who said?

who said you could grow up so fast?

you're so fun and i love you the way you are, but not cool, biv.

thanks again for the mexican shirt, shel.  too cute.

the burbs

a quick snap of the next generation enjoying a top 5 favorite flick of mine.  the burbs.

love it.

note the vhs/tv combo.  thank you, craigslist.

our wolverine

we call the utah hair phenomenon (you know the one that looks like kate gosslin on steroids) the wolverine.

a pretty appropriate name given what hugh jackman looks like.

we are amazed that so many women sport it. 

questions come into our head like:

how do they do it? 

how much styling product do they use?

how does their hair defy gravity?

can you sleep on it?

to each his (or her) own, for sure.

however, after living here less than a year, we've noticed bivi has taken to local customs.

looks like aaron needs to graduate, pronto.

Y

today aaron, my dad, bivi, and i hiked the Y.

it was a good time, pretty much what i expected.

except that we went early and the sun hadn't reached the top of the mountain yet, so my child was freezing.  i got the mom of the year award by not bringing a jacket, pants, socks or even shoes.  she should have just had a tin cup and sat on the corner of the trail. 

the way down was warmer and she actually started to enjoy herself.

note the hankie my dad was using to try and keep her warm.

it was clean.  just so you know.

what's the rhyme?

what are little boys made of?
snips and snails and puppy dog tails?

what are little girls made of?
sugar and spice and everything nice?

i'm not sure what a 'snip' is, but this photo should be along those lines.

aaron and i were talking outside the other day and we look down to find this in bivi's hand and mouth.

oh, come on, girl.

sick.

i am not a germ freak mom.  she puts leaves and dirt and sticks in her mouth all the time.

but, a wart covered worm?

i ripped that thing out of her mouth and used a baby wipe to clean her tongue until we could get home for a deep cleaning.

so much for sugar and spice.  

cousin time

its so fun to have cousins nearby that biv can play with.

i often think that they'll tire of her and want to do other things when she comes over.

nope.  they love her and love playing with her. 

so awesome.

a quick trip to seven peaks on a saturday afternoon. 

ava and i went down a water slide and i'm 99% positive i was more scared than her.  shooting through a small tube (on a small tube) with water in the mix, holding someone else's child is the perfect storm for my mind to freak out.  i was sure i'd squish her or something. 

we made it. 

national donut day

since it was national donut day, i went to krispy kreme to get our free donuts.

me, and every other mother in provo.

it was not a pleasant experience.

however, i emerged with our donuts in hand.  in the other hand was a tired and cranky baby.

she perked up when she tasted the reason for our wait.

i love that she doesn't yet realize a small square of a donut isn't the whole thing. 

party time

it was a perfect spring day!

 we hung the letters, 'happy birthday vivien' with clothespins on twine strung between two trees, with an assortment of pictures of her first year.  super cute.  but, the wind picked up and you couldn't see anything.  not so cute.

 oh well.

 fun presents.

 new toys.

 the cake, half eaten.  leaning even worse.  but, still cool looking!

 first bite of cake. 

 loved the sprinkles.

 what party would be complete without a hanging horse head?  we had a pinata and amazingly, that's where it busted open.  i wanted to keep the head and recreate the head in the bed scene from the godfather to scare aaron, but my nephew wanted to take it home. 

 hangin' with grandpa.

all in all, a good time! 

happy birthday, girl!

THE cake

(note, this is part confession, part tutorial)

i had a cake in mind.

i saw a rainbow cake online years ago and have always wanted to make one.  however, 6 tiers calls for an event of magnitude and i didn't have one of those. 

her birthday seemed like the perfect time.  especially since i wasn't going crazy on the party with invitations, party favors, decorations, etc...  i'm not that kind of person. 

i had the perfect white cake picked out.  or so i thought.  a week before her party i baked a birthday cake for my mom.  simple 3 tier.  disaster.  each layer fell and were tough.  yuck.  i pondered my failure and realized i have to use high altitude recipes now.  duh.  i've never lived at high altitude before.  i re-baked my mom's cake and began to panic...

a week away and the white cake recipe didn't have a high altitude conversion.  i determined to bake a layer each day, gently tweaking the recipe until it was right.  yes, i am as crazy as i sound.  luckily, after one try, i tasted the cake and realized it wasn't going to work.  delicious, but it contained almond extract and gave a cherry flavor.  i was using a lemon buttercream frosting and those two do not go together.  back to square one.

after more internet research, i found a substitute.  baked that the next day.  a winner!  whew.  i doubled that recipe and had my 6 tiers.  i used red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple wilton food coloring gels.  i would highly recommend the gels versus liquid coloring.  i wanted vibrant colors and used a lot. 

here are the pans ready to go in the oven.  i used 8 inch pans.

