The BEST of Times

It's almost the weekend.  AGAIN.  I thought I would post quickly about the past week before I have a boatload of other happenings to share.  I swear, this time of year is the best of times AND the worst of times.  Good things happening left and right, limited time and energy to squeeze them all in.  This all tends to leave me feeling overwhelmed (when am I not?), running late, and unprepared.  But things should settle down in a week or two.
(Obviously, I am a perpetual optimist where that not-so-distant "week or two away" is concerned.  Somehow it always seems to stay... a week or two away.)

Friday and Saturday Shilo had another long course swim meet.

(Shi is in the middle in the white cap)

She had her BEST of times in all three events she participated in (200 IM, 200 Back, 100 Free), and even won her heat in the 100 Free.  In lane 1, seeded second-to-last in the heat.  NICE.

This is her last Aces meet of the season, and I gave her the sound advice to give it all she had on that final event.  Knocking 2 seconds off a sprint is a most excellent way to finish up.

On Thursday and Saturday Lex had her League Track Meet.  Luckily, it was held not too far from home, making it fairly easy for Bill and I to catch Lex's events throughout our other hectic schedules.

On Thursday, Lex ran in the 800 Sprint Medley.  They matched their seed time, and placed 3rd. 

On our way out to the swim meet on Saturday, Shi and I stopped by to watch Lex's 4x100 relay.  It was the BEST of times, as her relay team set a new school record, and placed 8th, which isn't too shabby considering they were seeded last (11th).

NICE.

(We didn't want to fork over the $10 to be inside the fence, so we watched from the outskirts.)

In between church meetings (three - on a non-Conference Saturday, even) and dog training graduation, Bill was able to catch Lex's 4x400 relay.  If you remember, Lex detests running a 400, and only ran this particular relay once the entire season.  Again, we gave her the advice, on this, her last track meet EVER, to give it everything she had.  Even if it hurt.  Even if it made her sick.  Just do it.

She took 3 seconds off of her leg, the team took a total of 10 seconds off of their seed time.  It was their BEST of times.  There was a chance that they had qualified for State, but they would need to wait until all League meet results were in.  For the time being, they were in 16th place, and the top 18 qualify to run the State Meet.  At the end of the day, they placed 22nd in the state, 6th in their league, handily beating out the two in-town rival schools.  NICE.

(I was secretly celebrating not having to attend the State Meet this weekend.  I know.  Bad Mom.)

Sunday, of course, was all about me.

My sweet family made a yummy breakfast and set a lovely table, then summonsed me to join them.

Mar made this flower arrangement just for my enjoyment.  A big thank you to the neighbors who grew these sweet-smelling beauties.  I hope she asked before picking.

Monday was the Track Awards Dessert Banquet - keeping cost and effort low, which I'm all for.

Lex's sprint coach mentioned her amazing effort at the 4x400 on Saturday, and the aftermath.  The puking.  It was good for a chuckle on Monday.  Even Lex could smile about it.  She was awarded her Letter for Track & Field, and an Academic All-State Award.  NICE.

For Activity Days on Tuesday night, Mar invited me to a "T" Time activity.  Temples, Testimonies, and Treats.  The girls were all asked to bring a picture of their favorite temple to share.  Mar perused our large book of temples thoroughly before deciding on the Portland, Oregon temple. 

She's never been there, but loves the beautiful and ornate spires.   She's a visual person, like her momma.  I remember when I was her age, my parents had a book/lesson manual/magazine (not sure) that had pictures of rooms in various temples.  I fell in love with a sealing room in the Manti Temple, and decided that was where I would be married.  I wasn't (surprise), but have had the opportunity to attend a sealing there and see the beautiful handiwork first-hand.

The girls each brought a box wrapped in white paper on which they could write their testimony, then they built a temple out of their boxes. The evening culminated in treats.  It was lovely.

And finally, last night was Mar's dance recital.

 Mar's class danced to All That Jazz with live musicians.  {Tricky.}  They did an amazing job.

This was our cute carpool group.

(I flailed a bit on the flowers... I had told Bill I would cover it, since LAST recital I totally bombed in that area, and, once again, time got away from me and it was either purchase flowers and miss the performance, or see the performance and feel like a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad mom afterwards.  I chose the latter.  Lucky for me, one of the other dance moms was willing to give me a few flowers from her very large bouquet.  Mauri, being the amazingly sweet daughter that she is, didn't act disappointed at all, even though she had to be.  I have made a mental note to purchase a very large bouquet of flowers for her 5th grade "Continuation" ceremony - what will they come up with next - to redeem myself.)

