Anniversay

This July, Jared and I will celebrate our 18th wedding anniversary. Here's a little video I made to remember!

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Kansas City Temple Open House

A couple of weeks ago we drove up to Kansas City to tour the new Kansas City Missouri temple. It was so beautiful! I am happy that we were able to take the girls through and have them feel the spirit in the temple. There is a theme throughout the decor and architecture of the olive tree. After seeing the stained glass in the entry way foyer I kept noticing it throughout the whole temple. The floral work and artwork were all very large scale and enhanced each room. The Stake Center on the temple grounds was also very lovely. They had refreshments there and missionaries and other volunteers answered questions and talked with people after the tours. I

 am looking forward to going back after the dedication!

Display in the Stake Center teaching about the church.

Look Whoo's One

Grandpa's girl

 Here are pictures from Adycen's big birthday party with friends and family. I wasn't sure if she would like her little cake, but she did!

The cake on the stand I made to match

Singing happy birthday to Adycen

Mmmmmm!

I think I'll get some more!

Oh this feels nice!

The damage

I like cake!

Lounging- post cake and clean up. What a day!

Spring Cake, I mean Break

There was a lot of cake involved in Spring Break this year! We had lots of birthdays to celebrate including Adycen turning 1 year old! We went to Tulsa Wednesday - Sunday and managed to squeeze in all this:

We went to Linda's house first. We brought red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for her birthday and angel food cupcakes with berry butter cream for Adycen. She opened her presents from us that night.

Oh Goody! A farm for me! Hurry Grandpa ! Set it free!

Gabrielle gave her some soft bowling pins which she loved!

We visited my dad in the nursing home (no cake there, too bad!) and spent time with my mom. It was also her birthday on Friday and she wished for cheesecake. I phoned up the pros for this one and we enjoyed Ludger's Bavarian Cheesecake- I love their logo.
They make a very unique cake with two layers of sponge cake and a luscious layer of bavarian cream cheesecake in the middle. It is all frosted with a light whipped icing. They did a beautiful job decorating!

In the midst of all this, cakes for Adycen's big party were baking, being frosted and covered with fondant. We drove up early Saturday morning to Linda's house to finish decorating the cake. Lisa did the cute little owl on the front! Sooo sweet! It was a "Look Whoo's Turning One" theme.

and this was her little cake we made just for her to smash/eat at the party:

Then we carefully drove it all to the community center in Checotah where the party was being held. I will post those pictures on a separate post, but that is all the cake for Spring Break!

Programs!

This has been a while back now, but Madison and Gabrielle both had school programs to watch before Spring Break began. Gabrielle had the We the People project in her English/Government link class. She was the group leader (the rest of her group was 4 boys) and they had the topic of judicial review. They had to write a speech and deliver it to the audience and a panel of judges asked them questions. They had to respond accordingly. They did an excellent job. I think it was hard for Jared to sit and watch all the groups and not answer the questions himself!

We also had music going on as usual-- Madison performed with her symphonic band at Hickman (the winter concert was cancelled due to an incoming storm). They did a great job. Both girls worked hard preparing to participate in district competitions where Gabrielle performed a solo piece and Madison performed in a trio. Both received a "2" rating. Nice work all around!

Relief Society Anniversary Cake

Here's the result of a lot of mixing, baking, frosting and fondant-ing last week. The Columbia Missouri Stake celebrated the 170th anniversary of the Relief Society organization. There were many classes, demonstrations and humanitarian aid projects to do all afternoon. I was happy to make the cakes- We made a variety of kinds of cake. I made 3 sheet cakes- one fudge marble with chocolate frosting, one carrot spice cake with cream cheese frosting, and a red velvet with cream cheese frosting. The main cake was a four tier cake covered with fondant with tiers in lemon, strawberry and white cake with butter cream fillings. It was topped with the Relief Society seal. We also had a deep dark chocolate cake that was just for our gluten free friends. It was so nice to be there serving cake and talking with all the women in attendance that day. It means a lot when someone takes the time to come up and tell you that they enjoyed your work! Here's some photos:

Kristin's Wedding

Here's some photos from this weekend's wedding cake. Kristin and Zack were married on Saturday at Arrow Springs Chapel in Broken Arrow. It was a beautiful venue and day. We were happy to be a small part of it! The cake was 4 tiers of fondant covered white cake with vanilla butter cream. The cake was accented with pink roses and black satin ribbon with crystal square slide buckles. The cake was topped with more flowers and their last name initial. Congratulations Kristin & Zack!

