SPT - TRICK OR TREAT

Every Halloween I make raised doughnuts for everyone who stops in.It's a tradition that my kids love.Here is the recipe. Let me know if you try them!

Sweet Roll Dough

1/2 Tblsp. active dry yeast

1/2 cup warm water

1/2 cup lukewarm milk

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup butter softened

1 tsp salt

1 egg room temperature

3 1/2 to 4 cups flour

Dissolve yeast in warm water in large bowl. Stir in milk, sugar, butter, salt, egg & 2 cups of the flour. Beat until smooth. Mix in enough remaining flour to make dough easy to handle.

Turn dough onto lightly floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Place in greased bowl; turn greased side up. Cover; let rise in warm place until double, about 1 hour. Punch down dough. Roll out to just around 1/2 inch thick then cut out the doughnuts with a floured doughnut cutter. Cover; let rise on floured surface for about 1/2 hour.

Heat vegetable oil (2to3) inches deep in heavy pot. Slide doughnuts into hot oil. Turn doughnuts as the rise and brown. Remove from oil onto paper towels to drain. Dip in vanilla glaze.

Vanilla glaze

whisk together: 1 3/4 cup powdered sugar, 1/4 cup milk, & 1/4 tsp vanilla until smooth.

I times this recipe by 4 to make around 100 doughnuts.

(it's just a little stressful)

Halloween 2007

HAPPY HALLOWEEN 2007

Cassidy

I went to breakfast with my breakfast buddies today & Lori brought her sweet baby all decked out for Halloween. Isn't she darling!!!

Max & I took Brett a spooky Halloween lunch. (Turkey sandwich with chips)

Superman made out like a bandit, although several pixie sticks broke in his trick or treat bag & made a huge mess. Oh well. I love pixie stick too, dang. The real treat for him was the three little packs of play dough he got. Trent doesn't really like candy- can you believe it???? He came home & dumped out this mess then played with the play dough.

This is Chloe's candy before she went back out with a big group of friends and got at least triple this much candy. She is the kind of gal who eats one piece of day then tortures the rest of us because we all want to eat it, except for Trent.

Megan was here- I forgot to get a picture. The boys went to Halloween parties. Here's Hailey & Brian the cowboy. Hailey helped me with doughnuts & getting the front door. I forgot to take a picture of Jack- he was a rugby player.

Making doughnuts probably isn't the best thing for me to do on Halloween. Every year I forget how completely stressed out it makes me. I'm always worried I won't have enough, they won't be ready in time. Why do I do this? I am definitely a Halloween witch while making doughnuts. This may be a tradition that needs to be dropped.

The Cowboys Are Back

The cowboys got back tonight.

I am so glad they made it safely. They had the best time. Seth & Josh (jack's friends) went with them. On the way Seth lost a shirt out the window then they missed a turn and went a little out of their way- but they made it. Here is a picture Brian took driving through Wind River Canyon. It's a beautiful canyon one of the highlights of the drive.

They're Grandparents home is east of Cody, several miles. They live near a reservoir. It is beautiful country.

Right after they got there Brian broke his camera so these aren't his best pictures because he couldn't see out the screen. I think they turned out pretty good though. Grandma took a bunch of them riding horses so I will put them up later.


This one is taken from the dike near their home.

Brothers.

And Bandos.

We love Bandos. Brian got to choose which horse to ride since he won't get to ride for a couple years so he chose Bandos the whole time. He said he was great- he's a good horse.

Jack

These are the views from the porch.

The Grandparents took the boys out riding, to dinner, to town, to church. Grandma said they mostly kept themselves busy. They said they had a blast. One of the highlights was late the first night they heard a sound outside. It really spooked them so they turned off the lights & peeked out the window. They were thinking it might be a grizzly- but no- the horses were out. They jumped out to get them while Brian woke up his grandma & grandpa who just knew he was wrong, but he was right they were out. So the boys saved the day, or night.

Josh, Jack & Seth at the reservoir.

They are great friends to jack. I love all of my son's friends, I really do. It is a real privilege to have such wonderful young men in our home now & then.

Their grandma called this morning letting me know they had left. She was crying & said she felt like four of the stripling warriors had left her home. Wow- what a compliment. Of course, she is the grandma, but they are great boys.

Good Mail- Good Day

Max loves to go for a ride in the car. He listens for the front door to open then darts out & tries to jump in the car, any one's car really. Today I was running off to Costco - the girl's & Trent were home, no school today. I felt sorry for Max. He made the mad dash to the car hoping I would take him- what the heck. (Now I have become one of those silly people who always have their dogs in the car- no offense intended it that's you) Doesn't he look cute . This was him as I opened the back of the car.

He got a haircut and most of his beard is gone. He looks ridiculous, like a huge skinny rat with a small beard.

This past week I have been thrilled to get some good mail so I thought I would post it today.

I got this funny card from my dear friend Stephanie. We both love funny cards. I can just imagine her laughing when she picked it our at the store.

I also got these fabulous products that I ordered from a different Stefanie at stationary with style. I love EVERYTHING she makes and sells. Are these cute or what? Check it out she has a fantastic weekly special too.

I also got my word necklace from Lisa Leonard. Even though I am not a jewelry person, I love all of her handmade jewelry. I am now reminded to keep my days in balance in a very uplifting positive way.
My mom sent me this cookbook & magazine. She knows I love cookbooks & magazines so it has been a delight to read through them.
The cowboys come home today so hopefully I will have some great pictures to share tomorrow.

