Waco Fun

Warning: This is a long blog entry so read only if you have the time!
So, our trip to Waco thus far has been tiring. We arrived in Dallas, Texas and after waiting an hour to get our rental car we were on our way to Waco. We arrived at our hotel and then immediately went out to find a place to live. We looked all afternoon and into the evening. We found a couple of areas that we really liked in Hewitt, Texas which is just south of Waco. We decided that this area was probably the area to shoot for. The next day we went to the Waco second ward and were greeted very well. We were invited to eat dinner with some very nice members, thank you Keller family, and were given a lot of good advice on where to look for housing by others. We also met a couple who were moving to the area as well, the wife joked with me that we were going to be competing for the same places, I assured her there was enough for all to have. Brother Keller took us out to see more areas and while we were driving we found a place that really spoke to both Alan and I. We wrote down the address and a phone number along with others that we saw. On Sunday we had an appointment with a lady and she didn't show up, this was the beginning of our bad luck. We were still able to see the property however and it was disgusting inside. This was our first real disappointment. We also found a duplex that we had seen on the internet that looked really promising in an area that we really wanted to be in. When we went into the duplex we were very disappointed in the way it had been maintained and especially in the pink matted down carpet, yuck! On Monday we had an appointment with a rental company and the agent called me to let me know that her grandmother had died and that she was giving the appointment to a colleague. She hadn't returned our call so we decided to look on our own again, we visited a property company which a very exuberant landlord/owner from New Jersey, he had a combo Jersey/Texas accent, it was very interesting. He was very excited for us to look at his properties we looked at a couple and decided that this could be an option if we couldn't find anything else. During this conversation Alan received a call from the duplex we had both liked from the night before. So, we met up with Mike, a guy who seems to have a story for everything, we loved the place. It was a great price and very well maintained. We talked about all the famous people he knows or has met, The Simpson Family (Jessica Simpson), Ted Nugent, Elvis's good friend, and a guy I didn't know the name of but apparently he was in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and of course David Koresh (he said he talked with him in a restaurant and Koresh invited him to his compound, a friend of Mike's told him to stay away from him, seems like pretty good advise considering the outcome.) The Realtor finally called us and we met up with her. Although she was very nice, she now had two loads of work to do and didn't have much time for us, so we rushed through a couple of properties all which left a little something to be desired. And we decided that we would take Mike's property. We called him and met him at his office. As he walked in so did a girl who looked oddly familiar, it was the girl from church who had joked with me about stealing her new home. We had stolen it, she had just returned from the property where she was looking at the same place we had just decided to take. She looked a little disappointed, but Mike sent her out to see another property just like it in another neighborhood. It had a bigger backyard area and Mike suggested that we look at it and decide whether we would want that one. We decided that it would be a good idea and so we headed over there. We looked at it and thought it looked good, but we didn't get to see the inside. Then we saw her there too, so we talked with her, she said "Are you looking at this one too?" We felt kind of bad, like, we were taking her new home from her. We decided that we liked the first place better anyway, it is in an area with a lot of members, and there is a nice area in the back where a lot of chickens like to hang out. Anyway we signed for the first area and hope it turns out well, I just hope the rooster doesn't wake me up too much.
Alan and I waiting at the airport, it was the moment I realized we were alone without the kids.
Our new home!
Baylor Science Building, it is very nice. We went here on Monday and Alan got to talk to his professor about a recent trip he had taken where a shark had eaten the cable that was connected to the geology equipment that was going to be drug across the ocean floor. He showed us pictures and it was pretty crazy. Hopefully the project will go through on the second run as this is what Alan was going to do his thesis work with.
We are coming back Tuesday and are excited to see our baby boys again. By the way, sorry this was such a long post.

Happy Birthday Alan

Well, Alan had a birthday this week, if you missed it, it was the 25th. He is now closer to 30 than 20 so he thinks he is old. Well, whatever Alan. Anyway, we did have a nice little get together last Sunday for him, here are some pictures of it.
The boys played with a slide that was broken, but they found a fun way to play with it anyway.


