Saturday, November 29, 2008

Happy Birthdays!

Happy Birthday to adorable little Micah! He really is such a cute little guy. However, he's mighty attached to his mommy. I haven't been able to win him over quite yet. I'm going to keep working on it though. I just can't resist this little cutie pie!
And while I'm doing birthday wishes, I better wish my sister-in-law Kaylin a happy late birthday. Her birthday was last week. I didn't forget, I just never got around to posting. So sorry Kaylin! (She's on the right)
This picture is perfect because tomorrow is Natalie's birthday. So Happy early birthday to Natalie! (She's on the left.) With a large family like my husband's, there are many birthday celebrations. Hope everyone has, had, and will have a marvelous birthday!!

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Remembering Thanksgiving


Just a fun post today full of Thanksgiving pictures. I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving full of food, family and fun!

Fun things to watch for: Halle's solo and a cameo appearance of my little neighbor. And don't forget to listen to the words, you just might learn something.

Kate and I standing in front of the Mayflower replica.

Plymouth Rock itself.

Here come the Indians.

Hope your turkey is thawing.

"Oh my gosh, it's a squash." Did you know pumpkin's a squash?

Don't forget the cranberries!

And remember:

Try-It-Tuesday

This is a recipe I got from brightideas.com. I stole the picture right off their page and everything. I thought I made this last year for Kate's birthday, but as I looked for pictures I realized it was two years ago. TWO YEARS since I've had this sinfully delicious cake. Sounds like it needs an appearance at the Thanksgiving feast. This is such a yummy cake; like a dense pumpkin bread but the glaze is melted Milky Ways and condensed milk. Does that not say it all right there? Anything with condensed milk has me salivating.
Apple Cider Pumpkin Cake


3 cups chopped MILKY WAY® Bars
3 ½ cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
2 sticks butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
4 eggs
1 can (15 oz.) solid pumpkin
½ cup apple cider
5 tablespoons condensed milk Special equipment:
12-cup bundt cake pan

1. Combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, baking soda and salt, and set aside.
2. In a separate bowl, cream the butter with the sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, and stir in the pumpkin puree. The mixture will be loose and wet.
3. Using a low speed mixer, add the flour, one third at a time, blending well after each addition. Stir in the apple cider until smooth.
4. Spoon half of the batter into a greased and floured bundt pan. Make a layer with 2 cups of the MILKY WAY® Bars. Cover it with the remaining batter.
5. Bake in a preheated, 350°F oven for 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack, and let cool completely.
6. Gently loosen the sides of the cake from the pan, and invert it onto a cake plate. Unmold the cake from the pan, letting it carefully slip out.
7. To make the drizzle, heat 1/2 cup of remaining MILKY WAY® Bars with condensed milk in microwave for about 20-30 seconds. Drizzle the sauce over the top of the cooled cake. Decorate the top with reserved chopped candy.
Tip: If you don’t have a bundt cake pan, simply bake the cake in a 9 x 13-inch greased baking pan for 35 to 40 minutes in a 350 degree oven, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Enjoy, I honestly don't know how you won't.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Kate Kate Finally Turns 3!

Poor little Kate, she gets the birthday shaft every year. The only year we've celebrated her birthday on her actual birth date was the day she was born. Thank goodness she's still too little to know any better.

I honestly can't believe she's 3. I still consider her such a little baby. I guess that's what happens when you're the baby of the family. In fact, I was thinking about her party and thought, "Oh, I'll just make her some type of cute pink cake. She's too little to know what she'd want." And then I realized that for Halle's 3rd b-day, she INSISTED on a black bat cake. And for Carter's 3rd birthday he demanded Spongebob. My little cousin wanted a vacuum cake for his 3rd birthday. So I realized that she's really not a baby and she probably knows exactly what she wants. Sure enough, when I asked her, she replied, "Pink Cindewella cake." So a pink Cinderella cake it was, and she loved it.




This kid is all about "girl" stuff. Barbies, babies, and dress ups were the main theme of the night and she loved it all.

She had been so excited about it being her "Cindewella party" all day long. But when it finally came time to celebrate she started feeling yucky. She got a really bad headache and kept squeezing her head and laying down. She managed to enjoy opening the presents but then it got too much and she threw up right after the cake. (Apparently she takes after me, poor little thing.)

