4 Birthdays all in a row...

I forgot to take a pic of my own Birthday cake, made for me by a friend in our ward but here is the cakes I made for my kids, S, M & E. Our Birthdays fall right in line with each other, S's is in January, mine is in February, M's in March and E's in April. Then we get a little break till K's in June.



S didn't really care what his cake was as long as it could "move"!



M drew this herself and I copied it onto the cake. I was just glad to draw the dolphin and not have to shape it! LOL!



E wanted me to draw a pegasus on the carrot but my art skills were not up for that, so she allowed just the carrot with carrot cake on the inside. I thought it was pretty cute, just right for Easter, Spring and her birthday!

Love is...

What does Valentine's Day mean to you?

Here is what I think of:

being married to my best friend
Chocolate
hearts
twitterpated (sp? :)
presents
flowers (my favorite is the daisy)
romance
candles
chocolate
chocolate
chocolate (sorry, nat!)
suprises
another excuse for a school party
excuse for a weekend getaway (good luck with that one!)
candy that tastes like chalk
a good excuse to slow dance
artichokes and bacon




I have always loved Valentine's Day. Always. If you don't believe me, ask my parents. They would dread the day after Christmas because I would usually have a countdown calendar already made. And I would remind them every day how many days left till my B-day. I did this even after I got married. Silly, I know. My husband dreads the day I get out my Valentine's purse (it's so cute, red with hearts all over it).
I still love Valentine's Day. What's not to love? (hehehe, I had to put that in!)

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I hope it will be as romantic and lovely as mine will be!

Where have I been, you say?

I have dropped the ball on this blogging thing but like everyone else it has been crazy at my house. So, for my own history, I will now try to give a short rundown of the past three months. Here goes.
For Halloween, M was a pink fairy, E was Dorothy of OZ, K was a cheerleader and S was Spiderman with a Superman cape (that is very important!)When I can figure out how to download the silly camera, I will post a pic! :)
Another fun thing (totally kidding, it was not fun at all) that happened, was that my 82 year-old Grandma fell and broke her hip a couple days before Halloween.
The youngest granddaughter (for my side of the family) got baptized in October.

In November, Steve and I celebrated our 14th Anniversary and around this time, my brother announced that he was engaged and would be getting married around Christmas time. (He has been divorced since end of July). Then they decided to get married the day before Thanksgiving. Grandma was still in rehab for her hip so my mom and I ate Thanksgiving dinner with her in Brigham City at the rehap center.
At the end of November, I was able to help out with the Festival of Trees in Salt Lake City. I dipped 300 turtles for the Festival (for the committee that I'm on) and then was able to dip on site various yummy things for the public to buy, such as grapes, potato chips, cinnamon bears, pretzels, oreos & marshmellows to name a few. It was very tiring but very fun to be involved with.

In December, I could not get my mojo for Christmas and I was seriously Bahhumbug. It literally took all month for my Christmas spirit to kick in gear. I was determined to dip my candy this year since I didn't do any last year and I did get it done the week before Christmas and I think that helped in lifting my spirits. It is fun to work with chocolate, it is like playing in really yummy mud! I had to step back and focus on the reason for the season, it is hard getting past the commericialism sometimes.

Anyway I am so thankful for a brand new year with no mistakes in it yet. Hopefully we can help S get past his seizures, pay down our debt, beautify our home, declutter and organize our lives and be happy with what we have.

Have a happy new year everyone!

Animal whisperer

My second daughter has a gift or talent, if you will. She loves animals, big or small. She gets a thrill seeing horses when we take a ride in the car and heaven forbid, we ever go to the pound, she would leave with every animal they had. The other day, our nieghbors had a yard sale and the kids searched high and low for coins, so they could buy themselves a treasure. E came and sadly told me she just didn't even have a dollar to her name. I thought welcome to my world, honey, but said maybe she could have the coins by the t.v. I actually found a roll of nickels and gave it to her, watching her eyes light up at all the money I had found. :) She ran on down the street to barter for something 'really cool'.

Later, the door burst open and E came in with a bunch of 'equipment' that was labeled 'reptile cage'. The cage and heat lamp (yes, a heat lamp) were about 10 dollars but E marched up to my neighbor's friend (who was selling the cage), waved the roll of nickels at her and asked her if she knew how much money she had. The lady guessed $2? E said, that's right and it's all yours! My neighbor's son, who is S's age grabbed the light and E grabbed the cage and before the lady could say anything, they left with their loot. By the way, my neighbor was in the background watching this and was laughing her head off.

After watching E tote this glass cage around the house, looking for suitable places to stash it, I told her to go put it outside before I lost it. She looked at me and said "How could you lose it? I'm carrying it." Just take it outside, please! Within 10 minutes (seriously) she had found TWO garden snakes, 3 grasshoppers and a praying mantis. She came in and asked what else snakes eat. I was on the computer and googled it. Don't we live in an amazing time? Don't know the answer? Google it!
Anyway, we found out the snakes can eat earth worms or baby mice, which are found at any pet store! I said "Earthworms are your only bet, cause you can bet I am not going to the store to buy mice!!"

