Chelsea's birthday cake

I made this cake for my sister for her birthday. Sadly, I need to take some cake decorating classes! I haven't actually tasted the cake, but Chelsea said it is delicious and everyone wants the recipe!

Rich Chocolate Cake

2 cups flour
1 cup cocoa
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/3 cups milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. With a mixer at low speed, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes). Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Then, add flour mixture alternately with milk. Beat until batter is smooth. Pour batter into prepared pan(s). Either one 9x13 or three 8 inch round pans. (I put wax paper in the bottom of my round pans, then grease and flour them). Bake 40-45 minutes for a 9x13 or about 30 minutes for 8 inch rounds. Cool on a wire rack.

Frosting:
Boil 1/2 cup butter with 1/4 cup cocoa. Remove from heat, add 6-8 cups powdered sugar and 1/3 cup milk. Beat until smooth.

Our Christmas Letter

Merry Christmas!

We hope that you are having a great season. Here is the quick update on our family:

Ian is getting bigger and bigger. He says something funny everyday. Just the other day, during naptime, I heard a big thud and then tons of laughing (from both Ian and Meggie). I went into Meggie’s room and found Ian in her crib with her. They were jumping and playing and having the best time. I asked Ian how he got into Meggie’s bed and he replied, “I fly Mommy, I fly!” He said it totally matter-of-factly, too. Like, “hello, isn’t it obvious that I would fly to get in her crib? Come on mom!” It was great.

Meggie thinks everything is hilarious. She loves to giggle, play peek-a-boo, blow kisses and put things in her mouth. She turns one on January 3. I can’t believe it! She loves to walk around the house with Kevin or I holding her little hands. She has been such a lovely little addition to our family.

Kevin is still working as the Deputy City Manager for Cottonwood Heights. He also is the maintenance guy for our latest get-rich quick scheme, Rapid Wash Laundromat. (If you are ever in Provo, Utah and have a bunch of laundry to do, you know where to come!) He has been serving as the Young Men’s President in our ward which keeps us all on our toes! And, of course, doting over his lovely wife is his most time-consuming adventure. At his work Christmas party, he stood up to introduce me to everyone and lovingly announced how “handy” I am. Hmmm . . . not sure if I should take that as a compliment. I was hoping for “Can’t believe someone this smart comes in this nice of a package.”, but I will settle for “handy” because it gave all of us a good laugh!

And, me, well I am busy with the three aforementioned characters. I am changing many diapers and fixing many meals and loving (almost) every minute of it. I keep the books for our rental units and the laundry and sell a little real estate on the side. My latest adventures are digital scrapbooking and blogging and trying to learn to be a great cook (not coming easily!).

We feel so blessed. This has been a wonderful year. We are so grateful for the life and atonement of our Savior and pray we can remember Him all year round.

Have a wonderful Holiday!
Love,
The Smith’s
Kevin, Amanda, Ian and Meggie

My nephew's art

Is this the greatest idea???? My sister in law (we call her "leather pants Wendy") framed all of her boys' art and put this collage together. It looks absolutely fabulous in her house. As soon as Ian has something beyond scribbles, we are going to do this in our house! Thanks for the idea Wendy!

I'm officially old.

I have sad, sad, news. I am officially old. Yes, I turned the big "3 -0". I have to admit, it was a little emotional. I can't believe that my 20's are over with. I am no longer the "young one" wherever I go. I did, however, have a great birthday! Kevin surprised me and took the day off. We went shopping, ran errands, and then Auntie Rogierre watched the kiddos while we went to "A Christmas Carol" at the Hale Centre Theatre. (We go every year to that play, always gets me in the Christmas mood!).

Golden Gate

This is as good as it gets for a family picture. I cannot get my children to look at the camera, much less smile!

The Jungle

We went to California to see Kevin's parents for Thanksgiving. It was delightful! We took Ian to the Jungle. Kevin bought some knee pads and crawled all around the place with Ian.

Haircut City

Ian is such a good boy when it comes to getting his hair cut, especially when his mom bribes him with a HUGE bowl of M$M's!

