Yummy New Years Sausage Dip

Warning - Very fattening recipe: :-)

A co-worker makes this dip for most of our office parties. It is wonderful in a crockpot and you serve it with tortilla chips. YUMMY!!!

SAUSAGE DIP
3 lbs Jimmy Dean sausage (I season with 2-3 TB cayenne pepper)
3 lbs cream cheese
2 c sour cream
1 can (4 oz) diced Jalapenos (Ortega brand is good)
2 cans (7 oz) diced green chiles
1 large onion (diced)
1 large red bell pepper (diced) (optional)
1 large tomato (diced) or 1 can diced tomatoes (optional)

Brown sausage in a large frying pan (do not drain the grease, this is not a low fat recipe anyway). Add all of the diced ingredients (onion, jalapenos, chiles, bell pepper & tomato) and continue to cook 10-15 minutes longer.

Mix cream cheese, sour cream and sausage mixture in a large pot or crock pot & simmer until well blended. The longer it sits, the hotter it will be, so it’s good to cook it the night before, or cook it on low all night.

Prime Rib Recipe

If anyone has ever wanted to make prime rib, but thought it was too difficult, I am putting the recipe out here so you can see how easy it really is. Two keys to good prime rib.
1. Get a rib eye roast (or prime rib roast). The New York style loin roasts are not the same thing, but can be used if you can't find anything else.

2. Get a meat thermometer. I take mine out of the oven when the thermometer is almost to medium rare, but not quite. It will cook more as it sits and rests, so you want to take it out a little earlier than you think. (the recipe below tells you the correct temp)

Here's the recipe. (from Food Network) Enjoy!!!

Ingredients

1 (3-rib) standing rib roast (7 to 8 pounds)
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

Mustard Horseradish Sauce, recipe follows

Directions

Two hours before roasting, remove the meat from the refrigerator and allow it to come to room temperature.

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F (see note). Place the oven rack on the second lowest position.
Place the roast in a pan large enough to hold it comfortably, bone-side down, and spread the top thickly with the salt and pepper.

Roast the meat for 45 minutes. Without removing the meat from the oven, reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees F and roast for another 30 minutes. Finally, increase the temperature to 450 degrees F and roast for another 15 to 30 minutes, until the internal temperature of the meat is 125 degrees F. (Be sure the thermometer is exactly in the center of the roast.) The total cooking time will be between 1 1/2 and 1 3/4 hours.

Meanwhile, make the sauce.

Remove the roast from the oven and transfer it to a cutting board. Cover it tightly with aluminum foil and allow the meat to rest for 20 minutes. Carve and serve with the sauce.

Note: Be sure your oven is very clean before setting it at 500 degrees F.


Mustard Horseradish Sauce:

1 1/2 cups good mayonnaise
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 1/2 tablespoons whole-grain mustard
1 tablespoon prepared horseradish
1/3 cup sour cream
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Whisk together the mayonnaise, mustards, horseradish, sour cream, and salt in a small bowl.

Hand in the cookie jar

Aaron is home today with Bailey. He said Bailey was playing a game where she would pull everything out of some kitchen drawers and then put them back in again.

While Aaron was out of the room for a minute, Bailey became very quiet. Aaron went in to check on her and this is what he found.

Somehow she figured out how to take the lid off her blueberry puffs and was fishing around the bottom of the container to get the last few out. How cute is that????

Shelby is on the Student Council

Congratulations to Shelby for making the Eaglecrest Student Council this month. We are very proud of her accomplishments at school and this just adds to it. Well done sis!

Thanksgiving / Christmas Tree

Thanks to both sides of the family for making Thanksgiving so fun this year. I loved having the Harrison/Harmer meal at the library. The theater was the best and I wish we could have stayed longer to watch the movies. The kids thought making the gingerbread houses was the best part though.

The Jenkins decided to do a more laid back meal and I think it worked out great. Lots of visiting and munching. It was great to see everyone again.

Gretchie did come down with a stomach flu on Thursday night, but was over it by the morning. Bailey had earlier in the week, but so far, the rest of us have been spared.

