Vegetarians BEWARE! Snow and Meat Day! Winter 2013

It's safe to say that we have had an crazy amount of snow this year.  It's also safe to say that while it is beautiful, a huge amount a snow that doesn't melt for months can get you down.  It did me, and a few hundred others.  How did I survive Minnesota?  My Aunt Kaye suggested that we go to my Grandpa Wheeler's cabin for the day and enjoy the snow while it's here. So, we did and it turned out to be a great day, with the sun shining and great company! We were outside for so long, we even got sunburned!

It's always fun to spend time with Kaye and Riley and we spent time with a bonus family: The Ben Parker family and luckily he has two little boys that needed three big boys to play with!

Snowmobiling with Riley and Ben and Mom.  We became very adept in scaring away the llamas that liked the snowmobile track and probably wanted our meat on a stick! 

MEAT ON A STICK! MEAT ON A STICK! MEAT ON A STICK!

First you have to gather wood for a fire in a barrel.  While doing so, look for your own stick to cook meat on.

Then you have to peel, scrape, cut or otherwise somehow take the bark off the middle part of a stick.  The boys were happy to use pocket knives! 

Then you smash about a pound of hamburger around the clean part of your stick, wrap bacon around it all, secure it with string (that soaks up the bacon fat), and lay it over a barrel and turn as needed.

 Listen, watch, wait and let your drool soak on your winter coat.

Lastly, enjoy your meat in barbaric fashion in any seating available!

Play more! Sled races! Don't fall in the gully!

James is EIGHT!!!!

My little James is eight years old!!!

He wanted a Lego Batman party. . . wait. . a Kirby's Return to Dreamland party. .  wait. . a Lego Batman party.  He's figured out that if he requests a cake with a certain theme he will most likely get a toy regarding that theme. So he kept changing party ideas according to what he wanted for presents.

 James wanted to be like his older bothers and have a "late night" party.  We had pizza, soda, cake and ice cream. We watched "Aliens in the Attic."

James decided he wanted to be baptized and chose Mark to perform the ordinance. The baptism and confirmation was on January 5, 2013. He also chose DJ to play the opening song on the piano ("Choose the Right"), and Spencer to give a talk about baptism and Mom to give a talk about the Holy Ghost.  Many of his friends were there and we were blessed to have many family members there, including: Granna Astling, Stephen Astling, Great Grandma Wheeler, Uncle Riley and Aunt Kaye, Grandma and Grandpa Wheeler, Uncle Jed, Aunt Joshlyn, Jara, Jack and Elise, Aunt Loni, Uncle Matt, Devin, Tessa, Chase and Chloe and Cousins Sam and Mason, Barbara and Dave Parkinson and Sue and Dennis Davis! Thanks for coming everyone! It was a great day for James!

Snow Day 2013

We have lived in Centerville for nearly seven years now. School has only been cancelled two times in those seven years. The first was the wind storm of Dec 2011, the second was yesterday.  The day in which we received 18 inches of snow! And more today!

This is Roxy's dog house, with a 1 inch wide entrance.

Pine tree in our front yard

Making an igloo in the back yard

The "Hobbit hole" in the front yard.

Roxy loves the snow too!

Even with all the snow there are a few signs of spring!

Cake Review 2012

Drummmmmmmrolllllllllllllll. . . . 

Ta-da!

D.J. wanted a seemingly simple cake this year. Rounded corners are harder than they look. He was going for height I think. It's nearly as tall as the box you see on the table, so I consider it successful!

Spencer tries to give me a real challenge every year. He requested Han Solo frozen in carbonite.  I knew a cake Han Solo would be more cartoonish, but I did my best make it recognizable. 

I was in a frantic frenzy trying to figure out how to pull this one off.  I came up with covering a doll (a Pochahontus doll to be exact, with a flattened chest and cut hair) with aluminum foil and placing it in a cut out.  I had to pull the hands off a Voldemort figure we had because Pocahontus's hands were too dainty. Then it was just an issue of molding the fondant around the figure.

Mark's brother David has a birthday on Dec 22nd.  So while he was in town for the Christmas holiday, he celebrated his 40th birthday.  Lieve sent an email about a surprise dinner and after I read that email to Mark, he said, "We should make him a cake!" He searched the internet for cakes for 40 year olds and found this one:

But I didn't think David would think it's funny and I really didn't want to make fondant poop.  So we opted for a more sophisticated personality cake with some of his interests and hobbies:

 Starting with the "4", David works with DNA, he loves Moab and Mac products, and he currently works with heat maps (the green and red item). Spanning the "4" and "0" is the golden gate bridge representing time he spent in San Francisco. The "0" has a snowboard on a mountain at the top, a kayak running down the left side and a mountain bike laying on a trail on the right. Happy 40th Dave!

James figured out that if he asks for a cake with toys on it, he usually gets the toy for his birthday.  So he asked for a Lego Batman cake with the good guys and bad guys fighting on a mountain where Batman's cave is located.  I was planning on this for four months (he notified me very early on), and then two weeks before his birthday, he decided he wanted a different toy/wii game and wanted to switch the cake!! This was unacceptable to me! We stuck with the Batman cake and figured out he just wanted an additional present.

I couldn't just have Batman and Bane fighting violently, so they are having a snowball fight. James also likes penguins so I had to make Penguin out of fondant because that figure didn't come with the Lego set!