Hope You All Had A Great Thanksgiving!

How was you're Thanksgiving? I hope all was wonderful! Thanksgiving was a good one for me. I went to two Thanksgiving dinners, my family's and Dave's, though I only got pictures of mine :(. I got side tracked helping with dinner at Dave's I forgot to take pictures.

My Dad carving the turkey, he has done this every year as long as I can remember. I always eat the skin off the turkey. :)

My Aunt Julie checking the potatoes

My niece Shaylee

Part of the people at Thanksgiving

Shaylee and my Dad being silly

More of the family at the Thanksgiving feast (my picture taking is not good)

Some more the family

My cousin Krystyn and her son Chase came up for Thanksgiving, since they wouldn't be here at Christmas time my nephew had drawn Chase's name for present exchange and let him open them yesterday.

He got this cute little tool set and some learning books. He was so excited about them! Look at his big grin!

My Grandma

Chase relaxing with his toys :)

Me and my Grandma

Krystyn and I, I love that she comes home for holidays. I do need to plan a trip to Arizona soon though to visit her!



And of course me and Dave.


I really wish I had pictures from Dave's family dinner! Sorry guys, I will be better next time. 


I have so much to be grateful for: Dave, he is so good to me. My wonderful parents, they have taught me so much and have so much love for me. My 3 brothers and their families, they are great brothers and fun to tease. My extended family, Dave's wonderful family, a warm home, clothes,food, a job, though I wish I could stay home and cook :), my health, of course Cosmo and the chickens, the talents I have and the talents I am trying to master, and the Gospel.


I hope we can always have the spirit of Thanksgiving with us all year round. I know that is something I need to work on. Enjoy the future holidays! I love this time of year!


P.S. I made 2 pies this year, one lemon meringue and one cherry. I also made some stuffing, not just any stuffing my Great Grandma Noble's kind. It's the best!

The pies!



The stuffing, its probably my favorite food at Thanksgiving.

Stuffing 

4 loaves big bread

1 stalk celery

2 chopped onions

2 Tbsp. salt

6 tsp. sage

1 cup shortening 1 cup butter, melted (or 2 cups butter)

1 can of milk to 2

 

In a large bowl break bread apart into pieces, let it air dry with a dish towel covering it for a day or two. Cut up celery and onion into fine pieces. Sprinkle seasonings over the bread, mix into bread. Pour melted butter over bread and mix in well. Pour canned milk, just enough to hold it together. You don’t want it mushy. Stuffed in turkey, or in tin foil in roasting pan with turkey, or cook in crock pot for about 3 to 4 hours.

Great Grandma Margaret Noble

Let It Snow!

Look what I woke up to this morning!

13 inches of snow! I had actually used a 12 inch ruler to try to show how much snow there was but it was too short then it fell through the cracks in the deck; Mom I owe you a ruler cause I didn't go under the deck to get it. :)

Cosmo let me go in front of him out to the chicken coop, he tried to hop to each of my foot prints.

Look at the pile of snow on the coop! 

I feel bad it piled up on the chicken pen. I didn't plan for that, I haven't put a cover over the wire.

And I think scrapping it off just made it worse.

The chickens wouldn't even come to the door when I tried to let them out to wander in the snow.

I just think its funny the snow comes up to his head

Our pine tree is weighed down. I am surprised we didn't have any branches break.

Our mailbox and the neighbor's

There is so much snow! A car got stuck in our circle this morning cause the plows never came up to plow. They had to go out and snow blow a pathway for him to get to their driveway.

Overall I am enjoying the snow, well until I have to drive to work in it tomorrow. :)

Guess Who I Met Yesterday?!

That's right I met George W. Bush!

Thursday night, as I was driving home from Costco Dave called on his way home from work. 

Dave: "Could you go to Costco for me tomorrow?"

Me: "I'm just leaving there, what did you need I can turn around?"

Dave: "No, I need you to go tomorrow."

Me: "What for? I can go right now."

Dave: "Former President George W. Bush is going to be at Costco signing his book tomorrow."

Me: "You want me to wait in line to get President's Bush's signed book?! Do you have any idea how many people are going to be there?!"

Dave: "Yeah, but I have to work. Please?"

Me: "I'll think about it."

