Cherry Blossom Birthday

Birthday Girl,

This month you turned 2! And believe me, the bad temper and attitude set in long before...

Since we did your huge luau last year, I planned on just having a small family party this time. Well, you know how I am when it comes to birthdays and parties. I tend to go overboard.

I found a cute, Japanese inspired, theme birthday idea online and thought I'd give it a try. So this year, we had a cherry blossom birthday.

The night before, I spent hours over at Tutu's house baking and rolling fondant.

The next day, Auntie Whitty helped me put the finishing touches on your cake while Tutu and Daddy pieced together our candy sushi. It took a lot of time and effort, but the end result was darling! Auntie made you a beautiful cake that impressed everyone! And the sushis were darling and delicious! The real California rolls and edamame we had were yummy, too!

But my favorite were the cupcakes. Strawberry, mmm! But the best part about the cupcakes were the pink icing pooplets made out of iceing. I tried so hard to be creative and a real baker so I iced the cuppies using a pastry bag thingy and fancy tips. In my head, they were gonna turn out really cutesy and professional looking. Instead, they looked like pink poop scotches. Oh well. They were still delicious and I still ate like 3 of them!

All your cousins, aunties, uncles, and best friends came to your party and spoiled you with lots of fun presents! You got so many coloring books and sidewalk chalk that you're now set for life! Though, I'm sure those books will only last you a couple months.

You absolutely LOVE to color and will do so for hours on end. Luckily, it's getting warm out so we can take a break from the books and draw cute pictures on the sidewalk, instead, with your chalk. Being outside and coloring???? OMG, 2 of your most favorite things in the whole world!!

I hope you enjoyed this last year as much as we have. There were a few rough spots, like when you were hospitalized with RSV and then continued to have wheezing episodes due to childhood asthma. Sometimes, it's all I can do to make it to the end of the day. Being a parent is HARD!!! But it's so worth it to be YOUR mommy!

I love you to pieces and I can't wait to celebrate more and more years to come! You're a beautiful baby girl. You're my baby girl. I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always. As long as I'm living my baby you'll be.

xoxo

Mama

Domesticizing

Recently, I've been watching a lot of Food Network and reading a ton of design blogs. Once again, I'm beginning to feel despondent due to my lack of craftiness.

Taking up scrapbooking helped a lot and provided and outlet for creativity. But, the more I continue to read blogs such as sfgirlbybayand watch Giada at Home, the more I want to create bigger and better things. Though, when I take on a new project for the first time, I quickly become overwhelmed and anxious. I wig out. Big time. Then, I'm left feeling even more discouraged and inept than before.

So, instead of trying to tackle everything all at once, I've decided to take a different step toward becoming more domestic. Once a week, I've decided to either cook or bake one new meal, snack, or dessert. I've already taken a stab at a couple things:

I attempted a chicken pot pie recipe that I gleaned from Quick Fix Meals. It turned out all right. Though, I used sage to season the ingredients, and I don't think I particularly like sage all that well. And, I think the filling could have been a bit creamier.

Yesterday, I tried another of Robin Miller's recipes: mac 'n' cheese. It was a total fail. I know what you're thinking, "Who messes up mac 'n' cheese?" Well, I did. For one, I put way too much dijon mustard in it. Also, I burned the parmesan cheese and bread crumb mixture that was supposed to go on top of the noodles to give it the just-came-out-of-the-oven, crunchy, baked effect. So i just tasted burned. Plus, it was super dry. I dunno what happened. I probably won't be making that again. Besides, I don't even like homemade mac 'n' cheese. I'm happy with the boxed crap from Kraft.

But my favorite recipe so far was from Giada. I made peach and Nutella filled crepes. The crepes were a bit too think and the peaches weren't quite ripe yet, but who cares when there's Nutella?! Of course, my husband said that I actually ruined the crepes by filling them with Nutella. I'm telling you, sometimes I don't even know who I married.

This Saturday is Lolli's birthday party. So, I'm actually taking a stab at a few different concoctions. I'll be assembling dessert sushi, baking a cake and rolling fondant, and I'll also be making an Asian noodle salad. This will be my first time making any of these things. I hope they turn out well or else Lolli is gonna have a pretty lame party.

What are some of your favorite quick and easy recipes?

