Happy Birthday Taylor!!

Saturday, Taylor Turned 8!

So on Friday night we had a "late over" birthday party. We did all the things you would do at a sleep over party, but no one spent the night. :)

I always start planning a party thinking lets do a 'at home' party and make it so fun and even make it more economical. And then after countless hours of making, planning, decorating, and more baking... I think why didn't we have it somewhere else. :) No really I was glad that we did it here, it's what Taylor really wanted and it was fun. We have been watching all the baking shows that are on now, "Cake Boss," "Ace of Cakes, and the thousands of cupcakes shows and Taylor showed me this intricate fondant cake and said, "can we make one of these?" I laughed and said, "I think we'll do cupcakes, sweetie." So then I saw two friends make fondant cakes recently, both amazing and nothing armature like mine turned out to be... and I thought I'd give it a try.

She wanted Zebra Stripes and Polka-dots. The color turned out really vibrant. Kind of Dr. Suess-ey. My friend gave me her recipe. It's marshmallow fondant, so it actually tastes good, not like traditional fondant that's yucky. I'm excited to try it again... after I recover from the party and baptism next week. It's definitely a labor of love.

But Taylor woke up the morning of her party SOO EXCITED, she couldn't wait for her friends to come... at 6pm. So it made it all worth it. The things we do and the sleep we loose for our kids. :O)

The Decor... the food table

We had extra fondant and I made an extra little cake. So Taylor decorated it and did such a good job. It kept her busy waiting for the party to start.

We had cake coming out of our ears! The girls ate the cupcakes. Taylor ate her little cake. And we saved the big cake for the family.

The girls take home bags: I printed off the cover of the little box and taped it on so they looked personalized. They had a pencil, notepad, toe ring, little brushe with built in mirror, lipgloss and those elastic bracelets that come in different shapes.

Candy Cones: The girls loaded their cones with candy before we watched an episode or two of Zach and Cody... we didn't have time for an entire movie. Too many games to squeeze in and nails to paint.

I printed off little circles that I designed on photoshop elements and took two and taped them together with a toothpick for cupcake toppers.

The makeup tray... The girls did "Fruity Facials" that we made out of blueberries, and honey

The rest of the food table... We also did fruit fondue. It was yummy!

Smile!

I love games with Silly String... it's just so much fun. We did hair designs with the silly string.

The girls had fun

Fruity Facials :)

We also did nails, and played freeze dance. :)

Taylor loved her cake that SHE made so much, so wanted to blow out the candles from it.

Happy Birthday Taylor!

She has been so sweet, Thanking me for the party over and over again. It makes all the hours of prep worth it, knowing that she loved it and appreciated it. And I really do love throwing parties, I think it's so fun to decorate, plan and prepare. Brent keeps talking about his birthday party-to-be.

The next morning we went to Crackle Barrel for a late breakfast as a family and had a nice quiet Saturday as a family. Later that night we joined our friends at Chuckie Cheese to celebrate their little 2 year old's birthday. So Taylor got to keep on celebrating. We brought her cake to Chuckie Cheese to eat after our pizza. The kids had a ball.

Triathlon Cupcakes

Ok, so I have to admit, I mean confess. One of the real reasons I like working out; is because I love to eat. And I love to cook/and bake! So my two hobbies: working out and cooking- kind of cancel each other out... or at least I hope they do most days. The Monday after my last triathlon, we had a FHE at our house with all the families that participated. These were the cupcakes that I made for the party. If you squint and try to see... they are supposed to be the SWIM, BIKE, RUN little stick people you see on Tri Logos. :)

I made them with melted semi sweet chocolate chips that I put in a zip lock back and cut the corner off and drew them onto parchment and let them set up and harden in the fridge. They made great cup cake toppers. But be warned.... if you try this... they do melt in the warm summer weather. Add them on right before guests arrive. Otherwise, they start collapsing... like the little guy just finished a triathlon and is passing out! ha ha!

The Garden's A Growin

if you look close, you can see a cantelope through the leaves ;)

Now that the zucchini has produced all it's going to produce... and we've given up on the strawberries. We did get a few cucumber, and lots lots of cayenne, Serrano and jalapeno peppers. And now the cantaloupe and watermelon is growing! Yeah! It's been fun to have a garden. Weeding=not so much fun. But getting great produce that I didn't have to buy is my favorite. I took all my basil the other day and pureed it in the food processor with olive oil and then froze them in little ice cubes, so I can have ready to go basil for soups and sauces. I also made some homemade pesto, which is one of my favorites.

