Inspiring Quotes

I have been reading a lot of the General Conference talks and a more of an uplifting book and have had a lot of great quotes really pop out at me.  I thought I would share:

"Every one of us is more beloved to the Lord Than we can possibly  understand or imagine.  Let us therefore be kinder to one another and kinder toward ourselves..."
-Elder Robert D. Hales
With the media controlling our society I think this is a beautiful reminder to all of us. 

"The purpose of life is to discover your gift.  The meaning of life is to give your gift away."
-David Viscott

"I don't know what your destiny will be, but this I know: the only ones among you who will be truly  happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve."
-Albert Scheweitzer, humanitarian.

Service, service, service.  Something that I always say I am going to do, but never actually get around to doing.  This is an amazing time of the year to be looking for people to serve and start the habit of it and continue on through the next year. 

Catching Up

So much has happened in the past 3 months, I don't even know where to start.  A lot of big events, a lot of birthdays, a lot of parties and many, many cupcakes and dinners were made.  I will try to cover it all, but there are too many pictures so this post will probably be lacking in that area.

One of the biggest things that have happened was my little brother, Nick, left on his mission on October 26th.  He spent 3 weeks in the Provo MTC then went to the MTC in Peru and is currently still there.  He absolutely loves the mission so far, but the language is frustrating, as we all knew it would be.  He has been companions with my cousin, Reggie, since day 1.  They were companions in Provo, companions in Peru, and when all of the companins switched around, they stayed the same!  The mission president said that the spirit that is with those two being together is one of the strongest he has felt.  That is really amazing and comforting to hear.  So he is doing great!

Next, on Halloween Brady and I threw a Chicago Caper Murder Mystery dinner!  It was actually pretty difficult to remember all of the facts, but everyone dressed their parts and we had a great time.  It is always fun to spend time with our great friends.

Oh also, I can't forget our other halloween costumes...

Brady had a birthday at the beginning of November, he is now 27!  His family came into town to be with him so that was a lot of fun.  We went to Rodizio Grill, and again we got to spend another great night playing games with our friends.  We are very lucky!

Also in  November, my dearest friend Brooke Hansen married the love of her life, Daniel Beaudoin!  I think that is how you spell it...sorry if it is wrong!  They both looked amazing, it was such a wonderful night to be able to show our love and support for their lifetime together.  I am so happy for that perfect couple.

Just a couple of weeks ago Brady sold his first company!!!  Wooooo!!  He has worked so hard starting this and keeping it going, now finally it all paid off.  I am so proud of him for all of the effort he has put into it and am excited to see where he goes next.  This is him signing the congract.

Just last week I finally finished my finals!  I absolutely love school, but I was so burnt out.  It ended well though, I will miss my Cohort of Women though! (The group of fantastic ladies who I have all of my classes with).

And now time to relax and enjoy the holidays.  Wow I just realized that this update sounds a lot like those updates that families send with their christmas cards each year...oops!  Thats okay, now that I am caught up I won't have to do it again.

This shouldn't be my last post before Christmas, but for some reason it is, Merry Christmas!!

Welcome Back

I'm baaaaaack! 

Sorry I was MIA all semester, school was crazy.  But guess what?!  I AM ALL DONE!  Can I get a 'woot woot'?  Thanks guys.

Well I just finished my last final yesterday, and I am done with the semester, and hopefully I passed my math class!  Just so you know it wasn't all of my schooling that kept me away from this blog, it was that math class...Okay no more hard feelings towards math, unless I find out I didn't pass, then we will go from there.

Anyway, I just wanted to say hi and let you know there will be many more blog posts to follow.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

The last time I made cupcakes for my work my boss came up to me and put in a request for carrot cake cupcakes.  I said I would love to do it, then he proceeded to tell me a story:

He and his wife just went to DC and since they were there they stopped by Georgetown Cupcakes.  If anyone hasn't heard of them, they have their own show and I absolutely love watching it.  Anyway, he said they went to Georgetown Cupcakes and waited an hour and a half in line just to buy one cupcake.  AN HOUR AND A HALF!  I couldn't believe that.  He said once he got to the front, he ordered got his carrot cake cupcake and ate it.  And the hour and a half was worth it.  Then he said, make me a carrot cake cupcake.  No pressure right??  Wrong!  I was excited to make these for him, and now I have to compete against Georgetown Cupcakes.  Great.

So I was looking online and found a couple of recipes, but non seemed right.  How I could tell, I have no idea I have never made carrot cake cupcakes before or really tasted it.  Lovely.  I came across a recipe that used apples in it, and I thought that sounded good so I decided that was the winner.  Thank you http://www.joyofbaking.com/!!

