Chocolate Molten Lava Cakes

Are you looking for an easy, but elegant dessert for Valentine's Day? One of Justin's favorite desserts to make (and eat) is Chocolate Molten Lava Cakes.  He can usually whip these up while I'm fixing dinner and we enjoy them after dinner is finished--they're that easy!


This recipe is found on food.com and is courtesy of Cupcake Princess.



Ingredients
1/2 cup butter
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
2 ounces semisweet chocolate
1 cup powdered sugar
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
whipped cream, for serving



Directions
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees and grease 4 (6 ounce) ramekins, place on baking sheet. In a large
microwavable bowl microwave butter and chocolate for 1 minute or until butter is melted, stir until
chocolate is completely melted.
2. Stir in powdered sugar until well blended. Whisk in eggs and egg yolks, then stir in flour. Divide
batter between prepared ramekins. Bake for 13 to 14 minutes or until sides are firm but centers are
soft. Let stand for 1 minute.
3. Run a small knife around the cakes to loosen, invert cakes onto plates. Top with whipped cream
and serve immediatley.

Enjoy!! (Oh and Happy Valentine's Day!)

I love my Little Helper

Merry, Merry Christmas

We are grateful for the many blessings we've enjoyed this year. As we reflect on the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ, one of the greatest events to ever happen, we are humbled by the blessings of hope, immortality, salvation, and eternal life that it brings.

We hope you have a Merry Christmas and a joyful New Year!

Catching Up #2 Halloween

Justin and I were invited to a Halloween party and we decided to dress up as our High School personalities!   Just kidding.  Justin really wanted to dress up as Paul Sr. from Orange County Choppers.  I was going to dress up like a rocker chick and even considered spray painting my hair black, etc.  But when I thought about it.  I already had everything for nerd costume for free!  

You would not believe the strange looks that people gave to Justin when they saw his "tattoos", which of course were just sleeves.  Many people would look and then quickly look away like they were so uncomfortable.  It was so funny!  Once most people learned that they were sleeves they became much more friendly and then talked about how cool they were.  Go figure!

Justin actually won his company's costume contest at work!  $75 Visa Gift Cards, not bad!

Where's Kelly?  She was actually at a dress rehearsal for her musical.  Seriously what was her teacher thinking.  Needless to say, I didn't get one picture of her.  Sniff, sniff.  She did dress up, sort of like a rocker.  Maybe I will have her put her costume on sometime and get a picture of her then.  O.k. really, that probably will never happen but for some reason posting it makes me feel better. :)

If you can't tell, Kate went as Pebbles Flinstone, which she loved and none of her friends even knew who that was.  What has happened to our cartoon classics?!

I was really grateful that Kevin and Kenzie's costumes from last year still fit and they were happy to wear them again!  I don't know if they will ever know how much I appreciate that and how much easier it made this holiday for me. 

We were totally sporting our Trader Joe's bags for collecting candy.  Yes!  They are finally coming to the DFW area this winter.  I   can   not    wait!!

Our kids got sooooo much candy this year.  After a week of eating more than anyone needed, we still probably have 10+ pounds left!  It's almost disgusting!  The kids ate their fill this weekend and the rest I am taking to school.  I have to get it out of the house--for all our good!

I hope you had a wonderful and safe Halloween!

Father's Day 2011

"Daddy, I love you;"

"Daddy, I do."

"Father in Heaven has sent me to you."

"When I am near you, I love to hear you Singing so softly that you love me too."

Daddy, I love you; I love you, I do."

~ Lorin F. Wheelwright

We can't forget our Grandpas!! 

We love you Grandpa Randall!

We love you Papa Reese!

Happy Father's Day!

Memorial Weekend

I know, I'm totally behind.  This has been my first week off for summer and I'm doing a lot of catching up!  On Saturday and Monday we visited the beautiful Heard Museum.  There is a small indoor exhibit hall, but my favorite part are the miles of outdoor hiking trails to explore.

Kiddos pre-hike

This is an amazing Passion Flower.  They always fascinate me.

