What a weekend. That is all I can say!! Mom and Dad McBride came down to the valley to help us pack up and move up to Round Valley. That night Wes and Dickie went up to north Phoenix to pick up our new 18 foot trailer. They didn’t get back to the apartment until like 11:30 that night. We all crashed just to wake up the next morning and get crazy packing and loading the trailer. We were done by about 1:30ish, after which Wes and I went and helped Clancey move also. After all of the moving was done it was time to relax a bit. Clancey and Mylea went and watched a movie, while Wes and I took his parents to Ichiban for dinner. It is a hibachi grill and we thought they would enjoy the entertainment. We made it though that day, but all of the work was just beginning. We made the trip up to Round Valley, which wasn’t bad. We went to our new storage unit and unloaded all of the stuff we wouldn’t be needing for a while and took the rest to Aunt Gwen’s. This is when the real work began. We had to clean out the room we were going to stay in and the guest bedroom as well. With the whole family this didn’t take to much time but it was a lot of work thats for sure. Everyone went home for the evening to leave Wes and I to unpack and get organized. Now the adventure begins!!!
Update
I just wanted to update our blog. These past two weeks have probably been the longest two weeks of our marriage. A couple of postings ago we mentioned that Wes didn’t get that job at TEP and we were pretty bummed out about. We had moved on in our life, registering for another semester for school, we even signed a year lease on a 2 bedroom apartment. We had set goals for this next year and we were going to kick butt!! Last Wednesday, December 5th, I was working as a CNA at the hospital. It was a very busy day and Wes showed up. He seemed like he really wanted to talk but I was to busy to just sit for a moment and talk to him. I had him sit down and wait, but before I left he said, “TEP called… and offered me that job.” What the heck!! I had to go and do something before I could talk. My mind was spinning, as was his. This is what we had wanted and now it is here for us to take or say maybe next time… Ya right.. we totally took the job and are very excited to be moving to Springerville. We have spent most of our time trying to get out of our lease and figuring out where we are going to be living and all that jazz. We are now a week away from moving from our life here in Mesa. We are sad to have to leave all of our great friends that we have made, and the great jobs that we are a part of. We know that there is something great for us in Round Valley and are looking forward to starting our life and family there.
Until next time…hopefully with pictures:)
Moo
Monkey Bread
1 C Butter
1 C Brown Sugar
1 Tsp. Vanilla
3 tbs. Milk
2-3 cans biscuits, cut each biscuit into eight wedges. Roll each in cinnamon and sugar mixture. Stack in bunt pan and poor mixture over biscuits. Bake at 350 for 30 min.
When I make this I usually only use one can of biscuits. When you use more the middle doesn’t seem to bake all the way. Wes likes it when it’s not all the way done, but I like it baked all the way. This is up to you… I usually don’t use as much butter as it calls for either.
Moo
Peanut Butter Rice Krispy
Melt together (don’t boil):
1 C Sugar
1 C Caro Syrup (light)
add 1 1/4 C Peanut Butter
and 6 C Rice Krispy
Butter pan and spread evenly
Chocolate Topping:
6 oz. Chocolate Chips
6 oz. Butter Scotch Chips
Melt together and spread evenly on top of Rice Krispy
Moo
Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread
3 C Sugar
1 Small Can Pumpkin
1 C Vegetable Oil
2/3 C Water
4 Eggs
3 1/2 C Flour
1 T Cinnamon
1 T Nutmeg
2 tesp. Baking Soda
1 1/2 tesp. Salt
1 C Chocolate Chips
Pre-heat oven to 350 and grease loaf pan. Combing sugar, pumpkin, oil, water, and eggs. Add flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and salt. Fold in chocolate chips. Bake for 1 hour. Makes 3 Loafs.
This is one of my favorite goodies!!
Moo
Christmas Recipes
Magic Cookie Bars:
1/2 cup Butter
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
14 oz. condensed milk
6 oz. chocolate chips
1 1/3 cups flaked coconut (sweetened is best)
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
Preheat oven to 350. In bottom of 13×9 baking pan, melt butter. Blend with graham cracker crumbs. Using one half of the remaining ingredients each time, create two layers atop the crumb crust. Bake for 15 minutes or until lightly browned.
