Nick's Inauguration

My baby brother Nick is almost graduated from high school, I can't believe it.  He is a student body officer at Alta High School this year and last night they had Inauguration to say goodbye to the outgoing SBO's and hello to next years officers.  It was great to have the family come and support him, and my sweet, sweet mother decorated and got everything ready for it.  It was a great night!

Of course Nick had TWO escorts :)

All 9 of the 2010-2011 Student Body Officers

As he was announcing the new VP, he had a lot of really sweet things to say about his advisors, other SBO's and family.  I love this kid!

Grandparents came

Brother Trev and his cute wifey Kenzie

Brady and I with Nick

And my beautiful mother.  Without her none of this would have happened.  Unfortunately my dad could not be there.

Nick's beautiful best friend Lexi was his escort.  Both of them are just so pretty :)

So Long Acoustic Night

I mentioned before that Brady and Brooke started Acoustic night last summer, and this past Wednesday night was their last night of putting the show on.  Don't you worry they will start it up again in the fall, but for the summer they are taking a break.  They did a fantastic job on getting this set up every other week, and their performances were always great!  Here is a shout out to you both, and here are their last performances.

Brooke and Brady singing Lucky by Jason Mraz and Colbie Calliat

Brooke singing her CLASSIC song Telephone by Lady Gaga accompanied by Dan the Man

Brady singing Warning Sign by Coldpay

And the last shout out of the day goes to Trey Nelson and Mason Miles, woo woo!!  This was awesome

Are you a Belieber?  :)

A lonely day in Apt 234 turns into what??

So last weekend ALL of my roommates move out.  Lame.  Court moved out a week earlier, Al moved out on Friday and Brooke moved out Saturday afternoon.  By the time I had gotten home from work on Saturday the good ole apt 234 was deserted.  Luckily I have a good friend named Devon McBee who owed me dessert (as you know from the previous blog to why he owes me that dessert).  So in the late afternoon he brings over a delicious turtle pie and our other friend Devin came as well.

Before I know it we are all just chatting, and I am playing with my left over pie that I didnt eat, which is something that I always tend to do, Devon McBee decides to take a handful of my whipped cream and smear it on my face.  Good thing I have been doing P90X and been practicing my blocks otherwise I would have had a handful of whipped cream in my face.  Well, Dev doesn't give up too easily so I arm myself with some pie as well.  Next thing I know I have the full pie in my  hands and Devin Underwood is behind me pushing me to do it.  So after watching Dev McBee jump around for a little bit all antsy that he might get a pie to the face, I throw it at him.  I get him a little bit, but  mostly it ends up all over my kitchen.  Dev grabs a huge chunk of pie, smears it in my face and owns me!  Then runs off so I can't get him.  Luckily he came back shorty after and this was the result.

Yes that is a big blob of caramel on my neck.  Unfortunately we did not get a picture of my kitchen, or the outside hall for that matter.  It was a disaster!  So I am sad that my roommates are gone, but apt 234 lives on!!!

Victory, Oh Sweet Victory

Yesterday was a weird weather day.  In the morning it was pouring rain, but by the time I was out of school at 3 o clock it was sunny as can be.  When I got home I decided that I wanted to go for a jog to be out in the sun or play basketball outside on Alpine's court that they have.  So I call up my dear friend Devon and he said that he would like to play basketball as well.

We get out there and are just shooting around and talking.  Of course Devon is making most of his shots, as for me, not so much.  I mean I am not bad at basketball, but I was definitely a little rusty.  So after a little bit Devon challenges me to a 3 point contest, loser makes the winner dessert.  Why do I agree?  I have no idea, I had just lost a bet to him 2 days earlier and already had to make him dessert so I figured, oh well I still have ingredients I can use.

