So I am going to try this out… I have my new Droid X and am going to attempt my first post. Will it work?

-          Use a refrigerated crust or the following crust (homemade is better)

• 1 C       warm water
• 1 T        instant yeast
• 2 T        Sugar
• ½ t       Salt
• 2 T        oil
• 2 ½ C   Flour (more if needed)
• Put Yeast in water to dissolve. Mix all other ingredients together then add water/yeast mixture until dough is no longer sticky, adding flour as needed. Knead 6 minutes by mixer on lower setting or 8-10 minutes by hand, until the dough passes a windowpane test. Put in an oiled bowl, cover, and let dough rest.

-          Sauce

• 1/3 C    sweet chili sauce
• ½ t       basil
• ¼ t       garlic powder (OR fresh garlic minced to taste)
• ¼ t       powered ginger or ½ t of fresh ginger
• 1 ½ T    tomato sauce
• Simmer on low while assembling the toppings. The longer it simmers the better the taste.

-          Toppings

• ½ C      EACH – mango, pineapple, mandarin oranges, green and red peppers, roma tomatoes
• ¼ C      EACH – chopped red onions, jalapeños
• 2 C       Mozzarella cheese
• ¼ C      Feta cheese
• 1 C       grilled chicken or ham

Roll crust out on some parchment and cornmeal. Spread sauce and add toppings to likening then top with the mixture of cheese. Slide a cold baking sheet under the parchment paper and use it to slide the pizza on to the pre-heated stone in the oven (CRITICAL – that the baking sheet or stone is pre-heated to 500 degrees.) Bake for 12-15 minutes or until crust and cheese is golden brown. For an added touch put some olive oil in a dish with Italian seasonings and bush the outside of the pizza before you put it in the oven and once half way through the baking time. Pull out and let site for 5 minutes –then cut and serve.

This is by far the best pizza we have ever made. Our 3 kids love it – minus the jalapeños, but mom and dad like those.

1. The boys did swim lessons this summer (of which I never did get pictures of the official lessons… Bummer!) They really loved the swimming as well as their teachers, but I was rather disappointed that the teachers started them off with “backpacks” (in other words, flotation devices), especially since they were one-on-one with the teachers. This resulted in an over-dependence on the backpacks, and never learning how to swim. Next year, there will be no backpacks. Because I know they could have learned how to swim if they had never been introduced to the backpacks. Oh well. It was fun anyway. We walked most mornings to the pool (I think it was probably between 1/2 a mile to a mile…?) and the boys had the route memorized, ala Dora. “Cemetary, Big hill, Swimming pool! Say it with me…” It was very cute to hear them quote it, and fun to reinforce the directions. Olivia did lessons the first session (we did 2 session, a total of 4 weeks) but mostly just tolerated the water, although she never did cry.
2. I’ve done a lot of canning jams over the past few weeks. A friend at church  gave me some Nanking Cherries (they are “bush cherries”, about the size of a larger blueberry, and somewhat tart) and so I attempted to make some jelly out of them. It never set, so we had cherry syrup. I also made some rhubarb jam. Then, I found out a neighbor had some Nanking Cherries that he didn’t want, so I made some more jelly, and three batches of jam, getting some good recipes from his wife.The jam was a little time consuming, since I had to pit the cherries and that took forever, but man alive, is that jam amazing!!! I am looking forward to canning some pears and probably some more peaches this year. We won’t be doing apricot jam this year however… We still have an overabundance of the apricot jam left from last year!!! :) However, this same neighbor has some plums growing and has promised me I could have some, and I am looking forward to canning some plum jam and making plum tarts.
3. We have a little tomato garden growing… 10 plants in all. Now that we’ve actually had a little warm weather, they’ve really taken off. We will probably harvest the first of many, many tomatoes when we get home on Sunday. Our garden also consists of two pathetic little green pepper plants that are hanging in there but refuse to die, and some cilantro, a few garlic plants that we started from garlic that was starting to sprout, and perhaps some parsely and some chives (two or three of each of those plants… tiny and pathetic, but growing…) We planted a lot more than that, but alas, that’s all we got this year. Oh, and the house came equipped with rhubarb, asparagus, an apple tree (that is taking quite a beating from my boys who are ever anxious to partake of its fruit!!!), and a couple of small raspberry bushes. It’s been fun to eat the rhubarb, raspberries, and asparagus, and we are anxious for the small-ish apples to ripen.
4. I have had a lot of fun baking breads. I’ve got a great Sour Dough starter, and Aaron bought me “The Bread Bakers Apprentice” and I have had a lot of fun reading and experimenting. I have a lot to learn about artisean bread baking (yeah, I WISH my bread looked this good!), and have already cracked the inside glass window of our oven (oops… always put a towel over the window if you plan on steaming in the oven…) but turning out bread that crackles and crunches and is holey and wonderful… SO worth it! Even if a loaf takes two days or so to get prepared to bake… patience pays off in the end!
5. Olivia just started crawling this week. She’s a couple of weeks behind her brothers at this point, but she still managed to start crawling while still 6 months old. She’s our tiny little squirt, at perhaps not much more than 13 lbs at 7 month, and so it’s adorable to watch her crawl. She doesn’t look like she should be able to. She gets this huge grin on her face every time she does, though… She’s so proud of herself.

Speaking of Olivia… She has been such a great joy in our lives. She has been such an enjoyable baby– smiley all the time, pleasant, easy to predict and to put down to bed, not picky when it comes to food, calm… Heavenly Father knew I needed a calming presence in my life with my two energetic boys.  She adores her brothers (especially Charlie) and they adore her in return (again, especially Charlie, but Kade also.) She always has a happy smile when she sees them. They have been nothing short of amazing with her, taking care of her, sharing their pancakes with her, helping her eat all her cheerios, helping me with her diapers, playing with her, demonstrating crawling… Nothing makes a mom (and dad) prouder than to watch the older kids take such good care of their little sister. She’s been a wonderful addition to our family.

I have had some challenges with the boys, especially Kade, and some attitude problems, and checked out a couple of parenting books from the library. I hated losing my temper so much, especially since Kade was learning to be just as angry at me, and I needed some help. Here are the books I started reading. Not through either of them yet, but they both hit home and have helped already… “How to talk to your kids so they will listen, and listen to your kids so they will talk” and “Raising Good Children”. I have especially liked the “Raising Good Children” so far, as it goes through different “morality” stages that each kid will go through. Once I understood that 4 IS a difficult age, similar to 2, and understood a little better how to tackle his behavior, and what to expect from him, my life–and his– has become a lot better. I also started doing something I should have been doing for a long time… Singing to the kids at bed time. We sing all day long, but our bed-time routine has never had much “room” for singing. I thought it was time for a change. I have so many good memories of my parents singing to me at bed time. So, every night now I sing three songs– two of their choosing, in the “style” they want (silly, fast, like a goat, you name it…), tell them a scripture story, and then sing ” Angel Lullaby”, which my parents often sang for us as kids. It has helped the kids stay in bed SO much better… I should have started this tradition a long time ago.

Anyway, I will try to get some pictures up a little later tomorrow. It’s my bed time now!

SMILES all around!