The Family

"I love to see the temple..."

While in Utah and Idaho we got to see lots of temples. Most from far away, but I did get close enough to take pictures and see the Rexburg and Bountiful temple. Beautiful.

We visited with my cousins and Aunt and Uncle too. I love this family. Above is Jason (closest) and Darin (my cousins). This is a typical scene when there is a football game on. We were watching the super bowl.

Oh Amy, do you ever get your picture taken? OR, are you mostly on the other side of the camera, like me? (Amy is my cousin-in-law)

Uncle Mike and Kenadi. He's a rough and tough rancher/teacher. He is so sweet with the kids.

Him and Aunt Lois are like my second set of parents. They took care of me (and Randy, and Haley) while I was going to school up there.

Uncle Mike and Emma. For some reason I didn't get any pictures of Aunt Lois. She's sweet too.

Wendy, My cousin, Reily, Jackson, Jordan, and Braxton.

Darin (my cousin and Amy's husband) with his daughter Savannah.

The beautiful Bountiful temple. Kenadi actually got elevation sickness from driving up the mountain to this temple. She was so nervous being up high. I guess she's an Okie, and not used to Mountains. Poor girl. We stayed at my cousin's house in Utah for a couple of nights after I stayed at Haley's. We had so much fun visiting with her and her husband, and my family down there.

After seeing the Bountiful temple, we went on a beautiful hike. My cousin Desiree and I had to carry the girls the whole way because Kenadi was scared, and Emma was too little.

Dez and Kenadi. We had sore arms the next day. I LOVED the scenery.

Kenadi and my Cousin Gina's kids. They had fun together while we were in Utah. Gina has the most beautiful kids.

We like cards. One thing I love about getting together with family are the game nights we get to have. Left to right, Gina ( my cousin), Aunt Lynda, Desiree (my cousin), Uncle Gary, and David (Desiree's husband). The only bad thing was that I didn't win. We're a competitive family, and we lost the game to the novice-Uncle Gary.

And now, on to the bathroom show... I thought it was funny how Emma watched everything Kenadi did.

They're very into it. (This was at Haley's house, by the way)

Kenadi is actually wearing baby Sadie's sleeper. She wore these on the first night when our bag was lost, and wanted to wear them every night after that.

Well, enjoy my 2 posts in 1 week! I know, shocking.

Intermission- With a cupcake

I'm really into cupcakes lately. I LOVE them. I think it is my dessert of choice 90% of the time. This cupcake recipe is one of my FAVORITES! Yummm, it is so chocolatey, moist and perfect in that little cup of goodness. The frosting just adds to it's greatness. It is carmel frosting. I have made these a few times lately and I've gotten good reviews. Even a couple of "this is the best cupcake I've ever had". So, all I'm saying is, you gotta try this one.

Of course, I've altered the recipe so that I don't feel as bad about eating it. The original recipe called for 1 Cup of oil, and 1/2 Cup of butter. I used my applesauce replacement and couldn't even taste the difference. Ok, well, there was a difference. My cupcake paper wasn't oily, and my tongue didn't have a coating of oil on it when I was done eating. That's about it. This revised version has been the one bringing in all of the good reviews.

Texas Chocolate Cupcakes

2 C flour

2 C sugar

1 t salt

1/2 t baking soda

1/4 cup baking cocoa

1 C water

1 C applesauce (unsweetened)

1/2 C butter

2 eggs

1/3 C buttermilk

1 t vanilla extract

Carmel Icing (No, I didn't alter this one. I'm afraid. If you have any suggestions, I'm willing to try)

1 C packed brown sugar

1/2 C butter, cubed

1/4 C milk

2-2 1/4 C powdered sugar

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, salt and baking soda. In a large saucepan over medium heat, bring cocoa, water, applesauce, and butter to a boil. Gradually add to dry ingredients; mix well. Combine eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla; gradually add to batter and mix well (batter will be very thin).

Fill paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.

For icing, in a saucepan, combine the brown sugar, butter and milk. Cook and stir over low heat until sugar is dissolved. Increase heat to medium. Do not stir. Cook for 306 minutes or until bubbles form in center of mixture and syrup turns amber. Remove from the heat; transfer to a small mixing bowl. Cool to room temperature. Gradually beat in powdered sugar. Spread or pipe onto cupcakes.

