The Triplet's 1st Birthday

Last week Taryn came out to Utah so we got to have some fun. She came out with her friends who have triplets. Taryn and Grant helped a lot with the three little ones before they moved. But the parents, Karrie and Al, needed a third set of hands to help on the plane so they paid for Taryn to come out. So I was really bad at taking pictures of our activities but we pretty much ate a lot, we went shopping one day and just hung out (Taryn got sick so she wasn't up for much, but we had fun.) We did have dinner with our cousins who are out here which was fun. While out here Karrie's family had a birthday party for the triplets, they turn one this week, so Karleigh and I went to meet the babies and Karrie and Al. I did take a lot of pictures here so sorry if it is picture overload but they are so cute and there are three of them so it requires 3x the pictures to cover everything.

Karleigh and Madi.

Madi and me.

All of us with Madi.

With Jordan, he had a long day and was pretty fussy most of the time.

Madi on the other hand was quite happy. We had fun saying "Madi night night" and watching her flop over like she is going to sleep and then just giggling away.

Allie, I love her little nose and her adorable hair.

Cake time! They all grabbed the candles right way.

Allie didn't seem too interested.

Jordan wasn't either.

Madi dug right in and enjoyed her cake.

And made a big mess of herself.

Allie being happy.

I guess my necklace is yummy. It kept her from crying at least.

Madi all cleaned up and sleepy.

Jordan starting to cheer up.

Karrie and Madi with the purple dress we gave to her. Allie got a matching one and Jordan got a little button up shirt.

Now one of the sisters.

So glad Taryn could come and stay with me and that we finally got to meet Karrie, Al and their adorable little ones.

Jolly Birthdays

I was a little slow on updating for my birthday so I am just going to combine mine and Jonny's. I didn't take as many pictures for these as I did for Karleigh's sorry. The 8th was my birthday. I only had to work until noon (so nice) so I came home and took a nap. That night Jonny, Karleigh, Kirstin and I all went to P.F. Chang's for dinner. It was amazingly delicious as usual! When we got home I opened my wonderful presents from everyone. (Also I bought the dress I am wearing in the picture a few weeks ago for like $15 and I have been waiting to wear it so I was happy it was nice enough on my birthday.)

Then we had pazookies (spelling?) and I got candles that said "24" haha. Unfortunately, shortly after getting home I started to feel pretty sick to my stomach so I didn't actually eat any but I did blow out the candles.

I blame the upset stomach on the terrible cold I was getting over. Then we all watched the new Karate Kid movie. I liked it a lot. It was a really great birthday minus the feeling sick part.

On to Jonny's birthday on the 12th, a quarter of a century for him! We had people over to his place to watch the BYU/SDSU MWC championship game, not the outcome we were hoping for but oh well. Then we went out to dinner at Rumbi. We had fun there telling old stories and laughing a lot. Then we came back to my place for him to open his presents.

Then it was time for cake. Now I'll have to explain the story behind the cake. For years Jonny has been telling me about the amazing cake his friend Isaac's mom used to make back when he lived in Washington (so about 3rd-7th grade). It was an ice cream cake in the shape of a giant Oreo. So this year I contacted Isaac on Facebook and got the recipe and surprised Jonny with it. I told him I was making him Snickers cupcakes so I actually bought Snickers to keep up the image and then we put the candles in the Snickers bars and brought those out.

He was a little confused until I ran back in the kitchen and grabbed the real cake. He was pretty excited so that made me happy.

We ended the night with some Kinect Sports and dancing and now he is playing Call of Duty Black Ops (my present to him.) So now the March birthday craziness is done. Now it is time to look forward to the Bon Jovi concert on the 22nd! (our birthday present to each other)

Karleigh's 21st Birthday!

And so the March Birthday craziness starts. Karleigh turned 21 on Tuesday! I can't believe she is already 21. We went to dinner with Jonny and Kirstin at California Pizza Kitchen. We were totally stuffed after eating our yummy pizza and drink TONS of lemonade.

So yummy and pretty- Kiwi, Mango, Strawberry and Peach

After dinner we went back to my apartment and Karleigh opened her presents (the ones that had shown up, American Eagle is slow at shipping.)

