Recipe of the Month - Pumpkin Loaf

This recipe is brought to you by All Recipes and Elizabeth who happened to share this deliciousness!!!

Pumpkin Loaf

 Ingredients

         4 ounces cream cheese, softened

         1/4 cup margarine

         1 1/4 cups white sugar

         2 eggs

         1 cup canned pumpkin

         1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

         1 teaspoon baking soda

         1/4 teaspoon baking powder

         1/2 teaspoon salt

         1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

         1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

         1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease one 9x5x3 inch loaf pan.

Put softened cheese, butter, and sugar in mixing bowl. Cream together well. Beat in eggs one at a time until blended. Mix in pumpkin.

In another bowl combine flour, soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and walnuts. Stir until thoroughly mixed. Pour all at once over batter. Stir just enough to moisten. Turn into greased 9x5x3 inch loaf pan.

Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 60-70 minutes until inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan. Remove to rack to finish cooling.

(Sorry for the funky formatting... I just cut and paste and it won't let me edit it!)

Jasper Review

Phil had a few extra days off last week and we found a deal through Travel Alberta Magazine so we thought we'd take the family and get away for a few days.  We booked a room at the Best Western.  We had a pretty sweet room with a kitchenette and a pull out bed with a loft and a Queen size bed up there (although we think the bed was a double - it felt super small).  We left on Wednesday morning and headed out (the trip is about two hours long).  We made it to Hinton for lunch, did some shopping at Walmart and walked around their little mall.  We got into Jasper around 4pm (just in time to check in!).

We were able to spot some wildlife along the way...

We got settled in our room and got ready to go explore the town and find a place for dinner.  We walked through some gift shops and found some neat little Jasper things.  We found some neat photo ops too!

We had dinner at Jasper Pizza Place.  It was pretty good and it got busier and busier the longer we were there.  Good service and good food, also a good place for kids.  After dinner we headed back to our hotel to try out the pool.  It was fun but it was a little cold!  The kids played in the water and then we scored a few minutes in the hot tub to warm up!  Everyone went to bed after a long full day!

The next day we got up, had our breakfast and checked out.  We saw a sign for Pyramid and Patricia Lakes so we went for a little drive.  There are two beautiful lakes just minutes outside of the town of Jasper.  

 Can you spot the flying rocks?

We walked around the town some more, took a few more pictures and bought a few little things along the way.

Overall we had a great time!  We can't wait to go back (maybe bring some friends who can babysit for us so we can do some hiking or wildlife watching).  We are looking forward to meeting some friends there this winter to do some skiing/snowboarding!  Can't wait. 

Jasper is so cute and quiet.  The funny thing is that come the fall a lot of things close down.  The hotspings are closed, the tramway is closed and a few restaurants and shops were closed.  I guess skiing season isn't as big as I thought it was.  Even some lodging places are closed as well.  So, if you're going to go and want to experience some things, I guess you need to go in the spring/summer!

I guess we tired her out!

Can't wait to go back!

Some photos of our time here

See the deer?  This was on our drive to Grande Prairie

Oh, yeah... we got snow the second week we were here!

A view from my back deck - there is no snow on it now!

Another view!

This is on the way to Grande Prairie.

More on the drive to Grande Prairie.

Playing outside in a nice fall day.

We got some sweet hats made from my good friend 

at buttonbox design!

Makayla and Taylor playing hide-n-seek!

We went to check out Grande Cache Lake the other evening.

Of course Makayla found the playground!

Learning how to throw rocks into the Lake.

A view of the Lake.

Throwing more rocks with Dad!

You know you're not in Kansas (Edmonton) anymore

This post is for you Nathan!

So Tuesday evening I loaded the kids in the van and we headed to the Rec Centre.  I dropped Taylor off at the childcare area and Makayla and I went for swimming lessons.  It was great.  The whole time we were there she kept on saying, "I love swimming, I love swimming".  We came home and all seemed normal.  We ate dinner and I was getting the kids ready for bed, when there was a knock on the door...

In came one of Phil's coworkers.  Let me tell you a little about the man they call Dillman.  This guy is a machine!  His family lives in Grande Prairie and so he has decided to try and save money he will camp out doors as long as it is above -20.  Once it hits - 20, he'll be sleeping here in the basement.  Phil went by Camp Dillman the other day and told me about it.  He has a huge tent set up with a cooking station and sleeping area and everything.  He has put up a nice fence to keep the wild animals at bay.  He hunts for food and one day Phil and him caught and BBQed some squirrel.

So Tuesday Dillman showed up at our place looking for some of our roommates.  Phil was at work, but the other two guys were home.  Why, did he come looking for them?  Well, it's hunting season and Dillman went and shot himself a 6 point Elk (6 points refers to the points on the antlers - I'm learning so much living here!).  He needed a few strong men to help him get the Elk down the mountain.  The three guys rounded up some flashlights, tarps and headed off (that was about 7:30pm).  They returned two hours later tired and with no elk.  The did however manage to gut the animal.  Apparently this elk weighed 600-700 pounds (and I hear we're all gonna be eating elk all winter so if anyone has some good recipes send them my way!).

They couldn't leave the elk on the mountain over night (the bears and coyotes would get to it and it was supposed to warm up on Wednesday and it's no good to leave the animal out.  What I forgot to mention earlier was that Dillman shot the elk 4 times and when the three guys went up there he was still ALIVE!  They had to slit it's throat (sorry for the details, I just find it so amazing).  So over the next hour, while they waited for the shift change at work, Dillman got busy calling all the guys he could.  There were a few at work, Phil being one of them.  By 11pm they had gathered about 5 guys, a truck and they headed back up the mountain.  I went to bed thinking they'd be back within in an hour or so since it was already gutted.  Phil did not get into bed until 3:30am.  The elk was huge and they ended up leaving parts of it behind (a leg, some ribs and some other delectable parts).  Even with the 5 guys it was still too big and heavy for them to carry!

That's the story!  These things just seem so foreign when you come from the city.  I can now say that after being here for about a month, it's not as bad as I thought it was going to be.  All that being said we've had beautiful weather and it doesn't even feel like fall.  I may change my mind once winter hits, but they say that Chinook's come through here, so I may just be ok!!!