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!