Our Thanksgiving!

This past week has been so crazy, I have a lot to catch up on my blog with. But for tonight, I am just going to show some pictures of what we did on Thanksgiving. We had a great Thanksgiving!

We started the evening off at my sister, Marion's house.

This is how the kitchen was set up and who was there.

It was Ayla's first time with that many people around since I got sick. She was a bit over whelmed. All she wanted was her Aunt Marion. She enjoyed the mashed potatoes though. 

My brother, Robert.

My uncle, Ruel and his wife Denise.

My Daddy!

Had to get a picture with him.

And My Mommy!

And of course the hubby has to pose. I love him!

And of course Lane Brain was there. 

After Marion's, we went to Kurt's parents. I ate the whole time at Marion's because I thought we were only going to have dessert at Kurt's parent's. Well lets just say there was more than just dessert but I couldn't eat any. I just had pie. We did take a lot of food home, from both places. 

I had to take a picture of Ayla drawing with her cousins. I love how all three of them were drawing together.

L to R Brooke, Morganne and Ayla.

Ayla loves to be around Baby Kurt.

My sweet little girl likes to share!

She likes this little plane. She plays with it ever time we go over there.

This was so awesome, they have this trampoline with handle bars over there and they enjoyed jumping together.

So funny how Ayla and Morganne are sitting inside a bookshelf and Baby Kurt is taking over the trampoline. Ayla loves to be around her cousins.

We had a great Thanksgiving, spending time with both sides of the family. I got pretty stuffed too. It doesn't get any better than that, Family and Food. I love Thanksgiving!

Update!

I am doing better today. I went out for the first time in over a week but it was for Ayla's vaccine for the Swine flu. I felt horrible because she had to have the shot because she is still too young for the nasal vaccine. She has to go back in a month to get another shot for it. At least she won't get sick with it. I am so glad that she and Kurt didn't get it.

I am excited! I am going to see New Moon tomorrow with my sister, Marion and on Saturday with family and friends and I will still go and see it with my friend, Ann and her cousin Megan. I am still going to make a New Moon cake. I was supposed to make one for Ann's party that I didn't get to go to. I am actually going to make two of them, one for my little get together on Saturday and one for my good friend, Ann. I  wont post it until I give Ann her cake. I don't want to spoil it for her. I want her to be surprised. 

I also joined Facebook after a lot of contemplating because I didn't want to take away from blogging. I have been on it  a lot lately but that has died down now. I do love Facebook and it is a lot of fun and I am glad I joined. I do however love blogging more. It is more personal. And it is my journal. So if you are on Facebook and I haven't found you yet, let me know. I would love to be friends.

Like I said, I am doing better and that means I can go out in public and so that means I won't miss Thanksgiving! Yay, I love Thanksgiving! 

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Oh and BTW, my dad did fix our washer. Now we have to see what is wrong with the dryer. It drys but it takes 4 cycles now. I hang dry most things but I can't hang dry towels. They get to stiff. We will see if we can fix it.

Is 7 to 10 days over yet?

So last week, I was totally getting excited about the New Moon party my friend, Ann is having. I read on her blog that she prays no one gets sick. I laughed and thought, no one is going to get sick in the amount of time we have left until the party. Well, I thought wrong.......

Well, this past Thursday, I went to a play with my sister. It was Little Shop of Horrors. I love that movie. Anyway, while I was there, I started to get a sore throat. I thought nothing of it. But the next day it hurt pretty bad. I had a cough and that was it. I thought okay I've got a cold. I will be better before the party.

A couple of days went by and I was feeling really cruddy. So I went to the doctor. I knew it had to be more than a head cold but I didn't prepare for what it really was. When the doctor came in and told me I had the flu and from the symptoms it was the Swine Flu, I was floored. I don't even remember getting a fever or anything that bad. I have just had cold symptoms, a headache, some congestion in the chest and some body aches. I was so shocked that the test came back positive. I also had a sore throat and that isn't usually one of the symptoms.

Anyway, I am feeling better today but not all the way better. The doctor told me as soon as I feel better and have no symptoms I should be totally safe to be around people. She said I should be over it before Friday. My friend's party is on Friday but I decided not to go because I don't think I will be over it by then. So thanks to the stupid Swine flu, I will be missing an exciting party that I have waited for for over a year. It breaks my heart. :(

The good news is that Kurt and Ayla have no signs of having the virus. The doctor said that they should have gotten sick with in the first 5 days that I was sick. Well today is, day 7 and they are doing well. We have Clorox wiped everything and I wear a mask around them. I also wash my hands every two seconds. I swear I spend the majority of the day over the sink. My hands are really dry. Not to mention the hand sanitizer I use also adds to the dryness.

I should be over it by tomorrow. They say the virus lasts 7 to 10 days. I am grateful I have had a mild case. I can see how it could be bad if I had other health conditions. It does take a toll on the chest. I am grateful I don't. So wish me luck that I get better soon.

