Friday, July 27, 2007

I just want to say Thanks!!!

Well it is our last night in E-burg and I just wanted to Thank Jolie for getting together a small girls night at the last min. Joseph was over gaming with Josh one last time and I was sitting admist boxes after bathing the boys and putting them to bed, when Joseph called and said Jolie wanted to come over with a few girls to play games and hang out. So her, Natalie LaVanway (Julie it was almost like you were there, miss you), Rachel Smith and Jordan Hayter came over. We ended up talking and eating Ice Cream and didn't even finish one game but it was alot of fun. Thanks guys I really appriecate it, We will miss you all! It was just what I needed, what a great way to spend the last night here surrond by friends! I love all the girls here in E-burg and will miss all of you!!! Emily, I had such a great time getting to know you and will always remember all our fun talks while Ethan and Colin played. Julie, even though you moved before all of us, you have been such a great example of long distance friendship, I had a hard time with that growing up but I am glad to have found that it works, thanks for the example. Jamie, what will I do with out all the laughing and teasing our husbands. It was easier to get through all of their long hours studing when we could just sit outside with the kids playing and talk. Jordan, I don't think I ever saw you without a smile on your face, I love your honest and loving heart, good luck in New York. For those of you in 3rd ward, Rachel, Cindy, and Becca, I may not know you as well as I would liked but thank you for always being there, I love each one of you and hope you share photos of your families as they grow. Natalie, you have the same spirit as Julie and I wish I had taken more time getting to know you since you moved here but I hope we can continue that through blogging. Katie, I hope you are doing well in Portland, I always enjoyed talking to you, you seemed to call for V.T. whenever I needed an adult to talk to. (3 year olds don't hold the most interesting conversations) Thank you, for the many times when you and Laurie, sat and talked to me! And I want to see pictures of that new baby when it comes!!!! Lore, you are the sweetest women that I know, take care of yourself and let us know how getting in to Dental school goes. I know Dustin is putting a lot of hard work into it but I know that they can't do it with out our support. Love you lots.. And Jolie, I don't know what I would have done without you this week. Thank you for watching the boys and feeding us Dinner, I don't think I would have made it through the last couple of days sane with out you. I know we will stay in touch because of Josh and Joseph but I hope you start a blog so I can see pictures of your girls as they grow up.
Again I wanted to say thank you to everyone, it has been a truly amazing couple of years and we have had such a great group, I hope we continue to stay close through this Blog!!! I love you all!

Monday, July 23, 2007

YEAH!!!

Yeah! Rachel, thanks so much for posting on the blog! It's good to hear from some friends! How is the little one doing? What are you guys up to? Stanley started school today, so I'm pretty sure that I'll be in shock for a while because I'll never see him. Plus my mom's been here for a week, but she's leaving tomorrow so that will really slap some reality into me! Oh well! Hope everyone is doing good! And I'll harp on this some more, c'mon guys post some info!!!!

i got it...well sort of

I'm finally on this blog thing. It's probably going to take awhile before I master it, so excuse my lame attempt at posting something. But hey, it's something. Thanks, Anjuli for getting this all started. Time goes into warp speed after having kids and this will be a great way to stay in touch. -rachel

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Pretzel Recipe!!

A couple of people asked me for the Pretzel Recipe, and I didn't want to forget anyone so here it is. If you have any questions just ask. I suggest reading all the directions first so you have a clear idea of the steps.
Dough Ingrediants:
4 C. Milk
3/4 C. shortening
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c. warm water
2 packages. or 2 scat Tablespoons Yeast
12 cups flour divided.
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 Tablespoon salt
Water solution to dip pretzels ingrediants:
6 cups cold water
1 3/4 Tablespoon Lye *****Check note on Lye at bottem of the recipe.

Here it is: 4 c. milk, scalded but do not boil (I do mine in the microwave)
3/4 c. shortening (not oil)
1/2 c. sugar
Heat the milk first.
Next, add the shortening and sugar, stirring to melt the shortening and the sugar (this is one reason to make sure the "milk" is hot but not boiling.
Pour the mixture into your mixer and cool to lukewarm. (You don't want to kill the yeast.with the water too hot.)

1/4 c. warm water (if milk mixture is too hot you can add cooler water)
2 pkgs. (2 scant T.) yeast (add after cooled)
6 c. flour

Mix well in the mixer and cover for 30 min. until light and bubbly.

1 1/2 t. bkg. pwd.
1 1/2 T. salt
6 c. flour (more if needed for correct bread consistency)

Stir down the bubbly dough and gradually add the above ingredients until the dough is the correct consistency. Let rise in a greased bowl until doubled. About 1 1/2 hrs.
Knead dough down & divide into six equal parts. Cover with a damp cloth and let rest about 10 min. (If you don't cover it the dough will get dry quickly and be difficult to roll out. Leave all sections under the damp cloth until you shape them into pretzels.)
Have your pans greased and in a saucepan deep enough to dip pretzels in, measure approx. 6 c. cold water and 1 3/4 T. lye ***stirring to dissolve lye. Heat on simmer (again, don't boil) as the lye could "pop".
While that's heating, you can begin to roll out the number equal to a sheet of pretzels to about 16" or so and twist into shape. You'll see how long to make them once you do it. Let them rise a several min. and then gently (so as not to squeeze the air out of them) lift one at a time and slip it into the lye water. I use two flat metal pancake spatulas to help. The better you drip them off, the less they'll stick to the pans. Give the pan a cursory greasing each time you put more pretzels on it. (I use a pastry brush.) Bake at 400 for approx. 12-15 min. It depends on how dark you all like them. Opa likes albino so that's what I'm used to. This should make roughly 5 doz.

****A small note about the Lye my mother in law uses Red devil Lye you find it in the plumbing section. I know it says poison on it but you use such a small amount that it won't hurt you. She has been using it for years and her mom before her. If you don't dip the pretzels in the water/ lye solution they won't brown they stay white. And they don't have that pretzel taste.

Thursday, July 12, 2007

hey everyone!

Hey guys! Well, we officially live in Arizona now! It's way too hot here for me this time of year...but I DID know it was going to be like this! I am praying for October however! :) Well, I just wanted to add a post and see how everyone is doing?! Some more of you need to post and add some pictures so we can keep up with all the cute kids and families and what everyone is up to! Hope you're all doing good, and hope to see some posts up here soon!
Love, The Cox family