Working on it

I know it's been a very long time since I've posted so I'll try to make this a good one. This last week I went to a little R.S. class where they taught us how to make freezer and cooked jam. I had always been under the impression that making jam was a difficult task. Not true. Trust me, if I can take the time and effort to make it, anyone can. I would highly recommend making freezer jam. You don't have to slave over a hot stove and it still tastes great, if not better than cooked jam. From what I've been told, the only difference between freezer and cooked jam is 1) the consistency (freezer jam is more runny) 2) freezer jam can be stored for up to a year and cooked can be stored for longer and 3) freezer jam tends to taste better and fresher. Here's where I tell you what you need to make freezer jam:

1) Fresh fruit.

2) Pectin. I used Sure-Jell but there are many brands out there. This will be your best friend as the instructions inside tell you exactly how to make the jam.

3) Sugar

4) Lemon juice

5) Light corn syrup

6) Freezer containers. I'd recommend Ball Plastic Freezer Jars. They come with a nifty screw-on lid and several different sizes.

7) Food processor

Follow the instructions included in the pectin package and you can't go wrong. :)

18 jars of jam made in less than 2 hours. Not too shabby.

Whipped

Stef, Darin, Shawn and I were watching a movie last Saturday and stumbled upon the conversation topic of men being "whipped." No, not that kind. This kind: Being completely controlled by a woman to the point where you will do or say anything that she tells you to. (Thank you, Urban dictionary.)

Darin: What's whipped mean?

Sarah: Ya know? When a guy is so in love with a girl that he will do anything for her.

Darin: Am I whipped?

Stef: No.

Darin: Yes I am, you're pregnant.

Stef: But there are still things I can't get you to do.

Shawn: (crickets chirping.)

10 mins later.

Shawn: Look. The black and white Wiis are going to be on sale for $169 on Black Friday.

Sarah: Why do I have to want the red one? ($200.) We should just get a black or white one.

Shawn: No. I'm getting you a red one because I'm whipped.

Sarah: Awwww. That was sweet. Thanks honey.

Aren't I a lucky girl?

Mario, what?

10 P.M. last Friday:

Shawn, Cassie and Sarah playing Super Mario Bros Wii.

12:45 A.M. Saturday:

Sarah: Shawn, why don't you try passing the level by yourself. You're the Mario Queen.

Shawn: Queen?

Sarah and Cassie: LOL!!!

Sarah: I meant King. I'm really tired.

Shawn: I'm not playing anymore. (Continues playing but is devastated that he's been called a Queen.)

The following morning I was still chuckling about it and decided to share it with the Facebook world. Here's the conversation that morning:

Sarah: Just so you know, I put the Mario Queen thing as my Facebook status.

Shawn: (very somber) I'm traumatized. You're lucky I woke up with my Manhood this morning.

Sarah: Bwahhhhaaa-haaa-hhhaaaa!

I know this whole thing is quite embarrassing for Shawn but it's so funny I can't stop sharing it. So, here I am blogging about it so that 10 years down the road I can look back at this and laugh some more.

Shawn's 32nd Birthday

I love to bake, but working forty hours a week and trying to eat healthy doesn't really allow this love to be expressed. So, this year I was determined to make a masterpiece for Shawn's birthday. I decided that a Chewbacca cake would be the easiest Star Wars cake to make. I looked around online and found a few skimpy tutorials. Here's how I made the cake:

1. Baked one 9 x 13 cake and two 9" round cakes. Both were German Chocolate.
2. Let the cakes cool completely and remove from the pans.
3. Cut the 9 x 13 cake horizontally down the center of the cake. (I wanted to have a coconut pecan frosting filling because it's Shawn's favorite.) To separate the two halves, I took a small plastic cutting board to carefully lift the top half so I could frost the bottom half.
4. Cut one of the 9" round cakes into fourths. Took 2/4 of that cake and placed them at the bottom of the 9 x 13 so that they would look like shoulders.
5. Round cut the top two corners of the 9 x 13 cake to look head-shaped.
6. Frosted the entire cake with dark chocolate frosting.
7. Used a decorating tip and frosted individual hair strands in hair-like directions with dark chocolate frosting.
8. Placed tic tacs on the cake for teeth and half of a pink starburst (flattened) as a tongue.
9. Cut a piece of cake in the shape of a nose and frosted with black frosting.
10. Used the decorating tip to draw the outline of the eyes and filled the eyes with a cream cheese frosting (for the white of the eyes.) Lastly, placed two brown M & M's for the pupils of the eyes.
11. Ta-da! Finished.

Here's the final result:

I bought Shawn french toast from Kneader's for breakfast. For dinner Shawn's sister and family met us at Texas Roadhouse. We ate Chewbacca after Texas Roadhouse. Here's the birthday boy at Texas Roadhouse:

Star Wars Celebration Five a.k.a. CV

For those of you who know us Kemple's well, you know that we are Star Wars freaks!When Lucasfilm announced the location of CV last December, I hopped online to see if I could find cheap airplane tickets to Orlando, Florida. I found 2 roundtrip tickets for around $500. Finding such a great deal, I strongly urged my husband to purchase the tickets so we could go. (Unfortunately we had to jump on the tickets ASAP as we knew how many Star Wars fans would be doing the exact same thing and we didn't plan any extra days on our trip. But that's ok, we still had a blast!)