Poor little girl ended up laying in Grammy's arms for the rest of the night and fell asleep before Mimi showed up with another gift. She didn't even get to open it. But this morning when she woke up, she was good to go and remembered every detail about the party. Even what gifts she got from who. "Halle gived me dis Barbie, and you gived me clothes (and so on)." It was really cute.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Good Times and Review

Soooo...what do you think? Did you like it, hate it, love it? I'm gonna say it was better than I thought it would be. I was pleasantly pleased and I am happy with that. Could it have used a larger budget? Yes. Were there some strange parts the director should not have allowed? Uh-huh. But overall, Edward gave me butterflies and that's just what I wanted.
And as promised, pictures of our shirts.
Mine said, "My heart belongs to my husband, but Edward can have my neck." And I'll admit I copied that line off one I read somewhere on the internet.

Thanks for the fun girls night ladies!! It was a riot.

Friday, November 21, 2008

Twilight Craze


They're Heeeeerrrre.... Today's the day ladies. Twilight can now be viewed on the big screen. Do you have your tickets? Have you seen it already? Have you read the books? (And yes, I know there are a few of you who have still not done this.)

I'll be honest, I have some very mixed emotions about seeing this movie. I'm so afraid of it being bad. In fact, I made sure to read all the books again this time nice and slowly, just so that I could get firm mental images in my head of what MY characters look and act like.

I wanted to wait to hear a bunch of your reviews before I went to see it, but some girls from church called with an extra ticket for tonight, so I said "Sure, why not?"
So if you're at the theater tonight at the 8 pm showing say hello.

Look for the crazy married ladies wearing their homemade Twilight shirts...that'll be us. And as I was making my shirt last night, I got giddy thinking about going. My poor husband just rolled his eyes and helped me figure out the printer for my iron on. And when Alyssa found out I was doing this she said, "Okay Mom, that's just weird!" (Oh don't you worry, there will be pictures.)

Happy Twilight Day Everyone.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Try-It-Tuesday

Try-It-Tuesday, Try-It-Thursday, it's all the same. Right?

If you like pumpkin pie, you'll enjoy this easy to make cheesecake. You'll need a springform pan and if you don't have one, just get a good friend like Jennifer P. who uses them to decorate with. And when you say, "I should get some pans like that and decorate my table cute with them," your friend will say, "Here, I have extras. Take this one." :)

Really though, this is fairly easy to make and is a yummy addition to all the delicious Fall pumpkin desserts. I found this on some Libby's Pumpkin website and of course, I altered it just a wee bit.



Pumpkin Toffee Cheesecake

Ingredients:
CRUST
• 1 3/4 cups (about 14 to 16) Pecan Sandies crushed
• 1-2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

CHEESECAKE
• 3 pkgs. (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened
• 1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
• 1 can (15 oz.) Pumpkin
• 2/3 cup (5 fl.-oz. can) Evaporated Milk
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp nutmeg
• 1 cup (about 25 to 30) crushed toffee candies (milk choc. Heath)

TOPPING
• 1 container (8 oz.) sour cream, at room temperature
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract (if you don't like almond, you could use vanilla)
• Caramel ice cream topping (optional)


Directions:
PREHEAT oven to 350° F.

FOR CRUST:
COMBINE cookie crumbs and butter in small bowl. Press onto bottom and 1-inch up side of 9-inch springform pan.

BAKE for 6 to 8 minutes (do not allow to brown). Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes.

FOR CHEESECAKE:
BEAT cream cheese and brown sugar in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add pumpkin, evaporated milk, eggs, cornstarch and cinnamon, nutmeg; beat well. Pour into crust.

BAKE for 60 to 65 minutes or until edge is set but center still moves slightly. Remove from oven; top with toffee candy pieces.

FOR TOPPING:
COMBINE sour cream, granulated sugar and almond extract in small bowl; mix well. Spread over warm cheesecake.

BAKE for 8 more minutes. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Refrigerate for several hours or overnight. Remove side of springform pan. Drizzle with caramel topping before serving.

The refrigeration part is a must. And I would say overnight for sure. It really makes a difference in taste and texture.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Blurb Makes Me Sad


I am so sad that my beloved blurb.com is no longer compatible with blogger. I just received my 3rd blog book in the mail today (Yes Miki, Fed Ex FINALLY found me!) and I was so excited to get going on my next one to finish up 2007. When I tried to download my blog I got an error. I had to dig a little and finally discovered that something with an API code from blogger wasn't stable enough for blurb to work with. (It's somewhat of a foreign language to me.) But I am angry at both blogger and blurb.
FIGURE IT OUT PEOPLE!!! I need hard copies of my blog!


I know I can still cut and paste and get it done, but can you even imagine how long that will take? Arggghhh..

Monday, November 17, 2008

Starlight Skating

I can not tell you the last time I went roller skating. Okay, I guess I went roller blading once in college when I was 19. But before that it was probably elementary school and I haven't done it since. That is, until last Saturday night.

