Cupcakes & Timing

Cupcake - A small cake baked in a cup-shaped container.

May 4, 2009

I love cupcakes. Is there a stronger word than love? J'adore cupcakes! I think there is a law written somewhere that all cupcakes should be frosted pink and have colorful sprinkles. And served slightly chilled, of course.

Timing - the ability to judge when to do something so as to make the best effect, such as hitting a ball in sport.

May 3, 2009

Jack was amusing himself by using the big ball to hit the small ball against the wall of Grandpa Funk's shed.



The apple trees in my back yard in all their blooming glory - I just wish the sun was shining so it showed up better. It was gray and overcast all day, but it hasn't rained.



I have been trying for a while to make a really good from-scratch cake. They have always turned out a little heavy and dense, not light and velvety like a cake should be. So I found this recipe and it turned out absolutly perfectly! Now I don't ever need to buy a cake mix again!


HEAVENLY White Cake

2 3/4 cup sifted cake flour
4 t baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
4 egg whites
1 1/2 cups white sugar
3/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract

1. Measure sifted flour, baking powder, and salt; sift together three times.

2. Cream butter. Gradually add 1 cup sugar, and cream together until light and fluffy. Add sifted ingredients alternately with milk a small amount at a time, beating after each addition until smooth. Mix in flavorings. Cover and set aside.

3. In a mixing bowl, beat egg whites until foamy. Add 1/2 cup sugar gradually and continue beating until meringue will hold up in soft peaks.

4. Add meringue to cake batter, and beat thoroughly.

5. Bake at 350 degrees - 2 9" cake round pans for 30-35 minutes, 3 8" round cake pans for 35-30 minutes, cupcakes for 18-20 minutes.


SO YUMMY!

Mop & Change

A nice puddle forming at the bottom of our driveway during the deluge today.

Mop - A thick untidy mass of hair.

May 2, 2009

There's a slight chance he's overdue for a hair cut.

Change - The act, process, or result of altering or modifying.

May 1, 2009

I'm always trying to change my fitness habits, or lack thereof, and it always seems that just as I'm establishing a good habit, something comes along and messes it up. I'm on a pretty good streak right now, so here's hoping that I can stick with it! BTW - Jack has been true to his word and has been an excellent fitness buddy.

You should have seen the rain this morning! It was POUNDING down for some time. On my drive home from work I saw a few city crews out placing some sandbags along a few places where the storm drains tend to back up because the gutters were really full. After I had been home for a little while, the rain stopped and the kids finally changed out of their pajamas and we headed off to the mall to buy new piano books. Taylor has finished the set that she's in, and Jack soon will. They have stayed together in the same set of books pretty well until now, when Taylor has moved ahead, but it's good they can share. Taylor also got some new Twilight music and Jack wanted a Star Wars book, and I needed to get Addie a theory book for our Level 1 books since she is ready to begin lessons. Isn't that crazy? My baby ready to start lessons. Holy crap - time really gets away from me. So everyone was happy to get some new music to play, but I'm not sure Addie can wait until her first lesson on Wednesday, and I think she thinks she'll be able to play as well as Taylor and Jack after that first lesson. We got in our Mythbusters episode tonight - explosions and legos, all good stuff.

Spring

Spring - The season of the year, occurring between winter and summer, during which the weather becomes warmer and plants revive.

April 30, 2009

I've been holding out on using "spring" until I got a spring day that was worthy of it. Yeah! I went and wandered around outside while Lane was mowing the lawn, appraising the yard situation and thinking about what to plant. I even laid down in the grass for a minute, until Addie thought I was some sort of jumping toy, so I got up quickly.

I think the wind in this town blows constantly in two places - the mouth of the canyon, and the ball park. It had been such a gorgeous day that when we headed down to the ball field, I only grabbed my sweater as a precaution. Sure enough, as soon as we got there it was cold, and the wind was blowing straight out of the north. If the game had lasted much longer than it did, I may have had to go sit in the car. It was a good game, the team seemed to have settled down now that they had one game under their belts, and Jack's team won 7 to 4. So as we were driving home from the ball game, it wasn't quite dark yet, and I noticed that once we got away from the park, the wind was no longer blowing. How crazy is that! Seriously, I think there is some anti-Lari vortex sitting over that park that doesn't want me to be warm - EVER! It's the same place they play football in the fall, and we always freeze then, too.

Baseline

Baseline - the lines a baseball player must follow while running the bases.

April 29, 2009

Opening Day! Ours was the first game of the day, so the field had been prepped and it was perfect and unspoiled. The weather was great for a baseball game, especially considereing the rain, snow, hail, wind, plagues of locusts (ok, just kidding on that one) that we had to sit through last season. Jack walked both of his times at bat, and scored once. His team lost, but it was a pretty good first outing. It is so much fun to watch him and his team play. All the other parents are so nice and everyone talks and laughs together and, thankfully, none of our team's parents take it too seriously. Last year there were a few incidents where parents (not our team) got out of control and had to be invited to leave the park, and some coaches who spent the whole game yelling at the boys. Our boys all seem to enjoy playing and cheer each other on, pat each other on the back for a job well done as well as offer encouraging words when a boy is struggling. The game is so much funner this way, and the boys all come away feeling good about themselves and understand the importance of team work. And that's just how it should be.

And yes, as a matter of fact, I was too lazy to walk around the backstop for a picture from the front, or even a picture without the chain link in it. Maybe next game I'll be more motivated, but don't bet on it.

Toy

Toy - An object designed for the enjoyment of children.