I am such a weanie

Okay, I am such a weanie. I totally am so impatient. The minute I buy gifts for any of my family I have to give it to them. My sister in law buys Christmas presents all year round and just hides them in the closet. Not me! I bought Kevin a new wedding ring a month ago (his old one was a cheapy one and neither of us liked it). When I bought it I thought "Great! We can use this for his birthday and our anniversary (4 years on Nov. 28th)." Nope. The minute he got home, I couldn't stop myself. I ran down to the storage room where I hid it and proposed to my love.
Okay, so now, we have been eyeing this train table for Ian. It was all sold out at our Costco, so I ran to another Costco and bought it. Ian saw it in the back of the car and just got soooo excited he could hardly handle himself. I, of course just melted and realized that we are going to be in Montana for Christmas anyway. So, yes, we gave in and opened it. We did, however, make a big deal of it and say "Merry Christmas" alot while he was opening and playing with it!
(Side note, I had to have Kevin put it together. We bought it on Wednesday morning and all day I kept telling Ian that we would open it and put it together when Daddy got home. Well, dinner was ready when Kevin got home from work. I told Ian, "First, we are going to eat dinner and then we will put together your choo-choo train". You should have seen him! He gave me the sternest look, put his hands on his hips and said, "NO Mommy, Daddy put choo-choo together now!" and then, he waved his hand in the air and stomped off. (I couldn't control myself it was so funny).

The BEST Cookbook and Deceptively

I just purchased this cookbook after a recommendation from my friend Jenny (thanks!). Despite there not being any actual photos of the dishes (a big downside) it is a fantastic book. It is more like a novel. Basically, all of these professional chefs got together and tested, for example, 50 different chocolate chip cookie recipes until they found the best one. Then they tested 100 different ways to make lasagne until they found the best one, etc. Of course, I went for the chocolate chip cookies very first and they were delightful! Really, really good.

Update on the Deceptively Delicious cookbook: Okay, my official opinion after making a handful of the Deceptively Delicious recipes. I like them, but Kevin and I can both definitely tell that the purees have been added. However, Ian cannot! I made the chocolate chip cookies (of course) with a whole can of chickpeas. Ian thought they were great. Now, I can't tell you that if I had a normal chocolate chip cookie right next to the chickpea cookie that I would go for the one with chickpeas. But, I love the fact that Ian can't tell. I.e. This cookbook is great for everyday kids' food, but probably not for a dinner party or if you are really trying to impress your husband!

Raking

WE have a huge tree in our front yard and an even bigger one in the back. After this raking, we quickly hired the little entrepreneur boys down the street to take care of the rest of the raking for the Fall!

Ian's First Christmas Craft

I've never been too "crafty" but yesterday remembered a little craft we used to in grade school. Yes, the ol' cotton balls for Santa's beard. Ian loved it and it has taken center stage on the fridge.

Deceptively Delicious!

Okay, I really, really love this cookbook! I finally bought it yesterday at Costco. Everywhere else I've been it has been sold out. Yesterday I made purees of broccoli, squash, carrot, and sweet potato to store in my freezer. We had chicken quesadillas last night with squash and chickpeas in them! And, we had a bean dip that had a carrot puree! Awesome. I am making her chocolate chip cookies tonight that have a "secret ingredient". My in-laws are coming in to town. We'll see if they can guess it!

I luv Halloween

Ian loves Halloween! We had such a fun time. It took him about 2 houses to get the hang of the whole "trick or treating" thing. Then he was off! He wanted to keep going and going and going. Meg on the other hand, was sick of her little chick outfit after about 32 seconds!

Pumpkin Carving

We had pumkin carving for Family Home Evening tonight. It is so fun to see Ian get all excited. I made these cute little ghost cookies. They are so easy. Just use Nutter Butters and dip them in white chocolate, then add miniature chocolate chips for eyes! Easy and adorable!

Tagged . . .

Well, I leave town for a week and come back to find I've been tagged. Here is goes . . .

1) Much to my mother's shigrin, I throw everything away. She was just here babysitting the kids for a week, there are tiny little packages of 1/4 a slice of a apple, 1/2 tsp of a cooked carrot, an old 1/2 eaten pb and j sandwich, etc, etc all left in my fridge. I had to go through it and throw everything away. Sorry mom! I throw things away or take them to DI all the time. I think I will get to claim a $15000 deduction from donations to DI this year.

2) I talk in my sleep. On our wedding night I woke up just freaking out because there was a scary man in my bed. I also told Kevin that "It's okay if you're a duck."

3) I cannot stand cats. Sorry all cat lovers. But come on! Our neighbor's cat is on our porch all of the time. It drives me insane. I try to squirt it with a squirt bottle but to no avail. Dogs are much more my thing.

4) I get so stressed out for BYU football games I can't even watch them unless we are up by 3 touchdowns. In the game against Utah last year I almost went in to labor with Meg.

5) I pick my kids noses all the time. (my KIDS noses, not mine) I can't stand to have anything "floating around in there".

