J-E-L-L-O

So for those of you that knew my Grandpa Chris, you know that he was a popcorn LOVER!!! He would make the most buttery, caramely, and gooey popcorn! He also loved to make Jello popcorn, which was always fun as a different treat! I got a wild hair to make some of grandpas popcorn tonight.

You start off my air popping some popcorn...I usually just do one cup that comes with the air popper. :)

Then, you add 1 C. light Karo syrup

1/2. White sugar. (even tho I think grandpa would use a cup)

1 small pkg any flavor gelatin. (Kaden picked out Orange)

Then you bring to a boil, and boil for 3-5 minutes depending on chewiness desired. (The longer it cooks, the chewier it is but you want the jello and sugar to dissolve completely).

Pour over popcorn and mix very well.

Kaden wanted to make popcorn balls and triangles, so we did that today! It was a lot of fun, and he is such a good helper!

And here are a few of our balls, and our 1 triangle! :) My favorite flavor is Raspberry. I think it has the best tart/sweetness to it, but Kaden wanted Orange and Lime. Funny thing is, he hasn't really even eaten any yet!

Spring Fever

I truthfully believe in Spring Fever, and I believe that it hit our family. The past couple weeks Kaden has been different. He has been needy, clingy, whiny, dis-obeying, unpolite, etc. I dunno if its because of Garrett's crazy work schedule, or just that it has been a busy time for us. But I decided that maybe we all just needed to get out of the house.

Garrett had ruined his ONLY pair of church pants, since church is kinda a new thing for us, and we didn't have the $$ to go get him a new pair (we're that broke after the wedding), and so we decided that if we weren't going to go to church, we were at least going to do something FUN and as a FAMILY.

Kaden had been begging for a kite for some time, and yesterday was PERFECT kit flying weather. So we went to Target, and found a $3 kite!! Went to Freeman Park and proceeded to fly this baby!! Kaden is a pro! It was his first time EVER and he did so good!!

We even let him fly the kite alone!

Then he thought it would be a brilliant idea to let the wind take the kite wherever it wanted to go, and this is where it ended!! Even tho it was $3, it was worth saving!

Then we walked alongside the river, and Kaden did some exploring like Dora and Diego do. He was finding all sorts of paths that the animals had created from the branches and stuff.

I am so grateful for Chase. He is such a good dog, and puts up with Kadens craziness. I swear everything Kaden starts beating on him, Chase gets even more excited like, "he loves me, he loves me!" Overall, it was a FANTASTIC spring day!! I can't wait for more to come!!!

Conference Cakes

As long as I can remember we have always had Coffee (Conference) Cakes on General Conference weekend. It is a tradition that my mother had when she was younger, and she shared this tradition with us. I have always gone to her house, or my grandmothers house for these cakes, never have I had to make them. My mothers' mother is Danish, and this is something that they have always done. We make these Saturday night and then eat them Sunday morning.

I have never made this recipe before, and for a while my mom didn't even know where hers was, until I ran across the original recipe on my cousins blog! SCORE!!! I still had to call my mom a few times for tips and pointers. Here is the recipe:

2 C. Scalded milk

1/2 C. Butter

3/4 C. Sugar

2 tsp. Yeast

2 eggs, beaten

1 tsp. salt

5-6 C. Flour

1/4 C. melted butter

1/2 C. Sugar for sprinkling

1/4 C. brown Sugar for belly buttons

You scald the milk and then add the cube of butter and the sugar. Mix. Allow the milk mixture to cool enough before adding the yeast. Once cooled to WARM, add the yeast and let sit for 15 minutes. (This way you can tell if the yeast activated because it will foam up). Then add the beaten eggs, and salt and mix well. Slowly add flour, one cup at a time, until the mixture becomes glossy. It should still be sticky, but it shouldn't stick to your fingers a whole lot. Cover with greased plastic wrap and let raise overnight on counter.

