I decorated a cake!

I know that decorating a cake isn't something new for me, but I haven't decorated one in a long time and this one was a little different.

It's hard to see from this weird angle but it was really late at night when I finished and I was extremely tired and due to the fact it's football season right now my big zoom lens was on my camera and I was too tired to go change it out. So I got really far away and took the picture at this weird angle just so that I could be done with it and most importantly... GO TO BED!

Ethan is really good at graphic design stuff on the computer. I'll have to post some of his awesome work. He can take a regular photo and create a cartoon character out of it. It's really pretty cool looking. So when my cousin Deana called to see if I would decorate a cake for her son Adam's birthday/American Fork JV & Varsity team football dinner, I got the idea to have Ethan cartoon one of his football pictures and then I could just put a picture of Adam on the cake. By the time I thought of this fabulous idea, time was running out and Ethan didn't have a lot of time. Doing up close faces is more difficult to do so he did one of his full length body pictures instead which just so happens to be a bit harder for me on the cake decorating end. But beggers can't be choosers and I'll have to admit, I did beg him! I think it turned out pretty good. Not my best work but I'm excited to do this cartooning idea again. I think it has potential!

FINALLY a school boy!

I think I mentioned previously about Talan being so bent out of shape when I brought out my August back to school decorations and he wasn't in any of the pictures. It was a sad day in the life of Talan! He cried real tears and everything! So I assured him that when it was his first day of preschool, he too would have his picture taken!

Well it happened! Talan started Preschool!
And he couldn't have been more excited!

We got one of our back to school apple decorations
and headed to the front yard to take a few pictures.

He loved having his own little photo shoot!

It's fun to watch the kids grow up!
On the morning of his first day he was very cooperative.
Bath? Sure mom!
Do my hair? Of course!

"Look at me mom!
Take my picture now!"

And then off to school we went.
Talan is going to Miss Cindy's class.
Miss Cindy is in our ward and teaches preschool in the basement of her home. Carsten and Reagan both went to her and LOVED IT!

And here he goes walking up to her door!

When we got downstairs we saw the Cat in the Hat with lots of fishes!

Then we found Talan's fish.

He went to class like a big boy just as excited as could be!
FINALLY A SCHOOL BOY!

Student of the Week... Carsten Adair!

At school one thing about having a last name that Begins with an A, you have a pretty good chance at being first! First in line, in the front of the class, and the first student in the class to be the "student of the week!"

Of course I wasn't informed about the need to have a student of the week poster until it was already a few days late! But that's okay because that's how I roll... remember L8ASUSL! We made a frantic dash to the store to get a poster board and then to work we went!
Carsten helped pick out all the pictures for the poster.

I came to his class along with Talan, his Aunt Staci and cousins Jack and Abe. Carsten's teacher hooked him up to a microphone to present his poster to the class. He was not too sure what to say! His teacher encouraged him to just tell the class about the pictures on his poster. He did it just about as short and sweet as possible. It was kind of cute watching him squirm!

Then the teacher asked if I could say a few things. Well heavens knows that I don't have any problem talking to a bunch of 4th graders being the cub scout master that I am! So I talked for a few minutes and then the class asked Carsten questions. He's so cute... and funny!

Carsten is a HUGE fan of Gummy Bears so I brought in a HUGE bag to share with the class. Of course trying to set the precedents that when it's your turn to be the student of the week, you had better come with treats! We'll see how our master plan pans out!

Cute Jack playing with his gummy bears.

And adorable Abe!

After the cute little student of the week presentation I took Staci on a tour of the school making a visit to Bradon and Reagan's classes too. It was a fun little field trip!

L8ASUSL

David has always wanted to get me my own personalized license plate. For years he has pondered what he would put on it. He's asked me over and over again what I think it should say. I never came up with any great ideas and then David came up with this!
L8ASUSL
I think it's been at least a year since I've been driving around town with this here little beauty. At first I was quite irritated that this is what he would come up with. You see, me being late to stuff is one of Davids biggest pet peeves. And putting it on a license plate, proclaiming it to EVERYONE... Well, it was a bit of a sore spot for me!

So at first I found it to be embarrassing!
But now I have fully embraced it!
YES THAT'S ME... LATE AS USUAL!

I have had more people {and when I say people, I mean strangers.} approach me about my license plate. They think it's so funny! So cleaver! So perfect! They even go as far as insisting on taking a picture of it!

