My Birthday Breakfast Party!!

(Nobody would wait until I got my make-up on or my hair done to take the picture but oh well)

My new roaster oven from Joel and the girls, my cute sweater from Brittin and my little chicken from Olivia. (Thats a long story but dont worry Olivia....you will get it back for your birthday!)


Our Pedicures at JK Nails!

The final results! Looks good huh!

Lunch at MaeWahs. Its kind of hard to take our own picture and fit us all in! Taylor and I got Sweet and Sour chicken and Brittin got the Sesame Chicken. I am getting that next time! I would highly recommend it!

Happy Birthday to ME!!

Okay, so it's my birthday. Its not a big one, like 40 (jk Dani!)...just my 38th. I started thinking awhile ago about how I would like to spend it. I took the day off and decided to do whatever I wanted. Well, I got a little pouty because I really wanted to spend it with my Mom and sisters. I knew that was not possible but we are planning our very own little retreat after the first of the year so I am okay with all of that but...the closer it came the more I chickened out of everything I had planned on doing. Its just not much fun to go by yourself and I didn't have the heart to ask anyone else to go spend tons of money at this time of year! I had finally just decided to stay home and organize my digital photo's. As of last night that was my plan. Well...I woke up this morning and made my bed, worked out on my treadmill and took a shower. I really stayed in my room until Joel came in and let me know that breakfast was ready. I came out and the girls had hung streamers and balloons all over the kitchen! They had the table set with party plates, hats and the works! Mind you its only 6:30am so they had to have stayed up and did it after I went to bed last night! I was so excited! We had breakfast and opened presents. Brittin and Taylor informed me that they were taking the day off of school to spend it with me and to make sure I did something fun. (A big sacrifice I know) So.....we went to Alamosa and scheduled pedicures. We had some time to kill and so we went to several stores and just priced raisins. When we got to the nail salon they informed me that my good friend Janella had called ahead and paid for my pedicure. She had it upgraded to the "Deluxe" version. I have a very strong suspicion that she was in on the whole make sure Anjeanette does something fun today plan! What a sweetheart! Okay, so I have got to get me one of those pedicure chairs. Oh my! A little piece of heaven. It had a little jacuzzi tub thing for your feet and a massage thing for your back! And it just got better from there!! My feet feel so awesome! We went and had Chinese food for lunch that was to die for! When they brought the fortune cookies we each picked one. I then made everyone rotate them to the person on the right! Well you can imagine the chuckle we got when my fortune read: "You are never too old to learn new things!" As we left there, we window shopped our way to the car. Its amazing the stores we have in downtown Alamosa that I never paid attention to before. We saw fudge in the window of a flower shop and we just had to go in. Needless to say we each had to get a piece of our favorite fudge! We were good and stuffed after all of that. We had to make a quick trip to Wal-Mart. (You cant go to Alamosa and not go to Wal-Mart). We had to hurry home so the girls could get to dance practice. I have to say...."What a fun day!" When people find out I have all girls they usually say something to the effect, "I am so sorry". Well, dont be because they are quite fun to have around. Thanks girls for making my birthday so memorable!

Oops! The picture didnt attach!

My Quest for the Perfect Wheat Bread!

I Love whole wheat bread. Many people have shared their recipes with me. The really good ones always have some portion of white flour. Well I have spent years trying to master one hundred percent whole wheat bread. My criteria has been thus; that it isn't dry, doesn't fall apart in the toaster and you can use it for sandwiches. My family has suffered through many, many failed attempts. Well I can honestly say that after 3 successful batches I feel like I have made it! So I was in a huge hurry with this batch so the loaves are not formed perfectly. I wont be winning any ribbons at the fair or anything but it tastes divine! So......here are all my secrets rolled into one recipe! The recipe came out of the Set For Life book so I didnt come up with it all on my own. I just tweaked it.

