Cinnamon Rolls

Lately I have really been enjoying trying new recipes. This weekend I tried a BIG one - Homemade Cinnamon Rolls. 

I found this  recipe on Pinterest. It is from the blog "Culinary Couture". Click on the blog to see the recipe. Here are pictures from my experience.

1. Make the dough and let it rise

 

 2. After punching down the dough I rolled it out into a large square.

 3. Then I put melted butter on the top and then added a cinnamon, brown sugar and cornstarch mixture.

4. I rolled up the dough into a log and cut into small pieces.

 

 5. Then the rolls had to rise again for 2 hours. Lots of waiting!!

 6. The really grew in size!! I baked them for 20 minutes and then added 1/2 the cream cheese frosting right after they got done so the frosting would go into the rolls. After they cooled I added the rest of the frosting. SO YUMMY!!

Good Eats

One of the fun parts of being married has been having someone to cook for every night. I am lucky because Jeff is a very easy person to please when it comes to food! He is also quite helpful and has done a lot to help out with cooking and dishes! Here are some our favorite recipes I have made lately!

 

 

1. Breakfast for dinner.

 We have made eggs and sausage many times for dinner. This week I tried this recipe for Biscuits and Gravy. It was delicious and very easy!!

http://www.wifessionals.com/2014/02/the-best-homemade-sausage-gravy.html

 

2. Baked Spaghetti

This recipe caught my eye because it used alfredo and marinara sauce. I tried the recipe for homemade alfredo and it was delicious! Of course the jar of alfredo would be a great quick option! I also made the meatballs with some Italian Sausage we had in the freezer. The recipe calls for frozen meatballs so that is also a quick option!

http://www.thegunnysack.com/2014/02/baked-spaghetti-recipe.html#_a5y_p=2079912

 

3. Crock-Pot Chicken Enchiladas

I am sucker for Mexican food. This is probably the fourth enchilada recipe I have tried and I have loved them all!! The day that I made this recipe I wasn't able to get the crock-pot set up in the morning so I ended up baking the recipe for 45 minutes at 350 degrees and it tasted great! 

http://recipesforourdailybread.com/2012/10/25/crock-pot-chicken-enchiladas/

 

4. Meatball Subs

This is one of our ABSOLUTE favorites! I usually use Italian sausage instead of hamburger when I make the meatballs. 

http://www.fivehearthome.com/2013/09/16/slow-cooker-meatball-sub-sandwiches

 

5. Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas

These were so rich and wonderful! Not too spicy but lots of flavor!

http://recipesfoodandcooking.com/2012/01/04/chicken-enchiladas-with-green-chili-sour-cream-sauce/

August Awesomeness

There are lots of fun things going on at the Williams' house these days. Here is our August Top 5 List.

 

5. Running - I have started training for the Des Moines Marathon 5K race. My goal is to run the whole thing. I have made it to week 5 in the training. Tonight I ran 8 minutes and walked 2 minutes 3 times!! I never thought running 8 minutes would be possible back when I was just running 2 minutes BUT it is!! 

I think it my new shoes have really made a difference. This was a big splurge for me but they are amazing! 

 

4. School - The end of summer has not really been a sad time for me. It was a great summer but I am really excited to get back to school. I feel much more organized and prepared for my second year in the classroom. I am most excited about our new math curriculum, my newly organized classroom library and my fish, Oreo's, new rock/plants in his aquarium.

 

3. Family Time - We really enjoyed spending a day in Clear Lake with Jeff's family for a day of kayaking, tubing, and boating. It was a blast! We celebrated his niece's birthday and had a yummy grill-out! We also had the pleasure of spending a whole weekend at the Ramada Waterpark in Des Moines with the Menefee family. It was so fun! We even had a SPOONS card tournament. Here I am with my cousin Amanda. She was the winner this year! She will take home the big spoon and decorate it for next year. I think I see Cyclone decorations in its future!!

 

2. Kitchen Remodel - We have been working on making plans to do some updates on our house. I am most excited about our plans to remodel our kitchen. Here is a sneak peek at what we have been working on...

 

1. Cup of Faith Study - Over the last 60 days I have been blessed to have 20 women walking with me through an experiment. 

First, I asked these women to answer a simple question daily. "How full is your cup today?" I asked these women to think about their spiritual state for 30 days and respond to a daily survey. 

For the next 30 days they were given a morning devotion to read within one hour of waking (if possible). Each day's devotion included 2 focus points - a question and an action. At the end of the day they would also answer the daily survey again. 

My hope was to see a correlation between their spiritual state and a daily time in the Word. More to come on the findings of that soon! 

Here is a link to the 30 devotions if you would like to go through your own 30 day challenge! http://mycupoffaith.blogspot.com/

 

It has been an awesome August!! Here comes fall!!

Colorado Vacation

Colorado Vacation 2014

Our vacation started last Monday, July 21st. Jeff didn't have to work so we went uptown Madrid Iowa for breakfast. I had not been to the Town and Country Cafe so it was a treat for me. I had their famous HOBO breakfast - hashbrowns, ham, eggs, peppers, onions, and lots of cheese! Yum!!

 On Wednesday morning we woke up early and made it to the Des Moines Airport for our 6:00 flight to Denver. It was a smooth flight on Frontier. I would highly recommend this airline...we had great flights and each seat had its own TV.

 Since we had sometime to spend in Denver on Wednesday I looked up the best breakfast spot in Denver...it came across the same name over and over... SNOOZE!

