Halloween Party #1 and #2

Friday night we attended the SSA (student spouse association) sponsored Halloween party…I was on the planning committee ☺ Jared and I went as unicorns thanks to my wonderful mom! Doesn’t my unicorn husband look adorable?!

"Monster mouths" Jared and I made for the party


Our costumes


Butterfly and butterfly catcher (aka Angie and Neal)


Jason and Ami


Barbie and Ken (aka Aubree, Royce and Grace)


Nerds (aka Shonnee and Aaron)


Unicorn vs. Harry Potter (Jared and Chad) Saturday night we attended the Delt halloween party.

Umm Umm Good…

This week at our cake decorating class we worked on cup cakes. We learned many new shapes; the clown body, flowers, shells, leaves, and dots (which include making fruit, faces, bears). My favorite are the flowers. I like the ones with the leaves and the big bushy pink one! I actually think the clowns are kinda cute too.

Knott’s Scary Farm

Wednesday night Jared and I joined a few SCCO friends for some Halloween fun. We went to Knott’s Scary Farm (aka Knott’s Berry Farm). It runs from 7 pm -1 am during the week. The rides are all open, but the park is dark, with smoke machines everywhere. They have people walking around in full costume (scary costumes), with noisemakers, and some on skates who would jump out as you passed by. They had several haunted mazes set up. We went through about 4 mazes. I clung to Jared the whole time (thank you babe for keeping me safe ☺ ) It was a lot of fun!

It’s official…I am a certified teacher in California!

I have received notice that my application has been accepted and I am officially credentialed!

Study Buddy

Elsie is helping her daddy study :-)

Caramel Apples..Home Made :-)

Well folks, I am at it again...making sweets that I can't stop eating! I was invited by Aubree and Angie to make caramel apples on Saturday night. I was expecting to do what I have always done...wrap an apple in a pre-made flattened caramel and put it in the oven. To my surprise this is not what happened. We made homemade caramel! We prepared the caramel. Then dipped our apples. Then as if the delicious home-made (best I have ever had)caramel wasn't enough, we drizzled melted chocolate over them! I have included the recipe for those who wish to try this great caramel.



Cream Caramel
1C white karo syrup
2c white sugar
3c whipping cream
1/4 tsp. salt
*can add nuts

This recipe is for caramel candy: ***see apple caramel adaptions below recipe.
Mix syrup, salt, and sugar and 1 cup of cream. Stir constantly and cook until it boils. Turn to medium low and cook to medium hard ball stage (250 degrees...buy candy thermometer at walmart-$2)Add second cup of cream and cook to medium hard ball stage again (250). Add third cup of cream and cook to 232 degrees. Pour in pan *spray pan*. cool.

***For caramel apples: recipe is the same except temperatures.
1. 242 degrees
2. 242 degrees
3. 235 degrees.

ENJOY!!!

Cake, Cake, and More Cake!

Some of the other 1st year wives and I are taking a cake decorating class through Micheal's craft store. We got together Wednesday night, made icing and frosted our cakes. Our first batch of icing didn't turn out very well. When we talked to our teacher in class on Thursday, she said we used the wrong attachment on the Kitchen aid (oops). The second batch wasn't great either, but at least it looked normal. We took our supplies and frosted cakes to class on Thursday. There we learned to pipe stars, letters, and lines. We also began learning how to create a rose by starting with the base. We colored our icing and began creating our rainbow design. Due to a chatty instructor we didn't get started until the last 30 min. of class, so my cake boasts only a rainbow. It is lacking clouds and my message (I was going to add Jared's name). Here is my beautiful work... we are making cupcakes next week, so stay posted!

Shonnee

Angie and Aubree

My work station



My Cake!!!

ESL Endorsed

I did it! I am officially endorsed in ESL (English to Speakers of other Languages)!!! On September 12th I flew home to KC. I took the Praxis endorsement test on Saturday. After taking the test I was not hopeful of passing. It was difficult and contained questions about topics I felt I had not studied. Just this week I received my scores and passed! This makes me more marketable in states/cities were there is a larger population of ELL (English Language Learners) students (ie: California).

Vegas Baby!

Friday after class, Jared and I rode with two of his classmates, Chad and Jackie, to Las Vegas. Majority of his class also headed that way for the Vision Expo. It took us only 3-1/2 hours to make the trip. Once there we went to the Sans Convention Center to visit the Expo. From there we we checked into the Trump Hotel. We used Price line to book our hotel and ended up with the Trump...no complaining from me! The hotel was beautiful! The bathroom was huge! The mirror in above the sink had a built in TV...gotta love that!









That evening we went to a party put on by Marchon, a huge eye ware company. We hung out with Jared's classmates.

On Saturday Jared and I bought monorail tickets and made our way down the strip. We gambled and met up with Jared's classmates. That evening we saw Zumanity, Cirque Du Soleil, at New York, New York. It was a great show!