Wheat Bread!

Suzanna decided last week that she was going to try making bread. This wasn't her first attempt. In fact, she's attempted to make bread numerous times throughout our marriage. While technically I don't think she's ever 'failed' to actually make the bread, we haven't found the right recipe or method suited for our elevation, available ingredients, oven, or whatever else to make a simple, perfect loaf of bread. We've tried bread machines, different kinds of yeasts, various flours and recipes. But this time, she nailed it!

Eight loaves of wheat bread

She excitedly texted me while I was at work in the Portland office, "Could it be? Bread that might actually be edible? I'll let you know when it's cool."

She sent me a picture (not the one above) and then said, "Pretty great! In person it looks awesome!"

Then a few minutes later, "Delicious! Seriously so good!"

When I got home that night I sampled some for myself and was amazed at how tasty and firm (but not dry or tough) the bread was. The taste and texture is far better than the wheat bread we could buy from the store. It was quick and easy for Suzanna to make, tastes better than store-bought bread and of course, it's much less expensive. Wins all around!

------------------------

I had to include a few pictures of Emmie from today as well. She has been so busy lately. Since about a week ago (as well), she has started getting really excited about walking. Prior to last week, she took a step here or there but would get worried about losing her balance and would squat back down to a crawling position. But now she practically runs everywhere she goes, and she sure does move fast! Her personality is really apparent, too, as she kind of bosses her brothers around a bit and will shout and point at various things. She's super sweet too, though, and loves to give kisses and wave "hi" and "bye." She's got the greatest mouth-wide-open grin and has a deep chuckle when you tickle her or blow on her tummy. Such a sweet little person is our Emmie.

Emmie by the gate at the bottom of the stairs

Emmie trying on Logan's rain boots

They're just a little too big!

Sweet girl in her high chair, ready for some food!

msh

Tithing

Tonight we had our annual tithing settlement meeting with the bishop of our ward. We for to declare to him whether or not we are full tithe payers. This is the first year that we've 'paid' the boys an allowance, and they've been putting their money away into a little three-section savings tin with a section for tithing, another for their mission fund, and a third for fun. Tonight we emptied the tithing section for each boy, counted up the coins, and filled out a tithing slip. The boys then handed their tithing envelopes to the bishop, who thanked them and asked them if they knew what the money was used for ('beautiful buildings and temples' in his words). Luke was especially talkative and engaged when conversing with the bishop, both of which really pleased us since he is generally really shy around people he doesn't know well. When we got in the car to come home, he said to us, "I want to keep paying my tithing. I want to pay it every week. And I want to get more yellow slips" (the carbon copy you keep). We arrived home and he set about gathering pens and paper. He wrote each of our names on separate pieces of paper and said we could glue all our yellow slips there. I thought it was really cool to see him get so enthusiastic about something, and I'm glad to see his testimony of tithing developing.

In other news, Logan got his stitches out today at a clinic on Mill Plain called ZoomCare. He was really good and even got a flu shot before leaving. So he ended up with two band aids now! I took him for a frosty waffle cone at Wendys because he was a good and brave boy.

Logan, post stitches. Brave kid.

Logan and his frosty waffle cone.

I love these boys. 

msh

Hungry for a Huge Ham Sandwich

Today's lunch was really good. I made myself a toasted ham sandwich and had some tortilla chips and fresh salsa on the side. If we hadn't had leftovers from dinner tonight, I would probably have the same thing tomorrow.

In other alliterative news, I received some radical road rash while running rapidly tonight. It was really dark, so I totally missed the uneven bump in the sidewalk and took a really hard fall. Apparently my left knee took the brunt of it and started bleeding.

After washing up, it looked loads better and a simple bandaid took care of it. Thanks to Suzanna for fixing me up! Unfortunately, it cut my run a bit short for the night, as I felt like I'd better just head back home to take care of it. 

msh

Sweet Soy Chicken and Rice

Yum! Another winning dinner tonight as Suzanna tried out a recipe from a new recipe book: Sweet Soy Chicken and Rice.

Doesn't that look tasty? It sure was!

msh

Qdoba, round two!

Did I mention in last Monday's post that Qdoba has a great Monday night special? I'm pretty sure I did. Well, when Suzanna told me that we had quesadillas on the menu for dinner tonight and I reminded her about Qdoba's deal, she suggested we just go there instead!

