YSA Cake Boss

Since Cake Boss has proven to be a great youth activity, Shawn decided to give it a try in the Taylorsville YSA ward.  Each family home evening group was given a gift card and they met the Monday before to plan their cakes, then they showed up tonight with their cakes, ready to assemble and decorate. 

These kids are obviously a little young to be YSA's but they made good judges.

This is more like it.  Some of the happy participants.

Of course, since there was cake making involved, Samantha jumped right in.  She made all of these chess pieces out of chocolate.  (I had no idea how to do it, but she told me exactly what kind of food grade silicone she would need and took it from there.)

Here's the chess board.

Finishing up her assembly.

Ta da!

Here is one of the other entries.  A flashback to my youth.

Here's an olympic ski run gone bad.  I guess the yeti was hungry for skiers.  Definitely showing some imagination here.

I'm guessing that this group looked on the same pinterest board that the first group did.  What are the chances that there would be 2 pac-man cakes? (Although this one is on a slightly larger scale.)

This one was some sort of titanic disaster - with the cake being the ice berg.  Can't quite explain why there would be people fishing in inner tubes in the frozen water.  Perhaps it just ran aground on a tropical island instead.

This group re-created the house from UP.

A little more detail on the pac man cake - cherries.  Extra points.

And ghosts.

Once again, a successful activity.  I'm sure we'll see it again.

Getting So Excited!

We have spent a lot of time at various pools for the past 3 years.  This year, with Jonas swimming for the high school team, we are more excited than ever to get into our own place.

Jonas isn't actually swimming for a love of swimming - because he doesn't.  (Love swimming, that is.)  In fact he quite dislikes it.  But since he's playing water polo for the ODP and trying to stay in good swimming shape for water polo season, he has stuck it out.  I think it's good for him anyway.

Stuffing all that hair into a cap is quite a process - and a necessity.

We are just counting down the days for the Olympus Pool to be finished.  It is so close.  Unfortunately, the high school swim season will be over before it's finished, but water polo will be starting right after, so we're crossing our fingers!

European Connection

How awesome is technology?  When my kids are feeling super lonely for their cousins who are in Europe for the next several months, all it takes is a little face time to reconnect!

 Not quite the same as playing together, but not too bad, either.  (And definitely cheaper than the old long distance phone calls.)

Millcreek Canyon

Since the January air is generally unpleasant here in the valley, and somedays I just can't face the treadmill again, I've had to go up Millcreek Canyon a few times to escape. 

I love running in a snowstorm.

Frozen eyelashes.

Cool ice crystal formations.

Yeah, all that gunk down there is why I'm hanging out up here.

Random January

Another compilation of unrelated pictures.  

First, my younger brother Jake's birthday celebration at El Farol's because that's where all big family celebrations happen in my family.

I'm sure the restaurant loves it when we show up.  This day we had a party of 22 I think.  No one wants to miss out on Jake's big day.

We don't even make him sit at the kids table anymore.  And how lucky was he to get to wear the sombrero and get fried ice cream?  Plus, they sang to him.  And he shared his ice cream.  Happy birthday Jake!

The look-a-likes.

Another random Toy Story guy sighting.  Always new and unexpected.  We hope the rubber chicken pulls through.

Even though there are happy faces here, there have been lots of tears surrounding this day.  My kids had to say good bye to their cousins for the next 7 months as they head off on a fantastic adventure in Europe.  These girls especially are going to miss their cousins.  We hope they have a fantastic time, but saying good bye has been hard.

And out of the blue, this lovely gift arrived at my house.  It was such a nice surprise.  It is always nice to get thanks and acknowledgement from people and even better when it tastes good, too.  Shawn is awesome and I felt loved and appreciated.

Comfortable?

When I leave the kids in charge, I know there is always some amount of risk involved.  I never quite know what I will find when I come home.  Sometimes the place is a mess, sometimes some kids aren't in bed like they're supposed to be, and sometimes kids are in bed, but with every stuffed animal that could be found.

Nothing like going to check on the kids when you come home and finding fun surprises.  I guess I should be glad that he was in fact, sleeping soundly.  As far as the other kids are concerned, mission accomplished.  Because after all, did I ever say "Please don't pile all of the stuffed animals on the bed?"  No, of course not.  But now I know.  (Always give very specific instructions.)

He was a little sweaty, but seemed comfortable enough.

And besides, he had  Uncle Rob there to keep him company (or maybe give him nightmares, but whatever.)