The Next Great Baker.....

I love Pinterest! There are so many great ideas on there. Most are just wishful thinking because I don't feel like truly creative or talented enough to make it look as good as it does with the pictures. A majority of the items I pin, I haven't even attempted. I'm not brave enough :) Now, Dani on the other hand is willing to try new things. We both love to watch baking shows, and one of our favorites is Cupcake Wars. She wants to try and do the different piping techniques that can be used to frost cupcakes & cakes.

The other day as she was searching for new ideas, and she found a recipe for Snickerdoodle Cupcakes. They looked really good, the recipe looked fairly easy, and she wanted to try them out. I love Snickerdoodle cookies, so I was excited she was feeling ambitious.

 Here's the recipe. It says at the bottom of it, but this came from Deliciously Sprinkled.

I'm so glad that she made these because they were excellent. The frosting reminds me of the frosting from Cinnabon. I'd definitely recommend these to anyone. Dani's a pretty good cook and can make me these cupcakes whenever she wants. I think she could be The Next Great Baker if she's going to make delicious things like this!

Fun-Filled Weekend.....

Instead of sitting around all weekend, Dani & I actually did some fun things! Steph came down on Thursday so she could get her hair done on Friday. After I got out of my Rotation Advising, we headed to The Library to grab some lunch. After we ate, we went to the Brown & Gold store and the Bookstore to see if there was any new shirts in that we could wear to the Cowboy game the next day. We made a quick trip to Maurices and the chocolate store before heading home to watch the Lovell vs. Rocky game. It was weird to watch & cheer for the girls without Emi being out on the floor. It definitely wasn't the same, but I'm glad that she's on her way to recovery for her knee! We spent the rest of the night being lazy & bumming around the house.

Saturday we went to the Cowboy Basketball game. The boys play Utah State and we played really well. The game was the Gold Out, it was cool to see our student section all wearing the same color for once. :) It was a pretty eventful game with some questionable calls, our obnoxious crowd, & one of our players getting ejected, it was good that we came out with a win!

Steph headed home pretty early this morning so she could be home for work tomorrow and be home to watch the Super Bowl. Our Super Bowl "Party" was pretty exciting, since it was just me & Dani. It wasn't the most exciting game & definitely didn't end the way we wanted it to. The half-time show was awesome, I absolutely love Bruno Mars, & it was the highlight of the game! We made some homemade pizza to eat while we watched the game. It took me a couple times to make the dough because the first time I got the water too hot & killed the yeast in the first batch. We were going to have the pizza done by the middle of the first half but ended up having to wait until the middle of half-time to eat. It turned out really good and was totally worth the wait!

When reading about our weekend, it doesn't seem all the exciting, but compared to what it usually consists of, it really was pretty eventful! I had a good time and was happy to have something to fill our time!

It's Been Awhile.....

It's been awhile since I've cooked a full-course meal while I'm in Laramie going to school. We usually make something quick or go get something to eat for dinner because it takes too much time or we don't want to go to the store. :) Tonight, though it's been long enough since we've had a fancy meal like my mom makes us at home.

Dani and I wanted to make dinner so we could eat while we watched WWE, which is our Monday night tradition since last summer vacation. For dinner we made some barbecue steak, baked potatoes, corn, and homemade rolls. I attempted to make the rolls, they turned out pretty good, but still not as good as Mom's and definitely not as pretty! It'll take some practice, and hopefully one day I'll be as good of a cook as my mom. I need to do it more often then I do so I can get better!

I'm so thankful for a great mom who is such a talented cook and has taught us those same skills! I would be eating frozen dinners for the rest of my life if it wasn't for her (Either that or I'd be a regular dinner guest at her house)!!

Thanksgiving Break.....

I can't believe Thanksgiving has already come and gone. We got to have an extra long break this year because we don't have classes on Tuesday, so we headed to Lovell Friday morning. We spent the week with Kara and her family, hanging out at home, being with friends, and eating good food. What we didn't plan on was getting sick. The flu went through our family and made things a little miserable for some of us at times.

Emilee had a busy weekend when we first got to town with All-District, a WHSAA meeting, basketball practice, and her activity banquet, we barely saw her until later in the week when she was off of school. She's such a busy, talented girl, and she definitely needed a break!

I spent a lot of time with Kara and her kids this week! I sure do miss her cute kids when I'm down at school. Saturday we went to How the Grinch Stole Christmas for the Holiday Mingle at the Hyart. On Tuesday, Jake had his first grade ABCs of Thanksgiving play. He looked so cute in his little pilgrim outfit. He's getting so big, and is such a smart, handsome boy! I love to support them all in everything they do.

After the play was over, I headed to Basin to see Kristen and her new house. It's hard not having her in Laramie with me anymore, but she's happy and loving married life. It's crazy we're all growing up!

Wednesday I spent at home, went to Minchow's for dinner, and then helped my mom make pies. I've never made pies before, and I was a little nervous. It took a lot more time for my mom because she was teaching me how to do everything, but I'm happy I got to learn because she makes the best pies (and I definitely need to learn how to make them)! I'm glad to report that I didn't screw up the pies, and they tasted good - but of course that's because my mom kept a close eye on me.

Thanksgiving was small this year. It was just our family and Kara, Jason, and the kids joined us. It was nice to spend it with family and the food was delicious. We spent the day eating and being lazy. I made activity books for the kids to do when they got to the house. They had a word search, cross-word puzzle, word scramble, coloring pages, and a page to write what they're thankful for. Needless to say, they were a hit! We ate in the living room, and Katelyn said our house looked like the Olive Garden (which means it looked pretty dang cool)!

I love this holiday and the opportunity it gives me to think of all the blessings I have in my life. I'm such a lucky girl to have been blessed with so many good things in my life.

To finish out my break, I spent it with my family. Emi and I went to Breaking Dawn part 2 up in Powell on Friday night. Then on Saturday, we spent the day in Billings shopping, eating at the Olive Garden, and spending time together :) It was a great ending to a really fun break!

This year is flying by!! I'll be done with another semester of school in 3 weeks, and home for Christmas break for a month. I love the holiday season and am so blessed to have such amazing friends and family to surround me.

First Attempt.....

Well tonight I made my first attempt at making caramel popcorn. I'm proud to report that it turned out great! I only had to make one call to my mom to find out what it meant when it said cook to softball consistency.

Dani and I have been hanging out at home and decided we wanted to have a movie night, since that's pretty much all we ever do on the weekends! We got the movie, What to Expect When You're Expecting. We're going to spend the night watching movies and chowing down on one of my favorite homemade treats.

Making my mom's caramel corn is super easy. Thanks Aunt Cathy for giving the recipe to my mom, it's the best stuff I've ever tasted. It's pretty easy and quick to make. Here's the recipe for the best caramel corn ever:

Caramel Corn

2 Cups Brown Sugar

1 Cup Karo Syrup

1 Cup Butter or Margarine

Dash of Salt

**Cook to Softball and then Pour in 1 Can of Eagle Brand Milk. Pour over popcorn**