Cake Review 2011

Only four cakes this year.  One for each son and one for my Mom and Dad's 60th birthday party.  All three Astling boy birthday cakes this year were Harry Potter themed.  I tried some different things this year: making my own decorations out of fondant and a edible stained glass window.  I'm definitely not worthy to be on the "Ace of Cakes" show, because as I near the end of making a cake, I don't really care about the details that I thought would be so crucial and just end up glad that I make cakes for family members that will love me for trying.

My brothers and sister and I threw a surprise party for my parents who both turned 60 this year.  This cake is full of fondant representations of things they like or have accomplished.  They love four-wheeling, water-skiing, sewing, reading, cooking, music, exercising, working, using tools for wonderful creations, quilting, my Dad was quite the sportsman in high school (still is), my Mom worked at a bank for many years, they owned a video store called "Five Star Video" (each child one of the stars), and they were married in the Provo temple.

Here are my two favorite fondant creations:

D.J. wanted the graveyard fight scene between Harry and Voldemort, from the 4th Harry Potter book.  I made my own characters and as you will see, scrapped that idea in the next two cakes and went with Lego people.  Besides the fact that I have never been able to even draw people, my boys informed me that my cartoonish people, that are not even supposed to look real, do not quite cut it for a representative cake.  I have no problem with this.  Making people two days ahead of time so they can be dry enough to stand on their own is for cake makers who are paid to do it. Which is not me.

The idea to use non-edible glow sticks for the spells colliding came to me late in the process, but it worked well enough and we therefore had a glow in the dark cake! Mark helped me write the names of a bunch of dead people on the gravestones, with the exception of three stones which had the name of Spencer, Dallin and James.

Spencer requested a scene from the Battle of Hogwarts, which takes place at the end of the last book.  This is my attempt at a part of a castle that a troll is beginning to destroy. Notice the Lego people.

My favorite is the troll.  Rather than make him two days before and hope that he dries in time to hold up, I took a Rescue Hero from the toy box and surrounded him with fondant.

From this:

to this. . . . with a little black loin cloth.

James just read the part in Harry Potter #2 about the dueling club.  This is when Malfoy sets a snake spell on Harry in the middle of a table.  Mark helped me put together as many Harry Potter Lego guys we could find and also included a monkey in an orange suit under the invisibility cloak.  Can you see him?  Didn't think so.

Granna pointed out that when we lit the torches for blowing out, you could see the light making the stained glass window illuminate.  I didn't think about that. Cool effect!  The window I made out of broken Lifesaver candy, melted in the oven in a mold I made of tin foil.  After burning the first two windows and airing the smoke out of the house, the third window was a success!

I know this little hobby of mine seems crazy to many people and that it is a frivolous thing to do.  It is frivolous.  It's not necessary.  It is by no means something I do to show off or make myself look better than anyone else (I blog about it to keep a record).  I do it because I love the people I do it for and I do it a little for me too.  Doing things like this has always been a part of who I am.  I love creating and I love the challenge of creating something from not much.  I admit I get a little buzz, feeling like I'm an amateur Macgyver in cake decorating.  It's the closest I can get to making something successful out of toothpicks, sugar and wire, and feeling like I saved the world for one boy, one birthday morning.  Different people show their love in different ways.  One way I show mine is through food.

Who knew a little soul searching would come from a bunch of frosting?

My Baby is 7!!!

How can this be!  And to boot, he's grown half an inch since the beginning of November!  James has been looking forward to his birthday almost more than Christmas.  In fact, when adults have asked James if he's excited this month, he responds, "Yes, because it will be my birthday!"  This throws people off because they expect some comment about Christmas.  I think this is great because so many people comment on how unfortunate it is to have a birthday so close to Christmas, but it doesn't seem to phase James.

We are beginning to figure James's personality out a little more as he interacts with his brothers, friends and us.  He is certainly a kid who knows what he wants and how he wants it.  He loves to play with his brothers and has no problem sticking up for how he wants something done.  He is still a very cuddly little person and loves hugs and tells us often how much he loves us.  His famous line this year is to Dad when he wakes up or walks in the door, "Dad, you are missing something. . . . a hug!"

James loves school and was so sad that he wouldn't get to go to school for 1 1/2 weeks this month, he woke up on the last day of school before Winter Break and, with arms folded across his chest, proclaimed "I am not participating in this day!!"  I think this is partly because he loves schoolwork, which he meticulously completes and partly because he can't attempt kissing the girls during recess and play on the monkey bars, the latter he claims he is addicted to (thank goodness it's not the former).

