Our Summer...

I would love to sit here and write about an exciting summer filled with lazy days, tanning, trips and regular summer activities, but truthfully....all we did was work.

Travis worked 40+ hours a week working construction and I was lucky enough to have a temporary full time position at the hospital for the summer. We are so blessed! Even though we worked hard, it was all worth it in the end! We were able to save up enough money to be able to pay off our new car, pay for tuition and still have lots leftover to save for future expenses. We still managed to sneak away to Lethbridge & Barnwell for family time on the weekends which was great! 

Some other highlights of our summer included:

*Strawberry picking & fresh pie! 
One beautiful day, Brooke, Travis and I took a little drive out to Broxburn farms and picked our own strawberries and had some delicious pie at the cafe! (Then we preceeded to go home and  make more strawberry pie with our berries...!)

*Dyed my hair!
I wanted to go darker, so I gave into the trend and went a little ombre. (I was the first one my 
hairdresser did this on, turned out alright!)

 *Got new glasses! (I know, I know...I get new glasses all the time...)
Not sure how many pairs these put me at! But I got cheetah print and a purple pair and Travis, a white pair!

Purple pair

Cheetah with bows!

*Travis had surgery

Since I spend everyday at the hospital, I was more than thrilled to spend a whole day off...at the hospital! Travis had hernia surgery in the middle of August, and I'm thankful I had worked in operating room the week prior to his surgery...it totally made me feel more calm about the experience! (I even got to go with him right up to the OR...thanks to some connections!) The surgery was expected to take about 1 1\2 hours, plus about an hour in recovery room. When 

the nurses finally brought him back to his room in Day Surgery, his face was SO swollen, I knew something was up! The nurses then proceeded to tell me Travis is apparently allergic to the antibiotic they administered right before surgery, sending him into anaphylactic shock right before the anesthesia kicked in! I suppose if you are going to discover an allergy and have an allergic reaction, no better place then on the operating room table!!! But the surgery went great and things healed quickly.

Poor guy :(

*Spent almost 3 weeks in Lethbridge:
The day after Travis's surgery we packed up and left for Lethbridge. The reason we left so soon after his surgery was because my Dad was in the Lethbridge Hospital and actually spent a few days up in the ICU. By the time we got there he was doing a lot better and was out of ICU and soon was able to go home! Unfortunately my Mom, sister and I had planned a Vegas trip around this time, but cancelled last minute because we thought it would be more important to stay home in case  something happened with my Dad. (Such a bummer!!!) Good thing we didn't go, because my Dad did end up back in the hospital for a few more days, but is now out and doing better.

Enjoying a popsicle at the hospital with my
 dear sister.
(Which she split all over her shirt on the drive home!!)

Travis and I got to babysit my cousin's kids for a week while my cousin and her husband went to Vegas! We had so much fun playing house that week!! Horseback riding, crafts, movies, parks and their cute dog Oliver!

We even had matching Cheetah Pj pants!

*Went to Calaway Park!
And for the last hoo-rah of Summer, Travis and I went and spent the day in Calgary! The morning at Calaway park, a quick visit with family, a delicious lunch a Milestones, shopping and most importantly...ice cream at Ikea. 

This was after the log ride and why I look a-mess!

Sorry for the loooong post! If you made it all the way through, congrats! So I guess our summer wasn't so boring after all! 

Latest Pinterest Creations.

Here are the latest things I have done all thanks to Pinterest! 

1.

These were super yummy! You can find the recipe HERE. 

**I added extra banana! Yum! 

2.

Delicious homemade garlicky/cayenne fries. You can find the 

recipe HERE.

**I used sweet potatoes instead. 

3.

Yummy Honey Chicken Kabobs! You can find the recipe HERE.

**I used shrimp, meatballs, chicken, pineapple, tomatoes & peppers.

I also added chili flakes to the marinade. Oh yeah...and I don't have a BBQ,

 so I broiled in in my oven. So good!!

4.

Remove heat stains!! After a sad cupcake fiasco, my kitchen

table was left with awful stains. Then I found this sweet VIDEO

on Pinterest. Seriously magical. 

WARNING! Extremely delicious!