I really did want to go, but I knew there would be a ton of people there. I made Dave drive me by the Sandy Costco Thursday night to see how many people were there. There were only about 50 so I agreed I would go around 7.

Well, I woke up at 3:30! Called David on his way to work and said maybe I would go at 5. He suggested since I was up I should just go. I fell back asleep till 4:15, decided I couldn't wait and got up and went.

 Am I glad I did! I got there at 4:30, I was person number 261! By the end of the day there were around 1200 people there!

I waited for almost ten hours in the cold, standing most of the time. We had to go through security to make sure no one was sneaking anything in. I couldn't take my camera with me to get a picture of him. I also got in trouble just before I met him to get my hands out of my coat pockets. 


I got to shake Mr. Bush's hand around 1:30. I will remember his tweed jacket, red shirt, his Texan drawl and how he stopped signing to shake my hand. He said, "Hello Girls! How is it outside?". I got to be friends with the two women who sat behind me in line. One of those ladies is the one who took the pictures of me. 


Now I know some of you asking was it really worth it to wait that long to see him. I know he's been scrutinized, loved, criticized and supported. To me though it definitely was worth my time to see the man who was our President for 8 years, some easy years some more difficult. I won't get to political because that is not how I am, and I am not here to debate my political views. I just wanted to share how awesome it was to meet George W. Bush. It is a day I will never forget.

Winterizing The Coop 2

Since it is getting colder I decided I should stop being a slacker and at least put the plastic in the chicken coop to keep the wind from blowing in and the snow from getting through the cracks. Dave was so kind as to help me staple the plastic to the walls and door.

The coop is completely waterproof now! :)

 Now I just need to get more boxes to insulate it to keep the heat in for these crazy chickens!

Remember "Bird"? Well she is alive and well! She has been living in the coop for a little over a month now and not one other chicken has pecked her. I believe this has something to do with how huge she has gotten. She is the biggest bird out of them all! I think it has helped though being the larger one, then she doesn't get picked on like some of the others have. I will have to post pictures of my BALD birds, they are a sad sight to see.

Meatloaf Anyone?

I know what your are thinking, "Seriously, meatloaf? Who eats meatloaf?"

Cause I am one of those people that says that when people tell me they eat meatloaf. Well I think I have changed my ways, at least for this recipe of meatloaf, and actually mine and Dave's Grandmas' recipes, and my Dad's cowboy meatloaf. :) But other then that I am not a huge fan of meatloaf. It can't be to greasy and the texture has to be just right. I like this one because you cook it on a broiler pan and the grease drains. And I like the ingredients The Pioneer Woman uses.

I would recommend doing a few things differently, since it has bacon on it mine was chewy and l like bacon to not be so chewy. I will explain what I did in the recipe part.

Meatloaf

Meatloaf:

1 cup Whole Milk
6 slices White Bread
2 pounds Ground Beef
1 cup (heaping) Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese
¼ teaspoons Seasoned Salt
¾ teaspoons Salt
Freshly Ground Black Pepper
⅓ cups Minced Flat-leaf Parsley
4 whole Eggs Beaten
10 slices Thin/regular Bacon

Sauce:
1-½ cup Ketchup
⅓ cups Brown Sugar
1 teaspoon Dry Mustard
Tabasco To Taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour milk over the bread slices. Allow it to soak in for several minutes.

Place the ground beef, milk-soaked bread, Parmesan, seasoned salt, salt, black pepper, and parsley in a large mixing bowl. Pour in beaten eggs.

With clean hands, mix the ingredients until well combined. Form the mixture into a loaf shape on a broiler pan, which will allow the fat to drain. (Line the bottom of the pan with foil to avoid a big mess!)

Lay bacon slices over the top, tucking them underneath the meatloaf.

Make the sauce: add ketchup, brown sugar, mustard, and hot sauce in a mixing bowl. Stir together. Pour 1/3 of the mixture over the top of the bacon. Spread with a spoon. (I would suggest cooking the meatloaf without the sauce for about 30 minutes and then broiling for about 5, (watch with a close eye) for those of you who don't want your bacon extra chewy. Then again, my bacon was thicker so that could have been my problem. So I would also suggest thin bacon. After the broiler then pour sauce on.)

