Cinnamon Rolls

We made cinnamon rolls for General Conference!! *First try successful*
Oh my goodness, they were SO yummy! And, we still have half a pan full, so we will be enjoying these yummies for days :)

We found a recipe from Pinterest here.

But, for convenience, I will write it here as well. I changed the original a little bit, according to our preference (ex. we like more frosting). Enjoy!!

Cinnamon Rolls

Dough:
1 package yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
1 cup warm milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup maragarine
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
4 cups flour

Filling:
1 cup brown sugar
3 tbsp cinnamon
1/3 cup margarine

Icing:  (this is all "ish", I added more as needed) 
1/2 cup margarine
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup cream cheese
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt

1. Dissolve yeast in warm milk.
2. Add sugar, butter, salt, eggs, and flour to mixer. Mix well.
3. Add milk/yeast mixture, use dough hook and mix well.
4. Remove dough from mixer, place into greased bowl, cover, let rise in warm area about an hour or until dough doubles in size.
5. Roll dough out on lightly floured surface (approx. 16x12 inch), about 1/4 inch thick.
6. Make filling: combine brown sugar and cinnamon in bowl.
7. Spread softened (not melted...my mistake) butter on dough. Sprinkle all of mixture over melted butter. This could be messy (the messier the better?) :)
8. Roll carefully, from long edge down. Cut the roll into 1 1/2 inch slices.
9. Place in a greased pan. Cover with a damp towel, let rise about 30 minutes, or until double in size again.
10. Preheat oven to 350 F.
11. Bake for 20 minutes or until light golden brown.
12. Make frosting! Mix all ingredients for frosting and mix well with an electric mixer.
13. When rolls are done, cover generously with icing.

Home Buyers!

We put an offer on a home, and it was accepted!! :) Done with the inspection, everything is great! Closing should be at the end of October!!! Ahh! We are super excited to have a place of our own, some place to call ours!! It's close to work, family, etc so it's a great place for us :)

Master Chefs!

Since being married, Tim and I have become master chefs! ;) We love experimenting and trying new things. We have made homemade pizza, mini chicken pot pies, crockpot chicken, ice cream, meatloaf, etc! It's so fun. I've received the imaginary award of Queen of the Coolest Leftover Lunches at school. But seriously, I always get compliments on how yummy my lunches look, and I bring leftovers more often than not.
In the future, I will post some recipes we have tried and loved. :) So fun!

Costco Shoppers

This may sound pretty silly... but we were excited.

We got our very own Costco Membership!!

haha :) But for real, we were pretty stoked. We walked around, seeing how much MORE stuff we could get, for such a LOWER price! It's like newlywed heaven! :)

Anyways. If you also shop at Costco, chances are, you might see us there....

:)

You Mean Like The Friendly Ghost?

Yes. But with a "K."

I have heard that question SO many times the past few weeks as I've been in the process of changing my name. ha!

But finally, it's official! I'm a Kasper! Finally got my name legally changed through Social Security and the DMV. Now, just to call the million other places that have my old name in their system that needs updated :)

We'll see how many more times I get this question!

Gift Opening

After the long anticipation... we were finally able to find a time that worked for us, my parents, and Tim's parents and open the wonderful gifts we were given for our wedding! We received so many great and thoughtful things, so thanks everyone! We greatly appreciate your love and support and help as we start off this journey together! :) ❤

Honeymoon!

So right after the reception, we went to our houses and changed, and went to In-n-Out for dinner! Yum! haha Then we drove to the Double Tree hotel for our first night as husband and wife. ❤ We had a nice room and a wonderful night :)

We woke up Sunday to drive to California! Getting there a little later, we mostly just relaxed and went to bed again.
Monday, we spend the day relaxing again and went to the pool at the resort we were staying at (Grand Palisades in Carlsbad). The Kasper's have a timeshare they were nice enough to let us use that week! :) We went to dinner and walked around the strip mall a little bit.
Tuesday, we spend most the day at the San Diego Temple were we did proxy sealings and enjoyed the Celestial Room. After, we went to La Jolla beach where again we walked around, and got close to some seals and sea lions! :D
Wednesday, we spend the morning at SeaWorld, because I got some free tickets because I'm a teacher! We saw a cool dolphin show, went on an Atlantis ride, and saw some other cool penguins, turtles, stingrays, etc. It was my first time at SeaWorld, and it was cool! We drove home that afternoon/evening.