I hope you are having a great day.

Movie Review

The North Avenue Irregulars

I netflixed this movie this weekend & we have loved every minute of it. I remember seeing it in the theatre & laughing my head off I must have been 11 or 12. It's darling, your kids would love it. It's a Disney & rated G~ this is what we need more of in the world. I'm telling you even my 14 year old too cool teenage daughter liked it!

Yesterday morning Max took Chloe & I for a walk.

It was an absolutely perfect fall day. Here are some of the sights along the way.

I photographed this tree just a couple of weeks ago with all it's pretty yellow leaves.

Can you believe this little fruit & vegetable stand is just 1/2 mile from my house?

They have a little pumpkin patch there too.

This is an old historical home that I love to walk by.

Chloe had some money burning a hole in her pocket so we stopped at Maverick on the way back. Max was a big hit there. All the soda drinkers & people buying gas loved him.

It is always fun being with Chloe. She is a lovely gal, with a soft spoken manner and sweet disposition. She is gentle & kind, plus lots of fun.

She shares her treats too.

Thanks for walking with me Chloe.

*what's the weather like at your house?

*do you love fall walks?

The missionary in waiting and his taller little brother are going on a road trip today up to Cody, Wyoming. This is Brian's last chance to cowboy it up before his mission. (No cowboy boots - it actually says that in his mission paper work) Jack is taking along two friends and they are really excited to go. The above picture is them coming up to the house to give me a goodbye hug.
One picture for the road...

Can we have one serious one? Please...

Back to the car... hammin it up.

And the pose.

This is such a great opportunity for the boys to have some time together before Brian leaves. As much as they have fought in the past, they don't anymore. There is a real sense of brotherhood between them. They are going to miss each other more than they know. It's almost time for Jack to be the top dog around here. 19 days, I think.

Have fun boys!

Halloween Parade

Ours is surely one of the last schools around that has a Halloween parade. It is so much fun. I love it & it reminds me of when I was a kid, we always had a Halloween parade. A couple of years ago the sixth grade teachers decided to do a spook alley, since everyone knows sixth graders are way to cool to dress up & be in a parade. I signed up the missionary in waiting to help & he was the parent assistant in the Egyptian area with Chloe. She was so thrilled to have her cool older brother there, and now there are three sixth grade teachers who thinks he's the bomb.
This is Trent holding still for the picture.

This is Trent holding still again for the picture.

Here is Lily- isn't she cute?!

This is Chloe's teacher- she's the best- I'm not kidding. She is a beautiful lady, but today she's in jail- he he he. She is such a good sport. Of course, she doesn't know I took this picture, or that I have a blog----shhhh.

Here is part of the spook alley. Chloe informed us this morning that the teachers are really hoping the fire marshal doesn't come in for a surprise inspection. It's pretty packed with spooky stuff.

Her is Caroline- she is in the fortune telling section of the spook alley.

And finally, here is Chloe & friends in the Egyptian section- what a fun day for these kids!

*do your kids have a parade at school?

*did you have a Halloween parade growing up?

Long Week

It's been a difficult but good week.

Brett has been in Boston since Sunday. He rarely travels more than one night at a time so- I am a little tired. I just don't sleep well when he is gone. Plus dealing with Trent at night (bedtime, homework, etc.) by myself is exhausting. Yes, Trent's asperger's is becoming more & more apparent. He had a difficult time at pack meeting this week. It was only the 3rd time he has been & one of the leaders (not his leader) singled him out in front of the group, mentioning that he was the only boy who didn't do the cub master hand shake right, & some other things. Not really thinking it through, I had sent Trent with his older brothers thinking it would be fun for them- plus I really hate pack meeting. Anyhow, Brian & Jack were very offended & upset, Trent was giving them a really hard time & this made it much worse. They had to drag him out early, it was difficult for them, they had to call me, he was hysterical...

To make a long story short, Brian called the woman & really let her know that Trent has asperger's & did not need any more attention brought to him- we are working on it. She apologized etc. This just reinforces my opinion that those around him need to be educated. I am not saying he shouldn't have to deal with natural consequences for his actions, we are all about that. There is a certain amount of tolerance for kids who are out of control. There is more tolerance if people realize there is a real disability going on.I am so glad Brett will be home tonight.

This is what I have been doing today.

I love, love, love my new floor. Brett did such a great job putting it in. Now the trim is painted-woo hoo I can put the furniture all the way back tonight!

Missionary Madness

Well- this is it. The missionary in waiting & I finally went shopping. Here we are at Mr. Mac a men's store & in the LDS world the best place to shop for a missionary.

Two-two pant suits, 3 washable slacks, 12 white shirts, 2 pair dress shoes, "dressy" snow boots, 8 ties, 12 pair of socks, a sewing kit, first aid kit, and shoe shine kit later- we were out of there.

Can you believe this kid has saved his money for years for this. That's dedication, and yes I'm glad I didn't have to foot the bill, just yet.

He is so handsome- he was excited, thrilled actually & nervous spending that much hard earned money. Only 22 days left & the jackets didn't need it, but the suits pants will be altered in time. November 10th to be exact. I almost passed out. Just four days before he reports to the MTC- Missionary Training Center. Feeewww- (I am wiping my brow)

It takes a lot of courage, conviction & sacrifice to want to be a missionary.

I hope he feels it was worth it. I know watching him grow, I already do.

Now, lets just see how I feel the day he leaves.