Christmas Cookies 12.16.10

Christina and her kids and Ashleigh and Holden came over for some cookie decorating madness.  Fun (and much sugar) was had by all.

Inny Pig (and Picky Eater) 11.3.10

Ben loves his Inny Pig.  This was one of those darling 3-year-old days where Inny Pig went everywhere and did everything with Benno, including eat lunch and make biscuits.

And I just want to have this one for posterity:  Sophie picking out each and every miniscule mushroom speck from her soup.

Our First Pie 10-24-10

So it wasn't MY first pie (although I haven't made one in years), but it was definitely Josh's first pie.  We decided on a caramel apple pie.  And, thank you very much, it was delicious.  Like really really delicious.

Baking with Josh is really fun.  He's good company.

Pretzels 9.24.10

Greek Festival 9.9.10

This is the third in a row of really terrible pictures.

I guess my project is NOT about quality pictures, but about remembering the life that inspired them.

And even though this is a terrible picture, it's a wonderful memory.  One of our favorite traditions is attending the annual Greek festival with our friends Llew and Sally.  We adore Llew and Sally and their amazing boys.  Hanging out with them is always fun.  But hanging out with them at the Greek Festival is ESPECIALLY fun.  We've been doing this since Josh was a baby, I think, and we've only missed a year or two in all that time.  We eat ourselves silly and watch the Greek dancers.  We've always had one or two kids dance along near our table, and this year it was Ben's turn.  I will be sad when they're all too old to want to dance at the Greek festival.

Josh is gorging himself on his own box (bought with his own money) of loukoumades, a fried dough tossed with honey and cinnamon.  Yummy.  I want one right now.  And YES, it looks like I'm eating one in the picture, but NO, I was STRONG.  I was holding Ben's and feeding him so he didn't end up covered in honey.  THAT is how strong I am.  I can HOLD a loukoumade and NOT EAT IT.  (Impressive, yes?)

Cookie Dough 7.27.10

Ben likes cookies too.

Oh, you already know that?

Yes, I may have mentioned it.

Massive MASSIVE Cake Fail

I have no pictures, so you'll just have to trust me on this one.

I really used to think I was a pretty good little baker. Until this. And this. And this.

But it has been a while since those minor catastrophes. And I started to feel like maybe there really is a domestic goddess inside me, just waiting for the perfect opportunity to show herself.

And today that opportunity presented itself. Our friend Bowen turned 20 yesterday. Our friend Jeff turns (ahem) 40 tomorrow. A party was planned to celebrate both today. And I thought, "What would be nicer than a different cake for each of these great guys?"

Nothing! Nothing would be nicer! Especially if someone ELSE had had the great idea and executed it a little bit better.

So I made Bowen an almond poppyseed bundt cake. It turned out mostly very well.

And I thought I'd make Jeff a triple-layer triple chocolate cake. The cake layers came out of the pans beautifully. The frosting tasted great. I assembled it, and even used skewers to keep the layers in place. I thought the frosting might be a little too soft, but figured it wouldn't be a big deal.

Well...it was a big deal. Because by the time we got to the party, the layers had shifted. It was now the Leaning Tower of Cake.

And by the time we went to light the candles? The top layer had lost a quarter of itself to gravity.

What else could be done? Nothing. We stuck in the candles and went ahead with our celebration. Jeff said the cake was perfect for the occasion: all broken-down and off-kilter. We all laughed and laughed and laughed. Maybe the darned cake was scary-looking, but it was delicious and hilarious, all at the same time.

But the next time my inner domestic goddess gets big ideas, will someone shut her up and remind her about the LAST time she got too ambitious?

(And will someone give me a foolproof cake recipe?)

Cake 6.23.10

I was glad I had decided to continue eating sugar this week when my friend Bridget (our sweet piano teacher) gave us this cake after the girls' lesson. I've been doing pretty well holding in my emotions. Well, to be honest, I do pretty well until someone does something thoughtful for us. Somehow, the tenderness of people's actions taps right into the tear switch for me.

Also, the cake was delicious.

Cookies 6.22.10

I feel better when I'm not eating sugar. I don't do well at eating sugar in moderation, so it's easier for me to cut it all out than to try to eat just one cookie.

But there are some times that you just need a cookie. Or four. Or six.

Mother's Day 5.9.10

I think it's sad that I have no picture of myself with my offspring from the day meant to celebrate this very bond. But oh well. That's the way it goes around here. But look at this cute Sophie. She's way way way too old and I'm freaking out.


Instead of a picture, though, I did get a delicious breakfast made by said offspring: muffins, a banana smoothie, and fruit. Also, I got to sleep in, which is all I actually wanted. (Oh, also for David to put the kids to bed.) Ben ate the tops off of four muffins and stacked them like Legos.


After church, we trekked up to Heber and celebrated with David's mom. Another amazing meal. She's a remarkable cook. She's let us know lately, though, that at her funeral, we're not allowed to talk about her cooking. Or her hat-making. She's already assigned gospel topics to each of her children. They are to give a 2 minute talk on the gospel subject and not mention her much at all.

We told her that if she's dead, there's nothing she can do if they don't stick to their gospel topic and instead talk about how wonderful she is.