I also have to mention Zack's amazing groom's cake and cupcakes- a sparkling keeper of a fish cake plus cupcakes with gummy worms on the hooked. I don't know who did them, but it was a yummy chocolate cake that didn't taste fishy at all!

I think he's "hooked!"

A Lovely February

Happy Leap Day! Here's a look back on February around our house- I really do love February. It started with the Super Bowl. We had a dinner group over the Saturday night before the Super Bowl and called it "Souper Bowl Saturday Night" It was a lot of fun. We made 5 different kinds of soup and everyone brought a bread or soup go-along. We had a Super Bowl trivia quiz and finished with cake. We had a great time watching the Super Bowl on Sunday and all the commercials, too. Here's the cake:

Of course we had a sweet Valentine's Day…The girls made cut out sugar cookies a couple of days before, some with some very funny sayings on them! Jared came and picked me up for lunch and brought me roses. I gave him the Adelle CD. We had fondue with the girls that night. Love was in the air all day!

Let's see, what else? The girls have been busy practicing - their flute studio had a "practice-a-thon." Gabrielle participated in her last year at Central Methodist University's music competition in Fayette, Missouri. She did a solo this year and received a "1" rating from her judge. Madison completed all her personal progress goal and projects and received her Young Women Recognition award and medallion. Way to go! We are so proud of these girls! They had a couple of days off from school in February, too, which is always nice!

Last Sunday the girls and I held our annual Oscar viewing party. We filled out our ballots then hoped for the best. I had actually seen a few of these movies this year, so that helped! I loved Hugo, and The Iron Lady. Every time you got the category right, you got to pick a prize from the basket- It was great! We also did Oscar Bingo with fun categories like "Tom Cruise presents an award" "Someone puts on glasses to read" and "Orchestra cuts off acceptance speech" BINGO!

 This is my ballot with 15 correct categories. I think I got a little lucky!

So February has come and gone. The wind was blowing like crazy today, so here comes March. Warning- there's lots and lots of cake coming soon!

All-District Band and all things music

This year Gabrielle was able to participate in the Northeast Missouri All-District Band. She tried out in November and made 4th chair flute (out of 12) in the honorable mention band. This was with all high school kids, so she was very happy that she beat out a lot of other kids that are older than herself. They met together to rehearse all day last Saturday at Moberly High School. She got to work with a wonderful director from Stockton-Culver College. We drove up to see the concert that evening. They played "Liberty Bell March," "Trail of Tears," "As Summer was Just Beginning," and "Vesuvius." Each piece was introduced by a student telling story behind the music. Trail of Tears was amazing- and the "Summer" piece was about the life of James Dean. We enjoyed seeing Gabrielle challenge herself in this playing experience! Now it is ensemble season and the girls are both working on solos and ensemble pieces for upcoming festivals. Madison is even taking piano lessons again- music is all around!

Happy Holidays

December came and we had plenty to keep us busy! One of the highlights before Christmas was the girls' flute studio's concert. First they had a concert where they participated in group numbers with professionals- have you ever heard of a "flute choir"?  I had never seen anything like it! 30 flutes all playing together for an incredible sound. It was held in a big beautiful church here in Columbia. After the concert, the girls participated in the all night "flute-a-thon" where they participated in duets, small ensembles and other flute related activities for 12 hours. They had gotten pledges for the hours participating to raise money for a local charity which provides scholarships for low-income families. It was a long and crazy night! All my pictures of the concert are still on my phone, but here's one we took before leaving for the concert:

 These girls have worked so hard developing their talents! They even accompanied the ward choir on "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" (I forgot to include that in November!) Good Job, girls!
Love to hear you play and practice!

