Do you remember that time when I tried to keep a blog for a bit? Well it didn't seem to work out very well.

Catch up!

Lets see if we can catch this thing up. A quick review of the past 6 months, and GO!

April- Steven got excepted to ASU (Arizona State University) in Tempe AZ!
May- Steven Graduated with his Masters in English!!!

       - Natasha packed up the entire house, with a little help from Steven.
June- Our big Move to AZ
       - We loaded the truck and said goodbye to some amazing friends in Stillwater.

July-Explored our new surroundings, spent a lot of time avoiding the heat by playing in water.

    - Steven spent a lot of time job searching, he did get a position teaching at a local community college      

       -Uncle Dan and Aunt Laura and there two boys came and had an awesome visit.

       -We found out we are pregnant!
August- We traveled to Florida for Natasha's little sisters wedding.

          - Natasha decorated the wedding cake.

          - Steven revived a TA (teachers assistant) position over the phone on Friday while we were at the temple for the wedding. The job was his if he could be there first thing Monday. Steven flew strait home.
          - Natasha and the boys flew to Oklahoma for a couple weeks to spend time with friend and family.

September- Steven got busy with work and School.
               -Aunt Sarah and cousin Lindsey came to visit.
               - We went and saw Les Miserables, it was amazing!          

               -Natasha and the boys stayed busy exploring museums and attending an art class.

Elliot getting his art on, he really is talented. 

Now that its October we are trying to do some fun thing to get ready for the Holiday season. We are excited for Stevens Fall Break and are hoping for it to cool down soon.

books of 09

I just found a list of books I read in 2009.

The Host- Stephanie Meyer (Better than Twilight)

French Women, Don't get Fat!- Mireille Guiliano (Should read again)

The Scarlet Pimpernel- Baroness Orczy (Loved it A Lot)

The Witness- Dee Henderson (It read like a Dee Henderson)

The Road- Cormac McCarthy (enjoyably depressing)

A Walk in the Woods- Bill Bryson ( I laughed out loud)

Cheaper by the Dozen- Gilbreths (Surprisingly not like either of the movies)

Persuasion- Jane Austen (Will always be a favorite)

Hidding Place- Corrie Ten Boom (Loved)

The Devil wears Prada-Lauren Weisberger(don't remember reading, book club book -don't judge)

The Wee Free Men- Terry Pratchett(I was supposed to like this one more than I did)

The Time Travelers Wife- Audry Niffenegger (Fun Idea)

Con fessions of a shopaholic- Sophie Kinsella (Why was I part of that book club?)

Five Skies- Ron Carlson (Enjoyable)

Anthem-Ayn Rand (Took me back to High School but I enjoyed it again)

Three Weeks with my Brother- Nickolas Sparks(If your going to read Sparks this is the one)

Freakonomics- Steven Levitt (Fun Stuff)

Adventures of Huckleberry Fin-Mark Twain (Good Stuff)

The Lucky One- Nicholas Sparks (Good old Nicky Sparks)

The Sugar Queen- Sarah Addison Allen (Super cute)

Cakes for Jan and Feb

With Elliot's birthday in January and Stevens in February it has been easy enough to keep up with my cake a month goal so far.

January-Elliot decided on a candy cake:

It was a two tear (10in and 6in round) chocolate cake

My original plan had been to use red, yellow, and blue fondent to cover the cake and then to decorate with both fondent and red, yellow and blue candies. The same weekend as Elliot's big day we ended up being in Moore to clean out my parents garage so his cake got set on the back burner. I had pre-made his cake but hadn't spent any time on the decorations so we ended up just covering it in chocolate butter cream frosting and sprinkling candies on it. It turned out cute but I was a little disappointed in not doing more on my first cake of the year.

Elliot loved it though and that is really all that matters.

The actual cake was a chocolate cake recipe in the Joy of Cooking cook book by Irma Rombauer. it had a good flavor but came out super dry. In addition to cake decorating practice I am hoping to find some solid cake recipes. I want cakes that are soft, moist, have amazing flavors but also are strong enough to be stacked.

February- For stevens birthday I always make him cannolis (an Italian pastry) so I decide to go with a smaller cake and incorporate the cannolis into the design.

