Pojo's

This weekend was set aside for Thurston and I to have a fun day together.  I got a little sick, but was feeling well enough to take him out as promised.  We went to his favorite place (Pojo's), and I took him to Red Robin for dinner.  It was a blast, and I love my little Thursty bug!  I love being able to spend one on one time with the kids, I means so much to them and to us.

Tigroneous Prime

Saturday Preston opened up the irrigation box to turn on the sprinklers, and this little guy has made a little home in there.  We think he's quite a cutie, and will keep the area clean of bugs and such.  He's a spotted tiger Salamander.  Luckily, he is not dangerous, but will bite, so we made sure to warn the kids. 

We named him (ready for this?):

Tigroneouse Prime Comodo Dragon,

Tigory for short.

Yep, when you can't decide on a name, just go with all of them!

             I think he's cute, esp the bug eyes.

This is why I am getting fatter!

Since the beginning of my time, I have been horrible at Visiting Teaching.. Seriously, who really gets it done every month and is super excited about that?  Well, I have to say it is not because I don't love my girls (that's for you Jana) ;)  It's just- well whatever.  So this month, since all the ladies birthdays were within a couple weeks of each other, we had brunch.  And it was awesome.  Here is the table ( I actually got to use our wedding china for once):

 Fruit and beverages:

The amazingly delicious Trifle (gluten free) Isn't is pretty?!

                                                      
 I didn't get a picture of the quiche or the chicken salad croissants, but believe me, they were yummy.  The silly thing about this is I took pics of the food, but not of the lovely ladies that were here.  Sorry! :/  I guess the party was to fun to remember the camera.

So in other news, we had a couple of friends throw a b-day party (who are also engaged).  This is their cake.  If you have seen Eagle Vs Shark, then you know that this is awesome.

 This one was all about the topper.  Good thing, because I messed up on the actual cake, but who's gonna look at that when you've got these babies!

Ring around the Rosies, the cat claws will come...

So imagine you are lying asleep at night, and you awaken with the overwhelming urge to cough.  So you roll over and have a coughing fit, take a sip of water, check your cell to see what time it is.  You notice the glowing eyes of the cat in the rocking chair staring at you, (you are used to this), so you roll over and snuggle into your hubby.  Second later you hear a creek from the rocking chair and the next thing you know, your cat has jumped the 4+ feet and has landed on your head teeth barred and claws out.  Holy Crap is right.  I scream- naturally- waking Preston and scaring Jazz back into reality.  I turn on the lamp and he is staring at me from the ground and I assure him that I am me and not a monster.  He rolls on his back as a sign of 'oops- my bad'.  I turn out the lights and lay back down.  Jazz then jumps on my bed and purrs and snuggles into me. (he says he's sorry- I forgive him... but with slight hesitation that is.)

Another 10 or so minutes pass by and I am taken over with another coughing fit, but this time I sit up and before I can tell Jazz 'All is well'- he launches at me, sinking his teeth into my shoulder- claws deep into my chest and arm.  Now, I love animals- I don't believe in hurting them, but in this case, I found it completely justified that I picked that fuzzball up and threw him across the room. (Don't worry- his cat like reflexes helped him land safely).

  Preston graciously tossed him outside for the night while I cleaned my wounds.  Poor cat was spooked, and a part of me was honored in knowing he was trying to protect me- but I'm pretty sure that he will not be sleeping in my room while I have a cold!

So in other news, here are the kids playing ring around the rosies.  Aleah loved playing with the boys, and at one point she was saying "ashes" (or her version of it), but of course Mommy was too late to catch it on camera. :)

31 Flavas

So Yesterday was my birthday.  Hooray!  I'm older! :)  The festivities started the week prior when Preston and I took an evening out to eat at Tucano's and catch a movie.  My gifts (as usual) were received prior to my birthday.  One, I have already mentioned (Dance Central on the Kinect) which, by the way, I totally rock at now!  How many people can say that they achieved a 5 star rating on Rump Shaker??  OK, probably anyone who gives it a shot, but it's worth the bragging rights.  The other gift is 2 tickets to Les Miserables in SLC in May, which I am totally excited about.  I have seen it twice before, but will gladly see it 100x more.

   So yesterday I took the kids out to a nice lunch at Arby's (I know, so fancy!) and then to the

dollar store so they could pick out a present for me.  Thurston chose a baton, and JoJo chose a recorder.  Sadly, neither of these have survived past 3pm the next day, but it's the thought that counts- right?

