Conference Weekend

So, on Sunday, Chris and I were able to go to the a.m. session of conference. We were both saddened by stuff we saw. There were soooo many girls wearing super short skirts, and really inappropriate outfits. It felt like it was more of a competition between the girls who could wear the shorter skirt and try to look "sexier". I think they forgot the purpose of going in the first place. We get there, and it is crazy now. It was apparent that the world is getting crazier and crazier. Going in was like going through an airport with all of it's security checks, metal detectors, conveyor belts, x-ray machines etc.... to check out your valuables, they go through your purse in detail. There are so many wackos out there, that they have to do it. When I was in Young Women's, I went to a fireside at the Conference Center, and when President Hinckley was speaking, someone ran up on stage full-force at him, and a bunch of security guys tackled him. Strange.....
Well, anyways. I had to go to the bathroom, and I cannot see very well, even with my glasses on, and Chris pointed over to a "bathroom". It looked like it and I was just walking in. I almost walked into a hostess area. The hostess that saw me chased me down. I was pretty embarrassed, but it was pretty funny.
Conference is so much better in person. I tend to pay attention a lot more, and feel the spirit a lot more. The song that the Tabernacle choir sang during Music and the Spoken Word called "My Song In The Night" was really spiritual to me. It was a beautiful song.
Well, I have also noticed that the speakers are getting more and more blunt. There are no gray areas anymore with things in the world. The lines are no longer blurred, and we are being told exactly what is right and wrong. I loved it. I loved President Packer's talk on Proposition 8, and how we cannot just vote against natural law. We need to defend what is right and just with marriage. It was not something new. It is something we have always believe and will believe. That gay marriage is wrong. I cannot believe the uproar that it has caused with a bunch of people. It makes me laugh, because everyone acts like it was something new. When I say everyone, I mean non-members and inactive people. After that, every post on facebook was about that.
After conference, we were walking by the protesters, and this guy with a microphone, so that everyone could hear him said "There are a bunch of you young ladies that are wearing really short skirts.... Isn't that against your church? What have your prophets been teaching you? To look like whores?!" Chris and I were so surprised! It really got to me, that these girls are getting dressed in the morning, thinking they are looking really cute and trendy, but they are showing a really bad example. We are all representatives of our church, and need to show it. Especially at public events like these, where we are scrutinized for everything. It reflects bad on the whole church. Chris and I wanted him to point the people out that were wearing too short of skirts, so that maybe next time, they came to conference, they could change their thinking about their attire.

Best Peanut Butter Finger Recipes!

This recipe is Chris's mother's recipe. It is better than the school one. I will include the school one also. Chris's grandmother worked for the school, and got the exact recipe.

Tammy's Recipe

1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar
1 cup peanut butter
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups oats
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Mix butter, both sugars & peanut butter. Cream together
Add eggs to mix. Add dry ingredients.
Bake greased cookie sheet at 350° 10-12 minutes.
Watch after about 8 minutes to make sure they don't burn
Cool for 20 minutes, then spread thin layer of peanut butter

Tammy doesn't have a specific amount recipe for the frosting. You may have to add more milk, or more sugar as needed to get to the consistency you want

Chocolate Frosting

Mix:
3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup softened butter
Dash of salt
1/3 cup milk

Mix together the powdered sugar and cocoa. Add the softened butter to the mix and a dash of salt. Add the milk to make the mix thicker, but still spreadable. When it goes on the warm bars, it will thin out, so make sure to make it thick enough.


School Peanut Butter Fingers Recipe

Makes 2 Pans

3 squares butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups brown sugar
3 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 1/3 cups peanut butter
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups flour
4 cups + 2 tablespoons oatmeal

Cream butter, vanilla, and sugars together. Add eggs, and beat well. Mix in peanut butter. Gradually add the dry ingredients. Bake at 325° for 10 minutes, or until very lightly browned. Cool and spread with thin layer of whipped peanut butter. Then frost with fudge frosting.

Fudge Frosting

Recipe for 2 pans

3/4 cup butter
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup cocoa
5 cups powdered sugar
3 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Bring butter and water to a boil. Then whip the cocoa into the hot water with a wire whisk. Add hot mixture to powdered sugar. Stir on low speed with an electric mixer. Then beat on medium speed until it loses gloss. Add vanilla. Spread on bars immediately.
If you have extra, you can add nuts or put in a dish an inch thick and let cool. It will make fudge.

I have done a lot of posting lately, so make sure to look at older posts.

