Disney Trip!

Oh yeah. Ohhhhh yeah.  We had a fabulous trip to all the Disney World parks! 4 parks. 6 days. FUN.

*{Let Them Eat Cake}*

I finally did it.  I had been wanting to make the cake balls and cake pops that I had seen on Bakerella's website for an eternity (or so it seemed!).

They are fabulous!  I had never seen such a thing before and was excited to try them.  My friend Leslie was just as excited and next time I want to make them together. Baking + Friends = *FUN*

Anyway, after hearing about a  mexican dinner fundraiser for my friend Steven, who has bone cancer, I decided to make the cake balls/pops for the bake sale portion. Steven has to travel to Chicago (about a 3-4 hour drive) for treatments, so this fundraiser was to help with those expenses.  I was hoping they might fetch a little higher price than a chocolate chip cookie so that we could gather as much donation money as we could for Steven & his family. From what I heard later, the fundraiser was a complete success!  A lot of people spent many hours planning it and they pulled it off beautifully. I enjoyed cooking, baking and serving for this event. It really feels good to serve others in their time of need. Heaven knows I've had friends and family serving my own family in our time of need, so I'm glad that I was able to repay a little of what was done in the past for myself.

Anyway,I didn't make the cake balls/pops too fancy, but I hear they flew off the table, so I must have done something right! Next time I would like to make different fun pops. Maybe flower shaped or Hello Kitty shaped. That would be fun! Aren't they cute?  Bakerella is the queen of baking!

Anyway, if you're wondering what a cake ball/pop is, here is the low-down.

I baked a boxed cake mix in a 13x9 pan. Let it cool and then broke it all up into pieces.  I thought that might feel liberating, but truthfully, it just felt....wrong. I felt like I ruined the cake! Haha.

Next, I mixed all the cake crumbles with a can of cream cheese frosting.  This is a messy process, but nonetheless FUN.  I rolled most of them into quarter sized balls.  Some I made extra big. The small ones where pop in your mouth-able, while the larger ones were meant to be eaten with a fork.  Well, actually, you could just take a big 'ol bite out of those too. Doesn't matter when it's so tasty!

Next, I put them in the fridge to firm them up. To go faster, I froze some of them (I'm always behind and late for events!).  For the cake pops, lollipop sticks were inserted and then dipped in melted chocolate or white chocolate coating.  They turned out cute!  I wrapped them in cellophane tied with a twisty and they were ready to sell.

The cake balls were dipped, finished off and placed into a small cupcake liner. Or a big liner for the monster ones.

I made double chocolate balls and pops. And red velvet balls dipped in white chocolate. Next time I might use a home made cake mix instead of a store bought one. I think they would be tastier made from scratch.

Of course I HAD to try one....

....or 5.

 Mmm....delicious!

Winner!!

Oh this has been F-U-N! There were only 5 comments, so I didn't think I needed to use a random generator to choose a winner. Instead, I asked Ava to help me!

She's only just turned 2, so I knew she wouldn't be able to read the names and then say, "Hey, I want my friend Nancy to win." or something like that (not that we didn't want Nancy to win, mind you). Ava was perfect for this since she is totally unbiased! So I scribbled everyone's names on slips of paper and folded them up. Then asked Ava to choose one.
Choose one? Only one? She couldn't do that. She had to have them all.

Ok, so now what? I tried a few times to explain to her that she only needed to choose ONE. Nope. Doesn't want just one, she wants all the pieces of paper. If there were only a few people signing up to win, I would have said OK! We have 3 winners! But there were 5 and I decided that we had to just choose one.

Sooooooo.....finally Ava decided to give ONE paper back to me.





I decided that this one paper would be the winner....

Congratulations Rachel!! Now just tell me which scent you would like of the Glade Fragrance Collection candles! Here is a link to the website to help you choose. I'll do my best to find the scent that you like. I also need your address, so send me a Facebook message.

This was fun! I might do another sometime!

It's kind of funny that the very same day I picked a winner.....I WON a give-a-way!! How random is that?!

G&G Time

We spent a little time with Grandma & Grandpa today. I thought I'd share a few photos. Grandpa brought over his Trikke. Brycen had a *blast* riding it!

First we watched from the window as Brycen learned how to ride the Trikke, but I just haaad to get out there and snap some shots. So much fun!Quality time with G'pa.

Look at the smile on his face! I love that HE was loving it.


I guess Grandpa rides his Trikke on the bike trails here in town. He received this fun bike from my sister in-law Sheryl for his Father's Day gift. What a cool gift it is! And unique.


Ava and Grandma watching from the window.


What a sweet picture huh? You know I'll be digi-scrappin' it!

Sunday was a good day to spend with family. I love making new memories!

Queen of Random??

Today I might be the Queen of Random....because I've got tons of random pictures to share from random events. I'm so bad at keeping up with the events! I guess posting the pictures this way is the only way to document them since I'm so lame!

