NO work NOvember {on Thanksgiving Day}

I LOVE

when it's a

GOOD THINGS UTAH

day!!!!

Send me in your pics through

instagram {emiemiemi82}

Facebook {Emily Ryan Gibson}

or by email {emilygibson82@yahoo.com}

when you make these because i want to

soak

it

all

in

and enjoy it right along with you AHHHH!!!

The dough itself takes 30 minutes to make, then rise for 2 hours, and then roll them out and bake at 350* for 15 minutes. i had SO much fun having my kids tell me what to write for the things they were thankful for, and now i can't wait to read them all around the dinner table on Thanksgiving Day.

This is by far one of my favorite traditions we've ever started!

Click HERE to see the segment from today on Good Things Utah!

...

Ingredients

1 1/2 CUPS milk

3/4 cup + 1tbls sugar

1 egg

1 Tablespoon salt

2 tablespoon sugar

2 cups warm water

9 cups flour

1 cup butter

Directions

1. Dissolve 2 Tablespoons of yeast in 2 cups of warm water and 1 Tablespoon of sugar. Let for 10 minutes.
2. Scald 1 1/2 cups of milk, 3/4 cup sugar and 1/2 cup of butter, in a microwave safe bowl, for about 2 minutes.
   • Cutting the butter into pieces helps it melt faster.
   • There will probably be some little cubes of butter still floating in the hot mixture, they will melt.
3. Add yeast to this hot mixture, but it will be too hot to just dump the yeast straight in.
4. To cool it down stir in 1-2 cups of flour, then add 1 egg and 1 Tablespoon of salt, and leave it to cool for a couple of minutes.
5. Make sure your milk mixture is just warm, not boiling and add the yeast mixture!
6. Using a fork or wooden spoon, gradually stir in 9-10 cups of flour (counting the flour you have already added to cool it earlier).
7. I would recommend only adding 2 cups at time and stirring in between. These rolls turn out so much better when they are mixed by hand.
8. At the end the dough will be dense and sticky, and may be hard to stir, you can use your hands to incorporate the rest of the flour if needed. Be sure not to add too much flour. Then smooth the dough out and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Leave it in a warm place and let it rise.
9. When your dough is close to raising completely, butter 2 cookie sheets and set them aside.
10. Let the dough raise until it has doubled in size.
11. Cover your working space with flour to prevent the dough from sticking. Dump your dough out and divide it into 4 balls. Eyeball the sizes, then lift them up and feel the weight of each ball. Try to make them even, but they don’t have to be perfect.
12. Using one ball of dough at a time: roll the dough into a circle on a floured counter. Once it is rolled out spread the top with butter from edge to edge. You will use about 2 Tablespoons per circle of dough.
13. Cut the dough into quarters using a pizza cutter.
14. Then cut each quarter into 3 pieces. You should end up with 12 triangles from each circle of dough.
15. Roll the dough starting with the wide end of the triangle
16. Tuck the tail of the triangle under the roll and place it on the buttered cookie sheet. You will make 3 rows, with 8 rolls per row. This will give you 24 rolls per pan. Two balls of dough will fill 1 pan. You will get a total of 48 rolls!
17. Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.
18. Place the pans of rolls in a warm place (on top of the oven if possible) to let them rise. Once they are touching and full in size, cook (one pan at a time) in the oven ’till they are golden brown. About 10 – 15 minutes.
    • It may take longer depending on how hot your oven cooks. Keep a close eye on your first pan to get the right time for the second.
19. While they are still hot and fresh out of the oven run a stick of butter over the tops of the rolls for a delicious buttery glaze.

i'm so good at forgetting to write 

"thankful for" 

hahaha!!!

and man oh man, i couldn't miss the chance to take a pic with

THE LOUIS from DWTS!!!

he ate my rolls guys.

HE ATE MY ROLLS!!!

i don't know if i've ever met someone as genuine and personable as louis.

so down to earth and calm.

i felt blessed in so many ways to be around these people today.

the paper won't burn, and you can still read it, 

even though it's all wet from butter!

AAAAAANNNNND THAT'S A WRAP!

two trays of "thankful rolls" in my freezer,

ready for thanksgiving day.

