Texarkana, TX

I can't believe how time has just flown these last few months! We moved to Texarkana, TX at the end of October and it is definitely different than Georgia. I really, REALLY miss my house, friends and the general area of Grovetown/Augusta. Texarkana is small but I have all the shopping I need. We are living in a small 2 bedroom apartment which is a HUGE adjustment coming from a 3000 square foot house. Although, it's a lot less cleaning and that's always nice! We have little to no cell phone coverage here. I feel so cut off from the world!!
This area has a lot of elderly people. Our little ward is definitely a geriatric ward but there are a few young families. One really nice thing about being out here is that Jaren really likes his job. There were all kinds of issues at his last job but the people here are great and work as a team. He actually comes home happy now! Night and day difference!!!
So far Jaren is the only one with a calling. I need one ASAP! It certainly didn't take long for them to jump at the chance to take advantage of Jaren being a high priest and call him into the bishopric. Jaren was quite relieved when we moved from GA so that he didn't have to be in the bishopric anymore. I guess the Lord feels he needs more experience. :) I was excited about the fact that I would actually get to sit next to Jaren in sacrament meeting when we moved here. I only got 2 Sundays worth. Darn it!
That's pretty much all that's happening. I feel like we're incredibly boring people because I don't have a ton of stuff to blog about. I can't even maintain my goal of one post a month. Oh well. At least you all know now that we're alive and well. Hope you all have a Merry Christmas!

Flower Wreath

At the end of the summer JoAnn's was having a huge sale on their silk spring flowers. I bought about 4 bunches for $6 total that were originally $4.99 a piece. I didn't quite know what to do with them until I got the great idea to make them into a flower wreath as a gift for my friend who's about to have a baby girl. I even bought a cute daisy hook to hang it on.

(This shows the daisy better)

(This is the truest color of the flowers)

The flowers were dark pink and light pink with a little creamy yellow color in the middle. I love the cute ribbon that matches the colors my friend is using to decorate her baby's room. I also got a super cute "Live, Laugh, Love" decoration that matched all of her colors too but I forgot to take a picture of it. Making the wreath was pretty easy. It was just a little time consuming because it took me two tries to even out all of the flowers just right.

I also found the most adorable little shoes! What can I say? I LOVE shoes! I had to get a pair for my friend's little one and a pair that I could keep in the hopes that one day I have a little girl to wear them. :)

Aren't they adorable! You can't really tell in these pictures but they have opal colored sparkly stuff woven all through the shoes.

I think this was my favorite baby shower gift I've ever given as a whole. I know decorations for the baby's room isn't a conventional gift but she loved them and I really liked making the wreath!

The places we've lived

With Jaren in the Army (even if it's only the Reserve), we have moved around a lot. We've lived in Colorado, Utah, Missouri, Washington, Wisconsin and Georgia. We've experienced freezing weather, lots of snow, endless rain, extreme humidity and sweltering heat. Now we're about to experience a new climate. Yep, we're moving again. This will be our 3rd move in 2 years. This is all very last minute and I'm quite sad to be leaving the Augusta, GA area. We LOVE it here. Even with the heat and humidity. Jaren has been offered a temporary position (up to 3 years) as a Captain on active duty in Texarkana, TX.

Where is that? It's on the border of Texas and Arkansas of course. The city itself is divided by the state line so there is a Texarkana, TX and Texarkana, AR. We haven't gotten a chance to visit or look for housing. I think we'll just end up driving out there when we move and hope to find a place real quick. We haven't officially gotten orders yet but Jaren will probably have to be there on October 3rd. Not much time! We will be renting our house here in Grovetown so we've been trying to complete most of our house projects in preparation for renters. So much to do and so little time to do it. It doesn't help that Jaren is required to work overtime every day until the end of September (end of the fiscal year). This is the contracting office's busiest time.

So here's hoping I don't go crazy trying to prepare for a move in 2 weeks. Good luck to me!

