A quick trip to Walla Walla............

On March 7, after leaving work early, Jim and I headed off to Walla Walla, WA. Jim's best friend, Casper, (He was our best man at our wedding) and his family were throwing an 80th Birthday Party (open house) for his mom. Ellie was like a 2nd mom to Jim while he was growing up so of course we had to go. I was up for a little vacation. At least until the morning we were supposed to leave! I felt fine at first but by 10:00 I felt like I had bad heart burn which turned to queasiness... and at 2 when I left work I was told I looked greenish and I felt achy! OH NO!!! I had so looked forward to going to Boise and out to dinner with Jim somewhere nice!
Anyway, I slept all the way to Boise curled up in a fetal position in the direct sunlight on the passenger side of the car, fighting chills and nausea! Finally we made it to the Motel in the nick of time if ya know what I mean! I went straight to bed, and Jim ate at the restaurant in the motel by himself, only to come back an hour later to tell me it was the BEST burger he had ever eaten!! Oh man!! being sick on a vaction is noooo fun at all!

I took photos of myself and sent to Sarah and Andrew so someone would feel sorry for me! hahaha! We slept good all night and then in the morning got up and I felt ALOT better.... Walla Walla here we come!

 We were on our way after a nice breakfast at IHOP. I dozed off and on all that day feeling much better than I did the night before. We got to Virginia's house around 5 ish. We just visited that day, and ate homemade enchilada's and Mexican rice for dinner. We were couch potatoes all the rest of the evening.
Friday we got up and got ready for the day. The day was ours to do whatever we wanted. First we met J.D. (Jim's brother) for lunch at a little taco place that was delish! Wish we had one here!! They were like El Viquero's tacos, only it was a fast food place ! YUM! Then we wandered the downtown area in Walla Walla a bit.. that always makes me want to open a little Bakery shop of my own there! There are lots of Winery's in Walla Walla and downtown has tasting shops, and it attracts ALOT of tourists! Plus Whitman College is there, so there are lots of young kids... I think a little bake shop would do great! only if I had the money!
Anyway, we shopped and got birthday cards for Ellie. We went to Walmart to help Virginia invest in a big flat screen T.V. She's been looking for one for a few years but could never make up her mind on just what one she wanted. With our help she finally picked one out! it was on sale and everything.... but alass it was out of stock! So we thought , 'Hey let's drive to Pendleton, OR (only about a 45 minute drive) and get it at the Walmart there (no one thought to call first) so we were off! I played Tetrus on Jim's phone in the back seat! I was so happy to see green hills that I snapped a pic.....

 And I bet you can guess what happened??? Once we arrived and looked at the TV's again, she changed her mind and wanted a different T.V. which they were out of too! as well as the first one! Shazam!! no T.V. night for us!
So we drove back to Walla Walla, and ate at the Teriyaki Grill where they have wonderful fish tacos! YUM! As you can tell I was feeling back to my old self! Then we relaxed and went to bed.
Saturday we got up and I made my Symphony brownies to take to JD and Cari's BBQ later in the day (did I mention Walla Walla is always about a month ahead of us here in seasons, so it was warm and sunny) Virginia made a pasta salad. And then we were off to walk around downtown Walla Walla again. We ate lunch at "Sweet Basil's Pizzeria" yummy! Awesome little Pizza place where you can buy pizza by the slice, I got a Pesto pizza that had artichokes and olives on it! Delish!

           (I wouldn't mind opening one of those here too if I knew it would make it!)
Then we went to Ellies party, after driving through the countryside looking at houses. Ellie has diabetes and has lost most of her vision, she can see shapes, so Jim had to lean in really close and give her a hug and tell her he was there! She was sooooo surprised that he came, she almost cried which in turn made me tear up! Goodnesss.... I was glad we went. Then we visited with Casper for 2 hours! I must say, it's amazing how much Casper looks like my old high school boyfriend.. isn't it funny... no matter where you go , there are always people who remind you of people you know, or they are the same people but a different person... does that make sense?  do you know what I mean?? it's weird.....

It was a nice visit and party, meeting people I had heard about before but never met.... then we headed over to JD and Cari's for grilled Burgers, pasta salad, baked Broccoli (of which I need to get the recipe.. it was Yummo) a raspberry walnut salad, and brownies... YUM! We visited rather late with JD, Cari, Breanna and Breann's friend that came with her for the weekend. FUN! After we were all exchanging yawns, we knew we were all tired, and went back to Virginia's for the night. It was daylight savings time too so we had to move our clock ahead an hour... which was bad because on our trip home we would lose another hour... yeesh.!

