Dutch oven Peach Cobbler

I don't plan on posting all my Dutch oven meals, but this dessert was so yummy!! I was a little hesitant about the recipe. You add the dry cake mix on top of the peaches that are layered on the bottom of the dutch oven. And then you pour the peach juice on top of the dry cake mix. I have never heard of this. And all the recipes in all the cookbooks that are for Dutch Ovens are just like this. So I had to try it! The girls put all the ingredients in, and after they went to bed Cass and I ate it. My neighbor made a yummy strawberry dessert that she shared, so they didn't go to bed without dessert. After we took the peach cobbler out, non of it was stuck to the dutch oven. It all came out clean. That never happens in my home oven. I read in a recipe book tonight that the more you use the dutch oven, the more non-stick it becomes. This is my way of cooking!!

Dutch Oven Ribs

I decided last week that I wanted to start dutch oven cooking. So I went to Smith and Edwards (awesome store) and got a Lodge brand dutch oven. On Friday night I cured/seasoned it, and then Saturday I got some boneless pork ribs, and tried it out. First I added oil in the bottom of my oven, then peppers and onions. I put the ribs on top and seasoned them with italian seasoning, garlic, salt and pepper. Cassidy was there to help with the coals, I wouldn't have been able to do that part without him, but now I know, I will be able do it next time. That will be the hardest part. They cooked for a little over an hour, and I drained the juice and added some bbq rib sauce and let it cook for 20 min or so. Such an easy recipe!! It was yummy! So tender! The kids went crazy and ate tons. They loved it I want to try a dessert next.... possibly peach cobbler....yum!

New Adventures

We have found a few new places this week, and I am sad to say that I haven't had my camera when we have gone out. That's not a norm for me. We like to drive by Hill AirForce Base and watch the huge airplanes take off and land, take off and land. They do it tons of time practicing taking off and landing. We drive down the street and follow it as it makes it's landing and we try to get in the perfect spot so the plane is right over us. The kids love it. On Wednesday night, we wanted to go to Artic Circle for some ice cream, but the rode was blocked off and so we decided to go to Dairy Queen instead. We noticed a rode on the east side of the base (NOTE: There are signs all over the main road saying you can't park to watch the jets). We went down the road and there were no signs saying we couldn't park there. So we watched the jets moving around on the ground, but they wern't taking off. That's when we went to Dairy Queen, got some Dilly Bars, and went back down that road. We watched as the jets lined up on the runway, and at 9:00pm we heard recorded music playing the TAPS ( I think that's what it's called, the military music). And right after the music got done playing, 4 jets took off one at a time. It was awesome! We get to see jets flying above our house all day, and we always have to stop and look, but it was so much cooler going and seeing them take off, especially after playing the music. It was really cool.

Our next fun place we discovered last night was in Syracuse. Called the Jensen Nature Park. They had a pond/mini lake that you can fish in. There was a walking path all around it, there were families with bikes, you can walk your dog if it's on a leash. There were Pelican type birds, and lots of other smaller birds that I haven't seen before. It was really fun. Cass had his fishing pole and tried fishing for catfish (it was the only bait he had). The girls aren't patient fishers, so we walked around the water and watched the birds. It was really fun. There is a lot of grassy areas for picnics, and also a few pavilions with picnic tables. It was such a neat place. I am sure we will be going there often.

It's so fun finding new things and places. I can't wait for our next adventure. The kids and I haven't been to Antelope Island, maybe that can be our next destination.

Birds and Ducks!!