The Pregnancy Test

Warning: If you are the type of person to be offended or think it inappropriate for people to talk about trying to get pregnant in general (not the actual deed), then don't read this post.

Many of you know what I'm talking about when I say that this little stick has the ability to bring joy or cause pain. How is it such a small thing can have such a huge emotional effect on us women? As all of you know, Jaren and have been trying for about 6 years now to get pregnant. We both have been tested and everything is in working condition but it just hasn't happened. This last month was the first time I actually tried a fertility drug called clomid.

Before moving on I want to express that I am not posting about this to try and get sympathy from anyone or complain about how bad I have it because that is not the case. I have a body that has the ability to get pregnant which I am grateful for and a loving husband as well as support from family and friends. This is more of an expression of bitter feelings toward the pregnancy test at this current moment. Hopefully that will change in the near future.

Moving past lots of boring details...I took a pregnancy test last Saturday. It was about 4:00 in the morning when I woke up really needing to use the restroom. I could have waited for a decent hour but these tests work best in the morning when you're urine is more concentrated. I had been unsure on whether or not to try a test because it was still a bit early to be really "late" in my cycle. I rolled over to Jaren and asked if he thought I should and he said to go ahead and take one. I followed all of the instructions and waited while that little timer flashed at me. Then it happened. A big, glaring "Not Pregnant" stared at me. Anger and sorrow washed over me. "Stupid Pee Stick!" I thought. I threw it in the garbage and went back to our room. As soon as I got back in bed Jaren's eyes popped open to gauge my reaction to the test and he knew instantly. My sweet husband pulled me in and cuddled me while I cried for the first time after taking a pregnancy test.

I know eventually we'll get our chance to be parents and bring sweet babies into this world. Heavenly Father has his timing and right now it just must not be our time. We certainly haven't lost hope. We'll try again but in the mean time...

I'm MAD at you pregnancy test!! I don't care if it's not your fault!

I'm a failure at blogging, I know.

Obviously I haven't been very good about blogging for several months now. Sometimes there really is NOTHING new or exciting to post about and other times we forget the camera for something I would post about. And we all know a post without pictures is boring (kind of like this one). That's been my problem for some time now. Several outings or trips and the camera gets left at home. This last time for our anniversary trip to Hilton Head, SC the camera came with us but for some reason I would only remember it (sitting in my bag at the hotel) once we had already driven away. Too late, not going back.

So I'm a failure at blogging. I've thought so many times about just giving it up. For now, I'll keep trying and failing and occasionally posting something. Maybe when we have kids I'll find more things to blog about...or I'll have no time to blog and it will be worse. We'll see. In the mean time, keep checking back every so often. I do eventually plan on posting some exciting news when it happens. :)

Birthdays!

I know our birthdays were awhile ago but Jaren's was just so fun I had to post about it. He had another "kid" themed party this year. Apparantly it doesn't get old even at 31! He had a ton of fun!!! The most unfortunate thing was that there was a tornado watch that evening. There was no rain but A LOT of strong wind. It made for difficult barbecuing and eating. Oh well. It calmed down once we were all done with the tables. :)

We had to have a piñata, of course. It was so cute to watch this picture being taken from behind with the kids crowded around Jaren and even a couple wrapping their arms around his legs.
Silly guys.

Before they started the cake eating contest...

after...

Jaren also wanted to play kick-ball. No mercy for the older kids.

All in all he had a blast!! My cute husband loves those kids!

I turned 29 this year. I didn't want a big party. We invited a few friends to go out to dinner with us. We came back to a friends house for my special order COLD STONE CAKE!!! It was delicious! We also played games and stayed up late laughing and talking.

My kind of birthday.

Bye Bye Choir Director

So much for my hope that I would keep my callings as choir director and music chair person for a while. I've been called as the 1st counselor in the young women's presidency. I'm going to pre-camp this Tuesday and Wednesday and stake girl's camp in just a couple of weeks.

