TOGETHER WITH FRIENDS

Kate singing "Together With Friends" for our friends the Bohneys and the Warths!

KATE IS 5!!!

Kate has been talking about her birthday for months. Kind of fun, so that we have more time to plan something fantastic! She first talked about having an alphabet party, so that's what I went with.

Here is the invitation that I came up with:

I thought that it turned out pretty cute. We invited all of her church friends this year! We were missing a few, but luckily Kate didn't notice!

The kids arrived and watched Word World while we waited for the others to arrive.

Then, we matched up words with a card game.

The 2nd game was just a simple alphabet bingo using skittles. (Because they have an s on it...)

The 3rd game was matching lower case and upper case. I found an idea on Pinterest that I am in love with! I used the Leapfrog lowercase letters that are magnet and did a poster.

~ Her friends in alphabetical order ~

Bethany

The birthday girl

June

Maddy

Sophie

Tyson

Winnie

The last thing that we did was to figure out a secret message to tell Kate. Each symbol had a number on the back of it. We put the numbers in order, flipped over to see the symbol, and then switched the symbol with another paper that had the same symbol and then the letter on the back. It was okay. (If you ever do something like this, I would recommend taping everything down. The kids kept blowing the papers, and I just about lost it. :)

Here was the message:




Present opening while the kids had a capri sun and a cupcake!




Thank you friends! We love you and hope you had a fun time!!!

IMAGE TRAINING

Monday we had a quick Image Training in Boise. It was fun to be able to visit with the girls outside of work. The training could have been better.

Tara

Megan


Sheree posing for the camera

me with Rosemary

BIRTHDAY CAKE - FIRST ATTEMPT

I cannot remember ever making a birthday cake for one of my children. Yes, even, just a plain Jane cake. So this year, I had a plan!

We were doing an alphabet birthday party for Kate, so I thought that it would be fun to do a cake in the shape of the letter K.

Brittney gave me lots of tips on how to make it. I was a little nervous, but after the sculpting, became more confident.

The recipe that I started with is called "Too Much Chocolate Cake" from allrecipes.com

WARNING: It is pretty chocolately!!! (But that's just how Kate likes it!) Also, this one is for a bundt pan. I did a regular 9x13, so I turned it down a bit and didn't bake it quite that long.

Too Much Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

• 1 (18.25 ounce) package devil's food cake mix
• 1 (5.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, mix together the cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, oil, beaten eggs and water. Stir in the chocolate chips and pour batter into a well greased 12 cup bundt pan.
3. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until top is springy to the touch and a wooden toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool cake thoroughly in pan at least an hour and a half before inverting onto a plate If desired, dust the cake with powdered sugar.

I baked it with wax paper in the bottom. After I baked it, I let it cool and then froze the cake.

The next morning, I printed out a template, held it over the cake, and started to trim.

Then, I frosted it. (Next time, I will take the knife, dip it in warm water and smooth out the bumps.)

Then I started to add the fondant. (I used the template again to cut the fondant.)

Marshmallow Fondant (again found on allrecipes.com)

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 (16 ounce) package miniature marshmallows
• 4 tablespoons water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 pounds confectioners' sugar, divided

Directions

1. Place the butter in a shallow bowl, and set aside.
2. Place the marshmallows in a large microwave-safe bowl, and microwave on High for 30 seconds to 1 minute to start melting the marshmallows. Carefully stir the water and vanilla extract into the hot marshmallows, and stir until the mixture is smooth. Slowly beat in the confectioners' sugar, a cup at a time, until you have a sticky dough. Reserve 1 cup of powdered sugar for kneading. The dough will be very stiff.
3. Rub your hands thoroughly with butter, and begin kneading the sticky dough. As you knead, the dough will become workable and pliable. Turn the dough out onto a working surface dusted with confectioners' sugar and continue kneading until the fondant is smooth and no longer sticky to the touch, 5 to 10 minutes.
4. Form the fondant into a ball, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight. To use, allow the fondant to come to room temperature, and roll it out onto a flat surface dusted with confectioners' sugar.

And added trim and a few flowers. (Kate did the decorating.) Here is the finished product:

Whew! What did you think?

FEBRUARY BIRTHDAYS

February has become a real popular month for birthdays in our family. Chris, Sondra, and Richard all have birthdays in February. Now we have Jordan (19), Jason P. (20), Kate (21), Uncle Justin (23), and Samantha (29).

Tracy was gracious enough to have a family birthday party at her house so that our family would only have 1 birthday party that week.

The birthday kids:

Kate turning 5

Jordan turned 2

Waiting for our 'guests'


Opening presents:





The cakes:




Happy birthday Jordan and Kate!!!

FHE - SO WORTH IT

Tonight our family home evening was based on a talk that I heard from one of the Bishop's during ward conferences. (I was lucky enough to even get a copy of it!)

We started with the scripture in D&C 18:10. "Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God." We discussed how the world and God see things differently and worth is not based on social classes or fame and fortune. We are all important to our Heavenly Father.

Then we started opening presents.

Our Heavenly Father considers us SO WORTH IT that He has given us our free agency.

Our Heavenly Father considers us SO WORTH IT that He blesses us with a living prophet.

Our Heavenly Father considers us SO WORTH IT that He has blessed us with the opportunity to receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost.

Our Heavenly Father considers us SO WORTH IT, He has given each of us the opportunity to receive a Patriarchal Blessing.

Our Heavenly Father considers us SO WORTH IT, He commands His shepherd to leave the ninety and nine to go in search of the wandering or lost one.

Our Heavenly Father considers us SO WORTH IT, He has blessed us with temples. When we are prepared, the opportunity to go to His House and make sacred covenants with Him.

Our Heavenly Father considers us SO WORTH IT that He has given us families to help us learn the gospel and bear each other's burdens.

Our Heavenly Father considers us SO WORTH IT, he has given us His only begotten son to atone for our sins and to make it possible to repent and to return to live in His presence.

Then I shared part of Janice Kapp Perry's song "I am of Infinite Worth."
"All I need to remember if ever I wonder if I am of worth,
remember my Savior; what he did for me when he walked among men on this earth.
Pain and unspeakable sorrow he bore for my sins there, in Gethsemane,
then he gave up his life as he hung on the cross and he did it all for me!

Yes, I am of worth, of infinite worth, my Savior, Redeemer loves me.
Yes, I am of worth, of infinite worth, I'll be all he wants me to be."

The family home evening went great! I had quotes and thoughts and we discussed each present as we went. It's definitely worth wrapping a few items that you have around to have a meaningful family home evening. I hope that they remember it!!!