Thanksgiving 2009

For Thanksgiving this year, we celebrated my Great Grandma Millie's 90th birthday! We drove from Colorado out to California's Palm Desert where GG and my Great Aunt Laine live. It was way fun and we all had a blast playing in the palm trees, eating tons of food, and enjoying being with family. During the time we were there, it was a balmy 80 degrees and we all enjoyed that soooo much!

From left to right here is my Grandma Randi Cooley, her mom Millie Ramer, and her sister Laine Ramer

Here's a little of the fun my parents had in the palm tree back yard of my G-Aunt Laine:
It was such a perfect setting for pictures so we all went crazy and took tons!
GG is so fun...we were at her house on Thanksgiving morning just chatting about all sorts of crazy things. We discussed Rhianna and how my amazingly hip GG knows her songs and knows all about her. A football game came on and she affectionately called them: "my boys". My grandma came out to do her makeup for the day and insisted we all try her purple mascara on. We all put some on and then ran outside to see it in the sun!
It might take too long to label this one, but we couldn't resist taking a group photo since practically everyone was there!!

664 Murifield

Yay!! Here's the latest on our house. They're gonna start doing the inside soon!

Seattle Trip

Over fall break, Nate and I visited his Uncle Dave and family. We had a great time with all of them. On the first night, we went out with Dave and his wife Maran to see the play "39 Steps" by Alfred Hitchcock. It was hilarious. The next day was Amelia's 7th birthday and party with family.

We also went to the Space Needle and had an amazing lunch at the Sky City restaurant. They have you sit on a rotating wheel that makes a full spin in 45 minutes so you can see the whole city. That was the only clear day while we were there and we could see all of the beauty that city has to offer!

The next night, we walked down on the pier and saw this really cool fountain and some statues at the statue park. Overall, it was amazing.

Roxy

Roxy is now 6 months old, so she is having girl time. Oh, joy. I got her the closest thing to chocolate, a brown raw hide for her to chew on. We got these cute plaid and polka dot diapers for her but they wouldn't stay on cause she has such a tiny waist. She has to spend the whole week outside. Poor thing!

664 Murifield

Here's the latest on our house!! Yeah! Next week we will be doing the electrical walk through. :)

NYC

Candice and I saw Joshua Bell live at the Mostly Mozart Festival at the Lincoln Center. We saw this performance at the Avery Hall and I was kinda sad cause the Lincoln Center was under construction so we didn't get to see the fountain.

So, we had slept all afternoon cause we were so worn out and we didn't get any time for dinner. During the intermission, we ran out, found cash, and ran back to get a sandwich right as intermission was closing. Candice grabbed some napkins, wrapped up the sandwich and put it in her purse so we could go in and sit down. Before the lights went out I started shoving the rest of the sandwich in. I had the last bite in my hand when an usher came up and impatiently told me that there was to be no food in the auditorium. I shoved the bite in and shrugged as if to say: "there's no more food anymore." I'm afraid I'm just a rebellious one.

tee...hee...we were looking up her skirt :)

good ol' Times Square...this was about midnight

The Lion King on broadway rocks! The wooden mask on the wall is about ten feet tall and really cool looking in person!

Niagara

This is our amazing trip to Niagara Falls. If you haven't been there, go! It's totally worth it.

It's crazy windy out on the boat in the middle of the falls...powerful!
Just chillin by the falls.

So we got this room in the Marriott cause Candice's roommate works there and got us an incredible discount. Here is the view from our room! When we got there the night before, there was an incredible lightning storm that lit up the falls and lasted forever.

Our House

So here is our hole:

Here's a panoramic of our hole: (the house on the right is what ours will look like when it's done)

Here's our foundation:

Here's more of the foundation....

Stay tuned for our bi-weekly update on the progress!!

Sticky Buns

I was craving Sticky Buns on Sunday so I got on the internet and found this amazing recipe! I have had sticky buns for breakfast for a week and it's dreamy! I finished off the first batch yesterday morning so I came right home and made another fresh batch! Here's the recipe from this website:

http://elise.com/recipes/archives/001734cinnamon_sticky_buns.php

Cinnamon Sticky Buns

"Elise, I absolutely forbid you from making these again," exclaimed my father in exasperation after his fifth sticky bun from this batch. "That good, eh? I'm glad you like them," I answered smiling. We finally had to freeze the few remaining, lest we completely destroy our appetites for the entire day. The problem with these sticky buns, loaded with melted brown sugar and pecans, is that they are irresistible. And, once you have one, you must have another. The recipe is adapted from this month's (February, 2006) Oprah Magazine. (It does make you wonder, with Oprah's ongoing emphasis on weight-loss, the logic of publishing recipes like these. But then again, moderation is the key, and if you are going to eat something sweet, better make it good!)

