Jess and Danny May

Fall=Hunting Season

Well, I survived the first deer hunt with the Mays. We had a lot fun. I went up with them Friday after I got off work and then I had to come home Sunday. The rest of the boys took this week off work so they are still up there. I am ready for the season to be over so I can have my husband back! This is something they always look forward to though so I understand. :). They are still up there but as of today, they have filled 5 out of 7 tags.

Above: Danny's deer.

Kirby's first deer!

My brother-in-law Courtney's deer.

Ok so this is a HUGE tranchula that David found for Danny while they were hiking... you can imagine my excitement... Danny loves, loves them. He lets it walk on and him and everything... ugh! I wont even go near it! So he took it home and now it is just me and this stupid spider home while he is gone... he may be surprised to see it's gone when he gets back.

Nauvoo

We had the opportunity to go to Nauvoo last week to pick up Danny’s grandma (Ora Mae) from her mission. Danny and I, his parents (David and Becky) and his sister left Wednesday, September 9th and came home Friday the 18th. We drove as far as South Jordan and Wednesday night and then the next day we got up early and headed to Martin’s Cove in Wyoming. That night we stayed in Cheyenne, Wyoming. 9/11 we drove from Cheyenne to Sidney, Nebraska to go to the Cabela’s headquarters then continued on to Omaha, Nebraska. That night we went to Winters Quarters aka Mormon Trail Visitors Center. 9/12 we drove to Liberty, Missouri and went to Liberty Jail. That night we finally arrived in Nauvoo. 9/13 we went to church in Nauvoo and then went to Carthage Jail. 9/14 -9/16 we toured old Nauvoo, going through all the little houses and shops and, my favorite part, the temple session. Wow! What a beautiful temple!! This whole trip was such a good experience! I learned SO MUCH! We left Nauvoo on Thursday and finally arrived home late Friday night.

Below: These are statues of the Four Sweetwater Rescuers. On November 4, 1856 the saints came to the Sweetwater River and didn’t know how they would cross it. These 4 brave men – C. Allen Huntington, Stephen W. Taylor, David P. Kimball and George W. Grant – got in the river and helped the saint across the river. They were in the water all day helping the women and children across. The water was so cold that ice chunks were floating in it.

Liberty Jail – the picture of the key was the original key to Liberty Jail. This is where Joseph, Hyrum, Sidney Rigdon, Lyman Wight, Alexander McRae, and Caleb Baldwin were for about 5 months while awaiting trail.

Carthage Jail – what a humbling experience to be in the exact place where Joseph Smith was martyred. The picture of the door is the original door with the bullet hole from the shot that killed Hyrum Smith. The window that Danny and I are standing by is the window that Joseph Smith fell out of.

The sunsets on the Mississippi River were beautiful!

Brigham Young carved this Noah's Ark set for his son.

Danny’s dad, David, is a professional horse shoer so he got the opportunity to make a horse shoe in the old blacksmithing workshop. That totally made the whole trip for him.

The Jonathan Browning Gunsmith Shop – this was one of Danny’s favorite things! It was pretty cool too see all those old guns and take a tour through his house

Riser Boot Shop, print shop, tin shop, general store, and the Family Living Center.

What a handsome guy! :)

The sun represents celetial glory.

Making a rope at the Family Living Center.

We stayed in this cute little house right in Old Nauvoo, next to the Riser Boot Shop

This was one of my favorite stories… after the Saints left Nauvoo, John Taylor noticed that his son was really really bummed so he asked him what the matter was. His son said that he was sad because he had to leave his rocking horse behind. So, John Taylor snuck back in to Nauvoo one night and got his sons little rocking horse and brought it back to him. The family later donated the rocking horse to the church. This is the original rocking horse. What a good, tender hearted man! I just love that story.

This whole trip was such a testimony builder. I was so inspired by the pioneers and learning more about what they had to go through and the good, positive attitude that they had.

Bathsheba Smith said, "my last act in that precious spot was to tidy the rooms, sweep the floor, and set the broom in its accustomed place behind the door. Then with emotions in my heart... I gently closed the door and faced an unknown future, faced it with faith in God and with no less assurance of the ultimate establishment of the Gospel in the West and of its true, enduring principles, then I had felt in those trying scenes in Missouri". As Danny and I walked down the Trail of Hope and read that quote, we talked about what we would do in their situation and we could only hope that we would have as much faith as these saints had.

