The Cuteness Continued!

So I'm back with more of my makings. I can only post half of the things Jason and I made for Christmas because some of the people haven't gotten their presents yet...but once they do...oh, there will be pictures.

But here is a checker board that Jason made (and I painted). We were very proud of the results.
















We made cute little wood nubbins as the checkers pieces. It looked pretty rustic. If I find a better picture (or if someone takes and posts a better picture on their blog...hint, hint!) I'll post it later.

So that was a fun little project.


Ok, so I still don't have pictures of everything, or can't post pictures yet, but here's a little tradition that Jason and I started for Christmas. I think the pictures speak for themselves.
































PUMPKIN SPICE DOUGHNUTS!!!!!!! They are sooooooooooooooooooooooo yummy! Ok, I know its not a craft, but I sure did make them. They tasted just like the cake doughnuts you get in the store. The glaze was sure easy to make, too.

Ok, that's all for now.

My Various Cuteness I've Made

I have had A LOT of time on my hands lately. So I have explored avenues and have started to craft like nobody's business. I don't have all the pictures on this computer, but I will upload the ones I can for now.

So a friend of mine really wanted me to make her a bag for her laptop. And a pouch for accessories. Now, I have made my fair share of bags, but I do not feel like my sewing skills are up to par to sew a bag. So I decided to crochet the bag. My favorite thing to do with crocheted bags is to line them with a fabric so there is no stretch when you have it slung over your shoulder. BUT how do I make an extra pouch for accessories...well, this is what I came up with:














Notice the fun fabric I used to line the shoulder strap...it's basically my favorite!




































These two pictures show the inside pockets I designed. They are separate slots for her computer and for accessories.

































And an inside out shot.

Ok, now if I haven't killed this project with enough pictures... but I still think it's super cute!!!

So, now I have to switch computers to get the other crafty pictures...so there will be more to this post.

Our First Christmas

Its a little different when you start celebrating Christmas on your own, instead of with your parents and siblings.

This year I splurged on getting a Christmas tree. It took me a whole 10 minutes to decorate.















And look! I had presents under it, too! Don't you worry, the diaper wipes weren't for me ;)

For those who think me unorthodox...well, at least I had a Christmas tree... and technically it WAS once a tree.

Peanut Butter Ball Recipe from Winning Rice Krispies

Sorry, I think I'm just going to slip that title of winning rice krispie treat as much as I can till next year...pretty much bragging rights is all you get anyway!

But for all those people who wanted the peanut butter recipe, here it is:

Peanut Butter Balls-
By Patti Myers (Jason's mom)

1 egg
2 C powdered sugar
1/8 t salt
1/2 t vanilla
1/3 C peanut butter
1 T margarine or butter

Mix all well together. Make into balls. Refrigerate.

That's all. Really easy. Its more like a fudge, but make sure to refrigerate (obviously because of the egg).

FOOOOOOOOOD!

I think I'm officially addicted to cooking and baking and then the consequences of making all that food.

Because I am such a giving person, I will post my current faves!

I swear Jason and I have made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies twice since we've gotten back from Utah...that is neither sane or logical, but who can say no to the P.C.C!


Ingredients

* 1 cup canned pumpkin
* 1 cup white sugar
* 1/2 cup vegetable oil
* 1 egg
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon milk
* 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
* 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
* 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

I totally skip out on the Walnuts, go all the way with MILK chocolate chips, and I also add allspice, nutmeg, and ground cloves. I think it makes them taste really good!


Directions

1. Combine pumpkin, sugar, vegetable oil, and egg. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, and salt. Dissolve the baking soda with the milk and stir in. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and mix well.
2. Add vanilla, chocolate chips and nuts.
3. Drop by spoonful on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for approximately 10 minutes or until lightly brown and firm.

So the other thing Jason and I do is we double the recipe. I know! We're sick, but really who wants to be left with a half can of pumpkin? And just so you know we did share the cookies with others!


So my next concoction...I will merely show the picture, not recipe needed. But I made my first ever, homemade, from scratch pudding. To go in a banana cream pie, of course.















So they look more like peanut butter pudding pies, but rest assured, it is vanilla. I think I might have burned the bottom of the saucepan, and the milk got a little burnty. But, hey, if you've never made your own homemade pudding, you have no right to make fun. And if you have...well, then have pity on me because it was my first time making it. It was fun though. I think I did a marvelous job. We had a ton of graham pie crusts from camp, that we just had to make the pies...IT WAS FATE! That's my excuse.


