Never Too Late for Valentines Cake

Only a couple hours left of Valentines. It definitely is not my favorite holiday (no cool costumes and too much pressure to buy unnecessary presents) so I make up for it by making yummy treats. Here is another quick idea to add to your heart-shaped recipe section and to your hips.

Spray a 1 inch tall pan and then put parchment paper down. Prepare a white cake mix (I did funfetti cause its Ryan's favorite) according to box and pour into the pan. Bake it until toothpick comes out clean. Flip it over onto a large cutting board, take off the parchment paper and use your cookie cutters to cut out the heart shapes. Transfer the hearts to a cooling rack with parchment paper under them. Once they are completely cooled, make a runny, powdered-sugar frosting and drizzle it over them. If your frosting is really thin, do two layers. Add some sprinkles and some love and Voila! You have the most incredible Valentines ever (hopefully)!

P.S. Notice the beautiful flowers I got from my hubby... ok, so I really like that part of Valentines!

Valentines Fudge

Happy Valentines! Well, almost! I just thought I would pass along this easy (yet thoughtful...of course) gift that you can make for your sweetie. Or maybe you can whip up a batch for yourself to show you how much you care. I got the recipe from a cooking class for beginners so it is practically a no-fail recipe!

Zip-Lock Bag - Fudge (1 ½ C.)

(Amounts in parentheses make a single serving in a sandwich bag.)

2 oz. cream cheese - (1 T.) 1/4 C. margarine - (1T.)

3 C. powdered sugar - (3/4 C.) 1/4 C. cocoa - (1T.)

1. Measure ingredients in a 1 gallon freezer zip-lock bag. Push the air out of the bag and seal well.

2. Squish the mixture to mix well. It will be dry at first, but will soon become fudge. It will take about 20 minutes of work.

3. Slit the sides of the zip-lock bag and roll the fudge between the plastic of the zip-lock bag to ½ inch (the thickness of a DVD case) and cut into squares for easy serving.

4. You may press in chopped nuts or coconut.

Here is the picture of the one I made for Ryan. This is the size of the single-serving recipe which you probably shouldn't eat in one serving. I sprinkled it with nuts and coconut and, of course, made it into the shape of a heart...clever, right?

Introducing Solid Foods

At his four-month appointment, Liam's doctor said that he was big enough to start solids and boy is Liam happy about joining the family for dinnertime.

DIY Lampshade

For Christmas Rosa Lee got me an awesome lamp base from D.I. for $3. It's a tabletop lamp with a swivel arm so that I can have enough light to do some of my drafting assignments at home. It is an awesome lamp in excellent condition. To buy a brand new lamp just like it would cost around $90... so we got a steal.

The only defect was that the finial had broken off and it's not a lamp that you can simply replace the harp and be done with it. With the help of Rosa Lee's brother, Daniel, we welded a new finial on top. Then we began the hunt for a shade...

We searched everywhere. Walmart, RC Willey, D.I. several times, Kmart, Bed Bath and Beyond... but no luck. Nothing in the size we needed had the right fitting. So... we made our own.

Here's how.

We bought two hoops from the craft store to create the form.
Then, we attached three wires to a washer in the center of one hoop. The wire is 19 gauge. I would recommend a more rigid wire, though. Also, a soldering gun would have been helpful.




Next, we cut an 8" strip of posterboard.







We cut a strip of fabric 9" wide.







We laid the posterboard on the fabric then hot-glued the edges of the fabric over the posterboard.






We rolled the re-enforced fabric around the rings to get the shape then hot-glued the end piece.






We hot-glued the rings securely inside.











And there you have it. An awesome, one of a kind lamp. And all for only $13.63!










So sexy...

Want to buy some boonedoggle?

When you live only 45 minutes away from the place where Napoleon Dynamite was filmed, you have to make a road trip. So we did! Last Saturday, we loaded Liam in the car and headed up to Preston. We made a quick stop at the Pepperidge Farm discount store (Tim Tam's $1.05 a package) and continued on to our destination.

Not that the town is big, but we decided to stop at the local DI and ask for directions to the high school. Plus, we had to buy something from the place where Napoleon shopped! No, we did not buy an dance video!!






Proof we made it!










Oh yeah, the best part was that there was a junior basketball game going so the door was open.











I couldn't miss my opportunity for a gross side ponytail picture.






The only additions that could have made this trip better would be some tater tots and some chapstick... my lips hurt real bad! Gosh!

Christmas Break

Here are a few quick looks at Liam's first Christmas.








Liam wearing one of Ryan's outfits from when he was a baby.

















Cousin Kaylee with Liam at Grandma Wilkey's Christmas party. After the nativity was finished, she just sat there staring at him.
















Santa on Santa












Jolly, young St. Nick













Christmas morning. "Why are we up this early?"












Liam loves his presents












Liam stayed up to watch the ball drop. His New Years resolution is to gain even more weight.












Promise Rock in Cannonville

















Hiking near Bryce Canyon with a view of Powell Point













Sleeping in Uncle Nate's arms















Uncle Daniel teaching Liam piano

Rolls

I guess blogging is not my strong point. Here we are 2 months later and this is the first time I've even attempted a new post. This one is worth reading. I promise.

Liam is now 4 months old and weighs 19 lbs. 8 oz.. Normal right? I guess it is a little above the curve... ok, a lot! But does he look big? I guess so. As I was watching the little girl from upstairs she pointed to Liam's arm and said, "what happened?" She was referring to the extra roll in Liam's arm in between his wrist and elbow. I explained, "that is because he drinks a lot of milk." She then said that her little brother drinks a lot of milk but doesn't have that. I had no further explanation.