To Die For Blueberry Muffins

As soon as I arrived in Vancouver my sweet Mom & I threw on our aprons (okay I didn't actually put mine on, I need to more often though!) and got to baking!! I wanted to bring something unique, sweet and delicious to my friend Kersie's homecoming party. The recipe for To Die For Blueberry muffins in my Mom's church cookbook was calling to us :) We changed around a few things, but boy does it hold up to its name!! They were easy to make (whipped them up in less than 10 minutes, then let them bake), they had a perfect texture (not too light or too dense), just sweet enough, and the blueberries and cinnamon sugar crumb topping are a perfect combination. Oh, my mouth is watering...goodness I should not write about ridiculously delicious recipes so late at night, now I'm hungry :)

~ ~ TO DIE FOR BLUEBERRY MUFFINS ~ ~

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup white sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoon baking powder

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

1/3 cup milk

1-1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

Crumb Topping:

1/4 cup sugar

3 tablespoons flour

2 tablespoons butter softened

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners. Combine flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups to top; sprinkle with crumb topping mixture. Bake 20-25 minutes or until done!

And wouldn't baking them in red muffin liners be perfect for the 4th of July?? :)

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I'm sharing this recipe over at Whipperberry...go see what else others have been creating!! :)

scenes from washington

The little man loooooooves mommy's glasses! Kept him busy on the plane :)

Flying to and from Washington, both Brooks and I were excited beyond reason!!!

As we were about to land at the Portland Airport my heart jumped thinking about seeing my family!

Yet after saying our goodbyes to my sweet family yesterday, we couldn't wait to see our sweetheart/daddy! :)

Washington was filled with such fun memories...

Going to Burgerville...twice :)

Making the most amazing blueberry muffins (twice)...will share recipe tomorrow!

Finding Corrie on her working route (she's a pest control salesman, is she not so stinkin' cute in her uniform??) and bringing pizza for a little sidewalk picnic...

Seeing KERSIE!!!

It was AMAZING to see Kersie again! She was absolutely glowing!! Talking and laughing with her made it feel like those 18 months had been just a couple weeks :) And Lauren (another old college roomie) was there too! Brooks loved Kersie too :) And she was so thoughtful to even get him an I *heart* NY shirt...so cute!

Eating Tillamook icecream and watching movies almost every night :)

Going to the Portland Temple with my Dad, Mom, and Corrie...it was practically perfect...just missing my forever sweetheart :)

Fires on the back porch for s'mores and roasting hot dogs...everything tastes better over a crackling fire :)

Listening to Kersie share her testimony and give her homecoming talk at church. I'll be posting more about his on Sunday :)

Happy 8th Birthday to my little cousin Ammon!

A very successful thrifting trip...50% off Mondays...yes please :) And Brooks was a bit of a sleepy thrifter ;) But woke up just in time to play with some fun toys with Grandma, thanks for the toys Mom!

A little trip into Portland...love that city. Brooks LOVED the fountains and giant chess set :)

While looking for granite for my parents' kitchen, Brooks got a "ride" on a fork lift! His favorite part was the horn ;)

Sushi with friends!! Posting more about this later :)

Games...Brooks LOVED playing games with Grandma :) Be it Scrabble, tossing balls, or chase...there was LOTS of chase :)

Cars with Grandpa!

Brooks was a just waking up from a nap when we gave my Dad/little B's Grandpa our belated Father's Day present...Brooks painted it just for Grandpa Stum :)

We said our goodbyes and raced through the airport to make our flight...it was a great flight, and after I was shown such kindness by 3 different people, helping me around the airport with my bags and even making room on a bench for me and my sleeping babe in arms so I could rest while waiting for my in-laws to pick us up (Adam was in a bishopric meeting).

And it turned out Adam had his parents call me as if they were on their way to pick us up...but really Adam surprised us! WE WERE SO HAPPY TO SEE HIM!!!!!!

It was such a sweet trip! But as always, it's wonderful to be home :)

video of our Lake Powell adventures :)

In no way, shape, or form am I a videographer...hence some shaky footage...but I still love it :)

We had such a wonderful time at Powell and I'm grateful that technology could capture it for us to enjoy over and over again! All of the video is from Adam's iPhone4 and put together on the iMovie app...which I highly recommend! So easy to use! Oh and I hope you like Cold Play's "Viva La Vida", because you'll hear it twice ;)

Enjoy!

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And Brooks and I are heading out of town again tomorrow...sadly Adam can't be with us, as he has recently taken off work for our St. George trip and get away to Lake Powell. But he is so wonderful to support me going home sweet home to Washington :)

I'm going this specific weekend to see one of my best friends and college roommates [I haven't seen her in over a year and half] who's getting back from serving a mission in New York!! Kersie is as good as they come...and I canNOT wait to see her! :) :) :) And to have her meet Little B...oh it's going to be amazing :)

The above picture was sophmore year at BYUI...we were going to watch The Office with some friends and thought bringing jell-o with office supplies inside (paperclips in this case) would be too perfect! ;)

AND I'm going to be with my family (goodness I miss them!)...my youngest sister Celeste graduated high school last week!!! Can't wait to celebrate with her! :)

Houseboating on Lake Powell

Houseboating on Lake Powell was unforgettable!! And all thanks to our friend/new-found distant relative Steve Smoot :) He was so generous to let us all stay on his beautiful house boat, and was such a great host!!

We were right on the water...which was surprisingly warm! (or cool as opposed to the frigid that I was prepared for) Some of the highlights were:

being in our swimsuits all day,

taking naps with our little boy,

kayaking in the bright sun,

sleeping under the stars every night,

Brooks playing with his little buddies Samson, Aven, and baby Rayce,

going down the water slide off the back of the houseboat,

eating AMAZING food (example: fresh fish tacos) and way too much of it all week,

jet skiing (my first time!),

Alla's 23rd birthday celebration!,

boating/tubing/wake boarding/wake surfing,

cliff jumping,

the girls shaving our legs by the water's edge,

painting pretty toes,

learning to paddle board,

and best of all...enjoying time with great family and friends!!

Most of these photos we took with Adam's iphone :) And a few are from our sister in-law's stellar camera, thanks Becca!

(yes those are my legs dangling at the top of this picture...HA! Funnest tube ride ever!)

I took all these fun photos for the sake of printing this blog into a book :)

But I also got lots of fun video that I put together with music and I'm excited to share it tomorrow!