She said if they're naughty enough to do that, she'll haunt us.

I love David's mom.

I also love my mom, and my grandmas, and I missed my mom bunches.

Me and My Cookies 5.5.10

You know what they say...Nothing tastes as good as thin feels.

I don't buy it.

Sometimes cookies taste better than thin feels.

Which is why thin and I are not getting along so well lately.

I'm thinking about giving up sugar. Can't decide. Opinions?

But could I really be without my cookies?

Over the River and Through the Woods 5.2.10

We brought dinner to Heber to share with David's mom and Rachelle, Bill, and Alysha. Mom made these cinnamon chips with fruit salsa. Yummy.

Also, I love cousin time, even if it revolves around a mini screen. Well, I don't really love the combination of kids and screens, but they honestly did look cute. (I'm pretty sure I forced them to turn off the DS as soon as I took the picture.)

White Gloves and Chocolate Pudding 4.23.10

Homemade chocolate pudding, thanks to Josh. Yummy.

And NOW I'm all caught up.

Dance Party and Cookies 3.29.10

So I've told you before that Josh is getting into the cooking thing. The thing about him is that he has no preconceived notions about cooking (other than that he is SURE he's a better cook than I am. If you consider the cakes I've destroyed this month, he might have a point, but over all, I'm a pretty good cook! Little stinker). Because he's a bit of a blank slate, he just chooses to make whatever looks interesting to him. Me, I think about it. I know how long something will take. I know what kind of mess a recipe will make. I know the tastes of the other members of the family.

But I'm beginning to think this is a liability. Josh is bringing the fun back into cooking.

Today he decided to make Maple Cinnamon Pinwheels. These took forever. They made a huge mess. No one but me really liked them. But it was fun and we were all happy making them.

So happy, in fact, that a dance party broke out spontaneously. Hooray for kitchen dance parties.

Cake Fail. Yes. Again. 3.25.10

It was my turn to host book club. I was very excited and went over lots of dessert options. I decided to go with Katy's Tunnel of Fudge cake.

This is how it turned out.


Yes, that is the plate you can see through the big hole in the back of the cake.

Since this is the third cake fail in one month, I'm considering giving up cake-making. This would be tragic, though, since I like eating cake so very much.

Whatever should I do?

I think I'll make another cake.

Birthday Dinner in Heber. Also Cake Fail. 3.7.10

David's mom is a remarkable cook, and our birthday dinners are always calorically devastating. Case in point: baby back ribs, cream cheese mashed potatoes (I happen to know that she uses a stick of butter in the potatoes and puts another half a stick on the top), fruit salad, beets, clam dip with potato chips, green beans (the lonely half a stick of butter left over from the potatoes ends up in the green beans) and orange rolls dripping in sticky sugar and icing.

So the dinner was covered, but David's mom asked me to make the cake.

No problem! I'm great at cakes, right?

I may have gotten out of making cakes for the rest of my life with this one.

My No Fail Seven Minute Frosting?

Failed.



Oh well, it tasted good and everyone laughed a lot. At my expense.

(What's really funny that I thought I was going to hit a home run here. A rectangular layer cake on a rectangular serving platter, frosted with mounds of fluffy white marshmallow goodness? It was going to be gorgeous, and people would think I was really all that and be intimidated by me. I thought that would be fun. Turns out it's more fun to have it look like this mess.)

David's Birthday Cake, or Yet Another Job at Which I Would Stink 3.3.10

David's birthday is actually tomorrow, but he has to work all day and go to a concert in Ogden tomorrow night. I can't believe it, but I actually thought ahead and realized we should celebrate tonight. Amazing. So we had dinner in the dining room and I made his favorite dessert: a chocolate three-layer cake.


It's really pretty, isn't it?


Ummm, pretty except for the whole top layer fell apart while I frosted it. Guess I won't apply for a job at a bakery any time soon.

Good thing its looks didn't affect its taste.

Coffee Cake and Chocolate Cake 2.28.10

Josh and Kate surprised us with breakfast: coffee cake and cream cheese scrambled eggs. You know, I think I'm going to like this cooking teenager thing. Pretty awesome. Now if we could only get him to do his homework and practicing without being reminded...


We celebrated John's birthday together and I ate too much Tunnel of Fudge cake. I have about 10 other pictures of John, and none are much better than this one. John, you stinker. I'll get you yet. Just you wait.

Picture of the Day 2.23.10

Another really bad picture, but of a really cute boy.

Josh's new passion is baking. It's cracking me up. He found a recipe for Lemon Squares in a Food Network magazine and asked me to buy the ingredients. I finally did and he came home from school ecstatic to be able to cook. He texted his friends and asked them to come over and test them (one of them was even a girl...shhhh...don't tell), but then he realized it would be three hours before they were ready to eat, so the tasting party was cancelled. He's convinced that he's a better baker than I am and is rallying for a bake-off. Stinker. I taught him everything he knows...

To Cheer Up Your Monday

Because narwhals are funny, but a bacon-wrapped chicken narwhal? That's just hilarious.

(Thank you, This is Why You're Fat. Go visit. You'll feel way better about your Sunday cookie binge.)