Adventures in Cake Decorating

We finished the four week course on Monday and I have to say I haven't had this much fun in a having a "creative outlet" in a very long time. Even getting away for a few hours a week was a great release! You've seen the rainbow cake, the lower left is a clown cake (kinda freaky) and the top right and lower right are both my graduation cake featuring the famour Wilton rose on the top! I was the least talented at the rose in the whole class only because it took me forever to get just one look right, but then I made about 10 in the last hour once I had it down.

I might really miss my classmate, cute "Grandma" who donned some awesome outfits, blue eyeshadow and hot pink lips, and had big barrell curls in an up-do like they did a few decades ago. Oh, and our instructor with awesome tattoos on her calves who spoke openly and candidly about her home in a trailer park was quite unforgettable. Joking aside, I am totally serious! Pretty admirable that she makes wedding cakes for people, with not much of a kitchen to speak for it.

Soooo... Michael's has their classes 40% off this month and I'm thinking of doing the 4 week fondant class next with my friend. Anyone ever taken it or known someone that has and liked it? Or anyone local interested in doing this, too?

Easter with Us

We had a really wonderful Easter Sunday shared with good friends, AMAZING food (by all the other women), and cute cute kids.

An abundance in Easter fun and festivities to follow.....

The Brooke girl

Brooke participated in two egg hunts. One of her very own at our house, and then one at our friend's house after dinner.

She loved looking inside each egg before moving onto the next.

Checking out the loot.

She loves her new "Easter bunny."

After our nice Easter church meetings, we came home to take naps, make jello and spinach salad to take to Easter dinner. Here are Brooke and Olivia checking each other's eggs out.

All the Mommas: Kendee, Alyssa, Muah, Crystal

All the kiddos ready to start!

Kinda looks like she's sayin, "Down..! Set...! Hike..!" Yeah, Brent would love it.

One year old, Maile.

Darling Lincoln, who belongs to Neil and Crystal.

Olivia getting her egg hunt on.

Crystal and Neil, like I said before--great pic, you guys!

Lake, who is Maile's brother and Brooke.

Daddy helping hunt for eggs.

Family Easter shot.


And that was our Easter!

Now, a few other items to note:

Item #1: Thank you to all of you who commented with advice about the paint color. After much deliberation, it was Brent's idea to paint the back wall an accent color of light brown/dark tan, and the rest of the walls a neutral cream. He had been wanting to do this from the very beginning, months ago when we started talking about it, and I decided it was time my man have some say! I hope you like---

Item #2: Last Monday, I started session one in the Wilton cake decorating classes with a friend! I have been really excited about doing this for awhile and it really has been a blast. We have had two out of the four classes and we made our first cake today.... which really took forever to work on after the class at home.


Yes, the rainbow is terribly cheesy, (dare I say ---- tacky?) and there are plenty of flaws but I feel pretty proud. :) Thanks for letting me blog-brag. Okay...

Happy April to you all!

Our First Guests: Guerisoli Grandparents

At the end of February, we were lucky enough to have a visit from Brent's parents, Kirt and Vicki. This was an extra special trip because Brooke really knows who they are now and cares enough to want to play with them. Here is a sum of the fun things we did with them:

Grandma got Brooke some new outfits just because. We were at Target shopping one night and Brooke was being SO cranky. I said I wanted to go look at the little girl's clothes and when we got there, Brooke was squealing with delight and so excited. Looks like she's got the shopping gene (thank heavens!) I mean.... sorry Brent..!!

Brooke had this look on her face pretty much the whole time they were here. She was in "grandparent-get-away-with-anything-and-everything" mode.

We went to the zoo! And Brooke had a great view! (on Grandpa's shoulders that is..)

Grandma and Brooke on the turtle

Brooke and Mom with the Hippo!

The first thing we saw were the Flamingos. These are my favorite. :) What a beautiful color!

We went out to eat WWAAAAYYYYYY too many times and stuffed ourselves silly! Kirt loved Rudy's, of course.

We dropped Brooke off one night at a friend's and enjoyed dinner at the riverwalk, just the four of us.

Uh... yeah.. what to say about this picture?

Vicki and I had a sewing day. We borrowed my friend's sewing machine and set out to find fabric to recover some of our bedroom pillows that were looking very raggity. I love how they turned out.

