Drool...

I've been doing a ton of Spring/Easter pictures these last couple of weeks. I met my friend Steffani and her 3 girls out in a clover field one day for some quick pictures before they moved to Texas.

I want to share more of their shoot later but for now, these sequence of pictures Crack. Me. Up. Talk about capturing the moment! And nothing says baby more than DROOL!

POTD Challenge 3/21-3/27/2010

School Book Fair- I so remember how excited I was over my own school's book fair! Elodie got to pick 3 books and she was over the moon about them!

Addysen found an easier way to get around on her tricycle. She thinks Elodie goes too fast though!

Home-made pizza night!

What was left on Monday of the chocolate cake I had made on Sunday....in our defense, we gave half of it to our friends Shane and Jaime!

The flowers we planted are blooming like CRAZY! And are so pretty!

Lots of outside play means lots of water!

Love this angle..

The story behind the purple dresses....

Every year since Elodie turned 1, my mom comes for a visit in March. And every year she comes with money from my PawPaw Whitney to "buy that girl an Easter dress." The funny thing is, it's always been $10. My PawPaw lived through the Great Depression so to him, $10 should be plenty. Sadly, these days $10 will pay for the taxes with a little bit leftover!

Regardless of the amount, it's the thought that counts, and since Elodie's first Easter we have made a huge deal out of PawPaw's Easter Dresses. We take pictures and send them to him and make sure to call with a thank you too.

This year was no exception. As soon as my mom got settled she told me PawPaw sent his traditional $10 for the girls Easter dresses. I had to laugh because now, with 2 girls, $10 for Easter dresses would ONLY cover the cost of taxes!!

The day after my mom came to town we were in Wal-Mart. We passed through the girls clothes and to our surprise found a bunch of their Spring Dresses on clearance for $5! And even more of a surprise was they had both girls sizes!!! You have to know that I hardly EVER buy a dress for one girl. If they don't have both sizes, even if I really like the dress, I don't get it. Some call it weird but I just like when my girls match for church.

So while these aren't the girls official Easter dresses, they were completely paid for by their Great PawPaw Whitney. And that, my friends, is a first!

Hannah Montana Cake

I always love when people call me back to make another cake for them....this is actually #5 for this family! I'm now officially apart of the family!

I'm not a huge fan of Hannah Montana. Really, I'm not a fan at all and we try our best from keeping Elodie from watching her.

But this Hannah Montana themed cake turned out cute! The bottom tier is a star shaped cake, in case you couldn't tell!

Weekend Food.

I tried 2 new recipes this weekend....both I'll definitely be making again! Both recipes come from my favorite site Our Best Bites

Love that site....

Recipe #1:
Chipotle Chicken Taco Salad (This recipe was enough to feed me and Chris twice!) It reminded me a lot of the Southwestern Chicken Salad at AppleBee's.

SALAD:
4 c. chopped Romaine Lettuce
2 c. chopped grilled chicken (you could use Taco Chicken if you want)
1 c. cherry or grape tomatoes, washed
1/3 c. vertically-sliced red onions
1 avocado, cubed
1 15-oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 8 3/4 oz. can corn, rinsed and drained Chipotle Chicken Taco Salad

DRESSING:

DRESSING:
1/3 c. chopped fresh cilantro
2/3 c. light sour cream
1 1/2 + tsp. adobo sauce from canned chipotle chilies
1 tsp. chili powder
4 tsp. fresh lime juice
¼ tsp. salt

Tortilla Strips

Make sure all salad ingredients that need to be washed or rinsed have been. Combine lettuce, chicken, beans, corn, onion, and tomatoes in a large bowl and gently mix with your hands. Set aside.

Mix dressing ingredients. I say to start with 1 1/2 tsp. of adobo sauce and then go from there, probably 1/4-1/2 tsp. at a time. If you're serving this for a crowd, it's probably better to err on the side of not spicy enough rather than too spicy, but if you're just making it for your family and you have taste buds of steel, have at it. You could even chop up one of the chilies and toss it in there if you're feeling super-brave. Then taste the dressing and you'll know what heaven tastes like. Set dressing aside.

