***ATTENTION***THIS IS NOT AN ANNOUNCEMENT***

Madison, if you have a brother what do you want his name to be?

Um Choo Choo.

Oh yeah. And what if you have a sister?

Monkey!

What would your brother's middle name be?

Express.

So his name will be Choo Choo Express?

Yeah!

So what will your sister's middle name be?

Choo Choo.

You want her name to be Monkey Choo Choo.

Yep.

*** This is not an announcement. I promise. She is obsessed with the fact that her Tiffy has a baby in her belly and DD is going to have a sister. ***

Karen + Kate = BFF

Troy and I have been working for his mom (aka Lucy aka Granny Sassy) for a while now. Actually for Troy it has been almost a year! Wow. Anyway we are both crazy busy and work anywhere from 10 to 12 hrs a day. We negotiate short sales, so needless to say there are not enough hours in the day. When I first started working for Lucy, it was completely commission based and I would wait until a property closed before getting paid. It is usually 4 to 6 months to develop a consistent pipeline of closings if you are working full time. In February, Lucy asked me to work full time as a salaried employee (I told you we are crazy busy!!). One thing that Troy and I did not think about was all of my old files that I would still be getting my commission pay on when they closed. It has been such a blessing to our family to have the extra income coming in and finally feel like we are getting caught up financially.

However this last weekend, I might have made one of the most irresponsible financial decisions in my life... I went to Nordstrom's. I bought some things. I spent way too much money. And my husband was totally the instigator (I am VERY spoiled).

Basically this sums it up. Karen + Kate = BFF...

Cutest Cookies Ever!

You need to check out Melanie's blog. She does some amazing stuff with sugar cookies and posts some recipes that I can't wait to try. Plus she is doing a giveaway!!! Who doesn't love that?!

http://www.killerzebras.com/2011/04/mothers-day-cookie-givaway.html

MINNE MOUSE AND BUZZ LIGHTYEAR!!

MADISON'S 2ND BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION

Claudia made Madison the cutest Minnie cupcakes

Breakfast of Champions!!

Yes I made these cakes. I'm just as impressed as you are.

The spread. Madi planned the menu. Hot dogs, Doritos, juice, and cake. I threw in a couple of salads just to balance is out.

Troy insisted that she get Buzz's face. haha!

I love this picture! He WANTS that hot dog sooo bad!!

He is so handsome!!!

Be polite Madi. Open the card first.

A talking Buzz?! What?!!

We had such a great time. Madison loved every minute of her Minnie and Buzz party. She keeps asking us, "Where my party go?" haha! Thank you everyone that was able to come! She sure feels loved.

Best Daughter in Law Award goes to...

ME!!

I met Troy in February of 2006, which means I met Lucy in February of 2006. It has taken me 3.5 years of marriage and +5 years of knowing her to finally make her a birthday cake. Seriously how rude am I?! She told me last night that she can't remember the last time someone made her a birthday cake. Now one might argue that there are plenty of others that could make Lucy a cake. And while that is true, let me remind you of the fact that up until this last summer, we were surrounded by boys...sorry men... and Tasheena lives in AZ and Jasmine just married into the family in June, so the responsibility of the cake has been mine for the last several years. I have failed her. If you have ever had a Lucy Linn McKie cake for your birthday you will understand why I am so intimidated. She is amazing.

Well this year I decided to be an adult and make her a cake. Boy did I outdo myself. Seriously impressive. I might have made up for the last few year. Maybe...

The flowers are courtesy of Amazon Fresh...Have you tried it? Amazing!

Oh did I mention that I made it completely from scratch. I'm not sure that anyone but my family will understand what a miracle this is. I love box cakes! Seriously I'm obsessed. This one turned out so well though, I might be turning over a new leaf. She requested a chocolate cake with chocolate icing and whipped cream with fresh raspberries filling. And that is exactly what she got.

5 years ago today...

Troy was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Oh yeah and he met me.

DD's Ice Skating Birthday PARTAY!!!

First I need to start with an explanation. I have 4 cousins that are brothers and the age gap is only 6 years from oldest to youngest. We call them the little boys (yes they are ranging from 23 to 17 now, but we still call them that. Whatever.). I'm not sure why it has stuck, although I understand how it got started because now we have the little girls. Madi and DD. So from here on out if you read the little girls just know that is in reference to Madison and DD. Thanks.

Now on to the point of this blog post. Madi and I got to go to KENTUCKY for DD'S BIRTHDAY!!!!! Granny Eva invited us to go along with her and celebrate. My mom tries to go out for each kids birthday. Good thing Ryan is a pilot and parents of pilots still get flight benefits... Anyway we had a great trip. I definitely think the highlight of the trip for the kids was ICE SKATING!!! They love it. Granny got the girls cute little skating outfits. They were so cute!! Madi and DD were so excited to "skate". DD wants to be Carolina Kostner when she grows up. She is going to skate so fast. Just ask her. hahaha!