Thanksgiving Goodies!

Ok, so I normally don't do this, but since it is Thanksgiving, I'll make an exception. We started a tradition in our family to make orange rolls on Thanksgiving morning while we watch the Thanksgiving Day Parade. It's something we've really come to enjoy. I was so proud of how yummy the orange rolls turned out that I thought I'd share the recipe.

Orange Rolls!

Dough:
Ingredients:
6 c. flour
1.5 Tbsp. Instant Yeast
1/2 c. sugar
2 t. salt
1/2 c. melted butter
2 eggs
2 1/4 c. hot milk (OR 2/3 c. powdered milk + 2 1/4 c. hot water)

Directions: Mix yeast, milk, sugar, eggs and butter (make sure the butter and milk aren't too hot otherwise they'll kill the yeast.).
Add 1/2 of the flour and the salt. Mix thoroughly and then add the rest of the flour. Dough will be sticky.
Mix for 10 minutes and then let rise to double.
Roll out into large square.

Filling:
Ingredients:
1 stick of butter, softened
1 c sugar
zest of an orange peel (I don't have a zester so I just finely grated the peel.)
(opt. 1-2 drops orange oil - I love essential oils, especially in cooking, and it just gives a nice extra flavor.)

Directions: Mix the orange peel (and oil) with the sugar in a small bowl, and set aside. Butter the dough square with the stick of butter. Then, sprinkle sugar and peel mixture over dough, distributing evenly (I actually took a dough scraper and spread it around with that to make it even.).

Roll up the dough from the top to the bottom. When done rolling, use a sharp knife and cut rolls every 1 inch and place on a greased cookie sheet.
Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Frosting:
Ingredients:
1 stick of butter
1 cream cheese package
powdered sugar to desired thickness
appx. 3-5 Tbsp. juice from the orange you zested

Directions: Mix all ingredients together until smooth. Add a little red and yellow food coloring if desired. Wait until rolls have cooled and spread generously over the top.
****

I know this looks like a lot, but it really isn't that bad at all. So delicious! I would highly recommend them for Christmas.

Okay one more recipe. This one I was way too proud of.

Dutch Apple Pie
recipe from A Taste of Home

2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup quick cooked oats (I didn't use quick cook, came out great)
3/4 cup butter, melted
2/3 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons of corn starch
1 1/4 cups cold water
3 cups diced, peeled apples (about 3 medium)
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:
Crust and topping:
In a large bowl combine the flour, brown sugar, oats and butter. Set aside 1 cup for the topping. Press the remaining mixture into an ungreased 9 inch pie plate. Make sure to push the mixture up the sides a bit too.

Filling:
Combine the sugar cornstarch and water in a saucepan until smooth. Bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla, cinnamon and apples.

Pour into pie crust, top with reserved topping mixture. Bake at 350 for 40 - 45 minutes, or until crust is golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.
*****
Enjoy! Don't you just love the holidays?!

Things to be thankful for!

I have so many things to be thankful for!
Here are just a few (these are not in order by the way - these were just as they came to my mind):
1. The Gospel of Jesus Christ.
2. My wonderful, handsome husband who works his tail off everyday.
3. My beautiful, healthy, happy girls.
4. Our wonderful home.
5. Our awesome neighbors and ward.
6. Our gorgeous view from our home. Utah is a really beautiful place.
7. Family that lives close by. I love that my girls know both pairs of grandparents and lots of aunts and uncles!
8. Talents in progress - things I am learning to do that keep me humble:)
9. The Scriptures - I love learning new things each time I read them.
10. Prayer - what a wonderful thing it is to communicate with our Heavenly Father!

Sunday Best

Just love these pictures. Clara was sad a few Sundays ago so we were trying to cheer her up by taking pictures of her pretty princess dress.

Grandpa's Pumpkin Patch and Halloween!

Every year Joe's dad grows these amazing pumpkins and then lets the grandkids come and pick out which ones they'd like. So cool. These pumpkins weighed more than both my girls combined!

So many neighbors commented on the awesome pumpkins. My visiting teacher even said that she brought her boys to our house so they could see some "real pumpkins!"

The Princess and the Cheetah.

Abigail was not happy that I put her down to take these pictures! Clara was being really good.