Sunday morning came too soon! We got up and packed, ate breakfast with Virginia, and then we were off again!! It was raining, but at least we were glad it wasn't snow..... at least until we got to the blue mountains... then we hit a snow storm worse than we'd seen all winter!! It was soooo bad that we couldn't see the tracks of the car in front of us at one point!

After we got over Dead man's pass, and down the mountains it turned to rain again. Then we had clouds and bad wind!

Tumble weeds were blowing across the road and dust was bad... there was one time that tumble weeds blue up and into the air and over the road that Jim looked at me and said "Dorothy, we're not in kansas anymore!" Goodness, I think we had every kind of weather you could imagine (well I guess we could have actually been in a hurrican or tornado) but we made it home safe after a long day of driving.
We got unpacked and relaxed for a bit... then it was time to go to bed so we could both get up for another day of work.....
It was a good little vacation... but too short.

My "Relay for Life" Auction cake....

A girl I work with came up to me about a month ago, and asked if she could hire me to make a cake. She had been volunteered to make a cake for the "Relay for Life" cake auction at her church and since she doesn't 'do' cakes or baking she asked me if I wouldn't mind. Of course I say I wouldn't mind!! She said I could do whatever I wanted with an 8 inch 2 layer cake and the color purple!!

This is what I came up with!

It was yellow cake with raspberry filling.... and I had this new gumpaste flower kit and thought I would try it out. I wasn't even sure how I was going to decorate it until that Saturday morning before she needed, other than I had made a few roses and leaves... it just seemed to come together!! I was happy with it...

Shannon took it to the cake auction, and later sent me a text message that it had sold for $90!! How cool is that??? I had told her rather than pay me to make a donation towards the Cancer Society as well (thinking that it would be 10 or 15, because that is what I would have charged since it was a good cause) Later I got a thank-you and she said she had made a donation of $30 to the Cancer  Society! Wow!!

All in all it was a good day!

Happy 25th Birthday Sarah!

This post is a little late..... Can't believe how quickly time goes by! To think 25 years ago on Feb. 20th I had one of the happiest days of my life when my little 'Weeskit' was born. At least that 's what Grandpa B. liked to call her. Who knew what good 'Friends' we would become.

She was the cutest baby ever....

that turned into the cutest little girl ever...

And she loved her brother very much......

and she grew up into a beautiful young lady..

who loves to be silly.....

and manages to look cute while doing it....

she loves to shop...

and loves to eat....

all in all we love having her in our family...

Sarah came home for her Birthday weekend! We had a good time just spending time together.. We made Sarah's birthday pasta for Sunday dinner, which was yummo! Sarah helped me throw everything together, it was Chicken, bacon, sundried tomatoes, mushrooms and artichokes with bowtie pasta and Sundried Tomato alfredo sauce. YUM!
Later we went down to Mom and Dad's with Sarah's cake of choice.... out of all the cakes I make and can decorate and her all time favorite is the boxed Jello Strawberry Cheesecake mix... so that is what she gets!!

After eating cake and opening cards... with money in them of course. What else do you get a 25 year old girl who loves to shop???..............

Sarah and I challenged Grandpa and Grandma to a game of scrabble... that's are favorite thing to do. It's quite funny when we all get tired in the evening and try to come up with words. I often have to consult the dictionary where we learned that the Peacock is the male and the Peahen is the female of the PeaFowl family and we found out the meaning of the word "Teem" and it's actually a word which gave gramma the giggles and she turned blue she was laughing so hard and we had to remind her to breath... I think it's the time of night that we play, and the length of the game when you play super scrabble that gives us all the giggles....We do have fun! I always seem to lose though even with the dictionary.
Then Monday rolled around and it was Sarah's actual birthday... isn't that what makes birthday's fun?? to celebrate the whole weekend long??
Andrew and I took Sarah to the mall... and she didn't find a thing to spend her birthday money on. She saved it for the Salt Lake City malls. My but she is turning into a 'big city' girl I guess! We also let her pick a restaurant for lunch and she picked the Blue Hashi (can't remember quite how to spell that) of course! for Sushi! it was good, and they gave Sarah the most delicious-dessert-ever free for her birthday ( I think it helps when you know one of the manager's there too!)
Then Andy went back to Rexburg for school and Sarah and I came home. It was lovely to have both of my kids home for the weekend! And lovely to spend time with my daughter... later just the two of us went to Rupes' for gooey ice cream Sundays and onion rings and fries!
                       Happy 25th Birthday Sarah!! wonder what this next year will bring???

