Happy Birthday Dad!

What do you get for a dad who doesn't "need" anything and really doesn't expect a Birthday gift? A photo you say. Well my dad has five daughters and one son who are really into photography... and he has no more room for new photos. Except to replace the old ones. Which is another project not to be tackled today. When I lived at home and had no dollars I would bake for my dad.I thought since today I have technically no dollars and a rockin new giant cupcake pan to use, I would again bake for my dad. My dad love Pineapple Upside Down Cake. I had to figure out how to make those flavors into a cupcake. Here are the recipes I used...

Moist and Easy Pineapple Cake

Ingredients:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup vegetable oil, such as canola, corn oil, or safflower oil
3 large eggs
1 cake mix (18.5 ounces) butter cake mix with pudding in the mix
1 can (15 1/4 ounces) crushed pineapple, drained
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Preparation:
Grease and flour a 12-cup Bundt cake pan. Heat oven to 325°.
In a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer, beat cream cheese with oil and eggs until well blended. Blend in the cake mix and beat on high speed for 2 minutes. Beat in drained pineapple and lemon juice. Spoon into a Bundt cake pan. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for 15 minutes. Carefully invert onto a cake plate to cool completely. Frost or dust with powdered sugar.

Creamy Brown Sugar Icing

Ingredients
12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
2 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed(I used lemon juice. Meant to use the pineapple juice from the cake but I forgot to save it!

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preparation
Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese and butter in large bowl until fluffy. Add brown sugar; beat until well blended. Add powdered sugar 1/2 cup (scant) at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in orange juice concentrate and vanilla. Chill until firm enough to spread, about 30 minutes.
yield: Makes about 3 1/2 cups

Dad's favorite color...Orange. We created orange frosting and used orange sprinkles and orange "sparkly sugar." The cake and frosting were delicious. We all took turns frosting the cake. Okay, I actually let the girls each frost one knifeful a piece... then took over due to my perfectionism and lack of patience on a Sunday afternoon. The results were as seen below.

Yes, I made this. Yes, it does look like a kindergarten project gone wrong. Can you tell I have ZERO cake decorating skills. Nope not one. Really the frosting got warm and started to slide down the edges. Note the small drips. The "Sparkly Sugar" was a big hit with the girls. Especially when I wound up wearing most of it. Open car windows and sparkly sugar don't go together well. I just love being sparkly and sweet! Dad loved the cake, as much as my dad can love a cake. The girls loved gifting it. I, well, I learned a lot about what not to do when frosting a giant 3 dimensional cupcake. Can't wait to try again!

Another year older...

I turned 35 on Friday. I remember in fifth grade when I thought that 25 was so old! While talking with my dad today on the couch at church, telling him about how the girls are doing. Kate was elected to student council and is over the moon with excitement. Sydney finally practicing writing, e is her favorite letter right now, never mind that last weeks letter was f. She practiced through sacrament meeting at church like this, she draws a straight line and then the circle while making the circle she says, " and now around the bases." Like an announcer at a sporting event. Paige and her continual talk...her favorite, "I hep you. I hep you, mommy."
While pondering the last couple of years, which haven't been easy, I discovered that I am very happy with my life. No I don't have a lot of money, or sleep, or quiet, or enough time...but who does. I do have amazing friends to help me through all of those rough spots. Including a great husband who has a lot of sass in his pants. I don't think I should call him a smart ass on my blog, oops I think I just did. He helps me see the sillier side of life and encourages me to complete all of my many projects. My girls fill my life with tons of frustrations, a lot of distractions, an amazing amount of love and most importantly a bunch of hilarious stories. I love the spiritual space that I'm in now. I talk with God on a frequent basis. I do ask him a lot of times what is He thinking, has he lost his mind etc, etc, etc. I enjoy studying my scriptures. I enjoy learning, living in a time when information is so easily accessible is amazing. In junior high we had to use encyclopedias and now I can find anything I want on the web. It's like having thousands of books to look through at a moments notice. I love having the ability create things... a garden, a scrapbook, refinish a piece of furniture, sew blinds, canning foods, baking. Whatever I need I've been given the talents or spiritual strength to see myself and my little family through. So on this birthday I am thankful and blessed. I have heard it on good authority that there is a lot of life to live between 35 and 40. Bring it on!

Happy Day!

My niece Lindsey came over last week. The day was anticipated, postponed, and then "Finally here!"according to Kate. They played in our "lake"(cause of much laughter and silliness), swam in the pool, and John took them all to the Zoo. Which meant I had time alone! What that really meant was that I could finish working on my niece's half finished birthday present. (I have been working on my procrastination problem.....old habits die hard.)

Children back and exhausted, gift done, and a great day had by all.

Happy Sweet 16 Lindsey! You rock!!!

I love my friends!

So yesterday was my thirty fourth birthday. Although my dear friend Lisa's son Travis said I could definitely get away with twenty nine again.(I just love Trav! )

I came to my store and discovered this on my window. John made my whole day by putting this in the window. You know it's love when he got off work at 4a.m. and came to the paper to write this in the window. I told him not to spend any money you see and I said that I would love a card. Then the fun began... hand made cards(love you Jennifer), phonecalls Melly, Lisa, Brandy, Laura love you sister friends, balloons courtesy of Linda and Mary Ellen, lunch with Vicky and Lisa, and a few phonecalls from long lost friends Karin, Jadi, Andrea and Kelly(thanks for emailing them skrappinguy) and Ice Cream with my birthday buddy Katie and the littlest skrappingirls. My favorite dinner in the fridge when I went home - sausage, saurkraut...(you just don't want to know.) So I had a rockin birthday!!!! I am thankful to be surrounded by such amazing women. P.s. John only spent $7 on dinner so he did a great job too.

Thanks for My Happy Happy Birthday!!!