Something that I realized that really inspired me was that the saints always kept going. They didn't stop when things got rough or when they lost a loved one....they kept going. If we, in our lives today, can keep the faith and "press forward" when life gets rough and hard, we too will make it through and be stronger because of it. I am so grateful to them and their sacrifices for us.

Kanarraville Canyon Hike

Last weekend Danny was working on a trailer so I decided to go with Kyle and Emily and the kids to hike Kanarraville Canyon. It was BEAUTIFUL! Kade, Kylie and Presley were little troopers. They didn't complain one time. It took us about 3 hours.

We weren't so sure about this "ladder" if you want to call it that. It doesn't look very scary but it takes a little nerve to climb that thing. Each step is only hanging on by one little teeny tiny nail (ok maybe a couple nails, BUT STILL)

And.... we made it....

Back in Time

People say that Danny and I make a cute couple... SO.... (call me imature) I have compiled some pictures of what we would of looked like in high school, had we been alive in the 60s, 70s, 80s. (Danny would die if he saw these)

1964

1974

1972

1992

Nothing says PARTY like the Mullet and a perm!

This will probably be one of those posts that I look back and say "why did I post that?" But I have been laughing so hard as I was doing them that I thought I would share. If any of you get bored, go to http://www.yearbookyourself.com/.

Best Muffins Ever!

Saturday morning was the first Saturday that Danny and I didn't have somewhere to be since we've been married (busy, busy), so I decided to make muffins from a cookbook that we got as a wedding present. The book is called Mad About Muffins. It has every kind of muffin you could imagine in this book. Anyways, I have been wanting to put the book to use and try a recipe so I looked through it to find a recipe that called for things that I already had and I decided on the Sour Cream Streusel Muffin and OH MY GOSH! They were SO good! I took some over to my parents house and my dad ate 3 of them and he never eats sweets. I thought I would share the recipe because they are really good and really easy!

2 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 egg

1/2 cup melted butter

8 ounces sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Streusel Topping:

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

3 tablespoons butter

1/3 cup chopped walnuts

Heat oven to 400°. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, and baking powder.

In another bowl, lightly beat the egg. Add the melted butter, sour cream, and vanilla extract. Combine well. Add the sour cream mixture to the flour mixture and mix just until the ingredients are combined. Fill greased muffin tins with batter.

To make streusel topping: Mix the sugar and cinnamon together. Cut in the butter. Stir in the walnuts. Sprinkle the streusel toping over the batter. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Makes one dozen muffins.

Good luck!

