A Camping We Will Go . . .

We went camping! Finally after almost 8 years of marriage we went camping and had a fantastic time. We went with our ward and camped on a huge property that has ponds. I would consider it "prairie" camping, there was no need to clear a sight for our tent because there was no dirt, only grasses. I grew up camping and loving it, but always in the mountains and wooded areas. Here in our part of Texas you're hard pressed to find any mountains, but the area we camped at was just beautiful.

We drove out as soon as Jeremy came home from work and were able to enjoy the sunset along the way

It looked as if we might have been the last to arrive. There were a few tents ready for the night and the adults were busy with dinner by the fire, while children spent time fishing in the ponds and running through the tall flowers and grasses. Everyone smiled and laughed and as the night wore on we enjoyed smores and the campfire.

By the end of the night the few of us who were staying over took our seats around the flames and listened to the wild stories of President Griffin. He told of his childhood in northern Mississippi, living in an area cleared for farming but still wooded and having to hide from a panther that tried with all its might to get into their home when just he, his sister, and cousin were home during the day. It was like something from Little House on the Prairie, and Pres. Griffin is such a natural story teller, it was better than a ghost story and still sent me to bed with chills.

We borrowed a two man tent for the trip so Jeremy, Teensie, and I slept in it while CJ slept in a larger tent with his friend. There was no room for the pack n play (we're so spoiled normally) so I just put Liz on top of our sleeping bags with a blanket to go to bed and she was out in no time (it was 10pm by then as well, otherwise we would have had a fight on our hands for sure). When Jeremy and I went to bed she stayed asleep between us but I'm sure she knew I was there because she nuzzled right up to me in no time, so sweet. Until 2am when she woke up, realized she was with mom and dad and not in a crib and thought it was playtime. After about an hour of trying to get her back down Jeremy finally just took her home and said he'd be back to get us in the morning.

At 4am it started raining. No biggie, but the lightning is what make me uneasy, so I moved to CJ's tent and stayed there till 5am when we were awakened by more rain and a warning to pack up and leave before the ponds rose and covered the way out. All the sites were packed and headed out by 6am, CJ and I rode with one family while our things went with another. 

It was eventful and wonderful, and I look forward to going again this summer.

You've Had a Birthday, Shout Hoo-ray!

Birthday week has come to a close at the Hunt home. Mommy is now in the last year of her twenties and Christopher has turned four! 

Jeremy gave me the sweetest Willow Tree figurine, Guardian. It reminded him of Elizabeth and me, and it just melted my heart. What a thoughtful gift. He also stepped it up a notch a home and became Super Husband/Daddy for the day, and I asked him if he could be my hero all year long for my 30th birthday gift. He said he'd do his best (he always does) and the atmosphere here at home has been so much more enjoyable because of it, thank you Jeremy!

And then for Christopher's birthday I went super ambitious this year for his "cake" with a mondo sized plane made from rice crispies and covered in fondant.

Here's how it happened: The fondant and frosting was made the afternoon of the 26th and the rice crispies that night with Jeremy's help of course. We made 10 batches, filling a roast pan for the fuselage or body of the plane, a 9x13 for the wings, and an 8x8 for the fins and engines.

The next night we cut and shaped all the pieces together, frosted all the parts, dyed the fondant, rolled it out, cut and covered the pieces, and very lastly assembled the beast. 

Awesome! It took three hours, not bad when you think of it, and a couple of hidden dowels to do the trick, but we were very satisfied with the results.

What I learned: 9pm very quickly becomes 12am so even though three hours is pretty good for what we did, getting started as early as possible is the key, even if it means putting the children to bed early.

I did stay up for another hour or so finishing the poster for the stations and cleaning a bit, but gave up when the clock read past one.

Next day, the Up in the Air party was a great success; thanks to all that came for the party and helped out with the activities. The children loved playing with bubbles most of all but also took turns with Blanket Ball, Twirlie Flyers, the Frisbee, and for the finale, Jeremy shot off his rocket and the kids ran for the pieces with delight. It was really great that Jeremy was able to take the morning off to be at the party, we love Southwest!

Having the party at the park worked out great, it gave us adults a chance to catch up while the kids ran and played. Here's our two favorite teensies, Lanie and Janie in a swing together, too cute!

I loved the colors that came through in this picture, to the naked eye it was just food, but when the picture came out it made me wow!

There was so much wind that we sang the Birthday song and did a pretend blow at the candles, and then I just let the kids tear at the plane, why not?! They were so good not to do it while the moms were all talking anyway. 

It's a funny thing, but I find the most gratification from seeing the remains of my cake masterpieces, like knowing it was loved enough to be torn to shreds and devoured, or something like that. Over the last few days we ate the fuselage at home but I had to dispose of the remains after the CJ wouldn't stop asking for and sneaking pieces when I wasn't looking.

My next great adventure in cake making and birthday's will be Janie's first birthday. It's going to be a combo bonanza with a Toy Story theme for Janie, Jordan, Jackson, and Carter. Maybe we could do a cowboy hat, or Woody's boot? The jury's still out on that one, have any suggestions?


