Truffles

This is the story of how much I now love dates. You know those yucky looking pruney things?
We know this family who makes some of the best/healthiest food. It's the best because you don't KNOW it's healthy! They've shared various recipes over the years but this is my very favorite!

They are truffles.
But they're not.
They have coconut.
They have chocolate.
They have pecans (or walnuts).
They have vanilla.
They have pitted dates.
That's it.

Seriously if I had tasted one and not known what was in it, I NEVER would have guessed there was no sugar added or that it's main ingredient was dates.

This picture sure makes it look appetizing right?! ;)

1/2 cup of pitted dates
1/4 cup nut of choice (I had pecans)
1 tsp. vanilla
1 T unsweetened cocoa powder
Blend all of that up in a food processor until smooth
Roll into small balls and roll in unsweetened coconut

I cut too many dates so I doubled the recipe except I used just 1.5 T cocoa powder, everything else was doubled.

Seriously just try them. I want one now!

Thanks Billy and Jamie for sharing your talent of making yucky food delicious!

(BTW I did some math and figured out that with my doubled recipe each truffle has 90 calories. My recipe made 15 total)

Hold to the Rod

The pretzel rod that is.....

Sam's seminary class ended last Friday. He wanted to get his seminary teacher a gift to say thank you. He couldn't think of what he wanted. We were all brainstorming. Finally one morning at 6am I think I was driving home from work (usually when I have my best/worst ideas). I remembered that TheBilly (seminary teacher) puts a homemade iron rod in the hallway by the door where the students enter the church for seminary. So I started thinking along those limes, I thought I could find or make some sort of iron rod, then I thought, I could make pretzel rods.

So that's what I did. Thursday I went and bought all the supplies (large pretzel rods, almond bark in milk and white chocolate, toffee bits, and other toppings.) That night I melted the chocolate in bowls then lined a few cookie trays with waxed paper. Dipped the pretzels in either white or milk chocolate then rolled them into whatever topping I wanted. I ended up having crushed oreos, toffee bits, chopped white chocolate. I was going to do coconut and dark chocolate but couldn't find either of those things.

I did all sorts of combos. Then let them harden on the waxed paper which only took about 10 minutes. Afterwards, I was going to package them all cute in pretzel bags but didn't have them (shocker) so I put them into a large ugly ziplock.

Late that night after I got home from a 'camp finalization meeting' I found a fun printable of Nephi saying, I want you to hold to the rod. I thought TheBilly would get the humor so I went with it.

Here is the final result:

Grandma Ma

My great grandma was always called Grandma Ma. She was a cute little lady. She was tallish and reallllly skinny (why couldn't those genes have been passed down?!) My best memories of her were in the kitchen with her black wired chairs with red seats. She always made homemade jams and other goodies. Whenever we visited, she always had a plethora of sweets and she'd take me to meet the ice cream truck and we'd share some ice cream treat, usually it was one of those Mickey Mouse things with the piece of blue bubble gum. She always gave me the gum. She used to send me fun letters all the time and tape money and/or pieces of gum and tell me to buy something from an ice cream truck. I never argued, I always listened to my elders ;). Her letters were written in small block print and she'd change pen colors randomly through the letters, I still have several of them.

Well one of our families favorite treats were these chocolate marshmallow cookies. More specifically they were my dads favorite. Since he turned 50 yesterday I decided to do some surprises for him. The first was the surprise dinner we had with just two close families on Monday night, he would not have liked if we made it big which was temping :). The 2nd surprise was collecting LOTS of memories from his childhood friends and family. The goal was to collect 50 and I think I collected almost 100, booooya.

Then Tuesday I got gallon sized ziplock bags and stuffed them with '50' of his favorite items, and some random items. He got those randomly throughout the day while he was at work. He really 'loved' the attention apparently.....anyways when he got home we offered to take him out to dinner but he wanted dutch oven leftovers.  After dinner I gave him his birthday treat (the night before I made an angel food cake/strawberry/fresh whipped cream trifle). I called my grandma, who called my aunt who gave me the recipe for his favorite chocolate cookies. He said they tasted just like he remembered, success!!

