Planting bulbs

All the kids were home today roaming the yards of our neighborhood: playing hockey, jumping on trampolines, walking dogs & enjoying the first day of Fall break. It seems highly unusual that this year all of the families living on our circle are staying home for the break. It's like everyone is having a "vacation at home". The weather was fabulous for all kinds of activities & I chose to FINALLY plant some bulbs in my garden. Every spring I drive around with a little pang of remorse wondering why I didn't plan ahead for beautiful colors to burst from my soil. This year I am ready. Since my return from our European adventure I have big dreams of planting some garden delights. Today I planted 360 bulbs of various types and colors. The kids were intrigued and wondered how something that looks like an onion or garlic would possibly grow into a beloved tulip?! I'm hoping we planted them correctly...I'll be mighty disappointed come next spring if doesn't remind me just a little bit of France.

Delicious Doughnuts

In Autumn when I was a girl, Sunday nights my family would make chocolate cake doughnuts. I have been telling my kids about this tradition for years. Finally they had heard enough. They wanted "PROOF" that I really knew how to make homemade doughnuts! Together we mixed, rolled, fried, sugared & frosted an enormous batch of doughnuts. There were so many doughnuts & holes that we delivered a few plates to our neighbors & friends. I think this is a new Autumn tradition that our family will try to implement on Sunday nights. You should give it a fry (I mean try!)




CHOCOLATE CAKE DOUGHNUTS
3 1/4 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2 beaten eggs
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2/3 cup milk
1/4 cup butter
Cooking oil for deep-fat frying

Stir flour, baking powder, salt & cocoa in bowl. In separate bowl mix egg, sugar & vanilla. Beat until thick. Combine milk and melted butter. Add flour mixture & milk mixture alternately to egg mixture; beat just till blended after each addition. Cover; chill about 2 hours.

On a lightly floured surface roll dough to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut with a doughnut cutter. Fry in deep, hot oil (375) about 1 minute per side or till golden, turning once. Drain on paper towels. Cool. Drizzle with frosting or shake in a paper bag with sugar. Enjoy.

Frosting: 2 Tbl. softened butter, 1/4 cup cocoa sifted, 1 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar, 1 tsp. vanilla. Milk as necessary to reach spreading consistency. Mix well.

First Snow

First snow of the season hit early Sunday morning. The kids were thrilled & went tromping out in bare feet to feel the sting of cold to their toes. Just two days ago we were sitting on our deck enjoying the cooler fall temperatures. Wow what a difference a day makes! It looked like a snow globe most of the day as big fluffy flakes filled the sky. By days end there was no accumulation in the valley, but I think our mountains are filling up for a fantastic ski season!

Hockey Rules

It's not uncommon on our circle to find a group of kids playing street hockey after school. Many of "the boys" are on ice hockey teams so the competition is pretty good. Occasionally a girl or two will join in the game...we don't discriminate here, it's just that the boys play hard. Lilly found herself the only girl on the team. She stayed focused & enjoyed a little victory dance at the end of game.

Constructing a Haunted House

Three clever girls put their creative brains together Saturday and came up with an imaginative Haunted House constructed from cookies, candy & frosting. You can bet they each tasted the mortar & decorations...just to make sure none of it was poison!

We glued chocolate graham crackers to the box that they were purchased in. I made a sticky frosting using 2 egg whites, 3 cups of powdered sugar & black food coloring. Lots of orange Halloween candy & Voila!

Autumn Respite

Last Sunday evening Taylor had to head up the canyon to Deer Valley for an academic conference. He invited me to tag along & I jumped at that offer. My awesome mother & Paul came to hold down the fort, feed the children breakfast & get them off to school. Taylor and I enjoyed a breathtaking drive up the canyon. The leaves are golden & the air is crisp. It's a magnificent time of year. I enjoyed sleeping in, going for a morning walk & reading while Taylor had to get up early and attend his conference. We were back down to the valley of reality by the time the kids got home from school. A very quick but welcomed respite.

Homework Helper

It's pretty awesome when your dad is a college professor, because he's really good at helping you with your homework. Lilly is eagerly learning how to read & she loves to corner her dad for "homework/study time". I caught the two the other night sitting on the deck reviewing letters and sounds. Reading is so awesome & I can't wait for Lilly to be able to read anything her little heart desires.

Impromptu Party

October 4th was a rainy stay at home day. Luckily it was my birthday & I wanted to do just that. Taylor had to teach, but the kids and I stayed home listened to General Conference, ate good food and relaxed. By the time evening rolled around I was a bit stir crazy and so were the girls. Since Taylor and Spencer were headed off to the men's session of conference I threw an impromptu "girls party" for myself. We started at the nail shop where we each had a manicure. The ladies were thrilled to have beautiful little girls to work on. Lilly chose blue to match her shirt & Olivia and Clara surprised me with bright red. We were joined by Kirsten Taylor (our fun college co-ed friend who gets to come and live with us on school weekends & holidays) & Mary Stuart. After our nails were dry we went to Down East where I bought my girls "party favors" & they each got a new long-sleeve shirt with lace at the bottom. Dinner was at Paradise Bakery for soup and bread. It was still raining outside & soup sounded the best to all of us. I think planning your own impromptu party is a pretty darned good idea. I got to do what I wanted, eat what I wanted and spend time with my very favorite girls in the whole wide world. What else could the birthday girl ask for?!

