My sister offered me a starter for this bread a few weeks ago.  My first reaction was, “Sure, but I’ll just throw it away after I forget to do anything with it for a week.”  But she reminded me how absolutely delicious it is and I took a starter off her hands.  How FRIENDLY of her.

So I mushed the starter for a few days and added junk to it.  I followed the simple instructions until I could finally bake my two loaves of bread and create starters to give to three friends – hence the name “Amish FRIENDSHIP Bread”.  Well, within half a day, those two loaves of bread had been devoured!  Not only by myself, but my kids were CRAZY about it.  When Ashton finished the last piece, he almost cried.  We were all very sad that it would be TEN MORE DAYS before the next batch could be made.

Then and there I became an addict and made a commitment to NEVER be without Amish Friendship Bread again!  So those three starters that I was supposed to give away were cared for and mushed by myself for ten more days.  Then I made six more loaves (I don’t know what happened to them but they aren’t here anymore) and kept two starters for myself.  I know, the Amish math isn’t adding up, but whatever.  Cari and I have tried to figure out a way to cheat the system but that Amish math is haaaaard (and Cari is even a math GENIUS!).

Well, yesterday Emmy and I made four more loaves…(not pictured – Emmy licking the counter where the batter dripped, licking the spoon clean, then sticking her whole head in the bowl to lick the sides before I could stop her.  It’s a drug, I tell you!)

I KNOW!!!  I KNOW!!!!  I have a huge problem and I am finally ready to admit it and take control of the situation.  This time, I didn’t keep ANY starters!  I threw away all opportunities for me to ever make more of this incredibly delicious treat again.  I know that is extremely SELFISH of me not to even give starters to my friends but look!  I would know WHERE to go for MORE starters!  I had to destroy all my resources.  I’m pretty sure this is part of the 12-Step Program.

Here’s the problem…My Butt! In a study performed in 2004, researchers discovered that the Amish had very low rates of  obesity even though they had extremely high calorie diets. The difference between them and us is they walk an average of 5 miles per day, whereas we walk about five steps. Here I am 8 1/2 months pregnant and my butt and everything else is getting bigger by the second and I know this loaf of doughnut is completely to blame.  So it must end NOW, I am quitting cold turkey….right after I eat these last four loaves.

Then Emmy always has to run down the stairs to give him a hug, usually when he is already running down the sidewalk.  This morning she hugged and kissed him and said,”You’re my best friend!”  Oh wowie, heart melted!!!

So then I had a couple hours to spend with Emmy.  We watched “Annie” (some of it, anyway) and played in her playhouse under the stairs.  Here is my tiny girl watching her movie…

Wouldn’t it be great to have a Love Sac that giant all to yourself???!!!

Kris and Josh BEDAZZLING like crazy!

Josh was Richard Simmons

Kris, Cari and I were the Chipettes

Jason’s party was DA BOOOOMB!

Here is Ashton taking care of his perfect pumpkin

Emmy was in her usual silly mood as she ate her ice cream cone

Josh showed me a fabulous trick that really came in handy today and it really works!  When you’ve just had ENOUGH, you lift up your arm and like a big, lazy bear swatting slowly at a bee, you figuratively “shove” all the stuff you can’t control away, with a nonchalant grunt.  And I’m not even kidding, all those cares just disappear.

Today, after I ran out all my frustrations and “shoved away” all the junk, I could focus on things that were really important and things I really should SAY.

MY FAMILY…the people I love most are what deserve my energy and thoughts.  My little sister, Cari, had surgery this morning.  My parents are in town, Angie’s family changed their vacation plans to go to Disneyland to be here.   Last night we all had dinner together and then, as I was leaving, I gave Cari a hug and fought back the tears as I told her that I loved her.  I had to SAY that, AT LEAST.  But there were so many other things I wanted to SAY, things that kept running through my mind today as I ran to “SAY”.