Dev starts out shooting and shoots around the 3 point line.  He makes 2 out of the 5 shots.  I go next and make one shot, then no more until the very last one.  So we tied, you know what that means, sudden death!!  So Devon goes around again and doesn't make one shot.  I was astonished.  So all  I have to do is make one shot and I win.  First shot, miss.  Second shot, miss.  Third shot (which just so happened to be my  hot spot for the day) made it!  WOOO I was the winner.  Beating Devon McBee in basketball??  Boom baby.

But wait, it gets better.  Devon then suggests to play a game of PIG.  I decide to play, but then guess what happens?  I beat him again!  So he says, best two out of three.  I agree and he beats me the second game.  By the third game he is nothing and I am PI so if I miss another shot I lose.  All of the sudden we are tied, both at PI.  It is my turn to choose a spot to shoot from, I jokingly go to the half court line and tell him that I am going to get him out from this shot right here.  So of course he walks up like 10 feet in front of the hoop and makes his own for me to make.  Mean.  Then he says, and I quote: "If you make this, I quit."  So guess what I do??  SWOOSH!  I didn't just make it, I swooshed it.  Nothing but net baby.  Does it get any better then that?!  I do not think so!!  We even had a witness.  It was a truly beautiful thing. 

Of course Devon still has his shot to see if he can make it.  Does he make it?  Nope!  Then Devon throws out of no where "I still have a donkey shot!"  Which is true, but we didn't ever  use one for the two games before!  Doesn't matter, he still missed.  I AM THE CHAMPION!!

I do have to give it to him, he is a good looking loser

Champion forever!!

I don't know if anyone even cares to hear this story, but I am proud of this moment and what better way to brag about it then online for everyone to see? :)

Pasta Pie

There is a great website where I get most of my recipes from, it is called Pinterest.  Basically this website is a bookmark page, but you can choose what categories you want them under.  Also, it doesn't show it by URL, but it shows it by pictures of what you "pinned".  This website has seriously changed my life I love it.  Alright I am obsessed with it.  I highly reccomend you checking it out, if you like it let me know and I can send you an invite to join it.  It is amazing.

So since I am always pinning recipes from food websites or food blogs, I have a lot of new things I want to try.  Brady and I try to cook one recipe a week, so this weekend we made something called Pasta Pie.

Looks a little funny right?  Well guess what?  It is DELICIOUS!!  When I woke up the next morning I was already looking forward to lunch so I could have the left overs.

I pinned this recipe from a food blog the Noble Pig. 

Ingredients:
1 lb rigatoni pasta
28 oz crushed tomatoes
1 lb ground beef
2 gloves of crushed garlic
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp of freshly ground pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
8 oz grated mozzarella cheese

1. Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a large pot of boiling water cook 1 lb of rigatoni pasta until slightly underdone.  (stop cooking about two minutes before it says to stop on the box).  When done drain and toss put back in the pot.  Toss Pasta with 1 tablespoon olive oil to coat and set aside.
3. Heat the remaining tablespoon of olive oil in a large pan over medium-high heat.  Add 1 pound of beef and cook until brown.  Then add 2 cloves of crushed garlic, 1 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of ground pepper.  Cook for another two minutes.
4. Add 1 can (28 oz) of crushed tomatoes to the ground beef cooking.  Simmer until thicked which is about 20 minutes.  When we were making this I didn't see that it said about 20 minutes and I think we had it cook for about 5 minutes, so do what you feel.
5. Take the pasta and mix in 1 cup of grated parmasen cheese.  Butter a 9 inch springform pan and tightly pack the noodles in the pan standing straight up.

6. Spread the meat sauce over the noodles and push them into the holes.  We used a fork to push them down.  Bake in the oven at 400 degrees for 15 minutes
7. Sprinkle 8 oz of mozzarella cheese on top and cook it for another 10-15 minutes or until the cheese starts to golden.
8. Let cool for 10 minutes, run a knife around the edges of the pan and then unmold.  We used a different type of pan and couldn't really figure how to get it out.  Luckily my roommate Brooke was there and had a brilliant idea!

