Delicious White Bread

We use this recipe for everything! You can use it for breadsticks, pizza dough, rolls, rasin bread, cinnamon rolls, etc. We make it in our bosch but, we used to make it in our bread machine. You could probably make it in a kitchen aid too.

White Bread

3tbs yeast
4 C hot water
3/4 cup sugar

Mix, then add

6 C flour
1/4 ish cup of oil
1/2 tsp salt

Mix well then add
6 C of flour

Mix, check consistancy mix 10 minutes

Shape into loaves or whatever you're going to do with it. Let it rise 20-30 minutes then bake at 350 for 20ish minutes. As soon as they are out of the oven smother the top of the loaves(or rolls) with shortening and put a dish towel on top of them, if you do this it makes the crust soft!

For Rasin Bread add some extra sugar for sweetening, with about 3 cups of rasins(more or less depending on how many you like) with a couple of teaspoons of cinnamon.

For cinnamon rolls just add extra sugar to make them sweet and roll and fill to your preference.
This usually will make 4 loaves of bread, or a pan of rolls and 2 loaves of bread etc.
Mixing for 10 minutes will eliminate the need to knead it.
You can also use honey instead of sugar, wheat flour instead of white, or half of each. You can use shortning instead of oil(it works the exact same) it is just not as healthy. I usually use canola oil, but any kind works.

Forgiveness

This poem was in the November 2011 New Era, it is a good reminder that none of us are perfect and that we all need to forgive others.

Forgiveness

By Sidni Masoncup

To forgive
 is not to forget.

To forgive
is really to remember,

That nobody is perfect,

That each of us stumbles
When we want to much to stay upright,

That each of us say things
 we wish we had never said,

That we can all forget that love
 is more important than being right

To forgive
is really remember,

that we are so much more
than our mistakes,

That we are often more kind and caring
than we really think we are

That accepting anothers flaws
can help us accept our own.

To forgive
is to remember,

That the odds are pretty good
that we might soon
 need to be forgiven ourselves,

That life gives us more
than we can handle gracefully.

To forgive
is to remember.

That we have room in our hearts,

to begin again,

and again,

and again.

This Winter

Last Year, I posted what feed I had the horses on. And beware. It may get really boring really fast. If you are bored just skip it all. I don't mind at all. I could go on for pages and pages.

So, here's for this winter.

1. My horses stay on pasture until snow flies or the grass gets so bad that it isn't of any nutritional value and then I put them on hay, I take them off of it as soon as possible. Usually when the grass starts growing again. I believe that this is the most natural approach to horse keeping. Horses in the wild eat pasture all the time and dried grass(that's in the pasture!) in the winter which they had to dig for.
2. My horses don't get grain unless they need it. Fanny only got it last winter because of her emanciated condition. Now, she is doing pretty well and I'm not even planning on giving her anything besides hay this winter. I don't give my horses grain during the summer unless they absolutely need it. Bailey is on it right now only because she is pregnant. If she wasn't I wouldn't be giving it to her.
3. Hay. I have mixed feelings about hay. Meaning what kind to feed. Grass is obviously more natural(their natural diet) but I love alfalfa too. We are feeding alfalfa this winter though. If I had a choice I would probably feed Fanny grass and Bailey alfalfa. But we trade a guy horse boarding for hay. He is getting alfalfa this winter. Fanny is overwieght so that is why I would give grass to her. Bailey is kind if fat too but she will have higher nutritional demands this winter, which also means less grain!
4. Grain. Again! I like feeding single whole grains if possible. i.e. Oats, Corn, Barley etc. by themselves. Because it is much more natural. However, I am a stickler for pellets too! (How can you like both???) I like pellets because there is so much more in them! So I am much less likely to feed a vitamin supplement. They are also designed for specific needs and lifestyles. My favorite brands are Nutrena and Purina . Nutrena is probably a little bit of better quality but it is also more expensive.
5. Supplements. I don't feed any supplements unless I feel that it is neccesary. Last winter I gave Fanny MSM. I still might give it to her this winter, just because her joints get pretty stiff during the winter. In general, horses really don't need any supplements unless they have a specific condition.
6. Salt. I offer a Trace mineral block free choice all the time. I just keep it in a tire rim, which allows it to drain pretty well. I don't reccomend keeping them on the ground unless you have a lot of horses(or cows) on them at one time so that they get 'licked up' pretty fast.
7. Feet. I keep my horses barefoot unless I am riding them a lot at the time. I got them trimmed once by a guy who does the Pete Ramey method. and it was good, and very natural. However, I usually just go to our normal farrier who also shoes them when they need it. He jsut does one of those 'flat hoof' trims. They work just fine and are cheaper!
8. Holistic Vets. I would love to have a holistic vet. but I don't. My vet is awesome though. they are really flexible for what you feel is right for your horse. They have been really great with everything that we have had to do with Bailey. Between breeding her and her stepping on the nail.
9. Wormer. I don't do anything natural with my wormer. I've heard that the majority of natural wormers don't even really do anything(including herbal ones). So, yep, I just stick with good 'ole ivermectin. I usually give it to them every 8 weeks except in the winter when it is cold and the parasites can't survive anyway and then I just do it every 3 or 4 months.
10. Vaccinations. I give Tetanus and West Nile for sure every year. I usually give Influenza, EHV 1 &4, EEE, and WEE every other year. I try not to worm them and vaccinate them in the same week because they both depress the immune system slightly, and when you combine them you can get allergic reactions a lot easier. I learned this the hard way. I accidently vacinated bailey at the same time as I wormed her and she usually never has a reaction, but oh boy. She had a pretty big one that time.

