Bread Making Fun and Vacation

Hey friends, I just spent some time putting together a post on how I make our bread. Go here to read it.

In other news, I've taken a bit of a break from blogging because we went on vacation. My precious younger sister and her fam met our fam in North Carolina for six wonderful days. It was a huge blessing to be able to spend that time together. My sweet, super extroverted son was in heaven. He loved every minute spent with his cousins. And, the twins fell in love with my sister. So sweet! My sis and I cooked for each other a lot which totally filled our love tanks. Here is the butterscotch pie I made for her, complete with NINE eggwhites in the meringue:

The gals enjoyed my sister's creamy shrimp pasta. Soooo goot.

I so enjoyed spending time in the mountains away from cell phones and every day life. The Lord ministered peace to my heart during our trip. I returned much more relaxed than I was when we left.

The "babies". My niece is just a few months younger than the twins.

Gramm posing as a tiger. :)

Uncle B and the big kids:

Our view:

What's this? Oh, it's a HOT TUB! Party on, Garth!!!!!!!!!

Me and my seester. Love her.

Gramm and my nephew hugging good-bye. Precious.

Feminine Friday

My gal pal, Julie, had a little babe 4 weeks ago today. Every Friday, Julie has a Feminine Friday post on her blog and I'm joining in the fun.

These pics of the girls at swimming lessons are so precious. Gramm took lessons at this time as well and it was crazy stressful for me, but the kids loved it.

Vivi and Coach Karen:

The pic below personifies this child. She is super social, loves the water and loves to say "Hey!" with a wave. She was extending said greeting to her Shermee, who graciously came along to help at our lesson.

My sweet Brooklyn baby:

Another pic of my very, very laid back girl (Brook) chillin' with her Mama.

Our Garden

My Nana and Grandpa came over one day in April and let me help them build a raised bed in our backyard. :)

Gramm and Grandpa resting on the side of the bed after we'd finished a hard day's work:



I've not taken a picture yet of the whole thing in bloom, but we planted the following goodies:

green beans
tomatoes
bell peppers
jalapeno peppers
cucumbers
romaine lettuce
basil
parsley
chives
rosemary
chocolate mint
and one purple coneflower :)

We had our very first fruit this week. Two very sweet and tasty yellow cherry tomatoes. Delish if I do say so myself. The little guy helps me water the plants every single day and he was super excited to share the tomatoes with his sissies.