confections of a closet master baker

Two thing have become abundantly clear to me since
1. i married michael and
2. i joined pinterest.
and that is i am a slave to the sweet goodness of sweets. Now I am not talking about anything with sugar sweets, I am talking about decadent, rich, desserts. The kind where you whip the egg whites, fold in, let cool, cook, let cool. crisp. The kind where there are 20 steps, and you have to do each one exactly for it to come out perfectly. Oh who would have thought that I found joy in baking?! I love learning how to make new desserts, I love that there are such things as delectable home-made brownies (not out of a box? what?) I love that there are home made graham crackers (SO much better than packaged) I love that I learned how to make creme brulee and i have the yummiest recipes at my fingertips (thanks to the family i have that share this obsession)
I name marrying michael because michael and his family introduced me to patience in cooking. that if you want it to be just perfect you have to put in the time, effort, quality ingredients, and love.
I name pinterest because i never realized how picky i was about quality until i started looking at pinterest. desserts in a crockpot? WHAT!? that's unnatural! do you want recipes on how to cook chicken in the microwave!?! yuck.
You want me to eat a chocolate peanut butter cookie dough cheesecake? WHY?!
How about you just focus on one thing and make that one thing divine. Sometime I think people get caught up in the "lets shove 5 desserts into one" kind of desserts. I am not into that.
It just needs to be simple.
It just needs to be sweet.
It just needs to be chocolate....ok not all the time...but sometimes...ok most of the time
To me desserts are supposed to be something that you cant get out of your head, the kind where you cant wait for special occasions so you can bake that chocolate cake with homemade chocolate malt frosting. or plan ahead so you can refrigerate that cookie dough for 24 hours (it really does make a difference)



oh is that a strawberry i spy? Now youre speaking my language


get in my belly

I pretty much refuse to buy hot fudge anymore (except Leatherbys - that stuff is straight from heaven) because you can make it at home AND IT IS SO MUCH BETTER.
For those of you who might share this slightly unhealthy obsession please read this book:



It is such a fun book and its Sandra Bullocks sister. CRAZY. but i loved it because when i read it I felt like someone really understood me when it came to sugar, to dessert, to baking.
I also loved it because she talks about how its ok to have dessert. There has been such an obsession with dieting and being healthy lately. what is up with that? Just kidding, it is important to be healthy. But I personally do not believe that means you deny yourself one of the most enjoyable things that life has to offer. dessert. I refuse to. I dont care if I never get rid of the 7 lbs pooch that insists on living off my ab muscles. I want ice cream, and homemade carmel popcorn, and chocolate mousse, and a butter cake with goat cheese mascarpone on top (straight up just had this one and it was AMAZING) All I am saying is that this is what makes me happy. so very happy. and if you are a person that feels this same way, dont be ashamed. EMBRACE IT. and then once you find that perfect dessert recipe please share it with me.


p.s. I did not make up this blog title. This was the original title of the book listed above. I just kind of loved it. a lot.

8 month ella

unfortunately this entry is about 2 weeks late and i have no pictures :( I have been super busy lately with school, but when I take her 8 month pictures I will post them!!
At 8 months:

- Ella weights 16.10 lbs
- is EVERYWHERE and into EVERYTHING
- whenever she starts to play with something she is not supposed to I say her name in a stern voice and she ALWAYS turns around and smiles at me, which make me laugh and totally voids my serious voice. But I just cant help it. She is that cute.
-STILL no teeth! but she LOVES food and eats just about anything. Her favorite is definitely ice cream. but i try to limit her intake of that.
-loves to pull herself up on everything and is walking around while holding on to stuff
-fights her naps during the day
-is SO happy. I am so relieved she is such an easy going baby. I think it is a blessing because heavenly father knew i would need a lot of help from family/friends since i am going back to school.
- LOVES stuffed animals. Her favorites are bunnies for some reason. We always ask her where her bunny is and she goes and finds it and gives it a hug and a kiss SO CUTE
-when she gets in the mood she is a definite kisser. but she usually goes for the chin instead of the mouth

I absolutely love this girl with ALL my heart. She is so fun and I miss her so much when im not with her! she is the best thing that has ever happened to me and I cant wait to spend the rest of my life being her mother :)

camping

This last weekend our family decided to get away for a bit and we went camping over the weekend. we had a blast, it was so relaxing, the river was right next to us, and we just relaxed all day long. Ella loved the river and the hammock. So it was a good time. here are some pictures, yes they are mostly of ellas face, but can you blame me? she is the prettiest little thing :)

3 year anniversary!