Now that Thanksgiving is over, it's time to concentrate on Christmas. I did a little shopping over the holiday weekend. But instead of braving the crowds on Black Friday, my family went merrily up the mountains and found the Jenkins family Christmas tree. It took us an hour or so, but we found the most beautiful 18 ft tree. Luckily we remembered a saw. We put the tree up, but haven't decorated it yet, so I'll post a picture once it has all the trimmings on it.

One big thing that happened over the weekend was that Bailey decided to start walking. She isn't real consistent, but she is getting better and better. It's so fun to see her grow. I have some pictures that I'll post as well.

Cute Kid Pictures

I decided to take pictures of the kids on Friday last week, so I could get my Christmas cards ordered. I also decided to take some of Bailey, since I've been lax in getting her 1 year pictures done. I'll get some professionally done soon, but here are the ones I took. (I think they turned out cute!!)

Happy 1st Birthday Bailey!!!!!

11-10-09 was Bailey's first birthday. We celebrated by having both the Jenkins and Harrison side of the family over for soup, salad, bread sticks and cake. It was a total blast!!!! Thanks to everyone who brought stuff. It was yummy and I know Bailey had a great time.

Bailey did a pretty good job opening presents. She loved picking small pieces of paper off and handing them to Aaron to put in the trash. She snuggled most of the clothes as she unwrapped them and we have spent the last few days playing with her toys. She loves the little people, the purse and the stacking barrels. We have also read all the books that Grandma / Grandpa Harrison brought. What fun to be a baby!!!

Happy Birthday Bailey!!! We love you tons and are so glad you're a part of our family. You complete us. :-)

Here are pictures of everyone that came to celebrate with us!!!

Cody and Jen

Grandma / Grandpa Jenkins, Grandma-Great Andrus

Grandpa / Grandma Harrison

Kristen, Ben and Jenna

Marni, McKay and Miley
Bret, Brittany and Corbin (and baby Jenkins - no born yet)

Heath and HayLee

J. Michael, Preston, Brittney, Leslie and Parker

Rusty

We had a very sad day in the Jenkins house last night. The girls and I came home last night and found our family cat of 15 years had passed away on the kitchen floor.

I piled the girls back into the car and we drove around until Aaron got home from the airport and was able to take Rusty outside. We had a small funeral and buried him under a blue spruce in the backyard.

A few memories of Rustalynn-Tittensaurus-Rex:

• Snake charmer titten - In our house in Pleasant Grove, he loved to catch baby snakes and toss them in the air like a snake charmer. He thought they were very tasty too.
• Jeremy's presents - Joel and I loved to send Jeremy gifts made of Rusty's fur. I'm sure Jer's mission companions thought we were a little strange, but we sure got a kick out of it.
  
• Rusty the lounge chair - All three of my girls loved to lay on top of the cat. He was so patient and let them do it.
  
• Rusty the pull toy - Bailey enjoyed grabbing Rusty by his fur and pulling him across the floor so he was closer to her. She then would bury her face in his neck and give him big loves. Rusty usually lasted about 10 seconds and then bolted for the front room to hide behind the couch.
• A paper bag and a fly swatter - When Rusty was younger, it was really fun to open a paper sack and tap the outside of it and watch Rusty come tearing across the floor and dive inside the back to see what was making the noise. It never failed to amuse all who were around. He also liked to chase the fly swatter. We'd drag the fly swatter on the ground in front of him and he'd run after it. If you picked the fly swatter up and made an arch over him and made it land behind him, he would usually do a back flip to try and catch it.

What a great cat. We will all miss him.

Kids Halloween pictures

Just wanted to post a few pictures of the kids Halloween costumes. Shelby was a spunky witch, Gretchen was Spongebob and Bailey was a monkey.

A happy monkey!!!
If you would like a tutu like Shelby's, check out the link on the right side of my blog for "Little Miss Tutu Boutique".