But to show that I just don't make treats... Jason loved a certain kind chili I make. So you might think we are obsessed with pumpkin, and maybe we are...but I make a mean pumpkin chili (no beans, of course!).


Ingredients

* 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
* 1/2 cup chopped onion
* 1 cup chopped red bell peppers
* 1 clove garlic
* 1 pound ground turkey
* 2 (14.5 ounce) cans canned peeled and diced tomatoes
* 1 (15 ounce) can LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
* 1 (15 ounce) can canned tomato sauce
* 1 (15.25 ounce) can canned kidney beans, drained
* 1 (4 ounce) can ORTEGA® Diced Green Chiles
* 1/2 cup whole kernel corn
* 1 tablespoon chili powder
* 1 teaspoon ground cumin
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

This last time we put chunks of venison in it. Yes, this was the first time I have had deer, and NO, it was not from the deer I hit! It was actually pretty good. It was as if it were chucks of beef. Or that's what I told myself.


Directions

1. HEAT vegetable oil in large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion, bell pepper and garlic; cook, stirring frequently, for 5 to 7 minutes or until tender. Add turkey; cook until browned. Drain.
2. ADD tomatoes with juice, pumpkin, tomato sauce, beans, chiles, corn, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low. Cover; cook, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes.

But I just put all the ingredients in the crock pot and let then slow cook over night. Pretty tasty. I think its best with crackers though.


Here's a creation of my own. For those who like the chicken and stuffing with cream of chicken soup casserole, I've put a little twist on it. I've made it into a pot pie. I make my own dough and everything.

Dough:

2 C flour
1 t salt
2 t baking powder
2/3 C water
1/4 C oil

Mix all ingredients together.

I divide the dough into two chunks, one a little bigger than the other. Take the bigger one and roll it out to fit in a pie dish. Then goes in the good stuff:

Filling:
1 little can of cream of chicken soup
A little or as much as you want of sour cream
Shredded chicken- you decide how much you want
1 box of stuffing- premade
corn
peas
carrots
broccoli
onion
(ok, I hope you get the point and add the vegetables you really like!)

Mix this all together into a conglomeration of goo. Place in pie dish.

Take the remaining piece of dough and roll it out, place it on top of the pie dish.
Seal the edges of the two dough slabs. Poke holes in the top for air to steam out.

I put it in the oven at 425 F for about 20 minutes or until the dough is golden brown. Its really tasty...


Oh, enough thinking about food. I must be off to do the other things now.

So Much to Say, So Little Time... Ok, Scratch that and Reverse It!

And I'm back after a long hiatus. I've had so many memorable things happen. I hope every one had a great Thanksgiving. Jason and I got to go to Utah and enjoy time with both our families over the holiday.

We first enjoyed a long ride to Utah... a mere 10 hours. My great accomplishment is that I got Jason listening to Harry Potter. I feel very good about this. He wasn't too excited about it, but I totally got him into it!!!

But to the exciting business... The Annual Pincock Family Rice Krispie bake-off! We had it over Thanksgiving this year, to accommodate with everyone's schedule. But Jason and I have been planning for this...well...since FOREVER! In our spare time over the past year, we have collaborated ideas of flavors that would taste really good with rice krispies. We had some good thoughts and then we had some just plain belly flops. But Jason and I practiced, had people test them and we finally came up with the recipes that would win us the gold... or at least we hoped it would.

But then the day came, the Day of Judgment.















The competition was pretty steep.

Jason pulled out a secret recipe from the Myers side... Peanut Butter Balls...recipe will be forthcoming. He concocted a fiesta of flavors culminating in a Reese's Cup Rice Krispie Treat. Pure Gold!















These aren't the actual presented Krispies (the other ones were devoured by the judges), but this shows a good representation.

I, however, tried a more sophisticated palette. We created a perfect rice Krispie treat, slathered a layer of caramel onto of that. Then put apple pie filling atop that. Crumbled an oatmeal, cinnamon crisp over the apples, and topped it all off with a drizzle of white chocolate. A creation of genius.














So with our creations, Jason and I had hope to win 1st and 2nd place, a clean sweep. However, dreams are not always possible. I was able to take 3rd place. Very honorable in such competition. My sister Lillie took 2nd place with a churro creation that was really, really good... and then the coveted 1st place...

This is were the true controversy lies. My brother Tommy has consistently won the past 3 years. Would the tyrant continue his rule? No, Jason captured first place!

A Myers won the Pincock Family Rice Krispie contest! Who would have thought? What did he win, you ask? None other than the impressive trophy of a golden spatula. Pretty much awesome.

