Fluffy Chocolate Buttercream Icing.

This icing is THE best icing I have EVER eaten. EVER!

Chocolate Butter Cream
(Kristin's Version)

1/2 cup of margarine (I had imperial margarine in my fridge. I didn't have butter I would have normally used butter but I didn't have it so I used marg.)(oh and you want it soft I let it sit out for the afternoon)
a splash of extract ( I used almond and it was Divine)
2 or so cups of sifted powdered sugar
1/2 cup of cocoa (also sifted)
2 tablespoons of milk
2 tablespoons of corn syrup (white)

Beat your fat and extract together till fluffed.
add sugar and cocoa. Mix.
Add milk and syrup and mix till fluffy again.

This was the EASIEST icing I've ever made. It was also the only icing I've ever had the desire to just sit down and eat. It was lovely.

Chocolae Zucchini Brownies

I got the recipe from my friend Shauna. It is good. Really good. Try it.

Chocolate Zucchini Brownies

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup sour cream

1 tsp vanilla

2 & 1/2 cups flour

1/3 cup cocoa

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups grated zucchini

In large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars until nice and fluffy.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating well between additions.

Beat in sour cream and vanilla.

In another bowl, mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt.

Add to the creamed mixture.

Mix it up.

Fold in zucchini.

Spread into a greased 9x13 pan.

Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean.

Cool.

Smooth frosting over top.

Cut into bars.

Original Frosting Idea

:2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips + 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter

(Stir together in a small saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until smooth.

Spread over warm brownies.)

Batter minus zucchini

Batter with zucchini

In the pan

Frosted and ready to eat.

Zoo

Lucy and her Tiger.

She LOVED the tiger.

The tiger may have loved her.

It looked like love at first sight.

Who am I to judge?

Every time the tiger walked by it would lick the glass in front of her.

I wish I could Have gotten a picture.

BUT

It was amazing and I was stunned.

Lucy and her Dad watching the Elephant.

Mesmerizing.


Picture perfect.
I had to bribe the elephant.
She was much more expensive than the kid.
Give the kid an ice cream and she's happy.
The elephant on the other hand.... well lets just say it cost more than peanuts.


Giraffe



Hip- hip hop anonymous.
You could of riden it.
Thank goodness for the glass.
I'm sure it would of been a rodeo.

friday

It's Friday. Fairly obvious, I know BUT don't you love Fridays? I do. I don't have a job that ends Friday (although sometimes I wish I did), my husbands job doesn't end on Friday, my wee children aren't in school (yet... soon though), I usually have no where to go, and yet I am always thrilled it's Friday. Maybe it goes back to a time when I did have fun things to do on the weekend and it was my last day of school for the week. Anyways, Friday is here and I am HAPPY.

Oh and on a side note. I have a new dedication to my wii fit. I'm actually going to figure out if it works. I've been on it 3 days in a row so we'll see. I still have my hypothesis that it's a lazy form of exercise and won't do much BUT since I don't really feel like REALLY exercising (on account I am not fond of the idea of being eaten by bear) then lazy-man exercising experiment is what I'm left with.

I bet your glad you checked the blog, huh?? wouldn't want to miss out on this beaut of a post.

bear Jam

I have only one word to say.... Waterton.

All that stink for a bear!

Apricots

I haven't turned my oven on much this summer. I've been gone and usually it's just too dang hot but I came home from the lake this week with a bag of perfectly ripe apricots. I didn't buy them. I'm not particularly fond of them. I enjoy apricot jam BUT that's where my love stops. So they have just been sitting, ripening, and beckoning for me to use them.

Apricot Tart in purest form

Cut up apricots and fill bottom of tart shells

Sprinkle with corn starch and toss.

Sprinkle liberally with sugar.

Add a few nuts.

Bake at 350 for 15- 20 minutes until crust is golden and syrup is thick.

Eat and enjoy.

These tarts are sweet and tangy. They are delicious and simple.

Apricot Crumble Tart

Ingredients:

3/4 cup white sugar

1/3 cup of butter

1/3 cup of flour

1 egg

1. Cut apricots and fill bottom of tart
2. spoon mixture on top
3. sprinkle with nuts
4. bake @ 350 for 25 minutes

Eat.

This is the best tart I've ever made.

It's perfect.

August

Lucy hanging out at home before we left for 28 days.

Ellie feeding the horses.... and dog.

The parade. Heritage days. Everyone goes.

Meeting Belle.

Who knew Disney supported heritage days?

Ellie thought maybe they heard we were "thinking" about going to see them so they came to tell us to go.

