Sweet Summer Days....Away

We recently had a sweet little road trip.  My Mom was able to come stay with Papa so we could have a few days away for a Honey family reunion in Boise.  The weather was soooo HOT and we loved it! Many, many hours were spent in the hotel pool!!  We had a great time with cousins, aunts, uncles and grandma.  A couple highlights....Chad and his brother had a great time jamming together by the pool one night and going to the Blue and Orange Store and stocking up on our BSU gear….GO Broncos!!! The time went way to quickly and we are already anticipating next year’s gathering! 



Goodbye Kitchen Aid…..Hello Beatrice

I have a long awaited, much anticipated new tool in my kitchen….a Bosch mixer! My Kitchen Aid has been my faithful friend over these last 7 years but I have heard about, read up on, and studied Bosch mixers for a very long time.  I have talked with different Bosch owners and the consensus is always the same….”I love my Bosch”!  The capacity for volume of what I am mixing is literally double, and the performance and sheer power of a Bosch far surpass my Kitchen Aid.  I have patiently anticipated the purchase of this machine and waited for a great price and Chad’s approval….and last week I got both!  With my initial experiment I was able to get two batches of Braided Broiche done in one night….that is 4 very large and delicious loaves of braided bread all in very little time! Now lest you be deceived and think I can just whip out any ol’ amazing thing, the braiding part was my arch nemesis!  I am the wife who ALWAYS calls upon her very artistic husband to arrange a platter of cookies I have baked because I can NEVER seem to get them to look “just right” on the platter.  I knew in the depths of my heart that braiding a loaf of bread was going to be like trying to work one of Mitchell’s Geometry problems….it simply will not happen without MUCH pain and moments of mass confusion!  I used a recipe for Broiche out of the cookbook that came with my Bosch and thankfully I found this great post and followed their instructions on braiding. I studiously sat in front of my laptop with my sheet pan of bread dough and carefully followed the photo tutorial.  I am happy to report that the braiding of 3 out of the 4 loaves turned out pretty darn good!  What about the 4^th loaf you ask?  Well, at some point during the braiding my brain chose to freeze and I totally lost what I was doing and could not for the life of me figure out what I did wrong so there was for sure no fixing it!  It looked awful but still tasted quite scrumptious! This new addition has been aptly named “Beatrice” as this name means “Bringer of Joy”.  She has definitely already brought great joy and I am excited for the many years to come that “Beatrice” will grace our countertop and work hard for our family!

Photo above courtesy of Pleasant Hill Grain (where I purchased my Bosch)



Lake Day

Mitchell and his “partner in crime”... Joel... had a little gathering to celebrate their two birthdays… which fall a month apart!  Labeled a “birthday party”, it was really just an excuse for a fun day at the lake with a bunch of friends.  Even with Mr. E’s “rough” work schedule he was able to eek out a “rare” few hours off and take the boys tubing. After the lake we headed back to the E’s for cake and fun games the boys made up…. "trampoline dodge ball” and “baby baseball”.  A very fun, albeit VERY chilly day!  Many, Many thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Langley and Dr. Dan for making this day very special for our boys!!