Amber | Life Elevated Mom

What not to say to your Canadian mother-in-law

October 7, 2012 by Amber

Me: “Jamie, I’m talking to my mom about Thanksgiving today. Don’t you have something you want to say to her?”

Jamie: “You’re a month early.”

The Big Explosion and the Pumpkin Cake That Wasn’t

October 4, 2012 by Amber

Food is a big part of our party, specifically pumpkin food. This year, I had Jamie include the link to my Pinterest board I dedicated unto pumpkin recipes in our invitation. The ideas were limitless: pumpkin spice cannoli, pumpkin caramel blondies, pumpkin brownies, buckle and pumpkin Oreo cheesecake.

And not one person used any of those recipes (sob).

However, I did. I’ve always loved better than s&x cake and was delighted to find a pumpkin version. I quickly scanned the recipe noting the ingredients and went shopping. I was super busy the evening before the party so figured I’d make the yellow cake and then finish all the toppings in the morning.

But my biggest mistake? In my haste, I didn’t reread the recipe.

The next morning, I woke up with the sinking feeling I’d messed up and I was correct. I had assumed the pumpkin was included in the topping when it was actually a part of the cake. If it was any other party, I would have just adapted and made a Tres Leche cake (my FAVORITE) but it was a pumpkin party and I needed a pumpkin cake!

And so I started again from scratch (sob).

In the end, I’m glad I did because it was delish.

But lest you think that’s all that went wrong, think again. Mere 10 minutes before our guests started arriving, I made three different lemonades. My neighbor Jenn had generously loaned me three cute pitchers and I’d snagged another neighbor Meredith’s darling homemade lemonade stand.

All the makings for a banner beverage corner? Think again.

I was mixing the pink lemonade with a wooden spoon when out of NO WHERE, there was an explosion…and then gushing lemonade EVERYWHERE. It took me about 10 seconds to register what happened. I’m not sure the physics on the situation but as the spoon brushed the side of the glass container, it literally blew a huge hole open right in the middle. The explosion was so powerful, Jamie estimates there was pink lemonade, lemons, glass and ice spewed within a 10-foot radius.

Because isn’t that what every hostess wants to have happen 10 minutes before her party??!!!

Instead of greeting the early guests with a smile and a pumpkin, they instead got a mop and a scowl.

Here is a shot of the completed lemonade stand and you will note it is devoid of pink lemonade.

For obvious reasons.

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Pumpkin Better Than… Cake

Something Swanky

Ingredients:

1 box yellow cake mix
1 small can pumpkin puree
1 – 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1 – 8 oz. tub cool whip
1/2 bag Heath Bits
Caramel Sundae Sauce

Directions:

In a large bowl, mix together the cake mix and pumpkin puree until a smooth batter forms.
Pour batter into a well greased 9×13 baking dish. Bake at 350º according to the directions for a 9×13 cake on the cake mix box.
Let cool for about 10 minutes after baking. Using the bottom of a wooden spoon, poke holes all over the top of the cake.
Pour the sweetened condensed milk over the cake, filling the holes. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Spread the cool whip over top of cake. Sprinkle on the heath bits, and drizzle caramel over top (just to your liking). Refrigerate for 3-4 hours, or overnight (best).

Filed Under: Foodie Tagged With: recipe

The Children’s Division–Or Would That Be “Division Among the Children?”

October 3, 2012 by Amber

At the Great Pumpkin’s weigh-off, the children’s division is almost an after-thought. “Ahh, look at the cute little pumpkins! Hurry them through and let’s get on to the big daddies.”

This year was the exception.

The rules are the pumpkins need to be dropped off well in advance of the competition. The children’s started at 10 a.m. and the adults were supposed to follow at 11 a.m. Much to my annoyance (as one who HATES when people/events are late), this event has never started on time.

At 10 a.m., Hadley and Bode had the only pumpkin in the children’s division. Then 10:15 a.m., 10:30 a.m. By 10:45 a.m., we started doing our victory lap but no, wait! Our arch nemesis from years past showed up with three humdinger pumpkins. Meaning: HUGE.

The kids had not noticed their competition so we settled back, waiting for it to begin. When we saw the first pumpkin that was going to scale, Hadley was unimpressed.

“Wow, that’s small,” she scoffed.

I tried to shush her but not before the mohawked kid and his brother in front of us turned around without missing a beat and snarled, “That’s my pumpkin.”

“And it’s a very nice one,” I assured him before lecturing Hadley about being a good sport. Turns out, she needed that lecture because out of the five pumpkins, hers was among the smallest.

To build suspense, pumpkins are measured from smallest to largest and Hadley and Bode’s was next. They were excited about the results: 203 pounds. And a great-looking pumpkin to boot!

But they didn’t win. In fact, there were three kids from the same family whose pumpkins got progressively bigger. By the time they got to the largest pumpkin–from a 5-year-old girl–the pumpkin was a foot taller than she was.

“622 pounds!” Jamie (the MC) announced.

Now, that’s impressive for any grower but common consensus was there was no way a kindergartner who couldn’t remember what city she was from could have grown it. The dad even later later it slip that they were all his pumpkins.

Disconcerting? Sure. The father should have just entered them in the adult competition and he still would have beat out half the competition. And it wasn’t that little girl’s fault–I’m sure she didn’t put herself up to it.