I just finished the wedding I've been working on for the last month. What a busy weekend. Including today (Sunday) we have made a total of 5 trips to the church since Friday. That may not sound too bad but when it's a 20-25 minute drive and eats up your gas it's a lot!

Jaren has also continued to stay busy but not with his new calling. As soon as he got called into the bishopric he left for the next two Sundays and the entire week in between doing Army stuff. Today was his first real Sunday up on the stand. It's just one thing to the next around here. I have so much catching up to do on my blog. I plan on posting fun stuff this week. Stay tuned!

Been busy

You would think that because Jaren and I don't have kids, we would have a lot of free time. You would also think that I should have an abundance of time because I don't have kids to tend to and I don't work . This however, is NOT the case...obviously...or I would have updated my blog much sooner. So, what have we been to?

1. Emily's trip to Idaho - I left Jaren at home for a week and a half! He didn't like that so much. He also apparantly left the dishes for the full week and a half and did them the night I came home. Mold was growing in the sink. Gross. I went out to my sister's graduation at BYU-Idaho. She got her nursing degree! She also went through the temple while the family was there. That was a neat experience. I'm so happy for her!

2. Easter Program - I am the ward choir director and we had been working hard to put this program together. It turned out great!!

3. Ward Mission Leader - Jaren's calling has been keeping him (and me) very busy! There are baptisms almost every week and sometimes twice a week! That's a lot of trips to the church when you include the Wednesday night missionary coordination meeting and church on Sunday. Good thing gas is $3.70 (*sarcasm*). But we love working with the great missionaries we have in our ward!

4. Emily was released as ward missionary and called to be ward music chairman - This isn't time consuming but for my own records I wanted to make note of this. I am happy with this calling and ward choir director. I wouldn't mind staying in these callings for a long time!

5. Planning a wedding - I was asked to be a wedding planner (for lack of a better title) for a sister in our ward. The RS asked me to do this a few months ago for some new members and I enjoyed doing it. This wedding is a bit bigger scale and I'm loving it!

6. Army stuff - This is always keeping Jaren busy. Especially now that he is in a command position and in charge of soldiers. Between the Army and work he is quite often gone for a week here, a weekend there, another two weeks there.

7. House remodeling - This is a never ending process. We finished a big project last week when Jaren built scaffolding in our two-story entry way so we could paint the ceiling and top portion of the walls and put in a new chandelier. The entryway and stair (walls) are done and I am so glad. I knew it would be a pain but it looks great now. Only 3 more areas of the house to paint. Then onto a sprinkler system, landscaping, planting grass, granite counter tops, new lighting in the kitchen, and new floors. Will all of this get done? Who knows.

8. Jaren's birthday! - I will post about this sometime. We did another kid themed birthday party and he loved it. My wonderful husband is one year older and wiser. :)

9. Service - Babysitting for our friends and helping out with lots of remodeling for some friends in our ward. Lots of time and work but it has been fun!

and the big finale...

10. 2nd Counselor in the bishopric - Jaren's new calling. Yep, he couldn't believe it either! After Jaren got the call from the stake executive secretary he worried and wondered all week. I knew the counselors of our bishopric were leaving and he couldn't even conceive the idea that he would ever get called to be one of them. According to him, nothing good could come from meeting with a member of the stake presidency. I had a feeling he would get this calling but he kept denying it. It was confirmed at our appointment with the 1st counselor in the stake presidency and I'm pretty sure he felt like "Are you sure you have the right guy?!" He's not the type of guy you would imagine in the bishopric...I say as I giggle. :) A friend even mentioned how whenever she tries to think of Jaren in the bishopric all she can think of is Jaren tickling her kids and being goofy with them. He's going to be the goofball counselor. I keep teasing Jaren that he has to act like a 2nd counselor now. He felt he needed to break it to me that he was still the same old Jaren. That's true, though we sure have become extremely more consistent in prayer and scripture study! Jaren was not released as ward mission leader so he's still super busy with baptisms.

