Five Days in the Mountains...

Olympic Park

I'll first start by saying that we both haven't been away from monkey for more then one night, so this was huge. I tried not to think about it a lot before we left. Even as we were leaving and monkey was crying and reaching for us, I held it together, trying to think of other things, but it broke my heart. It wasn't a question of whether he would be safe and taken care of, I had all the confidence in the world for my sister to do a wonderful job lovin' on him. It was the fact that he didn't know or understand that we would be coming home in five days and not being with him, as he is a piece of both of us.

As we landed in Salt Lake City, we got our car and went to the hotel and I realized I forgot my sunglasses, I completely lost it, tears, sobs, sharp inhales, ugh, not a pretty picture and not a very good way to start our first vacation together in five years. Obviously I didn't really care about he sunglasses, it just triggered all the emotions I had inside.

We were able to skype with monkey, and again I broke down at seeing him. Skype is an amazing thing! We were able to say goodnight and he was able to see that we were still there. So cool. I felt much better after that.A couple months ago we were talking about going on a vacation before the baby comes, but we can't go anywhere until after tax season, which would be too late for me to fly. So, Der had to go to Salt Lake for an audit and we decided I would go with for a long weekend. He actually didn't have to work that much, which is nice.

We arrived Friday night and went out to eat to a mexican restaurant. I really love burritos and there was one on the menu called "burrito grande" it said that if you ate the whole thing you get free fried ice cream. I didn't think it could be that big...the waitress brought it and I am not exaggerating when I say it was 12 inches long, 6 inches wide and about 4 inches thick, it was ginormous!! I was able to eat about 1/4 of it. So no free dessert for us:)

On Saturday, Der worked in the morning and we went to a delicious restaurant called, "The Copper Onion." Very good. We love food and they do not lack good places to eat in down town SL. Then we went to check out the Mormon Temple, crazy big place. We also discovered a delicious frozen yogurt place called, "Spoon Me." We went there on Sunday again too:)

On Sunday, we debated whether we should go to the Dew Tour to watch some snow boarding or go to Park City and check out Olympic Park. We thought about doing both, but didn't want to be in the car all day. We went to Park City, really cool city. One bad thing about being pregnant, we weren't able to board while there, kind of hard to be around all the wonderful mountains and powder and we can't enjoy it:) Olympic Park was fun, we saw the bobsledding course (which you can do for just $200), the jumps, very sweet. We did a little shopping and then found a really good New York style pizza place, oh man we love pizza!

Bobsled course, we walked about half way up, super steep.

Der and I carrying the Olympic torch:)

Monday, Derek had to work all day, so I checked out a french patisserie and did a little shopping downtown. For our Valentine's dinner we just ordered PF Changs to go and ate in our room, the only restaurant we could actually go to here at home.

It was bitter sweet to be leaving on Tuesday morning. I was so excited to see monkey, but Der had to stay and work. Monkey was taking his nap when I got home, so when I went in there to get him when he woke up he was very surprised:) Soooo good to be home. Der left from SL to California for another audit yesterday and will get home early on Saturday, just in time for my birthday:) He then has to leave next week again to go to Florida for 10 days:( We can't wait for tax season to be done.I LOVE the mountains!! It was great to be surrounded by them again. Someday I hope to live in or close to mountains, there is nothing more gorgeous that God created on this earth. We had a good time, we'll see where we go in another five years:)

Cinnamon Twists

This is a really good book! It's so crazy how easy it actually is to make homemade bread and it's so much cheaper and much tastier than store bough bread! We also have their other book, "Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day." We make Hakan's bread because he's sensitive to wheat. We've been using spelt flour instead of wheat flour, it tastes so yummy!

The other day I made the brioche dough, which I had extra, so two days ago I made cinnamon twists with it. Oh man, they are sinful right out of the oven, warm, soft, cinnamon and sugar, mmmm. I thought I would share the the brioche dough recipe and then the cinnamon twist recipe:)

Brioche (Makes 4 1-pound loaves. It can easily be doubled or halved)

1 1/2 cups lukewarm water (just not warmer then 100 degrees F)
1 1/2 T granulated yeast or 2 packets
1 1/2 T Kosher salt
8 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup honey
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
7 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1. Mix the yeast, salt, eggs, honey, and melted butter with the water in a 5-quart bowl, or a lidded (not airtight) food container.

