Allison's Baptism

Allison celebrated her 8th birthday back in September and then had the privilege of being baptized in October (on Austin's birthday).  She was so excited about being baptized especially about it being on Austin's birthday.  I don't know if Austin was.  Although he loves his sister so he didn't say anything.

It was a special day and we are so grateful that so many of our family were able to be there with us.  My sister Gail came all the way from Illinois and even dislocated her knee while on the airplane trip over.  But she never complained and we were so grateful that she could make it.

Allison with her daddy.  Asher is so funny.  When he saw them in their baptism clothes he said, "Its like karate...hi-ya, hi-ya, hi-ya."  Haha...I am not sure where he learned about karate but he was right. :)

All of our family that could make it.  Chris had four siblings and their families that could not be there.

 Allison and her daddy.

Our little family!

I think Allison actually got more gifts than Austin did on his birthday.  :(   Emma, who is Allison's best friend and cousin gave her this cute frame for her baptism along with a few other cute things.

Here is Allison on her birthday.  She picked this cake for me to make off pinterest.  Despite that fact that I messed up on this cake it still tasted awesome!

I can't believe she is 8!  It seems like just yesterday I was rocking her on the couch late into the night while watching Sweet Home Alabama.  That movie will always remind me of her as a colicky infant...not in a bad way but in a sweet, bonding kind of way.  She has grown up to be every mother's dream child.  No! She is not perfect but every single one of her teachers since Kindergarten has told me that she is one of their favorites...if that tells you anything! :)  We are so glad she is part of our family.  We love you Allie!

Halloween

I love Halloween...but more and more lately, I feel so overwhelmed by everything we have to do that sometimes these things just end up becoming one more thing on the "to do list"...one more thing we just have to "get through"... just one more thing to make me feel bad about not doing everything it seems like everyone else is doing around me.  I am sad about that.  Hopefully my kids didn't feel that from us.  Hopefully, it was just as magical as it has always been for them.  It seemed like it was.   Hopefully.

Regardless, here is our Halloween in pictures. :)

First, came pumpkin carving.  We let the kids go completely solo this year.  They drew their own faces and Chris cut them out exactly like they drew them.  I really liked them!  Each pumpkin came out fitting each child exactly.   Austin even did the cutting of his own this year.  He is getting so old.

Austins was Star Wars.  (He is back on the Star Wars phase again...which is good because if I heard another thing about Auto bots, I was going to scream.;))

 It was hilarious watching them clean them out.  You can kind of tell by their faces in this picture that they thought it was disgusting and couldn't believe that we were making them do it.

Asher picked out this hideous looking pumpkin.  He wanted it.  He put it in the cart.  He was so proud of it. He showed everyone who came to our house that, that was his pumpkin.  But I wasn't sure what we were going to do with it.  I figured we could maybe paint it black or something.  When it came time to paint it, he said he wanted it green (he LOVES green right now.)  I started to think it looked like a frog so we painted on some eyes and it became a frog pumpkin.  He loved it, so I guess that is all that matters.  :)  You can kind of see the finished product in the third picture down.  

 School Halloween Carnival
This is the only picture that wasn't blurry from the school carnival.  That rest were taken inside so the all came out blurry.  :(

DeMille Family Carnival
Chris's cousin threw a big family Halloween Carnival.  She is awesome.  The kids had fun and loved it. Here is my beautiful little Indian Princess.  She had to throw princess at the end of it because, well, ya know, she is totally girly girl.

Austin was Link (from Zelda) again.  I told him that he had to be because the costume would only fit him one more year and his Obi-Won would fit him again next year (I hope).  Luckily, he didn't fight me about it. Good boy! 

Asher was batman.  Allison was supposed to be a Monarch Butterfly but she broke her wings and when I told her I would fix them for the next night she said, "No, that is OK.   I will just be mother nature."  So, I guess that is what she is.  Funny girl!

 Asher kept yelling for Chris to take his picture so here he is.

 Halloween Night
This was our Halloween Dinner.  I made these last year too.  The kids loved them and asked for them again this year.  This time I took a picture. :)

The kids begged me to take their picture like this...they thought they were so clever.  I am glad they remind me to take their pictures because otherwise I would probably have a lot less pictures.  And then I couldn't look back at them and smile. :)

All About Asher

Asher turned 3 last month and I never did his birthday post so this post is all about him. :)

1.  Asher's name means happy and it absolutely fits him.
2.  Asher could make himself burp (and still does) at only 2 and half years old.
3.  Asher is my most affectionate child.
4.  Asher is my most destructive child.
5.  Asher can wink at only 3.
6.  Asher has been my most expensive child from birth to present and still counting. ;)
7.  Asher is my most polite child...he says please and thank you more than any of my other children did at his age and even now.
8.  Asher is also my most rude child...he already talks back to me and calls people stupid (which is only funny when he is right). ;)
9.  Asher loves animals.
10.  Asher put away the dishes out of the dishwasher the other day but if you ask him to help clean them he will tell you "no."
11.  Asher loves to play with light sabers especially with his brother.
12.  Asher calls all his siblings by "my" and then their name (ie: My Austin, My Allie, My Abbie)
13.  Asher loves the Avengers and Transformers just like his dad and older brother.
14.  Asher runs his mother ragged all day long!
15.  Asher is the light of our lives and our family wouldn't be complete without him!


