30 Day Challenge Update

Well, October is over and the month of no sugar was a success. Well, it wasn't completely no sugar. I allowed myself fruit and foods that had sugar in them. My husband did the challenge with me, and I am sure it was successful because we were doing it together. Usually if only one of us do something like this we sabotage each other. When we have tried this before we would sit at the table and discuss how good chocolate cake is. Then before you knew it we were eating chocolate cake. So for this challenge we created a the rule that we couldn't talk about what sweets we wanted. I believe that rule held the challenge together. We conveniently finished on Halloween and so we both over did it. We felt so awful that we have decided to keep going with the no sugar but allowing ourselves the occasional indulgence.

So now it is on to November. I have been stressing over what to choose for this month and the days are slipping by. This month is national write a novel month and that was what I was going to do. However, I just don't see myself having the time to fit it in plus I am already three days behind. Then I thought about making a pie each day for 30 days, it being the month of Thanksgiving and all. However, my husband didn't think that would be the best idea since we were trying to stay away from sugar. I tried to explain I would give the pies away but he stood firm.

So I have decided to challenge myself to play with my kids for a little bit every day. I know this sounds awful, don't most parents play with their kids? Well, for me it is a struggle. First, I am usually not very excited to play the games they play. Second, I am the Mom and am usually busy running the household which does not five me lots of extra time to play. So two days ago while pondering my next 30 day challenge, my son said, "Mommy why don't you play with us much?" I realized I needed to not worry so much about dinner being done on time and spend a few minutes playing with the race track. So the last two days I have started to play a bit more with my kids and will continue until the end of the month (and hopefully beyond).

What is your challenge for the month of November? How did your challenge go last month?

Game Time at Three Little Monkeys

Can you believe all the Christmas decorations that the stores already have on display? It isn't even Halloween yet and we have already skipped to Christmas. Although I wish the stores wouldn't do that, it has motivated me to start thinking about what Christmas gifts I need to purchase. I am usually one of those last minute shoppers, or should I say last second shoppers ;-). Because I wait, I end up with the plastic cheap gifts that break. After Christmas is over I usually wish I had done a bit more research or taken a bit more care in buying good quality toys and gifts.

In an effort to start exploring gifts early I took a trip to an educational toy store. The store is called "Three Little Monkeys" and it is located in Bountiful and Fruit Heights. I went to the Bountiful store and my son and I had a blast! The costumer service was amazing. I told my son ahead of time that we weren't going to buy anything so he brought a list to write down what he liked. The store worker saw he had a list and offered him one they had with a clipboard and pen. Then she helped him write down the items he wanted so I could look through the store. The store had many open box items for shopper to play with and the worker saw my son playing and joined him. He had so much fun.

After I was done exploring all the amazing creative toys I was told that the store has a game night every Monday from 6:00-7:00 pm. Since I try to buy my kids a new game every Christmas I thought this was a great idea. I can take my kids to a free game night and test the games to see what they like best. This is a great store with creative, fun, unique toys. I would encourage you all to check it out and if you want to have a fun family game night grab the family,  drive to Three Little Monkeys and get out 'n about.

Yummy Applesauce

Last week I went apple picking with the family and it was so much fun (you can read about it in the Out 'N About section)! We bought a bushel of apples, which, equates to... a lot of apples! They have been sitting in a box in the living room, and except for a few apples I dried and some we just ate, we still have a lot of apples left. So today I made applesauce with them and I must say it turned out great!

If you have never tried homemade applesauce I would recommend giving it a try because, well, it is just better made fresh. My grandma's applesauce was always my favorite so today I tried to copy it. I didn't quite get it perfect but I came close and hopefully close enough that my kids will say, "My mom's applesauce is my favorite".

If you want to give applesauce a try here is the recipe I used. I did modify a few things. I used regular cinnamon because I didn't have a stick of it. I also used half a cup water and half a cup cranberry juice for extra flavor. I also put the sauce through a food mill because I do not own a potato masher. I think the potato masher would be easier and a bit more rustic for homemade sauce. When I was done I put the sauce into cupcake tins and froze it so the kids would have portion sizes for school snacks. Enjoy!

(For those of you following my 30 day challenge, I did eat some of this. Is that cheating? Is applesauce a dessert?)


Homemade Applesauce
from Simply Recipes

3-4 lbs of peeled, cored, and quartered apples. (use a good cooking apple: Granny Smith, Fuji, Jonathan, Mcintosh, or Gravenstein.)
4 strips of lemon peel
lemon, juice of (3-4 tbsps)
3-inch cinnamon stick
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup of white sugar (approximately – depending on how sweet you want it and how sweet the apples are)
1 cup water
1/2 tsp salt

Place everything in a large pot (one large enough to hold all of the apple quarters… ahem) over high heat. Cover the pot and let the contents come to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and let cook for 20-30 minutes. Turn off the heat and remove the cinnamon sticks and lemon peels before mashing the apples with a potato masher. I prefer mine to be chunky, so I don’t go crazy mashing the apples. Serve hot or cold.

Apple Picking

Yesterday was a beautiful Autumn day so our family went out for an adventure. We drove through the mountains of northern Utah where we were able to admire the beautiful colors of the changing trees and the scenic views of some small communities. Our destination was Paradise Valley Orchard to go apple picking, and I must say that this Orchard was a taste of paradise. 


Paradise Valley Orchard had been in business for about 16 years and in May was purchased by the new owners Lorin and Ali Harrison. There were many things that impressed me about our visit to this orchard. The owners and staff were very friendly and helpful. They told us which apples were the best for pies or baking and which were the best for eating. They told us to taste all the different varieties of apples to make sure we took home the ones we liked best. Can you imagine a grocery store saying that?  They also had crates for us to put our apples in and offered us boxes to take them home in since we forgot to bring a container. 

Not only did the hospitality impress me but the atmosphere did as well. The orchard has six different varieties of apple trees and some garden areas. It also had chickens running around which provided great entertainment for my kids who rarely are around farm animals. They also had a little play scape the kids were able to play on. Overall my kids were able to enjoy themselves, run around pick apples and get a bit of a farm experience. 


Finally, as a mom who likes to put healthy home grown food into my kids, I was pleased to find out that the owners are working on becoming certified as organic apple growers. Therefore, the apples were not sprayed with pesticides or other junk I don't want my kids eating.  When the owners said we could taste the apples off the trees, we really could, and all we consumed were crispy fresh apples. 


It was a really fun experience, one we will do again. So if you are looking for a great Autumn outing for your family I would highly recommend Paradise Valley Orchard. If you were wondering about cost, a bushel is $30 and a half a bushel is $17. You can also purchase apples at $1.25 a pound. They take cash and check. The Orchard also has apple cider for sale and if you make an appointment they will press your apples into apple cider for you.  So grab a container for apples, some cash, a camera and get out 'n about.