Rain in Due Season

I was just looking out the window this morning and noticed that it was raining. It got me thinking. We had a super dry winter last year, followed by a super dry summer. Elder Russell M. Nelson came to our Stake Conference on Auguest 21st and blessed the valley with rain. I hardly think it is coincidental that it has rained almost every single day since. He also pointed out a scripture. Leviticus 26:2-4 says:

2. Ye shall keep my Sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord.

3. If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them;

4. Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.

My Little Fish

Paige, Jenna and Jack have been at John and Marsha’s for the last two weeks. They had a full session of swim lessons, along with swimming at Karen’s and Emma’s just about every day. This is the result.

Jenna is a very cautious person.  It took her forever to feel comfortable putting her face in the water.  I am so proud of her!

Jack took off right where he left off last year.  He is such a big boy!

French Silk Pie

Every week I make a pie, I learn something new.  The last time I baked the shell empty, which is actually called “blind baking”, it puffed up and shrunk.  I was told that to keep that from happening, I should put dry beans in a pie tin and then place it inside the pie and bake it that way.

I tried that, but I couldn’t get the pie tin to nest right inside the shell without mashing the fluted crust, so I just dumped the beans on top of the raw crust. 

That didn’t work, either.  The beans kept the bottom of the shell from baking at the same pace as the top.  They also made little bean-shaped rivets and it still puffed up.  I had to pick them out and put it back into the oven.  I think this made the shell too hard.  You can see in the pictures that the crust was very flaky, but it was just over-cooked.

The filling was made using this recipe.  I wanted to use cocoa instead of baking squares, just to cut down on cost.  I don’t know if there is a difference in taste or not.  I guess I’d have to make it with the squares and compare the two. 

I also used Egg Beaters, instead of regular eggs, because they are pasteurized.  The first time I had French Silk pie was when I was pregnant with London.  I was seriously in heaven eating it until I learned that it had raw eggs and then I cried because I couldn’t finish the piece I was eating.  (I didn’t even eat cookie dough when I was pregnant.)  So not having to worry about getting salmonella from the eggs was a great thing. 

Also, you’ll notice that the edge of the crust is all jacked up.  That came from me putting the crust down on a rack by the back door so that it would cool faster and Paige plowing through it on her way in through the door.  Luckily, all was not lost.

Overall, this pie was delicious, with the exception of the hard crust.  I knew that the crust would be the toughest part of this, so I’m okay just doing it again next week.  I ordered some ceramic pie weights and a silicone pie crust shield from amazon, so I am expecting to have better luck with the blind baking.

I am actually going to make two pies this week because we have a chuckwagon dinner/potluck at the church on Friday.  I’m planning on a lattice crust apple pie and a lemon meringue pie.  Stay tuned.

A Canoe

We got one.  It’s big.

David found it used on Craigslist in Denver, so we went and got it over the weekend.

 

We float it in Homelake.  In its deepest spot, it isn’t as deep as the paddle is tall.

The kids love it.  David’s taken them out twice already this week.

And it’s only Thursday.

Homelake can be pretty.

Pelicans.  Last I checked, we were pretty landlocked.

I wonder where they came from and where they’re going.

Handsome Little Guy

 

When Jack dresses up, he wears a suit.  I quit buying him khakis and sweaters because he would outgrow them and we’d give them away without him ever wearing them.  This is from his preschool graduation on the 16th. 

Paige is eleven

It’s so weird how that happens.  I swear she was just a baby yesterday.  She is really amazing.  She loves to bake and she is dang good at it.  She made these cupcakes and decorated them. 

 

 

The theme of her birthday was camping.  She made little campers, campfires, and marshmallows on sticks. 

 

 

Amazing, right? 

 

This is Paige with her friends, Erika and Jacob.

I love this picture because you can see Jack and London “helping” Paige blow out the candles.

This picture is blurry, but I’m including it because you can see how good Paige is with London.  London just adores Paige. 

 

I’m not sure if that face was pure delight or sheer terror.  We bought this bike in December and it had been sitting out in the shed this whole time.

 

Here is Paige with this year’s and last year’s presents. 

I commented to Jacob (Remember him?  He’s sitting on the motorcycle.) that most of her birthday gifts have wheels.

He said, “That’s the best kind!  She has one for when she’s tired, and one for when she’s energized!” 

