Our little vacation

We are home after a 10 trip to Idaho and Utah. We visit family and mixed in a little fun. AND we paid cash for 90% of our trip!! About 5% went on debit and one hotel night(5%) went on a credit card that will be paid off next payday. Not bad!!!


Where all did we go you ask? Okay maybe you didn't but I will tell you anyway. LOL! We traveled 11 to 12 hours over to Twin Falls. The Hubbies sister lives there. We call her house our favorite hotel. And really it is. She spoils us! We woke up to Swedish pancakes. Then packed a picnic lunch complete with homemade chocolate chip cookies and went to the City of Rocks for a day of hiking and fun. We came home to Fettuccine Alfredo with an amazing homemade sauce. The next day we woke up to scrambled eggs, orange juice, and homemade muffins. Dang she is awesome!

So we left there and moved on down to Utah. We stopped in to the Hubbies brother's house in Tremonten for lunch. Yum! Hot dogs, chips and chocolate cupcakes! After lunch we moved on to Salt Lake City. The Hubby had Shiloh points to use so we got two connecting rooms for 2 nights. NICE!!! We are talking over $600 in hotel for FREE!!! Plus the hotel and free breakfast and a pool! So breakfast was free except the tip. We had the same server both mornings. He was great!! We used no gas traveling around town due to the cool Trax system and everything is really with in walking distance. Saturday night we went over to the Gateway Mall and ate at the food court and I did a little birthday shopping for my self! (So did not save money on that) Them we went and rode the Trax back to the hotel. Off to bed. Sunday we toured Temple Square and the Church History museum (they have a whole floor for kids to play and run free). Then we hit the JB's for a wonderful lunch and a wonderful server who fixed Bubba's sunglasses. Yah she got a nice tip! Then we hit the pool! My little men might be half fish. LOL!! Monday we went to see the front of the Salt Lake Temple and see the Joseph Smith Building. The we packed up and headed south!

We headed down to Richfield and stayed the night in the Comfort Inn there. Very nice plus a pool and a free breakfast. We had to pay for these rooms but they were a great value. Tuesday morning we headed down to Cove Fort (about 45 mins away). This is home to Fort Willden as well. I am a Willden(well my grandma is)!! YUP got me some family history. It was fun.

After we had lunch we headed back up to Richfield (I was born there) for some groceries and then over the mountains to Koosherem to see the famous and well loved Grandma Bonnie. We just played and helped out for a couple days. I said a most teary good-bye on Thursday and we headed off again.

So Thursday we headed up to Manti to see the Manti Temple. It is soooo pretty. Then back up to Twin Falls. Were we were greeted by a BBQ dinner. Told you we were spoiled. Friday we went to Shoshone Falls, and the us adults went to a session at the Twin Falls temple. What an incredible place. WOW!! Such beauty. After that we took the kids to Gertie's pizza place. YUM!! We then took the kids back to see the temple. It is a both a tribute to our Heavenly Father and to the beautiful land around Twin Falls that he created.

Sadly Saturday morning found us packing up and heading on our way back to Washington and to cloudy skies. But oh to sleep in our own bed!

Cream of Chicken Soup

OK so I am now hooked on making my own cream of chicken soup. Sorry Campbell soup company but this is by far superior!

Now I got this recipe from a wonderful recipe blog called Our Best Bites. Here is a direct link to Kate's recipe and how to.

I tweaked the recipe to make it more pantry accessible to me.

1 1/2 c.chicken broth (2 cubes chicken bullion and 1 1/2 cups water)
1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt (more or less; taste to test)
1/4 teaspoon parsley
dash of paprika
1 1/2 cups milk, divided (I used powdered milk)
3/4 cup flour

Then I followed her directions just as they are. Except I add in chicken.

In medium-sized saucepan, bring chicken broth, seasonings, and 1/2 c. of the milk to a boil. In a bowl, whisk together the remaining 1 cup of milk and flour.

Add to boiling mixture and continue whisking briskly until mixture boils and thickens. Cook until desired consistency is reached, keeping in mind that it will continue to thicken as it stands.

