Alaskan Cruise--part I

Well, I finally made it out of the country! I've traveled many places within the U.S., but Vancouver is the first time I've been in a "foreign" country. Though, I have to say a place where everyone speaks English and takes U.S. dollars doesn't seem too foreign. Vancouver is a beautiful city and the starting point of our Alaskan Cruise.

Stanley Park was close to our hotel and made for a nice walk. The totem poles were a highlight.

Well, this sounds tasty doesn't it?

My mom and dad celebrated their 45th Wedding Anniversary the day we got on the ship.

We soon found the perfect viewing area. Skywalker's Lounge jutted out over the side and provided picture window views of the ocean and scenery. Being up there was like flying and sailing at the same time.

Rachel's Baptism

Rachel was baptized today. She looked so cute and there was such a good spirit throughout the whole meeting. It is quite the milestone to have all of your children baptized. Thanks to all of the family who came. We want to especially thank Grandpa Graf who drove all the way up and back from Cedar in one day just for Rachel.

Time Change!

Rachel is 8! Her baptism will be Saturday, May 9th at 1:00. This is a change in time from what I originally posted. Hope to see you all there!

Cupcakes!

Today during Conference sessions we made these cool fondant decorated cupcakes. I read about them on Pioneer Woman and decided to give it a try. I found a great fondant recipe on the internet, and much to my surprise, it worked! I had never even tasted fondant before so I had no idea how it should turn out. This whole thing appealed to me because it looked more like a craft project than a baking project. The kids had a great time creating the designs. It was kind of like playing with playdough only more edible. However, when we ate the cupcakes, we just peeled off the fondant. It's better as a decoration.

Here's the whole bunch arranged into a heart by Erin.

Kevin decorated the cupcakes on the top left and the bottom right.

Erin did the one on the top right.

Rachel's cupcake is on the bottom left.

Camille did the flower with the pink center.

Picassa and scrapbooking

I recently took a class where I learned about Picasa. I never knew what a great tool it is. It's a FREE download from Google that stores and edits your photos. The best thing is the collage maker. I can make a collage, download it into an online scrapbooking program (Shutterfly.com is my favorite-also free until you order) and have an easy scrapbook page done! The biggest drawback to Shutterfly is that I couldn't always find the right template for my pictures. Now the problem is solved. Also, another site, Blurb.com can change your blog into a book. A blog into a blurb. Blurb your blog. How cool is that? I haven't used it yet, but it sounds promising. Now I really can justify my blog as family history...ha, ha! Picasa is also great for blogging. I just click on the pictures and hit the blog button in Picasa, and it easily uploads much faster than browsing through the computer for the pictures I want. Well, this is my tech tip of the year. Hope you all enjoyed it.

(P.S. I also had to make a teacher blog for the class I took. That is why my name is now showing up as Mrs. Graf. I'm not trying to be all formal. I should have signed up for it under a totally different email and name, but I didn't think about that until too late. Someday I will change it.)

We Love to See the Temple

We have loved our opportunities to tour the Draper Temple. We've been as a family and also had chances to tour the temple as volunteers helping with refreshments, working security, or serving as ushers. Our youth were able to clean the temple. Before they working as cleaners, they had a short fireside followed by a private tour given by our stake president. He spent a few minutes in the baptistry, sealing rooms, and celestial rooms talking to them. What a wonderful way to learn about the importance of temples! It's been fun having family come up and stay with us and tour the temple. We feel blessed to be able to participate in this unique opportunity.

Krysta's 19th Birthday

Krysta turned 19 last month. As you can tell the party was in full swing as the birthday song was belted out. At what age do you stop putting the appropriate number of candles on the cake? Curt and I certainly don't have room on our cakes, but when does this actually occur?