I'm Trapped!!!

If any of you are wondering why I have not been returning phone calls, emails, etc. it is because I am trapped in the bathroom with two little toddlers who refuse to get off their potty seats. They are bound and determined to get as much chocolate as they can by repeated making tiny little drops into the toilet, wiping, hopping off and washing their little hands then hounding me for their reward only to immediately exclaim it's time to start the whole process again. They are smart little buggers, I'll give them that! I tried to deter Sydni from continuing the process after Hannah went home by telling her she could call "Snow White" on the phone as a reward. This worked up until the time "Snow White" stopped answering her phone! We have since had to locate other princesses to appease Sydni, so if you get a call asking for Jazmin, Belle, or Cinderella, don't be surprised and please help me out!! This is the first time she's really caught on to the whole process and has been a little too excited about the whole thing. Oh, time to go potty!

'Tis the Season

I know I told some of you I was not going to blog anymore, but what can I say? "Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!!!" Anyone name that line?? I am going to be updating in the future like Melissa and/or Heather to protect the pictures of my kids. I just have to find the time!

The real reason I decided to post was to tell you about a great charity I'm going to be doing this holiday season. It's called "The Cookie Brigade." They collect home made cookies and dog biscuits for our deployed troops and canines in service. If you know anyone in the military you can even submit their names so they can receive goodies as well. I just love this idea, it even works for those of us who may be dieting right now- you can make the dog biscuits. Hopefully the hunger isn'd bad enough to make those tempting to eat! Who's with me?

Lost in Space!

I've completed 2 of the three cake orders for this month. The first two cakes you will see picture of today were for the same client, just delivered a week apart. One for friends, one for family. He had a space theme for his birthday.


This is the cake he had for his friends. It is a chocolate cake filled with vanilla pudding tinted green that oozed when you cut it. Frosted in chocolate icing and covered in marbled fondant.


The little aliens are sitting at a table eating birthday cake. They are all made from modeling chocolate.


This cake is an 8" chocolate cake with chocolate mousse filling, iced in chocolate covered in chocolate fondant tinted black. The whole cake is sprinkled with edible black glitter. The decorations, including the shuttle, are made from gumpaste.


Here is a close up of the shuttle. I painted the details on with food coloring. I was babysitting when I finished this one up and still amazed it made it in one piece with the girls trying to "help."

This week I am doing a cake to serve 80 with a lighthouse theme. It's due the day after Thanksgiving. My fabulous Mother-in-law offered to make the entire Thanksgiving dinner and since she is the best cook on the planet I am feeling extra greatful and blessed!!! Ja is going to go over to help cook that day, he's a bit ashamed I'd let her make the dinner on her own. :) I protested... a little...

My Latest Project

I have been wanting to make this arrangement since August, but have not had time to actually do it until this past week. I really love it! It's made a huge difference in the feel of my kitchen. Had I known what an impact it had, I would have made the effort a long time ago.



I don't really have any floral arranging skills at all, so if you do, don't laugh at my attempt!



My favorite part of the whole thing is....



it's functional too!

I Hang My Head in Shame

I took the Twilight Quiz, and

>'Twilight' Quiz<>

You are Bella. A bit uncoordinated, but you are fun just the same. You attract the gorgeous vampire Edward, and you are quite happy with him. Your self esteem is also a bit low, but you can always look to your friends (the human and vampire ones) for confidance.
Take this quiz!








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My thoughts as I read the results: picture me with jaw dropped to the ground"Oh barf!! You have got to be kidding me! I'm my least favorite character?!?!! Hey wait just a minute, I get Edward!!, that's not so bad... Being a moron has some advantages..."
Thanks a lot Julie I had a good laugh! :)

Baby Girl's 3rd Birthday

At some point I should probably stop referring to her as my "baby girl," but I suppose if my big sis can still call me her "baby sister" I can call Sydni my baby for a few more years!

Sydni really is getting more and more grown up all the time. It's such a bittersweet heart wrenching experience for me, those of you who are also finished having children hopefully know what I mean. Shayla has been a HUGE help with this strange depression over my girl growing up that's consumed me lately. And a trip to Disneyland didn't hurt either! I digress...

