April Showers

Benjamin got a second birthday cake, to which he is very thankful to Aunt Rynell! He devoured the yummy chocolate cake and didn't let anyone or anything distract him from eating. He was a funny mess. So we showered him off in the sink to get rid of all the chocolaty goodness that stuck to him before giving him a bath.

 I love sneaking in on Benjamin while sleeping to see what position he's taken on. This is his relaxing pose on a good nap day.

 Here is one of his rough day napping positions.

 Mike and I decided it would be beneficial to get a Thanksgiving Point membership and try it out for a year. I was probably more excited than anyone else. I got to go to the Tulip Festival, not one...but three times. The first time it alternated between showers, drizzle and mist. We met the tulip distributor from Holland, Henk. He commented on how the weather was a typical day in Holland.

 The last day we went I took Benjamin out of the stroller to see how he would explore. He sat in the grass looking at it curiously and didn't venture too far. He also liked to reach his hand out to grab at the tulips. We were pretty good at keeping his hands away, but there may have been one tulip that was destroyed. Mike has a picture that I hope he will share.

Little Boy Ben - The Big One

Benjamin's first birthday was fun for his mom and dad. We had some close relatives come over to witness the smash cake. I even Skyped my parents to see. I used this recipe for his cake (I divided it by 4 since I only wanted a small cake). It looked like Benjamin had fun destroying his cake. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the nights festivities.

Fun Day With Abuelo

Abuelo (Dad) was here for Donna's wedding and spent the day with us today. We took a day trip to Eureka and visited the museum up there. There's a good piece of Utah history in that town. Mike and I knew Dad would enjoy the trip out there because of all the mining and rocks. The first time Mike and I were there Lyman was our tour guide, but he was sick today, so June and Collette were our guides. The people in Eureka are very nice.

For dinner, we met up with Andy's family (some weren't able to come). We ate at El Azteca and had fun visiting.

Benjamin learned a new trick of blowing bubbles from his mouth. He entertained us all.

 

We also had an early celebration for Dad's birthday, which is later this month. I made truffle stuffed cupcakes. I got the recipe from Sweet as Sugar Cookies. The recipe Lisa uses calls for the Lindt truffles. However, I bought my truffles as See's Candy. Dad loves the penuche (butterscotch squares) from See's. I also used marzipan, dark chocolate truffles, and mint patties; all from See's. Instead of making the orange cream frosting from the recipe, I made a chocolate ganache and dipped them twice in the frosting. I used different sprinkles to identify which truffles I used in the cupcakes.

I didn't bake the mint patties into the cupcakes. I thought that the mint might over power the other cupcakes and end up seeping into the other cupcakes during baking. So, I inserted them after baking and frosting the cupcakes, shown at the bottom.

The chocolate is very rich, so you may want to have a glass of cold milk near by to wash it down. It also would be nice to share with someone. I love this recipe and will use it again.

Donna and Ted's Wedding

My amazing cousin Donna got married to her best friend, Ted, this past weekend. Everything was beautiful! Happy day for Donna and Ted!

Gate Time

Benjamin has been cruising all over the place, so we finally got a baby gate to keep him off the stairs. He now has access to the safe places in the house (as safe as anything can be for a little one that is curious). He has had so much fun at the gate.

Baby's First Haircut

This funny little boy has some out of control hair. Above is his hair after a bath the day before he got his first haircut. Below is the after picture after. He was squirming in my lap the whole time. Now he looks like a little boy! Where has my baby gone?

Baby's First Easter

This Easter, when I made my pan de pasqua, I split the dough in half and made two braided rings. I love this bread and tradition.

Benjamin experienced his first Easter. We didn't make a huge deal with Easter eggs, but he did get some blueberry puffs as a treat. He had a fun time shaking the chicken and frog eggs with the puffs inside.

We also started our other tradition of reading scriptures about the Savior and the resurrection. I have a dozen plastic eggs with scriptures and trinkets that follow the events of Christ's resurrection. I think it's a great way to focus on the importance of Easter.

March Dinner Group

For the March dinner group we used recipes from My Father's Daughter: Delicious Easy Recipes Celebrating Families and Togetherness by Gwyneth Paltrow. I got to make a dessert and chose to make the Godiva Chocolate Sundae, pictured above. I did not use any Godiva liquor or any ground coffee. As a substitute for the coffee I used Pero. They turned out very good.

I also tried the Chocolate Chocolate Brownies (below). I substituted the coffee with Pero in this recipe as well. I loved the mini-chocolate chips on the top, which added a fun texture.