Christmas...A Little Late

So I thought I would share some of my favorite photos from Christmas. Enjoy!

Stu and Casey being Stu and Casey!

What you don't see is the pacifier just fell out of her mouth and that was a no no that night. I just adore this picture!

She thinks Stu is a pretty great guy because he has a nose and facial hair...her two favorite things!!

Other Sissy and boyfriend Kevin...He takes up the whole tree so they have to be off center.

Sweet Adyson with her Daddy!!

Julie, Jim, and Me...Typical Jim!

The AWESOME Aprons Stu and Casey got us from Italy. "Queen of the kitchen"

My Daddy!! Love him.

Beautiful Christine and sleeping Adyson!

Bryan...not sure you are old enough for that beer just yet..

Pretty Sissy!!

Adyson with her Grammy!

Love this Little Nugget!! I cannot get enough of her!!

She winks at me...she must think I am pretty cool!

You can give kids all the presents in the world and it is the paper they will pick up and play with for hours!!!

Her laugh is adorable and so cute!

Christmas Spirit...

...I finally found it!!!! Today I received not one, but two free Christmas music downloads!!!! Thought I would pass them along in case someone else has had trouble finding the spirit this year. Music just makes my soul happy!!!

From Apple:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/o-come-all-ye-faithful/id344104720?i=344104823&ign-mpt=uo%3D6

From Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=s9_tops_bw_clnk?node=334897011&sort=salesrank&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=right-3&pf_rd_r=105BDPTK6WXRAWYZCQMC&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=503588691&pf_rd_i=678551011

SNOW!!

I LOVE SNOW!!! I am not in the best state as in Texas we almost never see it, but today I got an early Christmas Present. I woke up this morning to my dad telling me it was snowing outside. Below are some of the pictures I snapped before I left for work. Unfortunately it did not stick very long and by the time I drove to work the snowflakes had turned into rain drops, but at least this was snow and not sleet. So be jealous all you Texans that moved away, you missed a miracle that only blesses Texas every once and a while, and not every long.

The House!! Notice the only decoration is the red bow on the mailbox, sad :( It would have been the prefect picture!

Christmas Decorations in the snow!

Look at it fall...so Pretty!!! Love It!!

The backyard!!!!

I LOVE SNOW!!! It makes me happy!

Cake Decorating...My First Attempt

So I am pretty sure starting a blog the week of a Holiday was not my brightest idea, but here's to a wonderful second post...finally.

Cake decorating...may not be my calling, but I am trying really hard, so that counts right? It is at hobby lobby, my teacher looks like Tammy Faye Baker, and I convinced two friends to join the class with me :)

Lauren, as Simon from Alvin and the Chipmunks

Megan, as an Indian or eskimo

Anyway, our first class was an adventure. Megan tried to make her icing with granulated sugar instead of powdered sugar, Lauren made her icing with milk and left it out for a day so it was spoiled, and it took me a couple of tries to actually get the icing made (trying to hand beat icing is not possible when using Crisco). Below are some awesome pictures of me making the icing the first time and so on.

All of this will soon become an beautifully iced cake. This was at 8:15 PM.

Notice how level the cake is...kinda. But I did use thread to cut the cake, that myth is now solved. Thanks Dad!

While trying to mix the icing, this time not by hand, I managed to get chunks of almost icing all over the floor. the dog would not help me clean.

Half way through icing the cake.

Almost ran out of icing.

A freshly iced cake. Too bad there are a lot of holes, chunks of cake missing filled in by icing (like they do on Cake Boss), and crumbs all throughout the icing. The kitchen was a disaster, but I finished cleaning everything at 1AM.

Here is the final product. Not the best looking cake, but I do give myself an "A" for effort!

the top view.

Next are the pictures from my last class/third class.


The roses were so hard to make. but I got the leaves down :)

I took both cakes to work, after all that hard work, I could not even begin think about eating it. They went fairly quickly, so I was grateful not to take any of it home. I do not think I will be quitting my day job any time to soon pursue a career in cake decorating, but I am having a good time and I signed up for the next set of classes so I will learn to make pretty royal icing flowers. I have high hopes that this will go over better than the roses.

So It Begins...

I have talked about starting a blog for a long time and have finally have the courage. I am now going to try becoming a blogger *gasp*!! Many experiences over the last year have lead me to feel this would be good way to say what is on my mind, share good recipes I find, show the photos I have taken with my AWESOME new camera, new music finds, my travels, and keep all my friends around the world updated on the day ins, day outs of my life. (not that anyone other than me will find them interesting, but hey you never know.)

My FAVORITE holiday of all time is right around the corner I cannot wait. I LOVE THANKSGIVING!! There is no pressure, just fun, family, food and football... my favorite combination!! This will be a Thanksgiving unlike any other. Both of my Grandparents passed away this year, so this will be the first holiday my family has celebrated without them. I still remember last year my Grandmother's face as she slide down the table. Not all that conventional to just pull her chair down from one end of the table to the other, but much safer than having her walk. She told me as I was walking out with her that she felt like the "bell of the ball" since everyone wanted to spend time with her.

This Thanksgiving has a happy side to it also. This will be the first Thanksgiving my family will get to celebrate with the next generation. Adyson is the newest member of the family and I know she has already stolen everyone's heart. How could she not?? Just look at how adorable she is!!


This photo was from a month or so ago, but it is my favorite and I have so many more of her to share I figured I should start with my favorite. I cannot tell you how much I love holding the little girl. I have this wonderful calm come over me and I just feel happy.

I also I cannot wait to see my BFF Natalie!! I miss her so much and the last time I saw her we was getting married, so I did not even get to really see her. So sad that I will not get to see Stephanie though, I guess a full reunion will have to wait till Christmas!! Below is my favorite picture of us from Stephanie's rehearsal dinner almost two years ago. (girls we need to get we need to get an new picture this year FYI)




Anyway that is all I have for now, but I hope to post more tomorrow. A little teaser, I am taking a cake decorating class and it will document my attempt to prep for the first class and the result from the first and second class...