Mom's 74th Birthday

I made a cake and brought it to mom's house to celebrate her 74th birthday.

STRAWBERRY CHOCOLATE CHIP CAKE
1 box strawberry cake mix
1 pkg instant strawberry creme pudding mix
1 and 3/4 cups milk
2 eggs
1 and 1/2 cups mini chocolate chips

Mix all ingredients except chocolate chips with a mixer until well combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.Pour into greased 10x15 baking pan or 9x13 cake pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-35 minutes. Cool completely. Frost with whipped cream. Store leftovers in the refrigerator.

Audrey Birthday Movie

Today we celebrated Audrey's birthday with her choice of movie and lunch. Audrey and I went downtown with Misit Munns, Kathy Cutler, and Shaylin Munns and met up with Mariska and Tyler to see the movie Non-Stop. (John was busy helping a friend, but was able to meet us later for lunch).

Non-Stop is about a US air marshal on a flight to London who receives a series of text messages demanding that he instruct the airline to transfer $150 million into an offshore account or a passenger will die every 20 minutes. There was a lot of suspense throughout the movie - you did not know who to trust or what to believe. Good action / thriller.

After the movie we headed to the valley for Cafe Rio. And to finish off our day we went to Steve and Angela's for dinner (lasagna, bread and salad). Great day!

Audrey is 21

This is what we woke up to on Audrey's birthday - Let it snow!

Audrey enjoyed her birthday and opened presents at home. She is saving her birthday movie / meal for early March when the movie she wants to see is released. Audrey got CDs (Saving Mr Banks, Frozen), a Lego Marvel XBox game, Disney plush (Bambi, Pooh, Eeyore, Scamp), Apple TV, and a vintage style drafting table.

Belated Birthday Celebration

December certainly gets busy, so we held off on my birthday movie and lunch until today.  Saw The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (second in the series) at AMC. Loved it! Of course Audrey made me watch the first movie (An Unexpected Journey) before we went so I would be "caught up". I had read the J.R.R. Tolkien story as a youth so was familiar with the plot line. Knew the spiders were going to make an appearance! Audrey laughed when I was squirming in my seat.

Then we went to Clinkerdagger's for a late lunch. They seated us by the window.

Audrey ordered the fettuccine and John ordered the turkey combo sandwich. He started eating before we could snap a picture! Audrey thought hers was too spicy (it was) so John traded with her halfway.

I ordered my favorite, the open-faced crab sandwich with the Broadway pea salad. Yum!

Sam's Birthday!

What a fun day! At church Jessie asked if we had seen the movie "Frozen" and then proceeded to give me this fun Olaf cookie! Mom gave me a scarf she made, Kathy T gave me an apron/towel set, Kathy (my sister) sent me red glasses, snowflake and snowman potholders and a wooden spoon, plus a Halloween frog-witch came in the mail from Kathy too.

After church and dinner, we opened presents. John and Audrey got me a black necklace, Just Dance 2014 for my Wii, and something in this big blue fabric bag.....a new camera - wow!

John's Twin Birthday

John turned 51 today. He shares a birthday with his brother, Ralph. John was born on Ralph's 11th birthday in 1962. I'm sure he was "thrilled" to get a baby brother on his birthday!!  John's mom took us out to dinner to celebrate the birthdays together (Ralph/JoAnn, Sam/John/Audrey & Joan). We went to Mustard Seed and had a great time!

After work we had made John open his presents. He got his annual Star Trek ornament, Star Trek series blu-ray, Mr Potato Head Star Trek figures (Spock & Uhura), a belt and 3 blu-rays, including The Hunger Games.

