Butter vs. Margarine

I love to cook and to bake. I'll be the first to admit, I'm not Masterchef quality, but I do love to imagine I am. One of my new favorite websites and cookbooks is Our Best Bites. It was introduced to me several months ago by one of my awesome co-workers! On the OBB website and cookbook they always tell you to use real butter - no substitutions! My co-worker and I discussed this so we tested it with OBB's delicious SUGAR COOKIES. She used margarine, I used butter. While both cookies were delicious, the butter one, obviously, had a more buttery taste and we thought that it was the better of the two. I told my BFF Jessie about this test and she said that the best way to do this test is to have the same cook make it both times with the different butters - because of the difference in cooking styles, measurements, ovens, etc...so to TRULY tell the difference - I did it. Here are my findings in baking with butter vs margarine:

• Difference number one - right off the get go there was a difference when mixing the butter or margarine with the sugar. It is supposed to be well blended and fluffy, as they say. Butter = beautiful, margarine = ....huh? It looked kind of gross - it was mixed with the sugar, but with a separated look. I wish I had a picture to show. FYI - I used Blue Bonnet margarine - so it may be better with a different brand, but not this one.
• Difference number two didn't come until after I baked them. Oddly enough, the margarine cookies were slightly more yellow. Only slightly, but they were more of a yellowish color.
• Difference number three was that the margarine cookies were more crumbly. This wasn't too surprising to me because of the separation in the beginning.
• Difference number four is probably mostly biased - I thought the butter ones were better. I should have had a cookie connoisseur taste them to make the decision, but my first batch of butter cookies was cooked too long (emergency with the 3 year old takes precedence to over baked cookies) and by the time I got the next batch of good butter cookies out, it was almost 11 at night. All the cookie connoisseur's that I know aren't up that late on a school night. Not sure why I was. Don't get me wrong, the margarine ones were still super delicious and soft and good, but the butter ones just had a better taste and stayed together better....at least to me.
• Difference number five and the last difference is the obvious one. The butter cookies have more calories...and saturated fat. But let's be honest - when you're eating cookies, are you really counting calories? Okay, well maybe you are.

My conclusion - both were very delicious and if you only have margarine in your house then you are still going to make great cookies, but I do agree with Kate and Sara from Our Best Bites - butter IS better for baking - no substitutions. But that's my opinion....and the opinion of the best bakers in the world...just sayin'.

Motherhood

Being a mother is so hard. But I can't say enough good about it. I love it and cherish those precious moments with my sweet son. In addition, I also cherish those moments I have alone (however few and far between they are) to ponder and pray and, of course, relax. I think the toughest part of just being a woman is that we are so hard on ourselves. I am ever so grateful for the priesthood men (especially my husband!) in my life who are so inspired of what I need and what I need to hear. How wonderful it is to have apostles on the earth who are so in tune with the feelings and needs of a tired, stressed, struggling, and yet happy mother. Elder Holland has always been one of my favorite speakers. Honestly, every single conference, he says something that I need to hear specifically. 

Today was no exception.

http://lds.org/media-library/video/mormon-messages?lang=eng#2010-06-13-motherhood-an-eternal-partnership-with-god

I hope you all take a moment to watch this and feel how valued women and mothers are.

Crazy Lazy Days of Summer!

YAY for summer!

Here are some pictures to show all of our fans some of what we've been up to this summer.

We went to the Beach Boys at the end of June (when it finally started to get warm outside!) It was an AWESOME concert. For all of you thinking that how could a concert be great with a bunch of old guys singing - there are only 2 of the original members still singing with the Beach boys. The rest of them are younger than 50.

We sat with Craig and Belinda (woot woot).....

Crazy Mike and normal Jessie....the people sitting next to Hyltons were leaving and said to Mike that his good vibrations were getting to them. He was just the crazy....but in a good way!

And my faves - my parents!!!!! It's true, we went to a concert with my parents. It was a lot of fun. They didn't get jiggy wit' it like we did, but they still had a good time. Love those parents of mine!

Yup, that's part of the crazy-ness of our summer. The picture speaks for itself.

Benjamin got a pool!!! Best $8 I've ever spent! And as you can see here, he will get in the water no matter what he is wearing. One day we were out watering the garden and there was a little bit of water in the pool. I figured he would just put his feet in since he was fully clothed. All of a sudden I hear this big splash. He had jumped right in. I laughed so hard. He could care less what he's wearing in the water, as long as he gets to play in it! And if he's happy, I'm happy!

This is Paige, my niece. Her neighbors have a dog who is great with kids. I had to snap this photo because she would sit on the dog and he didn't mind one bit. It was a fun fourth of July party at my sister's house.

The Howe's had their baby! Alyssa used to watch Benjamin. Her son, Russton, and Benjamin were like brothers. They had so much fun together. She had little Alivia at the end of June and Benjamin wanted so badly to hold her. He was very cute with her.

Yay for bike rides!!! Benjamin has a lot of fun riding around in this. One day we rode the bike to the park. It was too much fun. We wish Josh could have come! Blasted work.

Josh and I got to see the last Harry Potter movie for FREEEEEEE! Thank you Macey's. Josh works for Macey's and since they promoted HP7 part 2 in the store, they were given some free tics. AWESOME. It was a fun date and a great show. However, if you've recently read the books...wait till you forget a lot of it before watching the movie.

Just to show you some MORE of our craziness (as if you haven't seen enough) here is sweet little Benjamin. I was bringing that box downstairs to be recycled. I put it on my head and looked out through the little hole, so Benjamin HAD to try it. He thought it was pretty hilarious and wanted mom to take a picture!

