Garrett's 24th Birthday

Wow, I feel like it has been FOREVER since I have posted something! Apparently I need to get busy crafting and baking so I will have something to blog about.

Thankfully, Garrett's day of birth gave me something to write about, take pictures of, as well as bake something for (even if it completely fell apart. More on that later).

About a month prior to his birthday, we got an email from Living Social for 2 tickets to the Broncos game on his birthday weekend. Heck yes! We decided that would awesome and we were excited about the aspect of rooting for our fantasy football players in person. We logged in to purchase them and they were sold out.  BIG bummer! ( Although after watching the game we wanted to attend on TV last night, we both decided we were glad we didn't go. #Tebowing. No, I don't have a Twitter account, I just wanted to put a hashtag in front of that silly word just to do it.)

So, about a week or two before Garrett's birthday I told him to decide on what he wanted to do again. He decided he wanted to go to the New Belgium Brewery in Fort Collins, so we got online to book a tour...and they were full through February! Every Saturday, all day long...full! Goodness I felt bad for him!

Finally he decided he wanted to go to dinner at Outback and go to Twist and Shout for a new vinyl. That was it. There was no way he could be denied this! So that's what we did. We also went to a HUGE antique mall called the Brass Armadillo. Best. Place. Ever. They had FREE Halloween candy, drawings, free lemonade, cookies, and Halloween music blaring over the speakers. We had a blast! (Julie, when y'all visit over Thanksgiving we have to go. You would love it!)

Here are a couple of pictures from the weekend:

He got a Jimmy Johns giftcard. Now he won't starve to death during lunch

Junior (our cat) got him a vinyl : )

The face of spoiled rotten.

Awwww Yeaaah! (in my best Mac voice) If you don't watch this show you should! And this board game is pretty awesome!

And then it turned ugly..
But, that is only the bottom layer. The top layer will still be fine! That's what I told Garrett.

Look at that! What the heck!? I sprayed AND floured those dang pans! Stupid cake.

Good thing, after I sat in our room and pouted, that I came up with an idea for it. Birthday Cake truffles! Yep, in that mixing bowl is a whole cake mixed with a container of icing. I'm glad I remembered someone telling me about these.

 

Not a birthday cake but tasted like one! Ugh, I had these candles that had colored flames, icing to write on his cake and everything! Oh well.I guess these are cute. For a non birthday cake.  Stupid cake.

 We had fun at the antique store..

Garrett found a pretty sweet duster...

 

And then...I found these bad boys! Hahahaha aren't they awesome?

So that was his birthday! Alot of silliness, failed birthday cake making, and antique shopping. It was SO much fun! Oh, and when we got home we watched Ghostbusters. He had never seen it! Can you believe that!

I hope everyone had a great Halloween and Halloween weekend! 

When there's something strange, in the neighborhood, who you gonna call?

Nutella Puppy Chow

Oh yes...Nutella Puppy Chow! How amazing does that sound?

I have been wanting to make this for a week or so and finally got around to it. Let me tell ya, it was worth the wait! Or maybe I should say not worth the wait since I should have made it sooner? Hmm..confusing. Anyways, imagine a Nutella flavored KitKat covered in powdered sugar, in perfect bite sized pieces. Definitely delicious! This will be a great little snack to take to work and to sneak into Garrett's lunch bag. Maybe take some to Joanna at work also? : ) This stuff is extremely addicting so I definitely need to give some away before I eat the whole bag myself. I beleive that is the only downfall to desserts...the guilt you feel when you "accidentally" eat the whole bag/pan/plate. Sometimes it's worth it! Right? Uhh..right?  

Here's the recipe!

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup Butter
1 Cup Nutella
3/4 Cup Chocolate Chips (Use semi-sweet for best taste!)
3/4 Cup White Chocolate Chips
2/3 Cup Hazelnuts
13 Cups/1 12oz Box Chex (We used plain Rice Chex)
3 Cups Powdered Sugar

Directions:

* We didn't use hazelnuts because for the life of me I couldn't find any at any store I went to. Not wanting to wait until we found some, I went ahead and made it without, and it tastes delicious. But, if you want more of a hazelnut/Nutella flavor add the hazelnuts. Then, let me know where you found them!

1. In a 350 degree preheated oven, roast hazelnuts until fragrant and light brown, about 8 minutes. Allow to cool and remove as much of the skin as you can with a towel. Grind up hazelnuts finely in a food processor.

