Ogden in a flash!

Well this weekend we made our quick trip to Ogden for Mitch's niece Ashlyn's wedding. I was asked to make her cake and we decided it would be fun to make the trip to see his family. We don't get to see Mitch's side too often, so we take what we can.

But as all things have their down sides... I came down with a bad cold a few days before, and let me tell you that making a wedding cake and preparing all the things needed while you can barely stand up is... well, difficult to say the least!

The trip down was good weathered and pretty uneventful on Friday. We stayed in their time share condo in Eden Valley, just 20 minutes past Ogden, and it was beautiful and perfect to decorate the cake!

Saturday morning, Mitch woke up with a bad sinus cold, and he is such a huge part of my cake business that I was worried! But we struggled through and after icing each layer and getting ready to start the fondant, I realized I had left the bottom cake stand at home!

So we packed up all my cake stuff and the cakes, and went back to Ogden to do the cake at the church. We finally located something that would work as the cake base, but when we pulled up to the church, we had problems! Obviously, my bottom cake didn't like the curvy roads, and decided to split apart! Lucky for us, we hadn't done the fondant yet! So we pushed it back together, iced it again, and finished the cake... here is the finished product. We even did the flowers on the cake- something new for me! Not bad for a first time job and not knowing what we were doing with the flowers!

I thought it turned out pretty. The happy couple was (I think) pleased and we received many comments on how yummy and moist the cakes were. The top was chocolate cake with coconut pecan filling, the middle was carrot cake with cream cheese filling, and the bottom was a white cake with raspberry filling.

All in all, it was a good weekend and we made it home safely with no problems!

Our Families "New-Do's"

Just like the Autumn trees that are shedding their leaves to lighten their load for the winter, our family has followed the same path and shed some weight ourselves! Not actual weight... I wish... but we have all decided to "lighten our loads" by cutting and changing our hair.

I suppose I started all this about a month ago when my sister Katie, who is not afraid to try anything with her hair, talked me into coloring my hair (for the very first time). I was complaining about all the gray hair I had-- yes, I'm only 29 and had a lot of gray hair! Stop laughing all of you my age... you have it too, just lighter hair to hide it!

Anyway, she talked me into coloring it, but I said okay on one condition... we keep it the same color! I didn't want dramatic change. Well lo and behold... when we were all finished, it was black! Not the dark brown it used to be. But it did take Mitch a few hours before he realized his wife "looked like a mexican" according to him. So my hair was quite a bit darker, so I thought "why not add some spunk to it?!" Then I got it cut, and had about 6 inches cut off! I have never had it quite so dramatic, but I've had a lot of compliments on it, and I think I'm starting to like it!

The boys, well Cameron anyway, were growing theirs out for Halloween (so he could have the messy Harry Potter hair). And the day after Halloween, we decided it was time to cut their hair too. So Mitch pulls out the trusty clippers and gives them a buzz so they can spike their hair just like Dad!

Now by this time, you can imagine Madeline is feeling pretty left out! She tells me, "Mom, I want a hair cut too". So I asked her where she wanted it cut, and she pointed to the top of her shoulders... it was in the middle of her back. So I thought "how hard can it be to cut straight across her hair? Well, let me just say, that I have a new deep respect for all you moms who can cut your daughters hair and make it look good! I thought I was doing so good! But the final product looked like Collin cut her hair!!! Let me justify myself by saying that the scissors were incredibly dull!

Needless to say, Mitch said he would be taking her with him in the morning when he got his hair cut so a "professional" could fix it. So the next morning, off they go, and when they got back... I looked at her and my eyes popped out! I can't believe whoever cut that actually claimed to be a professional!!! It was as if I had done it again... only shorter!

So I started bawling and took her over to the girl that cut my hair and she fixed it as best she could without getting it too short! I was pleased with the end results... and I vow to never touch a pair of scissors again! I will stick to my cake decorating. Anyway, here is our new and somewhat improved family. Mitch is never around for pictures, but he looks the same anyway. Just minus the glasses, since he wears contacts and intends to get Lasic next year.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

As much as I dislike Halloween, (I just think it is ridiculous and expensive!) we did have a good time this year, and I even got Mitch to "dress up" a little.

I guess our festivities started a few days before when we carved our pumpkins. Mitch actually did all the carving, no wait, the kids and I pulled all the "goop" out, then he did the rest... thanks babe! The only pictures we got for some reason were of the two that we entered in our ward's pumpkin carving contest-- we took 2nd place! The first carving is of a goblin (side profile) and the second one is a cute bat in front of a moon. The kids picked out these pictures and then they painted their own little pumpkins.

After all the baking and planning class parties (which included Halloween Bingo and a cupcake walk for Cam's class and tons of treats) they finally got to dress up in their costumes for school.

Madeline this year was Tinkerbell- with a twist... Tink usually doesn't have a mask over her eyes, but it's what she wanted. The picture with the coat was at our Trunk-or-Treat, and the other was on her way to school.. painted faces weren't allowed at school, we were pushing it with the swirls on her cheeks!

Cameron was Harry Potter, and next to the real thing, I've never seen a better one! He loved the homemade wand he and his dad made from a stick, spraypaint, electricians tape and a glowing marble! Does that make us rednecks??? Well he loved it anyway, and it saved me $12 for a stinking wand! He loved to pose for pictures, but unfortunately, I forgot his scar at home, we got it at school and the church party though!

Collin's costume was the most fitting of all and we had so many people tell us how that was so "him". He picked out a monkey costume. He loved to put it on and dance around with his arms under his armpits or over his head while saying "oo oo, ee ee". What a cute kid! And when he saw his sister with face paint, of course, he wanted it too. I have no clue how to paint a monkey face! We had a lot of people ask if he was a lion or tiger... does he look like a lion or tiger to you? Me neither! Oh well, i never claimed to be an artist!

