Rainy Day Bread!

One thing I love is rainy days! And what isn't better than Hot bread on those kind of days! So, Steven has been on a baking kick these last few weeks. He discovered a web site with recipes using non other than whole wheat flour. So, he made this bread recipe, and it was delicious! So, tonight since it was raining all the children convinced him that he needed to make his bread. (this is a tradition here at home, making bread on rainy days) He also made "The best chocolate chip cookies ever" recipe, and "Oatmeal cookies" using whole wheat flour. They are both Winners!! We hope he keeps "practicing" on us!

Popcorn Anyone?

The other night a friend of mine dropped by unexpectantly. She had seen Stacie post pictures of her new cupcake on Facebook. She wanted to be a taster! She introduced me to this new site called Bakerella. It is a great site. There is a delicious looking recipe for Smores cupcakes that we have to try. I especially like to look at the blogs they love to visit. So, tonight, I came across this recipe Spicy Peanut Butter Popcorn. Doesn't that sound wonderful? And Guess what? It taste great too! It just has a hint of spice. (even my 4 year old didn't say anthing) I have Loved Popcorn since I was young. We would pop it every Sunday night, and eat it while we watched "Wonderful World of Disney". (aaah...yes, that dates me doesn't it?) Since then I have come to enjoy many different varieties of popcorn. You'll probably have all the ingredients for this new recipe in your pantry. Try it out, and tell me what you think? What is your favorite kind of Popcorn?!?

Spicy Peanut Butter Popcorn

Cup Cakes

For Christmas, I gave Stacie a book called 101 Gormet Cup Cakes. What a sweet idea! She has been busy making wonderful cupcakes. We (the whole fam) love'em. Here are some pictures of previous cup cake days.

Chocolate Angel

Churro

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Favorite new books

One thing I love to do in December (and October and November) is play Christmas music. It starts on Halloween day. This first book has been a favorite of mine for several years now. I love to play in it all the time, and it has arrangements of classics, and the last song "Go Tell it on the Mountain" is a little jazzy and fabulous.

This next book I just discovered a few days before Christmas. It became an instant favorite! David Lanz, Christmas Eve. Joy to the World, and The First Noel are at the Top of my list in this book, with several others coming in next. I am anxious to play some of his other music. I am sure I will like it. For Christmas I also received a lost page for Claire De Lune. I can now finish learning that wonderful tune. Those who know me, know I have been on a Jon Schmidt "kick" for a while now. At the beginning of the month, Steven and I were able to attend his Christmas Concert. It was fabulous. He is an amazing pianist. They had a big screen behind him, so you could watching his hands on the piano. Wow! Love, love, love, his music. He and the cellist played Love story meets Viva La Vida. It brought the house down. I am so anxious for him to release the piano music for his new album "Bonus Tracks" Most times when I am walking past the living room, I just have to go in a play a song or two, or three. Fun times. Cavalcade will be coming up in March. It will be a wonderful event featuring Jon Schmidt as our guest soloist! I will be playing 3 of his songs in duet form.

This next book I discovered at the scrapbook store when I was attending a class. I later found it at Costco and couldn't pass it up. Davis received it for Christmas this year, and we've had fun reading it together!

Graduation

Now it's official. Stacie is GRADUATED! She had seminary graduation last Sunday. She was the main speaker. She did a great job. She was a little bit nervous, with projects still to finish at school, but everything worked out well. Then Thursday the 21st, she graduated from Red Mountain High School. We were a bit nervous because we were having sprinkles on and off during the day. The school told them the latest they would call to change to a "rainy schedule" would be 6:30 pm. So everytime the phone would ring, someone would run to see who was calling. At 6 pm, we got a call from MESA PUBLIC SCHOOLS...saying that Stacie Peterson was absent from 5th period. How funny is that?! All the seniors only had graduation practice that morning. We all had a good laugh. As we left for the school, it was lightly sprinkling. Steven grabbed 2 rain ponchos, and we had 2 umbrellas. We had Grandma Peterson and Grandma Larson with us. They wore the ponchos and Steven and Ginger used the umbrellas. Stacie used her nice graduation hat. (they were so worped looking at the end of the night!) We had a pass for Grandma Peterson to sit in the handicapped seating, and were able to stay and sit with her. We had the best seats in the house. (2nd row in the front of the graduates) We captured some good pictures of Stacie, and many others in our ward that passed by us. What a great night! It is so amazing to believe that we have a daughter graduated.

Easter Sunday

What a beautful Easter Sunday we had! Here are a few pictures before going to church.

It is such hard work getting everyone to look at the camera for a picture using the timer. This is always their reward: crazy picture...not too hard.