Ok, enough with the theatrics... The next day we got to go down to Provo and visit and hang with Jason's family. We got to have Thanksgiving II. It was really fun to see them all again, especially since I was a little stressed out the last time we were all together(its funny how getting married can do that to you).

We visited, we went over to the church house just to shoot some hoops and have enough space to all run around. Learned a fun game called Ninja Distraction...totally might have to use this as a substitute teacher tool...ok, maybe not, it would be too distracting.

But we had a lot of fun.

Then came the moving. I'm officially moved out of Logan. It was a little sad, but really my old roommate can only handle my stuff being there so long. I got to see a couple of friends, which I'm really glad I did. But just like time, it keeps going, so Jason and I had to keep going too.

We headed back to the TUNDRA! South Dakota. This time driving my dad's truck so we could pull the trailer full of my stuff. All went fine and dandy until....... is the suspense killing you?




(not my deer, I would be seen as careless if I had taken a picture of the deer before I hit it!)


We were about 30-45 minutes from home right through the dead zone with no cell phone range... and I hit my first deer. Technically my second, but I hit my first LIVE deer. It really freaked me out. We stopped to see the damage, but we decided to try to make it home since we were so close and...we had no cell range. Cell phones are only good if you have service.

I thought we were going to make it, but 25 minutes later, the truck overheated, stinky white fumes were coming out of the hood and we had to stop...because the truck stopped too.

I was now REALLY freaking out. We were there maybe a minute and some one stopped and asked if we needed help. They said they were going in the opposite direction, but saw that we were in a "pickle" so they flipped their car around to help. They took us to their home and we made some phone calls, and we got home maybe 2 hours later than we estimated, but we were safe. No whiplash, but I guess I did get an injury from walking full force into some barbed wire when I was trying to find some rocks to put behind the trailers wheels so it wouldn't roll. I feel silly about it now, but at the moment it was a little too much.

So My dad drove out my car and these were the pictures we got of the damage.



























Not too bad, but all the damage seems to be internal. The truck was totaled. I feel pretty bad that I was the one that ALWAYS has issues with this truck... I guess if it had to go, it had to be by me... seems to be fate! But I'm really grateful that everything worked out fine. That we were picked up so we could get help, that my dad was able to get to South Dakota in safety, and that HE didn't hit a deer as well. They apparently really like to jump out of nowhere this time of season. And I'm really grateful that everything with the truck went well. I'm a blessed little girl!

But here's my update for now...more to follow...

My Life the Past Couple of Months

So I finally decided to update my blog because I was getting frustrated that every time I checked if any one else had blogged lately... there was nothing. So I guess it's only fair to blog...I can't expect everybody else to do the blogging.

To start... we have built a greenhouse. Square foot gardening. I finally got pictures to post of the greenhouse.














(This is before the blasted snow came!)


Pretty exciting stuff. It's taken a lot of man-hours trying to get this thing up and running. Let's wish it the best of luck!
But it's a car port with thick MIL plastic over it, twice. Helps with the insulation, apparently.

















Here's Jason. The greenhouse doesn't have all the poles in it for height. Do it's a little short for Jason, but perfect for me.































Here's the lovely tomatoes. They're looking good here, but it looks like I still have a little more to learn before I get my green thumb. Let's just say we won't be having tomatoes this winter.


Next item of business. After camp this year, Jason and I totally scored with getting a lot of cheap camp food. Cereal. Canned foods. And MEAT. We got 2 tubes of ground turkey (10 lbs each). It was all fine and dandy. We stuck them in the freezer and we were very excited about our purchases. But then it came time to use the meat... a 10 lb tube of rock hard, frozen meat. We had no idea of how to tackle this problem. We didn't want to use all 10 lbs at once so this was Jason's idea...














(please note the oven mitt... that's my favorite part...no frost bite here!)


We got our scariest, biggest, most serrated knife we had and went at it! I think this is how he got all his muscles :)















Look at the determination in his face. Such focus.















It was pretty funny. I'm just glad it worked out. And the knife is just fine.


So Jason woke up the other day and his hair made me realize he needed a haircut. I doubt anyone would disagree with me.































So we took care of the problem...sorry, no before and after pictures for this one.















He didn't really enjoy me using the squirt bottle on him.


Well... that's all for now. I have no other exciting photos, extravagant tales to tell, or really any lies that I could pretend that were true. But I'll can't promise I'll do better at writing on my blog, but I guess if people don't update their blogs I'll eventually get to mine. Until then.

My Adventures in Yeast

So I've apparently become too domestic for my own good. What a great statement to start a blog, right?