And Finally, here is Mitch and I's costumes. The kids told me to be a vampire this year, so I did. I don't think I have ever dressed up before, and now that I can say I've done it... I don't thinkI'll do it again... especially since this is the extent of Mitch's dressing up.

I need to burn that silly wig of his! I told him he'd make an awesome Dracula or even Captain Jack Sparrow... but no, he doesn't do costumes! Oh well, we're glad it's over, now we get to deal with the sugar rushes from kids and all that fun stuff! I guess you all probably do too! Hope you all had a safe and fun Halloween! Now we get to go clean it all off our faces! fun stuff!

Osama Bin Collin strikes again!!!

Today I have experienced first hand why parents should never leave their 3 and 5 year old unattended... and also why Mitch nicknamed Collin- Osama Bin Collin- he's not terrible... he's a terrorist! But he's so dang cute that we just have to love hime to pieces!

I had just finished making the kids some lunch when I got a phone call from a friend. I told Collin and Madeline to eat their lunch and went downstairs to talk. I guess I had been down there for a while because Madeline came down and said "Mom, Collin is in the flour and he is mixing it with Sprite."

Use your colorful imagination for the words to insert here as I ran up the stairs to find Collin hiding behind the couch with the "oh crap, I am so dead" look, saying "sowwy mom, sowwy mom". I turned to the kitchen and this is what I found...

The entry way to the kitchen... covered in flour, and the walkway to the table...

The table covered in flour, spaghetti noodles and in the yellow cup is the flour and Sprite concoction. (I haven't dared try it yet... ha ha) And of course-- they always blame each other (and you can see who the greater of two evils is!)

As a mother, all I can do is sigh and laugh before I start to cry! I won't get sympathy from Mitch, he just laughed his head off when I called to tell him.... maybe I'll get some from you moms who have gone through this!? Well, gotta go get cleaning!

The Pumpkin Patch

Why is it, that when you want to do something that involves pictures, you can remember to do everything except recharge your camera battery???

Such was the case for us when we took our annual family outing to the "pumpkin patch". This is actually called Linder Farm, and they started out just selling pre-picked pumpkins to people. They have since made it quite a big ordeal- hayride to go get your own pumpkins, corn mazes, tractor pulled train rides, hay bale maze, bounce houses and bouncy slides, and of course, they had to add food and their yummy freshly made donut holes! (You can just feel the grease clogging your arteries... yet, it's their biggest seller!)

We went with just us this year, we usually go with friends ( a good back up plan if your camera doesn't work!) for F.H.E. It's really quite a fun thing... for the kids... who think we, the parents are made of money and can do everything there, and who don't actually end up carrying their own pumpkins, yet they had to pick the biggest one!

The first thing we did when we got there was get in line for the hay ride. While standing in line, Mitch went to take some pics of the kids in the hay bale maze. He got these two before our battery died!

(Above) The kids in the middle of the hay maze

sorry about all the other people, they aren't with

us.

(Right) A better shot of our camera happy kids

Madeline, Cameron and Collin

We had a good time. Unfortunately, we could not do all the things we wanted because we ran out of daylight. The kids each picked a pumpkin and got to play on the bouncy toys. I think they were happy; and for all you who have kids... you know that this is a good time to end the day! We drove home and by the time we got there, they were all asleep... what more could a parent ask for?

Potty-Trained at last!!!

He finally did it! (We hope) Collin finally made it through the night dry with underware on! He has actually been potty trained during the day since he was two years old, but he always wet during naps and at night... I think he finally beat it!

As parents, we are extremely glad and excited... no more pull-ups! But our happiness is magnified ten times when we see his little face in the morning with a big huge grin while he pulls up his shirt and tells us "I'm all dwy (dry)"

Then he has to proudly show off his dry underware (I think underware picture are okay to take of kids aren't they?!)

We are so proud of our little man! We know he'll probably have some accidents, but hey, that's life right?

Family Travels

This past week was full of traveling to family functions and also having some family members come to our house to visit and celebrate Collin's 3rd birthday with us.

We began our journey by traveling through some very snowy weather to Salt Lake City to my brother Buzz's baby's blessing. Kind of crazy for the last day of September! And we left Nampa when it was 75 degrees!





Buzz and Jenn's new baby is named Anna Cathryn and she is very pretty! I even got to hold her while she was sleeping (kids are so sweet when they are asleep) It was so good to see my whole family... yep, all six of us kids were there with our families! All Jenn's family was there and that added up to be quite a housefull, but they were very gracious and didn't complain- even about the huge toy mess in the basement! Good company, excellent food... what more can a person want?!

We were also able to spend time with Mitch's older brother Mac in Salt Lake. They were kind enough to let us play "hotel" in their camper trailer-- thanks a lot Mac...now Mitch wants one!

The weekend went by too quickly and we were on our way home. Not that Idaho weather isn't predictable or anything, but all the snow from the previous day was gone! Surprise, surprise! What is that saying..."if you don't like the weather in Idaho, just wait 5 minutes and it'll change"!

Getting home gave us enough time to clean our house and sort of get caught up on laundry -if such a thing is possible. Then on Wed. night, my sister Katie and her family came to stay with us for a couple of days. Both Collin and Jack had their birthday on Monday so we celebrated it on Thursday. The boys opened their presents and we had cake and icecream (thanks for the help on the cake Katie!)

Yes that is Mitch's wonderful singing voice you hear, and yes, I was purposely trying to sound like Elmo when I told them to blow out the candles. (I thought it was fitting since it was an Elmo party!) We all had fun, but then they had to leave on Friday, that was a bummer.

Now our week has come to an end, and we can relax and watch General Conference, oh, and get caught up on the never-ending cleaning!!!