Taylorsville Dayzz/McQueen Family Reunion

This weekend was Taylorsville Dayzz, it was pretty fun. Here are pictures of what I did.

I ran the 5k fun run, this is me before the race.

The runners taking off from the starting point.

 Just as I finished, I ran it in 38:47:64. Not too bad for my first race.

    

We sat and watched the parade after the race. This is Dave and my Mom.

 

 Shelly and Ian

 

Mike, Shelly and Ian eating the candy the people in the parade threw.

 
 

Dave and I at Bear Proof's concert at the park. They are guys that Dave grew up and went to school with.

 

Bear Proof, Brady (which is blocked by a pole), Zack, Steven and Nathan. 

 
 

This is Brady. 

They did a great job! There music was awesome.

 

Shannon and Kip watching the concert with us. That is Russell Deppe in the background.

Later that night after the family reunion I went to, I went to Leatherby's with my friends. After that I headed back to park to watch the fireworks with Dave. Taylorsville Dayzz puts on an amazing firework show. It last about a half hour. Well worth having to sit in a huge crowd of people.

The McQueen Family Reunion

So I forgot to take pictures at the reunion. We met at the church just down the road from me and ate out on the bowery. Each family just brings their own dinner. After we ate we filled out a points sheet, for each question you get so many points if you did what the question said. You tally up your points and get to use them like money for the auction. We auctioned off: cinnamon rolls, lemon bars, homemade hats and earrings, a foot rub, a get away stay in Mt. Pleasant, cookies and turtles, a U of U shirt, free labor, a Korean dinner, a free swim and BBQ at Uncle Whitney's, homemade bows, Queenie's watch, and airfare to go visit Aunt Paula and Uncle Jim. My cousin Leigh's husband Dan does the auctioning, he has a great sense of humor and made the auction fun. It was a lot of fun seeing the family and spending time with one another.

Lemon Bars

I got this recipe from Cindy Anderson, she is related to my Uncle Bruce, and I work with her husband Craig which is Bruce's brother. She is an excellent dessert maker, and has many good recipes. These lemon bars are delicious and easy to make. I like to use real lemons cause I think they are more tart than the lemon juice you can buy. Here is the recipe:

Crust:

1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup sugar

1 1/4 cup flour

Filling:

3/4 cup sugar

2 Tbsp. flour

1/4 tsp. baking powder

pinch of salt (1/8 tsp.)

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 tsp. lemon peel grated

1/4 cup lemon juice 

1 Tbsp. powdered sugar

Heat oven to 350. Line 9 inch square pan with foil, let foil extend 2 inches over sides. Crust: Beat butter and sugar in a bowl. Stir in flour 1/2 cup at a time, beat until well blended. Dough will be crumbly. Press firmly into pan. Bake 20 minutes. Cool while making filling. Filling: Whisk sugar, flour, baking powder and slat in bowl. Whisk eggs. Add lemon peel and juice. Whisk again. Pour filling into crust. Bake 15 - 18 minutes, until set. Cool completely. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

You don't need to spray the foil in the pan. I was worried my bars were going to be stuck to the foil. I just pulled the foil out and pulled it down off the side, cut my bars and they came off the foil very easily and weren't stuck at all.

Father

This is my wonderful Father! I just wanted to wish him a Happy Father's Day, and let him know how much I enjoy having him as my Dad. I love him dearly. He is the greatest!!!

Jogging

I will be running my first race next Saturday! I am going to run the Taylorsville Dayzz 5k Fun Run. I would like to say I was good at training for this race, but I haven't done as good as I should of. I actually do not like to run very much, but I need to do some form of exercise. I have gotten to the point where I can run for 20 minutes straight than I need to slow down. I average about 15 minutes a mile. I am not fast but I am steady. I have yet to run for 3.2 miles before the race. I just hope I finish in under an hour. :) Wish me luck!

Pudding Chocolate Chip Cookies

My friend Amber made these a while ago when we took dinner into a family. I asked her for the recipe cause they are delicious! With the pudding in them the cookie stays chewy and good for longer than normal. You can make them with vanilla pudding and regular chocolate chips or you can make them with chocolate pudding and peanut butter chips.
Here's the recipe:


2 1/4 cup flour
1 Tbsp. soda
1 cup butter (softened)
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp. vanilla
4 oz. vanilla instant pudding or chocolate pudding
2 eggs
1 pkg. chocolate chips or peanut butter chips (12oz)
1 cup nuts (chopped)(optional)


Mix flour and soda. Cream butter, sugars, vanilla and pudding mix in large bowl. Beat in eggs, gradually add flour mixture, and stir in chips and nuts. Batter will be stiff. Drop by teaspoonfuls (I rolled them into a ball about the size of a nickel to a quarter) about 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 for 8 to 10 minutes.

Chickens, Chickens, Chickens and the Garden

First I will show pictures of the progress of our vegetables, some have great results others not so much.

 The potatoes are doing awesome!

Here are our peppers and the tomatillo plant.

This is one of the bean plants, (picture is a little blurry) the top is all brown and crusty cause it got frost bitten from that snow storm we had a couple weeks ago. We might need to plant more beans, peas, and carrots, they didn't survive the cold weather.

Here are some the beans that might make it.

And the lettuce is doing extremely well.

Now on to those crazy chickens. When I went out to feed them tonight I decided to hang out in the chicken coop and try to get some update pictures of them. Now they are hard to get a decent picture of, they never sit still! But here is some that I took.

This Golden Sexlink was wondering if I was going to fit through the chicken hole, I can't.

