huge batch of bread-quick post

So, how we handled that much bread:
We mixed it up at the cannery down the street from my house (owned by my church, and used for big food projects like this one).  There is a huge kitchen-aid type mixer that sits on the floor.  We would make up one batch of dough (remember that includes 50 cups flour & 24 eggs, among other ingredients), mix it good, then let it sit for about 10 minutes.  Then we would oil the counter tops, scrape out the dough, and with oily hands, weigh and measure .85 pounds of dough into a ball.  We'd take two balls, roll them into long skinny tubes, and braid them.  Then we'd put them into the bread pans (4 pans welded onto a frame), and stick them into the proofing oven.  They'd stay in that oven for about 30-45 minutes.  Meanwhile, we're mixing more dough and shaping it into braided loaves.  Once the first batch was proofed (puffy and ready to be baked), we'd transfer the bread pans into the ovens, baking them for 30 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Each of the baking ovens holds 8 pans total, and we had 4 ovens, so 32 loaves.  We started at 6am, and finished about noon.  It was a lot of work, but still fun!

So many projects...

These mittens have been waiting for their tops for almost a month now.  Both the right and left hands are finished to this point, and one has its convertible cuff knit.  I got stuck on the other one, though.  I just need to sit down and wrestle it into submission, then knit on it for an hour or so to finish it up for this coming fall/winter.

 Yay!! One sock done, and it fits! It fits ME!! (which is how I intended it to be) The other half of this pair is OTN (on the needles) and since I began at the toe, I'm now up to the patterned part of the foot.  Just 44 more rows until I can begin the gusset & turn the heel.  Yay!!

 And this little cloth is finished and on its way to my May Dishcloth Swap partner who lives in New Hampshire.  It was an easy pattern, but one I pretty much made up by myself.  So I'm thrilled that it turned out as well as it did.

 (I'm still working on a few other projects, but since I'm typing right now I won't be snapping pics of those.  I know me, and I'd get something set up to photograph, then start knitting on it and forget to download the pic or finish this post.  So I'll save those projects for another time.)

The Sprinklers of DOOM have been finished, and reburied in the ground.  There are still trails of dirt all over the yard, but I'm no longer in imminent danger of being swallowed up by the earth if I walk outside.  This is good.  We have raspberries (3 kinds), grapes (2 kinds), currants (1 kind), blackberries (4 plants of one variety and 1 of another but the lonely only isn't actually growing so this should count as 1 kind as well), and serviceberries (1 kind) all planted and beginning to bud.  Yay for fruit!  Also, we (and remember that "we" means that I bought the plants and Jared/kids actually planted them) planted 6 tomatoes, with 4 more waiting for tomorrow.  There are 4 green peppers, and I have another list of plants to purchase this next week.  Planting and tending a garden always makes me feel like a real, true grown-up. 

This spring has been quite wet- lots and lots of rain, and this is good for growing things.  However, I do live in the mountains, and every so often that means we get snow instead of rain:

 (driving the kids to school this morning)

(yes my lilac is blooming. no that white stuff is not plaster dust)

Thankfully it has warmed up enough to melt most of the snow.  Also thankfully, we have water walls around the tomatoes, and plastic milk jugs (with the bottoms cut off) around the peppers.  These protect and insulate our tender young sprouts from the less than warm night-time air, and also from the snow we were blessed with today.

Gratitude List:
* Sprinklers are done and they work.
* New kitchen window treatments for a total of $10, courtesy of IKEA (rod) and the local thrift store (curtains).
* Good music.
* A washer and dryer that work, so I can wash all the gardening mud out of my family's clothing.
* Cookies!
* Homemade pizza for dinner tonight.  Mmmmmmmm
* Finished knitting projects, and more new projects in the planning stages.
* Our cars are all working well.
* Jared is in town this week, and he's actually home this very minute, working on what will soon be a side yard fence.
* Homemade bread from last Saturday's "day of baking" at my church.  We made 7 batches of dough, and each batch = approximately 18 loaves of bread.  I brought home 12 loaves.  I may try this (on a much smaller scale) at my house next week...
* The snow is melting.
* It smells like spring outside and in!
* God is good.  I am blessed.

Spring?

So I am officially the mother of a teenager now.  13.  We celebrated his birthday a bit early, because his birthday fell on the weekend of both Easter and an overnight scouting trip.  This was the cake:



I was pretty proud of myself- 2 layer vanilla cake with pastry cream (that delicious eclair filling), topped with chocolate ganache frosting.  Balloons were vanilla wafers, frosted and sprinkled, (some left unfrosted for contrast) with licorice strings.  Unfortunately, I was so busy with the cake that I forgot about taking pictures of my son as he opened his presents.  But he liked his presents, and we all loved the cake (I am so making this again), so it was a successful birthday, overall!