A random wild flower.  They were so beautiful and it just made me happy walking by and seeing them all.  It was one of those days where time just stood still and all you felt was happy.

We had such a good time that we went back on Monday and tried a different trail.  On the map they had marked a lightning tree.  When I saw this tree I thought for sure it was the one.

However, the plaque that Kate and Kenzie are sitting on says that this is the official lightning tree.  Pretty amazing!

This is one of the oldest and biggest trees at the Heard.  It was a sapling when the Declaration of Independence was signed.  That to me is completely amazing!  I can't help but think about how much the world has changed since then.

Arizona Day Four-St. Patrick's Day

Frozen Yogurt at MoJo's--Yum!!  Thanks again Aunt Emily

This one's for you Nicole.  Apparently, Flogging Molly plays a concert in Tempe every year.  I'm hoping that next year, (if we're there) Kenzie will be old enough so that I can go!

Beautiful Kate, after watering the flowers.  Check out that grass--it's the best ever, turf, always soft, always green and extreme low maintenance.

Erin and Kevin.

The gang with Grandpa at lunch.  It was a great day!

Family Happenings--Reader's Digest Version

Kevin earned his Bear Award, Religious Knot, & Another Gold Arrow Point.  Yes he already has one, I just haven't sewn it on his shirt yet.  I'll get it done eventually--probably by the time he's all done with cub scouts.  Oh well!

Justin came with me to the High School "Starry Night" Dance.  We couldn't help but have flashbacks to our own high school dances.  We could even find kids there that reminded us of people we went to high school with.  I really enjoyed introducing Justin to the people that I work with.  No we didn't dance--we were focused on the kids, but had a great time anytime!

Happy Valentines Day!  Our kids thought dinner by candle light was the coolest thing ever.  I was very pleased with the fact that even though I had a busy work day I was able to put together a "fancy" dinner, (read--one that you actually had to put together and cook not just heat up).  We even had our favorite Chocolate Cloud Cake for dessert with whipped cream and raspberries-Yum! 

This is kind of a random picture where Kate moved while I was taking it, but I love  the "ghost" effect it made so I thought I would post it too.

Kelly made the Honor Roll for her first semester, (isn't she cute!)  We were so proud of her considering that she puts in around 5 hours a week outside of regular school hours for drama.  But the real reason why I am so proud of her is that at one point her progress report showed not one, but two failing grades.  She worked really hard to find/complete missing assignments and attended early morning tutoring to bring all of her grades up and keep them there.  Congratulations Kelly!

Kelly also attended a young woman activity last night where she learned how to decorate cupcakes.  We have an extremely talented woman that we attend church with who prepared the frostings and taught the girls how to make them.  I think my favorites are the ones that look like mashed potatoes and peas & carrots.  Great job Kelly! 

One more thing that I don't have pictures of:

Kevin had his first urgent care visit last weekend.  He was practicing parkour at the park, trying to jump from the sidewalk up onto a brick wall with both feet at the same time.  The wall was too high and Kevin hit his shin against the sharp edge of the wall.  It left a nice gash that unfortunately couldn't be stitched back together.  Once it was all cleaned up there just wasn't any skin to stitch!  Kevin was thrilled not to get stitches and decided that the scar will look really cool.  I guess I'm relieved that it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

Christmas Day

I usually take pictures of our tree and gifts before the kids come down in the morning but I was so tired this year these were the only pictures that I took.  Kate with her "Twinkle Toes" shoes.  This was the one thing that remained constant on her wish list.

They are so fun and girly and they even light up when she walks-bonus!

We ended up finding a great deal on these boots in Kenzie's size so she got some "Twinkle Toes" too.  That's what you get when you have two very girly little girls--pink and sparkly!

Kevin is thrilled with his remote controlled helicopter!  (Santa brought one for Justin too)  They have a great time flying them around the house.

I'm sad that this picture turned out blurry--that is something that I really need to work on with my picture taking.  Anyway, Kelly got a Kindle from Santa and quickly went to work downloading free classic stories.  If anyone needs future gift ideas for her--amazon gift cards towards more books.  We're thrilled that we no longer have to worry about where we're going to keep all of her books!

