Zoo and Pumpkin Farm, Oh my!

Saturday was our "cram everything into one day" day. Our zoo membership expires on Monday and I'm not renewing it right now so I wanted to go there before it ended. Then, this is our last weekend to go to a pumpkin farm and have some fun. The kids really wanted to do both so we did! We went to the zoo in the morning, then home for naps and then the pumpkin farm in the afternoon. It was actually a pretty nice day, the kids were good and we had fun.

Everything so thrilled waiting for the giraffes to cross the pathway. Can you tell Kyle was the most excited?! ha!

Kate had to climb this and get a picture. Funny thing is is that I didn't take any pictures of the animals this time. oh well. We did watch a elephant get a bath. The worker sprayed him down while the elephant layed down, put up his feet and turned around. It was pretty cool to watch.

Our next place...The Farm in Snohomish. We were going to try our a new pumpkin patch, but decided to stick with what we know and we knew the kids liked it. We are SO glad we did. It only cost $10 for all of us to do everything we wanted to do! Last year when we came we had a free voucher for our family so we didn't have to pay. So I was expecting to pay a little more based on what the website said, but the children's playground fee included everything. Sweet! We even got to watch a pig performance (their rendition of the 3 little pigs, but with a pig for the big bad wolf) and a duck race. They have tube slides, sand pit, a hay jump place, animals, yummy food- we got kettle corn and a free caramel apple (I went to buy one at the end and they had already taken their tills away so they just gave it to me for free!!! It was so good!)

They have this 2 story hay maze in an old barn and then they come down a slide at the end.

Weeee!

Horse swings

Corn pit- actually felt good to walk on. Some guy lost his cell phone in it while we were there. (P.S. I cut Kyle's hair for the first time today during nap time! Big ordeal when he was lucky enough to have Melanie the awesome hair dresser as a sister. He said "it's probably just as good as Great Clips so thanks." He goes to Great Clips when he doesn't see Melanie. haha!)

This was perfect because it kept her in one place- it was hard for her to move around. haha!

Corn Angel

Cow Train- Lindsey rode with Kate and the kids liked it. They went for 2 rides. My Dad and brothers need to rig something up like this for Boulder Resort!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

Our Ward Halloween Carnival and Trunk-or-treat was on Friday night. We ate chili and corn bread, played games (fishing game, duck pond, pumpkin ring toss, pumpkin bowling, cupcake walk, face painting, bean bag toss and one where you stick your hand up a big monster nostril and go through gooey nose hair to get a treat) then had a trunk-or-treat and it wasn't raining! I invited Darbi to come with us and since Mat was working late she decided to come with the kids (they are our neighbors and good friends). Kate was super excited that they came. Kyle had to go early to set up the fishing pond (elder's quorum was in charge of that- each auxillary did a game) so I met him there. I had made chili and corn bread for the potluck (I made both since I invited someone and didn't make them bring anything. I wanted to make sure there was enough food) and then I made halloween cupcakes for the cupcake walk because Young Women's was in charge of that. Along with making all of that, Preston had a well child doctor appointment in the morning and I had to run some errands so it was a busy day.

Kate the ballerina

Preston as Thomas the Tank Engine (he didn't want to wear the hat, but wore it the whole night!)

Lindsey the ladybug

Our friends that came with us. L-R: Dallas (cowgirl), Kate, Logan (runner), Asher (rhinoceros), Preston and Lindsey in front.

Mummy and Monster cupcakes. I found both ideas online. The green frosting got soft over time so next time I would make the frosting thicker so those peaks stay and not "melt". But these were both fast to make.

I saw these owl cupcakes on Pinterest a while ago and loved them. So I was excited to have an excuse to make them. Well...little did I know that pulling apart oreos would be hard to do! I broke them or pulled off half of the white cream trying to separate them. In the picture off pinterest they are perfectly white, but yeah right. It's hard to get them apart without some brown still on the white part. I ended up taking a small paring knife and cutting them apart. That worked the best. The nose and eyes are reeses pieces. Pretty simple once I figured out how to separate oreos!