I used a yellow cake recipe found in the Better homes and garden cookbook. I didn't want another dry cake so I watched it like a hawk while it was baking. It did turn out moist but it was also dense, I am looking for moist and fluffy cake so I will have to work on that. I baked the cake in two 6in rounds and cut them each twice so there were six layers in his little cake. I filled and frosted it with Chocolate mousse Frosting. I made and shaped fondent into a picnic blanket and I sculpted a bike out of wire and covered it in fondent. I was really excited about how the bike turned out I think it would have been better to cover it with modeling chocolate or even a fondent gum paste mixture but I used what I had. I plan on trying out some gum paste in the next couple months.

As for my March cake plan I only have two words "Hunger Games"!

2012

I (Natasha) ran and completed my first 1/2 marathon in November. I came in with great time. I ran consistently under a 10min mile. I was third in my age group. Since then I have lost all motivation to do anything active. I know I just need to find a race to get excited about but till then I think I will just stay on my couch and eat things that are not good for my body.

Speaking of things that are not good for the body, I made my brother Darvil and now sister-in-law Brittany's wedding cake in December. It turned out beautiful and was so much fun to make.

I forgot how natural it for me to kneed fondant and spread icing. Breathing in the unavoidable amounts of powdered sugar that float in air made me feel comfortable and almost gave me a sense of power. I knew what I was doing and loved the confidence I gained in my abilities. Making their cake gave me a dream to someday get paid to make a cake for someone else.. I have set a goal this year to make and decorate a cake a month. This will give me some much needed experience and practice trying new things.

January cake will be a birthday cake for our Elliot who is turning 4(can you believe it) on the 31st. I haven't come up with a design yet because every time I ask what he wants he gives me a different answer, some example include: candy cane, candy land, a bike, a horse on a bike, cupcakes and and train with a car. I just have to choose something and run with it but again I have no motivation to run.

February is Stevens birthday cake it will be focusing more on flavor than design for his.
For March I have bin plans so stay tuned because it should be rad.

Well I felt like I should post and I feel like this was pretty productive, so I think I will mosey on down stairs and see what the kids are up too.

What we have been up to

As you can see from my last post it has been awhile. We have been busy, busy, busy! Since July we have, in no particular order:

Taken a trip to California
Started a Preschool group for Elliot
Hosted a Feast
Took Qualifying Exams
Passed Qualifying Exams
Sewed 3 bird costumes
Trained for and completed a Triathlon (Steven took first in his age division)
Trained for a Half Marathon (It's Saturday, I have hurt my knee, pray that I will still be participating!)
Trick or Treated 3 times with the boys
Bought a new car: a dark blue Hyundai Santa Fe
Went to the zoo too many times to count
Helped my brother propose to his girlfriend
Went to a science museum
Put new handle bars on a bike.
Celebrated Malcolm's 2nd birthday
Took a trip to North Carolina for a baby Blessing
Survived a 45 day streak of 100+ degree weather
And fell in love over and over again.

The Fourth

Last year both my kids cried through the entire firework show. I couldn't get Elliot to even look at them. So this year I was a little hesitant in taking them back, but when it come down to it I LOVE fireworks. This year worked better we found a good spot on a hill a block away from the lake were they are launched so they wouldn't be so loud.
I of course loved them, Malcolm was neutral he watched for awhile and then just wondered around. Elliot was terrified by them and spent the whole time in my lap with a blanket over his head. Did I mention that the fireworks were on the 3rd I don't know why and it kind of bothered me because then we didn't have anything to look forward to on the actual 4th.

We still tried to fill our holiday with American type things:
Like bike rides- Steven did a 36.3 mile ride.

And cheering for people- we met Steven at the end of his race and stayed awhile to cheer on the other bike riders it was as close to a parade as we could find.


And getting wet- we went to a little splash pad to cool off for a bit.


My perfect Fourth of July would start with a big pancake breakfast and end with a big firework show, shared with all the friends I have ever had and all the family I could get me hands on. We did have french toast and the fireworks were there even thought they were at the wrong end. Also the boys drank an entire bottle of Maple Syrup while I was in the shower so it was defiantly a special day for them. I guess It turned out to be a pretty good fourth after all.