TWINS!

Who Cares What your Gym Teacher says?

Being that it was just conference weekend (wasn't it EXCELLENT? so many good talks. That deserves another post.)...I was spiritually fed. But dang! I ate a lot of food too (between the Friday night BYU football game and Sunday night dinner). I don't think I was ever hungry but I just kept eating. Dip to die for, cinnamon rolls, Hawaiian haystacks, Cafe Rio, papa johns. Oh my this is embarrassing. Plus we had candy bingo to play during conference.

Obviously I needed my step class at the gym this morning. It kicked my booty. At the end of the class my teacher/good friend/neighbor explains that the reason we might not be seeing results is because we are eating junk when we get home from the gym. And she proceeded to give us a kind little lecture about changing our eating habits. She said that it is basically pointless to work this hard and then eat that bad. I turned to my friend next to me and said (semi-jokingly), "that's why I come to the gym. So that I can eat whatever I want." :) Ha ha ha. Not really. I am not giving up my junk. I like it! And I like working out.

So I made the most DIVINE dessert for our FHE treat. You really should make it. Who cares what your gym teacher says? (she doesn't read my blog anyway so she'll never know )

Caramel-Glazed Apple Cake(from the Costco magazine)

1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil (eek!)
3 eggs
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
5 Granny Smith apples
1 1/4 cup chopped pecans and walnuts
2 1/4 tsp vanilla

Caramel Glaze
4 T butter
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
pinch of salt
1/2 cup heavy cream

Preheat oven to 325. Butter and flour and a 9x13 pan (I did 2- 8x8 pans and gave one away).
Beat sugars and oil until well blended. Add eggs one at a time. Sift dry ingredients together and add to egg mixture until just blended. Stir in apples, nuts, and vanilla. Pour in pan(s).
Bake for 50-75 minutes (mine was about 60). Let cool in pan while preparing glaze.
Glaze: Melt better over low heat. Stir in sugars over med-low and cook for 2 minutes. Add cream and bring to a boil for 2 minutes. Stir constantly.
Poke holes in cake with skewer or toothpick. Pour glaze over the cake. Serve warm and top with whipped cream or ice cream. Yummers!

Cute boys and cool tricks

I love these boys. I also LOVE the new things I am learning on photoshop. So fun what you can do to photos.

Now I just need this new Photoshop. (just a little hint for Kenyon)

Busy

So I finally decided to try canning. As a kid, my mom would bottle all sorts of yummy things late in the night. I never really participated in the work. And dang - it is a lot of work. It isn't too bad if you have someone to help you. I bottled tomatoes, salsa, and peaches. Hopefully they are all sealed properly and will be a yummy addition to our meals this year. It has taken just about every minute of my time.

But when I haven't been busy canning, I have been trying to keep up with trouble. She is into everything. Climbing stairs, into cupboards, in the dishwasher and the pantry, or pulling at my legs.

Quinn pretty much loves to eat. Zucchini bread might be her favorite. She will shove it in until her mouth is so full she can't swallow. Tonight I gave her IKEA meatballs and mashed potatoes. Oh, she was happy.

Another favorite trick - pulling her self up to look through the railing at the kids below. It is very entertaining. Don't you just want to eat her? You might notice she has one tooth and another one just barely breaking through. I hate teething. You can't tell from the picture, but she has been so cranky. Poor thing.

And somehow, we have squeezed in a couple visits up to one of our favorite parks in Daybreak.

*Hunting Update - Kenyon just called and he is coming home tomorrow - WITHOUT a deer. Thank you!!! Gavin really wanted a "reindeer" but I didn't. Sounds like it was fun, anyway. And if you didn't know that he was hunting - he went for almost a week. So I think that must mean he is all better. Don't you?

**Medical Update - the docs started a new round of tapering the steroids. This will last a few weeks and then he will hang out at that level for a while. They also took out the picc line in his arm (those were the 2 lines hanging out of his arm). He is happy to be living without that addition.

Did you know?

You can buy these at Costco. My kids wanted them last year. They were so excited when we saw the massive quantity of Snuggies.

PS - The best peppermint truffles I have EVER had can be found at Costco as well. OH my. I can't stop thinking about them.

Remember?

Of course you do. I don't think anybody says today's date and doesn't think about the events that happened 2001. Can you believe it has been 8 years?

Thanks to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for this video.

You were expecting this...

Here's what you have been waiting for...pictures of the first day of school. Gavin finally started today. He was SO excited. He didn't want me to come in, so I didn't. Then it turns out that I was the only parent who didn't come and he felt bad.

I LOVE school uniforms.

Elise got glasses. She loves them and it's a good thing because she really needed them.