It's Christmas Time!

Wow...have the last few been busy. Jeff has been in the middle of a smaller shut down at work and has been working at least 6 days a week, and I have been working about the same. It's been super fun but we're both ready for our upcoming vacation. Here's our cute little Christmas tree! It has been an interesting Christmas season this year for me at least. With my new job I have a lot more "holiday" responsibilities. I helped oversee both the Thanksgiving in a Bag and the Giving Tree events this year, which took a lot of work. This week I will be busy making sure we have the correct amount of volunteers to help out with the Christmas Eve services and organizing them as they arrive. We'll leave Wednesday night after the last service to drive to Arizona. I look forward to this busy week and to celebrating the birth of Jesus.

Prepare Him Room

This is the title of the new series at church. We were able to go to church this morning and the message was an awesome reminder of what Christmas is about. The series will talk about ways to prepare room for Jesus throughout this crazy holiday season. This weekend Mike talked about humbling ourselves and living in humility. One of the things that really stuck out to Jeff and I was that God is "looking for people who aren't going to mistake themselves for the treasure instead of the vessel that contains the treasure." After reflecting on this there are definitely times when I think I am saving people and I am what others need, when what they need is the treasure I have in me. I look forward to continuing to explore the ways I can prepare my heart to celebrate Christmas this year. The countdown is on as Kaelyn reminded me tonight...25 days! :)

Yummy Cupcakes

This weekend Jeff had to work on Saturday, so I decided to spend some time baking. I found this recipe on the Bakerella Blog, which is one of my new favorite blogs. I changed it up a bit, so here's my version.


Double Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa, natural unsweetened
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1/4 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup whole milk, room temperature
1 cup shredded zucchini
3.5 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350º F
2. Line cupcake trays with 18 baking cups.
3. Stir together flour, cocoa, baking powder, and baking soda with a wire whisk. Set aside.
4. Cream butter with a mixer in a large bowl. Add sugar, eggs, oil and vanilla one at a time, mixing well with each addition.
5. Add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture in three additions, alternating with the milk in two additions (flour, milk, flour, milk, flour)
6. Stir in the zucchini and chocolate chips until combined.
7. Fill baking cups 2/3 full and place in oven immediately.

8. Bake for 15-18 minutes.

Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
3 cups confectioner's sugar, room temperature
1/2 tsp vanilla
heavy whipping cream

1. Sift sugar and set aside.
2. Beat the goat cheese, cream cheese and vanilla in a large mixing bowl until creamy.
3. Gradually add the sugar, mixing and scraping down the sides of the mixing bowl in between additions.
4. Add cream to get correct consistency


Chocolate Ganache

2 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
3/4 cup confectioners sugar

1. Place chocolate and whipping cream in the microwave. Heat in 30 second intervals, stirring in between until melted. Blend thoroughly.
2. Add sugar and stir until thoroughly combined.
3. Pour ganache into a small plastic squeeze bottle.


To assemble:

* Insert opening of squeeze bottle halfway into cupcake center and squeeze ganache until you see it start to surface.
* Then, spread creamy goat cheese frosting on top with a knife or small offset spatula.
* Chop up any leftover semi-sweet chocolate chips to sprinkle on top of cupcakes.

Washington Part I

We traveled up to Washington this weekend for Brandon's memorial service. I was able to leave on Wednesday morning and Jeff came on Thursday night. We had such a great time hanging out with family and friends. We spend a lot of time with Stacy and Peyton! She's 9 months old now and we hadn't seen her since she was 3 months old. Jenny and Lucy also came up to visit. The girls had a great time together.

More of my Brother

A few more pictures of B. :)

We'll Miss you B!

This morning our close friend and pretty much brother passed away. He has fought long and hard in a battle with cancer and has taught us all so many things. He is such a fighter. When it would have been so easy to give up, he would choose to fight and he did it with everything in him. We love Brandon and we will miss him so much! There are so many fun memories and times that we have shared together. Soon we will all be together in a much better place, but until then, we'll miss you B! Love you!

A fun visit!

