Poor neglected blog

Wow it has been a long time since I have made time for my blog!! I haven't even posted halloween pics yet! This hasn't been a horrible semester but I think I am just burnt out! Taking next semester off is going to be heaven!! Well, I have finals through Wednesday and then I promise to inidate this blog with the posts of the past two months followed by our Christmas celebrations. For now though I wanted to post a pic of Ben and Sheryl's new baby Ryanne. She was born on Thurs Dec 3 and this pic was taken Sun the 6th so she is just 3 days old here. She is a cute little thing but she apparently inherited her dad's expressions . . . raised eyebrow ALREADY!!!

SNOW!

We got the first snow storm of the season last Tuesday so after the kids got out of school on Wednesday they all headed to the park. Megan had come home and the other two were supposed to be coming home but weren't. So on my way out to work I drove by the park to yell at them. As I drove by I found them and about 20 other neighborhood kids working together to build a fort. It was so fun to see them working together and playing in such a big group. I called Ben and asked him to let them stay a bit longer. A newspaper reporter from our town drove by and must have thought it looked fun too. She took this pic. It was all alone, no article, in the paper. But it was still fun for them to see their names and pic in the paper! Just one of the benefits of living in a small town.

Yay!!

I finally got a treadmill today! I have been wanting one since I quit the gym 3 & 1/2 years ago. I had been doing ok with my exercise videos and working out on my own until just recently. I have been steadily gaining weight lately and for no apparent reason. I tried to go running at the park by my house but just wasn't able to do it. Even the videos that I had done in the past were too hard for me. I was starting to feel like maybe I had suddenly gotten old and my metabolism had shut off completely. Well, my metabolism had shut off. Today my doctor called and told me that my labs came back bad and my thyroid is no longer working. :( It's frustrating but hey, it's an easy fix, just one pill a day and I should be back to normal in no time!

My little soccer player

Megan is playing soccer this year.

I haven't been able to go to many games so it was fun for me to get to see her play.

Here she is defending the goal.

Haylee is on her team too.

Someone else enjoyed getting out too.

Yummy

OK, so I haven't had time and energy at the same time in the last week or so to try any of these recipes. I let Abby pick one and give it a try. She chose the 30 min roll recipe. It took her about an hour but hey, it was her first attempt ever at making rolls!

MMM, Abby you're hired.

Ready or Not

Here comes fall.

This was the scenery up Settlement Canyon this weekend:

We're going to be covered in mountains of snow before we know it!

30-Minute Rolls

30-Minute Rolls (from Real Mom Kitchen)

submitted by Melanie

1 1/8 cups plus 2 tsp. warm water

1/3 cup oil

2 Tb yeast

1/4 cup sugar or honey

½ tsp. Salt

1 egg

3 ½ cups flour

Mix 1st 4 ingredients and let rest for 15 minutes. Add salt and eggs - gradually add flour. Shape into dinner rolls, or use in your favorite recipe that calls for dough. After shaped, let rest for 10 minutes. For rolls, Bake 10 minutes @400 degrees ‘till golden brown.

Fresh rolls in under an hour? I'll have to give it a try.

Easy Sugar Cookies

OK, I finally tried these. My MIL traded me freezers so now I have almost triple the space that I used to. So of course I am trying to fill that space with cookies! I was really sad as I tried to pack this "dough" into the cookie scoop. It was SO dry and hard to pack. But after my trial dozen I was pleasantly surprised. These cookies are PERFECT! So excited to have a yummy sugar cookie recipe. I made a double batch which made 5 dozen cookies using the Pampered Chef cookie scoop. Let me know what you think if you try this recipe.

I haven't tried these yet either. Maybe today.

Easy Sugar Cookies

2 3/4 C all-purpose flour
1 t baking soda
1/2 t baking powder
1 cup butter, SOFTENED
1 1/2 C white sugar
1 egg
1 t vanilla extract

1. Preheat to 375 degrees. In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients. Roll rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into balls, and place onto ungreased cookie sheets.

3. Bake 8-10 minutes, or until golden. Let stand on cookie sheet tow minutes before removing to cool on wire racks. (I think it made around 2-3 dozen)

Crispy-Skinned Chicken a l'Orange

I have decided to start posting recipes that I have tried and liked or want to try so that I don't forget them. I haven't tried this yet but it sure sounds yummy. I will have to remember to buy bone in chicken! If you try any of these recipes leave me a comment and let me know if you liked it.

