FHE Treat: Mug Cake

For a FHE treat we made 5 minute Chocolate Mug Cake in the microwave. It was a hit with the kids. It tastes a little on the rubbery side to me, which was good because it wasn't quite as tempting for me to devour by the mugful!

5 Minute Mug Cake

1 large hot chocolate mug sprayed with non-stick spray

4 Tablespoons flour

4Tablespoons sugar

2 Tablespoons cocoa

1 egg

3 Tablespoons milk

3 Tablespoons oil

3 Tablespoons chocolate chips

3 drops vanilla extract

Add the dry ingredients to the mug and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Add the milk and oil and mix well. Add the chocolate chips and vanilla and mix again.

Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes on high. Allow it to cool a little and then tip the cake out of the mug. Eat!

If your mug isn't HUGE like mine, it will rise over the top of the mug while cooking. Don't be alarmed! It is supposed to do that. We ate our cake with vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup. What doesn't taste good with ice cream and chocolate syrup? I rest my case.

Abby's Baptism

Abby's baptism was a wonderful and important day. She was baptized today, May 2, 2009. I am so happy she has made the decision to enter the kingdom of God on the earth. I now have two children who have made sacred covenants with Heavenly Father to take upon themselves the name of Jesus Christ. Baptism is just the beginning. It is the first saving ordinance of the gospel and is necessary in receiving eternal salvation through obedience. All who desire eternal life must be baptized, like the Savior was, by one who possesses authority from God. Abby was baptized by her father, my sweet husband, Rob. She received the gift of the Holy Ghost to be with her always. Baptism doesn't take very long as far as time is concerned but its effects reach through eternity. Abby is a sweet and loving girl. I love her so much. We have a lot of fun together laughing and talking about anything and everything. I am so glad Heavenly Father sent her to me. Abby was baptized on the same day as some of the other children in our ward. The other children were: Alex Huhtala, Isabel and Annika Wood (twins) and Tyra Grant. All the children who were baptized, plus the children who have already been baptized in each of the families
(Hayden LeBaron, Hannah and Hailey Huhtala, Jaren and Hannah Wood, and Dalton Grant) stood on the stand and sang the song "When I am Baptized." I led them and Kathryn LeBaron played the piano.

Amy Huhtala gave the talk on baptism. She mentioned the rain we were receiving today was a perfect object lesson for cleaning the earth and a reminder of baptism. My mom, Pauline Bastian, gave a talk on the Holy Ghost. She talked about what we must do to always have Him with us and shared a couple of her experiences.

When Abby received the Holy Ghost, Rob, Bill Routt, Matt LeBaron, Kim LeBaron, and Brother Martin were in the circle. She looked beautiful all dressed in white. Jessica made her a special necklace for the occasion.

I wrote down the words that Rob said in her confirmation the best I could. These are the things he said after giving her the gift of the Holy Ghost:

"Abby, we love you. Your Heavenly Father loves you. He is happy with the decision you have made to be baptized a member of the Church. Make those decisions in your life that are pleasing to Heavenly Father. I bless you that through prayer, scripture study, and church attendance you will become familiar with the Spirit. Live your life to have Him with you. Look to those around you for guidance, especially your mother. Conduct your life in obedience to righteousness. You are an example to your brothers and your friends. Pray often. Think and ponder the things that you learn. I bless you to have patience to feel the Spirit and understand the importance of repentance in this earthly life. Be the kind of person to live worthy of the blessings of the temple. We love you. We are thankful for you in our family. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen."

As you can see, the blessing was beautiful and so is she!

After the baptism we gathered at our house for lunch. We ate sandwiches made with rolls, meat and cheese prepared by BYU catering, thanks to Keith's wonderful discount. (Keith works for BYU bakery). I assigned everyone toppings for sandwiches like lettuce, and tomato. Others brought chips, and fruit. I make two Texas sheet cakes and Mike and Debbie provided loads of cookies brought by Kim and Lynne. Mike and Debbie and family were unable to attend due to two of their kids being sick.

Loved ones in attendance were: Pauline Bastian, Allison, Bill, Amanda, Rachel, and Sarah Routt, Cherisse and Annalee Jaeger, Ashlee, Ben and Gavin Mullins, Cherisse Glaus (Cherisse Glaus was there for lunch but forgot about the baptism, oops!) Kim and Lynne LeBaron, Jessica, Annebel, and Shelby Mathews, Matt, Tiffany, Libbie, Kezzie, and Tessa LeBaron, and of course Rob, Hayden, Bastian, Abby, Weston, and me.

Tour of the BYU Bakery

For Abby's Great Brain Project at school she decided to learn about baking because she can't wait to bake things all by herself. She aspires to be a baker one day. Abby's Uncle Keith is a baker at BYU so he pulled some strings at work and we got to go tour the bakery. This is an enormous oven with six rotating shelves. They rotate just like a ferris wheel when you press on a lever so you can fill the shelves with baking pans. The oven can bake 96 loaves of bread all at once!