Here's a terrible picture:

I had to refrigerate them because I made the top 'frosting' with heavy cream and I didn't want them to spoil so they were stacked and not very pretty.

Anyways here's the recipe for those who are interested. It is only healthy, promise, just pretend like you're eating broccoli....(mostly this post is so I can always have the recipe since we tend to lose recipes around here)

Grandma Ma's Chocolate Marshmallow Cookies (or Cocoacake Cookies)
1 3/4 C all purpose flour
1/2 t salt
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 C shortening
1 C white sugar
1/2 C unsweetened cocoa
1 egg
1/2-1 C milk until stiff dough forms
1 t vanilla
36 lg marshmallows cut in half (actually this recipe made exactly 36 cookies for me so I'd only cut 18)

Cream shortening and sugar together until fluffy
Add egg and mix
Sift or whisk dry ingredients together in separate bowl
Alternate adding the dry ingredients and the milk/vanilla into the shortening/sugar mixture until it's all combined. I suggest only adding 1/2 C of milk to begin with because you can always add more but you can't take it out. I stopped at 1/2 C and it was stiff so I just left it like that.

Using a cookie baller drop dough onto well greased or parchment lined cookie sheets.
Bake at 375 degrees for 8 minutes take cookies out of oven, place 1 marshmallow, cut side down on to the top of each cookie, I squished them down a bit. Place back in oven for aprox. 2 minutes.

Let the cookies cool a little bit before transferring them to a cooling rack.

Once you get all the cookies out, make the frosting

I didn't measure this part at all because I'm allergic to measuring cups
A  medium bowl full of powdered sugar
1/4-1/2 cup-ish of cocoa powder- the more the merrier
1tsp vanilla (I used the kind grandma ma always used, Watkins, clear vanilla, in a glass bottle it tastes and smells delicious.)
Heavy Cream (can use milk but it won't be as thick or yummy)

Mix the ingredients together, I kept having to add cream until the frosting became pourable. Then I used a spoon and spooned the frosting on top of each cookie (while it was on the cooling rack with waxed paper underneath)

Then eat!!

I didn't eat any of them but I did try the frosting and it was pretty tasty.

My grandpa called me the day before because he knew I was making his mom's cookies and asked if I would save one for him so he could try them one last time....awwwww cute. Of course I saved him more than 1 despite his protests but once he had one I don't think he minded the extra too much :). He said they were good and my dad said they were good so I think it was a success. The best part was I was REALLY good at keeping all these secrets and got lots of surprises in.

Healthy Fudgesicles

I haven't done a Pinterest post for awhile....woops. So I thought I would post real quick before mutual tonight. A friend pinned this and I decided that I wanted to try them, and I'm glad I did.

Image from Pinterest- the link doesn't work so there is no attached website. Weird.

I can't find my Popsicle molds so I had to get a little creative but I'm getting ahead of myself. Here's the ingredients.

1/2 Cup coconut milk (mine was light)
1 medium banana
2 T cocoa powder
teeeeny tinnnny pinch of salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp Agave-optional
Optional: peanut butter- didn't use it this time but might try it next time

Blend all ingredients in a blender until smooth. Pour into popsicle molds or you can do what I did. I lined a mini muffin tin (12) with mini liners, then I poured the mixture into each well. Freeze until frozen. I did add toothpicks to each 'pop' but just skip that step, it doesn't hold up very well.

Once they are frozen through (or mostly frozen if you're like me and too impatient), remove the paper and eat!! They are good. I make a smoothie that is very similar to this but it's liquid. Each little 'puck' of fudgesicle is aprox 15 calories. Heck yes.

They are a tasty alternative to a regular fudgesicle. I love the little hint of banana. You could also add a small pinch of cinnamon if you feel so inclined.

**Edit I have a hard time getting the cups out of the muffin tin. I would use a silicone cupcake tray next time to make them easier to get out, that way you can also avoid the cupcake liners. Or just be smart and use Popsicle molds, they will be much larger though, therefore more calories maybe around 60ish which still isn't bad at all.

