Fall Foto Contest (week 3!)

Don't Forget to Enter the Boo Bakeoff!
Sarah over at G.I. Joe's Wife is hosting a Fall Foto Contest!

Click the button to check it out and vote!



Here is my 'foto' for the week!

Boo Bakeoff!

It's no secret that I LOVE cupcakes. I make them for every semi-important, and sometimes imaginary, holiday every year. I don't get concerned with the taste of the cupcake, for mine are typically the storebought box of funfetti (really, is there anything better than funfetti?). But, I adore the design of the cupcake!

So, I've decided to hold a cupcake bake-off for halloween! And yes, you do win something. So...here are the specifics and the rules...



First, pick a fun halloween design to do on your cupcakes. It doesn't have to be a design you come up with, it can be one you find online. Just something awesome! However, no fondant is allowed. Deal? :)

Then, between Thursday, October 28th and Monday, November 1st, create a post with your cupcake, add a link back to my blog, and link up here with your post!

For participating (linking up on that weekend), you will get 3 entries into the drawing at the end.
For tweeting about the contest beforehand, you'll earn another entry. Just leave me a comment here on this post with your twitter handle.
For blogging about the contest beforehand, you'll earn yet another entry. Again, just leave me a comment here on this post with a link to your blog post!

That's a possible total of 5 entries.

For what, you ask?

For this awesome sister-book to Hello, Cupcake:

What's New, Cupcake?



It's full of adorable cupcake design ideas and directions! I'm actually jealous, because I don't have this yet...but I ordered it for one of you guys! The winner will be drawn on Tuesday, November 2nd. Because Halloween is over a weekend this year, I left the entries open for several days to make it easier for you guys.


So, you in?

Fall Foto Contest (week 2!)

Sarah over at G.I. Joe's Wife is hosting a Fall Foto Contest!

Click the button to check it out and vote!



Here is my 'foto' for the week!




Will you enter?

Engagements, New Babies, and Famous Relatives

Also known as: three posts in one. :)

My fourth niece was born saturday! She makes me an aunt x7 now. I have my fourth nephew due in December, and that's all on the horizon at this point.



Also, one of my cousins was in How I Met Your Mother tonight! He'll be on it again next week, and his brother will be on Law & Order this month as well. You see what moving to hollywood does to you?! ;D

AND lastly, I had my first engagement shoot this week! What do you think?

Fall Foto Contest!

Sarah over at G.I. Joe's Wife is hosting a Fall Foto Contest!

Click the button to check it out and vote!



Here is my 'foto' for the week!



What will yours be?

My First Photo Shoot

Today I roped my best friend into being my model for my first individual photoshoot. I love pictures, and my hubs and I have a great camera, and I'm seeing other people get paid $300 for an hour of photography. So, I decided that I was going to learn how to take great photojournalistic photos (um, only because I love them) so we never have to pay people to take our kids pictures.

What do you think?











Should I ever create a company and actually charge people for pictures, I think it will be called Life Via Pics. Hehe.

Posting Failure (+Pics)

I know I haven't posted in...well, weeks. I actually wrote a post last week, mostly, but never posted it. I'm just out of the swing of blogging. But, eventually I'll be back. I swear.

We went to an Old West Festival a couple weeks ago here. It was cute, but pricey for the events within it. I think they are trying to get it going as a yearly event, this being the first year.




And on the way home we met this cow. He's not special. We just liked him. And we named him EmoCow.


Little Man started playing football. He's really enjoyed it so far! He ought too, he's the biggest kid on the team. He's #48 catching the ball below.


And we got a Cricut...for my mom...that I love. More on this later.

Bake-N-Blog: Banana Cupcakes with Maple Icing!

That's right! The time has come for the Bake-N-Blog, hosted by Jess over at Jesstagirl and her Officer! The cupcake recipes themselves come from Ming Makes Cupcakes.

For the Bake-N-Blog, I chose the Banana Cupcakes with Maple Brown Butter Frosting!

The ingredients were many...


And the mixes were not very attractive looking, seen here is the cupcake mix and the icing mix.


And I had some help from Little Man. He really enjoyed "mashing" the bananas. And then Gangsta's Paradise came on and, even though the song came out several years before he was born, he indulged in the fun and broke out in "gangsta dance."


After our gangsta break, we pulled the baked cakes out of the freezer and iced away.


All in all, they turned out really well. They tasted pretty much like banana bread with maple syrup icing.


At least, Little Man says they were good!



Another cupcake success :)

What Labor Day at the Lake Looks Like

Our last labor day at the lake looks like:

Cuddling in the early morning cold...


Laughing and swinging...



Bubble blowing...


Smores...


Babes sleeping on the boat, one in a lifejacket that is not accurate for his gender because we just used Brady's old one...



And water slides.


It wasn't too shabby at all :)

A Plan for PCS

We FINALLY have a date. That's right! B's birthday was on Tuesday, and on Sunday he said all he wanted for his birthday was his date. It came on Monday! Ha! We are happy that, after 8 months of waiting, we know when we are leaving...not so happy that it's not until December. It also happens to be the weekend before my finals, so I'm working with my professors to be able to take them a week early--so far, so good.

The breakdown goes a little like this. We are going to the base first. We will be gone well before Christmas. But, with it being this close to the holidays, B's dad--who was originally going to go with us--can't join us to help us move. So, right now we're looking at possibly using ABF U-Pack services, which is similar to PODS, that we pack it up and they ship. Honestly, it would probably end up being cheaper than renting a Uhaul anyway.

I don't know how long I will be at the base with B, as it depends on how long my job will give me as a leave for it. I hope it's until December 27th-ish, but it could be 7-10 days. If they refuse to give me at least 7 days off for this, I'll most likely quit. It's not worth it.

"But wait, you're moving, what do you care about your job?"

Gee, excellent question.

I have to come back. I have student teaching starting the first week in January. Which, honestly, isn't that horrible because B will be gone to training schools for 5 of the following 8 months anyway so we still wouldn't be together. In fact, I will actually be staying here until late August of next year because I see no point in sitting at the base alone while he is gone when it's unnecessary. But that also means my husband will miss my graduation and our one year wedding anniversary :( Comprende? I hope so, because this paragraph was even confusing to me.

Over the summer I'll still be working on stuff in Wyoming from here--putting in resumes and hopefully doing some phone interviews. I may be in WY earlier in August or late July should I get a job that requires it.

So...that's the low down!

Tomorrow morning we are heading off to the lake for the weekend with these little cuties...


...and we even rented a pontoon boat for Saturday with a slide, so hopefully Brady will like it and it will be worth the $$$. Sunday it's back to our boring no-slide boat, though :)