"I have found the most valuable thing in my wallet is my library card."- Laura Bush
I'm a total nerd. Or just more of a book worm. I love to read. Anything and everything. I got an entire series (4 books) for Christmas and finished them the first week of February. You could say I'm a bit of a fanatic when it comes to new books. It started when I was a little girl and the desire to enter another world through reading has never left me. It just feels so GOOD to read. Weird? Anyway, you can imagine my absolute glee when my little boy walks up to me with a pile of books and wants to sit on my lap and read them. I am overjoyed that my 13-month-old loves to read!
We headed to the library today to get a library card and check out a few books. (And see the fish, of course.) Levi was afraid to go close to the fish tank because he saw the huge plecostomus (sucker fish) they have. He does look a little creepy if I may say so. We played with the toys there and then snuggled up with a few board books. Sweet little man. I am so in love with him.
Since I have been craving donuts Levi was so good at the library, we headed over to Paradise Donuts to check it out. While the inside was less than impressive (not even a good spot for a photo-op), the donuts were spectacular. We now know where the best and only place is the get good donuts in Rexburg. Not that we need them...
To complete our adventure, we went to check out Porter's- the town's craft store. It was far beyond a strong temptation for me, so we didn't spend much time in there. Levi tried to help me pick out some fabric, but we were unsuccessful. I guess I'll be ordering some samples online.
Is he the most beautiful thing you've ever seen? I tell ya- that profile gets me every time. What a lovely day with my favorite little boy.
I can't explain the many phenomena that occur when a woman is pregnant. There are some things you just have to accept. Cravings for strange food combinations, mood swings and the strange similarity we have to birds when they are expecting a few babies. One day it just hits you and you think,"this house must be perfectly clean before my little bundle arrives and I don't care if I have to stay up all night to clean it."
The nesting started a few days ago and since then, my house has been perfectly clean without fail. I haven't gone completely overboard with it (like scrubbing the grout with a toothbrush), but for some reason I have just had the absolute need to keep the house spotless lately. It's actually really nice. I feel a lot more peace at night trying to sleep and when I wake up and realize that I don't have to spend the day just trying to get the house clean.
Weekends have been so nice up here in Rexburg because Jason usually has a little more time to have some fun with us. We try to get out and explore a little bit; and by explore I mean drive down main street and finally decide to go to Walmart. We attempt to fool ourselves every weekend into thinking there are a bunch of cool, undiscovered places here, but really I just miss Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, and being so close to absolutely any store I could possible imagine. It's a little depressing at times. This weekend we took Levi to get some ice cream, which surprisingly we've never done. As soon as he figured out that the ice cream was sweet and that I wasn't taking it away from him, he was pretty into it.
Coming up with names is not my strong point. Names have to be perfectly fitting. But how do you know what a post should be called until you've written it? More importantly, how do you know what you should name your baby before you know who he is and what he's going to be like?
Jason and I have been stuck in a name rut ever since we found out we were having another boy. A 1/2 hour in our baby name book and a subsequent internet search have become the nightly routine around our house. And yet, we are still undecided; however, we do have a list of names we both mutually don't hate.
Jace
Emmett
Spencer
While you're swishing those around in your mouth, take a look at this beautiful alien baby!
Over the years, I've lived in a total of 21 houses or apartments. Some for just a few weeks and the longest ones for a few years. This may have instilled in me a certain excitement that comes with moving in to a new place or driving into a town you've never seen before, knowing that you'll be making a life there from scratch. Both Jason and I love going new places and discovering the little treasures every town has.
Lately, Levi and I have been getting a little restless in the house. We've made numerous trips to the grocery store, a nice trip to the Teton Dam Museum, and a couple short ventures to the local library. But most of the time we pretend our house is a huge mansion with many undiscovered rooms that are full of mysteries. This is what Levi looks like when he's found something exciting.
This time it was Goldfish. Of course, he's still in pajamas, no pants, and his hair is getting so long that he has bed head all day long. (Jason cuts it, but has been so busy with homework lately.) I love everything about our days together. Levi is the sweetest little man. He kisses my belly constantly while making a clicking sound with his tongue. He's going to be the best big brother.
What would I do without my amazing family to go on adventures with?
