Halloween!

Although it will almost be Thanksgiving when this post is published, I had to post it.

This Halloween was fun.  The girls are starting to get out of their cutesie wootsie phase and into their "dark" phase of Halloween.  This year CJ was an evil fairy.  She used a ballet costume from her 2011 recital and we found wings that matched.  I played with her hair and makeup and she looked AWESOME! 

Avary had found a costume at our thrift store, but they didn't have her size so we went to a costume store and found one there.  She was a spider countess.  It was super fun to do her hair except for her complaining.  ;)  I teased her hair and put plastic spider rings in her hair.  After she was all made up she looked pretty AWESOME too.  I didn't realize how fair skinned she was until we put dark makeup on her.  She looked so pale, it was spooky.

Spencer found a pumpkin costume for Reed at the thrift store.  He was so dang cute.  I wish I could describe fully how cute he was when he went trick-or-treating, but words just can't describe it.  When he walked the bottom of the pumpkin costume would waddle the opposite way.  Just, you needed to see it.

Spencer also found a Pharaoh costume at the thrift store for himself and he got super excited about it.  Spencer NEVER dresses up for Halloween and this year he went ALL out.  Even eye makeup.  Well, since he was going to be a Pharaoh then I had the idea of being Cleopatra.  Well, that made Spencer even more excited.  I found a costume and that is how we went to our trunk-or-treat and Chili cook off.

So I had a firm belief that the chili cook off was rigged.  The same people have been winning in the same categories since we moved it.  Well, I always make some sort of hot soup and this year I decided on a turkey chili.  I had no expectations to win.  Well, I won best non-traditional chili.  I am STILL shocked.  I was happy how it turned out, but like I said, I didn't expect to win.

The pumpkins we carved this year really turned out awesome.  Reed even designed his own pumpkin.  We took a drawing of his and it looked like eyes and a mouth and so Spencer carved it into a pumpkin.  It ended up being my favorite.  Avary's pumpkin had feathers coming out of the head.  My mom's was pretty traditional with the slanted eyes and triangle nose.  Spencer's were two little pumpkins as eyes.  He used pie pumpkins and ended up having to use his power tool to carve because it was too hard to do by hand.  Mine had the eyes all askew and the mouth wide open and Reeds is the one with only one pupil.  CJ didn't get to carve her idea because she had kicked Avary (CJ has problems with that).  So, Spencer took her pumpkin and did a vomiting pumpkin.  It was sad that CJ didn't get to do it because she had an AWESOME idea.  She wasn't too happy about it, but she needed to understand the seriousness of her being violent.  Unfortunately she inherited my temper when I was her age.  :(

For dinner we had mini mummy dogs with bloody fingers (lil' smokies in BBQ sauce), garbage salad (coleslaw with blue cheese dressing), fried worms (Cheetos), fried skin (Funyons and Doritos), and witches brew.  For dessert, mud pie with worms.  The only sad thing about Halloween was that everyone and I mean EVERYONE was done by 8 o'clock.  Halloween just isn't what it used to be.  We had too much candy left over.  It was fun though.

CJ informed me when I was taking her hair out after trick-or-treating that next year she wants to be a vampire....I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!!! 

Family Trip and Wedding

So, Spencer's little sister Cami got married the first part of October to Chris Oliphant in Rexburg, Idaho.  I had the thought of maybe taking a little longer to get home and taking a slight "detour" to Yellowstone for a little family vacation.  He thought is was a great idea and the girls were SUPER excited to go.

So, we stayed in Idaho Falls because Rexburg didn't have anything available.  The day after we got there I finished the cake in the hotel room while Spencer and the kids swam.  Our hotel room was AWESOME!  I had  originally planned on driving the 30 miles from Idaho Falls to Rexburg and finishing the cake at Cami and Chris's new apartment, but when we walked into our room they had granite counter tops and the flat screen TV was sitting on a nice big granite top table.  Spencer had the idea of taking the TV off and then I could use that.  It was SO nice!  It was super cold there too so the cake was preserved in the car overnight and it kept chilled near the window in the room while I worked on other tiers, PERFECT!  After I had finished the cake we took showers and decided to go sight seeing.  We visited the Temple and saw the "Falls".  They were not falls.  They were spillways.  Shoshone Falls are FALLS.  I got some nice looking pictures of water anyway.  I especially love the fact that they were doing a ton of road work around the temple so in the pictures you get the lovely orange barrels to keep cars out.  Pretty funny if you ask me.