Yesterday morning, the dog was going crazy outside, so I went to see what Patches was so worried about. There was a mouse in one of our window wells. When the kids got home from school, I was on the phone with my husband, telling him about the mouse. E shot outside, put gloves on and caught the thing before I could even tell her not to touch it. She was going to kill it, put it in the freezer then feed it to the snakes. I opted for no on this one and told her to put the yucky mouse into the snake cage. Eww...snakes and mice...What am I doing?? E asked me what was wrong with the mouse, it was so cute!! All I could do was shiver.

huh?

I went to the Post Office today to mail out my chocolate letters and went inside, but couldn't see a place to just drop them off. Since I had alot of letters (about 300), I thought well I will just wait in line and hand them off to the Mailperson. There was only a couple people ahead of me and I stood in line for about 10 minutes. So it's my turn and I step up to the counter to hand him the box of letters. The Mailman says to me, "Next time, Don't be rude, put your letters on the counter and you can just go." I thought "huh?", was something I did rude? I'm pretty sure I wasn't making weird faces as I stood in line...but maybe I was. I am still thinking, huh?

One great and busy week!

This was probably one of the busiest weeks I have had since school started. We found out my husband's niece was getting married, so I decided to make her a t.v. quilt. I think I made this in about a week and 1/2, sewing nonstop. It was fun to have a project again after not doing much of anything during the summer. I happened to have her colors in some leftover fabric on my sewing table. I hope she likes it and doesn't look at it too close! :)
Anyway, Monday, we got invited to K's friend's house for a BBQ, then Wednesday was the wedding dinner, Thursday was the wedding in Bountiful (which was fun for us since that is where Big S and I were married almost 14 years ago, can you believe that?). Thursday night was the reception and my sister-in-law hosted the reception in her back yard, it was really beautiful. Friday I made 3 different kinds of cheesecakes for a baby shower and went to Taste of Home's cooking show at the Dee Events Center with a friend, and Saturday, I made a baby blanket for my cousin's baby shower (I just sewed a 3 inch ribbon around a yard and half of fleece, again I hope she doesn't look at it too close...I have never done that before and thought I could just wing it but....oh well, it was cute anyway. Well, until her mom pulled out a beautiful sailboat quilt!) Then it was on to my cousin's baby shower and a few hours later, I went to a suprise baby shower for my friend, Jen.
To top it off, the chocolate season is starting and I have about 250 letters to send out. I had to buy a new Word program because my other program quit working. I also have to teach the lesson in my ward next Sunday and just started preparing it.
I am grateful for this week cause I don't have anything to do but get my chocolate business going again.

Whew, just looking at my post makes me tired. But it has been a fun week, I just love weddings. It makes me want to get married all over again. Girls these days are so creative with their weddings.

I cried a chocolatier...

My husband says I must bleed chocolate and so I thought it would be fun to share some of my favorite chocolate recipes.

Here is my favorite chocolate chip cookie:

2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, melted
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 whole egg
1 egg yolk
2 cups semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Heat oven to 375 degrees. In a bowl, mix together flour, baking powder & salt. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter, sugars & vanilla till the batter lightens and is fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add eggs, beat well. Gradually add flour mixture, beating well. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts, if desired. Drop by rounded teaspoons or tablespoons onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 10-13 minutes or until lightly browned. (If you overcook these, they will be crunchy) Leave on cookie sheet for 2 minutes, then cool on a wire rack.

Pan version:
Spread batter in greased 15 X 10 X 1 jelly roll pan. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes. Cool completely, cut into about 4 dozen bars.


This next cookie recipe is from my good friend, Jen, who forgot she even gave to me. It is yummy!!

Double Chocolate Cookies

1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 brick (8 ounce) cream cheese
2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups chocolate chips

Cream butter, sugars & vanilla. Beat in eggs. Add softened cream cheese, beat until smooth. Gradually add dry ingredients. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-13 minutes.


This next recipe is from the Hershey's Chocolate Lover's Cookbook that I got when I was first married. Whenever a recipe calls for a brownie mix, I just use these.

Hershey's Best Brownies

1 cup (2 sticks) butter
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 eggs
3/4 cup cocoa
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-2 cups chocolate chips, optional
1 cup chopped nuts, optional

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 13 X 9 baking pan. In large microwave-safe bowl, melt butter. Stir in sugar and vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well with a whisk or spoon after each addition. Add cocoa; beat until well blended. Add flour, baking powder & salt; beat well. Stir in chocolate chips & nuts, if desired. Bake 30-35 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from sides of pan. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut in bars.

Happy Baking, everyone!
I would be happy to make any of these for you if you don't want to!
Seriously, I would-maybe $5 a dozen or so to cover cost of ingredients. And don't forget I have yummy chocolate chips for sale at my house!