Valentine's Day

As I go through other blogs I see houses decorated with Valentines things, kids getting special heart shaped meals in appropriate colors, huge goody baskets, etc.  Around here however, we keep it simple.  This picture shows the extent of our Valentine's Day and honestly, Hayden and Marcus couldn't have been happier.  What's better than waking up to candy pooping toys?!  Inside the cards, were messages from mom and dad, complete with loving poems...

Roses are red

Violets are blue

Happy Valentine's Day

Enjoy your candy poo!

 We were able to attend a Valentine's party over at Penny's house.  Though Hayden and Marcus aren't into tea parties, princess dresses and pink being everywhere, they had a great time being surrounded by these cute little ladies, and of course eating cookies.  Thanks for the party girls!

Sterling and I celebrated our Valentine's Day the Saturday before, by going to the temple and then out to eat at Benihana's in Seattle.  So many things pull at you and make it difficult to get to the temple but we were very glad we made it, and thank you to my mom for watching our little guys.  As I sat there in the session, periodically glancing over at Sterling, I had this image of him and our four boys, all in white, filling up almost the whole row.  That day will be one of the greatest!  We are so blessed!

Dinner was great and as always, time together as spouses was very nice.

OTHER THINGS

 Trios Trios Trios.  Seriously can't get enough.  Here is a picture of Marcus and Hayden showing off one of their many, super awesome creations.  I am so impressed.

 Hayden lost another tooth.  His favorite dragon is Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon, but now he's taken it as a nickname.  Last time he lost a tooth, the tooth fairy forgot to visit and I woke up to a super crushed little boy standing at my bedside, holding his tooth and fighting back the tears.  Quickly I reassured him that she must have been REALLY busy and that she would surely come tonight.  Well, she must have felt guilty because the next day he woke up with a bag full of coins!  I think he forgave her, though she still feels bad, I'm sure.

And here is just a clip of my hilarious little guy who can't resist and loves the attention.

Congratulations Chris & Sheri!

Apparently I took a lot of video and left the photography to the hired help because this is the only picture I have of them (where you can see their faces).  Chris and Sheri were married Saturday February 5th and are very much in love.  We are all so happy for them.  We love you guys!

They asked me to make their cake and though I've made one wedding cake before, for my mother, I had never used fondant.  My sister-in-law Kanoe was very helpful and taught me how to make and use it.  We tried to roll it out as thin as possible, because lets be honest, nobody actually likes fondant.  Our recipe, consisting only of powdered sugar, marshmallows and vanilla, tasted good, but the texture is still the same.  ANYWAY, the wedding theme was northwest beach.  The cake was chocolate with a cream cheese coconut filling.  It was quite delicious.  The toppers are real starfish and I made their accessories.  The fencing I made with popsicle sticks I cut and wired together.  The other shells were made with white chocolate and a touch of butterscotch for added color, and then brushed with PAM for a shiny finish.  Finally, the sand was crushed up vanilla wafers.  I was very happy with how it turned out, though I am confident my next cake will be even better.  I learned a lot.