This morning when I came into work I talked to my boss and we decided that he would test them first, be brutally honest and if they sucked we wouldn't put them out.....but he LOVED them!  Wooooooo!!!  Seriously it made my whole day.  He looked like a happy little boy eating his cupcake it was so great.  In the words of Mark Smith "BOOM!!!"  Success.

So this recipe makes about 20 cupcakes, I just added an extra egg, some extra oil, extra sugar and flour to make about 27.  That was risky on my part for not adding more of everything, but it worked!

Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (I actually ended up using around 3 tsps)
4 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup canola oil
2 cups finely grated raw carrots (I only used 1, it seemed like a lot)
1 cup grated apple (approximately 2 large)
1/2 cup pecans or walnuts coarsley chopped
1 cup raisins or currants (I left them out)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2. In a large bowl whisk eggs, oil and sugar together
3. In another bowl mix flour, salt, baking soda and ground cinnamon (I added in 1/4 nutmeg as well, you can do what you want!  Add the flour mixture to the eggs, oil and sugar.
4. Fold in the carrots, apples, nuts and raisins.
5. Bake for 18-22 minutes, or until done in the middle.

The frosting is the Cream Cheese frosting that I use on a lot of mine so that is on the website.  When I was done frosting I added some of the extra crushed nuts on top to make them look pretty.

Also I got to use my new cupcake stand that I made as well!!  What a success.  Enjoy!

Cupcake Stand

So I am obsessed with this website called Pinterest.  (Pinterest.com)  I have mentioned it in my blog before and I am pretty sure everyone who reads this already knows about it.  Anyway they have a lot of DIY crafts to do, and one of them was a cupcake stand.  I love making cupcakes and  I have been wanting to make a cute stand for them for a long time now and just got around to doing it. 

I went to the DI and found a few cute plates that I wanted to use, all of different sizes.  I also bought two old candlesticks and some crazy glue.  While I was putting the crazy glue on the candlesticks to put onto the plate, I got some in my hair!!  Ahhh I was freaking out.  My parents were up in their room sleeping and I was so tempted to go up and say "I know this is going to take you back a few years, but I have glue in my hair and don't know how to get it out!!"  I just decided to finish the project and deal with it later.  Probably not the smartest thing to do, but once it dried I just combed it out.  Luckily.

Anyway back to the cupcake stand.  I used crazy glue, so far it is working well, but I think that something stronger would be better to use.  I still think it turned out good though!

Tuuuhhhdahhhhh!!!

"Every child is an artist" -Picasso

Inspired by the quote by Picasso, on my last day of babysitting my sweet nephew Hudson, I decided to have him fingerpaint!

The masterpiece!!

Gourmet Burgers

My family does a delightful dish that we like to call Gourmet Burgers.  This is where you get some ground up beef, whatever toppings you want like, onions, peppers, cheese, garlic, etc. But instead of putting them on top of your cooked burger, you put them inside! Mmmmmmm!!  So last night, Brady and I decided to make Gourmet Burgers with what we had.

You will want to make a thin slice of meat, well however thin you want, but not too thin so the toppings fall out. 

Add in whatever ingredients you want to it.  For ours, Brady and I decided to use BBQ sauce, garlic, mozzarella cheese and onions.

Then you make another thin slice of meat and put it on top of your toppings. 

Next you will pinch the bottom slice of meat as well as the top slice of meat together to enclose all of your delicious toppings. 

Then grill!!

Finally...I blogged! Oh and some lovely cupcakes

Alright, alright.  I know it has been over a month since I have blogged....I know I am a hypocrite!  I check my certain blogs everyday that I follow and am always so bummed out when someone takes so long to blog back...cough cough....Shay....cough cough. :) ha ha and then my dearest Brady pointed out that I have not blogged in quite some time and so I fall right back into that category.  The thing is, I have had PLENTY of things to blog about.  My summer has been full of trips and adventures.  Do you want to know why I haven't blogged?  It's not becuase I don't have time.  It's because I don't have any pictures!  Way lame excuse right?  Well come on you have to admit, reading blogs, especially when they are long, are so much better when you have some fun pictures to look at.  So, now I have some pictures, I will blog!

I decided to make cupcakes for the schedulers at my work, my boss found out and announced it to the whole department that I was making cupcakes for everyone, so instead of my one batch I have been dying to try out, I made two so I could try to feed everyone.

Of course trying two new cupcakes with two new frostings, something bad was bound to happen.  Oh do you think just one bad thing happened?  I wish it was only one thing.  I filled the cupcake tins too high, one frosting I thought didnt make enough, the other frosting wasn't mixing so I melted the caramel more and it melted the entire thing, should I go on?  Needless to say I had yet another cupcake meltdown last night.  I do this everytime I make cupcakes for something I swear!  Luckily I had Brady there, to let me know my life wasn't ruined.  After baking for two hours I went to bed.  Woke up the next morning, refreshed, but still unsure what I should do about my melted frosting that didnt set in the fridge like I hoped to.  So I went to Brady's early in the morning, he gave me some good ideas and I made new frosting and used the old caramel frosting to drizzle over the cupcakes.  I am not going to lie, they turned out great!  After all, it is about presentation right? 

