What are you Reading?

Okay I like to think of my self as a reader but I admit I go through stages of being in a non reading mood but when I am reading I read like crazy. Well the problem is I am currently in a reading mood and don't have anything to read! So I'm opening this up to all of you for some help, please tell me what you've been reading or maybe something you just love and would recommend!

Want to be a Heaton?

Every summer we go up to the Ranch for family reunions with my mom's side of the family. This has always been the highlight of the summer and my favorite place to go but besides the beautiful scenery and the good company we also have an age old tradition of throwing people in to the pond. I don't know how it got started or even how long it has been going on but it is one of those things you "look forward to" every year. I say "look forward to" because it is kind of an as much as you can type of thing since the water is really cold and there is a lot of slimy mud and seaweed in the water too! This year was Rory's first year being thrown in and she was so excited, that she actually got thrown in twice! Mike is now on the team of throwers but that wasn't without him having to baptized into the family first 5 years ago and he even had the honor of throwing both of my parents in this year. This pic is of my mom. This next one is of my dad. I can't remember the last time he was thrown in. Way to go Dad! As well as me 4 or 5 times. My youngest sister Joanna is usually the go to girl that get thrown in over and over when ever there is a lag in people to go in but this year she and her husband weren't able to come so some how I was nominated to fill in her place. So instead of hearing the mob mumble "Hey how 'bout Joanna" it was "Hey how 'bout Rachel!" but don't you worry Joanna will pay dearly for this!

Still tired but...

Last week I could barely put one foot in front of the other and this week isn't much better but at least I've been able to go to the gym everyday so it's a different kind of tired. 13 weeks to go till I have to walk 60 miles in 3 days, man time goes by fast! Anyway I did finally make the bread I attempted last post the next day and got these pictures of Paige. I just thought is was so cute to see her face pressed up against the window to the oven watching the bread and waiting anxiously for the time to go off so we all could enjoy some nice warm bread and jam, I mean who doesn't love that!

TIRED!!!

Have you ever had one of those days where you just can't get going! Well today is the day and I feel like I'm moving in slow motion! You'd think after being on vacation for a week I'd be well rested but you'd be wrong. Have you met my kids?!?! Paige is sure fun but she doesn't ever slow down! She actually slept in till 9am today which is unheard of but by 10:30 I was wondering if it was nap time yet? Don't worry we were all asleep again by 12:30 but Paige woke up too soon at 2pm! I was supposed to make bread today and I got as far as setting the mixer on the counter...So yes as you can see I'm totally lazy and it takes all the effort I have just to walk across the room, maybe tomorrow will be better!

Plum Tuckered!

I did it again! My sister had some plums on a tree at her house and we just had to do something!!! So we tried plum jam! It turned out pretty good! We did have one batch that didn't "set" but it made wonderful syrup! We even mixed some raspberries and strawberries in to some of the batches for a plum-berry jam! My offer still stands if you want to get in on the action just let me know!

Our Maiden Voyage...

We bought a pop up tent trailer a few weeks ago and decided to test it out the weekend after the fourth. We turned off past Christopher Creek up on the Rim. Over all it was good but not without some hangups I guess that is usually what happen on a Maiden Voyage.

Anyway we left to go up Thursday afternoon but due to bad directions and bad weather we didn't get to the actual campsite till after 9pm and had to set up in the dark and the rain, not fun! Then it rained all night so needless to say none of us got any sleep but we stayed dry!

Friday morning around 10 it finally stopped and from then on the girls had a great time. The got all wet and muddy but at least they were able to run around and play so it was worth it. While there we did some hiking, wild flower picking, butterfly catching, wild strawberry hunting, target practice, animal tracking, (that is coyote, raccoon & turkey right in a row) marshmallow eating and chopping down a tree for firewood. Rory loved everything and Paige loved to try and eat deer poop! I know gross, she had like a poop radar and would walk right too it and pick it up, thankfully I got to her before she got it in her mouth but still too close for my comfort!

We started to pack up Sat. afternoon before it started to rain again but when we were trying to get back up the hill from the campsite to the road, we discovered due to the wet weather and the steep incline out little highlander didn't quite have what it took. We had to unhook and hook up to my sisters suburban which had 4 wheel drive and they pulled it out and then we hooked back up and went on our way.

Then we got in a torrential downpour going home so again it took way longer then it should've normally but really other then coming and going we had a good time and are anxious to take it out again next week when we go up to my family reunion in Utah.

So the moral of the story is don't let your "crazy" cousin pick the campsite and always ask "will I need 4 wheel drive for this?" before you go! Other then that you should be good, so anyone up for some camping?

Awe Memories...

