Happy Birthday Brian

Happy 29th Birthday to Brian!! Yea! We had a GREAT day! It started out as usual except Brian got the privilege of having Bacon with his breakfast, Yummy! He went off to school, and Kyler and I got things ready for the day. When Brian came home Kyler had made this card for him. Inside are pictures Kyler drew of he and daddy climbing mountains, and wrestling. Brian loved it!
Then we dropped Kyler off at my sisters house, and went to his mom's house to open his present. It was from both his mom and I, hence opening it at her house. Brian has wanted a leather coat for quite some time, I finally found one that fit him well, and was a great price. Doesn't he look good?!?!!? I think so :)

Then we went to Nicklecade and had a BLAST!! We killed aliens, shot balls through the clowns mouth, played ski ball, shot hoops, drove cars, killed sharkes and other underwater scary things, and ended with a rousing game of air hockey. It was so much fun, I was hesitant to take him there at first thinking it might be kinda lame, but it was an awesome cheep date!

Then we went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner, yummy. Brian told the waitress it was my birthday, and before we know it they are dragging this saddle on a stand around the corner. I immediately tell them it is really his birthday, but because mine is next week they made us both get on. You'll have to imagine the saddle, the waitress only got waist up :)

Fun times. It was a great day. I love you Brian! Happy Birthday

Finally!

Ok, I was tagged on this tag like a million times, and I kept meaning to do it, but I just never got around to it. And I'm sure you've all done it, so I'm not going to tag anyone else, but here are 7 things you might not know about me

1. I Lindy Hop, whats that? It's a type of swing dancing, I tried to upload one of my videos but it didn't work, so I guess I'll leave it up to your imagination. Brian doesn't dance, so I haven't done it in a long time, but back in the day I even went to competitions and almost competed nationally. Good times

2. I'm not an animal lover. I just don't get it really. I've never been attached to an animal, and although we had a few pets for short periods of time while growing up, I just don't feel comfortable around animals. I had a bad experience with a dog while I was young, and since have been scared of dogs. Brian has tried to "cure" me of this, as he wants a dog when we get a house. We'll see

3. I don't like to drive. Nope, I just don't like situations were my life is on the line and I don't have total control. I also have a tendency to get lost easily. SO, Brian drive everywhere we go. He likes driving though, to it all works out.

4. I love fresh cracked pepper. I grew up with a pepper grinder on the table for every meal. So when you come to my house for dinner, you'll find no powdery black stuff, only a pepper grinder for me.

5. I was a Biology major. I have my associates, but never finished my bachelor. I want to be a genetic counselor when I get the opportunity to finish my degree.

6. I had my appendix out when I was six.

7. I'm kind of a science fiction/fantasy novel nerd. I love anything with wizard, fairies or dragons. :)

Catching Up

I'm alive!!! Wow, the past two weeks have been crazy busy, and I've been away from my computer, hence no posts. So this post is dedicated to catching up on all the things I've missed in the last two weeks. 1st Halloween!

Kyler was a spider, I was going to be little Miss Muffet, but I didn't get my costume ready in time. Brian was his scary tall....scary thing. He was in a spook ally a neighbor put on and had so much fun! Brian use to hate Halloween, until he found this costume, now I dare say it might be one of his favorite holidays. We went trick or treating around Brian's parents neighborhood, we had a wonderful night.

The next week we were house sitting for Brian's parents. They went to Georgia to visit Brian's oldest brother and family. We were there for a whole week. As nice as it was to have a "house" for the week, it sure feels good to be home. I was only 10 min away from my mom and sisters, so we played a lot that week. We went to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point one day. It was a ton of fun. And because my mom "works" for Thanksgiving Point, we got in FREE! BONUS! I think we'll be going there a lot this winter.

They had this really fun erosion tank. Where you could build up the sand and trees, with little dinosaurs, and then watch as the water would take things away, and change the sand. It was tonz of fun.

