My Trip to St. George

You may be wondering who this is and why I have a picture of this for my St. George trip. This happens almost on all our trips. We pack the camera so we can capture lots of photos and memories. But then we come home and remember that we didn't take any pictures!!

I just spent 6 wonderful days in sunny St. George with my sister Jami and her hubby Kim. We went to the Parade of Homes and saw many gorgeous homes (no pictures taken). We went golfing (no pictures taken). We went and drove through many beautiful neighborhoods and countrysides (no pictures taken). They even brought their cute dog Binki (no pictures taken).

But we DID go to Dillards and my sister saw this cute makeup girl and wanted a picture of her hair so she could cut her hair like hers! I couldn't figure out what my sister was doing with her camera phone and then she let me know she was trying to get a photo without her knowing.

ALAS! A photo op! I have MY camera I said and even was bold enough to go up to the make up counter and ask the girl if I could take her picture. She of course was very flattered and posed quite nice.

So yes, this is the ONLY photo taken on my wonderful trip to St George and thought I would share it with you!

SO THIS IS WHERE IT ALL BEGAN...NEW YORK!!!

January 23, 2009 I was in New York City with my sister in law Mary and my darling niece Allison....this is where it started. They were telling me about this wonderful bakery that was a MUST stop place called Magnolia Bakery.

This picture shows us at Rockefellar Square eating our amazing cake from there. It was such a quaint little bakery that had a very large selection of large cupcakes. We sampled the "birthday" cake, red velvet and carrot cake. The place was packed and I quickly understood why. I thought it was good but according to Allison and Mary it was a lot drier than normal.

The next weekend we had our good friends Brad and Dana Smith over for dinner. She was in charge of desert and brought a chocolate cake from Nothing Bundt Cakes. I typically am not too fond of bundt cakes as I find them rather dry. But this was amazing and the frosting was so good but not overpowering. Dana told me that the Red Velvet Cakes are way better.

I mentioned that I have tried several different recipes for Red Velvet cake but they too seem to be dry. Of course unplanned, the NEXT weekend, Monte and I go out to lunch with my brother Steve and Sue to Pei Wei. What do we see? Nothing Bundt Cake right across the parking lot!

So I had to COAX everyone to come with me after eating a huge lunch to get desert there. I really wanted to try the red velvet cake. They sell large cakes but they also serve individual size cakes.

Of course Monte and I got the Red Velvet and it WAS TO DIE FOR! So now I am hooked and on the search! I searched everywhere on the internet to see if they had the bakeries recipe for their Red Velvet Cake and I can't find it. But maybe you can help me.....DO YOU HAVE A MOIST RED VELVET CAKE recipe that you can recommend??? If so please send my way!!!!

So that is where it all began...back in NYC!!!

24 Days For Elder Bates' Arrival!

What better way to begin a family blog then to announce that Elder Bates will be home March 3rd! I still can't believe it has been two years! I always thought it would go slower then it has. Many of you know that he asked for an extension and we found out this week that it was not granted. So he's coming home!

Monte and I have very mixed feelings of excitement, nervous, joy, worry & questions of what it will be like for him to be home again. Is HE going to be able to stand being here since he has been on his own for 2 1/2 years now?

He just sent this picture to us. Him and his companion were out tracting one night and the sunset was gorgeous with Mt Rainier in the background. We love Elder Bates!