2. Put the cereal in a large bowl and set aside.

3. In a pan over medium-low heat, melt butter, chocolate, and white chocolate, stirring constantly.

  

4. When all is melted, remove from heat and add Nutella and stir until mixed in, then add hazelnuts and stir well.

5. Slowly pour over cereal.

  

6. Stir with your hands! It is MUCH easier than with a spoon.  It may take some time since the the batter is thick. You will have to gently do this so that you don't crush the cereal.

Definitely remove any rings that you are wearing. This gets extremely messy!

Grrrr! : ) I was threatening to wipe some on Garrett. But I didn't. Ps. See that colorful drawing on our fridge? One of my girls at work made that and gave it to me! Love it!
My hand looks HUGE!

Pre powdered sugar

  

7. Dump into a gallon size zip-lock bag and pour in powdered sugar. Start out with a little and add more as needed.  You don't want them TOO coated with powdered sugar because they will end up tasting too sweet. Zip up the bag and shake it until they are coated. We didn't measure out the powdered sugar, just kept adding until it looked like we wanted it. 

Ready to eat!

No Bake Cake Batter Truffles

If you love cake batter as much as we do you HAVE to make these! They are so simple to make and are so delicious! Odds are you already have most of the ingredients in your kitchen, and that's always nice! I found this recipe here, along with tons of others I can't wait to make!

For the filling you will need:

• 1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter
• 1/2 Cup Sugar
• 1 1/2 Cups Flour
• 1 Cup Yellow Cake Mix
• 1 Teaspoon Vanilla
• 1/8 Teaspoon Salt
• 3-4 Tablespoons Milk
• 2 Tablespoons Sprinkles

For the coating you will need:

• 16 oz Almond Bark, about 8 squares
• 4 Tablespoons Yellow Cake Mix
• Sprinkles

Beat together butter and sugar until combined. Add cake mix, flour, salt, and vanilla and mix thoroughly. Add 3 Tablespoons of milk or more if needed to make a dough consistency. Mix in sprinkles by hand.

Your dough will look similar to this:

Roll dough into one inch balls and place on a parchment or wax paper lined cookie sheet. Chill balls in the refrigerator for 15 minutes to firm up.

While dough balls are chilling, melt almond bark in the microwave in 30 second intervals until melted. Stir between intervals. Once melted, quickly stir in cake mix until incorporated completely. Using a fork, dip truffles into almond bark and shake off excess bark by tapping the bottom of the fork on the side of your bowl. Place truffle back on the cookie sheet and top with sprinkles. Repeat with remaining balls until finished.

Chill cake batter truffles in the refrigerator until serving. Makes around 24-30 truffles.

Look how yummy the inside looks! 

Dog Sitting, Pumpkin Hunting, and Corn Mazes...Oh My!

Last weekend was a fun one!

We had the opportunity to dogsit a sweet boy named Archer. We went to our first pumpkin patch and got to pick out our very own Cypert pumpkin. We got lost in a corn maze. And, we saw a hot pink fountain! (I especially loved the pink fountain!)

Living in Denver has brought along many wonderful opportunities that we are so thankful for! One of them being the various activities we are able to take part in. For instance, hunting for a pumpkin in a patch that is nestled close to the mountains!  Absolutely breathtaking!

Even though we were one of the only couples without kids (picture going to play on the McDonald's playground without a child and that is kind of how I felt at this "pumpkin festival" without a kid) we had a blast picking out the perfect (or maybe just the one I felt sorriest for) pumpkin and taking pictures in the corn maze!

The fall season in Denver was already one of my favorite times because of the gorgeous trees and snow capped mountains. After last weekend it is definitely my favorite season of all. I hope everyone has a chance to have a "Denver fall" once in their lifetime!!

Since today is Sunday and I have a fantasy football game going on against a great friend ( Hello Miguel! I wish I could say you are going down today, but we both know you probably aren't, so enjoy one of your last victories. Baahhahaha. That was my evil laugh FYI.) I am going to let the pictures tell the rest of the our fall weekend story!

Sweet Archer! He made us want to get our own dog.

James, if you ever read this, thank you for letting us keep Archer!! He was great!


This is a one-room school house that was built in 1874. I wonder what it would have been like to have school in only one room all day?

About to start pumpkin hunting

Taking pictures by yourself is so awkward

So many to choose from!

Found it!

So gorgeous!

I was excited about the Cinnamon Sugar Almonds!

HUGE pumpkins

This silo and the red barn in the next picture were near the pumpkin patch. They made for a nice "country" feel!

 

Corn Maze! It was so beautiful with the blue sky and mountains in the background.

After we left the pumpkin and maze fun, we spotted a pink fountain. I didn't feel like stopping and taking pictures so we didn't.

Yeah right!

What a neat way to celebrate Breast Cancer Awareness Month!

Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend!

Thanks for stopping by! : )