Lemon Bars

I love lemon, all things lemon make me happy. So, when I saw this new recipe for lemon bars I wanted to give it a try. The only concern with your traditional lemon bar is that it can taste a little eggy, if you know what I mean. These are lighter then your average lemon bar, but not as light as say pound cake. At any rate I wanted to share the recipe.

I got it from this blog: http://cookiesandcups.com/lemonade-brownies/

But she has it for an 8x8 and I adapted the recipe for a 9 x13 pan.

Lemon Bars

Ingredients

1 cup butter, room temperature
2/3 cup dry lemonade powder
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 egg, plus 4 yolks
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder

Glaze

2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 c. lemon juice (or lemonade)
1 tsp lemon zest

How to Make
Preheat oven to 350°
Spray an 9x13 pan with cooking spray, set aside.
Cream butter, sugar and lemonade powder in mixer for about 2 minutes,until light and fluffy.
Add in eggs and yolks and vanilla. Continue mixing until incorporated.
Turn mixer to low and add in flour and baking powder. Stir until combined.
Spread batter into prepared pan.
Bake about 25 minutes until edges begin to golden and center is JUST set. Do not over bake.
Remove from oven and cool on wire rack.

Glaze
Stir powdered sugar, lemonade or lemon juice and zest in a small bowl and pour over cooled bars.
Let glaze set for at least an hour before cutting into squares

Birthday Party

Such a happy Memorial Day! We celebrated Luke's birthday today with family and great BBQ.
Enjoy some photos.

 Everyone had fun playing outside and chatting. Uncle Chris was awesome to play ball with the boys.

 Tiffani made the cake and it was divine!

 Janelle brought Bentley and as you can see Jacob was in heaven.

We had some great burgers and hot dogs.

Luke made out like a bandit. Lots of toys and clothes and books from all the peolpe who love him too.

Happy Happy Birthday Buddy!

Book case

For Mother's Day Dave got me a book case I have been eying for quite some time. It came by UPS freight today. Can't wait to see how it looks in our master bedroom.

Three hours later. . .

I love it! It is the perfect size for the space and I can't wait to add some photos and lovely little items. Not to mention a few books! 

Happy First Birthday Luke!

My little boy is 1! I can't believe it! He has been an amazing blessing to our family. One year ago today he was born in Hawaii, 2 lbs. 5 oz. This morning my guy was 16 lbs. 6 oz. He is just so happy, content and busy.

Last week I took him to the neonatal followup appointment. He is doing awesome! He had his eyes, ears, cognitive abilities, physical development, general health and nutrition all checked. He is on target and right where he should be for his corrected age. We don't need to go back for another 9 months and then that should be the last follow up with the NICU.

I cannot express the joy and love this boy had brought to our family. He was simply meant to be our son. I feel it everyday. The essence of who he is fills me with joy. It was a long path to get Luke home. But now I see each step, heartbreak and disappointment was needed to get to the point where Vivian would see our profile and chose to place Luke with our family.

Blessed, blessed, blessed.

We are celebrating Luke's birthday on Monday, so our extended family can be here with us too. I will post photos!

China Update

Great news! Our agency got our dossier today and they will double check to make sure nothing is missing (although they per-approved all our documents before they were certified.) Then. . . drum roll. . . our Dossier will go out to China tomorrow.

China is getting closer and closer. I am looking forward to going back. If all goes well, we could have a referral by fall.

Book & Adoption Update

As you can tell when I have a spare moment I have not been blogging. I have been working on my book.  I am just about to finish my 9th chapter (4 more to go.) I have about 30,000 words done.  My family has been reading my chapters and giving me feedback. I can't wait to finish this book. It is a mix of being driven to complete the project and also wanting some free time again, to scrapbook, read. . . do laundry :)

I got a post card from Deseret Book, postmarked May 15. It said:

Thank you for your recent unsolicited manuscript submission. It is now under review.

Due to an overwhelming number of such submissions and the length of our review process, it will be twelve to sixteen weeks before we are able to contact you concerning its status. We appreciate your patience.

 So, it is nice to know the chapters did not just get lost in a void.  It is in a pile somewhere waiting.

I have decided as soon as I finish my book I will submit the competed manuscript to Cedar Fort. The process takes so long. I don't want to sit around and wait to hear from Deseret Book before I move forward. That way all I have to do is wait and hear. It is kind of like adoption. You have do all the paperwork first then it is out of your hands.

Speaking of adoption. Our China adoption paperwork arrived from D.C. today. The reason it has taken 3 weeks is because a Wyoming document was not correct so we had to resubmit it, then it took twice as long at the State Department because they have a deluge of documents in a rush to get it done. Why? Because China (CCCWA) is not  accepting dossiers from May 24-31 while they update their system. So, it looks like our dossier wont get to China until June, then another month before we have a login date. At any rate, the dossier is complete. done. over. It is on its way to Austin and our agency as I type. They will receive it tomorrow morning.

They will send it China when they can. There is nothing we can do about it. Even if they got it there before the shutdown, it will sit there for a week and nothing will happen. We have done everything we can, now all we can do is wait. Ahh the wait. My favorite.

Book Report

I have been working on my book. It has been a good experience and I have enjoyed it. I just finished my forth chapter. I have about 12,000 words completed of my 40,000 goal. I submitted my sample chapters a week ago and since have seen some interesting information about Deseret Book.

They get about 1500 manuscripts each year, they publish around 60 books a year and of those about 10 are from first time authors. That is a less then 1% chance of being published as a first time author. I must admit, I knew it was pretty competitive, but I didn't know it was that competitive. (Maybe I should work on that astronaut back up plan. . .)

I still plan on finishing my manuscript and will submit it to Cedar Fort after I hear back from Deseret Book. . . .11 more weeks of waiting :)