Caramel Bread

The other day Matthew went to a game night at a friend's house. He came home raving about this caramel bread that he ate while there. Since then I have been wanting to attempt to make some. Today I finally did. It turned out delicious. Yuummmm! I had no idea I liked caramel so much! After making this recipe I noticed a couple of things that needed to be modified. So below is the modified recipe.

Ingredients

• DOUGH
• 7 1/2 oz. water
• 1 egg
• 3 cups bread flour
• 4 tbsp. sugar
• 3 tbsp. powdered milk
• 1 1/2 tsp. salt
• 5 tbsp. butter
• 2 tsp. rapid-rising yeast

• CARAMEL
• 3/4 stick margarine
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup vanilla ice cream
• TOPPING
• 2 tbsp. butter
• Cinnamon
• 1/2 cup brown sugar

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place all dough ingredients in bread machine in order given. Set on "Dough" setting and turn on machine.
2. Make caramel: Melt 1 stick of margarine and add 1 cup of brown sugar and 1 cup of vanilla ice cream in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and boil for a couple of minutes. Remove from stove and set aside.
3. When machine has finished cycling, remove dough from pan, place on lightly floured surface. Pat dough into a rectangle, spread with 2 tbsp butter and sprinkle lightly with cinnamon. Crumble about 1/2 cup brown sugar all over. Roll up dough and place loaf into lightly greased loaf pan. 
4. Let them raise until doubled, about 45 minutes or so. Bake for approximately 20 to 25 minutes. Remove bread from oven and pour caramel over bread. Bake additional 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown.

Hope It Doesn't Cave

We have gotten sooo much snow this year already. It has been lovely. 

Hopefully our deck doesn't cave in from all of this snow :)

Meeting Orson/Thanksgiving in GA

mini Thanksmas in Texas

After going to Phoenix, we flew to Dallas to see my family. Gini was coaching a basketball tournament there, so we decided to meet up there so that we could see her as much as possible between games and such.

We got to meet our precious new nephew, Trey! Isn't he a chunk? Adorable! And it was so fun to see how much Will and Levi love being older brothers to this little guy :)

Shelley just loves group hugs.

Matthew and I got to open our Thanksmas presents early :)

Peyton Jo and Ben enjoying a little time in the flower pot.

I love Peyton's expression in the pictures below. 

She looks a tad perplexed that Ben is in the flower pot with her :)

Colton and Nate spent a little time hanging out in the linen closet. They had a blast!

Peyton Jo and her new cut and tie blanket from her Aunt Sarah Jo :)

We had a wonderful visit in Texas! I am so thankful that we were able to go and got to see everyone while we were there. We are so blessed.

It Doesn't Stop Here

I remember one of the hardest things to deal with after Tyler's death was going back to "normal" life. It felt like I was in some way betraying him by doing the mundane tasks of life.

Matthew and I spent time with Devin and Sarah and their family in Phoenix. We went to the balloon release that we held in Logan's honor and attended the memorial service as well. There were so many people that attended both. People who loved Logan and wanted to be there to support and love his family during this time. It was incredible to see how Logan's family was/is choosing to rely on God during this time.  But now, as they each must go back to doing the everyday tasks that life requires...now is when they need even more support than ever. They need people to talk about Logan. They need people to ask them how they are doing. They need people to be willing to cry with them. They need people to talk about it even when it is hard to talk about. They need people to be praying for them. They need people to remind them of God's faithfulness. Now, as they go on with life, is the time that they need the most support.

Here are a few pictures from our time in Arizona.

I don't know what the boys were doing here. But while we were there, we spent time looking through pictures of Logan. It was fun to laugh and cry as we talked and heard stories of Logan's life.

On Saturday night a friend of Logan's hosted a balloon release. We all got balloons and wrote a note and attached it to the balloon.

Christian, one of Logan and Devin's nephews, celebrated his 1st birthday while we were there.

Christian enjoying some watermelon!

Sarah and her sweet sister, Melissa.

That adorable belly!!! Can't wait to meet little PG.

Giving Travis a hard time :)

We were so blessed by this family during our time there. Our prayers will continue to be with them as we know that this is only the beginning of the grieving process.

"And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great." ~Job 2:13