This is what it should look like the next morning before rolling them out. Roll out the dough mixture on a floured surface until it is about 1/2 inch thick. Then brush on melted butter with pasty brush or fingers, sprinkle with Sugar. Then cut them with a pastry or pizza cutter into pieces.(About the size of your hand) Then transfer the cut pieces onto a greased cookie sheet. You can put a little ball of brown sugar in the middle, and then drizzle with melted butter to create the belly buttons.

This is what they look like before they go into the oven. The cakes with brown sugar are the ones with the belly buttons. Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes. I cook mine about 11 minutes, which leaves them barely golden brown.

The after product. They are served with a side of Real Whipping Cream for dipping. This batch made about 20 cakes, and they were fairly large in size. Most of my family will eat 3-5 cakes a person!!!!

My mom always served our coffee cakes with scrambled eggs topped with Cheese and hot chocolate and juice. They are so delicious!! If you try them let me know what you thought of them!!

Hey Baby Lets Go to Vegas...

...kiss the single life goodbye!!...

Viva Las Vegas Baby!!!

For our honeymoon, we decided to take a trip to Vegas. We used money we got from our wedding to help with this special getaway and we had a blast!

We stayed at the Excalibur, and we got a screaming deal!! We paid $42/night!!! Seriously!?! Who can beat that for strip prices? And honestly, I love the south end of the strip, it seems to have the funnest Casinos. In my opinion.

When we first got to our hotel, we were greeted by some recruiters for a Time Share. They offered us a couple different deals if we went and sat through a Time Share spill. We agreed to do so, and we got 2 tickets to The Lion King, and 2 $25 Gaming Vouchers for the Mandalay Bay. If you are going to Vegas anytime soon and want to see a show that isn't raunchy, I highly recommend this!! It was fantastic!

Neither of us had ever been to a Hard Rock, so we decided to eat lunch here on Tuesday. They take your picture when you first get there, and if you choose to buy it they just add it to your check. Of course, we had to get it!

We visited M&M world mostly for my little Kaden. We bought him a cute pair of blue PJ's that he absolutely loves, so I feel like we scored big time!

Garrett took me to Circus Circus, and we watched a Juggler perform. Then he decided to play a little Fair Game, where you have to get the ball in the middle of like a teeter totter thing. You get 3 balls for $2. He lost the first round, and decided to play again, and on the 2nd ball he did it!! So we won a R/C Helicopter! (another one of Kaden's souvenirs)

My dad and my sister both told us we needed to go over to the Rio for their Carnival Buffet. It was worth the short drive. We got there at 3:00, so we paid lunch price, but they switched over to the dinner menu at 3:30 so Garrett was able to get all you can eat Crab legs for the small price of $17.99. I think he ate enough for both of us. As you can tell, he enjoyed himself!

The first night we were there, we walked over to NY NY and rode the Roller Coaster!! So. Much. Fun. It was awesome to be going inbetween buildings and stuff, and it seems like this coaster went FOREVER!! We got pics of this also.

Vegas was definetly a good vacation, even though we came home absolutely broke with $0 money left in our bank account. Garrett has been working doubles since we got back so we can get caught back up. We didn't gamble a lot, and we didn't win anything, but we were able to make a lot of memories as husband and wife.

~Wedding Day~

Introducing Mr. and Mrs. Garrett Huserik

Saturday, March 12th, was the big day!! It started out stressful, but ended up delighful.

Garretts mother drove up from Utah with his uncle Dan, and his dad and his wife drove up from Oregon. It was so nice to have everyone here for the big day.

Garretts mom was such a help putting all the sash's on the chairs at the last minute, since we couldn't get into the church first thing in the morning, and didn't start decorating until 2 hours before the wedding.

We had a nice luncheon after the ceremony where we had Cafe Rio Pork Salads, and cheesecake for dessert. My mom really went all out on the desserts for our wedding. She made them all! Yep, she's amazing.

