Thanksgiving

Kevins nephew Chris, his wife Wendy, Their boys Kyle and Kevin came. Along with Ryan, Amber and Kenna. We had great food and great company. So much to be thankful for.
The kids table at thanksgiving. (Kyle is missing from this picture, I think he must have gone to the adult table to fill his plate) The sweetest grand baby in the world. She was eating as fast as Ryan could put food on her tray.

We all watched the movie Iron Man after dinner. Here are the kids. They have so much fun together.

Bridger was WORN out.

As was Kimber

Since B&K don't sleep all night and they really want to sleep on the "couch" anyway, I let them stay. (and because I was getting up at 4:45AM to go black friday shopping, I really wanted the most sleep I could get) They did sleep all night "on their couches" go figure!

Twilight

Some friends and I went to see Twilight. I was actually more excited about this picture. Do you see anything different or weird about it? Look closely...........(I'll wait)
My friend Judie who is only a year or so old enough to get a senior rate at the movies bought her ticket first. And she asked for the 5pm, twilight, senior citizen rate. I went next and the "very young" boy said he would give all three of us the senior rate. hehe Do you think I can show my stub to the cruise people and get us a senior rate on another cruise somewhere? hehe

Here's all of us that went. Even David there, he came with his fiance and her mom. hehe What a good sport.

Of course, the vampire cupcakes (again)

I thought the movie was great. I am easily entertained and so happy to just get out of the house without kidlets (although I miss them so much by the time I am driving home) and happy its not a doctor appointment (hehe) I loved who the picked for the following characters. Bella, she was so cute, Her dad Charlie, he was alot younger than I imagined and not fat and balled. I thought he would seem more like a small town cop who never made it out to a big city stereotype) I really liked Alice, James and Victoria, they were all perfect for their parts. Edward..........I think there were alot of actors out there that would have been better for him. All of his siblings (except for Alice) and all of Bellas friends were ok. I am interested to see how they make Jacob bigger in later movies. Over all out of 5 stars I would give it a 4.5 (again, I am just happy to get out)

Kylers bowling cupcakes

These were by far the most difficult cupcakes I have ever made and most time consuming. First I started out with Color Flow Icing, which is
4 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons color flow icing mix (from wilton)
1/4 cup plus 1 teaspoon water. Mix for 7 minutes and keep a damp cloth over it when not in use (or it will dry up) although it took 24 hours to completely dry and that was in front of the fireplace. Here I outlined the picture, let it dry for a bit and then outlined it again to build the wall higher
Filled in with color flow icing that has had more water added

let dry for 24 hours (I would suggest 2 or 3 days next time) Kylers own bowling ball is a green shade. I broke 4 or 5 of them when I tried to lift them off to turn over to try to dry them quicker in the last two hours.

their bowling shirts are red so I used Red Color Mist food color spray, it was kind of fun for a nice change. (red or black icing is so hard to get the right color so I really didn't want to even try.

Then I stood the pin and ball up in the frosting.

Kyler must think I am really good. When I asked him what kind of cupcake he wanted, he wanted me to draw this truck. I have him really fooled. I had to show his shoulder patch. He got it for bowling a game over 180 a few weeks ago. Way to go Kyler! He bowls as a sub on his dads team on Wednesday nights.

So there they are. I stared on the pin and balls at 1pm yesterday and finished just after 9pm. I took a break to drive over to Michaels crafts 3.5 miles away for color flow mix and I ate dinner that Kevin made (thanks Kevin for the wonderful taco salad), oh and I took a few minutes off for family prayer, story and putting the little kids to bed. But otherwise, it was all on 19 pins and balls.

Twilight Cupcakes for tonight

Some friends and I are going to see Twilight tonight. I like to call myself the cupcake queen, so of course I made cupcakes. Since its all about vampires. They are cherry chip (hoping that will look like blood splatter) and the extra special part, pureed cherry filling in the middle.
I cut the tops off and put a spoonful inside and put the tops back on.