Our trunk for the trunk-or-treat. :)

Afterwards, Preston said "that was a fun night. I had fun." He kept going back to trunk-or-treat more. haha. Kate was having fun trading candy with friends and overall it really was a fun night. Now we have lots of yummy candy and we get to go trick-or-treating more on Halloween night! Woohoo!

Pumpkins

We are set for Halloween...are pumpkins are carved. Kate loved doing it, Preston hated the feel of the innards and told me "that's not nice" when I made him reach his hand in to feel it (hee hee), Lindsey climbed up on a chair to watch and we even found her sucking on a pumpkin seed. The kids picked out what shapes they wanted for their faces, it was easy and they were happy. Now let's hope it doesn't rain too hard on Halloween. :)

Time

I don't like to be late to things, but I really don't like to be too early to things either. I like to get there with a couple minutes to spare, slide right in, be there just in time. On the other hand, Kyle likes to be places several minutes early. This is a conflict. For example, today before Church (we have Church at 1:30pm-yuck- have had it at that time for 2 yrs since our building burned down and we are patiently waiting for the new one to get done...almost finished! then we will have 9:00 church- woohoo!) I was saying we had a lot of time before we needed to leave and of course Kyle disagrees and says we need to leave soon. Okay, we leave when he wanted to leave and arrive to Church 15 mins early. Too early for me! It's just 15 more minutes of sitting with kids in a pew and doing what? I ended up wandering over to a friend and talking to her, but still it annoys me to be there so early. So it's lovely, he gets annoyed when I stall and I get annoyed when we leave too soon! haha!

Last week, I met up with my Mom and Sara at Ikea and had fun shopping and browsing. Then we ate at Chipolte (yum), did some shoe shopping and then went home with tired kids while they shopped til they dropped at the mall. Kyle and I went to see Moneyball with some friends last night. It was funny, but then got long and slow towards the end. Very long movie. It was based on a true story which was pretty cool. The kids were good for the babysitters- phew. I just finished a book the other day, I'll Walk Alone by Mary Higgins Clark. Now I need another good book to read. We still need to fit in going to a pumpkin farm, going to the zoo- our membership expires at the end of the month so I want to use it one more time- a corn maze for mutual, a ward halloween party on Friday and Halloween...all before the end of the month. I'm thinking our Saturday will be busy.

The Way It Is Here

This is how I get stuff done...

I put the baby gate up so Lindsey can't get into the kitchen or office. If I didn't do this she would be getting into all the office stuff and then getting into all the kitchen stuff. Then, I would be spending more time cleaning up after her or chasing her down with markers in her hands or the computer mouse in her hand. So I put the gate up and then quickly clean up, unload the dishwasher and do dishes before taking it down. She is happy in the picture only because she hams it up for the camera...really she hates it when I put the gate up and she whines and cries.

I gave Lindsey a rice krispie treat thinking she would love it, well she didn't eat it, but decided to play with it then pat her hair with her hands. It was a mess, but funny. She went straight to the bathtub.

Lindsey LOVES going outside. Whenever the door is opened she bolts for the door. She knows how to go down stairs now so I can't let her just wander around on the front porch anymore. She goes down the steps and runs off.

Trying to get her to play with some toys instead of getting into my cupboards in the kitchen and/or bugging Preston and taking his trains.

"Peek a boo! I'm behind the camera!"

How to Make a Lightning McQueen Cake

I found the Lightning McQueen cake idea here. It's great because it gave me step by step directions. I thought I would post what I did.

This is only part of the mess from making fondant. This was my first time making it and even working with it so I am a rookie for sure. Jeni gave me the recipe for the Marshmallow fondant. Here it is:

1 bag of mini marshmallows (the bigger one)
2 T water
microwave 1 minute. stir. Do 30 sec intervals until smooth.
Add your color now- I like the gel colors because they are more vibrant

Add
2 lb powder sugar (C&H works best)
* add half of the bag and stir with spoon. Then start kneading in more powdered sugar. Knead until smooth

This can store for up to 3-4 days in refrigerator. If you do make it ahead of time and store it put a little of shortening around it and then wrap in saran wrap so it doesn’t dry out. Also, when you aren’t using all of the fondant while you are decorating the cake keep it wrapped in saran wrap as well.