Phew.  No wonder the week has flown by.

Upcoming:

Saturday - Temple Flower Planting Primary Activity

Britt and Austin HERE.  YAY!

Sunday - Seminary Graduation
Tay and Lynnea HERE.  YAY!

Monday - Senior Honors Convocation

Tuesday - Lexee's Graduation

Wednesday - Air Force Academy Graduation for Tay's bud Dakota

Thursday - Dakota's Graduation party (I'm assisting a little with food, decor, and set-up)

After that, things will settle down.  Right?

Whole Wheat Bread

This weekend is going to get crazy, and it all starts tonight.  Shi has a swim meet in Tim-buk-tu (okay, Lakewood), the YW are doing their fundraiser for camp - a Drive Thru Dinner and Bake Sale - Bill's helping grill burgers and dogs, and Lex may or may not have to work (I'm not a fan of "call ins."  They put you on the schedule, but you call in to see if they are busy enough to need you or not.  Good idea for the store manager, bad idea for an employee - and her family - who may want to make plans.)

Since Shi won't make the fundraiser, she had the assignment to make some signs.  Of course, we were up until almost midnight last night finishing them off.

They were looking a little pathetic ugly sad around 11 pm, then I had a rare brainstorm.

Glitter.  It makes everything look better.  Except the floor.
I think we salvaged them.  If the sun is out this evening, they will look amazing.  If it's raining, they will most likely go back to looking sad.  Either way, Shi and I will be oblivious.

I had been asked to make bread to sell at the Bake Sale.

I made a batch of white bread late last night, and decided that I would try a recipe for wheat bread this morning.  The recipe called for dough enhancer, and for some reason I thought I had seen it before at the grocery store... so after getting the girls off to their FINAL DAY OF SEMINARY FOR THE YEAR, I headed to Safeway... then Walmart... then King Soopers (yes, 6am).  No dough enhancer.  I determined to make the bread anyway.  I found the recipe here a long time ago, but had never taken the opportunity to make it, most likely due to my aversion to whole wheat bread ingrained in childhood from sack lunches with sandwiches made from small, dense, dark loaves.  If they were tuna sandwiches, it was even worse.  My mom was determined to feed her family healthy.  She would grind wheat and bake bread weekly, I'd guess.  I can vaguely remember conversations about how that store-bought Wonder-type sandwich bread was nothing but air.  No nutritious value.  "Wheat for man," she'd say.  I certainly see her efforts were valiant and worthy, but at the time it just felt like torture.

But, thanks to such upbringing, I have a desire to feed my family healthier, too.  I buy wheat bread, I just don't eat it.  And I'll admit to a twinge of guilt every time I put that white bread in my cart.

Back to today.  I was going to make wheat bread (from wheat I ground myself last night, even), and I was going to see if Shawni's recipe really WAS "the BEST home-made bread."  Dough enhancer or not.  (I could always blame a less-than-successful attempt on that anyway.)

The results:

One of my loaves turned out looking a little "funny" - certainly not Bake Sale worthy - so I decided to cut it open and give'r a try.  Oh. My. Stars.  Light, fluffy, de-lish.  I wouldn't have believed it was 100% whole wheat had I not ground the wheat myself.  I think it's better than my white bread recipe, AND it's really just as quick and easy.

Here's the recipe:

BEST Whole Wheat Bread Ever 

(I've renamed it)

Put these in a small bowl and let sit while you mix the rest of the ingredients:

(note:  use a bowl... and not too small of a bowl... I used a liquid 1-cup measuring cup and it foamed over the top... so my bread was most likely lacking a bit of leavening)
2 tbs. yeast
1/2 c. warm water (tap hot)
1 tbs. sugar

In mixer, combine:

5 c. warm water (tap hot again)
7 c. freshly ground whole wheat flour

Mix.

Add:

2 tbs. salt
(you could possibly use less, if you are watching your salt.  I could definitely taste the salt in the finished loaf)
2/3 c. oil
2.3 c. honey 

(if you put the oil in a two cup measuring cup first, then add the honey right in there with it, it will come out all slick into the mixing bowl)
2 tbs. vital wheat gluten
2 tbs. dough enhancer 

(didn't have it, didn't use it... I think the bread still turned out awesome.)

