Easter 2015

It was nice having Easter on the same day as General Conference this year. It made for a nice, relaxing, uplifting day. We had pancakes for breakfast and then watched the first session of conference. Then we headed out to find some eggs.

 

It's supposed to be a bunny, but you'd never know it. Halle didn't seem to mind. :)

 

 

 

 

OK, I am not an awesome cook. I LOVE baking, but I honestly don't like cooking. Far too often, things I cook don't turn out as well as I hope they will. 

 

However, I made the most delicious thing for dinner on Easter. Have you ever had the Sweet Corn Tamale Cakes at the Cheesecake Factory? Well, it's one of me and Nate's favorite dishes. It's honestly amazing. I was excited when I found a copycat recipe on Pinterest a few weeks ago, so I decided to make it on Easter. Guess what... it tasted almost identical to the Cheesecake Factory one. So, so good. I know it doesn't look super appetizing in this picture, but believe me... it was amazing. Try it!! 

http://www.foodfolksandfun.net/2015/02/sweet-corn-tamale-cakes-recipe/#_a5y_p=3380073

 

To make it way easier, you can just buy salsa verde and pico de gallo instead of making them. That's what I did. If you get them from a yummy place like Qdoba or Café Rio it will be even better.

It's supposed to look all fancy like the picture below, but... yeah. That didn't work out for me. Maybe I will work on my food styling skills.  

 

 

Luke is 7 months old

Luke is wearing Paige's coat and girly blanket. I'm sure this will not be the last time he wears pink.

 

I kind of love this face. haha

Kate turns 5!

Kate's 5th birthday started out with a trip to the dentist. This may sound like a mean birthday surprise, but Kate loves the dentist. KiDDS dental is a pretty fun place to go. We had a no cavities, thank goodness. I'm always so bummed when my kids have cavities.

 

 

Kate and the girls playing with her new Sofia microphone. They love that thing. She's been wanting it for months, so her dream finally came true.

I made this cake. It's way easier than you'd think. It was fun to make.

 

Kate had a few friends over for a birthday party. She was pretty excited about it.

This is "pin the crown on Elsa."

 

Nate being a weirdo with his Gollum voice.

Kate is such a sweetheart. I love her laid back personality. She is the best big sister to Halle and Luke. She plays with Halle all the time, even when I can tell she doesn't really want to. And she loves Luke so much. Even after 7 months, she still gets excited to hold him and play with him. She can't wait to start kindergarten in the fall and I know she'll do great.

 

We love you, Kate!

Huntington Beach and Newport Beach

On Sunday, we headed to Huntington and Newport Beach. They are adorable cities. I'm still trying to figure out how people can afford to live there, but they are fun places to visit. It was a cold, windy day, but the girls still enjoyed playing in the sand.

 

 

I don't know why I took these pictures. The streets were so cute and quaint, but you can't really see much from these pics.

 

We had the beach to ourselves because of the cold and wind, so that was nice at least.

Griffith Observatory

I'm pretty sure this place was Nate's favorite part of the whole trip. When we lived in Bakersfield in the summer of 2006, we went to L.A. several times and Nate always wanted to visit the Griffith Observatory, but it never worked out. So he was determined to make this happen. So on Saturday evening we headed there. Surprise, surprise... it was packed. When we got up the hill and saw all the cars waiting for parking spots, I just wanted to drive away because it looked crazy. But Nate decided to pull right up to the front and drop me off with the kids. Just as he did, a car started backing out. It was perfect timing. The observatory is really cool, and the views are awesome. And it's free, which is great. But there is a planetarium show that you can pay for, so Nate took Paige and Kate to that (while I waited with the younger kids in the car). He said it was amazing. He couldn't stop talking about it. I'm really glad we checked this place out.

 

 

Taking pictures at night didn't work out so great. These are the best I got.