Maybe one day soon things will calm down a bit and we won't have so much going on!!! The past two weeks we have hardly had a break from sun up to sun down. Though things may not calm down for awhile, I'm enjoying everything we're involved in. Hopefully everyone of you are enjoying your journey too!

White Chocolate Mousse Mountain Cupcakes

So everybody knows how much I *LOVE* to bake. I've often been told I should open up a bakery. I would certainly love to but this is not likely in my future. If I ever opened up a bakery, it would be a cupcake bakery. I even picked out a name...sorry, I'm not going to post it. Even if I never open a cupcake bakery, I will continue coming up with more cupcake ideas and posting my successes here on my blog.

For the Relief Society birthday dinner we had recently, I signed up to bring cupcakes because I can never pass up that opportunity. Many of you remember the original, all chocolate, Mousse Mountain cupcakes I posted about a couple of years ago. My mom and I also experimented with some white chocolate mousse and the two recipes we tried were okay. My mom really liked one but I thought the amount of egg yolks made it taste more custardy than like white chocolate mousse. So I revisited that recipe and altered it to my liking (so typical of me). The result was delightful!

I also tried making a chocolate cake batter from scratch. I love Duncan Hines but decided to get away from the box mix this time. I used another recipe my mom and I tried before and for some reason I liked it better this time. The batter is supposed to be split between three 10" cake pans which resulted in almost 40 cupcakes. One batch of white chocolate mousse wouldn't cover all 39 cupcakes so I also had to do a batch of chocolate mousse. Then of course, I had to use them together as well as separately. Here's what they looked like before the chocolate coating:

I also did all chocolate and chocolate/white chocolate/chocolate which isn't pictured here.

I didn't have enough time for the mousse to properly set before dipping so I just had to drizzle the chocolate on most of them.

They were still delicious. My favorite was the white choc./choc./white choc. fully coated in chocolate. They tasted even more scrumptious on the second day. Since then I have come up with ever so many more mousse ideas and names for the cupcake creations. Maybe one day they'll get their own little name plaque in a refrigerated display case.

If you have plenty of time on your hands and want to make a dessert to impress or just to indulge in, this would do it. I've been craving these ever since the RS dinner!

White Chocolate Mousse
2 egg yolks
2 Tbsp sugar
2/3 c heavy whipping cream
1 c white baking chips (Guittard is the best if you can find it otherwise Nestle is better than most)
1 1/2 c heavy whipping cream

Beat eggs yolks in small bowl with electric mixer on high speed for about 3 minutes or until thick and lemon colored. Gradually add sugar.

Heat 2/3 c heavy whipping cream in saucepan over medium heat just until hot (not boiling). Gradually stir half of the cream mixture into the egg yolk mixture, then stir back into hot cream in saucepan. Cook over low heat about 5 minutes, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens (do not boil).

Stir in baking chips until melted. Cover and refrigerate about 2 hours, stirring occasionally, just until chilled (mixture will seem like thick melted caramel when ready).

Beat 1 1/2 cups whipping cream in large chilled bowl on high speed until stiff peaks form. Fold in white chocolate mixture. You may need to whip for a few more seconds to give it the right consistency. You don't want it too soft so it's loose but don't over whip it either. It takes practice. Pipe it onto cupcakes and refrigerate for a couple of hours before attempting to dip the cupcakes. You may even need to freeze them for 20-30 minutes to be stiff enough to dip. The white chocolate mousse is softer than regular chocolate mousse.

Chocolate cake
3 c packed brown sugar
3/4 c canola oil
3 eggs
2 2/3 c flour
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
2 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 c milk
1 1/2 c water
1 1/8 c cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 350°. Oil 3 (10-inch) cake pans and line the bottom with parchment paper. For cupcakes, line tins with baking cups and lightly spray each cup.

In the bowl of electric mixer, combine the brown sugar and oil. Turn to low speed and mix in eggs. Let the sugar, oil and eggs mix while sifting together the flour, baking powder, soda, and salt in a separate bowl. Set the flour mixture aside.

