Getting Lost

This morning Camille was dressing Charity for the day. As she was doing this she struggled getting Charity's head through the hole in her shirt. Once Charity finally emerged she looked up at Camille and said "la lost mommy?"

The saying goes "kid's say the darnd'est things" but it is amazing the insight they have!

Charity's 18 Months

Charity just turned 18 months on the 4th. She is such a happy little girl and is constantly laughing and playing. She loves her mommy and daddy and loves her bampa (interchangeable for both Grandpa and Grandma as of yet) and she adores her "Zizzies".

Here are a few pictures of her we had done for her 18 months.

She has been a little sick as of late. It seems that just as she is getting better from one thing another one gets her. The day we had the pictures done she was sick and in the beginnings of an ear infection. Sadly the infection got so bad the poor kid had her ear drum rupture some time on Friday. She has been taking antibiotics and is doing really well now.

We love our little Charity and are having more and more fun with her each day.

Charity's First Day at the Zoo

We got to see a lot of really cool things at the zoo. As soon as we got there we made our way to the first "Meet the Keepers". We learned about Chacoan Peccaries which Charity loved. She clapped and called at them and giggled every time they grunted or ate the yams their keeper was feeding them.

Next we checked out the bears, cougars, and zebras. She laughed at the silly bears. Then we saw the penguins and a Red Panda sleeping in a tree. She kept calling the Red Panda saying "Zizzie.... Zizzie..."

We also went the "Meet the Keepers" for the Pelicans and, later, the tigers. Charity loved seeing these animals get fed and talked to by their trainers and Camille and I loved learning about these animals.

Her favorite animal had to be the Giraffes. She was so amazed at how tall they were. She just sat there and stared at them for quite some time. Then we took her upstairs to see them from above and she was glued to the fencing just clapping and chattering excitedly.

We really loved getting to take her to the zoo and will probably take her back another couple of times this year. We hope you enjoy the pics of her visit.

So Much to be Thankful For

I know this is a short post but I intended it to be such for a lot of reasons that I may or may not actually get into here. All in all I wanted to just express how thankful I really am. The truth is that I, like most of us out there, have taken a lot for granted in my life. I do not mean to do it, I don't think anyone does, but I am thankful for a great many things.

First and foremost I am thankful for my family in all its varieties and combinations. I am blessed with a loving wife who puts up with me through all of my silly insane moments. She loves me unconditionally and is always patient with me and I cannot tell her enough how thankful I am for that.

I am thankful for my sweet Charity. She really is the light of our lives. We are blessed to have such a happy loving little girl and I want her to know how much her daddy loves her.

I am thankful for my puppies Harley and Lizzie. They have been so good to Charity and so good to us. They help bring a peace and comfort to us even in our hardest times and I do not know where we would be without them.

I am thankful for my parents, my brothers and sisters, Camille's parents and brothers and sisters. Camille and I really are blessed to have families that have been so supportive of us through all that we do.

I am especially thankful for my brother Marcus right now. Long story short we are glad he is with us after such a scare. He has been one of the best parts of my life and I really could not imagine my life without him. He is a brother, a friend, someone I trust and an immense example to me in my life. Our recent experiences with him have reminded me how much and all of my siblings and siblings in law really mean to us.

I love and appreciate our friends far and wide. Mark and Michelle and their family always helping us out and just being there for all of the little things as well as the big ones. Matt and Cathy Hicken and their long-lasting and far-reaching friendship and support. The girls at the salon. The wonderful people at BGM. All of our various friends and family who care enough to genuinely ask us how we are doing.

In this season of thankfulness, love and giving I want everyone that reads this to know that I am eternally thankful for all of my many blessings, especially the blessing of having such wonderful people around me to support me, guide me, and love me in spite of my failing and imperfections.

Thank you all so much and I love you.

....ok so maybe this did not end up as short as I thought it would be.

Scarecrow Festival 2008

Here are some pictures of our fun at the Scarecrow Festival at Thanksgiving Point. This was a few weeks ago but I figured it would be fun to see.

