Greatest Dessert on Earth

Yeah. I'm a little boastful about these. I can't take credit for creating the recipe, but I am pretty proud I can make them without screwing up the recipe ;) I found them through the 'Queen of the Kitchen' Martha Stewart. She put out a Best Selling cookbook that was all about cupcakes. I couldn't believe she hadn't done this before! It's been a ton of fun creating these little bites of heaven ;)




Here's the recipe:

Makes 36
3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons coarse salt
1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
3 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest (from 3 lemons)
3 tablespoons finely grated orange zest (from 2 oranges)
3 tablespoons finely grated lime zest, plus more for garnish (from 3 limes)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
9 large eggs, room temperature

Glaze:

1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1/4 teaspoon finely grated citrus zest, such as orange, lemon, or lime
3 tablespoons fresh citrus juice, such as orange, lemon, or lime

Directions:

1.Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk together flour and salt.

2.With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, scraping down sides of bowl every few minutes. Add citrus zests. Reduce speed to medium, and add vanilla. Add eggs, three at a time, beating until until incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in four batches, beating until completely incorporated after each.

3.Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full; tap pans on countertop once to distribute batter. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool 10 minutes; turn out cupcakes onto racks and let cool completely. Cupcakes can be stored up to 2 days at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.

4.To finish, dip tops of cupcakes in glaze, then turn over quickly and garnish with zest. Cupcakes are best eaten the day they are glazed; keep at room temperature until ready to serve.

Ahhhhh.... Weddings

I really don't view myself as a hopeless romantic, but there is something about weddings that make me cry like a baby. Everything is so fresh in their relationship and everybody is so happy. It just touches my sensitive side ;)
This past weekend we were able to attend the wedding of a person we all refer to as "Rocky" ;) Hermana Rockwood and I were companions on the mission, and have stayed great friends these past 7 years or so. We were so excited to see her and Jarom get married (we've been rooting for him the past 2 years!). I'm not super happy he is whisking her away to New Zealand for the next couple of years, but maybe that will give us an excuse to do a little sightseeing down there.....

Life Hunting

Isn't it interesting how life works? We work our behinds off for 20 years through school, and then what? We have to search for our Life.... A very nerve wracking and stressful process. I went through a minor "Life Hunt" 3 years ago, when I graduated from college, but I found a job so quickly that I didn't have too much anxiety. However, Adam's Life Search is starting to really stress me out. This is the real deal. We've got to find a job, a house, figure out where the Lord wants us..... Then we need to see how it would affect us long term with children (school districts, is family close, etc)..... It's pretty overwhelming to say the least.

I think it's pretty ironic, since we've anticipated this time for SO long ;) When we got married over 4 years ago, there wasn't even a light at the end of the tunnel. No worries on trying to find our Life and pay off those student loans. Well, time does pass and it does sneak up on you. So, now we grow up and find our Lives. Here's where the Faith kicks in and we rely heavily on the Lord. Which helps my anxiety ;)

What will we do next winter?

This coming Saturday marks the end of a tradition Adam and I have had since we were married. Every winter we have made several trips to the Huntsman Center to watch our cousin Kalee Whipple play a little B-Ball (I hope it's not a sin to have too much pride in this girl, because we might be in trouble ;) Sometimes my sisters would come, or other family members, and it would turn into quite a party. Needless to say, we Whipples are not quiet at sporting events ;) But it has always been a pleasure, which has brightened our quite, slow January days. We've been able to watch her grow up and keep updated on how she is doing over greasy skillets from the Village Inn kitchen (at 10 o'clock, that is the only restaurant open ;), while laughing at the completely random topics that come up.

I will truly miss those times..... She has grown up on us and is now a Senior. Saturday will be her last game before the MWC tournament. I'm pretty proud of her. Not just how well she has played, but how well she has handled it all. It's been awesome to see her grow in talent as well has a person. She is known to be shy, but I'm impressed with how well she deals with random people walking up to her and asking for her autograph. It'll be fun to see how she does in the draft these next couple of months. Oh, our little Kalee......

Nothing better than friends

I really wanted to give a shout-out to friends (which of course include those wonderful family members that put up with SO much). I know this sounds SO cheesy, but I've really been thinking about this lately. Since this is the location for my "Thought Vomit", I figured I would have a stab at it ;)

I've been in shock lately from the support we've received. I know we've been exceptionally lucky in life to meet or grow up around amazing people, but it has really hit home these past 6 months. From phone calls, to packages (Ang, you angel ;), to emails, and even acts of service, it has been amazing. I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you for showing your love. Thank you for taking a break from your hectic life to give us words of encouragement. Thank you. It really is appreciated and your kindness is a balm. We are truly blessed

I HEART the Olympics

I was one of those geeky kids that would run around the living room, firmly believing I was sailing across the ice or vaulting on a twisted ankle and obtaining that perfect 10. I have always been OBSESSED with each event and every revered champion. I don't care if it is the Summer or the Winter Olympics, if they are in our time zone, or if everything is across the world. Every 2 years, my TV does NOT change from the NBC stations and I'll be watching even if it is 3am. Yes, crazy. I know.

Luckily, my BFF I married is just as obsessed! It surely was destiny ;) We could tell you all sorts of facts and statistics about any event and any contender. Funny enough, Adam has really started to get into Curling (I told you we watch EVERY event ;) It is SO funny to see us cheering for these sports we don't follow the other 1,461 days between Olympic ceremonies. We have been in heaven the past 11 days, and I will be a sad girl when that flame goes out this Friday...... However, maybe I'll be able to get the Olympic theme song out of my head ;)

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat

One of my students is really excited about the theater and was recently involved in a production of Joseph
and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat. The parents asked if Adam and I would like tickets and I quickly agreed. I hadn't seen the play in 12 years, but I remembered it was pretty good. I had forgotten how good. I LOVED the play! It was SO funny! I especially liked how this theater had added different local sayings to the dialogue (a couple of advertising quotes and of course the good guys were wearing Aggie Blue ;) I had such a great time.

Is it weird that I had an Epiphany in the middle? Sometimes things just hit me at the most random times, and I'm pretty sure Adam thought I had lost my mind since I was crying during a "non mushy" part ;) It was during a song that Joseph was singing right before the Intermission. He had just been thrown into jail after the whole Potipher incident. I realized he didn't know where his life was headed. He had lost everything. Again. Yet he still had faith in his God. So, I started thinking about all the famous people in the Bible and History. Anybody that came to mind, had their trials and through their darkest moments, they did not know how things would turn out. I'm sure they had doubts. They didn't even know if they would have a happy ending or not. But in the end, God had it all under control. It helped me realize that even in our darkest moments, our Heavenly Father will have everything taken care of. I heard a great quote the other day,"Don't worry about tomorrow, because God is already there." I find great comfort knowing that we're all in good hands.