Ron's 40th Birthday Surprise!

Yes, he blew out every candle in one breath!

Spring Break 2012!

Spring Break this year was so great! It was the same week as Ron's 40th birthday. Seeing that no one can ever surprise Ron, (he figures things out so easily, he is good at reading people and knows when something is up!) we thought we would make one more attempt for his special birthday...AND we succeeded!

We asked his Mom and Gary to come for a visit. They arrived just as Ron was getting off of work. We quickly hid them in the kitchen pantry and I told Ron the shelf was broken and I needed him to check it to see what we needed to fix it. He went to the pantry, opened the door and about fell over backwards. He was so surprised! It was so fun to watch his reaction and to see how happy he was.

Over Spring Break we went to San Antonio, because my niece Marley had never been to there, so...we had to take her! ;) We also spent some time a the beach on the Gulf of Mexico. Seeing that we took so many photos, I am going to divide up these posts.

The Shotput Queen

Tori is a Thrower (Shotput and discus) for TMHS this season. So far she has placed 1st in every track meet this season in shotput. She went to Districts last week and beat everyone in first round and took 1st place. Then in the second round they take the top eight throwers and compete one last time. Tori took 2nd place overall in this meet. She was not too happy to lose by 4 inches. Next week she goes to Regionals, she is hoping to take back her position in first place! GO TORI!

Tori hurt her knee in November after volleyball season ended. They were running lines on the football field for conditioning. Something popped in her knee and she has had trouble ever since. We have tried everything and it just will not heal. After track season, looks like she will be having surgery.

Tori & Landry

Tiffany Goes to a Party!

Tiffany's friends Kylie and Savannah had their 6th birthday party last month. Tiffany was so excited to attend the party and to ride a pony!

I was honored to make the birthday cake for these cute little twin sisters.

Grandma Carpenter's Birthday!

On March 1st we celebrated Grandma's birthday. I wanted to make her a fancy smanshy double decker cake, but she opted for a basic pinapple, cream cheese, whipped cream pudding cake. It was so good! Here are a few pics to highlight the occasion...

Tori's Letterman Jacket TMHS

Tori was so excited, (did I say SO excited?) She was SOOOO excited, to receive her new TMHS Letterman jacket. Her Varsity Volleyball team and a few of the Cross Country runners were the first students to receive the jackets at the new high school!

Tori looks forward to having a Track logo on her jacket too! Way to go Tori, you have had a tremendous Sophomore year!

My Niece Marley

In February my niece Marley came to live with us. She had been living with my parents but since Mom's seizures have began again, we had her move in with us. She will be graduating in June from THS, then going off to BYU-I. We are so proud of her and excited to see what her future brings.

Life with Marley around is ALWAYS entertaining! She is funny, has creative ideas, knits up a storm and likes to pull practical jokes. She is also a very talents diver. She participated in diving at THS, she did so well this year. We were proud of her accomplishments and it was fun going to watch her dive.

Here are a few pictures of the fun times my girls have had with Marley...there is never a dull moment in our home!

I created a blog for Marley so she could watch her dives. Here is the link.

Caitlin: "Hey! Where is my IPOD?"

Courtney & Caitlin Track

This spring Caitlin and Courtney decided they wanted to try out for Pole Vaulting on the track team. They were really excited when the coaches told them they had good form and were naturals. They were so happy to make the team. But, as it would happen, the hurdles track coach wanted the twins to run for her. They unwillingly ran hurdles this year and did not ever get to pole vault in a meet. I felt bad for them, they were disappointed. Maybe next year they will have the opportunity?

Most of the track meets were spent sitting and waiting. For teenagers, this free time was a gold mine. Most of the time the twins stood around with friends. Whenever I glanced in their direction, this is usually what I saw, but with different people!


They also applied to be Athletic Trainers at TMHS for this next year. After a lengthy interview process they were selected. They have already learned so much for going to the first 4 meetings! They are quick to learn. Possibly we will have a doctor or two in the family in the future?

Courtney Awarded Scholastic Silver Star Award!

