Thursday Treat: Easy Cinnamon Swirl Apple Muffins

Delicious crispy cinnamon glaze layer on top!

Earlier this week, I needed an easy treat to take to a Halloween Party.  We also had a bunch of apples that needed to be used ASAP.  We'd already made Apple Crisp and I didn't have any other ideas for foods with apples in it so I found a few recipes that would taste yummy and be healthy...since it has apples in it! ;)  I found a few different apple bread recipes and tweaked them a little to work for what we needed.  We made a loaf of bread and then decided to make some muffins!  The muffins and bread turned out so great!  Here are the directions for the muffins.

What you need:1 cup packed brown sugar3 teaspoons ground cinnamon1 1/3 cup white sugar1 cup butter, softened4 eggs4 teaspoons vanilla extract3 cups all-purpose flour3 teaspoons baking powder1 cup milk4 small to medium size apples-peel and chop into small pieces

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.Grease and flour muffin tins. (This recipe makes approximately 2 dozen muffins)Mix together brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl.In a separate bowl, mix together white sugar and butter until it is smooth.Mix in eggs and vanilla.Next add in flour, baking powder, and milk.Pour the batter into greased muffin tins.Cover each muffin with a layer of chopped apples.Pat the apples pieces into the batter with a spatula, spoon, etc.Sprinkle the top of the muffin with the cinnamon and sugar mixture.Bake for 25-35 minutes.

Note:  To make bread loaves just add one or two layers of the batter, apples, and cinnamon mix.

These muffins make great snacks or even a quick breakfast on the go!  Enjoy!

We're back!!!

Do you ever have those months where you look at the calendar and wonder how you are going to get everything done?  Well, that's how September and the first part of October were.  School started and we were off and running!  Shelby's classes have been keeping him busy with...busy work-which is not his favorite but he is surviving. :)  I am still working and going to school online-I have been doing a Nursing Research class-and I had to write a 25ish page paper on a subject of my choice.  2 months and 36 pages later I am finished with the assignment and even better I passed!!! So now I can move on to more interesting classes and not spend all of my computer time reading and writing about how to improve nurse's hand hygiene compliance! :)  So that explains the lack of activity on our blog...  In between school, work, and church responsibilities we have still found time to play!  

^^ This school year I am teaching clogging classes one afternoon a week.  It has been so much^^

 fun and I am even teaching two competition teams!  I love it and the little girls that I get to teach.  So much fun and we can't wait until competition season!

^^ Mid-September we ran the Harvest Classic 6K!  Shelby did awesome as always and I did ^^

 better than expected.  Now on to training for a 10K next May, and a Half-Marathon next August! 

^^ I spent some time in September gathering items and assisting with St. Luke's United ^^

Way campaign.  Our floor put together a Movie Night basket which was a success!  I'm so grateful that the health system I work for not only works at serving our patients but also the surrounding community.

^^ And of course we soak in and love the time that we get to spend together. :) ^^

^^ We watched Cameron run at one of his cross country meets.  Go Vikes! ^^

^^ I was able to go to the General Women's Meeting with Lila and my mom.  ^^

^^ Shelby played intramural flag football at BSU this fall.  If you look super close ^^

 you can see him chasing after another player. :)

^^ We rode our bikes around BSU and stopped at the Anne Frank memorial-lots of ^^

 inspiration is written on the walls of this memorial.

^^ Cameron celebrated his 18th birthday!  I can't believe that my youngest brother is 18! ^^

^^ Last weekend I was able to go to Time Out for Women with my sister in laws ^^ 

and my mom and grandma.  It was so fun and we came away uplifted and inspired!  We even met US Olympian Noelle Pikus-Pace.

All in all, our fall has been great.  We are excited for Halloween and all the other festivities that are to come!!!  Happy Sunday!!!

Harvest Classic 2014 & random Sunday happenings...

Shelby and I ran the Harvest Classic on Saturday morning.  I had no worries about Shelby since five miles is like a short run for him but after my 14 hour work day on Friday, I had no idea how I would do physically or emotionally.  We survived though!  Shelby got first in his age category and I got second in mine which was a nice surprise!

As a "newer" runner, I've found that it is essential for me to have a goal in mind in order to stay motivated to run.  Goals=races=money.  But the money is worth it if it helps us stay healthy and active and will hopefully mean less hospital bills in the future if we are healthy now (the things that I see as a nurse should alone keep me motivated to stay healthy :)  So, I've officially ran a 5K and an 8K...next big race for me will be a 10K next May.  For the rest of the Fall I'll probably do one or two 5Ks just to keep myself motivated to run. :)

Last Sunday we went over to my parents to see Curtis and Calvin before they head off to another semester of school.  Calvin's birthday was this past week so we had a little party for him and played around outside on the trampolines.

Nothing like a little back flip competition on a Sunday afternoon!

Sunday Inspiration

I love this quote!  Everyone is so busy anymore and sometimes it can be hard to even observe as we are running around to different activities, jobs, etc.  It's so important to take the time to look around and see who is in need and then take the time to serve.  When we make time to serve those around us and do Heavenly Father's will, He helps us have time to get everything done.  

Happy Sunday!

Week Wrap-up!

It has been a busy week which also means that it has flown by! Here are the highlights of our week.

^^ Shelby has just been a little excited for the first home game.  Monday morning he was already throwing BSU stuff on and getting into the football spirit.  I love this goofball! :) ^^

 ^^We went on a bike ride with my family which was so fun.  I'm glad that we were able to get all the bikes in good enough shape to go! ^^

^^ Photo credit on this one goes to Curtis ^^

^^ Just doing some more training for our 8K! ^^

^^ Date night!  We officially have a new favorite Mexican restaurant here.  On The Border is so good and their prices are reasonable which is a double win for us!  Plus I love their homemade chips and salsa! ^^

And last but not least we started clogging classes this week!  I didn't get a picture because things were a little crazy.  I am teaching clogging classes one day a week at Gem Cloggers!  The first week of classes went great and I am excited for the rest of the school year!  If you live in the Treasure Valley-check out Gem Cloggers!

Happy Labor Day!!!

I was lucky enough to get Labor Day off although I had to work the majority of the rest of the weekend but we'll take what we can get! :)  We started off the day by going on a run-I ran 3 miles and Shelby ran 4 miles.  We signed up to run an 8K in two weeks and so I'm desperately trying to get trained up for that.  The rest of the day will be spend catching up on housework, a little homework, and spending time with family.

I saw this picture and my first thought, "This is probably what I look like when I run...and how I feel."  :)  Hope your Labor Day is fantastic!!!

In celebration of college football...

The start of college football is kind of a big deal around here.  That is what happens when you marry someone who is a sports fanatic. :)  Shelby loves college football and loves Boise State, so now that he is a student at BSU, he is so so excited to watch and go to all of their games!  So in celebration of the first week of school at BSU and the first big college football game for BSU, we made a wreath to show our school spirit.  I found some different ideas and put them all together to make my own wreath. 

It's actually super easy!  All you have to do is gather a total of 6, 4-yard spools of thick ribbon of whatever colors you want, a foam wreath (our's is 12 inches), and some straight pins.  We got 3 orange and 3 blue.  Cut the ribbon into 4 inch pieces.  Next, fold the ribbon (similar to a breast cancer awareness ribbon style), stick a pin in the middle and pin it to the wreath!  Keep alternating the colors and positions of the ribbon until the wreath is covered.  Ours looked a little weird at first but once we started filling out the wreath with more ribbon it started looking great!

And now you have a fun, easy, and cute wreath!