An Attitude of Gratitude

We drove to California this year for a brief Thanksgiving trip. I was so excited to have time with my parents, siblings, grandparents and of course my nieces! They are growing up so quickly and are beautiful girls. What I enjoy most about being with my family is spending time with them. It really doesn't matter what we do as long as we're together.

'Tis the season to think more of our blessings. Lately, I've been thinking more about how I can better enjoy my blessings. Just after he was called to be our new prophet, President Monson shared his thoughts on how we can find joy in our journey:

He said, "I plead with you not to let those most important things pass you by as you plan for that illusive and nonexistent future when you will have time to do all that you want to do. Instead, find joy in the journey—now...

"Rather than dwelling on the past, we should make the most of today, of the here and now, doing all we can to provide pleasant memories for the future...

"Stresses in our lives come regardless of our circumstances. We must deal with them the best we can. But we should not let them get in the way of what is most important--and what is most important almost always involves the people around us. Often we assume that they must know how much we love them. But we should never assume; we should let them know. Wrote William Shakespeare, 'They do not love that do not show their love.' We will never regret the kind words spoken or the affection shown. Rather, our regrets will come if such things are omitted from our relationships with those who mean the most to us...

"Said one well-known author: 'Both abundance and lack [of abundance] exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities. It is always our concious choice which secret garden we will tend... when we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that's present--love, health, family, friends, work, the joys of nature, and personal pursuits that bring us [happiness]--the wasteland of illusion falls away and we experience heaven on earth...

"The ancient Roman philosopher Horace admonished, 'Whatever hour God has blessed you with, take it with grateful hand, nor postpone your joys from year to year, so that in whatever place you have been, you may say that you have lived happily.'"

I have enjoyed this season by living better in the present and not worrying so much about the future. I would love and have tried to plan my entire future, haha. Life is so much better this way. I feel excited about each day and about my blessings. Each day is a gift.

I love how Mari's eyes are huge. She looks like she could be ours.

It tickled Mom and me to watch how giddy Dad was about having help with the lights.
He's not too fond of that ladder.

Spencer was ordained to the Melchizedek priesthood.
I love Jon's face in this picture, so cute.

Dad & Grandpa Hogge.

Mom is such a good Grandma.

Spence with the girls...lucky man.

My beautiful Grandma Hogge and sweet aunt Joyce.

Mom found the top of our wedding cake frozen and in perfect condition.
It tasted amazing after 1 1/2 years of marriage!!

Auntie Hilly with sweet Alice. I have never met a sweeter baby girl.
Posing with her new outfit from Aunt Mindy. Love her.

Happy Halloween

Halloween kicks off my favorite time of the year. The holidays! Halloween also just happens to be the hubby's favorite holiday. We were the younger versions of Jon's parents. I love, love, love this time of year. The baking, the music (yes, I listen to Christmas music before Halloween), family time, the colors, the crisp, fresh, cold air, the scarves and sweaters, and the decorations! Last weekend I put up ALL 5 pieces of our Christmas decor. It truly is the most wonderful time of the year. Enjoy some fun pictures from the day. Happy Holidays!

The witches.

An Emo and a Tongan doing the Haka... interesting.

He was so excited to be his Dad for Halloween. It was pretty cute.

The three bears with Grandma and Grandpa Niu.

I love that sweet face.

The three bears and brownie locks.

Leilani LOVED the candy and would get so mad when we'd take it away.

Sweet Blake.

The best part of Halloween this year was watching Jon's new obsession with carving pumpkins. It's all he thought about. I have such a talented husband.

Happy Halloween!!

Lovey Dovey Pictures

Just before celebrating our first anniversary we won a photo session from a good friend. It was so special to take pictures for our anniversary. Our friend, Liz, is a talented photographer from Utah. Check out her blog here and her website here. Liz and her husband already have two beautiful little boys. Because of complications they can no longer have children and are trying to adopt. They are selling jewelry and prints to raise money for a new addition to their family. Check it out here.

We had a blast during our session with Liz. She did such a great job. It happened to be smoldering hot that day. We took pictures in an old barn barely a mile away from our home. I love my husband. Enjoy the lovey dovey pictures!

