Klaire Bear

Eight years ago today, the baby of my family was born. I was lucky enough to be at the hospital when Klaire Ann Bitter was born and one of the first people to hold her. I was also able to sleep at the hospital and help out with taking care of her. I remember getting little sleep and answering the nurse's questions about feedings and diaper changes. I basically did everything I could to make sure my mom got as much rest possible. I think the only time I wasn't holding Klaire was when I was taking a nap here & there and when she was eating. I loved having that special time and having her all to myself. Ahhh, the perks that come with being the oldest.

Since she is so much younger than I am and I've lived in a different state for more than half her life, we're not as close as I am with my other sisters. But I still love her and miss her. I think my last trip home was one of the best times I have had with her. We had fun playing games, doing each other's  hair (more like her turning mine into a giant knot), taking selfies and doing other things. I can't wait until she is older so we can do more together and have more in common. Right now she's got some major attitude and she's pretty spoiled (she is the baby after all). I'm excited to see what kind of young women she becomes.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KLAIRE BEAR!

I love you!!

The Big 2-1!

My birthday started at 12:03 A.M. with a happy birthday text from my friend Claudia. I woke up to a phone call from my mom and a couple Facebook birthday messages. Throughout the day I received more messages and texts. At the end of the day I had a total of 51 Facebook birthday messages, 3 texts, and four calls.

To celebrate my birthday, I made Reese's cupcakes and invited people over for 7. Not everyone one showed up at once. It was basically like having three gatherings in one night. I liked it because I actually got to talk to people instead of being surrounded by a huge group of people and not getting to talk to everyone. Everyone loved the cupcakes. As I suspected, despite my mishap earlier this afternoon. My friend Rosi made me strawberry Jell-O shots, sans alcohol, and everyone enjoyed them. It was funny watching everyone get the Jell-O out of the little cups. Some were even drooling. There was some dancing and we played a little Swedish Twister. I was so popular today :) I'm bummed my camera was absent during all the fun. I really suck at remembering to use it.

So, in case you didn't already know, my roommates are awesome! Rylee and Christina got me cute cupcake liners. They know me so well.

Arianna got me a cream filled donut! FINALLY! I can die happy and content now that this dream has been fulfilled. Five years or so ago, I discovered that I share my birthday with National Cream Filled Donut Day. Every year it would be my wish to accomplish eating a cream filled donut on such an important day. And every year I would fail. You would think it wouldn't be that hard, but for me it was. I came close my Freshman year at BYU. My friends came back with a Krispy Kreme box and I got really excited. I opened the box only to be disappointed at the sight of original glazed donuts. What a let down.

It even had a cherry on top :)

Now I can say I've done it and I can finally stop obsessing over such trivial thing. I don't even really like cream filled donuts, but I had to do it just for the sake of being able to say I did.

THE BIG MOMENT...Only 5 years in the making.

The Proof. I got laughed at for this one.

I received a package from Howard and Lori. It was a card and and amazing candle. Here's what it's supposed to do.

Here's what happened. I'm making it sound like something bad happened, but it didn't. We just didn't light it right. And yes, that is my precious donut beneath the giant candle. 

I didn't want to light it myself because I was kind of scared so Christina did it, plus she's an EMT. Well, she didn't really do it right or the candle had some issues and part of the flower started melting because the big flame sat there for so long. It was still entertaining though.

I had a wonderful 21st birthday. My new mantra is "I'm legal, single and ready to mingle!" Whatya think? 

Only On My Birthday

Only on my birthday would I mess up on my own cupcakes. Maybe its a sign from the universe telling me I shouldn't be making my own cupcakes (though my friends say no one could make them better...but not today apparently) or it could be a sign about how my year as a 21 year old is going to go. That wouldn't surprise me considering how the last few years have gone.

Okay, so they're not as bad as I'm making them sound. It's not like they taste awful or I burnt them. I just mixed them for too long. The key to any batter is to mix for two minutes. Well, I turned on my mixer and started doing something else. I let them mix for too long and let too much air get incorporated into the batter. Now they are all cracked on top and don't look like my cupcakes usually do. They are not up to Wendi standards and I'm sad, but there's nothing I can do about it. People will still eat them because looks don't matter when it come to desserts, taste does. And my cupcakes always taste good.

