A Bad Case of the Giggles

I don't know what it is, but this week I have been uncontrollably giggly.  But typically it is only in my school classes (perfect, now I haven't learned anything all week).  Anyway I love the girls that I go to school with and I decided that we just feed off of each other all of the time.  When one of us gets giggly, so does the next and so on until the whole class is that way.  Yesterday happened to be one of those days (this whole week has been really, but for some reason yesterday was the worst).  Everyone had been so giggly, then all of the sudden my teacher posts on the power point "Babies are cute, adults are not!!" (it has to do with it being cute when babies make mistakes when learning to speak, but how adults aren't cute when they mess up on their speech learning a second language).  Oh wow I just had a giggle fit AGAIN thinking about it!  Geez it really isn't that funny, but for some reason it was-and apparently still is, funny to me.  So for this post I am going to put up a bunch of pictures that make me laugh out loud.  Enjoy :)

Long Lost BFF

Last night I finally went up to SLC to see one of my best friends Abby Simmons.  I met her when I committed to go to the University of Utah to play volleyball, she committed to come in the same year as me and have been BFF's ever since! We lived together in the dorms and in the plex, always hung out, and of course played volleyball together and traveled together.  After my second year at the U, I decided to be done playing volleyball and moved down south.  One of the things I miss most about leaving SLC is this girl!  So after a long time of not doing a very good job of catching up we planned a date night and went to sushi.

It was SO great to get caught up with her!  We both have had so many things to tell each other we spent a solid 2 hrs (maybe more) hanging out at the Tsunami not realizing that other people could overhear us until the waiter commented on what we were talking about ha ha it was awesome.  Anyway I am so mad that we didn't take any pictures last night, so I am just going to have to post old ones of us! (Okay this is going to seem like a lot of pictures, but  when you realize how many pictures I actually have, this is only a small  fraction.  So get over it :))

Dinner after skiing-Thai Honey Peanut Chicken and Benihana Fried Rice

On MLK day Brady took his little sister skiing for the day (of course I still had to work) so I made dinner for them when they got back from skiing at Alta.

Thai Honey Peanut Chicken:    http://tastykitchen.com/recipes/main-courses/thai-honey-peanut-chicken/

• 2 pounds Chicken, In Chunks (there were 5 of us and I used 5 chicken breasts)
• ½ cups Soy Sauce
• ¼ cups Honey
• ⅛ cups Lime Juice
• 2 teaspoons Minced Garlic (approximately 1 Large Clove)
• ⅛ cups Natural Peanut Butter (I just used Skippy and it worked great!)
• 1 teaspoon Curry Powder
• 2 teaspoons Sriracha (optional)---I did not use this.  I don't even know what this is

1. Mix ingredients and marinate chicken for 2-3 hours.
2. Cook chicken in the sauce over medium-high heat for 7-8 minutes or until chicken is done. Reduce heat to medium-low and add precooked veggies if desired. Serve topped with sesame seeds.
3. To thicken sauce if needed: reduce heat to medium-low and add a cornstarch slurry (1 teaspoon cornstarch in 1 tablespoon water).

This website is great because you can add in the size of servings you want and it will calculate it for you, and it gives you substitute options like:

• Substitutions: replace chicken with tofu; replace peanut butter with tahini or another nut butter; if using regular peanut butter (i.e. Skippy) instead of natural peanut butter, reduce honey by 1 tablespoon
  
  
  
  Benihana Fried  Rice:  http://www.food.com/recipe/benihana-fried-rice-71469 This rice is absolutely DELICIOUS!!  Seriously it was phenomenal and so easy to make.  The only thing that takes a while is cooking it in a rice cooker, so be sure to give yourself plenty of time for that.
  • 1 cup rice , uncooked
  • 5 tablespoons butter
  • 1 cup onion, chopped
  • 1 cup carrot , chopped
  • 2/3 cup green onion , chopped
  • 3 tablespoons sesame seeds (I forgot to get them at the store, so these aren't necessary, but I am sure would be great still)
  • 5 eggs
  • 5 tablespoons soy sauce (We actually used 6, but I wouldn't do any more than that)
  • Salt and pepper
  
  Instructions:
  
  1. Cook rice according to package directions
  2. In a large skillet melt butter.
  3. Add onions and carrots
  4. Saute until carrots are transluscent-set aside
  5. Heat oven to 350
  6. Place sesame seeds in a shallow pan
  7. Bake until golden brown (10-15 minutes), shaking pan occasionally for even color
  8. Lightly grease another skillet
  9. Scramble eggs
  10. Combine rice, vegetables, sesame seeds and eggs
  11. Add soy sauce and stir
  12. Salt and pepper to taste
  
  Enjoy!  P.S. Has anyone else been loving that blogger lets you know when something is spelled wrong now?  Awesome.

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!