Labor Day weekend

This is actually being posted on November 22, 2010. I was cleaning up the desktop and noticed a folder labled with September pictures and knew there had to be a reason why it was still on the desktop. Well, I didn't post some of these. So here is a major back post.

Jason and Kari come down for Labor Day weekend and to go to Swiss Days with us. We first went to the Sheep Dog Trials, that was pretty cool. Then Kari and I went to Swiss Days with the kids and Jon went to pick up Jason in SLC.

Jason and Kari brought the boys a sidewalk chalk kit. They loved it. And of course they loved playing with Jason!

At Swiss Days there was a booth that was selling EyeKandy Glitter makeup-eye shadow. I thought it was pretty cool! I'd love to have some to play around with. But its pretty expensive. So I'll add it to my Christmas list!

Aug 28: Pirate Island Birthday Party

This year we decided to do a friend party for Zac. About this time last year, he learned about Pirate Island and that people have Birthday Parties there. He wanted one so bad, and I couldn't say no. He made the invite list all by himself.

I found some invitations on Amazon that I wanted, but I thought I could save some money by making my own...not so much with nice paper and color copies.  I made it using photoshop.

I also thought the room was included in the package price...but I guess not there either! This is the Black Smith Sword Shop and it was pretty cool and just the right size for our group.

Then we had a treasure hunt! Pirate Island has a matching game of sorts using pictures they took from around the restaurant. I chose 10 of those pictures and Jon wrote clues to lead them to the next picture so they could find the buried treasure! This clue is looking for the cloud sea serpent on the wall up there.

Reading more clues . . . the treasure was their loot bags with their tokens in them. The timing was a bit off since they had a magic show in one of the rooms with our clue. So we ended up doing right before the pizza came. It became a challenge to get the kids to eat as they were preoccupied with their loot, candy and tokens....

Eating pizza. Thanks to all my helpers!

Jon said I had to post this. I am giving him a "lecture" on taking pictures so we can document. And this is him documenting the 1 minute lecture.

Blowing out the candles

Opening presents. There was no breathing room!

My dad made Zac an awesome Treasure Chest! Everyone thought it was so cool! And he did a great job. We are going to get a lock for it, then I'll post more pics.

This is the lid

I almost forgot we had a X marks the spot (pin the tail on the donkey) type game. I was going to make one but with everything going on, I just didn't get to it.

Max is trying to peek out of the bandana!

Then there was 15 mins left to play in the arcade. It was quite hectic keeping track of 12, little kids. I am glad it was only 15 mins. And that we had a lot of eyes to help watch.  It was a lot of fun and I am so glad we got to do it!


These were the clue Jon wrote for the treasure hunt:



Start at the mermaid

1. Thar be a treasure hidden not far from here. X marks the spot, whar the treasure be found. Follow the clues every whit and find the loot, every bit. From here at the mermaid right on the wall, you'll flip your fins to the place where Davey makes songs.

 -The coral organ

2. Well done, Mates, ye found it! Yer makin your way. Here's where you go next: Take a few steps, not too many, and soon you'll see, a bird that can wake up Captain Hook's knee! Cock-a-doodle-doo!

 -A rooster

3. Ay, clever scoundrels, you are! Now slither and hiss your way to to clouds. A sea snake will tell ye how close to the treasure you are.

 -A sea serpent in the clouds

4. Yer gettin closer to the treasure, little mateys! Here's what to do next: Walk towards the flags, that are waving by the fort. There you'll find the next clue for the prize.

 -Flags on the fort

5. Halfway there! The treasure is getting close by. Your next clue is to find the skull that's real high. High like a mountain.

 -Skull mountain

6. Blast! You pirates are clever. Your next clue to the treasure chest is this. Listen close: A little animal with feathers is what to look for. He says "Polly want a cracker" and sits on a shoulder.

 -Parrot

7. Well, well well, just a few clues to go. Your next step is to find the Black Pearl Ship in the other room. Find the clue there then the treasure will soon be yours! 

 -The silhouette of the Black Pearl

8. From one ship to another you must go. Not here at the Black Pearl, but by a ship in the clouds is whar the last and final clue be found!