I saw this on my sisters blog and thought I would try it out too, I think it would be fun to see what memories you have of me or at least the ones you choose to write about! So here is how it works...

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, just anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

Bowl me over

A few weeks ago we went bowling with some friends from our ward, Greg & Bethanie Romney and we decided to take Rory along for her first time! It was a lot of fun and we all did better then our usual and that is to say we all at least broke 100 so no we are not professional bowlers here by any means but we still had a good time. Although I do have to mention that both Greg and Bethanie did get a turkey, which is 3 strikes in a row, way to go guys! Rory had her own lane with the bumpers up and did pretty well even if it did take forever for the ball to actually get down to the pins at the end of the lane. She was pretty proud of her newly acquired bowling skills and then took it upon herself to teach the rest of us how to do it and continued to give us tips the rest of the game. Anyway it has been a while since we went bowling but whenever we do we always have a lot of fun and now we have a little junior bowler in the making so I guess we'll be back again soon!

Bread of Life!

Okay I know I've posted more in the last 3 days then I did in the last 30 but I can't help it! So I have tried out two new bread recipes and I love them so I thought I would pass them along to you! If you haven't tried making homemade bread yet, just try it, you'll never go back to store bought again! Anyway here goes:

Oatmeal Molasses Bread

5 cups water (warm)

2 Tbsp salt

2 Tbsp vital wheat gluten (for ww flour)

1 cup sugar or honey

3/4 cup applesauce or oil

2 eggs

1/3 cup molasses

4 cups oats (I use quick)

3 Tbsp yeast

4 cups whole wheat flour

5 cups white flour (about)

Put ingredients together in order stopping after oats mix together then add the ww flour and yeast mix for 1 min then let rest for 1 min to let yeast start, continue mixing in the white flour one cup at a time until dough doesn't stick to the sides anymore and mix for 10 min. then cover and let rise to double in bowl. Once doubled punch it down and knead on a floured surface into loaves and put in greased pans. Cover with plastic wrap sprayed with pam so they don't dry out and let rise again to desired loaf size. Preheat oven at 400 degrees then turn down heat to 325 degrees just before placing loaves in the oven and bake for 33 min. When done brush tops of loaves with butter and turn out on a wire cooling rack. Do not bag until cool or they will sweat in the bag. This makes 4 loaves but don't worry they freeze well and you can just pull one out when you need it! Note: I have done this with all white flour too and you just omit the vital gluten, enjoy!

Cinnamon Swirl Bread

3 cups water (warm)

1/2 cup sugar or honey

1 Tbsp yeast

1/3 cup powdered milk

1 Tbsp salt

1/4 cup applesauce

Flour (about 6 cups)

2 tbs milk (divided)

1 egg

Cinnamon Sugar Mix

1/4 cup sugar

5 tsp cinnamon

Put all ingredients except yeast and flour together in mixer then add 2 cups flour to water mixture, pulse to just mix then add yeast on top. Mix for 1 min then let rest for 1 min to let yeast start. While mixing, continue adding flour 1 cup at a time until dough doesn't stick to the sides anymore then let mix for 10 min Then let rise to double in size in the bowl. Once doubled punch it down and remove from bowl and let rest on the counter for 10 min. Divide dough into loaf size balls and roll one at a time out on counter to 16x8 rectangle then brush with milk and sprinkle cinnamon sugar mixture on the dough. Roll dough up into loaf form sealing he ends and place in greased pans making sure the seam side is down in opposite corner so it won't unroll as it bakes. Use the remaining milk to mix with egg and brush egg mixture on top of loaves. Cover with plastic wrap sprayed with pam so they don't dry out and let rise to 1 inch above the pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 min. (by the way this makes great french toast!)

Apple of my Eye

Okay so it all started when my friend Natalie gave me a couple boxes of apples from her mom's tree and then just went crazy from there! I had all these apples so I thought I would do some home canning and make applesauce,( 20 quarts)then I got a little more adventurous and tried some apple pie filling, which by the way we had at our 4th of July bbq and was delicious! (7 quarts) and if that wasn't enough I had to try making apple butter too! (12 pints) So needless to say with 3 crockpots going all the time my house has smelled like apples for over a week now! I quickly used up the apples Natalie gave me once I got into it and had to go over to my Uncle Lowell's house to get another whole laundry basket full and that was just from him shaking the tree and had fallen off! Thankfully though I have had the help of my sister Heather and of course Rory loved doing the peeler/corer/slicer! Paige wanted to help too but her idea of helping was going to get the apples out of the basket and see if they bounced like her ball or just taste testing one bite each! Anyway I know it is important to be prepared and have some things in reserve but I have to admit I LIKE doing it and am having a lot of fun seeing the "fruits" of my labors! So if anyone is interested in doing some apples I'm sure I could go get another load from my uncle and I haven't even done fruit leather or dried apples yet! I know I'm an addict...happy canning!