Crispy-Skinned Chicken a l'Orange

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 skin-on bone-in chicken breast halves
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 cup frozen orange juice concentrate
4 tablespoons honey

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Liberally salt and pepper the chicken breast halves. Heat the oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat (I used slightly lower heat)and sear the chicken, skin side only, until brown and beginning to crisp, about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the orange glaze: In a small saucepan, heat the orange juice concentrate, honey, and salt and pepper, to taste, over medium heat, and boil for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat.

Turn the chicken skin side up and brush each piece with the glaze. (I did half the glaze) Transfer the pan to the oven (make sure it's an oven safe pan or transfer the chicken to an oven safe pan). Bake until the internal temperature reaches 160 to 170 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer, brushing on more glaze halfway through (This is when I used the other half of the glaze), about 15 minutes in total (mine took more like 35 minutes to get to 160 degrees). Let the chicken rest for 10 minutes on a cutting board. Remove the chicken breast from the bone and slice the meat on the bias. Transfer the chicken to a serving platter and serve.

Oregon Part III

There were hardly enough pics to save this for a final post but the second one was a bit long. After leaving the beach we started back towards home. We pulled off the road at Multnomah Falls. Its not the greatest rest stop because it is only about an hour and a half out of Portland but I really wanted to see it. We only spent a few minutes there. It is really beautiful though. Next time we will have to go on the hike.

We stayed back at Emigrant Springs for the night to break up our long drive. This time we were able to get a cabin. It was SO nice! There were beds for all of us, a propane oven and stove (yes we could have baked a cake!) and a refigerator with a freezer. We will definately be booking our next trip earlier to make sure we can get a cabin or a yurt for the whole trip.

The kids love driving, can you tell?

One more night of smores (or sm'oreos as Jordan enjoyed making.) before the long drive home.

We had so much fun in Oregon! If anyone wants to go with us next time let us know.

Things to do

Ok, here is my list of things to do tomorrow:

laundry and put away

dishes

take out garbage

homework

go to class

clean bathrooms

clean kitchen

mop floors

vacuum

exercise

If I get all this done I will be ready to go back to work on Wed. Too bad if I don't get it all done I still have to go to work anyway:(

Oregon Part II

I know, you were beginning to think it would never come but here it is! So Sunday we drove from Pendleton to Cape Lookout.

We set up camp and made dinner just in time to catch this:

The sunsets were so beautiful. We took a walk on the beach every night at dusk.

So Monday we got up had a huge camp breakfast and headed out to the BEACH!

First we took pictures . . .

then the kids headed straight for the water.

Then it was sandcastle time.

Cape Lookout facing North

Cape Lookout facing South (the cape)

We decided to drive up to Cape Meares which is about 5 mile north of where we were. There was a lighthouse there that we got to walk through.
The view from Cape Meares

walking back up the hill
Tuesday we broke out the swimsuits and spent the day lounging on the beach.
The water is SO cold!
The kids loved it though. Of course there was more sandcastle building too.
Megan made friends with a little girl whose mom was going out in the ocean to catch little guys like this when the tide rolled in. I don't know what it is but its babies live in the little tide pools on the beach and they bite or pinch or something. Ouch!
It was low tide so we decided to walk to the cape. I don't know how far it was but it took at least an hour to get there. There were many tide pools along the way.
It was so cool when we got there. It was a bit eerie to know that at high tide the water would be above our heads but it was so fun to see all the caves and little sea creatures.
At first glance it looked like pebbles but these are all mussels.

I love starfish!
Wednesday we headed into town for a trip to Garibaldi to see all the sailboats and crab boats. Then we went to the Tillamook cheese factory. I didn't take any pics but think yummy ice cream and cheese curds!

Off we go.
Then we spent another beautiful night on the beach.
Thursday we hiked to the point of Cape Lookout. We waited for Thursday because according to the weather report this was going to be the coolest day of our stay. This was a mistake. The cape is a rain forest and yes, it was raining. Next time we would hike it on the warmest possible day. It was 2.5 miles out so 5 miles round trip. And yes, there were very steep cliffs! It was beautiful though. I would show you but the batteries in my camera died. Oh yes I had extras, in my purse, in the car.

We of course ended our day on the beach.
Friday morning we had to break camp and head back to Emigrant

Springs. Saying goodbye to the beach!

Part III coming soon . . .