BAM!

sandwich haters unite {good things utah}

you'll find me on Good Things Utah this morning!

any sandwich haters in your house?

yeah, me too;)

sharing my ideas on how to keep the kiddos happy,

and not lose your mind in the process.

9-10am Mountain on ABC4

#adventuresinhomelunch

NO EGGS!!!!! {how to make pumpkin chocolate chip cookies the RIGHT way}

want to know the secret to AMAZING pumpkin chocolate chip cookies?

listening ears on?

are you ready?

.

.

.

.

.

NO EGGS.

there. that's it.

now go forth, and make these!

and don't let me EVER hear you used eggs with your pumpkin cookies EVER again!

you're welcome:)

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 cups brown sugar

2 cups pumpkin

1 cup oil

3 tsp vanilla

4 cups flour

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

½ tsp ginger

2 cups chocolate chips

Mix all together. Bake 350 for 12-13 minutes.

NO EGGS!!!!!

split jury

{they were singing the superman theme song. all of them. "doo doo DOOO do do do do do dooooo". you get it. and dean was being flown back and forth. i could have peed my pants it was so funny.}

...

my kids are arguing 
a lot right now.

LIKE A LOT.

like i'm feeling like i'm in a constant state of anxiety most of the time.

and it's driving me BONKERS.

this morning while i was making them all scrambled eggs before school,

max said she wanted just salt on hers,

and the boys said they wanted theirs "creamy" {this means i mix in mayo with it--they love it},

and so based on past experiences with such a split jury, 

i verified TWICE that max ONLY wanted salt on hers before i passed out everyone's plates and took on the task of making brennan and sean's lunches,

and do you want to know what that little max did?

started WHINING AT ME that she wanted creamy eggs too.

like i had never even asked her and purposely left her out or something.

i probably had steam coming out of both nostrils and my ears at the same time.

i'm sure i was silent.

bc this is what i do when i'm EXTRA irritated.

i get silent.

and then i sigh.

i learned this from my dad.

it used to scare the BEE-JEEZ-ES out of us kids,

and now, i know he did it bc it just feels so refreshing,

and also it keeps you from killing your kids.
sean says i've added a blink to the method.
a SLOOOOOW blink.

so max saying she wanted mayo in her eggs,

AFTER SHE TOLD ME TWICE 2 MINUTES BEFORE THAT SHE DIDN'T

basically pushed me over the edge,

as that it where i feel i've been standing for the last several weeks since school started anyway,

at which point i told them i was going to send them all away bc i just couldn't live this way anymore!

have you seen the movie mean girls?

where the girls tell another girl "you can't SIT with us!" and she says it in a really crazy voice that's mostly strung out and irrational, and her eyes are all buggy and crazy?

yep, that was basically me this morning,

except i was talking about scrambled eggs that needed mayo added.

SCRAMBLED EGGS THAT NEEDED MAYO ADDED.

i mean good heavens, i don't know what the big deal was.

oh right, it was that i had already asked her twice before two minutes ago.

that's right:)

so at that point i walked over in my steaming fury, added the mayo, added more salt so as not to be accused of not adding salt and have THAT on top of the mayo agitation i was already in, and then i got back to slicing cheese for brennan's lunch.

so then sean started reading harry potter aloud,

and we're at the part where harry sets the snake free at the aquarium,

and i ate a peach bc i wondered if maybe i was just grouchy bc i was hungry,

and then we wrestled clothes and toothbrushes onto everyone,

and put the A-TEAM {brennan and max} on the porch for carpool,

at which point we waved goodbye and walked into the kitchen to declare victory on another morning of getting the kids out the door alive,

and sean told me that me telling the kids i was going to send them away over scrambled eggs was probably the highlight of his entire day {and he said this all cute and laughing like which made it all the more endearing--and also it made me start laughing bc it just lightened everything up}, and then he was all "please don't send me away" 

and we both just kept standing there laughing about it, 

even though i was actually 75% serious about sending them away.

over scrambled eggs that needed mayo.

can we just be adjusted to school being back in,

and homework,

two kids doing homework!

and friends coming in and out of my house all night,

and toys everywhere at the worst time of the day which is 5:30pm-8pm????

ok great.

thanks!
i feel better now:)

getting max to dance once a week takes all i can muster.

ain't NO WAY i can add in the karate brennan keeps asking for.

not unless they have a free shuttle.

oh my gosh, 

WHAT IF KARATE HAD A FREE SHUTTLE??!!??

they would make so much more money if they offered a free shuttle.

i think that's called a taxi.

a mom taxi.

but what if karate had a shuttle...

