Chad's Birthday

August was a busy month this year. It started out in Las Vegas. My brother turned 30 on August 1st. He loves Las Vegas and my cousin had just moved there, so that is where my whole family (including my dad's brother's family and my grandparents on my mom's side) met up. We had a wonderful time! It was very HOT, but we managed to get through it. We went down to the strip the first night I was there. My sister, her husband, my brother, my cousin, and I rode the roller coaster at the New York-New York hotel.

This wasn't a picture that I took...I found it on the internet(http://www.flickr.com/photos/baker_nurse/3621771507/)

I love roller coasters, but this one was a little too much. Don't get me wrong...I enjoyed it, but I don't know if it would be worth the $14 to go on it again. We also went to In-N-Out and did a lot of shopping. We also had a BBQ for Chad's birthday celebration. The house we rented had some fun dress up clothes that my cousin's kids found. Their Uncle Blake was totally embarrassed that Carter was dressing up in a dress, but they had fun. They also got Grandma Wendy in on the fun!

Gracie enjoyed Chad's birthday cake!

Mariners Game

My friend Sara invited me to a Mariners/Rangers game on Saturday. I was so excited because I didn't think I was going to be able to make it to a Mariners game this summer and I was pretty upset about that. I was also excited that I would get to spend some time with Sara. Well, we headed down to Seattle with plenty of time to park, get into the stadium, and get settled before the first pitch. It didn't really work out as planned though. Traffic wasn't too bad but the parking was terrible. We finally found a spot and headed off to Safeco field. We got there right as they were starting the game...phew! It started out with the Mariners behind and then tied, but they were able to pull it up in the 7th inning...YEAH MARINERS! The final score was 1 Rangers, 4 Mariners! Thanks, Sara, for inviting me to the game!

The guy pictured below was at the game too...we thought he was kind of funny...he was wearing a dress and a pink feather boa...I guess whatever floats his boat!

Inflatable Slides Are The Best!

Can I say that inflatable slides are the absolute best slides ever? They really are! I went on my first one on June 12th at our school carnival...teachers got to go free! I wasn't going to go on it but a couple of our lovely PTA moms talked some others and me into it. We went down a couple times right before they took them down. I had so much fun that I went back to school last Thursday for Field Day and went down the one there. It wasn't quite as much fun but still worth it. I didn't get a picture of the one at the carnival but here is the one they brought to Field Day. Don't ever pass up a chance to try one of these slides...you WILL regret it!

Gracie Lou's 1!

Gracie turned 1 on April 17th! I can't believe that it has already been a whole year since she was born...time flies! My parents flew in on Thursday and my brother drove here on Friday. I was already here because I have been off-track and was able to spend the last week here in Vernal to help Kristen paint her living room and kitchen. We had a big party at a local park on Saturday. We had a good time visiting with Rick's family and Rick and Kristen's friends. Gracie, on the other hand, didn't have such a good time. She has had constipation problems since she was just a few months old. Unfortunately, she got really constipated the day of her party. She was able to "go" about halfway through her party and then slept the other half...she was EXAUSTED! She was able to eat her cake and open her presents later that night. Here are a few pictures of all the festivities:

The birthday girl!

Sleeping on Grandma Dawna at the party

Eating her birthday cake

Riding the car she got from the Kwocks

Riding the car she got from Grandma Wendy and Grandpa Phil

Maria's Birthday Cake

There is an older single lady in our ward that lives near us and comes to some of our family dinners. It was her birthday in March, so we are having a birthday dinner for her tonight. (A little background...Maria likes to talk politics and is a pretty strong Republican.) The other night my mom and I were trying to think of a cake to make for her. My mom thought we should make a Republican elephant. I spent yesterday doing most of the cake and finished it today. It turned out okay.

We added "Romney 2012" as a joke for her...I'm sure she will get a kick out of it!

CUPCAKES!

Some of you know and some of you don't, but I LOVE cupcakes! I don't know what it is about those sweet little cakes...they are just so cute and yummy! I love making them, decorating them, giving them to people, and eating a few! A friend told me about a place in Salt Lake called Mini's Cupcakes on 14 East and 8oo South.

This picture was taken from their website.

As you may be able to guess by the name of the place, they only sell mini cupcakes. I went there a couple weeks ago and bought 7 of them to share with a few people. They aren't cheap at $2 a piece, but they are delicious...so moist! They have some fun flavors. The flavors I got were: (these explanations were taken from their website)

Smore Please - Dark Belgium Chocolate Cupcake with Marshmallow Crème Frosting topped with Graham Crackers
The Diva - Dark Belgium Chocolate Cupcake with Pink Crème Cheese Frosting
Twisted Sister - Dark Belgium Chocolate Cupcake with Dark Chocolate Ganache Frosting topped with salty pretzels and a caramel drizzle
Lemon Pie - Lemon Cupcake filled with tart Lemon Curd with Toasted Swiss Meringue Frosting
Mocha Latte - Dark Belgium Chocolate Cupcake with Mocha Latte Frosting sprinkled with ground coffee
Breakfast at Tiffany's -Madagascar Vanilla Bean Cupcake with Tiffany Blue Crème Cheese Frosting topped with edible gems
Tainted Love -Madagascar Vanilla Bean Cupcake with Dark Chocolate Ganache Frosting (Grandmas favorite)

All of these were very yummy and highly recommended!

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Another friend here in Seattle told me about New York Cupcakes at Crossroads in Bellevue. I was over that way yesterday and I just had to stop in and try a couple.

I forgot to take a picture of this place, too. I borrowed this one from a blog that I have on my Google Reader called Cupcakes Take the Cake.

I just bought two here to share with a couple people at my mom's office, but they all looked delicious. They sell mostly regular sized cupcakes and they are $2.75 a piece (a little better-priced than the one in Salt Lake...New York's mini ones are $1.25). I bought these two: (again...these explanations were taken from their website)

Long Island Lemon - Classic white cake and luscious lemon buttercream frosting topped with or without coconut, both finished off with a candied lemon treat. Pure Lemon Love!
5th Ave - Our designer classic chocolate cake is always in style, draped in our original buttercream frosting topped off with dark chocolate curls. The perfect accessory!

This is a piture I took of both of them...they look so pretty!

The lemon one was delicious, but the buttercream on the 5th Ave wasn't so good...too buttery.

I would love to own a place like one of these stores. I think it would be so fun to make these cute cakes all day! I guess I'll have to settle for visiting these places and eating the cupcakes for now!

Kim's Birthday Lunch

I am off-track again and that means I am back in Seattle for about a week and a half. I arrived here on Sunday. Chad was here from Tuesday of last week until last night. Since we both missed our friend Kim's 30th birthday on March 15th we took her out to a birthday lunch yesterday. My cousin Blake also came. We all decided to go to The Cheesecake Factory in Bellevue. If you haven't been there, you don't know that the menu is the length of a short novel...so many choices! It was very yummy! It was also good to visit and spend time with wonderful company! Kim...thanks for making time to go out with us and happy belated birthday! (oh...and we forgot to take pics...oops!)