A little bit of Betty Crocker and family

Friday I made some Banana Bread. It was from an old Betty Crocker cook book my mom gave me when I got married. It used to be hers when I lived at home (my dad's mom gave it to her when she got married) but I think I used it more than she did so she passed it down to me. I love it. And not just because it's oh so cool and retro looking. 

The cast of characters. (This is me getting my Pioneer Woman on.)

And my additions to the recipe.

Check out this little miss. I just love the look of this baking powder container, very old school. And I love this color scheme for kitchens (Red, white and blue only not so patriotic - more strawberries, blueberries and cream look). In my dream kitchen I'd have a little nook for reading while I'm waiting for stuff to cook/bake, lots of book shelves for all my recipe books, and the walls would be covered in "kitchen art". The kitchen is definitely my favorite place in a house.

The recipe:

2 medium bananas

2 1/2 cups of flour

1/2 cup of sugar

1/2 cup of brown sugar

3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon of salt

3 tablespoons of vegetable oil

1/3 cup of milk

1 egg

1 cup chopped walnuts

Mash banana in the mixing bowl with a fork (should be really ripe). Add everything else and mix. Pour into a greased and floured loaf pan 9x5x3 and bake at 350 for 1 hour or until toothpick is clean. The recipe says to just grease the bottom of the pan, but it comes out so much easier if you dust it with flour and do the sides as well.  

Next time I think I'll try a streusel topping.

And the end product. See, half was gone before I could even take a picture! (The outside did get a little crispy because I filled my loaf pan too much, next time I probably just make muffins.)

Then this cutie came to our house to play!

This totally reminds me of a picture I have of my sister and I and our cousin on a couch about this age - only this is such a boy version

... and the girl version. That's my cousin Andrea, my sister Cindy and me on the right.

Buddies!

And the next day we were lucky to have Ryann and her friend over to play, don't know why I didn't get any pics of them. They were so cute dancing along to the Kinect dance party game. 

Then Sunday we went down to Cottage Grove to celebrate Jeff's and his parent's birthdays and because the Schneiders were back in town and we really kinda miss them. Also Sunday my ward announced me as Young Women's Secretary!!!! Holy COW I'm excited! I love YW! I get to go to my first activity tomorrow!!!

Sweet baby Alice

The three amigos

Jeff and Bennett got some fishing in, didn't catch anything though. Next time.

And while they were fishing I tried getting some updated portraits of Casel. But he refuses to look at the camera! So these were the best I got.

And if he saw me coming he'd turn and run. So I had to sneak up on him.

See, turning and running... or climbing. ;)

Every grandkid HAS to have their picture taken in the tractor. It's a must.

This is Bennett almost 13 months ago.

And what trip to Cinnie and Papa's would be complete with out some sort of frog or snake action?

Happy Birthday to Cinnie and Papa! Sorry you were sick Cinnie Bob. Hope you enjoyed the day anyway. It was so nice to get together with everyone. I love that we are all so tight, and I'm so lucky to have such cool in laws!!! I love you guys and thanks for raising such a wonderful man. Happy Birthday Pal! I love you so much! Thank you for being so supportive and such a great dad and thanks for your sense of humor, it's helped get me through so much crap. I remember when we were in the doctor's office waiting to talk to the radiologist (this was before we had the MRI results back) and they made us watch this "intro to radiation therapy movie" and we just were cracking up the whole time. They had to have heard us down the hall, they must have thought we were crazy. Thanks for that. ;)