Banana Toffee Almond Muffins


Brace yourself, these are the most delicious things I have had in a very long time. Make sure you are not alone when you make them, because chances are...you will eat way more than you need too!

1 Cup chopped almonds
2 tbs white sugar
2 tsp cinnamon

3-6oz softened cream cheese
1/2 cup melted butter
1 1/3 cup white sugar
2 egg
3 bananas

2tsp vanilla
2 1\2 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Skor/toffee bits.

Combine the nuts, 2 tbs white sugar and the 1 tsp cinnamon in a bowl and set aside.
Mix cream cheese, 2/3 cup sugar until creamy. Add egg, bananas and vanilla until smooth.
In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking soda, powder and salt and slowly add into the cream cheese mixture until blended.
Stir in 1/2 cup of nut/cinnamon mixture.

Preheat oven to 375

Spoon batter into muffin liners about 1/4 of the way and add toffee bits, then cover up the toffee with more batter and sprinkle some of the nut mixture and more toffee bits on top.

Bake for 18-20 minutes.

Enjoy! So yummy!!

S'more cupcakes!

Aright! Tried another Pinterest recipe! S'more cupcakes! They were pretty good...although this was one of the first times I have cooked in my new oven...so sadly 50% of them were SCORCHED!! I was so sad! 

These were actually super easy to make..I think I will try to make these again when I am used to my crazy oven. 

1  box Fudge Brownies (I didn't have brownie mix...so I used chocolate cake instead)

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup vegetable oil

3 eggs

20 graham crackers

1 stick unsalted butter, melted

1/2 cup sugar

1 bag unsweetened mini chocolate chips

Marshmallow

2 Hershey Bars (I didn't have hershey bars...so I used chocolate chips. But I think the hershey bars would have been way more delicious!) 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place 24 cupcake liners in muffin tins. Prepare brownie mix according to package directions for "cake like" brownies (3 eggs instead of 2). Set aside batter.

Combine graham crackers and sugar in a food processor or blender and pulse until the crackers are crushed into small, even crumbs. Add melted butter and pulse again until mixture is crumbly but becomes firm when pressed.

Drop 1 Tablespoon of graham cracker mixture into the bottom of each muffin cup and use a small glass to press them down until evenly spread and firm. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon of chocolate chips on top of graham crust in each cupcake. Place cupcake pans in the oven for about 5 minutes to firm graham crusts and begin melting the chocolate.

Remove pans from oven and fill each muffin cup with brownie batter until 3/4 of the way full. Sprinkle each cupcake with another teaspoon of chocolate chips and a Tablespoon of graham mixture. Place tins in the oven and bake for approximately 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center cupcake comes out clean.

Place 1/2 a full sized marshmallow on top of each cupcake. 

Turn oven to broil setting and place muffin tins, one at a time, under broiler . Watch the tops puff up and brown. This may only take a few seconds! Careful not to burn them! Shift tin as needed to make sure the marshmallow browns evenly. Repeat with the second tin. If desired, once cupcakes are completely cooled, top each with a piece of Hershey's chocolate.

The graham cracker bottoms on most of mine burnt...my dang oven destroys everything on the bottom rack! I guess this was a lesson!!

Yummy! But very messy!! Also...I wish I had let mine brown up a bit more! I was super paranoid I was going to set off the smoke detector! (PS...it works if your oven is on BAKE not BROIL, just not as well.)

Thank you Pinterest!

Pinterest is so magical. I could literally spend forever pinning things I wish I had and things I want to do/make.

Addiction?

Anyways, I know people just pin and never do anything more...But I love to try and actually DO the things that I pin!

For example, the other day I made caramel. Delicious caramel from Eagle brand milk...without even opening the can!
Step 1: Remove all the labels from the can
Step 2: Fill the crockpot with water, enough so the can is completely submerged.
Step 3: Submerge the can, and cook on low for 8 hours.
BAM
Step 4: let can cool and open.
MAGIC

What is one to do with a bowl of caramel...

Another Pinterest find...Turtle cupcakes!!

Alright, so they don't look the prettiest, but they are the most chocolaty and moist things ever!

They are SUPER easy.