Happy Birthday Sunhee

So I decided to be a little ambitious today and make a video for my sister's birthday. I've never made a video and edited it before. It took a lot longer than I thought it would. Part of it was my fault for redoing the video like 30 times before I was happy with it (sometimes I blinked too much, the cards were turned sideways from a previous take, my smile looked fake, etc.). I admire people who make videos and are good at it. It was hard to get the music lined up just right and to end up with a finished product I was proud of (though the video quality is a tad poor). I hope you like it Sunhee because I worked hard on it just for you and I hope you had a fabulous day!

Rylee Roo!

Happy birthday to my dear Ohioan friend and roommate, Rylee Vaterlaus! You are no longer the only teenager in the apartment. Congratulations! I'm glad you loved your purplicious cupcakes and I hope your wish comes true. Just think, next year will be even better since DANIEL will be able to celebrate with you! Who knows, your gift from him could be ring of some sort. Hahaha. JK. But really, you never know. Sorry...you know how much Arianna and I love to tease you about Daniel. It's because we love ya :) Anyway, I'm glad you had a fantastic birthday and that I was able to celebrate with you.

Purple frosting that looks gray in pictures

Rylee is really a fire breathing dragon in disguise.

Arianna bought this sweet hat that she found on the ground
at Walmart because it reminded her of Rylee.

One Day...

I will see the East Coast and beyond. It's always been a dream of mine to travel. I've never left the country and Utah is as far East as I've gone. I'm quite the excursionist, huh?

Places I want to visit:

• Italy 
• Hawaii
• New York
• Australia
• Paris
• London
• South Korea or Japan (once it recovers from the recent devastation, which shouldn't be a problem since it will probably be forever until I finally get to travel)
• Spain
• Greece

I think that's it on my list. For now. Speaking of different countries, here are my latest blog stats in case you are interested.

Total views: 614...an increase of 79
New Countries:
China: 17
Poland: 13
Russia: 5
Australia: 1
Morocco: 3
Belarus: 3...I had to Google it because I've never heard of it
India: 5

And Happy Birthday Klaire Bear! I can't believe she's four already. The time really does fly by. I just did some reminiscing on Facebook because I have pictures of her when she was three months old.

She's just gotten cuter and cuter! I've been blessed to to have such beautiful sisters :)

Howdy Partner!

(This was taken after three hours of dancing. Don't we look cute? Arianna is the only one that's not wearing plaid and I'm the only one without a giant belt buckle.)

Last night me, Rylee and Arianna went country swing dancing. We were invited earlier in the week by our neighbor, David. I was hesitant, but I'm glad I went. When we first got there, the optional dance instruction was almost over. I thought I wasn't going to have fun because I had no idea what to do since we missed it. Plus, we came with only one guy and all the guys that weren't already paired up with a girl didn't look to excited to ask anyone to dance. However, once the dancing really started it was a lot of fun. David took a turn with each of us to help us get the basics down. He really knew what he was doing and having a good partner makes all the difference in dancing, especially if you don't know what you're doing. As long as they do, you'll look good because you just follow their lead. It took me a while to get used to the dips, lifts and jumps. It took a few songs before I was really comfortable and could trust that the guys wouldn't let me fall. I kept thinking, "Guys, I may look small, but I'm not as light as you may think I am." But they had no problems. At one point, David tried to get me to do a back flip, but I said NO WAY! I trusted him, but not that much. Plus it was my first time dancing so I didn't feel comfortable. Maybe if the ground had padding. The hardest part for me was the line dancing. They were more complicated than ones I have done in the past. There wasn't one that I was able to completely grasp. It was a fun night and we're planning on doing it again a little later in the semester because we don't want to spend a lot of money. The next time we go we're going to invite more guys (like from our FHE family) so we each have a partner. I danced a total of 12 songs with 8 different guys. It was a great way to spend my Saturday night.

