Happy Birthday Mom

My mom's birthday was February 14th, yes she is a Valentine's Day baby. This is the first year in LONG time since all the kids and her were able to celebrate with her. She came down on Saturday and we went out for dinner to Fronteras then came back to our place and did dessert and gifts. It was good time and she seemed to enjoy herself.

Yes they came and sang to her and she got some free fried ice cream.

She thought they were trying to feed her a bit but really they wanted to put the whipped cream on her nose.

My brother, sister and I all went in and got her a pink camo purse. She loved it!

For dessert I made her Hot Fudge Oreo Cupcakes. These were the most yummy things ever! I will be posting the recipe soon!



Happy Birthday Mom! Hope you had a wonderful day!

Happy Birthday, Jordann!

I'm a little late on this post...OOPS! Back on the 7th we celebrated Jordann's 25th birthday! Her birthday was February 6th. We always get together for dinner and dessert for birthdays.

This birthday Jordann wanted Taco Salad. Her mom used to make taco salad she loved and she has tried but couldn't figure out how she made it so good. When she said she wanted it I stepped up and decided I would give it a go and see what I could make. I was super nervous to make this because trying to make something as good as her mom, well that's hard for anyone if you ask me.

I'm pleased to say my taco salad turned out great and it is something everyone enjoyed and would love to have again. I was so happy to hear this and I do look forward to making it again for them soon!

The taco salad I made. I will post the recipe soon.

Stefanie made her a Snickers Cheesecake.

Happy Birthday pretty lady!!



Happy Birthday Kira Dog

Yesterday was our little Kira dogs birthday and she turned 9 years old. I have had her since she was 8 weeks old. I look back at pictures of her when she was a baby and can't believe she is so big now, Haha! I decided to do something different for her this year and bake her a birthday cake. We normally just get some toys and treats to give her but a cake sounded more fun, plus she got toys and treats from Grandma for Christmas. :) I have found a couple different recipes on Pinterest for dog birthday cakes, so I picked on and made it last night.

Peanut Butter Delight: Dog Birthday Cake

This is the little piece we gave her last night with peanut butter frosting.

Ingredients:
1 cup white or whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup shredded carrots
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup honey
1 egg

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix together flour and baking soda. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Pour into a ring mold sprayed with a nonstick spray. I just used a bread pan to make it in.
3. Bake for approximately 40 minutes

Once cake is cool, frost cake with low fat cottage cheese and decorate with carrot pieces. Store in refrigerator for up to one week, or slice thinly and freeze in individual plastic baggies. (One this step I didn't use the cottage cheese like she did, I used peanut butter instead. Kira loves PB so this was the perfect frosting for the cake).

Of course I took some pictures of her enjoying her first birthday cake!

She was excited to see what she was getting!

The peanut butter kept sticking the paper towel so we had to help her get if off. Haha

She really enjoyed her cake and wanted more. I didnt' want to just let her dig into the whole cake b/c I didn't know if she would get an upset tummy or not with eating something new, but she did fine. We are going to give her some more tonight when we get home. She will be so excited!

Chocolate Cake w/ Whipped Frosting

For my brother's birthday I made a chocolate cake with whipped chocolate frosting. It turned out super yummy, a little sweet but very good! The whipped frosting I made this time is by far my favorite!

I made the chocolate cake recipe before but instead of doing a cake I just made cupcakes. I got lots of positive feed back on this cake so that made me feel good! I always get nervous making things from scratch and people not liking them, but this was a success! I look forward to making this cake again and maybe trying a Vanilla frosting and tone down the sweetness. :)

For the Cake

Ingredients:

3 cups flour

2 cup sugar

2 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. salt

2/3 cup cocoa powder

1 cup oil

2 cup water

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 tbsp. vinegar

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Mix all ingredients together until moist & well blended

3. Bake 30-35 minutes.

4. Frost with your favorite icing



For the frosting:

Ingredients:

I doubled this recipe just to make sure I had enough to frost the cakes

1 cup heavy cream

1 regular bag of chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Bring cream to almost boil….but don’t boil it

2. In large mixing bowl, pour over the chocolate chips and stir until chips are melted and well blended

3. Cool for 1 hour on counter

4. I let it sit in the fridge overnight then whipped it. I'm sure letting it sit for a couple hours will work too.

Happy 21st Brandon!!