Bake for 45 minutes, then pour another 1/3 of the sauce over the top. Bake for another 15 minutes. (You might want to do an extra 15 to 30 minutes to make sure the center is done.)  Slice and serve with remaining sauce.

Serve with mashed potatoes. Yummy!

We Look Good Part 2!

Here are the rest of the wonderful pictures Alicia took of us, enjoy!

I love them!

We Look Good!

Dave and I got our pictures taken a couple weeks ago by Alicia Cerva. She emailed one of the pictures a couple days ago and here it is:

Yeah, we look good. I am excited to see how the others turn out when I get the CD in the mail. She did a great job! Thanks Alicia!

Apple Dumplings

I made this lovely dish the other night. Let me tell you, it was delicious! And probably one of the easiest desserts I have ever made. I found it on The Pioneer Woman's website. I seem to be cooking a lot of her stuff lately. She just makes such yummy stuff. It does have a strange ingredient for a dessert, but don't be fooled by the Mountain Dew it did wonders on this dish. I am not exactly sure how but it did, just take my word for it.

Apple Dumplings

2 whole Granny Smith Apples

2 cans (8 Oz. Cans) Crescent Rolls

2 sticks Butter

1-½ cup Sugar

1 teaspoon Vanilla

Cinnamon, To Taste

1 can (12 Oz.) Mountain Dew Soda

Peel and core apples. Cut each apple into 8 slices each. Roll each apple slice in a crescent roll. Place in a 9 x 13 buttered pan.

Melt butter, then add sugar and barely stir. Add vanilla, stir, and pour entire mixture over apples. Pour Mountain Dew around the edges of the pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Serve with ice cream, and spoon some of the sweet sauces from the pan over the top.

Easy Peasy!

"Couponing"

I attended a coupon class last night, I have been wanting to learn how to save some money and I figured this class was a good place to learn how. Annalisa was kind enough to share her tips on saving money through coupons and such. Annalisa has a blog called Slave to Save where she will post good deals, and how to get the best deal for your dollar. Here are some highlights from what she talked about:

• Buy in bulk when things you need go on sale
• There are seasonal sales and quarterly sales so watch for those
• Buy enough from the sale to get you through till the next sale
• Combine coupons with sale prices
• Maximize coupons when they go on sale
• Two weeks after you get in the coupon inserts from the mail or newspaper those things will go on sale
• Shop from you pantry from the things you were able to stock up on
• There are 3 coupon inserts people in Utah get: Smart Source, Proctor and Gamble those come in the newspaper and Red Plum which comes in the mail on Tuesdays
• She keeps her coupons in a file, flied weekly 
• You can combine one manufacturer coupon with a store coupon
• Smith's website allows you to put coupons from there website right onto your Smiths value card
• Rite Aide is a good place to get diapers, toilet paper and other hygiene products. (With coupons and other deals she has never paid for diapers, I am still not certain how this one works so your best bet would be to email Annalisa)

Here are some some websites to check out:

• www.grocerysmarts.com
• www.smithsfoodanddrug.com
• www.coupons.com - printable coupons
• www.foodco-op.net
• www.bountifulbaskets.org
• www.recipezaar.com
• www.shortcuts.com
• www.cellfire.com
• www.pgesaver.com
• www.retailmenot.com
• www.mint.com (this one is to help you learn to budget your money)

I hope this helps or sparks and interest. Annalisa is more than willing to answer any questions you have, so check out her blog Slave to Save! I know you won't be disappointed you did!

Winterizing The Coop

I've finally begun winterizing the chicken coop. I ran out of supplies, so I will have to finish sometime this weekend hopefully.

I have been putting up flattened cardboard boxes over the wood slats to help prevent the wind from blowing through the cracks. As you can sort of tell the chickens are already pecking at the cardboard.

Here is a better picture of the cardboard. After putting these up my Dad suggested I put some plastic before the cardboard to help with the snow ruining the cardboard. 

I will have to apply the plastic where I haven't stapled the cardboard for now. Maybe next year I will come up with a better solution if this idea doesn't work out well this winter. Wish me luck! I will post more pictures when the coop is completely ready for winter.


 Any good ideas on how to keep my water from freezing in the winter?

Crazy chickens, with the way they eat you would think I was raising pigs!