2010 Oklahoma State Sugar Art Show

In my previous post I told a little bit about the Tulsa State Fair and some of the interesting food they have this year.  Now we are moving on to the Sugar Art Show.  I just have to say that those cakes were AMAZING and works of art, no telling how much time was put into each cake.  Here are a couple of my favorites...before my phone died and I couldn't take anymore pics.

We got our pic taken with Kerry Vincent, not sure how many of you are aware of this but she lives here in Tulsa! 

After we were finished looking at the cakes we went and watched a cupcake decorating contest and during the show they were throwing boxes of the new Decadent  Duncan Hines Apple Caramel cake mix and the new Decadent Triple Chocolate cake mix to the audience.  Connie caught 1 of each box and since she's allegic to nuts...she was a kind enough to pass them on to me. The pics on the box look AMAZING, I'm sure you will see something about these cakes in a future Cooking with Kenzie post!

All I have is a photo of part of the winning cake so that will have to do until they can get the professional one up on the website.

Tulsa State Fair

My sister in law invited me to go to the Sugar Art Show with her at the Tulsa State Fair and I was happy to go and spend time with her.  We don't get to hang out a lot since she lives on the other side of town from me...not that it's a long drive or anything but we both get busy with our kids and just don't seem to make time to hang out so this was a great way to spend time together.  My mom came too because she used to be a cake decorator and loves looking at all those amazing cakes.
We usually head out to the fair as a family and sometimes go with friends but this year we were planning on going with our homeschool group to the Oklahoma's Largest Classroom and then just enjoying the rest of the day BUT as most of you know, Makenzie still has a hurt ankle and is in a walking boot and on crutches for at least 2 more weeks.  We didn't think it would be a good idea for her to tromp all over the fair with her crutches and we don't have a wheelchair for her (I don't think she would have liked that idea at all) so we are missing out on all the cute fair animals and the yummy fair food.  Speaking of fair food I have to tell you that we saw chocolate covered pickles and chocolate covered bacon, we found the chocolate covered bacon in the Made in Oklahoma booths.
and the biggest talk that I heard this year was the Krispy Kreme hamburger...yes you heard correct KRISPY KREME HAMBURGER...here's a video that I found.

FUMC pumpkin patch

After our mom's meeting with our homeschool group a bunch of us went to the FUMC pumpkin patch.  This is something that my kids ALWAYS look forward to each and every year!  It was a beautiful day and we all had a great time visiting with friends, picnicing and enjoy the special beauty that only comes in the Fall (thank you God for these crisp fall days I love them).

Meringue Cookies-Cooking with Kenzie

I'm still trying to keep up with Tasty Tuesdays but with everything going on in our life it's been a little hectic, if you want to join Tasty Tuesday you can join at A Beautiful Mess, she ALWAYS has the yummiest recipes or you can join Tempt My Tummy Tuesday at Blessed with Grace and I describe her recipes as scrumdiddlyumpsciousness...just means I REALLY love them too!


Most of you know that Makenzie(10 yrs old) has been laid up with a hurt ankle but she's still trying to cook as much as possible.  She was bored the other day, it's hard work laying on the couch with your leg propped up!  So, we decided to make Meringue Cookies.  I've made them before but she never had.  We are also going through the Future Christian Homemakers book (which you can download for free right now) and this weeks chapter was on eggs.  Plus it's a great add on to our homeschool curriculum and wonderful mommy/daughter time!

Makenzie learned how to separate eggs, she kinda liked and thought it was fun but she wasn't sure the egg whites were ever going to turn into meringue because it took a long time to beat them!

Heat the oven to 225 degrees

Beat 3 egg whites at high speed with a mixer
Add 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
Add 3/4 cup of sugar 2 tablespoons at a time
beat until still peaks (this took her a long time and she didn't like it)

Place spoonfulls on a cookie sheet (we lined it with parchment paper)
Bake for 1 1/2 hrs then turn off the oven and leave the meringues inside to cool until they are dry and crisp (about another hour).

