Wednesday, March 2, 2011

CJ's 16th Birthday

We celebrated CJ's 16th birthday this past week.  It was pretty much a "week long" celebration!  We started on Tuesday night by going to trafalga lehi as a family.  The big boys managed to get in three rounds of laser tag while the girls spent extra time on the rock wall.  They are getting pretty good!

Kiersten about half way up!

Madilynn - she made it to the top for the first time tonight.

Alexis

Madi

Kiersten - checking in with the ground crew about where to go next.

Alexis - holding on for dear life as she lets go.

Madi - on the way back down.
On Wednesday night (his actual birthday) we had a crazy day.  I ended up staying at work longer than expected, we had scouts, activity days and CJ decided he really wanted to go YM's.  We had a special dinner and that was about it.  

THE CAKE
It was Wednesday night that I started working on his cake.  I sketched out several options and finally decided to make a tiered cake that resembled a stage and then put a topper on it.  I got up enough energy and courage to attempt modeling chocolate.   All together I purchased 26 lbs of chocolate.  I forgot to take a picture of CJ with the milk chocolate bar before I had him break it up for me. 

Chopping and measuring at the KEY to making it work!


One set of Eggs!


YUM!  10 lbs of the finest white chocolate!

The finished cake topper.  CJ and his Cello. 
 I finished the basics of CJ and his cello before Thursday morning.  It took me almost 7 hours to figure out how to get the body proportions correct.  The most devastating part was how good he tasted.  I've never been so calm before about my mistakes.  If the elbow didn't look right, I just ate it and started over.  Same with the legs, fingers, head etc.  I'm sure I ate over 1 lb of chocolate on Wednesday night.  No wonder I was so happy!  The smell in the kitchen from melting and sculpting chocolate was enough to make anyone gain a few pounds.

Saturday was a special day, it's the day we got ready for Sunday.  The house was cleaned and things put away.  I finished his cake in the wee hours of the morning.  The chocolate ganache was melting faster than I could decorate so the borders were "droopy".  I ended up finishing it sitting in the fridge with the door open.  (Just one more reason to have two refrigerators).   It was four layers of white cake.  Two were filled with milk chocolate ganache and two with while chocolate ganache.  I wrapped each layer in milk chocolate ribbons and topped them with a white chocolate sheet (to resemble a stage).  I made white chocolate curls and used milk chocolate ganache to fill in the edges.  This cake was a chocolate lovers dream.

Mike was able to pick up Grandma Jo and they joined us for dinner before the rest of the clan arrived.   Grandma and Grandpa Johnson were on their way back from Washington and made it just in time.  I love these pictures of dinner where Grandma Jo is checking out the Cake topper.  She was just darling!  She was in good spirits and very coherent. 





















We had quite the gathering Sunday evening.  Rob Duncan from our Bishopric gave a wonderful message to CJ just before the ordination.  He is an amazing guy and we are so lucky to have him as one of our neighbors.  After the ordination he have Dave, myself and CJ the chance to share a few words and our testimony with our family. 

















The cake was presented officially.  We opted not to put any candles in it!  That could have been a crime.









Later in the evening we took some pictures with Grandma Jo.  She wouldn't smile so Mom (Barb) got out the swiffer duster and a stuffed animal and started making faces and noises at her like the photographers do.  She perked right up and we got the best smiles ever!  CJ had a hard time keeping a straight face.







We spent the evening visiting with family.  The kids always have a fun time together.  I'm not sure how, but eventually the little girls always end up with the camera.  We have more pictures of Sugar (most of them of her butt or just a golden blurr) than I can count.  There was a really cute on they took in this set!  I guess if you take enough, one will turn out, right? 

 I love the silly pictures the girls take of each other when there are no adults around to tell them otherwise.








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