Fresh Basil Pesto Recipe

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan-Reggiano or Romano cheese
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/3 cup pine nuts or walnuts
• 3 medium sized garlic cloves, minced
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

• Special equipment needed: A food processor (Check Amazon.com's sales on Cuisinart food processors)

METHOD

1 Combine the basil in with the pine nuts, pulse a few times in a food processor. (If you are using walnuts instead of pine nuts and they are not already chopped, pulse them a few times first, before adding the basil.) Add the garlic, pulse a few times more.

2 Slowly add the olive oil in a constant stream while the food processor is on. Stop to scrape down the sides of the food processor with a rubber spatula. Add the grated cheese and pulse again until blended. Add a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Makes 1 cup.

Serve with pasta, or over baked potatoes, or spread over toasted baguette slices.

Big Events Are A Comin!

I can't believe that my little girl is turning 8! It's really not fair that's it's gone by so quickly. This Saturday she turns 8, she starts third grade on Monday and the following Saturday she'll be baptized. All in the same week. It's very exciting.. and hopefully not too stressful for me. :)

We are getting ready around here for some fun festivities... Taylor's birthday party:

And her baptism...

.... very, very exciting. I'm so proud of Taylor and her sweet little testimony. She is such a help to me around the house and with Brent and Peyton. I know why the Lord sent her down to us first, because she's such a natural leader and is a great example to us.

West Texas Championships

The last weekend in July Taylor had her last swim meet of the summer. It was in Midland TX, just a few hours away. 7 West Texas teams were there to compete. This time it was "short course" meaning a 25 yard pool, which was a nice change from the Austin pool that was Olympic distance- 50 meters across. Taylor amazed us once again taking 8th overall in the Breast Stroke, 2nd overall in the Butterfly and Backstroke, and FIRST OVERALL in the 25 yard Freestyle! It was really an exciting meet for us. And it was really well organized, and it we were done before 2pm. :) Brent and Peyton appreciated it the most. :) GREAT JOB TAY! WE'RE SO PROUD OF YOU!

My Second Tri

So after doing my first tri on Memorial day in Austin, I caught the bug and I couldn't wait to do my next. This time I convinced some friends to do it with me and it was so much fun! I was able to improve my time too. I ended up getting 6th overall in all the women, and first in my age group. Whahoo! It was really fun! I think I've convinced Eric to do the next one with me and they even have a kids tri before hand that Taylor is going to do. Labor Day is our next big carrot to run after... I'm so excited Eric's doing it too. He was getting ready to do a duathlon in October, but they changed it to Sunday, so we won't be doing it anymore. So instead he's doing the triathlon on Labor Day with me.

My training buddy, Heather. We got a hotel in Sweetwater the night before and got a good night's sleep without little interruptions, aka: children. And our husbands came up the morning of. Sweetwater is about 40min. from Abilene. We decided we would had been great college roomies. :)

The group from our ward that participated.

Do I look a little nervous?... I am...

Coming out of the swim...

I was so glad to be done with the swim. I like it better when they have girls and guys on different start waves. I caught a few elbows... silly boys

My transition onto the bike

Just about done with the 14 mile bike. It was a tough one... lots of hills!

The cutest little cheerleader. Taylor and Eric were there to cheer me one. We got a sitter for the little ones.

Through the finish line!

Catching my breath... with Taylors sweet support.

Getting my metal... First place in the female 30-34 division!! All the proceeds from this tri went to the Alzheimer's Association; hence the purple metals.

Me, Stephanie, and Heather... my workout buddies

Eric, the best coach/husband ever. He's been so supportive through me and my new crazy hobby.

A little more of Costa Rica

Ok, So I'm sure you're sick of the pictures of Costa Rica. (All two of you that read my blog:) But here are a few more...

These bananas were growing outside of our room in Aernal.

On Wednesday..My birthday:) We left the Aernal Volcano and drove to the coast and stayed at the JW Guanacaste for the remainder of the week. This was the view from our balcony. The netting kept out the bugs. :) That's the reason for the blurred photo.

After hiking and ziplining... we enjoyed being lazy for a few days. Getting some good reading and napping in and soaking up the sun. Well for the most part, we are whitee's so we have to hide under the umbrella...

A view of one of the beaches we found while out exploring.

Eric, staying tuned in... just a little bit to what's going on.

This was our favorite beach... Playa Flamingo

This was a great little bakery that we ate lunch at...It had great Brats and German food. :) who would have thought, in Costa Rica..?

At the JW, there was an infinity pool... just had to take the picture.. always wanted to;)