Thank Goodness for Christmas Break

Christmas Break has finally come around. Therefore, my guilty pleasure of blogging with exceed the maximum. Meaning I will actually post something. I'll start with this summer. I'm pretty sure none of that got on the blog, so I'll start from there. In the meantime, have a merry christmas!

the many faces of aaron

so I guess it's been awhile since I did a post....ok, more than "awhile", but I'm back! sorta.....maybe not....I don't know. you can just relish this post for now(: haha! I took these pictures awhile back, but I've been dying to do a post on them for FOREVER so I finally got around to it! I don't know what was up with this kid, but for a week straight, he was obsessed with making faces (that I think are adorable....) that definitely entertained the whole family! may I present, the many faces of aaron!

 

 

 

gingerbread houses....in june

we may be crazy, but we aren't crazy enough to make gingerbread houses in june. who am I kidding, you'd know this wasn't recently by the clothes we're wearing. for pete's sake, i'm wearing a scarf! (; so I don't quite know where cami was this day, so i'm sorry that you won't be graced by any pictures of her. I apologize):

 

and just in case you're being extra curious today, we didn't make these with gingerbread. us cheepies....(; we make them with graham cracker, frosting, and just candy you can buy at your local walmart, target, etc.

 

and not only will you be able to enjoy my hot mess pictures, Reagan and his gorgeous faces, and Brandon and his amazingness, but aaron and his cuteness!

 

ladies and gentlemen, enjoy.

 

 

 

 

and the only single picture of spencer. double enjoyment! you're so lucky...(;

birthdays

today I am at home watching the boys, and they wanted to watch a cartoon, leaving me bored. therefore, you will now be presented with a post. no need to say you're welcome, I can feel your gratitude seeping through the screen. (;

 

so, Brandon and cami turned 12! big numero. I only found these pics, so enjoy the lousy three pictures taken(: I'm sure there's more, but I couldn't find them...i'm sorry.

 

cuz i feel like posting words...?

ladies and gentleman,

I just experienced one of the best weeks of my life with almost 200 other teenagers who have the same standards as me. being a Mormon teenager in a cruel world, life gets really hard. if you're not Mormon, and you're reading this, you don't understand how hard it is to go to a party and have all your friends wearing bikinis, and very "showy" clothes, and you're in long bball shorts, a sleeved tshirt, or a one piece swimsuit. life is so rough, and I don't even know how to describe how much I love being a Mormon, and going to camp this past week.

one of the best parts of camp for me (this was my third, and by far the best, year of church camp...aka "girls camp") has always been the "partying" side. I never mingled with new people, I never really enjoyed the testimony meeting at the end of camp, but this year changed my perspective. I met so many new people who I know will support me in all that I do, from clothing to language. our testimony meeting was filled with the spirit. we had girls bearing their testimony with such strength, that had never had that happen to them before.

I also just wanted to say how wonderful the program for youth ages 12-18, who are girls, is. it has helped me so much through my rough days. I know without a doubt in my heart that my leaders are called by god to be in the young women's program for a reason, and I hope to grow up to be more like them.

if you don't know much about the Mormon church, I SERIOUSLY recommend you look into it. it will change your life forever.

nighty livers,
-courts

sponge cake in a mug

ok, so i have two confessions to make.

 

1. i suck at photography. if you haven't noticed already, you're blind. I've just never been good at it! i am SO jealous of those people who's blogs just have the most AMAZING pictures....of whatever they're taking pictures of! so there's one confession....

 

2. i'm a bit obsessed with single serving things//me and my "quickiness" obsession"//trust me, if you follow me on pinterest, i have a whole board devoted to single serving foods...and i have so much more to make than just the few I've posted.

 

so there you have it. confession #1 and #2. and there'll probably be more in the posts to come.

 

anywho, hello again! I've missed y'all very much, and have great pictures to post.....once they get uploaded to the computer//will they ever??//we just got back from a weekend camping trip. since we had Friday off//we didn't use any snow days in our school district, so no school on Friday!//we decided to go to the local lake//which has some pretty nice camping grounds//and take a pitstop at a camping ground for the weekend. we had some friends come up and join us Friday night...which was most definitely a blast!

