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Well I've decided I kind of suck at this whole blogging thing. I do enjoy it but I just never remember to do it! At first I didn't want to be one of those people glued to the computer posting constantly so I tried to space my posts. And now I've spaced them too far apart! haha. Oh wells. It's not like you can be good or bad at something as simple as a blog. It's not like I'm being graded on it. People may be judging what I say but they aren't gonna be like. Wow. This girl totally sucks at blogging. haha. Anyways...

Life is so good! I was having all these negative feelings toward this summer break and being back in Montana but so far it's been really good. I've been staying busy doing a million little jobs. As of right now I have 3 part time jobs! I'm working at Old Navy (love it and the discount) I've also been cooking for a family in my stake as a "personal chef/assistant" I do their grocery shopping, errand running, cooking, party planning. It's been so much fun. I absolutely love this family! Plus I get to drive their beautiful cars and she pays me so well! And as of this past week I've been hired to help out another family in our stake as a "mother's helper" This family is adorable and so sweet. I don't know them very well but I've heard about them. About a year and half ago their father died in a plane crash and so she has 6 kids ages 3-12 or something like that. So I will be visiting them this week and helping out once a week with cleaning and just giving her a break so she can go to the temple, run errands, and just relax! I'm so excited! I love life! haha.

So when I'm not at Old Navy I'm usually cooking or baking or having fun with my family. Or hanging out with some great people in the singles ward. I'll have to update you on that later. But this recipe is from a million years ago. They were the second batch of cupcakes I made this summer. I took a million pictures in hopes of posting them on my blog and being all crafty/artsy. But you know it's not too late! haha. These might be my favorite. They aren't too rich but they are very sweet. Plus who doesn't love raspberries? They are seriously my favorite fruit. So here they are.

They are lemon cupcakes with raspberry buttercream frosting. I got the lemon cake recipe from Your Home Based Mom which is a fabulous blog. And I had a carton of raspberries and thought hmm. I should incorporate them. All the frosting recipes I came across suggested using jam for the frosting but I wanted to use the fresh berries. So I just googled! And I found a great recipe. So here you go!

Perfect Lemon Cupcakes

Cake:
1 package lemon cake mix
1 C sour cream
3/4 C water
3/4 C oil
4 eggs
1 small package lemon instant pudding

Mix dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients. Mix with electric mixer on medium speed for about two minutes. Use a strong mixer, this batter is thick. For cupcakes, bake them at 350 degrees for 20 minutes (I was able to get 24 very full cupcakes from the recipe). For regular cake, pour into a greased 9×11 pan or two round pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Don’t over bake or the cake will be too dry! The toothpick test works to check to see if they’re done.

Raspberry Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup fresh raspberries
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 (16-oz.) package powdered sugar.
• 1. Beat butter for about 3-4 minutes. Until light and fluffy. 
• 2. Then add the rest of the ingredients. Put the powdered sugar in different shifts. Add. Mix. Add. Mix. and so forth.

I think I put in too many raspberries. So the frosting was a bit wet. And as you can tell I struggled with the piping. But you should see my most recent cupcakes. I'm a pro at this frosting thing! lol. You have to get the right stiffness! But they were yummy. Regardless of the soupy frosting!. ENJOY! 

CUPCAKES!

There is so much to blog and not enough time to do it! haha. I've been baking like crazy and having fun. Still no job. Maybe someone should pay me to bake them cupcakes! lol. But in order to avoid getting fat from eating cupcakes I've been looking to my mother as an example. She's lost like 30 lbs and looks amazing. So we've been hitting the gym together and having fun. I have to brag about the fun classes we've been doing. Today we did Zumba!  It's hilarious to see all these ladies shake what their mother's have given them.
                                If you've never done Zumba here's a sneak peek

We've also been doing Cycling. Which hurts your butt. But it's intense. I've heard it burns like a million calories and is really great if you hate running but want some hardcore cardio.


