Henna cake

Here's the final project of my cake class. It didn't go quite how I planned, but it turned out okay.

Cake Decorating Class

This Thursday is the last day of cake decorating class and we are supposed to make a fancy cake using things that we have learned. Only my flower tips never arrived so I won't be able to use them. I've decided to be overly ambitious and do a three tiered cake that is inspired by henna designs. I'll post it when I have it completed. Hopefully it will turn out great.

So I can't post any pictures and after every letter I type an error message pops up. So basically it's taken me five minutes to type this so I guess this is all there is going to be.

Valentines Day

When Jeff got home from school this is what he saw. We had honey mustard chicken with cantelope and honey dew balls. In the glasses we had Sprite with a small scoop of rasberry sherbert and lime sherbert.


For a side we had baby spinich and hearts of romaine with a homemade lime dressing. For dessert there was a bittersweet truffle tart with an oreo crust and a blackberry inside. We also had dark chocolate twix truffles. In the red box were chocolate covered fortune cookies. The can was Nadia and my present to Jeff. Inside are 365 hearts with something written on each one. Some are just nice messages and others are presents. Like "A walk through the park" or "A bag of candy" and so forth.


Jeff got me gorgeous purple roses . . .

and a beautiful ruby necklace.

Okay so I'm having an even harder time choosing a picture of Nadia and her Daddy. I love them all, but I really do need to narrow it down.

I've decided to take a picture of Nadia and I and one of Nadia and Jeff and put them by a sign we have that says "The Hemmings." These are some of the pictures that Jeff took of Nadia and I today that I like the best. However, I'm not sure which of these four I should use. They're all cute in their own way.

Well, here they are. This is the front and back of the bib I made. Sewing on the ribbon was no easy task, but I like the way it turned out.

And here is the hat. Jeff thought I should keep it for Nadia, but it's too small. So I decided to make Nadia another one.

Onlt this one was too big. :) What can you do? She'll just have to grow into it.

I'm planning a baby shower for my friend Stacy and these are the invitations. It takes a lot more work than I thought it would. I'll put up more pictures as things develop further. It's not till March 6. Other than that I've been taking care of Nadia and experimenting with my sewing machine. I made a bib and a hat that I'm going to put in Stacy's baby shower present. I'll put pictures up of them later, but I think they turned out pretty cool.

Jeff wanted to read his new magazine and Nadia was fascinated. She thought that if he liked it, she might like it as well.

Christmas Tree

This is our Christmas tree this year. We own a 6 ft tree, but we forgot it in Joseph. So we went out and bought this 3 ft tree. Someday it will end up in our kitchen or something, but for now it's all we have. At least it's something, and we didn't have room for anything else anyway.

We just got back from Thanks-

giving in Indiana. It was great to be able to spend time with Jeff's family. As you can tell Jeff had a great time with his brothers and his nephew Olivier. Unfortunatly we only had two full days there. Things change so much and we don't get to spend as much time with family as we would like to. Still, a few days is better than nothing. We can't wait to see them all again.

For lunch Jeff and I had Italian Chicken simmer. I was afraid Jeff wasn't going to like it because he doesn't like things made with tomatoes, but he loved it. I'd have to say it was pretty good.

Here Jeff is quieting is crying baby. Of course she was only crying because he scared her.

I just updated this to the new beta blog. It seems pretty cool. Basically the same just a little more to it. Has anyone else tried this?

Yesterday was our Stake Conference. It was interesting because instead of the usual talks we watched a broadcast where Elder Oaks and Elder Faust talked. It was really good. Nadia even behaved and only cried when she was hungy.

Thanksgiving's coming up, and while we're looking forward to a vacation we still have a lot of work to do. (At least I do, who knows about Jeff.) However, I'm sure we'll survive. So a few days and one plane ride (which I'm not looking forward to with a 3 month old baby) later and we're in Indiana. Then we can see everyone and get to meet the newest family member. It should be wonderful.

I changed the name. Hopefully Jeff won't mind. Meleriffic is my Karaoke name and since Jeff is using his nickname I thought I'd add that.

Anyway, my teacher required us to turn a paper into BYU-I's Pre-Professional Conference. I didn't really want to and so was keeping my fingers crossed that I wouldn't be selected. Of course the one time I don't want to be I am. So I get to read "To Catch a Thief" to English students on the 16th. Only it can only be 8 minutes long and it takes me 20 minutes to read it. So I'm going to have to choose some excerpts. I guess I should be proud, but I really don't want to read in front of people.