This is up at Grandma Jenkins' house. It is Shelby, Bailey, McKay, Miley and Gretchen. It took us a while to get this shot. None of the kids were very happy about posing. :-)

Deer Hunt / One Last Fish

After I got back from Boston, Aaron took off with Shelby and Gretchen and went deer hunting. They had a blast but didn't get to shoot any deer. They saw very few of them and most of them were does and fawns. They went with Grandpa Jenkins, and stayed in his camper trailer, Aaron's brothers Bret and Cody, and Bret's oldest daughter Memrice. Shelby and Gretchen were so excited that Mem came along. They had a great time watching movies and hiking together.

The crew was kind enough to get me some pictures, so I'll post a few here.
This is a shot of the day that Aaron left to come home. Weather was mild up until this. Cody and Bret didn't mind the snow too much. I know they've hunted in worse weather.

Just a shot of the camp with Shelby, Mem and Cody's dog Sadie.
The girls inside grandpa's camper trailer.

The day after Aaron got back from hunting, he took one last trip up to the cabin with his dad to catch the final fish of the year. He said they had one night where the fish wouldn't stop biting. Here is the only picture he took while up there. Looks like a nice fish.

We're Beating Bailey

Ok, not really, but it sure seems like it lately!!!!

Fat Lip - About a month ago, Bailey slipped in the kitchen and hit her lip on the floor. It gave her her first injury, so we took a picture of the resulting fat lip!
Black-eyed pea - I decided to bring Bailey in the shower with me a week ago and have her play around on the floor while I showered. Shelby came in and was making faces at her through the glass, so Bailey decided to stand up. Tile + water = slippery floor and Bailey went down and hit her eye and nose on the edge of the tile. Very sad!!! and here's the picture. :-)
She looks much better now. Everything healed nicely. Now, please don't turn us into child services! ;-)

Boston, Fried Oreos and kids

I spent last week on a business trip to Boston. I stayed right downtown, about .3 miles from Faneuil Hall (an old marketplace and town hall). Across the street from my hotel was the Granary Cemetery where famous early Americans as Paul Revere, Benjamin Franklin and Samuel Adams are buried. The headstone in the picture above was Samuel Adams'. They have people dressed up in costumes from way back when and they tell fun stories while taking people on a tour of the cities sites along the Freedom Trail.

On Tuesday of that week, my company took us to dinner in a downtown restaurant. I couple pass up the opportunity to eat dessert when they offered the option of getting Fried Oreos. I have to say, that even though they were probably 350 calories each, they were fantastic!!! The picture below is poor, but it was dim lighting and it was on my cell phone.
Lastly, the kids are catching up in school after missing a few days to go on the deer hunt with Aaron. They didn't shoot any deer, and saw very few over the 4 days there were out. Aaron was very disappointed, but the girls still had fun camping and playing with cousin Memrice. I will post some pictures when Aaron gets back from Idaho with the camera. He took off this morning for the cabin to fish the Madison river for the last time this year.

After he gets back from the cabin, he'll be home for Halloween weekend and then takes off for South Dakota for a pheasant hunting trip. As soon as he gets back, he leaves for Australia for business. So, needless to say, I'm going to be a single parent for the next month or so. Yeah!

Bailey is crawling up and down the stairs now. I have to watch her carefully going down because she still tries to go head first sometimes. Her new babysitter, Erin (whom we LOVE!!!), was diagnosed with H1N1 on Tuesday, so we are keeping Bailey home for the rest of this week. Bailey is going in for her vaccination tonight, so hopefully she won't get sick.

Get better soon Erin!!!

That's all for now. Hope everyone is doing well!!!

Awesome song/video (Slap Chop Rap)

Check this out. I love it so much I downloaded the song to my iPod. :-)



You're gonna love my nuts! ha ha!

Duck Hunting

On Saturday, Aaron and his dad got up at the insane hour of 4:30 am, to go up to Brigham City to Aaron's duck hunting club for opening day of the duck hunt. They had a blast (ha ha) and were able to limit out before dark. We took these pictures of the ones he kept. (his dad kept the others)

The one on the left is the biggest one with a gorgeous green head. The other ones were youngun's and had flecks of green in their feathers, but none as pretty as the first one.

