Geraniums in WINTER?

So my Grandpa is any amazing gardener and has flowers galore. My mom brought me two geraniums from his green house last spring and they were so beautiful in my flower boxes last year. At the end of the summer my mom happened to be visiting and showed me how to get starts off them. So here are my starts 5 months later all ready to be moved to bigger pots! I love them and am so excited to have them in my yard again this summer. My awesome laundry room is the perfect greenhouse for these little beauties. Lots of room and sun and totally out of the way. Thanks for all your help mom. It's nice, I feel like I have a little of my cute 90 year old grandpa in my yard...yea that sounded a little weird but you get what I'm sayin' right? ;0)

P.H.S.N.S. Do your children suffer from this?

P.H.S.N.S. (Post High School Napping Syndrome) can happen to any children at any time. Some symptoms may include the careless tossing of back packs, shoes and jackets, collapsing down the second they return from school. Sleeping in awkward positions and yes...even drooling. This was such a funny day Brad and Hailie both came in from school and within minutes they were both crashed out. Must have been a rough day at Bingham High. ;0)

On a serious note I have to say how much I completely love these two crazy teens. They are Amazing kids and SO enjoyable and just plain fun to be around. Sleep on little ones...sleep on!

Basketball and Trumpets

We have been so busy this winter with basketball. Jason is playing on his Junior High JV team and has either a practice or game every day of the week. Trenton is playing Jr. Jazz as well and his games are on Saturdays. All the pics I have of Jason in action are blurry and terrible but this is a great one of he and Jaxon. Jaxon and Jason were friends when we lived in Provo. They were 3 or 4 when we moved. They played against each other this year and is was so fun to catch up with them. This is Kelsie's Winter concert with the school. She is really enjoying playing the trumpet but is hoping that next year they will have strings so she can learn the viola. The concert was very nice (really) especially for this being the first year of them having band. Kelsie is in the center of the photo with the white skirt with black flowers.
Basketball is winding down and now all the kids can talk about is summer, wake boarding and Lake Powell...can't wait! Spring is just around the corner we can almost feel it...almost.

A friend of mine brought me an AMAZING loaf of bread the other day that she had made. It was simply the best homemade wheat bread I have EVER had. I have been trying to learn how to use some of the wheat in our food storage and tried some other reciepes but this takes the cake or the bread as it were. It is a delightfully soft and yummy. So I grind my own wheat for the flour but you can buy it too. She also mentioned it is important to follow the recipe to the letter and the amount of time to mix and so on. I did all this and it paid off in 4 delctible loaves of heaven for the mouth!

7 C. whole wheat flour
2/3 C. vital wheat gluten
2 1/2 T. instant yeast

5 C. steaming hot water (120-130 degrees)

2 T. salt
2/3 C. oil
2/3 C. honey
2 1/2 T. bottled lemon juice

5 C. whole wheat flour

Mix the first three ingredients in your mixer with a dough hook. Add water all at once and mix for 1 minute; cover with a towl and let rest for 10 minutes (this is called sponging). Add next 4 ingredients and beat for 1 minute. Add the last 5 C. of flour one at a time beating until just blended each time. Beat for about 6-10 minutes until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. This will make the dough very soft.

Preheat the oven for 1 minute to lukewarm then turn it off. Turn the dough onto oiled counter top ( do NOT use flour) divide into 4 loaves and place in oiled bread pans. Place in warm oven for 10-15 minutes until dough reaches the top of the pans. Do NOT remove from oven; turn the oven to 350 F and bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and butter tops remove form pans and cool. This bread freezes really well if it last that long......mine is gone in a day or two! ;) You can also half this recipe for 2 loaves.

*Tip when I put the dough in the pans I gently press the dough into the corners of the pans to help even out the loaf.

Happy bread making.