Bryndee got married on Thursday, so we had to make sure we were home to make it to her sealing and reception! Again, another beautiful sealing and reception. So fun to have my best friend for so long get married less than a week after me :) ❤ Congrats Bryndiana Jones! :)

The Best Day Ever ❤

So, it's official! We're married!!! ❤ ❤ ❤

Our wedding day was a wonderful day!! It was so beautiful and amazing and happy! Thanks to everyone for their help and support to make our day the best and happiest! :)

We spent the morning Friday setting up for the reception in the church building. With just one little problem: the chapel had no electricity all morning... yikes. Thank goodness it came on later that afternoon, because we had our family dinner Friday night. And Saturday, we had no light problems at all :)

The dinner was nice. Kasper's hosted it, my dad introduced our side, then Tom their side. We ate yummy food, and watched a slide show that my dad very kindly put the time in to make for us. Then, it was off to sleep!

It was actually a good night's sleep for me. Usually, the excitement and anxiety or nerves keep me from sleeping very well. But, I was at peace. I guess there was nothing to be nervous about :) However, when I woke up, my brain triggered a little anxiety and nerves. Not horrible, I still felt at peace, but I had some butterflies flying around my stomach.

My dad gave me one last father's blessing that morning, blessing me with all the blessings needed to be a wonderful wife and future mother and blessing me to know I was doing the right thing. It was a beautiful blessing. Thanks dad!

By the time we entered the temple, all nerves were gone. I felt so much of the Spirit confirming to me that I was doing the right thing. I had so many confirmations the whole time, but being there, the day of, with Tim, I knew it was right. I was so excited and could not stop smiling!

We walked into the sealing room, with so many friends and family waiting for us. It was emotional to see so many loving faces to support us on our special day. Our sealer (Bro Heywood) gave a great talk about the temple ordinances and lead us to the actual sealing ordinance.

And there, we were sealed for time and all eternity as husband and wife ❤ ❤ ❤

We quickly changed, took pictures, and just a small fiasco with the heat and Grandma Glasgow fainting from heat exhaustion..! yikes! She's fine now though, so that's good news!

We went to Tim's house and ate some sandwiches his mom kindly made us, napped a little, then went back to the church to finish setting up for the reception.

It was a beautiful reception. Again, so many people there to say hi and support us! It was so great to see all the familiar faces I hadn't seen in so long!

We cut our cake, and were nice about it. We did a father/daughter and mother/son dance. Then we danced together ❤ After, we did the bouquet toss and garter toss, and made our way out with our loved ones holding sparklers for us! We made our way to our decorated car, and head off to In-n-out for a quick dinner before starting our honeymoon journey (story to come next post!)

The day of my wedding is now my favorite day of my life ❤ I am so happy I get to be Tim's wife, for all of time and eternity!! ❤

Bridals Session

Well shoot... It's been a little while.. Oopsies! As I'm sure you understand, things have been pretty busy here as we plan for our wedding...!!! IT'S COMING QUICK!! ❤ ❤ ❤

Elizabeth took our bridal shoot last week, and we got the pictures back. Again, I'm in love. ❤ We got all fancied up like we will for our wedding day, and went down to the temple to take some pictures. Man, they're gorgeous! We're adorable, if I do say so myself ❤ haha Even after a small misunderstanding of which temple we should be at, we ended up with great lighting and amazing pictures! A thanks to Bryndee and Ashlyn for helping with my dress, hair, and flowers during the session. And to Kymber for taking a video shoot at the same time!! ❤

Engagement Pics!

We got our engagement pictures back!! ❤ ❤ ❤

We took them a few days after we got back from the cruise, and oh man!!! I'm in love with them!!!

Our photographer is Lexine's nephew's wife, Elizabeth. I love her style of pictures, she's so great!! We went to the Salt River, and enjoyed a full 20-30 minutes of close-ish kissy pictures with an audience.. awkward. But I must say, the pictures turned out absolutely adorable!! See for yourself!!

