A Clean House!

One of the many things on my goals list is to organize our house and I got a little closer to that goal this weekend.  I am having some ladies over to my house tonight for a jewelry party and definitely did not want my house a mess!  I talked to my husband the night I booked the party and told him we have to do some major cleaning before the party.  He said "okay, we can do that".  So, the last week and a half flew by and our house hadn't seen much improvement.  Friday, I told him we really need to clean this weekend and "I have an idea. . .how about you do the kitchen (including the fridge, which I'm pretty sure was growing stuff in the empty crisper drawers, eew!) and bathrooms and I'll do the rest".  He said "okay, that works" and it actually worked great!  I didn't have to ask him once to load or unload the dishwasher, he did it all by himself!!!  I was thrilled and felt like we were doing teamwork even though we weren't working side by side together.  So, most our house is clean. . .there's still our bedroom to finish.  I can't complain though I am sooo happy with the way the house looks and really want to keep it up.  It will really make life much easier and make me less grumpy, that's always a plus especially for my hubby.  Well off to do some prep work for dinner and tonight's party!

Time Flies. . .

Life has been busy the last month and a half, I didn't even realize that is has been about that long since I last posted.  School started for both my husband and I, Rylan went back to part time daycare, PT hours started, and I go to Zumba 4 times a week.  That's just the every week stuff, plus my hubby works full time.  We also have another new adventure starting, I am currently 10 weeks pregnant!  I will have to say it's going good so far, but I sure get tired some days and do have random cravings off and on. 

School is going well, I have two professors that I really like.  They are both helpful and friendly.  A & P is really enjoyable so far and Interpersonal Comm. is not bad either.  Learning some interesting things about how communication works.  PT stuff is fantastic, I am really enjoying getting to observe different patients.  I think I have definitely found what I want to do!

Rylan has been doing well, but keeping us busy for sure.  We had suspected for quite sometime, but got an official diagnosis of Autism in August.  His schedule seems almost as crazy as my husband's or mine, as he has therapy four times a week with therapists.   Also, he has therapy days with Grandma and me, so his therapy is on going off and on every day. 

Zumba is awesome as usual.  I have had some nights where I just didn't feel good enough to go, thanks to nausea.  I'm hoping the nausea is almost gone though, it's been a good week of hardly any.

Last but not least for current updates, is we are going to have a BABY in April!!!  We are really excited and a little scared too, but I think that naturally comes with it.  As mentioned above I have been nauseous and not just a little, we're talking almost everyday for the last 2 and 1/2 months.  It seems to be getting better, guess we'll just see how it goes.  Fortunately I haven't thrown up at all, did that pretty much every day with Rylan for 3 and 1/2 months.  I'd honestly rather not have either, but not much I can do about it.  Something else exciting about the baby, is our first prenatal appt. is in a week and a half!  I'm ready to get an official due date, hopefully hear the heart beat and an ultrasound!

Well I think that's all the excitement of late. . .stay tuned for more updates!

School's Coming Up!

School starts in less than week.  I am quite looking forward to it and this semester I have daytime classes, hooray!  After the summer off I am ready to get back into the school schedule.  This semester is going to be a little crazy, but good.  The classes I am taking are Anatomy and Physiology II and Interpersonal Communication.  A & P is a hard class, but you learn all sorts of cool stuff about the human body.  Not sure what the Interpersonal Comm. class will be like, but my hubby has a masters in communications, so I can get help from him if need be.  Then on top of taking classes, I am going to be observing physical therapy at an outpatient clinic here in town and am planning on starting my Zumba classes in the next month or two.  Life will be pretty busy, but it'll be nice to have a routine again.

Zumba Love

I started on a new adventure 2 weeks ago, I became a Zumba instructor!  I am not teaching my own classes yet, but am well on my way.  I got started doing Zumba when my sister took me to a Zumbathon out at Centerra in Loveland and I absolutely loved it!  At that point in time I purchased the DVD set so I could do it at home.  Then signed up for a class at Aims and doing a class with an awesome teacher made me love it even more.  My class ended in May, but I started going to a class my same teacher had at another location.  Then my sister and I got the idea that we should become instructors.  Unfortunately she wasn't able to at the time, but I figured hey why not still go for it!  So, here I am a new instructor and totally getting out of my comfort zone getting ready to eventually teach my own class.  (For those of you who know me, you know I can be pretty shy at first.  So, this is a new step for me to get used to being the leader up front and not being shy.)  So far it's been a wonderful experience and I am thrilled that I decided to do it! 

By the way, if you haven't tried it, you totally should!  It's not your typical workout. . .it's a blast!!! 

