we travel to utah just to eat pie with our families

Oh my silly silly, Lindsay loo. We all went out to brunch at Little America, for my dad's birthday since it's at the end of November.

Can you believe her poses? Such a diva.

One of Maloree's dog friends (we call her dog training friends her dog friends) had some German Shepherd puppies, and Mal brought some over so I could see how fluffy and cute they were.

SO FLUFFY AND CUTE! This one is Absolute, and she's adorable!

Yaaaaaaay for fabric shopping!!!!!!

Since Nick and his wife would be in Rock Springs with her family for Thanksgiving, we all had dinner together the day before at my parents house.

At the end of dinner, my mom asked me to go upstairs with Lindsay to check on the new kitty, and when I came back down, there were balloons and cake and they started singing Happy Birthday to....


...me! Since we don't come home for Christmas, and since my birthday is 2 day before, we don't get to celebrate my birthday together. 

I was so surprised! My mom and Stevie came up with the idea, isn't that awesome? My mom ordered an angel food cake with cherry frosting from Parson's, one of our favorite bakeries. It was the first dessert I'd had in over a month and a half.

It was divine.


My family had always been so good at celebrating my birthday, I'm so grateful to them for that. So thanks, family. I love you.

Both my sister and my brother must be patron saints of rescuing animals. 

This sweet kitty found her way into the parts department at his work, and even though she is chipped, they can't get ahold of the owners, that live somewhere in the midwest. They figured that they must have come through in a camper or something, and she got out somehow. So now they have 4 cats.

Ryker is very sad that the new kitty won't play with him.

It's pie time! Nan came over and we made pie. Mmmmmm!

That crust was amazing. It was SO EASY to make it look great. Recipe found here.

We may have also had cake for breakfast. Nothing beats two best friends eating cake for breakfast, laughing and blabbing, while pies bake in the oven. 

I miss you so much Nan, but when we do get together it's like we've never been apart. Thank you for being the bestest friend ever!

Danny snapped this shot of his dad at his family's feast. I think it's pretty awesome.


"Craig explains something."

Here is my cherry pie, all ready for the oven. I used this recipe. I ordered organic tart cherries from Northwest Wild Foods and they were amazing. I highly recommend them if you are a cherry snob like me.

My very first cherry pie (I usually stick to cobbler) along with my very first lattice pie crust. I'm very proud of myself!

It was so amazing. So, so amazing.

I also made this huge disappointment.

 I love banana cream pie, but I don't so much enjoy slimy bananas. All the recipes I found have vanilla custard, and sliced bananas, so I had this idea to make banana flavored custard instead, because while I like my bananas on the verge of rotten, my whole family likes them green. (ewww) 

What I didn't know is that cooked bananas turn brown, no matter what you do. So while this pie looks just awful and gross, it's not. It's heavenly.

Must work on this.

My mom put these amazing vintage pillowcases on our bed for us to use, aren't they gorgeous???

We had lunch with Nan, Mike and the boys before we headed out. This little guy is ALL over the place. Hey little man, wait for me!

We were so very naughty while in Utah, we were drinking soda again. Yikes. Here we are, his and hers, toasting to our last ones before boarding the plane.

summer time

Cookies from Parsons....

Baking supplies from Gygi....

I bought like 10 things at Target, and they gave a bag for each. I'm so used to SF's no plastic bag law, this just looks wrong to me.

More sunsets....

Kittens sleeping in the windows.

I hung out with Danny's grandma, and she taught me how to bake her wonderful bread recipe.

Mmm, I had a dinner date with my dad at Pace's.

See you later, Utah. 

Henry's first birthday!

Can't believe this boy is one!

I flew to Utah to celebrate, make some cake, and give some very special gifts!

Nan was throwing a "Very Hungry Caterpillar" themed party for him, so I made this amaaaaazing cupcake cake.

She found this link on pinterest, and I replicated it.

OMG so amazing, right?