I also splurged on a couple items myself (big spender) and one of the items included a silicon pastry brush.  Below is Aleah hoarding all 3 of these items.  I will say that she DID NOT LET GO of the pastry brush until this afternoon.  She still picks it up when she sees it though.  This included:

a nap

Dong Khanh Vietnamese diner

The Cheesecake Factory

BEDTIME

all around the house

all meals in between

and a second nap time. 

She's so funny!

 Here she is at breakfast this morning (with her pastry brush)

 So we had an extra crib mattress after we gave away the car beds.  I had this idea that I wasn't sure would work, but thought I would give it a try.  I have to say, I out did myself with how cute it turned out. I purchased a sturdy 2'X4' board from Home Depot, along with 4 metal leg attachment kits and 4 little legs.  I used some scrap fabric to make the pillows and put elastic on a larger scrap to make the cover stay.  I LOVE IT!!  The white pillow turned out my favorite.  This is Aleah's reading 'couch'.

 She LOVES it! (notice what is in her left hand....)

 snuggling on her couch (with pastry brush)

 This was taken after her nap.  She did let go of the brush during her nap, because now it is in her right hand.  HAHA!!!  Did I mention she cracks me up?

 So we have planned a family vacation that is not in SLC (shocker!) for once.  We are headed to San Diego this June and are SO excited.  With this, I realized that we will be on a public beach. Yikes.  Preston and I both love each other more than words can say, and accept each other no matter what condition we are in.  This being said, we both agree that we have put on a little extra padding in the last 9 years.  Stretch marks can't be helped- they are battle marks, but the flab must be eliminated.  My abs must be avenged! ;)
                                   So of course, my neighbor brings these by as a thank you for watching her kids.  They are so, so ,so amazingly delicious.  I told myself that I could have one, only after doing 100 jumping jacks.  Of course, the need for more came, so let's just say that I have done a lot of jumping jacks today. So for fun, you can now imagine a 31 year old housewife in spandex pants doing jumping jacks in the kitchen in front of a tub of goodies.  That's how I roll... and why my stomach does too.

   Here is a fun picture the night we got engaged.  How young and naive we were...

Farewell to Rob

We have a dear friend who is moving to San Jose this week to work for Apple.  We will definitely miss him!  So we had a farewell party for him, and naturally we needed a cake.  So first a back story.  Rob likes cats and one day the men were playing Halo and Jazz was playing close by in a paper sack.  Rob thought it was hilarious, so of course we bring this up constantly.  He's been a good sport.  We first gave him a ceramic cat that resembled Jazz and put it in a lunch sack to keep with him at all times.  So when I saw a cake similar to what I made  below (cannot recall what website I saw it on), I HAD to make it for him.  It turned out awesome and he's a good sport for letting us keep this a running joke for so long.

 view from above

 Rob enjoying his cake.  Have to point out the paintings of  Michigan Bill and Michigan Kim.  Makes a Mama proud. :)

 Not sure why we had him blow out candles since it wasn't his birthday.  They say it was so he could make a good luck wish, but I'm pretty sure it was so Bill could use his blow torch. :)

 Offering the cat his forearm. (long story) ;)

 As a final gift, I took this picture of Jazz and framed it.  Jazz signed the matte with his paw.  Awesome.  Rob said he would treasure it forever.

 One more for the road.  This was taken at my birthday party in 2009.  Hahahahah!!!!

Have fun in San Jose Rob, we will definitely miss you!

Little Bit 'O this, and a little bit 'O that

First, I would like to introduce these little guys below.  They are in part happy birthday to Wendy, and part congratulatory to Wendy and ChiMing....awwwe:

 I was going to make a tiered cake for them, but had a miserable failure, this was the result of trying to marbleize the cake, forgetting that one should NOT scrape the pan, because it will affect the non-stickiness of the baked cake.

 So when life gives you a pile of failed cake crumbs, make cake pops... they are quite delicious! :)

 Luckily, I remembered my mistake and was able to save the top tier, so here ya go.  I also tried to cut some corners and use the already colored and flavored marshmallows.  They kind of worked, but were a lot fluffier than normal marshmallow fondant.  They had a lot more volume, hence the fluffy hearts.

 Here is Aleah with TanTo, it was impossible to get a still picture of both of them

 TanTo is wearing the shirt I made for him... haha!

 Just so you know, Aleah is still adorable.

 Joseph wanted me to take a picture of him in his new flip flops

 ....because they have robot sharks on them!  (he's such a boy!)

 Aleah on St. Patricks Day

 She was not very happy that I was walking away from her.  She was laughing right before, I swear!