Easter was extremely low-key this year.  Jared spent Friday working on the sprinklers of DOOM.  I swear, that job will never be finished.  It is the job that never ends ♫, It just goes on and on my friends ♪...

Jared and Walker went camping Friday, and got back Saturday night. They were sweaty and smelly and I could tell they had an excellent time. While they were busy lighting things on fire and looking for fossils, we did our Easter Egg hunt and enjoyed our Easter gifts. 

 Morgen got a sketch pad, which is already half-full of pictures.  She's in heaven with all that extra room on each page!

 Hyrum got a hexbug.  It has a remote control.  Everyone in the house wants to play with it.  There have been obstacle course races.

 Walker got some plastic tubes to make more climbing and crawling tunnels for his gerbils.  He was thrilled (when he finally got home).

 Jared got a gutting knife and I got some yarn.  No pics for those, but trust me, we were very happy with the Easter Bunny!

Our Easter Bunny always leaves empty plastic eggs for the egg hunt.  That way the dogs and other creatures won't be tempted to chew on them.  So, the hunt for empty eggs:

The searchers were rewarded with a lovely bag full of candy, which was promptly consumed at the table, leaving only wrappers.  Hyrum shared a few of his candy eggs with me, since I didn't have any chocolate of my own.  (well, I did, but it was hidden in my closet and he didn't know about it.)  We spent the rest of the day relaxing.  Oh, and we took a walk, by the sheep down the road, and I finally got a picture of the lambs!  There were three born, but we're not sure what happened to the third lamb.  We've watched and we can only see two now, so it either died or was given to somebody else.

 Anyway, (squee!) they are so cute!  And there are a few more pregnant ewes in this pasture, which means more baby lambs!!

So, notice the green grass and sunny warm feeling of the last picture?  Yesterday, and today, we got snow.

Blizzard-worthy white-out snow.  Which has melted, so all is not lost, but it is cold now.  

 And it is muddy. Blech.  Cold mud is not my favorite part of spring.  (these are Walker's new shoes.  he wears a larger size than I do now. and he is taller than I am.  Bah.)

Oh, and just for a bit of drama, our dogs have been getting out of our yard.  Somebody (you know, the same somebody who eats the last cookie, and tracks mud through the house) leaves the side door, from the back yard into the garage, open.  Our garage is almost always open, and thus the multiple escapes.  We've had to chase them down, we've had neighbors bring them back, and we've driven around the neighborhood looking for them.  Today was extra-super-dramatic, though.  We drove around for over 2 hours, looking for them, praying we'd find them safe and sound, and nothing.  No doggies anywhere.  Finally we came back home and ate lunch.  Kachina came running up the street about 30 minutes later, and we coaxed her into the yard, but she was wet all over, and muddy from her belly down.  Then we searched again for Annie, hoping she was trailing behind her mama.  Nope.  Again, nothing.  Jared drove around for an hour, searching for her, and the kids walked around and called for her.  Eventually we gave up, and began to plan out how we'd handle finding her body.  About an hour or so later, she came running up the street.  So, we're working on a door/garage solution that will keep the dogs more securely in the backyard.  (the best solution would be to keep their food in the backyard and never use that side door, but realistically I don't see that happening) 

And, as a final bonus, Jared and I got to attend the military ball last night.  Kind of like prom, but they had food (and drinks).  I tried to get a photo of us together.  I was unsuccessful.  So, just imagine my very cute husband in his nice blue dress uniform, all shiny and handsome.  And I wore a velvety plush blue dress that was long and warm and still managed to be dressy.  Plus heels.  We were home before midnight, even!  If we're going to attend more of these (and we probably will, for career advancement opportunities), I should probably search out some nice, dressy, COMFORTABLE heels.  And maybe another dress. 

Gratitude List:

* Good weather for the campout and Easter Egg hunt. Always iffy this time of year.

* Cake!

* Watching the lambs growing up across the street. 

* Talking with my kids about parents and children (in the animal kingdom) and how they are similar/different to humans.

* Clothing I can layer.

* Jared is home.

* Dogs are safe.

* Kids are healthy and safe.

* Good friends and neighbors.

* Family.

* Podcasts and music on my iPod.

* Celebrating Easter, remembering His sacrifice for my sins, and feeling an immense gratitude for the love He shows me daily.

* I am truly blessed.  God is good.