Here is the Steeple

Here is the temple and here is the steeple look a little closer and see the little people. We are so excited to have a temple for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints built in Gilbert. I was so thrilled to see the steeple started I had to stop and take pics.

Gilbert, AZ Temple Feb. 14th 2012

The Best Chocolate Cupcakes Ever !

We celebrated Kris and Meghan's birthdays with these fabulous cupcakes. Oh and did I mention they are vegan? No they don't have tofu in them and yes they have a lot of sugar. I never said they are healthy, they are just so yummy. The Reeses Peanut Butter Cups are not vegan so leave them off if it matters to you.
I found the cake recipe on Oh She Glows and the Chocolate Frosting I found on Google but I don't remember where.

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes

1 Cup Vanilla Almond Milk

1 Cup Sugar

1/3 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 T. Apple Cider Vinegar

1 T. Pure Vanilla Extract

1/2 tsp Pure Almond Extract

1 1/2 Cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

1/3 Cup Cocoa Powder

1 tsp Baking Soda

3/4 tsp Kosher Salt

Preheat oven to 350* 

Beat together almond milk, oil, sugar, apple cider vinegar, vanilla, and almond extract. Beat on medium speed for a minute or two.

Sift in the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt). Mix well, until smooth.

Scoop into cupcake paper lined cupcake tins. Using a large cookie scoop works great. Fill two thirds full for each. Bake for 22 minutes, or until they spring back when pressed with a finger. Makes 13 cupcakes.

Allow to cool before frosting.

Vegan Chocolate Frosting

6 oz Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips

6 T. Earth Balance

6 Cups Powdered Sugar

6-7 T. Almond Milk

1/2 tsp Vanilla

Pinch of Salt

Melt chocolate chips and Earth Balance in pan on low heat. Mix in sugar. Mix in almond milk, vanilla, and salt until smooth and glossy. I used an electric hand mixer.

What Ever You Set Your Mind To

Freestone Park

What ever you set your mind to run is what you will be able to do, as long as you have been training.  A 4 miler can be as hard as a 6 or a 10 because it is what you set your mind to do. That is why they say so much of running long distance is a mental game. This last Saturday I had made my mind up to run from my house to the GHS Pancake Run which was a 10K and then run back home. It was 3 miles to the Riparian Preserve which is where the race was at. It was a fun course. I had planned on running a total of 12 but after doing the 10K I felt pretty good so I decided to add 2 more miles to make it a total of 14.  It helped me to feel prepared to run Ragnar in 2 weeks. I will be running a total of 16 miles for the relay. Last year I ended up with a stress fracture in my foot after doing Ragnar. I felt like I hadn't trained enough for it. I had to run an extra leg last year because one of our runners got sick at the last minute, so I ran a total of 19 miles. I had only trained up to 10 or 12. Even though the runs are broken up it is still a lot of miles pounding on your body in a 24 hour period. Gilbert is a great place to run.

Riparian Preserve