All you need is:

1 box of devil's food cake

1 box of instant chocolate pudding

3 eggs

1/2 cup oil

1 1/4 cups water

chopped almonds

caramel

All I had to do was combine the pudding and cake powder and the eggs/oil&water and pour into cupcake liners. Then sprinkle chopped almonds on top and cook for 18 minutes @375 Once they were cool, I used this syringe type thing.

 (I bought this at the dollar store...it certainly doesn't work very good, but it serves its purpose for the most part!) 

So now there is caramel in the middle of the cupcakes and on top!

SO easy.

SO yummy!

Friday night blogging.

I feel like I never have a point when I blog. Then I think of things and then the post becomes a disaster. So I apologize.

A few weekends ago, my husband and I took a trip down to The Post. (only the best thrift store ever) And I found this baby. But, I thought it needed a little something, so this was my attempt at making it look cute. Its to hold all our important papers and mail...yeah right haha. It will probably just get filled with junk! 

I stole that cute flower off of a card my gma made...I don't think
I could make something that cute!! 

 Then I made these delicious chocolate dipped chocolate chip cook dough! It was pretty easy to make, and there are no eggs in the recepe, so this is cookie dough that you can actually eat and not feel too bad about! I found the recipe off of pinterest. Of course.

deeeelicious! 

Thankfully, I have a job. I am a surgical processor. I went to school, took some courses, did a practicum, and now I am certified. If you don't know what that is...in a nutshell we take care of a butload of stuff people don't even think of. We order supplies, distribute supplies to all of the hospital and surrounding areas, we get to clean up the bloody instruments after surgeries, we make sure all the right instruments are in the right sets for the right surgery, we make up the carts that have all of the supplies for each surgery, we package and sterilize and do about 10 million other things. Probably one of the most underrated workers I have learned. I love what I do, because I feel like I'm helping but I don't have to deal with irritable patients! It sounds like a crap job, but its great! Travis doesn't have a job at the moment, so this is our only income! Although I make pretty good money considering I sat at home taking some online courses last year. Anyways, this is a picture of some instruments they sent me home with on my first day so I could memorize the order they go in on the stringer. I threatened my husband that I would play doctor on him!

I made these ugly cheescakes. SO GOOD. 

Trying to take a picture....we are still as awkward as ever. 

Why?!

This post was ALL over the place. I really do apologize. One day I'll clean it up.

Lazy/Poor man's peanut brittle

Alright, so I am a sucker for recipes that come on the packaging on something. Today I bought a jar of crunchy peanut butter from Superstore and it had this recipe on it! It actually turned out better then I thought! Although I am sure it is not too healthy for you, it is a delicious, easy treat!!

1 sleeve of Soda crackers. (I didnt have any soda crackers, so I used Ritz crackers, delicious!)
3/4 cup butter/margarine
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 pkg chocolate chips
1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter

1. Line baking sheet with wax paper (I used a cake pan...because my baking sheets are too big for my oven!!) Then cover the bottom with crackers.
2.  In a small saucepan, melt the butter and brown sugar to a boil over medium heat, stirring. Boil for 3 minutes without stirring, then pour over the crackers and spread out as evenly as possible. Bake for 10 minutes @ 325 and let cool.
3. Melt/soften the peanut butter as best you can and spread over the mixture in the pan.
4. Melt the chocolate and drizzle all over the peanut butter! Freeze for 1 hour!

SO good! Make sure you keep the leftovers in the fridge or freezer!

Thanks peanut butter jar!!

Apple deliciousness in a crockpot!

So I found this recipe online and it sounded great, however I made a few tweaks for the better I believe. Here's what you need! (SO easy):

6 apples Cored, peeled and diced
1 cup of apple juice
1/2 cup toffee bits
2 tsp vanilla
3 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup brown sugar

(if wanting a little extra flavor, add 2/3 cup smooth peanut butter. It tastes good in it, but not needed.)

Place apples at the bottom of the crock pot, mix together apple juice, cinnamon and vanilla, pour over apples.

Mix together oats, brown sugar and toffee bits and crumble over top.

Cook on low for 3-4 hours.

Tastes so yummy with vanilla ice cream!!