Wordless Wednesday

Baking Adventures

So, I made my first trifle recently, and I was so proud of it that I took pictures. We received a trifle dish as a wedding gift 2 1/2 years ago, and I finally got around to using it. Almost too pretty to eat, right? Emphasis on ALMOST! We scarfed it down no problem. Light, fruity desserts like this are my favorite, especially in summer. I will definitely be making a lot more of these!

I am also very into decorating cupcakes right now. I have about four books on just cupcakes, and some of the designs are pretty outrageous and detailed. Here are some fun ones that I've done.

(The kernels are Jelly Bellies and the butter is a smushed lemon Starburst!)

I made these sunflowers for Mother's Day.

Shame on me!

Yes, I'm alive, and no, I haven't abandoned my blog! It's been ridiculously long since I've blogged, but in my defense, I did have a couple of things working against me. 1) Our computer was having some major issues, and we didn't think it was going to make it, but luckily a friend at Kent's work revived it for us. 2) We "lost" our camera for about a month and a half before we decided to break down and buy a new one. And you know what they say, if you want to find something that you've lost, just buy a replacement ... sure enough, we found our camera about a month later! But that's ok, because we got a better camera for a great deal thanks to Circuit City going out of business, and now we have a "back-up" camera. So ... let's play catch-up!

One day last year, our two-year-old, stainless steel, GE microwave just stopped working. Of course, the warranty is only good for one year, and it was still so new that we didn't want to pay to replace it already, so Kent messed around with it and found that it worked if the front panel hung down from it's wires like this ...

Nice, huh? We were going for the industrial look. So for about a year, I've lived with this ghetto microwave and stood about five feet back whenever I needed to zap something in fear of the radiation that it must be emitting! But a couple of months ago, I reached the end of my rope with it. We did the research and realized it was about the same cost to repair it as it was to replace it. So off to Lowe's we went. Kent forgot what a chore it was to install, but he was a trooper. Check out those muscles!! ;)

And voila, the finished product! So happy to have a functioning and aesthetically pleasing microwave again!! (It's the little things ..)

More to come soon (I promise!). It's late, I'm tired and Kent still isn't home from his Kansas trip. He left Monday morning, and was supposed to come back earlier this evening, but storms caused massive delays. He and the other guys he is traveling with made it to Dallas, but there were no more flights out tonight, so they decided to rent a car and drive home. That will put him home around 4 a.m. ... yikes!

Miscellaneous Christmas stuff and New Year's

My good friend Jenn was in town for Christmas, so we went to the Huisache for lunch the day after Christmas and did a little shopping. She is 17 weeks pregnant with TWINS, and is the cutest preggo! Can't wait to meet the "twinlees!"

This is an amaryllis that my Aunt Fern gave me at Thanksgiving. It was only about an inch tall then, and look at it now! It bloomed on Christmas Day.

I just thought this picture was funny. Kent caught the pups gnawing on a few puzzle pieces from the cat puzzle (coincidence?) that his mom gave us for Christmas. They still fit, they are just full of teeth marks now. They look so guilty!

We had a low-key New Year's this year for maybe the first time since we've been together (which was fine with us!). We went to our good friends Kevin and Shannon's house, ate yummy lasagna, played games and rang in the new year. Happy 2009!

Daisy giving Leyla a kiss at midnight. They have two dogs and a cat just like us, so we get along well!

Our friends, Kevin and Shannon.

A cozy fire at our house. I'm always so sad when I have to take the Christmas decorations down. :(

Christmas in Seguin with Mom's fam

On Christmas Eve we had a scrumptious Mexican food dinner, followed by Christmas Eve church service at Faith Lutheran then back to the house to open gifts. We can always count on my grandparents to provide the comedy relief. Between their hard hearing and their generally funny comments, there are always plenty of laughs to go around. Funniest part of the night? When my mom received a memory foam pillow, and my grandmother thought that she could use one, too, to prevent Alzheimer's. Second place? My grandfather watching BET.

Sistas!

The pups giving Papa some love.

The whole gang.

Kids!

Kelsey enjoying one of her gifts!

This is my favorite pic. Kent is holding his flashlight like a lightsaber, and apparently, I'm very serious about making sure my invisible earmuff is still on. Nice shot Kelsey!

Cozy robes for Christmas!

Aaah, the madness! Where's the cleaning fairy when you need her?!

Christmas in Seguin with Dad's fam

The men's side of the room.

Abby (cousin), Michelle (Matt's g.f.), Matt (cousin), me, Jackson (cousin) and Kent ... in age order!

All the Christmas excitement was just too much for Daisy!

Leyla loves laps!

Molly: "No really, I can see just fine!"

Jackson, Abby, Mom, Aunt Fern and Uncle Johnny

Christmas in Tyler

The weekend before Christmas we spent in Tyler with Kent's family. It was really cold! We had fun playing games and torturing our nephews by making them wait as long as possible to open their gifts! They were good sports though. All the food was delicious as usual. Hope to see you guys again soon!

Kirk (Kent's older brother) and Kent with Eric (8), Grant (5) and Kyle (3).

Grandma with the boys.

The gang - Kirk, Tina, Kent and I and the boys.

Kyle diligently working on his Cars puzzle. He got a stuffed panda bear for Christmas and named it "Aunt Jenna." How cute is that? ;)

Eric and I built the coolest Lego house. It took forever, but look at it! Eric is really into houses and even built his own "house" in the backyard. We think he will be an architect. I think I had even more fun than him playing with the Legos. I was secretly hoping Santa would bring me a Lego house, too!