Chocolate Cake for Lunch?

Sounds good to me!!

I use the term chocolate cake very liberally here just in case you all believe that I actually ate real chocolate cake.....

I'll share this 1 (ish) minute recipe with you. Original recipe found here. I changed the recipe up a bit to fit my tastes/needs a little better. Mine is more like a thick chocolate fudge/pudding/cake, mine doesn't really resemble cake at all but I love it because it makes me think I'm eating batter....which we all know is the best part of anything you can bake.

One-Minute Chocolate Cake
Serves one but you can share if you want to :)

• 1 tablespoon plus 2 tsp cocoa powder
• 3 tablespoons of some sort of flour, I used Almond Meal, it's just better for you
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 2 tsp sugar-- I omitted this and just used agave to sweeten it
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1 stevia packet (or 1 more tablespoon sugar)-Again I omitted this and used agave instead
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil or vegetable oil- I used 1 tablespoon mashed banana
• 3 tablespoons milk of choice, almond milk, regular milk it doesn't matter
• 1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract

Combine dry ingredients and mix very, very well. Add liquid, stir, then transfer to a little dish, ramekin, or even a coffee mug. Microwave 30-40 seconds. If you don’t want to eat it straight out of the dish, be sure to spray your dish first (and then wait for it to cool before trying to remove it). I had to microwave mine for much longer, more like 2 minutes and it still wasn't quite done, but I did replace the granulated sugar for a wet agave so that probably had something to do with it, next time I might try decreasing the amount of milk.

Her recipe also shows a thick fudgey frosting that she makes with coconut butter, cocoa, banana, etc.....I tried to make my own coconut butter by blending unsweetened coconut flakes like she says to but I must live in the climate where it doesn't work because I just got really snow, powdery coconut. Also I'm pretty sure my coconut was olderish so it was probably a little dryer than it should have been. So instead of using 'frosting' I cut up the rest of the banana that I used earlier and put that on top, it was good.

I'll admit, I have a huge sweet tooth and this was not as sweet as I was hoping but with the extra banana it wasn't bad, still I might add one stevia packet next time and use a little less agave.

When I get back from running errands, I'll probably cut up my jiccim, sprinkle a little lemon juice and chili powder on them and have something a little more nutritious for my afternoon snack.

I took pictures but don't have time to upload them, I just realized what time it is and I have to go run several errands, come home make dinner, gather fundraiser stuff and run to the church to set up tables. Why am I such a procrastinator?!

Sweet Treat

Today is the day I have 100% started PRISM again. I'm looking forward to seeing some results and maybe finding links to other issues. I have a big goal in mind but I know that I did it once before, I can do it again.

Tonight after I ate dinner (salad with homemade greek yogurt dressing) I made up these little goodies for a treat.

They don't look like much but they are so good and just the bit of sweetness I needed to get through today. Haven't had sugar since Monday. The first two weeks are always the hardest in terms of sugar but I'm determined.

How to make these:

You need oranges, I think any kind will do but I used Cuties because they're so cute
Cut them in half horizontally
Using a small paring knife or a serrated spoon, loosen the orange flesh from the peel, don't remove it completely, just enough to create a small gap between the orange and the peel
Pour a little agave nectar over each orange (this step is completely optional, the oranges are sweet on their own, I used just the tiniest amount on each)
sprinkle the tops with cinnamon, however much you'd like, some got more than others
place on a baking sheet under the broiler for 4-5 minutes, check it though because it could take shorter or longer depending on your oven
You want to take them out when they are caramelized on top

To eat them, let cool for a minute then flip the peel backwards, away from the flesh and eat straight from the peel.

You're house will smell REALLY good and you'll get a delicious, juicy, naturally sweet, cinnamon-y treat.

Make up more than you think you'll need because they go quick :) I just did one per person which was fine for us but if allowed, I could eat four.

Perhaps tomorrow I will make 'sassy water'. I'm drinking lots (subsequently, peeing a lot) of water but I found a fun recipe to freshen up my water. Slice lemon, cucumbers and add to water, grate a little fresh ginger, and sprinkle in some mint. Let it sit in water pitcher to naturally flavor your water.