Mmmmmmmm enjoy! :)

Acoustic Night

My boyfriend Brady and my roommate Brooke started an Acoustic Night last year that happens every other Wednesday at the Alpine Village Clubhouse in Provo.  They both are extremely talented at playing the guitar and singing, as well as putting on this show every time.  It is a lot of hard work, but they always manage to have a successful show time after time. 

Here is a video of Brady's performance from this past Wednesday singing Imagine by John Lennon.  Like I said before he is so talented and has an amazing voice, I just wanted to post this because I think he always does a great job, even if he doesn't think so and I am very proud of him for how hard he works to get these shows going.  Oh and of course he is even more attractive when he plays :) Ladies prepare yourself to be swooned. 

Cookie Dough Cupcakes

I love to cook and I love to bake, but my favorite thing to bake by far are cupcakes.  I don't know what it is, but I love everything about making them.  Funny thing is, I don't even like cupcakes.  I don't like cake, I don't like brownies, I don't like cupcakes.  I consider it a good thing that I don't like them because for how often I make cupcakes, if I actually ate them I would gain a whole lot of weight.

Something else that you should know is that I am not a professional baker, this isn't something that I do every chance that I get, it is just something that I enjoy doing.  Like a hobby.  So the pictures aren't professionally done either.  Whenever you look at food blogs, whatever is made looks flawless and the pictures are impeccable, we do what we can here and it works for me. 

So as I  mentioned in the post before this one, one of my best friends left on her mission this week, yesterday to be exact.  So this past Sunday was her farewell along with her little brother Derek's farewell.  (He is leaving for London, England next Wednesday) So I decided to make some cupcakes for the lunch after church.  I was going through a bunch of ideas that I had seen on other food blogs trying to decide what new recipe that I wanted to try and I decided on doing cookie dough cupcakes.  What is better then cookie dough inside of a cupcake??  Beats me. 

Ingredients:
1 box of Devils Food Cake
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. sugar
1 egg
1/4 c. butter
1/4 c. butter flavored shortening
1 1/8 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Start by making the cookie dough, the amazing recipe that I have says it needs to sit for an hour or two, but I have no idea why, I just follow instructions.  Oh and I ALWAYS double this cookie dough recipe.  You will need dough to put some in the cupcake, to make the little cookie garnishes you put on top and to eat as you bake of course!
1. Beat together the shortening, butter, and sugar in a large bowl. Add the egg and vanilla extract, beating until combined.
2. In a separate bowl, sift together the salt, baking powder, and flour, then gradually stir them into the batter. Stir in the chocolate chips.
3. Put in the fridge and let sit for an hour, unless you want to test it without chilling, if you do please let me know I am curious if it matters or not.

While the cookie dough chills, grab  your box of Devils Food Cake and do as the instructions say.  Let me tell you what I think about cake boxes....THEY ARE FANTASTIC!  For those of us who aren't great bakers, it saves a whole lot of time and confusion as well as the chance you might mess up, so I go with a box cake any chance that I can.

After the dough has chilled and the cupcake batter is made something that I find useful when putting the batter in cupcake tins is dumping all of the batter into a gallon zip lock bag.  Seal it up then cut one of the corners of the bag off, it helps control where the batter goes as well as helps with spills.

Fill the cupcake tin so the bottom is covered, don't fill much past that.  After you have done that, roll the cookie dough into balls as big as dimes.  You can make them bigger or smaller, depending on your preference.  After you have put a ball of cookie dough in, grab the rest of your batter and cover the cookie dough ball.  Be sure the whole ball is covered!  Fill to about 3/4 of the cupcake tin.

Look at the instructions on the cake box and bake.  Leave them in until you can put a fork in them and pull them out without anything on it.

What you can get ready next since you have the cookie dough out you can make the cute little cookie garnishes that go on top of the cupcakes.  Roll about the same size as you put in your cupcakes, maybe even smaller.  Bake in the oven at 350 for 6-7 minutes.  They may not look all of the way done, but remember the cookies will still continue to cook a little bit as they cook on the pan they cooked on.