Mix all together.

Add one more cup of wheat flour.

Add yeast mixture, and mix again.

Gradually add 3-5 more cups of wheat flour until dough starts coming off the sides of the bowl (I used about 4-1/3 cups). You don't want it to be too dry but not too wet either. Tough call, but the more you make it the more you will realize how it should look.

Knead for 10 minutes - either by hand or in the Bosch
(I think I've mentioned how much I love the $5 Bosch my mom found at her local DI years back and gifted to me.  It isn't pretty - less so now that I've used it for years - but it gets the job done.  Love it.)

Separate and shape into four loaves of bread (I spray Pam on my hands while I do this so it's not so sticky).

Put in well oiled bread pans. Let rise for 35-40 minutes or until almost doubled.

Bake at 350 degrees for 28 minutes.

Another thing I learned:  Bread rises faster/higher in glass baking pans.  I didn't know.  Now I do, and plan to purchase a few more glass pans in the future.  When I have some extra dough.  Haha.

Wish me luck for the busy weekend...

3 More Days

Bill and I are counting down the days left of Seminary for the year.  3 more.  Then we can do some serious sleep catchup.  The weeks are whizzing by, but the final-week-of-Seminary countdown has slowed this one down a bit.  We plan to celebrate on Friday, after kissing the girls out the door.

Here's a random catchup of what's been going on around here:

Bill attended Lex's track meet on Saturday while I went to a Stake Relief Society Meeting.

Lex's 800 medley relay set a new school record.  Nice.  I asked Bill why there are shopping carts in all the pictures.  He said it's what the host school (Cherry Creek) used to haul around their starting blocks and equipment.  How.... ingenious?

I was uplifted, edified, and inspired at the RS Meeting.  I have set some new goals for improvement.  I've thought deeply (as deeply as a peri-menopausal gal experiencing bouts of brain fog can) about what consumes my time, energy, and effort.  How not to waste my probationary time being preoccupied with things that don't matter in the long run.  How not to be diverted.  The importance of focus and purpose.  Then Sunday came along, and by the end of the exhaustive day I had totally lost my thunder, and was ready to crumple in a heap on the floor.  (I'm going to post sometime about the roller coaster of funk that fluctuating hormone levels have put me on lately...
and the joy of hot flash after hot flash after hot flash after hot flash.)

I managed to squeak out my final locker tag for the track team, however.  That deserves a gold star.  Monday morning, bright and early, I was at the school to put them up.

Then I curled up on my bed and finished reading The Hunger Games.  Like a dutiful mother screening the book for her tween, even if it's AFTER the tween has already read it.

Today, I'm back to not being diverted.  At least by moodiness and hot flashes.

These have been my latest craving (peri-menopausal symptom.  Seriously).

To think I may not have ever known about these crunchy-sweet treats had it not been for my SIL Robyn.  She brought them to a family campout YEARS ago.  I can't thank her enough.

I call them Peanut Butter Cornflake Cookies.
(My best tip is to just dump the pile on a pan, spread it out, and piece on it all day.)

Super easy.

1 cup sugar

1 cup light corn syrup (I use the cheap GV brand from Walmart)

Bring to a boil and stir until sugar is dissolved (less than a minute).

Stir in 1 cup peanut butter.

Pour over 6 cups of cornflakes.  

Gently stir to combine, then drop by spoonfuls onto foil (or do the dump... I promise... just as good, although not as aesthetically pleasing.  If you are making them for guests, by all means, take the time to spoon them).  

In an effort to make them even slightly healthy, you may be able to notice the Bran Buds in the cookies in the top pic.  A little fiber can't hurt, right?  You might even get away with eating them for breakfast when they have so much fiber.  Warning:  flatulence possible.  Just sayin'.

And finally, Bill found this in the back of Lex's car,

and promptly placed in a prominent spot in the yard.  

Don't mind the grass that needs mowing.

The end-of-year AND end-of-high-school excitement is growing around here.  

If we can just make it through this week.

3 more days.

Love These Girls

Mar

 The final Science Fair came and went.  Mar's display was a success.  The funny thing this year... MOST of the displays were primarily student produced.  Handwritten.  Very similar to the one Mauri did back here.  I can't decide if the Science teacher pushed students doing their own work (although just because I typed what she dictated, snapped the pictures, printed them out, helped her Cricut, and helped glue -- along with Bill and Shi -- it doesn't mean Mar didn't do the work.  She did.  Mostly.), or if parents are getting smart to the fact that it's not graded or judged.  

