Strike a pose!

This Sunday we were dressed and ready to go to church...EARLY! I know, I am as shocked as you are..haha. Because we were ready early, we decided to bring out the camera and "strike a pose"! We had fun with the camera!

My gorgeous little ones

Brett with our little ones
Me with our beautiful children
My boys and I
My daughter and I
Brett and I wanted to take a picture of the 2 of us.
Kylie wasn't going to stay out of this one...
Brayden jumped in on the next one

My beautiful Kylie

* Sunday afternoon Sam and Ale came over to hang out!

Sam reading Brayden a book before nap (Ale took this picture)

Ale, Sam, and Kylie wanted to follow suit and suck their thumb like Colton was doing.

Brayden didn't get the memo :) hehe...

Iuliana's baking bits

On Brett's birthday (and the day before) I was quite the baker. Baking is not really my thing but I can do okay. I prefer cooking because I can improvise, throw in whatever sounds good, work with the recipe. With baking I have to follow the recipe otherwise the end result will not be a success.
Anyways... for Brett's birthday I made the Hoben birthday rolls (a.k.a cinnamon rolls), brownies and red velvet cake!! A couple of friends inquired about the brownies recipe and one asked about the cinnamon rolls.
With no further due, here are the recipes for:

* Birthday rolls (cinnamon rolls)-- we make these the night before and store them in the fridge overnight. They are perfect for birthday mornings or if you have friends coming over for coffee in the morning!!

Mix the following ingredients in the bread machine on the dough setting:
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup milk
- 1/3 cup butter
- 4 1/2 cups flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 1/4tsp yeast
Once the dough is ready, let is rise for 30 min- 1hour.
Roll the dough into 12x16 rectangle.

Combine the following ingredients and cream together:
- 1/2 cup butter
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1 Tble. spoon cinnamon

Sprinkle mixture over dough.
Roll up the dough to enclose the filling.
Cut into 8 slices
Place cut side down in a greased baking pan and cover loosely with greased plastic wrap.
Refrigerate overnight or for as little as 2 hours.

In the morning I get them out of the fridge 30 minutes before I bake them.
Bake cinnamon rolls for 15-16 minutes at 375 degrees.

* YUMMMY, quick and easy brownies recipe!

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Quick-and-Easy-Brownies/Detail.aspx

* Red Velvet Cake
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Red-Velvet-Cake/Detail.aspx
I used Cream Cheese Frosting instead of the one that the recipe calls for.

THE END :)

Happy 28th birthday Brett William!!!

*Brett, you are....

the love of my life
...the most amazing daddy!...

...the best pilot I know...(this is from our engagement flight!)

..handsome!...

...the Homecoming king...

...an athlete and an avid sports fan....

...the first grandson...

...your parents' first born...

..the big brother...

...my prince charming!

*We are...so lucky to call you son, grandson, husband, dad, brother, friend!!!!

Happy 28th Bithday Brett William Hoben!!!!!!!!!!!

The Machine Shed

Wednesday is Brett's birthday!!!!!!! *I will have another post just about my hubby's bday, of course!
Grandpa Bill, Grandma Dodie, Bryan and Jill met us at the Machine Shed in Davenport to take Brett out for his birthday!
*History side note: I met Brett's family for the 1st time at this same restaurant 8 years ago almost to the day. They were meeting Brett in Davenport to take him out to eat for his birthday and he told them he will be bringing a girl with him. Jill asked more about me and Brett said "Her name is Iuliana, she goes to Emmaus Bible College and she is from Romania." Jill instructed Dakota not to bombard me with questions and I remember I was so nervous meeting everyone but had a good time.
Well...that was then....alot has chanced since, for the better! But it is still nostalgic for me to go back there and I love the food and the whole feel of the restaurant, it just defines the state of Iowa. If you haven't been, you need to go! :)

Like I said, alot has changed in 8 years.

Kylie's food came in a wagon!

Brayden's food came in a wagon!

Colton's food DID NOT come in a wagon and he was not happy about it!

Kylie put her food on a plate and let Colton have her wagon.

I have the sweetest little girl!!! :)

"Happy Birthday to you!!"

One of the gifts that Gpa Bill and Gma Dodie gave to Brett was a pocket knife that belonged to Great Grandpa Hoben!

Great Grandpa Hoben bought this pocket knife in 1933 at the World's Fair in Chicago!!

So neat!!!

*After we filled up on dinner, we walked outside, where they have a display area with a couple tractors and a few other antique farm equipment.

Colton is wondering what this might be!

Hmmmm...can't quite figure it out....

WElll...I will have to ask Gpa Bill about this one someday....

Grandpa and Grandma with the grandkids

Grandpa Bryan with Colton Bryan

Grandpa Bill with Colton

Brayden LOVED LOVED LOVED the tractors

Kylie enjoyed the tractors too but she also enjoyed some chatting time with Great Grandma Dodie!!!

*I like this place and it's not only because of the yummy food, there's also the history, the good times, the laughs, the chats, the gifts, the bibs that the waitreses wear, the Iowa farm theme, and let us not forget... the store with fun knickknacks that happens to be in the restaurant!

All in all--- we always have a great time at the Machine Shed and I really like this place!

Segways

Spain was the destination for 3 Hobens during the month of March. Dakota went to Spain for one of his school programs. Bryce and Nicole (along with Jeanne's *Nicole's mom *side of the family) went to Spain for Josh and Loretto's wedding.
While they were in Spain, Jim, Jeanne, Michael, Bryce and Nicole, rode Segways and loved them. Upon their return to the US they learned that there are no Segways for rent in the state of Iowa. There's a new business idea waiting to happen!...Well, it actually did happen! Michael purchased 3 Segways and is getting ready to start a "Rent a Segway" business!!!

Kate

Dakota and Bryce

Dakota and Bryan

Brett

Brett, Jill, Dakota

Me! Headed for the ditch....

Yeap, I was too busy antique shopping in Nicole's store during the instructions so I failed to learn that you're not suppose to jerk back and forth because they are super motion sensitive...needless to say, I almost fell and I ended up in the ditch.
Michael and Bryce making sure the segway is okay... don't worry about me guys! haha
Kate had my camera and could have filmed this/it would have been funny to watch/ but she was way too busy laughing to think about filming anything.

Giving it another try!

I got it figured out!!
Segways are fun after all!!