Biggest Cake Yet!!

This cake was made for a friend who graduated from high school yesterday as our graduation gift to her. She had a whole bunch of friends and family in town visiting and wanted a fabulous cake for the occasion. It was far from perfect, but I hope it was close to what she was hoping for!

 Here it is! The largest cake I have done yet! This one was so much fun, let me tell you! It was a little stressful because I didn't know exactly how long it would take me and we decided to go on a little mini trip over the weekend (I know, not the smartest time to do it). BUT, I think it turned out fairly well. I had some issues with covering the layers in fondant and was really not happy about the cracks and folds, even if they did get covered up. And figuring out how to do zebra print was a challenge. It took me nearly an hour to figure out how to do it, and then we got on a roll.

 The stars on the wires were fun and we did loads of shimmer dust all over the thing, too! I have a sweet story about the numbers, are you ready? I had gone to Michael's to get supplies for this cake. Wilton just came out with a BUNCH of new stuff and Michael's finally had it in - yay!! Anyways, I had a 40% off coupon to use and was really debating whether I should get a tool that would be awesome to have and was only $10 but I wouldn't really need it for this cake OR, if I should get an imprint set to do letters and numbers that I COULD use for this cake, but was $30. I finally decided to go with the imprint set and when I went to check out, it rang up for $0.15!!!!! Seriously! And when I pointed out that it was supposed to be $30, the girl said "Well, it rang up for 15 cents, so that is what it is." So that was a freakin' awesome deal (plus, I was able to use the coupon on something else I was buying, double whammy!)

 All in all, it was an awesome cake to try and I really had fun making it and trying some new things. The top and bottom tiers were sour cream chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting and the middle tier was three layers of yellow cake with chocolate fudge frosting. Robert said the chocolate wasn't so great, but I had the yellow and thought it tasted awesome.

 And the two injuries sustained in the making of the cake. On my palm is a deep scrape from the wire (it was really sharp after cutting it) and on the first finger is a blister from the hot glue gun. I sacrificed my finger to save my table from dripping hot glue.

Here is a picture of the cake we were going off of with a few changes and some things left out. I think another time it would be awesome to attempt doing this topsy-turvy look, but with the limited time I had and the other new things I was already attempting, I decided to forego it. Someday.

Winnemucca, Nevada

 So we decided to get out of town this weekend and go visit my little sister and her family in Winnemucca, Nevada. They just bought their first house and we haven't seen them since Thanksgiving, so we hopped in the car late Friday afternoon (after I got done babysitting) and drove, drove, drove. It was a rough trip getting there since we had started so late and we arrived way later than planned. We started the day off swimming at some natural hot springs. The Kimballs are awesome at finding hot springs to swim at anywhere they are and it worked out perfect because the morning was nice and cool. Here are Sammy and Daddy testing out the waters.

 Isn't this little guy so adorable? Little Thomas is the spitting image of my sister when she was little!

 Yeah, Amy didn't really like the water at first. Which was surprising because it was really warm and she loves the water in the bathtub. I think it had more to do with the fact that Mommy wasn't out there with her, though.

 Thomas and Mommy hanging out in the shelter.

 A bottle of water can make anything better :)

 Boys being thrown by the daddies. This was a really cute shot and we got it on the first try - go photographer Mommy! :)

 This is how freakin' high Robert would throw Sam. And of course he loves it every time!

 Not quite so sure how he feels about swimming :)

 Then we headed home and took naps. Of course Amy wouldn't fall asleep because she was so tired, so I finally resorted to putting her in the car and driving randomly around Winnemucca until she fell asleep. Thank goodness it didn't take that long because I was tired! After naps, we headed to the free shooting range. Here are the babes hanging out a safe distance away.

 Thomas and Mommy kisses

 This shooting range was SA-WEET! Someone really needs to build something like this near us, because we would use it all the time! And the best part? It was free! Sam LOVED being able to pull for us, too. One of the guys would load the throwers and Sam would just go from one to the next.

