Author: jennifer

Baptism Day

Musings on Life and Beauty



Saturday was a wonderful day for our little 8 year old daughter.  She had thought the whole thing through in advance, right down to the request for french braids in her hair.  What a cutie.


The weather cooperated and we had a perfect November day.  Our group was smaller than we’ve had in the past and at first I felt a bit worried about it, but a beautiful spirit prevailed and we all enjoyed the relative calm.


A couple of her Uncles were able to come (only one of them pictured here) which meant a lot to her.


Because she was the only child in our ward turning eight last month, the entire service was for her alone.  This meant that we were able to invite people to give talks and prayers.  Her grandparents gave beautiful talks, an Aunt and Uncle offered the prayers, and her oldest brother (our 13 year old son) was the pianist.  He worked hard to learn a new song for this event and did a great job.  I was immensely proud of him and grateful for his efforts and courage.


We were also blessed to  have my sister and her husband with us, and my cousin came with his little girl.  Our daughters have become good friends at school.   It touched my heart to watch so many family members rearrange their weekend in order to support her.


My husband’s brother and his family joined us as well.  They are a great family.  We loved having cousins join us for lunch and play.


Because most of our group scattered quickly after the baptismal service we were able to enjoy a lot of down time with my parents.  We appreciate their love and support, and their sacrifice to support our daughter.  The girls did a little shopping in the afternoon and we had a family movie night.  We were able to spend time just sitting, talking with the little ones and laughing at their antics.  It was  a precious gift of time.


Thanks, Mom and Dad, for making the trip, and to all of you who joined us for the day!

And thanks to my sweet daughter, who has been a delight since the day she was born.  Our family is better because she’s with us.  We’re so proud of her decision to take this important step in her life.

Jennifer

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Pumpkin Cookies with Brown Sugar Frosting

All Things Pumpkin, Desserts

A friend of mine shared this cookie recipe with me several years ago (thanks, Marci!) and it’s still my favorite.


The cookies are always light and moist.  In fact, they’re delicious without any frosting at all  but the brown sugar frosting provides a nice change from the traditional pumpkin cookie with chocolate chips in it.

For the cookies:

2 cups flour 1 1/2 tsp baking powder 1 tsp. ground cinnamon 1/4 tsp. baking soda 1/4 tsp. ground allspice 1 cup butter, softened 1 cup sugar 1 egg 1 cup canned pumpkin *you can also add 1 cup chopped, toasted pecans to this recipe, but I generally skip them.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and allspice.  Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium speed for 30 seconds.  Add sugar and beat until combined.  Add egg and beat until incorporated.  Stir in pumpkin.  Add flour mixture, stirring with a wooden spoon.  Add nuts, if desired.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoons 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes (I usually bake for 10 minutes so they don’t dry out at all) or until bottoms are lightly browned.  Transfer cookies to a wire rack and let cool.


Now for the frosting!

Brown Sugar Frosting 6 Tb. butter 1/3 cup packed brown sugar 2 cups sifted powdered sugar 1 tsp. vanilla 2-3 tsp. hot water In a medium saucepan, heat and stir butter and brown sugar until butter melts.  Remove from heat and stir in powdered sugar and vanilla.  Stir in enough hot water to make a smooth, spreadable frosting.  Frost cookies immediately.  If frosting becomes grainy and hard to spread, add a few more drops of hot water and stir until smooth.

Store in airtight container for up to 3 days.  Yield:  about 40 cookies.


Enjoy!
And just because I’m curious…  what’s YOUR favorite pumpkin recipe?


Hopeful Homemaker

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Ice Cream Cone Party Favor

Entertaining



We made a cute party favor for my daughter’s baptism last week.   I received a favor like this at one of my favorite local shops recently, and decided to personalize it for our special day.


First we made the little flags.  This was a group effort, which made it a special memory.  My Dad cut the wood dowels to the right size for us while we cut the flags from an old dictionary.  My daughter and sister did much of the cutting.  The baptism girl stamped all of the purple “A” initials on each flag.  (We chose to make the type on the pages upside down so there wouldn’t be any stress on the eye to decipher it.)  Next we hot-glued the paper to dowels, then added some crepe paper that we had cut slits in.  A pearl bead topped it off.


Ice cream cones served as our containers.  I feel like ice cream cones are often wobbly, so we dipped them in some vanilla candy coating and put them in miniature muffin papers to help them stand up straight without tipping over.  It did the trick, and none of them were wobbly.


On the day of the baptism we simply placed a flag in each cup and filled it with m&m’s in two shades of purple (her favorite color) and white (to celebrate the baptism).


They were a fun way to add some visual flair to an ultra-simple luncheon.  Their grab-and-go style also made them easy to enjoy.  I just set them out on the counter and our guests enjoyed them as they wished.  It was also a simple way to make my daughter feel special and loved.  I think it worked.


Inexpensive and whimsical, this would be a fun idea to use at a baby shower or birthday party.  You could also use it for the 4th of July with American flags in each ice cream cup.  You can fill the cups with any kind of candy:  jelly beans, m&m’s or any other treat whose colors enhance your gathering.

One last tip:  it was a lot of fun to make these flags using old dictionary pages.  I found one at the thrift store that had really small type and pages that were thin and lightweight.  The paper is really fun to work with and I intend to use it with many future projects.  I’m pretty sure that every girl should have an old dictionary like this to be creative with.  Keep your eye out for one!  It’s worth the $2.00.

Have a great day!

Jennifer

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