First Snow

It has been snowing hard for a week now. We have been sledding, skating, building snowmen and riding behind the quad. Yesterday we spent our first day on the slopes. Although the base wasn't too deep, Schweitzer opened with some amazingly soft and fluffy snow the day after Thanksgiving. We decided to take the whole family. It was Izzy's first time and she had lots of fun. Hannah, Paige and Maren picked up where they left off last year and we had a great day!

Look Dad, I can parallel ski on my first day out!

Here I am with Maren. Uh oh! Who is this crazy boy skiing into me? Oh well, I'm too good for him. I'll just keep going and beat him to the bottom of the magic carpet! That will show him that girls are better skiers! Slow and careful - that's the way to do it.

Last Minute Thanksgiving

We had lots of great plans to travel to Utah for the Thanksgiving weekend. We were all looking forward to dinner with most of my siblings and their kids, tickets to the Nutcracker, cousin sleepovers, putting together care packages for cousins on missions, humanitarian aid projects, bingo games and probably a late night game of Canasta.

Instead, we found ourselves in the middle of freezing temperatures, closed roads and six days worth of snowstorms in the forecast. We decided to stay home instead of chancing a possibly long and dangerous drive.

We were sad, we were blue, but we found lots to be grateful for. We were invited to Thanksgiving dinner with friends who also changed plans because of the weather. My refrigerator was empty, so I had to do some last minute scrambling to come up with some things to contribute to the dinner. I searched some of my favorite blogs and found some great recipes. We had a really yummy meal. Dawn's turkey was amazingly moist and tasty. Rosalie's rolls were delicious. Here's what I brought (can you tell which part of the Thanksgiving meal I like best?)...

This delicious candied walnut salad from Our Best Bites…

An amazing Key-lime coconut pie from Everyday Food…

This wonderful White Pumpkin Cheesecake turned out creamy and smooth and looked beautiful (also from Our Best Bites)!

From The Pioneer Woman came this great recipe for Pecan Pie. I think it’ll replace that recipe from the Karo Syrup bottle that I have used in the past.

I have always struggled with pie crusts. I have never found a recipe that works consistently for me. Recently a friend recommended this Pie Crust recipe from Martha Stewart. It uses a food processor. I have made it three times now - and each time it has come out well. This recipe may change my pie crust luck.

Daddy-Daughter Date

(a.k.a. fire-arms training)

If our girls grow up and ask the bridesmaids at their wedding to wear Camo,

it's all Kirk's fault!

Halloween

I'm a bit slow, but here's a photo of our little trick-or-treaters.

Princess Eilonwy (from The Black Cauldron), the Witch, the fortune teller and the 50's cutie.

Running

I ran 6 miles this morning.

No big deal... I run 6 miles, three times a week.

The difference is that I ran it ALONE.

I have always considered myself a social runner. Sure, my body can do the miles, but I have always thought that, mentally, I needed my running friends right beside me to get through the miles. I have had some great running partners. They keep me talking, encourage me and push me.

This morning I didn’t have any running partners. So I put my earphones in and took off. It felt great to get home after running hard and knowing that I did it on my own.

Food Storage Challenge

I have given myself a little challenge. For the next few months I am going to prepare one evening meal per week with only food storage items. I’m great at using food storage for breakfast, but I don’t have too many dinner recipes in my repertoire that come only from food storage. And who can eat pancakes and oatmeal everyday? Well, maybe Kirk. But not the rest of our family.

I feel a need to build up the number of recipes that I enjoy making, we like eating, and come mainly from food storage and pantry items. I am asking for your help. If any of you out there reading this have some favorite recipes that you could share, please email or call me with them. PLEASE! My only requirement is that the meal must be something (1) made mainly from food storage items & must be a food that (2) your family likes to eat on a regular basis.

Here is one that I do make often. It came from my great sister-in-law, Molly. I hope you like it!

Black Bean Stew

1 onion (you can use dehydrated onion)

3 cloves garlic

1/8 tsp. red pepper

½ tsp. cumin

½ tsp. thyme

2 cans chicken broth

1 large can green chilies

14 oz. can stewed tomatoes

3 cans black beans (I use my dried beans and cook them the day before)

Sauté onion, garlic, and pepper. Add herbs, broth, beans and simmer for 1 ½ hours. Remove half of the stew and blend until smooth. Return to pan and heat till warm. Serve over rice with lemon, cilantro and sour cream.

Crib for Sale

Do you know of anyone that needs a crib? We have moved beyond it now that Izzy is in a big bed. Here are the details:

Natural Maple hardwood

Good condition

Mattress can be raised or lowered to desired height

Mattress included, but well used

I also have several sets of white and cream crib sheets

$60