Our Crazy Week

This past week was so crazy at our house... crazy, but fun.

Monday- It was kids eats free Monday night at Chili's.  So we went to Chili's for FHE.  The kids LOVE eating out so they thought it was great. And when we can get 4 free kids meals it really makes eating out AWESOME.

Tuesday- On Tuesday I had the Relief Society birthday party.  We had a princess party.  How fun right?  It has been a LONG time since some one threw a princess party for me. :)  And just before I headed out the door Scott got a call from our neighbor and the men took the kids out to McDonald's.  I had already made dinner, but I said they could go play with their friends.

Wednesday- Wednesday was art night at the kid's school.

 It started with a song from each of the grades.

 Once the songs were over, we met up with the kids so they could show us some of their art. 

Emma's is the one with the yellow moon.

 Alan showing us his dragon,

 and his crazy creature.

  Don't you love the library?  Bryce loves the bench in the front of the school.

Thursday- Thursday was Scott and my 9 year anniversary.  Wow how time does fly.  To "celebrate" we took the kids to Get Air.  It is a trampoline park.  We actually went because I was invited to a party there for bloggers.  You can't beat a free night of fun and we ALL had a BLAST!!  At first I was a little worried my kids would be too young to for it, but no one had more fun that Bryce and I got TONS of free swag.  Including a free birthday party at Get Air and a birthday party to give away on my blog.  AWESOME!

Friday-  On Friday I spent the morning making cake.  I usually do my cake making at night.  But I ran out of time to make the cakes on Thursday night so I have to make them Friday morning.

 I made this cake for a neighbor, and then I also made Alan Boy's birthday cake.  This cake in an ombre extra ruffle cake.  I LOVE the effect.  

 This is why I try not to do cakes while the kids are up.  Poor Bryce (who is almost always in just a diaper weather I like it or not)  tore the place apart.  I just had to laugh and take a quick picture when I saw him squatting there eating his toast on the floor.  Worlds Best Mom!  Right Here!

 Then I got Bryce dressed so we could drive into Salt Lake and pick up Scott and then Logan and I went to on a special day to Toy Story 3 on Ice.  It was so fun.  Logan sat on  my lap the whole time and just stared at it in a trance.  It was literally the best.   When it was over we took the light rail back over to Scott's office where the car was.  Logan really loves it when he get to ride the train.

Saturday- Saturday was Alan's 6th birthday.  When did he get so big????

 We had such a fun day.  We started the day with a Transformers party.  I am making the kids keep their parties small this year.  Four guest!  That's it.  Which is really hard when that are like 15 kids Alan's age on our street and the cul-de-sacs connected to it.  The is like 1 in every 2 houses has a kid Alan's age.

 We played pin the symbol on the Transformer.

 The winner got a coloring book.

We watched a Transformer cartoon while we ate lunch.

 Then Optimus Prime sent the kids on a treasure hunt for Energon.

 The Energon box was PACKED with stuff for their treat bags.

 Then we opened presents and had cake and ice cream.

 That is quite the haul.

 We actually had one more game planned, but once Sonic Generations was opened, that was it and since there were only about 10 mins left before parents were coming we just let them play.

Then we had a couple hours to hang and recover before we headed out to see The Lorax in 3D.  So good.  I loved the animation, the fact that is is a musical, and that it really is a nice family movie.  After the movie we took the kids to McDonald's.  Okay seriously we very rarely go to McDonald's, but it was Alan's birthday and that is what he picked so we had to. But really, Alan had his first Happy Meal on his 4th birthday.
When we got home Scott's fam and our neighbors across the street came over for cake and ice cream.

It was a FUN day.

Sunday- Tonight we had Emma's baptism preview.  I am SO exited that she will be getting baptized this year. I am going to have a hard time not going over board, but hey she is my only girl and for me, being a first generation member of the church, passing that gift on for the first time is HUGE for me.  HUGE.

