Favorite Fridays

I'm always looking for yummy, easy, fast recipes to add to my collection...aren't you?

We ended up with a BUNCH of Utah Peaches this year (Soooo juicy and delicious!)

We (and when I say we, I actually do mean WE. As in Craig and Myself...isn't that awesome! Mr. Hall scores major points with me for helping out in the kitchen:)) bottled a bunch, ate a bunch fresh (with cream and sugar..YUM), and froze the other bunch. I am normally NOT a fan of any kind of fruit pie, cobbler, and anything of the sort. But, I'm here to say, I am a changed woman.

I found this spectacular peach cobbler recipe, and the best part...It is SOOO easy!

It's awesome for the times I have company coming over, and just changed a ripe diaper with super power strength oder, and I need to cover it up FAST (not that we have ever done that of course).

I just whip this baby together and pop it in the oven. by the time they come my home smells heavenly, and if they stick around, they even get to leave with a tasty treat in their belly.

So, here it is:

Easy Peach Cobbler

serves 10 (I half it)

1/2 C. unsalted butter

1 C. all purpose flour

2 C. sugar, divided

1Tbs. baking powder

pinch of salt

1 C. milk

4 C. peaches

1 Tbs. lemon juice

Ground cinnamon or nutmeg

1. Melt butter in a 9x13 baking dish

2. combine flour. 1 C. sugar, baking powder, and salt; add milk, stirring just until dry ingredients are moist. Pour batter over butter (do not stir)

3. Bring remaining 1 C. sugar, peach slices, and lemon juice to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly; pour over batter (do not stir), sprinkle with cinnamon or nutmeg.

4. Bake @375 for 40-45 minutes, or until golden brown. serve cobbler warm or cold with ice cream or whipped cream.

*note: instead of doing step 3, I use a bag of my frozen peaches. I just spread them out over the batter, and sprinkle the cinnamon on top

I hope you get a chance to make something yummy this weekend, and get to eat it with great company:)

Bear World

 The other day we decided to to take the kids to Yellow stone, since we live 2 hours away, and they have never been. We packed up the cooler, and hit the road. We were in for a long, fun, day in the car, looking for animals in the wild.

20 minets down the road...it started.

"Mom, are we almost there?", then "How much longer do we have to be in the car?", and "this isn't any fun!", repeated several times.

We soon passed a fun little place called "Bear world", I said jokingly to Craig "we should just go there, and tell them it's Yellow Stone". we looked at each other, and realized we were thinking the same thing.

BRILLIANT!

Carter was our Animal photographer for the day.

We saw wolves, bears, moose, dear, elk, Buffalo, baby dear, and lots more.

I have to say, It was the best day trip to Yellow Stone I've ever had;)

Pumpkin Patch

 We have this fun little pumpkin patch in town called Swore Farms, and it's a must every year!  They change it up each year, so I never know what exactly we are going to find, but it's always loads of fun. This year they had a couple different versions of  the "corn maze", and the the real thing. Carter was a school, and Craig was at work, so it was just me, Benson and Layla....and Layla's entire preschool:)

On another note, we took family pictures here 2 years ago, and they turned out super cute!

 They had a bunch of these cute little picture areas set up all around, and who can resist smashing their face in a little hole?

 This is Laylas' Preschool teacher "Mrs. Jen". She is also my first Cousin.

 In this picture you can see the "tape maze" (I don't know what it's really called) behind the kids. This one was the funniest, because the kids would just run right under the tape. Layla made it through in record time and said, "Wow, that was SO easy!" haha. One advantage of being short!

 The Start

 I bought these adorable rain boots for Layla at a yard sale, but I was thinking we would wait a year or so until they actually fit her....she didn't like that idea. They are about 3 sized too big, and slush around with each step she takes, but she still feels the love for them...go figure.



Ok, so my camera has started doing this thing randomly where the pictures turn out like this (see above picture). It's like the shutter isn't closing all the way...or something, I don't know, but it's annoying.

Also, Benson's face in this picture kind of has a devilish look, don't ya think?

(there I go, leaving a question at the end of my post again:) )

ps. is again spelled wrong? I don't know how else to spell it, but the spell checker is having a fit!