There was much to prepare for Christmas including my mother-in-law Linda's Christmas gift- which has become kind of a tradition. I make her tubs of ready to bake cookie dough. This year I did a dozen different kinds of cookie dough, scooped into cookies, froze them individually, and packaged them in plastic tubs with the directions for baking.

Then it all got packed up in coolers for our trip to Tulsa. It's kind of like a "cookie of the month" club, only you get it all at once. A fun gift that definitely is a labor of love! And when I was really busy packing up the dough into the containers and labeling them all - Jared was nice enough to cook, I mean order pizza! Love that! Love him! (Did I mention that he gave me an air soft gun for Christmas?)

The night before we left for our trip, the girls wanted to open their gifts from each other. We also did stockings that night. They were excited about the gifts they got each other!

They had to do rock paper scissors to decide who would go first! Hilarious!

Sydney is always interested in present opening!

Gabrielle gave Madison this cute panda stocking hat with mitten/gloves.

  Did Madison get Gabrielle a golf club? No, it's an ipod case!

We left the next day after dropping off the doggies and the kennel. Our first stop was at my mom's house. We ate at the Spaghetti Warehouse that night and looked at Rhema's Christmas lights. The next day we were able to go to the nursing home and visit Grandpa. They had a Christmas party for all the residents and their families. 

Kennedy got an iphone!

Gabrielle even played Christmas songs on flute for Grandpa and his roommate. It was really nice!
That evening we had Christmas at Jared's mother's house with Jared's brother's family and also Mitchel, Lisa, Brycen, and Adycen. The kids had fun with the cousins! We were also able to see Rhonda's kids David and Kristen and Kristen's fiancee, Zac. Wedding cake coming soon!

Adycen opening her present from Linda.

On Christmas Eve we went and did a little shopping the next day and then spent some time with just us at Linda's house playing games. We got some dinner and went and saw some Christmas lights in Muskogee- the Castle at Muskogee as well as Honor Heights Park. Those pictures are on my phone and better on video! Parts of it were choreographed to music!

Christmas Day was Sunday so it was so nice to go to sacrament meeting with Riverside and New Haven Wards. The girls got to see Kennedy pass the sacrament. A friend of ours is now the bishop in my mom's ward and we got to hear him speak and hear all the beautiful musical numbers.  Plus, I got to catch up with my great friend, Penny!

After church we went back to grandma's house and Kennedy came with us. We fixed lunch and had presents once Karl and Tiffany joined us. It was a nice relaxing afternoon! Later we went up to see Grandpa again at the nursing home. All the kids went together for his gift - a new tv for his room with wireless headphones. The girls also gave him some sugar-free candy. Tiffany made the famous graham cracker pie and he got to eat a piece of that. I think that made him very happy!

Merry Christmas Cousins!

Sarah made this cute calendar for Grandma with pictures of the grandchildren on it each month!

Kids on ipods

Dads on ipads

We packed up and left the next morning. We took the girls to Lisa's house for them to stay another day at her house. We also picked up Mitchel and he drove home with Jared and me. We made a quick trip home and picked up our freshly bathed dogs from the vet. They were happy to be home! Jared and Mitchel went to a movie that night while I attempted to get caught up on laundry. The next day the kids drove up with Adycen for Christmas at our house. 

Opening Adycen's stocking

Hurry! Open it Auntie Gabrielle!

I got this, mom!

Climbing Mount Christmas!

Jared showing Adycen a fun new book!

Adycen was definitely the center of attention this Christmas and rightfully so! It was so fun to have everyone here. We had very nice weather during their stay. The kids even went to play frisbee golf! They stayed up late, played games and had lots of good food. I made it out of the kitchen occasionally! Adycen crawled in to check on me, too! So sweet!

Brycen and his birthday cookie cake

We celebrated Brycen's birthday while they were here and also had a fun New Year's Eve- We did a three course fondue meal of cheese for the appetizer, broth for the main course and of course chocolate for dessert! I didn't make it until midnight like everyone else, but I am sure it was fun! 

We had church the next day and a started a brand new year!

Now Mia is tired and needs a nap in the sunshine! Happy 2012!