A cry for help

Hello. Does anyone have any good Crock Pot recipes they would be willing to share with me? I'm in a major slump here. Thank you in advance.

There's no place like Kansas

Last weekend I had the amazing and wonderful opportunity to accompany my husband on a hunting trip where we stayed with my sister Kristen and her husband, Steve, in Derby, Kansas. It was the greatest weekend of my life. Abby came with us, but the boys stayed home with Jason's parents (thank you Doug and Rita). Little Abby was such a good traveler and totally supported me the whole time we were there by watching me sit around and eat snickerdoodles and chocolate covered cinnamon bears and have so many fun adventures. Where to begin... shopping, eating out every day, talking and laughing for hours... it was just fun. One night we all went to Chili's in Wichita and Jason found huge chunks of glass in his pasta. That was exciting. I don't think they have ever heard of Robert J. DeBry, but they are about to. Then the next night we ate at a Japanese steakhouse like Tepanyaki (I forgot the name) and the little chef guy on the other side of the restaurant made the flames go too high and it set off the sprinkler system and nobody knew how to turn it off. We were just sitting there eating our food when all of these people came over to our side just drenched. The police and fire department came and everyone left except our table because we weren't going anywhere until we got our sherbet. So we finally got it and then we just sat and watched the poor little workers trying to broom out all the water while the sprinklers were still in full force. Talk about entertainment. Plus, Kristen and Steven have a trampoline, so that was hours of fun, too. I can't even remember the last time I jumped on a trampoline. I just love Derby. It is such a nice place, but I think anywhere that Kristen is is bound to be fun. I'm already planning a trip back over Spring Break.

A little friendly correspondence with my mail carrier

I got this little paper in my mailbox a while back and I came across it again the other day. I share it with you today in appreciation of my mail carrier. Bless her heart, illiterate as it may be. It reads:

Mail carrier: "You box need move to right spot"

Me: "Where is right spot?" (I was trying to keep it simple)


Mail carrier: "On you house left side. so if new house they can with together"

I guess we need to do this soon because we actually are getting neighbors on the other side of us, so our lucky little mailbox can "with together" with the other mailbox. I'm really excited because I don't know what that means and I think it will be fun to watch. I'm just grateful for our mail carrier because she left this note last spring when the ground was still frozen (that was our excuse to not move it) and she is still delivering the mail even though we haven't done what she asked. So we'll have to get around to it one of these days before the ground freezes up again and we have to wait another six months. Another little benefit of our correspondence is that I don't ever have to worry that she is reading our mail, because, well, that's probably not even possible. I love the U.S. Postal Service.

Abby's Blessing Day

Jason blessed Abby last Sunday and it was such a good day. We had so much support from friends and family, which we appreciate so much. Everything went really well and I thought little Abby was just beautiful. I am so grateful for my little girl! She brings us so much happiness! The whole day I was just overwhelmed with gratitude for my wonderful life and all the special people in it. I didn't want the day to end.

A Few Recipes

Here is one of my favorite soups. This is my mother-in-law's recipe and it is so easy and yummy. I like it because it uses baked potatoes so you don't have to peel them, plus it always thickens up really well. It makes about 4 servings, so you may want to double it.

Baked Potato Soup

¼ cup butter
¼ cup chopped onion
¼ cup flour
14 oz. can chicken broth
1 can evaporated milk
2 large or 3 med. potatoes (baked)
Salt and pepper to taste
Bacon (I use pre-cooked bacon from Costco)
Grated cheese
Green onion

Melt butter in medium saucepan. Add onion and sauté until tender. Stir in flour, and then add broth and milk. Scoop pulp from one potato and mash; add to soup. Bring to boil and then add the rest of the potatoes (scoop the pulp and cut into cubes). Top with crumbled bacon, cheese and green onion.

The next recipe is my new favorite treat. It's not really a pancake, so I don't know why it's called that. I've been making it for dessert almost every night and it is so easy. It only takes a minute to prepare and I just stick it in the oven while we eat dinner.