Thanks to Chris and Aimee Botkins for picking us up at the airport at 1 AM Eastern time. Chris and Shawn met on a Star Wars forum and became friends. Geeky, I know! Chris and Aimee are a wonderful couple whom we spent a lot of time with at the Celebration. We look forward to meeting up with them again (they live in Wyoming.)

Here are some of the things I was able to do.

1. I met Ashley Eckstein, who voices Ahsoka on The Clone Wars cartoon and also designs Star Wars clothing specifically for women. Her Universe She is a great gal--very down-to-earth.
2. I also met Ben Burtt who is a Sound Designer amongst other things. Ben did the sounds for Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Wall-e and is known as "the voice of R2-D2." He was very friendly. For 20 bucks I was able to meet him and get his autograph. Get this; he told me he recorded the bullet ricochets for Indiana Jones in a canyon in the Provo area. He reused those sounds for Wall-e as well.
3. I saw Warwick Davis aka Willow aka Wicket aka Professor Flitwick in person. He did a free live event where he talked about his work in Star Wars, Willow, Leprechaun and Harry Potter. I had a great time at this event! He is one of my favorite actors. I attempted to get his autograph but he was only available for two hours one day of the celebration. I arrived in the autograph line two hours before signing and they had just closed off the line! I was so furious! Mostly because I am such an avid fan and I had just missed my chance by 30 seconds or so. Anyway, the Ben Burtt autograph helped ease my pain.
4. While walking back to our hotel, (I had a Yoda backpack on my back) a very tall man behind me said in an accurate Yoda voice, "The force is strong with this one." I turned to him and said, "Wow! That is really good!" He said, "It should be, it's what I do for a living." It didn't register at the moment but a few minutes later, after he had bolted past us, Shawn and I realized that it had been Tom Kane, the voice of Yoda on The Clone Wars! Man, did I feel sheepish after not picking up on that one!
5. Shawn and I purchased tickets to "Last Tour to Endor." This entailed a ticket to ride Star Tours for the last time! This also meant we were able to ride a few extra rides at one of the parks of Disneyworld. After 7 PM the park was closed except for those who had the Endor ticket. There were even special Star Wars fireworks, which were the most mind-blowing fireworks I have ever seen!
6. I bought those wonderful red and blue t-shirts that you will see in this post! They are classic. I also bought several vintage items: an Ice Capades and Ewoks banner and a sealed R2-D2 cake pan that is discontinued, which I will never open. (I went to the Ice Capades and Ewoks when I was little and have been searching for some memorabilia to collect.)

Here are some pictures of our adventures. Believe me when I say that this doesn't even come close to representing what a wonderful time we had. I told Shawn that it was the best few days of my life.

Me and Ben Burtt
A ginormous and well-made Chewbacca costume!
Shawn on a speeder
Star Speeder 3000
Fare thee well!

I loved this painting!
Me and Elvis Trooper
Warwick Davis
Me and Ashely Eckstein
Me, Shawn, Chris and Aimee

Simply Snapshots by Donalee Walker

Because Shawn and I had never had professional pictures taken, I decided it was time. Donalee Walker had posted on her facebook status that she was headed up North (Provo area) and would be available to do some sessions. I had seen her work and jumped at the first chance I had. I also convinced my brother to have his family pictures taken as well. Donalee did an excellent job!

I'm having a tough time deciding which pictures I should get prints of. I want at least one canvas. Feel free to tell me which ones are your favorites; it will help in the decision making. Here they are:

These two are my favorite!!

I love this one!

The Other Guys

When I saw the trailer for this movie I wasn't quite sold on the idea. Don't get me wrong, I love Will Ferrell but the trailer made this movie look beyond cheesy. I'll tell you right now the phrase "Don't judge a book by it's cover" immediately comes to mind.
Because I was so hesitant to see this film I decided to check rottentomatoes.com. (I tend to do this when I'm "iffy" about a movie.) The consensus is 79% which I highly agree with.

Allen Gamble (Will Ferrell) and Terry Hoitz (Mark Wahlberg) make a polar-opposite partnership. Gamble is determined to be a desk-cop and Hoitz wants to be a lean, mean crime-fighting team. Gamble seems naive and hard-working while Hoitz longs to get in on the action. After Gamble sets things in motion by following up on a scaffolding violation, the plot thickens. I don't want to give away any more of the story line but let me tell you some of my favorite parts: Ferrell screams, "America!" while putting pedal to the medal. There are several references to the the singing group TLC. And perhaps the funniest part of the film: attractive women are drawn to Will Ferrell like flies are to honey!

I really expected this film to be cheesy but I found it to be quite clever. For those of you who are familiar with Will Ferrell humor, you will not be alarmed. For those of you who aren't, be prepared for crude and sexual humor. This was perhaps the best cop duo I have seen since Gibson and Glover (Lethal Weapon.) I highly recommended this if you are looking for huge laughs.

Here's the trailer:



P.S. Let me know what you think of my review. Also, my review on Inception is going to have to wait. I want to review it when it's still fresh in my head.