We had the kids pictures taken a couple of weeks ago and the lady gave me all 650 shots taken.  I am so glad she did because although these may not be "wall worthy" they show Asher's true personality.  He was so good when we got the pictures taken but he kept making these funny faces trying to "smile" for the camera.  I am so glad that I have them now!!!

The Many Funny Faces of Asher

Food I have been cooking lately...and the stories behind them.

So much of our life is surrounded by food.  We eat three meals a day plus snacks.  We get together with friends or family and there is usually a nice food spread.  We plan our meals, shop for them and spend time cooking and cleaning up after them.  A LOT of our life is consumed by food.  That is why the last several years I have tried to make it as enjoyable as possible.  And I have learned to love cooking in the process.  In my opinion, food = love and love = food..

I am not a photographer.  Most of these pictures were taken with my husbands i-phone so they are not great but they each have a story, nonetheless.  So here they are...in no particular order.


Asher celebrated his 3rd birthday in August!  When I asked him what type of cake he wanted he immediately responded, "Chocolate!"  A while back I remember seeing a "S more's" cake that I really wanted to make and it was a lot of chocolate plus marshmallows (and he loves marshmallows too) so I knew this would be a winner!   If you can't tell from the picture, it has 2 brownie layers, 2 chocolate chip cookie layers, a graham cracker layer, a cheesecake layer and 2 frostings!  Now, I was a little weirded out by the cheesecake layer because I thought that is really didn't fit with the theme of the cake...but boy how wrong I was...it was what MADE the cake!  Both frostings are also amazing.  If you would like to try this lovely decadence yourself than you can find the recipe here.

This is my favorite of the all the food pictures because it is the ultimate expression of love!  My wonderful husband  got my two oldest children up at 5am to make me this wonderful breakfast.  They tried being so sneaky and quiet but I knew they were up to something...because mom's know everything, right?!  Allison drew me the cute banner and made the fruit plate.  Austin helped cut veggies and set the table.  And Chris made me tasty hash browns, sour-dough toast and an omelet!  Oh, and they went and picked flowers from outside too!  Simply beautiful!

Here is my birthday cake.  Chris wanted so badly to make it himself but I picked out a kind of complicated cake.  Not that he wasn't up for the task...we were just sooo busy and he didn't really have the time.  He made the brownie layer all by himself and helped with the other two layers. Even though he is completely capable, lets face it, when it comes to working in the kitchen I am just faster. :)  If you like coconut than this was "to die for!"  You can find the recipe here.

This is the cake and ice cream I made for Chris's birthday....way back in May.  It was so good, I had to include it.  Chris would NEVER ask for a cake for his birthday.  Every year I have always made him a quick-no-bake type cheesecake.  He loves them.  This year, I pleaded for him to try something new.  He said "yes" as long as it wasn't cake.  ;)  I told him about this cake and he said that if I thought he would like it then he trusted me.  So I went to work making this cake, along with home-made vanilla bean ice cream.  They were both so-so good.  And this was a lot easier to make than the previous two cakes.  So if you want to try the ice-cream, go here (I made the french-style kind)....and if you want this amazing cake, go here.

My husbands cousin wanted to throw her daughter a huge princess party and asked if I would cater it.  I said  I would be happy to.  She wanted me to make the butterfly cupcakes that I have made before but I saw a super cute princess cupcake that I thought would fit the theme better and really wanted to give it a try.  I didn't get any pictures of the rest of the food but, luckily, I did manage to grab a few quick shots of the cupcakes.

My sister-in-law, who has two boys, has been waiting a long time to have a little girl and was finally blessed with one in July.  We were planning to throw her a baby shower before hand but she was put on bed rest literally 2 days before it was schedule (in SLC) and couldn't make it down.  Unfortunately, I had pre-made the cupcakes and froze them, as well as had already made the toppers.  So I put the cupcakes together anyway and took pictures and sent her a virtual baby shower.  :)  We are so glad that Zoey came healthy and happy!

First Day of school 2012

Wow, 3 kids in school!  Am I getting old, or what?  It is just crazy!  It has been 7 years since I had only one kid to take care of.  Now for almost 4 hours a day it is just me and Asher.  It is nice to spend some one on one time with him.

Austin started 5th grade...last year of elementary school.  He actually picked his teacher this year.  I don't usually request teachers but he brought me the request sheet, filled out and asked me to sign it.  Since it is his last year of this school, I agreed to sign it.  I am glad I did because he is loving school so far this year.  He has always liked school (contrary to what he tells other people to maintain his "persona") but this year he even likes doing his homework! :)  He also got chosen to be on the student council and is excited about the new challenges and opportunities it will bring.   

Allison started 2nd grade this year.  She picked out those shoes she is wearing...she HAD to have them even though I didn't think they went with any of her clothes.   She definitely has a say already in what clothes she will and will not wear...even when I totally do not agree!  Girls! ;)  I actually love having her around. And I can't wait for a couple more years when I can buy her lots of girly things and then "borrow" them from her. :)

Abigail was so excited for Kindergarten to start.  She wants to be a big girl like her older siblings so bad.  I cried a few times before she left thinking about it but was just excited for her on the actual day she left. She really has grown up a lot in the last year and she is absolutely ready for school.  When Chris picked her up from school on the first day, she said, "this was the best day ever!"  I am so glad! :)