Here's part of our laziness. Sitting and watching the sunset on the back porch - what a beautiful thing. The other day, after swimming, Benjamin and I laid on the grass and blew bubbles. It was one of those perfect moments as a mother. I'm not a perfect mother, by any means, but me and Benjamin do get to share some perfect moments.

 Summer is all too quickly winding down. Where there was once isles and isles of beach toys and swimming pools, there are now backpacks and school supplies. We still have things yet to do this summer and, sadly, we won't get to all of them. However, we sure are grateful for all of our perfect moments of this summer!

California - a couple months late

WE WENT TO SO-CAL!

YAY!!!
We stayed the first night in St. George and Benjamin's first matter of business was to break in the bed!

What a beautiful site!
We left the coldness of Logan to 80 degree weather in Hemet, CA!
We stayed with my brother and sister-in-law -Dustin and Melanie and we did some really fun stuff. Benjamin was SO happy to go the this train place...although the tour was a little long.

COUSINS! Benjamin had so much fun with Damen!

Anything having to do with trains Benjamin goes NUTS over!

After a long day of playing, Benjamin was ready to eat...and so were we!

My FAVORITE place to eat is Pat & Oscar's! As a missionary when me and my companion were tracting, we would stop off at P&O's just to get a breadstick. Seriously the best bread sticks EVER...hands down!

Take a picture mom...I'm a fish!

We went to Palm Springs - the Living Desert. It's true, we we hung with the movie stars in Palm Springs. We're pretty cool like that...at least we like to pretend. We also hung out with all the old leathery people too - they've had WAY too much sun - YIKES!

Cousins, riding on the wart hog.

A family wart hog ride. It's fake...don't worry.

These two were hard core - riding the big lizard.

Cousins on the camel.

And, YES...we went to the BEACH. Enjoy the pictures of the Oceanside beach. It was so nice for Josh and I to be back in the place where we served our missions!

Love this action shot of Damen!

Oceanside Pier! I tracted that pier on the 4th of July, 2002.

Benjamin's action shot.

Basking in the sun...he was born for the beach!

Got dressed, and went to the pier.

YUM! GREAT food - it helped that we were starving. This is a restaurant at the end of the Oceanside pier - I highly recommend it!

As we left Hemet we passed the Scientology HQ. Very interesting.

I know...that was long, but it was mostly pictures - that's gotta count for something, right?

Hiking to the MC....AKA the ABC

We live by the high school, Mountain Crest. Here in these parts(yee-haw), it's really popular to have your school's initials painted on the side of the mountain. So right up the mountain from us is a big MC. Side note - Benjamin is learning his ABC's and naturally A and B come before C...not M before C. So for the longest time when Benjamin would say he wanted to go to the ABC, I had no idea what he was talking about. But after a while, we caught on - he's talking about the MC and how he wants to go to the MC. 

Wish granted! 

Last week Jessie, Mike, Benjamin, and myself hiked our way up to the MC. Benjamin got the easy job...sitting in a kid hiking carrier on my back(for about 10 minutes) and then Mike's back for the really hard parts. When we had gone a little way and saw all of the tractors and bull dozers and busses, Benjamin says, "WE'RE HERE!" 

Um...no.

We were hiking up some really steep parts and at one point Mike had to stop for a little breather. Then sweet Benjamin says, "You okay Mike?" Yep, that kid is mine! Mike also said, "Remind me never to gain 30 pounds!" It's true, Benjamin is about 30 pounds. A good work out. Another funny part of the trip was when Mike burped and said excuse me. Then Benjamin did a fake burp and said excuse me. Too funny.

We made it to the MC and then turned around and went home. It was a fun hike! 

Thanks to Mike and Jessie for a fun time!

The aftermath:

The next day I pointed out the MC to Benjamin in which he says, "ABC... You okay, Mike?"

He loves his "Uncle" Mike.

To be Vee or not to be Vee

Vegan - have you ever tried it?

Well, Josh and I hadn't ever tried it, but we decided that we wanted to try it. So here we are...trying it for 5 days - minus one dinner. So after two days of this new way of eating, I have some thoughts. First and foremost - it's not as "bad" as people say it is. It's really quite comical the reactions we get from people. The truth is, it's made me appreciate food a lot more. I do have a better relationship with fruits, nuts, beans, and vegetables now - we're BFF...at least for the week. I also pay attention more to my body. I thought I'd be a lot more run down, but I feel great. When I'm hungry I have a snack..but I can't just grab a handful of M&M's or some gold fish crackers - I go for the fruits or veggies. So now that I've talked it up, I do have to say that I will NEVER be a Vegan for real. I like milk (in cereal and ice cream), butter (on and in things...not plain - ew), eggs, and I LOVE meat. So for all of you who think that we're completely crazy - don't worry, we'll be carnivores again on Saturday. And for all of you who were excited for us to make this a permanent choice - sorry bout' yer bad luck...there's just no way this could be permanent for me - not by choice. So if you're curious about being a Vegan for a week or even a day, you should try it. It's kind of fun.

Two...and a half

On March 30th, Benjamin officially turned 2 1/2. I know, where did the time go, right? We decided to have a party - no better way to spend a Wednesday afternoon! Side note - We are going to Indiana in October. Josh made the mistake of telling Benjamin we are going to fly on a plane. Now all Benjamin talks about is going on a plane. That being said, I got Benjamin a cheap little toy airplane. Best...Toy....EVER!

On another note, Benjamin's room is basically now finished. (We do need to put up a picture of the temple as recommended at General Conference) But thanks to the creative genius of other people...we came up with this:

It's true, those are rain gutters holding his books. AMAZING idea - and cheap! Benjamin's reaction when he saw his room? "WOOOOOW!" It made me happy. He loves playing in his room now. It's great. I love that I can steal creative ideas from other people - it makes me look good.