The Long Awaited... HAWAII!

I have been talking about this trip for over a year and we went several months ago and lots of people have been asking for pictures. We finally got all of our pictures digitally and I finally found a slide show program I really liked. So, long story short, here they are.

I want to tell you some of our favorite highlights too. We had a really packed week so there is a LOT to tell so I will keep it to the highlights.

Our first day in Kauai we checked into our condo and then went to one of the best places to eat on the island called The Bull Shed. It is right on the ocean front. I don't say beach because there is no beach just a rocky cove. But we got a seat right on the ocean front where the waves crashed against the window. The Bull Shed isn't much to look at but it has some of the best food on the island. Their Teriyaki Steak is amazing. (Below is a picture of me just outside the Bull Shed throwing rocks into the water. They never grow up ladies).

The next morning was our first full day in Kauai and we took off early to pick up our river kayacks. We took those up the Wailua river to a stony beach and then hiked to Secret Falls. I am sure there is a true hawaiian name for the falls but that is the only name we could find anywhere. The falls are supposedly an ancient sacred place but the Hawaiians only feel it is sacred if people continue to visit it. I will get those pictures from my mom and post them here at a later date.


On the way back from the Secret Falls we went a little further up the river and found a little cliff to dive from and a tree with a rope swing. Pretty refreshing after a long hike.


The next day we went to Kipu Falls which is a little secluded falls in the middle of an old sugar cane fields. It is more of a locals' hang out but it was awesome for Camille and I to jump off the falls and swing from the rope swing. My mom and dad played photographers since jumping off cliffs was not their cup of tea.


On the 4th we went to the Lihue soccer stadium and watched the fireworks.... right up until the tsunami hit us.


On Sunday we went to church followed by a drive up Waimea Canyon. It is amazing to climb almost to the altitude of Utah from sea level and see how quickly the scenery changes. It was also awesome to see from north to south both coasts from on point at the top of the island.


The next couple of days were spent snorkeling, going to the spouting horn, walking along beaches. We snorkeled in Poipu and ate at Brenneke's. We went to Hanalei and Ke'e Beach and snorkeled at Tunnels. There were tons of fish and reef to see. It was really refreshing to just float in the ocean and watch the life around us.


One of our favorites was the morning we took a boat along the Na'Pali coast and got to snorkel with all sorts of wildlife including Honu or Green Sea Turtles. We did not get any pictures of them sadly but it is something I will not soon forget. They really don't swim but rather fly or glide through the water. It is pretty amazing to see.


We then took a helicoptor tour around the island. We went on a helicoptor with the doors off which was amazing. We were literally hanging out over the waves. We got to see a lot of places we had already been to and talk more about them from a different angle.


Later that day we went to the Fern Grotto and the Smith Family Luau. It was a lot of good food and a lot of fun. My parents had been to Kauai a few years earlier and had been to a different Luau but said the Smith Family one had it beat hands down.


On the last day we took one more drive up Waimea Canyon to look across the island again and see everywhere we had been. It was amazing that we had nearly seen everything on the whole island in only a week. We were kind of sad to know it was all coming to an end.


It was a trip to remember and I really can't wait to go back. Until then here is another set of pictures that I took with my SLR on the trip.

The Pumpkin Patch

So I have not posted our Hawaii pictures yet and they will be coming soon. I am still waiting on a decent tool for posting multiple pictures as a slide show. I promise to get it soon.

As of today, however, I thought I would show off my sweet Charity. We went to the pumpkin patch in Springville tonight with Mark and Michelle and their kids. Here are a few good pictures for you.

This is (Starting at the top left to right) Ella, Makayla, Charity and Emmitt. They loved picking their pumpiks from the patch.

Charity found the one she wanted but dad had to tell her no. We had to get something a little more her size.

It wasn't the biggest one in the patch but I think my sweet Charity will love this one. I could not get her to do it long enough for a picture but she loves to hug her pumpkin. I think she will like it just fine.