How fun is Halloween for another week? hehe Vampire teeth marks.

Kylers bowling cupcakes to follow, they are still drying. Three broke

I was tagged

I was tagged by Melissa at http://areyouseriousthisislife.blogspot.com/2008/11/8-things-tag.html:

8 Shows I Watch: (not in any favorite order)
1. Boston Legal (which is ending this year)
2. ER (which is ending this year)
3. Greys Anatomy
4. Survivor
5. Amazing Race
6. How I met your mother
7. two and a half men
8. Private Practice

8 Things that happened yesterday:
1. Took a shower
2. Worked out at Bally's
3. Made breakfast, lunch and dinner
4. Went grocery shopping and forgot my wallet, Kevin had to come down to the store. Thanks Kev!
5. made pilgrim hats for Kevin and Bridger to take to school for a treat
6. Washed our sheets
7. Did laundry
8. Dishes of course


8 Places I like to Eat!: (not in any favorite order)
1. Olive Garden
2. Applebees
3. Toreros
4. any mexican resturant
5. Dons drive in
6. Subway
7. Red Robin
8. The Ram

8 Things I Look Forward to: (not in any favorite order)
1. Thanksgiving
2. Christmas
3. The day after thanksgiving (shopping)
4. A clean house
5. SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT (hello Bridger and Kimber)
6. Going on a cruise (someday)
7. Kevin turning 55 so we can get a discount on cruises
8. More and more cruises

8 Things on my Wish List:(not in any favorite order)
1. Healthy Family
2. Safe Family
3. Clean House
4. Clean Car
5. Loose weight
6. A Kidney for Kyler
7. SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT (hello Bridger and Kimber)
8. Seeing my BFF Chage

I tag,
1. Sherry B
2. Wendy H
3. Shari F
4. Kandice S
5. Jamie H
6. Cecilia M
7. Melissa K
8. Heather M
Have fun

Pilgrim Hats

One thing I am grateful for this year, is imaginary bloggy friends. (I started blogging in Dec of 2007) I have learned so much from them. Cecilia is so crafty, I get alot of ideas from her. If you want to see how to make these cute little hats jump on over and visit her at http://ceciliamills.blogspot.com/2008/11/how-to-make-marshmallow-pilgrim-hats.html tell her I said hi!
I made 39 of them. For Kevin and Bridger to take to school. (No I didn't leave out Kyler, I am making him bowling cupcakes to take to his bowling team tomorrow night)

Happy Birthday Jolene

My friend Jolene is having a birthday this week. I felt it might be a hard one to endure this year since her husband died this year in an accident at work. So another friend (Twylla) and I planned a surprise birthday party for her at Applebees.
There were 14 of us total and we had a very nice time. Happy Birthday Jolene. We love you!

today we celebrated

Its a horrible thing to celebrate but I had to get the kids to think it was fun. First off we all (Bridger, Kimber and I) wore red today. A happy fun color. Heres Kimber with Dr Grubb. He was also Ryan and Kylers doctor, way back then (he had hair back then. hehe) Hes the one who found Kylers heart birth defect 20 years ago, when he was a pretty new doctor.
It was all good for a while. Until Bridger threw Kimber under the bus and made her go first. Kimber got her flu shot. Bridger got his flu shot and 4 immunizations today. There were no smiles for an hour after.

We even went to McDonalds before the appointment to celebrate with a Happy Meal.

Bridger is 100% for his height and 94% on his weight. (Kimber didn't get weight/height done, she was just there for a flu shot) Bridgers 4 years old, he weighs 44 pounds and hes 44 inches and his mom is 44 years old. Pretty cool huh?

My November preschool helper day

The kids at Bridgers preschool are learning all about Pilgrims, Indians and the first Thanksgiving. Along with wrapping up their Harvest Unit. At 3 and 4 they absorb so much. They really are smarter than "we" give them credit for.
Today we made Indian drums. They had a blast!

