My Best Friend's Wedding

I know it's been a while since I posted because my best friend, Tonya got married today.

Congratulations!!

I made her wedding cake, which turned out beautifully. That is why I haven't been blogging this past week, I have spent any time the boys have been asleep doing cake stuff. I am amazed at how many hours I spent. I am not going to disclose the number, but it was more than 2 dozen.
I had fun getting my fingers back into it. After the news I received last night, I am now going to be making another cake this summer, probably in August. (curious? I'll tell you who later.)

I was a little disappointed with the pictures of the cake, because the shiny silver platter made the light reflect onto the icing, giving it a wavy look, instead of the smooth finish that it really had.

I was even more disappointed when I realized that I forgot to bring my camera to the temple, so I don't have any pictures of the bride, or any of the festivities. :-( Maybe I can get them from someone else. I hope.

The ceremony was sweet and simple, and the luncheon was delicious. The caterer was an idiot. Sorry to sound harsh, but there was a complete lack of common sense. The florist left the bridal bouquet in the serving area in a vase. It was very obviously a bouquet. Well, he disassembled the entire arrangement and scattered them on his banquet table, along with parsley and sliced oranges. (ugly) There is a reason a bride hires a florist to do the flowers and a caterer to do the food. So, Tonya's sister ended up reassembling the bouquet for the pictures, but, it wasn't a beautiful as the original. I guess every wedding has a few mini-crises, and generally speaking, they get resolved.

Now, any of you who are planning on getting married had better start kissing up to me now if you want me to make your cake, because it is a lot of work, and I only do it for friends and family, which means that after the friends and family discount, I don't really make anything. Even if you aren't getting married, you can kiss up, though.

Lucky Ladybug

We found this ladybug at the park. Now we hope we'll have some luck. Doesn't my skin look dry? Hopefully, it's just because of the closeup shot.

Park Pals

We walked to the park with our pals, Sheri, Aiden, and Eli last week. The weather was warmish and windy; a storm blew in that night. It was all fun and games until Timmy got hurt. After he recovered, it was back to the fun and games. He walked in front of a boy on the swings, and got kicked in the head. Earlier that same morning, he fell on the couch he was climbing onto the tile. So, in the photo, if you look closely, you can see the swing scrape, and the couch goose egg, just to the right of it. Ouch. Poor kid!

After a few tears, we played on the slides, climbed on the caterpillar, ate our picnic lunch, played on the swings, and walked back home. Timmy liked the motorcycle, although it never seemed to go fast enough. Spencer enjoyed the bark more than his lunch. At times, Tim preferred to stand guard at the tube slide, and protect it from other kids, than to slide down it himself. It seems like no matter how long you play at the park, for a kid, it is never quite long enough. We still had to pry them off the swings and drag them from the playground.

Both boys fell asleep on the ride home from Sheri's house. (The real reason Moms go to the park.)

A peek into our business trip vacation

Troy had a business trip in the same city Grandma and Pa live, so he invited us all to accompany him. We happily obliged. Here are some of our fun adventures down where the weather was perfect. I didn't get pictures of everyone or everything, but this is what you get to see to document our last week's worth of adventures.

Notice Pa's goatee slowly shrinking over the course of the week. By the time we came home, Grandma had her way and Pa was clean shaven again.
Spencer and Pa wrestling- Spencer wins!
Timmy helping himself to the M&Ms
What is missing in this picture?
Spencer and Uncle Garrett
Hanging out with Grandma and Pa upstairs
Sleepy snuggle bugs

General Conference at Great Grandma and Grandpa's house

As sisters in Zion: Aunt Wendy and Grandma Jill
In between sessions: "Flying with Pa" (Look at Timmy's shadow)
Great Gramps grilling the burgers
Look at those 2 bald guys working on the dirt bikes
They planned on riding Thursday and Friday, all day long, but the first day, the repairs took longer than anticipated, and the second day, they locked the keys inside the truck and had to wait for us to bring them a spare.
Pa is always changing the story. Timmy's troubled face in this picture is because Pa is trying to convince him that the cat's name is "Lunch" and that he tastes good barbecued. The plot is a
Pioneer children sang as they walked and walked and walked home from Conference
Playing together
Playing with kitchen utensils with Uncle Kirby
Shannie and Jake (the twitterpated lovebirds) enjoying Conference together
... a little while later...
Garrett is now in High School. My baby brother, all grown up. Where does the time go?
Timmy can put on his own pants. Hmmm...

