Pilsbury Prize Pack Winner!

Congratulations to #10, Ann Wager! Thanks to all who left comments. If you'd still like to try the Pilsbury pie crust, be sure to print a coupon from the link in my previous post.

Apple Pie with Pillsbury refrigerated Pie Crust

If only baking an apple pie were as easy as this
(According to Allie this was all we needed to do)

With the pillsbury refrigerated pie crusts it's pretty close.

I was really excited when I found out I was going to get to do a review for these pie crusts especially when the prize pack showed up with all of these items.

(Pillsbury provided me with the products seen above, information, and giveaway through MyBlogSpark)

I thought I might add that I haven't made a pie since my foods class in high school mainly because I could never get the hang of making the crust taste right or have it be the right consistency. So needless to say it's been awhile since I made a pie and these crusts made it so easy. I might just have to make another one.

If you too would like to receive a prize pack from Pillsbury leave me a comment telling me what your favorite type of pie is and leave a second comment for a second entry telling me your favorite way to eat an apple. I will use random.org to select the winner so be sure to leave your comment by Sunday November 7th.

You can visit Pillsbury.com/pie to download a printable coupon for $0.50 off a package of Pillsbury Pie Crusts today!

Pillsbury gave the following information for those who are newbies to pie baking I used the perfect apple pie recipe and it sure tasted good.
Pillsbury Pie Crusts are an easy base for your favorite warm apple treats. Simply unroll into a pie plate, fill with your favorite variety of sliced apples and filling, and bake! From orchard to oven, Pillsbury Pie Crusts make apple pie baking simple with delicious results.
Here are a few delicious recipes to help inspire your readers to create delicious, homemade apple pies!
Perfect Apple Pie is the model of a classic dessert - a beautiful double-crust creation with sugary cinnamon, nutmeg and a splash of lemon juice. So easy to make, this recipe is great for beginner pie bakers looking for impressive results.
Festive Apple-berry Pie is the perfect blend of sweet and tart, with a gorgeous color palette of golden apples and dark red cranberries. Use frozen cranberries to make this dish even more quick and easy!
Topsy-Turvy Apple Pie combines two classics - apple and pecan. Invert the plate to reveal a gorgeous pecan topping. This is a dessert that both apple and pecan pie fans will "flip over".
Easy Apple Pie Foldover is a great solution for keeping the kids happy; a simple mixture of apples and brown sugar folded inside a golden brown baked Pillsbury pie crust. With four servings, it´s a modestly sized apple treat that is kid-friendly to make, and eat.
Cinnamon-Apple Pie with Caramel-Pecan Sauce truly harvests all of autumn´s bounty in a clever presentation. Ready in just under an hour - each slice is topped off with a luscious blend of butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, pecans, whipping cream and vanilla for a saucy treat.
For even more delicious pie ideas throughout the year visit Pillsbury.com/pie for fun and easy recipes to satisfy every season.

Sleeping Beauty and Cake Balls for the Firemen

Ok so many of you know that Allie really wanted to be a princess again for Halloween and for a while I kept saying okay you can be a princess but you're going to use the yellow dress from last year again if that's what you want to be. That was fine for awhile until we went to Walmart and she saw a pink southern belle costume and decided that she wanted to be a pink princess not a yellow princess. So what did I do... Yes Amanda I caved. Allan and I saw this dress on sale (less than the pink costume at walmart) in Sunday ads and agreed that she could be a pink princess. We told her that if she was good and went to bed I would take her to the store in the morning to get a surprise. She was so excited to finally have her pink dress. These were the best pictures I could get because trying to take a picture of her these days is not very easy. I'm not sure though which she was more excited about trick-or-treating or the fact that I put makeup on her.

MMMM CAKE BALLS!!! I made Allan some cake balls for his birthday and took them to his work the next day one of the guys there called him over and asked him what it would take to make some cake balls for their Firefighter Halloween Party. I said I would make them if they would buy the ingredients. They tried to pay me for my time but really how can you take money from volunteer firefighters. The only problem with cakeballs is that they are really good and I really wanted to eat them myself. I did save a few since there ended up being way more than what they said they needed.

stay tuned...

