My 33rd Birthday

Last Friday I turned 33.  I am older than the age I still picture my Aunt Marianne being from when I was a child.  Why is it that when you get older, people you know that you don't see day-to-day stay the same age?  Aunt Marianne is now in her 50's but she will always be in her 30's to me. :)

Aunt Marianne's daughter, Sarah, one of my most favorite people on the planet, brought her family down here to Cedar to spend time with my family.  She made me this adorable cake:

Why yes, it is on Tupperware.  :)  I love me some Tupperware.  This is actually a relatively small cake.  Except the height.  It was 3 layers!  Last month when I was visiting family in SLC, Sarah and I talked about possibly making a smaller cake for me to eat like I was turning one but I couldn't use my hands to eat it.  Thus, the cake you see here.

She is finding enough spots for 33 candles.  Yup, she is awesome.

Flaming birthday cake!  Seriously, this thing was HOT!  Just check out my face in the next picture!!

I really should have put my hair back before this point, but luckily, no hairs were harmed in the extinguishing of this cake.

 That flame ball cake was so warm that it started to melt the frosting.  I am just testing it out first; no use in burning my taste buds!

 After my tongue gave me the all clear, I tackled that cake!

 Mmmmm, yummy carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and what appears to look like a snotsicle.  Rest assured, it is only frosting!

 I am having a hard time eating that cake.... I think I bit of more than I can chew! (pun intended!)

Working on the side.... I LOVE cream cheese frosting!!

 I wish I would have had a picture of the moment my head was SHOVED into the cake by Gabe and Nate, but Gabe was the photographer as well, and he knows how my camera is like my 5th child, so he opted to just shove my head and forgo the picture.  But who cares? Check out my face! AH!  If you really want to see the video of my head getting shoved:

 I could seriously not breath!  After all was said and done, I was cleaning out my EYES as well!!  Bet you didn't know that eyes can eat cake, too!

This is my only revenge: SEE FOOD!!

 

 This is the cake for everyone else.  Sarah did a GREAT job getting all those sprinkles on only the sides of the cake.  It was DELISH!  (so was my cake, considering my nose and eyes were eating it, too.)

We spent Saturday watching General Conference together. We had a huge breakfast of french toast (two different kinds, cuz I am awesome that way), chocolate chip pancakes, sausage, homemade hashbrowns, scrambled eggs, and orange juice.

 

During conference, we played conference bingo, doodled, ate, and pretty much had a blast.  Can I just say how much I LOVE having an HDTV??  It was like the Prophet and General Authorities were IN my house talking just to our family!!

While the boys men went to the Priesthood session, Sarah and I played the Wii together.  After every Priesthood session, the guys go out for ice cream after. Every family must have the same ritual because Bill says that all the ice cream joints in town are packed like a fat kid in a pair of stretchy pants three sizes too small.  Ok, Bill never described it that way, but that is how I imagine it.  So they went Cedar Nut and Candy because they have milkshakes there as well.  They also sell Anderson Dairy ice cream by the half-gallon.  It only cost $3.50 a half gallon!  They brought us some so us ladies (and little Christian) didn't feel left out.  They got us two kinds:  Pistachio Almond and Cookies & Cream.  Ohhhhh, it is sooooo creamy.  So creamy and tasty that right now as I type, I started to salivate.  Makailah (who is 5) wanted some green ice cream (the Pistachio kind) and so we gave her some.  A few moments after tasting it, she tells her mom, "I don't like this ice cream.  It tastes like, um..... butt."  It is a good thing I used the bathroom earlier or I surely would have had an accident!

That night, before we ate the ice cream, Gabe, with the help of Nate and Justin, made some hot wings! They were killer!  I don't have any pictures of it because no one wants to see ANY of us chowing down on chicken wings.  You may think you do, but trust me, you don't.  It was like a murder scene with a side of bleu cheese.

 

We watched X-Files whilst licking our Frank Red's Hot fingers.  Then us adults busted out our awesome Wii Bowling moves.  I am proud to say that I dominated and annihilated the whole bunch.  I feel it is God's way of making me feel better about the fact that it is always the opposite when we bowl at the bowling alley; it is a good day when I bowl in real life anything over 99 - even with bumpers!

Sunday morning, I made Cream of Wheat and banana muffins.  Conference was extremely good.  Both sessions were very filling to my soul.  Between the sessions, we played "Don't Eat Pete!" that Bill's mom made for Nate when he was a little boy.  

 

 "Hmmmm, which one should I choose?"

