I found a recipe titled Clone of a Cinnabon on allrecipes.com.  It is by far the best cinnamon roll recipe we have made so far.  We used the dough cycle on our bread machine but if you look in the reviews, people do tell you how to make them without a bread machine. 

Mark said that the recipe was easy but did take a lot of work and is kind of messy.  The second time for the rolls to rise, the recipe says that they will double but they hardly rose for us.  Also, be sure to check to make sure they are done because we cooked them close to 20 minutes instead of the 15 minutes and they still could have been cooked a little longer.  We also cut them into more than 12 rolls because I told Mark to roll them the wrong way.

They were delicious so I suggest giving them a try!!

Sue quilted us an alphabet blanket for the baby.  She did a fantastic job!  It was a great surprise the last time we visited.  I am a little late on posting the blog but thank you so much for the blanket!

Tanya crocheted us a pink baby blanket.  Knowing that she is great at crocheting we feel honored that she took her time to make us a blanket, especially with having a new baby herself.  Thanks Tanya!

Jeff invited our parents, and April and I to La Crosse to see his band Cardiac Radio play, and we had a great time!  They have a good thing going.  The concert was at a small rock venue called The Warehouse.  It was a very nice place with a lot of character.  It was non smoking and alcohol free, so perfect for an expectant mother. :)

They had the most ridiculously huge poster in the window of the building, which Jeff was lucky enough to get his hands on the day after.  It was about as tall as he was.

The next day Jeff, April, and I made dinner for the bunch.  Stuffed pork chops, mashed potatoes, and fresh green beans were on the menu.  We smoked up the apartment a bit, but the outcome was worth it.  To round it out we made a healthy cake for Valentine’s Day.

It was a fun weekend had by all.  I hope Cardiac Radio can play in Milwaukee sometime.

Here are all of the pictures.  

Here is Cardiac Radio's myspace site.

Saturday we decided to have a few friends over for a “fun-do” party, aka fondue party. :)  We made a cheese fondue for the appetizer, then used oil in the fondue pot to cook the main course, and dessert was a chocolate caramel fondue.  It was all delicious and if someone went home hungry it was their own fault.  We had so much food it was ridiculous!!

Here are all of the pictures.

Sunday we stopped by Bill and Tanya’s house to meet their new baby.  Brady is a month old and absolutely precious!  We also wanted to spend time with them since we hadn’t been able to see them since October!  We were originally going to leave before the Super Bowl game but decided that we wanted to spend more time with them.  Tanya cooked some wings and we had some other snacks as well.  We did not go home hungry!!

Lauren really enjoyed playing with Mark.  She was following him around and insisting on sitting in his lap.  It was adorable!  She even followed him to the bathroom and stood outside the door.  When she heard the toilet flush she yelled “Mark, wash your hands!”  When Tanya offered Lauren a piece of gum (so she would stop trying to eat the silly putty) she immediately asked Mark if he wanted a piece. 

Here are all of the pictures.

Saturday we celebrated a late Christmas with my family.  We drove to Ashley’s apartment in Normal, Illinois and sat around and chatted before opening gifts.  After that we went out to lunch at Carlos O’ Kelly’s and then did some shopping.  Mom, Josh, and Kaitlin had to leave around 5 because Kaitlin had a social studies fair she needed to attend for school.  Mark and I stayed at Ashley’s awhile and then the three of us went out for dinner at Avanti’s.

If you don’t know about Avanti’s you probably didn’t go to ISU.  It’s an Italian restaurant near campus that has been around for a long time.  It’s cheap but very tasty!  We decided that since we were there that we would bring back some of the bread for Phil and Sue.  Hopefully it was a nice surprise for them. 

Here are all of the pictures.