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Showing posts with label Arizona. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Arizona. Show all posts

Monday, February 17, 2014

Currently. Seven


Watching: Friday night, after Emmett went to bed, Ray and I sat down to watch a movie together. We don't do that often anymore - Ray loves to watch movies, but since having Emmett, I struggle with movies. I fidget, and need to be busy all the time, so I end up playing on my phone or blogging or something and miss all the important parts. Also, movies affect me. I love movies, really I do, but I have to be incredibly careful what I let myself watch because the things I see affect my mood and my heart and mind for days afterwards. Sad scenes hurt me and I can't let them go. It's a problem.

But it was Valentine's Day, and my husband wanted to watch a movie. We searched through Netflix looking for something we'd both love that wasn't sad at all, and finally came across Warm Bodies. We both said that's it! at the same time. I know, it's a zombie movie. But y'all, its really really sweet. And not gross or violent like you'd expect. There's a little bit of violence and a little bit of brain eating, but it's really not horrible. I promise!

Reading: Rebus. I know, I need to expand my horizons. It can't be helped.

Befuddled by: This weather. High 80's all week and I'm dying. It's not right to be sweating in February. I know most of the country is dealing with insane winter storms and begging for Spring, but all I want is a normal, cold winter day. When the weather is warm this early in the year, all I can think is SUMMER IS COMING and I know I'm never gonna make it. It'll be August before we know it and I'll be melting and losing my mind.

My hometown was it with a crazy ice storm last week that caused trees to fall all over the place, taking power lines down with them. Everyone I know there was without power for at least a full day, many for two or three days. They were eating off the grill and bringing hot bricks inside to stay warm. Meanwhile in Arizona... Then to top if all off they had an earthquake late Friday night to throw them into further hysterics. Such a weird week in Georgia!

Thankful for: My family, of course. I love that husband of mine and that little angel baby so much it hurts a lot of the time. I am a lucky, lucky girl. It's easy to fall into wanting- wanting a car that works and a home of our own and another baby (any day now, God!). But all I need to do is look into Ray's bright blue eyes or listen to Emmett chatting away to his toys to remember that I'm content with what I have. It's enough, it's wonderful, and my life is so full.

Our Weekend: It was another good one. Friday I started making sugar cookies and finally finished them Saturday afternoon. I always forget that sugar cookies are such a labor of love. They take forever! I made the dough on Friday and chilled it overnight. Then I baked them Saturday morning and spent the afternoon decorating them in between writing for work. I had a big deadline, so I made myself write between batches.

They came out almost as pretty as the pictures from the recipe, so all that work was worth it in the end. We brought them to a Lord's Day dinner at a friend's house Saturday night, and brought the rest to neighbors Sunday afternoon. I love doing that. Baking something sweet to surprise neighbors with. It always ends up being such a blessing to me and to them. One friend told me she was having a hard time at work and her baby hadn't been sleeping and she needed something sweet so badly that day! It's funny how God does that - uses us to bless our friends. Another neighbor gave me a cookbook that I'd been admiring on her coffee table. I'm so excited to try some of the recipes!



There were definitely moments when I wanted to give up on the cookies, when Emmett was clutching my legs crying and I couldn't pick him up because my hands were caked with icing, when I needed a shower and we were running late for dinner and I just had a few more to finish! I was having doubts about dropping by at neighbors houses unannounced. But I'm so glad I pushed through. It was fun and I hope to do a lot more of that with Emmett in tow.





^^^Valentine's day morning date at Chic-fil-a with my littlest Valentine, and yes, that biscuit is heart shaped. Just one of the million reasons I love breakfast at Chic-fil-a. My sister sent me that little love bobby. Isn't it sweet? For dinner Ray and I made one of my favorite appetizers- crustinis with mozz, tomato, basil, olive oil, balsamic and a splash of lemon. Yummmm.




^^Helping mama make icing, and that's me enjoying leftovers in bed with my new cookbook while Emmett napped yesterday. Best way to spend a nap time ever!

I hope you had a lovely weekend! Linking up with Jenny & of course, the lovely ladies at A Mama Collective!

The hosts of Currently.:
Currently. hosts
A Mama Collective's Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Instagram
Home Away from Home's Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

If you are interested in co-hosting, please email Jenna at info(at)amamacollective(dot)com to get on the list!

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Thursday, February 13, 2014

Salt River Bars


Since the first time I tasted one of these at Liberty Market in Gilbert, Arizona, I dream about them. Like, once a week. They are my all-time favorite desert, hands down! So when my mom came across a recipe online, I was thrilled to try it! 

The first time I made them, I followed this recipe. I wanted tons, so I made the recipe for a 9 x 13 pan instead of the 8 x 8. They were so good! But I knew I could make some minor changes to make them taste a little bit more like the ones at Liberty Market



So, here's what I did:

Ingredients:

1 box of Club crackers
1 1/2 cups butter (3 sticks)
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 jar of real peanut butter
1 cup butterscotch chips
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
Course sea salt

Directions:

Line your 9 x 13 pan with aluminum foil so that the edges hang over the side. This will make it easy to lift the bars out of the pan when they are finished. Spray with non-stick cooking spray.

Layer the pan with Club crackers. Sprinkle 1/3 of the butterscotch chips on top, then drizzle peanut butter over the crackers. My peanut butter was really liquidy (is that a word?) so it was easy to drizzle, but you may need to heat yours up first. I wanted just a hint of peanut butter so I didn't add much, but you can add as much as you like.

Over medium high heat, melt butter and brown sugar together, stirring constantly, to form a caramel. It took me a little over 4 minutes, just like the original recipe says. You'll notice the mixture become smooth and begin to bubble when it's ready.