If you have any fun, healthy (ie: no sugar, no flour, no potatoes) recipe you'd like to share, I'd love to hear it!!

THE Torte.

I'm cleaning out my email boxes (I have lots of those) and I came across one recipe that I have been looking for EVERYWHERE. I made it for a baby shower (for a baby who's now 4) and I haven't been able to find it since. It was good...like most everyone at the shower asked for the recipe and it was gone within a few minutes. So I FINALLY found it and thought I'd blog it so I never have to loose it again. Of course it's filled with alllll healthy stuff ;)

Peanut Butter Torte
1 c. finely chopped salted peanuts
2 teaspoons sugar
∏ teaspoon instant espresso powder --I x'd this I don't do espresso
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
2c. mini chocolate chips
24 Oreo cookies, finely crumbed or ground in a food processor or blender
 stick <4 tablespoons> unsalted butter, melted and cooled
Small pinch of salt
2  c. heavy cream
1  c confectioners sugar, sifted
12 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1  c salted peanut butter  crunchy or smooth
2 tablespoons whole milk
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate finely chopped

Getting ready: center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter a 9-inch Springform pan and place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat.
Toss 1 cup of the chopped peanuts, the sugar, espresso powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and chocolate chips together in a small bowl. Set aside.
Put the Oreo crumbs, melted butter and salt in another small bowl and stir with a fork just until crumbs are moistened. Press the crumbs evenly over the bottom and up the sides of the spring form pan . Freeze the crust for 10 minutes.
Bake the crust for 10 minutes, then transfer it to a rack and let it cool completely before filling.
Working with a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, whip 2 cups of the cream until it holds medium peaks. Beat in 1 cup of the confectioners sugar and whip until the cream holds medium-firm peaks. Scrape the cream into a bowl and refrigerate until needed.
Wipe out the bowl, fit the stand mixer with the paddle attachment if you have one, or continue with the hand mixer, and beat the cream cheese with the remaining 1 cup confectioners? sugar on medium speed until the cream cheese is satiny smooth. Beat in the peanut butter, π cup of the chopped peanuts and the milk.
Using a large rubber spatula, gently stir in about one quarter of the whipped cream, just to lighten the mousse. Still working with the spatula, stir in the crunchy peanut mixture, then gingerly fold in the remaining whipped cream.
Scrape the mouse into the crust, mounding and smoothing the top. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or overnight, cover with plastic wrap as soon as the mousse firms.
To Finish The Torte: put the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Leave the bowl over the water just until the chocolate softens and starts to melt, about 3 minutes, remove the bowl from the saucepan.
Bring the remaining ∏ cup cream to a full boil. Pour the cream over the chocolate and , working with a a rubber spatula, very gently stir together until the ganache is completely blended and glossy.
Pour the ganache over the torte, smoothing it with a metal icing spatula. Scatter the remaining ∏ cup peanuts over the top and chill to set the topping, about 20 minutes.
When the ganache is firm, remove the sides of the Springform pan, it?s easiest to warm the pan with a hairdryer, and then remove the sides, but you can also wrap a kitchen towel damped with hot water around the pan and leave it there for 10 seconds. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

I promise it's delicious. These directions might not make sense but it gives you the general idea haha. I have to leave soon so I don't have time to fix it sorry.

Hey look at that, I found a picture of it online!! But my recipe is a bit different but it looks like this.

Pinterest Crafting #5

This post will actually be more like Pinterest baking...or Pinterest microwaving...

A little known (or perhaps well known?) fact about me is I LOVE caramel corn. I've been known to manipulate a mom or two into making me some. I never knew I had the power to make my own, WEIRD. haha I just get too bored standing at the stove, and getting burned from the steam is not very fun. So when I came across this 6 Minute Caramel, I knew I had to try it. Lucky for me, we had all the ingredients so I started posthaste.