Preschool

Grandma teaches preschool. She let Tim go to class with her. He isn't so sure about all the "big" kids."I Pledge of allegiance..."
Doesn't he look tiny standing next to the giant 4 & 5 year-olds?
Lining up to go home

ABC Tag

A- Attached or single: Attached
B- Best Friend: My hubby, Troy
C-Cake or Pie: Are oreos a cake or a pie?
D- Day of Choice: Saturday
E- Essential Item: My double stroller with fully-functional child restraints
F- Favorite Color: BYU blue
G- Gummy Bears or Worms: Sour worms
H- Hometown: Phoenix, AZ
I- Indulgence(s): Girls nights- Book Club, Scrapbooking night, etc. and Date nights alone with Troy
J- January or July: July. I'd choose fireworks over snow any day!
K-Kids: Timmy and Spencer, with curiosity to spare
L-Life is incomplete without: A daily hug and kiss from each of my 3 "boys"
M- Marriage Date: June 1, 2002
N- Number of Siblings: One little sis, and 2 baby brothers, only not so little or babyish anymore
O-Oranges or Apples: Fresh off the tree Granny Smiths
P-Phobias or Fears: Getting called to be the Relief Society President, living without a sewer while our basement is being dug and a new sewer line installed- Yikes!
Q-Quote(s): "Maybe we can go to the store and buy Spencer some big teeth so he can eat carrots" Timmy said this to me today at lunch while we munched raw carrots. What a hoot!
R- Reason To Smile: I'm not pregnant
S-Something new: Our house. Maybe that doesn't count since it's not finished yet. Or started, for that matter...
T-Tag: If this is your first time visiting my blog, you are tagged.
U-Unknown Fact About Me: I pierced my belly button in 7th grade myself with a safety pin, just because my mom didn't want me to. It was short lived, I took out the safety pin when it got a pus-oozing infection. Was I a rebel, or what?
V- Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animal: If it mooed, clucked, swam, or oinked, I have probably eaten it.
W- Worst Habit: This is getting a little personal. I typed my habit, then decided it was none of your beeswax, and deleted it. Call me on the phone, then maybe I'll confess.
X- X-Rays or Ultrasounds: Ultrasounds: because of Diabetes and other risk factors, I had one nearly every visit to the doc while I was pregnant. (3 times a week toward the end of each.) The novelty wears off and I stopped having them print pictures of those static-screen shots.)
Y- Your Favorite Food: Ice Cream in any shape or form, preferably frozen, Chocolate excluded
Z-Zodiac: Pisces

Daddy's Little Helpers

When we were camping, Timmy must have run over a thorn with his bike because when he went to ride it, the front tire was flat. When he discovered it, Timmy was distraught, and just had to call Daddy at work. When Troy answered, Tim's message was short and sweet, "Daddy, when you get home, [will] you help me plump up my front tire? It got soft and flat." So, true to his word, Troy plumped up Timmy's tire when he got home and we went for a family walk so Tim could test out the plumped up tire. (It's one of those cute mispronunciations that we couldn't bear to correct, so we adopted his word as our own.)

However, a few days later, the tire was flat again. Timmy asked me to plump it up and I explained that it had a hole, and it needed to be fixed before we plumped it up. So, on Saturday, Daddy took everyone to buy a tube patch kit, and they spent a little male bonding time patching and fixing the tire. Timmy was eager to help, he got out his "Bob the Builder" tools and tried to do everything Daddy did. Spencer wanted to help, too, but was mostly a detriment to the fixing. The first step in fixing it was to remove the tire from the bike. It was cold outside so we broke the rules, and Mommy let the bike come into the house. They turned it upside down and began to take it off.

Once the tire was off the bike, there was a mini-crisis.

It was at this juncture that Tim decided Daddy was just breaking his bike even more, not fixing it. "Put it back on, Dad, don't break it! Just fix the tire! Don't take it off!" It took a moment to calm him down and explain that it had to come off to be fixed. Then when Troy pulled the tube out of the tire, Tim came unglued again. He recovered quickly this time. After finding the hole, patching it, testing it, plumping it, and putting it back on the bike, Tim was ready to ride. He grabbed his helmet, and rushed outside. Dad followed to be the spotter (we still have a crash almost every ride), and Mom was close behind with the camera. Spencer followed as fast as his crawlers would take him, and before we knew it, the whole family was outside. As soon as Spencer found a big stick, he stopped the chase, and was entertained with his new toy.

Hopefully, his tire won't need plumping for a while.