Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Back to "Normal" Life

The test is over and "normal" life (whatever that is) is back! I am so relieved to be done with my test. I feel like a huge weight/gorilla has finally been lifted off my back. The only bad part is that I don't find out the results for a few months! I guess until then I will just try not to worry about the outcome!


During my craziness of preparing for my test I did not have much time to keep up with my blog. Sam's cousin and wife are expecting a baby right around Christmas, so I helped make some fun goodies for her shower. I was unfortunately unable to attend the shower due to needing to study, but I thought I would still share the few things that I made. We were going for a pink and black theme so I decided to make chocolate cupcakes with pink buttercream icing and red-velvet cake balls. I had planned on making so much more, but time just did not permit!! I also tried something new that I learned from another blogger - chocolate transfer sheets. It was a lot easier than I expected and I think they turned out pretty cute. So the little circles on the cupcakes are chocolate that I imprinted with that design. It was pretty fun, but the only hard part was that my fingers kept melting the chocolate!!! Anyways, enjoy some pictures.




Speaking of babies and the grace of God (well I guess we weren't talking about God really), Sam and I are so excited because we are going to be Uncle Sam and Aunt Mandy! That's right, my brother and sister-in-law are expecting and we could not be more excited and thankful. The Lord is so gracious and has guided them through these past months since Lilly's passing. He is now showing them that He truly is the Lord over their lives and that even through the pain, there is still hope and joy for the future. So please keep both of them, along with baby Thomas in your prayers throughout these next months.


I hope everyone has a great Turkey Day and doesn't eat too much!!! We are so excited to go home and see our family. It has been way too long!!!

Monday, November 17, 2008

T-4 Days!

Well I am down to only 4 days left to study (including today). I can't really figure out if that is a good thing or a bad thing. I guess it is a good thing because I can see the end in sight, and I will finally be able to get back to "normal" life. I am hesitant though because I worry if I have covered everything. I know that I will never be 100% ready to take this test, but still even after 3 months of studying, I still feel like I could use more. It is in the Lord's hands (and I must keep it there!), and I just have to do what I can and know that He is in control. I will be back once I get this test out of my way! Until then, I wouldn't mind your prayers as I do my last preparations for the test. Thanks!

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

I love Fall FOOD!!!

Like before I don't have a lot of catching up to do because life is still all about studying. We did have a great Halloween evening this past weekend. We stayed at home, cooked a fun "halloween" dinner and handed out candy to all the cute little trick-or-treaters. We had so many!!! Sam would not let us shut the door when we ran out of candy, so we had to re-stock to keep'em coming!!!

I wanted to share that I have had the chance to try a few of the recent fall desserts that I have posted. I HIGHLY recommend you try to pumpkin pudding (tastes pretty much like a pumpkin pie without the crust!), and the pumpkin brownies were amazing! I took them to church on Sunday and everyone loved them. One warning though is to make sure everyone knows they are pumpkin because it was quite a surprise to some when they were expecting carmel!! It is definitely a different kind of brownie than you are used to.

I also wanted to share a great recipe that we made on Friday night. I have been wanting to trying something like this for awhile, and although I recently saw that Campbell's soup just came out with an easy version in the box, I thought I would still try it homemade! It was so worth it!



Butternut Squash Puree




1 Butternut Squash
1/2 Stick Butter
2-4 Tbsp of Maple Syrup
Dash of Salt

First cut the butternut squash in half and scrape out the membranes and seeds with a spoon. Then place both halves, face down, on a baking sheet and pour about a cup of water into the pan. Bake for about 30 min on 350 degrees, or until the squash is tender with a fork.

Cut the butter into pieces and place in a bowl. With a spoon begin scraping out the flesh of each half of the butternut squash and place in the bowl with the butter. Be sure to get all that you can off of the skin, you don't want to miss any!

Add 2-4 Tbsp of the maple syrup and the salt and then blend together with a mixer or in a food processor until it is pureed. That's it...enjoy!!!

Recipe and picture from the Pioneer Woman.

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Tech 39 - UT 33

RAIDER POWER!!!!