If you're making tortilla strips, fry those puppies up now. I didn't make them here because I'm trying my darndest not to be naughty nutritionally, but if I make this salad for some kind of festivity, I always make the tortilla strips. Allow them to cool.

When you're ready to serve, add avocado, tortilla strips, and dressing. Gently combine with your hands and serve.

The next recipe I tried was a real winner. I made it specifically for Christopher. He loves chocolate, he loves toffee, and he did me a huge favor and hung 10 pictures in a collage format for me. I owed him big time. Pictures to come of my amazing photo collage! It definitely won him over and I will for sure be making this again the next time I need to butter him up! ;) We ended up sharing the cake with our neighbors and it was a good thing we did. It needed to be out of our house quickly! So my suggestion. Make it for company! Or with the intention of bringing half to your neighbor! Also, this cake was much better next day. It's suppose to sit in your fridge until you are ready to serve but next time I will for sure let it sit overnight. It just gave the mousse a chance to firm up and the ganache on the outside a chance to harden. Mostly, I just love to use the words mousse and ganache! ENJOY!

Chocolate Mousse Crunch Cake
Recipe by Our Best Bites

1 package Duncan Hines Devil's Food Cake
1 recipe (give or take a little) Chocolate Ganache
Crushed Heath bars or a bag of chocolate-covered Heath bits
1 tsp. unflavored gelatin
1 Tbsp. cold water
2 Tbsp. boiling water (just heat it in a small bowl in your microwave)
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 c. whipping cream
1 tsp. vanilla

Bake cake according to cake mix instructions in 2 8" round pans. Allow to cool and set aside. This can be done several days in advance; just freeze the cakes when you're done.

In a small bowl, combine gelatin and cold water and allow to stand for about 1 minute. While gelatin is softening, bring 2 Tbsp. water to a boil in the microwave. Whisk into the softened gelatin and allow to cool slightly.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine sugar, cocoa powder, whipping cream, and vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer until medium-stiff peaks form. Mix in gelatin mixture and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Prepare ganache...
8 oz. semi-sweet or dark chocolate
8 oz. heavy cream
Combine chocolate and heavy cream in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat for 2 minutes and stir. Heat for an additional 1-2 minutes or until chocolate is fully melted and can be whisked and incorporated into the cream. Be sure and scrape the sides and bottom to make sure you don't find any globby bits of chocolate when you start working with it.
The ganache will thicken as it cools, so if it's a little too thin for you, hang tight and it will be ready pretty quickly. Use it immediately to pour over the top of your cake. When it's completely cool, it will be thick and fudgy and can be used like frosting. Store in an airtight container. You can reheat it to achieve your desired consistency.

With a serrated knife, carefully slice the dome-iest part of each cake layer off so the layers are level. Place one layer on the serving plate and spread about 1/2 of the chocolate mousse over the cake. Sprinkle with Heath bits.
Place second layer on top of Heath bits.
Spoon ganache over the top layer, allowing it to drip down the sides. Sprinkle with additional Heath bits.
and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Picture courtesy of our best bites.

Addysen and Grayce's 2nd Birthday Party

Through the years I have learned two major things about birthdays.

#1- It doesn't matter how simple you try and make a birthday party, it will still somehow find a way to Stress. You. Out. PERIOD!

and

#2- No matter how many cakes I make, or how early I start preparing a cake, or how late I stay up decorating said cake...Sometimes...SOMETIMES...the cake will not come out exactly how you planned! It just won't. And you just accept it for what it is and move on. Because it doesn't matter how good you are, a cake has a mind of it's own....especially when it wants to lean!!!


With that said, I still love birthdays and my girls will have a party every year of their life!

Because what's a better way to spend the afternoon than celebrating these 2 girls
2nd birthday!? I say NOTHING!

The weather was perfect, we had some of the best friends celebrate with us, the food was GOOD, and the girls had no clue what was going on! Except they knew that they wanted cake!

