Montana 2009

These are from our trip to Montana a few years ago, just a few months before we got pregnant with Levi. And I'm just now sitting down to edit them today... Can you tell I'm a little behind on my edits? Anyways, these were taken during our long drive home, the first of which was captured right before a beautiful lightning storm hit. I wish I could have set up a tripod and shot out in it, but we were on a schedule and I am just not THAT daring - such a wimp. Lol! 

That trip, by the way, was amazing! It was my first really long road trip, I mean, the first that went further than Mexico. We had such a blast and were so blessed by some friends of the family to be able to stay in their gorgeous house up by Flathead Lake. Oh, and one of my favorite parts of that trip was discovering the Winchester Steak House. By far the best steak I've ever had in my life. EVER. I would almost make the drive just for one of those steaks, it's THAT good. Oh man, now my mouth is watering... But I digress. I hope you enjoy these - I had a ton of fun taking and editing them, and can't wait, Lord willing, to go back again some day. That house is, after all, my favorite place to paint plein air! =)

"The Meeting Place"

Yay! I just finished my sweet baby Owen's little froggy painting, and I couldn't be happier with how it turned out! It's so exciting to be working in series and I seriously can't wait to see where it takes me next!

For this painting in particular I went along with the theme that I started when I made the painting for Levi titled "Do I Dare...?" which was made specially for him to put in his room/nursery (or rather now, their room/nursery), which is themed with something along the lines of woodland creatures. Okay, okay, so it's very much ALL about woodland creatures. Haha, why try to deny it? Silly me. Anyways, I still have one or two (or three) more paintings up my sleeve for this series, but I'm not exactly sure when I'll be able to start on them and I can hardly bear the wait.

I sure hope you like how this turned out little Owie! Mommy loves you, okay?! Someday I hope you'll appreciate this for what it is, a simple expression of love from me to you. But as for now, I just have to figure out some place to hang it where it's not going to get destroyed by you, kiddo! Lol! I love you my son! =)

"The Meeting Place"     16 x 20     Acrylic on Canvas

Detail from "The Meeting Place"

Detail from "The Meeting Place"

Starfish Cake and Henna Cake for the Royal Family Tea

Here are the cakes I did for the auction this weekend. I stayed up all night finishing them and then spent the whole day trekking around the Oakland Zoo with my favorite little guys, and boy am I tired now. I'm thinking I'm going to bed a little early tonight... =)

So I made my first cake with the theme of a starfish on the beach. The starfish and the shells are made of modeling chocolate, the sand is ground up Nilla Wafers, and the water is fondant and buttercream, with a glaze of green and blue food coloring thinned with water and applied like paint. I also used chocolate rocks, because, well, they're just fabulous!

My second cake was both more simple and more complex, if that even makes any sense. It's made with white fondant and a deep purple buttercream, applied in a unique henna pattern that I made up as I went along. I put the frosting in a homemade henna cone in order to get the fine detailing and found that it was WAY easier to use than an icing tip. After all, since that's already how I do actual henna, I figured it was worth a shot. And it worked quite well! So well in fact that I am definitely going to use henna cones for all my cake lettering and detailing.

Well, it was a lot of fun putting these together (that is, aside from the fact that fondant absolutely hates me and refuses to obey any of my commands - silly fondant!) and I am so happy with how they turned out. But now it's time for me to go to bed. Goodnight!

"Hope on the Horizon"

I feel very privileged to be able to show my latest painting to you all. I was recently asked to do a cake for an upcoming dessert auction that will be held in honor of Royal Family Kids Camps, in the hope of raising funds for their annual foster kids camp this year. I've been looking for ways to use my art for God lately, and when I found out they were doing a silent auction as well, I thought that this would be a great way to help. So here's my painting called "Hope on the Horizon," and it's honestly one of my favorites I've ever done.

I had the hardest time deciding what to paint for the auction, but after realizing how symbolic the starfish is for their program, I knew this would be the perfect painting. Tyler helped me with it a lot, seeing as how it's based off of one of the pictures he took in Tahoe on our honeymoon. We spent half our honeymoon in Monterey and the second half in Tahoe, because I simply couldn't make up my mind between the two. And even though that hotel wasn't the greatest, our room opened up to the beach and this was the view we had every night. It was so very beautiful. Good memories!

"Hope on the Horizon"    8 x 10    Acrylic on Canvas

Owen's Birth Announcements

Oops, I totally forgot to post this. Here's little Owie's birth announcements that we ordered from WHCC on their double-sided linen cardstock. They turned out beautifully, if I may say so myself, and I am in awe of how quickly they got them back to us. I mean, when we ordered them a few weeks ago we placed the order right before midnight on that Monday, and they were on our doorstep early that Wednesday morning. I don't even understand how that was physically possible, but hooray!