Bailey:

• I haven't started her on hay yet. In fact I don't even have it yet. She's just on pasture still.
• Right now I have her on 1 part Purina Senior to 2 parts Purina Strategy. Which equals to 1/2 quart Senior and 1 quart Strategy per day. This works pretty good. In my area Senior is about $23 per bag(50lbs) and Strategy is about $17 per bag(50lbs)
• As soon as I am out of this stuff I am planning on switching her to just 1 1/2 quarts Nutrena SafeChoice per day. This is a bit cheaper and simpler! SafeChoice is an awesome feed! It is kind of similar to Purina's Strategy GX but better in my opinion! SafeChoice is about $17 per bag(50lbs) in my area.
• When she hits month 8 of the pregnancy I am planning to add about 1 quart of oats to her daily ration. A 40lb bag of oats is about $7 in my area.
• She gets a EHV 1 + 1b vaccination at months 3, 5, 7, and 9 of her pregnancy. This is to prevent her from getting EHV(Equine Herpes Virus) during her pregnancy which causes abortion. I would only do it at months 5, 7 and 9 but I live in a high risk area. So my vet recommended doing it at month 3 too.

Fanny: 

• Poor horse. She doesn't get any grain. Except for when I let her lick the bucket after I am done graining Bailey :) She's like a dog!
• Depending on how she's doing I might give her a small amount(like less than half a quart) of SafeChoice with some MSM in it to her for her joints since I have a bunch left over form last year and it is still good.

     I am horrible at feeding hay. All the 'good' horse owners get nice hay bags or racks and feed 2+ small meals a day. But me, I just go throw a bunch over the fence(usually once a day) in different places so that Bailey doesn't hog it all and so that Fanny can get some. When it's gone I give 'em some more. Why? Mainly partially because I'm lazy, but also because I believe that it is more natural than some other ways. Horses are naturally foragers. They find food and they are constantly eating. For a animal that wieghs 1000 lbs they have relatively small stomachs. So yeah, the good horse owners just feed several small meals every day. But I just let them eat as they want it. I do give some restrictions on alfalfa though because they can get really fat really fast on thet stuff. But besides that, even with a mixed hay for the most part I just give it to them free choice.

Yep, I'm pretty sure I lost you somewhere in there. I told you it would be boring...

Salt Lake City ~ The best Halloween EVER!

We are in Salt Lake this week for fun. Today has been amazing!

This is what {the organ} looks like from a distance.

