8 years ago....(from yesterday)

THEN

AND NOW
1. What is your husbands name?
Craig Adam Starkey (aka: puddin’ head, bagel, egg, cr-egg, waggers, craiggle).


2. How long have you been married?
8 years yesterday

3. How long did you date?
We met January ’99, we started dating in April of ’99, we got engaged New year’s eve of ’99 and got married April 29th 2000.

4. How old is he?
30 years old! My sugar daddy!

5. Who eats more sweets?
He used to, but now it just depends.

6. Who said I love you first?
He did. I knew I loved him, but I didn’t know I was IN love with him until I was in Mexico and I still really, really missed him.

7. Who is taller?
I’m not quite sure.

8. Who can sing better?
Craig. He so melodious (not malodorous).

9. Who is smarter?
Craig, he knows everything.

10. Who does the laundry?
Usually I do, but he helps when I get behind.

11. Who pays the bills?
Depends on the bill. Most of them get paid online but I mail off a couple.

12. Who sleeps on the right side?
Usually Craig. I sleep closest to the bathroom and he sleeps on the side with the night stand and alarm clock.

13. Who mows the lawn?
Depends on the week. So far we’re even here.

14. Who cooks dinner?
I do, unless we go out, and then Craig “makes” dinner!

15. Who drives?
Craig does if we’re together.

16. Who kissed who first?
I guess Craig kissed me first. Well, technically he said “ have you ever kissed anybody with an ice cube in your mouth?” and I said “no” and he said something like “ I bet you won’t try it”. Anyhow, he seemed so straight-laced and super nice guy that I figured he’d never kiss me, but he did. And it was an awesome kiss! I was hooked!

17. Who asked who out first?
Craig asked me to a hockey game, but I couldn't go, then he asked me to a piano recital. We went to the recital but then when we came back to his place we watched all 3 Poltergeist movies. I’d never seen them before, he had them memorized! It was the beginning of a beautiful relationship!

18. Who proposed?
Craig did, FINALLY! When I came out to visit him and his family at Christmas time. My dad and Derek told me he wasn’t going to.

19. Who has more siblings?
Craig does; 3 brothers

20. Who wears the pants?
We trade them (they must be like the jeans from the traveling pants books and be magic to fit us both). We usually make mutual decisions.

Katie did it!

After lots of practice and crying and being frustrated Katie has FINALLY learned how to do the monkey bars by herself! Hurray!!!

Smooth operator

He's always gotta be just like his daddy! (okay, except for the sucking thumb and carseat thing and the ah-ah).

The School Carnival

Friday night was the school carnival. It was really pretty amazing. Quite the production. Rides and blow-up things. A dunk tank, and cake walk. We had a good time. I made these S'mores cupcakes and a S'mores cake for the cakewalk and volunteered at the Bake sale. There were Fireworks at the end of the night and they were pretty impressive. A good 20 minutes. We saw much of our ward there and it was really fun.

Here's the recipe for the S'mores cupcakes. For the cake I just made 12 cupcakes then made up another batch of the graham mixture and pressed it into the bottom of an 8" springform pan and then lined that with the chopped chocolate and poured the remaining cake batter in. It baked for about an hour. Instead of the suggested Mashmallow frosting I just dribbled mashmallow creme over the cupcakes and cake. I tried to toast it, but it didn't work. They're great anyhow! I love the graham and chocolate on the bottom.

Ingredients

Makes 2 dozen

* 2 1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar
* 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon cocoa powder (not Dutch-processed)
* 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 2 large eggs
* 1 cup whole milk
* 1/2 cup vegetable oil
* 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
* 1 cup boiling water
* 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (from about 20 squares)
* 1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
* 9 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
* Marshmallow Frosting