I did the photography and Tyler and I designed it together, which was a lot of fun. I wish we could have given one to everyone, but alas, we just don't have that sort of dough! lol

So, here's my newest little cutie-patootie. Many, many more pics to follow soon, I'm sure! In fact, I just did a little shoot with him the other day, so I'll try to edit those soon and get them up here. Ahhh, if only there were more hours in the day...

Levi's 2nd Birthday Cake

I made this Thomas the Train Cake for Levi's 2nd Birthday. It was such a blast to make for my little cutie-pie, especially since I haven't had the chance to do anything creative since Owen was born and for some reason cake decorating reminds me of 3D painting. So fun! Although I must say, paintings sure do last longer! Oh, and we bought the train, because frankly I just don't have the time to make a model train from scratch. Lol! I did however make the mountain from cocoa-krispies treats (which are far superior to plain ones, and I may never be able to go back now) and chocolate rocks. The track and trees are modeling chocolate, and the grass and lettering are buttercream. =)

Happy Birthday My Big Little Preemie!

I can't believe Levi is already two years old today - two years old and no longer the little tiny baby he once was! Giving birth to Owen has really opened my eyes to just how difficult it was to have a preemie. I honestly don't think I will ever get over it. Even now, after all this time has passed, every once in a while I still get overcome with emotions over Levi's birth and subsequent stay in the hospital, and I doubt that will ever change. When they left Owen in our room the night he was born, without monitors or nurses coming in to at least check on us, my jaw dropped open, and I asked, "Wait, is this safe? What if he stops breathing?" Well, suffice it to say I had a really hard time sleeping that night. It was so weird. All the differences between the two experiences are astounding.

First off, not only did they leave Owen with me, but I was allowed to hold Owen whenever I wanted, versus having to wait 3 days with Levi, and then only being allowed to hold him once a day for 30 minutes at the most. I remember the first time we went to hold Levi. The nurses told us to be there around 1, which apparently to them meant 12:45. So when Tyler wheeled me in at 1pm, they told me I was too late to hold him because they had to do their shift change and I would have to wait until that night to do it. I just broke down in a wracking sob the moment the words were out of her mouth. She looked so confused and sad for me, and thank the Lord she was compassionate. After Tyler told her I had never held him before, she let me stay anyways and hold him, which was simply amazing. It took so long to get him out of his isolette, because he was on the hardcore breathing machine called a CPAP, and he was so frail it was ridiculous. He was on the CPAP for a week, which was really scary, because that meant he was completely incapable of breathing on his own even with the steroids they gave me to help develop his lungs. I remember it was such a joy when he moved to a regular breathing machine. Anyways, it was two more days before poor Tyler could hold him, because I just had to hold him one more time, and like I said, we could only hold him for about 30 minutes a day before we had to put him back.

Not only could we not hold him, but for the first two weeks while we were in Walnut Creek, only two people at a time could go visit him. That meant either Tyler or I had to wait in the hall while we introduced our family to our new, precious baby. The first couple days this was easier on us, I suppose, because I was still fighting for my life in the hospital bed and really couldn't go see Levi anyways. But after that it got really hard, because as you can imagine, all you want to do is show off your new baby, and we had to choose between who could do it.

Levi's first couple months were so hard, and even though I was aware of it, I didn't realize just how hard until little Owen came into our lives and showed us the difference. Levi would stop breathing when he ate, so I never got to experience a relaxing nursing session because we always had to be on guard, ready to resuscitate him. One time in the NICU Tyler got a horrible experience with that when Levi had an Apnea spell on him, and he didn't know how to react. The alarms started ringing, which is a really horrible sound, and every nurse in there ran over to snatch him out of Tyler's hands and to bring him back to us. That one brought Ty to tears, and I love him for that! But in the end, all of this made nursing in the middle of the night a nightmare, and it took months before Levi got over it. He also used to throw up for hours on end because his tummy wasn't ready for milk yet. We had to take him to physical therapy every month for the first year because he was so stiff. We would get horrible phone calls asking for permission to do surgery on our newborn, because his IV was hurting him and they needed to make a direct line to his heart. And you know what's crazy, even with all this, his story is really nothing compared to, as I call them, the preemie preemies. You know, the really little ones. We were so blessed!

And we still are! I love that little man with all my heart, and I really wouldn't trade any of the days I had with him for anything. Levi, we love you so very much, and are so proud of the little boy you are becoming! You bring us joy and laughter every day. Happy birthday my little man!

Hooked up to his CPAP, feeding tube and monitors. So many wires!

My tiny little guy.

It was so hard doing everything through the doors of an isolette. I sure don't miss that!

And look at him now! Such a cutie-pie!

Him and "Green Train." How he loves his trains!