Artisan Bread making - Creative Circle

 Artisan Bread Night @ the Batt's

Thank you Mick for sharing your knowledge with us.

Thank you Kelly for a great support system.

 The finished product.

 Here are three different bread baking pans Mick recommended.

Here is the cookbook also recommend.

It contains the refrigerator version that Mick uses.

The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

by Jeff Hertzberg MD & Zoe Francois

 Recommended yeast to use.

 Just about ready - not too much stirring.

 This is the bowl size he uses for the dough.

 Don't forget to leave airflow - do not seal the lid.

Now here is everyone at work.

Jaime Ria and Kathy Cline.

 Tina Syddall, Marilyn Doxstater, Mindy Wiscombe, Nancy McKay and Cari Judkins

 Marci Yates and two friends of Kelly's that I do not remember their names. 

 Arlene Seger, Carol Hunter & Debbie Tribble

 Shelise Thompson, Terry McMullin & Janiene Brewster

I think I only missed a good picture of Alice Nuckol - meaning they were all of the back of her head.

Thank you all for coming. I think we all had a wonderful time. 

Labor Day in Phoenix

Fred and I drove our new Outback to Phoenix for the Labor Day Weekend.

I took Friday off so we had 4 days. The drive wasn't too bad and the weather felt the same as here in St. George. We arrived about 5PM.

I didn't take any pictures that first evening. We mostly sat in the family room with the TV on and visited and watched the boys. Bedtime was a hard this night because we were there and Evan was not ready to call it a night. Fred and I ran out to Zepe's for sandwiches and soup for dinner. 

Saturday I woke up to Scott and Fred hanging out with the boys. 

 I think Fred is reading instructions for the smoke alarms he installed at home after the fact.

 Saturday mornings before everyone is up is quiet TV time. 

 Graham was checking out Fred's cereal. 

 

It looks like a tough job. 

 Graham likes climbing the stairs. Someone ends up nearby just in case.

 Evan is playing with the sticker book I brought for him.

It was a hit. It kept his attention for a long time. 

The stickers were super easy to peel off and use over and over. 

Which he did.

 This was our swim day. The water is just right. 

It's a great pool with a lot of ledge for the little ones.

 Evan is not bashful at all in the water. He loves to put his head in the water and just float.

It's amazing to watch him.

 Grandpa hanging out with Evan.

 See I went in too.

 This is the view from the master bedroom window.

Isn't it a fantastic layout!

 Scott  started a fix it project. I think it was great to see them together.

Scott does such a fantastic job maintaining his home.

 The boys can never get enough of Jess. 

I am so impressed how she remains calm when things get chaotic.

I liked seeing how Jess and Scott help each other with the boys.

They are such a great team.

Lots of pictures of Graham in his high chair.

He really is happy almost all the time. 

Very free with sharing his smiles.

Saturday day night Fred and I ate out at Claim Jumpers. We did that so we wouldn't be home when it was bedtime. Hoping that the boys went down without worrying about us.

We came home and the boys were asleep so Scott and Jess went out.

They went to Claim Jumpers too. Jess had never been there before.

 Sunday school. 

 These are Grahams first shoes. 

Isn't he such a handsome boy!

  You can see I lounged in my PJs all weekend. 

Little Bright Eyes here.

 Here's another picture of Graham working on the stairs. 

We had a BBQ on Sunday and Jess made me a delicious Peach Cream Pie for my birthday. 

I should have taken a picture before we dived in. It was quite heavenly.

Evan is always up to helping in the kitchen. Lots of taste testing the whip cream that Jess whipped up.

She put almond extract in it and it was AMAZING!!

Sunday afternoon we lounged around. Watched the boys play while we watched 

On the Basis of Sex - the movie about Ruth Bader Ginsburg. It was really good.

Then we watched Woman in Gold. 

Fred and I are easy to please. When we visit the kids we just want to hang out.

Watch them in their element. 

This is a happy family. Beautiful and happy little boys and parents who love one another and work together as a strong team. It's great to see!!

All about Clara

I wanted a new topic to blog about so I looked at pictures on my phone. 

Lots of cute pictures of Clara. Corinne is recovering from foot surgery so she has had

the luxury of taking lots of pictures while she is home.

Now that the boys are all in school all day, Corinne and Ben I think are 

loving the quiet time at home being just three instead of seven people.

 She is playing with some toys that we bought her for Christmas last year.

This is her first time with them so she is quite enthralled.

 I love her unique mohawk.

Little fly away hair.

 I also love her little rolly polly arms.

 She looks so much like Corinne did when she was a baby.

 I love that little face.

 She is all personality.

 What is she thinking??

 So much going on in her little head.

 Here she is with all her big brothers as they leave for the 1st day of school.

 This is when Corinne was still stuck in her bed.

Clara just hung out on the bed with her. She isn't really crawling yet.

 I love her little concentrating face.

 I think both Corinne and Ben enjoy dressing her up.

 Concentrating again.

 I'm very pleased that Clara got the Daly blue eyes!!

Ben has been so great to take care of Corinne and keep the kids involved too.

He brought up Sunday lunch so everybody could be together. 

So that's my Clara highlight.

I think I'll do Graham next.

The perfect decorating theme

I have my own bathroom where I shower because I don't like the master shower set up.

I have had a couple different decoration themes over the years.

First was ocean/seashells. It was okay, but I never felt like it popped.

Right now I have a pink floral shower curtain and quite a few vintage pictures of girls/women.

The pictures are from birthday and anniversary cards that I have received over the years.

I've been happier with this theme, but the shower curtain is very flimsy so often the water leaks out of the shower stall and makes a big puddle mess.

Well, my dreams have come true. 

I found this bath set at Bed Bath & Beyond on Saturday.

I bought the shower curtain. I'm going to go back each time I get a 20% coupon and buy the rest.

The shower curtain actually has texture of netted puffs for the flowers on it.

I'm just so excited to finally find something that is exactly what I've been dreaming of.

 I'm not sure if I studied the shoes to figure out what they are for. 

 You can see that the design is textured.

Just perfect.

I took pictures of my new shower curtain this morning.

See how cute the flowers are with the netting?

 Here are all my vintage pictures.
I got this one from my Mom.

 This is a card from Fred.

 Another card from Fred.

 A card from a friend.

 Another card from Fred.

 Another card from a friend.

I love all these cards. They do capture my life.
Love my new bathroom theme. I can hardly wait to buy more of the accessories.
Then I'll just live in there.