     First, we went to a Organ Recital in the Tabernacle, well afterwards, the performer, Brother Unsworth came up for questions. I wanted to ask him some questions so we went up. Well, we talked for a little while and after learning that I was learning the organ, he asked us if we wanted to look at the {giant} organ up close. Of course, I had to say yes! Pretty soon he asked if I wanted to sit on it and then if I wanted to play it!!!! I got to play 2 hymns, oh boy. That thing is massive!

Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge.

The beautiful Salt Lake Temple

After this we were able to go and do baptisms for the dead in the Salt Lake Temple. It was super cool! I love the temple.

Now that we have found the camera cord...

...you can see some pictures that I have taken and edited over the Summer.

The boys playing in the treehouse!

I loooooove this picture! It looks like I have a lot of horses in it though!

These are the geldings. You can only really see one though, the other one is behind him.

You've gotta love Caleb!

The same gelding, but in a clearer view. He is soooooo pretty. I love his flaxen mane and tail(it's hard to see it in this picture)!

My calf is such a goofball!

this is the other gelding with Fanny. (Fanny is the white grey one!)

This is just a closer view of the other gelding. Nothing special about this picture, but now you know what he looked like up close.

All about my life for this semester!

My life has been pretty busy of late. So many things seem to be going on!

• The calves are doing great and are so fun! We let them out into the pasture today and they loved it! They are such goofballs! We are weaning them in a few weeks too!
• I am taking another class from Williamsburg Academy. It is an amazing political literature class. We are reading some pretty cool books! There is a lot of writing involved which I am pretty bad at, but, it is good practice!
• We got the geldings sold! Yeah! they were really nice and everything but what were we going to do with two more horses?(Race horses I might add!)
• Bailey is pregnant with one baby now! Yeah! It is a colt if you didn't already know. I am so super excited! Our best guess is it will be a palomino! I love those! They are so pretty! The only problem is we have a huge family reunion in California 3 days after she's due, so...yeah. I think I'm going to talk Kristen into keeping her while we are gone(whether she has foaled or not)!
• Fanny is doing good...still really fat and still need ridden...
• Last tuesday we canned 150 quarts of peaches with our very best friends in Dietrich! It was a long day, but super fun! 50 of them were ours too! We had one for dinner today! Delish!
• We made a bunch of plum freezer jam today! We have two trees at the land that we pruned and sprayed in the spring and we are just getting the fruits of our labors!The jam is so delicious! And we have lots more still to make.
• We bought two boxes of pears to can today!
• When our apples come in season we want to make apple sauce and apple butter. We also have lots of tomatoes that we are probably going to can too! I am soooooo excited!
• I am doing a home study for seminary, starting a year early, it doesn't count toward graduation, but it is still really good!
• Jared and I are doing Jr. High XC for Richfield. It has been good, but hard! The races are really challenging, but they have gotten easier as we have gone along. We only have one more meet! YAY!!!

Me at the finish of my first race

Jared at the finish of the same race

Our little team after the race.

• I have started organ lessons in twin! I love them! they are so much fun! It is really hard and way different then it seems! But it is a good challenge! It is amazing how different the Organ really is from the Piano.
• All four of us have started participating in a handbells choir! It is so fun! Right now we are working on some Christmas songs for our Christmas Concert.
• I am still working hard on the piano. I have really improved and really enjoy it. The classical music on my playlist is music that I am either learning to play, or, I already can play.
• Jared and I are going to a local Commonwealth School in Twin. I am taking an Economics and Biology class and Jared is taking a American History class and biology with me. The history class is the same one I took a couple of years ago. Both of my classes are really fun! Handbells is also in the morning the same day of class in the same building. We have to leave at about 7.30 am on Fridays to get to Handbells before class and then we get home at about 5 pm! It is a really long day but so worth it!
• I haven't been sewing lately...my sewing machine was in the shop for a week because it stopped working and I have been trying to study more than sew! But, I did make a skirt last week with my mom's machine. We lost our camera cord so I'll show you some pictures later. Oh, I also made a super cute bag in July, I'll have to show you sometime...