 i baked my cakes the day before the party.  cooled on racks and once completely cool i wrapped in parchment paper, then plastic wrap and left on the counter until ready to frost the next day.  forgive the bad pictures.  we don't have natural lighting in our kitchen...

 the next morning i whipped up a large batch of lemon buttercream and went to work.  in hindsight, i can clearly see the layers are leaning.  oh, what i wish i would have seen then.  i was in a color haze.  but, how lovely are those colors?  i was so excited.  and nervous.  not only did i want a monster rainbow cake, but i wanted to cover it in sprinkles.  i'm such a nut. 

 meet my abominable snowman.  who is slightly leaning.  oy. 

i had researched various ways of attaching the sprinkles.  some mentioned frosting the cake (leave the top unfrosted) then freezing it for 5 minutes to firm up.  after that you roll it in a pan of sprinkles and, snap, you've got a decorated cake.  proceed with the top and you're done.  seems way too easy.  that didn't sit right with me.  the buttercream is my go to sugar cookie frosting and i knew how it acted with cold.  i didn't think the sprinkles would stick.  another online post mentioned simply patting the sprinkles on with ease.  liars.  better homes and garden, i'm looking at you.  i decided to go with that method.  i pulled out my two pounds of sprinkles - you read that right - and began. 

shortly thereafter, my floor was covered in sprinkles, my hope failing, and my husband staring at me with pity.  the small lip on my pan was not going to catch all the sprinkles.  we had to think of a better way. 

enter the plastic tub.  we store bivi's clothes in this.  emptied, washed and 5 minutes later we had a container.  one problem down, but more arose.  i felt like i was playing the game where you slam the gophers with the mallet.  you took care of one, but it's brother popped up laughing.  how to get the sprinkles to stick? 

the old fashioned way.  i tell you, there is no shortcut to this process.  maybe if you are doing a 2 or 3 tier cake you can roll it, however, mine was not being picked up.  aaron was such a sport and jumped in to help.  i lost track of time, but i'm guessing it took about 2 hours.  and years off my life. 

 strangely enough, putting your warm hands all over a cake makes it lumpy and bumpy.  how dare!  so, i had a bulging cake by the end, but it was covered in sprinkles!

 the finished product.  man, i don't know how the cake boss does it.

 inside pictures are in the party post.

looking back, i would not do a sprinkle cake again.  no way.  but, i look forward to another rainbow with such fun colors!

One Year Old!

 oh, vivien, you're the best.

 what a little person she has become.  walking and talking and so full of life.  aaron and i constantly crack up at her antics.  she has such a distinct personality.  everywhere we go, people comment how happy she is and it's true! 

 a bit of a drama queen, she has no problem doing an ear piercing shriek to express herself.

 she is always on the go.  going for walks, anything to do with water, playing with her cousins and dogs are some of her favorite things.  still obsessed with baby e. 

biv, we love you so much!

we fell off the face of the earth

but, now we're back.

let's see how consistent i can be with writing.

getting back on the saddle as we speak.

7 months

bivi is 7 months old tomorrow.

almost impossible to believe.

let's see...what is bivi up to?

she is loving solid foods!  bananas, avocados, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, oats, wheat, pears, apples, she loves them all!  the girl is an eater.  just like her mama!  she makes a loud noise with each bite.  you can tell she's enjoying it!

she loves babbling and still says dada.  she is trying so hard to crawl, but can't seem to figure out that she should move her knees forward.  she always ends up planking or in a downward dog.  maybe we have a future yogi on our hands. 

bivi responds to bivi and vivi, but not vivien!  i think we've stunted our child and not sure when she'll learn her real name.  she still loves baby e.  oh boy.  she can't get enough.  she loves music and when someone sings to her.  she is still such a curious cat and wants to see everything, touch everything and must always be carried facing out.  the girl knows what she wants and will let you know!

we just love her so much.  each day she is excited to see me when i come in her room and the feeling is mutual!  i'm still amazed that we are parents and have been blessed with such a fun and perfect daughter. 

something to say

i'm not sure this is actually part of the english language, but it's bivi's vocabulary.

she's trying so hard to talk and for us to understand.

love it. 

i'm choosing to not be offended.

baby e

baby Einstein is a must around our house.

i don't like her watching much during the day, but when she gets to, she loves it.

i've tried showing her other things.  tried is the key word.  she refuses them.

she always goes back to her baby e.

i thought i was making up her preference in my mind.  then, i noticed a trend.

watch her reaction in the video below.  she does this every time the caterpillar scoots across the screen at the beginning of a dvd.

too cute.

flopper

bivi's latest trick is to flop when she's upset. 

just fall backward and cry.

luckily, we've always been there to catch her.

i'm hoping this is just a teething phase...