When you are ready to put the fondant on the cake you need to frost your cake with a light coating of frosting so it will stick. Then when you add details and cutouts of the fondant on to the fondant use clear vanilla for the ‘glue’. (I got mine at walmart) I actually just used water, not vanilla and that worked too.

I made these colors and look how beautiful those little fondant balls look now! I made 2 batches. The first one was all red then the second one I split up to make white, yellow and black.


Bake a 9x13 cake, freeze it. Then cut into 7x11 rectangle. Cut out shape of car and add cake on top with frosting to make a cab. Cut out a divet in the front hood area to create a dip in the car. If you have a lightning McQueen car it is helpful to look at that too. The blog I followed made the spoiler out of fondant and added it last, but held it up with toothpicks. I decided to add more cake to the back and then cover it with fondant. It worked out great and I didn't have to prop it up with toothpicks.

Frost the entire car with a crumb coat.

You have to notice the mess in my kitchen! It was like a bomb had gone off. Plus, Kyle was sick and in bed and the kids were running around. It was crazy!

Roll out the red fondant like a pie crust then drape it over the car. Pat it down to stick to the frosting and to mold it to your shape, then trim off the excess. My fondant cracked and stuck to the table when I rolled it out so make sure to use lots of powdered sugar. I had to put a patch on the car to cover where it tore. Cut out windows, lights, lightning bolts, numbers and everything else with fondant. I made the wheels out of black fondant and then used a twisty straw to cut out the holes for the wheels. Then cut out little holes on the sides of the car for the tires to fit into. I turned my front tires like the blog said to. The car still had all that extra powdered sugar on it so I used a paintbrush and lightly brushed it with a tiny bit of water to get rid of the sugar. I'm not sure if you are supposed to do that or if there's any easier way.

Paint the eyes on using a paint brush and food color gel. I dipped the brush in some water then dipped it in the gel color then painted the eyes. I used blue, black and then white frosting for the dot of white in the eye. Add the Rust-eze logos with free hand writing using brown frosting and voila! Your cake is done! You can add some crushed graham crackers for dirt if you want and if your board is bigger you could roll out some black fondant for a race track to put around the car.

Family Pictures

Melanie took our family pictures last weekend in Tri-Cities. After putting it off for 3 years and stressing over our color coordinated outfits for a month I can finally say we took them! And I actually think they turned out pretty good! I like the first one the best, I like the kids holding hands and us two love birds in the back (haha!). Preston was a beast at first and wouldn't cooperate, but once Nathan started fake beating himself and Melanie with a stick, he found that to be hilarious and actually smiled because of it! Woo hoo! Lindsey, oddly enough, found it just as funny. :) We are grateful to Melanie, who is 8 months pregnant, to have taken our pictures for us. So here's a sneak peek...I hear there might be other contenders waiting to edited. We shall see...

Preston is 4!!!

Happy 4th Birthday Preston!

I did a Lightning McQueen theme for his birthday this year. I found this car cake online and it had a blog/tutorial to go with it so I decided to be brave and try working with fondant for my first time. There were some mistakes, but overall I was happy with it and Preston loved it. So did the other boys, it was fun to see their reactions. My Mom came over for the day. She was a huge help at the party. The kids loved seeing her and I was thankful she drove all that way to visit us.

Preston got his own boy bike. When we gave it to him he said "thank you". It was so cute.

I took cupcakes into Preston's preschool class and the kids sang happy birthday to him. I always like to see him in his classroom setting to see how he does. His teacher said he is doing great.

Playing pin the smile onto McQueen, some kids could see through the material so they were extra good at the game. haha. We also had a Piston Cup-car race, Luigi & Guido- tire stacking with donuts and "Lightning McQueen must be found at all cost"-hide-n-seek with Lightning car. Preston invited Dallin Owens, Max George, Jaxson Valentine, Wilson Giles, Weston Cutler and Henry Thompson. All these boys are from his sunbeam class at Church, lots of boys!

