And the Winner Is ....

I apologize that it has taken so long to post the winner of my little competition. I LOVED the suggestions given and it was very difficult to decide on which name I liked the most. I really appreciate all of your submissions and ideas! I could never have come up with some of those. You are all very creative!

After thinking it through and the idea of what I want to have behind my cake business I have made my decision.

And the winner is.... Drum roll please.......

"And Everything Nice Cakes" submitted by my cousin, Ashley Jones. I am in the process of registering it as a name. So far, I have found out that it is not currently registered in the state of Utah. Yay!

Like I said, I loved all of the submissions! It was a hard decision. There were so many very creative and cute ideas. But I eventually decided on this name because I like that the "everything nice" can show that I do all different types of cakes - everything! That I am versatile in what I offer... and that all of it is nice! :o) I also really liked the play on the "sugar and spice" saying.

I will definitely keep my favorites in mind, just in case something goes wrong with the name I have chosen. My next project will be to get the name officially registered and with a cute design and then to get the blog up and running. I will continue to keep you posted on the progress and would love any ideas or referrals.

A special thank you to all who submitted ideas!!

A PS to Ashley... I'll talk with you tomorrow at our girl's night (YAY!) about ideas of what we can do for your cake. I was thinking it'd be fun to do a graduation/going away cake for you!

Latest Cake

This cake was for my good friend Kiara's family baby shower. She is hawaiin, hence the haku lei. I had a lot of fun with this one!!

Now that I have some experience with the cakes, I am thinking about making it more into a business. I want to start a blog just for my cakes, but need to think of a name first. So, I have decided to ask for your participation. I want a real cute, modern, girly name for my cake business. And if I pick your idea, I'll bake and decorate a 6 in. cake for your next event for free! Feel free to submit more than one idea, if you want.

Sick babies and Gratitude

I have been a little out of blogging for a couple weeks because both of my kids have been sick. And I mean SICK! Last week Asher started out with a cough and progressively got worse. His fever started to go up on Saturday so I took him to an after hours clinic. His temperature was 103.5 and he had ear infections in both ears. We got antibiotics and he has progressively gotten better. It broke my heart seeing him just sitting listlessly and barely able to hold his eyes open. He hardly ate a thing for three days.

Then Carolina started in on Sunday. She had a lot of the same symptoms but didn't have much of a fever. Her nose was running like a faucet. I have never seen anything like it. She would sneeze and snot would come dripping out and before I could wipe it off she'd rub her nose and spread it all over her face and hair. At first I thought it might just be teething, but then yesterday she started to get a fever. I took her in last night and she turned out to have a double ear infection as well. Her and Asher are now on the same antibiotic. For any of you who know Lena, you know how happy and fun she is. I don't think she's smiled in four days. That is NOT like her!

It is terrible to see your kids sick. Lena hasn't really been sick yet until now, but this was the most sick Asher has ever been. It is so hard to feel like you have no control and can't help them to feel better. Anyway, hopefully they will both continue to get better and get back to their usually selves.

As I was waiting for Lena's prescription last night, I talked with a couple other women in the waiting area. One had two children and the other had a little boy. Her little boy is 2 and she just turned 19. And the other was saying that a year ago she lost two babies within 11 months of each other. The one with the little boy had a lip piercing and the other woman's little girl said something about it. That got the two women talking about their piercings and tattoos. They talked about living with their parents. I don't think either of them were married.

Don't get me wrong, they were very nice! They talked to me and asked questions about my children. And I am not judging them. I have multiple piercings (3 in each ear), and many of you might be surprised to know that I have 2 tattoos as well. (Especially Josh's family because I don't think any of you know about those.) I hope this doesn't change any of your opinions about me. :o) I used to be slightly rebellious. :o) But as I sat and listened to them talk about their current situations, I felt so grateful for the knowledge that I have. I know the value of family. I have a wonderful husband and beautiful children and we are sealed for time and all eternity. I have the opportunity to be with them forever because of the covenants I have made! I am so grateful to know of Heavenly Father's plan for His children. I still have MANY things to work on and will throughout this life. But I have knowledge and testimony of the gift of the Atonement to help me. I am grateful for situations like this that help me to surface from my complacence and realize everything that I am blessed with and Heavenly Father's love for me!

Little Things

After class yesterday I was waiting for the bus that takes us cheapies clear out to the free parking lot on UVU campus. As I was walking up to the bus stop, I noticed a girl (woman, rather) walking up as well. I didn't get a good look at her until she came to sit down, but I noticed she was talking to herself a little. As she came closer I noticed that she seemed to be handicapped in some way. As I sat there reading my book, she started talking to the guy on her left. He made polite comments but didn't engage in conversation. Then, the guy on her right (in between me and the girl) started talking to her. He continued to ask her questions about what classes she was taking, where she's from, etc. As the bus pulled up, he asked if she needed help with her bag and proceeded to carry it on for her. He could have stopped there, found a seat on the opposite end and called it good. But he sat right by her and continued their conversation for the entire bus ride. He also helped her with her bag again as she got off at her stop.