Jakie has learned to do headstands, and he loves them.Grandma Jane and Aunt Karen
The boys and Uncle Evan
The boys with Dad and some of the Tylers
Boppus, Janis and Aunt Audrey
Aunt Sarah and Boppus

Fondant recipe

Some people have asked me for this fondant recipe, my mother in law gave it to me, she found it online, so enjoy!

Marshmallow rolled fondant

(makes about 3 1/2 lbs)

¼ cup Crisco vegetable shortening

1 pound (16 oz. bag) white mini marshmallows (Kraft)

1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract

1 teaspoon Wilton butter flavoring

2 Tablespoons water

2 pounds of powdered sugar

Generously grease the inside of a large (4 qt) microwave safe bowl with the vegetable shortening.

In the bowl of a heavy duty stand mixer or a Bosch mixer pour in the powdered sugar.

Put water, flavorings and marshmallows into the Crisco greased bowl. Microwave on high for 60 seconds. Stir well with the wooden spoon to see if the marshmallows are fully melted. If marshmallows are melted you can move on. If not continue to microwave and stir at 30 second intervals until you have a smooth mixture.

Add marshmallows mixture to the powdered sugar. Put cover on the bowl and mix at med. – high speed until mostly incorporated. Pour mixture out onto a powdered sugar or cornstarch dusted counter. Knead fondant for at least 5 minutes adding powdered sugar if it becomes sticky. You want a nice smooth, pliable ball. Immediately wrap tightly in plastic wrap and then put into a re-sealable plastic bag. Squeeze out as much air as possible. Let rest at least an hour before rolling out for best results. It will keep for up to 2 weeks at room temp. if it is wrapped well. The fondant will harden but can be microwaved again for about 12 seconds to resoften. It has to be kneaded until soft and pliable before you can roll it out or it will have cracks in it.

This fondant tastes good and is easy to work with, The following is a table of amounts of fondant needed for various sizes of cakes 3 ½ -4 inches high:

Cake lbs of fondant

6 inch 1 ½

8 inch 2

9 inch 2

10 inch 3

12 inch 3 ½

14 inch 4

16 inch 5

When you roll out the fondant, the size you need is the measurement of the diameter of the cake + both sides + 2 extra inches. It needs to be about ¼ inch thick. For example if you have a 9 inch round x 4 inch tall cake you would roll out a 19 inch circle, There are many websites that show and or describe how to cover a cake with fondant. You can tint the fondant different colors by using gel food coloring in small amounts at a time until desired color is achieved. You can always add more but can’t make it lighter if you add too much. Liquid food coloring

Fun times in Orem

We have been living with Alan's family for a week and a half and these are some of the things we have been up to.
We love going to the park so we went as a whole family the other day, here is Alan and Jacob sliding.

Jacob and Samuel playing at the park
Samuel in a tunnel
Alan teaching the boys how to hop like a frog
We also had a chance to go to Orem's Summerfest, we took the boys to see the helicopters, the firetruck, the ambulance and the old cars that were on display.

Samuel with his new fire hat in the fire truckMinda and Jacob in the fire truck

The boys love the water, so we had the opportunity to try out their new adorable swim suits again
Alan thought it would be funny to show the boys how to dip their heads in the water, so this picture is a real treat, Alan at his best.


The boys loved it by the way, they think Daddy is the greatest and love to copy everything he does. We are having a good summer and are glad that it is warm. You might have noticed that the boys also got haircuts the day they went swimming. I hadn't intended on buzzing their heads, I didn't want to give up their baby hair quite yet, but, I made a mistake and now I guess they should be nice and cool for the summer. We are excited that we get to take a little vacation soon by ourselves, we are going to Waco to check out housing. And that is pretty much what we have been up to.

Ice Cream

The boys have discovered how much they love ice cream. We let them run around outside and eat their ice cream cones, you can see how much they enjoyed it.
Samuel
Jacob

I just really liked this picture of Sam, so I thought I would add it to this post, also, we have moved to Orem now, and are living with Alan's parents. Alan is working the swing shift at a factory here, where he is making drill bits for gas and oil companies.

