Sugar Cookies

Today I made my first 75 sugar cookies. Well, I've made some before but they aren't considered real after you've tasted these. I got the recipe from the Lion House cookbook, and they are amazing! They are soft and fluffy, and they kept their cookie cutter shape. I thought everyone might try and made them because they are so amazing so I'm including the recipe. I did take pictures of the wonderful things, but as you know our internet won't let us upload pictures so you'll have to wait until I can borrow someone's internet.









Cutout Sugar Cookies

2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup shortening
3 eggs
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon lemon extract
6 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

Line cookie sheet with waxed paper; set aside. In large mixer bowl, cream sugar, shortening, and eggs. Add milk, vanilla, and lemon extract, mix at low speed. In separate bowl, mix flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Add to sugar mixture until well blended. Roll out 1/8 inch thick; cut into desired shapes. Bake at 400 degrees for 6 minutes, being careful not to overbake. Cookies should be light golden brown around the edges. Frost with icing. Makes 5 to 6 dozen cookies.

Butter Cream Icing
3/4 cup butter
3/4 cup shortening
4 2/3 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/3 cup water

In large mixer bowl, combine butter, shortening, and powdered sugar; beat until very creamy. Add lemon juice and vanilla; mix until well blended. Add water and mix until very light.

Gordon B. Hinckley 1910-2008

I want to briefly share my appreciation for President Hinckley today, the day of his death. We are very sad that he has passed away, and shocked. He was old, so we half expected it would come soon but never actually thought it would happen. He has done so much for this church. He has brought so many new temples to the world and we are especially grateful for the Newport Beach temple. He has traveled to so many countries and meet so many people who will never forget his love and appreciation for him.

He was surrounded by his family while he passed away which is the best way to leave this world. We are very grateful that he is able to now be with his wife, who he has talked about so much since her death. After she died he said that the love of his life once again became the woman of his dreams. Even though we will miss him, we know he is happier now and with those he loves.

He was the only prophet I really remember in my life. I can't imagine what General Conference and the church will be like without him. We will miss him at BYU Devotionals waving his cane and waving to the students. He loved every member of the church, all 13 million members of us.

We will miss you President Hinckely and will never forget you. God be with you till we meet again.

This was our first time!

Once when Holly and Greg were visiting Utah, we met them in the Cougar Eat for some lunch. Jacob, Brigham and Caleb were there eating with us too. Out of the blue, Brigham stands up on his chair and puts his fist in the air and yells, "This is my first time!" Apparently, he thought it was his first time eating at the Cougar Eat, when it really wasn't. We thought that was hilarious (as did the other students in the packed Cougar Eat) and every time we do something for the first time we think of Brigham and say, "This is our first time!" The reason for this story is because Ja and I made ginger bread houses for the first time this Christmas. Our friends had us over to make them and we had fun. So of course, I had to stand on a chair with my fist in the air and have Ja take a picture.



The house was getting old so we wanted to get rid of it, but who can just through a ginger bread house away? Ja wanted to have a picture sequence of him eating our house. These are a few of the pictures. Isn't he funny? He makes me laugh all the time.

The Productive Christmas Break

We were very excited to go home for Christmas break, because I was done with school and Ja was done with the hardest semester of his life. We were welcomed in California with nice warm weather. It seems like almost instantly we started with one of our many projects of the break. Greg was going to visit Grandma DeVore Christmas Eve so Dorothy wanted the pictures of Jeff and Tiffany's wedding (and ours) to be put on a DVD so Grandma can see them. Well, Ja took it upon himself to make an actual wedding video using imovie. It took quite a long time to get everything figured out, an there were a few late nights trying to get it finished in time for Grandma. The sad thing is Greg never went to Grandma's so those late nights were for nothing. But, we loved the video so we were very happy we did it. Tiffany and Jeff were very grateful as well. Ja then worked on our wedding video next, even though it's be 2 1/2 years since we got married. He did a very good job with ours too, and it didn't take as long because he knew what he was doing now. While Ja was busy making the movies, I was busy doing little projects for Dorothy. Let's say I was never bored this trip. We also got to see Nathan, Kiersten and Henry a lot while we were down. We think Henry is the cutest little boy. We miss him. We also missed having the whole family over for Christmas, but that's what happens when two families decide to move across the country.





We got to spend a little time with my family too. Since my dad's birthday is Christmas Eve we went do to Yorba Linda to have breakfast with my family and both sets of grandparents. It was fun to visit, and open presents. Then the day before we left for Utah we went down to Yorba Linda again to hang out. We might have talked Stacie into going to BYU for nursing. We hope she comes up here. It would be fun to have a sister here.

On New Year's Day we watched a little bit of the parade while Ja and Kenny made us breakfast. My mom and Stacie were brave enough to go to the parade. Stacie had never been, you have to go once in your life while it's so close. Later on that day, Jeff, Devin, Nathan, Kiersten, Ja and I went to the Rose Bowl Game. While the game wasn't that exciting to watch, it was still fun to be at the Rose Bowl. The most exciting part was watching the air force guys jump out of a plane, the jet planes flying overhead, and watching the Illinois band.


We were very grateful to be at home for Christmas. Everyone was so generous to us and we had such a great time.