Happy 80th Birthday Poppy!

Today we celebrate a very special man’s 80th birthday, my grandfather’s! My grandfather always brings so much joy and laughter into our family and we are blessed to have him in our lives.

This past Sunday night, we celebrated Poppy’s birthday at Ippolitio’s Italian Restaurant with the family. Amy got to the restaurant early and decorated the table with birthday confetti and balloons. When Poppy showed up, we had him put on a birthday hat and a button that said “Happy 80^th”.

About 30 minutes into dinner, the hula girl singing telegram showed up. She gave him a birthday hat, grass skirt and a lei, and made him dance with her. She also had him hold a lava love gauge to see if he could be crowned the Big Kahuna and sure enough, the gauge he was holding started to bubble so he was crowned the Big Kahuna. She also sang him a birthday song and had him make noise with noise makers. The whole restaurant enjoyed the show, they were clapping and singing with us. After about 10 minutes, she left the restaurant and we got back to enjoying our family dinner.

After dinner, Poppy opened his presents…he got a nice sweater, an Amazon gift card, a watch, a birthday newspaper and a Remember when 1931 book and a TV! We had a fun night spending time with family and celebrating my grandfathers birthday! I love my family! 

Poppy and the Hula girl!

Poppy dancing! 

The Birthday Boy! 

Singing Happy Birthday!

Poppy blowing out his candles! 

Our entire family after dinner! 

Football is finally here!!!! Part 1

Football season is finally here! I have been waiting for it all year and it is now that time again! I love the fall weather, tailgating, watching Auburn play, spending time with family and friends and eating delicious food!

AU vs Utah State

We played Utah State the first game of the year. We ended up winning 42-38 in the last seconds of the game, it was crazy! Our friends Scott and Emma Kate came down from NC to visit and stayed in the RV with us. Emma Kate had never been to a game before so we spent a lot of the day showing her around the campus and of course had her roll Toomer's Corner after we won the game.

Toomers!

AU vs Miss. State

We played Mississippi State the second game of the year. This was our first SEC game. Once again, we won in the last seconds of the game when we stopped Miss. State on the 1 yard line TWICE! We ended up winning 41-34. SO that makes us 1-0 in the SEC!!! Both games were really close and practically gave me a heart attack but I'm so glad we pulled it out.

My best friend Leigh Anna and her fiance Bagby came down for the game. It was so nice to see them because it had been a while. We also got to hang out with another one of my good friends, Emily and her boyfriend Chris. We all have a great time when we are together!

I made Fruit Salsa for one of our appetizers. This was the second time I made it and both times it was a hit! It's a quick and easy recipe and tastes great with cinnamon sugar pita chips. You can make your own pita chips but I prefer to buy mine because they are stiffer and hold the fruit salsa better.

Fruit Salsa
(adapted from Annie's Fruit Salsa Recipe)

Ingredients

• 2 kiwis, peeled and diced
• 2 Golden Delicious apples - peeled, cored and diced
• 8 ounces raspberries
• 1 pound strawberries
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar (optional)
• 2 tablespoons strawberry fruit preserve

Directions

1. In a large bowl, thoroughly mix kiwis, Golden Delicious apples, raspberries, strawberries, white sugar, brown sugar and fruit preserve. Cover and chill in the refrigerator at least 15 minutes. Serve with cinnamon sugar pita chips.            
2. Enjoy!

Last Cake Decorating Basics Class!

This past Tuesday was my last Cake Decorating Basics Course. In this class, we learned how to write letters and words and how to make a ribbon rose. We also received a certificate for completing the class!

Believe it or not, the letter writing was actually challenging. You have to make sure you have enough pressure when squeezing the icing at all times and also make sure your hand doesn’t shake. We practiced lots of letters and words in both regular print and cursive. Writing ‘Congratulations’ and ‘Happy Birthday’ took a lot of effort because it has so many letters in it so I may just have to stick to ‘Congrats and Happy B-day’ when writing on cakes. It definitely looks easier than it actually is.

 Practicing letter writing!

 The next thing we learned was how to design a Ribbon Rose. I tried this over and over again and still had trouble with it. You have to make sure every stroke is in the exact right place so it turns out looking like a rose. You also have to change the angle with every stroke so that the edges fit together. No worries though, I will not be putting these roses on very many cakes…mine just didn’t turn out very good.

 My 'not so pretty' Ribbon Rose :(

The last thing we did was decorate our cake with all of the techniques we learned in the class. I chose the shell border, PomPom flowers and letter writing!

Me with my cake, after the last class!

Me and my friend April with our cakes! 

I can’t wait to take the next cake decorating class! I can choose either Flowers and Cake Design or Gum Paste and Fondant. Stay tuned to see what I pick!!!