April 28, 2009

It's 10:30 at night, and I'm desperate for a picture. So I go wandering around the house, and I happened upon Addie's toybox and liked the composition of color. It is sentimental too. The doll was given to Addie by my sister Sabrina and her family for Christmas when Addie was 1. Sabrina had a Dressy Bessy when she was a kid, and I had the corresponding Dapper Dan. We litterally loved the stuffing out of those dolls. So when she saw a new and updated Dressy Bessy, Sabrina had to get it for Addie, and Addie has loved it too. The bear is Lolo (I don't know - Addie comes up with the names). She got Lolo from one of her many PCMC trips, and I think it is easily her most treasured hospital treasure. It's amazing Lolo looks this good, considering the amount of time he has spent being dragged around by one foot. The golden bear in the foreground ( I think it's only a leg that's showing) is Doris - again with the names. Doris was another Christmas gift, this time from Calvin's family, and I have had to re-stitch Doris many times. Doris is usually the one in the dolly stroller or the dolly bed. For a long time she wouldn't go to bed with out Doris. The funny thing is Addie refers to Doris as a he, but insists he is a girl.

So tonight for dinner I made chicken enchiladas since I had leftover chicken from yesterday. I tried a new enchilada sauce recipe since I wasn't loving the recipe I had been using, and I really liked how it turned out. But the recipe made at least twice what I needed, so I'll have to remember to half it in the future. I did stick the leftovers in the freezer so I'm all set for next time.

Jack's opening game is tomorrow evening. The big Opening Day ceremony and preseason game had to be cancelled last Saturday because it was pouring. Jack is so excited to play. I hope he does well and doesn't spend as much time chasing butterflies as he did last year.

Mess, Blow, Future +1

Mess - Disordered clutter; a jumble.

April 27, 2009

I baked today. I think I've said before that our Monday dinner is like everyone else's Sunday dinner. Lane's grandma comes for FHE, so I made a little extra effort. Today I baked bread (of course), this time a garlic and parsley bread, and cupcakes from scratch since I had no mix and refused to go out for just a cake mix. I took this picture before I added the mess from mixing the frosting. Perhaps I should have waited in order to get an accurate representation. Grandma had a conflict, so she didn't come up for FHE, but we enjoyed our good dinner anyway (grilled lemon pepper chicken that I had mariated all afternoon in olive oil, lemon juice and fresh herbs, served with roasted broccoli, rice, and of course the bread with an olive oil/coarse ground pepper dip) and then we went to see a few historic sites in PG that Jack had been learning about in school. We came home and ate our cupcakes, played a game of Sorry and sent the kids off to bed. Ahh, the quiet.

Blow - To expel air; to propel by moving air.

April 26, 2009

First it rained, then it hailed, then it rained again, then it snowed, and then it rained again. Then the sun came out. How this little dandelion survived all that, I'll never know, but more importantly, how has it survived Addie? She loves to blow these, as all kids do, and my front and back lawns are full of dandelions thanks to the little seeds blowing around.

Future - A time or event to come.

April 25, 2009

One of Taylor's value projects for her Personal Progress. She is supposed to make something for her future home, so she is making a rag quilt, baby size. She chose her fabric by herself, and did most of the cutting. I cut a few for demonstration, and then she took over and did the rest. There was 6 yards of flannel plus the batting all that needed to be cut, and then pin the squares together with the batting. It was quite a job, but she did it - and did it cheerfully!




April 27, 2009 - Addie blowing the aforementioned dandelion. Stupid delay on the camera missed all the seeds blowing. This picture was just an afterthought. I didn't yet have a submission for the photo contest, and I never got on in at all last month, so I thought I would submit this one. The theme is "youth," which I have struggled with all month long. I just couldn't think of anything exciting to do, and this is the best I came up with.

Anniversary

Anniversary - The date on which something happened at an earlier time; this event celebrated on this date every year.

April 24, 2009

April 24, 1992 - Oh, my goodness. Who are those people? She resembles someone I used to know, someone I may have devoured in or around 1999. He's still a cutie. Where does the time go? 17 years of wedded bliss - I love you sweetie!

I added this picture to give some other people a "Holy Crap!" moment. Leslie, I think, is 13 and Greg almost 16, and on and on it goes with how we have all changed over the years. Some of the grandparents are deceased now.

Lane had to go to work tonight, and he graciously stayed up this morning to get Addie from school so I wouldn't have to leave work to go get her. We did have a nice lunch together, but after that he had to go to bed, so no dinner out. It all works out the same, really, since the place we had lunch is my favorite brisket place, and that's likely where we would have had dinner, too. But it is much less crowded at lunchtime. So it's all good.

Since we didn't have dinner out, I took the kids with me to do the grocery shopping (NEVER again!) and we each picked out a frozen dinner to eat. They got all excited about this change of routine and it only cost me a fraction of eating out. Then we watched an episodes of Mythbusters - turns out banana peels really are slippery, and double-dipping really isn't more germy - and then a Food Network Challenge Extreme Cakes episode, and then finally topped off the evening with "A League of Their Own." I love that show. There's no crying in baseball! Lane & I say that all the time, so the kids got a kick hearing it in the show and learning where it came from. I had a fun Shauna-flash-back moment during the show, I'll have to remember to email her about that later.

Tomorrow is opening day for Jack's baseball league. It's raining now, so I don't know what that means for tomorrow. Then they have a pre-season game at 7:20, but I also need to get to my neice Kassie's BYU graduation open house sometime. Congratulations to Kassie! I don't know why my college years lasted so much longer than hers! Ok, mine really was longer than hers (5 years for me, 4 for her), but still! A lot of times it seemed like it would never end. Of course, I'm referring to my 3 LONG years at BYU; my Snow College days went by way too fast.

Boy, I'm really rambling tonight! I'll stop now, before I get slap happy and REALLY say something stupid.