Thermpolis Recap

Last weekend Thad and I took the kids to Thermopolis/Greybull in Wyoming to visit friends and take the kids to the Thermpolis Hot Springs.  We had a gosh-darn good time, so I'll share a few of the highlights!

We left Friday night after work and got to my friend Dena's house close to 9 PM.  My cousin Johnna lives in Greybull with her husband and son so she was over at Dena's to see us when we got to town.  Dena and her husband Taylor live in a lovely home with their 4 kids, and we have been wanting to make it over state lines to see them since they moved there last year. 

We stayed up way too late (including Colter, who didn't get to bed until 1am, which shocked me) and woke up to a delicious breakfast of biscuits and gravy with hash browns.  Oooooo-ee, Dena makes some good hash browns.  After breakfast the men went over to Taylor's job site to give Thad a tour, and we started getting ready for the drive to Thermpolis. 

The Thermpolis drive started with a delicious strawberry shake for me (burgers for the kids) at A&W, then kids napped during the hour long drive to the springs.  We went to Star Plunge, which has both indoor and outdoor hot springs pools, as well as indoor and outdoor waterslides that are open year round.  Colter was even big enough to go down the outdoor slide with LaKenzie, who is the best little babysitter ever.  Elora went down the huge indoor slide all by herself, what a big girl!

We got done soaking and headed to Butch's Place in Kirby, WY for some burgers that I've heard raves about.  Well, lo and behold we weren't able to eat at any of the 3 restaurants we stopped at because there were so many basketball/wrestling events going on that every place was packed.  So after trying Kirby and Lovell we tuck-tailed it to Greybull and ate at Lisa's and it was awesome.  Dena and I had some big ol' margaritas (super delicious ones, at that) and we all stuffed ourselves.  We got back to their place and watched Moneyball while all the kids crashed.

Sunday came too quickly.  Dena made us a big heaping pile of pancakes and we lounged and visited and played until it was pretty much time to go home.  I had a bunch of clothes to drop off for the youngest little spud in their brood, and I came away with a bunch of jeans (in my new and improved smaller size) and a couple cute tops.  All in all, it was a win-win!

We had a great time, and I can't wait to make it back down to visit and start doing some Big Horn camping this summer.  Thanks to Dena, Taylor, Jim and Johnna for showing us such a good time in Wyoming!

Beautiful princess

She takes my breath away on a daily basis.  Just thought I'd share her.

A little peek into my mind

- Do you remember that thing you used to love, whatever it was, that made you happy every day.  And then you lost the thing and couldn't find it and you were devastated, and then 14 years later you find it in a box and you are so happy that you cry.  I feel that whenever I remember this website exists.  No explanation should be needed.

- The League.  If you have Netflix watch both seasons and then come back here and tell me how much you love it.  You don't have to like football, or even know anything about football, to enjoy the hilarity.  DO NOT WATCH WITH KIDS PRESENT.  Unless they are too young to learn to say things like "take a ride on my suck-stick".  You have been warned.

- There are a few blogs that I read with regularity, mostly because I've added them to my Google Reader on my phone.  I can't believe I ever kept track of my favorite blogs any other way, so here are a few that I adore. 

• My Daguerreotype Boyfriend.  If I even have to explain why this website is an obsession you don't know me at all.
• Fuck Yeah, Victorians!  Paintings, clothing, old articles and recipes from the Victorian Era.  This blogger updates a lot, and very rarely do I skip even one post.  This particular image was a recent personal fave.
• Ten Sexy Ladies.  The dude that writes this also has a Twitter feed, and while I find Twitter repugnant on so many levels his stuff is hilarious in both locations.
• Adventures of Ange.  She's a pal of mine, check her out.
• The Pioneer Woman Cooks.  Yes, Ree is a little over the top with her hallelujahs and amens about everything from butter to brussel sprouts, but I've made her Perfect Pot Roast so I know she can put her money where her mouth is.  

