State Fair

We had a fabulous and long day at the State Fair. It was a lot of fun! We saw so many things and still didn't see it all. I could use another day or two there to see everything I wanted to see. We ate corn dogs, cotton candy, fried butter, turkey leg, fried snickers, and fried oreos. I know, almost makes you sick listening to that. But the thing is that we didn't each get our own order of every item. We all had our own corn dog, but on the other items we got one order and shared. So, that meant we all got one bite of the fried butter. Each kid got one fried oreo and Jeremy and I got two bites of fried snicker. You get the idea? So, no we didn't get sick. I actually am still hungry. :) It was a great day!

Random Picture Update

These are some pictures taken over the last couple of weeks...

Bubby driving his tractor

Livi "teaching" her class

Bubby at story time at Barnes and Noble

Our complex has a walking/running trail. We took a family walk and saw these snapping turtles.

Then TW thought he was Turtle Man (look that, Turtle Man, up on youtube)

The girls had a dress fitting for my sister's wedding.

We went to a Hot Air Balloon Festival.

And, because of H1N1 (I'm so politically correct LOL) this is EVERYWHERE!

Some of My Favorites

I found a new music player that I like a lot better than the one I had on here. It has a lot more of the music that I like available on their site for me to share with you. Here is a new taste of some of my most listened to songs at the moment! Enjoy! Let me know which ones you like!

Household Executive Cooks!

I love to read the blog/website The Pioneer Woman Cooks! I check in just to see what she is up to creating, however I have never made anything from her website...until tonight. The great thing about her site is that she not only has GREAT recipes, but that she also does step by step photos so you can see if your creation is progressing the way it should be. This proved to be very helpful!

Since moving down South we have discovered the most delicious dessert ever...Tres Leches Cake. One restaurant we frequent regularly calls it Quatro Leches Cake. This means Three/Four Milks cake; it is called that because there are four milks used to make the cake. Some places don't count the milk that is in the cake mix itself, just the milks for the topping and that is why you see some calling it quatro and some calling it tres. Nonetheless, it is delicious! We would make special trips to the restaurant for this cake and it isn't cheap either! When my sis was here we took her there for dessert and we spent over $40 just on dessert! We also introduced TW's mom to the dessert and she is now hooked as well. A few days ago Pioneer Woman had a Tres Leches recipe on her site. Seeing the pictures just got me in the mood all over again. So, tonight I got up the courage to try it out. You can visit Pioneer Woman's site to see how she taught me to make the cake... http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/09/tres-leches-cake/

Here is my pictures of the work in progress...

It was delicious! Soooooo sweet, I almost couldn't finish my piece. Probably because I "licked" as I went along. Try it out! Thanks Pioneer Woman!!!

Tres Leches Cake

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

5 eggs

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/3 cup milk

1 can evaporated milk

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1/4 cup heavy cream

1 pint heavy cream, for whipping

3 tablespoons sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spray 9 x 13 inch pan liberally until coated.

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.

Separate eggs.

Beat egg yolks with 3/4 cup sugar on high speed until yolks are pale yellow. Stir in milk and vanilla.

Pour egg yolk mixture over flour mixture and stir very gently until combined.

Beat egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form.

With mixer on, pour in 1/4 cup sugar and beat until egg whites are stiff but not dry.

Fold egg white mixture into other mixture very gently until just combined.

Pour into prepared pan and spread to even out surface.

Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Turn cake out onto a rimmed platter and allow to cool.

Combine condensed milk, evaporated milk, and 1/2 cup heavy cream in a small pitcher.

When cake is cool, pierce the surface with a fork several times.

Slowly drizzle all but about 1 cup of the milk mixture—try to get as much around the edges of the cake as you can. (I kept the 1 cup mixture as extra topping, but Pioneer Woman discards it)

Allow the cake to absorb the milk mixture for 30 minutes.

Whip 1 pint heavy cream with 3 tablespoons of sugar until thick and spreadable.

Spread over the surface of the cake.

Decorate cake with whole or chopped maraschino cherries.

Cut into squares and serve.

Delicious!

Oldie but a Goodie

I keep meaning to do a post about these pics I took a while back and I just keep forgetting. So here we go...

The complex we live in has several security guards that drive around the premises to be sure everything is safe and nothing suspicious is going on. One of the security guards rides around on a different kind of four wheel drive...he rides his horse. We have seen him trot along a few times out of our window, but this particular day he stopped in a little grassy area behind us and let his horse eat. So, the kids and I quickly made our way out there so they could get an up close look. Mr. Allen, the security guard, was very friendly. Bubby loves to see cowboys and he anyone that wears a cowboy hat he yells out, "Cowboy!" However, Mr. Allen kept explaining to him that he was not a cowboy because he didn't have cows. Mr. Allen was also carrying a gun in his holster, or whatever you want to call that thing. lol Bubby was very intrigued with the gun, but Mr. Allen was not too comfortable talking about the gun. Savannah is a beautiful horse and she was very friendly. She let the kids feed her and pet her. They loved it!

You Know You're In Seminary When...

Your DVD player quits working, your husband takes it apart in an attempt to fix it but he is unsuccessful, you go through your boxes that are piled 12 feet high in the garage but can't find the other DVD player, you don't want to spend the money to buy a new DVD player, SOOOO you end up using your daughters' pink, Disney princess DVD player. LOL! Yes, this is how our TV is hooked up in the living room...and I don't see it changing anytime soon. I find it pretty comical and thought you might get a chuckle out of it as well.

Little Man Starts School

Bubby has been so excited for his "school" to start. He goes to Mother's Day Out twice a week. He loves to be at school and playing with friends. Every since the girls have started back to their school he has asked daily how long it was until he got to go to school. Well, yesterday was his first day. I know it looks like he has a lot of bags...let me explain! The bag on his back is actually a sleeping bag rolled up into a bag. They have to have a napmat for rest time. Then in his Handy Manny bag is his special blue blankie and an extra change of clothes. And, then, of course, his Spider Man lunch box. I drop the girls off at 7:45 and then him and I have until 9:00 until he has to be at school. It doesn't make sense for us to drive back home and be home for about 20 minutes and then turn around and drive back downtown. So, we headed to a cafe and shared breakfast and then walked around for a while. We exchanged silly faces and looked at all of the sky scrapers...city living is quite different than Small Town America. He did wonderfully and has no qualms about me leaving. I spent my day doing some work for TW and then I met him at a big lake nearby and we had lunch on a park bench over looking the lake. Very beautiful and relaxing! Bubby enjoyed his day and the teachers said he did well. After school we hung out some more until AAP was finished. Then back to the cafe to share a smoothie and for AAP to work on her homework. AKP had dance after school so we hung out downtown until she was done. It was a great Monday!!