Thursday, August 28, 2008
Some Wedding Pics
So here are a few pictures, and video of them cutting the cake. So, they were really popular with the kids. I love the picture with them kissing and all the kids are watching it so closely. There was also a classic birth control picture with our niece Madi. So awesome. There was cardboard under the cake and they were trying to pick up the cake under the cardboard. That is why there is the break in the video.
Wedding Cake
Ok, so I was asked to put together Brittney's wedding cake for the luncheon. So I had a hard time trying to figure out how to make it half fake to try to save money. I know, styrofoam is the right thing to use right, no it was going to cost quite a bit to do that, so I had to come up with something else. Finally my wonderful friend Anna told me to use rice crispy treats. It was such a wonderful idea!! So I made the bottom and middle tiers out of the rice crispy treat and decorated them with regular frosting
.
I was trying to figure out how to decorate it, and another wonderful friend of mine, Sherrie, was helping me brainstorm ideas. We came up with making the middle tier white while making the other 2 brown. We just couldn't bring our selves to make a green cake. (Brown and green were her colors) So then Sherrie suggested writing their names on the white tier. She wanted to do White frosting, but I suggested a realy light green, and I think it turned out ok with it being green. We worked on the white teir a week before because Sherrie was going out of town for the whole week before the wedding. Luckily she was so nice to let me freeze it in her big empty freezer, rather than having it subjected to the rath of my children
.
The next week I worked on the bottom teir, making 4 batches of rice crispy treats just to make the structure. Another great suggestion from Sherrie was to make a ribbon rather than make my verry shakey hands do piping all over it. I found a nice thick white ribbon and a small green ribbon. I hot glued the green one in 2 strips all down the white one. Then I fashioned a flat bow to go over the seam of ribbon. It was nice that the "cake" was solid enough to just use straight pins to hold the ribbon on it.
Yeah, that worked GREAT!! Then on Thursday before the big day I baked the cake, chocolate of course. That is basicly all I did that whole day. Friday was decorating day. It's amazing how much time it takes to get the frosting smooth and even over a small (and harder over a large) cake. Finally I was happy enough with the smoothness, but had to wait until it set enough to do the border. Then sit even more before I could put the ribbon on. Yes this was an ALL day thing, and somehow the girls didn't hurt it. MIRACLE!!!!
Then Saturday was the big day. I didn't realize that I had gotten the wrong size of box for the base, so it was sitting open the whole morning. I asked my grandparents to transport me because I trusted them in their driving and lack of items that could hurt the cake for the morning.
After pictures, my grandparents and I hurried back to the hotel where the luncheon was at and put the cake together. There was a slight causulty with the hearts next to the names, but I don't think anyone noticed. I quickly put it together, scaring the spectators a time or two with the placements and holding the cakes, but nothing big happened. Once it was done I was so happy to be free of it.
After the cake cutting I shoved it all back into boxes, looking less deliciouse than before and got it home. Everyone liked it, and it worked out great, even though the pictures show all of it's flaws. Oh well, it was dark enough in the that I didn't mind too much.
.
I was trying to figure out how to decorate it, and another wonderful friend of mine, Sherrie, was helping me brainstorm ideas. We came up with making the middle tier white while making the other 2 brown. We just couldn't bring our selves to make a green cake. (Brown and green were her colors) So then Sherrie suggested writing their names on the white tier. She wanted to do White frosting, but I suggested a realy light green, and I think it turned out ok with it being green. We worked on the white teir a week before because Sherrie was going out of town for the whole week before the wedding. Luckily she was so nice to let me freeze it in her big empty freezer, rather than having it subjected to the rath of my children
.
The next week I worked on the bottom teir, making 4 batches of rice crispy treats just to make the structure. Another great suggestion from Sherrie was to make a ribbon rather than make my verry shakey hands do piping all over it. I found a nice thick white ribbon and a small green ribbon. I hot glued the green one in 2 strips all down the white one. Then I fashioned a flat bow to go over the seam of ribbon. It was nice that the "cake" was solid enough to just use straight pins to hold the ribbon on it.
Yeah, that worked GREAT!! Then on Thursday before the big day I baked the cake, chocolate of course. That is basicly all I did that whole day. Friday was decorating day. It's amazing how much time it takes to get the frosting smooth and even over a small (and harder over a large) cake. Finally I was happy enough with the smoothness, but had to wait until it set enough to do the border. Then sit even more before I could put the ribbon on. Yes this was an ALL day thing, and somehow the girls didn't hurt it. MIRACLE!!!! Then Saturday was the big day. I didn't realize that I had gotten the wrong size of box for the base, so it was sitting open the whole morning. I asked my grandparents to transport me because I trusted them in their driving and lack of items that could hurt the cake for the morning.