- This started off as an old blog that had never been posted, but I managed to eek out a whole post, combining a little bit of the past and some of the present.  As for my future, can you say HOT SPRINGS.  Thermopolis in less than a week, Chico for two kid-less nights in less than 40 days.  

And in my even more immediate future..... bed, sleep, and another 2 weeks in my current job.  So excited to learn something new!

Crock Pot Weekend - Synopsis

So all in all, Crock Pot Weekend was a success.  Taco soup was super good, I served over tortilla chips with a dollop of cream cheese and a hearty dash of monterey jack cheese.  I even have some for lunch tomorrow.

I will be trying out my new YMCA membership this week by attending yoga on one of the 4 nights it's offered.  I can change at work while my car warms up, and then my plan is to have dinner ready when I get home, by way of having some split pea soup cooking in the crock pot all day.  Most of my desire to try this crock pot stuff on the weekends is making sure it's stuff that won't overcook by the time we get home to eat it.

The Y membership is exciting in lots of ways, but rather than bore you with all the reasons we thought it would be good to join I'll instead bore you with our upcoming weekend plans.

Elora turned 5 January 19th (Happy Fifth Birthday, honey, I hope you've mellowed out a bit since that date to when you're able to read this post), so as part of her never-ending parade of birthday revelry we are going to take her and her brother to Thermopolis, Wyoming for a little weekend of family fun.  We have some friends in a little town nearby who have kids, and that's pretty much like built-in entertainment for people with kids, meaning our kids expect us to entertain them less because they have other people to keep them occupied.  One is even a little less than a month younger than Elora, so he will be 5 next in February.  So, barring weather shenanigans that can't be controlled we will be heading south come Friday evening.

I hope that everyone has enjoyed a tremendously awesome 2012 thus far, and here's hoping it only gets groovier from here on out.  I know that my 2012 will officially feel more relaxed in exactly 40 days.  Damn you, leap year, for making February unnaturally long!

Crock Pot Weekend Part 2 - Taco Soup

I solicited for ground beef recipes on facebook last weekend and got lots of good ideas. One that I thought sounded just unusual enough to experiment with was Taco Soup. It's crock pot friendly, and as you can see from my ingredient picture includes dry ranch dressing mix.  So this morning I woke up early (5ish) and got started on it.

First I got a little more than a pound of ground beef browned up. I chopped up one of those onions and set that aside. Then I started throwing it together.

Let me be clear: I planned to use the tomato paste but didn't. And the green chiles were in my pantry so I threw them in because green chiles are delicious. They weren't part of the original plan. It's called kitchen improv. Go with it.

All canned goods went in with their liquid, and I added one extra cup of water after mixing it all up since I am cooking it for 6 hours. A friend of mine said she added a can of V-8 so that is also an option.  The meat and onions got added at then end, and now it's cooking on low while I drink coffee and read a book.

Now I wait.  But I will be posting the conclusion of Crock Pot Weekend once some pals come over and tuck in.  I have a feeling my kids will love it, considering they both GOBBLED UP those enchiladas last night. 

Crock Pot Weekend Part 1 *Updated*

So this is the first crock pot creation of this weekend.  This was two 1 pound pieces of pork loin, a can of enchilada sauce, and a little over 7 hours on low. I added a few splashes of Cholula (which is pretty much the best hot sauce to accompany Mexican food EVER) and a handful of chopped cilantro. I'm about to start rolling enchiladas right after I post this blog.  Tomorrow, taco soup!

***Updated info*** I used red sauce because that is what I had. It turned out pretty wet, so you can either use a bigger piece of pork than I did or reduce the sauce to half a can. I also added (at my brother's urging) a brick of low fat cream cheese to the meat, and we put some refried beans in before rolling. I really wish I had had some green sauce, but for all red sauce the whole thing was pretty dynamite.

-----------------

What if you only got to see what the government allowed when you came to La Madre Loca?  Click, read, learn.