Bad Kitty

I put Katie on a diet about 2 years ago. What good has it done though? She gets the recommended diet portion of Iam's weight control. But she always seems to be begging for food and has put on more weight. During the summer I attributed the weight gain to her supplemental diet of birds, mice and the neighbors cat's food. Now that it's winter and she doesn't go out much she has found ways to sneak more food.

I came home late last night to this mess in my kitchen. About a week ago she figured out how to get into the cat food bag. I haven't had time to get a cat proof container so I thought putting the food on the counter behind some cookbooks would keep her out. Nope. Here's Katie impressed with her handy work. I swear that cat is like a dog. Had I not cleaned up her mess I'm sure she would have eaten everything and licked the floor clean before I left for work this morning.

We are having two healthy little...

A Few Highlights From the Trip

Dave and I went on our Hawaiian vacation with our friend's Sharon and Jared. Here's the closest thing I had to a group picture. Sharon and I posing under the huge Banyan tree, with Jared sneaking in behind us.

Here's one with Dave so he doesn't feel left out.

The last time I went to Maui my favorite part of the trip was a whale watching boat ride. So that was definitely on our list of must dos this trip. This time we did a dolphin tour knowing that we would see our fair share of whales too. About 15 minutes after leaving the harbor on our way to see the dolphins, a humpback whale jumped out of the water about 20 yards in front of us. It took everyone by surprise. The captain quickly stopped the boat and turned off the engine. No one could believe how close this whale was to us. They usually don't pay much attention to boats, so it was pretty rare when he started circling our boat and flapping his fins.

Here are a couple of pictures I got just leaning over the boat.

The whole experience was pretty amazing. Just as the whale was leaving he did a full breech right in front of the boat.

We spent a couple days snorkeling and saw some pretty cool stuff. Sea turtles where definitely the highlight.

We drove the road to Hana and saw waterfalls and my favorite beach yet. The picture I posted yesterday was from a black sand beach near Hana.

Body surfing at Big Beach was a lot off fun too. Here's Dave and Jared giving it a try.

We had an awesome time. But I did learn a few things about traveling while pregnant that I wasn't expecting.

1. Laying out while pregnant wasn't as relaxing as I was hoping it would be. I couldn't find a comfortable position. Dave and I tried digging holes in the sand for me to lay my belly, but it didn't work too well. So I could only tan the the front side of my body.
2. Even though dolphin/whale tours are a lot of fun at first, about 2 hours into it expect to be sick. Yes I'll admit it. I did yack off the back of the boat. Not my finest moment.
3. I know it seems obvious that body surfing should be a no-no for pregnant women, but I couldn't resist. Everyone looked like they were having so much fun. I only tried it once and thought better of it as I skidded across the beach on my belly then was repeatedly pummelled by waves because I couldn't manage to stand up. Sorry babies.

We're Back

I've taken a bit of a blogging hiatus. I'll try to be a little more consisted from now on. I blame my lack of doing anything interesting on my first trimester which was pretty rough. I was so exhausted that going to work was about all I could handle. But I'm finally getting my energy back.

In celebration of feeling somewhat like myself again, Dave and I headed to Maui for a week. Here's a sneak peak at out our trip. I'll post more pictures and stories later this week.

Nick and Shay's Wedding Cake

My friend Tammy's son is getting married today. I feel honored to have been asked to make the wedding cake. They didn't want anything large or with fondant. It's been so long since I've worked with butter cream I was a little nervous taking on the challenge. Luckily I hadn't forgotten how to use a piping bag. This is what we came up with.The groom is in the Navy so they added this sculpture on top of the cake. At first they wanted a nautical themed cake to go with the sculpture but in the end they decided on a more traditional cake. I really love how the cake turned out.

Beginnings of a Nursery

I haven't had much to blog about lately. It seems like all I do anymore is sleep, work, eat and puke. That doesn't leave much time for making cakes or socializing.

I am getting some ideas together for the nursery, though. I bought this rug last week and thought I would base the nursery around it. I'm planning on using mainly teals and reds.

I'm Pregnant!!!

Take a close look at my ultrasound and see if you notice anything a little different.

Yep there are two babies in there! I'm only about 8-9 weeks along right now. Originally I didn't want to tell people until I was passed my first trimester, but I couldn't resist. Their due date is June 4th.

Puss n' Sneaks

Whenever I take a cake on a plane, I usually get a lot of people interested in what I'm traveling with. Last month when I took my ugly ducking cake to Idaho, I came equipped with business cards. A flight attendant from Dave's airline called me shortly after to make this cake for her friend's birthday. Her friend is a marathon runner who has two orange cats. So I made her some running shoes with her feline friends playing with the shoelaces.