I'm sure that there is something that I'm forgetting but, this is all I can remember for now. Enjoy the rest of General Confrence!!

You caught me dreaming...

My favorite!!!

Yep, this is the stud we bred Bailey to. I can't help but dream about foals that are mine and Bailey when I see him!

Doubled

Yes, I have doubled my horses. In one day.

WHAT??? You may say, but it's true.

 A few weeks ago a guy we know said that he really needed to get rid if his chariot racing team, and wanted to know if we would take them. So, my dad, the wonderful heart that he is said yes. So I have doubled my 'herd.'

At least they are both geldings. I DO NOT LIKE MARES ANYMORE!!!!

They both seem to be really gentle and let me do anything on the ground with them. Walk behind them, spray them etc.

One is broke for sure. I haven't tried to ride them though. The guy rode one of them to our house though.

The downside...they're thouroughbreds. Which is just as bad as a mare in my opinion!!! Especially since these are race horses.
I took pictures but I can't find the camera cord. But one is really pretty, he has a flaxen mane and tail any way the other one is OK though.

And yeah, they're for sale if someone out there wants them. Just let me know...

Calves

We got a couple of day old heifer calves to bottle feed and then take to market. We are just starting with one per kid, but I think we will get more next time around. We still don't have Caleb's yet and he is about to burst he is so excited. I kind of like it though because a lot of times he will go out and feed mine for me!!

The nice thing is that we don't have to feed them in the middle of the night or during the day, just once around 6-7 am and 6-7 pm so it isn't too bad.

Jared's at like 2 days old

My calf sucking on Caleb's fingers and my cousin Erica

It's pretty funny when we have to leave our farmer/rancher friends' baptism because we have to go feed! Usually it is the other way around, it was kind of weird!

Simple? With her? Never!

So, a couple of years ago I had this wonderful idea. Let's breed Bailey!

Well, this year that idea came to life as we bred her.

But, I had forgotten that, NOTHING IS SIMPLE WITH HER!!!!

The first time we bred her (talked about in one of my previous posts) she didn't catch, and of course, we couldn't tell when we took her to the stud, so we had to get her ultrasounded. And...nothing.

So, we gave her a shot of lute and we bred her again.

And of course this time she looked pregnant when we checked her with the stud,

but...I kept feeling like we needed to get her ultrasounded anyway. So finally, I got an appointment.

and of course...

She was pregnant...

WITH TWINS!!!!!!

And horses rarely can support twins until birth, and even if they do, one usually dies(if not both of them) or they both will be weak etc.

BUT, one of the fetus' looked sick and we could hardly get a heartbeat on it (in fact they called in another vet to look for the heartbeat because the first vet couldn't)

So we dropped her off one night the next week so that they could ultrasound her again early the next morning (we didn't want to have to be in gooding at 5 am!), so that they would have the rest of the day to abort it if necessary.

They called us that afternoon and said we could come pick her up and that it was almost dead, they couldn't find a heartbeat at all and before both fetus' had been the same size but they were now noticeably a different sizes.

They prescribed a hormone for her to help her maintain her other pregnancy and told us to bring her back in two weeks to make sure the sick one died.

And can I just say that the gooding vets are awesome!!!! They definitely have lifelong clients now!!!

Oh, and I almost forgot to tell you, the healthy one is a COLT!!! YAY!! I do not want anymore mares!!! I am good with the geldings!

My goals.

Every wise woman buildeth her home: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.

                                                                Proverbs 14:1

Lately I have been thinking about the differences between me and the other young women around me. These young women aren't bad in any way and I am not either but it is just interesting to see how different we all are.

These young women’s goals are going to college to get a good degree so that they can have a good job.

 My goal, to take college classes to further my education so that I can teach my children correct principles.

They have the goal to be the town’s basketball star.

My goal, to be able to cook sew, quilt, mend, and take care of a family.

They want to be the most popular girl in school

I want to ‘be an example of the believers’.

They want to work after they are married until they have children.

I want to stay at home to prepare for my children.

They read Twilight in their free time.