The first time I made this, I poured it into an 8x8 dish to cool. It took, f.o.r.e.v.e.r. to set up, and never really did. So I smartened up.

For FHE this week we listened to some talks so I made this 6 minute caramel again (at the request of my brother) but this time, I air popped a batch of popcorn and poured the caramely ooy gooy goodness over the popcorn. It was a huge hit. I didn't even bake it, which makes it a little more sticky but that's alright.

Here's the recipe:

• ¼ cup butter
• ½ cup white sugar
• ½ cup brown sugar
• ½ cup light Karo syrup
• ½ cup sweetened condensed milk 
  (ya it's REALLY healthy for you too....double bonus :)) 

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in microwave safe bowl.
2. Cook 6 minutes, stirring every two minutes.
3. Stir and pour into lightly greased dish. (at this point, you should have a bowl of kernel free popcorn waiting and pour it allllll over, then skip all the other steps.)
4. Let cool.
5. Cut, wrap in wax paper & store in air tight container.

The next day my brother tried to force me to make him some more...but it's reallllly not an every day treat haha, they'd have to forklift us out of the house if it was.

There was quite a bit of caramel in this batch, I used 1/2 cup of corn kernels. Next time I might do a little more popcorn so it's not quite so covered...although that's part of why it's so good ;)

Here's a link to my baking board. I recently pinned a recipe for a cookie dough dip made from chickpeas, a recipe for coconut milk w/ cocoa whipped together, and a link to how to make your own powdered sugar using sugar substitutes.

Enjoy!

Pinterest Crafting #4

For this week's pinterest craft, I made a really neat holder for my small church books. I found the link last night and pinned it, then just made it in about an hour.

It's meant to hold the YW Personal Progress book, Journal, pen, and strength of youth pamphlet. However, I don't have the journal so I just put my YW camp for leaders pamphlet in there for now.

Then it folds over itself to make this cute little package:

I love it. I have a hard time keeping all my little books in one place and this is the perfect solution for me. It's not a big bulky case, it's just barely bigger than the books themselves.

Here are a few links if you'd like to make your own!!

Direct link to the directions/tutorial

My Church Board


My Sewing Board

On another note, on Monday I got to take one of the residents at my work on a fun overnight trip to Semiahmoo Resort. If you want to getaway, I highly recommend this place. Right now is their off season so we were given a free upgrade to a waterview room (which is another $80 value). It's so pretty up there I could have spent the entire time on the beach but it was pretttty cold.

All pictures were taken with my point and shoot, which I was pretty impressed with, much better quality than my old one, hurray!!


Next Week's Pinterest day....might be about New Beginnings we're planning for church..maybe. I spent an entire day last week paper macheing balloons to go with our theme. We'll see.

Oh ya!! This was originally going to be my Pinterest Craft for the week:

CAKE POPS!! Prolly not the cutest you've ever seen but nobody seemed to mind :). The half covered ones were for my family...the chocolate started hardening and I didn't have enough left anyways so they got the gross looking ones, they didn't care.

PB2

Is this the future?! I heard about this product a few months ago but was reminded of it yesterday when Dr. Oz had it on his diet show. It's a powdered peanut butter product. Here's a picture:

It seems weird, powdered peanut butter...? but I've heard it tastes just as good as regular PB except it is a lot healthier. Here's what Amazon has to say about it

"Through a unique process created by Bell Plantation that does not involve the use of any chemicals; over 90% of the fat is removed from the peanut. Essentially the oil is squeezed out of roasted peanuts and what remains is a peanut powder. The resulting all-natural product is unbelievable!The possibilities for PB2 are limited only by the users imagination and creativity! An outstanding natural protein source sprinkle on shakes, yogurts, smoothies, great for outdoor sports. Excellent for ice cream as it will not seize while processing, ganaches, frostings, truffles, soufflés, cakes, muffins, brownies. Dissolves easily for savory applications- Asian noodle sauces, breadings and crust especially for seafood. It is also wonderful for baking either reconstituted or as a powder"

2 Tablespoons of this stuff is 45 calories...compared to 188+ per 2 Tablespoons of the 'real' stuff. CRAZZZY. I tend to go skimpy on the PB because of the amount of fat and calories but if I get this stuff, I can indulge and use more than a tablespoon at a time. This will drastically cut down on my morning smoothie calorie wise. You just mix it with a T or two of water. excellent.

