Honey Wheat Pizza

was on the menu last night and it was gooood.

It is said to be the California Pizza Kitchen recipe but who knows...

We make medium size pizzas because that's what fits on our pizza stone. This recipe made enough for 5 mediums...(You can freeze what you don't use in individual bags. It makes it easy to take out and make at a later time)

Place pizza stone in oven and preheat at 450F.

Stir together and let rise:

2 tbsp yeast

3 cups warm water + 2 tbsp

and a bit of sugar if you want to feed the yeast.

Then add and mix in mixer (or by hand) for 2 to 3 minutes

6 cups bread flour

3 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 cup + 2 tbsp honey

2 tbsp salt

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

I add more flour until the dough is smooth and elastic and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

Let rise in bowl while you prepare the toppings.

Then divide into 5 pieces. Spread one out into the shape you want and place on pizza peel (wooden paddle) lightly covered with cornmeal. Now top the dough with your choice of sauce and toppings then slide it onto the pizza stone which has been heating in the oven.

Bake for 10 minutes.

Brush crust with a bit of extra virgin olive oil.

Enjoy~~

Some of our favorites:

BBQ chicken: spread your favorite BBQ sauce over the dough, place cooked chicken pieces over and then top with mozza cheese and some smoked gouda. Place thinly sliced red onion on top. Bake. Remove from oven and top with fresh cilantro leaves

Garden tomato: Use marinara sauce. Top with favorite cheeses then top with an assortment of sliced tomatoes from your garden. Remove from oven and top with some fresh basil.

Chicken Alfredo: Use alfredo sauce and top with chicken and fresh tomatoes then mozza and parmesan cheeses.

Visiting the Bridges

The cousins ages 4-11 (the babies were sleeping) Tickling

Will and Noah going to church...
I think Will's close hug is making Noah nervous!

Bridget, Stella, Lola and Gracie

Christmas

Jonah

Luke and his lego


Bridget and Will watching a movie with their new quilts from
Grandma and Grandpa Johnston and Megan

It was a wonderful day!

Spending this day together felt so good. What a blessing to have the Spirit in our lives to let us remember how wonderful the Saviour is and how wonderful his birth and life were.

Christmas Eve

We were so excited to have our cousins Ryan and Alissa and their baby Ella join us for our Christmas Eve festivities! It's so nice to have visitors on special days! We used to live by Ryan and Alissa in the apartments in Sandy and they were Luke and Bridget's favorite people to spend time with. Thanks for coming!

Will and Bridget got to be Joseph and Mary

and we were so excited to have a real baby Jesus!

Luke was a Wise Man and Jonah was a cow.

Christmas jammies...now it's off to bed.

This is how our house looked on Christmas Eve..
it's going to be a White Christmas!
Our table set for our Christmas Eve dinner.

Bridge Family Pictures

When we were home in Canada visiting all the Bridge's for Christmas we had some pictures taken. It was quite cold, well o.k. really cold, but the crisp air and beautiful white snow made for some awesome pictures. It's amazing how fast the family has grown! It was so fun to be home and the kids loved being with all the cousins.

(For those of you who have never met my family now's your chance! Just click on the title of this post)

Speedy

At the Bookmobile today Luke got the book he has been dying to finish: Brisinger, the third book in the Eragon series. A few weeks ago he had all but 100 pages read and when he went to renew it he had to turn it in because there were so many holds on it. He felt tortured to leave it. Anyway, he walked out of there today saying, "This is the best day!"

He immediately started reading and didn't stop. When it was time to take Bridget up the street to dance I asked him to sit and play with Jonah while I was gone. When I got back 5 minutes later he said, "Mom, Jonah is so fast! I looked down at my book for ten seconds (I'm sure that's a give or take estimate) and when I looked up he was gone. I found him upstairs in Bridget's bedroom!"

Merry Merry December

Making Snowflakes

Shovelling snow before school on the last day before Christmas break!

Ward Christmas "Breakfast with Santa."

Jonah gets his first haircut...after pictures will come later.

Early mornings by the Christmas lights before school.

Sledding!

Experiencing a little bit of pure joy!

Igloo!

Will's drawing of the Nativity.

Bridget's drawing of the Nativity.

Puzzles

Making Little House on the Prairie candy

This is how we spent December!

Polar Express..mini

(Looking back some more)
Will, Jonah and I went with some of our friends for a ride on a mini Polar Express. Complete with a stop at the North Pole and visit with Santa... Lot's of fun!

An invaluable snippet in time...on the way home Will spotted this park and wanted to stop so we did and I'm so glad! We played while Jonah slept in the car. Swings, timing him down the icey slide, tag, climbing till I had to rescue him.

Love you Will.

Thanksgiving

(Looking back)
It looks like the two things I caught on film over Thanksgiving are Pie and The lights on Temple Square. Which, I might add, are quite possibly the very best parts of the whole celebration!

We had my sister Olivia and her husband Tyler and baby Lola stay with us. And Adam's parents and Matt and Vanessa joined us for dinner and Temple Square. It was a great holiday! Thanks for all the fun time everyone!


Lola tried everybody's pie...it's so hard to figure out which is best until you have a good sampling!

Adam, Tyler, Matt, Vanessa and I enjoyed many rounds of speed Scabble. If you haven't tried it you must. It's one of my favorites!

I got to do Lola's hair in french braids for the first time. So cute. All the nieces know they better watch out if they don't want their hair done when I'm around...because I can't help myself. I love to do little girl hair-do's.

Matt post Thanksgiving dinner.

Bridget was in charge of dressing the pie in whipped cream. She was very generous...yum.

Grandma showed her how.










We met Cat and Craig and their family for dinner and then saw the lights. So beautiful, amid the crisp air and enormous crowds of people.

Will and Bridget's favorite parts.

Ethiopiest

We were driving in the car on Saturday and Adam said something about Obama being an Athiest (he's not). From the back seat Luke calls, "Obama's an ethiopiest?"
Hmmm...maybe.

Middle floor

"But you get the food!" Will shouted to me as I left the upstairs bedroom where he was sleeping tonight.
For the past week or so he's been telling me that he can't sleep upstairs...he can only sleep on the middle floor (his way of saying he wants to sleep in our bedroom) But tonight another reason came out....the food is on the middle floor. "Mom, you get to eat when you go to bed...you are down there by the fridge that's FULL of food!"
Move over sugar plums, he's having visions of leftovers dancing in his head.

onions & sunglasses

Bridget decided to make dinner out of her new Kit Kittredge cookbook. On the menu: Cincinnati Chili.

Here's the funny part: I was standing across the counter from her doing something while she chopped the onions. First I heard a few sniffles and I looked up to see tears. We laughed and she kept cutting. I went back to work. Then more sniffles and more tears. Giggles and a bit of exasperation. "How am I gonna get this done?" Exit Bridget.

Bridget returns with a solution: her SUNGLASSES!!

She's the most stylish cook I've ever laid eyes on! And the chili was delicious. Everyone wanted seconds. Oh, and you should have seen the table....white tablecloth, name cards, and conversation cards hidden under each plate. We talked about dream vacation spots, favorites and memories. It was wonderful
Thanks Bridget...we love you!