I get to do a review for pilsbury refrigerated pie crusts but I have to make an apple pie with it first before I can post anything but there should be a really good giveaway package when I do so keep watching so you can enter.

My little helper

I unloaded the dishwasher and started to get ready to load it and Allie said "here mom I can do it I'm a good helper". So she "loaded" the dishwasher for me :) I think I'm pretty lucky!

Allie + Makeup = Is that a Bruise?

As most people know, whenever things get quite and there's kids in the house it generally means they are not being perfect little angels playing with their own toys. It's usually a sign they are into something they know they shouldn't be in. Well that's what happened here. It was quiet and I thought okay she must still be watching her show little did I know that the show ended and a little girl was playing with my makeup. I came in to check on her and immediately she threw my makeup behind her back and covered it up with a pillow. Did she really think I couldn't tell what she had been doing with her face looking like this?

I sent a picture of her like this to Allan and he thought something must have happened and she had bruises. Times like this you just shake your head and think it's a good thing you're cute.

Congrats Galen & Kim

My brother Galen got married on Friday the 13th to Kim. Allie is so excited to have Kim be her aunt. We were able to meet her back in March when we went to california for a visit and Allie instantly bonded with her. We're excited for them so Welcome to the Family Kim!

Who wants Chinese Food?

I had the chance to try the latest selection from Wanchai Ferry and you can too! (just so everyone knows the frozen sample, prize pack, information and additional prize pack to give away were all given to me from Wanchai Ferry through MyBlogSpark.) Anyways back to the product... I was surprised at how much flavor there was since after all it is a frozen meal. Definitely something I would consider keeping on hand for those times when I want Chinese but don't want to run into town to get it. It was simple and quick to make.

Just throw the meat and veggies in the pan, let them cook with some water, add the sauce until it's nice and bubbly and microwave the pack of rice.

Then you're ready to plate and eat. YUMMY!!

I would want to try some of the other flavors they have as well especially the kung pao chicken.

So back to how you can get some for yourself. A prize pack

which includes a coupon for you to redeem for your own food and two tea sets (cup, tea, and strainer) can be yours by posting a comment. I'll use random.org on July 29th to decide the lucky winner so make sure you enter your comments by the 28th. You can post multiple comments for multiple entries. Be sure to leave your email or a way to contact you in the comments section so I can let the winner know who they are.

Some ideas could be

• comment saying what your favorite Chinese food is
• Going to the Wanchai Ferry website and letting me know which of their products you would like to try
• posting a comment letting me know that you passed the word on to your friends and family either through your blog, facebook, etc to check out this blog entry and enter for themselves.

Good Luck and Enjoy!

Here is the information that I was sent look towards the bottom for a coupon you can get.

Wanchai Ferry frozen entrées are perfect to have on hand for those nights you´re in the mood for Asian cuisine, but would rather enjoy it with a relaxing night in. Available in the freezer section of your local grocery store, Wanchai Ferry frozen entrées come complete with everything you need to make a restaurant quality meal in the comfort of your own home. The newest Wanchai Ferry flavor, Beef & Broccoli, is the first beef dish in their line of great-tasting, complete Chinese meals for two. Ready to serve in only 14 minutes, Wanchai Ferry Beef & Broccoli comes with tender beef strips, and an assortment of Asian-style vegetables, including broccoli florets, red peppers and water chestnuts. It even includes rice and a rich brown sauce accented with soy and garlic for an authentic flavor experience. Be sure to try the two additional new flavors of Wanchai Ferry frozen entrées, Kung Pao Chicken and Szechuan Style Chicken, which will soon join five other delicious varieties including Orange Chicken, Shrimp Lo Mein, Spicy Garlic Chicken and Sweet & Sour Chicken. Additionally, all of the entrées have no added MSG! You can find a $1.60 off coupon at http://bricks.coupons.com/bstart.asp?o=63369&ci=1&c=GM&p=OMaEZjGT. Also check out the website at http://www.wanchaiferry.com/MealTips.aspx later this summer for meal tips to enhance your Wanchai Ferry frozen entrée.

