New Jersey

Well this last weekend didn't go as well as I had hoped for. It was one thing after another that was a huge disappointment. Instead of taking us only 5 hours to get to our hotel from our house it took 10 hours. We got stuck in traffic and went 3 miles in 3 hours. There was major construction going on in the middle of the night on the main highway to the north. The highway went from 4 lanes down to 1. The next day on the way back to the hotel there was an accident right in front of the only entrance to the hotel so we decided to just go to the restaurant and wait for the next 2 hours so that we wouldn't have been late for that. Then Saturday I had to wake up at 5am to take Matt to PT (mandatory physical exercise for military) and waited there on the base all morning because the hotel was more than 20 miles away. So I hung out with another army wife in her hotel room on the base. Then we finally went to Six Flags. You would think that Six Flags would be a family amusement park but on this day it was not, and some of the military families were very embarrassed for their kids with what some of the park visitors were wearing. The were pretty much not wearing anything at all. Areas that should be covered up were hanging out all over the place, and it was not a fashion that was just worn by the thin and beautiful, everyone was wearing it. We only went on 2 rides in 5 hours to give you an idea of how busy it was, and every ride we wanted to go on broke just as we were about to go on it so we didn't have the best of luck. There is a Safari thing that we did before we went into the park and that was cool. You drive your vehicle through the park and most of the animals are free roaming all around you. The only ones behind a fence were the lions, tigers, and monkeys, (the monkeys have a tenancy to throw poop at your car too.) I have some pix from that for you guys. Needless to say, I am very much looking forward to Vegas this weekend and I know that it will be way more fun than last weekend. And only 12 days away until the cruise, and some amazing Mexican Food. I AM SO EXCITED!!

~This ostrich was pecking on the cars!~

~Giraffe personal bug cleaner~

~Same Giraffe waiting for its next vehicle to clean~

~These rhinos were only 10 feet away~

~The animals wait for no one, this zebra wanted to get to the other side of the street.~

~Simba and Nala~

~The bear crossing right in front of our vehicle we were in~

~The Roo's eating~

~Tiger just chillin' on his own~

~A poop flinging monkey!~

YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!

Guess what everyone! I did it. I finally made bread, and it actually looks like bread. After doing some tweaking to the recipe and trying to copy a friend who makes perfect bread here in VA, I have finally done it. The bread I made today is TWICE the size as usual. Here is the proof! I am finally a bread maker! Here is what I did. I did the yeast differently than the recipe calls for. I let it activate with sugar before I added the flour. Then I did as it said. I did not knead it as long as I usually do, I allowed it to be more sticky. I did turn the oven on to 300 degrees first and let it get nice and toasty warm in there. I turned off the oven and put the bread in there in the bowl with wax paper and a cloth towel on top. I let it get double the size. Then I took it out, flattened out the dough, did not half it as the recipe calls for, and folded it in half, then folded the ends in and flipped it upside down with the ends on the bottom of the pan. I pre-heated the oven to 375 with the bread sitting on top without the towel on top. It only took about 15 min for the dough to reach the top of the pan. i stuck it in the oven and did not open the door for the whole 35 min and let it cook, and it raised in the oven. YEA! One thing I am curious about is if it is cooked all the way through since I didn't half the dough, so I will find out later tonight when I slice it up. But go me! Finally, and only after about 7 loaves did it work. (Oh, the slice of bread, that is from last weeks batch just to compare the size difference.)

This past weekend

I hope everyone had a wonderful Fourth of July. We sure did. This was the first Fourth that we were with a large group of neighbors and having a true block party. We even set off our own fireworks in the street. It was so weird to be setting off fireworks, cause it is illegal in AZ. We did have some illegal fireworks and they were awesome. We had a ton of fun with all the neighbors. Anyhew. Hope everyone had as much fun as we did. We also finally finished the garden project with the stones, except for the little outcrop area that I dug a while ago. But the main part of the stones are finished and it looks pretty good. We have also been getting a ton of rain this weekend, Yay for not having to water the lawn. Anyhew, have an awesome week everyone!