Being a Homemaker

 Recently I decided to start being more of a homemaker.  I have been a stay at home mom for almost a year now, but haven't been really into the homemaker thing so much.  This week I have prepped three meals and put them in my freezer.  Pitted, stemmed and froze probably about 5 pounds of cherries, made muffins, cherry pies and iced tea twice.  I find that I am really enjoying it, it's nice to feel like I accomplish something throughout the day or week.  I also realized it's going to make my life much easier this fall.  I am taking two classes, planning on observing physical therapy clinics and am now a Zumba instructor!  So, between school part time and staying home part time, life is going to be pretty busy.  Here's pictures of some of the cherries and the iced tea.  (Hopefully more pictures to come later, my computer isn't copying my pictures from my camera.  So, once I get that figured out, I'll have to add them or just do another post!)

Some of the cherries I pitted, stemmed and froze.

All the stems.

Cherries ready for to go in a bag and then the freezer.

All the pits.

Iced Tea

Game Night

My hubby and I have had a few game nights in the past (as you can see in my previous post, it is a goal to have more).  Anyway, I frequently check out deals on a website called Zulily.com.  They have lost of sales on all sorts of things for kids and moms, more about them on another post though.  So, I was checking out the deals and come across this game called Bowling Knights.  I thought it looked fun so I ordered and Greyson and I had a game night playing Bowling Knights.  It was really fun!  It's easy to play, but can get a little competitive.  Here's the game night in action.

The goal is to NOT knock over the princess.

Greyson setting up the knights and princess.

Remember how the goal is to NOT knock over the princess?!  Yeah, that didn't happen when I tried, I totally knocked her over.

Some Goals

I have some goals for the rest of this summer.  Some are short and others definitely long term goals.  So, here's the list.

1. Finish organizing my house
2. Organize the garage (this one is scary!)
3. Pick and register for classes
4. Find a rehab office to start observing Physical Therapy
5. Have more family game nights
6. Run on a more regular basis
7. Find a good Bible study to start
8. Blog more

I think that's it for now. . .I'm sure there are more floating around in my brain.  As I look at my list though, I think that's a pretty good place to start.  It will be nice to start getting them done.  Especially my house and garage.  The house is closer to being done, but I still need to get some stuff into place.  The garage is really is scary!  I need to go through stuff and get rid of stuff like crazy.  Maybe there will be some before and after photos. . .

Well that's it for this exciting post, more to come later!

What a Wonderful Year

Three weeks ago, my husband Greyson and I celebrated our one year anniversary!!!  It was absolutely wonderful!  We spent the night at a Bed and Breakfast called, The Glenn Haven Inn and went to dinner in Denver at an Irish Pub and Restaurant (thanks to my brother and sister-in-law for the gift card).  Then we finished up the weekend with walking around Estes Park, doing the touristy thing and checking out all the shops.  It was super relaxing and I think we will definitely have to do it again. 

All dressed up on our way to dinner, which was amazing.

In Estes Park, in between looking at shops.

Having fun doing goofy poses.

Outside of the Glenn Haven Inn

Our room.

Lord Dunraven, who the room is named after.

View from our room.

All the room doors had spiffy lettering.

Everything was quite enjoyable and laid back, I couldn't ask for a better anniversary get away.  It's crazy how fast a year goes by!  Once in awhile, I joke with Greyson that isn't it nice we don't have to get married every year?  Man what a ton of work that would be to plan a wedding every year!  It's funny how you plan and stress for sooo long and then it all seems to fade away at the moment you look down the aisle at your future spouse.  All of the sudden none of the stress and worrying matters, all you can think about is the love you have for each other and that you are about to start on an amazing journey together. 

 Anyone can tell you that marriage isn't always smiles and roses, but it also is a wonderful thing to share your life with someone you love.  There have been arguments, tears and lost tempers, but what normal relationship wouldn't have that?  It's part of life and the journey you share together and I wouldn't have it any other way.  Not to say  there aren't any wonderful times either, there plenty of those and they should be enjoyed for what they are.  It's the harder moments though that make you stronger and the bondage of marriage stronger as well. 

I have learned some hard lessons in the past 6 years and though they weren't fun, I know it was well worth learning some of those lessons and being able to see how important love and friendship is.  I have found both with Greyson and am soooo happy to be married to him! 

I love you Greyson, thank you for a wonderful year and I look forward to many more!

Cup Cake Extravaganza!