Get comfortable because this is a loooooong post!
Here we go.....

February 2009. Kind of blurry since I took this one with my cell phone. I thought it was so sweet that Molly wrote this on my van for me. BUT...when she got mad at me an hour later, poof! It was gone. Can't win 'em all.

-sigh-

Rick & I used one of our date nights to head to Detroit for a Red Wings game. It was a blast on St. Patrick's day! Although it looked more like Christmas with people wearing a sea of green hats/jersey's and then the usual red shirts for the Red Wings.

Red Wings triumphed 2-3!

I forgot the camera this night, but was still able to document the event with my cell phone. Molly was the narrator for her 6th grade choir musical Aladdin! She would speak while the show took place to the left (not showing) and the choir would sing behind her. She was very sick that night (swollen glands, fever) but the show must go on! We were very proud of her.

Another one taken from my cell phone. Rick had several Hurricane machines ready to go! It was awesome to see so many built in one place. His dream is on it's way to become a reality!

Ava just being cute.

On my Dad's 82nd birthday. (Left to Rt) My niece Kara, sister Sheri and Dad.

Ava & I in the spring. I love the green grass!

Ava loves the spring flowers. May 2009

Brycen received a trophy from his school reading program in May. He put in a lot of effort this year in the program. He worked hard on spelling too. Most tests were A's & B's. A big effort for a guy who would rather do math!

A rainbow blessing.

*sigh* My kids had a marker fight. I'm pretty sure they were permanent markers too. May 2009

Jillian and Brycen being goofy. Don't ask me why, but my kids thought it would be funny to put paper bags over their heads and get cars to honk at them. Weird!

Jillian was super glad to be out of school and head to the beach. June 14, 2009. We sure are lucky to live only 10 minutes from the big lake.

Molly's 1st year at Girls Camp! June 2009

Macie (middle), Jillian and friend Giselle at Girls Camp. This was Macie's 2nd year and Jillian was a YCL.

During Girls Camp this year (and last) the youth were able to volunteer their time to work on the old ship LST 393 by doing some interior painting. It's docked in Muskegon. Of the 1151 LST class ships built in WWII, this is only one of 2 remaining. (We are so lucky that girls camp is right here in our neck of the woods by the way.)

Doesn't Molly look totally stoked to be able to do this project?!

Molly really had to reach to paint. She came home with paint in her hair. Heck, she still might have paint in her hair!

Jillian with Ava t the Ward ice cream social in June. Ava loooooved the swings! Boy, did she ever cry when we had to leave!

Jillian and the GR stake went to Nauvoo, Ill. for their Youth Conference at the end of June. One of the most beautiful Temples! A few years ago, we went to Nauvoo ~3~ times in one summer! One of my favorite places. I'm so glad Jillian got to go again.

The beautiful view from the city of Nauvoo overlooking the Mississippi river.

I'm not sure who these youth are, but the kids had to pull these handcarts for about a mile so that they could get a glimpse of what the people of Nauvoo had to go through when leaving the city with whatever belongings they could handle. So many people had to leave much behind.

Jillian at the Carthage Jail near the visitors center.The jail in the back round. The statue is of Joseph & Hyrum Smith who were killed by a mob at the jail.

Carthage Jail, Carthage Illinois. The top window is the the one that Joseph Smith fell out of after being shot.

Not sure who this girl is, but here is the infamous bullet hole in the door. I wonder how many people have touched this? Can you imagine?

Typical Jillian :) And her friend Melissa on the bus ride home.

Poor Austin .....he fell asleep so some girls put paper in his mouth. Jillian insists that she didn't do it...she only took the picture. Hmmm.

Bubble fun! July 1st. Ava kept wanting to put the blower part right up to her mouth. I'm sure it didn't taste so great.

June 30th. I liked the pose in this photo.

June 30th. Jillian at the Wasiura's condo for Martin's birthday. She is trying to look studious, but look at the reading material she chose! haha.

4th of July fireworks in Montague/Whitehall this past Saturday.

I realize this one is super up-close....this is because that IS how close we were!!! No zooming needed! Sometimes it felt like they were going to come right down on us! We are lucky to be invited every year to my friend Liz's house which has THE best view of the White Lake fireworks display. I'm not kidding or exaggerating. Even the house next door doesn't have as nice of view. It IS THE BEST VIEW. Sometimes we have to crane our necks straight up in the air to see the larger fireworks. The kids have to lay on their backs in the pool. We sit on her huge deck and enjoy. Everyone (about 50 people?) brings a treat to share and the kids play in the heated pool. It's enjoyable for all. Plus, I get to see friends that we usually only get to see when they come from out of state during the summer months. I really appreciate that Liz invites us every year. She is a really sweet person.

I have more pictures but I think you would get really bored if I posted them all. I'll try to be more diligent in posting photos, but really, I spend too much time digi scrapping and Facebooking! I know, Bad Leanne.