Past Two Months in Review

Okay, I know that my "long" stint of consistently blogging was not all that long, but now I am trying to make up for it.  I have been taking some pictures all along, but the call of the outdoors has been stronger than the call of my outdated blog.  We have had a few really nice days, some even without wind.

I am so proud of Kellon!  He has learned how to ride a two-wheeler bike so quickly.  I finally convinced him to let me take off the training wheels after he was having trouble making sharp turns and riding over big bumps with them.  He was really nervous for the first time, so he thought it would be a good idea to try it out on the grass with a helmet.  He never even missed a beat in the transition.  There were no crashes and still haven't been any major ones (that I know of) in the past 1 1/2 months on two wheels.  Now Barrett gets the tricycle all to himself, except for the occasional passenger named Aubree.

For those of you who don't know, my sister, Teecee, and I do some catering and custom baking in our "free time" under the name Sisters' Sweets.  We got the the opportunity to have a table at a bridal fair in Cody at a beautiful new hotel called Cody.  It was a fun day for us to spend together, and Brice is really good about watching the kids while we do our little events.  It was fun to visit with passers-by and try to drum up some business.  We don't do any paid advertising, so this was our attempt to get our name out in some different crowds and towns in the Big Horn Basin area.  I am not sure how successful it was, but time will tell.  I think that getting to eat the leftovers was worth it.

What do you think--is it real or fake?

These are some tuxedo chocolate dipped strawberries and petit fours (sponge cake dipped in chocolate frosting)

One of our specialties, especially around the holidays is cheesecake.  This is real, and we enjoyed eating it all up afterwards.

Our appetizer sample was bruschetta (like Italian salsa) with toast and crackers.  Behind the food is our portfolio of wedding cakes.

This pirate birthday cake is our latest creation.

We dyed some pretty awesome Easter eggs on Monday after Easter Sunday this year.  I am not big into the Easter bunny or the non-religious parts of Easter, so we usually save them for after the actual holiday.  I did get away with dyeing the eggs while Aubree was sleeping since I was unassisted in my supervision efforts.  The boys couldn't believe we could still eat the eggs after we turned them orange, green, and some unnamed colors.  We all enjoyed the egg salad later in the week though.  Kellon even commented that he could eat egg salad sandwiches for breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday because they are so good.

I don't know what these faces were all about except maybe fear after I threatened them not to spill any of that dye.

Aubree had a memorable experience with the potty seat one day.  She had been wanting to sit on the potty, mostly for fun because nothing productive in the way of training ever happened.  That evening I was trying to fix dinner when she wanted to sit on the potty.  I told her it would be a minute, so she went into the bathroom by herself.  I should have been suspicious at this point.  Soon after, there was screaming coming from the bathroom.  I found Aubree with the potty seat stuck over her head and very distraught.  Instinctively, I just pulled it off, but in the process her eye got cut.  We got so many comments on her eye in the following days.  Most of the time I would tell the whole story to just about anyone.  I know in 15 years she will really love looking back on this experience.  These pictures were posed about 2 days after the incident, so the cut did look even worse at first.

African Service

As some of you know, I am second counselor in the primary presidency in our ward.  Yesterday I got to participate in the first primary activity I helped to plan, other than the program practice.  We decided to make blankets for children in Kenya.  You may be thinking, "why not make blankets for children in the U.S.?"  The reason we did these for Africa is that a couple of members of our ward are going to Kenya to train the people in a hospital how to use some of the high-tech equipment that other hospitals have given them.  It seems that a lot of medical equipment is donated to underdeveloped countries, but no one shows them how to use it.  Therefore, it gathers dust in the corner while people could be receiving much better treatment.  Anyway, the family going to Kenya asked for donations of blankets to take to the OB ward and an orphanage there.  We decided to use this opportunity to teach our primary the importance of service to others.  The kids decorated five flannels receiving blankets with fabric markers, and the older ones tied two bigger fleece blankets.  Then they all decorated wrapping paper and wrapped up most of the blankets themselves.  I think everyone had a great time, and I hope that the blankets will get a lot of use.  We are planning on sending pictures of our project to the Friend as a present of service for President Monson's birthday (this last year that was his birthday request--to have you to something for someone else).  It was a good day!