Dancing with Princess Aunt Shanni. Clara was just in awe of her!

So tired!

I love Clara's face in this one.

Trick-or-Treating and my grandparents house.

Hayride at the Ellis'. Grandpa's tractor pulled us around the neighborhood. So fun!

Scripture Scouts!

Clara's favorite thing to listen to in the car is Scripture Scouts. In fact...it's the only thing we listen to in the car. Any time I put on anything else, Clara will start jabbering away so loud that it's hard to listen to what I put on for me - it usually just ends up as extra noise. So Scripture Scouts it is!

A little while ago we were listening to the Book of Mormon stories and they were talking about the Golden Plates. Clara often likes to comment on what they are talking about and said, "Mama, Golden Plates!" Then she expects me to respond to her comment so I usually say, "Yep the Golden Plates." Then after I made my comment, she thought for a moment and said, "Mama, Golden Plates, and golden cup, and golden spoon, and golden fork!" She was so proud of herself for putting it all together.

Awesome job sweetheart:)

Abigail's Blessing

So I just realized I never did a little blurb about Abigail's blessing!
She was blessed on the 4th of September. It was a gorgeous day. We had a lot of family there and it was just a really wonderful thing. Thanks to everyone who was willing to be there and support us!
Joe did a beautiful job on the blessing. I loved that he talked about the significance of her names and how they would help shape her into a servant of the Lord.

Abigail means "Joy of the Father," and I love the story of Abigail from the Bible.
Grace is the divine help and strength that we receive through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
Ellis means "Messenger of God."

Names are important because they remind us of who we are and what are responsibilities are, such as when we take the Sacrament and actually take the name of Christ upon us. Seeing this pure little baby made me so grateful for the Plan of Happiness our Father in Heaven has designed for us.

What a wonderful thing to celebrate with those that we love!

Letters, Sleep, and Memorization

Here are some fun things I want to remember:

1. I have been working with Clara on letters and numbers lately. Whenever she gets put in timeout, she has to count to ten before she can get out. We count literally everything - coins, toys, scoops of flour, bathtub bubbles...you name it. We work on letters on a daily basis, one letter at a time. Whenever we work on a letter we post it on the fridge so she can look at it for a couple weeks. A few weeks ago she went up the "A" picture and pointed at it and said, "Alligator." Yes! I thought, it's probably working! "Good job Clara!" I praised. "That is the letter A." "A?" she asked a little bit confused. "Yep the letter 'A'," I confirmed. She thought about it for a second, looked at the picture again, and then it was like a lightbulb went off in her little brain. She then turned to me proudly and said, "Mama, A, nine, ten!" When I laughed, she just looked at me like, "Why aren't you telling me I'm awesome?" Wow, how I love that little girl.

2. Abigail has been sleeping in her own room now for a few weeks. For the first little while I wasn't sure if it was good thing or a bad thing. There were certain periods of the night when she just wasn't tired, or the binky would fall out every few minutes. When this happened, either Joe or I would get out of bed, walk down the hall, put it back in her mouth, walk back and by the time we'd gotten back in bed it'd fallen out again. Desperately praying for a way to get her to sleep so that we could get some normal sleep again, I suddenly was impressed with the idea to start putting her on a schedule. DUH! I thought to myself. With Clara I'd been so good about getting her on a sleeping schedule during the day so that she would be tired enough at night to sleep through the night. And if you are wondering, yes, the Lord even listens to the prayers of a frazzled, sleep deprived mother. When she started sleeping through the night after just a couple days of the new schedule I was ready to scream "Hallelujah!" Sleep is good.

3. After listening to Elder Scott's talk from Conference we decided that we need to do better at memorizing important passages of scripture so that they can be "recalled" to our memory in times when we need them. We decided to start with the Articles of Faith. I was a little embarrassed at how many I'd forgotten. I started working on the first Article with Clara. She has it memorized, but she likes it when I say it with her. Whenever we finish saying it, she looks at me and says, "Again Mama?" So we say it again and again, until I try and work on the second Article with her, by then she is usually ready to stop. There are some much harder words in the second one too. It is amazing to see how much so loves and cherishes those fundamental truths and doctrines of the Gospel - that we believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.