Jarom's family decided it would be fun to go to Starlight Skating, the local skating rink. I swear that place hasn't changed one bit since I was 10. It was like stepping into a time warp. But oh, it was so fun. I really had a blast. Thanks Gregg and Anna for treating us to a great time.

Everyone skated, from babies in strollers to Grandma pushing babies in strollers. (Okay, I had to push babies in strollers for a while too before I had my "blade feet". Thank goodness we had some babies with us!)

There was a spill...

or two...

or three. (I wish we could have gotten one of Justin laying flat on his back. Oh that was good! Hope you're feeling okay Justin!)

NOTE: Check out "Creepy Guy" in the background. All you Idaho Falls-ers beware. He really was creepy. He kept "bumping" into our girls. They complained to us several times until my SIL Katie had had enough and went and told the manager. The manager said that the guy had been complained about 4 other times that day and kicked him out. I was so glad Katie did that and that the manager took care of the problem. I don't know anything about this guy, but I'll tell you what, if I ever see him again (and we've already spotted him twice since) I will NOT leave my kids unguarded.

Kate was THE cutest blasted little skater I've ever seen. And she was pretty good at it too. She's a little natural. I just couldn't get enough of seeing her in those teeny tiny skates.

Tell me that is NOT the cutest little thing you've ever seen!! (Go on, I dare ya. And then I'll take ya down to Chinatown and back for saying it.)

Carter

Kate

Jarom

Alyssa

Halle

Me

What a fabulous time, we MUST do this again!

(And if I was smart enough, I'd add a playlist today playing Deana Carters version of "Brand New Key" because it talks about roller skates and I love that song.)

Happy Birthday Anna!


Happy Birthday to my mother-in-law today. (Thanks for the picture Becky.) Yes, that's right, another birthday for our family. But don't you fret, we still have several more November birthdays to go. We were joking about all the November birthdays we have last night saying how November is 9 months from Valentine's Day. :)
Anyway, we celebrated Anna's birthday yesterday by breaking in Becky and Kevin's new home and having a family dinner. Becky has the biggest dining room I've ever seen and we were all able to fit nicely. All Manwaring dinners from now on will be there. ;)
Happy Birthday Anna! I think new furniture is a pretty exciting birthday gift. So cute! Hope you have a great day.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Pierced Ears!

I know, lots of updates today. Bear with me, it was a big weekend.

It's a right of passage to get your ears pierced when you turn 8 in our family. I did it, Alyssa's done it, and now Halle has joined our exclusive club.
Getting the ears ready for the holes.

Ready or not, here we go.

"It stings! It stings!" But not one tear! What a brave kid.

All done! Thanks Aunt Mimi.

Feeling like a new person with her beautiful earrings. Doesn't she look so grown up now?

Party Time!

Halle had a "spa-tacular" 8th birthday party! We did this same party for Alyssa last year, and Halle's wanted one ever since. I know it seems like a lot of work (and there is some definite prep work that goes into it), but if you have wonderful sisters or friends willing to help you out, this party is one of the easier parties to do. And THANK YOU to my wonderful family that helped me out. I couldn't do it without them.

We had five different "spa" stations that the girls rotated through. Each girl was given an appointment card and just went in the order designated.

Halle chose to name her spa The Red Ruby day spa and then Jarom made the cute itinerary cards.

Hair done by Aunt Emily. She did everyone exactly the same and they loved looking just alike. They were finished off with some glitter spray which was so fun. They got to keep their own combs from this station.

Facials done by myself. (For Alyssa's party we used tinted cool whip and that didn't work so well. This year I just used cold cream and it was much better.) We put a little make-up on after their faces were nice and refreshed. They each got lip gloss, hand mirrors, and hair bands to keep at this station.

Nails done by Aunt Mimi. (Her name is also Emily, but we call her Mimi to make it easier.) Each girl got to keep an emery board.

Pedicures done by Aunt Deidra. Complete with foot soaks, smelly lotion massages, and painted toes.

Craft and snack station run by my mom. The girls decorated bags to keep all their loot in. We were so excited to have our Utah cousins join us for the party this year. Sami and Megan are Alyssa's age, so she was in seventh heaven.

The dolled up party group. They all felt so beautiful. It was so fun to watch them take out their mirrors and just look at themselves. Every little girl deserves to feel beautiful once in a while.

Present time and a look at the backs of the adorable hair Emily fixed.

It's tradition to get a set of scriptures with your name engraved on them for your 8th b-day in our family.

Make a birthday wish!