Farewells and Food

When it comes to food in the Mormon culture, there is one particular occasion when you know you'll have it good...namely, a mission farewell.

I mean seriously...when's the last time you remember going to a farewell and feeling unsatisfied with the mini pulled pork sandwiches or the heavenly 5-layer brownie??

I daresay never.

But among the exhibition of exquisite cuisine, there is always that one delicious dessert that stands out above the rest. The one that is gone before everyone even gets through the line, because people like me have already shimmied their way through the crowd to sneak a second (or a third, claiming it was for the person sitting next to them...). You know which dessert I'm talking about, right?
Good, I knew you would. :)

This last Sunday, Jake and I were able to attend the farewell of his cousin Mitch, who will be leaving for Arizona in a couple days. (Good luck, Mitch!)

With my mom being a caterer and all, as I've grown up, I've had the privilege (or is it a curse?) of becoming quite partial to good tasting food. And because of this, I go out of my way to find it and prepare it for others to enjoy, too!
The farewell was my perfect opportunity to use a crowd-pleasing recipe.

I was in one of my moments of weakness, when the very thought of tasty treats had overcome me and I was frantically searching the world of bloggers to dig up the yummiest concoction of sugary goodness that I could find.
While perusing pinterest.com, I found this little gem.
Drumroll please.....

Caramel Apple Cheescake Bars

*sigh*

Photo courtesy of The Girl Who Ate Everything

These things were DELICIOUS!!!

And to give you a second opinion, the family LOVED them.
One comment topped the charts:
"I think I'm unworthy of my temple recommend these were so good"
Gluttony anyone? ;) Joking.
But seriously, they are that good.
You'll just have to try them and see for yourself.

It turns out that the original recipe is from Paula Deen, the Butter Queen (no wonder they're so good...)

Photo courtesy of Paula Deen

Paula uses just a little bit less cheescake for the middle layer, so here's her link, just in case the whole inch of cheescake between a flaky crust and streusal topping doesn't weaken your knees...


I promised I'd post this recipe for all of the Shelton family to see, so here it is. Take care of her for me. :)

ENJOY!!

California Adventures

Last week, Jake and I were able to take a road trip on over to the good old Californ-i-a. The trip turned out to be quite a success!

As we set out on the open road, we plugged in our tunes and jammed out to an awesome mix that I made for us to enjoy. Here were some of our faves:

The Sound of Settling--Death Cab for Cutie

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-sound-of-settling/id274590164?i=274590192

Lazy Eye--Silversun Pickups

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/lazy-eye/id410129445?i=410129474

Electric Feel--MGMT

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/electric-feel/id264720008?i=264720106

Lisztomania--Phoenix

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/lisztomania/id315002203?i=315002364

Bombaclaad Star--Liquid Stranger

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/bombaclaad-star/id433885436?i=433885442
Relax, Take it Easy--Mika
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/relax-take-it-easy/id219949350?i=219949369
You Always Make Me Smile--Kyle Andrews
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/you-always-make-me-smile/id378318741?i=378318753

The music was fun for a while, but as we drove through Nevada, we tried to entertain ourselves with nature's beauty....

...Turns out, the drive through Nevada isn't much of a scenic route...

We got hungry.

And tired of sitting in the car...

Fortunately, as we neared Carson City, we saw this:

We had no choice.

We had to stop.

Soon, we found ourselves here...

Believe me when I tell you it was some of the best sushi I've

EVER had!

(And I've had the privilege of tasting

 some pretty darn good sushi in my day!)

Thank you, Nevada, for a delicious meal!

Oh and another thing we could thank Nevada for...

This place:

The Chocolate Nugget candy factory.

According to the sign, it was rated "#1"

#1 for what?!

The #1 place that needs to be remodeled?

The #1 getaway for the wife-beaters?

(check out the man in the back!)

The #1 worst candy?!

???

We just couldn't figure out what the "#1" meant.

All that kept coming to my mind was

"You know you're in Nevada when...."

Anyway...

after leaving the #1 greatest source of humor for the day and getting back in the car, because Nevada's scenery wasn't exactly "spectacular," we thought we'd finish our drive on the off-roads and see what we could find.