If you would have asked me a few years ago to go country swing dancing I would have said no. I used to hate country, but I never really gave it a chance. Angie's favorite country man Keith Urban said, "I'm grateful when anybody can start to have his or her limited perception of the genre open up a little bit, ... There's a lot of great music in the country genre that doesn't get heard because people say, 'Well, I don't like country.' " That used to be me. I'm glad I gave country a chance, which allowed me to be willing to go dancing and make great memories.

Tonight Arianna and Rylee made salt clay sculptures. I didn't want to, but I joined them in making mustaches. Behold the beauty:

Yesterday was Alina's 13th birthday. Holy Cow! I can't believe how grown up she is. Where has the time gone?

Alina, I just want you to know how grateful I am that you are part of my family. I feel so blessed to be your big sister. When you were younger, you wanted to be just like me and do everything I was doing. You looked up to me so much it drove me crazy (now I'm flattered). Well chica, it goes both ways. You may be younger, but I look up to you too. What's not to love about you? You are AMAZING and I LOVE YOU! Enjoy your teenage years...they're gone before you know it.

A Taste Of Heaven

The picture is more or less what my cupcakes looked like.

Today was the day I made my pineapple cupcakes with a pomegranate cream cheese frosting and took them to church for "break the fast". They were a huge hit. Everyone kept saying they were heaven in cupcake form and that I should have my own bakery. They thought pineapple and pomegranate was a good combination. I was like a proud mama, except I'm not a mom and they were cupcakes instead of children.

My friend Sara said that the pineapple tasted like bubblegum. When she said it I started to taste it. It did taste like pineapple, but it also kind of tasted like bubblegum. She started planting that seed into the mind of others and then they all thought they tasted likebubblegum cupcakes instead of pineapple. If Sara hadn't started it, no one would have thought it. She still thought they were really good, just not pineapple. It made me kind of sad to hear her say they didn't really taste like what they were supposed to.

Well, no matter what flavor people thought they were, they were still amazingly delicious.

Oh, and today is Sara's 19th birthday. So, happy birthday Sara!

She's the giant in the middle :)

Party Time!

This weekend was all about partying for the family. Tanya hosted a surprise graduation party for her friend Cyndi's daughter, Erica, on Saturday. She graduated from OSU (Go Beavers!). It was a fancy dinner with eight , yes eight, [mini] courses. There were 12 people all together consisting of Erica's friends and family. The chef from Novak's (THE best restaurant in Albany) came to our house to prepare the food! Yeah, my family has some SERIOUS connections. I wish I had been invited. I heard about all the different courses that were served and they sounded DIVINE! There was even a special ice cream in between courses to cleanse their palate. How classy is that? I tried some that was left over and it had a teeny bit of habanero pepper in it. It was interesting ice cream with a little bit of a kick to it.

Since it was a fancy dinner, the table was set very elegantly and there were place cards. I helped to make them. They were so cute and creative and they looked really nice on the table. They were made from old wine corks, which Novak's was able to supply. Tanya cut the corks and wrote the names (she has nice penmanship); I made the name cards using one of the best inventions ever made...The Cricut. It's an amazing little machine that cuts paper for you. It's very efficient for making cards and scrapbooking.

Here is the finished product, which looks pretty FAN-FREAKIN'-TASTIC if I do say so myself.

The other party this weekend was a combined birthday party for Sunhee and Meeja.

It took place at Frogs and pollywogs, a toy store downtown. When I heard where the party was, I was skeptical and didn't think I would have any fun at the party. I was wrong. For starters, one of my friends works there and she ran the party. I didn't know so I was surprised when I walked in the door. I ran upstairs and gave her a HUGE hug. I haven't seen her since we graduated last year! The activities and games were fun for all ages. The first thing we did was make our own crown because the party had a princess theme. Everyone participated, including Nana.

Princesses (and 2 Princes) On Parade

We also did a birthday parade where we walked up and down the street (Only once thank goodness!) dressed in costumes and making noise with bells. Some embraced this activity more than others, as you can see by the way everyone is dressed.


Dominique, Zamari and Alina were able to come to the party because I spent the night at their house the night before and then brought them with me. It was a great weekend full of lots of fun, laughs and excitement.

