i love cake

Anyone who has ever tried to get tickets to the highly popular and much anticipated Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert knows how hard it can be to get tickets, and once in hand they are worth more than their weight in gold (well actually more than that as tickets don't really weigh very much!).  Well, I ended up with two extra tickets (don't ask, it's a long story).  So not wanting to see these precious possessions go to waste, I logged onto ksl.com classifieds only to see that about 1 million people had posted "wanted" ads for tickets.  Desperate, desperate people.  Some willing to pay money, others willing to give up first-borns.  I chose the first one I saw, a woman named Lisa, and sent her a message, "Hi, I have some extra tickets if you are interested."  Well, to say the least, she was interested.  She came to my home night before last to pick them up, but she did not arrive empty handed.  No.  This thoughtful and generous and grateful woman had brought us a cake.  But not just any cake.  No.  She brought us a "Nothing Bundt Cakes" cake.  A glorious chocolate, chocolate chip confection adorned with delectable butter cream frosting.  Look at the photo - isn't it beautiful?!  Almost too beautiful to eat.  Almost.  But fortunately we have managed to consume the entire thing (minus one piece saved for Brooke - don't worry Brooke, it's in the fridge with a big 'DO NOT EAT!' note stuck to it).

I love thoughtful people.

I love cake.

matthew's 8th birthday

Today our Matthew turned 8-years-old. What a busy and amazing day it has been! Not only is it his birthday, but he got the rare opportunity to be baptized on his birthday. I must say it was the best baptismal service I've ever been to (and I'm certainly not biased!).

(December 6th is also Dutch Christmas which we celebrate since we are dutch. He woke up to his wooden shoes full of dutch goodies from Sinter Klaas and Black Pete! It was a good start to a great day!)

Raegan brought her harp and played prelude and postlude.  Click to watch and listen!

These adorable boy cousins are all the same age - all born within a year. We were missing one more - Henry who lives in Pennsylvania.

They sang, "When Jesus Christ Was Baptized".

After the baptism we had everyone over to our home for lunch. I stopped counting at 50 people so I know there were at least that many! I was surprised at how unstressful it was (thanks to the good weather and the boys being able to go out back for a game of football!). Here are some of the "girl cousins" (there are 60 cousins just on one side!).

Dinner at Matthew's favorite restaurant where he got to open his presents. Forget Kung Fu Panda wii game or the Indiana Jones Whip complete with DVD and sound effects, his favorite present was his very own set of scriptures. He carried them around with him everywhere the rest of the night!