It is so crazy that we have been married 3 years. Sometimes it doesnt even feel like we're married (besides the whole baby and live together and all that stuff) Sometimes I feel like I just graduated high school and we are still dating!

We have decided to keep it simple this year for our anniversary, just a small present for each other and then we went to eat at our favorite restaurant (Tuli Bistro in sac, for real it is SO GOOD)

Here are some wedding pictures from our special day :)

















Even though we get mad at each other and we sometimes fight,I still love us. I love that he makes me laugh more than anyone in the world. I love that he listens to me and that we can talk about anything. He is easily my best friend.

plus we made this little thing :)

ella 7 months

well ella has been busy this month, learning SO many new things!

-she is starting to crawl! she usually can only go for a little bit before she gets tired, but then she just goes down to her belly and scoots!
-claps! when she gets excited she claps and bounces on her bum! its so cute
-is starting to wave, she wont do it all the time, but when she does, it totally melts your heart
-still no teeth! she loves to gnaw on just about anything, but i dont feel any teeth coming in yet. thats ok, i am not looking forward to the biting phase
- is eating more and more baby food and loves just about everything i give her
- doesnt sleep well anymore (is this the same baby that would sleep 8-10 hours a night?) she usually wakes up about 4 time a night, most of the time she just wants her paci but sometimes she wants a bottle and chugs it down. Im trying to stuff her with more baby food and cereal during the day, hopefully that will get her through the night!
- is going to the beach for the first time this weekend, we'll see how she feels about sand!
-still loves tv
- loves music! she loves just about everything and whenever she is losing it, i just bust out a song and she starts laughing and "singing" with me!

I cant believe in 5 months she is going to 1 year. Ah! time to start planning!

six months!

Yes, we have reached it. The halfway mark until she is a toddler. but let me tell you, she is SO fun! at six months ella:

-weights 15.8 lbs (25%)
-is 26.5" long (50%)
- LOVES to talk - she says mammaa and daddaa and baba, unfortunately she says dada the most, but every time she says da i say mmmmmmma. hahah i WILL be the first word.
-is a busy body! she isnt crawling yet(thank goodness) but she loves to grab at EVERYTHING. and not crawling doesnt stop her, she will face plant hardcore if it means reaching that toy.
- doesnt sleep as well as she used to, she still does a good 7 hours at a time, but now she wakes up to get a bottle, but im not too upset because 7 hours is still pretty great. she does take about 3 naps a day, they range from about 45 min-2 hours.
- LOVES food- she eats bananas, applesauce, blueberry's, carrots, peas, sweet potatoes, avocados, rice cereal. pretty much everything i have given her she likes, im so glad she isnt a picky eater! and if you are eating something while holding her you better believe she needs a bite or else she is pretty upset.
-is such a happy baby! she loves to smile and laugh and play. we drove to utah again last week and the whole trip (11 hours) she just hung out in her car seat. didnt cry, didnt whine, as long as she was fed and someone was there to talk to her she was a happy girl. we are SO lucky!
-when she is tired she talks the most and loves to study her hands
- her favorite toys are tags, wrappers, paper, basically anything that isnt a toy
-diaper changing is getting harder and harder, she just wants to roll and go! i usually have an object (sheet a paper) handy to distract her while i change her diaper.

she is such a love and we are having so much fun :)

While we were in Utah for Tessa's blessing we went to the pool. Ella LOVED it! Here are some pictures :)

























i love my little bean :)