MOAB

Sorry about the long wait :/ but I GOT MY NEW CAMERA HAHAHA so you'll just have to deal with it. I got a Canon Rebel T3i as a beginner's camera. (I got the 50mm f1/8 lens).

I did a little research on entry level cameras, and there are all kinds of amounts of money that people think is "cheap". But for me, a good entry level camera HAS to be cheap (meaning of cheap for me: dirrrrrt cheap) bc I'm in 9th grade and don't have a real job, not exactly rolling in the dollars here.

So that's why I only ended up spending close to $500 on my camera, when other people spend that much on the lens alone, or even more! (Even talking about their cameras makes me jealous dangit.)

So I am definitely an amateur photographer but I looooove taking pictures and have for a long time. I'm planning on taking some classes but right now I have the basics: Look through the thingie and push the button. Oh and isn't there something called the rule of thirds too? Welllll here are some pictures I took when I was in Moab which is soooo pretty that you can't help get some good pictures.

(cacti)

(whale rock)

 (hike to crater overlook)

(dead horse point)

(sunset at dead horse point)

(perspective)

(hiking to skyline arch)

(whale rock)

(dead horse point)

(sunset at dead horse point)

(delicate arch)

(skyline arch)

(can you spot a person?)

(windows arch)

There was this way cool t shirt shop (called exactly that-- the T Shirt Shop) in Moab where you could pick your design and your t shirt (you can also get short sleeve, sweatshirts, etc) and they print the design on, right there! These basic tees are soo comfortable and I wear mine whenever no one is around to see that I've worn it every day in the past week hahahah. Definitely a place to visit.

see ya for now!

Cinnamon Roll Blondies

Guys don't these look so good? They are amazinnng.

Mmmm... cinnamon sugar and glaze covering a chewy, soft, cinnamon-y bar. Perfect.

You're going to cover your pan in foil and heat your oven to 350 degrees. 

Whisk your dry ingredients together,

then the wet ingredients,

and combine.

Your batter will be thick--close to a dough.

You'll press it (depending on whether you doubled the recipe) into an 8x8 or 9x13 pan.

Mix up your cinnamon sugar (doesn't look like a lot but it goes a long way) and sprinkle it on your batter. When you're sprinkling, shake the bowl side to side while pouring and pour slowly. Don't dump it all on and try to spread it around-- it's harder than it looks.

Into the oven it goes.

As the bars are cooling, mix your glaze together. There's not a whole lot of this either, but you don't need very much. 

Pour it into a plastic bag and cut the very tip off. Squeeze the icing out on a plate to see how thickly or thinly the icing will come out, and you can fix how much of the tip of the plastic bag is cut off.

Squeeze it over your cooled bars in whatever design you choose.

This is the neat part-- you can just pull the tinfoil out of the pan, and cut your bars--easy as pie and you don't have to wash any pans!

                                   
This is the neat part-- you can just pull the tinfoil out of the pan, and cut your bars--easy as pie and you don't have to wash any pans!

Voila.

Eat at least 3 ok? They're soooo good.

Also if you like this please get Sally's cookbook (Sally's Baking Addiction) it has some great recipes.

Oh my I'm making myself hungry just by posting this. But you all have to make these!

I don't have time to type out the whole recipe right now-- but I will add it later today :)

I'm back!!

I'm back!! Hello everyone. As you may be able to tell, I redesigned my blog a bit. I've been MIA the past few months for various reasons (mostly laziness...) but I think I'm back to stay. For this post, I'm going to give you a short overview of the months I've been gone, along with some pictures.

Pittsburgh, PA (we visited our old house and some friends)

Lake Erie, PA

Niagara Falls, Canada (I've been out of the country--we stayed here for a day and a half!)

New York, NY

Statue of Liberty in New York, NY

Central Park in New York, NY

Mississippi River in Nauvoo, Illinois

Random gas station

Oceanside, CA

Kirtland Temple, OH

Philadelphia, PA

Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, PA

Boston, MA (Statue of Paul Revere)

Indoor Market in Boston, MA

Washington Monument in Washington DC

Ticket to watch a session of the house of representatives in Washington DC

Gettysburg, PA (this was probably my favorite historical site)

Oceanside, CA

Sacred Grove in Palmyra, NY

My view was normally something like this^ (we logged close to 6 twelve-hour days in the car!) 

Or this (following parents and strollered siblings.)

Thinking back on this trip, we did a heck of a lot of things. This isn't even all of it (oh and they're all way out of order, I was too lazy to put them in the right order). 

We spent a month out of school and it was actually way fun even with homework. I crammed in most of my homework on the week before I got back since we were in Cali, and the week we got back to school and it all worked out, my grades were fine. I would totally recommend a trip like this, and we found a great time to do it (September-October). Here are a couple pictures of things we did since then:

looots of skiing

gingerbread houses

braces offff!

watercoloring

That's all! Hope you all had fun looking at a bajillion pictures. Wish you could have come on that trip don't you? ;)

Julia :))