.

.

.

.

.

P.S.

i went to the store for toilet paper,

and do you wanna know what i forgot to buy?

yep.

toilet paper.

i'll get to them later

i'm a changed woman!

because having dishes in the sink from the night before doesn't even bother me.

mostly because i know this means i went to bed without bothering to stay up late to do them.

which means MORE SLEEP,

which means HAPPIER EMILY IN THE MORNING.

{they CANNOT be out all over the counter--some things will NEVER change;)...}

i'll get to them later.

and i really mean it.

it's actually kind of weird.

and i LOVE it.

{probably the best thing having a 4th kid ever taught me.}

that's what she said.

yep.

the story of how i DID NOT MEAN to can 38 quarts of peaches

this is the story 

of the 38 quarts of peaches 

i didn't mean to can.

here it goes...

our peaches ripened on our tree.

all 5 of them.

{thank you frost.}

sean said brigham city peaches and peach stand.

and i said two boxes, 

unless you can help me with an extra box for the peach raspberry jam?

this is what i said to him when he called from the peach stand.

and he was all "yeah! of course!"

{famous last words}

we like to can together you see.

so he bought three cups of raspberries too.

i was SO excited.

long story short,

sean went to take a nap to get rid of his headache,

{usually this requires ibu profien, a coke, and an hour snooze}

so i said i'd get started doing all of the prep work while he took care of his headache.

next thing i knew,

sean was barfing,

having hot and cold flashes,

body aches,

and i had three boxes of peaches we actually PAID for 

that had already been skinned, pitted, and halved.

and 4 kids at home on a sunday.

with a breastfeeding newborn.

it was either can them by myself or throw them all away.

i just wanted to cry,

but instead i put my shoulder to the wheel,

and let my kids watch movies for the rest of the day.

it wasn't pretty.

and at one point when dean didn't want to go to bed for the night i considered waking my neighbor andrea up in the middle of the night to help.

i did not, and dean finally fell asleep in the swing.

around midnight sean woke up for a gatorade and some nyquil,

and maybe i made him a piece of toast???

i can't remember...

38 quarts later at 1:30am i never wanted to see another peach in my whole entire life.

i'm sure glad i have them now,

all happily stacked downstairs in the cold storage by the water heater,

but i don't EVER want them to happen like that EVER again.

ahhhh!!!!

...

i give you,

my peach recipe,

courtesy of my neighbor julie who taught me how;)

the pictures make me laugh! 

notes: i don't make the syrup. i boil a pot of water and put 1/8c sugar {bc i don't really see why it needs any sugar really, but julie said to so i did} 

with 1/2tbls fruit fresh in each quart {so they don't turn brown in the bottles over the winter}, 

stack it with the peaches, and THEN ladle in boiling water to the half inch head space line.

no mess. you're welcome. also, process an extra 10 minutes for utah altitude.

canning "how to" here 

if you want to learn the ins and outs.

there's only one rule to canning.

the the is: FOLLOW THE RULES. 

TO THE T.

that's the only rule;)

the end.

hand shadow bird puppets

tonight, over a riveting meal 

of sloppy joe stackers,

brennan taught his siblings the art of hand shadow bird puppets, 

just as the sun was setting to the west.

everyone was very VERY impressed.

there's nothing i love more than dinner time at the table with my crew.

sometimes it lasts 2 minutes. sometimes it lasts 10 minutes.

sometimes chase cries through the entire meal,

sometimes max will have to go pee three times,

and each time she gets down, chase follows her 

{which means that by the time we coax chase back to the table, 

she is usually getting down again to go for the next time, 

and chase is getting back down to follow.

again.}

BUT regardless of all of that,

they are my very favorite minutes of my entire day.

and it's worth all of the work to get us all there,

just to be there together,

talking and eating at the table.

and i'm going to fight my hardest to keep doing this as my family gets older,

because there's just nothing else i'd rather be doing on a wednesday night than this:).