Here's a pic of Kenzie waiting for the Dr to look at her ankle

Secret Keep Girl tour-Pajama party

Kenzie and I had a mommy daughter date night with a group of mommies and their daughters from out homeschool group.  It was a fun night!  We all wore our PJ's and met at Cracker Barrel and then car pooled to the event.
I highly recommend this tour for anyone with a "tween" daughter between the ages of 8-13, they will LOVE it,  its a high-energy, fun event designed to reach girls before they are teenagers and while at an age to be more receptive to the modesty presentation.
Here is the link to Secret Keeper Girl, they have games, Truth or Bare fashion test, and an area for MOMs and an area for GIRLS!

Mika's pantry blog

One of my besties of all times, Mika,  has started a cooking blog called Mika's Pantry and I just wanted to share with all of my readers because she has some great recipes!!!  Leave her a comment and let her know you stopped by!

Her and her husband adopted Bailey at the same time that we adopted Makenzie.  Everytime we go visit them in OKC they try out new meals or their favorites at the time on us and EVERYTHING is always so delicious!!!

This is a pic of Mika and Bay and Makenzie and I at the Dillon Family Picnic 2001

Camping in Silverton, CO

When I was younger I lived in Durango, CO and we would go camping quite often and one of my favorite things is the smell of the air when it's just so crisp and clean and has that slight chill and you bundle up in a hoodie.  Oh how I miss those camping days, of course I was a LOT younger and slept in a tent without a blowup bed and could hike all day and not feel it the next day.  Well, times have changed!  I'm older and wiser (blow up beds are my friend now) and I can't hike all day because I'll be really sore the next day!  The kids had NEVER been camping in CO so we met up with my dad, stepmom, my brother and my sister in law and camped out (ok you can call it camping but they had a mini winnie and a 5th wheel) so we had luxuries that I never had as a kid like a porta potty, running water, a nice comfy bed, a kitchen, etc.  We also didn't have the fun 4 wheelers when I was a kid, however my kids LOVED it that Grandpa, Uncle Aaron and Auntie Erin would take them on rides and they even went up to Clear Lake on the 4 wheelers...good times!
We camped just outside of Silverton, CO in the South Mineral campgrounds.  I do recommend this area, so beautiful, plenty of hiking, camping, 4 wheeling, jeeping, etc.  Should be something for everyone here!

I took SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO many pictures while we were camping but I will spare you and only post a couple of my favorites.

 

This is the little town of Silverton, CO it's so tiny and cute!

I went to the woods

because I wished to live deliberately,

to front only the essential facts of life,

and see if I could not learn what it had to teach,

and not, when I came to die,

discover that I had not lived.

~Henry David Thoreau~

 

Colorado and New Mexico trip

It's been 3 years since we've been back to NM and CO to see my family, wow how time flies!!!  I just can't believe it's been that long but Makenzie was 7 and Kylan was still 5 so they have changed a LOT since then.  Here's a pic of them then

and here's one now

They've really grown a lot!  Over the next couple of days I'm going to share some of our favorite highlights from our trip.  I hope you enjoy and if you have any questions please feel free to ask!

More Kylanism's

I asked Kylan to put his socks away and this is what he did with them, made himself a muscle man!

When Kylan was telling his story about why he wanted to be baptized he said and "Makenzie telled me"...so cute.

We were having beer batter biscuits for dinner and he wouldn't eat them because it's against the law for kids to have beer and I was being a bad mom letting him eat those biscuits.

While we were camping up in Silverton, CO I drank a Mike's Hard Lemonade and Kylan says, "I can't believe you are drinking a drug"  He might be a little confused after Kevin and I have been talking to the kids about just saying NO to drugs.

We were playing a card game and somebody said, "Where have you been?"  Kylan piped up "The meatloaf  factory"....hmmm not sure about that one but it was FUNNY!

Yes, he's still allergic to red dye but he's much better...and here's some proof!