Here's a recipe if you're interested:
1 banana the riper the better
1 Cup of milk--about
a spoonful or two of cocoa powder
a small squeeze of agave nectar (or honey)
1-2 T peanut butter
1/2 cup ice

Blend it all together and you have a pretty healthy breakfast. I usually only drink half because it's packed with calories but now with this powder stuff it won't be as bad. Huzzzzah!

Please note, I've never tried this product but I think I'm going to order a container and see how it is. It's like 4 bucks so it's worth a shot.

Cupcake CRAZY

let's get one thing straight, i cannot eat cupcakes. i guess technically i CAN i just choose not to, weird i know. however, i CAN decorate cupcakes still. i have always enjoyed decorating cupcakes but i haven't ever decorated them like this before: (p.s. sorry for the terrible pictures, they are all from my phone :\)

these spaghetti and meatball cupcakes were for april fools day. it's really just frosting and ferreo rocher dipped in raspberry jelly. pretty fun.

these little guys were for my neighbor's 11th birthday party. they have a marshmallow pillow and body, nilla wafer head, rolled out star burst blanket, teddy graham teddy's, flower sprinkle mouths and frosting hair/eyes

and a close up.

my neighbor also had a swimming party, enter twinky sharks, donut life preservers, pretzel and gumdrop buoys and sweedish fish swimming on marshmallows

i just want ONE bite, pleaaaase?!

these ones are pretty boring compared to the other ones but oh well. i made about 75 big and small cupcakes for my mom's RS mothers day treat. some had a little chocolate heart that didn't really turn out too well.

i think there was 3 types of cake and 4 types of frosting going on here. the kitchen was a disaster.

and these little guys we made last night. they are monsters and boy are they fun. they each have half a marshmallow then they are covered in frosting. the eyes are dum dum suckers with a black M&M "glued" on there wrapped with a peach ring. and the nose is a small hard candy.

i really wanted to eat one of these guys....sad.

anyways now i'm looking at different elmo cupcake ideas ;) i love cupcakes.

p.s. do you know how hard it is to NOT lick your frosting covered finger? hard i tell you. it's almost an unconscious decision, one that's made before you realize what's happening. however, i refrained every time.

p.p.s. who knew that marshmallow was spelled with an A? i didn't. thank goodness for spellcheck!

On top of spaghetti.........

Happy April Fool's Day! would you like some spaghetti and meatballs? muhahaha jk. it's cupcakes and chocolate dipped in jelly. siiiiick. that's about as good as i'm going to get for AFD this year sorry.

i spent the day yesterday cooking and baking for a few families who have just had babies and i got to take some pics of baby Ember. here are a few but there are more on my photo blog.

sweet sisters

i love her flower, it's almost as big as her head!

p.s. emily i hope that bread pudding turned out...i'm probably going to owe you guys another dessert! haha

p.p.s. painting all day today. yippy be jealous.

edit:

in honor of April Fool's day, here is a text conversation i had with one michelle chapin tonight. sometimes i don't know when to stop haha:

me: oh my gosh like michelle i'm like pregnant! like totally

michelle:oh my gosh! that's crazy! i'm engaged!

me: whoa! awesome. i'm also moving to mumbai and becoming a British monk with all the world's top skydivers. how cool is that?

michelle: way cool! i just won the lottery and won the Nobel peace prize! crazy huh?

me: congrats! i just discovered the fountain of youth...it's in istanbul and it's guarded by 12, 3 headed dogs. i used my amazing kung fu skillz to show them whats up.