Overall, it was a wonderful day! Since I had been married before, we wanted to make this special for Garrett, and I really think we pulled it off! (Thanks to my mom!) There are a lot more pictures to come, but these are the ones that I have now, for some reason the ones my mom took aren't saving to my computer right. When I get the chance I'll upload more. :)

What's Important

I usually need a daily reminder of what is important in life. The things that give life meaning, and make each breath worth it. Today has been a good day. Not for any specific reason. I just got out of bed with gratitude for what I have been given.

{He} gives my life meaning. {He} is the greatest blessing I have received.

{He} was a beautiful baby.

Every day I will remind myself how grateful I am to be his mother, and I will strive harder and harder each day to teach him the things that he needs to know to be an honest man, husband, and father some day.

I LOVE YOU little MAN

Save the date!!!

It is official. Well, its been official for about a month now. But we have decided on March 12th, 2011 to get married! I am pretty excited, and a little stressed!

I am pretty much planning my own wedding...from design, to flowers, to colors, to everything! (with a little help from my mom). We were planning on used tax returns to pay for this simple wedding of ours, but some unfortunate things has caused my returns to not be here in time. I was really stressing that we would have to change the date, even though our announcements are all printed and almost ready to be mailed out.

Thanks goodness, my mom came to the rescue and is offering to help us keep the wedding date!! So...if you haven't sent me your address, and would like an invite, please do so because announcements will be out in a couple weeks!!

I almost Forgot!!

Garrett and I had been planning on getting married, in fact, we had thought that we wanted to try and elope for 1/1/11... We don't have a lot of money, and don't have plans for having a lot of money for rings or a wedding, so while we were out finishing the last few things Christmas Eve, I pulled him into Penney's with him to show him a CZ ring that was for like $20. If we were going to elope, we HAD to have a ring of some sort to symbolize our love and marriage. He did not like the idea of cheap rings, he thought it was tacky. I was actually getting irritated with him because he wanted to get married, but didn't wanna spend $20 on a stupid ring. He had gone to pick up a gift earlier in the day, which made me think it was a ring, but I didn't know for sure. I kept begging for him to tell me, but he wouldn't. When I started pouting about the $20 ring, he kept telling me "your really gonna regret pouting later tonight" When I asked if he had gotten a ring, he said No. So I was bummed. Then I got over it and we headed to my moms for Christmas Eve dinner.

As I earlier posted, we ate, and then did the Nativity story. I wanted to play the piano for the music, but my mom insisted that Garrett and I be Mary and Joseph... We finished the unorganized play, and at the end I went to walk over to Kaden to help him find his gifts and Garrett grabbed me by the arm and wouldn't let go. I tried leaving a couple times and he finally got the ring "unstuck" from his pocket and went down on a knee-in front of the entire family. He then then popped the question, and even though I had suspected it, I really had no clue that he had gotten me a beautiful ring, 1 of 3 that we had looked at a couple weeks ago. I was so shocked! I was even more shocked that he had already called my mom and my dad, and my older sister, and all his friends knew about it. I was the only one not in the 'loop'. I am just glad that it was a surprise, because all I found all my Christmas gifts a few weeks ago!! So now its official, we are ENGAGED!! And no, its not gonna happen on 1/1/11 but hopefully sometime in late January or February!

Tis the Season

As with every year, Christmas Eve is always at my mom's house. We have a big dinner, usually prime rib, followed by acting out the Nativity story and then we open gifts that we have exchanged with eachother, and the kids always open up their PJ's. Christmas Eve I was on call, so we hurried along and got my home by 11pm to be sure that I was going to be available if needed. Kaden fell asleep on the way home, which made bedtime so much easier. Garrett and I spent until 3 am putting this bad boy together

We had to assemble the table, as well as the actual train city. I actually fell asleep around midnight due to a massive head cold and medicine, but woke up at 230 to help finish wrapping a few gifts and put the stockings together. At about 7:45am I was woke up to "Mommy! Mommy!!! Santa came!! He brought me a train table!! HURRY come look!" He was sooo excited I looked over at Garrett, who was also smiling, and we got out of bed to enjoy the rest of his excitement.

He played with this for a good 30 minutes before he realized there were a few more gifts of his that he could unwrap.