 Snooze is called an AM Eatery. They serve breakfast and lunch and it is delicious! The atmosphere is amazing. We had a 15 minute wait for breakfast...must be the spot to eat! The decor is fifties vintage and we were all in!

 I had an almond latte in the cutest yellow mug!

 We both ordered the pancake flight and were given many choices of types of pancakes to choose from. Mine were (left to right) Blueberry Crisp, Peanut Butter Cup, and Strawberry Malted Pancakes. I think I had a sugar rush just eating half of this plate! I would highly recommend this restaurant! Here is the link to their website http://snoozeeatery.com/

After breakfast we headed towards Estes Park to meet my family for vacation. We stayed at the Silver Moon Inn in Estes Park and it was perfect! The staff even had a surprise for my mom and dad for celebrating their 40th Anniversary!

 Here is the view from our hotel...gorgeous!!

 Much of our week was spent just watching my nieces and nephew explore and enjoy the beauty of Colorado. I loved seeing them experience the mountains for the first time!

 One night we went to a local pizza place called Poppy's Pizza and Grill. This was special for Jeff because he calls his grandpa Burich Poppi!  (Notice my new Snooze shirt) :)

 

We went up the Trails Ridge Road through Rocky Mountain National Park on Thursday. It was gorgeous!

At the first stop...it was so windy!

 We climbed to the highest point on the route...lots of steps but we made it!

 Another day we walked around the most beautiful lake...Bear Lake!

 

It was a wonderful trip with family!!

My life in photos

It seems like summer is flying by. Here are some photos that show what we have been up to the last few weeks! On my last day of music camp I had a special visitor - my niece Addie! We spent the day together. Our day included lunch at McDonalds, seeing the movie Malificent, and grilling out at home with Jeff that night. We even walked up to the Filling Station (ice cream shop) and had a silly string fight! It was so fun having Addie stay over night. She is such an amazing girl..sweet, smart, funny and truly joyful!! We love you Addie!!

A few weeks later my second niece got to have her Aunt Lisha day. For our day together Lauren and I went to Jordan Creek Mall. We had lunch at the food court, played at the play place, took her bear to Build a Bear to get a bath, and then headed to Scratch. Lulu loved picking out a BIG cupcake to eat! She chose Hot Fudge Sundae...it was delicious!

When we got home we created our own pizzas with Jeff. Lulu loves Jeff and that makes my heart smile! I thought Lauren's smiley face pizza turned out great! (Check out the green hair!!) Lauren is a creative, sweet, smart and kind little girl. I love our conversations we shared as we walked around the mall. That girl is a born shopper!!! We love you Lulu!

The other BIG excitement of our summer has to be our new Traeger Pellet Grill/Smoker! This is Jeff's baby but I am greatly benefiting from it!! Here is a picture of the grill and then a whole chicken we smoked (before and after) with some veggie skewers. Everything he has made has been wonderful!

We spent the 4th of July with Jeff's family! (I didn't take any pictures - gotta work on that) We went to the Slater parade and then to Jeff's sister's house for an amazing cook out!! That evening my parents came over for dinner and a fire! We had a nice relaxing day!

To finish off my latest photo post I want to share my latest Bailey pics! You will never believe how we found her sleeping the other day!! We love her so much!!

Happenings in June

Summer 2014 has been one of my favorite ever!! This is my first summer since I started teaching that I haven't been a nanny. I have loved working as a nanny but I am really enjoying some free time. Here are my highlights of summer so far..

1. Trip to meet Jude - My friend Betsy recently gave birth to a little sweetheart, Jude. I am so thankful I got to spend the day chatting with Betsy and admiring Jude!! She is an amazing mother!! Isn't he a doll?

2. One June Saturday night I had dinner at Barattas to celebrate my girlfriend, Chelsey, graduating from Drake!! She has completed her degree to be a teacher!! Hooray for another teacher friend!!

3. PLC Conference - My school district, Dallas Center-Grimes, took a group of 85 teachers to Minneapolis for the PLC conference. The night before we left Jeff and I went out for a date at Bravo! It was fun to have a night out before I left for 4 days!! I was pretty nervous to be away from him for that long. The conference was awesome! I learned lots of new things and made great friendships with teachers in my school!! The second picture is from one of my favorite experiences. It was the British Pub we went to. It had lawn bowling!! I felt like I was really in England!! The third picture is from my hotel room!!

4. SHOW ME MOPAR Car Show! - Father's Day weekend Jeff and I drove to Columbia, Missouri with his Dad and nephew to show the two Roadrunners! It was about a five hour drive so we had lots of time to talk and fight over the radio! :)  The second picture is Jeff's 1970 Roadrunner. The weather was pretty beautiful for the car show. We were worried about rain but it was only a few sprinkles. The fourth picture is the three guys! The next picture is Tate with our "best of show" trophy. This award went to the 1968 Roadrunner Hemi. Jeff and his dad totally rebuilt this car that won!! I was so proud! The last picture is of me receiving our 1st place plaque for the 1970 Roadrunner! This was my first time having my name on the car!! It was a fun weekend!!

5. Everyday in Madrid - Although trips are fun and date nights are awesome...this is our normal life. Trips to and from the farm and church with Bailey. She has gotten so brave standing on the console between us. She is either trying to lick one of us or get her nose close to the AC. I have started biking and really enjoy that the High Trestle Trail Bridge is just a 15 minute ride away! I have also enjoyed just taking time to enjoy sitting out on our patio. On Saturday a little bunny hopped right by me. So cute!

 That's about it for June...more to come soon about the my basement facelift, music classes, and Cup of Faith Study!!!