My Great Cake Experiment

Tonight was my wards Enrichment Night.  It was our Relief Society Birthday party.  They usually have a dinner and program.  And of course what is a Birthday Party without a cake?

Well, somehow, someone, somewhere heard that I make and decorate cakes, and I was asked to make the cake for this shin-dig.  Let me clarify now that I have never in my entire life decorated a cake....EVER.   So how the Relief Society got the notion that I know how to do this is beyond me.  I tried multiple times to tell them that they had asked the wrong girl to do this, but they just would not take "no" for an answer.  So I made the cake.  It was HUGE by the way, 13 in X 27 in (that is what they asked for, and their wish was my command). 

This year, the theme was "Food Storage: Creating Your Own Noah's Ark."  So I thought that I would put attempt to put an Ark on it.  This is how it turned out:

Not so bad for being a first attempt, ehh?

"Sow" Excited

Yesterday, for Family Home Evening we made a garden out of storage containers and some hanging planters.  We plan on growing veggies in the bins, and plant tomatoes upside-down in the planters.  I know it sounds like a crazy thing to do, but it is actually really cool.  

Each bin is it's own self-contained garden, with a water 

reservoir and shield to prevent weeds from growing, and supposedly tomatoes grow really well up side down.  We will see how well it all works.  You can find the instructions to make a container garden here, and an upside down tomato planter here.  

Because it is still cold outside, we did not fill any of 

our gardens up with dirt.  Instead of planting directly in dirt, we sowed some seeds in a Garden Seed Greenhouse, which supposedly helps seeds grow better.  I can't wait to see if it works.

I love having fresh herbs and veggies.  It is a definite Summer Highlight for me.  I can hardly wait for these little seeds to grow into yummy food!

Success!!!

Last night for the first time ever Owen slept in his own bed, in his own room, for the entire night!!! 

I know, I know, you are probably thinking that 14 months is a little old for this to be a first time, but I say better late then never.  

Ever since Owen was born, we have been having him sleep in the bed with us.  I love having a Family Bed, especially with a newborn.  It makes midnight feedings so easy, and I never really had sleepless nights with a new born.  Anyway, we have been slowly transitioning Owen into his crib, and last night he spent the whole night in his own bed!!!!  Hurray!

"Hoppy" Easter

Happy Easter!! I love Easter. It is full of so many great memories and traditions for me, like watching The Ten Commandments with my dad, or hiding freshly colored Easter Eggs with my brothers and sister. We never would quite find all the eggs we had hidden, and inevitably every year, someone would find a colorful egg under a rock in the back yard in the middle of July.  

When I was little I always looked forward to Easter Sunday. My parents always did a good job of making Easter centered around Christ, but I gotta admit that my favorite thing about Easter Sunday was the Easter Baskets, not because of the candy (although that was great), but because of the hunt. Yes, the "Easter Bunny," which we all knew was my Dad, took great joy in hiding our baskets, in the craziest places. All Easter morning was spent searching high and low for our baskets, while my Dad would laugh and drop hints of where they were.

Now that I am older, Easter has changed a bit.  But I still love it.  Owen is still so young, that we did not do a basket for him, or even hide eggs.  However, our stake did have an Primary Easter Party, so he did get to hunt for eggs, and make some bunny ears.  We had a beautiful Sacrament Meeting and Sunday School program today on the atonement resurrection of Christ.   

As I have gotten older, I have really truly come to understand and appreciate the importance of Easter.  I am so grateful that Jesus Christ atoned for all my sins, and then rose from the grave so that I can return to my Heavenly Father, and live again. What a true blessing.

Cool Youtube Video

So I don't usually do more than one post a day, but I was looking for a video clip on Youtube, and this was one of the most watched videos of the day, and I thought it was really awesome.

My Laundry Elf

Owen is starting to get to that age where he just loves to help me.  What ever I am doing, whether I need help or not, he is always trying to see what I am doing, and tries to help.  Usually it just makes twice the work, but it is so cute, how can I not let him help? 

Today was laundry day.  As things come out of the drier, I throw them on the couch, and start to fold them.  Well, I had just finished folding a bunch of towels, and stacked them nicely on the floor.  Then I went to fold some blankets.  Well, my little helper got to the towels...

 
 

And then the blankets...

 
 

What a little pill!  But I love how much fun he had "helping" me.

General Conference in ASL.

I love General Conference. I look forward to hearing the voice of the Prophet, and receiving council from our Church leaders every 6 months.  It is such a spiritual and emotional feast for me, I am truly grateful for it.  

One of my favorite talks this conference was by Elder Robert D Hales.  He talked about Provident Living.  He had a lot of great advice.  I loved it!  He reminded us to "be provident provider for ourselves and our families; to joyfully live with in our means; be content with what we have; avoid excessive debt; and diligently save for a rainy day."  What great advise we could all do better to listen too, especially during this economic crunch.

Something that was unique for our family this conference was that we got to watch it in American Sign Language.  The sister missionaries assigned to our ward are also the ASL missionaries.  One of the the sisters, Sis Barnard, is completely deaf.  So they asked if they could watch conference at our house, with the ASL translation.  

Here is an example of what it was like, only this is from a couple conferences ago: 

It was great having the sisters over.  I have been signing to Owen since he was born, and I  sometimes wonder if he is picking up on it.  But whenever Sis Barnard comes around, he actually signs to her.  It is amazing to see a 14 month old communicating with someone other than his parents!  It makes me so proud!