The big kids couldn't help themselves, we played too!

Other then that we've just been adjusting back to schedules, getting a new fridge, and fixing broken toilets. Fun times!

Lake Mary

Well , Brian, Kyler and I went on another hike last Saturday. The weather is just so beautiful right now it's hard to stay in. We hiked to Lake Mary, it was a nice hike, not to long, and only steep at the beginning. The hike itself was a little boring at first because your hiking pretty much on a ski slope, but once you get into the trees it's pretty, and the destination was fun. We enjoyed a lunch around the lake, the water of course was way down, so there were lots of fun places to explore. The wind was bitter, but we tuffed it out. Kyler was so good, and enjoyed eating rocks, and exploring.

This hike was too far up the canyon to see any really pretty leaves, so we stopped at a campground on the way down canyon to take some more fun fall pictures. This place was amazing, so many different colors.

Recipes!

So I'm inventing my own tag. I am desperately in need of some new recipes, and I figured this was a good way to get them. So, here's how it's going to work. I'm going to post a recipe I make often and that my family likes. One that doesn't have any real crazy ingredients, and is somewhat healthy (hey, it's not chicken enchiladas or something like that). Then I'll tag three people who will do the same, and I can check their blogs to get a new fun recipe. So here it goes, I hope it works!

Dilly Chicken

1 Pkg Chicken Gravy Mix
1Cup Water
1/2 tsp Dill Weed (I buy fresh dill, but dried works great too!)
1 Tbs Butter (optional)
1 lbs Chicken
1/2 lbs Mushrooms
1/2 Cup Sour Cream (optional)
Rice

Combine gravy mix, water and Dill in a bowl. Set aside. If you use fresh dill, use more then recipe calls for as it's not as potent as the dried variety.
Melt butter in skillet, brown chicken on both sides. (or you could use fat free cooking spray!)
Add mushrooms and gravy mixture to skillet, cover and simmer 10 min, or until chicken is cooked through.
Remove from heat, stir in Sour Cream until blended. (It's really yummy with the sour cream, but it's also good without it if your watching fat content)
Serve over rice.

My family really like this recipe, I promise it's not as strange as it sounds. We like the sauce on the rice so much that I usually double the sauce. Hope you enjoy!!

I Tag-Amy, Rachel, and Jenny

Ok, now for something not good for you :) Do not proceed unless you want to cook the best (and easiest) apple pie this Thanksgiving!

The Best Apple Pie

Crust:

1 1/2 c flour
1 1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 c salad oil ( I use canola oil)

Mix until well blended then pat into a pie tin. Do not roll out.

Filling:
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 Tbsp flour
4 - 6 cups apples
3/4 cup sugar or more

Combine ingredients & toss lightly. Put into unbaked shell.

Topping: 1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar

Combine with fingers & sprinkle over pie. Place pie in a brown paper sack. Fold sack shut or staple. NO PEEKING

Bake 350 F for 1 hour 45 minutes

Before baking

After!
No pie crust to deal with, and because it cooks so long the apples are so soft and yummy. Don't worry about the brown paper sack burning, it works out perfectly!

Park City

We got to spend three days, two nights, in Park City with my family last week. My Mom and her Husband like going to time share presentations for all the free stuff they give away, and she is constantly staying in some of the nicest places in Park City. She was able to upgrade the room she got since it's off season and invited the family to come stay. We had a really good time. Brian, Kyler and I got our own room, here it is, with Brian teaching Kyler how to channel surf.

The living room...
..and Kitchen (that's my mom)
We did another 3D puzzle while we were there, I thought the hot air balloons were appropriate.

They had a fun indoor/outdoor pool, Kyler loved swimming, he slept so well those two nights I've decided we have to take him swimming every day when we go on vacation :)
Kyler and Heather & Stacey
All in all it was nice just to play and relax. Thanks Mom for a wonderful weekend.