Cami had such a beautiful wedding.  She asked me to do her cake and I was so honored.  It turned out so beautiful, but it didn't even compare to the bride.  Despite it being super cold, it was a REALLY nice day.  They had a Nauvoo theme going on for the reception, thus all the sunflowers.  :)



We left from the reception and drove to Yellowstone.  I will NEVER do that again.  WAY to much driving for my taste that weekend...ugh.  We got to Yellowstone about 11:45ish in the PM.  The kids were out when we got there and it was SO cold!  We stayed in Mammoth Springs in the hotel there.  It was interesting.  We had to share a public restroom because they didn't have bathrooms in the room.  It was an old fashioned hotel which is what I loved about it, but I missed the luxury of our own bathroom.  We had a wonderful buffet breakfast the next morning and we set off on our VERY cold adventure through Yellowstone National Park.  I had been once before when I was little with my dad.  I had remembered the pathways, Old Faithful, and the smell.  That was all. 

We saw so much wildlife there.  When we woke up in our hotel we looked out our window and there was a herd of elk just grazing and laying around right outside.  They were all over the place.  We saw a wolf on the side of the road.  We saw tons of buffalo.  One so close that all I had to do was cross the road and I could have touched it, but they advised us to not get too close so I took the picture from the car.  We saw more elk as we drove through and we even saw a bald eagle.  We stopped at Roaring Mountain.  We saw Dragon's Mouth Spring, which by the way sounded JUST like there was a dragon in there and it LOOKED like there was a dragon in there because of all the steam.  It was hard to see a lot of color in the springs because it was so cold all we could see was the steam coming off of the water.  But we had fun nonetheless.  We saw the BEAUTIFUL Yellowstone falls, upper and lower and THOSE are falls.  :)  They were BEAUTIFUL!  We saw Steamboat Geyser  and we sort of ended our adventure at Old Faithful.  We got there just in time to see it go right before they closed.  They had predicted the time and then said +/- 10 minutes so we got there for the -10 minutes.  Of course it was +10 minutes so we sat there in the freezing cold with a screaming Reed for 20 minutes while the geyser teased us then it finally blew.  It lasted so long too, I didn't remember it going off that long, but it was worth it.  The girls were so fascinated and poor Reed just was freezing. 

After Old Faithful we headed our way to the Tetons and realized that it was too late that we wouldn't see them because the sun was going down.  There was one stop that I wanted to see and the was the Great Prismatic Basin.  Of course we couldn't see the beautiful colors not only because of the steam, but also because of the sun setting.  Oh well.  We'll be going back some day, but we will definitely go back in the SUMMER!  We left Yellowstone and drove straight to Little America, Wyoming.  It took FOREVER because the speed limit through Yellowstone and the Tetons is 45.  We got to Little America around 12 midnight.  Like I said, WAY too much driving.  We were ALL SO tired by the time we got home.



It was a fun adventure and the kids really enjoyed it.  I'm so glad that we took the time to spend with each other.  It was the first time the girls saw an actual waterfall.  Love priceless moments like that.  :)

Birthday Week!

Well, it happens every year.  Starts with my birthday, then to my mom's, and then we finish with Avary's.  Except this year my mom decided to spend her birthday, and mine actually, in Utah.

For my birthday we went to Texas de' Brazil for dinner.  We took the kids and they were just in awe over all the food and how they bring it.  It was SO yummy, but We won't do that again...too expensive!!  Anyway, a birthday present to me from Spencer and myself because I requested it was a ticket to this years Time Out for Women.  I wonder why I had never heard of it before last year and I am mad that I didn't know because I had SO much fun.  So much in fact that I told my sister and my mom to save the date for next year and my sister needs to fly here so we can go together.  It was so wonderful.  It was nice to be out with friends and being spiritually uplifted.  Can't wait till next year.  My dad came for an overnight visit as well.  It was too bad it was on that weekend because I wasn't around to spend time with him, but it was nice having him here for a day.  Another present that I got from Spencer was a brand new 16 gig Nexus 7.  Oh how I love that little tablet.  :)  It makes preparing my lessons for Young Women's so much easier.  It's too funny though because it was on Spencer's wish list until recently when they released the new Google android phone.  NOW he wants that instead.  Funny how he works.  ALWAYS changing his mind.  :)  Anyway, that was my birthday!

Avary had a week long birthday I swear.  My mom came home a day before Avary's birthday and Avary flashed her puppy eyes at her and got us all dinner at Cheesecake Factory.  That child will get whatever she wants from my mom because of those eyes...it is pitiful.  So, we started with dinner there.  Then that Saturday we had her "Rock Star" birthday party with all her friends.  She wanted a guitar cake so I made her a guitar cake.

Then, she was kinda' acting a little "funny" like sick, so fifteen minutes before all her friends got to the house for the party we found out that she had a fever.  CJ had been sick earlier in the week and then the day of her party, Avary got what CJ had.  I gave her Tylenol and told her she would be OK and she was until right after the party and she CRASHED!

