Freezer Meals

Two weeks ago boneless, skinless chicken breasts were on sale for the lowest price I've seen in a long time, $1.49/pound.  Since we just moved and my chest freezer wasn't even plugged in yet, I took this as my opportunity to make freezer meals. I enjoy making a variety but it is way too time consuming (and boring) to do it alone so I invited some friends. Monday morning Charlotte, Elanor and I went to the store and filled the cart full of packages of chicken. I was rounding down while shopping because I planned on buying around 100pounds of chicken but I think I ended up with close to 120. Pounds. That doesn't really fit in a fridge with 3 gallons of milk, 10 or so pounds of cheese and all the other normal fridge stuff. Luckily one of my friends who came over stored half the chicken in her fridge.

On a Tuesday night, 2 friends (Monica and Lizbeth) came over. In about 3 hours we made chicken broccoli bake (6 meals), honey lime chicken (14 meals) and balsamic bbq chicken (8 meals). The most time consuming part of making these meals is the prep of the chicken. Slicing, dicing. Fun fun fun. Lizbeth and I also made french steak earlier to use up some of her meat.  Wednesday brought 3 friends (Melissa, Bonnie and Megan) along with 3 extra kiddos. We made party chicken enchiladas (I think it ended up being 16 meals), teriyaki chicken (10 meals) and honey glazed chicken (10 meals). The best part of doing the meals in the evening...no kids (well a sleepy new baby is easily handled). We decided the next time we get together it will be in the summer when some tween/teenage kids can come and help out with the kids.

After all those meals we made, I still had a lot of chicken left. I cooked up another 6 pounds in the crockpot and I used that to make 4 chicken pot pies and then I put filling in bags to make another 6 chicken pot pies. And yet I still had more chicken so I just put 2 chicken breasts in a freezer bag and called it a day. I will use that chicken to make some favorites.

Last Friday ground beef was on sale and it was the good kind, 97% for $1.99. I didn't go crazy with the amount I bought and I kind of wished I bought more. I went super easy this time and just divided half the amount into 1 pound bags and froze and the other half I made into 7 meatloaves. I had to call my dad for that recipe cause he makes the best meatloaf.

The next thing we are going to make are twice baked potatoes and meatballs. And one of these days I will post some of the recipes.

The Continuation of the Adventures of Mom and Charlotte

 warning...overload of pictures...warning...overload of pictures...you are warned
Where did I leave off...oh yes, the fun 5K for the Race for the Cure. Saturday night we went out to eat to celebrate Debbie and the wonderful job she has done the last few years (besides going through the LDS temple, she is also graduating with her bachelors degree). I am super proud of her. But now the focus is on Sarah and planning for the upcoming wedding. On Sunday I made a trial wedding cake with the help of Beckie. We are not making a usual cake but a cake/cheesecake/cake.

Pictures of the process.

The verdict...it needs to be prettier but it tasted really good. I am going to work on the flavor of the cheesecake, it needs to be more strawberry-er. I think I might need to have a cheesecake tasting party with my local friends to see what they think of the cheesecake and to perfect my technique.

While making the cheesecake, my little girl was not always the happiest (see she does cry).

And she did not want to be with anybody but...

 MATT.

Charlotte with Matt.

Charlotte is a kisser. You pucker up and she will to and lay a smooch on you. It was so cute to see her pucker up for everybody.

The pucker

Laying a smooch on Aunt Sarah

Charlotte did get along with others too. Here she is hanging out with a sleeping grandpa.

On Monday we headed to the bridal shop to see the dress Sarah picked out. Charlotte and Shae had a fun time hanging out on the platform. You can see the bottom corner of Sarah's dress. I have other pictures of her in it but I won't post them, you will just have to wait and see how beautiful the dress is after the big day.

Charlotte hanging out on the platform.

Charlotte with silly Jay in the background.

Charlotte learned to fold her arms.

Charlotte and Grandma. (Sarah is showing Matt the family albums.)

Charlotte getting a big hug from Dragun.

The boys, Charlotte and me (looking at a cookbook, what else would I read)

Dad and Beckie preparing Mother's Day dinner of country fried steak, mashed taters, green beans, etc.

Our trip to Utah was a lot of fun but we sure did miss Andrew, Sophie and Elanor. The flight home wasn't bad, Charlotte was good. She had the most fun on the second flight when she got her own seat and could look out the window. And the best was when Andrew and the girls came and picked us up, Charlotte was giddy with happiness because she had her sisters back and her dad. Adjusting back to east coast time wasn't too bad either.

First Adventures of Charlotte and Mom

warning...overload of pictures...warning...overload of pictures...you are warned
Andrew so graciously took four days off of work so that Charlotte and I could go to Utah for a whirlwind of an extended weekend.This trip was planned for Mother's Day weekend so I could finally participate with my mom and sisters in the Breast Cancer Race for the Cure (5th year for my mom, yea!). But we had a lot of other special events go one while I was in town.