Peanut Butter Cookies:
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp Baking soda
1 cup butter (at room temp is best)
1 cup peanut butter (chunky is Chad’s favorite, your choice)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
Preheat oven to 375. Mix flour & soda. Beat butter and pb until creamy. Add sugars and beat until fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually mix in flour mixture (just until blended). Roll, “fork” and bake 10-12 minutes. (It’s best to let them cool on sheet 1 minute before removing)
Million Dollar Fudge:
3 (1.5 oz) Hershey bars, broken
large package choc. chips
1 jar marshmallow cream
1 cup chopped nuts (your choice)
1 large can evap. milk
4 1/2 cups sugar
dash of salt
1 tsp. vanilla
Mix Hershey, chips, marshmallow and nuts. In saucepan, boil the milk, sugar and salt for 6 minutes. Add vanilla and pour over 1st ingredients. Mix well. Pour into a 9×13 pan. Cool until set and cut!
November Family Newsletter
Dear Family,
Well this is the first time we have submitted a letter in the family news. We have talked about doing it, but it just never got it done. The month of November was busy and went by so fast. Our lease ended at the end of November, so we had to make a choice to either stay in our small one bedroom or upgrade to a two bedroom. We choose the later. Our address stayed the same, just the apartment number changed. We now live in # 241. We like it much better, there is much more room. Wes’s little brother, Clancey, might move in with us until he goes on his mission this coming summer. We enjoy having him around and think it would be a way to help him save some money and prepare for his mission. But we will see what happens.
We went up to Colorado for Thanksgiving. Chad and Mindy invited us to have Thanksgiving dinner with them. Mom and Dad came over from Meeker as well. It was a lot of fun. We arrived there on Wednesday afternoon and that evening we went to Chad and Sam’s company party at Rib City there in Fruita. It was a great dinner and good company. Thursday we helped prepare the dinner and played with Carli, Regan, and Mollie. On Friday morning we got up early and went Black Friday shopping. It was a lot of fun and we got some really great deals. It was Amanda and Mom’s first time going. I think we will be going for the next years to come. We drove home on Saturday and stopped in Springerville to stay the night with Wes’s family. We made it back to our home on Sunday evening. What a wonderful few days off that was!!
As soon as we got back we started packing our old place up and moving to the new one. In the middle of the week Wes got really sick and was out for the count and couldn’t help much. So I moved all that I could and by Friday we were ready to move all of the big stuff. Wes had set up with one of his friends to help up by using his truck. Friday morning was beautiful… well for part of the morning, then it started raining. Yep we moved all our stuff in the rain. His buddy with the truck showed up about an hour after we started, thank goodness! When it was all said and done we were soaked to the bone and had a big mess at our new place to clean up. Now everything is all put away and it is starting to feel more like home.
We love you all and hope everyone has a safe Christmas season. Hope to see all the cousins at the cousin party this year!!
Love, Wes and Amanda McBride
Moving in the Rain
We got back from Colorado on Sunday, November 25, knowing that this week was going to be busy moving. We had signed another lease at our apartment complex, but for a two bedroom. Monday I started packing when I got home from work. Planning on moving everything over on Tuesday and Wednesday. Wes got sick unexpectedly and was unable to help me move things over for a couple of days. That really set us back, but we are troopers and did what we could. We planned to move all of the furniture on Friday the 30th, yep the last day of the month. We had to be completely out of our old place by the end of that day. Half way through the morning it started raining. We had no choice but to move in the rain. Wes had John and Camden come over to help. Camden was going to bring his truck. Wes couldn’t get a hold of Camden and wasn’t sure if he remembered or what was going on. So when John showed up we had to start moving everything we could. We got a few things over to the new place when Camden showed up. We were so happy to see him come with the truck. It made it so much easier and faster to finish up. We were able to finish in a little less than two hours. By the time we were done we were all soaked and exhausted. We are thankful for wonderful friends that are willing to come and help us out in a time like that. We are now all moved in and making our new place feel more like home. Thanks to John and Camden for all the help!!