We were in walmart a few days ago, when he reminded me how much he wanted a "pillow pet" for Christmas. I was really glad I stuck with that plan instead of doing something different. He has slept with it every night since!

We had a wonderful Christmas this year, and we hope you all had one as well!! Time to get ready for the New Year! See you all in 2011!

Happy Halloween

I don't post often, but we have had an eventful couple of days.

So I am going to show a few of what happened.

Yesterday we went to Trick or Treat street and met up with Kyle and Jess's family.

Kaden and Robby had so much fun trick or treating together.

Then we had Trunk or Treat Saturday at the church, and then headed out for some regular door knocking!

These were some fun pumpkins when trick or treating Saturday night. They were so fun!

We went trick or treating in an old neighborhood that I lived in. Kaden was 8 months old when we moved, so we weren't aware of the festivities being held here.

Apparently, these people get vouchers and money from business to get a bunch of little gifts for the kids. Each child is allowed 1 gift, and also a bucket of chips/candy. INSANE! There was a huge line to their house, so we knew it was worth waiting for!!

This was more of the very generous people giving to their neighborhood!

Kaden and his trick or treating buddies! (cousins) Leah's on the left, Jayci's in the middle.

This is all the candy he received!! Way to much, I must say so myself!!

My handsome little devil and the Ward Trunk or Treat! :)

Garrett was a Mummy. He had a vision to sew it onto an old collar shirt and a pair of pants that no longer fit, little did he know it would take him until 5am to finish! hehe...so he's probably tired now!

Good Doggy!!

We found a dog. An awesome dog.

He wandered into Garretts work Saturday starving and thirsty.

We have dedicated a lot of time with him. He now knows sit and stay and is probably 50% potty trained.

Kaden named him Chase, because he chases him and he chases his tail! How creative!!

We have fallen in love with him, and he is just perfect for our family. We put an ad on craigslist in 2 different places, and hadn't heard anything. So Garrett took him to the vet to get checked for a chip. On the 4th try, they found one. We finally got ahold of the manufacturer who called the owner, with no answer. Garrett even went to their house. Nobody home

Finally a couple hours later, the owners son called, saying that they lost them on Tuesday (?) and that his dad is in Mexico. Yes, they are hispanic.

I guess there were 2 of them, male and female, and the female is with animal control. Garrett said the yard was horrible, and not a place for animals. We found Chase Saturday, and the son claims they went missing Tuesday. I wonder how long these little puppies were all alone before they escaped! We are hoping that when everything is said and done, these 2 adorable puppies will not be allowed back home. We have now had him for 5 days, and we hope to have him for many more! Everybody keep your fingers crossed!

This puppy needed saving, and hopefully animal control does the right thing, where the owner is out of country, and takes these cuties away!!

Darby Canyon

Today I got a wild hair to go for a hike. Both Garrett and I had the day off. So we quickly got dressed, grabbed a few things at Maverik, and headed out for Darby Canyon. This was Kadens 1st EVER hiking experience.

Darby Canyon is beautiful! It is about 2.5 miles to the Caves.

I can't remember what they call this rock, but I remember it from when I hiked with the YW.

He had lost his energy, so we sat on some rocks and he ate a snickers bar. It worked. He was able to walk almost the rest of the way to the caves.

Apparently it had just snowed there about a week before. And there was quite a bit of snow!

I honestly have no idea what his face is for! He is getting ready to throw a rock into the waterfall, that you can't really see because my cameraphone is crap!

The windcave. Kaden and I didn't actually hike into it because 1: It was supposed to be closed for some disease that bats have been dying from. Apparently they are doing some studies on the bats and the caves have been closed since the 27th of Aug. 2: The trek up this far was snowy, muddy, and slippery. It was scary enough getting this far, and it only took us probably 30 minutes to get down 100 feet!

Overall, we had a wonderful time. It was nice to get out of the house. In fact, Kaden asked if he could watch TV when we get home...looks like we need to get out a bit more!!