Happy 4th of July!

We had a wonderful Fourth of July and hope you all did too! My family and Mike's parents and Aunt came over to our house at about 10:30am to go swimming and then about 1pm we got out and had a BBQ back at our house. It was a lot of fun and there was a lot of food and I even had an All American Apple Pie for desert! We hung around until about 4pm and then people cleared out and I cleaned up then later that night Mike's parents came back over at 9pm to go with Rory to see the fireworks. Paige had already been in bed for a couple hours and we were going to wake her up to go too but Mike decided to stay home and I went with Rory. We just drove about 2 miles down Southern and pulled off the road, I don't know where they we shooting them off from but we had a good view and Rory was so funny, she just kept yelling out with excitement and asking each of us if we saw it too, man you gotta love holidays with kids!

I love my Husband

This is a little late in coming but I wanted to show you the BEAUTIFUL Roses Mike got me for our anniversary! Seriously they were amazing and lasted forever, even Rory and Paige couldn't take their eye's off them! As of June 6th, we have been married for 5 years and have loved every minute of it! Everyone told us the first year is the hardest and when we hit 1 year they told us the first 5 years are the hardest so now that we have hit that milestone I can look back and say if those years are supposed to be the hardest then bring it on because we've got nothing but blue skies ahead! Honestly we couldn't have had an easier road! Mike is such a wonderful husband! He is so low key that even when I freak out things are okay because he doesn't let it bother him! He is also the best father because he is still a kid at heart too! He loves to play and tease and I love to see him do it! I love you Michael Paul, always and forever!

Pickle Puss

Okay so I guess my kid loves the cuke family!

So remember the pictures of Paige eating cucumbers? I guess she couldn't get enough! Here are some of her chomping down on a huge dill pickle!

No sour faces here, she loved it! For some reason starting a couple months ago I stared calling Paige my little pickle just as term of endearment, now I guess I know why!

Cucumber Cuties

We had cucumbers for dinner the other night and it started out with Paige stuffing so many in her mouth that she could hardly close it and all the while juice is just pouring down her chin! Now as if that wasn’t funny enough Rory had to get in on the action so she puts them on her eyes and says “look I’m Yzma!” Now for those of you who may not watch Disney movies 24-7 she is the “bad guy” in Emperors New Groove! So needless to say we had a pretty entertaining dinner and who says kids won’t eat their vegetables! (I’m having trouble uploading pictures for some reason so the check out the slide show instead!)

Cucumber Cuties

Here are some more of our Snorkeling Pic's

Baja Baby!

Okay here is my review of our first cruise! It was great! We went on a 5 day cruise down the Baja for our 5th anniversary and my youngest sister Joanna and her husband Jared came along for their 1st anniversary/honeymoon since they missed the boat for their honeymoon and didn't get to go!

We left San Diego Monday afternoon and were at Sea all day Tuesday then hit Cabo San Lucas on Wednesday, at Sea again Thursday and Ensanada on Friday then back to San Diego Saturday. It was a lot of fun and can you say FOOD! Seriously I think you could go just for the food and it would be worth it! They say on average a person gains 7 pounds per cruise and I believe it! Tuesday night was formal night where they had a reception to meet the captain but mostly just give everyone the opportunity to get dressed up and take pictures like going to the Prom.

In Cabo we took a catamaran about 8 miles down the coast to a place called Chelino Bay where we went snorkeling. We swam around for about and hour and a half just checking out the sea life it was pretty cool!

Then we got back to the pier and found a guy to "make us fly like a chicken" aka para sailing, that was cool too, not as big of a rush as I thought it might be but still fun! They took us out and we took off siting right on the back of the boat then when the reeled you back in you just sat down on the back of the boat again you didn't ever even get wet!

After that we went into town to eat at Cabo Wabo, Sammy Hagar's (the former front man for Van Halen) restaurant, then walked around town and shopped a bit before heading back to the ship
In Ensanada we took a tour of the Riviera Pacifico which was built in 1932 as a casino and Al Capone was one of the original owners and they had lots of famous people there all the time during its day but the mexican govt. outlawed gambling soon there after and it is used as a civic center now and gambling was just recently allowed again in the last couple years.

Then we went to La Bufadora or the Blowhole, I guess there are only 3 in the world and Ensanada has one of them, it is where the waves rush into a cave and build up air pressure until it can't hold it anymore and then blows like a geyser.

Over all we had a great time and would totally do it again! Next time you all will have to come with us, the more the merrier!