PS Just the other day I heard of the new Cricut machine that cuts fondant called the Cricut Cake. I would love to try my hand at cakes with that!

Playing with Fondue

One of the things that I love playing at is birthday cakes. CJ's birthdays have been a real journey for me and I have learned a lot. From his first birthday, a monkey theme, I learned that trying to be Martha as a beginner will only lead to disappointments and tears.

In the end it was only Keith who though is was the head of a bear, everyone else guessed it was a monkey. I learned never to make the cake the morning of the party.

So then came CJ's second birthday and the train theme. It has been my favorite masterpiece so far, beautiful to look at and remember. But I was late to the party because of the cake! Even when I made all the cakes just days before. I learned that the icing can be made ahead of time as well as the cake.

 Then for his third birthday I was eight months pregnant with Liz and didn't want any stressful mishaps. So I made the cake and frosting ahead of time. I learned that it takes longer than an hour to assemble and decorate a cup cake creation. (For me anyway)

Now we come to CJ's fourth birthday in a few weeks, I can't believe my little man is going to be four!!!! He's all about flying so we're going to have an Up In the Air party (btw anyone who reads this is invited) the morning of his birthday. Once again I want to try something ambitious but this time I want to use all I have learned as well as some fore thinking. 

 

So I talked to Stevie who was familiar with marshmallow fondant and we spent a Monday afternoon and Tuesday night making a marshmallow rice crispy bee covered in marshmallow fondant. 

I love the way it turned out! From this I learned that a birthday cake can be made the day before, in its entirety, and that's what I plan to do. Stay tuned for how birthday cake #4 turns out!

CJ's First Trip to the Dentist

We we all excited for CJ's first time to the dentist. We found this great kid friendly place with an indoor play place and movie area, and when you go to each room when being seen you are given coins to redeem for a prize at the end, sort of like a cross between Chuckie Cheese's and the Dentist.

 

We went in with high hopes and lots of confidence of clean teeth, and then found out that CJ's teeth had a lot of plaque and needed a crown and a cavity filled. Yikes! But CJ was brave and we had the work done that day.

Since then I have wondered if the work was justified, but I saw the yellow tooth before it was caped, and the dentists were very thorough and explained everything. Still, it was quite traumatic, mostly for CJ but for me too.

But he's proud of his silver tooth and loves to pretend that he's Daddy because they both have silver in their mouths.

The Easter Bunny Came!

The crummy-est time to lose your camera or leave it in Utah is when the holidays are here. Well I didn't have the video camera to capture CJ finding all the Easter Bunny's hidden eggs Saturday morning, but as soon as he was done I found it. Nuts! I contemplated doing it all over again Sunday morning, but nah, it was off to the Bird house (no pun intended) for conference anyway.

I really wanted the focus of Easter not to be confused with Bunnies who bring candy and hide eggs so this year we have tried the Bunny on Saturday and the Savior on Sunday. There's a big spread both mornings, and I think it went well, we'll see if we do the same next year. It being conference weekend already there was a lot of talk about Jesus and listening to the words of the prophets so the Spirit was a big part of the Holiday regardless.

We had a wonderful Easter dinner with the De La Portilla family, and the best ham I have ever eaten (and I really would prefer to never eat ham so me eating all the leftovers we took home and wanting more is really saying something, great job Jose!)

Hope You Had a Hoppy Easter Every Bunny!

New Baby Ethan

At the end of March the kids and I flew (and by the way Jeremy is so jealous that we can fly and can't wait till he can come with us) to Utah to visit Keith and Amber and their kids Darrin, Jakob, Alyssa, and new baby Ethan, who I lovingly christened Short Stack.

Ethan has been giving mama Amber a lot of grief since coming into this world and I was on kid duty most of the time while Amber recouped from endless nights.

I had a lot of fun while I visited and we spent a lot of time in the house playing games and running around. When it wasn't snowing we played outside, but it snowed a lot, and it was beautiful.

It's amazing, I've heard it before, that the tiny size of a new born really makes all the other children you have seem like giants. So that was my Lizzie, the giant baby, who kept wanting Ethan's paci.

We stayed as long as we could and then headed home to Texas for Easter with Daddy.

Fail Blog

If any of you are familiar with fail blog, it's not really a blog but a submission site where if you find "fails" in the world around you you can submit them to the site to give the world a chance to laugh at itself. Twice I have tried to submit and can't seem to figure out how, so here's my fail blog:

Coming home one night Jeremy and I passed one of those new fancy bilboards that are all digital and showy and make you almost wreck your car for wanting to look at them. This one made us get of the freeway, do a U-turn, pull off the hwy and take a picture. I still laugh every time I look at it, someone must be asleep at the computer!

The next one I think I put in an older post but beggs to be repeated, and has a lot more meaning to me now that we're buying a house. I found this when I visited Brandi and the kids in Del Rio last year and we took a driving tour of the city. They must have really loved that tree . . .