We also enjoyed lots of game nights together, making treats, watching a movie, Kirt taking Brooke to the park for hours and me getting a break (thank you!), going to the temple, taking Vicki shopping for new clothes, a picnic at the park with Brent, and lots of good conversation and laughs.

This literally shows how sad Brooke was when they left... :( Guess they better come back in a few months!!

We really did labor!

What better way to spend labor day weekend than painting your house with your hubby? That's what we did! Credit goes to awesome friend #1 for letting me "steal" the paint color in her family room and awesome friend #2 for spending hours helping and teaching us how to paint, as neither of us had ever done it before. Seriously. Seriously. Thanks, you girls.

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We painted the entrance and family/dining room. We finished in less time than we expected and it was really fun to be able to do something like this with Brent. We aren't really "fix-it" people but would like to learn to become more that way.

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This is a picture of the family room from when the previous owners lived here. Blah, no color. That's all I have to say about that.

Painting in progress...

The house quickly became a disaster.

The finished product: a warm, tannish, yellow, honey-golden color of goodness!

Do ya like it?

Gettin' my craft and sewing on-

Well... we've been up to lots of fun! Actually, we've just been doing normal day to day stuff. BUT, we are trying, ok I am trying to have fun while Brent is extremely jam-packed with finals and projects. Man. It is a stressful time. But, alas! This is the very last semester of school for Brent, hopefully forever. Just watch, he'll graduate and let me know he wants a Ph.D. Please don't do that, babe. I don't know if I could do it!

Anyways, I've been doing some crafty things with my friend here! I got this idea from Melissa, who did my hair a few weeks ago. A bow board for all of Brookie's "pretty's." I mod podged! I never thought I would like crafty stuff but the finished product is pretty rewarding.

I bought fabric almost a year ago to cover some of my old couch pillows and my friend also helped me do this. She's a fantastic seamstress! She helped me whip these out. Actually, she did most of the work. But I'm happy with them!

Brookie is cute. Nuf said.

Standing (at a very dirty window, might I add) and SO BIG.

She devours a good biter biscuit these days.

Happy times abound!

What's new?

Well, hello to all of you that read our blog! Just in case you are wondering what we've been up to... well not too much. Just enjoying watching brookie grow up some more, the beauty and smell of spring, and looking forward to graduation-four weeks to go, folks! She is a busy little crawler, as I'm sure most babies are at this stage. She really loves to stand right now! And when she does, she gets this look on her face like, "hey, I'm cool like all the other babies I see doing this!" I love it-

I got together with my visiting teachers and my friend showed us all how to make hooded towels for kids! First of all, I love the towel and they were easy. Second of all, what a great way to do visiting teaching-get together and talk and learn something crafty together! Here is Brooke modeling the finished product-

Brooke now has SIX teeth. Cute little smile. And they didn't come without lots of sweat and tears, either!

Brent and his favorite dessert of all time-Key Lime Pie!! He looks guilty and I think he is! But there's nothing like a sugar rush to get ya through the end of the semester.

I got a new 'do.' Bangs and highlights! If you think I'm vain for putting this up.. well... I guess you don't have to read my blog if you don't want to, right? ha! Plus if you know me well, you know getting my hair done is a huge deal for me (I guess I'm kind of a freak) and so since I kinda like it, I had to show it.

Every month the business school puts on a "consumption function." Basically, everyone gets together on a friday night to eat and talk (and everyone but us drinks pretty heavily). So we go to feed our little family dinner. The rest of the students go to feed their tummies some good ole' booze. Pretty nasty! We are with Tyler and Ann, some great friends we have made from B-school. They are also non-drinkers, making it really easy to hang out with them!

Brent and his good friend, Tyler. They look awkward, but cute. Thanks to Tyler for getting Brent back into working out! He's gonna be the buffest man ever this summer in his sizzlin' board shorts. :)

That's what we've been up to, hope you enjoyed reading it!

Brookie's Room

I never posted pictures of Brooke's room when it was all finished (which was about 2 months before she was born!) and a couple people have asked to see it and especially the amazing quilt that my Mom made. Yes, she made this, with her very own hands. When she showed me the fabric, I just about died because they were the exact colors I had been wanting and hadn't been able to find. Isn't it gorgeous? Thanks, Mom.

Krista and I (with Mom's help) made the name banner when I went to Seattle in June, and Brent painted the dresser over Memorial Day. I am quite proud of how everything turned out. I love how pristine the white crib and dresser look together!

(Just ignore the terrible gray carpet in our apartment!)