Softball

This week Henry is in Las Vegas for the Furniture Show. He left last Friday morning and is coming home late Thursday night. Kyle and I are just hanging out with my parents and brothers (Michael's family is out of town for the week, too). Last Thursday though, Henry and Brian played softball with the ward. Kyle enjoyed playing in a puddle. I didn't mind because I could see him and watch the game. The team lost, sadly. Sorry the pics are so dark. That is the best the camera can do at night.

Sunday we smoked a turkey, and it was goooood! This is the way we will make our Thanksgiving turkey now. Then toady I went rollerblading with Kyle in the jogging stroller. Everything went fine and he decided he did not want to be in the stroller anymore so he just jumped. He landed on is face and got a bloody nose in both nostrils, a bruised nose, and a cut lip. I would like to think he won't do it again, but he is a slow learner when it comes to pain. We went to the pool afterward and he loves the water. He can blow bubbles and if he is in the right mood he will float with help from mommy or daddy. We stay for about two hours then it gets crowded, so we come home for lunch and then Kyle takes his nap. A friend from the ward has a daughter who is Kyles age and has a pool pass so we are trying to go Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays weather permitting.

Tiny Town

Today Kyle and I went to Tiny Town with our ward playgroup. For those who don't know what Tiny Town is, it is a site in the mountains, about 30 mins. from our house, that has 1/6 scale buildings with a turn of the century flare. George Turner built it for his daughter in 1915. Various people have donated buildings and added to the town through the years. The kids can even go into a few of them. There is also a little train that runs around the edge too. Kyle loved the train (suprise, suprise!). All day leading up to going he kept saying "Train! Train!" What a goof ball, but we love him. He also enjoyed going in the buildings and playing with the other kids. There are even a few of the buildings that have glass in the backs and roofs so you can see in. The movie theater had Mickey and Friends, Looney Tunes, and Sesame Street characters watching a movie. Kyle loved that.

Week of July 13, 2008

Well this week was a busy one. I had my cake class for enrichment on Tuesday, then Henry flew to Salt Lake for business early Thursday and returned Friday evening. The meetings were a huge success! It means big business in the future but more work in the mean time. Kyle and I went to to the train museum with Papa (my dad). It was way too hot! We stayed for only 15 minutes. That is the beauty for a membership pass. You don't feel like you have to stay a few hours to get your moneys worth. It was fun to see Kyle running from train to train making train sounds. He was ready to leave after 15 minutes, which really means it was hot. Usually we have to drag him out kicking and screaming.

Saturday we went for a hike to retrive the card in the trail timer camera. We got some really good pictures of some HUGE elk. Henry can't wait for hunting season at the end of August. After that we went for a little drive int he mountains. That evening we went to my parents and had a BBQ with the whole family while we waited for Brian to get home from Idaho. The kids were all excited to see Uncle Rat (that is his nickname). The kids had ice cream cones and Kyle ended up wearing most of his.

This morning Kyle and I went fior a walk while Henry and Brian went for a hike to retrive the other camera and move it to a new location and to replace the batteries in the other one (Henry forgot the batteries yesterday). Then off to church we go!

Kyle with his cousins Ashlee and Kristen.

They were coloring while waiting for "Uncle Rat".

Enrichment Mid Week Activity

I was asked to teach the mid week activity this week on cake decorating. I had no idea how to go about it . The class was 2 hours and the classes we took to learn cake decorating were 3 course with 4 classes each course and 2 hours a class. How do you teach in 2 hours. I decided to teach how to bake a cake so it will come out of the pan with out tearing, how to ice a crumb free cake, and a couple of decorating techniques (stars, shells, and writing). I made the Strawberry Shortcake cake in advance to show them what they will be able to do at the end of the class (all the decorating techniques for the character pans were taught in the class). I also made 8 - 6" cakes so they could practice everything and have hands on experience. It was a hit! Everyone had a great time and they said they learned a lot. After, Kyle helped me clean up by trying to eat all the frosting.

Boring Week!