Just to Recap

On Sunday 3/7 was Bryce's baby blessing
On Monday 3/8 was our 7 year wedding anniversary... how time does fly
On Tuesday 3/9 I made Alan's birthday cake and did a demonstration for Relief Society night

On Wednesday 3/10 Alan had his 4th Birthday and we had a very fun Batman party for him (I will post more about that later)
On Thursday 3/11 I took all 4 kids to Alan and Bryce's well checks. Both boys are in the 90-95% for weight and 95+% for height. We were there for 2 hours and learned that Bryce has RSV. Thursday night was not fun.

On Friday 3/12 it seemed like all of the kids were destine to become sick

On Saturday 3/13 by mid-afternoon I had a very high fever, everything hurt, and I had to call my doctor after hours to see if he would call in a prescription for me because there was no way I would make it until Monday. He did.

I would just like to add a really BIG THANK YOU to Scott's Mom. Without her help I might not have survived.

Celebrating the End of February

February has been a bit of a blah month. It has had its good moments, like Valentine's Day and seeing friends, but all in all it was a pretty blah month. So to celebrate it coming to an end and cheer us up I made cake for dinner. Well I actually made chicken enchiladas for dinner, but as soon as the kids ate their little enchiladas and pears they got to start in on their cake.

I know what you are thinking...what Laura took the time to take pictures of this cute, yummy, fluffy looking little cake? But there is more to this little cutie than meets the eye. First of all it is cherry almond flavor...one of my favs and second when you cut into it you are greeted by this:

I think it would be impossible not to smile while eating something so cheery looking. I first came across the cake at The Idea Room and was bummed that I didn't have any reason to make it. So I just made it anyway.

I also finally got Bryce's name up on his wall.

And we took a family picture. We will still be wanting to get a nice one in a few months (and hopefully Emma will be a little less excited by then), but this will do for now. At least we are all in it and mostly looking at the camera.

Well here's look forward to March. It will be filled with Bryce's Blessing, Alan's Birthday, Our Anniversary, Jazz games, yard work, crafts and hopefully SPRING!

Our Alaska Trip Part 1

On Thursday July 30th we flew up to Alaska. I swear that we almost didn't make it. There is a lot involved in getting 3 small kids through the airport. When we got in line for security, we suddenly realized that it would take about an hour to get through the line, and that our flight would start boarding in like 30 mins. About a minute after I realized that there was no way we were going to make it through in time, a nice man (or maybe an angel) walked past where we were in line, opened the divider, and said that people traveling with small kids could go to the front of the line. I almost started to cry. Once we were at the front of the line, there was just the small matter of removing 5 pairs of shoes, taking out 2 laptops, and getting our 8 carry-ons and personal items through the scanner. Then, once we were on the other side, there was putting the shoes back on, reattaching the carry-ons so that 2 adults could pull 4 of them while holding kids' hands, getting backpacks back on, and then making our way to the very most furthest away gate possible. We made it to the gate with just enough time for me to change Logan's diaper and get on the plane. It was only 4.5 hours up to Anchorage, and the kids did GREAT. There was a lot of snacking and coloring and many trips to the potty.
Once we got to Alaska, the next 4 days were spent doing everything wedding. Emma got up on Friday and informed everyone that we were going hunting that day. Really we were going shopping, but with the way we shop I guess hunting may be the right term. I spent most of my time helping to get decorations ready, making the cakes, and doing the flowers. Scott kept the kids busy with hikes to the river and outings to many different playgrounds. I think the kids went to 7 different playgrounds while we were there.

Aimee and Carl got married on Tuesday. I was so relieved when all of the kids walked (or in Alan's case marched) down the aisle without a problem, especially since at the rehearsal, they all started crying and wouldn't even go into the chapel. Aimee looked gorgeous, and the ceremony was very nice. I didn't really get any good pictures from the wedding since I was in it and a little busy, but there were two photographers there, so hopefully I will get some good ones from them. It was also impossible to get any pictures of the boys basically all day. I think they were a little excited and therefore by the time the camera took the picture they had already moved so all I got was a picture of a hand or something. Anyway here are some pictures from the first part of our trip.

