From Arizona with Love - 007 Heath

Finally it's my younger brother, Brant, turn to have a child in the cookie spotlight.  Heath is the second child of Brant and Jana and he is quite the character.

He is full of energy and is always going going going. He loves his big sister Ria and will do whatever she is doing. This kid also has some stubbornness in him, and that most likely comes from my mother's side of the family. When Heath is around me, he will not talk to me. He does not like to be told what to do, and believe me, I have no problem telling my nieces and nephews what to do, or get after them when they are not behaving. So he chooses to ignore those aunts and uncles that tell him what to do.

I have to share this story that his mother told me a few months ago. One day she asked Heath who his favorite Aunt or Uncle was. He thought for a bit and replied "Mikko", Mikko is my husband. Jana, Heath's mother, thought that was a little odd since Mikko and Heath never really interact with each other. She then asked him why Mikko was his favorite and he replied, "Because he never tells me what to do"! So there you have it. If you want to be best buds with Heath you need to not boss him around. Pretty sure that is how most kids feel. :)

Heath likes video games just like most seven year old kids. His favorite game to play is Mario Kart, but his favorite is Yoshi, because he says Yoshi has the coolest car. I was going to do Yoshi's car, but Yoshi was simpler to do.



Heath's parents are major sports fanatics especially football. My brother played in high school and college, and pretty sure he thought Heath would love it as well. Well Heath does love sports, but loves sports that involve round balls. Soccer, basketball and baseball, but NOT football. Poor Brant. :)



The next two pictures show his favorite things right now and that is all things SPY. He wants to be a spy, and wants to work for the FBI when he grows up. So I did some sunglasses, because spies always wear glasses.



I found this cute graphic of a guy spying with some binoculars and thought it would be a perfect fit.
Also threw in a FBI cookie, which is not so great because it is hard to do writing with glaze.



I sure hope that Heath had a very Happy Birthday, and that he enjoyed his cookies!

Don't let Aunt Natalie Babysit! (Dalton)

Dalton is the oldest child of my sister Kristine. Dalton is the most loving happy kid (no, adult) I know. Every time you see him he has a big smile to greet you and always gives you a great big hug!

Look at this kid's great smile. This is proof that he always has a smile on his face even since he was a baby.

I don't I know of any other person that is as loving as Dalton. He always tells his parents and siblings that he loves them. He always lets people know how great they are, and is the kindest person there could be. Even on his wedding day just a couple of months ago we were outside taking pictures and while his wife was getting some shots of her and some others, Dalton came up to me and told me how beautiful I looked that day. I could not believe it. That he would think of complimenting me on his wedding day. When I would think that he would be just wrapped up in getting married. Seriously, he is a great kid, and my sister and brother-in-law are pretty lucky parents!

There are a couple of times when I remember Dalton not smiling and they both involve me teasing the poor kid. In the picture below I thought it would be funny to see how he would react if we taped his arms down. He was only one and a half years old, and I was a stupid 19 year old. I got some masking tape and wrapped it around him a few times. Of course I did not do it really tight, he didn't cry, but was mostly just confused as to why his Aunt Natalie thought it was funny. Don't worry, my mother was in the room at the time and just thought I was as silly as Dalton.

To show his loving smiling nature, I chose to do the classic smiley face.

Dalton is in amazing shape, he did cross country in high school and still enjoys running for exercise.

Dalton wants to be a doctor and has wanted to ever since he was a teenager, and I am really happy that he is pursuing that dream. He is so loving and caring, he will make an awesome doctor, because he loves people and will have awesome bed side manner, something most doctors severely lack. :)

Dalton loves fruit and he loves the TV show Psych. So this cookie represents the two favs. If you have never seen Psych, it is a pretty hilarious show. I highly recommend watching it on Netflix.

I seriously think Dalton is a wonderful man and Amanda, his new bride, is the luckiest wife in the world to have such a loving and kind man for her husband.

fa-nat-ic noun = extreme enthusiam & zeal ....MCKENZIE

McKenzie is the third child of my sister Kanani. I can't believe she is 18 years old. Seems like just yesterday she was just a toddler, look at how stinking cute she is. I love her right dimple, you gotta love it. I also love that I can steal photos of people off their facebook pages. I hope they don't mind. ;)

McKenzie is fanatic about a few things......swimming, soccer, white teeth, country music, Taylor Swift, Ryan Lochte and Hot Rod the movie! (not sure why on that one)  :)

She loves country music and is a big fan of Taylor Swift, she even got to meet her at a concert.

