18 and Oreos

My youngest brother is an adult! He turned 18. He loves Oreos so this is what my mom requested for him. I loved doing it. It was so fun. My only complaint was that it looked like a quadruple-stuffed oreo! I should have trimmed it down quite a bit.
You can't tell by his face but he really was happy with the cake, he just wasn't happy with the 10 pictures that I took of him with his cake. :)

Lizzy's first Lost Tooth...or Teeth!!

So Lizzy had been complaining that her lower front teeth hurt. Being a paranoid former dental assistant, I immediately thought that she had cavities! I checked it out and they looked fine. A couple of days later, I see two adult teeth growing in behind them! How did I not even think of that?! They weren't even loose! I had to take her to the dentist to get them pulled because I was worried that they might grow in crooked like they were already doing. She was so brave. She didn't even flinch! The dentist hooked her up to nitrous, turned on the t.v. on the ceiling and popped them both out in two seconds. Look at all the loot she got just for loosing two teeth! A smoothie (eaten with a spoon of course), presents from the dollar store and a pack of Pez refills for her dispenser. And that is BEFORE the tooth fairy! What a cute girl.

LIZZY TURNS 6!!

First of all, I can't believe that I have a 6 year old! Second, I think that she may be the sweetest, cutest, funniest, smartest thing ever. She had an all-out "Hello Kitty" party this year complete with friends from school. It was SOOO fun to decorate and prepare for. We both looked online for ideas for a Hello Kitty cake. This was the one she found (with just a minor change of the border). I was really glad because I was ready to make a 3-D Hello Kitty figure but Lizzy just wanted this simple round cake.(Thank You Lizzy!) We had pink EVERYTHING! Daddy even brought home pink flowers for her. Lizzy made out with the presents this year. There were 8 little 6 year olds in my house!! We watched "Barbie and the Diamond Castle" and then danced around to the music video. We opened presents, Gave presents to our guests, sang Happy Birthday and of course "Bit the Cake". It was so fun to finally do a party with little friends from school. Happy 6th Birthday baby girl!

(P.S. This video is so funny! First of all, I was holding the camera the wrong way at first and second of all, one of the girls is going all out with her singing ability! Just listen, this girl thinks she's a rock star. I don't even know who it is but it is so funny)

Dear Lizzy,

You always, always make me smile. You amaze me with your creativity and intelligence. You are always saying the funniest things. You LOVE school and especially love chatting with your girlfriends. You are so social. You are so silly and I just adore that about you! You love Pizza, Spaghetti, Hawaiian Haystacks, any kind of fruit but especially apples, and of course, cake. You are so sweet. You think of others and their feelings even at this young age. You are always looking for ways to help and please your daddy and me. I am so amazed by the things that you create with your crafts. You really think like an engineer when building the things that you do. You are inventive in your solutions. You love, love, LOVE bunnies!! You have about a million of them that you sleep with! You want to be a Vet when you grow up. You also want to be a "Cake Maker like Mommy" (You don't even know how cute I think that is!) You are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. I love to do your hair. I love to dress you up. I love to listen to you read (You are getting so good! I can't even believe it!). I love reading to you. I love listening to what you have to say. Your little brain fascinates me. You love to negotiate (and you are way too good at it!) I LOVE your smile. I love your silly, goofy laugh. I pray every day that I can give you what you need emotionally to grow up to be a beautiful, giving, loving, intelligent, well-educated, dedicated, strong young woman. My advice to you will probably be the same every year. Read and study the scriptures. There is such wisdom and such a sweet, noble spirit to them. Pray EVERY DAY. Your Heavenly Father wants to hear from you just as much as I do (well, actually probably way more). By staying close to him, you will stay close to what really matters and to what will give you the most joy in this life. Always be understanding and kind just like you are today. I love, love, LOVE you so much my sweet, beautiful baby girl.

CHRISTMAS 2008!

Christmas was so much fun this year. My mom and brothers Steven and Quinn came up this year and spent the weekend with us. I LOVE having my family at my house! On Christmas Eve we had a yummy dinner of Black Bean Soup (SOOOO good!) and then Jacob ran out and delivered our Secret Santa gift in our neighborhood. After that we had our traditions of putting the Christmas Key on the doorknob for Santa (since we don't have a fireplace), spreading reindeer oats and glitter (so they smell and see our house from the sky) on the snow, leaving Santa treats, reading Christmas stories, and finally, having Santa come and visit!! On Christmas morning the kids woke up to lots of toys including 3 new scooters. Daddy got that table saw that he so "needed" and I got an awesome Ateca fondant mat and some other great things. We gave my brothers some "dating" shirts and my mom a really cool book. We ate all day and watched the new movies that we got. It was such a fun day of hanging around the house in our P.J.s all day.

The Nutcracker Ballet

Every year, Jacob gets his little girl a special present. This year he out-did himself and got her two tickets to the Nutcracker Ballet! Lizzy wanted to go with her best friend, so of course we absolutely had to take Clare along. We got all dressed up, had a great time playing around in the bathroom doing our hair and set off for the Ballet. My good friend, Dena and I had a blast watching the little girls faces light up at all the pretty ballerinas. It was a children's length ballet so it was absolutely perfect. She was so excited and enthusiastically applauded everytime there was a chance. We even got to meet the entire cast afterwards! I think she will remember this for a very long time.

Mom & Dad T come to visit for Christmas!

Jacob's parents are always so wonderful about coming up here to visit every year when the snow comes and give the grandkids a wonderful Pre-Christmas. We had tons of fun taking Tracks to visit Temple square in a blizzard, opening presents, making candy trains and singing "Happy Birthday" to Jacob's dad in front of his beloved Trailer...in the form of a cake.

Glenn Beck!!

Jacob and I are Glenn Beck fans. If you don't know who he is: he is a Mormon convert and he has a political conservative talk show on the radio (syndicated out of New York) and he also has a political conservative talk show that will soon be airing on Fox. He has just written another book called "The Christmas Sweater" and it is FABULOUS!!!! I balled through half of it and laughed through the other half. I couldn't put it down until I had read all 287 pages that same day. It is an amazing inspirational story based on his true-life events and experiences (no politics). If you don't have it...get it! We got ours at Deseret Book. The book-signing tour came right to our local mall! The only place in Utah on the tour! I was so excited and so I took Jacob there as a surprise. We got there and I said "Guess What?! You are gonna meet Glenn Beck today!" He had not been listening to the radio lately so he had no idea about it. He loved it. He was very nice and sincere as we shook his hand and said hello. We had to take pictures from the sidelines so here you go.