Animals with Ayden

For those of you who don't know, Sadie really loves animals and making animal sounds. Luckily, there is a home about two minutes from our condo that has lots of animals. Some of the animals you can see there are lambs, chickens, turkeys, geese, pigs, a wallaby, lamas, alpacas, goats, ostriches, muskox, horses, and a donkey. My friend, Angie, and I took our little ones to see all of these fun animals. Her son, Ayden, was fearless! This pictures accurately shows how the visit went.

Sadie was cautious, but very curious. Ayden was fearless and enjoyed chasing the chickens and picking everything up.


They had a lot of fun! I think their favorite part was feeding grass to the goat. We need to take them to the Zoo.

R&R on the East Coast

A few weeks ago, Alex flew to Georgia for a conference and then continued with his father to Florida for Sun n' Fun (aviation gathering). What a tough life! Since he got to go on vacation, I figured Sadie and I should fly to Massachusetts for our own vacation. It started off as a surprise for Mimi and Kate, but we had to spill the beans to keep Mimi from going to FL with the guys. The guys met us in MA toward the end of the week.

We had a great time. On our first full day in MA, Mimi took Sadie and me to the Yankee Candle shop in South Deerfield, MA. This wasn't a little building full of just candles. No, there are lots of themed rooms, including Santa's workshop where Santa himself is there all year round. Sadie was a little scared of Santa, until he pulled out an Elmo figurine. How did he know she is obsessed with Elmo? Magic...

There's a pirate ship, huge stuffed animals, a Bavarian village, and much, much more. Check out there website here.

On our second day, Mimi took us to a Children's Museum. Basically it is a house that has been converted into a discovery museum for children. Each room has a theme. Some of the room themes were jungle, ship, kitchen, colors, puppets, magnets, and water. This is a picture from the water room.

Sadie and Kate are standing on a giant bubble maker. You dip the pipe ring in the solution around the platform and then slowly raise is by pulling on the handle. If you're successful, there will be a huge bubble all around you. So much fun! Sadie could have spent the entire day there. I know of several places like this in MA. Does anyone know of a place like this in UT? I would love to find one close by.

After the Museum, we went out to lunch at Friendly's. Sadie got to share my ice cream cone. She loves ice cream.


Sadie also discovered how fun it can be to smell flowers. Every flower she saw, Sadie wanted you to smell it. FYI, dandelions stain. Check your nose after smelling a freshly picked dandelion!


While in MA, I had my first pilot's lesson! Alex's dad, AKA Grampy, is a wondereful pilot. He taught Alex to fly like a pro. Grampy is also a great instructor. This is the only reason I wasn't freaking out to be sitting left seat; I knew he wouldn't let us die. Flying is blast! I wish I would have taken a picture of me sitting left seat.

All in all, we had a great time. It was good to see Grampy, Mimi, Aunt Kate, and Abby the Dog (who taught Sadie how to pant).

Just Keep Swimming

My friend Angie threw a double party this Saturday for her son's first birthday and her husband's graduation. I was very flattered that she trusted me to make all the cakes for the event. The birthday part of the party was Finding Nemo themed, so we decided to make a Nemo cake. This was my first character cake and the first one that required a lot of carving. It was fun to get more experience.



Since it was a first birthday, it was necessary to have a small cake for the birthday boy to devour.



The graduate also got a cake. This one was fun to make too. It's a bit whimsical and just plain fun.



I know what you're thinking, and you are right, that's a lot of cake! I think they will be eating cake three times a day for the next week. Thanks Ang for letting me be a part of these huge milestones for your family.

Easter Excitement

In my family, we do Easter Egg Hunts a little differently. Instead of the children being the only ones who get to participate, we have a hunt for all the adults. This year, my parents hid clues in Easter Pez dispensers and divided everyone into teams. As you collected a Pez, your team had a change at guessing the mystery word. The winning team received the treasure chest full of goodies. It was lots of fun.

Now don't think the children get cheated, they get a good head start while all the adults wait. My Aunt Dee was so nice to take Sadie around and pick up eggs and candy. Sadie loved the eggs in the shapes of animals, good idea Mom.



After the hunt, everyone was surprised to find out that my niece and my cousin's son had gotten into a baby powder fight in the bathroom. Before anyone walked in the bathroom, you couldn't tell that the rug is blue and the carpet is gray. Everything was covered in the white powder, including the two little darlings. The sad, and kind of funny, thing was that the powder got into the ventilation system and would dust my Mother's entire house every time the furnace kicked on. Children are wonderful!



One of Sadie's favorite things to do when we visit Grandma and Grandpa Forbush is to look at all the animals. We spent a lot of time out petting the horses. Actually, we spent a lot of time getting sneezed and slobbered on by the horses. Sadie still loved it!



She also got to see her two cousins, which is always fun. We really wish we loved closer so we could see them more.



There are a lot of girls in my family. We decided to get a picture of all the girls (minus Amanda) that were there for the hunt. Poor Talon, the only boy in the "girl picture."



This weekend was a very busy one. In addition to our early Easter celebration, we also celebrated my Mom's birthday. My gift to her was Pez themed, including a new Pez shirt. Here is my Mom displaying her Pez addiction.



Since we were welcoming Spring this weekend, my Mom's birthday cake was covered in hand-made flowers and a basket weave on the side. It was a fun cake to make. Although, I made way too many flowers and now have a large container full of them in my pantry.



What a fun weekend! Thanks to all that made it possible.

Tim Tam Slam

This past Friday we had game night at our place. In addition to having lots of fun playing games, we also enjoyed playing with our food! The Demings introduced us to the Tim Tam Slam. You take an Australian cookie (Tim Tam), bite two opposing corners off, use it like a straw to suck up hot chocolate, and then eat it as fast as you can once the hot chocolate touches your tongue. If you're not fast enough, the cookie falls into your drink.

Here's Darwin giving us the demo.



Alex picked it right up.



Megan looks like pro, with a slight angle.



Kiara warned us she might drop her Tim Tam in the hot chocolate.



This was not new for Brian. He knew exactly what to do.



Ruachel tried, but didn't pick it up right away.



Round two is a little better.



Thank you Bollards and Demings for a great game night. We should do it again soon!