Ava Marie

Ava is now two months old. Kaden wants to know why she's not talking yet! :)

Ethan is getting to be a good little babysitter. He even changes diapers now.

Porter is probably the one that gives his little sister the most attention. He loves to pick her "uniform" for her every morning. He is very helpful when giving her a bath. You better let him pick her hair bow or he will be mad. He gets excited about the cute things she does, it tickles me to see him so taken by her.

We all come running when Ava cracks a smile.

I pulled this swimming suit out of the closet and hung it on the door knob. Porter saw and giggled, "Mom that's cute". He makes me laugh.

Thanks to Aunt Alli for the cute assortment of bows.

And thanks to Aunt LaShay for the beautiful purple dress.

We are so happy our little Ava Marie decided to join our family.

A Must Try!

Hummingbird Cupcakes

recipe from Martha Stewart.com
Makes 24 cupcakes

* 3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
* 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
* 2 cups sugar
* 3 large eggs
* 2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 large)
* 1 can (8 ounces) crushed pineapple, drained
* 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
* 1 cup unsweetened desiccated coconut
* Cream Cheese Frosting
* Dried Pineapple Flowers

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.with rack in center. Line cupcake pan with paper liners; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt; set aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter, vanilla, and sugar until combined, about 2 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, incorporating each before adding the next. Beat at medium speed until mixture is pale yellow and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
3. In a medium bowl, stir together banana, pineapple, walnuts, and coconut. Add to egg mixture, mixing until combined. Stir in flour mixture.
4. Divide batter evenly among liners, filling about 2/3 full. Bake, rotating pans halfway through, until golden brown and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 25 to 28 minutes.
5. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Once cupcakes have cooled, use a small offset spatula to frost tops of each cupcake. Decorate with dried pineapple flowers, if desired. Serve at room temperature.


Dried Pineapple Topper:
* 2 large or 4 small pineapples, peeled

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 225 degrees. Line two baking sheets with nonstick baking mats or parchment paper.
2. Using a small melon baller, remove and discard pineapple "eyes." Using a sharp knife, cut pineapple crosswise into very thin slices. Transfer slices to baking sheets. Bake until tops look dried, about 30 minutes. Flip slices; bake until completely dried, 25 to 30 minutes more. Pinch center of each pineapple slice to shape into a cone, and let cool in a clean egg carton to form flowers. Refrigerate in an airtight container up to 3 days.

Ifind that if you keep them covered, they are more moist the next day, maybe from all the fruit in them. Sooo yummy.

Another Must try....


Any of your favorite recipes cooked right into a tea cup. Put batter about 3/4 of the way full. Turn down the heat just a tad, so the cupcake gets baked all the way through and you are set for a fancy dessert, without any real effort.

This one is a variation of the Mud cake listed on the older post.

oh what do you do in the Summertime?

This summer has been pretty laid back, with the new baby and all. Here are a few things that we have done.....



Here are Porter and Kaden on the curb of Main Street at the Farmington Days Parade. I had one lady tell me, "your kids are so polite, they just grab a piece of candy or two that is thrown and leave the rest for the other kids". They weren't being very aggressive and that was surprising. Last year an old man next to us had to show the boys how to jump up and run after the candy being thrown. I guess my kids were not accustom to candy being thrown at them. :)



Porter, Kaden and Ethan



The parades here are a big deal. People save their spot on main street the day before and every float throws something. The kids loaded up they got everything from candy, Popsicles, Frisbees, toys to shampoo. The bottom of our stroller was loaded as was the kids pockets.


Steve, Caroleen, Baby Ava, Grandma and Grandpa Johnson

We love to sit on the porch, especially Sunday evenings. Everyone in the neighborhood is out walking. We get to sit and chat with lots of friends.... It's so Mayberry. And the weather is perfect.. For a few months out of the year at least.

And what's summer without baseball?


Ethan


Kaden


Porter played baseball as well, but his game pictures are on Karl's camera. I will have to post them later.