 The look on Makailah's face makes me giggle.  She just picked up Pete and we all loudly whispered (didn't want to make her cry by the yelling), "Don't eat Pete!!"  And she wasn't sure what to do, so in a panic, she ate Pete!!  Our hearts go out the the surviving members of Pete's family.

 Gabe deciding which one to eat, hoping it isn't Pete.

 After a few choices, he just picked up the whole sheet and dumped them in to his mouth.

 However, the Pete in this game was not going to give up, so it stuck behind.  (Look close at the pumpkin face - click on picture if you need to - you will see a yellow Pete.)

 While I was waiting in the other room for them to reset the board and choose a new Pete, I decided to go all out.  I am one sexy mama!

 Before I decided to take on the game, I thought Justin was just looking like he really needed a kiss from my REALLY DARK lipstick.  His eyes said yes, but his arms said no.

 

 I got his forehead, after much wrestling, then went in for the kill: his stomach!

 He wiped most of the kiss left over his right eyebrow, but this time, his eyes are not saying anything nice at all!!  Also, I would just like to apologize to all you who are checking out my messy house.  What do you expect when you have one room emptied into other rooms in the house (I am painting a room) and then you add two younger kids into the mix??  Not to mention the older kids that I truly think were messier than normal because they were hoping I wouldn't notice and blame it on the younger ones..... who knows. But, like I mentioned earlier, I love Tupperware, thus the cool Thatsa Bowl!!  Then you have a smattering of papers, a cup, a box to mail my cousin Summer a care package, play dishes, white board markers, and many other fun items.... I know, you are totally jealous, you wish your house was this messy right now.

 I am not sure if this is Pete or one of his many loved ones.  But it sure was tasty!!

 Christian wanted a turn.

 I think his face says it all.

 

 

 

Now time for some male bonding.....

 

 Dontcha just feel the love between Gabe and Justin??

 What do you get when you mix two supposedly grown up men and a fifteen year old pubescent boy??  An atomic wedgie!!!

 They really went in for the kill!!

You know the phrase, "there are no words"?  Well, that doesn't apply here, I get, "there are SO many words."  The first word that comes to mind is effeminate.  Not only does it look like Gabe is whispering sweet nothings into Bill's ear, Bill is wearing his oh-so-"manly" Strawberry Shortcake band-aid.  All the while, you can see poor Nate writhing in the background from that fallout after that atomic wedgie.

 

During this wartime of atomic wedgies and gender confusion, Makailah and Lily played dress up.  (I am so glad Gabe and Bill did not play dress up.)

 She wanted to wear the same thing I was earlier.  I think she looks a million times better than me.

 Here we have Lily in a costume from 2 or 3 Halloweens ago!  And we explained that just because she can still fit it, it doesn't mean she should wear it.  Now if only some people out there in the world would just learn that lesson, all of our eyes could be spared... but then again, there wouldn't be much on that website: People of Walmart. 

 There we go, this is what it is supposed to look like on a little girl.  Plus Makailah had to add the pom poms.  No matter how some people like it or not, some little girls are just going to be extra girly.

 And I shall call her, "Lilliana Jones!"

Lily wanted to show off her weird feet!

Aw, for cute!  Christian really likes Bill.

After we put the kids to bed on Sunday night, we did something that the kids would freak out if they knew what we did..... we played the Wii on Sunday!! We NEVER play video games on Sunday, but we did anyway.  We played Raving Rabbids TV Party.  I LOVE any Raving Rabbid's game and I was laughing so hard that I started coughing.  And as I mentioned before in this entry (and here) I have a problem when it comes to the dangerous mixture of laughing and bladder control.  When you throw coughing (or throwing up or sneezing) into the mix, you better run for cover or at least for some galoshes.  Thankfully, disaster was averted since I run fast.

The next day, we all went out to eat while the kids were in school.  Being an adult has many drawbacks, but there are some fun perks!

I had a fantastic birthday weekend.  Thank you Sarah and Gabe for coming to visit!!

On Mother's Day...

I was thinking about some things about my mom today that have helped me become the person I am today. Today I am thinking about my love of cooking. My mother was very supportive of my desire to always make stuff in the kitchen.

Even though we never really had a lot of money when I was growing up, she still bought stuff to bake with. I remember experimenting with cooking at a young age. When I was about 9 years old, I remember grabbing stuff in the cupboard and mixing it all together into a concoction of goop. I remember reading the labels of stuff I was adding and smelling them. I will never forget the first (and last) swig of my goop. It was awful. I remember only two things I put into it: paprika and nutmeg.

