these are a few of my favorite things

-cupcake tin: I love this tin because you can bake 24 cupcakes at a time instead of just 12. It goes so much faster. My fabulous parents got this for me.

-the Hiccupotamus: I got this book for my baby because she is a hiccup monster. She's had hiccups all the time since before she was born. Literally. This book is so funny, has a good rhythm to it, and the pictures are adorable!

-my new recipe box: this has been a huge motivator for me making dinner everyday. I love having all of my recipes organized in one place. Instead of a dozen or more recipe books and folders of printed of recipes, I copied all of my favorites into here, and add more as I find them.

-my sticky note goal sheet: I talked about this a few posts ago. It really helps me stay motivated. Those yellow sticky notes have been on there since it's creation. I obviously need to get them done. :)

-my weekly planner: I picked this up at an office supply store, and I have loved it! I put up my cleaning schedule, and write what's for dinner on the bottom. This has really helped me stay on top of my cleaning.

-these bobby pins: I have never had bobby pins that are so awesome. I've had to buy new bobby pins every few months because mine keep stretching out and get too loose to hold my hair or the little rubber ends fall off. These ones have been awesome! You can fit lots of hair in them and it doesn't bend them open. They just snap back. They don't fall out. I just love them. The best part is, I got a whole pound of them, so I'll never have to buy bobby pins again! :)

-sharpie pens: no explanation. Just love them!

1 year old

My baby turned a year old! Crazy! And since I have millions of pictures, I'll use as few words as I can. We had 2 parties - one with each side of the family. With my family her birthday celebration was combined with mine and my dad's. Her party with the Webb's was combined with Mr. Webb's birthday and Mother's Day. She had tons of fun, and got lots of awesome presents, including a baby swing set for our backyard and a toy keyboard, which she loves!

At her first party, we had funfetti cupcakes with white frosting. At her second, they were lemon blackberry - the same recipe as the lemon raspberry from a few days ago, but in the frosting I used blackberry jam instead of raspberry.

My dad blowing out the candles on his sour cream lemon pie

she knew exactly what to do with her presents!

she had a mini cupcake because she was a little sick, but
she probably would have eaten a big one!

we got her a water bottle, because she kept stealing her dad's
and drinking out of it. I was surprised she figured out
how to drink out of the straw so quickly!

the most delicious cupcakes ever

A few weeks ago, my ward had a fundraiser for the Young Women organization. They auctioned off a bunch of stuff, including some cupcakes made by yours truly. And they were amazing! So, so delicious!

I decided to make chocolate covered strawberry cupcakes and raspberry lemonade cupcakes. Both were super, super yummy! I did a few things different from the linked recipes. For the chocolate strawberry cupcakes, instead of using ganache, I just dipped the cooled cupcakes in melted chocolate before frosting them. I also just frosted them with strawberry cream cheese frosting instead of doing a twist. With the raspberry lemonade cupcakes, I followed the recipe, but added candied/curled lemon zest and a cute striped straw as decorations.

I had some leftover cupcakes, so I found these cute cupcake boxes at the craft store and took them to the ladies I visit teach.