HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Just wanted to share a virtual copy of our 'NEW YEAR' card with the blogging world.

I also wanted to say that sending out a Happy New Year greeting is way less stressful than a Christmas card. During the hustle and bustle of the holiday season I knew in the back of my mind that I wanted to send something out, but I didn't have to worry about it until after the busi-ness of the season was over. I am totally converted to sending out a 'NEW YEAR' card! I am always looking for ways to make life a little easier :)

PS. If you would like our new address, comment below and I will get it to you.

The fruit pizza recipe...

So on the 4th of July I posted the picture below on Instagram.

I had no idea that because of this picture, I would have multiple requests for the recipe. 

I mean, these people didn't even taste it. The picture must look REALLY good :)

I figured the best way to spread the recipe would be to put it out in the blog-o-sphere! 

Okay so here is the recipe:

{...and I must first say that this is my mother-in-law's recipe, thanks Kathleen...}

Pizza:

1 cup shortening

2 cups sugar

2 eggs {beaten}

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup sour cream

4 cup flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp nutmeg 

Mix ingredients in the order they are listed. Chill dough for 1 hour. 

Roll onto pizza or cookie sheet about 1/4 inch thick.

Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes...watch until golden brown.

Frosting:

3 oz cream cheese

1/2 cup butter

4 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

I have to admit this frosting recipe is a tad too sweet for my liking, so I made some alterations when I made my frosting. I didn't really measure as I was whipping it together but I used approximately 5 oz cream cheese and only 3 cups of powdered sugar. Everything else I kept the same. This made the frosting a little bit more tangy instead of sweet. 

Totally up to you on what you want!

Allow the pizza to cool and then add the frosting. Next is the fun part where you pick what fruit you want on your pizza! Another thing that is totally up to you is the fruit that you put on it. 

I chose to stick with a patriotic theme, but the skies the limit on this one!

Oh I forgot to mention, this recipe actually makes TWO fruit pizzas or just a really giant pizza! 

{TALK ABOUT A BONUS!}

Here is the other pizza I made:

{...happy baking...}

twenty-thirteen

So, it's been about six months since I blogged! 

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Sorry for the lack of posts (meaning ZERO), but we have been very busy! The biggest news is that we bought our very first house and moved to Dallas, Oregon! I still can't believe how it all happened. It seemed that one day we had given up all hope that we were going to find our dream house and then the next day we were in contract and our offer had been excepted! It literally took 24 hours, but we knew it was the right house for us. We have spent the last six months unpacking boxes, getting settled, buying new appliances, meeting new neighbors that have now become friends, adjusting to a new ward (which we absolutely LOVE!) and figuring out how our new life as homeowners works. It is a lot of hard work owning a house...we've already done many fix up/DIY home projects, but we love having a place to call home!

Christmas at Apartment 1123.

Christmas is my favorite holiday.
The tree, the decorations, the lights, the carols...I just love EVERYTHING about Christmas.
At first we weren't going to get a tree or even decorate because we knew we were going to be gone the week of Christmas.
But, I did not let that happen and we decked out the apartment in true Christmas spirit style.

Fa la la la la, la la la la :)

What we've been up to...

So this fall we have been busy, busy, busy! 

Mostly we have just been doing the mundane daily things that you have to do to stay alive. 

I won't bore you with those stories...although, some of those you would find hilarious. 

Here are some highlights that have happened over the last few months.

Going way back to the end of September, I was able to become a color runner :) The 5K Color Run race was held in Portland and it was so much fun!!! I was so excited for this happy and colorful race and let me tell you, the energy at the event was so intense. Paul was an awesome cheerleader and great support. He was running all over the course to cheer for me at different spots during the race. He probably ran more than me on that day.

Next big thing was Paul's birthday. He turned 28 and we celebrated with a round of putt-putt golf, going out to dinner and then presents and cake pumpkin bread at home. He would only let me put three candles on the bread that was pretending to be his birthday cake. He is a silly boy. The whole day was pretty low key but that's how he likes things.

Last thing, our eventful trip to the fake pumpkin patch. We were so excited to go to the REAL Pumpkin Patch but surprise, surprise it was raining the only Saturday we had open so we did the next best thing. We pretended like we were going to the Pumpkin Patch, but we really went to the Winco grocery store pumpkin patch :) You have to be creative when you live somewhere where it rains all the time!

It's now time for my favorite holiday ever...CHRISTMAS!!!

California || Redwoods

The last stop on our California trip was Redwood National Park. 

We just felt like we needed to see even more humongous trees and, of course, we wanted to camp again!!!

So the morning after we camped, we got up and we were so excited to go exploring. Our goal was to find the biggest tree. Before we even left our campsite our goal was reached; we found a grove of giant redwood trees. The size of these trees was incredible.

After gawking over the huge grove of trees for like 30 minutes, we decided to go see more of the park and find even more trees. {They are everywhere in this neck of the woods!!!} This is where the plans for the day changed just slightly, but it was in a very good way. As we were leaving our campsite, there was an adorable girl on the side of the road holding a sign that said "North". Paul and I both immediately got the feeling that we needed to ask her where she was going and if we could help her get there. I have never ever in my life picked up a hitch hiker, but the Lord knew that we needed to give service at that very moment. She said her final destination was Seattle, Washington. We told her we couldn't take her all the way there but she was happy that we would be willing to take her to Oregon. We made room for her in the car and then we were off to find more huge trees. As we talked to her we learned that she was from Germany. Paul was so happy because that is where he served his LDS church mission. The two of them had lots of fun talking back and forth in German. Paul was very excited that he got to practice his German...he doesn't get that many opportunities to do that. We talked about so many things and learned about her life stories and culture. As we reached the spot that we would drop her off, she was so gracious for what we had done for her and she was so excited to keep on trekking to Seattle. She is a brave woman for hitch-hiking the west coast alone.

This was the perfect way to end our wonderful trip to California. 

We had such a great time and we know that we will visit the GOLDEN state again someday for even more adventures. 

Note: Because our blog is basically a family journal I wanted to document everything single fun adventure that happened on our California trip. I know I'm over three months late in getting caught up, but now I'll have the pictures, stories, and memories to read about in the future. Thanks for bearing with me and the regular updates will start up again soon. I'm so excited for the holidays coming up. Bring on the Turkey and Christmas decorations.