 She is also a BIG fan of Ryan Lochte , but hey what 18 year old girl wouldn't be a fan of this.......

Am I right??

I think she may have a little crush on him. It's OK McKenzie, I have not checked your room, but I would not be surprised if you had a life size poster of him on your wall. I mean I had one of Patrick Swayze when I was in High School, maybe I should not have divulged that information.

I don't have a specific memory to share of McKenzie, but I will share what I love about her. I love that she is so friendly and nice to everyone. I love that when she makes a commitment to something, she keeps it. I love that she claims she does not like any particular boy right now, and is going to win the $500 her Dad promises to give for not kissing until she is 18. (I wonder if she made it) I love her right dimple. I love that she wants me to do her makeup for Prom, and lets me give her eyebrows and put lip gloss on her. And I love her cute little raspy voice. 

She loves country music and loves country style, so I thought I would make her some cowboy boots. I am not sure if she likes this color, I know her favorite color is caribbean blue, but I mixed this color out of an existing blue I had which was too dark, and I couldn't get it to lighten up so she is getting a deep teal instead!


She loves the movie Hot Rod. My sister, her mom, said it was a really stupid movie, but McKenzie likes to quote it all the time. Well I thought I would Netflix and check it out. I made it through about 15 minutes of it, and was not into it. Sorry Kenz, I guess the main character wants to be a stunt man, and when he gets on his bike he pastes on a mustache, so hence she got a couple of mustache cookies.

McKenzie loves Hawaii and loves all things beach, so flip flops are a perfect fit.

She said she loves ice cream, all kinds, so I did a couple of ice cream cone cookies. I don't have a ice cream cone cookie cutter, so I used a circle cutter and party hat cutter to make the shape I needed.



Here is my lame attempt of making Taylor Swift cookies. I think the blonde version looks more like Miley Cyrus than Taylor!



The whole gang!

Watch out his smile is contagious! = Rhen

Rhen rounds out the rest of the Southern Browns, he is the second child of my older brother Robert. I have mentioned Robert a few times this year, he has 7 children. If you want to check out the cookies I did for Rhen's siblings you can see them by just clicking on their name, Terence, Acacia, Angela, Dallin, Joe & Noelle.

 Rhen is very athletic like his older brother Terence and Rhen also has a football scholarship with BYU. This year he suffered some injuries and has to have surgery on his hip, I believe, so he is now done with his college football career. He is OK with it, he is finishing up his degree soon in construction management and he seems excited about starting the next phase of his life.

When I think of Rhen I think of his smile. He has the biggest smile and you can't help smiling back when he smiles at you. I love it. It is weird sometimes to see all my nieces and nephews growing up getting married and making me a Great Aunt. Shame on you all, I am only 40 and a great aunt at least a dozen times! ;-) Being the 8th child out of 9, I was not extremely older than a lot of my n/n's, so I got to do part of my growing up with them. Well at least the first 10-15 of them. So I always remember them as being little. So I remember Rhen as a toe headed little boy with the contagious smile that could be a mischievous little grin at times. Rhen spent his childhood years in Summerville, South Carolina, and so I did not get to spend a lot of time with his family, but while I was going to school and working out there for a year I was able to visit them. I got to go to a baseball game of Rhen's and I remember them coming to visit me at the Spa Resort I worked at in Hilton Head. Rhen along with the other kids had such a great time playing in the pool and the beach.

Check out Rhen's smile. Love it!

Rhen is now married to a lovely girl, Kori, and back at our annual family reunion I asked her what were some favorites of Rhen. She rattled off a big list. When I have asked some of n/n's parents what their favs were they would have some difficulties thinking of things, but not Kori. It was great to get so many ideas. Unfortunately I did not make a cookie for every one.


Since he spent most of his childhood years in SC and loved it, he loves the South Carolina Palmetto tree. It is on the state flag along with a crescent moon on it but I left that out.