Layton Park Ducks

Disneyland Ducks

When Alyssa was small and we lived in Woods Cross, there was a neighborhood Pigeon that lived across the street. One day while I was at work, Cassidy and Alyssa caught the bird and brought it in the house. Ever since then, they have been on a qwest to capture and feed birds, ducks, and chickens. Anywhere we go, they try and catch some kind of bird. Last year at Wheeler Farm all the kids were holding pigeons. We had out of town family with us, and they were disgusted that my kids were holding these disease infested birds. It was funny to see their reaction. A few years ago Alyssa held a small rooster at Wheeler Farm, she was heart broken when she had to put it down, when ever we went back to the farm, she'd always look for her little friend. The kids have made pies for birds, and set up a trap to try and catch them, birds came and ate the pies, but didn't get caught in the traps. At the Layton Park, they feed ducks from their hands. The most recent encounter were some ducks at Disneyland that the kids were feeding. Now it really is Everywhere we go! I think it's teaching them patience. They have to sit and wait sometimes for a few minutes for the birds to come to them. They love it!! They also enjoy holding trianchulas at the Davis County Fair..yuck!!

Disneyland 2010

This year our big family vacation started on April 1st. We headed for Las Vegas to get some yummy tri-tip from Lucille's BBQ. We stayed at the Sunshine Station in Henderson and it was one of the nicest hotels we have ever stayed in.

We stayed at the Park Vue Inn when we got to Anaheim. It was directly across the street from Disneyland. We would walk outside the hotel and we were at the cross walk to go to Disneyland. This is where we will be staying every year that we go to Disneyland. The girls got to sleep in bunkbeds, so that was a lot of fun for them. They had a big deluxe breakfast every morning. There was a huge variety of yummy food! We decided to go to Disneyland for 6 days this year, which ended up being a great idea because it was really busy with spring break.

It's tradition that we always go on Peter Pan first. It was Tanner's first ride, and he cried through the whole thing. He cried lots the first day. It was a bit overwhelming for him. Once he finally figured out that it was fun, he would cry when we had to get off the rides. Finally he got it, and was okay with getting on and off the rides and waiting in line. His Favorite ride was Buzz Lightyear, he loved holding the lazer blaster and seeing all that was going on in the ride. We bought him one of his very own shooters because he loved it so much!

Aniston, Abigail, and Alyssa like the big rides. They LOVE splash mountain, the Matterhorn, and Sourin. When we got off Splash Mountain for the first time Aniston was wet and said "I am soaked, now I need to shake like a dog to get dry." One of our Favorite rides is the Jungle Cruise. It's fun listening to the "tour guide" and seeing all the animals. We went on Sourin over California for the first time, it was so fun to "fly" over California and see all the scenery. Sometimes it felt like we were really up in the sky. It was easy to feel a bit queezy! My parents came with us for the first 3 days at Disneyland. It was fun to have them there with us. it made me realize that 3 days is not long enough to stay at Disneyland. Grammy bought the girls all lanyards so they can start collecting pins. That was fun to go in all the shops and find fun pins to buy. On Easter we went on a Bakery Tour and the workers were giving out sour dough bread that was shaped like Mickey Mouses head. We also went in a tortilla factory and got to eat a fresh tortilla at the end. YUM! We have been to Disneyland 4 times, and there are always new things to see and do This year Sourin was new for us, the bakery tour, the tortilla factory, The new 3D Toy Story Mania ride, and the Aladdin Show. That show was awesome! They were flying in the air on carpets, and using special effects to make the characters get places faster, it was such a neat show. I reccomend that for anyone going to Disneyland. After my parents left, we had 3 more days left. I let Cass take each girl out on a special Daddy Daughter Date. The first night Abigail got to go back to DIsneyland with Cass, then Anna the next night, and on the third night I took Alyssa out for a bit, then Cass took her the rest of the night. When I went with Alyssa we went on Autopia. That was fun. I pushed the petal and she drove the car. She was wild. It was a good thing we were on a track! The kids said the funniest things, they had us laughing the whole trip! After our 6 days were over at Disneyland, we didn't hurry home. We went to the Beach, we went to the Shark Reef at the Mandalay Bay in Vegas. We ended up being gone about 11 days. It was a lot of work, but so much fun!! I am going to post some of the funny things the kids said to the right by their pictures....

Oh yes, I can not forget the Tiki Room. We love the bird show. We even turned our family room into a Tiki Room. It's fun, we love it! Maybe someday I will post some pictures!