, just as the sun was setting. I convinced Jeff to wait around a bit for sunset and low and behold, we got to witness one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen over those grand mountains. Wow! We couldn't believe it. Some really nice people stopped while we were gaping in awe at the beauty and asked us if we wanted our picture taken. We rarely get many family shots, so here is an attempt at a family photo.

It reminds me of something Jaden said last night. (I think he's inherited my love of sunsets!). "Jesus paints us a new sunset every day just to make us happy."

More Jadenisms

Jaden just cracks me up with his off the wall observations, usually involving some "friend" of his with the weirdest made up names. This morning he says to me, "Mom, did you know Mexico is a store now?" So I said, "Oh really, are you sure?" "Yes of course my friend TooGoo told me. Mexico is a store now." (very matter of factly!)
Ha Ha. He makes me laugh. I know all too soon he'll lose that fun innocence. I'm glad we still have it for a little while.

Whiskers

We'd been camping all weekend and everyone was dirty & tired. Jeff & I were sitting at the counter talking to Jaden. I told Jaden that he had whisker burns on his cheeks and that obviously Dad had been "whiskering" him. He turned to Jeff, lifted up his arm and said, "Yeah, I'm just like mom I have whiskers in my arm pits." .... I guess its time to shave!

Making Bread

You may or may not get this post. If not just ignore it.
I am so proud of myself. I learned how to make bread! The other day I made bread and was filling so fulfilled and happy that I had to take some pictures. It was probably my best batch ever. My mother always made bread. Some of my fondest child hood memories was coming home from school to the smell of fresh baked bread. My mom tried to time her bread so she pulled it out of the oven just as we were coming home. She'd cut a great big thick piece that was a little crunchy on the out side and soft, warm and dreamy on the inside. I loved it with butter & honey melting and dripping all over my fingers. The smell of fresh bread never fails to bring me memories of my mother. I never really thought with my crazy schedule, I'd ever find myself taking time to make bread. It seemed that when my mom did it, it took all day and I just didn't think I could commit to that kind of time. It really seemed that it would be hard to do. I really think there is an art to making bread. This last year I've been contemplating more ways I can be self sufficient. I love that I know how to sew, cook, garden, can etc. It feels so good to know I have the skills that I can take care of my family. There's just an odd sense of satisfaction to it all. We had a lot of wheat in our food storage, but I didn't even own a wheat grinder. I thought it was ridiculous that I couldn't really even use the wheat. Taking wheat to my moms to use her grinder wasn't really a great option either. You can't really grind a lot in advance unless you keep it in the fridge so it doesn't lose its nutritional value. So you can see it really wasn't working for me. I'd been telling Jeff I'd like a wheat grinder for Christmas so I could actually use the wheat we had. In the fall a good friend of mine convinced me to attend a bread making class she was giving. I went eager to see if I could figure out this bread making mystery and find a better faster way to do it. She was great. She teamed up with Jeff and I got a new wheat grinder and a bosch mixer for Christmas! A couple of lame attempts later and I'm starting to really get the hang of this bread thing. The bosch makes it fast and easy and Jamie's instructions and recipe has really helped me out. We are now loving and eating my bread regularly. Today, I almost botched it and left out the salt, but I got it in there last minute and it turned out teriffic! Thanks Jamie for your patience in helping me learn. Thanks mom for the thousands of loaves of bread you made with love for me and for instilling the desire to learn this skill so I can make it for my family. Bread...truly a comfort food.

My mother's day photo

I hardly ever get a picture with me and my boys. So, for several years, I have tried to keep up a tradition of having Jeff take a picture of me with my boys on Mother's Day. So at least yearly I have one. After church is usually a good time since we're all in nice clothes. I love these 3 rowdy boys. They keep me smiling with all their antics. So even though its a late post. I had a wonderful mother's day. Zack made me breakfast (broke the knob to the stove off in the process, but it was good.) He made me a coupon book with a whole bunch of chores he's willing to do to help out. I'm going to hold him to it too. I can always use more help. I got lots of hugs and kisses too. Jeff had my car detailed! That was wonderful. Those 3 sure mess it up pretty fast, so have a clean car is quite a luxury these days. It looked fantastic. I love all these boys in my life Jeff included. Thanks for loving me so good!
Mom

Remember...and write it down.

God really moves in mysterious ways. I am so grateful for the firends and family that I have in my life. He blesses me greatly through others around me. I know he works small miracles in my life every day.