The Home Story

Tim and I had a really neat experience as we were trying to find a place to live.

We had searched for several (SEVERAL) apartment complexes, most were full. Most were expensive, more expensive than we thought. But, a necessary expense. We finally came to terms with having to pay a fortune for a teeny apartment. We had been asking these various apartment complexes if they had openings for May, and only ONE had an opening. It's right down the street from our parents, and seemed like a great place! It looked good, and it felt really good, like we needed to be there :)

Right then, my dad texted me saying the house they rent out opened up. He could probably give us a great deal on it. This house is 4 bedrooms, 2 bath, has a garage, a backyard, and is an actual HOUSE. This would be cheaper than a tiny 1 bedroom, 1 bath apartment with 1 assigned parking space and close neighbors. What a great deal, right??

Tim and I both made a pro/con list, and were trying to figure out what was best for us. We kinda felt like we were "cheating the system," aren't all newlyweds supposed to live in an expensive small apartment?? haha

We prayed, fasted, and went to the temple, and both felt strongly about the apartment. Weird. Everyone we talked to, told us we were crazy, but we felt like we really needed to live at the apartment.

My dad had been encouraging us to at least drive by the house. I didn't think driving by would do anything, since we couldn't see inside at all, but we did. We were on our way to babysit for Tim's brother. After babysitting, we were talking to him about our decision, and he and his wife also thought we were insane. The house is bigger and cheaper, and just a great deal!! There's nothing that says we have to live in an apartment.

On the drive home, we talked about it again, and felt strongly that the house is actually the correct decision. We came to the conclusion, that we were guided in the "wrong" direction so we knew what was right when we finally came to it. I never would have been certain if we were supposed to live in my dad's rental house if it hadn't happened this way.

The Spirit will always guide us, if we have an open heart and are willing to follow it's promptings. I know the Lord knows what's best for us and the way we can learn. He gives us certain experiences so we can progress the most. I know that's what He was doing for this experience. ❤

FAMILY CRUISE!

You know it's right when you can go on a cruise for a week together (and your family) and not get sick of each other. In fact, fall in love a little bit more :) ❤

My family had planned to go on a cruise as a family vacation before Garrett leaves on his mission. (He's going to Concepcion South, Chile on March 30 and going to the Bogota, Colombia MTC). It was a 4 night cruise to Ensenada, Mexico and Catalina Island! Man oh man did we have a blast!!

I love how well Tim gets along with my family. He and Caleb are good buddies (which I love, because Caleb and I have always been close too!). They are so goofy together, it's so great! ❤ Some highlights of the cruise were Tim volunteering to participate in a Hasbro GameShow and winning for his team in a basketball version of Connect 4! Him also volunteering to serenade me in the Motown music show "My Girl" and making sure to dance all silly to make it all the better ;) We tried new foods, walked around, relaxed, slept, and visited the sites! It was a grand ol time :)

Valentine's Day

We had a special Valentine's Day! First of all, we were both each other's first Valentines :) So, to celebrate, we went to Power Ranch lake and fed the ducks! :) Then, we went back to Tim's house and he made me a yummy dinner (eggs benedict!) and watched a movie (Neverwas).
It's a simple date night, but those kind are my favorite! I like enjoying Tim's presence, being with him, and getting to know him better and better! He's so great :)
He knows me so well... He got me a soft, fuzzy blanket, perfume, M&Ms, and a rose! He's so special!

Here's to many more Valentine's dates in the future! <3

Our Story

I thought an appropriate first post would be the story how we met. So, here we go!