For her party we had the kids decorate their own guitar.  Spencer cut out cardboard guitars for all the kids and they all colored them the way they wanted.  Then Avary and I had put together a "Rock Star Birthday" CD with music that Avary picked and I approved of.  We had made CD's for all the girls and they got to decorate their own CD cover.  Friends of ours from the ward whose kids were there tell us that their girls listen to the CD ALL the time.  (Tee hee)  After decorating we had cake.  All the kids were really into the cake.  They all loved it.  Avary was so happy with it and that made me happy.  After cake she opened her presents.  She got so much stuff.  She even got identical "Spa" dolls and ended up giving one to CJ instead of returning it to the store and getting a different "Spa" doll.  She got a "Blingles" set.  If you have ever seen a teenager with "bling" on their phone or purse or whatever, that is what it is.  She makes her own bling.  She even made me one for the case for the Nexus 7.  It is really cute.  After presents we did freeze dance.  We used the music off of her CD and those kids danced and danced and danced.  It was no wonder that Avary crashed after the party.

 
She had a good time even though she wasn't feeling good. 

First Day of School 2012

I can't believe that my girlies are growing up so fast.  I say that a lot because it is TRUE!  This year CJ is in 4th grade, the grade that I first got in trouble at school, and Avary is in 2nd grade.  They are really enjoying school so far this year.

CJ loves her teachers and her teachers really love her.  They just wish she would confide in them more.  Poor thing struggles with bullies at school.  Of course I turn into momma bear and want to go shake the kids and ask what their problem is.  Another issue is that when she has problems out at recess she tells the teachers out there and they seem to just brush her off.  I worry about her because she seems to not have any self esteem.  We don't know what to do about that because no matter how much praise we give her the people outside the family seem to trump it.  I REALLY "dislike" the principal there.  I can't wait until she is done.  CJ struggles a bit with homework, but Spencer and I have decided to hire a tutor that will come to the house to help her out.  We just get too frustrated with her because she tends to "give up" before she tries with us.  Then she thinks she is in trouble when she isn't and then she just shuts off to everything that has to do with school.  Some days it takes about 5 hours to do her homework with her and that shouldn't be the case.  She is SO smart!  All she needs to do is apply herself.  She is really excited to have a tutor though.  We think it will really help her

Avary on the other hand is doing so well in school.  The only thing she has trouble with is being responsible for giving us things that need to be signed and returned.  She loves her teachers and her teachers love her.  I don't worry too much about Avary.  I guess the only thing I would worry about is if she is being challenged enough, the kid is smart as a whip.  It gets pretty annoying because she argues with us CONSTANTLY!  She thinks she knows everything and it causes problems at home.  I haven't heard anything from the teachers about her "know it all" complex, thank heavens!

It is so interesting to see these girls coming into their own.  They are starting to set themselves apart from everyone else and it is fun to watch.  I just don't care too much for the mood swings.  ;)

YIKES!!

So, I woke up too early because I forgot about daylight savings.  Then I thought I should start updating my blog.  I had NO idea how backed up I was!!  I knew I was backed up, but....WOW!  So, here I go again, starting another catchup week.  I apologize for being so flaky and bear with me while all these posts start a floodin' your inbox's and my Facebook page.  :)

I will start with the end of July and August since the last time I posted was the first part of July.  I got pretty busy with cakes there for a while.  I had already posted some that I did, but these are some that I did in July and all of August.

I did a birthday cake for a dear friends son.  He was turning 2 and she wanted a Cookie Monster cake.  I had a LOT of fun with this cake:

In our ward we have this phenomina.  We have pregnancy waves and this last wave was a doozy.
We have this AWESOME couple in our ward that have been trying for SO long to have a baby.  They had tried invitros that didn't take and fertility and everything else you can think of.  They were finally blessed with invitro twins and as soon as I found out I offered to do the cakes for her shower.  I had SO much fun doing these cakes.  The dad has red hair and mom is a brunette.  Since they aren't identical, neither are the cakes.  :)

Some friends and I hosted a baby shower for a friend of ours from the ward.  She was having the girl in the midst of ALL the boys that were coming.  It was a really nice shower.  I wasn't too happy with how the cake turned out, but in the end it got some "oo's" and "ahh's".  ;)

I did this cake for another friend of mine who served in the Young Women's with me.  She was having a boy and I had this idea for a cake.  Spencer and I worked REALLY hard on this cake.  We think we might just do it differently next time....if there is a next time.

And now the final cake up through August.  I was asked to do the 17 year birthday cake for one of my Young Women.  I can still call her mine because when I was called to be the Mia Maid adviser she was still a Mia Maid.  :)  Her party was cow themed and she wanted a cow cake.  I LOVE this cake!  Except for the fact that after I had taken pictures and delivered it to her, I realized I didn't finish the outline of the cake.  It still bugs the TAR out me when I look at the pictures.  My eye goes right there to the unfinished site.  :(

Well!  That does it for the rest of July and all of August cakes, except the cow cake was done towards the end of September.  Baby showers are fun, but there were SO many this year.  Love the babies though and the twins are just about as precious as they come.  :)