This is the cake I made for Aimee. It is made from about 12 batches of cake, 5 pounds of frosting, 3 batches of fondant, and has hand applied edible pearls. It was actually the inspiration for the whole wedding theme. It was so great of Aimee to just let me go wild and do whatever I want.

This is the grooms cake I made for Carl. He is REALLY REALLY REALLY into the Florida Gators, so I sculpted an Albert and Alberta Alligator in their formal wedding wear getting married on the 50 Yard line. I was kinda going for an awesomely tacky look for this cake, which explains the M&Ms, plastic helmets, and well the cakes in general.

My Grandma and Grandpa Michaud made it up from Washington for the wedding. I hadn't seen them in about 4 years so it was so great to visit with them and for them to get to see the kids. This is from when they went with Scott and the kids to the park while some of us were setting up the reception.

These are from the wedding. I did the bouquet.

We let Emma ride in the limo with Aimee and Carl on the way over to the reception.

Everyone had a great time at the reception.

Wedding Cake

I really haven't been up to too much these last few weeks, mostly hanging out at home all the time. But I did have this wedding cake to get done today. This was the first time I actually did a cake with the kids running around (usually I wait until they are asleep to do any cake stuff). I think it turned out how the bride had hoped. It was a bit of an adventure getting it to the reception in one piece. The reception was in Alpine and while I was driving up the hill to get to the house the top three tiers started to slide off the bottom tier. I thought I had it pretty well anchored but I guess I was wrong because I had to suddenly grab the top of the cake and hold it together while driving (the car which is a stick shift) up the hill to the house. Luckily I was able to repair any damage and it turned out well regardless.

Oh and in case you are wondering, I did the flowers too. Well I didn't grow them or anything. Really I just stuck them there. They gave me soooo many to work with it was great. I had like a dozen roses left when I was done, but I knew the bride didn't want too many flowers so I tried to restrain myself.

Emma's 5th Birthday

We had a lot of fun for Emma's birthday this year. The birthday fun started on Friday. I made these cute little ice cream cone cupcakes for her preschool class. Friday was also the Easter party at preschool, so it was a fun fun party day at school.
Right after school Alan and I picked Emma up and took her to the Hannah Montana Movie. Emma and Alan had both been talking about seeing it for months and they were very very excited and other than the 3 trips to the potty during the movie we enjoyed it.
This morning we went to Kangaroo Zoo. It was nice to have Scott there to help keep an eye on everyone. When we got home we put Logan down for a nap and then decorated Easter eggs. Emma really liked dipping the eggs in the dye and Alan just liked to tell Scott what to draw on the eggs. After eggs and once Logan was awake again we opened presents. Emma got a Sleeping Beauty dress, tiara, and shoes; along with sparkle chap stick, a snow glob, game, and Cinderella.
This evening we had dinner at Chuck E Cheese. Chuck E Cheese is a new favorite at our house, apparently. Emma wore her new princess shoes and tiara to dinner.
Then we ended the night with cake and ice cream. Emma wanted a Sleeping Beauty cake this year. I had a lot of fun creating her cake for her. She was so excited when she came down stairs and saw it this morning.

On her way to preschool

Emma's Sleeping Beauty Cake. It really is cake in there and everything is edible, except the doll and the tiara.

Me and my big 5 year old at Kangaroo Zoo

Emma was doing a really cute princess song and dance when this picture was taken. I got the most amazing deal in that dress. It is $88 at the Disney store, but on Memorial day weekend it was on special for $44 and then I got 30% off of that and then got a additional 40% off due to reward points and I bought it online with free shipping. That made it basically $19.

Can you see a theme here?

Sleeping Beauty