Proud Wife

"When a man becomes a fireman his greatest act of bravery has been accomplished. What he does after that is all in the line of work. ~Edward F. Croker"

I am a very proud wife of one of Brigham City's newest firemen! Shaun has been wanting to get on with the fire department for several years and he has just started his new journey. He is extremely excited. I don't recall the last time I saw him this excited and passionate about something. He has responded on a couple different calls so far, and tonight will be his 2nd week of drill.

He made a comment to me last week, something along the lines of "he wants to feel like he's doing his share of service and is giving something good back." I thoroughly love this man!

Of course I have worries as any wife and mother does who has her husband in this line of work. But I couldn't be more proud of him! I asked him if it'd be possible for him to get a picture of him in all his gear so I could post it on my blog and I think he thought I was crazy. I was quite serious though.

Way to go Shaun! No one is more deserving of this than you! Your kids and I are all very proud!

My 1st Real Decorated Cake

Every year I make my kids' birthday cakes. Partially because I enjoy it, and partially because I'm too cheap to spend the $$ on the store ones when I can make it for a fraction of the cost.

I've talked for several years about wanting to do a cake decorating class but never have. Well my friend Brittni and Nicole decorate cakes and I've seen several of theirs lately and it's brought my interest back to surface again. So Brittni was so kind and let me borrow this shooting star pan that she has.

Hollie's birthday was Tuesday and at about 8:30 pm Monday night I finally get settled down to make my pasta salad, sloppy joes, cake and cupcakes for the next day. Thankfully my dear sister volunteered her services. (She might say I begged.)

So I got the cupcakes mixed up, have hamburger browning on the stove for sloppy joes, cupcakes in the oven, frosting that I've started trying to make that isn't working right and in the middle of my pasta salad. (Really I was trying to multi-task in the beginning but I don't think having my hand (literally) in all these different things was accomplishing ANYTHING!)
In the midst of all the craziness Kambri is hysterical in her bed and wanting out. I'm normally terrible and give her about 10 minutes or so and I go in her room. Well Linz tells me to wait it out and so I try this for what seemed like FOREVER and finally send Shaun in to check on her. Well she had gotten so upset that she ended up throwing up. Thank Heavens for my hubby who took care of the mess and Linz who bathed her...all the while I'm still trying to keep my 15 projects in the kitchen rolling.

Exhibit A: Frosting and pasta salad, Hollie in the background wanting to help decorate the microphone cupcakes unattended.

Exhibit B: The cake just out of the oven (toothpick tested about 10 times, I promise), hamburger browning and to the left are the remnants of Shaun's dinner.

Exhibit C: The 2 girls are in bed, Linz is frosting microphones while I'm finishing the other 14 projects.

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So by the time we got started with making the frosting for the cake it was late, like 11:30 late. And then wouldn't you know it? It's not turning out right. It's buttery and just isn't how it should be. But we have no idea how to fix it at this point. So we start trying to make do and start attempting to frost this baby, but its still just not working out right. At this point in the game it's a little before 1 am. Lindsay and I both still need to shower. Well, she remembers that she has some frosting in a can at home and decides to go get it and we both hurry and get showers over with. Then we mix the canned frosting with our frosting and decide it will do the job. So off we go to decorate.

And we are looking SOOO beautiful at this point.
And after many hours of frustrations...at 2:30 am....
TADA! Our first cake! It was most definitely not flawless, but we were very proud of ourselves and Hollie was thrilled when she woke up and saw it all done! She saw it before I could show it to her and she ran right up to me and gave me a huge hug. It was worth the heartache!! :)

I really struggled with wanting to cut into this cake though. We joked that maybe we should just freeze it and pull it out for each birthday and light candles in it. Haha!

And guess what I found when I started eating my piece? It wasn't cooked all the way through. (Remember from above that I toothpick tested it about 10 times?!) Still tasted great though. It really was a delicious cake and Linz and I were so proud!

Next time I make one I will only have that project that I'm working on, rather than a million others at the same time. :)

These are 3 of my favorite girls

About a month ago we babysat Haddie for a bit. Hollie had made this big deal to Lindsay that she was going to help baby-sit her.
The girls were playing in the backyard and Shaun had a section of sprinklers on in the front while he was mowing the rest. My girls went around the sprinklers, but not Miss Haddie. She went straight through the middle of it. Then she found another section and went and just hung-out in the middle of it. So, the other girls decided to follow suit. Haddie was the leader, Hollie followed...and Kambri just stood on the outskirts.

Needless to say, the girlies ended up needing to be cleaned and some dry clothes after their outdoor adventures.

Cute girls before...

Cute girls after. This is how I found them shortly after bathtime. These are certainly 3 of my favorite girls!!

Happy Belated B-Day to Me

I decided for my birthday that I wanted to go to Melina's Mexican Restaurant for dinner and that anyone who wanted to share my day with me could join me there!! ;) (Really it boils down to I didn't want to have to worry about any kind of a mess on my day 'off'- assuming that such a day even exists.)

It turned out great. Melina's has become a place that my family frequents. Our dear little Hollie loves to go there with me and last year we went there for her b-day and she was so worried that they would sing 'Happy Birthday' to her and make her wear the 'sombrella'. (That's what she started out calling the sombrero and it has stayed with the whole family.) Don't you mind the fact a bit that she had NO problem with Mom wearing the sombrella. :)

The kids got along relatively well and I got lots of fun stuff! Thank you to everyone for the birthday wishes and for all you do for me!

Mmmmm!!! LOVE their chips and salsa. My all-time favorite!

Mike, Chris and Hollie (She had to sit next to her Uncle Chris. She sure loves him!!)

Shaun, Kami, Lacie (niece), Jennifer (sister-in-law), Brenda & Mike (in-laws)

What I especially love about this picture is that Shaun is wearing his wedding ring. He never wears it except on special occasions and apparently my b-day made the list.

See? Hollie thinks the sombrella is great for Mom to wear!

And last but certainly not least...one of my best friends...and her other half, Mark! (Her and I share the same brain...at least that's what Shaun tells me.)

It was a fabulous birthday! Nothing beats spending a day with those you love! Now if I can just remember all year long how old I really am....

Kellie's Daily Ramblings

I have added another 'division' of this blog...more of a place for organizing my random thoughts versus stealing my cute families fame! :) Haha.

Nothing overly exciting, but if you care to see my twisted inner workings, feel free to follow! Keeping in mind that I did forewarn you of the content.

I've got it listed in my blog list to the right. Hope everyone is doing well!