But sadly it's true. I bake now like there's no tomorrow... it doesn't hurt that my husband really, really loves bread. But here's some recounting of my adventures with yeast.

My parents came and visited me and Jason in July and they we so kind to get us A LOT of flour, sugar, rice and yeast. So now Jason and I have had the ambition to make our own dough, bread, rolls, etc. (Of course to go with the homemade raspberry jam)

But I have to say I was a little nervous with the whole idea of using yeast. To me its a temperamental ingredient. But I guess lets have the pictures speak for themselves.















Here are some rolls... I was just so amazed that the bread actual raised. My house is really cold so I let the dough double in size in the oven. It works for me so I guess it works.

My here's a little temptation that every time I see a picture of I start to drool.














Stuffed Crust Pizza!
















Pizza Hut eat your heart out... I think I might have just put you out of business.
















It's mine and Jason's favorite pizzas meeting in our kitchen. We both love Chicken BBQ, but Pizza Hut has us in their snare with their stuffed crust pizza. However, we can now make out own!!! You just use string cheese and seal it in the crust. And of course, the inclusion of onion and green bell pepper and you have a symphony in action.

We've had some delicious tasties as of late, but all I can say is pride cometh before a fall... I think I've gotten a little too confident with my yeast abilities and I'm pretty sure this last time I tried to set it up in the hot water and wait for it to all boil up... I think I killed the yeast... and of course you don't get to see the pictures of my bellyflop creations.

Well, lets hope my head doesn't get too big, but let the tasty bread keep coming!!!

Bugs, Berries and Jam, Oh My!

We've been wrapping up our Boy Scout summer. And not a moment too soon, I can tell you that. However, this week has been pretty lackadaisical compared to the regular boy scout week. We had a Scout-reach...kind of a program to get non-BSA organizations familiar and using Boy Scout programs and facilities. So I get paid for a full days work, but I only work till 3 pm (compared to the regular 9 pm). So its been pretty nice.

Jason and I got it into our heads to make jam. Everyday after work we walk down from our area that is surrounded by wild raspberries. And it's just the right time of the season. Red berries are popping up everywhere. So we formed a little brigade to pick raspberries.
















We got our buttload of berries, but it seems I've run into some bad luck of late. While I was picking berries here and there, away from everybody else, I happened to stumble upon someone's house. To be more specific, a wasps nest!


Try going face to face against this guy.














My only problem is I had no idea I was intruding, and then all of a sudden I felt some major pain in my right ankle... and it was about at this time that I started running and flailing about. I paused after I left the wasp-y area and I looked at my foot and I still had a guy staring up at me. So I flicked him off and ran some more...basically freaking out because it had been a long time since I had been stung by a bee... but this time I was stung at least three times.

But I survived... no major swelling up, didn't need an Epi-pen, I was just pretty wary of busy areas with lots of luscious berries.

But to get back to the main point, we got a lot of berries... at least six cups.

Jason and I brought it home and then the true fun began. We found a recipe off the internet and we just went from there.

3 cups raspberries
3 cups sugar
Mash berries in a saucepan and stir in sugar. Bring to a boil and boil for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and beat with a wire whip or mixer for 6 minutes. Pour into jars and allow to cool. If not canning, keep stored in refrigerator.
















We doubled the recipe. And for never having made jam before, and using no pectin, the jam was perfectly thick. And it was really tasty. Obviously.

Another Day Climbing

It's the last week of boy scout camp and I'm really excited about that fact. I really can't wait until I can sleep in again...call me silly, I know, but I love my sleep.

But I've have some adventures in climbing lately. I actually went climbing on the real rock where we take the scouts... lets just say I didn't do so well, but at least it was tons of fun.

First of all you obviously have to rig up the equipment to go climbing... so here you go.
































Here is a lovely view from top. I sure have been able to adapt to my nervousness of heights. I'm not so nervous, most of the time :) You will notice the lovely pink bag... that's what we carry all our gear in when we go climbing. All the other boys on staff really love the bright pink bag... but really we use it as rope protection. We get the pink bag beat up by the sharp rock instead of the rope. We use our resources.

But here's where I actually got the climb what I just set up:












































I started out really good, but I ended really bad!!!

It really didn't help that my shoes weren't tight at all and would slip off whenever I'd tried to put them in a good rock hold...I guess I should know better.

But enjoy, hope all is going well you you all and until my next post.

An Epic Update!

Since it's been so long since I last posted, it seems I have a lot of catch up to do.

I'm at boy scout camp again and all Is going well. We're going on the 4th week of boy scout camp and 5 weeks since I've been here so I have a lot to catch up on.

