SLC Trip and Ganache Cake

The youth at our church had a three day weekend (thanks to a teacher work day) so we had planned out a trip to Salt Lake City. It was involved but such a great idea and it went without hitch. We drove out friday night and spent saturday touring temple square and visited the Oquirrh (sp?) temple. We went to church and had a picnic/bbq on Sunday and went home on monday.

Here is a picture of a beautiful sculpture of Jesus Christ:

It was really a fun weekend. I came home and have been having the itch to learn a new trade: cake decorating. I'm more of an ice cream person, but there are so many cool things you can do with a cake! I then came up with a list of three cake types I wanted to make and had my brother pick which I should start with, and he picked the chocolate ganache cake. I got the idea from a fellow blog, but I don't seem to be able to copy the link today. Here it is as my novice attempt at smooth. Almost looks like a blob, but I did neglect one important step and nearly dropped the whole cake because of it. It tasted fabulous though.And here it is with some really homeade looking swirls. I'll need to practice on those.

My Boys

We've always thought that we might like four children. We still don't know 100% but are leaning that way still. I've said I wouldn't have two children 16 months apart like C and L were, however, as they get older and play like the friends they are, I think I might like to provide the next to with the chance to have the same cameraderie (assuming I can plan it, ha!). At the park or playing with toys, they are always playing together. They do have their arguments like most siblings, but I am such a happy mom to see them reading together, building block towers together, or having matchbox car races. They are such a joy to me!

Found out the Gender!

I went to the doctor today to find out how the baby was measuring. Big, of course, like all of my babies, but everything looks good as far as development. I love the profile pictures like this one (Of course the baby was laying crooked):
This one though, I'd like to see something different:I am grateful like any mother to have a healthy baby. However, I am taking the rest of the day to be mopey..... I'll be in a good mood by tomorrow and start to think about names for our baby boy #3!

This morning I for sure felt the baby moving around. It's so exciting! I know that when I'm further along it will be not as exciting, but for now I'll just enjoy it. I will find out the sex of the baby (hopefully) March 31st and I can't wait! I don't know how some people do. We are riding out a sort of blizzard here and J is out driving in it. Makes me kind of nervous, but he's a great driver. Except when he speeds through curves with me in the car...

Before this snowstorm hit, we enjoyed several snowless days and played at parks. The boys had so much energy, at one point I dropkicked a soccer ball and they took turns retrieving it and dribbling it back to me. One day they won't think that's as cool, but they burned off a bunch of pent up energy that way! And next week is spring break here. Doesn't mean much for me with my kids still at home, but I have a week free of voice lessons, J isn't teaching thursday night, and YWs was cancelled! Woohoo! A whole week of deciding what I want to do with my family during the evenings!

This past saturday we went to the Family Fun Fair. The boys really had a blast. Here's Lucas in the firetruck:

And Cobin with the astronaut. (Lucas wouldn't even wave at him, much less go near him)Neither of the boys really wanted to do much petting, but they liked seeing the animals we read about in books and hearing the real sounds they make rather than mom's immitations.And here again is Lucas. His first love is anything balloon related...second is playing with bubbles.
I have been messing with the background on the blog. I'm trying to come up with something I like, but I still don't really know what I'm doing.... and tonight must not be my night. My photobucket links weren't working....so when I was ready to give up, I headed over to thecutestblogontheblock.com and their webpage wouldn't pull up. So I was stuck with reverting to my original template. I'm only giving up for tonight, I'm sure I'll try again when I'm tired of looking at the blandness of the original template... Maybe this stuff isn't for me.

Valentines eve James and I went out to dinner and a movie. I've been trading voice lessons for babysitting...and it sure does come in handy! Tomorrow I'm going skiing using that trade. I'm kinda nervous to go on the real mountains of colorado when I've only ever been twice on the manmade Hidden Valley of St. Louis. My friend is "making" me wear a helmet so I should come out safe. I just hope I don't fall on my butt too many times!

New Family Members

We got a new family member, our first pet. He's a blue male beta fish and Cobin decided he should be named Beta Fish. Real original....I hope soon he gets the concept of naming things a little better. We will be adding another member to our family this august. A new baby! I'm a little nervous about having more children than adults in our family, but others seem to manage well, we can figure it out too.

We had a quiet Christmas at home. Here's a Christmas morning shot of Cobin and his Thomas the Train and track. One of the days around Christmas James took the boys out and created a slide. There were even stairs carved out of the snow for them to get back up it. So the boys went down the slide over and over again while James tried to work on another snowman.

And we celebrated James's 29th birthday with a special cake his mom used to make. I tried my best to recreate it, it has pureed cherry pie filling between the chocolate cake layers with whipping cream as the icing. Delicious!