Mondays are for Mindy...

On Monday if you happen to be around Sonora Street you may smell the delectable scent of baking bread. It is coming from my house. On Mondays I bake bread. I bake bread because it is delicious. I bake bread because it makes me feel all Betty Crockerish. I bake bread because kneading is a time honored stress reliever. I challenge myself by baking a new recipe each week. So far my family has enjoyed wheat bread, homemade pizza, cinnamon rolls, french bread and yesterday Parker House rolls. If you ever come to a holiday feast at the Hunt home you have sampled my Grandma Vowles recipe for rolls. They are delicious plain or with jam or my favorite...honey! YUM! I have only tried to make them myself once (The disastrous 2005 Thanksgiving...they didn't rise much) so my Mom convinced me to give it another go. What do you think Mom?

They may not look it but they tasted great! And the best part is that Mr. Jordan ate one with butter & honey. Yes Mr. I gag down the sacrament bread each week "I don't like bread" Jordan! I told him they were Grandma Hunt's special rolls!

Since Monday's are my day off and Jordan has pre-school I take advantage and do my grocery shopping for the week with only 1 child who is usually in a fairly good mood. Which is very nice because I had to go up and down each aisle at Fry's to make sure I took advantage of the sale. I did have to buy him Twizzlers to bribe him to sit down and behave though!

Monday is also my cleaning day. Kristin asked how I get all my cleaning done with two kids and the answer is I really don't know. For some reason Monday's are my children's best behaved days. And I usually do it while Dillon is asleep. Otherwise this happens while I am at the kitchen sink:

I have been sort of down in the dumps lately and was looking online for a little spiritual encouragement. I have found mine in Julie Beck's talk Mothers Who Know.

There is eternal influence and power in Motherhood.

Mothers who know bear children.

Mothers who know honor Sacred Ordinances and Covenants.

Mothers who know are Nurturers.

Mothers who know are Leaders.

Mothers who know are Teachers.

Mothers who know do less.

Mothers who know stand strong and immovable.

I am really trying to live my life with these guidelines. Motherhood is really hard! Being a homemaker and mother......EVEN HARDER! I am especially trying to do less. Especially less TV. Rather than being totally engrossed in some show or another my children's imaginations have been in overdrive. It's great to see them interacting and making their own fun. Even if that means unfolding all my laundry to make a house, or snapping my just purchased new hangers to make swords (and then hiding them in the office because "I thought the office was a good place to hide them"). I love sitting around our table and enjoying a meal, especially now that it has a real live tablecloth. No vinyl or anything in sight! I love reading stories before bed and having both boys know exactly what page Old MacDonald will be on in the Nursery Rhyme book. I really really really want to be a Mother Who Knows!

Yesterday Blair was in Flagstaff all day, I think I may have heard him come in sometime around 2:00 am but who could be sure. Normally when Daddy isn't home we skip FHE. I'm not sure why, it really makes no sense. Last night I decided to go ahead and do it without him. Our lesson was about our family being a team and everyone had a position to play. Daddy is the Team Captain. Mommy is Co-Captain etc... Jordan was very worried about our Captain not being home it was pretty cute. We even made up a cheer for our team: 2-4-6-8 who's the team that's really great? Team Karafa! I had to snap a picture of my little Mister's while we had fun, and Betsy and Katie should be proud that we ended the day with 2 boys still wearing pants. It's a huge accomplishment really!