Home-made Graham Crackers

Here's how they turned out.

My sister, Wendy sent this recipe to me. When I make these again though, I'll roll the dough out thinner. These were thick graham crackers. I made chocolate frosting and made sandwhiches with them and stuck them in the freezer for a late night snack. Yum!
I think this recipe is worth sharing, so here ya go!

1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup milk
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt.

Cream shortening and brown sugar. Stir in vanilla. Combine whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir into the cream mixture alternately with milk. Cover and chill dough till firm. On lightly floured surface, roll dough out to 1/8" thick. Cut into rectangles. Place 1/2" apart on greased cookie sheet. Bake @ 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or till edges look golden brown. Cool on wire rack.

F.H.E.

We carved pumpkins. I made mine look like Ginger. Glen did the one with the red light in it.

This is a side profile.

I've been tagged

I've been tagged by Melissa to share seven random things about me.

1. I have two sisters. Wendy is the oldest, then me and then Holly.
2. I have this weird quark with my second toe. My toe always wants to curl down, so I like to stretch it daily, usually when I'm sitting down in the evening watching a show or something. I can stretch my toe all the way back till it touches the top of my foot. The only problem is that I get tired of holding my toe, so sometimes I tape it back. I know..it's weird, but that's me!
3. I graduated from the shipyard sheetmetal apprenticeship and worked as a sheetmetal mechanic for five years in the shipyard. I worked on aircraft carriers and submarines building lockers, furniture, ventilation, trim etc. During my last year while pregnant with Ginger, I made a piggy bank out of aluminum. It's now in Ginger's room.
4. I love to draw, bake, scrapbook, sew, read, blog, practice piano, swing dance, hike, bike, camp..., pretty much anything outdoors.
5. I love ice cream, chocolate and roasted marshmellows!!!
6. I was an exchange student to Belgium my senior year of high school.
7. Those that know me really well call me a dork and a goofball.

I now tag Kaela, Ali, Holly, Angela, Elizabeth, and dad..(if you are still blogging!)

Halloween Party

Friday night we dressed up as vampires. Ginger wore her flower costume. We went to Nelli's to eat haunted treats and play games. I made witch hat cookies to bring. Thanks to Shelbi! I got the idea off of her blog and it worked great. They were quick and easy to do and turned out cute!

Glen and I love dressing up and going all out for halloween. It's the only time of year that you can wear crazy make-up on your face and get away with it.

We played a fun game I'ld never played before. You get a prize and wrap it with tape and paper and set it in the center. Everyone takes turns rolling the dice and once someone rolls doubles, they run up and slip on some oven mits and try to cut through the tough barrier to get to the prize. Their turn lasts until someone else rolls doubles. Fun game! Thanks Nelli!

The best haunted treat we saw was Fingers. The fingers were actually breadsticks and the red nails was a painted almond. They looked pretty real....real enough that I didn't really want to eat it. bluck!

Daddy's Girl!

We get alot of comments about how Ginger looks so much like her dad. I think she's becomming a daddy's girl. I love seeing how excited she gets when Glen walks in through the door. Her little ankles and wrists roll with excitement. Ginger is getting her top two teeth in now. There out far enough where I can see she inherited the little gap like her dad. Very Cute!

Love my happy little family!

Done!

Oh my goodness! what a good story! I just finished reading twilight! I feel sad that it's over..but I can't wait to start Eclipse! I'll have to wait till I go up to Washington to borrow from my mom. A week seems so long to wait now! Here Rachel! Hurry and read it before you have your baby! ;) Once you start, you won't want to put it down! ;)

Twilight

I just had to say that this book is really good. I don't want to put it down. I'm already on page 300. and I figure I'll be around page 350 at least by tonight. :)

Good Books!

Okay, so today I went to the Sunflower book store to get this Parenting book. While I was there, I saw the Twilight book which comes highly recommended from Kaela. I already read this parenting book (it's the same one I made a post about a few posts ago) but I really thought I should read it again and then pass it along and let others read it. (Rachael, you can borrow it after I read it again. ) Since we're going on a 6 hour trip tomorrow, I rationalized my way into buying the second book. I let you know what I think of it. I thought that since Kaela read it in ..3 days ..all 498 pages, it's got to be good! ;)

Here's one for Kaela's "Good Things"

It would be a sin to not share this with all my fellow chocolate lovers. Glen brought this home for me one day. It took me a day and a half to eat it. It is soooo good! I might say that it's better than reeses peanut butter cups. I had to buy two more yesturday. (one for the freezer and one for NOW!) the sad thing is that I just noticed today that only three squares is 220 calories, 14 grams of fat! ouch! so I ate 1100 calories. That's more than half the total calories I'm supposed have in a day! hahahahahah you got to try it at least once! (Kaela, you could put this on your "Good Things" blog. ;)

We've got the Groove!

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!

Fall Leaves

On Saturday we went to Baker to visit the Rock Museum. Glen studied geology in college. He's fascinated with rocks. Before entering the museum, we went to the park across the street to take pictures of the trees. They were so pretty with all their changing colors. My favorite is the reds.