Random Thoughts

1. Tanning in a tanning bed is like you being baked like a turkey is for Thanksgiving.
2. Room assignments for the cruise: Us IN BETWEEN some newlyweds and my bro, this will be very interesting.
3. I love HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 2.
4. I enjoy staying up late hanging out with an amazingly awesome friend (Liz included eventhough we haven't done that in years).
5. Vehicle inspections are so retarded.
6. My faith in one person is either going to be increased or completely lost for someone today.
7. I love gardening.
8. I miss my family in AZ, and can't wait to see them.
9. I NEED GOOD MEXICAN FOOD FAST (only 26 more days)
10. I love my husband and love boxing with him.

Enjoy.

Help, Again!

I have gotten a lot of great comments on helping me with the evil bread situation, which I will be trying some of the ideas tomorrow on a new batch of bread. I wanted to ask for a little more help from anyone with any cute ideas.

I just received another calling at church. Well I am being released from playing the piano in primary to getting called to be the chorister for primary. It is a step up in the world I guess. But now I am faced with having fun activities for both young and older kids. If anyone has any fun games I can try to get them to sing their little hearts out please let me know. My first reaction to this calling was, "Are you insane!?!" Not a very good reaction but I just wasn't ever seeing this calling in my future, ever. So I am a little scared. I am fine teaching kids one on one, but 15 kids at one time and keeping them interested in what I am doing is a WHOLE different story. Please help if you can!

EVIL BREAD

Bread is so evil. I just have to say that right out. With rising food prices and wheat prices and everything, we, meaning I am trying to be more domesticated with some of the food we eat. For example: I have been making our own cereal, just granola, no biggie. Matt and I enjoy eating our 12 gran or even 24 grain bread as long as it is mostly whole wheat, which is our fav. Well my current trial at this time is trying to get the bread to rise. I have seriously tried everything that everyone has told me. Sit it outside on a humid day to rise, I did that and when I went to move it to the oven it sunk, like as if someone popped a balloon. Put it in the oven with some warm water under, nope didn't work, barely moved. Put it on top of the oven with it at 375, not it even started to cook it too early. Seriously I have tried. Well I finally tried something different and it worked, kind of. It was not a whole wheat bread recipe but it rose and mostly stayed "raised" here is a pix. I promise you I do have a life but it is truly not that interesting.

~The Whole Wheat Bread~

~The Other Bread~

~Now Side by Side~

Also as promised here are some pix of my garden:

~I have about 10 tomatoes on this plant alone, my other 2 tomatoes are about to start producing as well. Also my purple bell pepper plant just flowered so I should be getting some bell peppers soon.~

~My Thyme and Rosemary just started to grow out of nowhere. I though that they had died!~

~Also I was told by my student's grandma that there was an article and pix on the newspaper today about the recital. The one day that that newspaper was delivered to my house and my studio is in it. Here is the clipping. I have it framed now and it is in my piano room. I didn't even know that they were going to put anything in the newspaper, so it was a huge surprise to me. One of the parents asked for the names of all the kids in order, I just thought that she wanted it for scrapbook reasons. Well I am very OK with free advertising.~

That's about it for tonight. Have a wonderful Saturday everyone. Also Melisa thanks for the swimsuits I love them!!!!

The crazy month of July

So I finally figured out my schedule for the next month with teaching and everything else that is going on. I figured out that 3 out of the 4 weekends I will be gone and I will be missing 4 weeks straight of church. July 4th weekend actually I have nothing planned, yet. The next weekend is the family weekend for Matt's military unit in New Jersey and I do know that on Sat, we are probably going to the Six Flags in New Jersey, sorry Elizabeth but you won't be there, you can fly out if you really want to though. And we will be making a stop in NYC. I haven't been there since High School and I barely saw anything. It will be so much fun being there with Matt. The weekend after that I am flying out to Vegas for a wedding of a friend, and I will be staying at another friend's house while I am there, Corrine I look forward to seeing you!!! The week after that I leave for PHX and spend a day in PHX to see my other friends, Laura, can't wait, and also go to the best MEXICAN FOOD IN THE WORLD: TIA ROSA'S. I have been starving for some real Mexican food. I even asked my mom to ship me some overnight, that is how desperate it got. And Sunday the 27th Matt and I fly to LAX with the fam and leave for the cruise for a week to Mexico. I am just going all over the country this next month and I am so excited.

Also I will be posting some pix of my latest trial, baking bread and getting it to rise. Also some more pix of my flowers and garden.