I'm not really a bragger by nature. I like to be a little more modest and humble and in the background. But what I just did tonight deserves center stage. Seriously. If you get sick of my gloating, I apologize. Drumroll please..... I just made the perfect cinnamon rolls!!! They are the most incredible thing I've ever had! Usually they are too dry on the top, they don't rise the way they should, the centers are still gooey, or something else just botches them completely. But tonight, after probably about 6 years of trying to make good cinnamon rolls, I made INCREDIBLE cinnamon rolls! Even being modest, I would say these are the best cinnamon rolls I have EVER eaten. The bottoms are crunchy with a brown sugar buttery crunch, the centers are perfectly gooey but not doughy in the slightest. And the tops are golden-brown perfection. To top it off, they are covered in delicious maple cream cheese frosting. Are you dying for the recipe? You will never ever ever need another recipe again. Ever. No joke. Here it is! *A few adjustment I made are: First, I used almond milk instead of regular milk and it certainly didn't ruin them. Second, I actually ran out of brown sugar so I used a cup of white sugar and mix a tablespoon of molasses into it with a fork. I also didn't use a stand mixer because I don't have one. So feel free to knead the dough with a spoon and then your hands! It was easy! The original recipes are from here: http://sweetannas.com/2012/03/overnight-cinnamon-rolls-with-perfect-cream-cheese-frosting.html http://sweetannas.com/2013/01/cinnamon-rolls-with-maple-cream-cheese-frosting.html
for the frosting:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 (8oz) package cream cheese, softened
3 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
1 teaspoon pure vanilla (or maple!) extract
In a large bowl, beat together the butter and cream cheese until smooth. Beat in the powdered sugar and then the maple syrup and vanilla until smooth and fluffy. Add a bit more maple syrup if the frosting is too thick for your liking.
Spread generously on the warm cinnamon rolls as soon as they come out of the oven!
Cinnamon Rolls:
1 cup milk 1/3 cup butter, room temperature 2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast 1/2 cup sugar 2 large eggs, room temperature 1 teaspoon salt 4 1/2 cups (or so*) all-purpose or bread flour for the filling: 1 cup butter, room temperature 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar 3 teaspoons cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
Directions: In a small saucepan, heat the milk and butter together until the butter is melted. Set aside and let cool to warm (110ºF).
Pour this mixture into the bowl of your stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast over the warm milk/butter mixture with 1 teaspoon of the sugar and let sit and get bubbly and foamy for a few minutes.
Mix in the rest of the 1/2 cup of sugar, the eggs & salt until combined. Mix in most of the flour until combined and then switch to your dough hook attachment.
Knead the dough on med-low speed (2 on a KitchenAid!) until smooth, adding the remaining flour bit by bit if needed.
Lightly grease a large bowl. Place the kneaded, now smooth, but still soft dough into the bowl and turn once to coat the top of the dough. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and place in a warm, draft free place to rise until doubled in size, about 1 – 1 1/2 hours.
Once the dough has doubled in size (eyeball this, but you should also be able to press down two fingers into the dough and it should leave an indent that doesn’t pop back out!), punch down the dough gently to deflate it.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, cover with a damp towel and let rest for 10 minutes or so.
Sprinkle a bit more flour on top of the dough and roll it out into a large rectangle (about 16×20″ or so!).
In a large bowl (or your clean mixer bowl!) beat together the filling ingredients until smooth and fluffy. Spread the filling evenly over the rolled out dough.
Roll the dough up into a long log and press the seam together (you can use a bit of water on your fingertips to do this if needed!). Gently cut into 12 rolls with a serrated knife and place the rolls cut side up in a greased 9×13″ baking dish.
Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge overnight. (If you don’t want to make these overnight, then just cover loosely and let rest on the counter for 30 minutes before proceeding).
Remove the rolls from the fridge to take the chill off and preheat the oven to 375ºF for about 30 minutes. Bake for 20-30 minutes, until the cinnamon rolls are golden on top and no longer doughy in the middle if you peek with a fork.
When the rolls come out of the oven, frost and serve! And yes! This is an actual picture of the actual amazing cinnamon rolls! Go make them! Now!
We've officially moved our entire family to cold country in Rexburg, Idaho. Everybody knows how moving goes. It bites. You touch every single thing you own and have to somehow pack it into organized square boxes and then fit everything in one truck. But despite moving getting a bad rap, the hard part is finally over and it went surprisingly well. (Although I seem to be missing a few things.)
