Flashback Friday: Mother's Cookies

It's 12:34 a.m. No, I wasn't so excited to do a "Flashback Friday" that I stayed up late...I just don't feel like sleeping yet...feeling REBELLIOUS!

I haven't done a Flashback Friday for a long time, but I recently had a flashback moment. I was making chocolate chip cookies with Eden. I decided to not use the Bosch mixture this time and hand mix my cookies...for the TRUE cookie making experience. Then it happened...the flashback.

*Vision gets fuzzy and music plays in the background as I reminisce back to my childhood*

My mom seemed to always be making cookies growing up. My friends loved coming to my house for the free food that my mom always offered. She never had a Bosch or any kind of mixer...just the buffness of her arms (which takes quite the strength might I add). She would always sit in front of the pantry door next to an open bucket of flour.... adding ... mixing .... adding ... mixing. A good portion of my memories of my mom were of her sitting there adding ... mixing ... adding ... mixing.

While I was making cookies, Eden started to get a little frustrated that I wasn't paying attention to her. So, I decided to sit on the ground with my bowl of cookie dough I was mixing to show Eden what I was doing. She sat there and loved to watch.

Eden pointed her finger at the dough wondering what it was...she pointed so closely that she touched the dough. Which she then stuck in her mouth. Which lead her to discover the wonderful excitement of eating cookie dough straight from the bowl. It became a game...get the cookie dough without being attacked by mom trying to vigorously hand mix with the spoon.
*Another flashback moment*

When I was little I remember trying to eat the cookie dough while my mom stirred the dough. I think she was much rougher than I was though...much more strength in her arms than mine I suppose...after all, I usually take the lazy road of using an electric mixer. But I usually didn't do too well at getting cookie dough while my mom was mixing...at least not a lot.

When I was finished mixing my cookie dough and started putting it on the cookie sheets all of a sudden I noticed Eden going for the kill. She saw this as her chance to REALLY get some good dough eating. First one finger, then using two fingers...and then three and four.

She was LOVING it...and being the loving daughter she is offered me some with a look on her face that said, "Mom...you have GOT TO try this stuff!"
And just like my mom used to do, I gave Eden the wooden spoon to lick after I was done with it.

I loved it. Eden loved it. And once Tyson got home from school after a long day of studying...he loved it.

Recipe for these cookies HERE.

Bumps and Bruises

Eden got her first big bump yesterday. And Tyson and I got our first real heart-racing scare.

This is her right before the incident, happy as a clam...or should I say lobster cause she looks more like a lobster than a clam with those mittens on.
This is her after the incident (actually I took this picture this morning)....

She was sitting on her feeding chair (as shown in the first picture), which was on our regular kitchen chair (and we didn't have the two chairs fastened together...making this totally our fault). She leaned forward to see something she dropped and the chair fell right off with her attached to it. She hit face first and with how hard that floor is, how far down she fell, and how bad it looked...I'm surprised she doesn't look worse. She actually isn't bruising too much, but its definitely discolored giving her a black eye and a bump on the forehead. And her eye is definitely swollen making her look like she's permanently giving the stink eye.

I'm just glad that she is alright and we didn't have to go to the hospital and nothing serious happened. I'm positive that God made children super resilient for a purpose....1: to create a way for a child to live past toddlerhood and 2: to help the parents learn to take extra safety precautions when it comes to their children.

Defenders of Awesomeness

There is a very prestigious group of individuals that have come to call themselves the "Defenders of Awesomeness" (of which my husband is affiliated, he's got the t-shirt to prove it). When first formed, this group of high schoolers...I mean, group of prestigious individuals...defined "awesomeness" as "never having to say you are boring". I have been selected to be a part of this group (through marriage...I'm more like an in-law has become a part of a family "through marriage" or like someone who is given a job not because of their qualifications but because their uncle is the "top dog" of the company...not because of my highly-esteemed qualities and values which I hold). And awesome is what I strive to be.

But I have failed this group and found myself to be a boring individual. I'm currently in the repentance process. Starting with this picture below to prove that I'm not boring...boring people just don't take pictures like that.


The beginnings of me going back to awesomeness...

I went to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art which was INCREDIBLE (and FREE). It was huge! Three floors and a large outside area with statues and sculptures.
....and GIANT birdies.
This is Tyson in front of a statue that represents peace. After taking this picture we were tempted to take a picture of him doing a peace sign...but didn't.
Inside there were rooms and rooms of different cultures, artifacts, stories, etc.
And I have person who is willing to vouch for my "awesomeness". She may be a little person...but just like the book Horton Hears a Who "a person's a person, no matter how small".

Isn't she cute? I love when she wakes up from nap happy...
...and half naked. She's really into dressing...and UNdressing herself lately. Yeah, that shirt got stretched out a bit after she was done with it.

