Had to share this

"Be so happy that when others look at you
they become happy too"

Keep smiling
it will make a difference : )
Have a fun weekend everyone!

Pumkin Patch

This year Tiffany and family invited us to go to the pumpkin patch with them. This was the first time for Charlie and second for us. We were excited to go and hang out with all of them. So, the night before I decided to baked some pumpkin treats for all of us to enjoy after the pumpkin patch. This was a very easy recipe to follow and very yummy, so I wanted to share it to whoever reads this:

Mini Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

Ingredients
Cookies:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
1 cup LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cream Cheese Filling:
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
6 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Directions
For cookies: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease or line four baking sheets with parchment paper.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger and salt in medium bowl. Beat butter and sugar in large mixer bowl on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add pumpkin and vanilla extract; beat until smooth. Stir in flour mixture until combined. Drop by heaping measuring teaspoons onto prepared baking sheets. (A total of 72 cookies are needed for the recipe.)
Bake for 10 to 13 minutes or until springy to the touch. Cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.
For cream cheese filling: Beat cream cheese, butter and vanilla extract in small mixer bowl on medium speed until fluffy. Gradually beat in powdered sugar until light and fluffy.
Spread a heaping teaspoon of filling onto flat side of one cookie; top with flat side of second cookie to make a sandwich. Repeat with remaining cookies and filling. Store in covered container in refrigerator.

I decided to add some food coloring to the cream cheese filling just to make it look a little bit more fun. I found orange and black food coloring at Michael's the other day, so I got inspired by the month of October and did half of the filling black and the other half orange. I forgot to take a picture of them, but they turned out super cute and delicious. We'll definitely be making more of these!!! Oh! and here are some pictures of our day : )

Fall is back

I used to dislike pumkins but everytime fall season is here that smell is back and I learned to love it. Trees are changing colors, leaves are falling down and I love looking out of my window and seeing the beauty of this season and the place I now call home.

Celebrating with the ones we love

Nils' aunts, Anita and Birgit, also had their birthdays this past September, so we planned a dinner with Tiffany and family to celebrate with them. It was such a lovely evening, we caught up on each other's lives, ate, laughed and had an amazing time. Nils suggested I made one of our favorite meals that we only share with people we love, our famous linguine dish. Unfortunatly I forgot to not make it spicy for the kids, so they were drinking lots of water!! But, besides that hiccup, we all enjoyed the meal and the company. We even had cake and a conference call with Sharon and Kurt, and sang Happy Birthday.

"You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them."
Desmond Tutu

Lion King 3D

Nils and I took our nieces on a special date to watch the Lion King movie in 3D!

We were all excited to hang out, but of course we wanted to make this day extra special for them. Lion King is one of my favorite movies and I wanted them to love it as much as I do. So, Nils and I took them to the Disney store and got them stuffed animals. Liv picked Nala and Ella chose baby Simba, and since they were buy one get one free, we bought Pumba for Beckett and big Simba for me :).

After getting excited about their new toys, we headed to the movie theater to watch the movie. It was a different experience to watch it on the theater, it was just amazing. We had so much fun with the girls, we love them and love our dates with them : )

After the movie, we went to eat some burgers at Five Guys and brought them back to our place to play with Charlie for a little bit. We all had such a great day!

The big 25

So, I turned 25 this year, and thanks to my wonderful husband, friends and family, I had a wonderful day. My day started by opening gifts (one of my favorite things to do). Then, Nils made some delicious breakfast that we enjoyed together. Then, I took off to the mall for some very deserved shopping : ) and relaxed all day getting a mani/pedi and answering phone calls from my loved ones. Tiffany and the kids came over to surprise me and take me out to get some ice cream with them. They made my day!

After ice cream, my hot date picked me up and we went to Cafe Juanita, a very cute little restaurant with the best italian food in town. Nils always wanted to take me there, but couldn't find a "good excuse" to go, so turning 25 was the excuse, and I'm so glad we had our dinner there. There was something magical about that night, spending my big birthday with the man I love was definitely more than I ever wanted, it was perfect!