This week we have been trying to get back on a schedule and get unpacked and revover from our trip. I think you should take a vacation to recover from a vacation! We got back late sunday night, then Monday I unpacked and did laundry and put things away. Tuesday I had to work on the cake for someone in our ward. Kyle has had a hard week, we think he has been sick. He was really fussy and mean, so we laid low for a few days. Saturday we went for a ride south of where we live so Henry could do some scouting for hunting season. While on our drive we decided to put up another trail timer camera, so we went for a hike. It was only 2 miles round trip but it was 85 degrees. Kyle ended up falling asleep on the way. Sunday, we had Jeff and Chelsea up for dinner. For those of you who don't know that is Henry's neice and husband. We smoked some chicken, it was gooood! That was it for our week. Brian should be coming home this week and Kyle can't wait.

Harry Potter Cake

A few months ago our ward held a silent auction to raise funds for all the youth camps this summer. I donated a custom make cake. Well, the winners of my cake came calling this week. I had to make a Harry Potter cake. Here is the final product.

Family Reunion in Salt Lake City

We just returned from the Hellstrom Family Reunion. We had a great time, thank you to those who put it together. It was a quick trip though! We left Thurday afternoon and got back home late Sunday night. We wished we could of stayed longer but we had to get back for Henry's work. We had fun reconnecting with family we don't get to see to often. We played some games, and as a true Hellstrom, we ate a lot! Kyle's favorite part was playing on the trampoline at Rick and Elise's and at Ben and Janet's. The boy loves to bounce like Tigger. Friday was the 4th of July. We watched the fireworks at an elementary school. Kyle watched them for about 10 min. then decided he would rather watch a DVD in the car. Fireworks shows are too long. They should just do 1 big grand finale! But I digress, so we turnd the car on and let him watch a movie. About 5 min. later the car just died. It was a dead battery. AAA came out and jumped it (luckily we are plus members so they moved us to the top of the list). We decided that instead of risking needing a jump in the morning we would run to Wal-Mart and buy a new battery. Long story short, we didn't get back to the hotel until 1 am. One of the fun activities was a road rally where we learned about the Hellstrom family history. We saw were the family grocery stores were, where family members went to school, where people worked, were they grew up. It is always fun to see where everything happened. Sunday before we left Salt Lake we went to Grandpa and Grandma's grave (and Aunt Judy's). The whole way home Kyle kept trying to turn around to look in the back for "Rat" (that is Brian's nickname for those of you who don't know). He can't wait for Brian to come home from school in a few weeks.

Rockies Game

Last night we went to the Rockies Game. It was University of Utah Alumni night at the game. Charlie Monfort, owner of the Rockies happens to be an alumni. We went with Dad (alumni) and Mom, and Michael (alumni), and Mary and the girls. We had a picnic before the game under the rock pile. We had brats, hot dogs, burgers, chicken, watermelon, salads, and drinks. It was pretty good for ball park food. Then we watched the game from the 3rd deck. Good thing none of us are susceptible to altitude sickness! It was a good game. Cook pitched a 79 pitch, full game, shut out. The game was 1 hour and 58 min. Kyle even was on the jumbotron, and Mary's knees were on another time. They showed the Utah alumni crowd quite a bit.

Homemade Donuts, mmmm!

This week is a busy one so I decided to post as things come up. Monday night we had our friends, the Englands over for dinner (they are the ones who are visiting from FL.). After dinner we made homemade donuts. They were so yummy! We even had 3 glazes (chocolate, white, and maple), toppings (coconut, sprinkles, and mini M&M's), and an injector with raspberry filling. Henry would say the best combo is chocolate glaze with coconut. Dave made a "coast to coast" donut maple glaze (Vermont) with coconut (Hawaii). We had a great time coming up with good combos. I think the kids liked them all!

Poor Zoey, couldn't eat another bite!

Kyle kept wanting more.

Dave and Shauna England

Earlier in the day Kyle and I went to the fountains in Highlands Ranch with playgroup from church. Kyle loves to be wet so he had a blast! He started pushing other kids, throwing wood chips in the water, and he took a cup full of water and dumped it on a little girl so we left early. What are we going to do with this kid!