Thanksgiving Break

    YAY! Its that time of the year when families and friends gather together for food, memory making, and great company! Paul and I were lucky enough to visit our families here in Salt Lake. We spent Tuesday Night (11/20) with Paul's family. Paul's dad makes chocolates so he snatched us while we were visiting to help him make some of his deliciously famous hand dipped chocolates. We spent actual Thanksgiving with Paul's family. We did come visit my family before dinner and after. Paul played in a turkey bowl with my dad while my mom and I did an intense kick my butt workout. After dinner, we met here to have a late celebration of Paul's birthday, and figure out our plan of attack for Black Friday shopping.

     Walmart opened this year at 8:00 PM with all of their deals, so of course we had to be in on all the good stuff! We got there at about 7:40 with plans to split up and get what we needed to done. Paul, Tallus, and Lena all fought their way through the DVD selection while my mom and I got PJ pants and some clothes figured out. My dad was the set of wheels. He dropped us off and found some parking so we didn't waste time with that. When the sale finally started at 8:00 we had everything we needed and were checked out by 8:30. We did awesome.

     Paul had planned to get his laptop this weekend, (the one that I told him he could have for his birthday). He decided the store that he needed to get it from, and at around 11:30 left to get in line. Just in case there were tons of people showing up. Paul said he sat in front of Staples for almost 6 hours and by the time the doors opened there were only 15 people in line! I am glad I didn't have to sit in the cold for that long. My little brother loves me enough to have some "male bonding time" with Paul in the freezing cold weather. While it did stink that Paul had to waste 4 hours of his life, he was grateful that he got his "precious" laptop.

      Paul has spent the last few days trying to figure out how to use windows 8, and getting the hang of his cool new toy. We were able to visit with some of my friends from high school  (Courtney Leonard and Alyssa Mustoe) and see Breaking Dawn together, (I was a huge Twilight junkie in high school). It has been so wonderful to have time to relax, enjoy life, and spend time with family and friends. Its crazy to see all the changes that happen within our family, but I love it at the same time.

Paul's Birthday Bash

     Today we had an early birthday celebration for my wonderful hubby Paul! I am awful at keeping secrets from Paul so I figured I would save him the hassle of trying to keep a surprise party from him and just plan a regular ole party for friends and family in Cedar City to come to. I told him that if he really wanted a birthday party he could set up an invite on my facebook. Thats right, I made my husband set up his own birthday party event on facebook. I am an awful wife sometimes. Its ok though because Paul still loves me. I did want to give him a little bit of a surprise, so I decided to not tell him what I was going to do cake wise.

    I had planned to give Paul a few spring form pans for his birthday (I know its cheesy, but he really needed/wanted a new laptop so that was the plan for his main present. I still felt like Paul needed something smaller to open on his actual birthday). Back to the cheesecake pan, I thought to myself, "I should make an awesome cheesecake with Paul's new cheesecake pans!" Then I thought, "Paul might be a little bummed if I use his present first, but I know he loves cheesecake, so I guess I am just going to have to use Paul's cheesecake pans before he does."

     I got my best friend Lisa Walters on board to help me cook this cheesecake. Of course, I had looked on pintrest and picked the exact one that I wanted to attempt to make, now I just needed a distraction to keep Paul from knowing what I was up to. The easiest way to do that was to steal Lisa's kitchen for several hours. Paul got left at home to do homework while Lisa and I set to work in her kitchen making what I hoped would be an amazing recipe.



     We finally got the cheesecake cooked and cooled and decorated and it turned out quite fantastic! I had never made a two tier cheesecake before, but I have to say that the cheesecake turned out far better than I thought my hands were capable of making. All of our friends at the party raved about how good the cheesecake was, so I thought I would post the recipe just incase anyone wants to try it.

His party turned out lovely. We had family and friends over for pizza and games. Our friend Tricia Keeler totally gave the cheesecake surprise away on accident but it was great anyway! Paul still acted surprised so that made me happy :)













Delicious Cheesecake
               Crust
1 1/2 cups finely crushed Graham Crackers
1/4 cups walnuts
1 TBSP sugar
1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (optional)    

For crust: in a bowl mix the graham crackers, walnuts, 1 TBSP sugar, and optional cinnamon. Stir in the melted butter. Press the crumb mixture into the bottom of a spring form pan either an 8" or 9" pan.

               Filling
2 - 8 oz packages of cream cheese
2- 8 oz packages of sour cream
1 cup sugar
2 TBSP flour
1 tsp vanilla
3 slightly beaten eggs

For filling: in a large bowl beat the cream cheese, sour cream, 1 cup of sugar, flour, and vanilla with electric mixer until combined. Stir in the eggs.

Pour the filling into the crust lined pan. place the pan in a shallow baking pan and bake at 375* for 40-45 minutes for an 8 inch pan and about 45- 50 minutes if you used an 9 inch pan. The cake is done when 2 1/2 inches around the edge of the cake appear set when gently shaken.

Cool for 30 minutes. Remove the sides of the pan and cool the cheese cake completely. Then chill for at least 4 hours before serving.