Because we were traveling on her actual birthday, we ended up celebrating her birthday on her due date (a.k.a. Jenny's birthday) the 27th of October. I was torn over which character cake to make, one based on Pooh bear who she adores or of one of Snow White, who is decidedly her favorite princess. I settled on Pooh, because this really is very likely my last chance. Kids outgrow Pooh Bear, but not the Princesses.
We started out the big day by going to her ballet class. They got to dress up, and she was Snow White ofcourse. The kids had a blast dancing to monster music and actually mostly just playing with each other's costumes. It was a lot of fun! I spent the rest of the afternoon finishing up her cake while everyone else played, then Grandma and Grandpa joined us for cake and ice cream and presents.
We started with presents. She had quite a haul. Not sure how that always happens. My sisters sent her Disney dollars to spend on vacation so we got a set of princesses and a set of all the Snow White characters. G'ma and g'pa got her a set of Play Doh with all the fun little cutting and rolling toys. Julia got her a Tinkerbell cell phone and a set of play dishes. Mom got her a Snow White doll, and Dad got her a little baby Pooh Bear seen in the pictures below.

She absolutely loves him. We got him at Disneyland, she carried him around and talked to him the entire time we were shopping. Now she loves putting him in the baby swing and putting him to sleep.
Here's a picture of the cake. Pooh Bear is made from Rice Krispy's covered in modeling chocolate and the pot is the cake- chocolate fudge cake with chocolate mousse filling and whipped cream filling, iced in Italian Meringue Buttercream and covered in Marshmallow fondant.
Sydni loved her cake, she was so excited and kept giving him kisses on his chocolate nose.

She loves blowing our candles, and had to blow hers out several times before we could cut in to the cake and eat! The cake was very tasty and if you have not tried it, I highly recommend Blue Bunny "Birthday Party" ice cream. It tastes kind of like cotton candy or a great vanilla birthday cake. Whatever it is, it tastes great! That's all gone but if anyone is interested I've got about a quarter of a honeypot left!

Disneyland

We had a wonderful trip to Southern California. Sydni and Julia did awesome in the car, Julia listened to Harry Potter on the iPod, and Sydni had her movies. One hurdle down! Then we made it to our first stop, a hotel in St. George. Sydni was just giddy over everyone being in the same room together. She ran back and forth from one end of the room to the other screaming her little head off. Julia thought she was hilarious and joined in the fun. Then when it came time to actually sleep I tried doing our regular bed time routine, stories and songs, but it became clear that that was not going to work so we finally just turned off the light and let her stay awake until she crashed figuring she could sleep in the car. She kept sitting up in bed looking all around and telling me, "Julia sleeping."(pause) "Daddy sleeping"(pause) "Mommy sleeping?" It was hard not to laugh. I finally had to have her Daddy come in the bed with us as well. That got her to hold still and be quiet, but still no sleeping. The fan came on, and finally she sacked out. We kept the fan blowing all night.
The next day we stopped in Vegas for lunch, drove up and down the strip so Julia could see all the hotels (she so was not into it and kept sneaking her ear buds back in) and we all experienced In-N-Out for the first time. Since neither of my children will eat a burger, we got extra fries and a milkshake. The fries and burgers were awesome, but I was not overly impressed by the chocolate milkshake. I do love the prices and it really was quick service eventhough the place was packed!
The rest of the drive was fairly uneventful. About the last hour Sydni had had it though and the iPod was out of power so Julia was complaining about her horrible lot in life as well, but we made it to the hotel. We stayed at the Ramada Inn Maingate and upon check-in we received a little card that said, "Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday to all of you- Love Mom and Dad" My Mom is a travel agent and got our hotel for $59 a night, which was amazing enough, but then she prepaid our hotel as well. We were stunned. I'm still in shock! What a surprise!
We met my sister, Kristie, and her husband, Bob, for dinner that night. We went to Mimi's Cafe. I'd never been there before, but I think I will be going more often now. I really liked the food!
Our first day at Disneyland- It was a lot more crowded than I was expecting. I'd been to Disneyland in October 5 years ago and there was hardly anyone there- my kind of vacation. It still wasn't awful, I've been in worse crowds before. They were letting people in California Adventure before Disneyland opened so we headed over there. Sure you could get to the stores, but all the entrances to the rides and attractions were blocked off. All except "Soarin' Over Ca" Julia and I went on that one intending her to then turn around and ride with her Daddy. Juls was not impressed, so we left Calif. Adv. and headed to Disneyland. We went to Fantasyland first and Julia decided we should take Sydni on Peter Pan. Both girls loved it. After that we headed to Snow White. Here is a picture of how I kept everyone happy waiting in lines. After we got off Snow White Sydni said, "Sydni scared. Snow White scary!"