For the Beauty of the Earth

We went to Pocatello on Saturday for Alan's cousins wedding reception and on the way home we saw this beautiful rainbow, it went all the way across the sky, I had never seen a full rainbow that was this bright before, these pictures aren't the best, but we were driving around so that is probably why they didn't turn out well.


This is the view at my parents house, it was really beautiful because it had been raining, I just really liked how it looked with all the mist in the mountains.

Choo Choo's

Sammy and Jakie love trains. They love playing with them, seeing them as they look out the window of our car, watching them on tv, and they love to say Choo Choo. They call trains choo choo's and so that is what we now call them. So, I decided to take them to the local train museum. They had a great time playing on the train and going through the museum. We went with their Moma and Papa (my parents) so that is who is in the pictures.

Hogle Zoo

We had a really fun day last Saturday. Alan finally had a day off and so we took advantage of that and went to Hogle zoo. The boys really enjoyed seeing the animals, especially the monkeys, which they call bunky's because they get their m's and b's mixed up sometimes. After the zoo we went to temple square because there is a sister there who I knew from my mission. Unfortunately we never got a chance to see her, but we did go to the Beehive house. Alan had never had a tour there, so he got a short tour, thanks to Samuel and Jacob who were rather tired from the day and didn't want to be there anymore. But it was a fun day all together as a family.
Daddy and Jacob with the Zebras.
Mommy and Samuel with the Zebras.
Samuel and Jacob on a statue of tigers.
Jacob and Samuel with a statue of a gorilla.

Cool Dudes

These are some cute pictures of the boys wearing a pair of Alan's sunglasses. Jacob is in blue and Samuel is in green.

I was wrong

I have to admit something that I didn't realize until just recently. Some people have told me how lucky I am to have two kids the same age so that they have someone to play with. I always tell people that my kids rarely play with each other and that they still rely on me to be their play partner. But over the last week with my kids being sick at different times, I realized that the other child really did miss his brother, his playmate. Although, I do spend a considerable amount of time trying to entertain them, they do entertain each other quite a bit. So, I apologize to those of you who I told differently.

Sick kids

This week there is not much to report, other than we are really tired. Sam was the first to get sick and then once he was starting to feel better, then Jacob came down with the same thing. So, we have been battling this awful stomach flu for over a week and thank goodness it looks like Jacob is finally getting better. Alan is still plugging away at his field camp, he was in the Willard area this week so I got to see him in the evenings which was nice, but he spent most of the time doing homework, so we didn't get to spend much time together even though he was here. We are just excited for the warm weather to return and for the boys to be able to play outside again.

Birthday Cake

Since my mother in law is an amazing cake decorator (see Jane's cakes if you want to see how amazing) and has taught me a little about cake decorating I decided to offer to make my niece Afton's birthday cake. So, I made the cake and my sister in law Courtney (Afton's mom) and her sister Logan decorated it using the techniques Jane taught me with fondant, Logan came up with the flower design, I think it turned out really well.

Afton and Mei Mei's visit

We have had cousins come for a visit. Afton and Madelyn (Mei Mei) came for three days and we had a blast spending time with them.

Dress up fun

Samuel and Jacob found Moma's dress up box, and this is what they ended up with.

Moma and Papa's House

Because Alan is going to be gone for the next month we are living with my parents. They live on five acres of land so the boys have been enjoying running, and runing, and running some more, I think they have definitely enjoyed this more than I have enjoyed running after them. So far we have played in a pool of balls, used sidewalk chalk, gone swinging, sliding, used an old wagon where the boys pulled each other around, and we even went swimming. It has been tiring, but it is nice to see the boys sleep really well. Here are some pictures of the boys enjoying life in the big house.

He's a Graduate (sort of)

We moved Friday and Alan graduated (well sort of, he still has a month of field camp left) Saturday. Here the graduate is with our little family and with our extended family. Congrats Alan!

Moving

Goodbye House

We have now moved and it has been a long process. But, here are some cute pictures of some of the things the boys have been doing to "help us."

Sammy has figured out how to open doors, and right before we moved he would hide in the closet and wait for one of us to come looking for him. Here he is right after I found him in the closet.Jakie helping mom unpack what she has already packed.



Helping mom box up things.
Sliding on some boxes.