{missing: daddy. it must be wednesday night.}

i will go and do the things which the raspberry jam hath commanded. {pectin free canning recipe!}

once upon a time i tried a jam recipe that didn't call for pectin 

because i liked the picture on the pinterest pin for that recipe the best.

i am a marketers dream come true i tell you.

they had me a "free labels" basically.

also, despite having two freezers, 

the thought of making room 

or dedicating room to jam in plastic jam jars 

which might i add, i do NOT own, 

just overwhelms me.

anything to not have to leave my house folks.

ANYTHING.

this is why the freezer jam was nixed.

and so i sweat out the anxiety of not knowing 

if i was wasting 10 cups of fresh raspberries from costco 

on my stove this afternoon. 

i bottled them up,

processed them,

found their wrath on my shirt and in my hair, as every good canner does,

and then i waited.

and guys,

IT WORKED:)

raspberry jam recipe

{pectin free & for canning}

ingredients:

10 cups ripe raspberries

5 cups sugar 

{let's throw on a bonus cup of sugar here, 

and make it 6 cups of sugar or 7. whichever. 

just for those of us that are daring with our sweet teeth. 

yes, yes we should. But you go ahead and decide. 

i won't judge either way.}

directions:

{get your jars, rings, and water bath warming}

{click HERE for a canning "how to"}

1. 10 cups raspberries into pot, smash with potato masher.

2. add 5 cups sugar. mix well.

3. heat on high heat for 5 minutes. then heat on medium heat for another 30 minutes, 

stirring constantly.

put a netflix show on your phone, call your mom or your grandma,

but see here,

don't stop stirring that pot for more than a minute or two 

or it will burn and cake the bottom.

4. fill your jars, wipe your lids, put your lids and rings on, and process in a water bath for 15 minutes at sea level, 

and 25 minutes for those of us who like our air 

a little bit more thin out here in utah.

so basically tomorrow i'm going to drive to my friend's house to pick all of her raspberries,

as clearly i will go broke buying them from costco at this 10 cups for 3 pints rate.

nevertheless,

i will go and do the things which the raspberry jam hath commanded!

also, learn to spell rasberry raspberry.

amen.

{click here for the original pinterest recipe and "free labels" that had me at hello.}

letters to BETH, letters to Emily, and letters back to BETH {carseats, jet lag, OREOS, german speaking, and carpool ghost town}

dear beth,
are you home safe and sound? i have THE BEST letter to write you. can't wait. it will make you soooo happy!!! i almost died when it happened. like i wanted to PINCH myself because i couldn't believe that i actually got to be in the presence of it. you will laugh and feel so proud. also, i forgot about the car seats. 
love em

Dearest Emiline,
the carseats are at the taylor's. i told them you would probably pick them up this week. i wasn't sure. anyway, how are you? i love being back. i cleaned all my cupboards out in my kitchen and reorganized them. it was a blast. we got some gelato and ate some felafel...ummmmmm no better food on earth, and have been organizing and cleaning since we got home. i want to face plant into my keyboard and snooze away right now, but i'm not going to!!! i will stay strong and FIGHT jet lag if it's the last thing i do! ha ha. anyway, love you and miss you.
beth

BETHY BETHY BETHY!!!!
jet lag is the worst. i depise it. i spent my entire childhood in it, which i'm sure is the best time of life to experience it, as you don't require as much sleep as an adult to feel normal AND you don't have any real life things to attend to. people just let you nap, catch up, and drink cokes with pillows in the bathtub and stuff like that. have i ever told you about that story? that's what my mom would let me do when i was jet lagged in a foreign country. i wasn't allowed to stay up in the bedroom part of the hotel room and keep her up, but i was allowed to take over the bathroom, so one time i just brought the bedroom into the bathtub with me, and topped it off with a good old fashioned coca-cola just for kicks. ya know, since i wasn't going to be sleeping at normal hours anyway. of course this was before cell phones, dvd players, ipods, and other such material and my ADD brain just wasn't in love with reading back then, but i did have my gameboy. OH MY GAMEBOY:) super mario brothers, tetris, and then sonic on the sega genisis. the good old days. so if you find yourself awake at the wrong time of the night, and you don't want to wake bryce up in bed, bring your pillow and blankets into the bathroom and haul up in the tub with them all and a good book. heaven. i swear to you. at least it was at age 10:). 