All of the kids with our finished product

Our older kids with the fleece blankets.  They look so proud!

The sunbeams' blanket.  Their teachers should be as pleased as they look.  They helped ten (one not in picture) three year olds make this masterpiece without any marker getting on their clothes.

Kellon's group at the blanket decorating table.

Kellon's group's completed blanket

Pastry Chefs in Training

A couple days ago I borrowed a Lightning McQueen cake pan from a friend to make a cake for one of Teecee's friends.  Kellon and especially Barrett wanted to make their own Lightning cake, so I decided to let them try their hand at it.  Barrett helped me bake the cake while Kellon was at preschool.  Then that afternoon the two boys decorated this masterpiece.

In their defense, I have to say that Aubree got up on the table where the cake was, and she helped herself to lots of frosting before I had taken these pictures.  She mixed up the colors and ate all of the black frosting (you can imagine the mess on her face and hands when I found her), so I had to try to do some repairs.

As you can see, she was still very interested in that frosting.  Kellon and Barrett were very good sports about it.  They just said that Aubree "redecorated" it for them.  I think that it is quite a masterpiece.  The only trouble we had between them was Kellon scolding Barrett for eating too much frosting and not putting enough on the cake. :)

We all enjoyed eating the finished product!

Electronic Debut

We are officially announcing and introducing the 6th member of our family (4th child).

  I am about 18 1/2 weeks pregnant (due on July 19), so we had our routine ultrasound today.  Everything looks great and right on schedule.  I am feeling really good right now, and I am so grateful for that!  Mom being sick and tired all of the time like I was in the beginning really takes a toll on everyone in the family.  We didn't get any concrete evidence of a girl or boy today, but the tech is speculating a girl--I'm not laying any bets on it for now.  Everyone is really excited to meet this little one after watching it squirm around for about an hour on the ultrasound monitor.  I am so thankful for this modern technology that can bring such peace of mind that everything is alright.

I think we are already getting mooned in this one!

A Weekend Away

We just back today from a Valentine's weekend getaway.  Brice and I got to go to Island Park, ID to a cabin with four other couples originally from our area to go snowmobiling and have a break from our everyday lives.  Brice had to do a lot of convincing for weeks to get me to leave our kids for three days and two nights, but I am glad that we went.  Our friends, Derek and Megan, graciously offered to watch Kellon, Barrett and Aubree for us.  They all had a great time playing with Hallie, Mason and Reece, their kids.  I am so thankful to them for giving us the chance to spend time together.  I got to ride our Skidoo Rev that we just got a couple months ago all day on Saturday.  The only mishap I had was dropping the snowmobile down into a small creek.  Luckily, a couple of the guys got it out with a snow bungee (the most useful tool this weekend).  For those of you, like me, that aren't familiar with these, it is a big rubber bungee cord that you can hook onto two sleds to tow one that is stuck out in a few seconds--so much quicker than digging, pushing and pulling for an hour.  I will have to post pictures later to show how much snow there was and how beautiful the area is.  We were glad to get home to see the kids and sleep in our own bed, but we had a great time while we were away. 

Tonight we got to have yummy chocolate cake to celebrate my parents' 30th wedding anniversary today.  What a great accomplishment!  I am so glad that we can be close our families to share in celebrations like this one with them.  

We all need learning time

Brice and I got to go the the Billings Temple yesterday without the kids.  It was fun to have some time to spend as a couple again.  We haven't been in the temple together for probably a couple of years because one of us stays outside with the kids while the other goes in and vice versa.  We even got to do 20 sealings in the temple, just the two of us.  It was a fun day!  Thanks Grandpa and Grandma George for being great babysitters!  The kids had a lot of fun, too.

Aubree is officially in the book fanatic stage.  The boys have come and somewhat gone from this stage already.  When it gets too quiet around me, I know that Aubree has found a few books.  She usually drags out a whole pile at a time.  Then she sits in the middle of them reading through each one out loud.  At the end she says, "All done."

Kellon and Barrett's newest fascination is a dune buggy game on the computer.  If one is playing the other is watching.  It is amazing how well they can use a computer.  Barrett is able to turn the computer on by himself, get to the internet program and then open the web page to find the game.  Their little minds are so sharp!