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Cake Review 2017

2017 is the year that the cakes started to change.

That sounds kind of spooky, but it's kind of a nice change.  Most cakes went from fondant to buttercream (an upgrade in my opinion - mmmm buttercream!). Also, the boys have kind of moved away from requesting cakes and just letting me choose what to do for them.

I chose to make a Vote for Pedro cake for DJ because he's such a fan of Napoleon Dynamite.  Buttercream and a little fondant for DJ's 15th birthday.

Go Merica! Spencer is such a fan of all things America that I thought this would be a tasty patriotic treat for his 17th birthday. No fondant at all.

James requested a chocolate ice cream cake, which was supposed to be easier than regular cake, except that you have to work quickly or it will melt.  However it turned out looking, the taste was pretty darn good!

One of my neighbor's daughters (Brittany Bailey) got married this fall and I helped with the bridal shower.  This cupcake cake was a fun new creation for me and really fairly simple.

My friend Esther asked me to make this special cake for her daughter Abby's 4th birthday because Abby watches this YouTuber who makes cakes (and has a high squeaky voice) and this cake she watched over and over again.

I have to say it was fun doing something with pink and purple and it just made me smile when I thought about Abby seeing it for the first time.

Merry Christmas! 2017

Christmas this year took on a little more mature meaning for the boys.  The gifts they wants leaned more toward quality rather than quantity and the true meaning of Christmas is understood a little better.

Christmas season isn't complete without band and piano performances.  James is somewhere on the back row in a Santa hat playing a percussion instrument.

James, the bow-tie kid, with his teacher, Heather Smith, at the Christmas recital at the Bountiful Davis Arts Center.

This year, Mark looks like he's celebrating Christmas Hawaiian style.

Mele Kalikimaka!

Christmas Eve brought the usual new pajamas, but this year after changing into pajamas, they drank Stephen's hot chocolate from Bob Ross scene changing mugs.

I tried to find other pictures of our Christmas morning gift opening, but there was one gift that kind of took over the morning as far as pictures go.

We added a new addition to our family!  Spencer couldn't quite figure out what the new gift was when he opened an air freshener and a windshield scraper.  But after thinking for a bit and with some helpful hints, he shed a few tears as he realized what was sitting in the garage.  To be clear, the Nissan Leaf (electric car that won't go far) was a gift for all the Astling boys, as it will be handed down to each boy as one boy moves along.

Christmas Day brought Granna and Stephen over for dinner and to play some games with us.  One of the games we received was "Speak Out" which requires you to put a plastic form in your mouth and say a phrase while your team tried to guess what you are saying.  We got plenty of pictures of this!

Grandpa and Grandma Wheeler stayed with us through the Christmas season (though they were in Nevada for Christmas Day), while they figured out where they were going to go on a mission next, after their mission to Russia was cut short.

What?!?! Three Teenagers in the House? James turns 13!

It’s true.  Three teenagers. Bring it on!

James turned 13 in 2017 and sees pretty happy to join the ranks of teenagers.

His jokes and comments are becoming more clever, he doesn't like to be pulled away from his bed and loves his screen time.  Fitting right in to teenager-hood.  Aside from those things though, James continues to be a kind, smart and huggable boy.

James requested an ice cream cake this year.  It was chocolatey deliciousness.

For many years now, James has been enthralled with penguins.  So I thought this penguin blanket bag would be fun for him, along with a trip to the aquarium to actually interact with penguins!

With the beginning of Jr. High comes the opportunity to join band.  James decided to think outside of the Astling box and not play the trombone, but the drums.  So reluctantly we got him a snare drum for his birthday and relegated it to his room.

Grandpa and Grandma Wheeler were staying with us during the holidays until they figured out where their next mission would be, so they got to enjoy the chocolatey goodness as well!

All five Astlings bundled up and went to the aquarium for James's birthday present "Penguin Encounter."  It did not disappoint!  Although there were few penguins who decided to join us, we were delighted with the ones we saw.

Our job was to hold the fish out for them to come and eat.  Luckily, James got to feed the penguins all of the fish in his bowl!

At the end of our aquarium experience we zoned out and relaxed as we watched big fish and little fish swim in front of us and listen to the sounds of water.  Ahhhhhh!

That's a genuine joyful smile from the birthday boy!

