Our Girls Getaway

MWAA HHAA HHAAA!! I love a good surprise, and I've had one for about a month now that I had to keep from my mom because . . . Thursday night I flew up "home" to Utah and my sisters and I kidnapped my mom for her 60th birthday. I had planned on having my camera with me to capture her surprise when she saw me and of course I forgot it, but this is almost as good:

We went to my sisters in-laws Condo in Midway and I got to be there for the first snow of the year. Cold weather isn't too bad if you have the right clothes for it, which I did this time!! This is my mom and me. I hope I look that good at 60!! All my sisters are about 6 inches taller than me, but my mom and I are almost the same, but see mom??? The proof is here, I AM taller than you!!

For her birthday dinner we went to the Blue Boar Inn and even though I wasn't very hungry after having gorged myself on Indian food for lunch, still had a delicious soup and salad here. Doesn't it look so inviting?!?

The sisters. We were always around this fireplace - chatting, eating, chatting, snacking, talking about all our favorite show - The Biggest Loser, chatting some more etc. We needed another night for all our chatting.

The sisters with mom.

We played a LOT of games while we chatted . . . and snacked, and talked about the Biggest Loser . . . right across from the fireplace.

We also went shopping at the Park City outlets and it was about 20 degrees, snowing and blowing, but really pretty.

It was so much fun and my only complaint was that it was too short! I love you guys and Happy Birthday Mom!!

Yay!

I can't wait for this weekend. I'll be posting pictures next week. . .

Pumpkin Streusel Squares

(Photo from Allrecipes)

Crust:

1 c. flour

1/2 c. rolled oats

1/2 c. brown sugar

1/2 c. butter

Filling:

2 c. pumpkin

12 oz milk (evaporated)

2 eggs

1/2 c. Turbinado (Raw Sugar)

1/4 c. brown sugar

2 1/4 tsp. Pumpkin Pie Spice

Topping:

1/2 c. chopped pecans

1/2 c. brown sugar

2 Tbsp. Butter

Handful Rolled Oats

2 - 3 Spoonfuls flour

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9x13 pan.

Cut crust ing. together and lightly press into pan. Bake 15 min. until golden brown.

Blend filling ing. and pour over crust. Bake for 30 min. or until firm.

Mix topping ing. and sprinkle on pumpkin and bake 15 more min.

GO MAKE THEM!! So yummy - so easy. Delish.

Halloween

We had a new and unusual Halloween this year. I have been a little "disenchanted" with our Halloweens here. The last 2 years we've gone trick-or-treating, we have had neighborhood crazies attach themselves to our little party for the whole night and I just did not want to deal with that this year. I made a bold plea that we stay home, have our own little Halloween party and watch a movie etc. The kids thought it was a great idea. Jon asked if they realized that meant no trick-or-treating and I said I'm sure they did. I got "the eye" from him so I asked the kids if they realized what I meant and they said yes. I almost wanted to feel their foreheads to make sure they were ok. We started with carving Jack-o-Lanterns. Yes, most people do that at the beginning of October, but things start to rot after about a day outside here, so we did it that night. We had our usual meal of Mummy Dogs and Ghost Potatoes . . .

(Table by Grace. These were the "savory" part of the meal)

Jon got out the dremel tools and the fun began. . .

The kids and I were done in about 1/2 an hour but Jon took about 2. The final result:

The rest of night didn't include many pictures. Who wants to see us sitting and watching King Kong (the 70's version - wouldn't recommend it) and munching. Collin wanted to hand out the candy and dressed in an "80's" outfit. The door rang 5 times. FIVE people!! See my disenchantment? Anyway, we had a fun night and the kids keep saying how fun it was (?) so I guess it was a success. We've been enjoying our pumpkins in Pumpkin Choc. Chip bread too. YUM! I love fall food.