For four large loaves. I mill the whole wheat right before I use it. I but 9 cups into my mixer. They I add 2 rounded tablespoons of dry yeast, 1/2 cup of high-gluten flour and a pinch of vitamin C powder. (I got those at the health nut person store) Then pulse to mix those all together. I then add 1 cup of buttermilk and 5 cups of hot water. (As hot as my sink gets it) I mix that for 1 minute (yes, Brooke I really set the timer!) I then shut off the mixer, cover the bowl and let it sponge for 10 minutes. I then add 1/2 cup oil, 1/2 cup honey or sugar, and 1 1/2 tablespoons of salt. I turn my mixer on and quickly add around 6 or 7 more cups of flour. It really depends on the day as to how much it takes. I add it one cup at a time and as soon as it all sticks together and cleans the side of the bowl I stop. I let it mix for 7-10 minutes. During that time I preheat my oven to 150 degrees. When its done mixing, I shape my loaves and put them in the oven and I shut the oven off. I let the bread raise for exactly 25 minutes. (20-30) depending on how long it takes to almost double in size. Then I turn the oven on to 350 and let it bake for around 30 to 35 minutes! Oh and it smells so good. The little girls told me yesterday that they love the days I bake bread. It makes it so worth it! And for those of you that care, there is only 88 calories a slice. (I dont measure how thick the slice is!!!) Anyway so there you have it. And I took the picture cause I told my mom I would but I also wanted to show a close up of my counter tops!

My New Kitchen!!!

Okay, this will only really matter to those of you who have seen my old kitchen. We had some problems with our old counter tops. The company that did them is no longer in business so he couldn't fix them. He did however refund some of our money. We took that money to our good friends Kent and Melissa Mortensen at Highland Cabinets and we were able to get these! I absolutly love them. They did such a great job. (They are the ones who did our cabinets to begin with just not our counter tops).

While they were doing our countertops I had them build this cabinet. Once again, its only really cool if you actually knew what I had there before. Its amazing that I ever lived without it! Kent does such great work. You would never guess that it was not there originally!

Hannah's latest adventure!

Okay, so if she was not hooked to the whole hunting thing before, she is now! Its becoming quite a ritual that they come home from school, Hannah runs in and grabs her gun and they are off to do whatever. This night it just happened to be this! They do have a problem on the ranch with beaver cutting down trees. So of course it is their duty to take care of the problem! Joel's Grandpa Howard supported his family by trapping his entire life. Its a family tradition I guess! I dont know who was more excited, Hannah or her dad. Now I just wish they would actually haul the thing off or do whatever it is they are going to do with the thing cause it creeps me out to see it sitting on the carport!

Hannah catches a Meredith size fish!

Joel was working on a floor up the canyon and came home early to take the little girls fishing. (We decided that if we cant fill our freezer with elk, we will do it with pike!) Anyway you can imagine their excitement when Hannah reeled in this 13lb 38in fish! It put up quite a fight and she did ask her dad for help a few times. He assured her she could do it and she did! I don't think Joel has ever caught a pike this big! I think we can get about three meals out of this thing. I am so proud of her (almost as proud as her dad!) Olivia and Meredith each caught two pike of their own. They turned a couple of them back and here they are showing off the ones they kept! Fishing in the fall is not a bad way to go. I still cannot believe that its November 1st and the weather is still nice enough to go fishing in shirt sleeves! I will not complain....I love it! Do you think we can hold the snow off until Christmas? One can only hope!

Halloween 2008

All ready to go trick or treating!

Olivia is dressed as your classic 50's girl. She does have a really cute dress but she informed me that she really is only comfortable wearing dresses to church. So rolled up jeans it is! Meredith is sporting the Pebbles costume that Shaunna made for Lynzi probably 12 years ago. I never could get anyone else to wear it. (Modesty issues!) A turtle neck and leggings took care of that! Hannah is dressed for a day at the spa. She has her facial mask on, fake eyelashes and bright red polish!
Halloween is becoming much like any other holiday. It is spread out over several days and events! Last Saturday we had our ward party. This included costumes, games, trunk or treat, and hot dogs over the fire. It really was fun. The weather was beautiful and the girls enjoyed themselves. Then on Thursday (because of our 4 day school week) the girls all had their class parties. This included different costumes for Hannah and Meredith. Olivia stuck firm to her "50's girl" through all three events. Hannah came home on Wednesday night and informed me that she needed cookies and vegi's for her party. Wouldn't be bad but I worked in the shop until 9:30pm. Bless her heart, she made sugar cookies all by herself. She did a great job but there were not enough for her class, so I got up really early on thur. and made more. We did get it all done. Then on the actual Halloween, we met at grandpa Gary's and went Trick or Treating with the Anderson cousins. We had not had near enough sugar yet! But I was not about to pass up the opportunity. It is not every day that all the cousins can go together. Hannah, Blake, and Cody are almost to the too old stage and that makes me a little sad. Next year I will have more children not trick or treating than I have trick or treating. Thanksgiving here we come!!