Charlotte and Grandpa

One of the most special things that I was able to participate in was my sister Debbie going through one of the LDS temples to make sacred covenants with the Lord called an endowment. This is something as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we hold dear to our hearts and is so personal and spiritual.

Here are some of those that love Debbie and were in attendance inside with her (except Charlotte, my sister Sarah stayed outside with her). The day was so perfect on the inside and the outside. I was able to be in such a beautiful place with so many of my loved ones too.

Mom and Debbie

To finish off Friday, we were able to go to BYU campus and see the beautiful painting of Carl Bloch. He has done some amazing paintings of Christ. It was a perfect ending to a day centered around Christ.

Saturday was the big race. We woke up early and headed to Salt Lake City. The weather was perfect, not too hot, slightly overcast. I was so happy to participate in my first 5K and to honor my mom. I also wanted to participate for Elanor's preschool teacher who was diagnosed last year and for our friend Margaret who lost the battle last year. It was amazing to see so many people (estimated about 23,000 people) there supporting their loved ones and the survivors walking/running for themselves.

Looking a little confused but the little lady was a good rider during the race.

Start line...it took a good 15-20 minutes to get to the start line from when the race started.

Half an hour in and Charlotte was ready for her nap. She slept for a good 45 minutes.

Shae with Sarah and Beckie in the background. Shae was our official photographer during the race.

The walkers with Debbie in mid sentence.

Our Survivor! We love you Mom! And Sarah, the newly engaged one.

I am awake now.

Sea of Survivors. It was amazing to see the number of survivors and the years that they have survived.

Matt and Sarah, the cute engaged couple showing off the rock

Mom and her supporters.

The trip was so well worth it. I loved spending these days with my family. The adventures are not over, stay tuned for the rest of our trip and for Andrew's finishing adventures with Sophie and Elanor.

Shenandoah National Park

Andrew here. Happy Birthday to me! Michelle and Charlotte are in Utah so yesterday I decided to take Sophie out of school after lunch and drive with the girls to Shenandoah National Park. We've talked about going for years but never have, so I decided to change that. Elanor was excited all day long about going to the mountains (I didn't have the heart to tell her they were just hills).

As we were getting ready to leave the house, Sophie suddenly stopped me and showed me her bloody mouth. A wet washcloth and a short yank later, and Sophie lost her first tooth! We put it in a baggie and I assured her the tooth fairy would find her because we were taking her pillow with us. She was SO excited - I though she would have a problem with the blood and yanking, but she was just too excited about finally losing a tooth. I guess most of her classmates have already hit that milestone.


We finally got on the road a little before 2 pm and were still able to beat the afternoon traffic, arriving at the park at about 3:30. We stopped for awhile at the visitors center and picked up ranger backpacks for the girls (binoculars, field guides, paper, pencils, magnifying glasses, etc...all for just 5 bucks for 48 hours).

After stopping a few times at overlooks to test the ranger equipment and enjoy the view, we arrived at Skyland Lodge a little after 5 pm.

We had a nice dinner at the restaurant and settled ourselves into our rustic cabin room. It was now about 7 and our plan had been to do a short hike before bed. Sophie wasn't sure and I was waffling, but then I mentioned the chance of seeing the sunset form the top of the mountain and we decided to go for it.

We drove a few minutes to the Stony Man trailhead, then turned around and picked up the flashlight from the room just in case. We started the hike a little after 7:30. It was a short 1.6 mile loop up to one of the highest points in the park (~4000 ft). I was worried and almost turned around a few times, but decided to keep going. The girls were full of energy. I said we'd turn around at the first junction (0.4 miles in) if there were any problems.


The first part of the trail is part of the Appalachian Trail, which I can now say I've hiked with my girls. We made good time to the junction and the girls wanted to press on, so we did. As we neared the top, we could see the orange sun creeping lower and lower.

We quickly made it to the summit and came to the stony outcropping overlooking the entire valley and stopped breathing. The sun was liquid gold and just sliding down behind one last cloud and then the distant hills. I took several pictures, but they don't really come close. We were at a loss for words. It was such a beautiful moment I can't quite describe. Sophie kept saying, "I can't believe it" and Elanor just stared. I finally said something about Heavenly Father's beautiful world and Sophie asked if we could say a prayer.

"Dear Heavenly Father. Thank you for such a beautiful world. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen. I wish you could have heard the awe and sincerity in her voice with that simple prayer.

We finally left the summit and started back down. Away from the vision, Sophie could not stop talking about how beautiful it was and how perfect and how this was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen and how happy she was and how she wanted to draw a picture of it and how glad we could see it together. Elanor chimed in every now and then.

We reached the trailhead just as we were discussing whether we should pull out the flashlight. To cap off the trek, we saw several deer just before entering the parking lot. As we drove back I pondered how every decision we had made that day led us to being at the top of the mountain at just the right time to witness such a beautiful sunset, and how many things could have gone wrong. Sophie interrupted my thoughts by telling me that maybe Heavenly Father knew it was my birthday today and planned that special sunset just for me. I was floored. Maybe you're right, Sophie. Maybe you're right. I'm glad you and Elanor were there to share it with me.

Andrew