Chris's 27th and Caden's 3rd Joint Birthday Party Super Picture Post!

Chris putting on his new "kicks" I got him

Birthday Party for the 2 boys at North Canyon Park

Caden got some spongy letters

Showing us how cool his tattoo is with a tough face

Caden got a paper cake this year

Blowing out his 3 candles

Chris got a turn with blowing out the paper cake candles too

We all got a piece of cake

Inside the cake were party poppers. Caden needed help with them

Mom got most of the party poppers popped on her

Chris was so excited for me to gather all of the confetti and make him a hat!

Playtime at the park

He was teasing me about how much taller he was then me.

Caden squealed like a little girl down every slide

Pretty fall-time house

Waiting for mom and dad at the house

Grandma and Caden posing on the tractor

The tractor needed to be fixed before they could have fun on it

3 Polka dots courtesy of Caden sitting on mom's lap

The never-ending rock pile the boys put into Chris's hands. He would dump it and they would fill it again

Grandpa and Caden having fun on the tractor for his birthday

Digging the mountain


Since Caden and Chris's birthdays are only one day apart, we had a joint party. More for Caden than anything. We started at the park, and had a little picnic dinner. The presents were brought out, and the cutest little paper cake that Tiffany bought off Etsy from a lady that has kids with allergies. It was super cute. The cake opened a flap on the top to reveal a party popper in each slice. We all got a slice and popped our poppers. There were extra, and Caden had so much fun popping them all. Chris got a turn blowing out the candles. Caden wanted to go play in the park, so I went over there and took a lot of pictures. He showed me how high he could jump, squealed down every slide, had me carry him over the rope area, and I chased him around. We then went to the house so Caden could ride the tractor. It had to be fixed, so the boys helped fix it quickly for it's fun run. We got to see the progress on the house. It was a really great day!

Celebrating Chris's Birthday At Timpanogas Cave

Chris and I waiting to hike

Waiting by the river

Chris's idea to gather sunflowers to put on his Dad's car

Sunflowers!

A tunnel on our way up

Cave

The spiny helictites are the small things on the side of what they call "The heart of Timpanogas Cave. Only 3 caves in the world have the right conditions for them

Putting the light on one of the small ponds in the cave

The room with all of the different forms of mineral deposits

Beautiful view from the trail of Utah County

Bryan and Dano accompanied us on our hike

The grate that the 12 yr.old peed in

Beautiful hike this time of year

Today is Chris's actual Birthday, but I thought it would be fun to do something different. We celebrated it yesterday. We were deciding between Park City and Timpanogas Cave, but looked online and saw that the cave was free yesterday because of National Parks Day. First come first serve. We were nervous that we would not get in, but were able to easily. We went with Chris's brother, Bryan, and his girlfriend, Dano. The wait to be able to even start the hike up to the cave was 2 hours. We got something to eat, and just walked around, up and down the river. On the way up, Bryan looked over and saw his Dad with the scout troop up there. Small world. Chris decided to pull up a ton of sunflowers and put them on his car. We got up in 20 minutes, and they let us go in the early tour instead of having to wait for our tour which would not start for another hour or so. This was my second time, and everyone else's first time. It was really neat. Very educational. The caverns are so small, and there are so many places that you could not be overweight to squeeze through. The history of the caves and all of the stories are so fascinating and fun to hear. Timp Cave is famous for their helictites. One of only 3 caves in the world to have them. The conditions have to be perfect for them to form. Since Timp Cave is still living, they are still being formed. The cave is 45° all year round. Very chilly inside.
A funny story about our way up..... A kid about 12 yrs. old was running down the trail. He looked as though he saw a dead body or something. He was asking very fervently if there was a bathroom near. There are only bathrooms at the top and very bottom. Chris and Bryan jokingly said that that was the purpose of the grates on the sides of the trail. He threw down his gear quickly and proceeded to just zip open his pants and pee in the grate right then and there, not caring who was seeing. I couldn't believe how desperate he was. We had a good laugh over it.
We ended up going to Ruby River Steakhouse for dinner, and going out for ice cream at our favorite place. We watched a movie and went to bed. All-in-all a great day

Picnic In Logan Canyon

Pretty Leaves!

Chris on the bridge

Pretty river

Us!

My cute husband!

On Sunday, Chris's extended family got together for a Picnic in Logan Canyon. It was so pretty with all of the leaves changing. We had a delicious potluck feast, played with all the kids, and had a fire with oversized marshmallows and smo'res. It was delicious.