6) Last one, very cheesy, but I love my life. I am so grateful for everything I've been blessed with. I love waking up everyday next to Kevin and knowing that I get to spend my day with my children. I love the peace I have from the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I love the opportunities that lie ahead of me and my family and look forward to doing everything in my power to continually find more happiness. ( yes, break out the cheese-mobile, I know)

Goatee (sp?)

Yes, I convinced Kevin to try a goatee out, just for our vacation. Isn't he dashing?? He had that thing shaved off 2 minutes after we got home! I loved it, though! He looked like a tough cowboy!

What a day for a daydream . . .

Kevin and I just got back from a fabulous, relaxing vacation. We went to a resort/spa in Scottsdale, AZ and to the Grand Canyon. It was delightful! My mom came and took care of the kids (angel of a woman!). As much as I love my little kiddos, boy was it nice to have a break!

This is family pic of us at Pompey's Pillar this summer. Has anyone been there lately? It is soooo much nicer than when I was growing up. I remember there being couple of totally old disgusting outhouses, and a broken picnic table. Now, it is incredible. Beautiful Visitors Center and cool exhibits. It was great for Kevin, being the history buff in the family.

So, I tried the brownies with carrot and spinach purrees from Oprah's website (Jessica Seinfeld's recipe). Really, you could not tell that there were carrots and spinach. They were pretty good. I think I will try a couple of modifications, however. Ian and Kevin really liked them. Now, I'm not saying that you stick a Paradise Bakery brownie down next to one of these that I would pick the carrot and spinach brownie, but hey, at least it satisfies a tiny little bit of my sweet tooth!

Kevin had the day off so we were at the laundromat doing stuff all day. Hopefully we will get it whipped into shape in the next few months and then not have to worry about it much! We'll just let our great little managers handle everything (Cody and Chelsea).

Signing off . . .

I'm a Dream Come True

I bought Meg a teddy bear the other day because we had just been giving her a sock to cuddle with (poor thing)!

Did anyone see Oprah yesterday? Jessica Seinfeld was on talking about her new book "Deceivingly Delicious". It is all about how to add veggies into kid-friendly foods. I ran to Barnes and Noble to get it, but of course, they were sold out. Anyway, I went to Oprah's website to get a couple of recipes. I made Macaroni and Cheese with "hidden" butternut squash. Ian just INHALED it! (Any of you that know my son, know that he doesn't inhale ANYTHING). She had tons of different recipes. Tomorrow I am trying the chick-pea chocolate chip cookies! Yum! (don't tell Kevin they have chick-peas!)

I want some cheese

We went to a pumpkin patch for family home evening. All Ian has talked about this week is pumpkins. Well, except for our Sunday drive when he announced, "Ian's loco, Ian's chubby, I want some cheese." Hmmm . . . where did we get this kid???? For those of you not well versed in Spanish, "loco" means "crazy").

Digiscrapbooking

So, I am totally getting into digital scrapbooking. I love it! It is so much easier, less expensive, and less messy than paper scrapbooking. Here are a couple I have done. Keep in mind I am totally a beginner!

George Washington

Okay, okay, I am doing it. Thanks to much badgering by my sister and mother, I finally consent to having a blog. Funny thing, my mom and sister are the only ones who will probably read it anyway!
Has anyone every tried to find a blogger name when your last name is Smith??? I must have put 20 different names in. Crazy. Did you know that there are sooooo many Smiths in America that there is actually an "Annual Smith Day"? I never thought I'd be a Smith, but now that I am, I am proud of it.

The updates on us:
Ian is now 2 1/2 years old. He loves to play golf with the REAL set of clubs his dad bought him. Kevin even had them "fitted" (i.e. he shortened the club lengths). He still hates to eat (nothing like his parents). I try everything, I smother cheese on every vegtable and try to get him to dip fruit in peanut butter and chocolate. Nothing. I'm sure he will eventually catch up.
He loves to play with play-dough. A couple of days ago he played with it for over an hour. He would exclaim "look mommy, a pizza". Then he'd move on to his next project and a few minutes later exclaim "look mommy, a car!". Finally, for the most intricate piece yet he exlaimed "Look, George Washington!". I just burst! Maybe we have a little sculptor on our hands.

Meg is 9 months old now and giving me fits with weaning. She wants her mommy . . . bad! I finally pulled the "tough love" thing and quit cold turkey yesterday. Boy, do I hurt! (you ladies understand). She is a good little girl. She loves to play toys with Ian and she talks, and talks and talks. Then she screams, then she talks some more.

Kevin and I are looking forward to our vacation in a couple of weeks. My mom is taking the kids (yeah!). We just bought a laudromat and it has been keeping us busy! Fun little adventure!