-A ship in the clouds

9. Too smart and clever are ye little sea monkeys! Now the FINAL clue to your long treasure hunt. Look to the side not far from the door. If you see the red X, then there's treasure in store!!

 -The treasure

Alone

First of all, I wanted to say thank you so much for your comments. I really appreciate them, and they help me feel more comfortable with myself and with sharing things on my blog.

Right now, its 11:53p on Friday night. Its the Father and Sons camp out with our ward. This is the first year Jon has taken both boys. Making this, the first night I have been literally alone since before we were married. Lemme tell ya, its weird. There have been nights here and there and in a row where Jon has to go on scout camp outs and out of town for work, or has taken just Zac to Father and Sons. But I have always had someone here with me.

I honestly, feel less anxious than I have before. Last summer, there was a night where I couldn't get to sleep before 4:00a because I was so stressed that someone would break in or that something bad would happen and I wouldn't know what to do, and help the boys.  I did everything I could think of to calm my mind down so I could sleep.

I'm not sure what makes tonight different. I went to dinner with Denise, a friend I met back in middle school, who happens to live 5 minutes from me now. And who I haven't seen in a few years. Then we watched a chick flick at her beautiful house that she is renting. It was fun to catch up and relaxing. Then I came home. Normally, before I leave on an evening where Jon is gone, I lock all the windows and turn some lights on so I don't come home to a dark house. Well, I did neither of those tonight. But still I feel relatively calm. Maybe its that I don't have kids here to worry about, maybe its because I live next to a sheriff, maybe its because I live in a smaller town, maybe its because during the summer every window in the house is open all night, maybe because my room is upstairs. Whatever the reason, I am grateful for it.

Even still, I won't be posting this til tomorrow . . .

Well, it's 5:46am. I guess I wasn't as calm as I thought. I generally haven't slept very well at this house; I'm not sure why. But two bad dreams tonight/this morning make things harder. I hate the tangible, physical wave of tense anxiety that starts in my chest then shoots through my entire body when I hear unfamiliar sounds. I need a bat. It's surprisingly still dark here. I'm waiting for the dawn so hopefully I can get more restful sleep. I'll read for a while.

Pirate Ship Birthday Cake

After more than a year of no cake activity. I decided I wanted to make a fun/big cake for Zac's friend party. I found a cake online that I wanted to copy-unfortunately there wasn't much direction. There were some pretty big structural issues that came up. But because I tried to step back, change my perspective and not be so perfectionist or hard on myself, over all, I am please with the result, even though I feel like it looks really sloppy. Zac loved it anyway-and really that is all that matters (still trying to convince myself of that :)

Some months ago, I subconsciously, slowly stopped being the detail oriented planner that I normally am, because of a comment someone made.  I felt, surprisingly, incredibly self-conscious about that characteristic of myself.  I still planned, but not to the degree and organization that I typically did. I stopped caring and started to become apathetic. I'd forget things all the time. I stopped planning get togethers and other things, and didn't enjoy the things I did do as much. It affected my happiness.

About a month ago, I realized this was happening and to be honest, positive or negative, I need this characteristic. Planning makes me happy.  It makes me feel in control and organized. And I need that in my life. Some people don't need that.  I am still working to embrace that characteristic and working to bring my ability to be as detail oriented back. It gives me satisfaction.

For any cake like this, I normally would have planned out days in advance and written out steps and made sure I had all my supplies and knew exactly what my plan was as well as had a picture in my head. But I only did half that. It sure made a difference in the process.

I ordered a Wilton Football cake pan and made 2 cakes, then froze them for a day.

On Friday, I started the rest of the process. The cut off part is the back where the Captains quarters would be. If I had planned better, at this point I would have cut part of the bottom off to make it flat and more stable.

Its hard to cut frozen cake...

I hadn't decided what I was going to do about under the boat until Friday morning. I made a regular round cake. I accidentally used the white frosting on the cupcakes for Zac instead of the rainbow chip frosting. So I had to make do. I colored the frosting with 2 different blues. I actually thought the rainbow chips looked cool-like fish in the water :)

Then I used a round tip to make the frosting look like wooden boards. I think it would have been better to use a flat tip next time.  This is also where the structural issues came. As the cake thawed, the weight on the front and back and the lack of support under the bow caused the cakes to start to break in the middle. Luckily, I had cake supplies on hand. I used cardboard cake rounds and cake dowels to support the front and back of the boat. Then I had barely enough white frosting to color blue and cover the mechanics.

