Russian Friends

Our friends, Daniel and Sasha, came and visited from Russia.  Brendan has been friends with Daniel since his mission, and we met Sasha two years ago when Brendan and I visited Russia.  Brendan met up with them in Las Vegas and drove them up here to hang out.  We visited Sundance and also drove the Alpine loop.  Sasha was able to attend his first American football game, and also visited Temple Square. It was a fun weekend!

Farm Fest

On Saturday we went to a Farm Fest in Payson with Brendan's parents and his sister who is in town with her two kids.  Grandma Rowland had some cowboy and cowgirl attire ready for the grandkids.  It was kind of a small festival, but I think Hazel had fun riding the pony, feeding the animals, and going on a hayride.  I managed to get a few cute pictures of Hazel and Montgomery, but not really any good ones of Clara.  I will make sure and snap some more of her on our next outing.  Hazel really likes having other kids to play with, so it has been fun having cousins in town.  

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

I made some pumpkin chocolate chip cupcakes with a maple cream cheese frosting today, and they were delicious.  The recipe came from here, but I changed it a little.  I added mini chocolate chips to the batter, and also changed the frosting a bit.  I found the cute cupcake wrappers and picks at Smiths.  If you like pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, then you will love these!   

Fall is Here

It was pretty warm most of September, and it hasn't felt like Fall, that is until yesterday.  It felt like a nice crisp Fall day, perfect for walking weather.  Brendan and I took Hazel out for a walk and ended up stuck in a storm.  It started to pour on us and we found shelter under a small overhang of an apartment complex.  We thought it would blow through, but we were under there for around 20 minutes as it became worse.  Finally, Brendan had to run home in the rain and go get the car to come and pick us up.  Of course it stopped shortly after and the sun came out again.

While Brendan was in Europe, he bought Hazel a few outfits from Zara Baby.  They have the cutest baby clothes ever!  I wish you could buy them online, but they only started offering online shopping last month for Europe only.  With the cooler weather, Hazel was finally able to wear one of her outfits today.  We walked up to BYU to visit my sister at work and bring her a treat.  While on campus, a student wanted to give Hazel a balloon and she didn't mind.

Watching her balloon fly away.

Hazel loves to visit the duck pond frequently.  One day Hazel wasn't throwing the bread fast enough and the ducks snatched them right out of her hands.  

Brendan was listening to an audio book on his ipod for school, and Hazel wanted to listen.  Brendan turned on some music for her, and she was loving it.  Brendan put on some Bob Marley and told her what it was and she said, "Bob" and started to dance.  The skeleton pajamas are from Grandma Rowland.  They are a little big, but they're cute and they glow in the dark.

Magleby's Chocolate Cake

I recently purchased a new cake platter, which gave me a good reason to make a cake.  I love Magleby's chocolate cake, but have never attempted to make it.  I found a copy cat recipe, but I had to double it to make it four layers.  The cake turned out very moist and was delicious, but I didn't like the chocolate frosting recipe very much.  Does anyone have a really fudgy chocolate buttercream recipe?

I also included a picture of my flowers.  My brother is taking a floral design class at BYU right now, and the lab where he makes his flower arrangements is across the street from me.  He delivered these to me with a nice note.  I always wanted to take that class, but it was always full or didn't work with my schedule.

More of Hazel

I found some cool colorful buildings in south Provo, so I went and took some pictures of Hazel.  I know there are so many pictures of Hazel on my blog, but she is always with me and I'm trying to practice my photography.  Anyone want some pictures taken?

Labor Day Weekend

On Saturday we went up hiking on the Timpanogos trail, but didn't go to the top.   We thought it would be a little too difficult with Hazel.  She was fine for a while, but wanted to get out and walk a lot so we had to take a lot of breaks.  It was a really pretty hike though.

After the hike, we made it home in time to shower and get ready for the game.  Hazel didn't do very well in the stadium, because it was too tight of a space for her to hang out in.  I spent most of the game outside on the grass chasing her around.  On our ride home from the game, she fell sound asleep in her bike seat.

Today we went to Oktoberfest up at Snowbird resort.  We ate a German meal and walked around to the booths.  It was a beautiful day up there.

Brendan is Back!

After three long weeks, Brendan returned from Europe.  

He will post pictures soon.

Can't Wait

The Art Weekend

Salt Lake City October 7-9

I'm attending this year!  I heard about this last year, but I wasn't able to attend because of Hazel.  I'm signed up for the tabletop photography class, the Illustrator 101 Basics, and Illustrator: Pretty Paper Products.  Click here to find out all of the classes offered and the schedule.  There are several other classes I would like to attend, but I can only leave Hazel with a sitter for so long.  I would love to have someone come with me.  Anyone interested?  

Dad's Garden

Since Brendan has been gone, I've been in charge of watering our little garden and our lawn and it has been hard work.  Our fresh herbs, zucchini, and yellow squash have been doing very well, but our tomatoes aren't in abundance as I would like.  As I was watering, I was thinking about my dad's wonderful garden back at home that he maintains year round.  A month ago when I went home to visit, I took some pictures of my dad's garden and forgot to post them.

My dad has been growing a garden since all eleven of us kids can remember.  Our grandpa also grows a garden and we always thought that was why our dad started, but we all just found out last month that my dad helped my grandpa get into gardening.  When my dad was eighteen, a coworker introduced him to gardening and he has been doing it ever since.  I'm not sure how it started, but my dad has been collecting little garden "knick knacks" I guess you would call them.  He has been getting them as gifts for Father's Day, his birthday, and Christmas for a long time now.  In fact, the black bird below was given to him by Brendan and I a few years ago.  Going back to the tomatoes, I think this is the most I have ever seen growing in his garden.  His tomato plants were nine feet high when I was home, but I've heard they've grown to eleven feet!  He has rows of lots of different varieties.  I'm not sure of everything he has growing now, but growing up he would grow potatoes, strawberries, carrots, peppers, zucchini, yellow squash,  tomatoes, cucumbers, string beans, pumpkins, ochre, spinach, lettuce, sunflowers, broccoli, and cauliflower.  I hope I can have a garden like that someday.