Makes the equivalent of 2 cans of condensed cream of chicken soup. Read as if in the can no milk or water added.

Now I am ready to make chicken gravy over rice or pasta. I add more milk, a huge dollop of sour cream and there you go. Top with cheese and YUM!

Okay so this isn't a pretty dish BUT it is a family favorite at my house. Oh that looks like a HUGE portion, let's say it was for the Hubby!

For a low carb but still awesome flavor recipe look here.

I also now use this soup for my Green Chile Enchiladas. Look for these in an up coming post!

The best gifts ever...

Ok so my friend Christy over at Thrifty and Thriving (formally known as Bargain Jargon) has a great post about presents. So off you go to read about the best gifts ever!

Apple Trees

Here is the apple tree we got for our birthdays. A columnar tree grows like a column not big and bushy.

One bonus of a columnar tree is that they grow compactly to the trunk. They are great for a small property. However when ever you buy fruit trees remember that you generally need two. You must have a pollinator.

All About Apples Explore this site. It has a list of all apple varieties. You can look up a local apple nursery and so much more.

I want to make my own...

On my right hand side bar you will see a list of several things I want to make my self. As you can see I have accomplished a few of them.

Click here for my DIY laundry soap. I made a second batch this week at used my immersion blender on it the next day. AWESOME! It made it all smooth just like store bought.

I made my own bread!!

I have also made my own cream of chicken soup!!

I will be posting about these in the next few days. What do you want to learn to make on your own? What have you made that did or maybe did not work out?

I still have some items on my list and I am always finding more things to try.

WOW where have I been!

No where fun or out of the ordinary that is for sure. I have been sick and busy and then sick some more. Oh joy!

So here is the first of a few little updates.

THE GARDEN

My garden is having a heck of a time getting started. The Washington weather is crappy right now. We have a few days of near 70 sunny days so we plant. Then we have wind, rain, hail and freezes so everything dies. JOY!!!!

However I have 4 squares of snappy peas planted and sprouting. I have one head of lettuce growing and 3 others that will barely send up sprouts. LOL! All three of my tomatoes look good. ALL of the seeds I started indoors have died. I will try again next year. Oh and my strawberries have have blossoms. I can't wait!! Plus I bought and planted 4 more starts.

My Hubby's mom and dad bought us an apple tree for our birthday so now all we need to get is one more so it can pollinate and get them planted!

I feel like I need to go takes pictures for all of this. The weather literally has been changing by the hour this week. So frustrating!! So if we get a suuny spot vs. a hail spot I will run out!

I made a blog list LOL!!

http://bsnprogram.com/2010/top-50-blogs-to-help-you-live-healthy/

I am #22. TOO COOL!!

Could you do it?

Preparing - One Day at a Time

Follow our family of 10 children through a challenge to make "No trips to the grocery store for three months." What will we improvise, what are we glad we have on hand and what will we wish we had? How will we live without fresh milk?


This is an incredible blog. Crystal shows us that it can be done, but we must prepare. Follow her journey and try her recipes. I love this blog and look forward to learning more from this wonderful woman.

From seeds to starts!

I started with a mini green house ( I accidentally bought the tomato one. You can get smaller ones.), my seeds, and my handy dandy SFG book. This book has all kinds of great information about when to plant and when to start seedlings.

I decided to so cucumbers, beef steak tomatoes, broccoli, and later I added celery.

The green house comes with direction. Thank Goodness!! So I followed them to "pump up" the little planter guys. I did not use the whole tray just a few. Then I planted my seeds.

Next I made a little chart of what I planted. Make sure to add the date!

On the bottom of that same paper I made a very artistic drawing of my outside garden. LOL!! I put what I planted and again made sure to add the date.

As of yet nothing I have planted outside has sprouted. I did how ever find a mystery plant in my other box.

We are pretty sure it may be a bean from last year sad 3 beans from 6 bushes crop. I wish it better luck this year!

Here is my mini green house crop! So stinking cute!!!

Look at those skinny little broccoli plants and those cucumbers.

See those tiny little white flecks in the ones towards the front? Those are my 'mater plants. YEAH!!

No sign of the celery yet....