Nice try kid!

Waterton. Look at Lucy's face. It kills me. They both looked like they were going to blow right into the lake.

Picking rocks.

Quadding at the lake.

Back at Fort Steele.

Ice cream break.

Dark skies and Cluttered Thoughts

Hey all. I am back (hold the "a" for a while) (oh and think sly and conniving). Much much better. I have ONE MILLION er or TWO HUNDRED pictures to download. Since it is my first full day back I decided best not to over exert myself sooo I shall instead rant or rave. I haven't decided yet. I bet you all missed me more than words can even express. I know I missed all of you. (lets be honest here. I didn't miss you that much. and I can even stomach the cold hard truth that perhaps I'm not the pinnacle of excitement in most of your lives but it's always nice to sugar coat the truth... just look at st.nick.... so I did miss you more than words could possibly express ** wink** **wink**)

My rant.

I have chosen (mostly by circumstance) to live in a desert... not to be mistaken for dessert (which is delicious but would be much to sticky to live in... although I have imagined it upon occasion) WHAT IS WITH ALL THE FRICKEN (YES i SAID IT) RAIN?

I am not a farmer. I have however learned to appreciate the beauty of a rainy DAY. I have NOT mastered my appreciation for rain SEASON in a non-rain season month. What I do appreciate is a sun filled vacation. A golden tan. Melty ice cream. SO SO many grasshopper guts on the front of a vehicle that it actually STINKS. I appreciate the NEED of ac and of swimming pools and other large bodies of water. I like summer. I know that I live in the great white north and that we may only get two months of "warm" weather out of 12 BUT COME ON. I will be writing a LENGTHY letter to the big guy just to let him know I EXPECT a reimbursement of my august.

I don't know if I have a rave. I feel it might be necessary to combat the negativeness of the post....

hmmm...

Well I don't know if this is positive of negative but maybe just something to chew on. I've been chewing on it.

I have been thinking a lot about people.This subject gets talked about it a lot and I'm not going to say anything profound of life altering. I've just noticed that through the course of my very short (don't want it to end anytime soon) life is that I get busy and I end up neglecting existing and potential relationships and then I end up feeling exhausted or lonely. I will then spend time seeking out a relationship to fill that void. Since graduating and moving through college portion and then through being newly married and now having two busy preschool kids I have find it more difficult to cultivate a "deep" connection to other people. It's something I think is so important to do. I think a lot of societal problems are because of a lack of connection we feel to our communities. My mothers voice in my head is saying, "Get involved". BUT I feel like I do. I feel like many of us get involve. BUT what I think still causes the lack of connection is our own personal guard. In my situation, of having children and being young while doing so, has made me feel very "out of touch" with other women my age who managed to stay "trendy" and who enjoy "freedoms" (etc. not worrying about two small children constantly). I feel this strain in my existing relationships with my sisters and friends who also either aren't married or are yet to have children. I also find myself guarding myself with other moms who have children the same age as mine. I feel like I end up talking in a "safe" zone. The farthest that relationship goes is parenting subjects and children activities. I feel like they (the other women) get to know and understand the parenting side of me BUT there is a lot more to me than that (I don't know what that is just yet... but I'll get back to you on that...;) ) BUT seriously that is the other problem I've encountered. In this early part of parenting I have found it EXTREMELY difficult to find a balance between myself and my kids. I still don't have it. It makes finding other people to connect with difficult. I know that this problem is encountered by both Men and Women and by people who DO and DON'T have children. Human Connection.... I hope I didn't bore you. It's just whats been on my mind.

Love

"God breathes and the beauty of nature is revealed,

You

are His

most beautiful creation

& I am left

breathless."
s. brown

The Lake.

The Hillbilly Hilton

Dusty prefers Redneck Toy hauler

We haul our quads or horses, all our camping supplies, AND we get to sleep in this baby!!!

Ellie getting ready to go quading.

Lucy decided to bump up the rating to PG.

The tree fort by Moose lake-

I actually think that it's called Deer lakes but whatever.

We have to stop here multiple times.

Turtles. There are loads and loads of turtles.

There are teeny tiny baby turtles.

Pretty fun to watch.

The kids don't really care.

This, however, they do care about.

Ellie LOVES the beach.

Not really the water.

She is getting better though.

Lucy is a fish.

I'm surprised she's not webbed or scaled.

We had to force her out of the water when her lips would turn blue and she couldn't stop chattering.


Everyone was sad when it was time to pack up.

Especially Dusty, since it was his turn to do the dishes!