Astling Antics

In between all of the events of our lives are the non-events that, while they are not something to write endlessly about, they are nonetheless picture worthy.

Muscle men.  They really don't resist AT ALL when I ask them if I can take a picture with their shirts off.  And it's quite normal for them to walk around the house this way looking in mirrors, window and any reflective surface.

One of my first successes with my new label maker.

When Grandpa and Grandma Wheeler returned from their mission in Russia, they brought a beautiful chess set for the Astlings to play with. 

Every new football season brings a new addition to our cupboard.

New hats from the aquarium. Don't need a catchy caption for this.

Roxy is so poor she has to live in a cardboard box.

I started substitute teaching this year and was given this portrait from a 5th grader.

I walked into James's room and this is what I saw.  I asked him if he had any clothes on.  He said that he did, but it sure didn't look like it.

So spencer decided to get it on the fun too!

I purchased that computer chair specifically for the high back that would support my head.  DJ seems to be a little off-center, though he thinks its pretty comfortable.

From the end of August to the end of December, much of our conversation includes something about the Utes.  Spencer, DJ and James help Dereck Wesche with the stadium seats for rent, so often they all get to be at games together.  One of them (and sometimes me) sits by Dad and the others sit with the other boys, usually in the student section.  Makes for a great family football season!

Jamaica Mon 2017; Happy 20th Anniversary!

Happy 20th Anniversary to us!

Can you believe it's been 20 years?!?!?!  So many things happen in 20 years!  Let's just take a stroll down memory lane:

Married in 1997; Apartment on Candlelight Lane; Apartment on McClellan Ave; Mark works at VanCott; Lisa graduated from BYU in Dietetics in 1999, starts working at WIC; Apartment on 3rd Ave; Mark graduated from University of Utah in Accounting in 2000; Move to Minnesota for Law school in 2000;  Welcome our firstborn son, Spencer Mark in 2000; Welcome our secondborn son, Dallin Jay in 2002; Move to the Crockett house in Elm Creek, MN; Mark graduates from the University of Minnesota Law School in 2003; Mark works for Deloitte and Touche in 2003; Move to Parkinson House in 2003; We welcome our third-born (and last) son James Isaac in 2004; Mark gets a job with  Stoel Rives in 2006; Move to Centerville, Utah in 2006; Spencer starts school 2006; DJ starts school in 2007; Mark starts work at Durham Jones and Pinegar 2009; James starts school in 2010.  We'll stop there with the dates but there are a lot of camp outs, school concerts, PTA, callings, vacations, and much, much more all throughout the years, all things working together for our good and we feel extremely blessed.  So that all calls for a celebratory anniversary trip to Jamaica (originally we planned to go to and all-inclusive resort in Turks and Caicos, until hurricane Irma hit it, at which point we switched to Jamaica). 

After an hour bus ride to our resort on the other side of the island, we were happy to begin our Sandals resort experience with one of the many restaurants.

We loved that even the wata and the fiah sounded Jamaican.

I think I can live here for five days.

The only time we went outside of our resort was to take a Jamaican bobsled ride, we couldn't resist!

After riding to the top in a ski lift, we wandered through the small, but impressive, Jamaican sports museum.

Mark claims he beat me in the bobsled ride, but that's just because he was in the car in front of me. I'm way behind him, but catching up!

In the same area, we chose to ride a zip line through the trees with two guides who kept us both entertained and paranoid.

We perused the small hummingbird garden.

After eating lunch at the restaurant at the top, we climbed the tower and asked someone to take our picture looking down on the island.  He wasn't satisfied with the first picture so he told us to look like we loved each other.

I guess since we are celebrating our anniversary, we can do that.

The view from our room.  Ahhhhhhh!

The Sandals Resort we stayed at happened to be a family resort, so every night we were serenaded with parades and/or singing and dancing sesame street characters.  We were told that staying at a family resort was a better idea because it's a little more modest.

With beaches close by, 5 restaurants to choose from, a huge breakfast buffet every morning, snorkeling, swimming, wave-listening, boat riding, and plenty of time to read, there really wasn't anything to do BUT relax!

This hat is one of the gifts we brought home for James that he immediately put on and kept on for a few days.  The boys did quite well on their own, with Spencer acting as taxi for anything the other boys needed.  It's hard to believe we are at the point where we can leave the boys alone for days, but they stepped up and took care of everything!