Around this same time in my life, I remember being in the kitchen trying to make myself a cup of chocolate milk. We usually had the powder mix. So one day, I was craving some chocolate milk and reached up into the cupboard, found what I thought was the mix, and scooped heaps of chocolaty powder into my milk. I stirred and stirred. Little clumps of powder wouldn't mix and that was my favorite part of drinking it. Bottoms up! Hacking cough and spews of what was not chocolate milk mix but baking cocoa was all over the kitchen. I will never, ever make that mistake again.

Those last two experiences happened when we lived in Marina, CA at the first house. When we were in the second house, I had an unforgettable experience. I got home from school, starving. One of my favorite things to eat then was scrambled eggs. I left the light in the kitchen off and heated up butter in the frying pan. I cracked three eggs into the pan, salted and peppered them, and stirred until done. It smelled a little funny, but I was hungry and didn't care. I scooped it out onto my plate, grabbed a fork, and went to watch TV. After getting all comfy on the couch, looked down to eat my eggs and noticed there were little black things cooking into my eggs. On closer inspection, I realized they weren't pepper specks but ants. That's right, ANTS! It has been over 20 years and I still don't look at scrambled eggs the same way.

When I was 15, I was living with my aunt and uncle for a few months. I loved to make cookies for them. I made a variety of kinds, but the two that stand out the most in my mind: the sand ball cookies and the potato chip cookies. The sand ball cookies are like Russian Tea Cake cookies and don't spread out. My cousins teased me because they thought it was supposed to look like regular cookies. So I decided I would get back at them by making a bizarre cookie without telling them what was in it before they ate them. They liked the cookies and so I told them the secret ingredient. :)

When I was 16ish, I was living in Lake Elsinore. I remember making a white layer cake with kiwi and frosted it with white frosting. I loved it. My mom, not so much. I didn't know that she was allergic to kiwis - at least it makes her tongue itch.

I started experimenting with making stuff lower fat as I got closer to age 18. I have always loved crumb cakes or coffee cakes. So I made one that was fat-free. Ohhhh man, sooo good. If you want the recipe, let me know and I will post it.

Now that I am a mom, I have had to improvise dinners. I learned from my mom how to throw things together that will taste well. I have a love of cooking that I learned from my mother. I love her very much.

Thank you mom. MORE MORE MORE! :)

Monday Menu (1/25/10)

Bisquick recipes today!

For dinner, we had: Ultimate Chicken Fingers, Onion Roasted Potatoes, and a broccoli side dish. I just boiled some broccoli, drained it, and added cheese sauce and bacon.
The kids really enjoyed the chicken fingers. They are not as pretty as the pictures Bisquick takes , but thankfully the taste made up for it. :) The kids liked the potatoes as well, but not as much as what they are used to: mashed potatoes. Only the broccoli lovers at the house liked the broccoli (that was to be expected).



For dessert we had: Apple Cake


I made this cake because we had so many apples in the house (thanks to Bountiful Baskets). This cake tasted ok. But eaten warm with vanilla ice cream helped. It was a dense cake and kind of dry. There are some tweaks I would have to do to make this again.

Boston Cream Pie

Boston Cream Pie
(Also, if you scroll down, you will see how to make this into Mini Boston Cream Pies!)

1 package (3.4 oz) instant vanilla pudding
1 cup cold milk
1 1/2 cups thawed Cool Whip
1 round yellow cake layer (8- or 9-inch)

1 square unsweetened chocolate
1 tablespoon butter
3/4 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons cold milk

Make it:
Beat pudding mix and 1 cup cold milk with a whisk for 2 minutes. Stir in Cool Whip. Let stand 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, cut the cake horizontally into 2 layers with serrated knife. (or you can do what I do, I just bake smaller amounts in the pans so I don't have to cut it.)

Stack cake layers on serving plate, spreading pudding mixture between layers.

Microwave chocolate and butter in medium microwaveable bowl on high 1 minute; stir until chocolate is melted. Add sugar and 2 tablespoons milk; mix well. Spread over cake. Refrigerate 1 hour.

(if you chose to be brave and slice a full size 8- or 9-inch round cake in half, here is how to slice it evenly:
Place cooled cake later on serving plate. Make a 2 inch horizontal cut around side of cake using a long serrated knife. Then, cut all the way through the cake later to make 2 layers.)


