Grandma Whipple's Scallop Potatoes

I made some cheesy scallop potatoes for Easter Supper yesterday.  They were really good, not just because they were cheesy but because they were made using a recipe from Shane’s Grandma Whipple.  She passed away earlier this year, on leap day.  Grandma Whipple was so amazing; I knew that she loved me.  She loved my boys, and they loved her.  We all miss her very much, even now, its been about 6 weeks, and I still get a lump in my throat when I think about her.  She used to invite Sam and I (when we lived with Dan and Carolyn, back in 2001) over for lunch about once a week after Grandpa had gone fishing.  We would have fried fish and these scalloped potatoes. Her passing has left us missing her in so many ways.  I had been asking her every so often over the years for the recipe.  Many times her answer would be a small little laugh and a shrug, saying “Oh they’re nothing special you just throw in a little bit of this and that.”  She wasn’t trying to not tell me, she just didn’t use a recipe.  So this year after Christmas I sat down and wrote her a letter asking if she would please write down the recipe for me.  She did, and I am so glad that she did.  I thought I would share it with all of you especially Shane’s family.  Enjoy.

Grandma Whipples Scallop Cheesy Potatoes (from her letter):

I made potatoes today – we had:

8 cups potatoes

2 onions (or more)

2 cans cream of chicken soup

1 ½ can to 2 milk

1 tsp salt

Pepper to taste

Shredded Cheese on top

I heat my soup and milk in a pan then add salt and pepper.

I like to micro wave my potatoes and onions for about 12 minutes. Then I add to the hot soup mixture.  You can bake it or cook on top of the stove if your kettle is good and tight.  I think you could also bake it in the oven from the start.

I have a great big glass casserole so often I cook it all the way in the micro wave.  Grandpa loves aged sharp cheese, so that is what goes on top of it.

*** I have made this three times now and my boys do not like onions so much so I definitely cut back on them. Minced and dehydrated onions work pretty well with this as well.  I also just add some water to the potatoes and onions microwave them for the 12 min. add the soup mixture and put them back in the microwave for about 12 more minutes.  

She always had time to talk to and listen to my boys!

The First Snow of the Season and Halloween

My parents came up to Idaho for a visit mid October.  They live in Phoenix, AZ.  So when it snowed the first snow of the season, my mom was not happy.  They had moved away to they wouldn’t have to deal with driving in the snow and all the cold that comes with it.  My boys, however, loved it.  They got out some sleds and slid down the hill outside of the house and had a great time.  It melted the next day and we had some nice warm weather. 

Jojo with Grandma Calhoun

Halloween was fun we went to the ward carnival/party at the bishops shop where the kids got to do the cake walk, throw darts, throw footballs through hoops, get their faces painted, go for a hayride, and go through the haunted trailer.  They had a great time, then after the trunk or treat, their uncle Chris to them and their cousins around a couple of neighborhoods to trick or treat they came away with a lot of candy.
(  I forgot to rotate some of the pictures and am a little to lazy to re upload them again after rotating them.)

Zac

 

Jojo

Gilletts and the Crandall cousins

Sam

 

Moving Once, Moving Twice

Way back in August of last year, about 9 months ago, we moved to Shelley, Id. We were preparing for Shane to get into the Physician’s Assistant program at ISU. I meanwhile was still looking for a job. I had a promising second round job interview on the day we were to be moving, so Shane had to move us by himself. (He actually had some help thanks to his very wonderful Uncle Veldon (we miss him and Grandma Chris) and our awesome neighbor and Sam’s very best friends family, Kim you and your kids rock!). Unfortunately, I did not get the job. So, while we waited to hear about the PA program, I continued to look for a job. To say that the applicant to job ratio is high would be an understatement. A entry level position for someone coming right out of college, were now for people with 3-4 years experience. We were starting to run out of money. Also a faith building moment came where we could pay our tithing or have money to last us through the month. We paid the tithing. It was hard, for me to do, really, really hard. Shane started working with our brother-in-law Chris at a dairy in Shelley. He really did not like it. After the first couple of days he came home and said, start looking for me a job too while you’re at it. So, I did. He had just graduated from Boise State with a bachelor in Environmental Health and Safety. So I started looking for him as well, I looked in Idaho, anywhere in Idaho. It was a no go. Then I started looking in the states around us. Oregon on the coast, I could learn to like it there. Utah, I guess if we had too, J. Colorado, nice change of scenery, the winters would stink, but the mountains would be pretty. Nevada, we’ve lived there before, and loved it. Arizona, it would be nice to be closer to my family for a change. New Mexico, I do not know anything about the place but why not. Wyoming, there weren’t any jobs there. Montana, it is a big state, where to begin. North Dakota, when someone says in the middle of nowhere, I think ND is where he or she means. Washington, I have heard from my brother and his family that it rains ALL the time there. Alaska, Shane went to Ketchucan a couple years ago, and wanted to move there permanently. Texas, I can honestly say that I would like to move there. Canada, in one of the farthest north towns almost to the northpole, hmmm no. Anyway, I applied for jobs for Shane and myself in all of these places. 3 days later, Shane had a phone interview with a company. They seemed to like him enough so they flew him out to their headquarters in Kansas for another interview. They offered him the job. He came home we talked he accepted the position. 2 days later he got an interview for the PA program at ISU. So we went to the temple and tried to figure out what we really needed to do. The message was very clear. Shanes dad, who works in the twin falls temple also went and prayed. We all came away with the same feeling. Shane needed to take the job; it was the answer to our prayers. So, he did. Long story short, that’s how on our way to Someplace else, we ended up here in the middle of nowhere, close to the Canadian border, in the town of Williston, ND.

***The Lord was really looking out for us because he sent Todd and Betsy Kelly up here before us, so we would have some familiar faces to welcome us.***

***Also, this was the only company out of forty jobs that I applied for, for Shane and myself, that responded at all. We have been and continue to be very blessed here.***