This is what Happens When I don't Update my Blog Every Week

I've got a lot to catch up with on here, seeing as how I haven't posted for 3 WEEKS. Be prepared for a long post.

First off, I would like to wish all my readers a happy new year!

Now to get things started, here is an amazing recipe I found on pinterest for baked rigatoni. First you boil the rigatoni. When it is done, drain and then stand all the noodles upright in a baking dish. I used a 9x9.

Then you pour sauce over the top. It fills in all the noodles.

Then you grate lots of cheese over the whole thing, the more cheese, the better.

Bake in the oven at 350 for 10-15 minutes.

It leaves little "craters" in some of the noodles, which just adds to how awesome this simple dish is.

The next recipe I have for you is this delicious ice cream pie:

All you have to do is scoop softened ice cream over a graham or shortbread crust and top with your favorite fudge sauce (because I KNOW you have one that you THINK is the "best" recipe). I chopped up candy bars and put them on top of my individual pieces. The one pictured above is snickers. The one below is M&M's.

mmmmm.... delicious

Ok, last recipe and then I will move onto Christmas

This is my bread recipe that I made these amazing cinnamon rolls out of:

I use this recipe for everything and it comes out perfect every. single. time. I have made cinnamon rolls, pizza crust, breadsticks, homemade bread, apple strudel, and lots more stuff out of it, and it never ceases to amaze me. P.S. it is designed to be made in a kitchen aid mixer.

1 tbsp. yeast

1/4 cup sugar

1 cup water

2 1/2 cups of flour

1 tbsp oil

1/4 tsp. salt

Put yeast and sugar in bowl. Add water and stir with spoon. let sit for 10 minutes as yeast activates. Add flour, oil, and salt. Mix for 6 minutes on speed 1 on your kitchen aid. Let rise for 45 min.- 1 hour. Roll out on floured surface and use for whatever you want!

I have baked it at oven temperatures from 350- 400 for anywhere from 10-20 minutes and I can't rave enough about how amazing it comes out with everything I make from it.

Here are my cinnamon rolls with icing. It is just a mixture of milk and powdered sugar. I added a little nutmeg for some extra flavor.

Now for Christmas:

We went to my husbands parent house for Christmas, where I wish I had taken more pictures. We got some great gifts including new clothes, some books, lots of great board games, seeds for a garden, the Tangled DVD, a tool set, lots of chocolate, a matching dishes set, and I got put on their phone plan, so I now have unlimited texting for the first time, and I can call my husband at any time for no cost. yay. We also got a manger set, which I was excited about, because our apt. lacks one and it even matched the precious moments ornaments out tree is decorated with.

I do have a picture of this puzzle we got of the temple we got married in (Bountiful, UT). It was only a hundred pieces, so I was actually able to put it together, which I appreciated.

I'm excited to be able to glue it together and hang it up.

I asked my husband to get me something creative and free for Christmas, and being the amazing person he is, he wrote a history of our first year together, with pictures and everything.

It was perfect. Meaningful, creative, and a great keepsake and tradition to continue and hand down to children some day.

I got him the 12 dates of Christmas. I put together 12 envelopes I made out of scrapbook paper. Each envelope contains a creative and fun date for use to go on each month of the year.

You'll have to stay tuned each month to find out more about our dating adventures that we will be going on.

Well that's it for today. Thanks for reading if you actually made it to the bottom of this monster post. I'll make a new years goal to update more often.