Halloween!

To add to the post below: We had a wonderful Halloween this year. We were grateful that we weren't walking around with painkillers, and crutches like last year after Jimmy's ankle surgery. We were glad for good friends, our ward Halloween party, and our creativity for fun costumes. We present Captain Jack Sparrow and his first mate for life!

And, we present our fun friends at the ward Halloween Party. We had a blast!

Graveyard Cake

Jimmy and I had a great Halloween. We were Capt'n Jack Sparrow and his first mate and had a blast! (Pictures to come) We made our traditional graveyard cake it is a very fun tradition in the Brown Family Household and the recipe was requested. And so, for your enjoyment as well as ours...



Halloween Graveyard Cake

2 1/4 C Oreo Cookie Crumbs
1/2 C Sugar
1/2 C Margarine (melted)
1 8oz pkg Creak Cheese
1 12oz pkg Cool Whip (thawed)
1 pkg Orange Jello
1 pkg Candy Corn and Pumpkins
1 pkg Milano Cookies (or other oval cookies)
Colored Frosting for decorating
Green Sprinkles for decorating

Directions:
-Mix 2 cups of cookie crumbs with 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 cup melted margarine. Press into 9x11 pan and refrigerate till cool.
-Beat cream cheese, 1/4 cup sugar till smooth, then add 1/2 container of cool whip and blend together.
-Spread cream cheese mixture over cookie crumb layer covering all edges, and refrigerate.
-Make Jello till slightly thickened and spoon over cream cheese layer. Refrigerate till firm.
- Spread remaining cool whip onto Jello and refrigerate.
- Decorate with remaining cookie crumbs and green sprinkles for dirt and grass. Add tombstones and decorate like a graveyard.

Trusting in the Lord

On a very dreary, and heartbroken day, I stumbled across this. I didn't know how much the message would touch so close to home, but it did. I love my Heavenly Father, and I'm grateful for the love and comfort he gives me.

I'm Hungry!

Hungry for more ideas that is. I may have just blogged about my sister's yummy french breakfast puffs, but I am way bored with my dinner menu. I feel like I've done the same things over and over, so now I'm not really making anything. Because of that we are eating out more, or eating at home but not as healthy as flavorful home cooked dinners. So, I beg, I plead, if you have any good dinner recipes that you are willing to share, please share with me!

Conference French Breakfast Puffs

I love conference weekend! You get to sleep in and listen to the prophets voice and eat yummy breakfasts! Thanks to Roslyn I got to add French Breakfast Puffs to the tradition. I enjoyed eating these yummy creations when I visited Roslyn when I was in college, and now I get to enjoy them myself. As you can see they were very yummy! I didn't even get to take a picture till half of them were gone! If you would like to enjoy these yummies yourself, I've added the recipe:)




French Breakfast Puffs (By: Roslyn Beckstead)

1/3 c. shortening
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
~3/4 c. milk

*Preheat oven to 350.
*Cream shortening and sugar.
*Add egg and mix thoroughly.
*In separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and nutmeg.
*Stir in flour (in about three parts) alternately with milk (in about three parts). Stir gently, after each addition, until just combined. You can add more or less milk to get a good muffin consistency. Do not over beat or over mix. (This is probably where I don't get it right, since I make sure my baking powder is fresh)
*Pour into greased muffin tin about 2/3 full (it should make 12, but I usually make 9 since mine don't usually turn out).
*Bake about 20 min. or until golden brown.
*While baking, melt 6-8 Tbsp butter in a bowl, and make ~1 c. cinnamon sugar in a bowl (1 c. sugar + 1 tsp. cinnamon, or however you like it).
*Immediately after the muffins are out of the oven, roll in butter and then in cinnamon sugar and set on a plate.

Our first DIY and then we moved

So Jimmy and I had an amazing opportunity that we just could not pass up. There were some openings in the Fleur de Lis apartments for $50 less than what we were paying. So we put our apartment up for sale and signed the contract for our 4 bed/2 bath place. In order to move we had to finish our kitchen cabinets that were started back in November. So we bought some paint and trim, fixed some of the tiles and wah lah! Our beautiful kitchen.












For our first Do-It-Yourself, on limited budget, with improper tools and work area I think it turned out great! We probably won't be doing another DIY for a while, but the experience was good, and now we know that when wanted or needed we can re-create a beautiful kitchen. And to all you future Do-It-Yourself Projecteers, if I could do it you can do it! We sold our contract in exactly a week and moved into our new place! and we love it! (more pictures of our new place to be posted as soon as we are unpacked...:)

Labor Day Weekend & Swiss Days!

I love being a teacher, and I love all of our days off! This labor day weekend started like all. The Brown girls head up to homestead resort for a getaway weekend and Swiss Days! I was more excited this year than last, I wasn't pregnant and I was so looking forward to the break! Tiffany and I drove up on Friday after work and met the other girls there.
We walked around a couple of aisles of booths before heading over to our hotel room. I finally remembered my swimsuit and after dinner I finally got to the hot tub and swim in the pool a little bit. Tiffany, Angie and I climbed up the gazillion stairs to the top hole of the crater and enjoyed "only looking" down the deep dark hole. That night we all went to bed and I slept like a baby, even without Jimmy, which means I was really tired. The next morning we got up and saw the inside of the crater in the daylight. It was so awesome I told Jimmy I wanted to go snorkeling there for my birthday. Then we drove over to Swiss Days and I thoroughly enjoyed my strawberries and cream breakfast and hit up all the rest of the booths. There was so much awesome stuff! I only wish I had a house to put it all in. I blew my budget and spent double! But Jimmy requested that I do so, so it was alright. I got a couple of things for a future baby, our house and my classroom. At the end of the day we had our last caramel apple and BBQ dinner and headed home after one last look at the booths. Tiffany drove me home and I came to a house full of cougar fans. I made it home with just enough time to watch the amazing legendary 10 minutes of the game. Today we have been relaxing and went for a drive up the Alpine loop. What a beautiful weekend!