We figured Dumbo would be a nice happy ride to cheer her up after the trauma. Here she is waiting to fly.
And Daddy and Julia not too far behind.

We stayed in Disneyland for the rest of that day. We did venture out of Fantasyland, and Julia discovered her new favorite ride, "Splash Mountain." Every day I would run over and get Fast Passes and we rode it at least twice.

While Julia and I rode this one, Sydni would ride the Pooh Bear ride with her Daddy. She loved this one, and so did everyone else. It was really fun to take her on this ride because she'd get so excited about seeing all the characters. Despite the long lines, we even took her to meet them. Twice.

I also got Fast Passes to the Indiana Jones ride. I was so happy Julia was tall enough to ride this one and even Jason likes it, so we'd planned on doing the baby swap thing. I grabbed Julia and ran up the line. Realizing halfway through the temple that I'd made a mistake. I should have let Jason take her, because she was freaked out and thinking this ride was going to be too scary. Sure enough, she convinced herself that it was just too much for her and would not go on it again. Not even if she got to go on Splash Mountain again. So poor Ja didn't get to go.
We went on the Jungle Cruise after this, but my hubby and daughter call this ride "The Proposal Cruise" because the last time we were all at Disneyland, my brother-in-law, Bob, proposed to my sister, Kristie, on this ride. It was a total surprise to her and very romantic. If you visit their house, Bob will pop in the DVD for you and you can see the whole thing.

I also got Fast Passes to one of my favorite rides, The Haunted Mansion. It's made even better (and less scary) this time of year because they deck the whole mansion out in "The Nightmare Before Christmas." Anyone who really knows me, knows I am a HUGE Tim Burton fan and especially enjoy, "The Nightmare Before Christmas." Julia also loves the movie and I introduced it to Sydni and she loves her, "Halloween Halloween" too. She was not a fan of the ride unfortunately. We got stuck in the ride twice for quite a long time actually, I didn't mind, but that was ride that Sydni would say, "Nope" to.
That night we made a wonderful discovery. We were going to try to do our Early Entry into the park the next morning, so I decided to shower that night. While I was blowing my hair dry, Sydni snuggled up with her Daddy and fell asleep. So that became our ritual every night.

