Toothbrush - my new favorite thing

Hey people. So, please do not think that I'm just picking up the habit of brushing my teeth.

I AM picking up the habit of using a toothbrush to clean! Today I scrubbed the shower harder than I've ever scrubbed a shower. See, it's tile, and I've always had just the porcelain that you usually have for the bathtub and sometimes for the shower. So over the last few months, I've clean the shower and I always just used the sponge and cleaner. THIS time, toothbrush and Soft Scrub with bleach. It was amazing! Now, after seeing my sparkling clean shower, I feel a little disgusting thinking of what I used to shower in.


(this isn't my shower....i'm just too lazy to go take a picture so i found a similar one online...)

All I can say is first, go out and buy yourselves Soft Scrub with bleach. It gets off everything! (Bathroom and Kitchen). Second, can't wait for my shower tomorrow morning.

Our exciting announcement... :)

So I know what you're thinking, exciting announcement = baby. I wish!

Actually, we have been waiting the past two weeks figuring out details about a new apartment! My good friend Katie let us know about an opportunity to move in to the basement of a house her sister owns. It's in west Provo (850 West... far from campus...) and a HUGE plus is that Katie and her husband Mark will be living upstairs! We're super excited.

Not only are we excited about the neighbors and owners, but we LOVE the apartment. First of all, basement apartment, not apartment complex. It will be nice to live in a home again. Then, dry wall, laminate wood floors, and nice carpeting. I can paint and hang pictures! No more cinderblock! Next, a dishwasher. Seriously. While the past seven months in this apartment have been great, the thing that gives me the most grief and has actually brought a little contention into our home is dishes. So having a dishwasher will be amazing! As if the apartment couldn't get any better, there are still more great things about it! Good storage, big bedroom, and one of our favorite two things: washer and dryer. Yay! No more going out in the snow because I put the laundry in and I have to change it. While I won't be able to have all loads going at the same time, I just can't wait to be able to do laundry at whatever hour in the day and not pay for it every time.

We wish we could move in this week but we have to wait until July. It will be an exciting month! Poor Jed will hardly be able to enjoy it because he'll be leaving just a week or two after we move in to go wash windows in Granite Bay for a few weeks. So you can all look forward to more excitement and PICTURES come July/August. And you may get an invite to come over and eat. There's a fire pit in the backyard, too! We'll have parties. After I decorate.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here's what we had for dessert tonight...



CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE DOUGH CUPCAKES



Special thanks to my mommy for the platter and my sister for the decorating tip/bag.

Here's the recipe if you want to make it--it was delicious so I highly recommend it!

INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate
chips

1 (18.25 ounce) box yellow cake mix
1 1/3 cups water
1/3 cup canola oil
3 eggs

DIRECTIONS:
1. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and sea salt; set aside. Beat the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar with an electric mixer in a large bowl until smooth. Add 1 egg and the vanilla extract and beat until smooth. Mix in the flour mixture until just incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chips; mixing just enough to evenly combine. Form the dough into tablespoon-sized balls; place onto a baking sheet, and freeze until solid, about 2 hours. **Or just use pre-made cookie dough. Saves time!

2. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.

3. Beat 3 eggs in a large bowl with an electric mixer to break up. Add the cake mix, water, and canola oil; continue beating for 2 minutes on medium speed. Spoon into the prepared cupcake liners, filling each 2/3 full. Place a frozen cookie dough ball on the top center of each cupcake.

4. Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the cake portion of the cupcake (not the cookie dough ball) comes clean, about 20 minutes. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.

One Year Older and Wiser, too!

It's my birthday! Or, rather, was on Tuesday, the 8th. I turned 21! I'm legal for just about everything except renting a car and becoming president.

So first of all, we had a sort of family celebration on last Saturday, the 5th, at Madeline's Steakhouse. They catered our wedding and several things went wrong, so we got gift certificates! It was delicious and we all had fun.



We also had a family get together on Daniel's birthday, the 7th. We opened present and had cake and ice cream. I got almost all kitchen things! I loved it. I have some cute serving platters now and more cupcake things! Despite what you might think, we brought a camera. We just never took pictures...

So then, on Tuesday, I woke up to a cute little present on the table! Jed had gone out late the night before and gotten it.



That was so sweet of him! We had a fun day together (he skipped his classes, which he didn't want to do but was so nice to do for me), and then that evening was an evening of sushi! My old roommates from both years (minus Mickell and Nicole), their significant others, and our good friends Jordan and Kelsey joined us. It was SO good and I think we all had a lot of fun. We had to wait a while for a table, but it wasn't a big deal and we all had a good time just talking and laughing.



My roommates were all so kind and chipped in to get me a present! It's a magic mouse, perfect for my birthday present from Jed which was a Macbook Pro (we got the computer back in December so I'd have it for the new semester).



As you can see, it's just like a track pad, but a mouse! It's really nice and I love using it!

My in-laws were also so kind as to send me a present, which is this coat, but ORANGE! I love it, and I've gotten many compliments on it.



So I had a very happy birthday! My other present from Jed was a cute video where he talked all about us and our dating/engagement/marriage. It was the perfect end to a great birthday.

Apple Cupcakes

Despite the name of this blog, the cupcakes were not apple flavored. Just vanilla.

So it was cute Kristine's birthday at work, and so I made cupcakes! I had a grand ole' time choosing which cupcake to make from my two cupcake books, but finally decided on the cupcakes decorated like apples.

So here they are! The pictures should help you figure out how I get the shape and I'll just tell you that the stems are tootsie rolls and the leaves are Frooties (green apple flavored even!)

While I wouldn't say they were the most tasty cupcakes I've made, they certainly were adorable!







You like? I love them!