Happy 200th

Wow, this is my 200th blog post. When I reached a 100 blog posts I made a list of 100 things about me...so now as I sit here trying to think of some creative way to celebrate the 200th post, my creativity is not shining through. The last thing I want to do is make another long list about me...plus not sure all 4 people who read my blog would want to read the long list so I won't bore you.
So anywho, Happy 200th Post to ME!!!!

Sydney's Birthday

For this post I will only be sharing pictures from her actual birthday. (Party pictures to come later.)

For dinner we made her favorite dinner...mac and cheese with hotdogs in it (She loves it, I however do not, the sacrifices we make for our children).

After dinner she opened presents.

Do you think she was happy about that?

She was so cute all day long people would say happy birthday to her and she would just smile so big!

She got all sorts of fun stuff. Books, Ball, Fisher Price tea set and purse, and a kitchen.

Notice how her hair is finally long enough to wear a little bow without a headband, someday maybe will graduate to pigtails.

Germany Report

In 2nd grade all the kids around here have to do a country report. Tanner had his turn on Friday. Because Kevin served his mission in Germany...of course that is the country Tanner chose. He had to right a report and make a travel brochure and get up and present to his class.

Here he is...

He still needs to work on looking up more often when he speaks, but hey he's in 2nd grade, we'll cut him some slack. He wanted to make sure he had some German food to pass out to the class, so we made sure we brought some German chocolate...which we have been enjoying the extra Milka.

Kindy 500 #2

This year was Isaac's turn for the Kindy 500. This is something they do at our elementary school. Each kid is suppose to come to school with a cardboard box car and they "drive" across the US. I really have a lot of fun with this. I told Isaac to run upstairs a get a hotwheels car and we would make his box look like it...so he grabbed a orange and white pickup truck with flames on the side and this is what we came up with:

Happy Birthday Little Princess

A year ago today I was settling into my hospital room getting ready to have my baby girl. Wow, how this year has come quickly. Since I am not planning on having other children, it is kind of sad to think this is the last baby and now that she is one, she is not so much a baby.

She is such a great little one. For the most part she has been very easy in comparison to some of the others. She loves to smile and will do it on demand. She had six big teeth with a big ole gap in the front teeth. She has big bright blue eyes. She loves to eat bananas and macaroni and cheese.

There are so many reasons to love her, I am so happy she is a part of our family.

Goblin Valley

On the way home from Capitol Reef we decided to go to Goblin Valley. This was a great decision because all the kids really enjoyed this, Tanner and Isaac especially. Kevin took Tanner and Isaac on a hike up on the platteau, looking down on the valley. I stayed back with the little ones and took some pictures and let Noah run free. There are just so many cool places to see in this great state of Utah, I'm glad we are finally getting out and enjoying them.

Capitol Reef

We just returned home from a long weekend trip to Capitol Reef. We have a goal to reach all 5 of Utah National Parks before the end of August. So far we have been to Bryce Canyon, Zion and now Capitol Reef. We plan on going to Arches as well as Canyonlands in June (sometime). We are also going to the Grand Canyon in May and we may try to squeeze in a quick trip to Great Basin as well. We have really enjoyed going to all these National Parks and I am sureit is not the only time we will.
We got to Capitol Reef around noon and headed to the Visitors Center to get an idea of what hikes we wanted to do. We headed over to a moderately strenuous hike to Hickman Bridge. This was fantastic, not only was the bridge an amazing site to see, so was everything else all around.

While we were on the Hickman Bridge hike, we ran into our good friends the Peads. They had mentioned that they might come, but I was doubtful because they had a new baby and it wasn't exactly warm. When we got there and there was no cell service, we really gave up on thinking we would see them, but we just happened to be on the same hike. Crazy! They have boys all my boys age, so of course the kids were excited.

After this hike we all went to do the scenic drive as well as a quick stop to look at some Petroglyphs. We topped this day off with a trip to Slackers for burgers, fries and an ice cream sundae (totally off the diet this weekend).