I read books such as ‘equine medications’ and ‘lap quilting’

For fun they hang out with friends

I hang out with some friends too for sure but, I also work outside, work with my horses, sew and play the piano a lot more.

Yeah, I guess you could call me old fashioned!

Fun Week!!!

 We had the lovely experience of having to take Bailey to the vet this week, because she stepped on a big fencing staple.

Yep, we got home from somewhere on Monday night at about 9 PM and I saw that Bailey was out. So I went to catch her so I could put her back and when I walked past her to get the halter she didn't flinch(she usually will run away because she doesn't want to be caught!). So I caught her and she was limping really bad.

So, I got my dad and we checked her feet and found a nice  big, rusty staple in her foot. and we pulled it out. And I gave her some antibiotics and other stuff. And texted Kristen to ask her what medicine to use on it.

Tuesday morning Kristen called(she hadn't texted back earlier because her phone was dead). She said we had to get her to the vet as soon as possible for antibiotics. I knew that she had a horse that had to be put down from stepping on a nail.  So I called our vet and got an appointment for that afternoon.

We arrived with a little bit of trouble but we got there and the vet said she needed to have antibiotics. He gave her banamine(for pain, it is like human asprin) genamyacin(sp? an antibiotic) and penicillin right then and said that she should have a profusion the next day(today). So she got to stay the night.

We also went to watch the profusion which was very interesting. It is actually called a something glandin profusion but I forgot what it was called. I want to say prostlgandin but I know that is wrong. But any way, they put a tourniquet on her leg to shut off blood flow. Then they injected a large amount of antibiotic in the vien below the tourniquet. and then you have the leave the tourniquet on for a while(an ideal is 30 minutes) horses generally don't like the tourniquet and even though they are sedated to where they are about to fall over they still can(and do!!) explode unexpectedly. So it is hard to got 30 minutes!!! We got 20, whenever they move the foot with the tourniquet they can feel it so that is when they generally react.

After they were done they gave her an antibiotic shot that will last 4-5 days(so I don't have to give IV shots 2x a day), we walked some of the sedation off and then took her home. On Sunday when the antibiotic wears off we will put her on oral antibiotics for 10 days or so.

So yeah, that is my story for the week! I hope yours wasn't as expensive!!!

God Bless the USA

   

   God Bless the USA

If tomorrow all the things were gone you'd worked for all your life,

and you had to start again,

with just your children and your wife,

you'd thank your lucky stars,

to be liven here today,

for the flag still stands for freedom,

and you can't take that away,

And I'd gladly stand up,
next to you,
and defend her still today,
'cause their ain't no doubt
I love this land,
GOD BLESS THE USA!!!

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!

Recent Sewing Projects

I made these quilts for the care center. The Christmas one somebody gave me the top already made so I just tied and bound it. the other one I am NOT showing you!! I was experimenting with a pattern for the top and it didn't turn out. I think it is going to go to a blind lady!

This is my first try at triangles, I need to finish quilting it. On the left side you can kind of see the lines of the quilting. this one is also for the care center.

These are some snowball bocks sewn together that I am making for a quilt top. I really like the colors and the pattern so far. this one will go to the care center.

I made this bag with the scraps from juice boxes

Maybe next time I will put some pockets in the inside or something to fancy it up a little bit more.

I really love how  the back turned out! I really like this stripes fabric, I found probably around ten yards of it in a shed at the land(who would of thought!) I am sad that it is almost gone. I also used it for the back of Juice boxes. You can't tell but I machine quilted flowers barely overlaping on the back. I wish I had pieced and quilted the front piece as well, I just stuck the pieces together. 

This was a first attemt with this pattern, it was pretty east but takes practice. I'm glad that you can't see the mistakes in it bacause the lighting is bad. just don't look to close.

This is jsut a simple tube skirt that I made for easter with fabric from the DI. It took maybe 30 minutes so it was pretty fast.

I call this my Sense and Sensibility dress. Because that is what it looks like. When I wear it I usually tie a bright ribbon around it to give it color. I made it with a $2 sheet from the DI so it was cheap!! And the pattern was very simple.

OK, I am done babbling on,

Thomas Jefferson Quotes