Scrapbook Destruction

I swore that I'd never ever start scrapbooking for as long as I live. As mentioned before, I am wholly and completely non-crafty. But most importantly, I never wanted to get into scrapbooking because if I did, it would serve as proof that I had fully succumb to all the cheesiness of Utah.

Alas, I finally broke down and did it. My cousin just made it too easy. She has all the paper, the double-sided adhesive dots, embellishments, stickers, and stamps. She even has a Cricut.

So after successfully completing my very first scrapbook page last night, I got the itch. I wanted to keep going. All it took was that first one. Now that I know I can do it, I no longer feel overwhelmed or creatively-challenge. So to feed this new found addiction, I went over to my cousin's again today to try for page number 2.

I'm sitting in the the middle of the floor amid a spray of paper and pictures. Though, I'm not making much progress cuz Lil Miss Lollipop is wreaking havoc with all the scrapbooking supplies. She's getting sticky fingers all over my photos, sucking on glue sticks, and wielding scissors. I'm about to lose it.

Instead of drop kicking her across the room, I take her by the shoulders, look her square in the eyes and say:

"I'm trying to do something constructive and you're being destructive. "

With inflection Lolli says, "Huh?"

"That's right. They rhyme because they're opposites. As in, you need to stay on the opposite side of the room from me."

Before I could rebuke her further, she drops the scissors, throws her arms around my neck, and pats me on the back. I was just about to melt into the hug and squeeze her back when she pulls away, walks across to the other side of the room, sits down and plays with her toys. She looks back up at me and offers the hugest, toothiest, Spongebobbiest smile ever.

I'm a horrible, mean, cold-hearted mother.

Creatively Challeneged

I wish I were more crafty and creative. Seriously. I know that I've totally bashed on scrap booking and all that, but I mostly do so because I'm jealous and incapable of creating something so aesthetically appealing.

Recently, I've become a huge fan of design blogs. A couple blogs I'm absolutely captivated by are sfgirlbybay and decor8. But I can't bring myself to read them anymore because I've moved way passed envy and have moved on to depression.

I can't display pictures or wall art in any way other than to hang it centered on the wall, matted in a black frame.

I can't paint or texture a wall in anything but muted, one-tone colors.

I can't make a bed without buying all the linens and everything already put together in a

bedroom set.

I can't choose accent pillows without everything being too matchy-matchy.

I can't do white on white without it looking boring.

Bottom line is, I wish I were more creative, eclectic, and crafty.

INKED

What? You don't have sweet henna tats? I'm sorry. Don't hate!

Alma Mater

(Yay! We're finally back to blogging!!! We got internet installed yesterday and I feel like I can breathe again!)

So, Ry actually graduated from UVU this past December. However, since there's not a commencement ceremony in December, Ry had to wait until the spring to walk. Since Ry and I are the only ones in our families to graduate college, it's a pretty big deal.

When I graduated, I had just had a baby and felt like a beached whale. I wasn't about to prance across a stage, looking like a heffer, in front of hundereds of people. So, I actuallyopted out of walking. I totally regret it now, though, and made it known to Ry that he'd better walk at his commencement.

Well, Ry procrastinated ordering his cap and gown, so he broke the news to me that he wouldn't be walking. I wasn't too happy with him, to say the least. But, two days before commencement, he had contacted someone at the school and found out that they bring extra gowns and stuff just for people like him who didn't order one. So, $50 dollars later, Ry had himself newly rented graduation regalia! But because he waited last minute to walk, we didn't have any time to send out invitations or to prepare a party. My original plan was to So, I quickly had to throw together a couple of things. Behold...my creativity!!!



Not gonna lie. I'm pretty proud of myself. Seriously. I am NOT crafty whatsoever. That's probably why it did take me 3 whole hours to make that thing! But he was definitely the bell of the ball with that lei. Sure it wasn't the 17 fresh flower leis that I had envisioned preparing for him, but it was still as impressive!

When Ry graduates with his MBA, I'll have to do the fresh flower leis. I should probably start planning his graduation celebration right now so we'll have ample time to get things in together. I'll need to plan the parade. Book a marching band. Call in some midget contortionists. Order 3 tons of confetti. Anyone know where I can find an ice sculpture in the shape of a Jeep?



Thanks to everyone for all your support!