To make MINI Boston Cream Pies, follow most of the recipe above. Except, instead of making 8- or 9-inch round cakes, make cupcakes. BUT, line the cupcake pans with cupcake liners and spray with Baker's Joy. And ONLY fill 1/4 to 1/3 full (with a regular cake mix, this should make 3 dozen cupcakes). Bake 8-12 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool then stick in a ziplock baggy, single layer, and freeze them. When frozen (or mostly frozen, at least in the freezer for 30 minutes), take off cupcake liner and slice cupcake in half, horizontally. Make filling (same as above) and let sit in refrigerator for 5 minutes. Put into either a piping bag or a ziplock baggy (cutting a smallish hole for piping) and squeeze filling onto bottom cupcake layer. I swirled from the outer edge to the center. Then put the top cupcake on. Do this to all of the cupcakes. You may have to double the filling recipe to have enough filling (I would wait until you are done piping the first batch of filling to see if you need a second batch). DOUBLE the frosting recipe. BUT do it one batch at a time because it will cool to fast and then it will be too stiff to spread properly where it drips down the sides in a beautiful design. Refrigerate for 1 hour. Enjoy!

And this is what they should look like:

Look how darling those decadent chocolate drips are!

Mmmmm.... These are so fun to just gobble up! I think next time I will try to make these as those really mini cupcakes. Then they would be little pop-in-your-mouth bites!

Monday Menu (November 9, 2009)

Ok, so I am totally a week behind... But things have been crazy.

I told Bill that since he didn't want me to make meatloaf last week, that he could make the dinner on Monday. So this is what he chose: Smoked Salmon and Corn Chowder.
It turned out really well, actually. We couldn't find any fennel bulbs here in Cedar (ok, so we looked only in two stores) and he substituted it with a leek. It had a very tasty flavor, except I think he put two too many shakes of hot sauce in the soup. It was VERY spicy!

For dessert, I made a Twinkie Tunnel Cake. I forgot to add the chocolate chips but it turned out really good. I am not a Twinkie Fan, but it was good!!

Awesome Pumpkin Themed Nordicware Giveaway

Pumpkin Themed Nordicware Giveaway! Go to Picky Palate for details! Good luck!!!!!
Here is what you will win:

A Nordicware Pumpkin Patch Pan

A Nordicware Pumpkin Loaf Pan

A Nordicware Pumpkin Spice Bundt Cake Mix

The End of the Boycott

I have long boycotted Herbal Essence products. Their commercials are perverse – the lady in the shower is washing her hair while moaning and carrying on as if she is having an orgasm. I remember the first time I saw the commercial; I sat there shocked at the appalling and degrading advertisement. I know that sex sells products, but these products are aimed toward females and not men. Such a commercial would be very appealing to a man.

If you read one of my previous blogs, I mentioned that my girls and I got our hair cut and I wanted to keep us from getting split ends. I perused the shampoo and hair care aisle and found, much to my dismay, an Herbal Essence product for just those needs. I considered buying it – walking back and forth down the aisle looking for similar products from a different company. After many inner debates, and no luck finding another leave-in conditioner with split end prevention product, I reached up high and pulled it off the shelf. Hoping it would smell gross and detour me from placing it in my cart, I unscrewed the lid and took a whiff. Great, it smelled wonderful – like raspberries. I sighed and put it in my cart.

I walked away, justifying that it since it wasn’t shampoo that it would be morally and ethically okay to buy it. Deep down, I was hoping that it wouldn’t work well and I could have an excuse to never buy their products again. That is, until two nights ago.

Bill and I were up late Sunday night watching the last two episodes of “Charmed Season Four” and when we were finished, it was 1 AM and technically Monday. We needed milk for the morning, so we jumped in the van and drove to Wal-Mart. It was chilly outside but as soon as the automatic doors swished open, warm air whooshed out and made me feel all toasty again. Along with the air caressing my skin, I could smell the salivating scent of baking bread. I am on a diet and that is the last thing I needed. To satisfy my cravings, I wandered through the bakery and breathed in as much of the intoxicating smell. Bill and I giggled as we looked at some of the cakes. I always look at the cakes when I go into stores with bakeries. That is because I am always on the lookout for a cake wreck.

We meandered through the store just looking at stuff. It is easier to shop without kids demanding things or whining when we tell them, “No!” Bill and I discussed that Nathan and Rebekah needed better shampoo since their hair gets oily way too fast. For Rebekah, I found an Aussie shampoo that helps get out the grease. For Nathan, we found a nice, manly shampoo from Axe that does the same thing. I needed some more shampoo and having already succumbed to the allure of Herbal Essence products, I figured it wouldn't hurt to just look at their shampoos. My eyes rolled up and down as I took in shelf after shelf of Herbal Essence products. I gingerly picked up the Long Term Relationship kind of Herbal Essence and pushed open the bottle top. It smelled just as heavenly as the leave-in conditioner I bought before. I grabbed a matching conditioner and placed them in my cart and scurried out of the aisle before my better sense came back.