I'm loving the snow and the real winter weather. After growing up with cold winters, it was actually very refreshing and little exciting to see a snow-covered town. I'm SO excited to get everything unpacked so that I can start on my long list of ambitious DIY home decor projects. I'll be posting about them as I finish. I'm also looking forward to hopefully making some new friends here. I miss all my girls in Vegas and wish I could just have them over for a nail polish night and never let them leave... (insert: tears of sadness). In any case, I'm really excited about this new adventure that we are on together. It's going to be great!
Jason starts school in the morning at 7:45. He's taking a lot of hard classes such as Calculus and Chemistry, but I have full confidence in his abilities and his determination. It's a big leap of faith for him to leave a good paying job to go back to school and trust that everything will work out the way it's supposed to. He's mentioned a few times already how different his experience here has already been from the last time he spent a winter in Rexburg. The biggest difference being that our apartment is actually warm! As long as we have a warm place to live, we can handle all the cold outside.
Levi is doing so well with the move. He is his normal, happy, cute self and talks and plays all day long. He keeps us entertained with his dancing, laughing, and crazy baby words. Levi has made our lives so much fun. He is enjoying his own room and mom can't wait to decorate it!
Mystery baby is still a mystery and will remain so until we can schedule an ultrasound and find the midwife we want to use. I'm anxious to find out the gender of our baby who is at this moment kicking up a storm. I look forward to the birth with excitement but also a lot of anxiety. I'm just not sure what it will be like to have 2 kids! It's gotten so easy to handle one and I want to just enjoy that while I can!
We are so excited to be here in Rexburg for our new adventure and can't wait to see what the future holds!
First a small side note: yes, it has been forever. I'm sorry.
But really I had to do a blog post tonight because my mind has been filled to the brim with all things religious and spiritual for a while now and I've finally got it organized. I have a few thoughts and they are categorized as follows:
1. First, the question has been on my mind lately, "What does it mean to be a good Christian?" I've been praying and studying the scriptures to find the answer and I've finally come to the beginning of an answer. I'm not going to insert quotes, but instead summarize what I've been reading and thinking.
At the very root, Christians are followers of Jesus Christ. They seek Him, they try to understand His gospel, they listen to His voice and they try every day to do the things that He did and that He commanded His children/followers to do. I believe that not only do Christians follow the example of Jesus Christ in being baptized by immersion by one who holds authority from God to baptize, but they continually renew the covenant they made to Him when they were baptized. This is that they would follow Him, keep His commandments and take upon them the name of Christ. He has promised in return that they may always have His spirit to be with them. This is why I go to church every Sunday. I think it's important to hear the words of fellow Christians so that we may be uplifted and edified, inspired and healed. But the main reason for going to church is for the ordinance of the Sacrament. We symbolically take in the blood and body of Jesus Christ by partaking of bread and water as Jesus Christ himself indicated so that there would be no disputations among men. The bread and water is blessed by those having authority from God and passed to any who would like to participate in the sacred ordinance. When I take into me the blood and body of Christ, I personally recommit myself to him and ask for repentance of my sins and for help doing what is right. When I take the sacrament, I feel closer to Him because I know Jesus Christ instituted the sacred ordinance as a part of His church. It's just one blessing He has given us to show us that we are not alone and He is there to help us just as He always has been for His children.
That was a long one...
Thought #2
This is a big part of the answer that came to me as I pondered the question, "Who is Jesus Christ? Do I really know Him?" So to answer the second part of my question, I came to the realization that yes, I do know Jesus Christ, but I'm still learning. I read about Him, worship Him, and pray to the Father in His name that He will guide me and walk beside me as I walk through my trials and events of everyday life. Then I thought about those who testify of Christ. Who can really testify of Christ? I feel like this is the true test. People can come up with their own doctrines by mixing scripture with clever sayings and sometimes those things can be very helpful and uplifting. But nobody can fake knowing Jesus Christ. They can't powerfully testify of His divinity and grace and love without really knowing Him. Nobody can fool you into thinking they really believe in Christ. The reason for that is because when someone testifies of Him, you know without a doubt that it's true because the Holy Spirit burns in you. It gives you this feeling of comfort and assurance that what you're hearing is true. And now comes the best part...
You may now proceed to click the play button below.
Trust me... It's worth it.
I know Jesus Christ lives! I know Jesus Christ! I love Him with all of my heart. I know He loves us. His gospel is so beautiful and my heart is filled with humility and gratitude for the gift He gave me which no one else could.
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