When Kendall and I were in high school we had a foreign exchange student from Germany live with us. It had been 6 years since we'd seen each other and she was in LA, so she and her cousin and friends stopped by and we went out to dinner. It was so goof to catch up and see each other. We took them to Yardhouse since I know German's like beer! Unfortunately they told us that if they would have been served beer in Germany the way they serve it here, they would make the waitress take it back. I guess they like a lot of foam on their beer. New news to me.

Sprinkles

Last night we had some friends over for dinner so I decided to make some 'Sprinkles' cupcakes from a little can I got for my birthday. They were lemon and were soooooo good! I still have a few left and it's taking everything I have not to eat more of them!

The Zoo

Jeff and I have been wanting to go to the San Diego Zoo for a while, but haven't taken the time to actually go. Last weekend we got invited to celebrate a friends' birthday in San Diego at the zoo and then at dinner in the Gas Lamp District. We had a great time! We were able to feed giraffes while we were at the zoo too!

Babies Babies Babies

Well, in the last couple weeks there have been two babies born! Jeff's sister Julie had Caleb at 9:17pm on Saturday July 26th. He was 8lbs. 3 oz. We were able to take a trip to Arizona this weekend to meet Caleb and visit Jeff's family. The time flew by. It was so fun to see everybody. Here are a couple pictures from the weekend.






Our good friends Emily and Galel had their first baby on Thursday August 7th at 12:26am I believe (I could be a little off on the time). He was 8lbs 10oz. I was actually able to be in the delivery room and got to see the birth. It was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. God amazes me by how every detail of the birth is so planned and perfect. Here is a picture of me and Marco.

We're Still Alive!

Hello to all our fans out there. I know you have been missing us lately, but we just wanted to keep you in suspense about what's happening in our lives. haha! No, really, we're just not that exciting and don't have a pet or kids to talk about! We have been up to a couple things lately. Recently, we have gone to a Coldplay concert, a Dodger's game, and we did...yes, take our first Jenna and Jeff Braun camping trip....yeah, I know it's hard to picture me camping, but I think I actually did a pretty good job except for when I was surrounded by 5 or 6 bees as I was trying to eat my dinner the first night. I only freaked out a little bit. Needless to say, we had to eat our flank steak and caesar salad in our tent. Below are a couple pictures:






I had to take this picture of Jeff because it was classic...please notice the outfit, chips on his stomach, etc...I LOVE HIM!

Back From Downunder

Kendall returned back to the United States on Sunday morning. We were able to spend a few hours with her while she had a layover in LA. It was a pretty eventful day because one of her suitcases was left in Brisbane, then she didn't get to say goodbye to most of her friends, then a couple other things happened. However, we got to meet her sweet friend Jenna and take them to In-N-Out for lunch. They were excited to have a good hamburger!

My mom also went over there a few weeks ago to visit, and I thought I would share with you a picture from a chocolate shop they went to.



As for Jeff and me...I went back to work this morning after an amazing two week sabbatical where I was able to read, be creative, lay in the sun and spend time with friends. It was such a blessing. Jeff is still in the middle of his shutdown and will hopefully be slowing down within the next couple weeks.

More Baby Shower

Here are a few more pictures from the baby shower. It was the first chance I was able to use my drink dispenser that I got for Christmas. I thought it looked so cute! I also made some of the famous sugar cookies. I'm bringing the business down to California. I even had somebody ask me if i would make them and sell them. :)




This is Emily and Donna. I work with Donna and Emily is obviously the one that I had the shower for. She is due in 7 weeks! YAY! There are so many babies coming in August.



Now I will continue my second week of sabbatical. I am going on a retreat tomorrow-wednesday. It should be really fun. I'm going to be sad when it's over, but also excited to start my new job at the church!

Sabbatical Part I

This past week has been so great! The elders at our church were gracious and gave each staff person a two week sabbatical. Mine began on Monday and goes until Friday the 20th. It has been such a great time and I am so thankful for it. This week I was able to relax, and get some stuff done around the house, read, and prepare for a Emily's baby shower. Above is a cake I made out of diapers. :) It was so fun! The shower was today and it went very well.

Jeff has also been working a lot these past couple weeks, so it has been a little interesting! By the time he gets home he is ready to relax and I'm ready to go do something. :) Well, that's it for now!