Four layers of cake, three cake mixes. The boat was really heavy, a sheet cake would have worked better. I even kept a little island piece of cake in case I did the sheet cake instead of the round.

Jon got off work early so we decided to go see a family movie in Park City. It was raining and just before we left for the movie we got to see a pretty rainbow outside.

After the movie we put the kids to bed and I set off to finish the cake because the party was at 11 the next day. Jon helped me out a ton! I could not have done this without him. It seems when I make cakes, I always get to this critical point where I am about to give up and toss the cake.  Then someone comes to my rescue with an extra set of hands and the moral support I need. Rachel was this person for me last summer when I made Lexie's Sweet 16 cake.

Jon helped me get all the supporting mechanics in place and he made all the pretzel fencing stuff.  And gave ideas and suggestions and support for all the other finishing touches. I think we finished about Midnight.

It said Zac on the side

The candles are kind of like "The Kracken" from Pirates of the Caribbean.

This is the only picture I have of the back Captains quarter windows.

As we were driving through the canyon to the party, I kept thinking why did I do this?! Why did I plan to do this, as I stressed out that it would get ruined. But then I thought, no, this is good. I need to give myself little stressful situations to learn to handle them better. Who cares if it falls apart on the way down? So what if there's no cake?

I like making cakes. There had to be a first one to get back in the process. And it helped me see where I lacked planning and how to be more effective so I have less set backs. Yes, I know you can't plan everything. And when something doesn't go according to plan its good to learn to deal with it.  But planning is the best way to succeed-I believe.

Aug 24: Happy 5th Birthday Zac!

Jon is pretty big on doing something on the exact day of each of our family members birthdays. Its a lot of work, but I think its good. It seems most of my life my birthday passes without much ado.  Jon has been making big efforts to change that. Perhaps, this history is why I sometimes go over board with birthday plans. 

We didn't end up having plans on Zac's Birthday. I decided we'd go to Seven Peaks. I remembered Lexie had a free ticket since she worked there over the summer. And we called our friends the Lindsey's to go with us.  Unfortunately the whole north side of the park was closed. That translates to ALL of the kiddie stuff! But hey it was free. So we did it anyway. 

We played in the wave pool and on the flash flood slides. Zac was nervous to go on the slide, but he did great and loved it! We tried to go a little later and he was so stressed about it, and crying. But I made him go anyway. Again, he loved it. But when I asked if he wanted to go again, he said no :)

We a couple errands before leaving Provo and got some cool balloons at Partyland. Then we got caught in traffic in the canyon.

A few weeks before Zac said he wanted rainbow cupcakes for his birthday.  I had found a blog about it and so we made those. It wasn't too hard to do.

Yum! Now I want cupcakes!

My little boy is five!

Cheesing it and for some reason doing an underbite.

Jon was holding out the last note of the Happy Birthday song, and Zac was saying, ok, ok be done...he was ready for cake!

Typical, "I WANT cake" Munk boy expression :P

Cool balloons! I love the curly purple balloon on the orange one!

Heavy, heavy hang over.  I personally, think its dumb, but hey I have no tradition to bring, and Jon and the kids think its fun.

T-ball

Max liked to do the heavy hang over

Pirate gear!

I think this map is really cool looking!

Arr, Zac the Pirate!

 Zac also got his first lego sets, and some beginner reading books.

Sleeping positions

In this house the boys are now sharing a room. Its been an interesting transition. They have been waking up an hour earlier and they go to bed later. This has been new territory for us and at times frustrating.

We got them bunk beds and when I go in to close the window and blinds in the middle of the night they are almost always in different positions. Its pretty funny, and I can figure out how they get so backward sometimes!

Zac is at the bottom of the bed.

Haha, these are great!

When Zac first saw this picture, he gasped and said "Eww!" in a giggly tone and covered his mouth. It was so funny. He was a little embarrassed, but still thought it was funny. 

The last 3 days they have actually been waking up at their normal time around 8:30a. And it has been sooo nice for me!