Homemade Pizza

Now I'm not a fancy person, especially when it comes to food. Anyone who knows me knows this. I'm perfectly happy eating chicken nuggets and rice for the rest of my life. I was on The Pioneer Woman's website the other day and found this recipe. For those of you who don't know who she is, The Pioneer Woman is a lady that grew up in the big city and is now married to a cattle rancher and lives on a ranch in Oklahoma. Her posts, especially the food ones, are pretty funny. I figured since Bryce has been working so hard this weekend he deserved something a little special. It was pretty fun to make and I felt pretty fancy. Not to mention that it was delicious. Again, a terrible picture, and the crust got a little bit crunchy, but it was still yummy. I have tons of leftovers too so I know what I'll be eating for lunch tomorrow.

Chocolate Carmel Cookies

I've had a lot of time on my hands lately. So this week I decided to bake some delicious cookies. These are seriously so good. I got the recipe out of a homemade cookbook that was given to me at one of my bridal showers. Do yourself a favor and make some of these this week.

Here's the recipe:

1 C butter, softened
1 C sugar
1 C brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 C flour
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 C cocoa
1 C chopped walnuts (optional, I didn't use them)
1 Tbsp sugar
48 rolos

Beat butter until creamy. Gradually beat in sugars. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda, and cocoa. Gradually (very gradually, otherwise you will have flour everywhere) add to butter mixture, beating well. Stir in 1/2 C Walnuts. Cover and chill at least 2 hours. Preheat oven to 375 (I heated mine to 350 because my oven bakes a little hot). Combine remaining nuts with 1 Tbsp sugar (or in my case, just the sugar). Divide dough into 4 parts. Divide each part into 12 pieces. Quickly press each piece of dough around rolo and roll into a ball. Dip the tops in the sugar mixture. Place sugar side up on a cookie sheet and bake for 8 minutes.
Kinda a crappy picture but you get the idea. They're even better when they're served warm and the caramel and chocolate are all ooey gooey. Mmmmmm....

Memorial Weekend

We had so much fun this weekend! On Sunday evening we went camping (like real camping Rosie, I had to squat in the bushes) on the shore of Lake Travis with two other couples in our ward. Bryce came very late that night because he was assisting at a wedding in San Antonio but I had fun with the Jensens and Kunzes until he arrived. We ate around a campfire, ate lots of food, killed a couple of scorpions (I know, freaking scorpions) and stayed up til 3 Sunday night. On Monday we woke up with the sun, went cliff jumping (everyone except me, I was too chicken), and swam in the lake. The lake felt sooo good. Perfect temperature to escape the searing heat of central Texas. Monday was also Liz's birthday so last night we went out to dinner to celebrate at this AMAZING Italian restaurant in Austin. It was such a great weekend, I can't wait to do more fun things like that this summer!The fire that eagle scout Keith made for us.Cutest little guy ever. He didn't really like sleeping in a tent too much though.

Oh TaevinBryce climbing up the cliff to jump off again! This cliff was probably 35 feet high.

Awesome form Liz. I would have totally jumped off this cliff but the only way to get to it was by jumping off the big daddy cliff.Brave women.Sweet farmer's tan, Bryce.
Lovely ladies.Manly men.At dinner that night.

Sewing!

While I've been in Utah, my mom and I have been doing a lot of sewing. I've made 6 fabric keychains, 2 diaper holders, and 2 baby wipes holders. I found all of the patterns on The Idea Room. The diaper holders and wipes holders are for my sister Maren for baby Shaun. I can't wait for his arrival in July!!

End of Semester Bowling!

I finally finished with the semester last Thursday! To celebrate, Bryce and I went bowling with some other couples in our ward. I'm a terrible bowler but we had a blast! Here is a fun video that Bryce put together of that night.

Bowling With the Peeps from Bryce Olsen on Vimeo.

Hold on

No real picture, again. Sorry. If you did have a picture it would be of me sitting at my kitchen table among bunch of open books about Diaghilev and Stravinsky for a paper that's due tomorrow. I am anxiously awaiting the end of the semester. I need a break from everything. Playing the flute has been a little frustrating lately and I'm looking for some time off so that I can fall in love with it again. I'm not one of those people that can just play all day, every day and not get sick of it. I love the flute, don't get me wrong, but I definitely can get burned out, and it's happening now. I'm just holding on until my jury next week and then I'm not going to touch it for a few days (at least).

I'm going home next month for 10 days and I am sooooo excited. I can't wait to relax with my family and have no responsibilities for just a little while. I can make it to May 19... I can make it to May 19... I can make it to May 19...

The Help

I recently finished this book called, The Help. It's great, inspiring, sad, and you should read it.

The last two books I read (the other one being A Thousand Splendid Suns, which you should also read) had similar themes. They both center around women that have a ton to deal with in their lives. So much, in fact, that it makes me feel bad about complaining about the seemingly big things that I have to deal with in my life. I should stop complaining.

I want to read something happier for my next book. Any suggestions?