Doug and Barbs Anniversary Cake!

Doug and Barbs 32nd Anniversary was this week and I wanted to make something for them. This was definatly not my original plan. I tried to make a chocolate marshmallow fondant but it just didn't work out (any tips would be appreciated) So I had to improvise with what I had. I just covered the cake with buttercream icing and then dipped a stamp in cocoa powder for the decal.

Mia's Baptism Cake

I was asked by a friend in our ward to make a cake for her daughters baptism celebration. I was told to do whatever I thought would look good-but that Mia (the one getting baptised) was very girly. I tried several new things with this cake. I made the cakes a few days in advance and then froze them- this saved me so much time on the day I put it all together. I got some advice from someone that really helped the cake firm up and be a lot more dense. And we bought a little hand steamer to make the final shiny look.

I really have to thank Neal-my Hubby- for all of his help. He honestly did the bow that is on top of the cake, also helped me with a lot of the white balls on each tier and did so much more. He is amazing-I love you!

This cake has 3 actual cake layers-one chocolate, yellow and confetti. The bottom tier is actually an upside down cake pan that I frosted and covered with fondant. I ended up using 5 cake boxes, so this cake was definatly a big job.

The ZOO, The Science Center, and a few Random

The girls and I have been able to do so many fun things with our play group here in Pittsburgh. The pictures here are of the Zoo and The Science Center. We had long, fun days at both.

These are just some random pics from the last few months. Sophee and Lillie are best friends. However, they have a love/hate relationship. One minute they are hugging and playing and the next they are hurting each other, either way they are a crack up to watch.

Kamber is such a climber. Here she climbed on her mattress, then onto Sophee's bed and then on top of the dresser. Even though she fell down from there once, she kept doing it, so I had to rearrange the room.

Fourth of July and another cake!

Happy FOURTH OF JULY-2010

We really enjoyed going to the park with our friends

and having a BBQ. I don't have any pictures of Sophee because

she was out playing with the kids the whole time.

I also got to make a cake for the BBQ!

I decided to make it the night before at 7pm, went and got

what I needed from the store and started it by 8pm.

With all the baking and decorating I was finished by 1:30am

the next morning. It is a two tier cake but has four layers.

New York- June 2010

So, Neal completed his first 3 months of school and had a week off. I had all these fun things planned to do in/around Pittsburgh and was so excited, but then, my Grandma called (who is serving a mission with my Grandpa in New York) just to say hi and chat. I told her we were just enjoying our time with Neal on his week off and finding things to do when she told us we should come visit her. Well, I gave her the few reasons why we really wouldn't be able to (one of which is that our car is currently sitting with a broken transmission) After I got off the phone I told Neal how awesome it would be to just go to NEW YORK! So after thinking and wishing we started planning. I talked to my Grandma at noon on Monday and after getting my mother in laws car, getting work straightened out and a few other things, we were on the road to NEW YORK at 1:00 in the morning on Tuesday (Neal prefers to drive at night when the girls are sleeping). So we got to spend Tuesday to Friday in NEW YORK. Below are some pictures of what we got to do.

We got to take the girls to one of the beaches on Long Island. It was the first time they had ever been to a beach so it was a lot of fun.

On Thursday we did all of our site seeing in Manhattan. The girls were able to stay with a lady in my Grandparents' ward so we did a lot. We first went and did a virtual tour on the Empire State Building and then took a lot of pictures of the view. There are some of different buildings, Central Park, and ground zero where the twin towers once stood. On our way to and from Manhattan we took the Statton Island Ferry which went right past the Statue of Liberty. It was amazing to see it in person. I also had the first cab ride experience in my life. The driving in New York is CRAZY and scary.

We just had so much fun with GG Lees! They let us stay at their house and they helped us get around to where we wanted to go.

On our way home, around 11:00 at night we stopped by the famous Pats and Genos Philly Cheesesteak stands and got one at each. We liked Genos better.

Down Town (Don Ton) Adventure!

We started out Saturday off with taking the "T" (Trolley) to Station Square in Downtown Pittsburgh. We then got off and walked around and fount the water fountain and let the girls play, and get wet. Our main focus for the day was going on the Gateway Clipper, Goodship Lollipop Cruise. This was a fairey (spelling?) that took us on a cruise on the three rivers in Pittsburgh. The cruise also had a clown which made it fun for the kids. Neal and I really enjoyed it also. All in all, a fun day!