Cinnamon Sticky Buns Recipe

Ingredients

Dough:
1/4 cup warm water (105° to 115°)
1 (1/4-ounce) package active dry yeast
1/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup milk
4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, plus more for greasing
3 large egg yolks
1 Tbsp. finely grated orange zest
1 1/4 teaspoon. salt
4 to 4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

Filling:
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
4 Tbsp. unsalted butter

Topping:
3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
4 Tbsp. unsalted butter
3 Tbsp. honey
1 Tbsp. light corn syrup
1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) coarsely chopped pecans

Method

1 Make the dough. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine warm water, yeast and 1 tsp. sugar. Stir to dissolve and let sit until foamy, about 5 minutes. Here's a good photo and description of what the yeast should look like after several minutes.

Add milk, butter, remaining sugar, egg yolks, orange zest, salt and 3 cups flour. Mix on low speed until blended. Switch to a dough hook and then, again on low speed, slowly incorporate the remaining 1 cup of flour. Increase speed to medium, kneading dough until smooth and slightly sticky (adding a little more flour if too wet), 3 to 5 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball and place in a large, buttered bowl. Turn dough over in bowl to coat with the butter from the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour (or 2 hours if not in an entirely warm place). After the dough has risen, punch down. Turn out onto a lightly floured cutting board and let sit 20 minutes.

2 Make the filling. Combine brown sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Melt butter; keep separate.

3 Roll dough out into a 12" x 18" rectangle. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar mixture. Starting with the long side, roll dough into a cylinder. Place seam side down on a flat surface and cut crosswise into 15 slices.

4 Make the topping. In a 1-quart saucepan, combine brown sugar, butter, honey and corn syrup over low heat; stir until sugar and butter are melted. Pour mixture into a greased 9" x 13" pan and sprinkle pecans on top.

5 Place dough slices, flat side down, on top of prepared topping. Crowd them so they touch. Cover with plastic wrap, leaving room for the buns to rise, and refrigerate overnight.

6 Remove the rolls from the refrigerator and let stand at room temperature while the oven pre-heats. Preheat oven to 375°. Bake buns until golden, 30 to 35 minutes. Remove pan from oven and immediately (and carefully as not to spill hot topping on your toes!) invert onto a serving tray or baking dish. Let buns cool slightly and serve warm.

The Hibachi Steak House!!

Last week Nate and I went to the Teppan Hibachi Steak House near our house with Doug & Jessica Andersen, and Jay. We had a fabulous time and got the best cook: David!!

After eating most of our food, Jessica and I decided to see how much we could fit in our mouths at once...and, well, Jessica has the bigger mouth.

Recipes

Here is my FAMOUS pizza dough recipe!

3 c. Flour

1 pkg. Active Dry Yeast

1 c. Warm Water (120-130 degrees)

1 Tb. Sugar

1 Tb. Salt

2 Tbs. Olive oil

1/4 c. Corn Meal

Grease pan and evenly cover with Corn Starch. Tap off excess.

In a large mixing bowl combine half the flour, yeast, water, sugar, and salt. Beat until there are no lumps. The mix should be kind of soupy (add a little water if needed for soupy consistency). Slowly mix in remaining flour until batter becomes too difficult to stir. Add flour by hand, kneading until dough is smooth and elastic. form into a smooth top dough ball. Place in greased bowl and completely cover in olive oil to avoid sticking. Cover with dampened towel and put in a warm place to rise for 30 minutes. I usually turn the oven on to it's lowest setting for a few minutes to warm it up and then put the bowl in with the door cracked so it doesn't cook it. Once dough has risen to about twice it's original size, punch down and spread on prepared pizza pan, folding in edges to form crust.

Cover with toppings to your liking and cook in 400 degree oven for twenty minutes.

Roxy

I got this toy in honor of the movie: "Best in show" about dogs. :)

My New Hair Do

I got my hair done today and I love it!!! I think I look older.

Roxy had a playmate yesterday for the first time! She was the smaller one so she rolled on her back a lot!! After about twenty minutes, she gained some confidence and started chasing instead of just being the one chased. It was way cute! The white dog is called Mushu.

Jessica Andersen and I went to the Hill Cummorah Pageant last week in Palmyra New York. It was fabulous and moving! We got there early enough to get in the front middle section for seats and to see all of the costumes up close. There were over 600 cast members on the stage at one point in the show and eight hundred volunteers including the cast who put this production together. I highly recommend it to anyone!