Bridger loved it all.

Today show and tell, believe it or not was not a ball. It was his spiderman motorcycle. (you can hardly see it)

We had a great day and I am so blessed to be able to help out once a month. BUT lucky me, I get to help again tomorrow. One of the families baby just had a heart transplant so the mom cant work. Keep the sweet little baby in your prayers.

Its a miracle

Some of you may remember the first two pictures from this summer but wait until you see the last picture. I have 3 plants at my house. I have had each of them for as long as my oldest son is alive (23 years+) They are the only plants that can live without water for an extended amount of time. I spend all my time taking care of my family so theres not much time left to do little things like water or fertilize plants. Once in a while I do get around to it, when they cry and droop. Here is my oldest plant. I had to give up custody of it to my mom Jan 20th 2008. Look how sad it is, 6 leaves and they aren't even happy leaves.
5 months later (June of 08) and look what my green thumbed mom did. Cool huh.

Another 5 months (AND in my own care) A FLOWER. In 23 years. I have never had a flower on this plant. NEVER.

In my opinion when my plants flower, they are little signs of a miracle. I have a Christmas cactus that has only bloomed less than a handful of times. Its not often, so when I see the sweet little flowers I know they are happy and all is well in the world.

Flowers and Gas

My second week of Wilton's Course 2. This week was all about Royal Icing and Color Flow Icing. Both were really alot of fun. These apple blossoms, violet leaves, violets and pansies were done with Royal Icing. I wish I had all day (with out little helpers) to just sit and make flowers.

This isn't a very good picture but here are two birds (for our grand finale cake) done with Color Flow Icing. All the flowers and the two birds now dry until I am ready to use them next week. There is paper under the bird that's showing through white (so they will look better on the cake next week)

On another note. Kevin and I went to our ward temple night (Friday) and stopped to get gas on our way home in Kent Washington. We shop at Fred Meyer, they have a rewards card so if you spend so much you get 10 cents off per gallon. The original price was 1.99, then ten cents off. 1.89. At the Fred Meyer by our house its 2.14 (then ten cents off would be 2.04) Kevin filled his tank that was empty for 22 something. WOO HOO

BTW, Bridger picked up a book this afternoon and said he found his "book of norman" hehe

Its either what goes around comes around or a blessing

Don't look too closely. I need to clean out my frig and yes there on the left are three containers of frosting. Anyway, our family goes through a gallon of milk a day if we ration it out (practically) which means we go to the store often. This frig came with the house. Its broken. Look behind those two potatoes, theres a tubberware that holds the drips (which also takes up room) Our real frig is too tall for this kitchen so Kevin has to remove the cupboards above to get it to fit in. And theres always so much going on around here its kind of the last thing on the list. so we make due. BUT................
When we bought our new frig at the old house we gave this frig to Kevins nephews family. When they bought a new frig they gave it to his other nephews family. Well guess what, that family purchased a new frig so we got it back. YEAH. So my old frig is now in the garage and we can cut down on the amount of trips we make to the store. Because you all know, no matter if your going in for JUST MILK, you always come out with more than JUST MILK. So this should save us some money. I am also looking forward to the holidays and having enough room in the two refrigerators.

Bridger hasn't figured out that there is apple juice in the garage frig so I can ration that. hehe