Ladies Day

It’s been two months since we moved back from France & finally last Friday (the 3rd) I got to spend the entire afternoon with my mom and sisters. I can’t believe it has taken us that long to get together, but life is busy for each one of us. My sister Shauna built a new house while I was gone. She invited us all down for MY birthday lunch and what a treat it was. First of all her new home is awesome and has lots of great space for entertaining which she loves to do (and she’s darn good at it too!). Shauna fixed the most amazing crab louis salads. They were huge and filled with fresh king crab legs, avacados and home grown tomatoes & beets. It was DELISH! Fresh peach pie for dessert. Shauna makes the most amazing peach pie in the world and I’m not kidding!! I’ve tried to duplicate, but I’m terrible at making pie crust. I think I’ll try again this week, but maybe I’ll have to buy a pie crust. The secret is in the peach sauce. It’s so good you want to lick your plate (which my sister Valene did!). After lunch and lots of talking we went out for a drive. Shauna took us to one of her favorite little shops and we bought a few new Halloween decorations. Our niece Elizabeth recently got married and is living in Provo so we stopped by her newlywed apartment for a quick visit. She has it decorated so cute & life seems happy for her. We finished off with a little more shopping and then found a farmer selling peaches off the side of the road. We all bought a box so we could go home and try duplicating Shauna’s amazing peach pie. It was a great jump start to my birthday and so awesome to be with my mom, Valene, Shauna & Sue. I felt awfully loved that day.

Cheers! I'm in the 40+ years...Yikes!
AMAZINGLY DELISH PEACH PIE:
1 CUP SUGAR
2 CUPS COLD WATER
2 TABLESPOONS CORN STARCH
3 OUNCE PACKAGE PEACH JELL-O
COMBINE ALL INGREDIENTS & MIX WELL. BOIL FOR 1 MINUTE STIRRING CONSTANTLY. LET IT COOL A BIT & ADD BIG JUICY SLICED PEACHES. POUR INTO A PRE-COOKED PIE CRUST. CHILL FOR SEVERAL HOURS. SERVE WITH FRESHLY WHIPPED & SWEETENED WHIPPING CREAM. ENJOY!

Juice

Don’t ask me why, but I love canning. I love the warmth of the kitchen. I love bringing in food from the harvest. I love the rhythm of washing jars, filling them with yummy flavors and watching them boil on the stove. My favorite part is stacking all of the jars and looking at the varied colors and “fruits” of my labor. Maybe it’s because I don’t HAVE to bottle food for survival. It’s an art form to me. The art of homemaking, the art of creating something yummy and pretty, the art of just enjoying a morning in the quiet of my kitchen working with my kids and loving it.

Picking Grapes

Thursday morning I took Lilly and Ryan to my newly adopted big sister Marilyn Williams house to pick grapes. Marilyn lives on an old working farm that covers almost 6 acres. It was pure heaven. As you drive down her driveway there are over 300 baby pine trees growing. She has delicious white and purple grapes growing all around the tennis court. We picked and snipped until I had about 6 garbage bags full of grapes. Marilyn and I first met when she visited me in France with my sister Valene and some of their friends. I love this lady. She is fun, silly, creative, generous and just full of goodness. We hit it off in France and I’ve been a follower of her blog ever since.






After picking grapes Marilyn showed me her beautiful funky house – I loved it! The best part of the tour was the grounds. Just adjacent to the house is an old pioneer cabin. It’s the most charming cabin ever. I’ve mentioned before that Lilly is crazy about the Little House on the Prairie books and this cabin fit the bill. Lilly wanted to move right in. She even has the old original working stove in it. We might have to sneak in for a sleepover sometime. There are amazing trees all over the property: weeping willows, mulberry, almond, pear, oak, etc. A two-seater out house in case you are too far away from the house and you really gotta go! A giant green house that covers a great big pool (where Marilyn & her friends do water aerobics every morning). The green house has an honest to goodness fig tree, bay leaf tree & hydrangeas. It used to have a lemon, orange & avacado tree, but she had them removed because they were too messy by the pool. Down the lane is her husbands pride and joy: horses, steer and a full arena for riding and roping with the cowboys. The truly amazing thing about this place is that it’s about 25 minutes from downtown SLC. I told her that her property was my dream property. I would love to have all of the trees and places to plant a garden and flowers. It was a heavenly walk and a delightful morning spent with my cute friend. Thanks Marilyn!

Birthday Boy

The first week of October is birthday week in our house. Taylor turned 42 today (October 2nd). How IS that possible? I met him when I was 15 and he was 16…when did we leap to our 40’s?! Really I have been crazy about him since the first time we met. He makes me laugh like no other. His students and colleagues always tell me that he is funny. He’s just naturally a witty guy and I love that about him. But even more than his humor I love that he is kind to the center core.

It was sort of a lame birthday morning as the kids had to rush to get off to school, etc. Taylor did manage to go for a small bike ride. He’s always been nuts about bikes. In his opinion you can never have too many. Mountain, cruising, road biking it doesn’t matter. I wish he had time to ride every day, he loves it.. I picked him up at the University for lunch and we took Costa Vida salads/burritos to Laird Park for a picnic. It was perfect weather and so much nicer to eat lunch on a picnic blanket rather than in a stuffy restaurant. In the evening he and I went to the University of Utah football game - our first of the season. We rode our beach cruiser bicycles and locked them up right next to the stadium. No parking hassles for us. The game was a hit. Utah won in the lat 2 seconds! The only bummer of the evening was leaving the kids home…they felt a little left out of the birthday celebration.