Yield: 2 dozen or less

I'm figuring it out, sorry

Well, we finally have a new computer/tv set up that works! Thanks to Handy Randy (his idea/he set it up) we have our TV hooked up to our new computer, so our TV is our computer monitor. I like it a lot. You can do so much, and now it is all in the living room and easily accessible. I just have to figure out the computer now. It is a mac, and I am not brushed up on mac "stuff" like Randy is. I do like it, and think it is MUCH better than our old PC. I'm sure I'll like it way more when I figure out all that it can do.

There are a lot of things to catch up on. First, we did get to go on a little trip to visit some of our very good friends. It was a "test" trip to see how the kids would do in the car for long distances. They did pretty good. So basically that means I can now convince Randy to drive us to North and South Carolina, PENNSYLVANIA, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, DC, New York!? and on and on. Those are all of the places I'd like to go. I don't want to fly there because I want to drive and see all of the scenery. It would be easier without kids, though. Oh, and we might need a new car to do it all, but, hey! It is more of a possibility now. Well, I just rambled on and on about that. Anyways, we went to Missouri, right along the Mississippi river. I loved it. We went through Arkansas, and then up by West Memphis to get there. On our way home we went through Missouri. I loved seeing the back woods, and all of the hillbillies. The Ozarks were beautiful. The scenery was exactly what you'd imagine it looked like in one of Mark Twain's novels. Besides all that, we loved being with and visiting our friends!

Kenadi was in heaven, she's missed them so much.

While there, we ate at this place that is famous for it's flying hot rolls. It was such a fun experience! The place was huge, and they stand at the front of the room and yell, "Hot roll!" You raise your hand if you want one, and they chuck it all the way across the room. You have to catch it, or you don't get one. It was funny because I saw a lady get nailed in the forehead with one, and all the time there is soft pieces of roll falling from the air as one flies by. Kenadi even got to catch one (from 2 feet away).

Kenadi and her two best buds.

Me and one of my best buds! She was kind enough to do my hair, and sadly enough that is the only picture we have together.

Kenadi and little Owen had a blast playing in these cupboards.

We also went to a conservation area, which the kids loved. I discovered that Emma LOVES fish. She would not leave the aquarium the whole time. She calls them "pishy!". It's cute.

Would you believe that Randy actually got to come this time? Yea, that's crazy.

Then, last week Kenadi and Emma and I just got back from another trip. We went to Idaho to visit my sister Haley, her husband Nick, and their new baby Sadie. We had it planned for a few months. I got to use my two airplane vouchers from the last time that they screwed up my flight so I only had to pay for the taxes. That was nice.

A couple of days before we left, Kenadi and Emma got sick with the worst colds they've ever had. The day before we left they looked like they were getting better, and so I hoped they weren't contagious and that our trip would be just fine. This picture is how Emma looked when we met up with Haley and Nick. She was awful. Her and Kenadi were so sick that they didn't even eat the milkshake I got them at Burger King. I felt really bad because they were miserable, and I just knew that they were going to get Haley's baby sick. Emma cried during both of our flights to Utah. It wasn't very fun. When we arrived, the airline lost my bag, and told me that they would have it delivered to Haley's house in Idaho that evening. It never came, and never came. I was dumb and left all of our medicine's in that bag, I had no extra sets of clothes, but luckily I had just enough diapers. Finally I had to go pick up my bag on my own at the Idaho Falls airport, which really wasn't very far away, but annoying since I'd needed the bag a long time ago. Due to all of the mix-up with my bag, I now have 2 more $150 vouchers to fly on that airline again. The only thing is I never want to fly with them again.

Eventually they both got better and we had a few days with no sick kids. Kenadi and Emma loved baby Sadie, and wanted everything to do with her. She is a cute little thing, with the biggest smile.

My beautiful sister, Haley and cute little Sadie, who my girls DID get sick. She was sick the day we left and is barely getting over it. She got really sick. Sorry Haley.

My sister and her husband borrowed his parent's Durango so that we could fit us all in one car to go around in. I do NOT recommend you ever buy a Durango. It was one jam-packed vehicle.

Me and Haley. Hopefully she doesn't kill me for posting these since she hadn't gotten ready for the day. We took these on the day I left. Isn't she so cute? I love my sister. I loved visiting with her and being together again. We had fun, minus the sick kids.

Oh, and I got my hair cut before I left. I like it a lot. I think I want to go shorter in the back still. So I can put a little product in it, fling my hands around in it, and be done. I copied one of Posh Spice's (Victoria Beckham) hair cuts. I think she has a few really cute short hair cuts.

Nick and Sadie. Don't they look so much alike?

Anyways, I have more things to post about my trip, like our roommate reunion, cousins and aunts and uncles, a hike in Utah, and much more! Keep watching, I'll post soon and surprise you with how fast I am.