Honey Whole Wheat Bread

So I've tried to make lots of different bread recipes and they don't always turn out. Last time, I tried wheat and it didn't rise. I believe Jeff's words were, "Oh, you made me a football." Nice huh?
I made this recipe last night and it was delish. We had it with honey and then some with strawberry jam for our FHE treat.

Here's the recipe:

Honey Whole Wheat Bread
1 cup water (70 degrees to 80 degrees)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups bread flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast

DIRECTIONS
In bread machine pan, place all ingredients in order suggested by manufacturer. Select basic bread setting. Choose crust color and loaf size if available. Bake according to bread machine directions (check dough after 5 minutes of mixing; add 1 to 2 tablespoons of water or flour if needed).

*I don't like to cook the bread in the machine so I set it to the dough setting and let it mix. Then I put the dough in the bread pan and let it rise a little. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes.

*I used E.V.O.O. instead of vegetable oil. I could taste a hint of the E.V.O.O.

It's raining, it's pouring...

So today I was sure that I could hear rain but it was sunny outside.

I went to investigate...by looking out the window.

Sure enough, it was pouring. We went outside to check it out.

Kamden could only contain himself for about 3 seconds then he was out running around in it.

He was soaking wet!

Why not just take a seat?

Contemplating what just happened?

Childhood in all it's grandeur and glory.

I remember looking at grown ups when I was little and thinking, "How boring! Come play."

Today, I was so happy to just watch Kamden. He was having so much fun and actually, I was having fun just watching him.

Jeff and I were laughing with him and just enjoying the moment.

Mommy & Mac

I love it when my boys are happy.

It's just that simple...

So a few posts ago I told everyone that if they wanted to be featured on my blog, all they had to do was hop on a plane and come to NC to visit.

Pretty simple and inexpensive, right?

Well,

Brooks, Andrea, & Paisley came to visit this last week.

It was oh so fun!

We went to the beach.

Showed off our smokin hot bodies.

and Kamden was even willing to share his toys with Paisley.

They had so much fun together.

Paisley loves Mac. She liked to point to him and say "Baby Mac" over and over again.

They usually wanted to do whatever the other one was doing.

Drink apple juice, say apple juice, share apple juice...repeat.

Sorry the pics are out of order, it won't let me move them around.

This was the beautiful sunset at Wilmington Beach.

Like I said, show off our hot bodies. haha

We all were covered in sand. Worse than Bear Lake!

Kamden and Paisley are showing it off in this pic.

For anyone who knows about my little water phobia, you'd be darn proud of me.

That's me...in the ATLANTIC!

I saw Jeff and Brooks having so much fun playing in the waves. I was jealous.

Jeff held my hand and got me in the water.

My oh my, it was fun.

We all got knocked around pretty bad when we were standing where to waves crash on the shore.

Brooks & Andrea in the Atlantic.

It was such a fun little vacation and we were so happy to see the Barthlome family.

Thanks for coming guys. We love you.

Skype

So my dear friends and family. Do you miss our lovely faces and sparkling smiles? Well, we miss yours.

We just got a web cam and downloaded SKYPE. It's free! You can also use

Windows Live Messenger.

That means that we can not only talk to you but see you too.

You can search for us by Lyndzi Johnson or jeffnlynz.

as Mickey Mouse would say...

See ya real soon!

Happiest Place on Earth

They say Disneyland is the happiest place on earth.

I think it just so happens to be wherever Mac is.

I thought this was hilarious!

I can't get enough of his smiles. He was mid-sentence when I snapped this

Pardon the interruption.

We went to Charlotte on Labor Day.

This is the Lowes Motor Speedway.

This morning Kam was playing very quietly.
RED FLAG!
The little dear found the baby powder.

This is new fav thing.

He watches a movie on his toy basket.

This picture is especially funny. Look at his feet.

Jeff says all the Barthlome women could sit like that for hours.

This is also something new.

Naps don't take place in bed anymore.

Same shirt, different days.

Brooks, Andrea, & Paisley get here today!

Yeah!

Woe is me

Do ya ever get that woe is me attitude?

Well, I've kinda been having a little pity party for myself lately.

We have had some stress in our lives, oh for while now. I find myself wondering when it is going to end. When is life going to get easier? When is it my turn? blah blah blah

On Monday Jeff said that he was going to go to Raleigh the next day. I suggested that the kids and I go with him and then to the temple. I can't leave Mac with a sitter yet so we were just going to alternate sessions. You have to schedule and apt. but we couldn't call until 3 pm on Tuesday. As we were getting loaded in the car, Jeff realized that our recommends expired Aug. 31st. THE DAY BEFORE! We even have an appointment for this Sunday to get them renewed. We decided that we would go anyway. We called to schedule our appointments and Jeff explained our little dilemma. Basically that we are dumb, but we still want to go to the temple.

They said that we most likely wouldn't be able to go. bummer Long story short, we got to go to the temple. I went first and sat on the front row. One of the workers came and asked me if I would move over just one seat so that these 2 women could sit next to each other. No problem. As they came out, I realized one had difficulty walking and needed to sit by the wall while the other woman was blind. That was the begining of my little attitude adjustment. It may always seem like the grass is greener on the other side, but that is just not so.

Heavenly Father has blessed my life in so many ways. I just spent some great quality time back west with family and I've been riding on that high for about a week and a half now. I loved seeing faces that I recognized. I loved that Kamden and McKay were around their grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. I loved being able to see the wide open spaces. But I have also loved being back home in NC.

I know I'll still have down-days but I am always going to have things to be grateful for.

So today...my self-pity STOPS!

On the plane ride home, Kamden fell asleep and a really nice man carried him to the baggage claim for me. My arms were a little full with 2 carry-ons and a baby. :)

Jeff was there to greet us. YEAH! It was like being reunited after some sort of catastrophe. AND THEN... like I was on the Price Is Right.

He had flowers and a new car! While we were gone, he sold our Sentra. (sianara little green bean) He couldn't sit in the drivers seat anymore with both car seats. We really needed something bigger.

What a good husband! It's so nice being back together again.

We love our PilotMy boys

Kam has this new thing where he says he wants to hold Mac but as soon as he gets him, he says "All done."McKay loves his play mat almost as much as Kam.Mac has had no trouble adjusting back to our schedule.

Kamden on the other hand...

won't sleep in his room.

ARG! It's really frustrating. I won't let him sleep in the bed but Jeff's a softy and lets him in on his side. Last night however, he ended up on our floor with a pillow and blanket.

In this picture, I told him not to come back downstairs or he would get in trouble.

It's cute when it's not a nightly occurrence.

On Saturday Kamden started to get a fever and so he stayed home from church on Sunday.

By Sunday night, I noticed that his gums were really red and inflamed.

Then yesterday I noticed sores on his lip and in his mouth. I asked the dentist I used to work for what it might be.

He has gingivostomatitis.

Basically his first outbreak with cold sores.

He is really uncomfortable and it's really contagious so that doesn't make for a good combination. Especially when he wants to love on Mac.

But remember, life is good.