megan's sprinkle

this past friday night, we threw megan a sprinkle (mini shower) to celebrate her baby girl she will be having in a couple weeks. we got together at her favorite restaurant (lunchbox) and then went over to lincoln square to see "what to expect when you're expecting" (which actually exceeded our expections). it was a very fun night. i love getting together with the girls. and we all cant wait to meet the newest little bean!

a trip to see jocelyn!

i just returned from a trip to colorado springs to visit jocelyn. she is pregnant with her second baby (a boy!) so regan and i worked together to throw her a baby shower to celebrate.

 

as soon as i flew into coloraaaaahhhhhdo, i got to work on the shower. for the desserts, i was in charge of lemon tea cakes and ruffle cupcakes.

 

we decided to go with a clean, springtime look for the shower using succulents as the main decoration. i really loved how it turned out. regan made this beautiful sign for baby smith. i kind of wanted to steal it.

regan and kera (i feel so lucky to have met such sweet girls through jocelyn!)  at the shower, we had the ladies work on a mini faux chenille blanket for the baby.  

  

i surprised jocelyn with a baby circle quilt. 

regan and me. and our neon.

 

the dessert table. cheesecake bites. lemon bars. cake pops. chocolate chip cookies. cupcakes. lemon tea cakes. and a butter cake with chocolate frosting. all very yummy.

jocelyn loves citrus treats, so we had the ladies take home a little bag of lemon heads as favors.

 

jocelyn and me. we might have taken about thirty pictures to finally get one that we didnt want to blow up.

lucy girl loved playing with the two circle quilts auntie whitney has made! :)

 

i had such a wonderful time playing with these two girls. we had super delicious food (chick-fil-a!) and i did some major shopping damage. who could ask for more?

it is QUITE a shame that i dont get to live near jocelyn. i whine about it all the time. but at least we see each other often. and when we do....... we have a TLC-watching-baking-with-jewelry-on-stay-in-the-car-while-i-go-in-the-grocery-store-get-all-dressed-up-just-to-have-a-hick-tell-you-that-you-look-tired kind of time. yee haw.

please focus on us in the above picture. and not on the situation in the background.

mama's hands auction 2012

last weekend was the annual mama's hands auction. craig and i werent going to be able to attend (he had to work that evening) so i offered to make a cake for the dessert dash. and even though i am not crazy about over-the-top chocolate desserts, megan and i have discovered that those are what gets the most hype (and the two of us are always competing over who has the most popular cakes) at dessert dashes/bake sales/contests. so i found this recipe for a truly decadent cake and decided to go for it!

the finished toasted marshmallow chocolate malt cake. my favorite part about this recipe was that it called for actually toasting jumbo marshmallows and mixing them INTO the frosting itself. so as you tasted the frosting you would get actual chewy bits of toasted marshmallow. YUM. thats what went in between the layers of chocolate cake. for the outside of the cake, i made a chocolate malt buttercream that tasted just like a whopper.

the problem is that you cant just cut into a cake to taste the final product. so i made a few cupcakes with the extra ingredients just so i could have a bite.

my mom made one of her infamous circle quilts (a huge king size one!) and had it auctioned off for the cause. it was a total hit.

and surprise! in the end, i really cant ever pass up a party! (but really, at the last second, a friend couldnt go and asked me to take her ticket. i called my handy-dandy babysitter up and voila! i got to join in on the fun)

cinco de mayo!

last night, we had friends over to celebrate cinco de mayo. we had homemade tacos and churros. basically a whole lot of fried, greasy mexican food. :)

i had so much fun putting this little party together. i loved using succulents and bright colors to get everyone in the festive spirit of mexico.

my little mexican boys.

big people table.

little people table. i was so excited when i found the mini-chiclets! it was perfect. 

my little party helpers. not really. i cannot tell you how many times i had to re-set those tables!! :)

preparing the guacamole.

homemade chips and fresh guacamole. 

kaitlin and me making the churros. 

these little babies were gobbled up faster than we could make them!

and it wouldnt be cinco de mayo if we remembered to watch three amigos WHILE our friends were still here. so once again, i stayed up late laughing all by myself.

hope everyone had a fantastic cinco de mayo!

i cant get enough

i have realistically watched this video twenty times. and i laugh every single time.
1. the ears
2. the special singing
3. the stiff little index finger showing "one"
4. the growl before i even ask the question
its all my favorite. 

jumbo balloon and ombre cake

this past week, i was put in charge of decorating the dessert display at our relief society night. i have been dying to deck out a jumbo balloon (as seen here) and make an ombre cake. so i figured this was a perfect chance to try out both.

i didnt want the ombre effect to be too in-your-face so the frosting had a VERY subtle fading of the pinks.  i really like how it turned out but i think next time i might go a wee bit more intense.

cut chenille quilt

my friend, marissa, discovered these quilts a couple weeks ago and has been making them like a mad woman ever since. when i saw her gorgeous creations i HAD to make my own. we got the directions for making these faux chenille quilts here.

its basically one layer of printed fabric with three layers of flannel sewn together with LOTS of diagonal lines. afterwards, you cut the flannel through the channels, bind, and wash. very easy. i even messed up in a few places and had the flannel pucker but the washed flannel is verrrrry forgiving.

i made my quilt much larger than the ones i have seen on the internet (no reason for a baby quilt as of right now!) but it was just as easy. love it. thanks, riss.