After pictures, my grandparents and I hurried back to the hotel where the luncheon was at and put the cake together. There was a slight causulty with the hearts next to the names, but I don't think anyone noticed. I quickly put it together, scaring the spectators a time or two with the placements and holding the cakes, but nothing big happened. Once it was done I was so happy to be free of it.
After the cake cutting I shoved it all back into boxes, looking less deliciouse than before and got it home. Everyone liked it, and it worked out great, even though the pictures show all of it's flaws. Oh well, it was dark enough in the that I didn't mind too much.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
First Day of School
Monday Aug 25th was the first day of kindergarten in our home. What a change. We woke up early to make sure we were ready early enough to get over whatever frustration we were going to go through in getting ready. Luckily Avi was so excited to go to school that we didn't have those frustrations and we were ready and hour before it started. We only live 3 blocks from school, so we are planning on walking to school each day, but we will see how cold it gets this winter. The 4 of us walked down and met Avi's friend Livi to walk with across the street to school.
After going to the classroom and waiting for a while for other students to show, we finally figured out that they all meet outside then walk into the classroom together. Whoops. Avi went to class great, and was so excited when she was done. This is going GREAT!! I have been so worried about the changes and new situations, so to see her having such an easy time with it is such a relief. She also has a guy teacher, how fun.
When we were walking home from dropping her off, Dailynn was having a hard time being away from Avi. She couldn't believe that she was having to spend time away from her. It's going better now. Well enjoy the pictures, we had fun. Oh yeah and no tears!!!
Monday, August 18, 2008
Ummm
So Dailynn is being an interesting character. Sometimes she will punish herself for things that we aren't too worried about. While in La Sal, she was goofing off during the dinner prayer. She insisted that she was bad during the prayer, so she wasn't allowed to have dinner because of it. Well yesterday while I was making lunch she was singing "It's all my fault" over and over again. Nathan said "she is going to be a depressed child, disciplining her self and saying it is all her fault. I am going to need a psychology degree just to take care of her." She really is a pretty happy kid, just has to figure out what she can and can't do then she will be happy all the time. I do think it is kinda funny when she starts yelling "I'm Freakin Mad". Not sure where that all came from, but it sure does make me giggle when she says it.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Why so long
So you may have noticed that it has taken me a while to post, and sorry about that. Life has been fun and crazy. After the family reunion, I got the pleasure of throwing Brittney a bridal shower, so between that and getting into the Twilight series, I haven't had much time to do anything other than keep my family alive. Luckily I have a lighter week where I get to figure out how to make a fake wedding cake for Britt. Ideas are flying through my head, I hope that I will remember to document how I am making it and that can be my next food tip or something. This whole wedding thing is so fun, but it will be nice when it is over.
We found out that Avi gets to have the male teacher this year. She is excited for school, and hopefully we can go meet him tomorrow. It will be good to have her go to school so that I can maybe work on projects a little better.
My friend Sherrie and I have started walking at nights, and it is really to walk 2-5 miles with her and get to know her so much more. We found out last night that we were in Japan at the same time. It was so fun to talk about our experiences and both got Japan hungry all over again.
Nathan and I am also so excited about the Olympics. It is so hard to peal ourselves away from it sometimes. It was fun to watch the Guys and Girls gymnastics, and also the swimming.
We are just enjoying the last little bit of the summer before school starts and things get crazy again. Have a great summer everyone.
We found out that Avi gets to have the male teacher this year. She is excited for school, and hopefully we can go meet him tomorrow. It will be good to have her go to school so that I can maybe work on projects a little better.
My friend Sherrie and I have started walking at nights, and it is really to walk 2-5 miles with her and get to know her so much more. We found out last night that we were in Japan at the same time. It was so fun to talk about our experiences and both got Japan hungry all over again.
Nathan and I am also so excited about the Olympics. It is so hard to peal ourselves away from it sometimes. It was fun to watch the Guys and Girls gymnastics, and also the swimming.
We are just enjoying the last little bit of the summer before school starts and things get crazy again. Have a great summer everyone.
Family Reunion
Ok, so it isn't that good of an idea for the Blankenagel family to get together. We all went to La Sal for a week for a reunion and vacation. The first day we laid a new sidewalk/front patio with Mom, Dad, Uncles John and Bill. The next day I got to mow the lawn with the tractor. Mom is just cleaning up my messes with the girls. After the lawn was done Mom let the girls drive the tractor. They had the biggest smiles in the world!!
We spent much of the rest of the week shooting prairy dogs, Jeeping, and four wheeling. Nathan had a great time just going out with the 22 and went through a box and a half of bullets in the week. He was happy.