Cafe Rio Pork Salad Recipe

Ok so I just have to brag for a second... I made dinner last night and IT TASTED GOOD! I have been trying to be a good wife and cook dinner but cooking is not that easy! Well, it's not the actual cooking that is hard but it's just the time that it takes and then the CLEAN UP! So I have cooked pretty much everyday and trying all these new recipes and I hadn't had much luck with making anything that was worth the time and effort... until yesterday. Danny loves Cafe Rio's pork burritos so I started looking for the recipe and I came across it on a cooking blog. I have tried different copy cat recipes for Cade Rio and none of them really tasted the same but this one really does! Danny loved it and I have to admit, it was pretty good. (don't you dare ask how many calories it had) Anyways, I thought I would share the recipe... For the pork: 2 pounds pork 3 cans Coke (NOT diet) 1/4 c. brown sugar dash garlic salt 1/4 c. water 1 can sliced green chilies 3/4 can RED enchilada sauce 1 c. brown sugar Put the pork in a heavy duty Ziploc bag to marinade. Add about a can and a half of coke and about 1/4 c. of brown sugar. Marinade for a few hours or overnight.Drain marinade and put pork, 1/2 can of coke, water, and garlic salt in crock pot on high for about 3-4 hours (or until it shreds easily, but don't let it get TOO dry). Remove pork from crock pot and drain any liquid left in the pot. Shred pork.In a food processor or blender, blend 1/2 can Coke, chilies, enchilada sauce and remaining brown sugar (about a cup, you can add a little more or less to taste..). If it looks too thick, add more Coke little by little. Put shredded pork and sauce in crock pot and cook on low for 2 hours. That's it! For the Cilantro Lime Rice: 1 c. uncooked rice 1 tsp. butter or margarine 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 tsp. freshly squeezed lime juice 1 can (15 oz) chicken broth 1 cup water 1 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lime juice 2 tsp. sugar 3 tablespoons fresh chopped cilantro In a saucepan combine rice, butter, garlic, 1 tsp. lime, chicken broth and water. Bring to a boil. Cover and cook on low 15-20 minutes, until rice is tender. Remove from heat. In a small bowl combine lime juice, sugar and cilantro. Pour over hot cooked rice and mix in as you fluff the rice For the black beans: 2 Tbsp. olive oil 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 tsp. ground cumin 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained 1 1/3 c. tomato juice 1 1/2 tsp. salt 2 Tbsp. fresh chopped cilantro In a nonstick skillet, cook garlic and cumin in olive oil over medium heat until you can smell it. Add beans, tomato juice, and salt. Continually stir until heated through. Just before serving stir in the cilantro. And for the best part, the House Dressing: 1 packet TRADITIONAL Hidden Valley Ranch mix (not BUTTERMILK) 1 c. mayonnaise 1 c. buttermilk 2 tomatillos, remove husk, diced 1/2 bunch of fresh cilantro 1 clove garlic juice of 1 lime 1 jalapeno (I like it spicy so I kept the seeds in it, if you like it mild, just remove the seeds) Mix all ingredients together in the blender. That's it! If any of you try it, let me know what you think. Oh and for the tortialla strips, I just cut some corn tortillas in to thin stips and fried that (ugh, bad, I know).

Proud to be a Probst

We spent this last weekend at my Uncle Ron's ranch for the Grant and Barbara Probst reunion. Everyone had so much fun and the weather could not have been better! Some of the things we did included....

Petting a baby ponies (3 days old... so cute!)

Playing horse shoes

Getting tipped over in your kayak by your obnovious son

Going off the big swing

Fishing... good job Lydi!

Movie under the stars

Loader rides... (this was actually kinda scary but really fun!)

And most important, spending time with family!

It was so fun! Everyone spent the night except Danny and I. Danny had to work on Saturday so on Friday night we came home and then I drove back up early Saturday morning. I am actually glad that I came home to sleep that night because between the mysterious animal(s) in the atic of the barn (where most people slept) and Lydia's night terror in the middle of the night, it turned out to be a rough night for those who slept in the barn (hehe). Although I was sad that I missed seeing Emily win the hoola-hoop contest!

I love my family and I am "proud to be a Probst". Lindsay put the whole thing together and she did a great job. Thanks Linds!

Happy Birthday Kylie

It seems like I just barely did a post of Kylie turning 2! I can't believe she is already 3! She loves Dora so that was the theme for this years party. I put Danny in charge of getting her a present since he works in Vegas so he picked out a purple My Little Pony toy that talks and drinks from a bottle and sings. It was really cuet that he picked that out for her and she LOVED it! I don't think it is any surprise to anyone that I love this little girl! She is such a sweetheart with quite the little sassy side :). She loves to be mother hen and she organizes EVERYTHING. If she is eating candy, she groups them up by color and then lines them out in a perfect line. From shampoo bottles, to her My Little Pony's, to pennies, she lines them up in a perfect line, all facing the same direction. She is so much fun and just beams with personality...

Hot Summer Day...

When the boys are gone, the girls will play... all the boys went scouting for deer so me, my mom, Emily and the two little ones (Kylie and Presley) had a girls' weekend. We had so much fun! Friday night we went to Mesquite for dinner and then came home and watched So You Think You Can Dance. Saturday we went to Henderson and met up with Aunt Kathy, Becky and Aspen at the mall; did a little shopping, went to lunch and then went swimming at Kathy's. After we went swimming, Aunt Kathy taught me how to make her famous rolls which are SO good! She made the dough and taught me how to form the rolls and then I took them home to cook. Danny was really happy to come home to the smell of fresh rolls. :). Thanks Aunt Kathy!