2. Mix the flour without kneading, using a spoon, a 14-cup capacity food processor (with dough attachment), or a heavy-duty stand mixer (with dough hook). If you're not using a machine you may need to use wet hands to incorporate the last bit of flour. The dough will be loose but will firm up when chilled; don't try to work with it before chilling. (You may notice lumps, but they will disappear in the finished products).

3. Cover (not airtight), and allow to rest at room temp until dough rises and collapses (or flattens on top), approximately 2 hours.

4. The dough can be uses as soon as it's chilled after the initial rise. Refrigerate in a lidded (not airtight) container and use over the next 5 days. Beyond 5 days, freeze the dough in an airtight container for up to 4 weeks. When using frozen dough, thaw in the refrigerator for 24 hours before using, then allow the usual rest and rise times.

Cinnamon Twists

1/2 cup sugar
1 T cinnamon
Brioche dough
Egg wash ( 1 egg beaten with 1 T. of water)

1. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper

2. Preheat oven to 375 F

3. Mix the sugar and cinnamon together in small bowl

4. Brush the (rolled out, about 1/2 in thick) surface of the brioche dough lightly with the egg wash, and sprinkle generously with the cinnamon and sugar. Flip the dough over and repeat on other side.

5. Using a pizza cutter, cut the dough into 3/4 in strips. Twist the strips into spirals and space evenly on the cookie sheet. Let rest for 15 min.

6. Bake for 15 - 20 min, or until golden brown, serve warm.

Enjoy!!

Accomplishments!

Yesterday I actually got a lot done, even with monkey only taking an hour nap.

I got two baby tag blankets made, the pirate one is my favorite for boys and the one below is my favorite for girls:)I made some Strawberry and Rosemary Scones. I was a little skeptical of the rosemary, but they are so delicious! Monkey loves them, too. I think we had eaten 4 in a matter of minutes between the two of us:)

Then I made some brioche dough. Marie Antoinette is quoted as saying "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche, " which means "let them eat brioche," not "let them eat cake." It's a delicious sweet bread, mmmmm.

Then my manly baker made the dough into brioche filled with chocolate ganache, there is nothing better than bread and chocolate, yum!
Over all, a very successful, delicious day. Today I don't think a lot is going to get done, except for maybe a little laundry.

Happy Saturday!

Second Time Around

It's crazy that we're expecting another baby. We're so excited! It's been different this time than with monkey. Not really physically, I had the morning sickness in the first tri, now the headaches in the second tri. I am getting bigger faster, which I guess is normal considering you've already torn your abs in half once...I know, eww. But with monkey, I knew every Monday how many weeks I was, when my next appt. was, and it felt like forever until he came, I checked my books and online to see how big he was, what was developing, everything was new. This time, I keep forgetting how many weeks I am. I have to go back and count on the calendar. It is just flying by, we have our ultrasound on Feb. 21 already, so crazy! But we can't wait to find out what we're having. I think we're just so busy with life right now, it's hard to stop and think about it. Derek is working 70+ hours a week, I'm working and at home with monkey. Maybe this spring it will sink in a little bit more:) I am just super excited for monkey to have a sibling, someone to play with and live life with. He will be an awesome older brother.

So Many Things

There are so many things I want to do.

I want to sew baby tag blankets,
hooded towels,
knit baby hats (my first one, needs some tweaking),
scrapbook, cook, bake, organize, clean (maybe not so much a want, but need), do devotions and spend more time with God, volunteer, blog, work out, read ...the list could go on. Unfortunately, there are only 24 hours in a day, 8 of which I'm usually sleeping, 4 that I should be working, 11 taking care of monkey, and hopefully 2 with my man. That actually equals more than 24 hrs only because while working I am also trying to keep monkey busy. So that leaves little time for much else, which really makes me sad. It's crazy how fast the day goes by. Sometimes, like on a day like today, I can get a short blog written...with monkey jumping on me and slamming his head against me:) I think one thing I need to do at the beginning of each week is write down my goals, just for that week. I will need to be specific and schedule when they are to be done, obviously with a 1 1/2 yr old, it will have to be flexible.

I think my monkey is on top of the table:) Better go!