Thanksgiving Day Recipe Swap

My super great friend Kacee recently posted her favorite Thanksgiving Day recipe and asked in return that people leave a comment with their favorite Thanksgiving Day recipe! I thought that was such a great idea that I'm cpoying you Kace! :) This is my favorite from last year and as I told Kacee in my comment on her page, I had to make an extra pie after the first one got devoured, everyone wanted another slice! It is sooooo yummy and really quite easy! So give it a try but you have to leave me your favorite in return!! Thanks and HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

CANDIED APPLE PIE CHEESECAKE

1 cup crushed Nabisco Ginger Snaps
3 Tbsp. butter, melted
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp. sugar, divided
2 pkg. (8 oz. each) Cream Cheese, softened
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup Sour Cream
2 eggs
1 cup apple pie filling, divided
1/2 cup Walnut Pieces, divided
1/2 cup toffee bits, divided

HEAT oven to 325°F. Mix crumbs, butter and 2 Tbsp. sugar; press onto bottom and up side of 9-inch pie plate.

BEAT cream cheese, 1/2 cup sugar and vanilla with mixer until blended. Add sour cream; mix well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each. Stir in 1/2 each pie filling, nuts and toffee. Pour into crust.

BAKE 35 min. or until center is almost set. Cool. Refrigerate 4 hours. Top with remaining pie filling, nuts and toffee before serving

Crooker Shoes and Pizza Makers

(Long post but worth the read if you like to laugh!)
I love being a mother! No one can comfort the way a mother can, no one gets smiles, hugs or kisses like a mother gets, few are able to vanquish monsters from under the bed like a mother is able and the rewards of a mother far surpass anything I can imagine. The other day I got to enjoy one of those many rewards, the reward of getting a glimpse at the way a five year old sees the world. Any parent out there know that usually makes for a touching moment or a darn good laugh, this time it was the latter! First I have to tell a quick story about Irish. Earlier this week I told the girls they could watch a movie before bed and as it often does, that started a little argument between the two of them. I let them know that if they kept the arguing up much longer there would be no movie and bedtime would be right away. Irish thought about that for a minute and then said, "Ellie, we can watch your movie". I was proud of her and I told her so. I took her hand and explained to her, as I always do when she does these things, that she was being a peacemaker and that Heavenly Father and Jesus were very happy with her and she did a great thing. She literally squealed she was so proud! What a girl!
Now here are the actual things I wanted to blog about. A couple days ago we went to St. George to get some shopping done. Irish is in desperate need of some new church shoes so we hunted down a pair that she couldn't be more thrilled about. They are cute little brown heals. They are slightly higher than most little girl shoes but the thing that makes them seem like mommy shoes is that the heal is a little more narrow than most girl shoes. Anyone that knows me knows that I love to wear high heals (a perk of having a 6ft 5 hubby!). And Irish loves that I love to wear them. She calls high heals Crooker Shoes, for the sound they make when you walk. So cute! So when I showed her these Crooker Shoes in her size she could hardly contain herself! I wish I could have captured her facial expression in a photo to keep forever! And when she tried them on she simply had to walk on the tile flooring at the store... to be sure they were really real Crooker Shoes! Needless to say we got them for her and I'm pretty certain these are her favorite shoes she's ever owned! She's worn them to show her Grandma and Grandpa, Great Grandma Martha, Aunt Robin and Ada. She even tried to sneak out of the house wearing them... to rake leaves!!! Haha, little stinker!
That same day we were at Wal*mart. Collin took the girls to find Up on DVD while I went to get baby food. Apparently, when they were walking to meet back up with me Irish was holding the DVD and Ellie yanked it out of her hands. Irish did nothing, allowing Ellie to get away with being a little booger (which, to our demise as well as Ellie's if we don't knock it off, is really easy to do because she is so dang cute!)! Collin pointed out to her that she was being very grown up by not getting mad at Ellie and letting her hold it, to which Irish responded, "You know what that means..." Collin confused said "No... what does that mean?" Irish, "You know, you roll it, and spread it, and cut it..." Collin still confused just agreed with her at that point. When they met up with me he told me what went on then told Irish to tell me what she was talking about. The rest of the conversation went like this...
Irish- "I let Ellie have the movie, you know what that means mom."
Me- "Tell me what it means, I forgot."
Irish- "You know! You roll it, and spread it and you wear a chefs hat..."
Collin and I were completely lost at this point, thinking Irish had checked out! Luckily she decided she could whisper it in my ear. This is what she said...
Irish in my ear- "I let Ellie have the movie so I am a PIZZA MAKER!"
Collin and I LOST IT! But we didn't want her to feel bad or embarrassed so we both turned out backs to her and tired laughing out sides off silently. Which probably looked pretty strange to the other Wal*mart shoppers since our faces were beat red! All these times I've praised her for being a peacemaker she thought I was telling her she is a pizza maker!! And was excited about it!! And THAT is why I love being a mother!

Loving fall!

I love my ladies!

A Fun Fall Day

Here are some pictures I wanted to post just because I LOVE them! We were in the yard raking and picking up apples and things and just having so much fun that I ran into get my camera and ended up with these priceless pics! All I can really say is... Life is good.

Three Tiers for Three Years!

Here is Ellie's birthday cake that I worked so hard on! :) And let's face it, I made it just as much for myself as I did for my little lady! But I decided a little while ago that I wanted this cake to be my best yet and I think I did pretty well! I have to say I am very proud of this cake. I love the colors on it! I made the cake and frosting from scratch as well as the fondant so it taste really good too! The best part, though, was Ellie's face when she first saw it! I kept it from her while I worked on it (all day) so it would be a suprise and it was worth it! We got the picture above that I just love and it's a perfect example of how excited she was... she made her mommy happy! And I hope on her birthday she felt happy, as happy as a Tinkerbell loving, carefree three year old could possibly feel!

Ellie's Birthday Party

In my last post about Ellie's birthday I said we were gonna have her party on the next Wed. We did and it was fun! Ellie thought it was a blast which is all we were really concerned with. Here are a few pics from the fun filled night! Her cousins all came dressed up in their Halloween costumes as they were invited, but guess who absolutely refused to wear theirs... yes, the birthday girl! It was so strange to us because, since July, all she could talk about was being Tinkerbell for "Hall-a-leen". Really. Even when she met a complete stranger, she didn't tell them her name, just that she was gonna be Tinkerbell! Anyway, we tried hard to convince her but that's not easy with Ellie, so we just let her enjoy her party in the attire of her choice, which, by the way, was a t-shirt and panties. Yeah, we probably should have put pants on her but we were exhausted by that point. Thanks to all the aunts, uncles and cousins for coming and and helping us celebrate!