You Are My Sunshine

Yesterday was Sunhee's 9th birthday. She got exactly what she wanted, a pink iPOD. I love my little sister to DEATH! She is so smart, cute and happy all the time. One of my favorite things about her is that she gets into these really random and long lasting giggle fits, pretty similar to the ones my family refers to as "Wendi Moments" (I think uncle Bilbee coined that term). Half of the time I don't even know what she's laughing at or I know what she's laughing at and I don't see how it's funny. I think that's how my family feels when I have one of my moments.

I am so blessed to have Sunhee as my sister. She definitely brightens up my life and brings a little sunshine to rainy days in Oregon, like today.

Happy Birthday Mimi!!

So yesterday was my great grandma Mimi's 89th birthday. I decided that I really wanted to make these cute cupcakes that I found online. You use cut marshmallows and gumdrops to make a flower. I made them while she and my grandma (Nana) were out shopping so she had no idea that I was making them. She was so surprised when she walked into the kitchen to put groceries away. They turned out really well. I was so proud of myself. I'm making them again on so she can take them to her birthday celebration on Monday at the office, where four of my family members work (and where I used to work).

Here they are...

Sadly, I wasn't able to be there for her birthday dinner and to see her eat one because I was helping Nana watch Sunhee, Tye, Will and Meeja while Angie & Ron were in NYC for the week. I had her blow out a candle on one before I left. I took each of the kids a cupcake as a surprise. We celebrated Mimi's birthday on our own. We sang happy birthday to her and I recorded it on my Flip video camcorder (thanks uncle Nate). Here's a video of us singing.

"Great grandmothers and roses are much the same. Each are god's masterpieces with a different name." ~Author unknown

Well, mine is named Mimi and I'm so blessed to have her in my life. She is one of the funniest people I know (without even trying) and has the heart of a gentle giant. I love you Mimi!!

Hair on the Floor and Birthdays Galore

So last night I decided it was time for a little change and I got my hair cut. I usually get a haircut around spring (it doesn't really feel like spring in UT) so I guess it wasn't really that spontaneous. Even though my hair wasn't that long because I got it cut about six months ago, it was still a little difficult to watch my hair fall to floor. It's about the same length I always get it cut, but there are more layers and they are a little shorter than I usual (they hit my chin). This picture doesn't really do my new hair cut justice.


APRIL 6th is a popular day for BIRTHDAYS.

FIRST off, today is the Savior's birthday.


This is one of my favorite images of him and was also the cover of my baptism program. Next week is the four year anniversary of my baptism. I can't believe it's only been four years. It feels like it should be longer. So much has changed over the past few years.

SECOND, happy 18th birthday to my gorgeous and talented cousin Kameesha.


I can't believe you're 18 and technically an adult. You are so awesome and I can't wait to see what you do in the future with the AMAZING talent you have. I'm lucky to have a wonderful cousin like you.

THIRD, happy birthday to my BEAUTIFUL roomie ANNIKA!!


I'm so lucky that I got such a fantastic and talented roommate. You are so good at golf you could be the female version of Tiger Woods (minus all the bad stuff, I'm strictly speaking golf). Thanks for making my freshman year so much fun and very eventful. Love ya!



For Annika's birthday dinner Annika, Haley, Ariel and I went to one of her favorite places as well as mine, OLIVE GARDEN!!! It was so delicious. I love love love their bread sticks. I think they're the best I've ever had. While Annika was away from the table we told our waiter that it was Annika's birthday and asked if they could sing to her. Annika's birthday dinner at Olive Garden couldn't have come at a better time. Our waiter told us that in two days they will no longer be singing a birthday song to restaurant patrons due to complaints from other customers. LAME! Olive Garden's famous slogan is "When you're here you're family" and I thought you sing happy birthday to your family. Some family. I guess they don't love us as much as they make us think they do. Anyway, they sang and Annika turned BRIGHT RED. It was pretty funny. Today was a pretty good day.





Happy birthday to anyone else that was lucky enough to be born on April sixth and share their birthday with the savior.