Haus Hochstrasser

I know, I know, I really should be packing but ... I'm blogging in stead. Today we saw our new house for the first time unoccupied! I loved it before, but I love it even more now! I got to imagine our stockings hanging at the fireplace, making cookies in the kitchen, and having our family and friends visit. This is going to be good.

Welcome Home to Haus Hochstrasser! On Friday night we will load up our truck in Logan, UT and then Saturday unload it in Hyrum; finally HOME.

Here is the tour, and by the way, the pictures are not in any special order... I was just happy to get them uploaded!
Guest Room in Basement.

Play Space Under the Stairs

Upstairs Hall Closet

View from Deck

Front Room (FHE Room!)

Upstairs Hallway

Danny and Jared's Room

Sure, it's a 6 bedroom house, but it's good to have a roommate!

Towel Hooks in Hall Bathroom (too cute!)

Joshy's Room (the Blue room)

Joshy's Closet

Laundry Room

Master Bath Vanity

MY Closet... Ryan has his own just across the way

Access to Deck from Master Bedroom

View of Stairs... obviously

Kitchen

Ryan is measuring where our fridge will go. It SHOULD be delivered Friday.

Mudroom

If you ever visited my house in Wisconsin you will understand what a welcome sight this is!

The MAN-CAVE in the Garage
First project on Ryan's list is making skim boards

Dining Area and Upstairs Living Area

Desk and Hutch in Kitchen... Maybe I should ask for China for my 10th Anniversary next year... but I have 3 boys, what would I do with it?!?

PARTY ROOM!!

The Closet in my CRAFT ROOM!!! (the Brown Room) I was so delighted to have my own corner in our unfinished basement back in Wisconsin,but my own room is just nuts! Actually all of this is NUTS!

Storage Room. Not the Cold Storage Room though. That could probably hold a 2 year Food Supply. This may become an exercise room.

2011 has been an interesting year. We started the new year with family for the holidays not knowing all the change that was coming our way. I never thought we'd live in Utah, but here we are. We have had a busy summer with tennis, t-ball and swimming and getting to know the area, but in just a few days everything will ALL change again. Danny and Jared will head off to another new school and it will be just be me and Josh in our new house. We are about to start yet another great adventure, and we feel so blessed.

Come Visit Us Soon!

Will You Be My Friend?

Who doesn't love Girl Scout cookies? Nobody, that's who! Now, Girl Scout cookies are a little out of season over here, meaning my pantry is void of any, but that didn't stop the wheels in my mind from spinning late into the night coming up with my newest cupcake concoction! THIN MINT cupcakes! (Grasshopper cupcakes if you use the Keebler brand like I did).

This last weekend we were invited to a block party held in out new neighborhood in Hyrum. We haven't closed on our house yet but our neighbors were nice enough to invite us out to get to know them. All week I was concerned that I might offend everyone with one sentence (on accident of course!) So I came up with the great idea to make cupcakes to bring to the party. Cupcakes = Friends, right?!?

This cupcakes starts with a .... you guessed it, a Devil's food cake box mix. Follow the box instructions remembering to follow high-altitude instructions if necessary. Before scooping into pans I added crushed thin mint cookies. Delicious!! Then Bake as directed.
For the Frosting

Mix:
1 lb (1/2 bag) powdered sugar
2/3 c. shortening
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4c. milk
1/2 cup cocoa... give or take depending on preference

I left out a small amount of frosting to not add cocoa too. I then added green food coloring to pipe the little flowers on the tops of the cookies.

Stir in more crushed cookies to frosting.

Pipe on Frosting. Sprinkle with more cookie crumbs and top with actual thin mint cookie.

I have also been wanting to try my S'MORE CUPCAKES again. This time I made them MINI! I made a few changes as well. Instead of pouring chocolate syrup over the cupcakes after taking them from the oven, I decide to make them frosting filled! Delicious. I used the same recipe as above, omitting the cookie crumbs. I also decided to used crumbled Teddy Grahams instead of Graham Crackers. They have a better texture. Since the cupcakes were mini I only placed one mini marshmallow on top. I did not have my sisters Creme' Brulee torch this time so I just used my lighter. Classy, huh? It worked.

These little babies were surprisingly filling, and not too much trouble to make.

Well, I'm not sure about the impression I made at the party, but everyone there seemed terribly nice and wonderful; the kind of people I'd like to make cupcakes for again... That is if they ever invite us to something again. I have a feeling they will though.

Misreble Fun - The Salt Lake

Last Saturday we loaded up and headed out for an adventure unique only to Utah. We spent our afternoon on Antelope Island in the Salt Lake. Perhaps it was the fact that our van is in the shop and we all piled into our little four-door car with no air conditioning, or perhaps it was the simple fact that salt is salty and tastes bad... either way it was a bunch of miserable fun!

The Salt Lake does not get very deep very fast, so there was a lot of walking involved to get deep enough into the lake to FLOAT!

I was able to hold Joshy and the two of us floated together. Josh was not very happy about any of that so here is a happy shot of him playing in the sand. (His preferred activity when he wasn't chasing around the massive swarms of buzzing flies...)

Who am I kidding... all the boys preferred playing in the sand. I guess getting mouthfuls of salty water isn't a whole lot of fun...

Look! No hands! (or feet!) Chris and Wendy our experienced Salt-Water-Floating-friends showed us how it is done.

As smelly and sandy and salty as it was we still had a good time!