Today I am Thankful.......................

Today I am thankful that my talk inSacrament meeting is done. Even though it's good experience to prepare and give a talk, it's awfully nice when it's done!
Today I am thankful for the help that a wise, kind Heavenly Father gave me. First, for the inspiration and answer to my prayer that I would be able to come up with a talk that might help someone and that would be what He would like me to talk on. (even though that help came at 4 in the morning last Monday... but maybe that is the time that I would be most receptive to it. I know that the early morning hours are the times I like best to put together a lesson... before the busy-ness of the day and the world have time to creep into my head.)
Today I am again thankful to my Heavenly Father for giving me the courage to give the talk.... and act like I wasn't scared when deep down inside I was nervous and felt like I was having a heart attack... and feeling like I was in a dream.....
Today I am thankful for a good friend who made a promise with me before I got up to give my talk. She knows I tend to cry sometimes when giving a talk or a lesson. I hate my crying face... and my voice when I cry. So we made a deal that everytime I felt like crying I would look at her and she would make a face at me.  I looked at her a couple of times today, and sure enough she came through on her promise and make a face at me not realizing that I would just glance at her and as soon as she started crossing her eyes or making a pig face I would hurry and look away with a smile ( or else I might have laughed! )... it helped alot... but what she didn't realize was that the Bishopric and the High council man and ward chorister sitting up on the stand with us could see her as well. She said after making faces a couple of times, the High Council man was giving her a look like 'lady... you've lost it". hahahaha....what a good good friend! I promised her that when she had to speak next I would do the same for her.
Today I am thankful for my dear husband.... who hates to speak in public as much as I do, but did a great job too.. and he even cried.(I should have told him to look at my friend!) I am grateful for his testimony... and that he was baptized and that we got sealed in the temple forever... I couldn't imagine spending eternity with anyone else!
Today I am also thankful again for my dear husband who gave me a red Dutch oven for Valentines day instead of flowers or diamonds..... despite the harassment that he took from the guys he works with who teased him about it not being a very romantic gift. To me it was the most romantic thing he could have given me (along with the dark chocolate bar and cut little card that said "yours forever!" ) He knows my heart... and my passion for cooking. And today I tried out my Dutch Oven for the first time with a spicy pork roast that I shredded for tacos with pineapple salsa on the top. YUM!! I LOVE my dutch oven... I have needed one for a looooonnnnng time.
Today I am thankful for family... both my family of brothers and sisters and the examples they are to me. And also for my ward family, and the kindness and support that they give each other. You couldn't make it through this life without love and support from family and friends.
Today I am very grateful for the gospel... I couldn't get through this life and it's challenges without it. I'm so grateful for the happiness it brings and the hope it gives us.
Today I am thankful for a Loving Heavenly Father and his son, Jesus Christ.... I am thankful for this world and the beauty They put in it that is there if you only stop to notice it now and then.
Today... I am thankful for today! :o)

Dream a little dream..............................

Nothing exciting has happened lately in our house. Jim goes to work early, I go a little later, we come home, fix dinner and eat together. Lately we have been addicted to "The Big Bang Theory" it comes on all evening Tuesdays, Wednesday, and Thursdays. You know something? It's kind of fun being a couple again with it being just the two of us at home... although I miss my kids, and worry about them, it's nice just being me and Jim. I do need to learn to cook smaller though, It takes us all week to finish a couple of meals that I make at the first of the week, but that's okay.
Well, you know how I love cooking and catering family parties, and taking treats to the office, and making cakes for people?
A friend asked me the other day if I would think about going into the catering business with her... funny thing, she's the second friend to ask me that in the last few months!! I can't just quit my job cold turkey... with 2 kids in college and trying to help them when I can is why I work.... plus I have insurance on both of them right now too... but oh somedays it's really tempting! Don't you wish you could look into the future when you want to do something and see if it would work out?? Then you would know whether to go ahead.... I think I will though. I think me and both of those 2 friends may give it a try.... I could work at it after the job I have now and weekends. I guess that would be a little bit like giving it a shot to see if it would work before quitting all together. Maybe it will take off maybe it won't. As it is I get asked to make cakes for people I work with and family.
One day I think 'Go for it" and other days I think not. But it's one of those little dreams I have.... owning a little catering business and being able to make cakes that look professional. HMMMMM....

