This day is one of my favorites!! At least it is when the weather cooperates and this year the weather was PERFECTION!
Ahhh....Griffy poo. I freaking love this kid. The fences out west are a tad hard to shut if you aren't bursting with upper body strength. Luckily - Griffen has the strength, but I guess only with his one side. He was so proud of himself for getting this gate shut, but he shut it and ended up on the wrong side of the gate!!! So - he just crawled under it.
Blake brought a fabulous toy. A stomp rocket. My kids LOVED it!! Here is all of my older kids with Grammy figuring it out.
Lunch was delicious!!
This picture is sweet. If you force teenagers to hold babies - I think that they actually like it.
For reasons unknown to man, my dad (and Casey) don't enjoy eating peeps. My dad was enjoying a cupcake and gave Taylor his bunny peep. CHEERS! Is there anyone out there who doesn't eat the ears first??
The Easter egg hunt was fun to watch. My video camera quit working right when it started, so that sucks. But luckily for me we had 4 cameras snapping and we ended up with plenty of darling pictures of everyone!
Right when the hunt started Alexa started to have a major meltdown. I have never heard the darling cry so hard! I think she was just tired and she loves to sleep on her side or belly and that just wasn't an option. She eventually fell asleep though. I'm so grateful that I have such wonderful siblings and husband! Casey helped Caleb, Jordon helped Rylee and Angela helped Taylor. It was adorable to watch.
Eva Evil Knievel. It is going to be so much fun to watch this ball of energy grow up! She is always going, going, going!!
Caleb and Casey caught a lizard!! His name was Faaayusht Rhip (Fast Rip). I'm not sure where his name came from, but the way he said it was hilarious. He loved that lizard and was pretty sad when we couldn't take it home. His new picture pose is rock and roll hands. I love it.
There were so many tumbleweeds this year!! My little (ha ha) family had already left, but everyone else did their best to not set the place on fire while burning them.
I have found my go-to cupcake. It is a Twinkie cupcake. It is delicious. Not to mention that the Easter version turned out adorable! I just used a regular yellow cake mix, but I used my secret PERFECT cake recipe to make them moist and delicious. (Filling & frosting recipe below)
These two cuties (and Dylan!!) enjoyed the 2014 picnic.
The end!
adapted from Our Best Bites
3 tablespoons flour
1/2 c whole milk
1/2 c butter
1/2 c granulated sugar
1 t vanilla extract
Whisk together the flour and the milk. Heat in a small sauce pan on medium heat. Whisk continuously until it starts to thicken. Let it cook, while stirring with a rubber spatula, until you can start to see the bottom of the pan. Continue to cook until the mixture has the consistency of thick pudding or paste.
Put mixture in the fridge and let it cool completely, it’s fine if it stays in there long enough to get chilly, you just don’t want it warm at all. As it’s cooling, feel free to stir it occasionally to speed up the process and keep it from forming a crust on top.
It an electric stand mixer, beat the butter and the sugar using the whisk attachment for a minute or two until well combined and fluffy. While beating, add in the thickened milk mixture and the vanilla. Beat to combine and then scrape down the sides. Mixture will separate and look messy, keep beating! Continue beating until mixture comes together and is light and fluffy (about 7-8 minutes).
Frosting
adapted from Bakingdom
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup marshmallow spread
1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 to 2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
In a large bowl, or the bowl of a standing mixer, beat the butter and marshmallow until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the sugar, beating until just combined. Stir in 1 tablespoon of cream and the vanilla, then beat on high speed for 4 minutes. If the frosting is too thick, add more cream, up to 1 tablespoon.