I decided to make Pina Colada cupcakes, as a request from one of my co-workers.  Luckily the lovely cupcake book that Brooke and Dan gave me for my birthday, Crazy About Cupcakes by Krystina Castella, had a fantastic recipe in it.  The other cupcake batch I made was sort of something I just put together.  It was a devil's food cake which was supposed to have a yummy caramel frosting.  But you heard what happened with that so it ended up being a cream cheese frosting with the non-set caramel frosting as a surprise under the frosting as well as drizzled on top.  Compliments of Brady Mower.

Pina Colada Cupcakes
Ingredients:
1/4 lb. (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/3 cup pineapple juice
1 TBS rum (I didnt use this in my recipe, but it calls for it)
2 TSP vanilla extract
3 large eggs
1 1/2 all purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 TSP baking powder
1/2 TSP baking soda
1/4 TSP salt
1/3 cup crushed pineapple
1/3 cup shredded coconut

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 
2. In a large bowl beat together the melted butter, pineapple juice, rum and vanilla extract with an electric beater until light and fluffy.  Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well.
3. In a seperate bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the mixture 1/2 cup at a time until all combined.  fold in the p ineapple and coconut.  (I wasn't sure what "fold in" meant so I just mixed them in!)
5. Fill the cupcake liners 3/4 full.  Bake for 20-25 min

Toasted Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting:
Ingredients:
4 TBS unsalted butter at room temperature
2 cups flaked coconut (this is a lot of coconut.  I only used 1 1/2 cups and it was still a lot.  But it was yummy!  Use as much or as little as you prefer)
One 8 oz package cream cheese at room temperature
2 cups confectionsrs sugar
2 TSP milk
1 TSP vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Melt 2 TBS of the butter  in a large skillet over medium heat.  Stir in the coconut and cook, stirring constantly until coconut is golden brown.  About 8 minutes.
2. In a bowl cream the remaining butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy.  Add the confectioners sugar, milk and vanilla slowly, beating after each addition.  Beat until smooth.  Stir in the toasted coconut.

Of course you have to do a fun topper!  Brady did a great job

We didn't take as many pictures of the Pina Colada cupcakes by chance, but we took PLENTY of the next batch.

Chocolate Caramel Cream Cheese...Delight
Ingredients:
1 box of Devil's Food Cake
-All ingredients that are used for box mixture
Frosting:
2 sticks unsalted butter room temperature
2 TBS heavy cream
20 caramels
2 cups of powdered sugar
Kosher salt

Instructions:
1.  Melt caramel and butter.  You can put it in a microwave safe bowl and put it into the microwave for about 30 seconds or until smooth, then stir.  Allow to cool in the fridge for a few mintutes.  (be sure not to let cool too long, just cool to the touch.  You still want it to be able to drizzle)
2.  Whip the butter until fluffy.  Add one cup of powdered sugar and mix until it is all combined.
3.  Once the caramel is cool to the touch, drizzle into the frosting mixture until it is all mixed.  **IMPORTANT NOTE**  This is where I messed up.  I let it cool too long so when I needed to use it, it wouldn't drizzle in to mix all the way.  So I decided to heat the rest of it up and not let it cool as long.  Of course I was impatient and didnt wait long enough so my entire mixture MELTED.  Don't be like me!  This is a tricky recipe so let it cool just enough, but will still drizzle.  You may need to experiement.  If for some reason it ends up melting you can do what I did, make a batch of my cream cheese frosting and drizzle on top.  Either way works!  Okay back to instructions
4.  Beat until fluffy.  Mix in last cup of powdered sugar.  Add in 1/4tsp to 1/2tsp of salt at a time to the mixture.  REMEMBER a little salt can go a long way.  Go to taste.

Since I did the caramel frosting wrong we used part of it as a little surprise under the frosting

Well, I took the cupcakes into work and they were a hit!  Thank goodness.  This end result is why I love baking!  Enjoy :)

Oh, What A Weekend

We just had quite the weekend!  On Saturday Brady and I got up early in the morning to make it to the Farmer's Market in SLC, and it was AMAZING!  There are so many great little businesses being started up, fruit, veggies and bread.  We decided to buy some rolls for us and a loaf to take up to Idaho with us, it was so delicious.  Unfortunately, we didn't take anypictures!

After the Farmers Market we met my parents, sister, brother in law and little brother at Ruth's Diner up Imigration Canyon in Salt Lake City.  If you have not ever been to Ruth's Diner I highly reccomend it!  It is so amazing and such a cute little place.  If you go on Thursday, Friday or Saturday nights they have singers there playing on the patio, so be sure to go then.  Again, no pictures.