I couldn't help but notice how bright she was. She had such a beautiful spirit. She seemed to be happy and confident and was so friendly. The man was so kind to her and she seemed so happy for the attention and conversation.

It was such a small thing but it made my day! I love to witness small acts of kindness, things that no one thinks anyone else notices. I had the thought that I would like to be more like both of these individuals; the girl who was so bright and cheerful and friendly. I would like to reach out and talk to others more. I don't know why I become so shy with people that I don't know. I would also like to be more like the young man; kind enough to engage in conversation with someone that might not have that happen often. He didn't care one bit what others thought of him, or of talking about himself. I do not remember him saying anything about himself at all. He directed the whole conversation to her and seemed to go out of his way to make her feel important. But at the same time, he did not act as though it was a huge thing. It seemed to be in his nature. They both inspired me to want to be a little brighter and to seize the opportunity to share that light whenever I can.

Happy Birthday

HaPpy BIrtHdaY to my LOVE!! Josh is 27 today! Wow!!

I remember being about 16 and thinking that it was going to be forever before I was married and having children. I will turn 25 next month, and at 16 that seemed so far away! I remember thinking I would have everything figured out and do I? Nope! But that is what this life is about, I think, figuring it all out.

Anyway, now my husband is pushing 30 and I'm not far behind. It's crazy to me! But I think these next few years are going to be great! Me, right beside my eternal companion, watching our children grow and learn, and accomplishing goals together. What could be better?

December Catch Up

We started out our Christmas festivities with Josh's work's annual Christmas party. This year was a big one because their CEO is retiring. The parties are always fun because we get to dress up and go out just us.

The next big event (although there were little events in between) was the annual LL Bean party put on by some friends. They had an ugly sweater contest of sorts. I borrowed my parents' clothes. My mom has so many cheesy Christmas sweaters. I actually won in the woman's division. I was decked out in a turtle neck, sweater vest, bell earrings, lights necklace, and even Santa socks. If you can, you should look at the clothes close up. They're great! Josh took this picture of me to remind me to never dress like this. (Sorry, Mom!) Oh, and I got a hair cut and color!

Because we do so much as an immediate family on Christmas Eve, we celebrated Christmas Eve with my grandma the night of the 20th. These are a couple of pictures of that night. Notice my mom behind Lena wearing that very same sweater vest. Haha!

Gosh, look at those cheeks! You'd think I was producing pure cream!

My grandma gave us a portable washing machine in a bucket for our food storage. Asher found some other uses for it.

Josh was ecstatic to be there! Just kidding, he was REALLY tired!

Then, a few days before Christmas Asher and I put a gingerbread house together from a kit I had previously purchased. It started ok...

But soon we started having problems. I knew Asher wouldn't be patient enough to let the icing dry so we forged on. I kept trying to put everything back in place, but I failed as you can see.

Yeah, by this point just about everything was sliding off. I gave up! But Asher and I had fun together. That's what counts!
The next few pictures are to show how much Asher was eating. There are at least 5 other than these pictures with his fingers in the frosting/candy.

Next are the Christmas Eve/Christmas Day pictures at my parents'.

And that's the end of the Christmas pictures. :o) We recorded everything on Christmas day so we don't have any pictures at either of our parents' houses. Hopefully we can pull some still images from the video footage.

My dad turned 50 on the 27th, which was a Sunday, so the night before (the day after Christmas) was the celebration. My mom, sisters, and I planned a surprise party for him. He was actually surprised which is amazing because he usually catches on to everything.
Below is my dad talking to his mom and an old high school friend. If you can see the picture close up, his button says, "I'm 50 I only look 35" Hehe! They both really do look good for their age.

Because my dad doesn't really like gifts or parties, we decided to throw a service party for him. He had the opportunity to travel to Africa last Feb. to a village that his employer (also Josh's employer) sponsors. Ever since then he has been very involved in raising money for the children in the Yehu Village in Mombasa, Kenya. Anyway, we put together school kits for those children. We also gave him a framed picture of him with a bunch of the kids. And Josh put together a DVD of all the pictures my dad took on his trip. And then we took donations to help my dad help the village. With a 50% match from my dad's work, we were able to gain $900. It was an awesome present for him! Below is him holding the picture and speaking a little about the village. It turned out to be a great night!

And I made a cake for the occasion, of course. Gotta throw that one in there! :o)

These two are just to show my cute kids!

Yes, Asher is in Lena's bouncy chair. I probably shouldn't let him, but he looks so comfortable. His mouth is like that because we were listening to Miles Davis and he was trying to sound like a trumpet.