Pour 1/3 of the caramel over the crackers, butterscotch and peanut butter. This melts the butterscotch chips and peanut butter so you can spread them all out evenly if you want. I'm neurotic, so I did. 

Add another layer of crackers, then butterscotch, peanut butter and caramel, and then repeat one more time. Top the last layer with crackers. Aaaand I just realized I forgot to add the top layer of crackers. Whoops!

Melt your chocolate chips, pour them on top, and spread. The first time I made these I thought there was too much chocolate. I know, that's crazy! I was trying to replicate my beloved SRB's from Liberty Market, so I wanted just a little bit less. Also, the second time around I didn't scrimp on the chocolate chips. I bought the expensive ones, and it made a big difference. Sprinkle sea salt on top and pop in the fridge!

The original recipe says to take the bars out of the fridge after 20 mins to lightly cut through the bars to make it easier to cut through once they're fully cooled. I tried that the first time and the layers were still too melty, so I just waited to cut them until the end.

I made mine after dinner and left them in the fridge over night, but I'm sure they'd be ready after just a few hours. Tooootally up to you.

They aren't exactly like the ones at Liberty Market, but they're pretty darn close and who cares! They're so delicious. I brought them to a Super Bowl party and everyone raved about them! I left with an empty plate, so I guess everyone must have loved them. These will definitely be my go-to party dessert from now on!


Be sure to save the crumbs! I left mine on the counter for a few minutes, and when I came back to the kitchen, the foil was practically clean! My family is just as obsessed with these as I am.

Let me know what you think!

Friday, January 31, 2014

More Grand Canyon Photos








These are photos from my "real" camera. You can see a few more photos from my iPhone here. Looking at these, all I can think is man, I really need to clean my lens! ;)

Have a great weekend!

Monday, January 27, 2014

Currently. Grand Canyon Edition!




Thinking about: My last week at work! I'm still just a little bit in shock about this huge change in our lives. I'm still more than just a little bit stressed out about how I'm going to make working from home work for me. But I'm also pretty excited. :) I spoke with Emmett's school this morning about moving him down to two days a week, so I am looking forward to easing into our new schedule so that I can stop worrying about it and just start making it work! One more week...

Looking forward to: Watching the Grammy's! I watched the red carpet show of course, but I recorded the actual show to watch today. I can't wait to see Beyoncé, and Lorde's crazy weird performance (I love her!). And can we just talk for a minute about Taylor Swift's dress? Oh my goodness I'm obsessed with it. So beautiful. I did manage to catch her performance. The beginning was really beautiful, but I'm not sure what she was doing in the middle there when she started seizing/throwing her head back dramatically. Super weird.

Happy About: My baby boy. He's such a dream these days. Happy and sweet, talking up a storm, and even sleeping! I know, knock on wood. On it. He took a three hour nap yesterday and then slept till 7:15 when I finally went in and gently woke him this morning. He's been playing in his crib for at least half an hour after naps lately, just chatting to his "manimals" and snuggling with his blanket. We've been hoping he'd start doing that in the mornings too but he still wakes up calling/crying for me most mornings. Baby steps though y'all. We're getting there.

He's such a good boy lately. I love spending afternoons with him, just listening to him talk and playing outside in the dirt with him. He's growing up, big time, all at once. I look at him each day and can't believe how much he's changing. He has such a big personality and he surprises me every day. I look at him and wonder to myself where my baby went, and who is this little boy? I want to know him, to see his heart and understand his mind. I think now is a really great time to leave my job and be home with him more. Now that he's so grown up and really starting to express himself. I don't want to miss anything!
Daydreaming About: Our trip to the Grand Canyon this past weekend! We drove up to Flagstaff, AZ on Friday, just Ray and I, to meet up with friends. It was a relaxing, sweet time alone with my man, and I even snuck in a little nap! We stayed in Ray's aunt and uncle's house that they aren't currently living in, so it was fun to spend some time together getting the house ready and starting a fire to warm it up before our friends arrived. There was snow on the ground, so it felt like a Winter Wonderland. Such a nice break from the sunny and 75 degree weather we've had all winter.
Saturday we woke up and drove to the Grand Canyon, about an hour and a half away. I've been before, but it is so incredibly beautiful and especially fun to go with friends who've never seen it. We hiked off trail a little bit to find views that most people don't get to see, and I discovered that I'm much more afraid of heights than I remember. I blame motherhood! Anytime anyone got anywhere near an edge of the trail, my heart jumped into my throat and I yelped with concern. I'm such a mom!
 
We had a really great time. It's amazing how just a couple of days away from reality can be so refreshing, and time with friends and my dear, dear husband has left my heart so full.
 
 

^^^^ Snow!, silly Snapchat I sent to all my buddies (I'm like a child when I see snow!), beautiful trees in the neighborhood where we stayed, and the cutest little country store in Flagstaff.

 
 
 






Isn't it beautiful!? Nature is amazing. If you look really closely at that second-to-last photo, you can see my crazy friend Dennis tempting fate out on the edge of that rock in the center. Scared me to death until we decided to follow him down. I'm so glad we did! It was so cool to hike down into the middle of the Canyon, and such an awesome view when we got there.

I hope you had a lovely weekend! Linking up with Jenny & of course, the lovely ladies at A Mama Collective!

 
The hosts of Currently.:
 
Currently. hosts
 
A Mama Collective's Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Instagram
Home Away from Home's Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
 
If you are interested in co-hosting, please email Jenna at info(at)amamacollective(dot)com to get on the list!
Grab our button below:
 
A Mama Collective


 
Here’s the template for you to copy and paste and do a post as well — link up with us below!
 
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