"Of Things That Matter Most"

Many of you know that every 6 months the LDS church comes together for a worldwide two day conference. During this conference we are instructed by our beloved prophet and leaders. With the ending of each conference comes renewed strength, resolve, hope and faith to be better. As with most conference weekends, my family comes to Utah to visit and attend at least one session at the Conference Center in Salt Lake. Now that there are three of us Hogge kids living in Utah (Joey and Spencer at BYU) the family visits as often as possible... and I LOVE it! Dad got tickets for us girls to attend the Saturady morning session together. That session was my absolute favorite of all conference sessions.

My beautiful Mom and Grandma.
I can only hope that I will age as well as they have ;)

Twins! Last time Hilly visited she came to church with me and the bishopric on the stand thought I had brought my twin with me, haha.

All the ladies. We missed Sarah and her girls!

Sweet Elder Holland spoke of his gratitude for our faith. What a humbling talk! I felt so loved by him and felt that my own faith could be stronger. We are so blessed to have good men as our leaders. Elder Christofferson's remarks motivated me to live a more consecrated life through purity, work, respect for my physical body, service and integrity. My favorite talk of all of conference was Elder Uchtdorf's "Of Things That Matter Most". Wow... talk about inspired! His talk answered ALL of my general conference questions. My mom kept saying, "They need this talk to be a fifth Sunday lesson!"

Elder Uchtdorf began by suggesting, "it is good advice to slow down a little, steady the course, and focus on the essentials when experiencing adverse conditions... When stress levels rise, when distress appears, when tragedy strikes, too often we attempt to keep up the same frantic pace or even accelerate, thinking somehow that the more rushed our pace, the better off we will be. Let's be honest; it's rather easy to be busy. We all can think up a list of tasks that will overwhelm our schedules. Some might even think that their self-worth depends on the length of their to-do list... Because they unnecessarily complicate their lives, they often feel increased frustration, diminshed joy, and too little sense of meaning in their lives."

So, what is the solution? We must choose to slow down and decide what is good, better, and best. We must focus on the basics. What are the basics? The basics are our relationships with our God, with our families, with our fellowman, and with ourselves. It's simple really, just focus on these four key relationships.

I feel relieved and excited to slow down and to focus on my relationships.

We celebrated Spencer's 18th birthday with the family in town.

Givin' some brotherly love to Hilly. How cute ;)

Jon decided to wear his traditional Tongan clothing for conference....
mmm I love my Togan!
We hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful Fall season! Yay!

Recapturing Beauty

Last night I attended the kick off fireside for BYU's "Recapturing Beauty" campaign. I have been following Stephanie Nielson's story through her NieNie Dialogues blog for over a year now. She inspires me to live better than I have been. Stephanie was the guest speaker. Myself and two co-workers arrived an hour early. The BYU Ballroom was packed! It was exciting to see the support for Stephanie.

Stephanie began her story sharing this. The hundreds of people fell silent and feelings were tender. While listening to Stephanie's story and her thoughts about beauty I thought about what beauty means to me. Stephanie said that with beauty there must be a base, an inside that steadies the outside. We must have a foundation of knowing that our Heavenly Father loves us. We must develop our relationship with Him. We were made in the image of our Heavenly Father. Our beauty is a gift from Him.

I believe it is important for us to take care of ourselves. It is important to be healthy. It is important to eat well and exercise. But you know what, it is just as important and more important to take care of ourselves spiritually. Beauty is in how we act and how we treat others. Beauty is learning to be patient and kind. Beauty is modesty and dignity.

On my mission I remember seeing so much beauty in people's eyes and faces. Someone once said, "If you live close to God and His infinite grace - you won't have to tell, it will show in your face."

Just as Stephanie Nielson pleaded with us last night, I too, hope you know of your beauty and worth. If not and for those who are struggling, pray & act. I know that our Heavenly Father will bless you to feel of His love for you. He will bless you to feel as He does of your beauty and worth. May we all love ourselves as He does.

He is everything to me.

One year later and I am more in love than I ever knew I could be. We will be celebrating our first anniversary this weekend. Yay!