This year, when I asked him what he wanted for his birthday he said, "I dunno, surprise me."  Really? What kid says that?  With no guidance, I had a little difficulty, but I think we came off OK with an Angry Birds game, Scrabble Flash (which I really got for him, but I've probably played it more), a Nerf gun like Uncle David's, and a pogo stick that is still to come (back order - one drawback of a December birthday).  He is reading Harry Potter #2 and decided that he wanted the scene from the dueling club for his birthday cake.

Christmas 2011

It's January 1st. It seems I just turned the calendar page to December a few days ago.  Yes, I still use a calendar with paper pages.  I also use my cell phone to keep track of everything, but it doesn't come with dreamy pictures of crystal blue water and white beaches, which is crucial during the winter months.  But that's beside the point.

December was a fun, fast and felicitous month!  I love Christmas time!  Even though it is highly commercialized, it's a designated month of focusing on giving and wondering what other people want/need, letting people know I love and appreciate them and considering my own blessings.  Here's a look at our month:

Decorating the tree and the house so, as Mark puts it: "It looks like Christmas threw up in here."

A favorite activity after all the Christmas stuff is out is to re-read all the Christmas books in some little cubby.

An actual nativity with the Wheeler Cousins, with actual hay and horses!

A hike in the Logandale sand hills before the Elf party begins.

Three Astling boys who profess disbelief in Santa. Yeah, right. (James even boo'd the Santa at a Christmas party this year - bad form, bad form.)

We were the Ute Elves, by the way.

Grandpa and Grandma Elfis with the Wheeler cousin brood.

Bikes for the boys for Christmas - thank you Santa!

He's officially a Utah fan now that he has his own parking space. Even if it is in our garage.

A Blustery Day

Thursday, December 1 was a blustery day, to say the least.  Winds in Centerville were recorded at 102 mph. We didn't sleep very well the night before because it was so noisy!  We woke up to crazy wind during most of the day.  We moved from window to window watching things fly by, trees topple, siding and shingles being ripped off of neighbor's homes.  We were particularly concerned about our tall aspen trees in the front yard.  With high bursts of winds, we could see the ground move as the roots tried to hang on.  In the end we only lost a bunch of shingles, which is far less damage than many people. Our neighborhood was one of the few who had power through the whole storm and days following, with a few exceptions of flickers.

Many business signs were blown out, semi-trucks were blown over on I-15 and a lot of very tall, old trees were blown over.

Saturday morning was busy with clean up efforts around our neighborhood.  Chainsaws were heard around town for four days straight.

The following Sunday another burst of high winds were expected, so even church was let out early so we could go help clean up any other debris that might cause damage.  Some of our neighbors felt we should cut down our aspen tree so it wouldn't fall on our Westerly neighbors.  We talked them into cutting only 20 feet off, so it is now level with our house.

North Centerville was hit the hardest, so the governor called in the National Guard to help organize the clean up effort.  Thank goodness we got most of it cleaned up, or at least against walls that prevented flying debris, because the winds were not bad at all Sunday night.

Looks like we'll need a new roof though:

 This is the east facing side of our house (above and below)

These pictures are the North facing side of our house, just above the master bathroom:

That hairline arch is where the wood of the roof is exposed.

And we got off easy!

Mark went into work that Thursday afternoon and said there was hardly wind in the Salt Lake Valley!

I'm Thankful for Nerds, Thanksgiving 2011

That includes me.  And that's a compliment to all who I will write about. Noticed I capitalized Nerds. That's important.

We had a great Thanksgiving!  All the Astlings came to our house to eat and play and play and eat.  And think.  We generally do some thinking during the day, but when David wore scientific riddle shirts every day like this . .

we had to start thinking before breakfast was served.  I think I stared at his chest for five minutes when he wore the periodic table called "The questionable table of elements."  Sorry if that made you uncomfortable Dave. Here's a sample:

The day he wore that shirt, we went to the new Utah Natural History Museum and wouldn't you know it, they had periodic table flash cards that David was determined to put in order.  The rest of us left after 12 elements in place. We went with Jenny, Stephen, Lieve and David.  It was great to have five adult brains and five set hands (and extra shoulders to cart James) for three boys.  We were all extremely impressed with the museum and learned more about Bonneville Lake, dinosaurs discovered in Utah and other places, Utah landscape, how to save water, the economy and reduce pollution, cell division, DNA, deer scat, ants, solar power, American Indians, erosion, wind force, viruses and much, much more!  The museum is beautiful and uses every bit of space for learning.  I highly recommend it!