Birthday's and Hats

It's amazing how clean my house stays with both of my kids out of the house now... and how quiet it has been. I find myself singing full force while cooking just to make some noise in the evenings. This last couple of weeks Jim has had to work late and didn't get home until 8:30 pm. And I found myself getting scared!! Scared to be outside grilling steaks... thinking that there could be a serial killer in my pine trees, scared to walk by Andy's empty room... thinking that I would suddenly see a tall figure wearing one of his scary masks standing in the doorway, scared to walk down my dark hallway... just plain scared to be home alone, and I'm a grown woman!! So I found that if I come home and turn the lights on through out the house and sing to my favorite music at the top of my lungs the house isn't quite as scary... I even talk to myself as I walk out to grill anything. Funny how just knowing someone is home in another room makes you feel safe.
Anyway, I occupied my time crocheting hats... those slouchy beanies everyone has been wearing. They are quick and fun to make. Sarah had said that she wanted one, so I bought yarn, found patterns and got busy.

I made a cream colored one, and then I had a skein of yarn that was multicolored in blacks & grays

Sarah is supposed to be taking a picture of herself wearing them but so far I haven't gotten one.

Last weekend Andrew came home... it was his 23rd Birthday on Friday the 20th. He requested shrimp Po'boy's for dinner and a chocolate cake.... so I made an 'Amazing Chocolate Cake' recipe that I got from my niece's blog, and frosted it with my butter cream frosting, I even put 1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips in about 1 cup frosting to put in between the chocolate layers, and iced the rest with the plain butter cream, then I made a chocolate ganache and poured over the top!

I hoped that was chocolaty enough for him. I also had some leftover icing from my 'Lofthouse' sugar cookies so I had enough light blue to do a trim around the bottom and write on the top!

We ate our dinner and then Mom and Dad came over for a little birthday party and cake for Andrew....

                                                        aren't my parents cute??

                        when you get to be 23 all you get are cards...and hopefully with money in them.
                                       Andy didn't do to bad...ended up raking in $100 all together!
               I always seem to have a hard time getting a good pic of me and Jim... he's either making a funny   face and I look silly

                                                              or we look really cheesy!!!

But Andy enjoyed his birthday....

 notice the one candle... it plays 'Happy birthday' when you twist it and we always try to sing along with it but end up laughing or off key... it's become a birthday tradition to have the singing candle on our cakes....

                                  And as you can see we all enjoyed the cake.........................

The weekend went by way too quick.... I sent Andy on his way home with food from my pantry, clean laundry, and the rest of his cake to share with his roomies. Then it was time to think about another week of work. I have been trying to eat healthier and exercise. The exercise part is okay... I have done pretty good, at least better than I was doing which was being a couch potato. I was trying healthier recipes too, like chicken fricassee, ratatouille, and lots of grilled meat and veggies, and soups... but I miss baking!! I get bummed when I"m not baking.... So I made sugar cookies for work, and I tried Mexican brownies and took them to work too!  How am I supposed to lose weight and still bake at the same time???

hmmmm........oh well, now I'm off to make tamales for dinner tomorrow... not too bad if you serve them with a tossed salad and black beans on the side. But I really want to try a yummy looking cake mix cookie recipe I found... ...we'll see.

Happy 2012!!!

Well New Year's Eve came and with it a feeling of what will the New Year bring to each of us?.. and man what a year this last one was.....
During the week between Christmas and New Years, we didn't do alot. We all went together to the new "Sherlock Holmes movie" and I lost half of a back molar while chewing gum... that kind of put a damper on the rest of the afternoon. ;(    Then we played or Scene it "Harry Potter" game together in the evening. It was fun. But I had to go back to work on Tuesday after Christmas. (everyone else in the family had it off)
I got my tooth fixed on Wednesday with just a filling, no crown needed this time, hooray!! :o)
We put Christmas away Saturday morning and I got my Snowmen out for the winter, and cleaned the house, it was a nice feeling. Later on New Year's Eve, we had Chinese food with Mom & Dad, Brian & Jenn and kids, and played games. Then we relaxed and watched TV until midnight. I had bought some popper things that we all let explode right as it struck midnight, and then spent a few minutes cleaning up the mess afterwards.
Dad and mom and Sarah and andy at midnight on New Year's eve.

Then it was time to head home and go to bed.

Sunday was the normal day of Church and things, but we had to start packing up Andrew to take him to BYU-I on Monday. And Sarah packed so she could head back to Provo on Monday, and get ready to go back to work.
Monday morning came and we bustled around to get Andy packed... he procrastinated a little and waited to figure out what to take at the last minute. But we did it!!