So for the second Monday night in a row, we ate dinner at Qdoba. And we also played hide and seek, this time with Logan, in that area between the two restaurants again. But tonight we sat outside for dinner until a pesky wasp wouldn't leave us alone and eventually made us retreat back inside the restaurant.

What a nice bunch of people! All with their mouths full, too!

Luke and Logan got a little comfy too, both putting their feet up on the table and asking me to take their pictures! What silly boys!

In other news, check out this cool barricade/fortress that Luke made this morning out of Jenga blocks for his new soldiers from California Adventure.

Superhero Luke, hard at work!

The boys wore their capes again almost all day!

msh

Best Ten Minutes!

Today was a really busy day. And by the end of work/school, we still had to pack for our upcoming trip to Disneyland. Luke kind of dragged his feet a little bit (but he's only four years old; should I blame him?) and got distracted easily, and the whole packing thing just took longer than I expected. Because we have to get up pretty early tomorrow to catch our 7:20 a.m. flight, I wanted to get in bed as early as possible, and I wasn't very happy or excited when Luke was begging me to go to the park before going to bed. It was already after 6:00 p.m., and I knew that if we weren't fast about things, it would be 8:00 before I knew it and Luke would have a very bad start to the vacation by not getting enough sleep.

Well, I got a little upset when he was persisting about wanting to go to the park (in his defense, I had told him that we could do another bike ride together if we finished packing early enough). But I gave in and told him that we could go to the park on one condition: that we spend no more than 10 minutes at the park itself. He agreed, and it was only moments later when we were climbing onto our bikes, helmets on our heads, ready to go.

When we got to the park, instead of immediately parking our bikes, we decided to ride on the sidewalk that goes all the way around the park. I was impressed with Luke's ability to go up the steep hill there, and he didn't complain much. Once we parked, I set the timer on my phone for ten minutes and we got playing. We started by playing on one of those little spinning pedestal things that make you totally sick, but after only about a minute, we moved to the big play structure and started playing tag with another boy who looked to be a year or two older than Luke. For the next eight and a half minutes, we ran, jumped, climbed, and tagged each other all over and around that play structure. I had so much fun! It was really the best ten minutes I've had in a long time!

When the timer went off, Luke quickly got his helmet back on and off we went toward home. I fed him a little dinner and got him in bed at a still decent time. I was really glad I took those ten minutes to just play and not worry about what time it was or needing to pack. I felt like we had a really good moment there tonight.

Ready. Set. Go!

Another bike ride with Luke!

Luke and me at the park, ready to head home

Oh, and we also made a new take on the s'more tonight: we replaced the regular milk chocolate Hershey's bar with a Cookies'n'creme bar. It turned out to be really tasty! I think Luke especially liked it because he's a vanilla kind of guy.

Cookies'n'creme s'more

msh

Hide and Seek, Qdoba edition

I had a meeting at work today that went until about 4:30, so I asked our ward friend driving the carpool to just take Luke back to her place after school instead of dropping him off at home. I had to go get another allergy shot today as well, so by the time I picked Luke up and finished at the allergy clinic, we were both really hungry, and I wasn't feeling inclined to take the time to make dinner. So we ended up going to Qdoba for a quesadilla and burrito. Turns out, Qdoba has $3.99 burrito + drink deal on Monday night, so I think we may have just found a new plan B for future Monday nights!

After finishing our food, we didn't rush back to the car to head home but instead wandered out to the landscaped area on the corner of the block between Qdoba and Brothers. At Luke's request we played an impromptu game of hide and seek for like 15 minutes! It was pretty cool because there were a lot of places to hide in that area, and Luke really got into it, hiding himself in some pretty good tight little spots.

As we left, we agreed to come back another time to play again, probably with the rest of the family.

Luke on our hide-and-seek playing field

$3.99 burrito and soft drink on Monday nights! What a deal!

"Found you, Luke!"

End of Day 4 of our Adventure

msh

Labor(less) Day

Well, for me it was mostly labor-less. I studied for about four and a half hours in total, but it was a nice relief to have the day off of work.

To keep with tradition, we would have gone to the Oregon coast today as we have done on each of the last two Labor days, but the weather forecast wasn't very promising. We decided to take a shorter trip down to Portland instead. Here are a few pictures of our adventure!