On Wed we started having everyone else arrive. We had fun going up on the mountain to see the scenery for the next few days. I will say again that it isn't safe for all of us to get together, especially in the 7th year.
So on Thursday we went up to Cash and Copper to take pictures for Brittney's announcements. Dad and Jeff went to go follow the road a ways on the 4-wheelers to see where it went. On the way back Dad was trying something he shouldn't have been doing. The 4-wheeler rolled over him breaking his wrist, bruising some ribs and most of his back. For the rest of the week he needed help getting up and down from his chair and bed.
This was our eating arrangements and Uncle John helped the kids put up this cute little tent to play in.
On Friday we went to go meet the rest of the family that had decided to camp out on the mountain to go play with them. Most of them were gone so we decided to go for a drive ourselves. We didn't realize how long of a drive we were going on and how bumpy the road was. We went up to a lake and found a new way back that wasn't going to kill the kids in the back of the truck.
Kristl was driving the jeep in front of Kenzie driving her truck. We were going down the mountain road a little fast, and coming to a blind corner, and all of a sudden another vehicle was there. Both Kristl and the other vehicle slammed on the brakes and moved to their side of the road. All would have been fine but the other vehicle had a trailer that started jackknifing towards Kristl so she moved even further over. The problem was that there wasn't any more road or shoulder to move over onto, so she drove up the side of the hill rolling the jeep. It did a 3/4 rotation ending on the passenger side.Nathan, Kenzie and I Jumped out of the truck at the same time yelling at the kids to not get out of the truck and ran to help. By the time we got there Sheena and Ben (passengers in the back of the jeep) were running away from it so we weren't worried about them. We started yelling for Kristl and John to answer us, and once they did we knew that everyone was alive. None of them were wearing seat belts, so that added to our worries. We made it over there and John was yelling that he had broken his arm. After getting the top off the jeep they were finally able to climb out. We tipped the jeep back up and got it out of the road so that the other 4 vehicles that were waiting behind it could go by, and got John braced together with a camera bag. The jeep made it off the mountain and didn't move the rest of the weekend.
They ran to Monticello and once there the Doctors decided they needed a little more help with this so they life flighted him to Grand Junction to go through surgery. He spent the next few days in the hospital watching the injury.
We spent saturday a little calmly. After a while of just the playing around the ranch thing we went swimming at the reservoir. Avi and Dailynn got to show off they swimming skills, and we all got to cool off. While there we got called by our cousins that had left that morning saying they were stranded on a jeep trail in Moab. They needed help getting the truck fixed. All the lug nuts on one wheel had broken so they need to get a ride back to the truck to fix it. Oh what fun. Luckily no one got hurt on that one.
On Sunday we left after church and dinner and headed to Ephraim. We stopped at Nathan's sister Sharalee's house and played with them for a few hours and then came home. It was so nice to be in our own beds!!!!
All in all we did survive and it could have been a lot worse. I know that prayers are answered and that there were quite a few angels floating a little closer to our family that week!!!
We spent much of the rest of the week shooting prairy dogs, Jeeping, and four wheeling. Nathan had a great time just going out with the 22 and went through a box and a half of bullets in the week. He was happy.
On Wed we started having everyone else arrive. We had fun going up on the mountain to see the scenery for the next few days. I will say again that it isn't safe for all of us to get together, especially in the 7th year.
So on Thursday we went up to Cash and Copper to take pictures for Brittney's announcements. Dad and Jeff went to go follow the road a ways on the 4-wheelers to see where it went. On the way back Dad was trying something he shouldn't have been doing. The 4-wheeler rolled over him breaking his wrist, bruising some ribs and most of his back. For the rest of the week he needed help getting up and down from his chair and bed.
This was our eating arrangements and Uncle John helped the kids put up this cute little tent to play in.
On Friday we went to go meet the rest of the family that had decided to camp out on the mountain to go play with them. Most of them were gone so we decided to go for a drive ourselves. We didn't realize how long of a drive we were going on and how bumpy the road was. We went up to a lake and found a new way back that wasn't going to kill the kids in the back of the truck.
