Monday, March 28, 2011

Festival of Colors

What do you get when you give a bunch of college students bags of chalk and then let them throw it at each other in celebration of spring?


This of course.



I must say that my first trip to festival of colors was a success.

Hope that everyone had as good of a weekend as I did!

Monday, March 21, 2011

One of Those Recipe Posts

Yes folks, I am going to be one of those people that posts recipes on her blog. My theory is, if I make something and I love it, I want to share it! So here you go, recipe post numero uno....

Iced Soft Gingerbread Cookies

Cookie:
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup sugar
a pinch of salt
1 egg
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of allspice
1 tablespoon candied lemon peel, finely chopped or lemon zest (I actually used orange because I didn't have a lemon)
1/2 cup grated almonds (I omitted these because I'm not a huge fan of nuts in cookies)
3 tablespoons milk
4 tablespoons butter

Icing:
2 large egg whites
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
3 cups powdered sugar

Mix flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, egg, honey, cinnamon, and all spice. Add peel or zest with almonds and milk. Cut the butter into small pieces and scatter over the  mixture. Mix well using the dough hook of an electric mixer. Turn the mixture onto a floured work surface and knead by hand to smooth dough. Form into tow rolls, wrap in aluminum foil and chill for 1 hour. Once the cookie dough has been chilled, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with baking parchment paper. Cut the rolls of dough into slices approximately 3/4 inch thick. Roll into balls, place on parchment paper. Flatten slightly and bake for about 15 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.

For the icing, using an a electric mixer, beat the egg whites with the lemon juice until combined. Add the powdered sugar and beat on low spread until smooth and well-combined. Frost cookies immediately as the icing hardens quickly when exposed to air. Cover tightly with plastic wrap if not using icing immediately. (I drizzled my icing, but you can dip it, coat it completely, or whatever else you'd like to do.)

So there you have it. Credit goes to the cookie book my friend Meighan has. I'm pretty sure that book contains magical recipes. Every time I go to her house she has tried another one and the cookies are always delicious. This particular recipe has been my favorite. My roommates and people in my ward devoured them. Hope that you enjoy them as well!

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Texas Girls

For most of my life my Dad lived in Houston and I'd go visit him for half the summer. Now he lives in Denver and I'm finding that I miss Houston quite a bit. I miss the beach and the heat, but mostly I miss the people. When I'd visit my Dad I always refused to go to Young Women's (I was a little shy believe it or not). Finally he convinced me to go and I met Kaydee.What followed was friendships and fun times with a bunch of girls that I love! Well a few years have passed and not a bunch of us are at BYU. So... I had to have them over for dinner of course!

 Pictured Above: Tria, Katelyn, Me, and Katherine

 The only one who's missing is Kaydee because the lucky girl is at BYU-Hawaii.

And here's a flashback to girl's camp in 2008.

I've had so many fun times with these girls: The "wa" game, silly songs at girl's camp, saran wrapping cars, saran wrapping the bishop and his wife, the duck tape master, the bandana chief, and so many other wonderful memories! I'm so lucky that even all the way in Texas I was able to find friends who had the same values as I did and accepted me with such welcoming arms. Thank you girls for being such great friends!
Love, 
Kydney

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Yours Truly

My new years resolution was to start a blog. So here we go, I finally did it. Yes, I am well aware that it is March. However, I had a friend tell me that as long as I started the blog before next year, I was still fulfilling my new years resolution. Yay me!

Now, I'm not very witty. So this blog will probably not be very funny. I am not very emotional. In fact, my mother tells me that I have no heart at all. So I wouldn't expect to shed any tears if I were you. But, if you're looking for a way to waste some time. I think I can help you out with that.

I decided to do my first post all about me. This is where I get to be totally and completely conceded (muahaha!) So here it goes....

This is me.
(Photo courtesy of Miss Jody Baughman)

This is my family.
(Mom, Tom, Riley, Brady, and me)

(Dad, Anna, Nicolaus, and Megan)

Yes, I am well aware the I have the cutest siblings EVER!

These are my friends.
(But not all of them)









This is my school.

And finally...
I love the gospel of Jesus Christ and I know that it is true.

And that's my life in a nutshell :)

Have a wonderful week!
-Syd