ok, now here is my most happy thing ever that i get to share with you. crazy CRAZY crazy, like i couldn't even believe my eyes when i saw it. are you ready? get ready. 
wait for it.....


waaaaaaaiiiiittttt fooooorrrrr iiiiiitttt......

makenzie maxine....

my milk loving offspring....

whom i have trained in the ways most honorable of OREO
straight
up
dipped
her
oreo
in
a
cup
of
water
by
her
own
free
choice
and
will.

i swear to you, i was thrilled that she has this in common with you, and dumbfounded at how on earth another human being could find this as an acceptable way to eat an oreo.
but nevertheless my friend, you have someone else in the world like you.
who dips their oreos in water.
i can't even believe it.
you are kindred.
that i CAN believe.
you are YA-YA's.
and i just LOOOOOOVE IT!!!!!
i don't understand it, but i love it!
can you believe it?!
i know, thrilling:)

love you,
emiline

P.S.
brennan is LOVING german!!!! i have prayed and prayed AND PRAYED that he would love it, and click into it and low and behold HE HAS!!! every day he comes home telling me about 10 new words he has learned today. like today, he said "mom, raise your hand," and then he will say, "now i will say it in german." and then he will say the phrase in german. it as amazing. eyes, shoulders, head, knees, seven, eight, nine, no, yes, up, down, and so on and so forth. he tells me all of the tricks his teacher is teaching them about how to remember the new german word. i have never heard anything so darling in my entire life. he will be speaking circles around the natives in no time, i just know it. he told me that his favorite thing about school is his german teacher "frau weser" {did i spell frau right??}, and how she only speaks german to him in german class. i could cry i'm so elated. prayers answered from heaven my friend. ANSWERED FROM HEAVEN! never have i ever felt so strongly that we were led to this specific school, this specific class, and the specific program and teacher than i have right now. this is changing his life, and i feel so blessed to be able to watch it. oh how i have missed our letters, but oh how i miss being able to have you in my kitchen in front of me! i truly TREASURE you my friend. xoxo, E.

{brennan on the first day of 1st grade}

{the socks beth. i can't stop laughing about THE SOCKS.}

P.P.S.

the first day of school it took an HOUR AND A HALF of waiting in line to pick up brennan and our carpool from school, which i was not bothered about because i just can't tell you how much i love this school, BUT to avoid maybe not liking it on day 2, i made the educated decision to come 30 minutes after school got out and head off the crowd, so that i would only have to wait for maybe half an hour instead of an hour and a half. Welp, to my surprise, when i showed up 30 minutes after school got out, the place was EMPTY. we are talking a BONE-KNEE-FIED GHOST TOWN beth. GHOST TOWN!!! not a car in sight on the road to the school. not a car in the 4 lane pick up zone when i entered campus. i was a tid bid panicked i will admit. it was friday wasn't it? yes it was. i knew it was. and friday was early out. friday was INDEED early out. after checking my clock 4 times, i determined that yes i was there on the right day and at the right half an hour late time i had determined to go, but where were all of the 700 cars that were here at this same time yesterday? this is what i was asking myself. well, when i finally came around the corner i found a cluster of about 25 kids left on the front lawn, at which point my mouth dropped open, which i covered with my hand, as all ladies do, and rolled down my windows spewing apologies, as one should do when they are half an hour late to pick up the carpool. the lovely woman in charge was SO SO SO LOVELY because she replied with, "no, you are not late. you are JUST fine. this always happens on the second day. we plan for it, and we expect it. you are RIGHT on time." not annoyance in her voice, no condescension, to agitation. just a big smile on her face. it was amazing. then the kids got in and told me how long they had been waiting on the lawn, and how late i was, and again this LOVELY woman repeated in the most LOVELY voice {i just want you to know i am not being sarcastic, she was just so wonderful!!! i loved her!}, "no kids, she is not late, she is right on time." Nodding her head and giving me smiles of approval. never have i EVER imagined something so amazing. And this beth, is yet another reason why i just love brennan's new school:). they are organized, and LOVELY. the end.