Kristl was driving the jeep in front of Kenzie driving her truck. We were going down the mountain road a little fast, and coming to a blind corner, and all of a sudden another vehicle was there. Both Kristl and the other vehicle slammed on the brakes and moved to their side of the road. All would have been fine but the other vehicle had a trailer that started jackknifing towards Kristl so she moved even further over. The problem was that there wasn't any more road or shoulder to move over onto, so she drove up the side of the hill rolling the jeep. It did a 3/4 rotation ending on the passenger side.Nathan, Kenzie and I Jumped out of the truck at the same time yelling at the kids to not get out of the truck and ran to help. By the time we got there Sheena and Ben (passengers in the back of the jeep) were running away from it so we weren't worried about them. We started yelling for Kristl and John to answer us, and once they did we knew that everyone was alive. None of them were wearing seat belts, so that added to our worries. We made it over there and John was yelling that he had broken his arm. After getting the top off the jeep they were finally able to climb out. We tipped the jeep back up and got it out of the road so that the other 4 vehicles that were waiting behind it could go by, and got John braced together with a camera bag. The jeep made it off the mountain and didn't move the rest of the weekend.They ran to Monticello and once there the Doctors decided they needed a little more help with this so they life flighted him to Grand Junction to go through surgery. He spent the next few days in the hospital watching the injury.
We spent saturday a little calmly. After a while of just the playing around the ranch thing we went swimming at the reservoir. Avi and Dailynn got to show off they swimming skills, and we all got to cool off. While there we got called by our cousins that had left that morning saying they were stranded on a jeep trail in Moab. They needed help getting the truck fixed. All the lug nuts on one wheel had broken so they need to get a ride back to the truck to fix it. Oh what fun. Luckily no one got hurt on that one.
On Sunday we left after church and dinner and headed to Ephraim. We stopped at Nathan's sister Sharalee's house and played with them for a few hours and then came home. It was so nice to be in our own beds!!!!
All in all we did survive and it could have been a lot worse. I know that prayers are answered and that there were quite a few angels floating a little closer to our family that week!!!
Summer activities pictures
I had never been to the Timpanogos Caves, so Nathan, Avi, I, Jaxson (her cousin) and Jana (Nathan's sister) went up to see them. This was within the first 1/3 of the hike, so I am not too flushed by this time. It wasn't that bad of a hike, but I am so out of shape that I was just huffing and puffing by the time I got up there. After the hike we went back to camp, and Nathan cooked dinner for everyone.
During Pleasant Grove's Strawberry Days, there was a fun parade. Since it starts just 2 blocks from our house we had floats and horsed going by to go line up. We left to walk to the parade and we found that outside our house we had a horse trailer and they were unloading the horses. I asked if I could put the girls up on them and get some pictures. The people were so nice to let them up there. 
The girls wanted to camp out, so we set up the tent in the back yard for two nights. We combined the tents with the tarp so that it would be easier for them to feel comfortable.
We signed Avi up for T-ball this year. It took a little while but she finally got into the game a little better. She can hit the ball pretty good if she concentrates enough. By the end she understood what was going on. It helped her so much to get out of her little shell a little more.
While Avi was playing her game Dailynn was bored and wanted to do something herself. She climbed the hill behind us and rolled down it the whole hour. Every once in a while she would have a boy treat her like a china doll worried she would break or something and just keep a very close eye on her so that she didn't get hurt. It was cute.
On the 4th of July we got invited to a BBQ where they decided to get a blowup water slide. It was so cool!! Dailynn loved riding it and the older girls loved taking her on it. The squirt guns were fun on it too. Both of the guns are controlled by my girls in this picture. That was their favorite part of it.
I signed both girls up for swim lessons this year. It took a little more effort to get Dailynn in than Avi which is so not normal. Once Dailynn got used to the idea she loved it. Every once in a while the girls teachers would play games with each other so they saw each other once in a while in the pool. On the last day the teachers took the kids on the water slides. Avi got to go once while Dailynn got to go like 4 times. They had so much fun with the lessons and I am so excited to put them in again next summer.
Apripops
Ok, I know it has been a long time, but while my pictures copy over to my computer I might as well put in a food tip.
I got this from a great friend of mine that is just loving to do all this fruit and veggie preserving that I am enjoying right now. We are both teaching each other a lot. So we are both over run with Apricots, so to finish up some puree that we both had, so put it in her Popsicle container and froze it like popsicles. Add enough sugar to your puree to make it sweet enough to enjoy. They come out great, and are a healthy alternative. It also uses up some of the excess puree. Also fresh home made apricot jam is delicious. I have also made some fruit leather, and am hoping to maybe bottle some today, but I am not sure how to yet. Good luck and happy cooking.
I got this from a great friend of mine that is just loving to do all this fruit and veggie preserving that I am enjoying right now. We are both teaching each other a lot. So we are both over run with Apricots, so to finish up some puree that we both had, so put it in her Popsicle container and froze it like popsicles. Add enough sugar to your puree to make it sweet enough to enjoy. They come out great, and are a healthy alternative. It also uses up some of the excess puree. Also fresh home made apricot jam is delicious. I have also made some fruit leather, and am hoping to maybe bottle some today, but I am not sure how to yet. Good luck and happy cooking.
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