Aaron took our dog, Ashes, out with him on Sunday afternoon and got a few more, but we didn't take any pictures of those. Aaron said Ashes did pretty well and finally understood that when the gun goes off, she should swim out and get the duck. She got a little annoyed at Aaron a couple times when he shot and missed and she jumped in the water for nothing. :-)

Happy Anniversary Aaron!

Today, Aaron and I are celebrating our 12th anniversary. We are playing things a little low key this year, since we already had a great time celebrating in Vegas a few weekends ago. Tonight he is taking me to a nice dinner while his parents watch the girls. It is always nice to spend some alone time in a nice restaurant. :-)

Sorry, no pictures for this event. Ha ha!!!

Vegas baby!!

Last weekend was a total blast!!! Aaron and I left late on Friday night and didn't get down there until around 11 pm local time. We still went out and gambled a little that night. :-)

The weather was perfect all weekend. Around 97 degrees the whole time. It dipped down to around 79 at night. We swam in the pool and watched football during the day. At night we went either to a casino or to a show. This trip we decided to see Penn & Teller, which has been a staple in Las Vegas for about 8 years now. It was a fun show and was clean enough that they allowed 5 yr olds + to attend. At one point, they pulled a 12 yr old up on the stage to help with one of the magic tricks. We got half price tickets, so that made it all more fun.

Aaron ran into Charles Barkley in the bathroom at Mandalay Bay. He was really nice and joked with Aaron that the casino wouldn't allow him to gamble because he didn't have any money. Charles saw a chubby guy outside the bathroom with a t-shirt that read "I beat anorexia" and said it was the funniest thing he has ever seen. He was a very funny and personable guy. He let people take his picture and signed things and was nice about it. He didn't let a guy in the bathroom shake his hand though, because he hadn't washed it yet. :-)

We had a great time and I was glad for the getaway. We missed the kids and were really grateful for Aaron's parents, who watched them. I know the girls had a great time and we really appreciated the break. Thanks Paul and Jody!!!!!

Las Vegas this weekend

Aaron and I are headed to Las Vegas this weekend for a late birthday/anniversary getaway. Grandma and grandpa Jenkins are watching the girls for us. Thank you!!!!

Since we'll be gone, the girls will not be playing soccer this coming weekend. Just wanted to warn anyone who might be thinking of coming down to see a game.

I'll post updates from the trip when we get back!!!

St George / Tuacahn

Aaron's family went down to St. George on 9/12 to see Aida at Tuacahn. It was HOT!!!! When we got to the theater, it was 97 degrees and when we left, it had dropped to a balmy 94 degrees. Talk about sweaty bum!!! The play was pretty good. We all agreed that the second half was better than the first. We REALLY enjoyed the bat that was flying in and out of the lights through the whole thing. I loved the theater and want to go back down again next year when they have Tarzan playing.


The next day, the family went swimming in the pool at the Crystal Inn, where we stayed. They had a great time and I, of course, took some pictures. :-)
Shelby and Gretchen jumping in to the pool. They spent most of their time in the deeper end.
Bailey really did have a good time in the water. It got a little cold after a while, but she enjoyed splashing and playing around.

The hotel had this big inflatable flower looking thing that the kids played with. Gretchen looks really tired in this photo, and I thought it was cute.

Look at Bailey swim!!! Ok, so she was splashing, but this picture sure looks like she's swimming.
See, I told you she had fun. Look at that cute smile!

This is what happened shortly after changing her out of her swim suit. what a sweetie!

Crazy girl!!!

Happy Birthday Gretchen, Aaron and Dad (Grandpa Harrison)

Happy Birthday to Gretchen on 9/9/09. She turned 7 years old. We had cake and ice cream and presents at our house that night. Then on Friday night, I took Gretchen and Preston down to Libertyland to ride rides. They had a blast!!! Here are some pictures of the events.

Happy 36th birthday to Aaron on 9/10/09. It was a pretty low key affair with a nice dinner to Market Street grill.

Happy birthday to Dad/grandpa on 9/11/09!!! We celebrated with him on Sunday at his house. I forgot my camera, so no pictures of that night. Sorry!