Memorial Day

This Memorial Day we went over to the Scott's house and Jeff helped build a 1/4 pipe with the boys, while the girls hung out inside, snacked, and played games. The boys have been really into skateboarding lately, so they they decided what better than to have a skate ramp in their own driveway. Here is the finished product with all of the boys and men!

A new shower curtain!

I have never been too happy about our shower curtain because it is pretty plain and not too fun! I wanted something more fun, but when I was in the market for one, this is the best one I could find.

I was looking online the other night and found a new one that I liked, so I went and traded something in at Bed Bath and Beyond and here's the new bathroom look!

Laney the Burrito

Laney and Kristin were here visiting last weekend and they stayed a night with us. Laney stayed up a little later than usual and was her normal crazy self! She was having fun with uncle "deddy" while he was rolling her up in her sleeping bag. He was also putting her at the bottom of it and carrying it around. Then she would quickly say "all done, all done" meaning she wanted to come out! It's so fun to hang out with them and laugh at the cute things she does.

Girls' Weekend

It's obviously been a while since I updated the blog...I have definitely been slacking. I'm not as witty as some of the people I know, so I think my entries are boring. But here it goes...My mom and Jenny came down a few weekends ago to visit and we had to much fun. They were able to see where I work and meet a lot of the people I work with. We had time to go shopping and time to walk around Long Beach too. They stayed at our apartment with us and slept on the couch and an air mattress on the floor (such troopers). Pretty soon our guests will have a bed to sleep in! Feel free to come visit!

Weekend in the Northwest

Last weekend I flew up to Washington for Haley and Drew's wedding...Jeff stayed back home to work and have a relaxing weekend while I was going to rehearsals, weddings, and seeing the new baby Peyton! The wedding was beautiful and it was so fun to hang out with everybody from the 'couve! Here are a couple pictures from the weekend.

Australia...here she comes!

Kendall came over for a little bit on Sunday. She was on her way through to Australia and had a layover in LA! It was also her 21st birthday! We had so much fun. We just hung out at the apartment, then went to Yardhouse for dinner. Megan drove up too from Irvine!

Kendall made it to Australia and it sounds like she is having a good time scubadiving in the Great Barrier Reef. She said that she's missing the luxury of being able to call and text her friends whenever she wants to, but maybe that will mean when she comes back she won't be on her phone as much! HA! :) Love you Ken!

a full weekend

This weekend was crazy! Jeff got home at about 1am on Friday night from being gone for the whole week. It was so great to see him and have him home. Kaelyn, Nancy, Kristin, and Laney were in town and we were able to go to a couple of Kaelyn's soccer games. Here's a snapshot!


I also had a wedding shower to go to for Haley. We ate lots of yummy chocolate fondue and played a few games. I won two of them! Here's a picture from our toilet paper bride contest. Michelle made a great bride! :)

Fun Stuff

For Christmas we got a new computer! We love it. Here's our little desk space and a picture we took with the computer!






In the background of this one is a roller coaster...we were acting like we were on it!

It's Christmas Time in the City

Wow...it's been a while since the last post...again! A crazy season is behind us, and I'm sad that it's over. This Christmas was special because it was the first Christmas we have ever spent together. We were able to spend Christmas Eve and Day at home in Washington, then after we got back to California the Braun/Gransee clan came out to California to celebrate with us. We got the best of both worlds! Here are a couple pictures!



Here is a picture of mom and me out at dinner one night...aren't we cute? Brandon was there with us and every time somebody would pass the table to leave the restaurant he would say, "Have a good night." Most of the time they didn't know what to do! One of the other highlights from our trip to Washington is that is snowed two days while we were there. It snowed for the first time in 20 years on Christmas Day, which was special because Jeff had never seen it snow on Christmas. We also enjoyed just relaxing at the house watching home videos and laughing together.




One of the highlights from when the Braun/Gransee clan was here was how funny the kids were. They love each other so much and area always asking where the other one is. Noah really enjoyed tearing the wrapping paper apart into pieces, then he got inside the box and was tearing the tissue paper into pieces. He thought he was really strong!