I can not find Zwieback toast anywhere around here, so I gave up and made my own. It was a bit scary because it involved yeast and baking, lol, but they turned out GREAT and W loves them!

Here is the recipe I used:

• 1 package active dry yeast (I used Highly Active Yeast and skipped steps 1,2, &5)
  
• 1/4 cup very warm water
• 1 cup milk
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 beaten egg
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Sprinkle dry yeast into water. Let stand for a few minutes, then stir until dissolved.
2. Scald milk and cool to lukewarm. Add milk and 2 cups of the flour to yeast. Beat thoroughly.
3. Stand in warm place for about 1 hour, or until mixture is light and bubbly.
4. Beat in remaining ingredients; if necessary, add a little more flour to make a medium-stiff dough.
5. Stand in a warm place and let rise until doubled in bulk.
6. Punch down and turn out on lightly floured board.
7. Knead for about 5 minutes.
8. Shape dough into 2-1/2" round buns. Place buns on greased cookie sheet, about 1 inch apart.
9. Allow to rise again in warm place until doubled in bulk.
10. Bake in preheated 400 degree F oven for 10 minutes.
11. Lower heat to 350 degree F and bake for 15 minutes longer.
12. Cool buns. Slice into 3/4 inch slices.
13. Return to 300 degree F oven and bake for 40 minutes, or until the slices are lightly browned on both sides.

Phoenix Zoo, 7/14/09

Yes I caught him on camera not only smiling, but laughing!! Jay and William absolutely adore each other and it is the most amazing thing to watch them interact. Yesterday we went to the Phoenix Zoo in 109*+ weather, insane I know, but while I was snapping away at the animals I turned around and got this great capture of them standing in the misters.

Weekend Heat in Arizona

Is this a note or a person?

AZ Sunset 7/11/09

It is hot, hot, hot! Yes folks 114* is hot. Jay is away for the weekend at drill, so Mr. William and I are just hangin around the house. Watching movies, building tents in the living room, good times. :) Thought about going swimming, but I just saw on the news that after 110* chlorine can evaporate leaving you with a pool full of bacteria! So I think we are going to be passing on that.

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

Splash pad fun!

With my new found passion for photography, I needed to scout out a good shooting location. Well I found it! It's a wonderful park near by and is a fantastic place to spend family time. There are playgrounds, ball fields, rides on a mini train (a 16"-gauge train), a carousel, and a lake for fishing Grown-ups favor walking trails, tennis courts, a hummingbird habitat, and a demonstration garden that features Southwestern plants, and picnic facilities.

But the part that William went nuts over was the splash pad!

It is a padded area of the park with cement animals that shoot water out of their mouths/noses. He just kept looking at it and wanted to play so bad, but there were quite a bit of older children and the poor kid would have just been ran over. When the older kids finally left, I slapped a swim diaper on William and he went to town! I have never seen the kid move so fast.

I can't wait to take him back!

It was a bit dark, so the photos aren't that great.