In another small bowl, mix the vanilla into the milk and set aside as well. Bring the water to a boil and pour over the cocoa and whisk until smooth. To the egg mixture, alternately add the flour mixture and milk mixture starting and ending with flour. Scrape sides of bowl down after each addition. With the mixer on low, add the cocoa. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and pour into prepared cake pans. For cupcakes, use a 1/4 c measuring cup to pour batter into each baking cup.

For 10-inch pans: bake approx. 15 minutes
For 9-inch pans: bake approx 22-24 minutes
For cupcakes: bake approx. 17-19 minutes
OR until toothpick inserted comes out clean (or almost clean).

This cake is very moist and feels sticky on top. That's normal. Cool for 10 minutes before moving to cooling racks. Once cooled, refrigerate until cold. It's easier to handle this way.

Chocolate Coating

2 c chocolate, chopped (I do 2/3 dark 1 1/3 milk)

3 Tbsp oil

Heat the two together until melted and smooth. I pour the mixture into a glass 1 cup measuring cup to do the dipping.

Enjoy!

A Chance of Rain

Why is it when the weather forecast predicts rain it only ever seems to start raining when you hope it won't?

For example, yesterday morning it was cloudy but the sun was shining. I set up my new art project outside so I could spray paint it. Those clouds did not start looking shifty until my finger pressed down on the spray paint can button. I finished spray painting and went inside to do some things hoping that it wouldn't start raining. I came back 5 minutes later and the rain had started. Figures. I had to carefully maneuver my freshly painted art project inside the house to dry. By the time I got it in the house it was pouring.

Later that evening, Jaren and I went bike shopping (for Jaren). When we walked into the bike shop there was no rain. When Jaren walked outside to take a bike for a test ride, no rain. By the time he made it across the street it was raining and was rapidly increasing to a heavy rain. Of course.

Darn rascally rain!

My favorite moment in church today...

...was when a little sunbeam girl opened the door and came running into the Gospel Principles class looking desperate to get away or find someone or both. I wasn't quite sure which. None of us in the class knew what was going on. She ran to one row of chairs full of people then stopped, turned and ran to the next row, stopped and finally ran to an empty row of chairs before hurrying under a chair to hide.

It was about this time that one of the primary leaders came in looking around that we all realized this little girl had made a run for it and was attempting to evade her persuers. Jaren even had to go over and lift the chair up for the primary leader to get the little girl. As they were walking out the door we heard the little girl say "But I want my daddy." Her dad wasn't in the room but she was trying desperately to get to him. We all had a good laugh before we could continue with the lesson.

Kids are just so funny!

The Boll Weevil

For those who don't know, a boll weevil is a bug that feeds on cotton buds and flowers. The building was constructed prior to 1850 as one of several cotton warehouses on the property. In fact most of the riverfront land in Augusta during the 1850’s was used for some aspect of the cotton trade. It was known as "Cotton Row" so several of the restaurants and shops that exist there today have names that are associated with cotton.



I heard about this cafe from one of the locals. I looked at the menu online and thought it would be a good place to try. After we left the Home & Garden show we stopped here for lunch. Pictured below is what generally happens when Jaren and I go to any "sit-down" place (non-fast food).



As soon as he stops for a few minutes, instantaneous exhaustion kicks in. I would make a joke about how he's so old that he can't even walk around a little H&G show without getting all tuckered out but this has been going on since we got married. What a funny guy. :)



The real reason I wanted to come to this place was because I wanted to try a slice of one of their monstrous cakes. This one seemed to be the most popular and we got the last slice. It's called "7th Heaven" and is chocolate cake with a cheesecake and chocolate mousse center. It was delicious with the caramel and whipped cream.



These cakes are just HUGE!



Anyone in the area should give it a try. I do want to go back for dinner sometime. They had a yummy looking entree I would love to try!

