A Glimpse into my Life.

We ran like crazy for most of Summer, so now that it's cold and we've slowed down a bit, I have a few moments to put up some of the pictures. We went up to Island Park, Idaho for a week with my family. We rented a cabin and it was right on the river. We had an incredible time together. Dutch celebrated his first birthday, we caught fish and learned how to clean them, caught frogs, saw a snake eating a fish, float in the river and canoe, and we didn't even leave the cabin for most of that!

Bumpa teaching Rynie how to fish.



Once he caught his fish, Rynie learned how to clean it so I could cook it for his dinner. We also had a lesson on how we don't catch more than we need and can eat so we don't waste and so we are responsible steward over animals.



Little Miss even got in on the catching of fish. She ran away, literally screaming when we asked her to clean her fish and then eat it.



I even got in on the fishing action. You'll have to wait for the next post to see what I caught!



We needed to teach my mom how to canoe. Thankfully, she learned fairly quickly! She says she knew what she was doing, Jake and I disagreed.



Bumpa Black Cow and Baby B. Hanging out on the back porch, watching all our prowess at the canoes.



Hubby, Jake, Rynie, and Little Miss taking the canoe out for a spin. Literally. ;)



Dutch going for a morning crawl. He wanted to see all that water. We really were that close to the water.



Our early morning buddy. Mama Moose was out every morning in the same area (about 100 yards from our cabin) and some mornings we were lucky enough to see her calf in the tall grasses as we paddled by.



More critters and scenery soon. We did go up to Yellowstone, but that'll be another post!

So I made Gluten Free pie crust Monday night. We wanted quiche for dinner, and I figured it was as good a time as any to try out a pie crust.

I didn't think to get pictures since I was watching my friend's children while she was busy bringing their newest little child into the world. We had a crazy, busy day, with lots of playing, running, dancing, singing, roughhousing, and fun. Thankfully the new little one is here, although she was born with pneumonia so she is in the NICU while they figure out which type she has. The hospital in Provo said with all the babies they have each year, the cases of babies born with Pneumonia is 10 babies per year! The little lady is doing okay though. Her vitals are good, it will just take time.

Now on to pie crust. I used King Arthur Flour's Gluten Free Pie Crust and made a few modifications to it. I'd never used this recipe before, but I try not to use xanthan gum or guar gum when I make things at home. I was reasoning since those are two modern inventions and I am not totally sold on the need for them nor the healthy use of them yet, I would look for a realistic substitute.** On Gluten Free Girl they talk about using ground flax seed or ground chia seed as substitutes for the gums and I've been trying the flax seed in my from scratch recipes.

So my modifications were:

• I used the directions for the brown rice flour mix that is on the King Arthur site. I haven't felt the need to buy their pre-packaged baking flour mix yet.
• I forgot to pre-mix my wet ingredients and whisk them all together until they were frothy. (That happens when you are chasing extra kidlets!)
• I used flax seed instead of the gum, but this time on a whim, I decided to double the flax seed and see what would happen.
• I only chilled the dough for an hour, I think a few hours would be preferable.
  

Hubby tasted tested the crust first. He said it was great for a first attempt and not bad in comparison to the normal crusts I make. I think it cooked a little long, but it needed to so the quiche would be cooked. The crust under the quiche was lovely though. I guess that means I'll have to adapt the quiche filling to be a bit less wet. It was a little dry on the parts that were above the quiche, but had a nice flavor overall.

I'm glad this wasn't as difficult as it mentally seemed. There is some work to be done on it,but hey, I think it'll end up being almost as easy as normal pie crust!

** I just need to research the gums more, plus the cost of them is fairly expensive for a bag even though you don't use much of them and since the startup cost of switching our foods is semi expensive while we figure this out, I didn't want to buy one more thing that I didn't absolutely need to. I may decide I need them in the future, but right now things are in a workable, okay state without them.

No matter what Rynie does, Dutch likes to be involved. Here they are painting a craft. Note the similar state of dress.


Meals must be taken sitting next to Big Brother. And he must feed himself.



An Army campaign always need a 2nd in command.


They love to wrestle and roll around in a puppy pile!





I think they're lots of fun!

I miss the days of easy baking. Grab a bit of this, a bit of that, throw it together and more often than not, you have something good. I love to tinker with cookie recipes, fiddle with cakes, play with bread dough. Now, it's a lot harder and suddenly I have to motivate myself to cook ANYTHING, let alone any sort of breads. I have to think about things differently. Thank goodness for friends and the internet to find new ways to go about baking. These biscuits are from Pamela's Products, and it is made with her Baking Mix. I hate having to rely on a mix, since we normally make most our stuff from scratch, but since I feel like I am about 8 years old and learning the finer points of baking again, it helps. The goal is to eventually get back to cooking from scratch, but in the mean time, I can use the Baking Mix and get something that looks mostly like it should and frees up time with learning to cook gluten free.



It's been a huge adjustment to think that my doughs should be batter consistency, my cakes will not rise any higher once I pour them into the pan, and the only way to make something fluffy is to beat it longer to whip air into it.



Having said that, these biscuits were a huge hit. They are fluffy, almost too fluffy. They break apart easier than I think biscuits should, and they definitely have a whole grain type taste to them. But, the kids love them, they are easy to make, and it satisfies the request to have bread/rolls/something with meals.



Until I get things under control in the cooking department, they are a great standby. The mix smells heavenly when you open the bag, I've used it for chocolate chip cookies and pancakes in addition to the biscuits and so far things are looking up!

We went up to Salt Lake City to visit Temple Square over the Holidays. It's the first time we've taken the children up to see the lights and I think they enjoyed it.

City Creek Plaza right across the street. I really liked the lights and how they reflected on the water. It was a nice way to start out the evening.

It never ceases to inspire and amaze me every time we go to Temple Square. I always intend to go back more often and usually end up not being able to as often as I'd like. The peaceful Spirit is always calming and wonderful.

This is the best shot I could get of our family. We're all mostly looking the same direction, our eyes are open, and no one is making too awful of a face. Not sure about how my coat is making my skirt look like goofy pants though. Huh.

I love visiting the Temple, even if it's just to walk the grounds with my children.

We'd purchased a box of tangerines for everyone to munch on, they were definitely a hit! Baby B kept getting into the box, and I'd find tangerines with bite marks in the skins. We'd peel those ones first. One morning when I was making breakfast, I turned around and saw this:

I found a draft post in here and couldn't believe how much Rynie and Little Miss have grown! I honestly hadn't realized how much they've both changed. Yes, I know in my mind they have, but in some ways, seeing the day to day makes it not as noticeable as when you see the pictures from a few years ago.


I love that they still play together. These two are quite the adventurous buddies. When one does something, the other usually follows suit pretty quickly.


This is a pretty typical scene at our house still. Although, now they both try to feed Dutch whether he wants them to or not.


She still makes messes, although now they usually involve spilled cups and bowls.


He still thinks he's part mountain goat. In fact, I've had to replace two curtain rods and he's now learned that curtains are not to be climbed.