Yesterday my brother turned the BIG 21 !!! I can't believe he is 21 already, my how time flies and they grow up so fast! We went out last night to celebrate at Margarita's. My brother isn't the huge type to want to go out and party and drink it up on his 21st. We keep his birthday low key with some family and friends. I did tell him he had to order an alcoholic beverage though, HAHA! My brother also isn't a big drinker or I should say never drinks, so his first drink he decided he wanted to order was strawberry daiquiri. He really seemed to enjoy it and when I looked back to see how he was doing on drinking it he was just sucking it down! LOL. He even ordered a 2nd drink, WOW! I was debating on weather I should make him take a shot of something but my hubby said no I shouldn't do that, so of course I was the nice sister and didn't do that to him. But it sure would have been funny! 

I had a good time celebrating with him last night and he seemed to enjoy himself as well. Good times!

I made him a chocolate cake, it turned out super yummy but very sweet. But that's okay everyone did enjoy it. Recipe to come soon!

 First drink being 21!

 Having a drink with my brother, still crazy he can go out drinking with me now. HAHA!

 All us siblings! 

Having fun with his friends. 

Happy Birthday, Grandpa

Today would have been my Grandpa's 82nd Birthday. There isn't a day that goes by where I don't think him. I miss him so much I can't even explain. I wish I could pick up the phone or go see and tell him Happy Birthday and that I love him.

I love you Grandpa and Happy Birthday!!

Happy 7th Birthday, Lexan!!

Friday August 23rd my nephew turned 7!!! I can't believe how fast he growing! I feel like he was just a baby and now he is running around acting like a brat, but what kids doesn't at that age, haha ;). Saturday we got the celebrate with a cookout and swimming. It was a great day for swimming for sure! Lexan seemed to have a great party as he was running around in his underwear after he was done swimming. LOL 

The Birthday boy swimming

He's ready to jump in while I take pictures. 

 Running away from his dad.

And in the pool he goes

 Look at the smile he is giving me! He's one crazy boy!

 His birthday cake turned out awesome! 

 Happy 7th Birthday, Lexan!! 

 Time for gifts

He got a sword he has been wanting from Aunt Courtney & Uncle Shane.

 He got some clothes.

 He got himself a tablet, since he loves stealing phones and playing games on them :)

That's the end of this Birthday!! Until next year....

Strawberry Beer Cocktail

I'm going to back again to May My Birthday Luau.  I wanted to make a fun punch for my party so I started searching around for ones that sounded good and I came across one! This cocktail punch tured out really good and it went super fast. I should have got enough stuff to make a double batch but I didn't know how people would react to it, but they liked it!



Ingredients:

• 1 cup fresh stawberries or frozen
• 4 bottles Corona (12 oz.) beer, chilled
• 1 container frozen strawberry lemonade concentrate, thawed or pink lemonade
• 1/2 cup good quality vodka
• Garnish: Lemon slices or Strawberries

Directions:

1. In large container stir together the first 4 ingreidents. Serve over ice.
2. Garnish with strawberries
3. To make ahead: stir together lemonade concentrate and vodka in large container. Stir in strawberries and beer just before serving. Garnish if desired.

More Birthday Celebrating

It wouldn't be a full birthday without a family dinner with my side of the family. Yes, some of my family was at my Luau but not everyone. I like to have my birthday dinner every year with just the family. :) 

This year not everyone could make it, so it was just a few of us. My Grandma and her friend were the last hanging with us at the end of the night. Love her so much! We went to Fronteras for my dinner. 

Wine Brittle my G-ma got me, it was really yummy! 

 She also got me a wine glass with my birth May on it. 

 And a cute ring from Stella & Dot. I just love it and wear it everyday!

 Of course they sing there and give you free fired ice cream. One of the servers we always see on Friday's thought it would be funny to put whipped cream on my nose. LOL 

 My Grandma and Me, I love her she's so cute! 

 Since we are regular's here the server who put whipped cream on my nose gave me a free HUGE Tequila shot. Look how big that it! It's 3 shots in One. I'm not a huge tequila fan so this wasn't very hard for me to chug down but I did it! 

That concludes the end of all my birthday celebrating for this year.