That evening, we counted pennies.  Well, not really.  We weren't allowed to count them until we figured out how many were in the jar.  Over the course of an hour, the boys, David, Lieve and with a few interjections from me, the boys eventually figured out the if you weigh ten pennies, divide the weight in grams by that number (26), you get the weight of the average penny.  If you weigh all the pennies in the bottle (3023 kg) and divide by the weight of one penny you get the number of pennies in the jar without counting! Answer: 1,162.69 pennies.  That wasn't good enough for my practical brain, so I made everyone count pennies.  If our counting was correct, we counted 1,177 pennies, which means our math was only off by 14.31!  Pretty darn good if you ask me!  I am thankful for brainpower and patient people. And thanks for the jar Granna!

Brainstorming. . . 

Weighing the booty! (James approves)

We decided this year to fry a turkey. . . and bake one just in case the fry turkey ended up as charcoal.  Mark was very kind to show me some youtube videos on turkey frying safety controlled by firemen.  After reading statistics that there are 5 deaths every year from turkey fryers and multiple injuries and $15 gazillion in damages, I tried to convince Mark to fry it at a park away from our home.  But he assured me that he had it under control.  Plus he had "As Seen On TV Ove gloves" so all was well.  Some of us stayed inside while he verrrrrrrry sloooooowwwwly lowered the turkey into the fryer.  Not a problem.  The turkey was out in 50 minutes and was very tasty!

Before

After

Dinner was great, if I do say so myself, with welcome additions of salad, pumpkin cookies, drinks and veggie platter to cut the density of all the other dishes.  We laughed and ate and ate and laughed, though I don't think we did one math problem, except maybe to calculate which of the Astling boys has produced children. The evening was full of games, puzzles and science experiments accompanied by an ensemble of football games.

Mark, Spencer and D.J. went to the last Utah home game where we were hoping the math of wins and losses would equal a visit to the Rose Bowl, but sadly that problem was over thought.

We had to have one brainless event though.  It happened after I left my chair and I returned to find that James had put banana peels under the legs of my chair.  Duh. Guess who get mop duty.

Saturday was the Mark Astling nuclear family time, so we went to, not Boondocks, not Kangaroo Zoo, but. . . drumroll. . . .  the Clark Planetarium, where we watched an IMAX movie called Flying Monsters - the history of the Pterodactyl and other flying dinosaurs.

The evening ended with Grandma Wheeler coming to babysit while Mark and I had mind-stinulating conversation over dinner and a movie about time used as currency.

Perhaps I should go watch a fluffy chick flick to decompress.

Thanks for all the mind-stimulating fun!

A Few Words About D.J.

D.J. is very kind.  He's an easy kid to like because he's so easy-going and he cares about your feelings and he's fun to laugh with.  He is very strong and also a bit stubborn.  For these reasons, you don't want to be caught underneath him.  Like this. . . 

D.J. decided to try a sport that's new to us: wrestling.  It was a three week clinic with one practice and one meet each week.  He did pretty well for a first year.  He didn't give up and just kept trying.  We soon discovered though, that technique trumps strength and stubbornness. So a few of the wrestlers who had been to the clinic since kindergarten had a bit of an advantage.  But he had fun and it was quite entertaining to watch!

 Good job D.J.!!!

There is one other thing about D.J. that I would like to remember.  This school year he's had a hard time remembering to bring home his lunch box.  I have a few back ups, but then he forgets to bring the back ups home.  So I sent his lunch in a few other things: a tin can and a Ritz box (on which I wrote: consider this your howler - Harry Potter reference to a yelling letter).  I could just send his lunch in a disposable brown paper bag, but I can be stubborn environmentalist too.  So, I warned him that if he doesn't bring ALL of his lunch boxes home, I will go buy a pink lunch box for him to use.  Just to prove my point, I bought a pink lunch box that turned out to be a little purse (I just grabbed it off the shelf). When he saw the lunch box he was red-faced MAD.  He has not forgotten his lunch box since.  I'm such a mean Mom.

Family Pictures 2011

After five long years, we finally got family pictures again!  The last time we got pictures James was 1 1/2 years old!  Thankfully there were a few pictures that turned out alright amid the joking, laughing, blinking, smirking, fake smiles and poking.  Here are our favorites: