CUPCAKES

These are the cupcakes I made for Break The Fast after church today. Since the last attempt, I bought a larger star tip at Cake Stuff on main street. Love that store!!!! I cheated and made the cupcakes with a cake mix, but next time I'll be making them from scratch with my new cookbook - Martha Stewart's Cupcakes. I picked this up at Borders yesterday. (Thank you SO much for the gift card Tacy and Carrie!!!!) I did make the frosting from scratch - The frosting was definitely the best part. See recipe below:

I'm a cupcake lover. They really are the perfect dessert. Neat and tidy to eat, no fork or plate required, and portion control all the way!
I'm looking forward to experimenting with this new cookbook!

After church we walked next store with more cupcakes to meet our new neighbors Jeff and Nancy and their 5 kids. The house next door as been empty for over 1 year. We are SO excited to have new neighbors!

Easy Buttercream Frosting

2 cups (4 sticks) butter (room temperature)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon clear butter flavoring (Wilton's)
2 1bs. powdered sugar (7 1/2 cups)
3-6 teaspoons milk, half and half or cream

• Using a mixer, cream softened butter, vanilla and butter flavoring until smooth.
• Add sugar gradually, allowing butter and sugar to cream together before adding more.
• If you want your frosting a little creamier, add a teaspoon of milk at a time and beat on high until you get the right texture.
• Then, just use paste coloring to tint the frosting the color of your choice.

SATURDAY WORK & PLAY

Kurt is still breaking up granite to lay the 1st course of block for the Great Wall of Placerville (our retaining wall). He's hoping this is the last bit of rock and that the rest will be smooth sailing. I won't hold my breath. We must be wise to build our house upon a rock!!!

This afternoon we saw the most charming movie. "Up" was definitely one of the best movies I've seen this year. I laughed, I cried, and then I laughed some more. It had all the elements of a perfect movie (comedy, action, drama and romance), not to mention a wonderfully, wholesome message of true love. I'll be buying this when it's released on DVD.

A BIKING WE WILL GO.....

What an adventure we had today! Kurt and I met Tyler at his apartment on Hazel Avenue and rode 25+ miles along the American River Bike Trail to Old Sacramento. We made several stops for photo ops and snack/water breaks. It took us almost 3 hours.

The weather was perfect (not too hot with a little cloud cover). The scenery was beautiful and it was fun to have Tyler along today. This was his first long ride on the new bike Kate gave him for Christmas.

Also known as the Jedediah Smith Memorial Trail, the trail is considered one of the longest paved bike trails in the country. The trail is painted with mile markers at every half-mile increment.

As we were riding along, we spotted a fire in the distance.

As we got closer, we had a hard time breathing and could see this was no small fire.

There were several acres involved and fire crews were scattered all around.

At one point, the fire came right down to the trail. We could feel the intense heat as we rode by and wondered how these firemen handle the heat with the heavy clothing they wear.

At about mile 15 we stopped for a snack/water break. Our legs were feeling like jelly at this point.

Tyler and Kurt getting ready to be "on the road again."

I love my bike!

Riding over the American River.

Another stop to rest our weary legs. Running is SO much easier than bike riding for me.

We made it into Old Sacramento just in time for dinner.
We were famished!

We wanted to try Fat City. We weren't disappointed.
I had the Fat's Cafe Salad.
Tyler had the Fat City Hamburger.
Kurt had the Fat City Combo.
YUM!

Unlocking the bikes so we can walk them (we were done riding) to the light rail station.

Here it comes.

We're so glad they allow bikes on the train. The thought of riding our bikes back to Tyler's apartment was NOT EVEN AN OPTION at this point.

The only bad news was that the train didn't go as far as Hazel after 7 pm (guess we should have read the small print on the schedule ;) It would only take us as far as Sunrise.

Bless Kurt's heart, he offered to ride the 5 miles back to the car and come back and pick us up. Tyler's knee was throbbing and I didn't think I could go another mile.

Tyler and I enjoyed the sunset....

and the almost full-moon.... while poor Kurt pedaled uphill all the way back to Hazel Avenue. Gotta love that guy!

Our chariot awaits.
Can't wait until next time! In the future, we'll start at Sunrise so we can stay as long as we want in Old Sacramento and have a bit of a shorter ride.

FRIDAY NIGHT APRON

This is my latest sewing project. I picked this pattern up when we were in Sister's, Oregon. I'll post a picture of the finished project soon! (Maybe by next Friday night????)

FAITH FACTOR ACTIVITY

Tonight the Placerville Ward YM/YW combined with the Diamond Springs Ward for a Faith Factor/Swim Party at Lindberg Pool. We had such a fun time!

Dividing into teams.

Placerville Ward Beehives. Soooooo sweet!

Peeling grapes for the "Slime Ball" portion of the activity.

"Holding on by a Thread"

"Black Hole"

"Creepy Crawly"

"Sour Lips" - this one cracked me up!

"Drop Zone"

TEMPLE TRIP

Tonight we did a session at the Sacramento Temple with Alyssa and Alax. It was our first time back with them since their wedding day. We vowed to meet them there more often.

A pretty poor shot of the four of us (we did the last session - it was after 10 pm)

CHERRY PIE (ALMOST SUCCESS)

We have pitted, frozen, given away and eaten more cherries than we ever thought humanly possible the last couple of days. I tried this new recipe for cherry pie. I learned a few lessons about cherry pie making today. With a little tweaking so the filling isn't so runny, this could be perfect.

It was even better with vanilla ice cream!