Danny's Baptism Weekend

On Saturday, September 24th, 2011 Danny was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was a beautiful ceremony and an all around wonderful day. Ryan was able to baptize and confirm him and we were fortunate to have many family members there with us.

As Ryan said, Danny was "Willing, Ready, and Happy". He sure was!

My parents were able to come from Minnesota, and my Dad (Dah-Dee-Doh) gave a great talk on the Gift of the Holy Ghost.

Ryan's parents were also able to come from Washington. Ryan's Mom, (Nana) gave a great talk on baptism as well.

Jared and Joshy enjoyed Danny's baptism too. Jared sat on the ground in front of the font staring at the water as my sister Wendy played the prelude music. I'm sure he was thinking and longing for his turn, in less than 18months, to be baptized. When I asked Joshy about the baptism later in the afternoon he referred to "the big bathtub" I suppose that baptism by immersion would remind a 2 year old of taking a bath.

It was so nice to have so many family members present! Chris and Wendy came up from Salt Lake and were a great addition to the day.

Afterwards we enjoyed a luncheon at our home with neighbors and friends. A few days after I told Danny we would be having a luncheon, he asked me about the
"Lunch-Out"...

What would be a celebration in our family with out CUPCAKES! These ones are a lemon cake (though a little dry, I'll have to work on that), with a fresh raspberry filling, topped with a lemon frosting, lemon zest and a raspberry from our yard. Delicious!

As sweet as these cupcakes were, they couldn't compare to how I felt. As a parent I have spent 8 years, hoping, praying and preparing my Danny for this day. He was willing, ready and happy, and that made all the difference. This is just the beginning of all that is in store for my Danny boy.

Look Who's Eight!

On the 16th Danny had is 8th Birthday!

Since it was on a weekday... he went to school, but it was an extra short day! Yeah!

At home we had a family party to celebrate. And of course there were....

CUPCAKES! Chocolate cupcakes, with chocolate chips, with chocolate frosting as requested!

Happy Birthday Danny!

Not only was Danny's birthday on a Friday, with an early release. It was also on ICON's Lagoon day! Despite 45minutes of rain, Danny had a great first trip to Lagoon.

We all enjoyed the rides, and all the "Creamies" we could eat!

Even Josh got in on the fun. He loved our evening at the "Big Park".

We stayed until it closed at 11pm and then got home after midnight. I'd say we made the best of every moment of Danny's birthday!

Caramel Apple Cucakes

We are settling in and falling into a routine over here. It helps that school doesn't start until 9:00 am, so mornings are not to hectic for us. Still, we were all more than happy to sleep in last Saturday! It has been weeks since we have had a quiet Saturday. We stayed home and got things done around the house and yard. Then in the evening we headed over to the church pavilion for a ward potluck. By the title of this post I'm sure you can guess what we brought...

CARAMEL APPLE CUPCAKES

Since coming up with the idea in the grocery store early last week I couldn't wait to see if I could make them work.

I used a yellow cake mix. After filling the baking cups with batter I stirred in caramel topping and then baked as directed on the box.
I then whipped up my Peanut Butter Frosting. (For the recipe see the post in July titled "Celebrations")
I then placed little apple slivers on top. Before adding them I brushed lemon juice to both sides of the slices. I like to use Gala Apples. They taste good and don't brown too much.
For finishing touches I drizzled more caramel on top and sprinkled cinnamon over the whole cupcake.

Yum, yum, yum! The peanut butter frosting is VERY rich. I think next time I may try making a caramel frosting, just to see if I like it better. Apples and peanut butter are just such a GREAT combination though! All in all a success I'd say, and a great way to begin ushering in autumn!

Laboring Away on Labor Day

This Labor Day earned its name in our neighborhood this year!

On Monday we joined in with our new neighbors in a clever tradition all about CORN.

It began at 8am... well for Ryan it did. He headed off to the corn fields with neighbors to pick the corn. A friend of a friend owns a field and let us take what we wanted without charging us. I'd say it didn't cost anything, but all in all it cost about 12 hours of work! After2 or 3 hours of picking I joined in for the husking.

With 2 Pick-up trucks FULL there was a lot of husking happening!

Every hour or so we would take the tarp of husks and haul it across the street to dump in the field . That gave our arms a little break for a minute.

Each ear was boiled to perfection and quickly cooled in ice water before the cutting began. This is me giving one of the electric knives a break. We really worked those motors hard!

All the kids were good sports and even helped out. Joshy didn't husk a piece, but he was happy, and that was help enough.

Ryan taking his turn manning the 4 pots of boiling corn. Way to go Ryan!

When all was said and done each family ended up with around 55 bags to freeze for the winter, plus all the fresh we wanted! There was lots of corn, lots and lots and lots of corn! In the end as it began to rain we cleaned up and piled into the Riley's house for a family home evening and you guessed it, our treat was hot, buttery CORN!

As of Lately

As of lately a lot has happened. We moved out for one thing. (In 100 degree weather! Big change from all our winter moves in the Midwest).

And then we MOVED IN to our house in Hyrum, UT.

Somewhere in all that chaos the boys started school. For the first couple of days they were commuting from Logan to Hyrum. Now they just commute down the street to the bus stop.

As of lately I've been decorating and exploring the garden. A fun combination.

Very fun!

As of late the raspberries have started coming in! JOY in berry form.

As of late I've discovered that maybe a garden could be a lot of fun!