Fun in St. George

Our 4th of July weekend was a lot of fun. We started by going down to the Wager's house (Allan's sister and family) Friday night. We woke up early got the kids in their fun red white and blue outfits and then went to go watch hot air balloons take off. Unfortunately the wind was not cooperating and they didn't get to inflate all the way or take off. From what we got to see it would be really neat to watch, maybe next year. Allie decided that she didn't like the fire they used she said it was too noisy.

Then we went back to their house had a yummy breakfast then continued on to St. George. Allan's parents had given all of us our own rooms at the holiday inn for our Christmas present. So we went with his parents, and his two sisters families. Greg's in Florida working so he couldn't go and Jared's at the air force academy so we missed them. Allie couldn't wait to go swimming, she's been waiting for that part of the trip for weeks. So that's what we did when we first got there. She loved swimming with Allan and jumping off the edge. Scary thing is that she still has no fear of the water. I would let her go and she'd go under water then have to pull her up and she'd still be smiling telling me she could do it herself. We first tried a swim vest but that just made her roll all around and she didn't like it then we found some arm floaties that someone had left there and she loved them. Now having worked at a swimming pool when I was younger I swore I would never use those, but it helped her stay on top of the water and she could kick all around the pool. I guess they are okay if you are right there with the child in case they pop off. I had told Allie to wait until someone could help her in the pool after we put them on and the next thing I new she was walking off the edge without anyone there. Again, no fear at all. We really need to put her in swim lessons and maybe they can teach her to stay on top of the water. After swimming we went to go see Toy Story 3. Allie liked it for the most part but thought some parts were scary and of course I got teary eyed there at the end but I held my composure and didn't loose it. We also got to watch some fireworks. Allie liked them but then pretended she didn't because they were loud.

We found a cute park that had water and fountains for the kids to play in. I thought Allie might get a little wet but she ended up laying down in the little stream and got completely soaked. I think she was pretending to be the Little Mermaid. It's okay though it was 105 degrees outside so she started drying quickly (until we got back to the hotel room which was like an ice box. Allan liked it cold because the air conditioning was free). We played some pool, fooseball, and ping pong and just hung out and had a great time with family. Hopefully we can do it again sometime.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all the Dad's!

These are some pictures I took to make Allan's present with. I got stickers (Skins) made to put on his ipod. Crazy that these came out of a film camera (so don't diss the film Erin j/k)

And since it's film there's no point in wasting the rest so I played around with the camera and got these on another day.

Running with Angels

Allan's sisters (Ann & Becca), his mom & I walked (well his sisters ran) in the Running with Angels 5k. It was actually fun and was for a good cause. A lot of people were running in memory of their Angels (their children who now live in heaven). Allan said he wants to do it next year. We'll see I'd like to do it again too :)

Down goes the wall

I wanted to open up the kitchen and dining area so we decided to take down part of the wall. This is after we took the plaster down.

This is Allan holding the wall up because the roof started to come down...... oh just kidding it came down with no problems. I love that the kitchen is so much brighter now. The only down side is that people will be able to see the kitchen sink when they walk in. Guess I better get Allan used to washing dishes :)

And of course I had to throw some excitement into our day and backed up into a drill that was standing up and put a puncture hole in the back of my leg. It's crazy how much a little hole can bleed. Luckily Allan was there with me and he was able to get the bleeding stopped, washed out with alcohol (that hurt worse I think) and then bandaid put on. I was good and didn't even pass out. I think I had a tetnus shot when I had Allie so for now we'll just watch it and make sure it doesn't get infected. The other good thing is that it was a new drill bit so there wasn't any rust.