This past year has been the most happy year of my life. My sweetheart is the greatest example of Christlike love. He serves without second thought. He tells me he loves me all the time, every day. He works incredibly hard for our future. He is kind to others. He is patient. He loves the Lord completely. He knows how to calm my mind and heart. He holds me when I just need to be held. He listens. He talks to me about anything and everything. He makes me laugh, or at least tries to, haha. He watches The Food Network with me. He cooks and bakes with me. He is creative and ambitious. He is full of faith. He is my gentleman. He is my favorite best friend. He is my everything.

Every new phase of my life has become so much more fulfilling. I am grateful to feel overwhelmed with love from my sweetheart. I am especially grateful that he is mine forever.

Thank you, sweetheart, for a most beautiful year. I love you.

My new obsession: Cupcakes!

A few months ago I was looking through some wedding gifts and I found Martha Stewart's Cupcakes Cookbook... thus began my obsession with cupcakes. I couldn't put the book down. I'd go to bed with book in arms, haha.

Just before Jon and I were married I took a cake decorating class and LOVED it! After we were married I found it difficult to find the time and energy to begin the hobby of cake decorating. Now that we've been married for a year I have learned to manage my time better I have found that I have a well-rounded husband who, I also discovered, LOVES to bake. It was a match baked in heaven. Cupcakes are so much fun to create and decorate. With such little cakes there is so much you can do!

The greatest satisfaction for me comes when I watch people eat my cupcakes... but then again, that's probably true for anything I cook or bake. We have absolutely fallen in love with The Food Network and with Cupcake Wars, Chopped, The Best Thing I Ever Ate, Cake Boss etc. Jon encourages me to be creative with my cooking and baking and it's a great way to relieve stress and to learn to step out of my comfort zone. It's all very therapeutic.

Most of the cupcakes in Martha's book are also conveniently on her website. I wanted to share with you 4 recipes I have tried thus far... I'm sure there will be many more to come. Unfortunately, I didn't have all my pictures uploaded, so I borrowed some instead and oddly enough my cupcakes looked pretty close to these! To find the recipes, simply click on each cupcake title. Enjoy!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

We made these for the 4th of July. For decoration we made stars from molds and candy melts and used blue sprinkles. These are so rich and so yummy. I tried to pipe the cream cheese frosting, but it was too soft. When piped I also found it's too much frosting and too sweet. The cream cheese frosting is much better if you spread it onto the cupcake. I love the richness of red velvet cake.

Cookies and Cream Cupcakes

These babies are little Oreo cheesecakes, also know as Cookies and Cream cupcakes. My other obsession is Oreos. Anything with Oreos. These are easy, not too sweet, and really fun. I especially love that when you turn them over you can perfectly see the Oreo. Can you really ever go wrong with Oreos?

Salted Caramel Cupcakes

If I had to choose a favorite from the cupcakes I have EVER tried to bake or eat, these would be it. Salted Caramel Cupcakes...mmmm. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water. Dark chocolate cake drenched in salted caramel and topped with rich chocolate ganache. If you have never tried salted caramel you need to! Martha Stewart actually borrowed this recipe from a bakery in NYC called Baked. They have a cake called "Sweet & Salty!" that Martha transformed into Cupcakes, genius! It is quite the process to make these, but they are so so worth it!

Billy's Vanilla, Vanilla Cupcakes

Billy from Billy's Bakery in NYC came to the Martha Stewart Show and made these delicious cupcakes. On the website link there is a video with Billy and Martha making the cupcakes. We just made these cupcakes last night and they were incredible! Wow, I've never had a vanilla cupcake like it. Instead of 1 Tablespoon, I added 2 Tablespoons of baking powder. The recipe calls for 1 but in the video with Martha, Billy emphasizes adding 2. These cupcakes are meant to be more flat, so don't worry if they come out flat. These sweet vanilla cupcakes are so buttery and just melt in your mouth.

I hope you enjoy these cupcakes as much as I did. I didn't realize how easy making cupcakes and frosting from scratch can be. For me, it was definitely intimidating at first, but now it has become my favorite hobby. Happy baking!