Christmas in Washington, fun in Utah, and Thanksgiving with the Dyers!

We have finally made a plan for the holidays! We will be driving to Utah and spending time with all of our wonderful family there, then fly to Denver, Colorado for Thanksgiving! We can't wait! Then, about a month later, we'll be back in Utah, spend some more wonderful time with my Mother, Joe her awesome new husband and some fantabular brothers. Then fly off to Washington! There we will spend Christmas with my Dad, my sweet sister Hope and Michelle plus all of Matt's wonderful family! Not to mention Isaac will also be there after graduating from BYU. Stranger and Layla, here we come!

 Fweh that is a lot of fun in a short period of time. We can't wait to party with ya'll! Our next goal is to fly to Las Vegas and Florida! Then we will have seen all of our loved ones. See ya soon!

Fun in the Mud!

Yesterday, we were blessed with a beautiful sunny day. We were about to "waste" it with homework, when gratefully our friends Mallory and Matt(In the back of photo #1 haha) invited us to go on a four-wheeling adventure with them. It was so much fun! There's nothing like mud, sun, friends and sweet vehicles to make a day great!

Pretzeled Chocolate Delight Dusted with Crushed M&Ms

Here's our most recent baking adventure! Matt helped me critique them in the end. I am grateful that I do not have to eat them by myself. Here we go:

Begin by making the topper:

A pretzel with kisses willingly melted on top

Then a peanut butter M&M gently laid on the kiss

"Wow, that's amazing!"

Now, let's begin the batter. Simply make a chocolate batter and break up pretzels into the batter. Gratefully the pretzels were 50% off. This was meant to be. Adding these pretzels to the batter resulted in a delicious salty pretzel flavor that went wonderfully with the sweet chocolate while also adding a soft pretzel-like texture. Love it!

While the cupcakes are cooling, let's begin the frosting.

Now put it all together!

I forgot to take a picture of all of the cupcakes together, but gratefully we were able to take them over to two different friends houses and were not burdened with the job of eating them all. Woohoo!

Alrighty, now for my favorite part-Matt! Let's see what he thought.

  I think we passed! And don't forget, these delicious bites of joy are recommended with a complimenting glass of milk. 

Here's are the last of the Pumpkin Carrot Cupcakes with an adjustment in the flour amount to make them a little less moist. Delicious and adorable!

Back to the Doctor's Office

Unfortunately, Matt got an infection. A week after the initial surgery, Matt was in a lot of pain and had a large yellow "bump" on his hip. We went to see our surgeon and he confirmed it. He made an incision on the appendix incision, and immediately puss began oozing out. It was very...interesting. Although Matt was in a lot of pain while the doctor was squeezing his wound, he felt a lot better after. Before the doctor was done, he put some medicated ribbon-like gauze into the incision. He put about 3 feet of it in his wound and informed me that I would be the lucky gal to take it out...oh boy. Good thing I love Matt a WHOLE LOT, otherwise it would have been nearly impossible. The doctor equipped us with an antibiotic prescription, a lot of gauze and sent us off. When it was time the next day to take out the ribbon of doom, Matt was excited and I have to admit I was intrigued to see what it would feel like. I began pulling on the little tab poking out of the incision. The smell was instant and disgusting, but we endured to the end. I couldn't believe how long it was and how much "extra stuff" came out with it. Matt was saying that I should have taken a video of it for the blog, and I am sure that you all wish I had. I will make sure to do it next time. What an exciting adventure! Matt is feeling a lot better now and has caught up on his homework. What a hard-worker! Hopefully our kids are tough like their Daddy

Catchin' Up!

 There are so many cute pictures that we have and I want to share them! Let's dive into the past.

Here's a photo of Matt on his birthday at his favorite restaurant...Red Robins!

The Famous Cake Contest! 

Good times 

Here's a photo of adorable Avy! We had such a

fun time visiting the Dyers in Colorado!

Alyssa is da best!

Alyssa sent us this old picture of Matt while we were dating. What a cutie!

Wow! That's Amazing!

Yesterday we made Pumpkin Carrot Cupcakes with Orange Zest Cream Cheese Frosting with a sprinkle of nutmeg....oh boy they were so delicious! Here I have posted the recipe just in case any of ya'll are interested.