I love the view of Portland as we approach from the west!

Brunch Box food cart at 5th and Stark

Great burger selection: you can even get a burger where the bun is replaced by two grilled cheese sandwiches!

Here was my selection: sans cheese, but with bacon!

And what's a trip to (weird) Portland without stopping by Voodoo doughnuts?

Note the Portlanders' motto, memorialized on the side of this building

The line today was a bit longer than usual for us; we waited a good 30-40 minutes.

Oh, the choices!

Our choices! We thought that putting Oreos on a doughnut was such a good idea that we got two!

"Good things come in pink boxes."

Luke and Logan walking back through the Saturday's market area.

We then headed south to the Keller fountains by my office for a little water fun in the warm weather (as a side note, the weather ended up being really pleasant, and maybe even a little too warm; could have gone to the beach!).

Logan in the fountains.

Luke exploring a little.

Both boys had a great time!

When we got home, we made popcorn and watched a movie together.

The girls

The boys

It was a nice day spent with family. But I don't quite feel ready to go back to work yet!

msh

Grilled Coconut Lime Chicken and Rice!

Grilled coconut lime chicken with coconut rice and a broccoli and kale salad? Yes, please!

Suzanna delivers again. A Friday night treat!

msh

Family Frosty Run

We had a fantastic dinner tonight: black bean and sweet potato burritos, courtesy of Mel's Kitchen Cafe. If you haven't yet discovered the wealth of tasty meal ideas that is her blog, then I suggest checking it out. Or at least recommending it to your resident chef (Suzanna, in our family). I'm glad to say that I've been the gracious beneficiary of many fantastic meals that came either directly from or were inspired by Mel.

As an incentive to the boys to finish their dinner, Suzanna tempted them with the promise of walking to Wendy's for a frosty. Not needing the incentive to finish my dinner, but feeling tempted to spend the evening with family instead of studying for my exam, I opted to come along.

Wendy's is nearly two miles from our place, so it was a good little walk for us. We put Emmelise and Logan in the stroller, and Luke rode his bike.

The family, leaving our street.

Emmelise was very cute in the stroller and had a nice time. At least I think she enjoyed her time. She sat very quietly, taking in her surroundings, looking especially small next to her big three-year old brother.

As always, chocolate for Logan and vanilla for Luke.

Emmelise wanted some too! She kept reaching for Suzanna's frosty.

Luke and the 'monster' truck!

We stopped to check out this huge (monster?) truck. Luke was barely taller than the wheel, and neither Suzanna nor I were quite tall enough to see into the bed of the truck!

It was definitely a nice way to spend a pleasant evening with the family. Now, about that studying...

msh

Perks of Working From Home

Homemade tomato basil soup and grilled cheese baguettes

The perks of working from home are many. Among other things, getting to enjoy last night's dinner a second time is a frequent bonus. Suzanna made this really great tomato basil and parmesan soup in the crock pot before church, so when we did finally get home, the house was full of a rich, warm, tasty aroma. She cut up a couple of mini baguettes and grilled them with some cheese to make a really great variation on the classic tomato-soup-and-grilled-cheese combination.

Summer weather calls for summer fun!

Getting to see the boys at play is another great perk of working from home. I'll occasionally take a break for a few minutes to see what they're up to, especially if I know they're at home and they've been kind of quiet. I like to see what things they've gotten in to and what trouble they might be causing. Today Suzanna set up this little inflatable pool for them and two hours later, we finally had to drag them inside for dinner. I caught a minute or two of whatever they were playing and snapped the photo above just after Logan had thrown this truck into the air. Pretty good capture speed on the iPhone, I'd say.

Just another day in the life.

msh

Doesn't Get Much Cuter!

Suzanna sent me this picture of Emmelise today while I was at work. She captioned it, "Seriously, you can't get much cuter than that!" I agree. She's such a sweetie!

Emmelise, the sweetie pie

Also of note were the fantastic crepes Suzanna made for dinner! She wasn't sure how they would turn out, but even the very first crepe cooked up nicely in the pan and came off clean and golden brown. She loaded them up with ham, cheese, and a single piece of asparagus each and baked them in the oven just long enough to melt the cheese. Topped with a little sauce, and these were a perfect "breakfast for dinner" treat!

Ham, cheese, and asparagus crepes? Indeed!

msh