Apple Oven Pancake

2 Tablespoons butter
3 Tablespoons packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 medium tart apple, peeled and thinly sliced
2 large eggs
½ cup all purpose flour
½ cup milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
lemon juice and powdered sugar

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Melt butter in a 9 inch pie plate in the oven. Brush melted butter up onto sides of pie plate. Sprinkle brown sugar and cinnamon over the bottom of the pan. Arrange sliced apple on top. Beat eggs slightly in a medium bowl with wire whisk or hand beater. Beat in flour, milk and salt until just mixed (do not overbeat). Pour into pie plate. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until puffy and deep golden brown. Loosen sides and invert pan over plate. Sprinkle with lemon juice and powdered sugar. Serve immediately.

Tagged again!

Alish tagged me this time, and I hate to admit it, but I actually kind of like these tag things. Not to write them, but to read about others. So you people I'm tagging better do it! For this tag, you're supposed to write 7 things about yourself and then tag 6 people. So here goes:

1. I USED to be a big traveler. I say used to be because how do you go anywhere these days with 3 little attachments. Disneyland and Yellowstone and Grandma Price's house in Burley are about as adventurous as I get with kids. But I have backpacked all over Europe, did a summer term in London and a semester in South Africa. I love the adventure of new places and meeting new people. I even spent a day in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on my way to Africa, which was unexpectedly awesome and I would love to go back to Asia someday. I'm sure I'll be going back to Africa at some point so my husband can help lower the animal population a little bit. He's already been once and loved it. I guess I should have saved that for another thing about me, that we both had been to Africa before we met each other and that was one of the main conversation points when we met.

2. I LOVE to read. I've always been a reader. I would rather read than watch tv, as nerdy as that is. My goal when I was in grade school was to read every book in the library. I still love libraries and book stores and could spend hours in there just flipping through books and imagining how great it would be if I had time to just sit down and read them all, with a bag of treats, of course.

3. I've always kept a journal, ever since I could write. I love to record my experiences and feelings. It's my way to vent. If I can just write something down and get it on paper, I can move on with my life. I'm also keeping journals for my kids, which I actually like even more than writing in my own journal. It's so fun to have somewhere official to record all their little milestones and accomplishments and all the funny/horrible things they say and do. I try to write every Sunday.

4. I hate contention. I am not an arguer or a fighter. Why can't everyone just get along? I wish everyone could try to see things from the other person's point of view and give them the benefit of the doubt, because I am convinced that most of the hurt feelings and offenses in the world are just miscommunications. I'm a pretty simple person that way. Basically, I like you, and if you like me, I like you even more. Let's just be friends.

5. I'm not aggressive. My whole life people have been trying to force me to play basketball because I'm tall, but I just HATE it. If you want the ball that bad, I'll just give it to you. Don't get in my face and be all rar all the time. Just have the stupid thing. I love individual sports like swimming and running (even though I'm not a very good runner) where you can just do your personal best and you don't have to bug anyone else. I do love volleyball, though, and that is a team sport, but it's not all touchy touchy, try to maim everyone all day.

6. I'll admit, if I'm in the car between 1 and 4 pm I listen to Dr. Laura. She's a little out of control but I love her. She just tells it how it is. I wish I could be more like that.

7. I love to cook and try new recipes. Basically I just love food. Junk food, health food, whatever. I love baking and trying new things, and I also love fresh fruit and vegetables. I think I like every fruit in the world, except dates, and those don't even count as a fruit because they're weird. There better be food in heaven, or it won't be heaven and I won't be interested in going there. I draw the line at wild game though. Woof.

Well, now you know more about me than you ever wanted to. Here are the people I am tagging:

1. My family members (all of you who blog, including Julia!)
2. Andrea
3. Shauna

It actually equals more than 6, but you all still have to do it!