More Bouncy Balls

A woman in Dallas stumbled across my blog and saw the bouncy ball cake I made for my friend Melinda. She asked if I could make the cake and send it to Dallas. I wasn't sure how well that would work so we came up with a compromise. She had a Dallas bakery make the cake and I made all of the fondant bouncy balls. So here they are, ready to be packaged and delivered.

Ready for Ski Season???

Every fall Dave and I dry up Little or Big Cottonwood Canyon to see the changing leaves. Last night we went up to Alta. Up at the top of the canyon the leaves were starting to turn red, which is my favorite stage. We'll have to go again in a few weeks to see the whole canyon transformed.

I know it looks silly with me wearing my big puffy green coat when it really wasn't that cold outside. I was just so excited to wear it. I bought it last Spring at a snowboard shop and haven't had a chance to wear it yet. I fell in love with it because the fabric is Herringbone which I thought was an awesome choice for a ski jacket. Maybe if I have some cute snow gear I'd be more willing to give skiing another try. We'll see.

Rocking Swan

I was at D.I. last night looking for some furniture I could refinish. Instead I found this awesome wooden rocking swan. I thought that one day it would look darling in a little nursery. It's missing the velvety plush body. Hopefully I can find a replacement or figure out something similar I can make. I was excited to find that my $8 purchase sells new for $475. Not bad.

Yummy Chicken Noodle Soup

Now that's it's getting colder outside I'm going to start experimenting with soups. On Friday night I was craving chicken noodle soup. I found this recipe at foodnetwork.com and thought I'd give it a try.

This was the best chicken soup I've ever made. I used a rotisserie chicken and frozen egg noodles. That was pretty much the only alterations I made. The mushrooms sauteed in butter were the best part of the soup. And definitely don't skimp on the fresh lemon juice.

Ingredients
2 quarts canned low-salt chicken broth
1 (3 1/2-pound) chicken, cut into 8 pieces
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 carrots, peeled, thinly sliced
2 celery stalks, sliced
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
1 cup mushrooms, quartered
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
8 ounces dried egg noodles
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh parsley


Directions
Combine chicken broth and chicken in heavy large pot. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover partially, and simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 20 minutes. Using tongs, transfer chicken to large bowl. Cool chicken and broth slightly. Discard skin and bones from chicken. Cut chicken meat into bite-size pieces and reserve. Spoon fat off top of chicken broth.
Return broth to simmer. Add onion, carrots and celery. Simmer until vegetables soften, about 8 minutes. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover chicken meat and broth separately and refrigerate. Bring broth to boil before continuing.)

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and saute until they begin to brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in lemon juice. Add mushrooms to broth; stir in noodles, parsley and reserved chicken. Simmer until noodles are tender, about 5 minutes. Season soup to taste with salt and pepper.

Nice Croutons

The theme for this month's cooking group is salads. I decided to make a traditional green salad with ranch dressing. Well actually it's not that traditional since it's made out of cake. I had a lot of fun with this one. The little croutons are my favorite part. I was asleep before Dave got home last night. As I was getting ready for work, Dave woke up and said "have a nice day at work, and I love the croutons." Then he fell back asleep. I thought that was pretty cute.

Wrapping Station

I love ribbon. I like to buy presents just so I can wrap them. I've been wanting a way to organize my ribbon and paper but couldn't find exactly what I was looking for. Pottery Barn makes a wrapping station, but it isn't really in my price range and it wouldn't hold all of my paper. So I came up with this inexpensive way to store all of my supplies.

I bought two totes and drilled 1/2 inch holes into the sides. I put 3/8 inch dowels through the holes and strung on my spools of ribbon. Inside of the totes, I secured the dowels with little wooden balls with 3/8 holes in them.

So simple.

In the tote with the lid, I am able to store my scissors, tape and gift tags.

Sneak peak at my new wood floors

Last week we had our hard wood floors refinished. Two bedrooms, the dining room and the family room were all moved out. Most of it's in my kitchen. I love love love my new floors but I am so ready to have my house back. We have to wait 5 days to move heavy furniture back in while the finish is curing. I'm going nuts. My piano is in front of my stove so cooking is out of the question. Luckily I pulled out the electric skillet before we barricaded the cupboards.

Tonight I'm going to paint the baseboards and Saturday we'll move all of the furniture back. Here is a sneak peek of the floors. This is the cowboy room. Above the stars there is a funny boarder with bucking broncos and cowboys with chaps. I've been using this room as a closet for the last three years since our 1950's home is lacking in closet space. I moved my closet downstairs and think I'll use this room as a craft room. Even though the cowboys inspire my artistic side, I think I might change it up this fall.