Sunday afternoon baking with Sloane

Today, Sloane and I decided to bake some yummy breadsticks.

Here's the recipe that we used:

3c warm water

2Tbl yeast

1/2 C yeast

Place ingredients in kitchen-aide bowl and let sit until foamy.

7C flour

2tsp salt

2Tbl italian seasoning

1Tbl garlic powder

Add flour slowly into the bowl and let knead for 10min (using the dough hook). Add a little more flour if needed. You want the sides of the bowl to be clean.

Cut the dough in half, take the dough and roll it out and cut strips with pizza cutter, twist and place on a greased jelly-roll pan. Let rise for about 30min, bake at 350 for 16-18 minutes. I like to broil the last couple minutes to brown the tops. Brush with butter, delish!

Fossil Springs Hiking Trip

Scott took Sydney and Sloane on a hiking trip to Fossil Springs. They went with Scott's brothers (Rick and Jay) and their cousins. It was an easy 4 miles down to Fossil Springs but a hard 4 miles up the next day! While at Fossil Springs, everyone swam, swung on rope swings, played in the water caves, jumped off cliffs and had a great time exploring! It was Sloane's first family backpacking trip, and, with the exception of being too cold or too hungry, I think she had a good time. Here are some pictures of the event:

Everyone in good spirits at the start of the hike!

At the bottom of the trail.

Sydney ready to take the plunge while cousin Jake waits for his turn!

Sloane "The Fish" showing us how its done!

The cool magical cave, or "Gollum's cave".

The water was cool and clear. Quinn, Sloane, Jake and Sydney in the cave.

"Dad, I'm hungry!"

Sloane, Quinn and Cole's friend at the waterfall.

Halfway up the trail. Sydney and Sloane are a little tired from skipping up the trail singing "Zippity Do Da"!

Triumphant smiles as another hike is conquered! I think Sloane is already asleep!

Happy 6th Birthday Andrew!

Andrew celebrated his 6th birthday today. He is so, so, so excited to be so big now. He asks all the time if he's 6 1/2 now. He got a new bike for his birthday.

A few months ago, his friend Isaac who is younger could ride without training wheels. Andrew could not stand riding with training any longer! He practiced and practiced until he got it right. However, his old bike was way too small for him, he was crouching uncomfortably trying to fit his body onto the bike. So, here he is with his new one.

Scott won the Republican Primary Election for Constable!

Scott won the Primary Elections!
He had 48% of the Republican vote. He beat out two other candidates.
Scott spent the summer going door to door and meeting people, speaking at engagements, on the radio, in the newspaper--He was everywhere, not to mention all the signs around town.
We are very excited for this and now Scott will go the General Elections in Nov and tr to beat out the Democratic opponent. We feel strongly that he will be successful.

Blackberry Picking!!

Emilee, Sloane, Andrew and Hunter posing in front of the cabin. Andrew and Hunter in the creekbed with blackberries growing.

Scott Hastings, Emille, Heidi, Sloane, Andrew and Jamie making s'mores by the fire.


Andrew playing in the rocks, he couldn't resist climbing over all the rocks!

Heidi Hastings and Jamie picking berries to their heart's content.

Blackberry Picking!

We went on a short overnight trip to Pine with the Hastings family to pick wild blackberries.

We stayed in a quaint cabin that had a creek running behind it with tons of blackberry bushes. It was really fun, we got all scratched up, bitten up by mosquitos and sweated up due to the HOT weather.

Nevertheless, we came home with yummy blackberries that were promptly made into jam, cobbler and frozen for smoothies. I was seeing $ in my mind as we picked--blackberries are so expensive in the store!

First Day of School (minus Sydney, who declined a picture)

Yay! Today is the 1st day of school for the younger kids. Sequoia starts today with Andrew starting Kindergarten (with Mrs. Warren and Mrs Lewis) and Sloane starting 5th grade (with Mrs McAteer). We hope all the best for this new school year.

Sydney will start 10th grade next week. Yes, I can hear her crying upstairs!

Andrew loves, loves art!

This is the cutest picture, and I show everybody. My son Andrew (5) loves art and making anything and everything out of anything and everything. One day I made some brownies and found him taking the brownies and smashing them to sculpt into army men.