Cake baking for the wedding has begun!  It's this Saturday, and let me tell you what...these cakes are looking beautiful!  I've never had such straight edged cakes before!  Her middle tier is a DARK chocolate, made with cocoa noir...the same cocoa powder oreos are made from.  It's pretty much black!  I can't taste it, but the girls and Jon tell me it's wonderful!

The huge bottom tier is red velvet.  This friend of my mom's is from the South, and red velvet is an institution there, so I hope it passes muster!

The top tier is a delicious lemon, I just didn't get pictures of the bare cake.  The chocolate tier is filled with ganache, the red velvet with cheesecake flavored swiss meringue, and the lemon tier with lemon curd.  I'm so hoping this works out!  

Crumb coats are on, and tonight I mixed the frosting colors.  Eek!  Unfortunately I put a bit too much red in the darkest pink, and I think it's noticeably not the same pink I got last Sunday.  I can't just put more purple in to cool off the color because we are already at the saturation point where the food coloring changes the taste of the frosting for the worse.  Which is so frustrating.  This means I will have to get up in the mornign and make a new batch of frosting to dye the darkest color.  But I want it to be right!

And finally Miss Mimi today!  They all have vast experience now!

I'm glad they want to help and glad we can facilitate that a bit more now with her getting bigger and stronger.

Leiden jumped on the diaper changing train today!  

She did great, and I need them to get proficient before Zada starts squirming all over the place when we try to change her.  It's only a matter of time!!

Jon's kefir is looking good!  He and the girls drink some with dinner each night and they flavor it with our snow cone syrups to ease the transition.  Mac especially was upset that it's so different from Lifeway, but she's coming along!

Cute sweetie today in an outfit Grandmere got her and a darling little bunny ears headband!

Trips to Target are always better when we are looking so cute!

Quiet Sunday around here.  My mom's friend is getting remarried and she has asked me to do her cake.  I have been working and working to get the right hue of coloring, and she has settled on her flavors and the size.  It will be pink ombre, which will be fun.  This was the mock up I sent to my mom this afternoon after I got the color right.  The ridges are what she wants the design to be, too, so I'm glad it's fairly simple!

Mac did this hair creation today.  I guess you put pencils or skewers or something long and straight through the braid horizontally while you do it, and then when you take them out it's super big and loose.  Fun!

Tonight was New Beginnings, and the young women spoke about the Young Women values.

After we got home, Mimi had planned out a Family Home Evening lesson, and presented it to us.  It was on the Vision of the Tree of Life, and she did so well!

This was her visual aid.

I love to see them working hard on Gospel growth!

Tubing

Today was such a fun day!  We actually got around to doing Grandmere and Bapa's Christmas activity in January!  Pretty amazing since last year we didn't go to Flowrider until September!

We all headed up to Soldier Hollow for tubing!  We had an hour slot, and you grabbed your tube and dragged it around and up the line.

The first time Jon and I went up, we went up the little conveyor.

The second time we went up, we hiked up the hill ourselves with the girls to avoid the long lines at the conveyor in hopes of getting more rides down in before our time slot was over.  That was questionably shorter and much more tiring!

Even Dad participated!

Zada stayed at the lodge with Grandmere and did great there.  After tubing we went to get some lunch together.  It is so fun to do these activities as a family.  Thank you so much, Grandmere and Bapa!!

She is starting to cross the midline, which is apparently a big deal in terms of her brain's sides talking to one another.  Hands coming together and even going on the opposite side to play or grab something is super great for her development!

This was a hilarious picture Jon took.  She looks like she's giving an enthusiastic talk at the pulpit!

She is really loving her batsuit, which is what we call the new sleep sack.  She is able to move around a bit more in it, and just seems more comfortable in general.  We didn't like that we would have to wrap her so tight in the traditional swaddle to try and keep her arms down.  And then when we would take it off her arms would go straight up and she would need to stretch super big.  That seemed uncomfortable and this seems so much better! 

She is so funny in her carseat.  She is so excited when we take off the cover and peek in at her.

Little Miss got a new sleep sack!  I saw an ad for a different style of sleep sack that allows their arms to be up and more free, but still keeps them pretty contained.  I was super intrigued, and in my research I found some comparison reviews, and found this particular brand.  We really like it because it is tight around their middle, mimicking the swaddling sensation, but arms up so they can self soothe by sucking on their hands.  The best part is that the arms are removable!  So the transition to sleeping arms free is much easier.  You can unzip one arm at a time, and everything else stays the same.  On it went for bedtime last night, and she did great!  I think we may just start with this style with the babies to come.

Jon ordered a book that teaches painting in doing a series of different suggested subjects.  Today was a chicken!  The girls love to paint with him and they ask to do it all the time.  The girls don't always do the suggested subject, but this time Mac did.

Here are the finished works of art!  Mac wanted to frame her chicken, which was cute.

And Jon's chicken!  These will have to suffice until we can get real live chickens of our own! 

Sleeping on Mommy is the best.  I don't usually hold her to sleep anymore because I want her to sleep in her bed, but every once in a while she has had enough and zonks.  This time her little hands were ever so sweetly clasped together and she just looked angelic.

We are trying to increase tummy time so she can get strong, and she has mixed feelings about it all!  Sometimes unhappy,

sometimes super happy!

Today it snowed and snowed and snowed.  Mac and I went out to measure the snowfall, and it was crazy!

8 inches of snow, and it is still coming down.

Of course this meant play!

Mimi used her outside play time to design a little snow seat/cradle for Miss Zada, so we happily bundled her up in her little suit and went out to investigate!

She thought it was a blast!

And Mimi's throne was perfect!

Later Mimi's antics included some silly 3D glasses, complete with eyes, so she "can sleep in school".  This cracked us up!

Such a bright eyed girl!

We got her all dolled up for church and she was seriously the cutest thing with her big bold headband.

Leiden has been feeling very under the weather, so Jon swabbed her.  It's such a blessing to have this option in our family!  Meanwhile, we just keep her away from baby!

Jon willingly submitted to be the judge for Mac and Mimi doing Chopped today.  They each created a meal, and he tasted and judged.

The big reveal of the winning plate!

Jordan had some of these apples that look pretty normal on the outside, but are PINK on the inside.

We had Mac try one and she was astounded!

I guess the flavor isn't anything crazy special, but it's super fun to bite into an apple and have that surprise!