Dog Days of Summer

One of the kids' favorite things to do is play dress up, especially during the summer when it's too hot to go outside. Cam had found this hat in the dress up box and had been wearing it, when he decided to try it on Zeke. I don't think he much enjoyed it, but Zeke went along with it patiently. He looks so regal. Some of the pics are a little blurry, but it was either have blurry pics or pics where his eyes made him look like evil dog. I don't know what it is about my camera and the flash when taking pics of Zeke, I can't even change it with red eye removal.

Sticky Buns

I first tasted these after I had my 4th baby back in UT 4 years ago. Our home teacher Porter Rockwell (yes, named after his ancestor, the original, famous Porter Rockwell) brought us dinner that his wife had made for us. I'm trying to remember her name and I think it was Julie. Sorry, "Julie" if I'm wrong. They had 2 kids and were a sweet family, but ended up moving before we did, so we didn't get to know them for long. I remember the meal Julie made for us was delicious, but the main thing I remember was the dessert. I had to get the recipe from her. It is very simple and easy to make. I had a ton of leftover dough the other day from making Mummy Dogs(basically hot dogs wrapped in pieces of dough and baked), so I ended up making 2 batches of these yummy Sticky Buns. I don't use biscuit dough from the store that it says in the recipe, but I make my own from the Lion House Roll recipe that my mother in law uses and I just break it into little dough disks like the store kind does. I will include that recipe as well. Now, the picture I took doesn't do these babies justice, trust me you will love them if you give them a try :)

Sticky Buns

2-3 cans homestyle buttermilk biscuits (separate pieces of dough and place in a circle inside a bundt pan) *I also recommend using 3 cans, it makes a lot of sauce.

1 cup Sugar

1 cube butter

1 orange juiced or 1/3 cup orange juice

Boil sugar, butter, and juice on stove until foamy and bubbly for 1 minute and pour over rolls in pan.

Bake @ 350 for 15-20 minutes

Can dump out on a baking sheet to cool, but I prefer to let mine cool inside the pan as to not lose any of the gooey sauce.

Lion House Dinner Roll (recipe as done by my mother in law)

In bottom of a mixer(or bowl if done by hand) pour in 1/3 cup white sugar, 1 Tbsp. Kosher salt(or 2 1/2 tsp. regular table salt), 2/3 cup powdered milk, 4 cups bread flour(or regular flour if you want). Mix ingredients with dough hook attachment for your mixer, or I prefer to mix it with a whisk.

Get your tap water as hot as possible and add 2 cups hot water. Start mixer or stir until most dry ingredients are beginning to incorporate and looks like paste.

Dump in 1/3 cup butter (cut into smaller pieces so the hot water will melt it, I sometimes will soften my butter a bit in the microwave depending on how hard the butter is if I pulled it out of the freezer or not.)

Add 1 egg

Mix until dough forms, then add 2 Tbsp. of yeast.

After all combined, add more flour a little at a time, 1-2 more cups equaling a total of 5-6 cups total flour for the recipe including the 4 cups you started with. Dough should start to form a ball and pull away from the edge of the bowl. Since it's really humid here some days I will have to add more flour. Mix dough for about 10-15 min.

You can use this dough for just about anything. I prefer to use it for Mummy Dogs, Sticky Buns, and Monkey Bread. You could just make rolls with it if you wanted to or for pizza dough, but I have other recipes I prefer to use for that. If you'd like baking directions or recipes for other things for this dough, just let me know and I'll post them up later.

Now this Lion House Roll recipe will make about 2 good sized pizzas on 2 baking sheets if you decide to use the dough that way, to give you an idea of how much it makes. When I made it for Mummy Dogs, I actually made the full recipe plus halved it because my kids have been eating more. I used enough dough to wrap 3 pkgs of hot dogs and then had enough dough left over to make 2 bundt pans of Sticky Buns. In the past, when my kids ate less, I would split the dough about in half and wrap 2 pkgs of hot dogs and make 1 batch of Sticky Buns. Happy Baking Everyone!

Hair Cuts

I finally cut the girls' hair. Emery had 10 inches cut off and I cut 12 inches off of Bailey. They look so cute and I am happy to say I didn't butcher anyone like I did with Addie's hair cut a few years back. We are sending their hair to Locks of Love. I think it is awesome that they want to do this for other kids. Addie wants to get her hair cut now too, but it's not quite long enough to donate, so I'm trying to convince her to wait a while before cutting hers again. I think it's a waste of hair, if we could wait a little and have it benefit someone who needs it. Bailey wanted to wait until next summer to cut hers, she was trying to see how long she could grow it out. But after cutting Emery's hair, she decided to get hers done too and is happy she did.