 Sam trying out the shotgun (don't worry, he basically only pulled the trigger) Here he is saying "Oh MAN!" when he missed hitting the skeet.

 And on our way to dinner we drove up the hill that overlooks the city of Winnemucca. It was gorgeous! And, it was also perfect lighting to snap a few family pictures, even though we hadn't really planned on taking any, so please be forgiving of the mix of colors, no make-up, and no nice hair.

 It was really beautiful up there.

 And because Sam was such a good sport, we took a silly one, too!

 I love the look on Sam's face in this one! It sums up his personality completely!

 And a sweet one of my two kiddos

 The sistas! You can tell by the bags under my eyes - we were so beat! After photo moments and an awesome view of the town, we went and enjoyed some Basque food at a local restaurant. It was kinda cool to get so many side dishes to keep you busy until your food arrived. I tried hominy for the first time, but I'm not really a fan. It was great!

The view from the top. We were sad to leave so soon, but it was a great trip and we left much earlier to go home, so the trip wasn't so long and difficult. Thanks for having us, April and John!!

Flowers and Kids

 Here are a few pictures I took of Amy the other day in her new capri's she got for her birthday

 And of the little buns I did at the back of her hair. We are trying to branch out a little bit more on what we do with her hair, but it is still tough. The top is a little longer, but not much thicker yet and the middle back of her hair is so much shorter than the sides that it is difficult to get all of the bottom of her hair in to any particular hairstyle. But we make the effort and are usually rewarded with comments from strangers when we are out :)

 My flowerbed! Finally all the flowers are planted. Well, most of them. I haven't decided what to do with the snapdragon situation because I can't seem to find any purple ones, which is what I had planned on alternating with the reddish/orange so now I have to sit and think for a while until I come up with something I like.

 But for now, I really like the color combination we have gone with. It seems like it is the same every year, but the different variety of flowers we choose really help it to feel different. Along the back right next to the porch Sam and I planted a bunch of seed flowers that will come up later. Those are a variety of pinks, reds, and whites. Then we have the reddish/orange snapdragons and along the front are yellow marigolds and blue lobelias. The boxes have red and purple wave petunias in them. I have always admired the wave petunias, but haven't been able to find them for sale to plant in your own container until this year, so I am really excited to see them get huge! The large plant you see in the picture below is a lilac bush someone gave to us that somehow survived the winter and is growing nicely (we were given two and put one on each side of the garage, but the other one didn't make it. Now what to do?

 A picture of Miss Amy today after spending a good amount of time outside while Mommy helped weed and big brother played with friends. Yeah, she has a bad mommy who forgot all about sunscreen so her poor little face and arms got roasted.

 Sam wanted a silly picture.

 Here you can see her sunburn a little better. I vow to be better at remembering the sunscreen and making her wear her little sun hat, even if she doesn't like it.

 Proof that my baby cries, too.

 But look at how she lights up when she sees her big brother. Melts my heart.

 I thought this picture of both kids grumpy was kind of cute/funny. Sam was doing the face on purpose, but Amy wasn't.

I don't know what's up with the purple line (that isn't on our picture, it's just how it uploaded), but I liked the look Sam is giving you here. He definitely knows how to pose for the camera when he wants to!

One Year's Progression

 One day old

 One month

 Two months: blessing day

 Three months: probably my favorite outfit ever!

 Four months: getting ready to take big brother to his first day of preschool

 Five months: first Halloween

 Six months: starting to sit up

 Seven months: first Christmas

 Eight months

 Nine months

 Ten months: we can do her hair now!

 Eleven months: starting to pull herself up on things

One year old!
I can't believe how fast the time has flown since this sweet little gal joined our family. It was a long, hard road to get to this point and we try to appreciate every single day. Amy crawls like a madman and it won't be long before she is walking independently. She loves to unload and get in to things and is happy to play and entertain herself. She eats the dirt clods from Daddy's work shoes happily. And, she is quite vocal when she wants to be. She will play with her tongue and will make silly babbling noises, but can also use the volume to let us know "FEED ME!!" We love her so much and can't imagine life without our Miss Amy girl :)