John's Birthday Movie & Dinner

Today we celebrated John's birthday. He'll be 51 in a couple days, but since going to movies is a fun Saturday event - we decided to sneak it in a few days early. The birthday boy either was teasing us or had a hard time choosing which movie to go to. Finally he told us he had picked "Thor". Since I had not watched the first Thor movie, Audrey said it was mandatory that I watched it before seeing the second Thor movie. So we woke up really early this morning and watched it, then cleaned the house, and then headed downtown to see Thor. It was great! And Audrey was correct, I did need to see the first movie so I was thoroughly caught up with the plot. I like how the Marvel movies throw in action and humor. And I do enjoy the Stan Lee cameos.

Since we had popcorn during the movie, we were not ready for the celebration meal until later. So after doing some errands, we went to Casa de Oro for dinner. Always good service and quick seating. Thanks John for giving us an excuse for a movie and dinner!

Mom's Birthday

Today was mom's 73rd birthday so we made some lime cupcakes (from a cake mix) and took them up to her hours. I did make a homemade Key Lime Frosting as I think homemade frosting is the best. Happy Birthday Mom!

Key Lime Frosting
8 TB butter, softened
8 ounce cream cheese, softened
2 TB key lime juice
1 teaspoon key lime zest
4-5 cups confectioners' sugar
Cream butter, cream cheese, juice and zest with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add 4 cups confectioners' sugar, one cup at a time; continue beating until light and fluffy. If icing is too thin add additional confectioners' sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time.

Movie Night

We waited a few weeks to celebrate Audrey's birthday movie so we could see the one she was interested in seeing. We often go to matinees (cheaper) but splurged and went to a Friday evening showing of Disney's Oz. We really enjoyed the movie and the plot twists. For dinner we each picked our favorite restaurant in the food court and then walked the mall prior to the movie starting. A fun evening out with family!

Audrey is 20 !

Busy day - and she actually isn't 20 until Sunday. We decided to celebrate her birthday on Saturday so we could go out to a restaurant.

We started the morning by going to Little Euro for breakfast. Audrey and I each ordered the Swedish Crepes served with sweet cream cheese. John got the pancakes. We all had the meal (bacon, eggs) to round out our sugar attack.

We went home and later opened presents. Audrey received some blu-rays, xbox games and music CD's.

But the biggest surprise was when she opened the note to the title of her "new to her" car. John had gone out to "run an errand" after we got back from breakfast and got new rims/tires put on the car so it was a little more sporty. He put a balloon and ribbon on it and had it set up on the back lawn.

To keep the party going, we went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner and filled up on their delicious dinner rolls before our meal came... well, almost. Audrey and I each ordered sirloin and John got their ribs.

And finally we had birthday pie for Audrey. Since Marie Calendar's closed in our area, it was harder to find the chocolate satin pie she likes. I found one in the freezer section (also MC brand) but it definitely did not look so good. Started melting before she got the candles out. Happy Birthday Audrey!

Present in the mail !

My birthday present from Kathy came in the mail. She has been making me runners for the table in my living room. Today I got one that I can use in the summer - a 4th of July runner! Thanks sis!!

Sam's Birthday Celebration

I'm sure we always just need excuses to celebrate, but since last Saturday much of the day was spent at the Ward Christmas party, we needed to fit in the "birthday-movie-lunch" event we always do. My movie of choice was "Lincoln". I loved it! I could not believe how drop-a-pin-quiet the movie theater was during the entire movie. We just sat and watched the whole thing and then the audience clapped when it was over. First sound we heard for over two hours besides the movie track.

Then, because we had a coupon, we went to Red Robin. I know - it was the exact place we went to for John's birthday celebration just a few weeks before. But what really cracked me up when I downloaded my pictures? I'm wearing the same shirt.....  really, same shirt? really, same restaurant?  I'll have to work on being more unique for my 47th year!!  And really love the picture Audrey captured with Banzai burger dripping down my face.

We walked over to the Davenport to check out the gingerbread houses on the mezzanine level. I love the Davenport when it is all decked out for the holidays. And look at that gingerbread (green) cookie tree! Amazing talent! We purchased some Bruttles (soft peanut brittle) before heading home.