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 standard muffin tins with cupcake liners; set aside.
2. Sift 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together into the bowl of an electric mixer. Using the paddle attachment, mix ingredients together on low speed.
3. In a large bowl, mix together eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla. Add to flour mixture and beat on medium speed for 30 seconds. Scrape down sides of bowl and continue mixing on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add boiling water and stir to combine; set cake batter aside.
4. Place graham cracker crumbs, remaining 1/4 cup sugar, and melted butter in a large bowl; stir until well combined.
5. Place 1 tablespoon graham cracker mixture into the bottom of each prepared muffin cup. Use the bottom of a small glass to pack crumbs into the bottom of each cupcake liner. Reserve remaining graham cracker mixture for topping.
6. Place 2 teaspoons chocolate in each muffin cup. Transfer muffin tins to oven and bake until the edges of the graham cracker mixture is golden, about 5 minutes. Remove from oven and fill each muffin cup three-quarters full with cake batter. Sprinkle each with remaining chocolate and graham cracker mixture. Return to oven and bake, rotating pans halfway through baking, until tops are firm and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer muffin tins to a wire rack and let cupcakes cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan and let cool completely.
7. Transfer frosting to a large pastry bag fitted with a large plain round or French tip (such as Ateco #867 or Ateco #809). Pipe frosting in a spiral motion on each cupcake. Transfer cupcakes to a baking sheet. Using a kitchen torch, lightly brown the frosting, taking care not to burn the cupcake liners. Serve immediately or store in an airtight container, up to 2 days.

The Greenville Drive

Thursday night we went to a baseball game in downtown Greenville. The team is minor league, I think, and they're called the "Greenville Drive". I don't know why. It was fun though. The weather has been getting to 70's and sometimes up to 80 during the afternoons. Taylor was soooo excited to go to the game and talked about it non-stop. I think he was a little disappointed that he didn't get to play in it though. Katie didn't want to go until we told her there was a playground there. She mostly liked rolling down the hill. I'm sure we'll take in another game before the season's over. I guess on Friday nights they even have fireworks. I LOVE GREENVILLE!

Captain Underroos!

HURRAY FOR TAYLOR (and me)!!! After weeks of not going on the toilet AT ALL, something clicked and we've only had one accident in 3 days. It's all underwear all the time for Taylor now! WHA-HOOOOOO-EY!!!

Odds and Ends

Here are some blog worthy pix from this weekend! A saddle for a horse named after Logan, our room service breakfast at the Inn (plenty for 2) and the interior of this art deco style building that they turned into a shopping center in Asheville. Good stuff!

YEEE HAWWW!!!!

Here are our pix from horseback riding in the back hills of NC. The owner of the trail riding place we went had had that land in his family for 5 generations! whoa NELLY! The first pic is actually our lunch before we went riding. We went to A&W! great brew!I look a little manic though! Our guides' name is Norman and he's been leading trail rides all his life. He grew up on a little farm that you can see from the trail. Funny guy! We may go back with the kiddos for a 3 hour ride to a gemstone cave!

Happy happy happy happy happy Anniversary!

We swapped kids overnight with some friends of ours and had a night away last Friday as an early 8th wedding anniversary celebration. It was so fun, we spent the night up in Asheville NC at the Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa. The restaurant was fantastic and what a view, huh? The inn is so cool and lodgy feeling and built in 1913. The next day we went horseback riding! So fun!

Katie in action

Katie performed this for me this morning before we left for school and I thought it was worth documenting! Maybe she'll follow in my cheering footsteps. Hopefully, it'll be just as much a of a priority for her as it was for me!

Reliving the glory days

Craiggle got me this full-size keyboard for Christmas and I'm happy to report that I've enrolled in piano lessons again. It's been a long time coming, but I'm really enjoying it. A lady in our ward teaches(no surprises there)and it's fun to be back at it. It did occur to me the other day while practicing a piece I'd played back in high school, that I'm at home reading books, doing chores, and practicing piano so not much had changed in the past 10-15 years. Then I remembered that since I'm the mom and in charge of all the other stuff too, maybe it was different after all. Sometimes I wonder though, if I haven't just started Kindergarten all over again (it sure feels that way).

More on the door and the new desk from Craig's list

Mom asked if we were going to put the kickplate on so I took this pic of the door to show that all the hardware is already on. You can probably spot the scratches by the door knob that I will need to touch up, but I'm pretty happy with it overall. I really want to know what you think!!
Also here is a pic of the desk we bought off Craig's List. I love it. It couldn't match better with the bookshelves from Sam's club!! It's all wired for a computer too so it has the power strip and the bottom right side opens for the tower. The left side has a file drawer and envelope drawers. Also the top part is a keyboard tray! It's perfect and I hope it is with us for generations to come!

More paint

So we are lucky enough to get conference on our computer in what was once our dining room, but now we use it as a library (we only have one table and that's in the kitchen). Anyhow, I spent Saturday painting our front door while listening to conference. Here's a pic. What do you think? Survey says....??? I like it. I have some places to touch up since we put the door knob on after the priesthood session and it still hadn't dried all the way and it got scratched. I wonder how long until we get a note from the HOA requesting we paint our shutters to match. We shall see!