Here's just a little update on Matt: He was doing great at the beginning of the week. Although he still felt pain because the pain medication wasn't doing a lot for him, he was still able to do normal activities without too much pain by Wednesday. Then by Thursday, he couldn't sleep through the night and wasn't feeling so good. This continued through Friday night. On Saturday morning when Matt woke up, he discovered a large yellow bump on his hip next to the incision. After a quick call to Sunshine asking whether we should go to a clinic or the ER, Sunshine said that we should go to the clinic first then see what they say. While at the clinic, they said his white blood cell count was high again, and they were able to get a hold of our surgeon. After a couple of hours of serious pain, our surgeon arrived. He had been hunting with his children and left to help Matt. In his camouflage pants and everything, he reopened part of the incision and squeezed. Matt was in a lot of pain, and I could see why. The wound was being drained like no other. After an epic minute where Matt was holding in the pain and I was watching in shock and grotesque interest, it was over. The surgeon then began putting a ribbon like gauze inside the incision with a wooden stick. Matt was cringing in pain and I wanted to look away but couldn't. The doctor then informed me that I would be the lucky person to pull it out the following day... oh no that's today! I sure wish my sisters were in town, they're nurses and they know how to take care of that kind of thing. But gratefully I love Matt a WHOLE LOT, so I will be able to do it...I hope. Does anyone want pictures of this event? I would be more than happy to take them. I'm sure everyone would love that! I'm sure it will be great.

Now, Matt is on antibiotics....finally! We're hoping for a good recovery.

Here's the recipe:

Preparation Time: 25 mins
Cooking Time: 25 mins
Cooling Time: 20 mins cooling

Servings: 24 cupcakes

Ingredients

1 cup whole-wheat flour 

1 cup all-purpose flour 

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 

2 teaspoons baking soda 

1 teaspoon salt 

2 cups packed brown sugar 

1/2 cup vegetable oil 

3 teaspoons grated orange peel, divided 

1 can (15 ounces) LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin 

4 large eggs 

2 cups grated carrots 

3/4 cup golden raisins 

4 ounces light cream cheese 

1 tablespoon butter, softened 

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted 

Candied orange peel for garnish (optional) 

Directions

PREHEAT oven to 350° F. Paper-line 24 muffin cups.

COMBINE whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Beat brown sugar, oil and 2 teaspoons grated orange peel in large mixer bowl until blended. Add pumpkin and eggs; beat well. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Fold in carrots and raisins. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling 2/3 full.

BAKE for 25 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in cupcake comes out almost clean. Cool in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

BEAT cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar and remaining 1 teaspoon grated orange peel in small mixer bowl until smooth. Spread over cupcakes; garnish with candied orange peel.

BDP

(This is a post that we made a while ago, I thought I would add a picture)Going to Beaver Dick park today on our day off, it's supposed to be 75 today! Pictures are sure to come...

Appendi-what?

 About a week ago, we had quite a shock. Matt was experiencing some pain in his lower abdomen for about seven hours, so we decided to take a trip to the clinic around 7:00 pm on Saturday the 8th of October.  We were told that he could have appendicitis. We rushed to the emergency room, hoping for good news. The doctors said that it was indeed appendicitis, so Matt was prepared for surgery. The surgery took place at 11:00 pm and Matt was back to his room by 1:30 am. It was scary, but Matt did great and came out just fine. It was a blessing that Matt decided to go to the clinic, because the surgeon said that if we had waited, his appendix would have burst. We are blessed indeed. We were at the hospital until 2:00 pm the next day and were ready to leave. We are so grateful that it is all over with and that Matt is healthy and happy. Although he is still recovering, everything is looking great and the pain meds are helping a little, but he is still feeling some pain. What a week!

All of the nurses and doctors that helped us were very sweet and helpful...and hilarious!

Matt was the most optimistic patient I have ever seen! What a stud.

Although I have never seen him in a dress, I thought this one was a bit large.

Fall is here!

The leaves are starting to turn yellow, red and orange. We are so excited! This change of events inspired us to make an apple pie a couple of nights ago.  BYU-Idaho has an apple orchard, so we picked all different kinds of apples. We made the most delicious dutch apple pie!

                                                                                    And Matt finally fixed his computer!

A Whole New World

We have been wanting to start a blog for a while, and alas here we are! Hope y'all enjoy being part of our lives.

I fart on your face

Yes.