Cari, my sweet, baby sister.  I love you soooo much!  You are my shopping buddy, my tanning/pool buddy, my dancing buddy (along with Kris ), my crazy flip-handstand-gymnatics-trying buddy, my new music discoverer/provider buddy, my sewing/crafty buddy, my crying and laughing buddy.  Even though there are ten years between us, you have always been one of my very best friends.  You are gorgeous, so incredibly smart, HILARIOUS, talented in so many ways, and amazingly strong.  Thank you for being a second mom to Ashton and Emmy and pretty much all the grandkids.  I have so many memories of you working your magic, making babies fall asleep cuddled in your loving arms.   I love you so much, Cari!

Here is a “commercial” Cari made for school.  She was assigned to make a 35 second commercial describing herself.  I smile through the whole thing and laugh along with her at the end, EVERY TIME I WATCH IT!

The tempo of this song is PERFECT for my stride…Okay, okay, aaaaand I used to love this song so much when I really WAS white trash, that it would give me happy goosebumps all over.  So it still makes me happy and gives me energy AAAAND when it ends, I know I’ve almost gone a whole mile!  It’s the BEST!

Since we had a real babysitter (no offense Cari and Kris) we couldn’t just go home!  We drove around up in the hills checking out incredible homes and went shopping at the new Nordstrom Rack in Draper.  Everything was closing and we still didn’t want to go home.  Our only option (besides going to Walmart, splitting up and finding the BEST thing for ONE DOLLAR) was to go to Trafalga.  We were all a little hesitant, even though Josh and I had been to their batting cages a couple weeks ago.   But it ended up being tons of fun!

We did the batting cages again.  Josh took one swing and realized what caused his tendonitis to flare up approximately two weeks ago (batting cages) and couldn’t participate.  Eddie and Lindsey rocked.  I found out that I’m a switch hitter!  After having quite the horrible RBI right-handed (yes, I throw and hit right-handed), Lindsey told me to try lefty.  It was WAAAAY better.  Weird.

We raced bumper cars.

And we played some arcade games.  This one was pretty fun/funny…JUMPING JACKPOT!!!

Here’s Josh’s first try, on one foot because of his tendonitis in his right ankle:

Here’s Eddie’s first try:

Lindsey’s first try:

And my first try:

(This disorder is especially bad in the temple where it’s quiet and I’m supposed to feel very Christlike, but somehow I’m always next to a larger, old lady who is having a difficult time breathing. I have spent many temple sessions with one finger very sneakily plugging my ear.)

Strangely enough, when Ashton or Emmy make these noises, I think it’s the cutest thing in the world! Just hilarious! “Oooooh, listen to them just smacking away, LOVING that food! How cute!…….(Josh accidentally makes a slurping sound while drinking through ice) JOSH!!!!! I heard that! If you do that again, I will kill you.”

Picks up a cracker, “First, you take the graham..”
Picks up a piece of ham, “Then you stick the chocolate on the graham…”
With the cheese, “When the ‘mallow’s flamin’, you stick it on the chocolate.”

You get the idea. He goes all the way through it until “Then you scarf!” and actually takes a bite (something that never happens voluntarily normally).

He also likes to get into name-calling wars (only allowed with Josh or myself).  His favorites include: fart-sniffer, scab-eater, boogar-picker, bum-face and he’ll come up with new and exciting combinations every time.

Yesterday at the pool he made Emmy lay on her back and he proceeded to perform CPR on her.  He did pretty well and I was hoping the lifeguards weren’t thinking I was letting a 3 year-old save my baby’s life.

He likes to play baseball until he drops the ball or misses it with the bat and then he gets too frustrated and is DONE.

Anyhoo, such a funny movie.  Although Squints was hilarious, fiesty and very endearing….

I really, really loved Benny.  He was one good-lookin’ kid AND he was nice to the dork.  Hot and sensitive…

MmmmMMMmmmMMM! And I know this sounds creepy, but he was totally cute as young Benny and then when he’s all grown up playing for the Dodgers and has that nasty mustache….ewww.   I’ve been thinking, ‘I wonder what happened to that kid…’ so I went to good ol’ IMDB.  Well, it turns out that he isn’t a movie star at all (thank goodness) AND get THIS!  He’s a fireman in L.A.!  OOOOOOOLALAAAAA!  How can I get my hands on one of  THOSE calendars?!?!?!?