This is me rambling about doctors (again) sorry

So I am not going to give you the blow by blow details of our first (face to face) visit with Dr Martin today. He is Kylers nephrologist. (history) Kylers past year nephrologist left the practice to go to general medicine. So we signed on with one of the partners in the office. Dr Martin. Kyler has seen him but I hadn't met him yet. And he makes rounds on M, W and F to the dialysis unit that Kyler goes to on T, Th and S so I felt we would all be on the same page if we actually went to the office for a visit. Long story short, he wasn't too happy that I do so much for Kyler. I wasn't too happy he didn't do enough for Kyler. He suggested (like oh so many doctors have to me) that Kyler take more responsibility for his own medical care. I did try to explain that I had let him "try" to take more care from July 07 to May 08. But that I really felt he was dying and needed to step in and get him back to better health. Also that the two years (twice, so 4 years total) he was never this sick when I did peritoneal dialysis. That the dialysis unit isn't doing a very good job. Although since Sept 30th, when I had them start a notebook for me to so I could read after each dialysis session, his weight and blood pressures. I felt they were doing better. He felt, I might have offended them in a way, because I am not happy with their care. So I agreed to let Kyler take more responsibilities (which I ONLY agreed so I could leave) but really I am not going to. Kyler can take as much as he wants. I will still be over seeing everything.
On the way home, I though about all those I love, Husband, children, grand baby, parents, siblings ect. I would do the EXACT same if they needed me, so really its my personality. I also really felt I would probably sit with a neighbor even one I don't know if they were unable to be home alone while a spouse was at work. I take meals to new moms, to families who have a death in the family, I babysit when probably no one else would. That's me and I like me and I am not going to change. Kyler is healthier when I am totally involved. He was a nice man though and admitted to having alot on his plate since the other doctor left. Which is understandable. It was a good visit and it lasted an hour (in the little room with him in there the entire hour) good thing our appointment was at the end of the day, that really would have put him farther behind.

So if anyone needs me, I am here and I will do all I can if you need help. Just let me know. I am blessed to be able to not work outside the home. I want to pass those blessings on to anyone that might need my help. I do know when to say no. I do know when too much is more than I can handle on my own plate. But please know I am here for ya all.

Happy Birthday Bridger

I have been telling Bridger his birthday was Saturday (so we could go bowling on the weekend ect) Thinking he was still pretty young, I wasn't going to tell him that his birthday was actually Monday. Somehow yesterday he knew. He asked if I was going to make a cake? I told him no, we had cupcakes and celebrated on Saturday. Long story, he broke my heart so I made a cake today. Then all day he asked when his friends were going to come to his party? No friends, we celebrated Saturday with family. Then he asked if we were going to jump out and say "surprise" I guess we still have to do that tonight. Don't look to close at the cake. I used left over frosting and made a football field (shame on me) it was looking like a soccer field (according to Kevin)
I also had specific directions to put "happy birthday Bridger" and the number 4. I did put happy birthday but I opted for the letter B. It was decorated in record time of less than 5 minutes. Hes happy and that's all that counts. I don't know where my head is but for the life of me, I can remember both Ryan and Kylers times of birth but could not remember either Bridger or Kimber and had to go look them up. Bridger was born on November 10th, 2004 at 8:41am. Happy Birthday Buddy.

4 things that are great about Bridger
1) he is so funny and keeps us on our toes
2) he looks like his dad
3) for no reason he will come up to us during the day and give us a hug and say "I love you mom/dad"
4) everyone is his "friend"

Wilton Course 2

I started Wiltons Course 2 cake decorating class on saturday. Heres our instructor Charis. Shes so much fun.
I didnt take any pics of the other flowers we learned but heres the chrysanthemum. I should have tinted my icing, it would have shown up better. Who knew I could make a flower like this?

In course one we brought cakes every week. This time we wont be. Next week and after that we will save our flowers to place on the cake on the last night.

Bridgers and Kevins bowling birthday

We celebrated Kevin and Bridgers birthdays Saturday and we all went bowling. Would Bridger want anything other than football cupcakes for his birthday?
Here we all are at the bowling alley (Baba took the picture)

Bridger loves to bowl (because Kyler does)

Check out those hand movements.

Kimber tried a few times with the ramp.

Even Kenna bowled once. Do you have ramps at your bowling alley? and automatic bumpers that go up and down depending on whose turn it is? This bowling alley is about 45 minutes from our house but once a year its worth it.

Kenna will eat anything and everything and will only stop when the food is gone.

Happy 4th birthday to Bridger (on November 10th)