Chisholm Halloween Bash

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Peach Crisp

I know some of y'all love peaches like we do, so here's a VERY yummy recipe using them!!! Enjoy!!!

(it'd be nice if some of y'all posted while you're trying the crisp :)

Peach Crisp with Maple Cream Sauce

1 cup flour
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. (one stick) butter, cut into bits
5-6 cups, peeled, sliced fresh peaches
Juice and grated zest of ½ lemon
2 T. maple syrup

*Maple cream Sauce, for serving (make beforehand, see instructions below)

Preheat oven to 350. Combine flour, sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in medium bowl. Cut in butter with fork or pastry blender until mixture is the consistency of coarse meal. Place peaches in 9-inch square baking pan or smaller baking dish. Gently mix in lemon juice, rind and maple syrup. Top with crumb mixture. Cover tightly with foil and bake about 15 minutes. Remove foil and bake20 to 30 minutes more or until top is crisp and brown. You might want to broil fora couple of minutes to ensure good color. Serve warm with maple cream sauce.

Maple Cream Sauce
1 1/2 cups whipping cream
5 T. maple syrup
3 T. light corn syrup

Combine all ingredients in heavy sauce pan; cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly until thickened and reduced by 1/3, approximately 20 minutes. Chill until thickened. Drizzle generously over Peach Crisp.

The "Chisums" do DOWNATA

What a great little family reunion we had, thanks to Loreen who planned the trip and got us all up there, KUDOS  Lurleen!!  We missed the parents, Shane and Riana, Rich, and 3 of their kids and two of Jon and Cathi's kids though, So....it was a "half" reunion!!

We had lots of fun in the warm water springs, which were nice because it was only in the 60's and cloudy and windy most of the time. The kids loved the slides, playing with stick guns on the mountain, playing at the park, and of course, the fire.

We had our usual RIDICULOUS amount of food, half of Costco was brought into Idaho over the weekend and we thoroughly enjoyed it! Bummer that Gracie and Becky got the flu while we were there, hopefully no-one else gets it!!

The cabins were clean, cute and fun, Becca will have to pay for that decorative pillow though :)

Overall, we had a good time together, (except for Cathi who will always and forever be the SCUM of the clan :) the cousins had a blast and the adults had a good time too. We always manage to laugh our guts out, be very silly, get a little crazy and have fun. We have a great family, here's to many more fun times!!!

I am not kidding ,this bread is FABULOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!Excited to see you all next week!! Double Chocolate Banana Bread

Recipe adapted from Cooking Pleasures

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 1/4 cups mashed bananas (about 3)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup cocoa (I prefer dutch process)

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

1. Heat oven to 350. Spray bottom of 8x4 inch loaf pan with cooking spray.

2. Beat sugar, eggs, and oil in large bowl at medium speed until combined. Beat in banana and vanilla at low speed. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl; beat into banana mixture at low speed just until combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

3 Spoon batter into pan. Bake 60-70 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Remove from pan; cool completely on wire rack.

The Latest from The Parents

I just got this email from mom, along with some items of business. I thought everyone would appreciate this!
Riana
I didn't know if any of you are "Survivor" fans but this is kind of interesting. It looks like they will be doing a series from Samoa. The historic hotel here called Aggie Greys is booked up from May to October with Survivor crew and they have a 200 person capacity. Three of the prettiest beaches here have been closed to the public until October for filming. One of them, The Black Sands Beach, was one of our favorites and Dad went there at least once a week although it was an hour's drive each way.
He has found a lovely little beach just a 10-minute drive from the house, called Palolo Deep. You go through about 100 yards of not much on the bottom and then, all of a sudden, you get to a spot where the coral looks beautiful, fish are plentiful, the variety is extraordinary, and the water is almost always calm--great for snorkeling.
About ten days ago, one of the crew of survivor came in with a dental problem and I took care of him. He wanted to pay me, but I told him we didn't charge. About a week ago the doctor who traveled with them came in and requested if I would see to the emergency dental needs of their cast and crew. I told them I would on a first-come, first-served basis. Then she said, "I hear you won't take money for it". I said, "that's right, we don't charge." Then she asked if they could make a donation of equipment or something." I said, "Yes, you can make a donation of something the hospital here needs." She said that she though she could work that out
Anyway talk to you again, Dad is ready for a game of Yahtzee. He's been beating me ever since I slaughtered him by getting 4 yahtzees in one game for a total score of over 600.
Love ya,
MOM

Let there be WATER!!!

We all went down to the Parents to help put in the sprinkler system.

When they left to Tonga last time, the grass was not watered or taken care of, so the boys didn't want that to happen again! All 4 brothers (missed you Michael!) and Joshie, worked hard all day, and got the old system automated so it'll work at a touch of a button!

YAY! 

Hopefully this time the lawn will grow!!!

We also helped Loreen clean out the basement to get ready for her house to be fixed-hope everything goes well with that guys.

The kids had  a great time playing together, it's always fun to get together!!!

C'mon Guys!!!

Hey, I know all of you take pictures, I would love to see some of em on here!!!! Love you all!!!!

Easter Family Party

We had a fun time at the family party this month. Riana and Shane and their kids and Jared and Becky and their kids came to our house on Conference Saturday. We missed the rest of you! We had fun having an Easter Egg hunt in the basement (since it was yucky outside) and dying eggs. The kids had a great time together. We also had a new family favorite food. It's called "Cralad"....it's just salad with a bunch of "Crap" in it! For those of you who hate nuts, dried fruit etc, (which I know is quite a few of you!) you can just leave them out and have plain "Cralad". Here is the recipe.

Red Leaf Lettuce, Green leaf lettuce, 1/2 thick slices of Deli turkey, cubed: mozarella cheese; Craisens, Sunflower Seeds, Red Onion, Mushrooms. Chop all this up and put it in a bowl.

Dressing: 3/4 Tbsp poppyseeds; 3/4 c canola oil: 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard; 1/3 c White Vinegar: 1/2 c sugar: S&P to taste. Shake it all up and let sit in fridge for awhile. Shake again before serving. (I doubled this for our dinner).

And thanks to my friend Lori, it's her recipe!!!!

So, have a happy Easter, hope to see some more posts on here soon!!!!!

Jon and Cathi

Hello All!

I decided to start this blog in an attempt to stay closer together! I've invited you to be an author so you can post things your family is doing! It is  so easy to post pictures and write a  little blurb about your weekly activities. We can all benefit from this! Our kids will love it, and we will feel more apart of each others lives!! Just take a minute or two once a week (Sunday is a great day!) and write a little about your "adventures along YOUR Chisholm trail!! If you need help posting, me, Becky or Riana can help you out, it's very easy!!!

I also thought that since the parents are far away on a Pacific Island, this would be a fun way to help them see what's happening with all of us here on the Mainland!!! It will also be a great way for us to see the service and great opportunities they are having with the people in Samoa.

So, don't get stressed out, don't freak out about this. It's really a fun way to keep connected and it only takes a few minutes to connect with our family!

Love ya,

Cath