Playing red light/green light, they loved it

My Mom was my secretary/assistant/photographer. Everyone should have someone like her at their kids' party! She took this picture and I thought it was cute of all the kids.

Poor McQueen...

Playing with all the new birthday toys...it was a fun party for Preston. He was good + the kids were all good = Success!

Birthday Weekend Extravaganza

The beginning of October is always a busy weekend with 5 family birthdays within a week of one another. Hailey turned 2 on Sept 30th, Aubree turned 9 and Jared turned 18 on Oct 1st (yes they share a birthday), Sara's birthday is Oct 5th and Preston turns 4 on October 6th. So it always gives us an excuse to get together and celebrate. Why not?

Jared wanted to go on a motorcycle ride so all the boys went Saturday. They go up near Ellensburg in the mountains. Carter went with them and said they rode near cliffs and went so high it was freezing cold. Aubree wanted an American Girl doll party. Jeni was going to surprise her and take her over to the new American Girl Store in Seattle near me, but Aubree wanted to stay at Grandma's and do a party with cousins. So Jeni made her own American Girl Bistro at my mom's with a menu and everything. They also made headbands and bracelets for their dolls, made paper dolls from my Mom's cricut, watched an AG movie and ate lunch at the AG Bistro of course.

The girls all had matching hair, a braid with a pony tail. Even Aubree's cousin Keyara had her hair in a braid when they went to go pick her up and that was pure coincidence!

At the American Girl Bistro. They had a menu to choose from and most of them chose Macaroni and Cheese wit Lots of Cheese (that's really what the menu says!) for their main course. They also ate club sandwiches, ceaser salad, pretzel bites with cheese, fruit kabobs, italian soda and fruit punch.

Jared had several friends over after the Priesthood session. My Mom made a bunch of his favorite foods. They sound gross all together, but they were good. Bread sticks with alfredo dipping sauce, nacho cheese and chips, layered bean dip, chocolate surprise cupcakes and kalotches (little smokies wrapped in roll dough and baked- yum). The guys even went swimming in the pitch black night! Jared is an amazing kid. He is cute, funny and such a good uncle. We talk about him leaving for his mission and Kate says she will miss him because he plays with her. We went to his football game on Friday night against Royal City. They lost big time, but what was interesting and sad is that Royal was winning by a ton and they were the one's getting personal fouls for unsportsmanlike conduct! And they were winning! We still had fun cheering Jared on. It was Royal's homecoming so they did a firework show during halftime which was awesome.

Sunday we watched General Conference, visited Merle and Delayne (my parent's neighbors who know everything that goes on, they would make good spies) because they wanted to see the kids, ate a yummy dinner with both sets of grandparents (they came after the first session), watched the second session then headed to Tri-Cities so Melanie could take our family pictures. We haven't had family pictures for 3 years. Kyle hates getting pictures, he's worse than the kids, but I have to give him credit because he was actually good...I had the first meltdown when Preston wouldn't stand still and look at the camera...and we had just started! Let's just say we are glad they are over with. ;)

Dane's Baptism

Melanie and Milo's son, Dane, got baptized a couple weeks ago. He looked so cute and innocent in the font getting baptized. It was sweet. Dee Ann flew up for the weekend and surprised Melanie. And Melanie was surprised! Melanie and Kyle's half sister Jill and her husband and daughter Madison also came. Kyle's grandma, Arlene, lives in Tri-Cities so we swung by and picked her up before the baptism. Melanie made a dinner for after the baptism so we all went there afterwards to eat. It was fun to visit with everyone.

Dane with Preston and Kate

Melanie, Milo and their kids L-R: Nathan, Dane, Kathryn with Reed in the front. Kathryn was sick and still came and sang during the musical number- bless her heart!

Madison chased Preston around and tickled him. He was loving it and it kept him out of trouble. Madison is a senior already! She is Jill's daughter.

Kyle's uncle Rick brought peaches over for Dee Ann and I got to take some home. I made a fresh peach pie with a cream cheese layer. I don't like cooked peaches, but I like fresh peaches. Yum!