PCS Adventure Log Part 2

When we last posted, we had just left Virginia and we were on our way back West, working our way towards our new home in Sunny California! 

Our first stop was back in Albuquerque to rescue Aunt Andrea from all the animals! Because 3 dogs and 3 cats, makes her an animal hoarder. 

We then adventured back to Tucson, to spend a couple days with my family before we checked into California! 

Sadly here my camera stopped working correctly and don't really have any pictures until after we got to California. 

PCS Adventure Log Part 1

It's been about 2 months since we started our adventure out of Montana. On April 8th the movers came and packed us out. That was a big day for little Evey, Her first move (from Helena to Butte) she was only about 3 months old, so there was a lot more going on, that she was aware of.
To keep her out of the way we played outside, it was warming up, but as you can see there was still plenty of snow on the ground. 

On April 9th we drove out of Montana and headed South, our first night we spent in Salt Lake City, and then drove on. That second day we stopped at Bryce Canyon. Fun Fact: I'm distantly related to Ebeneezer Bryce, the dude that place is named after. 

Evey was a teeny little monster at Bryce Canyon, so we didn't stay long. She wanted to run up to the edge of the canyon, and mommy wouldn't let her. 

We stayed that night in Page, Az. At not the nicest motel, but that's what you get when you wait until 5pm to book a room in a small town. We got up bright and early the next day, and continued on to Tucson. We made our fun stop that day at Meteor Crater. I have been there once, but I was very young. Paul had never been there. It sounded really cool, but it's really just a big hole in the ground that you pay $15 to look at. At least Paul was free since he is Active Duty, and Evey was free since she is teeny tiny. 

That night we made it to Tucson, after getting caught in Phoenix and Tucson rush hour, and me almost ending up in tears. I don't handle traffic well and after driving all day I was tired and frazzled and Evey was screaming at the top of her little lungs by the time we hit Tucson. No matter how many times I said "we are almost there, We are so close" she would just cry. 

But we made it, and we spent a lovely weekend at my parents, relaxing and avoiding being in the car.  We enjoyed fun in the sun, and considerably warmer temperatures. 

From Tucson we went on to Albuquerque, where we stopped at Aunt Andrea's house and dropped off our monsters. The pets were going to stay with her while we continued our adventure East. Andrea has a Boston of her own, so when we added our two into the mix things got a little crazy at her house. She sure is brave to take on three dogs for us. I know her house was bananas for nearly three weeks. 

Next we continued on East, not many pictures of the drive, it was boring, We did stop a couple times, once in the middle of Oklahoma to let Evey burn off some steam because we decided to push all the way to Arkansas that first night. The second day of our adventure East was equally boring, and that night I had horrible food poisoning or something and was sick all night and most of the next day, BTW being sick and having to check out of a hotel and get into a car is the worst. But I was able to pull it together when Evey got sick too. Needless to say, that day was horrible, but we made it to Grannys in Northern Virginia, and we got a little food in our tummies and slept like angels. I also slept most of the next day, because I was still feeling pretty dead.
We had a wonderfull time at Granny's. Evey got to meet her Aunt Maggie, and her two Uncles, Pat & Ben, she got to spend some wonderful quality time with everyone. She loved spending time with Granny. We had a wonderful Easter and loved picking the flowers in Granny's back yard.

Sadly the time came for us to head back west so we could make our way to our new home in California. 

Check back in a couple days for PCS Adventure Log Part 2! 

Still Moving!

I have been updating regularly on instagram - AlanaMarie26 check me out! 

I am still in the process of moving, we have done our cross country family visits, gotten our address at Camp Pendleton and we are back at my moms house for the weekend. We will be setting up at our home next week and if any of you are still here, I should be back to regular posting the week after. I have lots of posts in mind, traveling with a toddler, fun at the zoo, car friendly snacks for tots. So make sure you check back soon! 

High Altitude Corned Beef & Cabbage

I loved Corned Beef and cabbage, no matter what the holiday. It's one of my favorite meals. I like to buy a couple right after St. Patricks day and freeze them for later in the year. I am a bit sad that this year I will not be able to stock up because we are getting ready to move. 

We were well above sea level when we moved to Montana, but only the last year that we have lived in Butte, have we been "High - Altitude". We about 6500 feet in the hills above the city. I have found cooking has become quite the pain in the ass. Everything takes longer, and most everything is dry. I don't think I have made a successful roast since we moved here. Even in the crock pot things dry out faster because the air is thinner up here. 

A couple corned beefs ago I did a brown sugar/mustard dry rub and it was amazing. I modified it a little this year because I don't have any mustard in my fridge, only dry mustard. 

(all ingredients are estimates, you can do more or less depending on the size of your corned beef)

3 1/2 pound pre-packaged corned beef

rub-

1/4 cup of brown sugar

1 tbsp pepper

1/2 tbsp dry mustard powder

dash of celery salt

packet of stuff that came with your corned beef

mix all the above ingredients in a bowl.

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees

Place corned beef in a baking dish fat side up

squeeze about 2-3 tbsp of honey on the fat side of your corned beef and then sprinkle your rub on top of this, and then pat it down. You want to cover almost all the fatty tissue with your rub, you can go over the edges if you want, I didn't. 

after 2 hours I reduced the temperature to 300

cover your dish with lid or foil and place in oven for 3 1/2- 4 hours.

at 3 hours I added some small potatoes and raised the heat back to 325.

at 4 hours I added come cabbage wedges and placed back in the oven until they were soft (about 15-20 minutes)

Travel update.

Happy Easter! 

We have ween out of Montana for an little more than 10 days now. Traveled to Arizona, New Mexico, and now Virginia. We have settled for about the next week plus, and then we will go back, and head to California. Driving cross country with a toddler is no fun, but we found ways to cope. Once we get settled in Cali I'll write up a bit on it with our tricks. I really hope the trip back is less eventful than the one over here though. We got a flat on the freeway and then the next day Evey and I both had tummy troubles that required multiple stops. But we made it. And now we are relaxing at Granny's house. Evey is napping while mommy lays with her, catching up on YouTube, Facebook, and now blogging. 

I want to say thank you to my sister for watching my animals while We are traveling, she has got her hands full. 

She has her own Boston terrier, and her own two cats, and she is also watching my 2 Boston's and my cat. 

Puppy party!!!

I hope you are having a great Easter holiday, and I'll try to keep updating as frequently as time allows. 

I apologize for any weird spacing or photo sizes, I'm writing from the iPad, don't feel like charging the laptop.