And Eden's gonna grow up to be awesome just like her mom...she's already starting to imitate me. Obviously I take a lot of pictures...(but I swear that I don't wake up from naps and take off my clothes...she learned to love that by herself)This is Eden's first picture she ever took by herself. She was playing with the camera and and all a sudden I saw a flash. She got a LOVELY shot of my neck and arm.

All I have to say is "I'm awesome, I'm pretty, and DOG GONE IT...people like me!!"

Little Conversations

Note: So, I needed to write a new post because I hate when I write complaining posts (like the post before). It makes me feel bad...like I'm a compulsive complainer, which may or may not be true...

Anyhow...

Two conversations I have with Eden DAILY:

Eden: Eat.
Mom: You want to eat?
Eden: Yeeeaaah. (Smiles)
Mom: What do you want to eat?
Eden: Noonles.
Mom: We don't have noodles. Want anything else to eat?
Eden: No...nnnnoonles.
Mom: How about _______?
Eden: Yeeeeaaah.

Mom: Let's get ready to go night night.
Eden: No? (said like "can we do something else?")
Mom: How about we brush your teethies.
Eden: No. (much more of a statement)
Daddy: Daddy's going to brush his teethies. Want to brush your teethies with daddy?
Eden: Yeeeaaaah.

Man, I love this age when you can distract your child away from getting what they want. But I love having conversations with Eden...she's so cute. I love that she talks. And I love the picture above...she just looks so...what's the right word...suspicious?

Misery in Missouri

Dear Reader,

I am calling on you for help. Recently I have moved from Orem, Utah to Kansas City, Missouri. While life here has been good, there is one unsolved mystery that I'm currently trying to solve. Making bread is much more of a hassle than enjoyment. I loved baking loaves of bread, bread sticks, rolls, etc. But since my move to Missouri I can't make a good bread to save my life. I have researched the internet, tried to make some adjustments, and I can't figure it out. I'm hoping that you, my diligent readers, may have an insight to my ever-frustrating dilemma.

What is different?

1. My yeast will rise and amazingly rapid rates. While I'm used to waiting 5-10 minutes for yeast to be bubbly, I'm finding that after 2-3 minutes my yeast has almost turned into a soft pillow of bubbles.

2. The same thing happens when rising...its SUPER rising. I've never had dough rise this fast. Maybe this is a good thing, maybe this is a bad thing.

3. Then when I transfer my dough to the pan to cook in (say for example my bread sticks I attempted last night....I let rise the first time in a bowl, then transfer to a pan in the shape of bread sticks) for some reason its deflated so much that it doesn't fill the pan size that it would normally have filled if I were in Utah. Its as if the same recipe makes LESS in Missouri than Utah.

4. During the second rising time, it SUPER rises again (but in the case of the cinnamon rolls I made) since it didn't seem like there were ENOUGH cinnamon rolls, they seemed to grow out and almost a little melty on the bottom.

5. Then when cooking it looks nice but when out of the oven it flattens and denses and overall doesn't taste the same, not NEARLY as good. Just sort of...tolerably OK.

Could this be the fault of the over-excited yeast? Maybe the new kind of flour I'm using? Is it the altitude change? Is it temperature of the oven? Is it the amount of time I let it rise? Do I need to knead it extra or less? I may just give up making any kind of bread while here in misery...I mean, Missouri.

Hoping to find answers,
Misery in Missouri

To Be a One Year Old...

Oh, who couldn't love this precious little girl?


Eden has developed a little sense of humor, being independent, has formed likes and dislikes, and is just a character all around! Well, there is one thing I know now...being a one year old is never boring!

Some snapshots of Eden's everyday life.

Eating...(the only straw we could find and she insisted on doing it all herself)


Coloring...(unfortunately we're at the stage where we have to distinguish "paper" for drawing and "paper" in books)


Running around "nakey" with large stuffed animals... (the one she has in her hands right now is a giant snake or as she calls it "Nake")

And getting into stuff...anything she can fit into or fit other things into...


And if I were to take a few more pictures of Eden's favorite activities...amongst the top I would say "tubby time", reading with mom and dad, watching "Elmo" or "Einstein" or some other movie (which she usually calls all of them "Elmo"...that just means to watch a movie), and talking talking talking (unfortunately I still can't get my new camera to work the video on my blog...I just gotta start using my old camera.)

Rainy Days

This is our backyard when it rains (which is often does, especially at night). Our backyard floods and a relatively large river appears. Most nights there is TONS of thunder and lightening to the point where our entire house is shaking. It's AWESOME. I love it. The rain storms are definitely different than Utah rain storms.

The not so cool part of life is that our little family caught the swine flu. No fun. Eden is just getting over it (with the exception of a never ending runny nose and cough). Tyson just got over the worst part of sickness. And I am just STARTING the worst part. *sigh* So goes life. Lately we've taken this time to just lounge, watch movies, and eat soup.

Also, I'm still trying to figure out my new camera. I took some videos of Eden and I can't seem to attach them to my blog...guess I gotta keep trying to figure it out.