He loved baseball and his favorite team is the Atlanta Braves. I am not so good at free handed Logo or font's but I can't justify spending money on a copy cake projector. :)



As I mentioned before he is going to be graduating with a degree in construction management, so he will need to get used to these, or at least seeing them.



Kori, his wife, said he loves to snorkel. I say good for you, you can do my portion of snorkeling as well. I have done it a few times, but it just creeps me out that some ocean creature is going to pop right in front of my face unexpectedly and I will freak out and start to drown!



Well, so he loves "manly facial hair" and I don't know if these are considered to be manly, but I have the cutters and they are fun to do.



And last but not least, the whole gang and yes this pictures and the next 3 posts I will do will look similar because I took them all at night and so the lighting was not so great and I am no professional!

For Bennett

First of September my nephew Bennett was sealed to his parents. My brother and his wife adopted him back in January and the adoption papers were finalized end of July, so they were able to have him sealed to them last weekend. It was an awesome experience. Afterwards they had a little get together at a park and we all had dinner. I of course brought some cookies and a cake even though it was not my assignment. :)

I had left over fondant from doing Dan's cake so why not make a little cake for little Bennett. He is a stinking cute kid just look at him. I stole this picture off my sister in laws blog, I hope she does not get mad.

Well I kind ran out of time to decorate the cookies so I just used the left over butter-cream from Bennett's cake and since my parents were staying with me I had them help me decorate. My Dad was getting all into it. I think we did a good job!

I bought some letters that you can engrave with and wanted to try it out.

Quiet and mellow gets "Fresh"! = Larson

September is another busy month for the n/n's. Have to do six birthdays this month!
Along with the year winding down so are the birthdays. I have done 26 n/n's so far, that means I have 11 more to go, and I have enjoyed everyone so far. Larson finishes up the kids in my older brother McKay's family. If you want to see his siblings post you can find them here, here and here.

Larson is the third child and the only boy. I can only imagine the drama he experiences on a daily basis. :)
Larson is so great to play with my kids, and is kind and very helpful when we have family gatherings. We just got together a couple of weeks ago and family members noticed that Larson is a pretty mellow, quiet kid. Again this is what we see when we are all together it may be a totally different story at home, but again being the only son in the house I am sure he just enjoys watching drama rather than participating in it. :) Alright, I don't want my nieces to be mad at me, so I will admit that I do not know if his three sisters cause drama, but there is always the possibility.

Since Larson is mellow and quiet I do not have many memories that stand out in my mind, but then again I am 40, and don't remember the details from yesterday. But I do remember something that is totally going to embarrass him that happened probably when he was probably about 2 years old. Let me preface this with saying that toddlers do this kind of stuff all the time so it is not odd at all, but what he said with the actions was just funny.
I was at a family reunion in Idaho, and I was staying with some of my siblings and their families in a lodge and one morning I was holding Larson on my lap in a rocking chair. He was facing me and as toddlers do sometimes when sitting on a chesty woman's lap, they see a couple of "pillows" that they like to push. I guess to see how soft they are?? Anyway I started to giggle cause it is just funny when kids do this to you. If you are a woman you understand. I told him to stop it, but did so while I was giggling. What is the child to think? He thinks it is funny so he keeps doing it and I tell him to stop again and he says....."you like it, you like it". Which makes me only laugh more. Every one thought it was funny and so he continued to do it until I just turned him around on my lap so that it would end.
I hope that sharing that memory does not offend anyone and I hope that Larson is not mortified by me telling it. I love Larson and he is a great kid and he did not do anything that he should be embarrassed of. It was funny and that is why I wanted to share it.

Onto Larson favs!
He is really into the Percy Jackson novels so I did a lightning bolt to represent Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief.



And some books again too, as he is an avid reader, his sister told me he loves to read and reads a lot of books. That is awesome, I am hoping that my kids are like that, I am already worried about how much time they can spend on the computer and they are only 3 & 5.