It's been a long time since I've worked on anything creative. I don't have much time being in school and well Nadia is a little time consuming as well. Also, starting January I'll have to get a job somewhere. :( I'd rather stay home with Nadia, but that's not a financially viable option. Hopefully I won't have to work at a food place.

Our little family can't wait to go to Indiana and see the newest little family group. Olivier is so cute in his pictures. I can't wait to hold him and Nadia can't wait to talk to him. Though she may be a little shy at first.

This is a really fun game that Jeff and I played at some friends house. It's sort of like Settlers only a little less complicated and more fun (for those of us who aren't that great of strategists). It doesn't take as long either. The cool thing is that there are about 50 differnt scenarios so the game is never the same. It's really great for Halloween and well I'd play it year round as well.

Jeff and I are going to Nick Kelley's and Handsome Rob's birthday party. It's a toga party! Sounds interesting. As a present for Nick I made an experimental treat. It's root beer flavored cupcakes with rootbeer freeze in the middle. It should be great, but we'll see.

Jeff really likes the game and the novel "Romance of the Three Kingdoms." This is a chess set that has been made based on the game. I don't know if Jeff put it on his Christmas list, but I know this is something he would love to have. There are several versions out there, but this is the best looking. The game is based on Chinese History.

Anyway, as I mentioned on Nadia's blog, we went to a friends house for a Halloween party. While we were there we played a game called Lupis. It's basically Mafia with a special deck of cards. There are werewolves and villagers. We only played one round before the party sort of broke up. That's what happens when there are a lot of babies around.

After the party we dropped Nadia off at Lori's and went to the Kelley's to watch "Monster House." It was a pretty funny movie. All in all we got home at around 10. Can you believe we stayed out so late! I never thought I'd think 10 was late, but having a little baby to take care of wears you out.

For my birthday Jeff brought me season 2 of "Dead Like Me." It was a show we had seen on the SciFi channel that I had liked. Today was the first time I got a chance to watch it. So imagine my surprise when in the first three minutes of the first episode the F word is said 5 times. I was so dissapointed. We turned it off and Jeff is going to try and take it back.

Why Have my Own?

I guess I could have a blog of my own, but I don't see the point. I'm the only one who updates this blog so I might as well include things about me on it.

As far as school goes, I'm surviving, though I wish I was already finished. I have two papers down and two to go, along with the revision of around 16 papers. I can honestly say I probably won't revise them all. I have alot of reading to do for my classes and that's kind of hard. I actually have to finish a book before I can start one of my papers. The paper is a critique of the book. Under previous circumstances this semester would have been a piece of cake, but having a baby has made things a little more difficult.

Luckily, Nadia is such a good baby. Right now she's lying beside me on the floor chatting away and occasionaly sucking on her hand. She really is one of the best babies I've ever seen.

Anyway, between school and the baby the house work suffers. It could also be because I'm lazy and I don't like to clean. Halloween preperations have been taking up my time as well. It's my favorite holiday and I love looking at the Halloween things in the store and coming up with costumes. I'm actually having to make part of my and Nadia's costumes. That's a challenge because I don't really know how to do that sort of thing. However, with a little bit of creativity everything is coming along fine.

There's also so many Halloween recipes I want to try out. I haven't cooked much since the baby was born though, and well, with finances the way they are, we can't splurge on ingrediants for things we don't really need. I still might try out a few anyway! Oh, well.

I hope everyone has a great Halloween.

Maybe this blog should be mine too since I'm the only one who keeps it updated? Anyway, yesterday Jeff and I went to Idaho Falls. Since Lori is down in Utah for Halloween, Nadia came with us. That probably wasn't the best idea. It was a long day for her. Especially since she spent most of it in the car seat. She was also spitting up a lot. Jeff and I had a good time though. We were looking for things for Halloween costumes. The results were somewhat successful.

Jeff and Nadia like to play a talking game. He imitates noises that she makes and she talks back. It's so fun to watch. Right now, Nadia's lying beside me on the couch talking up a storm. I have a feeling that we have a chatterbox on our hands! :)

Thai Food

Jeff and I went to to Teton Thai last night. I've never had Thai before, but it was really good. We both really liked our food. The Thai side salad is a little different though. Instead of croutons there was fried tofu and the dressing was a peanut sauce. It was actually pretty good though.