Happy Veterans Day!!

This past weekend Anthem celebrated Veterans Day by having it's annual Veterans Day Parade. It's the biggest Veterans Day parade in the state and I feel so lucky that we are in walking distance to the parade route. All of our favorites were back this year with the exception of the black hawk helicopter, which is currently deployed so we can't complain. In lieu of the helicopter they had Chinese fighter planes do a flyover in formation which was very cool to watch.

This was the biggest U.S. flag I have ever seen! It was as wide as the entire street and had two people walking under it to keep it from touching the ground.

The Shriner's really know what to do in a parade! Josh found out that they do at least 25 parades a year so it's no surprise that they've got the whole thing figured out. Frank LOVED them and he was pointing and shrieking/screaming (happily) at them as most of them went past.

Hope all is well!! XOXO -Amber

Nigella does it again!

Nigella Lawson is my favorite "culinary guide" hands down. Her first cookbook, How to Eat, might be my favorite cookbook of all time. In it, she doesn't simply list recipes, she provides culinary inspiration letting the reader in on her passion for food, a passion which I share. This week we tried her "PLE Butterscotch Tart" (which I can't help but think is a typo and is meant to be Apple Butterscotch Tart). It may be my new favorite dessert recipe, which is saying a LOT considering it doesn't contain my favorite ingredient, chocolate. The four of us ate the entire tart within 25 minutes of our first taste, it's that good!!

Apple Butterscotch Tart
1 plain pastry dough (I made mine with 1 C. flour, 1/2 C. butter flavored shortening, and 3Tb ice water)
1 lb. cooking apples, peeled, cored, and sliced thinly (we used granny smith which I highly recommend)
2/3 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
pinch salt
2 eggs
1/4 cup heavy cream

• Line an 8-inch tart pan with pastry
• Layer apples in shell
• Mix remaining ingredients together to make a paste
• Pour the butterscotch paste over the apples
• Bake for 10 minutes at 425
• Lower heat to 350 and bake for another 20-25 minutes
• Enjoy!

Halloween Fun

Hope you all had a fun Halloween! We did all of the traditional Halloweeny things: carved pumpkins, roasted pumpkin seeds, made treats, dressed up....it was a hoot!

We made popcorn balls using "the best popcorn balls ever" recipe on allrecipes.com and they were great if you ate them right away but the next day they're just soggy.
the kids each got to pick out a pumpkin

Josh is our master carver

Katniss Everdeen - all of my other pictures were blurry but she had a leather belt and boots, brown pants and a backpack.

Gelsey with her Nimbus 2000

Spongebob assessing his loot.

Hope all is well! XOXO -Amber

Beautiful Darkness

I was lucky enough to get the afternoon "off" to go to a book signing in Scottsdale last week. Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl were in town promoting their new book, Beautiful Darkness. I had only ever been to one book signing before and that was for a Rachel Ray cookbook where we stood in line for 2 hours, in the rain, for 2 minutes of her smiling, signing and then moving us along for the next person. Oh and no pictures please... This was a much different and much more enjoyable experience. They had a Rosemary Clement-Moore in town to do an interview first, then a speed round where we could ask silly and totally mundane questions, and then a more serious book related Q&A session. Then there was a little bit of standing in line to actually get my book signed but it was worth it because they were chatty and totally cool with taking pictures with everybody. They also had free stuff (swag) for everyone and I got to bring home a signed poster for the girls.

Since the signing I've finished the book and I really liked it. The way some of the unresolved issues were wrapped up made me like the first book (Beautiful Creatures) even more and made me want to re-read both books to see how they work together. I enjoyed how they expanded the caster world beyond Gatlin and gave more info about some of the other "things" you might encounter there. After the last couple of chapters I am definitely looking forward to the next book and am excited to see how Link and Ridley's characters are going to develop after what happened in this book. Also I want Amma to move in with me : ) That's all.

Anyway, reading about southern food and PIE made me really in the mood for, well pie. So me and Frankie made a couple a pies: apple and sweet potato to be exact. He's such a good little helper.

When he's not getting into trouble (this is his "I'm not doing anything" look and yes he's on the tiny window sill leaning up against the screen)

Arizona State Fair

We had the pleasure of having Caroline in town for a visit this past weekend. She invited us to go to the fair which was an unexpected treat : ) I hadn't been to the fair in years and the kids had never been that they could remember.

Frank was hilarious to watch in the petting zoo. He was absolutely fearless around all of the animals, including a couple of llamas that towered over him. He just ran up to each and every one of them and petted them, squatted down so he could be face to face with them (translates to in-their-face), laid up against their back, etc... I wonder what they did to all of those animals to make them so docile because not one of them was even startled by my brazen son. I dare say he wouldn't be nearly as skittish as I was corralling cattle as a child.
We rode on a couple of rides, of which I think the bumper cars were perhaps the favorite, of Josh at least, he was grinning ear to ear the whole time

Nickelodeon was doing a meet Spongebob special which we watched from a distance as we all feared the giant character might freak Frank out, but he enjoyed checking it out from where we were

We also played a ring the duck game where we won a larger than life Spongebob for the boy to keep as a new "roommate"

and of course it wouldn't be a trip to the fair without some sweet treats

It was wonderful to see you Caroline, we really shouldn't go soo long in between visits!

Fall gardening in Phoenix

The new additions to our veggie patch are coming along nicely. I put up bamboo teepee's for the green beans to crawl up and made a cage out of chicken wire for the peas.

After just one day the beans had really taking a liking to the new supports
Our pattypan squash is growing very quickly, we already have several squash blossoms!

We've had to put chicken wire around the new beds because our dog decided they were a nice place to dig and nap. Also, Frank found a new parking spot for his mower and wheelbarrow.

This is what it looks like if you accidentally drop a whole packed of radish seeds into the bed, oops!

ABQ Balloon Fiesta

We snuck away this past weekend to go to the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. It was a complete spur of the moment decision which is not something we do very often. I've seen the balloon fiesta dozens of times but I still get excited to see all of the different balloons. Albuquerque is a perfect place to go for a balloon ride because of what they call the "Albuquerque box." Different elevations have currents going different directions so you can go up and travel south for a while then go up a bit higher and return from the direction you came. It is especially neat to watch from the ground because when you look up there are balloons going all different directions.

While we were there we got to see all of the Murphy's for an afternoon.

I was trying to sneak pictures of them in the kitchen but once they caught me they started acting up : )

We also played the silliest game ever invented! You point the camera at yourselves and name some scenario that you have to act out and then you compare your reactions using the picture. It sounds really dumb, and it is, but it's pretty funny too!

I think my dad thought it was a bit childish

We wore ourselves out but it was a great time! Hope all is well! XOXO -Amber