After breakfast at Ruth's we went back to Salt Lake and went to a cute little concinement shop called Emilie Jayne.  It has a lot of antiquey/vintagey things in there.  And next to it we found a home with a tire swing out front!  We really wanted to ride on it so Brady went up to the home owners and asked, they had just moved in and were from Germany and were totally fine with it, it was great!

From swinging to American Apparal.  Brady had a Groupon that was given to him by his lovely mother.  We saw that they were expired so just assumed we would only get what was paid for the groupon.  Anyway we get there and Brady tries on clothes and finally finds some items he wants to buy, but he cannot buy them because it is expired!  We had to call into groupon to get it verified so we can use it and of course they were closed on Saturday.  What a bummer!

From American Apparel we went to an antique shop.  There were some pretty great things in there.  We found these tiny plastic cars going for $75!  Can you believe that??  It was insane, but fun to see things that both of us had when we were younger.  Brady made friends with the owner, we got to chat with him for a while and learn about how he got into it with his wife before she died.  It was sweet to hear him talk about her and how he is keeping it open because he promised her he would.

Off to Gourmandise!!  There is this amazing bakery in Salt Lake City that my brother and sister in law introduced us to.  It is amazing!  They have good food, but their desserts are amazing, and there are so many of them!  We decided it would take us a month to try one a day to get through them. 

Straight from Gourmandise to the Joseph Smith Memorial building to see my friend Andy's ring ceremony.  I went to school with him at the University of Utah and got to know him really well, I am so happy for him!  As soon as we were done we were off to Idaho.

Oh wait how can I forget?!  Sometime during this day Brady needed to go the bank and when he got out he saw a man.  A man that told us his age in months and wanted to dance for us.  This  is what we got.

Whoa.  So you notice how my title says weekend?  Yup that was only Saturday.  You are in for one long post.

Sunday we had a BBQ at his sister's house for his niece's birthday.  It was so great to be there with his siblings, parents, nieces and nephews.

The 4th of July was one crazy, fun, amazing day!  We woke up, went for a run and then went to the parade.  Brady's mom and sister run three different sno shack's in Rexburg so during the parade they were driving the mobile one around by a four wheeler as well as running the sno shack that was on the side of the road where the parade was taking place.  It looked pretty crazy, but we just got to enjoy the parade.

After the parade we went boating at Island Park.  It was absolutely gorgeous there.  The mountains and trees surrounding it was breathtaking.  When we got there the water was a little choppy so we surfed and then as more boats left we had some people wakeboard.  It was a great day of boating, especially for the first trip of the year.

Brady Surfing

Brady's little brother Devin surfing

Brady

What a babe right?!

After boating is where the craziness starts.  Brady, his mom and I really wanted to get a sno shack and since they were closed down for the day we decided to sneak in and make one for us.  The lights were off and everything but as soon as we got there people started lining up and pulling up to the drive thru window.  We were going to tell them we were closed, but they started spewing out orders like it was nobody's business!  Brady's mom hadn't worked the cash register in a while so we were a little stuck there.  Brady had helped out a bit at the sno shack before so he knew a little bit what to do and I had never done anything like that, I was like a deer in headlights.  It was so crazy, I wasn't good at packing the shaved ice, I wasn't good at putting the flavors on, but somehow we managed.  With just us three working it, the shavers so loud we couldn't hear peoples orders so our heads were sticking all the way out of the window in the cusotmers space just to hear what they wanted.  Not knowing where the ice cream is or cream either.  Wow it seriously was insane.  As soon as people stopped coming we could not stop laughing.  It was so insane, but we had to do it!  It was so great, I enjoyed it! 

This was before the craziness started.  I wish I remembered to take an after picture, but I didnt!

Brady and I were wanting to make cupcakes for the 4th of July, but because we got caught up at the sno shack we got home two hours later then we hoped for!  So we started rushing the cupcakes.  Got the oreos smashed and put in the batter and cooking.  We started on the frosting and thought we used butter, but we were wrong!  Oh margarine how I dislike you.  We had to start completely over.  We also came to discover that you should NEVER use anything reduced fat when baking.  Just saying. We used reduced fat oreos, they tasted different, and we used reduced fat cream cheese and the frosting was just not the same.  Come on if you are going to have dessert you might as well do it right! 

FINALLY DONE.  By the time it was 10 o clock we went out with the rest of his family to cook hot dogs and light off fireworks until midnight.  Oh and we had  A LOT of fun with the sparklers.

What a great weekend.

Mustaches

This night's events were inspired by this quote that I found and love...

After doing this, Brady and I decided to go ride his vespa to the mall and people watch.  We didnt do much people watching, but everyone was watching us!