A little dough, a little memory

      Walking into my house as a child it would smell like a bakery. I would walk into the kitchen to find my mom standing at the counter, singing to the radio and pounding on dough, rolling it out, pounding on it some more and covered in flour. She didnt only do one loaf of bread she had several. She told me making bread was a great stress reliever as she would pound on the dough some more. Today I decided to make some home made bread and it brought me back to that specific time as my mom would be jamming out to music and making some delicious bread while relieving stress. Bringing me back to all the other memories flour brought as I was pounding on my own dough.
      Another time she was making homemade bread I was in the other room and she says "Hey sis? Will you grab me some flour" I grabbed a pot with flowers in it brought it to the kitchen, She stopped beating on the dough and says "Now WHAT am I going to do with THIS?" Trust me she will NEVER let me live that one down.
      On Friday nights was family night, we werent allowed to have sleep overs, go anywhere we stayed home and had TGIF nights. This would consist of making home made pizza (pounding out some home made pizza crust) topping with our favorite toppings, or ordering pizza ending with a night of movies. Was a great family night I looked forward to.
      Home made noodles was another thing my mom would make alot she would be rolling out the dough then cutting into pieces making not to thin not to thick home made noodles. yummmy.
      Making bread today turned into so much more then rising dough but turned into a walk down memory lane.

                     

Memory is the diary we all carry about with us.

     Spring time always brings me back to child hood. The first time I smell fresh cut grass or see a lawn mower in action I think of my grandpa down at his shop filling up his and grandmas lawn mowers with gas getting ready for a full day of mowing. Or the first time I was taught to drive a riding lawn mower at my grandparents thinking I was well...pretty hot stuff. Or imagining my grandpa hooking up a wagon (a lawn wagon) behind the lawn mower just so grandma could give all the grandkids a ride around the neighborhood. "One more time grandma One more time" We would shout over the loud lawnmower if we felt she was going back to the garage. Spring time also makes my mouth water for Dairy Queen as that would be the treat after pulling weeds out of the beautiful flower garden, mowing, or picking up sticks.
      Summertime is to follow only bringing more memories to mind. My grandparents had a huge garden growing all their own vegtables. After dinner in the evenings we would walk to the garden, check how things were growing or pick what was ready to be picked. Eating Cucumber and onions, Corn on the cob eating vegtables year round because grandma would freeze or can them or being able to eat as MANY tomatoes and sugar possible. There would be lots of tomatoes in the window sill and grandpa would always say "Help yourself I think there is probably enough"
      My mom had a garden also, She would spend days pickling, our house smelled like a big pickle for days. I remember her sitting at the table painting on paint stir sticks of a vegtable for example at the beginning of the row of carrots there would be a stir stick that looked like a carrot. Too cute. I remember my mom planting Iris flowers that were from her grandma and everywhere we would move my mom would dig them up and plant them at our new home. I remember how important they were to her.
      Camping oh camping! My grandparents owned property accross their property that at one time had cows in it but was cleaned up, and well taken care of. We call it the "West place" There was a tire swing, we would play horse shoe, sit around the fire at night and my grandpa would always say "ohhhh this is the life" about every 30 minutes as he was enjoying the family, and fire. We would set up tents and camp all weekend. Lets not forget the mulberry trees we would attack while we were there. Ive had alot of camping trips with my mom, brothers and sisters also.
      Summertime meant lots of sports, camps, activities, and TONS of swimming. My mom was a single mom of four kids we would ride our bikes to get to sports, swimming lessons, swim team as a family. My mom would go from one kid to the next to the next to cheer us all on. We would go home and strike up the grill, sit at the picnic table and eat usually ending with a game of basketball afterwards and since this is my blog I would like to add I probably won ALOT. haha
      We ate ALOT of fish because my grandpa taught me how to fish and I was pretty great. My grandpa would probably laugh at that sentence because I had a hard time keeping the hook in the water! I would always catch the weeds behind me! hmm funny thing.
      Grandma "I was thinking we would make some home made ice cream" those pretty much were my favorite words.

This is my grandpa making home made ice cream. Grandma makes the mix and grandpa finishes it up. Delicious.
      Going 4 wheeling with my aunt, her teaching me how to drive. I thought I was hot stuff on a lawn mower I could get this thing moving!!!! My grandparents would always say "You guys be careful!" On to the gravel roads we would go! "Hang on tight!!" I would tell my aunt! ha ha! It was always a tradition for her to give all her neices and nephews a ride on the four wheeler. I remember when Mason was 6 months she took him on his first ride.
      Drives...in the summer we would go for a "drive" as my grandparents would call it. Which was ordering pizza from breadaux, taking it out to the lake sitting at picnic tables and enjoying the evening. Driving around the lake almost always seeing deer.
      My mom would spend lots of time in our yard planting flowers I cant walk into a store that sells flowers without remembering my mom saying "Stace what do you think of these? I was thinking I would put them around the tree on the side of the house..." or her smelling each pretty flower saying "ooo I love these" probably to every flower she smelled. At my grandmas house there was a gazebo (my grandpa built) stepping stones coming from the house down to the gazebo, a home made pond with gold fish, flowers around the house, in front of the house, beside the house, a flower garden, yard always fresh cut and beautiful.The smell at my grandmas in the summer is my absolute favorite smell. In August before we moved to Alaska Mike and I got out of our car at my grandparents I stopped, took a deep breath and Mike says "You always do that here!" And I always tell him I want to remember that smell forever I LOVE IT!

This picture was taken at my grandparents. <3

I have a million memories that flowers, the smell of a grill, or fresh cut grass remind me of every year.