This is our summer thus far. :)

Tea Party Essentials

French Meringue Cookies
Recipe from allrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 4 egg whites
• 2 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F (95 degrees C). Butter and flour a baking sheet.
2. In a glass or metal bowl, whip egg whites until foamy using an electric mixer. Sprinkle in sugar a little at a time, while continuing to whip at medium speed. When the mixture becomes stiff and shiny like satin, stop mixing, and transfer the mixture to a large pastry bag. Pipe the meringue out onto the prepared baking sheet using a large round tip or star tip.
3. Place the meringues in the oven and place a wooden spoon handle in the door to keep it from closing all the way. Bake for 3 hours, or until the meringues are dry, and can easily be removed from the pan. Allow cookies to cool completely before storing in an airtight container at room temperature.

PINK CUPCAKES

Recipes are from Martha Stewart.com

VANILLA BUTTERMILK CUPCAKES

Ingredients

Makes 4 dozen mini cupcakes

• 1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons warm water
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk
• 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line mini-muffin tins with paper liners.
2. Sift flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a mixer bowl. Transfer bowl to mixer, and add egg, yolk, water, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla. Beat on low speed until mixture is well combined and smooth, about 3 minutes.
3. Divide batter among liners, filling each cup about 2/3 full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until golden brown and a tester inserted into centers comes out clean, about 17 minutes. Let cool in tins on wire racks for 30 minutes. Invert cupcakes onto racks, and let cool completely. (Cupcakes can be stored for up to 3 days.)

and

"PURE' CUPCAKES WITH PINK FROSTING
Recipe from Martha Stewart.com

Makes 24 cupcakes

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 cups sugar
• 5 extra-large eggs
• 3 cups self-rising cake flour
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 3 tablespoons Mexican vanilla
• Sweet Revenge ''Pure'' Buttercream
• Turbinado or demerara sugar, for sprinkling

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cut out twenty-four 5 1/2-by-5 1/2-inch squares of parchment paper. Fit each square of parchment into a standard muffin cup so the edges stick out from the muffin cup; set aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter until softened. With the mixer on medium, add eggs and sugar; beat until well combined. With mixer on low speed, add flour in three parts, alternating with buttermilk and beginning and ending with flour. Stir in vanilla.
3. Fill prepared muffin cups three-quarters full with batter. Transfer muffin tins to oven and bake until a cake tester inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cupcakes cool completely in muffin cups.
4. When cupcakes are cool, frost the top of each cupcake with a thin layer of buttercream. Fill a disposable pastry bag fitted with a 3/4-inch St.-Honore decorating tip with remaining buttercream. Pipe three waves on top of each cupcake, each slightly smaller than the next. Sprinkle with turbinado sugar and serve.

"PURE" BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

Ingredients

Makes enough for 24 cupcakes

• 1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 6 tablespoons vegetable shortening
• 10 cups (from about two and a half 1-pound boxes) confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons Mexican vanilla

Directions

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and shortening. Add sugar, and beat to combine. Add milk and vanilla, and beat until well combined.

AND OF COURSE

PARTY HATS....


Trisha


Zoe, Trisha, Ashley, Amy
(Amy and Ashley are wearing real tea party hats that were worn from a great grandma).


Ok Cheryse had on my all time favorite Tea Party Hat

Another authentic tea party hat being sported by
Emily

More party recipes to come...........

Tea Party

I hosted a tea party..... yes just because!




I had a lot of help.... Like always, I called on family and friends.





Trisha and her cousin Zoe.




and My favorite Mother-In-Law Idon.









We had lots of yummy treats. Chicken salad sandwiches and of course cucumber sandwiches.

Porter

So Porter was left home while his two brothers headed to Arizona with Grandma and Grandpa. At first he was sad, but he quickly began enjoying his almost alone time. We did have Ava with us.









Porter Loves his little sis. He is so attentive to her needs. He always wants to pick out her "uniform" for the day. Every time Ava gets in the bath Porter runs and gets her towel, and washcloth for her. He then lays out her clothes, socks, bow and all. He is such a good helper.