So I guess if you must be known for something, it might as well be the truth!
Ladies and Gentlemen... I'm Late as usual!
And if you have a problem with it!
TALK TO THE PLATE!

SURPRISE!!!

Last Sunday about 15 minutes before it was time to take my Mother-in-law Jeannine to the airport our doorbell rang. Huh, I wonder who that could be? The kids ran to the door and opened it up while I walked to the door behind them. I saw a boy standing there who looked an awful lot like my nephew Jack. I thought, "Wow, that kid looks a lot like Jack!" I walked a little bit closer and LO AND BEHOLD there was my sister Staci and her husband John and their other little boy Abe! OH MY GOSH, IT WAS JACK!!! I had no idea that they were coming! What a wonderful surprise! And they were in luck too, because our guest room had just become available!

We hadn't seen the Kramer family in over a year and a half! It was so good to see them! It was so good to have the kids see each other! They had so much fun together! Talan and Abe are just 18 hours apart in age and they couldn't have been more fun to watch. They were both so competitive with one another! "I'm more potty trained than you are!" You know, that kind of stuff! It was too funny!

I'm kicking myself now for not taking more pictures. I have a few but that's it!

As you can see from the look on Talan's face he was more than thrilled to have a little playmate his own size! They had just about everything in common!
Talan just saw this picture on the computer and said, "Abe's just wearing underwear and not pants! But I'm wearing pants!"

Jack is getting so big and grown up! He's the size of Carsten. {Not that that's saying much since Carsten has proclaimed that he's going to become a midget someday!} Carsten and Jack had so much fun together!
It was fun getting to know Jack a little better. He's such a cute kid! And such a good artist too! He actually has a lot in common with Ethan! It must be a first born thing!

Abe felt pretty comfortable with Ethan. He just snuggled right up to him. Ethan seems to have this effect on young children. They always seem to seek him out and mess with him. I'm thinking that children must be a good judge of character!

I felt bad that my life is so busy all the time and I wasn't able to entertain them more while they were here. I hope that they had a fun visit with us because we sure enjoyed them.

Staci and I spent one afternoon together shopping and hanging out while David babysat the kids. It was a blast! I wish I could spend more time with her more often. About 3 years ago when she came to visit we went to the mall and bought ourselves silver CZ rings. Staci's wedding ring is made of white gold and she's allergic to it. My wedding ring has a lose stone in it that I worry about. So we got ourselves new AWESOMELY FAKE ones! Fake wedding rings don't last forever nor cost very much so you can just get new ones whenever and change them out. It's kind of fun! Especially when people look at my ring and tell me, "Your husband is a keeper, hang on to him!" Oh YES he is! Anyways Staci and I decided that this will be our new SISTERS tradition. So while we were at the mall we got ourselves some pretty sweet rings!

John flew home to go to work and so Staci had to drive the kids home by herself a few days later. I felt bad that she had to sacrifice so much to visit us but ABSOLUTELY FLATTERED that she would do all that for me! It was a wonderful week with only one regret... I should have taken a picture of Staci and I together, and a picture of all the kid together too!
Next time! I guess there is always next time!

National Geographic Week?

Apparently nature likes us!

This last week we discovered that we have an AWESOME black wasps nest in one of our trees in the front yard. It's totally cool looking! It's absolutely amazing that those wasps can build such an awesome nest! I'm debating weather I should call the pest control company to get rid of it, or just wait until winter for the wasps to vacate the hive and then spray it myself. It's super cool and I would hate to destroy it!

Then not only that....

But we had the pleasure of having a
hummingbird visitor too!

This cute little hummingbird flew into our garage and couldn't seem to find it's way out! We tried everything we could think of to help it find it's way and then finally gave up and shut the garage door so that we could all go to bed.

Do you know the sound a smoke detector makes when it's battery is low? Well that's the same noise a hummingbird makes! As I walked through the house turning off lights and locking doors after getting the kids in bed, I heard this high pitched beeping noise. I followed my ears to see what it could be. I opened the garage door and realized that it was our cute little hummingbird!

The next morning when David lifted the garage door to go to work the hummingbird finally escaped! I think it just needed some natural sunlight to see it's way out!

Quiet is NEVER a good thing!

"Talan, what are you doing underneath the kitchen table?"
"Talan you have written all over your face!"
"Where did you get that marker?"
And "Why did you do that?"

"But I made a mustache!"

Angry eyes!

Seriously, how could I get made at a face like this?

Talan strutted this look for several days
hence the "permanent marker!"

Pure Awesomeness!