So Jason and I stay at our house and just commute to work. It's not too bad, but we just have to wake up super early to get there by 7 am. We do a pretty good job at getting up, its just the continual battle that Jason and I have with the covers while we sleep. There have been a lot of pointing fingers as to who the cover stealer is and I still claim my innocence. Every night is a continual game of tug or war, but Jason finally got proof of the the culprit.















I usually sleep on the side of the bed and it just happened to go toward my side... I can't help it if the covers like me better! Notice the lump in the bed... yep, the true cover stealer!

But camp is pretty fun. We get to work with kids all the time, a thing to be assumed at boy scout camp; but just add the element of heights and you have my life everyday at camp. We get to climb, we get to play on the high wires, we basically get to have a lot patience with kids with fear of heights.

















I got this picture of Jason while doing the COPE. Notice the hammock, not mine, but the staff like to kick up their feet about 35 feet off the ground. I think they are crazy. The irony with this picture is that I wanted to start taking more pictures up at camp to document the summer. So I had my camera in my pocket. I needed to trade places with Jason because he needed to get down. And while climbing up that high telephone pole I totally smashed my LCD screen to my camera and now it doesn't work. I was a little bummed... ok a little more than bummed then, but I'm over it now. So I've been taking pictures with a camera that you can't see on the little preview screen, so my aim and accuracy is totally improving.
















Sometimes I wonder how I get myself into some the things that I do while at camp... and this next picture I really have no comment and we are going to leave it at that!















So I got some new shoes that I think are pretty sweet. I've wanted some pretty fun shoes and I think these fit that description to the T. I'm pretty much excited about the shoes. Silly I know, but true.
































But my other pair of shoes I wear are my Airwalks (that are like Crocs) and by the end of the day Jason and mine feet get a little dirty. So enjoy the following:
































You just have to love the Black Hills! Oh well.

But Jason and I are doing good, having fun, and trying to deal with the hayfever up here at camp.



































Until next time.

Life Updates...not much going on with a little excitement

So, just settling into life in South Dakota. I'm getting ready for camp to start... yup it's true, I just can't get enough of Boy Scout camp and I'm going back. Instead of being in Aquatics I have gone over to the FUN side and am going to be doing Climbing.

In all my adventures in life, I've only been climbing once in my life... ok and that was last year...
But now I'm all certified and official to go climbing and take scouts.

I went to Utah- Camp Tracy the first part of May to get my training. I was really glad to be back in Utah again, but it was a little bittersweet. First of all, Jason was back in South Dakota... so that wasn't very fun. But I couldn't even have time to go see my family. I was only about 30 minutes away from my house and I didn't even get to go home once. Luckily I did get to see my parents, so at least that happened.

But I learned a whole bunch that week. I am now a knot-tying fool (and not just by getting married... ok I know that was a lame joke). I knew a few knots for Aquatics, but now I know some pretty serious knots... my least favorite is a bowline on a bight!















These are all the people getting their climbing certification, too. Climbers are an interesting breed... that's what I learned the most that whole week.

I got to climb on a lot of real rock for practice... this was a first time. One place we went, in Dugway, Utah, was called Lone Rock and it was a pretty desolate place.















The instructors warned us about the lack of cover for any "personal" trips you would need to be taking... all that was surrounding us was 60 miles of the salt flats...















Don't I just look like a professional climber! Well, maybe a grumpy professional climber.

I got to repel, climb, set up anchors on bolts, and natural anchors. I either did pretty good, or I sure fooled everybody!

But then I got to go back home!!! I slept the whole day the next day, but that's only cos we didn't get back home till 3 am... I was not a happy camper!

But other than that... I'm pretty much boring. The excitement was we got a new vacuum. We got it with some of our wedding money... let's just say my house needed it!

And for anyone that thinks Jason wouldn't or doesn't do housework... here's the ultimate proof.














He was going to town getting all those spider web on the ceiling.

And here is the disgusting results of our vacuuming. So when my landlord said he cleaned our house before we moved in... I somehow think otherwise...




















Notice how it's past the Max Fill line... Seriously!

The last of the exciting things is Jason was growing a beard. I really didn't mind the beard, but its what he did with it. He shaved it off in series.

He went from a beard to a goatee, to a mustache, to a mini-mustache... that one was the worst.






















































But that's all for now. I'll keep you all posted with the summer updates.

Oh, here's a little photo fun-ness. I tried to crimp my hair the free and easy way... with little braids. Another "What was I thinking?" moment!!