Back in November 2014, we were at a YSA stake conference. I knew who Tim was, his family was in my parents' ward, and I knew his younger brothers-ish. Basically, I knew who he was. That's it. I had never talked to him before. But, he came up to me, and introduced himself. I thought it was kinda strange, but didn't think much of it. We are YSA for a reason... why not get to know people? Well, we officially had met, and yup. That's it.
After that, I saw Tim everywhere. Every activity, he made a point to come say "hi" again. Now, at this point, I was very NOT interested. I couldn't tell you why, but I just wasn't. I knew he was a great guy, he was awesome, I just wasn't interested. Friend-zoned. This did not stop Tim!
Little by little, we started hanging out with a big group of friends. He was always there when we had some sort of "party" and invited him. We became better and better friends, but, I was still not interested.
Tim started to ask me on some dates. I had some things going on, and couldn't go, for a long time... and he started realizing I wasn't interested. The invitations stopped for some time, but we continued to be good friends.
Finally, summer of 2015 came around, and we managed to go on a date. We had a fun time! We went out to dinner, and to "As You Wish" to paint some pottery. Smart fella he is, we went on a second date a couple weeks later to pick up our creation. After that, he could tell I really wasn't interested, and left it at that. And I was thankful, I didn't have to tell him no (as I had been thinking, that if he asked me again, I'd have to tell him we should stay just friends).
And, Tim waited patiently. I had gone out on several other dates, and it was all the same. Nope. Nope. Nope. I had some self-reflection time, and changed my idea of how things were going to work out for me. I had the idea that I would go on ONE date, and have a huge YES glowing on the guy's forehead, and THEN I would know he was the right one. I finally became intelligent enough to realize that isn't the case, and I had to try to give some of these guys a chance.
Well, like 2 days later (This is October 2015 now), Tim asks me on another date. I said yes. Now, I don't know what changed in here, but something did. I was a little hesitant at first, but that week waiting for the date, I got more and more excited. By the time our date came along, I was definitely looking forward to it. I had SO much fun with Tim, and all I wanted to do was go on another date with him. I was stuck though.. for SO long, I was dead set against dating Tim. I had no good reason to be against it, I just was. So now, something was changing, and I was confused. All I knew, was that I liked Tim, and that I wanted to be with him again.
The next week, was a busy weekend, and I was bummed we weren't going to be able to go on a date (even if he DID ask me) since we had some friend's doing some things. Luckily for me though, he asked me out to dinner that weekend before going to our friend's house! I think it was at this point, I knew I wanted to date Tim and see what happened. The next day was Halloween, and we went out again. And did stuff the next few days together. A couple weeks later, we knew it was inevitable... and were "officially" dating! Man, I was so happy. Never expected it in a million years, but I was happy :)
On December 24, 2015, Tim proposed. (That's another story for another day!) We will be married on May 14, 2016 in the Gilbert, AZ Temple for time and all eternity. And I am definitely super excited and patiently-ish waiting for the day to arrive.
:)

Our first picture together.
Halloween night, 2015

The Proposal

The next biggest question after "How did you meet?" is "How did he propose?"

Well, here's that story for you :)

It was Christmas Eve, and we were delivering some little gifts for my visiting teaching girls. We had the Severtson Christmas party to get to, and were running a little late. FINALLY we finish delivering, and start heading over to the party.
As we are on our way, Tim tells me that his brother just texted him, and had left a camera at the temple the night before, and that we needed to go and see if it was there. It was going to be closed anyways, and we were already late, so I suggested we go after. Tim seemed pretty anxious to go, and said we should just look, so his brother wouldn't have to worry. We then head in the opposite direction, to stop by the Gilbert Temple.
Tim hops out, and starts looking at the locks to see if maybe, it's open still. I wait in the car. He seems to be very intently searching. We pull up to the front of the temple, he looks some more. I'm still waiting in the car, so he comes to me and asks if I can come help him, he thinks there might be a button or something to open the gate. I get out of the car, and I'm helping look for a few minutes. Still nothing, the temple is locked, and we can't see any camera bag. Just then, Tim looks at me and says "Well, I was kidding.. my brother didn't leave anything here." I was very confused, as we were already late to the Christmas party, and why we had to come here, for nothing? He says "I just wanted to get you here to the temple" kneels down, and asks me to marry him <3 Of course, I said yes! He gave me my mom's wedding ring, special and sentimental. Except, a little too small, and I had to wear it on my pinky for a couple weeks until we could get it resized. I love that he was able to get that from my dad to give to me, it's very special <3
We ran over to the family party after that, to share our big announcement, and everyone was super happy and excited for us.
But, of course, not as happy and excited as we were :)