Chasing Dreams

Since I was five years old, I have known what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to be a teacher, a mother (after marrying my prince charming) and an author!

I have achieved most of that list! I became a teacher in 2012, not when I graduated from CSU Fullerton with my teaching credential, but when I had my own classroom in Cedaredge, CO with the most amazing twenty students! Then in April of 2013, I accomplished my second dream by having the most adorable baby boy, Ben! (Of course, after marrying my one true love prince charming, Jon!) And in May of 2015, my life is going to change for the better again...

...with Baby #2!!! I am SO blessed!

Although those wonderful changes have distracted me from my next dream, I have never given up. I have spent many late nights staring at my computer, sometimes typing, sometimes diverted by Facebook or solitaire...but slowly completing the manuscript for my novel Speak. 

I finally completed it in July...only to realize that was just Draft #1. Three drafts later (and a couple more still to go), I have been sending out my query letter and the first chapters of my book to literary agents in hope that one would be intrigued in the story and represent me to publishers. I went into this process knowing it would be a long a difficult journey, and I wish this blog post is about good news, but it isn't. Not yet anyway. I have queried a dozen literary agents and received some disappointing responses. 

Here is a sample: "Thank you so much for your query. Unfortunately, however, this project doesn’t sound right for me. I encourage you to continue to submit elsewhere, and I wish you every success in your writing career. Thanks again for thinking of me."

And another: "Thanks so much for sending me your query.  I’m going to pass on this one because I found it didn’t spark my interest." 

Well, okay then. 

But this is the journey, and I am writing to document it! Someday, I will look back on this post and (hopefully) laugh! Until then, I will renew the revision process, going through draft after draft, and continue writing the sequel and other books. Because I am not writing to get recognition or money (ha!), I am writing to share a story of characters I have connected with and hopefully others can relate to. And I am still going to send out query letters.

In my most recent letter I send out, I decided to include why I wrote my book and what makes it different. Check it out:

"Young adult/middle grade fantasy fiction novels are always about a young character discovering their own strength while facing nearly impossible odds. My novel, Speak, follows that idea, but the similarity ends there.

I became so frustrated with numerous movies and a plethora of books where the parents of a character are dead, missing or useless that I decided to break that pattern. Over the course of several years and through multiple drafts, the novel Speak was developed. Although the story follows the main character, Edith Bell, a typical young girl trying to understand the world, her adventures lead her to discover her parent’s history. Not only does she travel foreign lands with her father and walk in the footsteps of her mother, but she also uncovers secrets of their past and learns that they have their own adventure.

Although Edith’s story starts slow, the comfortable circumstances of her life juxtapose the chaos and changes that soon follow. Her close knit family is separated when her father, a king’s advisor, is taken hostage, her mother must assist in creating a truce while her brothers are recruited to fight in the imminent conflict. Edith is left alone at home to take care of the house and animals. But her restless spirit generates a daring scheme: she decides to rescue her father herself.

This begins her first adventure, with many more following, as she travels a foreign country, discovers family secrets, learns the power of love and realizes she may be capable of more than she ever thought possible."

If you picked up this book in a store and read that on the back, what would you think? Would you want to read it? Feel free to comment below!

Lydia's Soccer Party Cake

I have been so busy I haven't had time to post anything for a while. So, I am going to post right now, after I just delivered this cake to a sweet (but dangerous) soccer player! 

The cake is for a soccer party for the incredibly awesome team: the Krushers!! 

It is a chocolate cake with strawberry pudding creme and real strawberry filling. The soccer ball is white chocolate cake. I tried out new recipes with this cake, including the filling from my super awesome cousin Jessica (who is a cake master!) I'm excited at how great it turned out, delicious and not too sweet! 

Filling Recipe:

1 packet flavored pudding

1 qt heavy whipping cream

1. Whisk together and let sit for 5-10 minutes until pudding consistency. 

2. You can also use this as frosting. (It will not hold it's shape like buttercream frosting but it's great for the outside of the cake.)

I had a lot of trouble trying to get the filling and frosting to become a bright, solid red but I could only get a hot pink. Thank goodness for those edible color mists I finally got the red needed for the top of the cake. But I got this cool picture making the frosting: 

My cake/cupcake hobby business has been taking off recently and keeping me busy. I will be posting about wedding cupcakes soon and sharing the recipe! 

Hunter's Hunting Baby Shower

Back in the spring when we had three baby boys born at church within a month, I was super busy planning baby showers. I had a lot of fun planning and throwing a shower for baby Hunter using a HUNTING theme! Everything was decorated with camo greens & browns and orange!