Larson totally enjoys soccer. His dad said he LOVES it. I too wish that this could rub onto my son. He is in this third season of doing soccer right now and just dances around on the grass. :)



I asked his sister what his favorite food was and they said eggs and toast, hands down!
So I thought these cookies turned out really cute. I got these cookies to him the other day and I just talked to his mom and she told me that he has been saying, "hey mom, I want eggs and toast to eat", then he grabs one of these cookies to munch. She said he thinks he is pretty clever. I can't get my kids to eat a fried egg yet, only hard boiled or scrambled, but I am sure they would be begging for fried eggs everyday if they were in cookie form!



Happy Birthday Larson, I wish you many more years of reading amazing adventures!

Sneaking in Lingerie

I have seen lingerie cookies on the internet and of course wanted to try my hand at it. I know I could just make them for the heck of it. But if I made cookies for that reason I would be making them all the time and then my family would be mostly eating then (and getting fat), because what is my neighbor going to think when I randomly show up with lingerie cookies. They would thing I was some kind of nut! :)

So anyway I usually wait for some event to happen with friends or family and then I pull out some sweet confection I have been waiting to do. So when my niece got engaged last month I was so excited because I knew there would be a bridal shower and I would get to do LINGERIE cookies.

The party was last Saturday and my nieces sister in law threw a great bridal shower. It was a "stock the pantry" bridal shower. To help out the couple, we were assigned items to bring that would help stock their food/pantry shelves ie.. I got the Clorox wipes and duct tape assignment along with bringing a favorite recipe to help stock her recipe box. Well since it was not the typical personal bridal shower there would not be any gifts containing small amounts of fabric adorned with lace and ribbon. So perfect chance for me to sneak in Lingerie and I did it in the form of a cookie!!!

The images that I saw on the Internet that inspired me to make these cookies were designs from SweetSugarbelle, Songbird Sweets and Montreal Cookies!




These were some of my favorites, I like the crisscross corset look.







I had a lot of fun doing these and everybody loved them at the shower and it was funny to be eating lingerie!!

Moomin Birthday

I have mentioned before that my husband is a Finn, he was born and raised there and then moved to America with his family when he was 19 years old. It is funny that not until I married a Finn have I ended meeting so many Finnish people. 

I met Niina over a year ago through a Mother's club that we both belonged to. She had arrived a little late at one of the groups activities and our kids were playing on some play equipment. I heard her talking to her little boys in a foreign language that to me sounded Finnish and she looked Finnish with her blonde hair and Nordic features. So I asked if she was from Finland and sure enough she was. I then told her my name and that my husband was from Finland and our little friendship began. It was really cute that day to watch my son and her son communicate with each other in Finnish. My husband tries to speak only in Finnish to the kids and my son who is the oldest understands pretty well although he responds in English, but he knew basic words and was able to play and communicate with Max no problem.

Earlier this year Niina asked me to make some Toy Story cookies for her son Max's birthday. Then for her other son, Dan, she asked me to do a cake and some cookies.

Dan's theme was Moomins. I know most of you have no idea what that is so this is what wikipedia has to say... Moomins are central characters in a series of books and a comic strip by Swedish-Finn illustrator and writer Tove Jansson. Some characters are trolls some are hippo like animals. 

Now for Christmas the first year we were married my husband gave me a book on learning to speak Finnish, on a road trip to visit my parents I was reading the book and trying to speak as it said to in the book, but my husband kept correcting me and my stubborn personalily promptly shut the book and that was that and I never opened it again!! I know that may seem lame but Finnish really is one of the hardest languages to learn and you will see why in this next sentence or two.........

In the cookies below there are four characters from left to right their names are..... Pikku Myy, Niiskuneiti, Muumipeikko, and Nuuskamuikkunen!!

Yep that is right, can you say that?? Well I can't. I thought I would type out phonetically how to pronounce them in english but I did not want to make my brain do any hard work, and now you can see why I shut the book on how to speak Finnish! :

Here is Dan's cake with the Muumipeikko character on top. I googled Moomin cakes and was led to Swedish or Finnish blog by Tartsmulan. She has some great cakes on that site. I hope she does not mind me using her design. 

And one more shot, I love the little tail sticking out on the left side.

I sure hope that Dan had a great time and that he enjoyed his cake and cookies! 

The cake was a chocolate cake with raspberry cream filling, covered in white and dark chocolate ganache then covered in butter-cream marsh mallow fondant.