Yesterday I did Les Mills Body Pump. And today I can barely move. I was surprised I could shake it at Zumba! I love this class because I always feel like a retard at the gym lifting weights. I don't know which machines to do and I get kinda ADD and want to get out ASAP. So this is great because you lift and lift and you really work every muscle group in your body!

Here's a hardcore picture. They make it look so intense! 


Anywhoo. So as to not feel incredibly guilty from baking and eating my creations that's what I've been up to.


So here is the first recipe I tried. It hails from Lizzy Early's Bible of Cupcakes and they were a hit! I freaking love nutella. Ever since I discovered it in French Class when we had crepe parties and my love doubled when I went to Vancouver and ate at The Crepe Place and had a ginormous nutella, banana, strawberry crepe! So what a great idea to put it into a cupcake! 

    

As you can tell I kinda suck at the whole piping concept. However I am getting tons better! You just have to practice! And you have to be really good at making the frosting the perfect consistency. Not too runny, not too stiff. Also make sure your butter is soft enough but don't melt it too much! Also note to the wise. They are extremely rich so make sure you pour yourself a large glass of milk to wash it down! So here's the recipe...

Ingredients:

Devil's Food Cake Mix

3 eggs

1/2 cup oil

1/4 cup milk

1/2 cup water

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup sour cream

24 teaspoons Nutella (1 per cupcake)

Nutella Buttercream:

3/4 cup Nutella

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 1/2- 2 1/2 cups powered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

3-4 tablespoons heavy whipping cream

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 24 muffin tins.

2. In a large bowl, whisk eggs, oil, milk, water and vanilla.

3. Sift in cake miz and stir in sour cream. ( I didn't sift and they turned out fine.)

4. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full and then place a teaspoon of Nutella on top of each one. Using a toothpick gently swirl the nutella into the batter.

5. Bake for 14-18 minutes or until the sides spring bak. (the tops will stay gooey because of the nutella.) 6. Remove the cupcakes from the oven and place directly into airtight containers to seal in moisture.

7. Buttercream: beat the nutella and butter for 5 minutes. Add vanilla, then alternate between adding powdered sugar and heavy whipping cream. Taste the buttercream until you reach your desired sweetness. You may need to refrigerate the buttercream before piping it onto cooled cupcakes.

Well there you go! They are very yummy! Have fun : )

Adventure #3

This week has been crazy! I've been running around applying for jobs and actually running like 2-3 miles a day! Hanging out with my mom, shopping and baking!

Friday was one of those days. A great one. But insane.

I woke up at 7:30 am and drove over to Shawna's. She needed help running errands and driving her cars to the shop! So being lucky me, I drove her new hot SAAB convertible. Top down and hair blowing! It felt awesome. The best part is she told me I could borrow it anytime!

Then 9:30 am. Babysitting time. I went over to the Graham's and babysat for them and the Nelsons. So a total of 7 children. Two 8 year olds. Two 6 year olds. A 4 year old. A 2 year old and a baby! We had a lot of fun! We played outside and I learned the game "mr. fox" which is basically kinda like mother may i. Then the children got into the candy. It was insane. There were jelly bellies and these very realistic gummy worms. They made me want to puke. They were brown and jiggly and just like real worms.

Then the Nelson kids left and I had the remaining 5 hours with the Graham's. We had a picnic in the living room eating mac & cheese while watching the jungle book. We cleaned the guinea pig cage. And we played outside. I've been babysitting these kids for 4 years now and they have never been as silly as Friday. They enjoyed jumping on top of me and saying "get the monster!" So I retaliated by tickling them. We spent literally an hour chasing each other around and tickling.

Then we decided to try to get the energy out by going on a walk. We never made it past the speed bump down the street because one child would say "I need to go potty!" or "I want to ride my bike instead of my scooter!" "My skates hurt my feet!" "I need a drink of water!" We went down the same stretch of road 4 times and turned around and came back and turned around. The most memorable time was when Ty said I gotta go potty! So he ran up the hill and then at the top of their yard pulled down his pants and peed on the tree. And of course at this exact time 6 cars drove by! Everyone was laughing. Including me. Although I was extremely embarrassed. But how can you be angry at those cute kids! I seriously love them!

