Summer Fun

This has seriously been one of the BEST summers I have had in a long time!! Caleb and I spend each day staying busy. In the morning, we go to the gym or go on a run with the running stroller. Then, we hit the pool or go play with friends. Then, Caleb's nap time. In the afternoon we spend time playing outside some more, grocery shopping, or running errands. So fun! Caleb is VERY TAN!

Speaking of the best babysitters ever... how about GI-GI!?

Our garden continues to blossom! We have had gigantic zuccini's, lots of squash (I love it fried), tons of baby tomatoes, a few big tomatoes, banana peppers, jalapeno peppers, and some basil!
At night time after Caleb is asleep, Blake and I usually have friends over, have an at-home date, or we relax and read books. We had a great time the other night with my cousin Cameron. We ate foil dinners, made s'mores, caught fireflies, then camped in a tent in the back yard! Then, in the morning we had a gigantic breakfast all cooked on the grill. Cool tan dude.

Cranky Morning Boy

Most everyone knows Caleb as his happy, cute self. Man is he fun and silly and hilarious! However, most everyone has also not seen him when he wakes up in the mornings. The moment he wakes up he is screaming. Then, I go in and get him out of bed and he still screams. Then he whines his way to the breakfast table, and often is too bent out of shape to eat anything for a few minutes. After he has whined and screamed for a WHILE, he finally sits down to eat breakfast.

I feel so bad that he wakes up so cranky! Does anyone have any advice for how I can help him wake up happy??? He gets about 10 to 11 hours of sleep at night and 2 to 3 hours of a nap during the day. I don't think it has to do with being tired. But maybe? Any advice will help!

Wedding Cake Practice

I am making a four-tiered wedding cake for my friend's wedding this month! I feel so honored and want to make it perfect, so I decided to make a full practice cake. Blake convinced me to only make the middle two tiers.

Added a little Dani creativity - a fresh raspberry filling with cream cheese frosting on the inside.

She wants two tiers to be chocolate and two to be white cake, so I did one of each for my practice.

The two middle layers... boy did I learn a lot by practicing!!!I had to use the dowel and cake board method so the top cake did not sink into the bottom cake. It worked well! Blake helped me cut the dowels. And here was the finished product!!!
What I learned:

1. Shimmer dust is not that cool.
2. The cream cheese filling & raspberries taste dang good with white cake AND chocolate.
3. I still have a long way to go in my cake making.

This practice cake will be used for my dad's family b-day party tomorrow. I stuck some fake balloons in the top middle for it. :)

Can you guess???

Caleb and his new friend Chris Reece...

What is this picture??...
I've been baking a storm lately! So fun!

This boy is too much like his mommy...

The doll cake looked awesome at the party! Caleb had a great time there too...

We got there and immediately found the cheeto bowl on the little table. And he ate...

And ate...

And ate...
And ate!!! LOL. Oh man he made me laugh. He sat there and ate cheeto's, strawberries, and grapes for over an HOUR. He loved the little seats. And he LOVED the cheeto's.


The other night we found the greatest babysitter, Samantha. She is barely 12 years old but has helped raise her 3 younger siblings and she is AWESOME! When we left, she was racing Caleb on his cars. Racing him. On his car. Does it get better than that???? She was great!!

2nd Cousins

We did it. 1 Mommy, 1 Toddler, 4 hour drive to Memphis - Success! I am in shock. Caleb did not sleep a wink on the way there or the way back. He did not watch any videos. He did not listen to any sing-along cd's. How did we do it? Well, I put every single item of Caleb's favorite food in the seat next to me. Then, on the floor below Caleb, where I can easily reach, I put a bunch of Caleb's favorite toys that he can easily hold in his lap and play with, plus a ton of books. About an hour into the trip on the way there, and an hour into the trip on the way back, we both almost lost it. He was screaming, I was freaking out, but we got through it. The drive was actually peaceful after those break-throughs! We only had to stop once both ways! I am so extremely proud of Caleb. He has learned so much patience!!!
We went to Memphis to visit my cousin Valorie, her family, and my Aunt and Grandparents. Caleb was very excited to see his 2nd cousins Claire and Annie, and especially excited to see his Grandpa and Grandma Hiatt.
Claire and Caleb got along especially well. Claire even rode in the car with Caleb for one of the days. She loved giving him his sippy cup and treating him so good like the little mommy she is!
So, the first day, we got there around noon. We then ate lunch and hit this awesome Sprinkler Park!!! Oh boy was that fun for all three of the little kids, and nice for me and Valorie because the water cooled us down. That night, Valorie and I went to the gym together and stayed up forever talking, just like old times.