Autumn

Have I ever mentioned that I love fall? I used to be more of a summer person, but each year I gain a deeper appreciation for Fall. The crisp  in the air that calls us to bring out our sweaters and scarves, and the sweet aroma that drifts around us as we pick apples from the tree. I love finding the prettiest leaves, and and baking fall treats to warm our tummies. But, my favorite thing about fall is...the color scheme.
 My home was designed to host fall decor!
The kids felt like we didn't have enough decorations, so they made some new ones of their own:) See if you can find them.

 Do you see this amazing wreath? My Dad gave it to me for my birthday. I should have taken a close up of it for you, because it has about 30 different flowers, weeds, feathers, fruits, and veggies, it's gorgeous.

 I included this picture because it shows our cute brick chimney:) one of my personal favorites.

 We replaced our windows last year, so I made this fun little guy from one of the old basement windows.

 In my giant clothes pin, we placed one of our "fall place mats" that I did the tutorial on for a "favorite Friday" a couple weeks ago. we obviously make them rectangular usually, but we did this one square to use more as a decoration kind of thing;)

I placed some fake apples in a black spider web bowl (on my left in the picture), and Layla tried to eat one of them. They are very realistic after all:), so I told the kids not to eat the green apples in the bowl, because they were poisoned. Carter added that the witch from sleeping beauty snuck in and poisoned them, haha. So now they tease me and say "Mom, I'm going to eat this yummy apple", and I say "NOOOOO, not the POISONED Apple!", and save them from that horrible fate.

What are some of your favorite things about Autumn?

(leaving a question at the end of my post is my sneaky little way of encouraging you to leave a little comment...just so ya know;))

I realized something looking through these pictures from last weekend...I like to open my mouth really big when someone points a camera at me, or so it would appear.

what's my deal? I have no idea! Really, I didn't even know I did that until this very moment.

any who, here are a couple pictures of the fun we had. My Man and I don't get away by ourselves very often, but when we do, it's like we just went back in time 10 years.

Really, we act like crazo teenagers, but I love it!

We laugh, take funny pictures, talk about funny things, make strange noises, and eat yummy food. This weekend was SO last minute, that we had NO plans. When we got to our destination we had dinner at Olive Garden, YUM! Our waitress was very nice.

She came to our table and said "Hi, my name is Rebel, and I live up to it!"

 I started laughing, but then stopped, because I realized she was serious (and that she could crush me if she wanted to).



I know this is FAR from a wild and crazy thing to do with your spouse, but hey, this was really more about relaxation anyway. I have been wanting to go through the LDS Church History museum for a long time, and figured this was our chance to take our time, and really enjoy it. So we did.

 In this shot I really can't tell if I'm supposed to be preaching to the choir, or belting out a good one?

 After the museum we were walking down town, looking for somewhere to have lunch, and we found ourselves in the middle of a protest. I have not a clue what they were protesting, but they meant business!

 This is an "art display", in case you weren't sure....because I wasn't. The artist was striving to capture the natural movement of a single blade of grass against the elements. I've always wondered what it would feel like to be a little bug in the tall grass...now I know:D

Last but not least, we found the pepprage farm Thrift store. Craig is either so excited he is going to cry, or really in need of a bathroom....don't know.

Time for another weekend, hooray!

wagon ride

We had a few moments of sunshine yesterday, so we ran outside to enjoy it.

Sweet little Layla decided to give Benson a "wide in da wagon" as she put it. It was priceless!

She was pulling with all her might, and moving at a snails pace. Benson kept looking at me, you know, the look that says "don't just stand there taking my picture, help me!". At least that's what I took the look to mean, but when I went to "save him" he didn't want to go.

So, I sat back and let them have their fun.

:)

bff's

These two go together like tom & Jerry!
They might do their best to get the other in trouble, drive each other crazy....and sometimes the rest of us in the process, but what would they ever do without each other? sometimes they can't seem to live together, so I'll separate them, and pretty soon I'll find one or the other sneaking in to be back together.
They are biggest rivals, and best friends all at once. What a pair they are.

 Here is Layla trying to make Carter feel better when he didn't find many Easter eggs

 playing with my phone, taking pictures of themselves

hanging out at the park, laughing at some crazy person.

They remind me of my arch enemy turned best friend...Paul.

We LOVED to get each other in trouble, make each other cry, beat the other at anything and everything, and call the meanest name. But, if anyone else tried to do any of those things to us, we stood up for the other with all the loyalty and love in the world.

I'm Thankful for big brothers.

p.s. I've been sewing:) and soon will have a tutorial for your enjoyment. stay tuned.