An Apostle's Easter Thoughts on Christ

This is my all time favorite Mormon Message video.

It really helps me get into the Easter spirit.

Hope you all have a wonderful Easter!

The Birthday Cake

Here's my beautiful birthday cake!

If you are a lover of peanut butter cups, chocolate, cake, feeling good, feeling fat, being happy, smiling, singing, discovering new things, sky diving, dreaming, sleeping, rainbows, clouds, or birthdays... You would love this cake!!

And here's the great blog that I got it from.

peanut butter & chocolate cake with pb & chocolate ganache

1 box (18.25 ounces) devil's food cake mix
3 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
Good pinch of salt
2 cups mini Reese peanut butter cups, chopped, plus 1 1/2 cups more for garnish (about 2 - 12oz. bags)

Ganache
12 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
4 TB of confectioners sugar

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat two 9-inch round cake pans with nonstick cooking spray. Line with waxed paper; coat paper. ( I didn't do this, but I did do the damp rag around the pan trick. It worked pretty good)
In a large bowl, beat cake mix, eggs, buttermilk, vegetable oil and salt on low for 30 seconds. Increase speed to medium-high; beat for 2 minutes, scraping down side of the bowl after 1 minute. Fold in 2 cups of the chopped peanut butter cups.
Divide batter between prepared pans. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 34 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let layers cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Turn out cakes onto wire racks and cool completely.
To make the PB ganache place chopped dark chocolate in a medium-size bowl. Bring cream just to a boil and pour over chocolate. Whisk until chocolate melts. Add peanut butter and confectioners sugar (I used WAY more confectioners sugar then they said, in order to make it thicker) , whisking all till nice and smooth.
To frost the cake, you can first trim the tops of you cakes (with a serrated knife) first to make them flat, (I didn't do this either).
I place my cake layers on dish towels because I've found it's easier to move them form place to place. Pour some ganache on top of one; spread evenly with a spatula. Then place remaining cake layer, and pour remaining frosting over the top, allowing it to spill over the sides. Smooth top and sides with spatula (see Note below).
Refrigerate 1 hour to set. Transfer cake to serving plate and garnish with the chopped Reese's PB Cups.

Note: I saved a bit of the ganache to put on the cake just before adding the chopped Reese's PB Cups to act as a glue, making sure everything adhered correctly, then chilled it again to let it set. So basically, frost the cake, then chill, then add a thin layer of ganache again, add the garnish, then chill again.

He loves it!!

Zach's 23rd Birthday Surprise!

His first birthday surprise came a little early when I got him a new Utah Jazz shirt along with some tickets to the game. He loved it and we had so much fun going to our first Jazz game together.

His next surprise came when he woke up to this!

Ya I'm really good at decorating.

But the best surprise came next.

I went to his work and replaced his car with this.

He was so confused when he found it.

Then I drew a line from the parking lot to the sidewalk, all the way to the park by the MTC.

He followed it and found me at the end with a Taco Bell picnic, balloons, and some gifts.

As I was drawing the trail earlier I saw this sign a little too late... Good thing no scary church security guard caught me!

But the surprises didn't end there!! I then took

Zach to get a pedicure with his favorite wife.

Ok maybe it more of a gift to me... But Zach liked it too.

And that was his wonderful day!

I Did It!

Friday morning I woke up and thought... I should chop all of my hair off today.

So I did.

It was a little scary cutting it all off. But I love it! And it's so nice to have all that weight off plus having a fun new hair style to play with. Today I went natural and it's so cute:)

Everyone has been very supportive of this decision and I am very grateful for that. Especially Zach. He loves it.

Piano stairs - TheFunTheory.com - Rolighetsteorin.se

Ok I have to give a shout out to Glitter and Pearls blog because my last two posts have been inspired (or possibly stolen) from her cute blog. She's got some cute stuff going on. Like this video! Take a look at this Fun Theory Project and then go to their website and see what other projects they've done. Think about how you can help your family, kids, friends, or neighborhood make better choices by making things a little more fun. Dishes? Laundry? Homework?

Let me know what you come up with!

This is for real!

When I saw this cookie I knew I had to let all of YOU know about it too. Look at this thing! Why didn't I think of this myself!?


So I haven't attempted to make this monster yet but after reading this recipe it doesn't seem too difficult... Guess we'll find out. But it might have to wait because we only have three weeks of school left and it is getting pretty crazy around here. But once I try it, you'll be the first to know.

Hopefully there will be a lot of cooking going on this summer. I might have a lot of time on my hands and mine and Zach's schedules don't work together at all! But if I get to cook all the time I'm sure we'll get over that quick.

Happy Conference Weekend everyone! And if you don't know what that means click here!