Making up for that Cookie

Saturday evening after getting home and getting all of the camping gear washed and put away I whipped up a few cupcakes in order to celebrate Parker's birthday for real. I never knew a cookie could be so greasy. When Darren and I threw it away, I promised I'd make him cake when we got home.
Makin' a wish...
...and blowing out those candles! Hope your birthday wishes come true big guy!


I thought I might share this recipe. This cake is our family's favorite. When Parker was little, and more allergic to dairy and eggs, Darren's mom went out of her way to track down a cake made without anything that would cause a reaction. She came through with this recipe. Just so you know, I never ever use a box cake (unless I'm making cookies). My husband would think I didn't love him anymore if I tried to feed him fluffy colored cardboard topped with icing, and unless it's homemade, the icing gets scraped off anyway. This cake is dense and rich without being too sweet. It ices beautifully, because it isn't crumbly. I've made it substituting the oil with applesauce and it's still yummy, although Darren swears he can tell the difference.

Parker's Allergy Friendly Chocolate Cake

3 cups sifted flower (yeah right on the sifting)
2 cups sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
6 TBL cocoa (yes six!)
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 cups water
2 TBL vinegar (I'm sure I've used either one depending on what was in the cupboard)
2 tsp vanilla

Mix dry ingredients together, then wet ones and beat together until cake mix consistency. Bake in floured and greased pans for 30 minutes in a 375 degree oven. Making half of the recipe will give you 12 cupcakes. This cuts down on how much cake there is available for me to eat. ;)

(The icing is just some butter, some cocoa, some vanilla, some milk and a lot of powdered sugar.)

Man, looking at those pictures and thinking about that icing...I'm going to have to make cupcakes tomorrow I think!

Summer Campin'

I love camping. I love getting outside with the kids and letting them have at it. I love it, I love it, I love it!
Only this guy was a little "fenced in." The rest of them got to run, climb trees, gather firewood, take walks, play freeze tag, catch, and hide and seek. They met new friends at the neighboring campsite and from then on Darren was released from freeze tag duty.

I just wish it was a little easier to gather the herd and all the stuff and then get it all set up. Because it takes a mammoth effort to get us out there, I insist on staying more than one night.
I seriously breathe better out there. No phones, no computer, no somebody needing something. Just me, my family, good food, and a good book. Ahhhhhh....

Parker's birthday fell on a Saturday this year and I asked him what he wanted to do to celebrate turning seven. Go camping! A boy after my own heart. There was no way to get a cake up there without a big mess so I picked up what turned out to be the nastiest giant cookie for Parker's big day.Parker with his gift from us. Plug it in to your tv to play 12 old school video games. It's a family favorite right now - especially since it's 114 degrees outside right now. Thanks for the fun way to spend your big day kiddo. We love ya!

Family night at the Library

I usually take my kids to the library on Wednesday mornings for reading time during the summer. Last week I happened to be there on Monday night to pick up a book I had put on hold. Apparently they have reading time on Monday nights too. I saw that they were expecting a special visitor the next week and so we headed back over there.
Darren met us there on his way home from work but the baby smelled suspicious and I didn't bring a diaper bag so they went home early.
Ronald McDonald read stories, did magic and recited poems to the families.

Elijah wasn't too sure about him at first ,but he warmed up eventually. I love watching my kids giggle.

Parker even got called up to help out with a magic trick. Thanks Ronald!

Father's Day Pictures

So much of what I love the most in the world in one chair!
Look at all those baby blues! No doubt where my kids' beautiful blue eyes came from. I took these picture of Darren and the kids on Father's day this year. The kids helped me pick out a Dodgers hat and multi-function tool for him and my good friend made a peanut butter pie for us to give him. (Thanks Trish...it was amazingly yummy!)
My honey loves some peanut butter. Happy Father's Day Darren!

(Now they are all pretty cute, but take a minute and go back to look at my chubbsa wubbsa baby boy. Ahhhh!!! His cuteness kills me!)

Bonus Family Time

Darren and I grew up together and our parents both still live in the same town. So that means whenever we go home for a Wells family event, we get to see the Stewart side of our family as a bonus. It works the other way around and so our kids are blessed to get to see both sets of grandparents quite often even though we don't live close. The night before and two nights after my family's reunion we stayed with Darren's parents. While there we celebrated Parker's upcoming 7th birthday with Darren's side of the family. Most of his extended family lives in the town we are from so it's fun to see them once in a while too. Here are a few pictures from our time with them.Cousins Tiana Guillory and Alexia holding cousin Kyla's twin baby girls. Tiana is holding Scarlett and Lexi is holding Violet.