...i'm like 4 now.

michelle: wow dang. i found this magic plant and lost 75 pounds in 1 day!

me: way to go!!! i signed a recording contract with justin timberlake and shaved my name in my hair. i made plans to visit mars with gloria estafan

michelle: dang! that's amazing! Pres Obama just named me world's smartest cosmetologist!

me: sweeeeet. me and shell obama are taking a diving class next week so we can discover the titanic then harry connick jr. and i are going to make a guest appearance on dancing with the stars. i heard there will be a shirly temple impersonator there too

michelle: oh wow. you totally win! dancing with the starts! say hi to kate for me.

me: we are BFF's. ok i'll be done. APRIL FOOLS i got you gooood. best prank ever. i had you believing every word. i'm awesome (and humble)

michelle: man you got me so good....

the end.

sorry to anyone who actually read through that. we're special.

Christmas Season Photos

a few weeks before christmas we got this little box in the mail...it's from Russia where my aunt and uncle are serving a mission for our church. i was soooooooooo excited and wanted to open it ASAP but wasn't allowed. how rude. so it sat under the tree for awhile then was hidden b/c we kept opening the packaging little by little everyday. we will come back to this box later i'll make it a surprise like it was for me...

the first weekend in december is when we usually go and chop down our tree at the tree farm...it's usually a big ordeal b/c we have opposing opinions on what a christmas tree should look like. i like full bushy trees and others like more sparse layered trees. they won this year. :) p.s. they won b/c it was Sooooooooooo cold nobody wanted to be outside anymore.

after putting the tree up we decorated the rest of the living room. we've had those stockings since we were little and even though i think my mom would like them to be matching red stockings, we hang up our mismatched fun stockings.

christmas eve is always the baking day. we make SO many treats and goodies for friends. we spend the WHOLE day baking. this year was hard b/c usually we taste as we go along to make sure things taste good, this year i couldn't soooo that sucked. but we still made lots.

the finished plates. i think we made probably 10 different items we did way too much this year.


i'm in charge of the pretzel rods dipped in chocolate every year this time we did red chocolate then i drizzled white over it to give it a candy cane look.

finally after a long day of baking, delivering and having dinner at a friends house we skyped with my aunt in uncle in russia and opened our special box holy toledo i LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE russian nesting dolls and they sent us 2 sets and those cute little ornaments!!

we will be going to russia (my mom and i) either this summer or next summer to pick them up and i plan on packing an empty suitcase to stuff full with these things- put your order in now haha.

and last but not least christmas morning. santa got me a blu ray player to go with the flat screen TV i bought myself a few weeks ago. we got some good stuff including Beatles rock band which has been played constantly for the last several days.

ok i have to get ready for work now i hope everyone had a good christmas!! and a happy new year in a couple days!

Busy Month

seriously this month has been so busy! i've taken pictures for 2 weddings, 2 families, 1 40th b-day party, and a family reunion. phew pretty much all in the same week. you can see pics from one of the weddings here. it was so nice but i have 700 pictures to go through just for that wedding. Anyways it was also my birthday on the 16th,
i got this bike:
and a bunch of other things like scrapbooking stuff :) .
my cake was kind of a flop, the frosting was too...i don't know i just didn't like it too much. i liked the candle though. it matched the flower sprinkles.

i also spent some time making these invites:
for my aunts reception.....

we also went camping with 4 other families. well, 2 went camping we went cabining with the other family. haha we've been camping with these families since i was born but our family doesn't camp after some unfortunate experiences...

we went to the washington coast and it was pretty foggy and chilly but it was still fun. the above picture is actually from La Push, WA, we went to forks and la push on our way home from greyland. we saw forks high school and some other fun Twilight places.

this weekend we went to woodlyn park zoo in seattle, it was about 90 degrees and i literally melted (note it will be around that hot the rest of the week...darnit i like the sun but not that kind of heat) on our way home from the zoo we ate at the Rock Woodfire Pizza restaurant...SO GOOD if you're ever in lynwood you should definitely look them up we talked to the guy about opening one in bellingham, we are that cool.

tomorrow my brothers, my dad and i are going to orcas island in the san juans to scooter around the island.

hopefully it will be a little cooler there with it being by the water. maybe. so that's why i haven't posted much this month...too much good stuff going on. next month will probably be pretty busy too so don't expect too much :) .