Fail = Success!

Remember this disasterpiece cake from yesterday? I thought I would post the finished pictures so you could all see Sheldon's ingenuity.

It was kind of lopsided on top and and let's be honest, pretty ugly. The cake was just really crumbly and hard to frost. So sheld came up with the idea to put strawberries on top and add a strawberry glaze for a contrast to the chocolate, because it was a pretty rich chocolate cake. I love it, he did it all himself! Behind every wife who is a great cook, is a great husband who can save the day! Thanks to all who celebrated Sheldon's birthday with us, we are lucky to have such great friends and family!

Happy Birthday Sheldon

Today I tried to make a cake for Sheldon's picture and if you're wondering how it turned out see above picture. It was a complete disaster! The cake was lopsided and totally crumbling and falling apart as I tried to frost it. I tried to perform surgery and stick pieces back on with frosting, but to no avail. It was a lost cause. On top of all this Tucker's cough seems to have come back today and he wasn't taking a nap. So of course I called Sheldon and said please come home for lunch and rescue me from my disasterpiece cake and a grumpy son. As soon as Sheldon comes home, cool as a cucumber, he looks at my cake and says, "oh it's not that bad I bet we can fix it." He then goes on to feed tucker lunch, rescue my cake from certain doom (I almost killed it with a knife in frustration), and then clean up the dishes afterwards. All on his birthday no less when I am supposed to be doing things for him. I'm so grateful for Sheldon and that he is always around to rescue the disasterpieces in my life and turn them in to masterpieces. I love you Sheldon. Happy Birthday!

Baby Bird Shower

I hosted a shower for my friend Miriam last Saturday. I had a lot of fun planning and getting everything, even though it was pretty busy getting everything ready in time. I definitely couldn't have done it without Sheldon. I think it turned out pretty cute, I wish I could have done more stuff, but unfortunately budgets always get in the way. I got all the paper I used for the invitations from Pebbles in my Pocket and it was all 50% off so pretty cheap. I blurred out information on the invitation, so that is why it kind of looks funny.

I tried to keep the food matching the color scheme of red and blue, although you can't really tell.

Chicken Salad Sandwiches.

Spinach Raspberry Salad that turned out excellent! I got the recipe from my Lion House Entertaining book and it was so good I made it again for dinner on Sunday.

My favorite part of the shower, Nesting Bird Cupcakes! I made these Pollyanna Cupcakes and used toasted coconut for the nests. I think they turned out cute and they tasted pretty good as well. The idea of course came from Martha Stewart

This centerpiece is pretty simple, but I thought looked kind of cute. I got all the vases from DI and the branches from our yard. I know I'm cheap, but fresh flowers are just so expensive. I wish we had a farmers market here like in California where you can get flowers for super cheap.

Although this isn't the best picture, I made some banners to decorate out of paper from the scrapbook store.

As favors I gave out Mini Cadbury eggs (my favorite easter treat).

It was such a fun party and so fun to see friends that I don't get to see very often. Thanks for coming everyone!

The Best Frosting Ever!

I love Pioneer Woman. I think she is so funny and entertaining and she posts excellent recipes. I totally wish I could be her though, she gets over 3 million visitors to her site every month, she has published a very successful cookbook, has another book coming out next year, and they are considering making a movie out of her story of how she met her husband and came to live on a ranch. What a life! I think my life story could be made into a movie, it would probably fit into all genres as well. Horror: cleaning up real kid puke, totally horrifying, especially if it was in smell-o-vision. Comedy: Tucker is pretty entertaining sometimes. Romance: Sheldon and I totally have a good chick flick how we met story, he dates this other girl even though he likes me, then we date, but then we break up, and then he is about to leave for Thailand and we finally decide to get married, totally could make a movie out of that! Suspense: this is kind of a tough one...I do hear scary noises sometimes at night and make Sheldon go check it out and we have a lot of scary stray cats.

Anyway, I was thinking about pioneer woman today because I made a recipe and thought I would share. Find the recipe for the Best Frosting Ever here. It actually was pretty good, and it probably is the best whip creamy type of frosting I have tried. Definitely good on chocolate cupcakes. Kind of reminds me of the filling in Ding Dongs.

Fekkai Glossing Cream

I got a free sample of this in the mail and I have absolutely loved it! I put it on before I blow dry my hair and it is super soft and shiny afterwards. I may have to consider buying some because it is seriously the best hair product I have ever used. Too bad it costs $23 for a 4 oz bottle ?!

sickness

It seems like it has been such a long week. Tucker has had the nastiest cold and cough since Saturday, but I think he is finally starting to get better. His cough was so bad one night, he moaned in his sleep all through the night. It was fun snuggling with him, since he didn't want to do anything but sit in your lap. Sheldon is starting to get sick now, but I don't think he will get it as bad as Tucker. I am loading him up on vitamins and making him go to bed early! I get tired of taking care of one sick kid, I can't imagine what it must be like when you have a whole family of sick people to take care of. I think when that happens I will just hire a nurse and take a vacation!

Pool and Parties

Last week we went to the Lehi pool with Emily and Avery. Tucker had such a blast this time, I think he gets more comfortable with the water every time we go. He was walking and crawling all over the place in the water, blowing bubbles, and his favorite thing was definitely playing with these little fountains at the edge of the pool. Tucker had so much fun that he definitely did not want to leave. I was trying to get him dressed just by the edge of the pool and he kept running away from me and trying to get in the water, so we had to go in the changing rooms so he would stop escaping.

I didn't get any good pictures of Avery, but she was cute as always. She would try and blow bubbles just like Tucker, but she would always stick her whole face in the water and then be so surprised and have the biggest eyes.

I have been busy this week planning a baby shower I am throwing for one of my friends. I am really excited about the theme, it is going to be a bird and nest theme. I don't want to give away too many of my ideas because probably a lot of the people that are coming to the shower read this blog. So I want there to be a few surprises when they come. Has anyone thrown a shower before and have some good ideas/tips?