It turns out that there was a gorgeous mountain pass

that was a straight shot over to Angel's Camp.

And by straight shot, I mean the most windy road I've ever traveled. I'm glad I was the one behind the wheel, otherwise I think I might have experienced car sickness for the first time!

Jake and I couldn't pass by the awesome waterfalls without stopping

and look at the snow! This is JUNE in California, people!

Maybe Utah weather isn't so crazy after all...

Upon arriving at our destination,

we did what people do while they're on vacation at Angel's Camp...

We went to Big Trees

Where we found really big pine cones

And really little people

We ran the 1st annual Heaton family 5k compete or complete

and won.

ohhhh yeahhh.

(Okay, Jake won...I got lost on the trail....)

We went to an old mining town,

where we drank beer.

Root beer.

took family pics in olden day hotels

 and ate some reaaaally good ice cream.

ice cream + me = heaven.

We could have ended the trip at this point
and I would have been satisfied.

Katelyn would've been satisfied too. She also enjoys ice cream. :)



Luckily for me,

the trip didn't end there and we went on to visit Yosemite.

Yosemite: First national park,

instigated by Abe Lincoln during the Civil War.

(Looks like those museums really can teach you a thing or two...)

And apparently the waterfalls were better than they've been in 8 years, due to all the run-off.

When I saw them, I wasn't about to disagree.

They were beautiful!

Unfortunately, Yosemite came to an end, as did the week.

But all in all, California was a blast!

It was great to see Ben and Erin

and it's always a good time spending a week with the fam.

Especially this cutie... :)

Now onto planning our next vacation this summer........



Got Mud?

If you've seen me as of late,
you'll notice that my skin is tinged brown,
my hair is not cooperating just like It should,
and the beds in which my nails lay are lined with a thin layer of grit.

This, my friends, is not due to the fact that I have bad hygiene
(though my husband might disagree... ha ha)
it is because on Saturday, we participated in THIS

 and my body is still trying to recover from being immersed in thick, goopy, dirt water, we like to call MUD!

Here's a before picture of some of us who ran:





My favorite part of this picture was a tie between the "I've gotta use the latrines" face on Sadey,

 and the short shorts being sported by my spouse.

The race:

Swimming through ICE COLD water!

True Love.

We were THIS close to givin the parentals a muddy hug. Good thing we learned to obey...


And if you've seen my facebook, you will most likely have noticed that my husband made it to the press.
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/51944306-78/dirty-course-dash-mud.html.csp

What you may not know, however, is that my brother and sister-in law did as well.

Way to go guys. All of your muddy efforts paid off!



And just for kicks, I had to add in a few pics of my cute husband holding an even cuter baby!

This is my 2nd cousin once removed. (Yes, I researched the relation...) Doll, right?

Seriously?? How cute of a dad will he be?!

In 5 years, that is...

You know you're married when...

As our one year anniversary rounds the corner (okay, okay, I'm kind of jumping the gun a little here, but what's new?) I've been thinking a lot about how being married changes people. It got me to thinking about this:

You know you're (newly) married when...

10. Staying in and watching Netflix with your snuggle buddy sounds more appealing than almost anything else
9. You no longer find it necessary to close the door when you pee (this kind of becomes a problem in public)
8. You say "we" when speaking only of yourself
7. You go to embarrassing concerts, like Sean Kingston and Bruno Mars  ;)
6. 9pm is no longer dinner time, it's bedtime.
5. Seeing a naked person no longer phases you
4. Your "one day i'll be skinny again" jeans have been sent to the D.I.
3. You do cool eating contests like this:

2. You feel naked without your wedding ring
1. You find this hilarious http://youtu.be/Nr0fXkRh9IQ (Okay, this really has nothing to do with the list, but I couldn't think of any other way to incorporate it. It's so stupid, but I laugh every time!)

Oh and you also know you're married when you buy an XBOX and call it an "investment" to justify spending the money. Or maybe that's just how you know you're Jake and Steph...

Anyone wanna play Kinect with these guys?!