I love the Black Sexlinks and how they have golden feathers. They are just so cool looking.

These two look like they were ready to attack me.

The Black Sexlink, they are getting so big. I need to get around to putting laying nest in the coop, they will be laying before I know it.

Even that little tiny Rhode Island Red that I got to replace one is growing quickly. She is the one on the left.

I can't say I have a favorite breed, they are all such pretty birds in their own way. This is a Golden Sexlink.

Here is a Rhode Island Red. I picked one up yesterday, I thought their feathers would be all coarse and dirty. They are actually really soft and feel very clean.

Can any one tell me what is wrong with this chicken??? 

Besides the fact that this chicken is the one with the extremely crooked feet.

If you guessed that it is starting to look more and more like a rooster and not a hen you are correct!!

I am afraid I have a rooster and I was so hoping that I wouldn't. Because now there are only two options for it:

1. Be given to someone who wants and needs a rooster

2. Ends up on my dinner plate

So...anyone want a rooster?? :) 

It makes me a little sad, I don't want to have to get rid of him, but I really can't keep a rooster here. It also ruins my even number of 12.

Hmmm...I might to need to get another chicken to replace the rooster.

 

My Weekend

This past weekend was a busy one!

I went on a quick trip to St. George with my friend Ranie. She had to go down there for work and invited me along. We left Thursday at 6 and were back home on Friday at 4. 

We stopped at the St. George temple. This was the only picture I got of us together. Yes that is a wedding in the background.

We ate at this Mexican restaurant called Pancho and Lefty's.

It was delicious! I highly recommend the Asada platter which is what the picture is of. 

We didn't do to much on our quick trip, but it was fun to get a way for a bit and hang out with a good friend.

Saturday afternoon Dave and I went shotgun shooting with my two brothers Blake and Nick. We just went out to the Lee Kay Center and each shot 25 shells, I wish we could say we all hit our 25 clay pigeons, but we have a lot of practicing before that happens.

Nick and Blake shooting their rounds.

Dave waiting our turn, holding the 12 gauge single shot. My favorite shot gun, it has quite the kick to it. I would show you my bruise on my shoulder from me not keeping the gun in my shoulder pocket but the pictures didn't turn out well.

This is me shooting the single shot. That stand in front of me is the speaker you say "Pull" into and it sends a clay pigeon flying.


My weekend didn't stop there I just didn't take pictures of the other things. My parents also replaced our driveway this weekend. I got to go celebrate the adoption of Ian to Mike and Shelly Millgate. Played games and had a nice fire at my friend Lindey's house. Last but not least went to Clearfield to see my cousins' Coby and Shantai's little baby boy Corver be blessed.
It was one hectic, fun weekend.

Memorial Weekend

In addition to the fun we had on Saturday for Memorial weekend we also, celebrated Caden's 7th birthday (which is actually tomorrow), went to visit my sisters' and Grandparents' graves, roasted marshmallows, had a sleepover with the niece and nephews, went to Memorial day breakfast, I made fried chicken in the dutch oven for the first time and made a delicious blackberry cobbler.

This is Caden with the soccer cake I showed you earlier.

P

Blake and Nick enjoying the scones Mom made. Picture is a little fuzzy cause Blake moved.

My sisters, Kellie and Nicole headstones. 

 My Grandpa Stalder's headstone.

We also went to my Dad's parents grave site on Friday night, they are buried at the Winder Dairy Cemetery. I don't have pictures cause I forgot my camera.

 Out back roasting marshmallows

 Our fire pit

The toasted marshmallow that fell off Bart's stick and onto my toe

The chicken I was frying up all ready to go

The two dutch ovens I used. The one on the left worked wonderfully, the one on the right burnt everything I put in it even with the temperature on warm. I had to leave the chicken in there though so the meat would cook thoroughly. The one on the left is a deeper dutch oven and the right one was more shallow so the oil was getting way to hot in the shallow one. So I would suggest a deeper pan to fry in.

My Dad took my camera and started taking pictures of me, I look very serious and concerned in this one.

Make sure you grab the chicken legs on the meaty part. I grabbed one my the bone and almost lost it to the dog in the background. Luckily the burner caught it. This was the good pot I fried in. The oil was much cleaner when we were all done at the end too.

The chicken out of the pot on the left. They came out beautiful! I was impressed.

The final product, crispy and burnt. :) They all tasted good, even the well done ones.

And for dessert, The Pioneer Woman's recipe for Blackberry Cobbler with homemade whipped topping. It was so good! It was just as good the next day.

I hope you all had a fun Memorial Day and remembered those Veterans that have died for our country. And also remember those loved ones that are no longer here with us as well.

Here is the recipe for Blackberry Cobbler:

1/4 pound (1 stick) butter, melted
1 1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup self-rising flour
1 cup milk
2 cups fresh (or frozen) blackberries 
(or blueberries, peaches, raspberries, and so on)


1. Preheat the oven to 350. Grease a 3 quart baking dish with butter.
2. Place the stick of butter in a microwave-safe dish. Heat in a microwave for 30 to 45 seconds, until melted.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk 1 cup of the sugar with the flour and milk.
4. Whisk in the melted butter.
5. Rinse the blackberries and pat them dry.
6. Pour the batter into the baking dish. Sprinkle the blackberries evenly over the top of the batter.
7. Sprinkle 1/4 cup sugar over the blackberries.
8. Bake for 1 hour, or until golden brown and bubbly. When 10 minutes of the cooking time remains, sprinkle the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar over the top.
9. Top with ice cream or whipped topping.