Then after a long day of fun at the Graham's I ran home and hurried and changed for a night on the town with Chris! We went to Mackenzie River Pizza Co. (YUMM!) and then went to the Magic City Singers Concert at Alberta Bair. They were definitely a treat. They reminded me of the GLEE Club for 50 and 60 year olds from MT. They sang some show tunes and had sparkly gold tops and they even danced! It was adorable! There was a really old guy, he was probably 80, who would get so in to it! Then we went back to his house and roasted marshmallows for seis de mayo with some of his friends. All in all the day was a blast. I love those kids and I love pizza and marshmallows. So now it's on to more adventures!

p.s. watch this video. it just made my day. and if you want more check out double dream feet!

Adventure #2

Life is wonderful. Minus the fact that I haven't found a job yet. But this weekend was full of adventure as I attended the Young Single Adult Conference!

Ever Since I've been home people at church/my parents have said "You are back just in time for the YSA Conference! It's going to be amazing!" or "You have to go! It's going to be awesome!" I mean really what sounds better than a bunch of single 18-30 year old kids from ALL of Montana and Wyoming!

I can think of about 30 things that sound better.

Anyways, I put on my brave face. I registered online and I bought a new outfit to wear. But I was scared to go. I realized all of the kids I used to go to church activities and dances with were either on missions or married. I had no idea who I was going to hang out with! I hadn't been to church at the student ward yet and I had no idea who was back from school. So I went. My only friend Chris Lyon was supposed to be there but right as I pulled into the parking lot he texted me and said he probably wasn't going to come. So instead of panicking and turning around, I walked in. And of course I was 5 minutes late and the entrance was right at the front. So I got to do a runway strut down the aisle to find an empty seat while everyone was looking at me. Luckily there was a spot right next to the Stockdales. Patrick's parents were in charge of helping organize the conference and since I couldn't hang out with him, the next best thing was his parents.

But then something awesome happened. This girl with a cute salmon colored sweater came and sat down next to me. After the little speech was over it was service project time. She leaned over and told me I had cute shoes. I was starting to like her more and more. She and I were assigned to the same service project group and she asked me "Do you want to ride together" So we did. Her name is Sara. She just moved to Billings and she's super cool. We ended up having fun washing windows and painting this lady's porch. We then had a nice lunch at Grains of Montana and then I gave her a tour of the hot spots in Billings. haha. Such as Off the Leaf. Softies. and Downtown. It was really nice! We talked about boys, and clothes and our favorite things to do.

After lunch and shopping we took a break. We each went home and got dressed up for the 2nd half of the conference. We were lucky to have Jon Schmidt, a pianist and Thurl Bailey former Utah Jazz player perform and speak for us. After the dinner and performances,it was time to dance.

I had been looking forward to this all day. As most of you know or have experienced, I am a dance-aholic. The Elms W16 ladies and I have had quite the dance parties and love it! So I was anxious to see how it panned out. It was wasn't the greatest of dances or the best DJ but I didn't let it get to me. I showed up and amidst the sea of plaid shirts (seriously. that's all montana boys wear) people started to dance. And not to mention they played my girl Lady Gaga. Followed by a great Katy Perry! So there it began. I danced my little heart out. I cotton eye joed, Fireworked, I zoot suit rioted and of course the classic Aerosmith "Don't wanna miss a thinged" I had the pleasure of dancing with a plethora of interesting characters from Montana and Wyoming.

But the best part was that I did it. And I actually had fun. I made a new friend. I danced with boys. And some of them were actually cute! I didn't die. And no I didn't find the love of my life but I enjoyed myself. I'm excited to attend the singles ward here and make new friends. I needed to go alone to actually get out of my comfort zone and experience it all. Cause otherwise I wouldn't have met the people I met. So here goes another awesome part to my summer!