Happy Thanksgiving/Birthday

This thanksgiving I have so much to be thankful for! Our little Mason, the love and support of our wonderful family and friends, the gospel and a living prophet, the security of out jobs, and SO much more that this post could go on forever! I am also grateful that we had a wonderful thanksgiving meal at our in-laws house, and I didn't have to really cook or clean, thanks Tim and Sherri! I did bring a side dish however, yams. I never liked yams before, but one year my sister-in law, Alex, made some that were really yummy! So I called her up and got the recipe. I posted it for those who like to bake and try new food, but mainly for my mom, to show her that I do occasionally cook!



Praline Yams

29 oz. can of cut Yams, drained
1/3 cup chopped pecans
1/3 cup coconut
1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons flour
3 tablespoons margarine or butter, melted

Heat oven to 350 F. Place drained yams in ungreased casserole or baking dish. In a small bowl combine remaining ingredients, blend well. Sprinkle over yams. Bake at 350 for 35 to40 minutes or until bubbly.
7 servings.

My birthday was also on thanksgiving, which is always fun! It was nice to share my birthday with lots of family, and food! But I just really have to post the birthday cake that David and Mason made for me, I thought that it was so sweet!

Cowbell Explained...

Some people have asked me, "What's with the Cowbell?" Well it is kind of an inside joke, the cowbell is from one of our most favorite SNL skits of all time starring Will Ferell and Chriistopher Walken. I thought that I would post it here for those who have not seen it so that you all can enjoy it as much as we do!

Fall Leaves

I just had to post some really cute pictures of Mason when he was playing in the leaves yesterday while Grandpa was trying to clean them up. Grandpa would blow all the leaves into a big pile and then Mason would trudge through scattering them about. What a little turd, but it was so funny!

Utah Chocolate Show

We went to the Utah Chocolate Show yesterday because who doesn't love chocolate! TONS of yummy samples everywhere!


David and Mason enjoying the chocolate

But I mainly wanted to go because they host Utah's Grand Wedding Competition. I had no idea about this until the first week in November, and got really excited. I looked it up and there was only a week left to enter, but the entry fee was $95! EEK! Maybe another time. I decided to go and scope out the competition and maybe enter next year. Boy let me tell you, people have got crazy good skills! There were only about 11 cakes entered, some better than others, but all REALLY well done. Here were some that I liked:















My absolute favorites where the stacked presents and the one with the chocolate fountain, how clever! I couldn't really tell who won, it was either the all chocolate one with the pink and yellow flowers or the white lacy one with a pink rose. They both had ribbons that said Grand Champion, but that all brown one had the most ribbons.

After going I have seen what people do and how they judge. I think that life-like flowers are a big thing, but I don't make those yet. So I am not sure if I will enter in the future, but it was still fun to go see other peoples works of art.

Cakes, Cakes, and more Cakes!

Well it has been quite awhile since my last cake post (and since well that's what pretty much occupies my time next to Mason) I thought that it was about time to add another one. I keep my cake website pretty updated, but most friends and family only check it so often, so I decided that I would share some of my favorite cakes I have done with you all over the past few months.


Gift Boxes


Frankenstein and Bride cupcakes


Finding Nemo


Mountaintop Castle


Wedding Cake


King of the Jungle Baby Shower

Our Halloween...

This Halloween was a lot fun fun because Mason was old enough to really get into it. We went to one of those costume stores and started looking for one at the beginning of October. There were some really cute ones, so we thought that we would let Mason decide this year. He saw the fireman costume and got really excited! So we got the costume, a little fireman hat, and some boots (snow boots from Walmart). It looked really cute on him.


I'm a mean mom and made him pose... I thought it would be cute.

Halloween afternoon Mason got to carve his very first pumpkin with his daddy. Don't worry, we gave him a butter knife so he couldn't do any real damage. He thought it was the funnest thing ever. The pumpkin was just something simple, but it turned out pretty cute.








The finished product! It was hard to keep this thing lit because Mason kept blowing out the candle inside. Figures he wouldn't do it on his birthday when you wanted him too but now he is an expert!

Now came time for Trick-or-Treating, and he was ready for it! When we bought him a little pumpkin bucket, we told him you go up to people and say "Trick-or-Treat" and they will give you candy. He got lots of practice with Grandma! But when it came time to go to the neighbors homes and try it out, he just sat there and held out his bucket, or reached in the candy bowl and grabbed some candy and stuffed it in his bucket. It was really cute to watch. He also would try to go into every ones houses, not what to thin k about that yet! So after we would pull him out of their home, it was on to the next one. He did really good for his first REAL Halloween, I am so proud of my little man!




On to the next one!


One of the neighbors had an amazing pumpkin display!


Trick-or-Treating at Grandpa's


Going through the stash! Mason's favorite candy was the peanut butter cups.