The cake Aunt Rachelle and Grandma made for the birthday boy.

Parker and cousin Olivia blowing out the candles on his cake.

With so much of Grandma Stewart's attention being demanded by the three "bigs" sometimes it's hard to get some time alone with the little one. Here is a sweet moment between the two of them. Grandmas have to soak up the love anytime they get a chance.

Family Reunion 2010

Aunt Melissa (Provo, UT) and Spencer outside our cabin.
Benjamin (Rigby, ID) and Parker are the same age and were good buds all weekend long.

Every year my family makes a point of getting together for a reunion. I have seven kids in my family and right now we live in three different countries and four states. If we don't make the effort, we don't see each other. So this year my younger brother Scott was in charge and we ended up in Durango, CO. The food and scenery were great and so was the company. The kids had so much fun together. We played games, rode bikes, sorted family pictures, went swimming, and toured some Indian ruins. That Sunday my dad was put in as bishop of my home ward so it was great that we could all be there for that.
Two of my sister in laws: Katie with Alyssa (Rigby, ID) and Lindsay (Vancouver, BC)
Elijah with Aunt Becca (Cozumel, Mexico)

The kids rode their bikes all over the campground.Alexia with Kurstyn (Cliff, NM)

The kids spent lots of time in the swimming pool. I don't swim well myself so I'm a bit paranoid and I insist that an adult be in the pool with them if they are swimming. Darren never disappoints. The kids love to have Daddy throw them.

It's crazy how much I love this man.Asher, my brother Randy and Kristin (Sandy, UT) at Mesa Verde.

Group shot in the kiva. Wow it was dusty down there and I was starting to get claustrophobic. Funny story here. Aunt Melissa took my big kids and went down into the kiva. She noticed that Elijah was doing the potty dance and asked him if he needed to go to the bathroom. He suggested that he could just go there in the kiva. No way was she letting him do that. While waiting our turn to go down into the kiva, Elijah came up the ladder. Before I could get to him he dropped his drawers and decided to relieve himself right there on the ruins. When I yelled at him it was just in time and Darren then grabbed him and found a more appropriate place down the trail. Oh man, little boys are a trip!Our little family on a tour of Cliff Palace Indian ruins in the Mesa Verde National Park.
Spencer and little Alyssa (Brad's youngest from Rigby, ID) at my mom's house in Kirtland, NM.Melissa (Provo, UT), Shelby and Lindsay (Vancouver, BC) Sunday afternoon.

There are 10 grandchildren so far and it is so fun to see them. Good luck getting everyone to smile at the camera at the same time.
Kurstyn Johnson, Alexia & Spencer Stewart, Elijah Stewart, Benjamin & Alyssa Wells, Parker Stewart, Shelby Wells, Emily Wells & Asher Wells
Of course anytime we are together I have to get a picture of my wonderful sisters. Me with Melissa (Provo, UT).

Rebecca Ugalde (Cozumel) Heidi Stewart (AZ) Alena Johnson (NM) and Melissa Wells (UT)
I wish we lived closer. Thanks Scott for a fun reunion!

Summer is here...

But first, a little comparison...

First day of school year for 2009-2010

Last day of school year for 2009-2010

What were you doing at 3:30am this morning?

Yahoooie! It's done! Now, to see if we can keep it alive! You thought the cable guys were bad with their window. We were told that the sod would be delivered between 6pm Friday night and noon on Saturday. Since it is supposed to hit 107 today we were really hoping for last night. Just after Darren crawled in bed at 11:30pm I heard the truck come and drop it off. I was sort of tempted (because I'm a night person) to make him crawl right out of bed and do it on that side of the night because the alarm was set for 4am and I am definately not a morning person. Elijah walked into my room this morning at 2:53am to tell me he couldn't find his mousie. Aahhh! That boy and his stuffed animals! Anyway I knew there was no way I was going to fall asleep knowing that I had to get up in an hour so I woke Darren up to see if he want to start early....

No he didn't.

So after tossing for half an hour I threw back the covers and told him to come on. Our best work was done before sun up (4:45am) and by 8 we were dragging but just finishing up. I can't wait to sit outside and look at it! Finally! I know, an all grass front yard with real flower beds...so un-Arizona! ;0)