I have been meaning to write this post for the past few months and am finally getting around to it.  As you can see by the title this post is about cupcakes.  My brother-in-law had a birthday in March and I told my mother-in-law I would make all the cupcakes.  There were three kinds to make, Chocolate with Ganache frosting, Lemon and Coconut.  They turned out amazing (if I do saw so myself)!  Everyone loved them and were surprised they were homemade, but how could you go any other way when it comes to baking?  Homemade is the best.  So, on to the cupcakes.

Left the coconut in the toasted oven too long.

Much better the 2nd time

Lots of butter and cream cheese

Frosting, yum!

Coconut cupcakes waiting to be topped with toasted coconut

Coconut cupcake batter

Nice dense, but moist cake and an amazing frosting

Finished Coconut cupcakes, they were amazing!!!

Coconut cupcakes

Butter and sugar waiting to be creamed

Cream sugar and butter, then add the egg

Cocoa

Part way through mixing the last cupcake batter

Chocolate cupcake batter

Chocolate cupcake batter, mmmm.

Made quite the mess with my hand mixer

Chocolate cupcakes going into the oven

Lemon Cream Cupcakes

Ingredients for Chocolate Ganache.  Super simple and tastes amazing!

Chocolate Ganache

Chocolate cupcakes, before being frosted

After being frosted, don't they look yummy?

Chocolate Ganache frosted cupcakes

All three kinds of cupcakes ready to go.

So there ya have it.  It took 5 hours to make all three kinds and I think I ended up making around 7 dozen.  I love to bake!  It's relaxing and quite rewarding when you are done.  Following are the recipes for all three kinds with frosting, enjoy!

Lemon Cream Cupcakes

1 cup butter

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

2 Tbsp.grated lemon peel (I used more like 3-4 Tbsp.)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

3 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

2 cups (16. oz) sour cream

Directions:  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time, beat well after each addition.  Beat in lemon peel and vanilla.  Combine flour baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add to creamed mixture alternately with the sour cream, beating well after each addition (batter will be thick).

Fill greased or paper lined muffin cups with 1/4 cup of batter.  Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 mins. or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Cool for 10 mins. before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.

Yield: 2 1/2 dozen

Frosting

3 Tbsp. butter, softened

2 1/4 cups confectioner's sugar

2 Tbsp. lemon juice

3/4 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 tsp. grated lemon peel

1-2 tsp. milk

Directions:  Cream together butter and confectioner's sugar in a small bowl until light and fluffy.  add the lemon juice, vanilla, lemon peel and milk.  Beat until smooth, frost cupcakes.

Chocolate Cupcakes

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup baking cocoa

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. salt

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup buttermilk

Directions:  In a small bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in egg and vanilla.  Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture alternately with water and buttermilk.  Beating very well after each addition.  

Fill paper lined muffins cups 2/3 full.  Bake ate 375 degrees for 12-15 mins, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Cool for 10 mins, before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.  Frost cupcakes.

Yield: 16 cupcakes

Frosting, Chocolate Ganache

2 cups (12 oz) semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1/2 cup miniature chocolate chips (optional)

Directions:  In a small sauce pan, melt chocolate chips with cream over low heat, stir until blended.  Remove from heat and transfer to a small bowl.   Cover and refrigerate for 45-60 mins. or until mixture reaches spreading consistency.  Stirring every 15 mins.  Dip cupcakes in to coat top, let dry and dip again.  Repeat as desired.

Coconut Cupcakes

3/4 lb (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temp

2 cups sugar

5 extra large eggs, room temp

1 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 tsp. pure almond extract

3 cups flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1.2 tsp. kosher salt

1 cup butter milk

14 oz. sweetened, shredded coconut

Directions:  Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  In a mixing bowl cream butter and sugar on high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 mins.  With mixer on low speed add eggs, 1 at a time; scraping down the bowl after each addition.  Add the vanilla and almond extracts and mix well.  In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and slat.  In 3 parts, alternately add the dry ingredients and the butter milk to the batter, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.  Mix until just combined.  Fold in 7 oz of coconut. 

Line a muffin pan with paper liners.  Fill each liner to the top with batter.  Bake for 25-30 mins, until tops are brown and a toothpick comes out clean.  Allow to cool in the pan for 15 mins.  Remove to a baking rack and cool completely.

Meanwhile make the frosting.

Frosting

1 lb. cream cheese, room temp

3/4 lb (3 sticks) butter, room temp

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. pure almond extract

1 1/2 lbs. confectioner's sugar, sifted

Directions:  In a bowl with mixer paddle attached (if you have one) on low speed, cream together the cream cheese, butter, vanilla and almond extracts.  Add confectioner's sugar and mix until smooth.  Frost the cupcakes and sprinkle with remaining coconut ( I toasted the coconut and it looked pretty and tasted good).

Yield: 2 dozen