While those bake you can make the frosting.  The frosting that I use on these cupcakes, and most all of my cupcakes if we are being honest is cream cheese frosting.  It is heavenly.  So even though I don't eat cupcakes, I eat a lot of the frosting...mmmmm. 

Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients:
2 sticks of butter
1 8oz box of cream cheese
6 cups of powdered sugar.
1/2 Tsp of vanilla

1. Be sure that the butter and cream cheese are at room temperature.  If they are cold DO NOT put them in the microwave.  Well I guess you can if you watch them carefully and do it for a few seconds at a time.  You don't want either of them to get runny at all, it will ruin the consistency of the frosting.
2. Mix together in a medium size bowl the butter and cream cheese.
3. Add in one cup at a time the 6 cups of powdered sugar.  If you are like me  you always make a mess, and this is where it comes in.  Wear an apron if you have one!
4. Mix in the vanilla

After the cupcakes have cooled off, time to frost.  I use a big frosting head that I bought from Spoons and Spice which is so nice to have.  I highly reccomend getting one, it makes your cupcakes so much prettier.  If you don't want to buy one, don't have money or don't have time to get one, you can use your trusty gallon zip lock bags again.  Fill the frosting in and cut off a corner then swirl.

After you are done frosting add your cute baby cookies that you made for the finishing touches.  Depending on the size they turn out to be, you can either put the full cookie on or cut it in half.  Mine were too big, so I cut them in half and put them in.  Another thing that I think would be cute to add would be to buy mini chocolate chips and add a few of them after you have put the cookie on for more decorations.

Enjoy!

Farewell Sister Crystal

Wow blogging two days in a row?  Who woulda thought?? 

So one of my best friends, Collette Sandra Crystal, is leaving on her mission TODAY.  :( Frownie face, frownie face frownie face.  I don't even know if that is how you spell frownie, but it reminded me of brownie so I did it :)  See there are always things to smile about.  But then again here I am, at work, in a sweatshirt that I took from her last night when I said goodbye....frowning.

So I am going to go down memory lane you a little bit about my dear friend Collette, I mean, Sister Crystal.  I have played softball against Collette since we were young, then once we got into highschool we were on the same team, and that is where it all began.  She has been one of my best friends since our Sophomore year of high school.  So that makes it a total of five years.  Five years of crazy, fun, amazing adventures, conversations, heartbreaks and loves.

First thing that you need to know about Collette is that she is a BALLER!!  Ever since she was little she was  playing football in the boy leagues, schooling them all in basketball and whatever sport they tried playing.  No surprise there, she went to Western Wyoming to play basketball

Next thing you need to know about Collette is that she always knows how to have a good time.  I mean she lived in Rock Springs, Wyoming for two whole years...by hearing and seeing what she did made me want to go and live there!

Who else could come up with something like this??

Last thing that you need to know about Collette is her how strong her spirit is.  She has been someone that I could go to for anything.  She is so selfless in all of her acts, she will never ever put herself first.  Her testimony is so strong and because of that I know she is going to be a fantastic missionary.  I am not worried for her in the slightest.  I will miss her, but I am not worried.  She will do amazing things in Independence, Missouri.  I am very fortunate to have someone like Collette in my life.

Why yes, I am new at this

So my boyfriend has been going on for a while now on how I should get into blogging.  Blogging?  Why blogging?  I have never been very good at writing, in fact it is something that has always terrified me.  In school I try to avoid it if I can.  When I write papers I do the bare minimum to pass.  Pathetic?  Maybe, but that is just the way that I am.

But some things that I do enjoy are cooking and baking.  So to find some good recipes I have read some great blogs and these people post recipes and pictures and talk about their life.  So after seeing these blogs it has me thinking...maybe I could do that.  But I don't only want a blog for recipes, I want one for my life too.  Something that I can go to when I need to write or get something out or even to say something that I learned that day.  Maybe I will be more faithful to this blog then I am to my journal.  So here it goes.  My first official blog.  Wish me luck.