What Kind of Cookie are You?

I never thought of myself as a sweet gooey blob of jam before. hahhaha
thanks to Kaela for the interesting test.

Flower Baby

I'm so excited! I just finished sewing her halloween costume today. I found the "kwik sew" pattern at a little fabric store in town. I started on it yesturday and stayed up late working on it. I'm surprised how fast it was to make. I thought for sure it would take me days. We just got my sewing machine out of storage the other day and I went right out to look for patterns for a costume for Ginger. I'm so glad my mom taught me how to sew before we moved down here. I love it! It's so rewarding!

My little Ginger Rose

Yummy Bread!

This is actually the same recipe from Ali except I replaced 2 cups of wheat flour with white and I made one gian loaf instead of two small ones. It turned out good. It wasn't even gooey in the middle. I think I'll do this from now on. Before I always had a medium loaf and smaller one. I prefer one big one. Thanks again to Ali for sharing this recipe on her blog!

The Goblin Express!

"Goblin ExpressGnarly,

snaggle-toothed witches take flight

Riding the Goblin Express through the night

Balancing packages on spindly broomsticks

Past flickering candles without any wicks

The night is awash in fuzzy white light

The moon's face hidden by fog full of fright

Startled, one witch drops her boxes--a mess!

Tumbling, falling, crashing on your doorsteps

Clunkety clunk, crash, boomity bang!

Imagination races--"What was that thang?

"Beads of cold sweat; hairs stand on end

Ummm.....No monster, no fiend, no foe; just a friend!

Tumult begun by witch frightened in flight

Now celebrated--turned out alright!"-Gramma Faye

I love surprises in the mail! My mom wrote that poem and sent it to me and my sisters as a hint that something was coming in the mail for us. Then a few days later, I got this package. I love getting packages in the mail...especially if it has treats in it!

Ginger liked the spider socks!

The clothes fit her good mom and dad! Thanks!

Here's the glowing eyes! We already ate the candy before i took a picture of it. :)

Squishy Baby!

This is the coat my mom and dad sent with the Halloween box. I thought I would see how it fit on Ginger.

I love holding her in it. She's so squeezy! I thought the embroidery on the back was so pretty! Thanks mom and dad!
Ginger will be nice and warm this winter.

Corn Beef and Cabbage!

I think this is my new favorite meal. It's cheap and tasty and easy to prepare! Just throw the cornbeef in a pot and bring it to a boil then simmer for 2 1/2 hours. Take it out and then throw in the cabbage and whatever else you want for another 15 or so minutes. Yum!!

This is a great book!

I highly recommend this book to anyone that is in need of help knowing how to discipline their child effectively. I read this book when I worked with troubled kids in an elementary school. This book offers really good and creative techniques on how to work with your child.
It explains how every child needs boundaries to feel loved. Very well written!!
(ps. to the mom who thinks her son is unstoppable because he's a boy, these techniques work for girls and boys alike)

Thanks Again Mom!

Ginger looks so cute and cozy in this outfit that my mom sent.

ps. here's the cut on her head from getting kicked in the head! I guess it was my fault though for letting Ginger wear a barret in her hair!...afterall I spose the older and bigger kid got hurt more even though he was older and bigger and wasn't the one that got kicked in the head!!! grrr! :( (woah! is this my first rant?!)

Canning Plum Jam

(Glen and his brother Scot pitting plums)

After work the other day, Glen and his brothers scored a ton of plums from this lady who they have been working for. The week before that, they got a bunch of canning jars from another lady that they were working for. So they canned a bunch of soup and last night we all worked together to can a ton of plum jam!

(Glen pitting more plums!)

Aww! Yum. Our final product! (Alberston's lids are way cheaper than Safeway's)

( Grandpa Chandler holding Ginger while we can)

Spin Mom!

Spinning is basically indoor cycling to loud upbeat music with an instructor that provides routines containing hill climbs, sprints, jumps, hovers, etc. It's designed to give you back what you put in it. I got into spinning a few years ago when my knees went bad from running. I loved the workout and was surprised at how fun spinning could be. There's alot more to it than just sitting on your butt and pedaling for 45 minutes. Spinning has become one of the most popular group workouts in the U.S.

About a month and a half ago, Jenny, my visiting & teaching companion, told me that the Gym was in need of spin instructors and that I should go apply to be one. I had never taught a group fitness class before, but I did have a few years experience taking spin classes and just riding my bike outdoors. I went and applied and got the job! I was so excited! Last week I had to take a 50 question test and do a practical. I taught my first class today! I'll be teaching twice a week in the mornings. It's the best job ever! There's a nursery that I can take Ginger to and she does real well with the other kids.

This is a newspaper clipping of all the staff at the Gym.

I'm kind of hard to see, so I drew a little arrow. :)

You can see my profile on the Gym website here: http://grfitness.com/cms/viewpage.php?page_id=8