 

Thursday night was great! everyone slept....as good as you can sleep while camping//which usually isn't all that great, but it was on the better side for most of us that night// dad had to go to work on Friday, so he left at 5:30 in the morning and left us and mom at the campsight for the rest of the day. it ended up being a pretty smooth sailing day. me, Brandon, and mom ended up all heading over the bathroom at 5:30 when dad left. the bathroom is a 5 minute walk from camp, so we hitched a ride with dad to and from just before he was about to leave. after that, Brandon and i couldn't catch another wink of sleep, so we started working on the campfire//note to reader: don't ever trust me with you're fire...// the lake is just a few minutes away from the campsite, so we headed up to the lake at about 8 in the morning. sadly, it wasn't very warm//in the mid-80's//but it was warm enough to go swimming. the sun didn't come out ALL DAY//thankfully//but it was still a blast. it was just cloudy. we were in the lake on and off for about 8 hours. most of the time, mom was back at camp with whoever wasn't in the water at the time, and everyone else was just chillin at the lake. our friends showed up at around 4. they have 5 kids, all of them about the same age as of. carly//their oldest//is 14, just a few weeks older than me, Mitchell//12//a month older than Brandon and cami, Stockton//9//just a few months older than Reagan, hunter//5//about 6 months younger than spencer, and drew//2//almost a year older than aaron. and their parents get along great with mom and dad, so it was a blast. we ended up heading back to the campsite around 5 or so, and had a lovely dinner of frito chili pie//we's got some fancy pants in this town....//and than peach cobbler. and than around 9, it started pouring on us, so we had to quickly scramble to get stuff covered, than head into the tent. everyone ended up falling asleep just great, but cami started feeling queasy, so she and my mom slept in the car in the parking lot in front of the bathroom, since they didn't want to walk back and forth the entire night....in the rain. this left dad, me, Reagan, spencer, and aaron in the tent. Brandon slept with Mitchell at our friend's campground in a 2 man tent. at about 1:30 in the morning, spencer woke me up....because his bed was soaked. there was about a centimeter of water on the tent floor, and Reagan and spencer's sleeping bag's were soaked. spencer had peed out, so had to sleep in another sleeping bag. dad and i were on mattresses, so we weren't wet. Reagan ended up sleeping with my dad. at that point, it was still drizzling. it had poured for almost three hours straight. at about 6 that morning, Brandon and Mitchell came into our camp and started working on the fire, so by the time everyone was up, there was a pretty good fire going. we ended up having a great//slightly damp//day with our friends, and got home around 1:30. what a great//and DEFINITELY memorable//weekend.

 

to make things more "optimistic" persay, i have a treat for you!

 

tada! sponge cake in a mug!

 

 

 

what you'll need:

• 5 1/2 tbsp. flour
• 4 T flour
• 1/2 t baking powder
• 1 egg
• 5 T milk
• 1 T canola oil
• dash of salt
• dash of almond extract



In a small bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt....

egg....

//i used vitamin d milk//

milk...

oil....

This is the kind of almond extract i used. Watkins. personally, i added probably about a teaspoon to the sponge cake, but that's because i like the almond extract so much.....//guilty factor #1: i'm a sucker for almond extract....//

....and almond extract. Stir well.

pour into 2 mugs....yes, this makes two cakes. mine was just a normal sized hot chocolate mug. cook for approximately 1 1/2 minutes, than for 5 minutes intervals//no longer than +30 seconds//until at desired consistency.

slide on plate and let cool. in the recipe i found, it said to put strawberries and whipped cream on top, but i didn't have any of that fancy stuff right than, and mom isn't gonna run into walmart just for me measly little sponge cake.....so i ended up treating it like a pancake//which is what it tasted like//and just took some syrup and went to town!

i hope you enjoy the recipe!

cleaning

ok, so i just want to state now that my family is NOT a dirty family! trust me on that, so when i post this don't take the wrong impression.

 

so i was digging through the photos I've taken over the past three months or so//yah, sorry it's been so long//and i came upon these.....

 

ladies and gentlemen....don't forget that it can get dirty behind your fridge...