Cupcake war!

Cupcake war 2011
This will need to be a semi-annual event, I am thinking :)

My friend Kara had a fantastic idea to have a cupcake war. I was so excited, but narrowing down a recipe was hard, waaaaay too many good looking cupcakes. I decided to go with the s'mores cupcake because I have always wanted to use our kitchen torch. We were supposed to make a large cupcake for show, and mini ones to eat.
S'moresPresentation wise, I LOVED mine! And using the torch was so dang fun! The mini version didn't taste quite as good as the large one, but they were sure fun to make. I made the marshmallow cream frosting from scratch. That was fun too! You just heat egg whites and sugar to 160 degrees on a double boiler, then whip it.

Tara made
Better than "certain extracurricular activities" cupcake
She was reluctant to enter with her "from a box baking skills" but it was yuumm!
Heidi made Key Lime Pie (this one was my favorite)
Kara made Caramel Apple Cupcakes...these were soooooo good too, They were B's favorite
Kara, Tara, Heidi, and meeeee
TJ, Chris, B, Ryan I know I took a better pic, but must have uploaded the wrong one. At least B looks good :)

Brian kept asking me if I would feel bad if he didn't vote for mine, which I didn't, because mine wasn't even my favorite, but he was a little worried the evening would cause marital strife in the neighborhood. I am already planning ahead for next time. I think I am going to go with the ginger/lemon cupcake.....Then maybe I will get my hubb'y vote...

Officially on vacation

Hooray for spring break! I am headed to Logan today to drop off my kiddos, minus PJ so that Brian and I can head to Boise to celebrate our Anniversary. (I know, Boise?...but we love it and we will do something more exciting when we can ditch PJ) Wohoo! Since I had such an amazing response to the "Hoo hoo" party, the orders have been a little overwhelming. Since I want to make the most of our much needed break, I had to put my shop into vacation mode until I get back. It will be back up next Monday, so hopefully no one has a party between now and then :) Thanks for all your wonderful comments and encouragement.

Owl or Hoo Hoo Party! (didn't want to scare anyone with my post title)

Owls. We are obsessed with them. Well mostly Morgan and I. She calls them Hoo hoos. It is my favorite Morganism. I have always wanted to design some party decorations and since we are obsessed with Hoo hoo's, that is what I decided to make as a party theme. Testing...testing..... I really had to twist my sister Katie's arm to let me use her daughter Macy's 2nd birthday party as my "test run" Here are some pics. I will be adding all of these designs to my my etsy shop and I am still in the product development phase..... All comments and critiques are welcomed. Thanks.

10 years and counting...

Happy Anniversary Babe!

Gag right? I am soooo not the cheesy type...but it's true.
Thanks for keeping my glass half full babe... he he... it's as good as I could come up with.

My wicked talented bro-in-law Jer is making these glasses for us for our anniversary.

Grey definitely thinks outside the box...er inside I guess...

I ran upstairs and told Grey to watch PJ for a couple minutes. (as aforementioned, I have not adjusted to his new found freedom) You know, just make sure he has something to play with, or his binky if he cries. When I came down the stairs, I found this. PJ was definitely entertained. Grey never ceases to amaze me with his little imagination.

I am not ready for this....

YIKES!!!
Popo is not messing around. The other day he was after a paper, and practically swan across the rug to get to it. Today, I sat a tag from some shoes on the floor and he was on it. He doesn't army crawl per-say, he grabs at the carpet in front of him and pulls with his upper body. WHatever ya call it, I am not ready for his new found freedom....time to baby proof, or Porter proof that is...

My bday

One year older. Whatever. I am starting to feel it. I have 4 kids and I am 31. Weird. Anywho, it was a great bday, thanks to the hubbs. I conned him into making me a rootbeer float cake. I saw it here and couldn't wait to try it.
He also made cupcakes. I LOVED my cake. It was so strange eating and chewing rootbeer, but I thought it was delicious. The cupcakes were a huge hit at his YM activity.

Of course, Ang and Amy can't just come over and sing happy birthday. They had to put on a show. It made me feel loved. Ang has 6 cups stacked in her hair, who wouldn't love to pull that off. I never could.