Mmmm…pie

I decided a few weeks ago that I want to become an excellent pie maker, so I am making one pie a week. One requirements that I have is that they have to all be made from scratch. No pudding mixes allowed. Also, the crusts have to be made with butter, not shortening.

The first week, I made vanilla meringue. The filling was really good and custardy and the meringue was good. The pie crust was not so good. I accidentally only used half of the amount of butter called for. No wonder it didn’t stick together well and was too chewy. I also wasn’t able to roll it thin enough and big enough to make a pretty crust around the top.

Week two was pecan. It was perfect. Really. Perfect. I finally got the right about of butter in the crust using this recipe and it was beautiful, tender and flaky. I used this recipe for the filling, which was made with sugar instead of corn syrup. I think that made it not so syrupy sweet. Did I mention that this pie was perfect?

Week three, today, was coconut cream, and one of my all-time favorite pies. I used the same crust recipe as before, but had a little trouble with it this time. The crust for the pecan pie was baked with the filling, but for a cream pie, you have to bake the pie crust first. It turned out kind of puffy and it shrunk a little. I later found out that you can prevent this by putting the crust in the pan and then putting another pie tin right on top. Fill that one with dried beans to weigh it down. This should keep it from puffing up. I also think I could’ve baked it just a wee bit longer. The coconut filling was based loosely on this recipe. I substituted 1/4 cup cornstarch for the flour, added 1 tsp. coconut extract, only toasted the coconut that went on top, and definitely used real whipping cream instead of cool whip.

One last thing: I like taking pictures of food.

A new blog

I am kind of obsessed with newborn photography.  I’ve been photographing some of my friends’ new babies and it is so addicting.  I decided to make a new blog just for posting my pictures on, since I thought it might be weird to post pictures of other people’s kids on my personal blog.  Plus, I don’t want people to keep asking me if I had more babies. 

So, if you want to see some cute babies, and sometimes other subject matter, check out www.kathyjacobsphotography.blogspot.com.

Also, if you have a new baby, an old baby, a cute kid, a not so cute kid, heck, any body you want pictures taken of, give me a shout!  The only way I am going to get better at this is by doing it.  You’d be doing me a favor, really.

A Few Fun Things

This is Paige learning how to do a backflip on the trampoline.

This is David actually doing a backflip on a trampoline.

Speaking of David, a few weeks ago, he was called to be the 2nd counselor in the bishopric.  Crazy, I know!  Our old bishop got a new job in California, and was leaving right away, so that meant our new bishopric had to be formed quick in a hurry.  David got a call to meet with the 2nd counselor in the stake presidency at noon on a Friday and he extended the call.  We were shocked!  This also meant that David would have to be ordained a high priest, which meant that his dad needed to be here to do it.  John was so awesome and got right in the car after work and drove the 12 hours to be able to do it.  He stayed until after Sacrament Meeting on Sunday and then drove straight home so that he could be to work at 6am on Monday.  Thanks, John.  It meant the world to David.

So now that he’s been in for a few weeks, he’s kind of getting the hang of things and we’re learning that we pretty much won’t get to see him on Sundays.  I am thankful that I am married to such a wonderful man that is both worthy and willing to accept such a big responsibility.  I love you, Babe!

In other news, I have a friend, Jenni, that signed up for the Ogden, Utah Half marathon and she isn’t going to be able to run it.  She offered her spot to me last week and I jumped on the chance to take it.  My longest run recently had been six miles, so I did another six-miler last Saturday.  I ran eight today and felt pretty good about it.  I think I’ll run 10 next week.  The race is May 21st, so that gives me one more long run and I’ll either make it 10 or 8, depending on how I feel.  Tooting my own horn, here, but I am pretty proud of myself to be able to train for a half with a month’s notice.  It probably won’t be my fastest race ever, but it will be fun.

And now for something fun to end on:

Ft. Worth Zoo

Are you ready for a picture overload?   Can you think of a better place for pictures than the zoo?  Two of our four kids had never been and they loved it.  Karen and her boys and Emma and her twins went with us.  The pictures are small, but if you click on them, you can see them better.

Here is Brody and Brooklyn on their first trip to the zoo.  They are having a great time!

What a hunk.

This is Jenna’s turtle face.  Tur-tle, tur-tle.

Kangaroo Jack.

This is Preston.  Look at those baby blues.

David’s wingspan is the size of turkey vulture.  I can’t remember what Jenna’s was.