Emery and Joelle Dance

Mowing the Yard with Dad

Gets a little dusty out there mowing the grass during a drought. Dried out dirt patches are everywhere. All the green corn in the back is all dried up and brown now, but we've been told it's probably being grown as feed corn.

Joelle will Sleep Just About Anywhere, so will Emery

Iron Star Wars Underwear Man

This is what happens when a crazy boy full of too much energy runs out of things to do in the summer.

Zeke Taking It Easy

Creatures Among Us

Every time I freak out about something new that ventures into our yard or house, Chase reminds me that he told me I'd have to get used to things like this if we lived here, particularly the country. And I tell him, yes I know, but I don't think it's unrealistic to create protective barriers to limit these encounters as much as possible. We've killed 5 scorpions so far, and countless huge spiders, earwigs, silver fish, and other annoying bugs that I don't know the names for. We've been seeing baby geckos in the house as well, which I don't mind at all, they can eat all the bugs for us. I don't have any pictures of the before mentioned creatures, but for your viewing pleasure enjoy the ones below.
This little guy I found hopping around by the computer one night. I got a cup and scooped him up and tossed him outside. I don't know why I bothered, he probably just got eaten. He was probably safer inside our house. Should've put him in a jar or something, or just let him hop around and eat all the plentiful bugs that venture into our home. I'm waiting for a special delivery of insect powder that is supposed to be safe for people and pets. Will update you later with that.

So, this is my most least favorite creature that lives with us. Well, it's probably a tie between this and the large rat(s) that live out by the shed. Chase has been the only one to see it(them). Within the last week or so we've woken up to find large (about 5 ft) snake skins in our yard. One Sunday morning I found one by our back porch right by the door. Cam and Emery have been the only ones to see the snakes alive. Cam nearly jumped on one and Emery just saw another one slither into the bushes. Well, everyone has seen the smaller garden snakes. I unfortunately encountered a Hog Snake (that's what Chase says it is) by our front porch mat hiding under Cam's bag of soft balls. I had opened up the door to let Zeke out before church. I'm surprised Zeke didn't notice, I guess he was just too excited to go outside. I don't know what it is about Sunday mornings and unwanted things visiting me. I think I kept my composure, I didn't scream since kids were still sleeping, I called for Chase to get it away from the house so it wouldn't get inside. We haven't heard the snake in the attic since the last time. I just wish they'd do their jobs by eating vermin and then skeedaddle away into the neighbor's cornfield or something and only do that at night so I never see them, oh and shed their skin in the neighbor's field as well. Not too much to ask for is it? Addie took the following pictures, NOT me! You're lucky I even put them on here.
Bailey catching chickens at pool play date at a friend's house from church.
One night Cam had run in to tell me he found a dead rodent in the water shut valve tube. I don't know what else to call it. This is where we had a leak previously and we've been trying to find a cover for it, but the one we bought was too small. We will probably need to make one of our own. Anywho, I went out to investigate and indeed there was a very large dead field mouse. I assume it had somehow gotten in and possibly drowned from a previous heavy rainstorm. I texted Chase and informed him he'd have to take care of the thing when he got home since I wasn't touching it. The very next morning Cam and Zeke went out and found what you see in the pictures below. Zeke was all very excited as he is whenever he finds something moving and crawling around in the yard, bushes, or trees. Cam came in this time telling me a large rat or possum was in the hole this time. I'm like are you serious, what the heck! So, I ventured out to cautiously investigate again. Sure enough there was a possum, pretending to be dead. It had crawled inside and eaten the dead rodent and got stuck. So, I texted Chase and told him you have to get rid of a live possum now when you get home. I suggested he stick something in the hole so it could crawl out on its own, but Chase scooped it out with a shovel and flung it across the yard. I guess it was snarling at Chase when he did it. But, yeah, we really need a cover for that stupid thing.

How Many Kids Can You Fit At A Piano?

Crashing on Mom & Dad's Bed

Joelle, the Hair Stylist

One day after church Joelle found a tiny doll brush and decided to do Bailey's hair as she sat on the floor watching a movie. I was surprised by how long this entertained Joelle and by Bailey's patience in letting her little sister pull and play with her hair.

Sweet Kids :)

One morning, I woke up to breakfast that the kids had made for me. They took the couch pillows to make my chair soft for me. I love the smiley fruit face and plastic flower in the toy pitcher.

4th of July