By special request

Banana tip: When your bananas are beyond the "happily edible" stage, pop them in the freezer. Defrost when needed for something baked (such as these muffins). WARNING: They will look black and slimy and disgusting, but they are fine once baked.

Banana Crumb Muffins

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 bananas, mashed
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
  
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans
  

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease muffin cups, or line with muffin papers.
2. In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg, melted butter and vanilla. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
3. In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and cinnamon. Cut in 1 tablespoon butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Add pecans. Sprinkle topping over muffins.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

This is dedicated to the one I love

Wow, Mark and I have been married for five years! Happy Anniversary Honey! I can't believe we made it!He told me had to work on our anniversary (which was no surprise, he usually does) and then super-surprised me with an overnight trip to Long Beach, just the two of us! We went to the Queen Mary at sunset. Neither of us had been and I'd always wanted to see it. We went on the Ghosts and Legends tour and it kind of freaked me out. Good thing Mark decided against spending the night ON the Queen Mary! Then we went to dinner at an amazingly romantic Italian restaurant, L'Opera. Annoyingly, there was a No on Prop 8 rally right outside our hotel that night so that put a damper on our plans.

The next morning we went to the Aquarium of the Pacific, another place I'd always wanted to visit. I got to feed the birds and it was a little freaky at first. The fish were just incredible! I had to keep reminding myself that they were real and that we weren't on the Nemo ride at Disneyland! I can't wait to bring the girls!
Project Runway anyone?
We had a fabulous time. Thank you Mark for making it a really special anniversary.

I Love You!

Halloween Festivities 2008

Halloween is so much more fun with kids! Boy, did we live it up. First we went to a Halloween Party sponsored by a local Mom's Club. Allegra was a sunny daffodil.
Aurora was a Japanese girl, compliments of Grandma and Grandpa's trip to Japan.The girls loved all the party food the best!
The Saturday before Halloween we had a girls pre-party party. JoElle taught me the art of carving pumpkins. I've always hated carving pumpkins--probably because I've used the wrong tools all these years and only ended up with the classic triangle eyes, nose and mouth. But now, thanks to JoElle's instruction and Jennifer doing most of the work . . .
I was finally proud of my cat pumpkin! JoElle made the amazing Trick-or-Treat pumpkin on the left. Maybe next year I won't be so intimidated! And maybe next year I'll get to light it because unfortunately, it was a moldy mess long before Halloween came.
Our ward Halloween party that night was tons of fun. Aurora wore costume number two, a fairy.
Her friends Ashlyn and Leah were fairies, too.
No, Dad's costume was not a Bruin fanatic--he actually wore that.
The girls are just starting to get into the Trick-or-Treat thing. Luckily, Aurora forgot all about the candy by the next morning. Next year, I won't be so lucky.
This is her friend Kaleb--don't get any ideas, he's just helping her "cross the street."
And then came the big night. We visited Grandma and Grandpa's house, and Aurora was pretty scared of Grandpa's new toy bat. We had to coax her in the house for a treat bag of grapes. This is the last year grapes will be the highlight of Halloween! We walked up and down our street looking at the decorations and other kids costumes and then called it a night. Happy Hauntings till next year!