The next day, Claire and Caleb and I hung out at my Aunt Miriam's house, then at my Grandpa and Grandma Hiatt's house. We at lunch over there. Caleb got a nap, and we played tons. Then, that night Valorie and I got the honor of doing initiatories while my Grandma Hiatt was one of the temple workers. It was very special and a wonderful time. Then Val and I ate at an awesome hole-in-the-wall Italian restaurant. It was DELICIOUS! And a blast to get out just us girls.

The next morning, Caleb and I drove out at the break of dawn when he woke up. What an awesome trip!!! Thank you Val for your hospitality and a FUN FUN TIME! Can't wait to do it again!

Gaga and Gi-gi

Caleb constantly talks about his grandma and grandpa. "Gaga gi-gi gaga gi-gi!" Seriously, he has named my dad "Ga-ga" and my mom "gi-gi" or "gee-gee." I mean he's obsessed with them and talks about them all day. And when they come over he gets overly excited, but when they leave he acts like his world is shattering. He LOVES them. And it should be that way! It's hard being demoted from favorite... to 3rd-favorite. Just recently this has happened. ha ha

I am so grateful Caleb has 4 wonderful grandparents who love him DEARLY.

Yeah Caleb! Stinky bum in the face!

Grandma tug of war!

I like Cakes

So I got to do my first princess cake for Emily's (my friend Vicki's little girl) 4th Birthday party! Yaaay! Cassy helped me decorate it. I made my first batch of marshmallow fondant (which was difficult to figure out) and it turned out okay!!! I'm not going to say it was perfect, because it wasnt, but man it looks cool. And man is it pink. And so are my hands. Pink and cool.

First I baked 3 cakes. One in a gigantic stainless steel bowl, and two regular 9 inch cakes. The gigantic bowl took 2 cake mixes and THREE HOURS to bake!!!! I dont think it will taste very good, but it looks good (shape-wise), and next time I know what to do better - bake it in a GLASS bowl!!!!

Then, I frosted all 3 cakes and stacked them on each other with a pudding filling between layers. I frosted them with PINK buttercream frosting.

Finally, I used my rough batch of fondant, made it pink, rolled it out a few times due to sticking to the counter, then three of us transferred it to the cake, where it broke in two places. But it looks cool now, because Cassy used water to smoothe it out! Cassy shoved the doll in and we went to town.

It looks awesome all decorated. I copied the design on the plate, somewhat, to make it a cute Bratz theme. I think Emily is going to LOVE it!

Colton and Caleb

One of my very best friends in my life, Nath, had a baby boy, Colton, 6 months before I had Caleb. Caleb and Colton have become best friends. They love each other and can now say each other's names.

Today, Nath and I witnessed the miracle of these two boys getting along so well. They played together for 3 entire hours!!! They'd both end up doing the same things like sitting in the two small chairs...
And eating goldfish out of their matching snack cups while sitting in the small chairs...

And driving their first vehicles... There were a few "disagreements" over these two toys, but they figured out that sharing is fun!

Caleb is going to miss Colton when he moves to Nebraska so that his daddy can get really smart and teach people. :) Ok ok I'M going to miss my NATH! It's been such a blessing, as I learn this toddler mommy life, to have Nath around to learn from and be with. We've gone to the zoo, the park many times, plan to hit the pool someday, and just get together whenever possible. We could hang out ALL THE TIME... trust me, we know this... when we roomed together at BYU we were inseparable and rarely included many other people in our daily plans. It was too much fun, and never got old. Love you Nath! Always!

Where are my friends?

So, we just spent 2 lovely weeks in Utah. We had an awesome time, surrounded by family and friends. We stayed in the house with 7 other adults and 7 other children. We went to the zoo, the park, out to eat multiple times a week, family dinners nightly, play dates with friends, breakfast dates with friends... Then, we get back to Tennessee, and the next morning woke up to a house with just us 3 in it... Blake goes to work... me and Caleb left alone.

Any advice, my people?