This is a machine that rolls dough out flat in seconds.

This is an ENORMOUS mixer that can hold 130 pounds of dough!

This machine takes a round, flat piece of dough and cuts them into rolls in seconds.

This is a mixing bowl that mixed mint frosting in it just minutes earlier. This mint frosting is layered on the delicious BYU mint brownines. Abby's tastebuds liked it!

Here's Abby on the outside of the building after our tour. We had a great time touring the BYU baking facility. Uncle Keith was so nice to show us how to use the tools of his trade. They are building a newer facility that should be done in a few months. We hope to tour that one too!

Abby's Birthday

Abby loves baking so much she requested that we have a baking party. We made banana bread that we baked in mini banana loaf tins--one for each party guest. It took longer than I had planned to make the bread, so they weren't quite done when the party ended. After they cooled we delivered them to the girls' houses. It was a great party! I decorated her cake with Abby's favorite littlest pets that I sanitized in the dishwasher. I was happy to know that the paint on their faces wasn't ruined by the dishwasher. That could've been disastrous!

Friends in attendance were Emma Young, Weston LeBaron, Isabel Wood, Kaitlin McEwen, Macailey Smith, Kaitlyn Brooks, Lucy Bradshaw, and Annika Wood.

We all took turns adding ingredients to the Bosch. The girls were so good and couldn't wait to taste thier very own loaf.

Abby Gets Her Ears Pierced

On April 27, 2009, Abby's 8th birthday, we went to Claire's at the University Mall to get Abby's ears pierced. She talked about what earrings she would pick and how excited she was all the way to the mall. She got up in the chair, picked out her earrings and said, "I don't think I want to get my ears pierced. I'm too scared." It had never occurred to me that she would feel such a thing. All I had seen for the past 2 years was a girl who couldn't wait to turn 8 so she could get baptized and get her ears pierced! I called my sister Allison on my cell phone and she suggested Abby talk to Sarah. Sarah had got her ears pierced just a few weeks previous. Sarah gave Abby her sound advice about how it doesn't hurt that bad and how glad she was that she went through with getting her ears pierced.

It took a little coaxing and just as Abby was about to say, "Let's wait till I'm older," one ear was already pierced. No turning back now.

She was very pleased with the result and is now ready to ease anyone's fears about getting their ears pierced.

In carpool, Abby's friend Lucy was excited to hear how it went. Lucy got her ears pierced when she was a baby and doesn't remember anything about it. Her first question when Abby got into the car was, "Abby, what did it feel like?"

Weston Turns 4.

We celebrated Weston's birthday with our immediate family and later in the week he had a few friends come over for his friend birthday party. At his pary we ate his favorite, pepperoni pizza, and chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting and sprinkles.

He got a Power Ranger blaster that turns into a sword in "sword mode." With a press of a button it also gives voice commands. He thinks it is the coolest. After dinner, cupcakes and presents, we made Weston's last birthday wish come true and all went to Jumping Jacks, a place my children love to go and jump on big blow up toys till they are exhausted.

Snow in April

The last week in March was beautiful. The grass was getting green and spring was in the air...until the first week in April when this happened. We need the moisture and while I am grateful for it, sometimes I had to say so through gritted teeth. This may be evidence that Heavenly Father participates in the April Fools holiday.

I Am a 33 Year Old.

Thirty-three feels a lot like thirty-two, but I must say that I have discovered a few more wrinkles around my eyes. I plan on growing old gracefully...it seems at thirty-three I am beginning that journey. For a cake we used a lowfat zucchini bread dropped off by our awesome home teacher, made by his awesome wife. We are currently in the thick of eating more healthfully. My cake is a sign of our dedication to making a lifestyle change. For candles we used the 3 and 2 that I bought two years ago for Rob's 32nd birthday and one match to make 33. There just weren't ANY candles to be found. I applaud Rob's ingenuity.

Rob got me one of my two favorite pictures of the Savior. I hung it upstairs in our bedroom right in front of the treadmill where I look at it often. Amidst the children, the look on the Savior's face is attentive and full of love. I love it.

All the kids wrote me cards. I had a great birthday!

Easter 2009

We had a meaningful Easter this year celebrating the life of the Savior and His resurrection. I purchased a fabulous book called A Christ-Centered Easter by Joe and Janet Hales. In it there is an outline of family activties for the whole week from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday. There are a number of ideas for age-appropriate family activities that appeal to kids of all ages. Here is the montage of pictures we used during Easter week. Everyday we would learn about one or more of these pictures from the Gospel Art Kit. Our family really enjoyed celebrating Easter week in this way. We had an Easter egg hunt on Sunday with Rob's sister, Jessica, her husband, Nate, and their daughters, Annebel and Shelby.