A Perfect Day

Jaren took me to the Home & Garden show on Saturday. This was quite a pleasant surprise. He told me about it earlier in the week and said he wanted to go. I know he was doing it for me though. It is definitely my kind of thing. I was so excited! There were so many vendors there and we entered all kinds of drawings.

We sat through a cooking show promoting the Kitchen Craft Cookware. It was so cool that he could cook a full meal in just a couple of pots with no water or liquids! And of course it is ridiculously expensive. I also drooled over the wonderful Cutco knives that I love so much. I have a small set and I wish I had more! There were so many neat things to see but of everything there, those two would be the two big ticket items I would spend money on in a heart beat if I could.

There was one thing that I absolutely had to get though. A Smart Living Steam Mop. I've been wanting a steam mop. I am the kind of person who refuses to buy a mop when I can get down on my hands and knees with a bucket and washcloth to do a better job. The only problem is that the area I need to mop in this house is MUCH more expansive than any other place we have lived. On top of that, we plan on turning it all into hardwood. I knew I needed a new mopping alternative and this is it! It doesn't actually blow steam directly on the floor or anything. It mostly heats up the pad and at such a high temperature it sterilizes when you mop! I'm sure another post will be forthcoming once I actually try it out on my floors.

It was such a beautiful day! It was in the mid 70's and sunny. Lots of trees had blossoms and even leaves. Everything is turning green. I know many of you live in areas that are still freezing right now and are receiving or just got snow. I am extremely glad I'm not in one of those areas and for you who may be suffering in the cold ugliness of winter, I'm mentally sending you some sun. Just think, in a few more months you'll be experiencing this...







As you can tell, we still have a lot more Spring to come from the picture below but I just think this huge pink house on the river with all of the other huge houses is so funny. If you have a big expensive house on a beautiful river front, why would you paint it pink?


(Click on the picture to see the pink house better)

We also had lunch at The Boll Weevil Cafe & Restaurant. I know, that sounds gross but it was a nice little place right next to the river. I'll post more on that next. We enjoyed walking by the river and just being together. It was one of those rare, slow-paced Saturdays with no pressure to be anywhere or do anything. It was a lazy day and I loved it. I even got the tiniest bit of a tan. Did I mention I love the south? Who would have thought. I hope everyone had as wonderful of a weekend as we did!

Savannah River Rapids

We have absolutely nothing new to post so I decided to go back to summertime and post about this beautiful river trail we have along the Savannah river. It's mostly just pictures.





I thought this silhouette picture was pretty cool from all of the dark clouds.



This is a picture of the locks for the canal right next to the river.



I learned what Spanish moss is. It's all over some of the trees here.



This is the visitor's center. I just thought it was a cute building.



It was pretty hot and muggy so Jaren decided to try out the new mister they had just put in.



A downriver view from the locks.



The trail which is gorgeous!



I saw a bunch of turtles lying in the sun. Count them...SEVEN!



And we just thought this looked like a funny smiley face.



Spring is on it's way. I'm already seeing some new greenery poking up. I have even seen trees with buds on them ready to bloom! It may be 40s and 50s here but it needs to warm up a bit more. Soon, very soon!

Gingerbread Contest

When we were at the Grove Park Inn we went around looking at all of the gingerbread houses that had been entered in their Gingerbread contest. They had youth, teen, and adult divisions. Check out the slide show to see some of the cool gingerbread "houses". My favorites were Noah's Ark, the Russian nesting dolls (Grand Prize winner) and the Mineral Spring Spa with Santa and the reindeer relaxing in robes, face masks, and cucumber slices on the eyes. They were all pretty cool though!



As the last part of this post on our trip, I just have to mention the delicious bakery that we visited called "The Sisters McMullen".



They had all kinds of delicious sweets.



Jaren and I split a cream cheese swirl brownie and the cream cheese chocolate ganache cupcake. Both were delicious but the cupcake was my favorite.



We just needed some milk!



It was a fun trip and I would love to go back! Especially if I was taking out-of-town visitors with me! :)