Then we had cake. I had jokingly told Karleigh I was going to make her Kalua cupcakes but I decided I couldn't make myself spend money on alcohol so I came up with this alternative. So she still got her fancy drink when she turned 21.

Then we played our dancing and sports games on the Kinect. After letting our food and lemonade settle for a bit we had one more surprise for her....

21 shots of Dr. Pepper.

I told her I didn't think she deserved to be deprived of this tradition just because she didn't drink. I'm not sure how she did them all, especially after drinking so much lemonade, but she did. We ended the night with some Beatles' Rock Band. It was a good night. I'm so lucky to have an awesome younger sister who I get to celebrate with.

Catch Up and Cake

I haven't written in awhile. Last weekend we went to the BYU game again. This time we won, by a lot! It is nice to be winning again!

After the game Jonny, Kirstin, her roommate Ariel and I went to Broiler Express. This restaurant has been closed since I moved out to Utah but the building has never changed. The signs have stayed up and everything. Jonny and I have always wanted it to reopen and it finally did! The food was okay but to be honest we probably won't go back.

Now the real purpose of this post...cake! A few weeks ago Karleigh and I were talking to Jonny's roommate Eric and found out his birthday was coming up. So of course Kars and I jumped at the chance to bake a cake. He probably thought we were joking when we said we would make him a cake but of course we weren't. Karleigh found a recipe for zebra cake so thats what we made. The pictures are the best part so here they are...

The birthday boy in the middle.

And the reason it is called zebra cake. We think it turned out well. The pictures don't really do it justice.

Happy "Birthday" Dave!

My cousin David's birthday was a few weeks ago and I wanted to make him dinner and cake but he was in California for his birthday so we celebrated on Sunday. We had a BBQ at a park. We had burgers, potato salad and cupcakes. Luckily the weather was nice, cloudy but still warm. It was lots of fun. I was lame and forgot to take pictures of all of us. I did, however, take pictures of the cupcakes. I have been wanting to make these for a few months now and Dave's birthday gave me the perfect excuse. They are Bakerella's s'mores cupcakes (recipe here). You put graham cracker cake on the bottom, then you put in half a marshmallow, then put chocolate cake on top of that. You top it off with a graham cracker and brown sugar crumble and bake. Once it is cooled you put on chocolate ganache, a marshmallow and more of the graham cracker topping. I think they turned out well. Very yummy and I just thought it was a fun idea! So here are are some pictures.

Before the ganache and marshmallows.

Most of the marshmallow melts away but some of it comes to the top. You can see it in the picture below.

And the final product. Yummy!

Happy Birthday Dear Mom...

Happy Birthday to you!

Today is my wonderful mother's birthday! I could not ask for a better mom. She has taught me so much and has always been there for me. She always know exactly where to find everything, I can look for forever and then she comes in and finds it in five minutes. When I make a new recipe I call her about five times to ask questions, to which she always knows the answers. Cleaning questions? My mom knows!

She is a great example and I hope to be a great a mother as she is. I know I can always count on her and I don't know what I would do without her. I love you mom! I wish I could be there to celebrate with you. Happy birthday!

You thought they were done

You guessed it BIRTHDAY #4! Monday is Katie's golden birthday, 22 on the 22nd! So Jessica (who lived with Katie and I before she got married and has been Katie's friend for forever) threw her a surprise party. We had a gathering of old roommates/friends. It was so much fun! We haven't all been together in so long. We had Carol and her hubby Nick, Kasey, her hubby Garrett, and their baby Kailyn, Jess and her hubby Steve, me and Jonny and the guest of honor KATIE! We had BBQ (which was delicious!) and played games and Rock Band.

The boy band!

And their adoring fans!

We were also entertained by watching Kailyn pull the cutest faces. Like this one!

How cute is she? Also, I held her for awhile and she didn't cry! I was so happy. Babies always cry when they are placed in my hands. She was just content to let me hold her and chew on my fingers. Kasey, I love your baby! She is adorable!

Then we had cake and ice cream and Katie opened her presents.

Showing off her yummy cake by Jess.

Presents!

Katie just got into nursing school at the UofU. A nice little birthday present! So Jess and Steve got her this present so she could practice.

The stethoscope really works! It was such a good evening. I'm glad that we all got together to celebrate with Katie and to just see each other again.

I think this might be one of the best group pictures ever! My friends are pretty.