IDK.  Either way, it's done.

The Science Fair itself had much more to do than in the past.  Mar got to hold a tarantula for the first time...

 ...and loved being able to sift for gemstones.

Love that girl.

Shi

 Shi swam her first ever 200 Fly in competition.  She had been dreading it all week, and was worried that she would be a lone swimmer at the end of the heat.  She didn't know if she could even do it.

Not only did she do it, she did it with determination and grace.  She even said she would be willing to swim it again, and that she thought she could improve her time.  I loved that it impressed on her that she can do hard things.  She is stronger than she knows.  A life lesson.

Love that girl.

Lex

Lex ran her first 400 of the season, after gentle coercion by her coach.  It was the first time they had a 4 x 400 girls team.  Ever.  They needed her.

She did it.  And she didn't even throw up.  I was proud of her willingness to try.  I think she may even run it again.  The icing on the cake:  her relay team now holds the school record.  Nice.  She is gearing up for graduation, and excited for things to come.

Love that girl.

Chey

Soul sister Chey ran into a situation with her dress for Prom.  She had ordered a dress online, but two days before Prom, there was still no sign of it.  She had to run out and find another dress, and asked me if I would be willing to put straps on it for her.  Although not even near a base-level seamstress, I was happy to help because I love her desire to uphold her standards.  

Love that girl.

Aubree

Aubree is Chey's older sister.  She finally posted a few wedding pics on FB, so I stole one.  She was married a few months back in the San Diego Temple.  A convert at 15,  her dad and stepmom divorced not long after, her dad not a member... she amazes me.  I couldn't be more happy for her and wish her and Evan all the best!

Love that girl.

Britt and Lynnea

Love those girls and miss them like crazy.

I wish I could be there to help them

paint

shop for furniture

decorate

meal plan

budget

you know... stuff a Mom and MIL could help with.  Times like this I wish I lived closer.  The good news is that they will both be coming to visit for Lex's graduation.  I can't wait.

Productivity

Yesterday was the first highly productive day I've had in a while.  That doesn't mean I don't have a sink full of dishes (I do), but I'll take it.  I started in on the task I've been avoiding since early February... hemming that darn sliding-glass door curtain.  You know, not only the one that was uncooperatively discouraging, but also the one that cost an arm and a leg.  I've let it hang around with loose threads and loose ends now for months.  After a surge of determined enthusiasm (at least as enthused as I can get these days), I pulled that baby down and set to the work of unpicking.  For the fourth time?  I can't remember.

Ta-da!

I would have liked them a bit shorter, but the rest of the drapes pool too, so it works.

After school, Mar and I had planned to work on her Science Fair project.  The one that is due today.  

You know how I love Science Fairs (reminders here, here, and here).

Pinterest gave us the brilliant idea to do the vinegar/baking soda balloon blowing experiment.  It was quick, easy, fun, and DONE.  The funny thing about the Pinterest pin was that someone pinned it thinking it produced helium.  Then the pinners went wild.  I found it under "Birthday Parties."  

Note to pinners:  it would be cheaper, easier, and far less messy just to blow the balloons up the old fashioned way.  

I love, love, love a good 30 minute science project, don't you?

Mar had to leave for dance right after we finished the project part of the project, so we planned to put the display together after planting the garden (a value project for Shi), and call it all FHE.

 Garden: planted.  I know, I know.  We are giving the garden another try, despite our flailing-to-failing attempts the past few years.  Demonstrating FAITH (thus the value project).  We HOPE it will be productive.  If not, at least it has given us the opportunity for WORK and family togetherness.  It was such a beautiful evening, and it was great to be outside, breathing the fresh spring air, getting in touch with the earth, and enjoying the beauties of nature.

Then we all came in the house to help Mar put her Science Fair display together.

Display: done.

{Last Science Fair project EVER}

Cel-e-brate good times, c'mon!  It's a cel-e-bra-tion.

These are the kind of days that are hard to duplicate.  The uber-productive kind.  Today, I'm tired out from all that productivity, and the older girls have the day off of school.  I think I'm going to force demand encourage them to work on their baby quilts... the eternal value project.  30 minutes here, 30 minutes there, lots of assistance and direction needed each time...  

I'm ready to git 'er done.

Pup Update

A couple pictures of the pups:

Jack and Ava are the best.