Go Cougars!

Here is our nerdy BYU family at the BYU Homecoming parade. We camped out in the trailer the night before and then walked over to the parade. We got a lot of attention and candy because we were so dressed up and because I had this big comfy swivel chair. This picture was taken by a random photographer from the Alumni Association. He thought we were great cougar fans. We ended the day with a great football game with BYU beating AirForce (and Utah losing to UNLV). The kids have fun at the game - they love singing the fight song. We had a little bit of a scare at the game - I took all three kids by myself to get popcorn, Andrew turned the wrong direction and was out of my sight. I started looking for him the wrong way and couldn't find him. Someone took him to the security office and we recovered him about 10 minutes later there. We were all very shaken up, but glad to have Andrew back. Later when talking about the experience, Andrew said "Mom, which way did you go?" I told him, then he said..."oh, I went that way."

Abby's 5th birthday and Barbie Cake Tips

Abigail had her 5th birthday celebration at Grandma's pool. She has enjoyed riding her new princess bike for the past couple of weeks. She loved her barbie cake. The morning of the party, she sat and stared at it for quite a while. She was a little worried, however, that Cinderella was going to get all ruined and sticky.

Tips for making a barbie cake:
I used 2 cake mixes: The first one is a double-layer cake (2 9 inch pans) - bake as directed on box and remove from oven and cool on racks. The second mix I baked in a Pampered Chef 2 quart batter bowl. This glass bowl is perfect for the job. Make sure to spray the bowl well. (I used the spray that has flour as well). Also, don't be surprised if it takes forever to cook. I think this one took about an hour.

Let the cake cool in the glass bowl - this is important. If you dump it out while it is still hot, it may crumble and the edges will fall off.

When completely cool, make hole in center using tongs. If you don't hollow it out a little, the cake will crack when the Barbie is inserted.

I placed the two round cakes and the one from the glass bowl in the freezer for about 15 minutes to chill them before frosting. This helps them keep their shape.

Place a big blob of frosting on a cake plate and put a leveled 9" circle cake on top.
Lots more frosting then the other leveled 9" circle.
More frosting.
Skirt cake on top of that.
Wrap Barbie tightly in saran wrap from chest down - this will keep her from getting dirty from cake and frosting.
Insert Barbie into the hole until the cake is at waist level. The reason I added the extra cake is because the batter bowl makes a cake that is a little shorter than Barbie's legs.

Now frost the entire cake generously and smooth it out. Put in fridge or let sit until that frosting is set before you begin decorating.

For decorating, I only used 2 colors and a couple of decorating tips. My secret to making this look pretty was to buy the pre-made flowers from the candy factory outlet. These were inexpensive and makes the dress look great without a lot of work.

Butter cream frosting:
1 stick butter (you can use up to one half shortening)
1 lb powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
a couple of Tablespoons of milk - to desired consistency

Whip butter - add vanilla, slowly mix in powdered sugar. Then add milk - one TBSP at a time and whip till creamy and the consistency you like.

If not using any store-bought frosting, you will have to make a couple batches of this for the Barbie cake.

Summer 2007

Highlights from of our Summer 2007:

June: Week long trip to St George with Cathy, Suz, and Al all coming at different times. See picture (11 kids being fed around one table). We ended the trip by touring Bryce Canyon Natl park on the way home.

Bear Lake - we made 3 trips to Bear Lake this summer: 4th of July with Mom/Dad and Al and her family.
Paul took the kids to his family reunion right after my surgery.
And we went with Suz for a week - just two weeks after my surgery. We love Bear Lake!

August:
Family reunion - great times, good food! (See pic of kids with ice cream)

Lake Powell - We went on a week long trip on a houseboat with Paul's family. We did lots of water sports, the kids liked playing in the orange sand, and we took a boat ride and hike to see the Rainbow Bridge.

Hawaii Trip April - May 2007

We went to Hawaii for a week with our kids and with Debby, LaMar, and Tyson. We stayed at a condo on the beach in Kahana, Maui. It was such a fun trip and we were so glad to have the kids with us. Anthony loved seeing the water and as he first saw the ocean from his seat in our rental car, he screamed out "Yo, ho!" and he would sing the pirates "yo ho" song everytime we saw the ocean. All of the kids loved playing in the sand and they even swam in the ocean with their floaties on. We went to a Luau for Andrew's 3rd birthday and we also took a boatride to go snorkeling at Molokini crater.

March and April 2007

We have had such a fun, busy year and we are way behind on our postings. Here are some pictures from some of our trips during March and April.

We spent a week in Phoenix, AZ and hung out with Suz and Scott and took the kids to rawhide villiage.

In March we went on a trip to a really nice all-inclusive resort in Jamaica with some sales people from Printech. This was a fun trip and a nice getaway for a few days without the kids.

The last picutre shows the kids with their cousins about to search for Easter Eggs.