We  were all ready, the cars were packed, and we just had to get one more family photo before we all parted our separate ways. We were sad to have the Holidays end but at the same time it's nice to get things back to normal and be in a routine again.
We made it to BYU-I and got Andy checked into his apartment just in time to go to a mandatory meeting for new students and there parents. It was awesome, President Clark talked and it was held in the new auditorium which looks like a mini-conference center. Andy met a few of his roommates, and we got his books at the bookstore just in the nick of time before they closed. Then we headed back to his apartment to help him get things settled.... Jim helped Andy get his laptop hooked up to the internet and his printer while I made up his bed...

 He seemed to be happy with everything and his new roomies and excited to start school!

Since his room was settled we took him to dinner at Winger's, and then got a few groceries.....
And then said our goodbye's and gave him a few hugs ...... He was ready to find his classes on Tuesday, and get a parking permit. All was well.
Sarah made it back to Provo and had time to unpack and get ready to work again.
Jim and I headed back home to our empty nest....................
A girl in our ward had asked me to make a John Deere cake for her husband on the 6th. She didn't care what it looked like as long as it had a tractor on it. I had been pondering just exactly how to do it for quite a few days... and finally decided to sculpt one out of rice crispy treats. Wednesday I made the tractor and covered it with homemade fondant... but I just wasn't that happy with it... it was all bumpy and stuff. So Thursday after work, and after reading up on how to cover rice crispy treats with fondant, I gave it another shot. I made sure all my edges of the tractor were smooth and the edges sharp and the bumps of crispies were filled in and gave it another layer of fondant. Awesome!! then I added the details......

I made a 2 layer sheet cake that was vanilla with vanilla pudding in the middle... then I thought I better make it look like there were crops growing on one side... you know like little potatoes just peeking through the ground?? so I made a little chocolate frosting and made some rows on my cake then covered it with oreo cookie crumbs for the dirt... then with a leaf tip on my decorator bag I made sprouts....

And here is the finished product...............

Angie said the cake was a hit!! Everyone loved it, and once the kids at the party found out the tractor was edible... it didn't last very long. I also made some chocolate cupcakes with marshmellow cream filling to go with it....

I was going to add little sprouts on the cupcakes to match the crops on the tractor cake, but Angie picked it all up on my lunch break so I didn't have time. Oh well.. they looked yummy!
That was on Friday.... then Bridger had his 8th birthday and Jennifer asked if I could do a cake for him for Saturday. He wanted a Sponge Bob cake... I just so happened to have a Sponge bob figure left over from when I had made a cake like that for one of Andrew's birthdays. He must of been too old for the toy though because it was still in with my cake stuff. So I washed it up....and then I looked high and low for a 'Patrick' figure to go with it all over town... but no luck. I had a candy mold of a large starfish and some candy melts so I tried to make one that  looked a little like Patrick, and then I made some extra seashells to go with it.

This was a way fun cake to make... it was chocolate with pudding mixed with cool whip inbetween the layers... then I iced it with with Cool Whip... the Sand was vanilla pudding and Cool whip mixed together with graham cracker crumbs on the top. Then I just colored Cool Whip to make the rest... and some clear jel that I colored to make the jelly fish, and writing...

Can you tell the white things are bubbles from Sponge Bob's bubble blower??

Anyway... those cakes were fun to make.

This week, Jim and I have just been eating healthy, trying to fit in some exercise, Jim is taking an on line class which has been keeping him busy when he's not at work, and I'm back to crocheting.... I'm making some slouchy beanie hats. I will post one when I'm done.

Andy is okay at school, he dropped a class because he was so overwhelmed with homework, but seems happy enough, other than a little homesick.

Sarah is okay, just depressed. I think being in Provo, without any really close friends or family is getting to her. Maybe we'll end up moving her back to BYU-I??. I pray really hard that things will work out for her and she'll meet the one she's supposed to marry, and figure life out. I guess the Lord will watch out for both of them, and they have to live their own lives. But it's hard being a parent. You want your kids to be happy. Do you think Heavenly Father feels this way about us at times when he sees us struggle??? I know he does, but he has great patience..... and lets us learn and grow. I seem to have a hard time with that and try to help and do things for my kids when I know they need to do things on their own. At least they know I'm here for them. Andy has called and just talked for a few nights in a row. And isn't it nice to know that Heavenly Father is there and we can 'call' him up and chat for as long as we like??? And He helps us feel better..

I like that..........