After all was said and done I took this picture of Kenzie trying to hold onto as much of her gifts as she can!  And yes, that is a new ballerina dress that she's wearing.

My favorite gifts include a new sewing machine that I actually received before Christmas and put to good use making a beautiful jumper for Kate--which of course I haven't taken a picture of yet.  I'm planning on making a matching one for Kenzie this week so hopefully you'll see a picture of that soon.  Also, Kelly received the Glee karaoke game for the Wii--Love it!  It is soooo much fun! 

We have been truly blessed and Santa was very, very generous and good to us this year, Thanks Santa!

From Our Family to Yours

As we reflect on the wonders and blessing's of this year we couldn't forget our friends and family.  From our home to yours;

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Look What We Made!

I have often felt that I do not have one creative and crafty bone in my body, but I am so proud at what I made for teacher gifts this year!  (It helped that I didn't come up with the idea on my own and all I had to do was a little tracing, cutting out, and ironing on).  I should say that I don't think I have ever made anything for teacher gifts before except maybe some cookies or something like that, if we give a teacher gift at all!  I know what you're thinking, "doesn't she only have 3 kids in school?  Why are there so many?"  Kevin actually has four different teachers (thank goodness one was a man and we just put his gift in a regular gift bag).We also made one for our neighbor who helps with carpooling and one for Kelly's drama teacher.  These are so easy to make, especially if you're a crafty person and own a Cricut or something like that, (having one of those would have been especially handy).  I found the tote bags at Hobby Lobby in packs of 3, (o.k. I admit it, the pink one I found at Goodwill-and was pretty excited about it).  The only other things you need are scraps of material and I used "wonder under" to iron it all together.  I could not be happier, and as far as I know the teachers liked them.

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Since it'd be weird to just hand them an empty bag, we made some bread and put that inside.  I did that on the premise that teachers get a lot of cookies and candy this time of year.  And no, the bread did not turn out perfectly beautiful each time either, but I know that no matter what it looked like, it tasted fantastic so I hope they enjoyed that too.

While I was busy making the bags, Justin made some english toffee--a traditional Christmas candy that his mom made often when he was little.  He needed a treat for a work luncheon.  He too was proud of how it turned out and it tasted wonderful!  The ladies at work kept telling him to give compliments to his wife.  Imagine their suprise when he told them that he made it!  Yes, he's definitely a keeper!

Oh Yeah, We're Friends with the Big Guy

We are so fortunate to have an "in" with Mr. and Mrs. Claus, that they came to visit us on Friday night.  I am kicking myself for not getting a picture of the two of them--sorry Mrs. Claus, we know that you were here.  I was just so caught up in wanting it to be special and memorable for my kids that I didn't think about it until it was too late.

O.k. so this is what Kate picked out for her pajamas that night.  I didn't realize it until it was too late for her to change.  She admits that because she was born in California that she's a "summer proof" girl and doesn't like winter.  I guess this is her way of making that statement.

And of course Kenzie was terrified.  I had to laugh a little because when he walked in the door she happily exclaimed, "Santa!" like it was the best thing to ever happen to her and then she immediately ran the other way crying!  It makes me giggle even now to think about it. 

After quite a bit of coaxing this was the best shot we could get.  There was no way she was going to smile.

Yes, and even Mom and Dad got a turn to sit on Santa's lap.  I was so busy cleaning our house for our guests that I didn't even change out of my work clothes.  Oh well.

Although this picture is a little blurry, it's the best one of Justin.  He has this funny, nervous habit of when he knows someone is taking his picture he can't figure out how to smile normally.  I'm sorry honey--but I love you just the same!

It was a wonderful night and we are so grateful that Santa and his wife could take time out of their busy schedule this time of year to visit our family.  They even gave each one of us a candy cane, a pencil and an ornament for our tree. 

p.s.  These were our dear friends who care for Kenzie while I am at work.  We are truly blessed to have them in our lives. :)