This past Fall, Courtney was given an assignment to write poetry in her English class.

Her teacher submitted all of the pieces to the Scholastic National writing competition.

This program was founded in 1923. It is the longest running, largest, and most prestigious competition of it's kind in the nation. Each year approximately 25,000 entries are sent in to be judged by professional writers, past winners, and professors. Entries come in from the U.S., Canada, U.S. Territories and U.S. sponsored schools abroad.

Courtney's poetry was selected by the Regional Board as a Silver Star winner. We are so excited for you Courtney! Way to be! Last night we went downtown and watched her receive her award.

Brianne's NIS Musical

The 5th grade classes at Brianne's school put on a fine arts performance. Here Brianne is in action!

Courtney & Caitlin's UIL Violin Competition

A few weeks ago, Courtney & Caitlin participated in the District UIL violin competition. They each practiced their music for weeks. Caitlin had the most difficult piece. I loved hearing them practice. It brought back so many memories of the days when I was a little girl, playing the exact same Suzuki music! A few days before the UIL competition their new violins arrived! They were so excited to get full sized violins! The tone of the violins is magnificent, and the twins swear they play the violins better now that they have their new instruments! (hee-hee!)

Tiffany's Little Snack

One afternoon we found Tiffany having a little snack. She was sitting on the kitchen counter, eating out of a jar, and licking a knife. Sometimes don't you think it would be fun just to be a little kid again with not a worry in the world?

"Yikes! I am so busted!"

Another Cake!

I made another cake today. That would be two cakes this week that I have made. I am excited how well the fondant turned out on this cake today. I believe I am beginning to figure out the tricks and I have began writing down everything I need to recreate the cake if need be in the future. (This cake is very similar to Brianne's 11/11/11 cake.)


This cake below is for a Mrs. Keck's daughter, Irelynn. Mrs. Keck hold a sweet place in our hearts. She was Victoria's, Caitlin and Brianne's 4th grade teacher at LES. This year her daughter is in Tiffany's kindergarten class and they have become good friends. Irelynn's birthday party is tomorrow, so I volunteered to make a cake for Mrs. Keck.

Tiffany Turns 6 years old!

This past week was Tiffany's 6th birthday! On Saturday she had a party with all of her girl friends. They painted canvas' with glue and decoupaged with scrapbook papers. I found this cute idea on Pinterest. You can find instructions here on how to make the cute wall hanging. We did ours a little different than the examples she showed. We also made the dangle bracelets on this site. It was really cute and the 5 year old girls handled the craft with ease. I really wanted to make the cuff bracelet but felt that was just too much for this age group to handle.

I made Tiffany's cake. Her cake was an 8 layer triple chocolate cake. It was very moist and delicious. I am still in the process of learning how to make cakes. This has been a fun little hobby. I am learning each time I make a cake. As a matter of fact I am making another cake for a friend today, for her daughter's birthday party tomorrow. I will post pictures.

I chose the bright colors and the butterfly theme because it reminded me of Tiffany. She is so precious. She is sweet. She is caring and oh so loving. She tells us daily that she loves us and gives us hugs and kisses. She enjoys snuggling. She wants to help around the house. She doesn't judge others. She isn't opinionated. She is genuinely happy. Her giggle is infectious. She is just so pure. I love being around her.





The girl friend birthday party!



If you click on the picture you can see that we didn't use paints as the website did. I simply painted on the heart with joint compound, two days before the party. We just kept it easy and applied glue to the canvas and then stuck on ripped scrapbook papers. The girls did a really nice job on their project.



Tiffany's dangle bracelet.



The girls showing off their bracelets!



We let the kids decorate cupcakes and take some home. They loved this!

This was Tiffany on her real birthday at the family party. Making a wish!

At school her teacher gave her the crown she is wearing in the photo. She was excited to hear her name on the morning announcements. I ate lunch with her at school, she requested Wendy's. We brought cupcakes for her classmates and she was so excited to hand them out!

Opening presents.

So excited to find Webkinz dolls!