We're still alive...barely

I've been in CA for the last 11 days, and Tyler has been home alone studying like crazy.  Michael came home from his mission yesterday, and for the days leading up to his homecoming Tiersha & I babysat the 5 kids at home.  Boy, was that an adventure.  The kids are quite the group.  We tried keeping them really busy during the day by swimming, playing on the ipad, making forts, watching Care Bears, and even going to the beach one day.  The beach was such a GREAT idea.  We stayed for 5 hours, and the kids loved it.  And, they were so well-behaved.  The highlight of babysitting was the one day when the kids all slept in until 9.  We even checked on the twins around 8:45 b/c we had assumed by that point that they had stopped breathing. 
Anyway, since Michael's been home, everything has been non-stop craziness.  We've done lots of grocery shopping, several (and I mean several) trips to Target, Michael got released as a missionary, prepping for Tiersha's baby shower, went to Mallorie's baby shower, and did dinner and Pageant of the Masters with Dad and the other older kids.  I leave Sunday night (and Tyler flies in Saturday afternoon) and I'm still looking forward to the beach (at least once more), Tiersha's shower, picking up Tyler, family pictures in Laguna Beach, and Michael's homecoming (which means seeing lots of family). 

The babies watching Care Bears

Annie and I cleaned the ENTIRE fridge

 Swimming at Kip & Sams while they were out of town.  We did this literally everyday.

William loved their dog, but didn't like when he came near him

Annie's "bam bam" move

The Winters Better Be AMAZING!

It's hot here.  Bottom line.  You really can't enjoy the summer because you can't go outside.  It's an incredibly strange thing to me.  I think the worst part about the summers here is that it doesn't cool down at night.  It got in the upper 90's in Utah, but at least the nights were great.  I miss summer nights. 

Anyway, just for my own record keeping, I want to write what I have noticed about AZ so far (it may be a little boring for others).

• There are SO many Chase Banks around.  
• Driving in the rain is pretty funny.  A ton of people just pull over and stop driving.  It's the strangest thing!
• Mesa floods...BAD!
• Tons of restaurants and shopping 
• 4 Walmarts in a 5 mile span 
• 46 babies under the age of 18 months in our ward...there's seriously something in the water!
• And, it's hot!

Meatloaf isn't pretty in pictures

Tonight I made Grandma Gregory's meatloaf, and boy was it delicious.  I'm not the person who thinks, "meatloaf...gross."  I've always really enjoyed it, and when I had it at Grandma Gregory's a while back, I knew I had to get the recipe.  I accompanied it with cheesy mashed potatoes (and bacon), which were delicious.  I enjoy the fact that meatloaf takes about 5 minutes to prepare...seriously.  And, potatoes are really fast (besides the boiling part) too.  It's just the waiting that takes time.

I decided to cook it in a cake pan this time, and it cooked a lot faster!

Sorry for the blurry pictures!

FHE

Last night was the first of, hopefully many, "Family Home Evenings" with some newly made friends here in AZ.  We were each assigned something different, and our assignment was dessert and a spiritual thought.  For the thought, I went straight to the Ensign (church magazine) and picked an article.  You can find it here .  For dessert, I went straight to pinterest (where else?), and found TWO recipes that I wanted to try...oreo cake truffles and apple caramel cheesecake bars.  They were both a hit, which made me really happy!  I'm always wanting to try new dessert recipes, but I never have enough people to eat the dessert, so this was a perfect opportunity.  The cheesecake took about 40 minutes to prepare and 40 minutes to cook, but the cake truffles were SUPER easy, and probably took a total of 10 minutes for prep time.  Try them if you need a good recipe!

No Bake Oreo Truffles (from "chef-n-training.com")

Ingredients

• 1 package Double Stuffed Oreos
• 4 oz Cream Cheese you may add up to 8 oz, I just like the consistency best with 4 oz.
• Dipping Chocolate (about 12 ounces)

Instructions

1. Chop Oreos up finely in a food processor. Save some of the finely crushed Oreos for garnish later and set it aside. You don't need too much.
2. With hands (or a spoon, I just think hands are faster), mash softened cream cheese and crushed Oreos until well combined.
3. Roll into 1" balls and place on a wax covered cookie sheet. Put in freezer for 15 minutes.
4. While balls are in freezer, melt chocolate according to directions.
5. Pull the Oreo Truffles out of freezer, and dip into chocolate. Garnish with reserved Oreo crumbs before the chocolate sets up.
6. Let chocolate set, refrigerate and enjoy!

 Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars (from "the-girl-who-ate-everything.com")

Ingredients:

Crust:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

Cheesecake Filling:

3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup sugar, plus 2 tablespoons, divided

3 large eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Apples:

3 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and finely chopped

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Streusel Topping:

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup quick cooking oats

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

1/2 cup caramel topping

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium bowl, combine flour and brown sugar. Cut in butter with a pastry blender (or 2 forks) until mixture is crumbly. Press evenly into a 9x13 baking pan lined with heavy-duty aluminum foil. Bake 15 minutes or until lightly browned.

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese with 3/4 cup sugar in an electric mixer at medium speed until smooth. Then add eggs, 1 at a time, and vanilla. Stir to combine. Pour over warm crust.

In a small bowl, stir together chopped apples, remaining 2 tablespoons sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Spoon evenly over cream cheese mixture.

For the streusel topping: 
In a small bowl, combine all ingredients. I like to really combine it by using my clean hands to thoroughly combine the butter into the mixture.

Sprinkle Streusel topping over apples. Bake 40-45 minutes, or until filling is set. Drizzle with caramel topping and let cool. Serve cold and enjoy!

What I've been up to lately

Besides becoming crafty (well, a little bit crafty), I have been cooking a LOT.  I have a lot of free time on my hands, and a hungry husband every night, so what better than to cook a good meal each night.  These last 2 weeks I've been pretty good.  Tyler and I really want to STOP eating out during the week (we did this a lot while we were transitioning from UT to AZ), and only eat out (maybe) during the weekends.  Well, I'm off to a good start b/c we didn't eat out at last week or this week :)

A few of the the meals I have made:

• Chicken penne pasta with red bell peppers
• Mashed potatoes with chicken
• Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas
• Chicken, onion, rice, cream of chicken mixture in the crock pot
• Southwestern chopped chicken salad

I think that's it so far.  Fortunately when you only have 2 people eating, you have LOTS of leftovers so we usually eat them for the next days lunch, and sometimes dinner.
And, if you noticed chicken is in EVERY meal around our house.  We buy the humungous bag of chicken from Costco, which makes it SO much cheaper than ground beef.  If you have places where you buy your beef for a good price, I would love to know where they are!

I've also baked a few things in the last couple days:

• Chocolate chip cookies- FINALLY found a recipe that I LOVE!
• Snickerdoodle cookies
• Banana Chocolate Chip Bread
• Pound cake with whipped cream and strawberries

I've really started to enjoy cooking/baking lately, and have gotten better at making the most of my time.  A few tips I've learned:

• When I have time during the day, cut any veggies I may need, and refrigerate (this saves time at night).
•  Bake chicken (in the oven), rather than cook it on the stove- this is SO easy b/c you just stick the chicken in the oven and let it cook while you do other things
• Clean as I cook- put the dishes in the dishwasher while I am cooking.  This makes cooking so much more enjoyable b/c you're not doing a whole lot of dishes at the end of the meal.

Something I really hate is being rushed, and this goes for anything, not just cooking.  When I prep during the day, it really helps me to enjoy dinner time more, and my husband more :)

If you have any recipes that you love, please share!  I get most of mine from pinterest (who doesn't??), but would love any good recommendations.