Welcome Holiday Season!

This week we have been busy getting into the holiday spirit- we visited Castle Rock for their annual StarLighting Festival.  Grandma treated us to the chili supper at the Fire Station followed by a visit to the local chiro for some apple cider & hot cocoa + guess who was there..... SANTA!

Tis the Season! 

Next on the To Do List is packing for the trip back to Iowa.  We'll be packed in the Camry with Hubble, Ash and Scott :) I know they are REALLY looking forward to it.   To prep - I stopped by the library today for a good selection of audio books (hopefully we can all agree on one) 

The choices are.... 

Seems like a pretty varied selection don't you think?  Still to do is packing up all of the necessities to get us through the next week... including Hubble's overnight bag :) 
We're really looking forward to our trip back for Thanksgiving (minus the 12+ hour drive)... can't wait to catch up with family and friends over the next couple of days! I'm sure our schedules will be packed full- so I'll bring back some pics to share with our whirlwind holiday trip!


If you are looking for something to take along to your next holiday gathering... I would recommend this recipe below.... YUM! 
You already know how much I love Iowa Girl Eats... so I'm going to share another recipe I found on her website.  We have been attending Sunday night dinners with friends here in CO (last night was SUSHI- yum! Thanks Rachel!) 

so I brought this along for dessert...

Apple Crisp!   
(I cut this recipe in 1/2 and baked in square pan)

For the Crust:
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup butter1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups rolled oats


For the Filling:
3 1/2 cups sliced apples (about 24 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
1 cup Caramel 

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Spray pan with cooking spray.
2. In a medium bowl, beat the brown sugar and the next 4 ingredients (through baking soda) until thoroughly combined. Mix in the flour and oats until crumbly. Scoop out 1 cup and set aside. Place the remaining crumbs into your prepared pan and press down firmly to coat the bottom.

3.  Mix apple filling in large bowl and place over crust.  Cover apple filling with carmel sauce (yum!)

4.  Sprinkle with remaining crust crumbs you had set aside. 

4.  Bake 35 minutes until apple mix is bubbling. 

Once again I forgot to take a pic of the finished product... but this got rave reviews from the dinner party crowd... and the pan was scraped clean when I took it home.

Now.. off to do more laundry and finish packing for our trip back to the midwest!