Chapter 42: My Influence on the World

Before I had Ellie I was an elementary school teacher. It was the most rewarding and challenging job I have ever had. I loved teaching and I loved the students. I hated the hoops and all the people I had to please. I had to please the parents, the principal, the district, the state, and […]

Chapter 41: Be Present

There are so many times that I look at my friends with older kids and think, ” Man, I can’t wait until all of my girls are in school so I can have some time to myself.” I mean who hasn’t dreamed of the day that they don’t have to haul around car seats anymore? […]

Chapter 40: Thoughts on Faith

I have faith that spring will come, and the snow will melt. Is it hard to have this faith when it just keeps snowing? Sometimes. Inevitably, every April there is a snow storm that comes to test my faith, but I know that the sun will come. I’ve lived through many northern Utah winters, and […]

Banana Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake

My absolute favorite shake combo is banana with hot fudge and peanut butter. It is divine. Of course I had to make it in cake form. This time I had help from Cake by Courtney. She has a delightful banana peanut butter caramel cake, so I whipped it up, but used milk chocolate ganache instead […]

Chapter 39: Patriot Park

I’m not a social person. Ellie is a very social person. We don’t get out as much as we probably should mainly because I don’t care for people. This week is spring break for us, so I told myself that I needed to take the girls somewhere fun at least once during the week. We […]

Cinnamon Roll Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

I love cinnamon rolls. The thing with cinnamon rolls is that they really are a labor of love. When I created this cake my primary focus was the cinnamon and the frosting. My favorite cinnamon rolls knock you out with cinnamon. My favorite frosting for cinnamon rolls is cream cheese, like actual cream cheese frosting. […]

Chapter 38: A Risk Worth Taking

My final year of college I had a choice to finish like the majority – student teaching, teacher work sample, Praxis tests, and graduation – or I could do an internship. With an internship I would teach my final semester of school; skip student teaching (since I would already be teaching); finish college classes, my […]

Chapter 37: Our Picky Eater

I can’t even count how many times my parents told me, “I hope you end up with a kid just like you” (referring to my eating habits). I was not very good at exploring different food when I was a kid. I didn’t like lettuce, tomatoes, onions, pickles, Asian-inspired food, sour cream, salsa, olives, mushrooms, […]

Strawberry Shortcake with Pretzel Crumble

My mother-in-law has a recipe for the most delicious pretzel Jell-O “salad” that has strawberries, cream cheese whipped cream, and a pretzel crust. It is to die for! I love making it for summer barbecues, but for some reason whenever I make it when my mother-in-law is in town I mess it up. What are […]

Chapter 36: The Post-Winter Fog

Right now, in Northern Utah, we are at the tail-end-of-winter-but-not-quite-spring phase. We’ve had a few sunny days, but the gloomy clouds keep finding us and the blossoms are confused. That’s kind of how I feel about the progress of my life right now. I’ll have a few bright moments where I know what to do […]