ups and downs

This weekend.....I feel like this..............
A little bit of a Debbie Downer....
**Just read on while the commercial plays**

So here are the ups and downs of the last week to the upcoming week

Downs:

Camera broke- I had the kids looking all nice for the pumpkin patch a couple weeks ago and when I went to turn on the camera....it was broken

Swine flu- don't get me started....so I seem to be the only one so far in the household to get it...but then again, we think Gabe had it a week ago but didn't seem to get it very bad since he had the flu vaccine.  I was in tears all day Sunday.  I am feeling a "bit" better today, enough to get out of bed for a bit.

Gabe missed his Primary Program- He practiced and practiced and we all had our part down (our family was asked to talk about the priesthood in the home) And the day before he came down with a  fever, lost his voice and was out of it.  Poor boy, we still havn't told him that we missed it.

I missed Halloween-  I find a lot of joy in walking around the neighborhood with the family, but this year I was curled up in a ball feeling like somebody hit me with a bat over and over.  And also, since we don't have a camera, we are going to have to recreate Halloween once it gets fixed.

I missed my lesson at church-  I am one who gets really nervous to teach, my last lesson went really well a couple months ago and I was looking forward to teaching yesterday, I had my lesson ready and kept working on it even though I knew something didn't feel right.  I feel awful for missing it, it was over Elder Hollands talk from General Conference on bearing your testimony of the Book of Mormon...what an amazing topic....And I feel I had so much to testify from my own personal experiences of the Book of Mormon with the sisters. Ugh...still a little upset over this one.

Nolan likes money- He swallowed a penny a couple days ago while wrestling with James....we had no idea he even had it.  So we weren't sure to even be looking for anything or not.  He will not wear a diaper AT ALL, so that was out of the question for just waiting for it to come out in his diaper.  He will not let us near him when he is doing his buisness in the bathroom either, so we just hoped for the best I guess.  And finally on Friday it turned up in the bottom of the toilet. 

Ups:

No cakes- don't get me wrong, I love doing cakes.  I find it to be a geat stress reliever when I am in the zone working on a cake.  But I don't have any coming up any time soon and I feel I can take a deep breath and relax for a minute.

Upcoming Enrichment- I am looking forward to our next Enrichment that we are calling "Women who Create" we are spotlighting all of the women in our ward and celebrating who we are and our talents.  The comittee is definatly being guided by the spirit and I know this is going to be a very uplifting evening.

Mother and Father in law coming in town for a weekend-  It is only a weekend, but we miss them so much, including the boys.  They just moved to Utah from living right around the corner from us...no more taking a quick walk to see them, no more soda runs, no more back alley games......so we are really looking forward to this upcoming weekend.....plenty of backalley games down here! I am not even planning anything else for that weekend....only cards.

Matt and Erin are coming in town for a weekend-  We were really worried that now that Steve and Judy moved, no one would come visit.  But luckily since they are coming in town, Erin and Matt are making the drive from Oregon to come visit also...it is going to be a great weekend.  Did I  mention it is going to be a great weekend?

Stake Conference-  We are so lucky to have Elder Holland coming in town.  I guess he is here to visit friends or family (not sure the reason) And we are so blessed to have another Stake Conference to hear him speak.  I am looking forward to feel the spirit that will be felt in that room. 

Getting my house back in order-  James has been such a great husband/father and has taken up the slack that I couldn't do.  But I am looking forward to be able to clean my house and get things in order the way I  like them.  Thank you James!  I am so blessed to have you as my husband.

Seeing this little bundle of joy-  Still can't get over the fact that Tara is a mom, I want to go and hold baby Eva and see Taras new house....but in my shape, it is for the best I stay away for a few more days....But I can't wait!

I am off to go lay back down, I am spent.

gold and roses

Go to my friend Heather's (my ally in cake) Blog to read

a quick overview of this beautiful cake with more pictures,

She explains it perfectly

It has become tradition to do this pose by all of our cakes....

no one was there to take it for us this time....so this is the best we could get, not to shabby.

Mommy and baby meet at last

Remember the post I did only months ago?!?

The wait is over!

Want a wonderful announcment??

 Check out the blog of the greatest friend anyone could have....

go go go!!

It will totally make your day/week/month!

Eva is so blessed to have two loving parents who are going to be the best parents ever!

Congrats Jason and Tara!

New cake

Meet the newest member to the cake family.  Mr Potato Head!  He was a lot of fun/hard work/ stress to make.  There was a lot of laughter and moans and groans while making this cake with Heather.  I am glad it is done, but after it all, it is one of my new favorites.

Look at the detail on the shoes, one of my favorite parts

My new love of Nutella

Dear Nutella,
where have you been my whole life?  I knew there was a sweet chocolatey hazelnutty ingredient missing from my life, and here you are.  I will bake with you and spread you all over english muffins.  I will fill  you in crepes and put you on banana sandwiches.  And if that wasn't enough, I will mix you in pies and in cookies.  Thank you for coming into my life.
Love Kate

1 3/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup Nutella
1/2 cup softened butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
sugar for rolling cookies in

In a small bowl mix flour, soda and salt in bowl.  In a large bowl mix Nutella, butter, sugar, and egg till smooth.  Mix in flour mixture.  Roll into balls and roll in sugar and place on cookie sheet 4 inches apart.
Bake for 8 minutes in 375 degree oven. This is based off of a recipe on Everyday Italian that I found on a blog.

Healthy for me Dark Chocolate muffins

My mother in law is awesome at changing recipes to be more healthy.  She took a recipe from an old cooking light at made it her own.  These muffins do have a hint of banana, but the chocolate taste in them is so rich.  They taste like a healthy version of the Costco chocolate muffins.

Judys dark chocolate muffins:

Ingredients-

12 oz prunes (Judy uses Lighter bake that you can find by the oils, all it is, is all ready stewed prunes)

3/4 ripe banana (I use 2 bananas)

2 eggs (or use egg substitute)

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup cocoa

2tsp baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 cup chopped walnuts

1 cup 60% cocoa chips

If you don't use the Lighter bake, stew prunes in boiling water for 20 minutes and strain and cool.

In a blender, blend prunes, banana, and eggs until smooth.

In a large bowl mix dry ingredients with a wisk and fold in prune banana mixture just till mixed. Don't mix too much.

Fill cupcake liners almost full and bake for 20 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

I like them cold out of the fridge or warmed up.  Really gets me through those sweet cravings!

Turkish Delight

When I was little, I lived in Ankara Turkey for a few years with my family.  My dad with in the Airforce and was stationed there.  Although I don't remember much, I have always had a love for Turkish delight.  After we moved here, we would take trips to Seattle and there is a little store that actually sells turkish delight.  It is a sweet jelly like candy. 

My favorite was always pistachio, so I went on a hunt for a pistachio turkish delight recipe. 

And this is what I found on About.com

It was a great recipe and I found it very easy to do...quite a bit of stirring and watching, but the taste was very much the same as I remember it.  The rose water gives it such a floral sweet flavor, I was very surprised at how good this tasted!

So if you are up for a challange, I suggest you try this!