General Conference Weekend

I absolutely love General Conference Weekend! It was rainy here in Houston and so cozy. It was a perfect weekend to stay in the house and watch conference in our pj's. The kids did pretty good, thanks to some activity books and word searches that my mom printed off for them off the Internet, that quizzed them about which general authority was who, etc. etc.

I think the thing I love about Conference is the spiritual lift I receive from it. My testimony is just solidified of my Savior, and of the truthfulness of this gospel. I think my favorite was Elder Jeffery R. Holland's powerful talk on the Book of Mormon. What an amazing testimony of the truthfulness of this amazing book that he gave!

It is our family tradition to have homemade cinnamon rolls on Conference Weekend, and now that my kids are old enough to remember traditions, I can't forget, or better yet, cheat and get the Pillsbury kind. (This I was tempted... 1. because Eric stayed in Abilene to study for his board exam, and 2. because at 10pm on Sat. night I decided to start making them. When it is late... I'm thinking, why didn't I do Rhodes Cinnamon Rolls like my mom told me to. (Side note: My mom is really great about trying to make my life easier... she's always been this way... "Katie, Just go to bed, don't stay up doing that history project..." that was 15 years ago... Now it's like, "Katie, just buy the ready made and don't stay up making the homemade." My mom is big on getting enough sleep. This is nice in a way... but other times I'm thinking... I'm thirty years old, I can stay up till 1am making cinnamon rolls if I want to. =)

The kids were so excited to wake up to not only cinnamon rolls, but homemade whole wheat bread. ...I started making whole wheat cinnamon rolls (trying to be healthy) but they looked a little too healthy, so I made two loaves of bread with the dough and started white flour, white sugar, unhealthy but yummy traditional cinnamon rolls. And we had cream cheese icing to top them.. yum yum!

gotta love; cream cheese icing right off the beaters!

Here's the Recipe for these

Cinnamon Rolls

(it is a recipe from Maylene Call; she was my Laural Advisor growing up and her daughter entered these rolls into a FFA/ home-economics Rodeo Competition and won the $500 prize)

1/2 c. Sugar

1/2 c. Potato Flakes

1/2 c. Powdered Milk

2t. Salt

4 C. flour

1 Cube Margarine

3 C. Hot Water (don't get it too hot, or it will cook the potato flakes)

Then add: 2 T Instant Yeast and 2 Eggs; Mix for 2 minutes

Then add an additional 3-4 cups more flour and mix

Let rise for 1 hour- covered with a damp cloth.

Divide the dough in half and roll out into rectangles

Brush with softened or melted butter- ALL OVER

Sprinkle with Cinnamon and Sugar (1c sugar to 2T. cinnamon)

Roll up and cut each roll into 12 slices

Let rise again

Bake at 350- 375 for 10-13 minutes

Frost while still warm

Frosting:

8 oz. cream cheese, softened, room temp.

1t. pure vanilla extract

1 stick unsalted butter- room temp.

1 lb. confectioners sugar

Beat cream cheese and vanilla on medium until creamy. Gradually add butter, then reduce speed to low and add the powdered sugar.

... so worth the calories... and so yummy

(it makes me feel better to use the 1/3 less fat cream cheese... not that it makes a difference, but it eases my conscience.. :)