The Haderlie Birthday Cake

Since there are several birthdays in Camille's family in March and April they are doing a big party today for all of them. Camille decided to put her cake making skills to the test yet again and created a really springy cake complete with daisies. This was our first attempt at some harder flowers.

All of the cake is covered in a white fondant to make the pastel decorations stand out. The bottom tier has colored squres with the center cut out in a flower and decorated with polka dots of the same color.

This close up shows the intricate lavendar piping that Camille did to create this band around the middle tier. Additionally there are pearls of buttercream setting off each of the tiers and the second tier band. This was a really cool feature that I was really happy she came up with. You can see it from a distance in the other pics and either close up or far off it looks amazing.

The sides of the thrid tier are decorated with differently cut colored stripes. On top of the third and top tier is a collection of white and lavendar two-part daisies with yellow buttercream piped in to make the core.

All I can say is that my wife continues to impress me with her creativity and talent at this whole thing. This cake is the same size as our first one which the first time took us 12-13 hours to complete. She did this one in about half the time. We found that making the bottome tier from rice crispy treats and covering it with fondant saves a lot of time and gives a very firm and stable base for the rest of the cake... plus we have not finished all of one of these cakes yet. All I can say is that Camille is amazing.

Mardi Gras in March

My fabulous wife is incredibly creative. I am still amazed by what she comes up with. This week she made cake #3 which is designed for our friend Mark for his birthday today. Mark had told his wife and Camille that he wanted a Mardi Gras theme for his party so Camille immediately began to design his cake... without further adu, here is Camille's 3rd cake:

The thing that I want to really point out is that the masks that are on the cake are all hand-made from fondant, black sparkles and gold buttercream all done by Camille herself. I was looking at this photo and realized that the masks may look store bought so I wanted to make sure she got credit for her creativity and skill in making those so realistic.

Also, it may be hard to see from the angle I took this shot but the lower cacke slants to down to the left and the upper cake slants back the other way. This is something we have been wanting to try for some time. Let me tell you that cutting filled cakes at an angle is REALLY hard.

Another amazing creating by Camille and her Igor-like assistant.... me.

Yet another confectinary work of art!

So Camille is working her hardest to get this cake thing down solid. She made another cake this week, this time for Mark and Michelle Peterson who just had their third child and first son on Monday the 10th.

Most importantly, congrats to Mark and Michelle on the birth of Emmett. He is a cute kid. No doubt he will step up and hold his own against his sisters. Welcom Emmett. We all hope that you will be blessed with the same sense of humor your sisters have been.

Camille wanted to give them something special for Emmett so here is her second cake. This one is 4 layers of coconut cream cake with cream cheese icing between each layer. It is covered in teal fondant and has brown, white and yellow fondant decorations. There is a darker teal buttercream trim along the bottom of the cake. Truly a work of art... and only cake #2 for Camille!

Camille's First Cake

Camille told me that for her birthday she wanted supplies to make cakes. I spent nearly my entire birthday budget and bought her everything both local craft stores and brought it home. She got it all out last Sunday and played with it a bit making some buttercream frosting. After that she told me that she wanted to start out with a small cake... if you know me you know what my next response was "NONESENSE!" I told her that if she was going to do it she was going to do it all the way. We started last night around 6 thinking we could do a practice run and then make a real cake for dinner with my family tomorrow. We were up until 2 in the morning just trying to get the three tiers covered in fondant. We went to bed and got up around 10ish today to decorate. Another 4-5 hours latter we have, what we feel, is a pretty good first attempt. Take a look at Camille's first cake ever.

Needless to say we are glad it is all done. If it looks packed with stuff you are right. We decided that since we have all this groovy stuff for making cakes we might as well use it all. As a result this cake is covered from top to bottom. I kept pushing her to cram more stuff onto it and use different tools.

Whether it is edible or not is yet to be seen. It is a coconut cream cake with cream cheese filling and LOADS of standard fondant for decoration. We will unleash this confection on my unsuspecting family at our dinner tomorrow night in honor of the birthday girl and master chef, Camille.

News of sugar commas to follow...