Instead of buying tissue paper poms, I finally learned to make my own! Here are the steps:

 1. Fold 8-10 pieces of tissue paper back and forth like a fan/zigzag.

2. Tie tightly in the center. (I had to tie some twice because the thread I used snapped.) Add a string that you will use to hang the pom. 

3. When securely tied, cut the ends. You can make a spikey pom or a soft pom with rounded edges. 

4. Very carefully, open and spread the sheets of tissue paper. (Hint: By my 4th pom I learned to hold it on my lap and spread out the sheets, moving back and forth between each side.)

Be VERY careful or the sheets will tear!

5. Show off your pom! Woohoo!!

Here is my final set up of the center party table, showcasing the homemade poms!

For the background, I used strips of extra orange fabric (from Christine's quilt!) and green ribbons tied to a picture frame. Jon loved that his deer antlers were a centerpiece!

 I LOVE potlucks! Thank you to everyone who brought something! We had a lot of great food and a delicious dinner. I only had to make dessert (as you all know is my favorite part of a meal!)

 

I made mini chocolate cupcakes and topped them with marshmallow creme, Hershey's chocolate bits, and teddy grahams. They tasted like bites of extra chocolatey s'mores. The only problem was that the creme gave into gravity and almost melted off the cupcake. 

But everyone's favorite part were the games! We had several different games/activities: Pin the Antlers, Diaper Candy, ABC Book, and Color A Onesie. 

Pin the Antlers: Kids chose one animal at a time: a moose, deer or caribou and were blindfolded. They had to place the antler in the correct spot. 

Diaper Candy: I melted 10 different types of candy in 10 diapers. Participants who guessed correctly received a candy from the candy jar. This was a hit, especially with the boys/men since the baby shower was all family-inclusive.

ABC Book: Hunter's mom was really excited about having an ABC book for Hunter to use when he learned the alphabet! It was also fun to see everyone's artistic talents and ideas!

Color A Onesie: While the adults colored/decorated the ABC book which Hunter's mom kept, the kids colored/decorated pictures of onesies!

All in all, we had a GREAT time! Here are several more pictures of the shower:

Blue Kool Aid decorated with a duck!

Super cool diaper cake made by Angela Oleson! She has some awesome skills!

Fun straws!

We had a great turn out and everyone enjoyed themselves! There was something for everyone...

...including my Ben who used a spoon for the first time!! (He really likes whip cream!)

Happy 4th of July!

Happy Independence Day America!!

If you know me, you'd know my favorite recipe is chocolate Nutella cupcakes an they're perfect to celebrate anything! Here they are with a patriotic twist...which is super delicious! I dare you try them! Warning: These are very addictive! 

For the cupcakes, follow the chocolate cake recipe on the back of Hershey's cocoa. Or you can find it here: 

Chocolate Cupcakes

Scoop out some of the center and fill with Nutella! Yum!!

Make a rosette or spread this delicious Cream Cheese Frosting on the top of each cupcake. (My new favorite frosting! It's not too sweet and has great cream cheesy flavor!) 
(Thank you to Heather at http://www.wheretheyounglearntofly.com/2012/06/aqua-ombre-rose-cake.html for sharing this recipe on Pinterest!)

Cream Cheese Frosting
-2 sticks unsalted butter (room temp)
-2 blocks cream cheese (room temp)
-pinch of salt
-1 TB vanilla extract
-1 large bag of powdered sugar 

Beat butter and cream cheese until fluffy and then add salt and vanilla. Lastly add the powdered sugar very SLOWLY or it will explode in your face and leave you powdery and sweet (like I accidentally did!) and a HUGE mess to clean up!

Top with blueberries and strawberries for the red, white and blue! And then DEVOUR!!! It might also be a good idea to share since the recipe makes about 36 cupcakes! 

Happy baking! 

Jeremiah's Frog Baby Shower

With so many baby boys being born at church, we celebrated with another baby shower! Jeremiah was born March 23. His baby shower theme was frogs!

I decorated in green, with some blue. I found some awesome chevron fabric for cheap at Walmart for the backdrop and plan on using them again as curtains for Ben's room when we get a house. 

The reeds were dry decorating flowers and grass. 

I used scrapbook paper to make Jeremiah's name and taped it to a frame with ribbons. 

The decor hanging off the table was the clear plastic toys kids can paint. Those were also a gift for Jeremiah's older brother and sister. 

It's kinda hard to see the ceiling but I hubg two stuffed animal frogs upside down and looped green crepe paper behind them to look like they were hopping. The table decor was a big hit with the kids and men! Some even had frog races. I bought green kool aid mix to look like pond water but the taste was awful! It tasted like liquid jolly ranchers...way too sweet! 

I love having potlucks because there are so many different types of food and I can focus on dessert. (I don't like cooking...but I love baking sweets!) 

