Danny's birthday

So Danny's birthday was on October 5th, a long time ago I know, but one of the reasons I have been putting off posting about it is because I wanted to post a video of him blowing out his birthday candles, but I didn't know how to do it. But I think I finally learned, so take a look. We got such a kick out of it.


And since Danny is obsessed with Elmo, my mom helped me make him an Elmo cake. He loved it! We tinted fondant and used that for the eyes and nose so it would be nice and smooth and then I just tried to make the red icing look like fur. Since Danny's birthday was over conference, we used this cake for the party we had later in the week.
Danny is such a happy and loving little boy. He has such excitement and enthusiasm for life, I love being around him. He's very affectionate and one of his sweet little hugs and a kiss just melts my heart.

My Daddy's Bread

One of the things I acquired on my trip home LAST year was the wheat grinder/mixer that my great grandma left for me. It's gotta be 40 years old or so, but my Grandma kept it in perfect condition and it works great!However, it was only this latest trip that I really practiced with my dad on how to make his most delicious bread. These pictures are of my first attempt without my dad's supervision. And I think I passed! It doesn't take that long and it is so much better than store bought bread--we love it!

Invites

Our YW presidency has been trying to put together everything for our up and coming Young Women in Excellence. We chose our theme to be "Reap the Harvest." We thought it would lend itself to convenient decorations for this time of year. :) But we're really excited about it and the latest thing we did was make special homemade invitations. Since this is not necessarily my forte, I pleaded help from my incredibly talented friend Shanan and she gave us a little template to create the invites ourselves. One of my counselors and awesome friend Katie helped me do it and we think they turned out pretty cute!

Trunk or Treat??

Our ward is having a Trunk or Treat on Tuesday night and I come to you for ideas. I have never been to one and I am having a bit of trouble thinking of ways to decorate our trunk. So if you have decorated a trunk in the past or have seen a FABULOUS one, (or know of where I can find some ideas) please let me know. Thanks!

Photo Session

We just got back from a nearly two week vacation in Idaho with all of my family. It was the first time in years that we were all together, all six of us siblings plus our parents. With Josh just getting home from his mission and Austin just about to leave, the timing of this trip was perfect. It wasn't initially planned that way, but that's how it worked out and we are very grateful.

I loved having a countless number of people in line waiting to help me change diapers, hold a crying baby, or watch Elmo with Danny. They all WANTED to do it. It was so awesome. Needless to say, I got majorly spoiled and I had a serious wake-up call when we got home and it was back to reality. But the kids have been really good and Kate is starting to be less grumpy. She has had her first grins, some of which have become near giggles. Her coo's are so cute and when it happens it makes me forget that she cries a lot.

While we were in Idaho, we had a photo session with a wonderful photographer, Kimberly Smith. She took some amazing pictures of my best friends new adorable little son, Landon, and I wanted some too! We wanted to take cute naked newborn pictures of Kate, but she was just too big to take cute sleeping pictures. She was too big for all the props and cute newborn poses and kept waking up and was very disgruntled the entire time. And she had TWO major accidents and she shot poop all over us and all over the canvas backdrop, which required some extensive cleanup. It was so funny! But take a look at this album I compiled of some of our favorites from the session.