We love these girls...


Chris parents came to town for the weekend and brought oldest cousins Kolton and Aubrey. I didn't catch a picture of Kolton. Bummer.



Sweet big sister...


Singing...


Serving...


Eating...


Not amused that we took them away from their cake for a picture!


The Dads. They helped, they carried, and then stood back and said how great everything was.

Besides cake, we had fruit kabobs, chocolate covered strawberries, and pink,red,and green kettlecorn. Very addicting HOMEMADE kettlecorn. Got to get myself a whirlypop!




Overall, it was an awesome day! All the kids had fun and we all enjoyed the weather and company. Thanks everyone for coming!

It doesn't help that everyone around us is having boys!

Last year 3 of my friends got pregnant. And it just so happened that all 3 of my friends have little girls that are besties with Elodie. I'm going to try and keep this really simple for you.

Friend #1- Macy. Macy and Elodie were in the same primary class at church and attended the same preschool. Macy was enrolled to be in the same kindergarten class with Madison and Elodie but then their family decided to move to Utah right when the summer started. Bummer. Macy had a little sister just like Elodie. Then Macy's mom got pregnant and they found out it was a boy.

Friend #2-Madison. Madison and Elodie were born a day apart and what we didn't know was we were in the hospital at the same time. Small world. Madison was in the other 5 year old primary class and attended the same preschool but in the afternoons. She and Elodie were in the same kindergarten class up until February when Madison's family moved out of the ward and our of the school district. Madison also had a little sister just like Elodie. Then Madison's mom got pregnant, found out they were having twins, then found out both were boys.

Macy, Elodie, and Madison played really well together. And fought really well together too! We had many a playdates with these girls and it was so fun to watch them together! We both miss them!

Friend #3- Kennedy. Kennedy moved into our ward shortly after Macy moved out. She in a way took Macy's place because she ended up in Elodie's primary class and also ended up in the same kindergarten class too. Sweet Girl. Kennedy ALSO has a little sister. Then Kennedy's mom found out she was pregnant and guess what...4 months later, they found out they were having a boy.

When Elodie found out that Kennedy was getting a baby brother, she started to cry. When I asked her why she was crying she said "Because Kennedy is getting her baby brother before me!" Ugh...

Now here we are, 9 months later, and Kennedy's little brother has arrived. When Elodie found out that Baby D. had come she started cheering! I was a little relieved to see the change in her attitude and when I added "Isn't that exciting?!" Elodie announced " YES! All my friends have gotten their brothers, now I get mine!"

Oh, boy! What am i going to do with her!?

Welcome to the world Baby Boy! He is simply adorable!

Birthday Weekend

With Addysen's birthday on Friday the 5th and Christopher's birthday on Saturday the 6th, we had a weekend of eating out, ice-cream, and presents. Lots of fun.

We started our birthday weekend on Friday with lunch at Red Robin with Addysen's friend Grayce and her parents, Mace and Melissa. It was really nice to celebrate the girls birthday with JUST THE LITTLE GIRLS. Elodie and Grayce's 2 older brothers were all still in school. It might just be one of our new birthday tradition!

It was your typical lunch until the waitress brought out the girls birthday sundaes! They were so happy to each have their own ice-cream! I got a little camera happy! Who knew Red Robin had such great lighting!















On Saturday, after Elodie's soccer game, we celebrated Chris' birthday. I mentioned before that I let the girls help me wrap his gifts. We didn't have any birthday wrapping paper and instead of going and buying some, we flipped over some Christmas paper and wrapped his presents with white wrapping paper. Then we decorated the paper with sweet messages and artwork for Chris. He got a new running jacket, a new shirt, and his big gift was a SoniCare Toothbrush. He was happy. He picked Texas Roadhouse for dinner and we ended the night with Coldstone Icecream. I opted not to make a cake since I knew we would be doing cake the following weekend for Grayce and Addysen's birthday party!



Overall, a great way to spend our weekend!