Since Jeremiah is the fourth child, his mom said all she needed were diapers. We had a diaper raffle and prizes! 

For the kids, I bought bubbles and set up a game where they threw "flies" at the frogs. If a raisin landed on a frog, they got to eat it! Both activities kept the kids entertained, but there were raisins and bubble juice 😋 everywhere! 

Lastly are the desserts! The cupcakes are chocolate with mint buttercream frosting and chocolate flies. I don't like mint but these cupcakes turned out delicious! Sadly the Swedish fish in the green jello list all it's color but the kids still ate them! My favorite part was the cake!!

I knew I wanted to make a small cake baby Jeremiah's family could take home but I didn't have the right cake pan. But guess what works? A glass Pyrex dish! 

The cake is chocolate with lemonade buttercream tinted with blue food coloring. The grass, flowers, and lily pad are chocolate. The hardest part was making the baby frog. I used Wilton's 3D Edible Modeling Clay. It starts off really really hard but I had to knead it for half an hour to get it to mold right. After added green food coloring, I molded the body, arms, legs and head separately and then stuck them on by moistening the ends with little bit of water. 

🎂 I would like to end this post with a delicious cake announcement! Since I love baking...and decorating...I am considering starting a hobby business making baked goods. I don't know if this is just a phase that will fade out or if it is something I would enjoy doing as a real business. So, for friends on the Kenai Peninsula, just let me know if you would like me to make a cake or cupcakes for any event you have! Please let me know at least a week before you need it and what flavor & filling you would like. The only cost will be for the supplies. (We'll see who actually reads my blog, lol!) 🍰

Adriana's Wedding Quilt!

Woah!! It's been a long time since I posted! I've been super busy but I can finally present:

Adriana's Wedding Quilt!!

This is the big surprise I've been working on since February and it's finally done (Hallelujah chorus)!! When I saw the final product, I really debated giving it as a gift or keeping it for myself, lol! 

But...I did the right thing and gave it to her. She loves it! Everything about it is her style: colors, pattern, fabric, binding, top stitching...everything says Adriana!! I hope Raul likes it too. 😋

This chevron pattern is simple (if you follow quilting rules). After buying (and washing) 1/2 a yard of each color for my chevron and 1 yard of the cream (I had to go back and buy more for the border later), I cut 7 3/4" squares. Using a handy dandy ruler thing that showed me the exact middle, I sewed the cream face down with a color piece 1/4" from the center line, in both sides of the line. (When you cut right down the line, you should have a new square piece made of two right triangles: a cream and color piece.) Then I squared them to 7 1/2" pieces. 

I pressed (not ironed!) the seams and tested out several different patterns. I was torn between Herringbone and Chevron. (Raul told me that Adriana would like the chevron, so that's what I did!)

I really liked how it turned out and would like to make one for me in the future. But for now, I am taking a break from quilting for awhile. I need to focus on completing a classroom update at church, summer fun and keeping up with my blog posts! 

 

Blog posts to look forward to:

-3 baby showers: pink, hunting and frog themes!

-delicious cake recipe I'm going to try this week!
-classroom update

-traveling with a toddler

 

Have a great week and enjoy your summer! 

To my California friends: stay cool in that awful heat!

To my Alaska friends: watch out for the mosquitoes!

Deep Dish Pizza & Nutella Bread

I wrote this whole blog post...but forgot to save it! Ahh!! So now I have to rewrite it. This is an example of my thinking the past two weeks! I have been busy with several things that I will post later, including painting a classroom at church and a super secret surprise I'm working on! 

With everything I've been doing, making fancy homemade meals was not my top priority so we ate a lot of leftovers and random stuff. I felt like a terrible wife, since I've been focused mostly on Ben while he was sick. So I took a day to stay home, relax and make one of Jon's favorite dinners: deep dish pizza! The dough recipe I found on Pinterest actually makes enough for two regular pizzas, but instead of doing that, I made Nutella bread for dessert! They were both delicious and I had a happy husband! 

Here's the dough recipe from Sally's Baking Addiction blog:(http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2013/11/20/homemade-pizza-crust-recipe/) She goes into more detail with each step. 

~Dough Recipe~

Ingredients:

-2 and 1/4 ts Red Star Platinum yeast (1 packet)

-1 and 1/3 Cups warm water

-3 and 1/2 Cups all-purpose flour (+more as needed)

-2 Tablespoons Olive oil (+more for brushing crust) 

-3/4 teaspoon salt

-1 Tablespoon sugar

-Cornmeal, for dusting 

1. Sprinkle yeast on warm water in a small bowl and mix a little bit. Let sit for 5-10 minutes. 

2. In a separate large bowl mix flour, salt and sugar. Add olive oil and water/yeast mixture and mix with a dough goon on low. When everything is mixed together, knead on medium low for 5-8 minutes. (A stand mixer is awesome for this but you can also do it by hand.) 