The next day we started our day with a 4 1/2 mile hike through Great Wash Basin. This was a long way to go for the kids, but we all made it. Noah decided after about 20 minutes that he had had it with the backpack and so he walked the remaining 3 miles. Needless to say the pace was not all that fast. He even fell in the mud and was pretty thrilled about that. This was an enjoyable hike, but would have been much more enjoyable without Noah. Sydney on the other hand was perfect and just enjoyed herself on mommies back.

The boys became Junior Rangers.

We spent the rest of the day at the hotel pool and eating (of course).

Each night we triend to put the kids to bed a little before 8 and becasue we were in one hotel room we had to turn out all the lights. It was kind of nice...Audrey also went to bed at 8pm each night.

Pretty in Pink

Sorry everyone...I am in total cupcake mode lately. I am trying a bunch of recipes to see which ones I want to make for Sydney's cupcake birthday party coming up in 2 weeks. Today we did Pretty in Pink Strawberry Cupcakes from the Cake Doctor.

I tried to find the recipe online but I could not, so I'll will type it out here.

1 box of plain white cake mix (I use Betty Crocker)

1 package strawberry gelatin

1 cup finely chopped fresh strawberries with juice

3/4 cup milk

3/4 cup vegetable oil

4 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350. Line 24 cupcakes cups with paper liners.

Place all ingredients in a large bowl and mix on low for 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and then mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Scoop 1/3 cup batter into each lined cupcake cup, filling to about 3/4 full.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until they are lightly golden and spring back when you lightly press your finger.

Cool.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

1 8oz. pack cream cheese (room temp)

4 tbs butter (room temp)

3-3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup mashed, drained fresh strawberries

Place cream cheese in butter in mixing bowl and blend on low speed until combined (30 seconds). Add 3 cups of powdered sugar and the drained strawberries. Blend about 1 minute on low speed, then an additional 1 minute on medium speed add additional 1/2 cup of powdered sugar if need to make the right consistency.

I piped my frosting on and the first 12 went great, then the last 12 looked a little bit more like this...

Actually that was the worst of them, but still you get the idea.

I think I did not drain my strawberries enough or I should have added even more powdered sugar. Luckily they still taste good. Isaac said they are the best cupcakes I have ever made.

Add they still look pretty yummy.

A Day at the Rink

Yesterday we took the boys ice skating. Originally the plan was for just Kevin and the the older boys to go, but really who could deny a face like this...

So Sydney and I went along (but didn't skate) to "help" with Noah.

Tanner was a natural. It took him a few minutes to get his "ice legs", but then he did really well and had a fantastic time.

Isaac took a little longer to "catch on". He spent a lot of time here...

and here.

Noah had a great time with daddy. He really liked it and was so cute.

Overall a good time was had by all. Next time (which will probably be soon) I think Kev will just go with the older 2, so he can focus on helping Isaac.

OREO

I will admit that I love myself an Oreo, but lately my treat craving has been cupcakes...so I made Oreo cupcakes. They are delish! I have never made a filled cupcake before, but I'd been dying to try, so I did.

For the cupcake I used a Betty Crocker Devils Food cake mix, which I made according to the directions on the box, except I added a box of Devils Food Jello Instant Pudding. I baked them for about 20 minutes on 350.
After they cooled I filled them with a whipped "frosting."
This I whipped 1 quart of whipping cream with 6 Tbs of powder sugar and I tsp. of vanilla. Once the cream gets to stiff peaks, then you add 12 Tbs. of finely crushed Oreos and stir with a spoon, till it is well mixed.
I used my Pampered Chef Easy Accent Decorator with a large star bag, but really anything will do. I pushed the tip into the cupcake and squirted the filling into the cupcake. Like I said I had never done that before, so at first I wasn't sure how it was going, but it worked. Then I used the same tip to pipe some topping on top and added a half Oreo on top.

Here it is cut open. Yum-O