The swirled green frosting was a tad tricky, but I did it!

Here is Henry's cake! I looooved eating skittles while decorating this cake.

I also made a small cake for Van, because we were celebrating both their birthdays.

I made Henry a monkey, just like I did for Van. This photo makes my heart swell....

So amazing.

Here they are together, best buds.

Cake time!!!! Check out that foot action! This boy knows how to get his cake on.

And his watermelon too.

Bounce house!

Roughhouse is their language!

Eating the best part of the cupcake...

I said come here and let me put all of these hats on you. And he did. He's an aunties dream come true. Silly boy.

Mmmmmm. 

spring in utah

It's time for the annual trip back home in May!

On the calendar:

Get my hair done. ASAP.

Lindsay Loo's birthday!

Time with Nan and the boys!

Seeing just how big Ryker's gotten!

My brother's birthday!

I love looking at how crazy the lake looks from way up here.

Lindsay loo and I went for burgers at our favorite, Red Robin!

Hi bun bun!

I brought some pink hair chalk for Lindsay cause she said she wanted pink hair, but she wouldn't let me do it. So Mal and I had some fun with Iris.

Baking, baking baking! I made a cake and cupcakes for Lindsay loo's birthday. And I made cupcakes for Nick's birthday.

Lindsay "helped" by taking a copious amount of selfies....

Then we gave this teeny baby duckling a bath.

Someone brought some baby ducks into her work, so Maloree brought one home. Isn't it cute???

When it gets old enough, there is a refuge that will take him.

So I uh, decided that I wanted to get some of those amazing big round balloons for the party. I ordered them online, and then took them to Smith's Marketplace to get blown up.

They were less than helpful, and totally confused at to how they were going to do it. I finally got them done, but all 4 balloons were kinda big...

...and walking around the store with them was a teensy bit embarrassing. Also, I realized that they were so not gonna fit in the car. So I had to call my mom to come down to help me. Help me transport balloons. 

Lindsay turned 29! OMG where has time gone? I feel old!

She wanted to be a "queen" for her birthday. So I made her glittery wands, a birthday banner, a felt crown with jewels....

(I don't spoil her, do I?)

Here is her cake. She requested yellow cake with raspberry filling and cream cheese frosting. I made the castle with my silhouette machine.

Mmmmmm!

Chocolate cupcakes with Salted caramel buttercream.

I love this boy. He had so much fun playing with his cars.

And this one, always trying to steal my glasses.

These two are so amazing together. Ryker may be tough- but when it comes to Lindsay and kids, he's a total softie.

I was missing my husband so I took a selfie to send to him. And I feel great because I got my hair did.

My brother. So silly with that huge dog!

Oh yeah, sewing and a cold Dr Pepper.

My mom was making some bibs, so I decided to make some too!

Can you even stand this? Van is looking like such a teenager here. We went to the mall for corndogs and lemonade, one of my favorites!

Also while I was there Nan, the boys and I went to the This is The Place Monument Park. They have a whole village and train ride now, it's the new hot spot for kids!

Van in one of the tiny houses.

Train ride!

Pretty excited about riding on this horse.

Aw, baby goats.

Hanging out on the pirate ship.

Me and Henry on the train.

These two are such sweet brothers. We had lunch at the Hires burger spot. Mmmmm!

Even though I love the city, I appreciate the wide open spaces.

Love you Henry boy!

Look how much bigger the duckling got!

Ryker looooooves me. We chase each other around the house!

I made Chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter mousse and chocolate ganache for my brother's birthday.

Aw, good old 9th and 9th. I used to live right down the street. Taking a stroll around was fun, but I miss the way it used to be. Coffee Garden in it's modern techy-ness kinda bugs me. I miss the couches and squashy armchairs. 

Lindsay loo and I checked out the new shopping center in Farmington just in time to see this...

...one thing I super miss about Utah is the sunsets. Oh, they are incredible.