3. Roll dough into a ball and place in a bowl that has been brushed inside with Olive oil. Make sure both sides of dough have olive oil in it. 

4. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let sit for at least 2 hours at room temperature. 

5. When done rising, knead again and separate into two equal pieces. 

~Deep Dish Pizza~

1. Spray baking dish, a 9" round or 6x8" rectangle with 2-3" of depth is perfect, and sprinkle some cornmeal. 

2. Roll out dough and place inside. Press it in, including the edges, until it fits the way you want. (We like ours deeper so we can pack as much cheese as possible!)

3. Pack the inside with Mozarella cheese and press it down. 

4. Spoon a layer of pizza or pasta sauce over the cheese and add your toppings. (We're simple, we just like pepperoni, olives and, of course, a little more cheese.)

5. Bake for 30 minutes at 350'. 

~Nutella Bread~

1. Roll out dough into a big rectangle until it's 1/3-1/2" thick. 

2. Spread on the Nutella! 

3. Roll into a cylinder. 

4. Cut lengthwise, top to bottom. 

5. Twist the two pieces together with the Nutella on top. (Lick any Nutella off your fingers and wash your hands, lol!) 

6. Bake for 30 minutes at 350'. (Best served warm or that day.) 

Have a great dinner! 

Adriana's Bridal Shower

I am SO excited and happy for my older sister Adriana! She is getting married in May to Raul!

Adriana & Raul

As one of her bridesmaids (and favorite sister), I organized her bridal shower! We had several plot twists starting from the beginning of planning, which I started in November, til the end, when everyone was cleaning up. But it turned out great and it was a beautiful day! Most importantly, Adriana absolutely enjoyed it! 

(With the bride-to-be Adriana, sister Christine and best friend Elizabeth)

Since this was a rather significant party with an extensive guest list (we do BIG parties because we have A LOT of relatives + church family), Christine and Claudia, our cousin, worked together with me. The mothers made the meal and guests brought side dishes and desserts. My cousin Jessica made a beautiful cake! 

(Tables, centerpieces and place settings with party favors: blue & pink swirl lollipops with "I Do" tag) 

Claudia was in charge of the centerpieces for the tables. She painted mason jars gold, and some with pink, and made flowers out of coffee filters. She dyed the coffee filters in water with food coloring, let them air dry til damp, then finished drying them in the dryer. The mason jars were hot glued to small candlestick holders (also painted gold) for added height. 
Also on the tables there were hymnals tied with lace, a last minute addition by Claudia. I added tea lights and small wooden embellishments. 

(Hymnals with lace, birdcage, hanging decor, coffe filter flowers & gold mason jars with accents)

The two tables nearest the bride-to-be's table were decorated with birdcages instead of mason jars. (Adriana really likes the bird/garden theme!) 

Each table was set with a blue dinner plate, a flowered dessert plate, a game card, ring necklace (for a game), silverware, cup and a lollipop/candy stick favor. I had the most amazing crew help me set the tables: Joy, Eva, Elijah, and JJ (my younger siblings and cousins). 

(Wonderful table of desserts and Jessica's beautiful cake!)

The center table, where Adriana and the mothers sat, also had flowery tags I made for them to wear. They said "Bride", "Mather of the Bride", and "Mother of the Groom". 

(Brides Table with centerpieces and place setting) 

Claudia also provided two gold frames for the background of the guest table, one with ribbons and lace tied to it. 

(Gift & Games table with decor and card luggage box) 

One of the problems for me during the shower was my baby Ben got sick and threw up all over the front of my dress! Luckily it didn't show but I smelled like feta cheese for the rest of the day. 😕 My best friend, Elizabeth, helped clean up after Ben while I took care of him and tried to clean myself off. 

(A few random pics from the day) 

After this drama, I had to lead the games. We played Guess Who: Bride or Groom, bridal shower scattergories, and a ring-necklace game in which you can't say "bride" or "wedding". The Guess Who game was easily the most popular an the scattergories took longer than planned.

(I'll try to figure out how to attach a PDF of the games to this blog post.)

Finally the bride thanked all the guests and opened her gifts. It was a beautiful shower and I am so excited for Adriana! I can't wait to go back to California for the wedding! 

Special Thanks to Christine, Adrian & Rodica, Marioara, Claudia, Jessica, Elizabeth, Emmanuela, Simona, Yasmine, Joy, Eva, Elijah, JJ, and all the other ladies & girls who helped! Also, thanks to Raul for carrying all the heavy boxes!