Conference Weekend

The first weekend in April was General Conference for my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It is a two day event where prophets and apostles give talks and council to members of the church. It was such an uplifting weekend. I loved the messages of hope that were given. On Saturday, we watched conference at home, just the three of us. It was so fun to snuggle together all day. On Sunday, we went up to Salt Lake to watch conference with Aleisha's in-laws. James and Aleisha were visiting from Texas and wanted to see us and little Eva. We had such a fun time and ate such wonderful food. We sure our excited for Aleisha and James to move to Draper so we can hang out with them this summer.

 Miss Eva taking a nap during the Sunday morning session.

Visiting before dinner in the McKean's living room. 

Three Months

Ok…I'm way late on this one. Eva turned 3 months on March 27th and I wanted to document it, even though we are two weeks past that. She is getting SO big. She is ticklish and will laugh if you tickle her just right. She loves to play airplane. She puts everything she grabs in her mouth. She can't leave her binky alone and has to pull it out when it is in her mouth, only to get upset that she can't get it back in the right way. She is pretty consistent with her night time sleep schedule. She usually give me a good 5 hour stretch and occasionally will even sleep for 6 or 7 hours. She is eating SO much. I pump about 4 to 5 ounces every three hours and sometimes she still acts hungry. She went to the zoo for the first time with Morgan's Aunt Marci, who watches her, this past Friday. She can roll over from her stomach onto her back all by herself, but only once or twice. Anymore tries and she gets upset. It really is such a joy having her in our lives. I cannot even express how much I whole-heartedly love being a wife and mother!

MoTab Sing-a-long

Little Eva decided to 'sing' along with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir this morning during General Conference. She is SO cute!

If you'll notice, she even takes a break for the organ part leading up to the final Hallelujah. I've taught her well. ;)

Perfect Cinnamon Rolls!

I found it! I found the perfect (and not too difficult) cinnamon roll recipe! So...back story...

My dad taught me how to cook, well mostly my dad. Of course my mom taught me as well, but my dad taught me how to make up/change/adjust recipes at will and still have them turn out ok. So, whenever I cook using a recipe I ALWAYS change the directions or ingredients to fit my every whim or need (as the case may be). So, with the cinnamon rolls I made last night I did just that and they turned out amazing! I say all of this to state that I claim the following recipe completely as my own because I changed is SO much from the original. Warning: These are not healthy cinnamon rolls. I prefer the real deal when I cook desserts. So, this recipe has lots, and lots of butter, sugar and things that are not healthy for you. They are wonderful as is...so substitute at your own risk. :)

Perfect Cinnamon Roll Recipe!

FOR THE DOUGH:

• 1 Tablespoon active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 Tablespoons salted butter, softened to room temperature
• 3 – 3.5 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 Tablespoon dark brown sugar

Filling:

• 6 Tablespoons salted butter, melted
• about 1 cup dark brown sugar 
• 2 Tablespoon of cinnamon

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting:

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup salted butter, softened to room-temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 Tablespoon milk

Directions:

1. For the dough: Dissolve the yeast in 1/2 cup warm water. Add sugar, tablespoon at a time, to yeast and water mixture. Let sit 1 minute. Add milk, salt, egg, vanilla extract, butter, and yeast mixture to a bowl. Beat together, then add 1.5 cups of flour. Beat everything together on low with a handheld mixer, scraping down the sides as needed. With a wooden spoon, stir in enough of the remaining flour to make a dough easy to handle – about 1.5 – 2 more cups. You are looking for a dough that is not sticky and will spring back when poked with a finger.
2. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead it with your hands for about 5-6 minutes (adding flour as needed). Form the dough into a ball and transfer it to a lightly greased bowl. Cover the dough and let sit in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1.5 hours.
3. Grease a 9×13 inch baking dish and small bread pan and sprinkle 2 T of dark brown sugar on bottom of pan. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and, using a rolling pin, roll into a rectangle. Make sure the dough is smooth and evenly thick, even at the corners.
4. For the filling: As the dough is rising, melt 6 Tablespoons butter. Spread the dough rectangle with the butter and sprinkle generously with brown sugar and cinnamon. (The key here is to put enough brown sugar and cinnamon on the butter to keep it from pouring out of the roll when rolled and cut.) Tightly roll up the dough and cut into 16 even rolls with a very sharp knife. Arrange them in the prepared baking pans. I put twelve in the 9 X 13 (4 rows of 3) and 4 in the bread pan. Cover the rolls and let them rise in a warm place for about 1 hour.
5. Preheat the oven to 375F degrees. Cover the rolls with aluminum foil and bake for about 30 minutes. Turn off oven, remove tin foil and let the cinnamon rolls rest in cooling oven for another 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit for 15 minutes. 
6. For the frosting: While the cinnamon rolls are cooling, make the frosting. Add 2 cups powdered sugar, butter, vanilla and milk to a medium sized bowl. Beat until blended and smooth (about 3 minutes). Once cinnamon rolls are cool, frost generously. 

I only use salted butter in this recipe for a reason. The salt balances out the sweet and give the cinnamon rolls a delicious buttery taste. Also, the brown sugar on the bottom of the greased pan caramelizes the bottom of the roll adding another texture. Morgan and I found this recipe to be balanced in every way: not too sweet, not too gooey, not too dry...just perfect! Enjoy!

Blue Ridge Mountains Here we Come!!

So, we've decided on a law school! We will be attending the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia! We are super excited for this big adventure! We have heard nothing but wonderful things about the area and are excited to experience it for ourselves. There are SO many unknowns for us going out east, but it just seems like the best choice. What's life without a little adventure, right? So, we will be moving at the end of July and be on the opposite side of the country for three years. It is sad to leave family and friends, but new things await. Here are a few pictures of the UVa law school:

Beautiful, right? I love the idea of living SO close to so many iconic landmarks, like the Blue Ridge Mountains and Shenadoah Valley (oh! all the songs that I know with those two things in them!). Not to mention Monticello and Washington D.C. Now onto find housing and coordinate moving 33 hours across the country! Wish us luck!

Hangin' with Little Wiggle

Our little girl is getting be SO much fun! She holds up her head so well and has started to love playing games with us such as "Trot, trot to Boston" and "This is the Way the Gentleman Rides". She just giggles and smiles at us all the time and is quite the attention seeker. If we don't pay attention to her enough she cries and lets us know and then the moment we look at her she stops and smiles…little silly. Recently, we have been watching March Madness. Eva, not wanting to miss out on the fun, will cry until we put her, sitting up, next to us and then she intently watches the TV. It is quite cute. Then she leans forward intently looking at the flickering screen. It is so darn adorable! She also loves hanging out with her daddy. When we go for walks she will just stare and giggle at him the whole time! She is definitely a daddy's girl!

 Showing a little BYU spirit!

 Getting ready to go on a Sunday walk!

 Watching March Madness with daddy!

Baby Blessing and Family Pictures

The first week in March we blessed baby girl. Morgan gave her a beautiful blessing. My mom made her the prettiest little dress. After the blessing we got together and took family pictures, and then headed to our little apartment for homemade Cafe Rio! I hadn't had broccoli since having Eva and the day before her blessing I happened to eat some. Poor little girl had the most upset stomach the next day. She cried all day except for during her blessings and during pictures. Guess I won't be having broccoli anytime soon. Here are the family pictures we took. It was nice to get a few shots of just our little family.