I did it, I made Fondant!

We had a ward birthday party and I loved the opportunity to make a cake.  I am by no means an expert but it is a hobby that I do enjoy.  I chose the month of September.  It is a month that is the least theme-ish.  I chose a back to school theme.  I decided to try out a rainbow cake and fondant.  I have always been intimidated by the beautiful look of fondant that I never tried it.  After a day of baking and about 2 hours of making and using the fondant, I learned a lot.  This is the finished product.

There is a great tutorial series on fondant so you can learn too! Here is a link to one post but there are several!

Deeper thinking...

Remember this post about prayer?  Well I have been thinking about how effective prayer is and I was thinking about the incident with the parking meter.  I was thinking about how I only had a nickel and I needed more, but it was all I had to give.  Then the though of repentance came to mind.  We all make mistakes and wish we could erase what we have done, and sometimes we alone can not undo the problems we have caused.  When I was baptised several years ago the story about the little boy who wanted to buy a bicycle was shared.  The boy saves up to buy a bike and he works hard and ends up with a rather pathetic pile of change.  As he goes to buy his bike and pours his collection on the counterm, it would never amount to enough, but his loving parent decides he really put forth everything he had and paid for the difference.  And so it is with our Savior.

So going back to my experience, I was reminded that I needed more than I had when I went to Martinez to get a copy of Lauren's birth certificate.  All I had was one little nickel which is about enough to get the kids out of the car.  Wouldn't you know that the Lord provided the difference!  It was like my own little repentance experience.  I was doing something good, it was needed, but I hadn't prepared.  I did scour the car, if that counts as doing all I could in my situation, which isn't much, but it was all I had to give.

I know He loves each and everyone of His children and only wants what is best.  Sometimes we can give 80% and sometimes it is all we have to scrape up that little 1% but he doesn't quantify what we need to do, we just need to give Him all we can, show we are trying.

Hopefully it makes sense because it was a light bulb for me.  I hope you have a fantastic day and know, no matter what life throws your way, you always have His strength to get you through!

Our happenings

I keep thinking that I will get to post about all these fabulous things that have happened but I have been so sidetracked, with all these things that aren't as fabulous!

Miranda took part in her first science fair and took 5th place out of the whole 4th grade!  She is a smarty tarty!

Miranda, Haylie and Hannah all learned to ride bikes with the persistence and patience of a good friend!  Yeah for them!

Our computer had a drive crash, now I am working from scratch until I get my address book off the old computer!

I ran over Hannah's bike, then I put on facebook I needed a new rim.  Within and hour I had another 16" bike for Hannah to ride!  I love Facebook!

I lost my diamond from my wedding ring, then found it!

I got to visit a friend in San Diego for the weekend to celebrate the arrival of her little girl.  Boy was it fun and such a long desired trip!  Can't wait to do it again.  I was shocked that 7.5 hours in a car with friends who know all my stories still didn't get old and the drive went by fast!  BOTH WAYS!

Jackson took a faceplant and caused a gruesomely bloody nose, two fat lips (top and bottom) scraped chin, upper lip and nose.  The stroller got caught on the lip of the curb and Hannah kept pushing.  If there wasn't so much blood, it probably would have been comical as Hannah fell on top of the stroller that contained Jackson, who was not even awake from the nap that I rudely woke him up from.

Two days later he tripped over a friends foot, caused his nose to bleed a itty bitty bit and scaped his forehead.  He looked real cute for a couple days!  But my resourceful two year old solved the bloody problem by sticking a round Trix up his nose.  Luckily I was able to get it down with out a trip to the Dr.  He came around the corner and pointed to his nose saying "Mommy, it stuck."



This is not the best picture, but trust me it was bad!



He is talking so much and showing signs that he is ready to potty train (which I firmly believe is the worst part of rearing toddlers!).  He came up to me and said "Mommy, I stink!"

We hiked a little on Mt. Diablo.  It is one of our favorite family activities.

We have only two more birthdays to celebrate until October as far as our immediate family is concerned.  Lauren and Jeremy.

Lauren is maturing into a sweet girl.  I just adore watching her.  She is quick to tattle on Jackson.  What she omits is that he learned it from watching her.  He mimics everything!  She is three and everyday she asks "Is it my birthday party?  Is that my cake for my birthday party?  I am going to be 4 at my birthday party today!"    Jackson ressponds by singing Happy Birthday to her.  I guess that is what happens when we celebrate birthdays every month! 

Lauren spells her name, but says it with such self assurance, it is so funny.

Haylie and Hannah still enjoy ballet.  They love it so much that Haylie now wants to be a ballet teacher when she grows up.  Logan is enjoying cub scouts, and Miranda continues to enjoy Acheivement days (kind of like Pioneer girls or girls couts...sort of) with our church.

Life is busy but I wouldn't change it and we still manage to have good family moments.  This past friday we did pizza and a movie.  I won't name names but some people really enjoyed Camp Rock 2.  After dinner, Jeremy surprised all of us with Drumsticks with SPRINKLES.  Boy were the kids excited.  I wish I had a video camera showing Jackson's response.  He was so giddy!  Then I wish I would have taken a picture of Lauren's Chocolate go-tee and the puddle of ice cream that was on Jackson's fist as he gripped that cone so tightly! Oh and a picture of Jeremy's face when he realized the mess we would have to clean up!

I ran a whole three miles in the rain!  When I say ran please know it is the loosest sense of the word.  It was almost my slowest 5k.  But there is always room for improvemnt.  Now I know I can do it, I just need to step it up...faster!  I am starting the real training for my little Tri-Sprint in September.

So these are the highlights in a nut shell!  Memories I don't want to forget!