CAKES

At my house we are big fans of the show ACE OF CAKES. The stuff this company can do is incredible! So, we thought we'd try to make our own fun cake today. Keep in mind, however, that we have NEVER done anything like this before. I've never even made fondant before. But, thank goodness for the internet. I was able to find an easy recipe & instructions. Here's some pics of our adventure...
First, here's us kneading the fondant:

Next, is the smoothing, adding the coloring & creating:

Then, is the finished product. I made four sections on the cake, so everyone had their own space. Erik put a person on his. I tried to put a paisley design on mine with out something to look at & it DID NOT work. It ended up looking like a weird fish with polka dots around it. Kylie made the earth & a sun (that looked more like a flower) along with the letters of her name around it. Jadyn made the earth, sun & a star...

Finally, the best part. EATING IT!! It actually wasn't too bad. Most importantly, we had a lot of fun doing it.

BATMAN

I saw the movie today & LOVED IT!!! I am a HUGE Jason Bourne fan & these are right up there! Who doesn't love Christian Bale? Especially after "Newsies"!! He's awesome! And Heath - he's amazing. I have to admit, I was a little creeped out to go see him play such a psycho character because of his untimely passing & just loving him. But, not enough to not go see it & he truly was wonderful. I think it helped that he sounds nothing like himself & has make-up on the whole time. Except for one split second shot. Definitely a must see. On the movie sight I found this great memorial to Heath....

SUNDAY

See what happens when I don't post in a long time. You get an overload of information! Especially now that I feel so bad that I never journal - so, this is as close as I get. Anyway, Sunday was a CRAZY day! First off, it was my first Sunday teaching in the Relief Society. (I got the calling 3 weeks ago to be the 2nd Sunday teacher.) And since I am TERRIFIED of speaking in front of people - it was an adventure. It actually went well. I'm sure it was far from great, but I didn't pass out, so it was a success in my books! It was on doing everything we are commanded to do & preparing yourself to be worthy for an invitation to the wedding feast (Matthew 22:2-14). Here's the handouts I made (Thanks for the idea mom - I passed them out as they came in.):
**Sorry they're all flipped. I can't figure out why. They're not like this on my computer.**


**This one is a magnet.**

After church it started to rain. And I mean it poured for over an hour! It was insane!! The girls had to play in it, of course & the little retention areas around our home were flooded pretty quick. Here's some pics of the girls playing in them:

Michael Pictures

Well, it's been a month today since my brother passed. I never got a chance to show some pics from that week. So, here they are - now you can better visualize from my long post earlier. I still can't believe it - I love you Michael!

The 4th

What did you do on the Fourth of July? We went down to Arivaca for a fun filled family outing. My brother Luke is helping open a boys horse ranch down in Arivaca. (For those of you Gilbert people - he's opening it up with Bro. Searle.) He is in charge of the fireworks display & The Ranch helps put on a show for the whole "town". We went down on Friday & stayed the night. Saturday we woke up & got to ride the horses. We had a blast & a BIG thank you goes out to LUKEY for the fun time!! He did awesome on the fireworks display as well!!!

I made a new meal tonight that is blog worthy. So, I'm going to follow in my sister Allison's footsteps & blog about my dinner. I found this recipe on Marth Stewart & it has no meat, too!

MEXICAN LASAGNA

I just mixed it up a bit. I doubled the beans & did half of the spinach. (I bought a pre-packaged bag that was 9 oz. & used half of it & it was plenty.) It was actually VERY GOOD! It earned a spot into our rotations.


Then, we topped it off with this beauty:
(Don't be a wimp - just try it!!)

1: Get fresh strawberries...
2: Dip the strawberries in sour cream...(Yes, sour cream)
3: Then dip in brown sugar...
4: Pop it in your mouth & enjoy!! YUMM!!