Did someone say cake?

I haven't made a cake in awhile so I decided to go ahead and make one, lick the batter bowl and then give the cake to my co-workers. They seemed to enjoy it. Anyway it's a devil's food cake with a vanilla cream cheese pudding filling and blue/white butter cream frosting. It's funny how much more enjoyable it was making a cake for fun rather than class!

One year???

On this day last year David and I were getting ready for our graduation ceremonies. Yes I am aware that I was one of the lame people that walked before they graduated but who cares I graduated right? Plus I would be totally lame if I flew from Milwaukee in December to attend a graduation in Provo...as if BYU needs me to spend any more money on them! It's just such a bitter-sweet feeling being done. I actually really miss it, well I miss the learning aspect...I don't miss student teaching AT ALL. Some of my favorite things about BYU/Provo....

*the Richards Building, I know that sounds silly but whenever I would have a stressful day (like after Russian class) I would go sit in the RB and life would be good again.
*the Smith Field House--see above
*BYU Football games/Basketball games...sure at the time I just talked with friends or watched the cheerleaders but looking back I'm really glad I went to the games
*walking around campus and feeling so blessed to live in a beautiful world
*my aerobics teacher Kimberly
*the chocolate milk from the vending machine
*attending plays, concerts etc either for a class or to see friends or family
*having my sister-in-law do my makeup for her classes
*Dr. Lindsay's class
*going to work with David at BYU-radio
*looking on the student teaching wall and anticipating the day when I would be done with school!

Some memories that I would be ok without
*Walking the long stretch to the bookstore to realize it was closed for devotional and everyone looking at my like I was a sinner for not going to devotional.
*The whole messy process of figuring out if I could student teach in WI. Wowzers that was a nightmare!
*Waiting in the Tanner building for David to get out of class, and I was the ONLY person not in a dress or suit...to top it off I usually wore sweaty gym clothes.
*Russian homework....EVERYDAY!

It's just funny yet sad how fast time goes. My whole BYU experience I just felt like "I want to graduate" and now that I'm done I really miss all the fun times and wish I would have relaxed and made the most of it. Oh well there's always a Masters right? Wrong!

It always works out

This past week I spent visiting my family in Phx and Vegas. I have always been one to make plans, especially when on vacation. I called my sister in advance to see what was on the agenda of where we were going to eat, shop etc. so I could plan out my outfits, how much money to bring and what not. Anyway I had imagined this wonderful trip of getting a beautiful tan, having the ever so popular missionary experience on the airplane, watching dvds on the ride to Vegas, getting a perfect score on bowling, walking up and down the strip, winning the jackpot at the penny slots etc.

Well as it usually does nothing went as planned. Both AZ and Vegas were windy, I slept pretty much the whole car ride, my bowling score--well lets just say I wish we would have put up the bumpers, the strip was too busy to walk down and I walked away from my penny slot (at 1:00 in the morning) empty handed. With all that being said I HAD THE BEST TIME! This trip made me realize that it doesn't matter what we do just as long as we are with the people that we love. Seeing my mom and sisters got me so excited for motherhood. I just felt so blessed to be able to spend time with them just relaxing and having fun. Sometimes I just have to remind myself that everything will work out...usually better than I planned!

Great day

Why is it a great day you ask? Well let me tell ya.

*I ran 7 miles
*my car seat was warm when I got in today!
*it was in the 60's...woot woot!
*I cleaned my house
*The Biggest Loser is on tonight....gggoooo Mark!
*in less than 24 hours I will be soakin' up the sun on AZ!!!
*I painted my toenails....nothing says summer like a fresh coat of paint
*I bought a book for the plane ride
*I bought a cute purse for only $6. Steal.

Life is good.

Growing!

So our baby is now 4 inches long and can make faces!!!! Well that is what my weekly newsletter said anyway so I'm just going to trust it and be excited!

Sweet Sounds

We just got back from listening to the heartbeat!!! It took him forever to find it, but eventually we heard this quiet little thump, thump, thump, thump. It was exciting, however it still hasn't REALLY set in that we're expecting. I thought for sure this would help, and it did a little, but I think once I start buying real maternity clothes and when we find out the sex of the baby it will really hit me. It's such a fun time for us right now though! The heartbeat was at 150 which made me feel good because I was a little worried that it would be too high. Anyway that's whats new in the Luke household!

Feasting all during the word

Well we pretty much just pigged out all this weekend...and sometimes that's ok:) Saturday morning they had a breakfast at the church before conference and then we had a picnic in between sessions. You know it's 60 degrees out so we all had to work on the tan! I did make it to the gym during the priesthood session thank goodness because Sunday we stayed home and watched conference with our neighbors who so thoughtfully brought chocolate candy and yummy caramel corn. Then off to their place between sessions for a fab homemade meal, polished off with some cake and strawberries...and oreos! Hey I cut up some carrots and celery so kudos to me for trying! Anyway it was a fun weekend with friends, uplifting talks and the SUN!!! Oh how I love the warmth on my face. Rumor has it it's not supposed to last long. Bummer....oh well I'll be living it up in Phoenix in a week! P.S. is it strange that I overheard some kids suggesting that they take a dip in the river??? I know it's in the 60's but lets be honest.

When bad things happen to good priced cake mix

Tuesday was my last cake decorating class so I decided to make a yellow cake (so that I wouldn't eat so much) with Twinkie filling. WRONG! The cake was a bust so I tried making a strawberry cake....can't go wrong with that right? WRONG! Frustrated I decided to go for the never fail chocolate. It turned out fine but I had to make an EXTRA batch of white frosting (we had to have white for class) in order to cover up any chocolate crumbs. Anyway here is the chocolate cake with chocolate cream cheese filling.
The 2 coats of frosting...I know it's not very smooth but I was tuckered out at this point.
During class we learned how to make roses hence the wedding-style decor.

Anyway I had David take the cake to work (by this point I didn't even want to hear the word cake) I guess they ate it...or threw it in the trash...either way the cake stand was empty when David returned home!