I snickered as I showed Bill what I put in the cart. He didn't seem too impressed or seem to care. I told him that since it is 5 bucks a bottle, I should buy some body wash so I don't use my shampoo anymore (I used to use shampoo as my body wash as well). We made our way to the body wash aisle and had there been an Herbal Essence body wash, I am certain I would have purchased it. I popped open all sorts of body washes, smelling each one. One of the bottles I squeezed a little too hard and ended up with body wash up my nose. I made a joke to Bill about it even though there was a Wal-Mart employee stocking (and refixing the bottles I mussed up) the body wash right there next to me. I may be on the obnoxious side at times (shut up!) but had someone said that near me, I would have laughed. He just looked at me like I was snorting it to get a high. I found a luxurious body wash with a raspberry scent to match my hair care products and got the heck out of that aisle to get away from the banal employee. A few aisle over, I overheard a different employee speaking to another employee say, as he stocked the medicine aisle, "Hey, this one comes with an applicator!" I couldn't resist and chimed in, "What, the enemas?" The guy looked up at me, grinned really wide and responded, "Guess I set myself up for that one." At least this guy had a sense of humor - he partially restored my faith in people that work at Wal-Mart having a sense of humor, because let's face it, the fabric counter women have the personality of a walnut.

As we were finishing our shopping experience, I kept glancing at the forbidden products in the cart. Guilt was starting to win over my temporary euphoria of the pleasant smelling shampoo so I needed to get out of the store as soon as possible!

The next day, after a good workout, I couldn't wait to try the new stuff. Part of me was hoping that I would not like the shampoo so I wouldn't have to buy it ever again.

I turned the shower on and soon the bathroom was filled with a thick mist of moist air. I undressed and entered the shower, clutching the new products. I snapped open the shampoo, squeezed a good glob onto my hands and smelled the lovely scent. Closing my eyes and feeling the hot sting of water droplets pounding my back, I slathered the raspberry concoction into my hair and the scent filled my lungs. Without any warning, as I lathered my hair, I heard a slight moaning noise that then turned into "ooooo-ing". I opened my eyes and recognition hit: that the moaning was coming from me! I tittered as I realized how lame it was that I was actually enjoying the shampoo, albeit not as much as the commercial lady, but still loving the satiny feel and the aroma.

After rinsing the shampoo, I proceeded to use the conditioner. The conditioner was the highlight of the two products. I didn't want to experience to end, so I let the conditioner hang out for a while longer while I tried the new body wash. By the time I was done washing, I was covered from head to toe in raspberry bliss. But like all good things, they must come to an end. So what was is this girl to do? I prolonged the fruity intoxication a bit longer by reading the labels. I was always good at making things take longer than necessary: hitting the snooze button a couple extra times, saving my Halloween candy, etc. You get the picture. They is why reading labels was perfect. I reasoned that reading labels is a priority and not to be taken lightly. There might be important information that I was unaware of and must be made known to me as to be a better consumer.

I burst out laughing when I read the body wash warning, "If contact occurs, rinse with clean, warm water." Thank heaven for that warning - I wouldn't know what to do if contact with body wash occurred.

I was clean - washed with the fruit of the gods - and then had a good laugh at someone's stupid warning, that it was time to end my indulgence and rinse my hair. I was sad when I turned off the water but cheered up when I realized, I had the next day to re-pamper myself.

All was well in my world.

Justin's Birthday

My mom made a three tier cake with three sides for the birthdays that were close together: Justin, Lily, and Liam. This is Justin's side of the cake. My mom did an AWESOME job!!


Here are the boys playing video games
Justin got two games for his birthday: Pinball for the Wii and Kung Fu Panda for the Xbox.

Justin was insanely excited to get this remote control flying dragonfly.


Justin with the remote

Justin being silly as he blew the candles out.


Since Justin's birthday fell on the weekend that Lily got baptized, he got to have his friends over on a different weekend and got another birthday cake! Technically, 4 mini ice cream cakes that I made.


I loved the fun candles. He was trying to blow each one out separately.


Justin opening another remote controlled toy... this one is an ATV one. He LOVES this one too.


Justin waiting for Bill to open the ATV car. He had 4 friends come over to stay the night -in the picture are just two of them. They stayed up late playing video games and eating junk food - which is exactly what he wanted to do. :-) I can't believe he is now 11! He is growing up so fast and almost as tall as me! He is a special kid and has a heart of gold.
I love you Justin!!!!