We picked strawberries......



And played in the mud......



And had fireworks in the street with the neighbors......

Dress up..... The boys had to help the damsel in distress.




Porter did awesome at swimming lessons.... after I bribed him with a toy.
We also went to Toy Story 3 in 3-D it was a lot of fun! Thanks for the fun couple of weeks Porter.

This is a very yummy meringue It took a few tries to get it right, but well worth the effort. The recipe for the meringue is as follows:

Meringue Berry Bowl

• 4 egg whites, at room temperature

• ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar

• ¾ cup sugar

• Heat oven to 250 degree F. Cover 2 baking sheets with nonstick foil.

• Combine egg whites and cream of tartar in large bowl. With electric mixer on medium speed, beat whites to soft peaks. Gradually add sugar a few tablespoons at a time, beating constantly, until fully incorporated, 5 to 7 minutes; meringue should form glossy, stiff peaks, without sugar granules.

• Transfer meringue to large resealable plastic bag. Snip off a corner and pipe eight 3-½-inch round outlines onto prepared baking sheets. Fill in outlines with a small amount of meringue, spreading with spatula. Build walls on top of base at edges using a continuous stream of meringue. Do not pipe higher than 1-¼ inches, as walls may fall over. There should be a total of 8 bowls.

• Bake at 250 degree F for 50 minutes; the meringues should be firm but not yet brown. Remove baking sheets to wire racks to cool. Once meringues have cooled, gently peel them from the foil. If meringues are sticking, cut around them and remove from the baking sheet, with the foil attached to the meringue, then slowly and carefully peel the foil from the bottom of the meringue. To prepare ahead, bake, cool and store meringues in airtight container at room temperature for a day or two. If meringues are soft or moist, return to a 250 degree F oven for 10 minutes.

The sauce I got from Cheeky Kitchen Blog - http://www.cheekykitchen.com

Bonnet Berry Sauce

2 c. frozen mixed berried

1/2 c. apricot-mango jam, or orange marmalade

2 T. brown sugar

Heat all in a saucepan until boiling. Set aside until ready to serve.

Then Top With Fresh Whipped Cream!!

Quick Year Review

If I am going to keep this blog for journal purposes I guess I should do a really quick update of the past year.





The infamous Hungarian tort. Very Yummy! But the making of was not worth trying again. I burned my hand really bad so I asked Karl to come hurry and take over before the toffee on top set up. He got there a minute too late. The toffee was setting up, he tried to cut it. Put the knife in one side of his hand and it came out the other. Me with ice on my hand and him with a bloody towel we headed out to go to the E.R. only to find out his truck was parked behind my car with a flat tire. The neighbors door was open so I ran across the street and asked Chad to take Karl to the E.R. I think the funniest part though was while they were at the hospital the Dr. came in and talked to Karl saying, "You know there are safe houses around here. Don't go back to any bad situations". He obviously didn't believe the whole "Torte" story. Or Chad must have looked pretty gang banger. :) ( and I can't figure out how to get rid of this underline. Aagghh).

Karl went to a hand specialist and his receptionist didn't believe the "Torte" story either. Anyways the Dr. Said it was truly amazing. There are hundreds of nerves in your hand and Karl didn't hit one of them. We are very blessed.




Ethan's first day of sixth grade with Mrs. Enright as his teacher. Kaden's first day of kindergarten with Mrs. Bittner as his teacher.
Waiting for our first ride on the frontrunner from Farmington to Salt Lake City.

Porter and Ethan top car of the Frontrunner Train. (Yes that is Porter's smile.)



Kaden As we were coming into SLC.






Karl took me on a tour of his City Creek Project.
Here we are looking down on all the city.





Kaden took straws, paper and tape and made this creation all by himself for "Reflections" at school. The title of his piece is "The Kite". We are all very impressed by his creativity.


Ethan's piece went onto district. His artwork was titled, "Defining You" Battling what's right.