I can see why it is spreading so quickly. People think they just have a head cold and then they go out in public. I thought I just had a head cold. But if your head cold consist of a dry cough, with no mucus, you have headaches and if you have body aches, be careful. You might have the swine flu.

Cakes = Christmas!

So this last week I did a couple of cakes. They kept me pretty busy.

The first cake I did was a butterfly cake for a little girl named Lybee!

Side view.
I cut a round cake in half and used bits of a square cake for the center. I got the idea from google images. I always go on there and get ideas and then come up with my own. I loved how the butterfly turned out. Kurt said it was probably his favorite cake that I have done. I liked it too. I might even do it for Ayla's second birthday.

The second cake I did was a wedding cake. I didn't use fondant either.

Here it is.
Fondant eat your heart out!
I definitely prefer to use butter cream over fondant, at least homemade fondant. It wasn't as much work and it was easier.

Here is the side view.
The couple was married in Vegas and that is why there are dice on the cake. They said they wanted a simple cake and they got it. I loved the polka-dot ribbon I used. It added to the dice.

Here is what it looked like after they put rocks and candles around the cake. I was really pleased how it turned out. I wished I would have just used butter cream for my friends', Nanette's and Amy's wedding cakes. I guess, you live and learn. I think their cakes would have been better even if I had used pre-made fondant instead of homemade. They weren't that bad though. I still think they looked pretty but they weren't my best work. Maybe I am being a little harsh about it but you are always your worst critic. I don't have a post with Nanette's but I do have one with Amy's. You can see it here.

I took Ayla to the reception. She really enjoyed the rocks.

She also loved standing in front of the AC. She cracks me up!

Front view! I love her hair!

I did make some money from the cakes and between these cakes, and another cake I made a month ago, we had enough money for Christmas presents for Ayla and everyone. And guess what? Yesterday, I pretty much finished all of our Christmas shopping. YEAH!!!! I feel good!

While Ayla and I were shopping yesterday, we picked up an extra family member.

It is a Kitty Cat.
Well, it isn't exactly real but it feels like it is. Have you ever seen the FurReal animals? They move like real animals. While Ayla and I were at Toy R Us, I put her down and showed her this cat. She loved it. I haven't seen her like a toy like she liked this kitty. I couldn't get her away from it. I finally took her away and of course she wasn't happy.

Later, I met up with my mom and my sister, Marion and we went to Walmart. While we were there, I showed them how Ayla loved the kitty. This time the exact same cat had a kitten in the package as a bonus and it was on sale. My sister and I decided to go half and half on it for Ayla for Christmas. We ended up giving it to her right away. We didn't have the heart to put it away until Christmas. She loved it too much. So she got her main Christmas present from her parents and her present from her Aunt, Marion early.

See how she loves it? Ayla constantly Meows all the time now. I even asked her what she wants to name her kitty and she says, "Meow." So I guess the cat's name is Meow!

There is nothing like watching your child enjoy something so much. Her happiness is my happiness.

Merry Christmas early, Sweet Heart!

Ayla Lip Syncing!

In an earlier post, I promised that I would show some clips of Ayla lip syncing. Well, here are 2 of them.

Enjoy!

Halloween!

We had a great Halloween!

It all started with my Dad, Lane and Uncle Ernie when they came over for breakfast.

Then my sweet dad took apart our washer because it went out that week, along with our dryer. Yes, our washer and our dryer went out last week. Our dryer still kind of works.

Anyways, my dad found a broken coupler and I bought a new one on Monday. He is going to put it in on Saturday. I hope it fixes the problem. Keep your fingers crossed for us. I guess that is what you get when you buy used washers and dryers.

Here is Ayla during the day. Doesn't she look so adorable?

Krista, Morganne and Baby Kurt came over to visit us and to show us their costumes.

Morganne was a witch. Here she is flying away on her broom.

Baby Kurt was an elephant, AKA a tantor. Tantor is his nick name.

Of course Ayla loved having her cousin over.

Not so sure what Ayla is trying to do here.

They ended up staying for dinner.
We had brains (spaghetti) and goblin eyes (corn).

And of course we couldn't get them to look at the camera at the same time. That is why I have both pictures on here.

Then my mom and Lane came over. I needed to get Lane ready so we could go to our ward's trunk-or-treat. Krista, Morganne and Baby Kurt ended up joining us.

Here is the whole gang in their costumes. Ayla in her dog costume and Lane is in his ghostbusters costume, I made him.

I even dressed up. I was Maleficent for the 3rd year in a row. This was taken at the trunk-or-treat. After the trunk-or-treat, we decided to trick-or-treat at a few houses in the neighborhood.

Cute little witch with her bag of candy.

There was a man dressed up as the Headless Horseman at one of the houses we went to. Lane freaked out when he saw him and ran and wouldn't get near him. We thought he looked pretty cool so we got our picture with him.

We had a very fun filled Halloween.

How was yours?