Family Fun

It has been a busy last few days. My sister Vicky, step-sister Marci, and my step-dad Don all drove down from Oregon Friday to visit and see baby Tyler. It was the first time Don and Marci had seen the baby, and the first time my sister had seen him since he was about 2 hours old. It was so much fun seeing them all again, they have only been gone half a day and I miss them already. Some of the fun things my husband and I did with them while they were here were:

- Ate at a couple different restaurants, one of which we all walked to.

- One of my (and Marci's) old friends from high school drove from Mesa and spent a night with us.

- Went to the mall and bought the game Apples to Apples. Mark bought some nerd book.

- Played Apples to Apples for an hour.

- Played Apples to Apples for an hour.

- Played Apples to Apples for an hour.

- Played Apples to Apples for an hour.

- Played Apples to Apples for an hour.

- Played Apples to Apples for an hour (Count 'em, that's 6.).

- Bought and played the amazing game Jenga Max. Such an incredibly fun game!

- Looked in some stores at the square while my husband was at work, and bought an insane amount of goodies from a candy store. Well, my sisters bought an insane amount. I only got some jalapeno peanut brittle (see below.)

All in all it was a very nice visit, and I can't wait to see them again!

In other news, the king mattress Mark bought for us finally came today. I am so excited about this upgrade (used to have a full) and our little guy will finally be able to sleep with us full-time. He's only 11 weeks old but every night I wake up either falling off the edge or smashed between him and Mark to where I can't even roll over. Looking forward to our first night on the king mattress!

The jalapeno peanut brittle I got for Mark and I to share is so tasty. I'm thinking about making some of my own and looked up some recipes for it today.
Here's the one I'm thinking about implementing:
(It originally had green food coloring in it, but who wants green peanut brittle? yuck!)

Ingredients:
1/3 cup fresh jalapeno peppers, cleaned, finely chopped
(no seeds and no white part)
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup raw peanuts
2 tablespoons butter, divided
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Yield: 1 lb.

Directions:

Grease a 15 x 10-inch jellyroll pan. Set aside. In a skillet melt 1 tablespoon of the butter; add jalapenos and peanuts, and cook over low heat until peppers are soft. In a saucepan, combine sugar and syrup and bring to a boil over medium heat. Add jalapenos and peanuts. Stir well, and cook until mixture reaches the soft crack stage on a candy thermometer. Remove from heat. Blend in remaining 1 tablespoon butter, vanilla extract, almond extract and food coloring until well mixed. Sprinkle baking soda evenly over the cooked mixture and stir well. When foamy, pour immediately onto the prepared jellyroll pan. Spread out into a thin layer. Let cool on jellyroll pan until until brittle and cool enough to handle. Break into irregular pieces. Store in an airtight container.

I'll let you know how it goes!