The next day we were going to spend the day with my sister and her hubby, but she was not feeling well so we met up with them that evening instead.
Here we are in front of the giant jack-o-lantern.
We also saw Mickey Mouse and Pluto decked out in their Halloween costumes. They were by the hat store where we bought Julia's Pirate Mouse ears and I vainly attempted to get Sydni a hat as well. I kept trying the entire trip, but she absolutely refused.
We met up with Bob and Kristie at California Adventure. We rode the Monsters Inc ride and here we are sitting outside the ride in a replica of the cab cars you ride around on the actual ride. I love this ride, but no big surprise Monsters Inc is still my favorite Pixar movie.
We headed off to the Bugs Life ride after that. Heimlich's Chew Chew Train tops my list of rides over there. I just love how they added the sense of smell in to the whole experience and you smell the watermelon and the cookies and the candy corn, it's brilliant.
We went back over to Disneyland after that so Julia could ride one of her favorite rides, The Teacups. Luckily she had her Uncle Bob to take her on that one, because the rest of us flatly refused. My sister told me a secret- Bob hates the teacups too. He just really loves my daughter!
Julia was thrilled, and Uncle Bob got it spinning almost as fast as my Dad can spin them.
We all had dinner at Goofy's Kitchen that night. It's pricey, but very worth it. It's a buffet, but it is the best buffet you will ever have. The food is amazing! And the best part is the characters come visit your children at the table and take them dancing.
Sydni and I stayed at the table while everyone else got food because we saw Snow White making the rounds near us. Sydni was in absolute heaven when she came to our table. She did not want Snow White to leave.
Luckily the rest of the gang made it back in time to see her as well.
Julia had brought her sister food, including a red apple. Sydni did not eat a bite the entire night, she was too focused on trying to give her red apple to Snow White. Somehow I just don't think Snow White would really want it. Too cute!
She enjoyed seeing Minnie Mouse
And Chip (or Chipmunk as Sydni would say)
and Dale, isn't this a great picture of Julia? Even older kids enjoy it.
And Aladdin
And Goofy
But really she just wanted Snow White.
We decided to end that night by going on "Pirates of the Carribean." If you hadn't guessed, Julia loves this ride. She loves anything with water, but she especially loves this one because of "Captain Jack." I was really worried Sydni would be terrified by this ride because it's dark, the big dips and all the pirates. Sydni loves the dark and was and is constantly asking us to turn off the lights, she laughed and laughed down the dips, it was the cutest thing ever, and she didn't mind the pirates either. The picture I took of us on this ride did not turn out. Sorry!
On Wednesday we started out at California Adventure so Julia could ride her all time favorite ride- "Grizzly River Run." Are you noticing a theme with Julia's favorite rides? Yup, she is my water baby. I still say the girl is part mermaid! Anyway, there was no line at all for this ride since it was a bit chilly, not really that bad at all though. We even got to ride by ourselves.
We went three times back to back and got soaked to the bone.
I had a "poncho" but it made very little difference. There just really is no way to stay dry on this one.
Especially when you get caught by the geyser. That's what really did us in! We walked back to the hotel to change after this one!
Sydni and Jason went to the Playhouse Disney show and Talking with Crush while we were gone.
We tried to hit some rides we hadn't been on, like the Tiki Room (yummy Dole whip for me!) and the train and I can't remember what else.
Another ride Sydni really loved was "It's a Small World." She is still singing the song except she made some changes. "It's a small worl affer all, it's a small worl affer all, it's a small worl affer all, it's a small small girl"

Our last day, we used our Early Entry. We'd planned on going on Nemo thinking the line could not possibly be as bad, we were so wrong. It was still an hour and half to 2 hours. We stayed in the line debating what to do and finally decided we didn't want to spend the whole time waiting for one ride.
Instead, Ja and Julia went on Star Tours and Sydni and I headed over to Peter Pan and what ended up being her absolute favorite ride, Snow White. I know, we were shocked too. Since it isn't a very popular ride, the ride operators just let us stay on the ride and we went over and over and over again. On one of our last trips, one of the cast members gave Sydni a Tinker Bell trading pin and they gave me a button. We tried to hit all the rides we missed. I kept trying to get Julia to do Matterhorn, or Thunder Mt. Railroad with me, but no dice. We hit everyone's favorite rides one last time and crashed at the hotel.
We also went to the Princess Fantasy Faire. There was a show and places to do face painting and get a costume, all of which was mega expensive, well the show was free, but we went to meet the princesses. We stood in line for probably close to an hour, but we got to meet three princesses.
Mulan- she was super sweet- talked a lot to the girls, really took her time. She was my favorite to meet.
Cinderella- she was a little grumpy, probably because the second Sydni saw Snow White she was dying to get to her. :)
And Snow WhiteThis is a picture I like to call "$10 Happiness" Yes at Disneyland, you can purchase 2 churros and an ice cream all for the bargain price of $10. It's the most either of them ate then entire trip. Next time, we'll just buy them churros!
We spent Friday with my sister at Balboa beach. To see some great pictures of that, go here. It really was the absolute perfect day to go to the beach. The girls had a blast. Julia ofcourse loves the ocean, and it was fun to see Sydni experience the beach and surf for the very first time.
We were sad to leave on Saturday, but looking forward to getting back to a regular routine. The ride home was fairly uneventful until we hit about Nephi and we noticed there was snow on the ground. The further north we drove, the more snow and the colder the temperature dropped. It was a bit of a shock to go from sandy beaches to snow covered roofs! We had a great time and are all California dreamin.'