These are the cute cupcakes that my cousin Brittany Andersen created.  They turned out so cute and tasty too!!  She is so creative and talented and added a nice element to the party. They were a hit with everyone.

 These are the marzipan balls that we created and then covered them in chocolate.  I love marzipan and it is a fun family tradition that I know I want to carry on for many years to come.

 My brother, Sterling showing off his awesome Marzipan creation. It looks a bit realistic if you really look at it.  He surprised us all on what he can create with the Marzipan.

 My cousins, Emily (in the pink), Sam, Heidi (blonde), and Sarah (front) dipping the marzipan.

 All the family gathered around listening to what my grandparents had to say.

Our little nephew, Cole which was very happy this evening!!

 My grandparents opening their gift.  It was pretty awesome and I know it will be used often when we go down to visit them in Southern Utah.

 Here are the cute Marzipan piggies that were offered as prizes to the finders of the almonds in the rice pudding or the buttons in the cupcakes.

We were able to watch Cole yesterday afternoon to give his parents a break. It was such a fun joy to have him over there. We played many games like chase, where's the ball and with bubbles. Below is a picture of Cole playing with Uncle Sterling and a giant stuffed lion.

This is a picture with Cole watching Sam and giggling.
Cole is full of wonder as he is learning about many things around him.
Happy Baby Cole!!

This was taken at Cole's first time at Temple Square. His parents made sure he was bundled up before we all started. I know he won't remember this year, but it will be a tradition that will carry on and will be more memorable for him in the future.

Our First Christmas Together!!!

What a holiday season this has been. I am so glad that I have Sam to spend it with and that we can make it special for each other.

This is our first little tree. We didn't need a very big one, but it does suffice our needs. Sam was so proud when he was able to hang up all the ornaments on the tree. Since this picture we have found a red star for the top and we have a few wrapped gifts under it. (Hopefully I will get a new and updated one before Christmas comes).

We have also decided to decorate our apartment in little ways. One day while I was at Michaels I came across window crayons. Sam and I decided it would be fun to decorate our front window since we both like to draw.

Now before Christmas happens I just have a couple of more things I want to finish.

1) Wrap the rest of the gifts

2) Make gingerbread cookies

Christmas Celebrations

At the Malmstrom Christmas party, our little nephew, Cole was all over the place. He wasn’t really all that hungry, just curious so he crawled around under the table exploring everyone’s feet and trying to grab at the Santa hats that many people were wearing. I blame this on Sam because he first taunted Cole with the idea.

The theme this year was How the Grinch Stole Christmas. We got to dress up in our pajamas and for those that wanted to could come dressed up for the “Who” contest. The Grinch came into the party and handing out coal and disheartening letters to the tables. He also took bites of their desserts and drank out of a few cups. I didn’t want him touching my brownie, so I covered it and hid it from view. Sam thought I was pretty silly, but I didn’t care.

After the food was all eaten and we were all full, the Grinch invited the children up on the stage as he read them the story of how he stole Christmas, he had changed a few details from the original and added some of the names from actual family members (Sam & I included).

As the party was ending and the cleanup was starting my sister, Marietta and Julie wanted to get some pictures because all girls in the family had matching pjs. I think they turned out pretty good.

Cooking Adventures

I admit that I like to stalk other blogs and I realized that I am following a lot of them with craft ideas and run recipes. Over the past little while I have been documenting my own cooking adventures when I cook for Sam. I have made several fun dinners as well as a few desserts. Below are some pictures of what we ate.

On Halloween I created this dish of spaghetti with a red marina sauce served in red peppers. His favorite part was the carved out faces in the peppers.

This was a simple meal, it was just pigs ‘n a blanket, but I made it special with cheddar cheese for me and pepper jack for Sam. I also made a strawberry smoothie to go along with it.

One of my favorite desserts are these chocolate marshmallow cookies. They are so delectable that I wanted to eat more than my fair share. But I took them along with me to school to share with my fellow peers….but Sam was happy too because he got some.

Mini-Hamburgers……what a treat. Sam was the cook of the hamburger and we made them each to our liking. They turned out quite cute and fun to eat as a dinner.

This was a fun birthday breakfast idea. My Mom got up early and made these pancakes. She then stacked the pancakes and added a bit of whipped cream. Then came the candles. We all had fun singing Happy Birthday to her before digging in.

I created these birthday cakes for my sister Marietta’s 14 birthday and my sister-in-laws birthday. I thought they turned out pretty cute!! My sister wanted a Barbie cake and since she told me last minute I couldn’t complete her wish so I thought that I could do a simple fix and complete her dream to somewhat of her liking. It turned out she thought it was cute and fun.

Chocolate-Pistachio Pinwheel Cookies. Well they sounded really tasty and since Sam is a huge pistachio fan I decided to try them. I thought the recipe sounded easy but it turned out to be more complicated and time consuming than originally planned. I want to try this recipe again but it was a pretty good first attempt.