And then drove by John's first home purchase. It had a sign in the window so looked like perhaps it was owned by the bank now. John bought, fixed up and sold this house before we even started dating. I think home remodeling is in his blood.

And just because we love to fit a million things into one day, I went with my mom to the Holiday Pops symphony while John and Audrey went to Jon & Molly's wedding reception. The only hitch was our pre-paid parking. They are supposed to reserve the spots that the symphony patrons have paid for, but they did not... so we had to back up out of the parking lot (only one way in/out) and find a place to park on the snowy streets. But the concert was great! Always love to hear "Sleigh Ride" by Leroy Anderson. This year there were a few fun additions - "Bassoon It Will Be Christmas" and "Holiday Overture, both by James Stephenson as well as "Fantasia on Christmas Carols" by Vaughan Williams.

Birthday & Christmas Lunch

I have the best bosses ever. Have I ever told you that? They took me out today to celebrate my birthday and also as an early Christmas. We went to Mustard Seed, can't go wrong there. They gave me gift cards and this floral arrangement.

And even though we were all full after lunch, they had me order dessert-to-go (red velvet cake).

Sam's Birthday and Events

Today I turned 46 years old. We started the day off by attending and participating in the Ward Christmas Breakfast. The theme was "Gifts of Christmas" with presents decorating each of the centerpieces. They served orange french toast for breakfast and then had the program. Audrey was in charge of the technical aspects of the program (microphones, playing the video Mormon Messages "What Shall We Give"). I accompanied the choir and Tiffani & her daughter. And then John gave out gifts to the Primary children at the end of the program with the other members of the Bishopric.

We went home to relax and open birthday presents (of course)!!  I got a "Just Dance" Wii game, "Voice Male" Jingle CD and two fabulous cast iron pans.

Later on the doorbell rang and Jessie dropped off this birthday cake from Just American Desserts. Yay for me!

And finally, Audrey went to Frank's Diner with Grandma Gramlow, Cheyenne and Mariska. This was the "girls" event with Grandma that they needed to schedule before Mariska went on her holiday trip.

John's 50th Birthday

Today was John's official birthday. He opened his presents after work. His brother Ralph kept asking us what John liked and we said "nuts" (because truly, if you have almonds or cashews or peanuts around the house and a chocolate candy bar, he will always go for the nuts. Also, if we make brownies or cookies or zuchinni bread = must include chopped nuts.) With that in mind John got a large box from Ralph. He opened it and pulled out.... NUTS. Almonds, peanuts, cashews, mixed nuts...quite an assortment.

He opened the next box from Ralph. Nice!! A blu-ray player!!

He then opened the gifts from us. The John Carter novel, his annual Star Trek Christmas ornament from Hallmark, some ear buds and a Star Trek pez dispenser.

About this time I started getting the dessert & birthday candles ready so Audrey thought it would be fun to hook the blu-ray player to the TV. She opened the box and then called John back downstairs... hah, hah, more nuts!

We did not want to have too much dessert since it was just the three of us so we stopped by Just American Desserts and bought three single desserts. John's was a berry cheesecake. Happy 50th Birthday John!!

Early Birthday Celebration

Celebrated John's 50th birthday a few days early by going to the newest James Bond movie "Skyfall". Full of action and nifty gadgets and cool cars. A fun movie. We all enjoyed it a lot. Good addition to the series.

Afterwards we went to Red Robin for lunch. I had the BBQ chicken wrap while John and Audrey ordered a burger: one had the Royal Burger and the other tried the Guacamole Burger.

He seems surprised that he is 50?!!

Mom's Birthday

Worked out plans with Michelle to have dinner and dessert for mom's birthday. I made a batch of patriotic red velvet cupcakes with homemade blue cream cheese frosting. Michelle handled the hot dogs and chips.

Mom opening her present from us. This is the one we had purchased on our Canada road trip.

Evidently purple was the color scheme for the party - I missed the memo!!