franz's first birthday: the party.

The weekend before Franz turned one, we had family and a few friends up at my parents' house to celebrate his first year! I ran with the fall decor my mom already had in her house, and Franz's love for pumpkins, and decided on a fall pumpkin theme. Plus, it was the perfect excuse to make all the fall desserts I had been wanting to make without having to eat all of it. ;)

We also made a little video of the little video clips we recorded of him during his first year to show. It's my favorite, and everyone kept asking if I was pregnant, because we sneakily broke the news last year to our families with a slideshow. (No, I'm not pregnant.)

Franz was not interested in opening his presents or eating the cake, no matter how hard we tried. So we opened his presents and ate his cake for him. It was so nice having people who love him celebrate his life with us!

over the weekend.

Over the weekend, we had a few friends over for a pie party, something we started four years ago, except for at the very first pie party, there was vegetarian pizza (which started my obsession with meatless pizza) in addition to all the pies, and Dream Phone. I took a few pictures to begin with, and then got caught up in all the pie-eating, board-game-playing, youtube-video-watching madness, I completely forgot about my camera after about 20 minutes. But believe you me, there was fun to be had, and the pies (apple, chocolate, key lime, and Reese's pudding) were SO good!

Earlier that day, a huge storm hit Utah County while I was baking pies at home and waiting for Zac to get home from his study group. A thick, dark cloud that was the span of the whole sky moved from the west and covered Orem in about 2 or 3 minutes flat, and brought pounding rain, flash flood warnings, and such strong wind with it. Luckily, Zac got home a few minutes later, and I had him safe with me at home. We watched from our windows as tree branches blew up and down and side to side like a mad man, and saw something that looked like the start of a tornado a few miles away. In the back of my mind, I was putting together my escape plan: where I would go, what I would bring with me. I really thought a tornado was coming, guys. And from our second-story windows leaking from that pounding rain, to the power going out in the middle of the day that made it look like nighttime (because remember the big, dark cloud?), it was quite the afternoon. But there were funny things that came from it, like how the power went out just when there was one minute left on our pizza cooking in the oven, and how it came back on the minute we dialed up the power company. 

And let's not forget about my cooking/baking spree I had on Sunday, when I made pumpkin cookies, slow cooker beef stew, and homemade bread (not to mention the apple and chocolate pies I made the day earlier). I was on to something this weekend. And it felt good. I love to make food, almost as much as I love eating it. 

And now it's Monday. Happy Monday!

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the 4th of july.

Early in the morning on the 4th, my mom picked me up with Einstein bagels in her car and we drove to the parade in Provo to watch with Daniel and Erika. It was cloudy out, so the weather was perfect, until about halfway through when it started to get really hot. My mom "brought a little bit of grandpa to the parade" and clapped at everything. We saw a few big balloon floats, and some guys playing the steel drums! Oh how I want to drag my drum set out and play it again...

After about 30 minutes, and covering less than 5 miles to get home, my mom and I dropped some things off at my apartment and went shopping for baby things! Really, it was just yarn so my mom could crochet a little cardigan. We ate lunch at Cafe Rio, and came home so my mom could nap while I got things ready for that night. Zac came home from work a while later (he got off early! Happy 4th of July to us!) and helped me out.

After setting everything up, and making the most delicious cake I've ever made in all my years of baking, we had the rest of the family over for a BBQ outside, complete with homemade root beer, hamburgers and polish dogs (that Zac grilled himself--his first time--and they were delicious!), and homemade citrus watermelon popcicles! It was a blast, and Aiden made a few friends with some people who were using the grill while we ate. I think my belly doubled in size, too. You're welcome, baby Swenson.

After dinner, we played cards, ate cake, and lit some sparklers! It was getting dark by then, so we all drove up to Lehi and watched the firework show at Thanksgiving Point where we almost ended up watching them by ourselves, because we couldn't find Daniel and Erika. This baby must either love or hate fireworks, because it wouldn't stop kicking! It was adorable. My favorite fireworks are the gold ones that sparkle. I ooh'd and aah'd at them, but the one that exploded into the shape of a star was completely amazing, too!

When we got home late at night, I ate another piece of cake and went to bed with my Zac. It was such a fun day, and I loved spending it with my family. Happy Independence Day!

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cinco de mayo.

We had a Mexican fiesta the day after Cinco de Mayo with a few friends and some tacos. There was pin the tail on the donkey, and a pinata filled with pencils, action figures, mustaches, and candy, and we even watched Nacho Libre before we called it a night. Erica showed up in a huge poncho, all festive. Then later, she got hit in the head with a balloon. That was the highlight of the night, I think. At least for me. We listened to the Mexican pandora station and drank Mexican sodas, too! God bless Mexico.

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pie plop.

In honor of Pi Day on Thursday, we had Bernz and Wes over for some pie. When I got home from work, I made the easiest pie in the world, and put it in the fridge to set. Bernz and Wes came over a few hours later, and we busted out the pie. I guess those few hours weren't enough for the pie to set, because we ended up with soupy pie (that was delicious, nonetheless), and called it pie plop. We ate it with spoons.

And for the rest of the night, the men talked about video games, and the ladies talked about recording our songs from our high school band this summer, and left two obnoxious voicemails on Emily's phone.

I think I'll have myself another piece of pie plop.

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groundhog day.

Yesterday was Groundhog Day, and it's official: Spring is on its way! And I am so excited, because this winter weather has been brutal.

Another happening yesterday: Erica and Wes invited us over for a soda-tasting party to celebrate the groundhog. When we arrived, Erica and Rachel were in the laptop looking up groundhog desserts and groundhog songs to sing. We found quite a few good ones.

Erica and Wes had bought 10 gourmet sodas for all of us to taste in rounds of about three: orange soda, huckleberry, creamy lime, gingerale (with real pieces of ginger), pig iron cola, cucumber, peach, chocolate, bubble up (the original 7-up), and a raspberry soda that they made themselves! My favorite was the peach, but all of them were so good. Even the chocolate one (I thought it was going to be disgusting).

While we were tasting the pig iron cola, Wes reached for his smart glasses and gave us a lecture of how the cola came about. 

In between soda-tasting rounds, we played Liar's Dice and Blurt. Playing games with these people is so intense! The best group for board games. And while we sat there around their table in their 70's apartment, playing with dice and plastic cups, listening to records, I felt like I was in That 70's Show for just a minute. 

Cheers to a good party!

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