Haddie is a perceptive one. “I don’t think she did it by herself. In fact, I’m 100 percent sure she didn’t.”

Regardless of the fairness of the situation, there was a lesson to be learned. “It doesn’t matter,” I consoled. “Sometimes things just aren’t fair. But you got fourth place and you grew a really great pumpkin. That is something to be proud of.”

When the ribbons were handed out, I insisted they cheer for their competitors. Hadley begrudgingly obliged but mild-mannered Bode had been nursing a brutal blister from the monkey bars.

“I can’t,” he contested. “It hurts too much to clap.”

I couldn’t have agreed more, Little Dude.

Filed Under: Bode, Hadley, pumpkins

The ultimate in fall family travel

October 2, 2012 by Amber

I’m excited to be part of an amazing team of travel writers at Travel Mamas where I’ll be contributing twice a month.

Translation: I have some FUN adventures on the horizon, including details of my trip to Coronado Island.

I’m always babbling on about Colorado’s giant pumpkin weigh-offs but did you know these events are held all over the nation? That’s right, folks. Jamie’s crazy is not limited within the confines of this great state.

So, please head over to Travel Mamas (click here) to get an inside scoop on where these fun events are held. I’ve also included some craaaaazy pictures of the world’s biggest pumpkins.

This ain’t one of them. But he sure is cute.

Filed Under: Family travel, pumpkins

Halloween savings and my cake pop trauma

October 1, 2012 by Amber

This week, my Denver Post column talks about last year’s cake pop trauma and gives great advice on how to save on Halloween..

Not from me, of course. From an expert. 🙂

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I love this time of the year — from the harvest festivals to my obsession with eating all things pumpkin.

My favorite shopping day also arrives in the fall.

Sorry, Black Friday zealots, but I’m referencing Nov. 1, that hallowed day when all of the Halloween items just now beginning to show up in stores get marked down 50 percent or more.

Last year, I decided to save money by making my own Halloween treats. I opted for cake pops. If you’ve never tried them, these little single-serve cakes on a stick are especially delectable, and this from a non-cake lover.

I thought they’d be fun for my kids’ Halloween parties at school. As it turns out, there was nothing fun about making them.

Really, it was

Filed Under: holidays, Humor Tagged With: Halloween

And The Great Pumpkin’s Weight Is….

September 30, 2012 by Amber

Yep, 837 pounds! (Check-out Jamie’s blog denverpumpkins.com for specs).

Though last year’s pumpkin weighed almost 100 pounds more, Jamie was pleased with the result. Growers have enormous tape measures and based on the measurements, Jamie’s pumpkin should have weighed about 770 pounds but it went 9 percent heavy.

Look at me with my pumpkin-geek speak. Impressed?

Though there were a few pumpkins with larger circumferences, Jamie passed them to place a surprising fourth.

The kiddos also placed fourth in a somewhat contested children’s division. More on that later (and how Haddie smack-talked the mohawk kid) but they were pleased with their 203-pounder.

When we first arrived, I had a nice woman come up to me who recognized me from my Denver Post articles about Jamie’s pumpkin obsession.

Still trying to figure out if that was a good thing?

And Jamie, of course, is a local celebrity with references to our NBC Marriage Ref appearance being thrown around. Beauty queen Mrs. Littleton even made a celebrity appearance!

Umm, OK.

While Jamie was busy doing his pumpkin business, the kiddos and I delved into the activities at Jared’s Giant Pumpkin Weigh-off and Festival that included a bouncy castle, face painting and balloon animals.

A maze….

Water balloon sling shots,

And, of course, an obscene amount of oversized pumpkins and vegetables.


Cool pear!

1st place pumpkin

Jamie’s buddy Joe Scherber took first place with a pumpkin that was taping out to more than 1,400 pounds–a new Colorado record. Sadly, it went really light and *only* weighed 1,225 pounds.

Something that made me chuckle: Pumpkins allegedly lose several pounds of weight after they are cut from the vine so many growers wrap bags of water around the stem to help maintain their moisture. Scherber took it a step further and if you look closely at the pumpkin, you can see bags with yellow liquid. The contents? Gatorade.

Who knew pumpkins were athletes?

Following the day’s festivities, Jamie took us out for a celebratory dinner on the deck of Blue Canyon Grill in Golden.

But the true highlight for us all? Driving the streets with an 837-pound pumpkin in tow. People were hooping and hollering at us, delighted to catch a glimpse of such an anomaly. As we waved back at everyone, I marveled at our quirky family where oversized gourds and crazy trips are the norm.

And I couldn’t have been more grateful.

Next time: the smack-talkin’ in the children’s division weigh-off. Oh, the controversy.

Filed Under: Bode, Hadley, Humor, Jamie, pumpkins

The 4th Annual Pumpkin Par-tay!

September 29, 2012 by Amber

It’s been a rough season for the Pumpkin Man. So rough, in fact, that I haven’t gotten the same pleasure out of mocking his favorite pastime.

Don’t get me wrong–I still did it but it just wasn’t as fun.

He generally grows two plants and he lost one early in the season to disease. His other pumpkin “Christine” (~~creepily~~ lovingly christened after my mom) never really took off with Denver’s record-breaking heat.

Though this pumpkin will likely weigh a couple hundred pounds less than last year’s, she never stopped slowly growing and he was just relieved to have a pumpkin he could take to the scale.

Before our pumpkin party, we posed for annual pictures in the patch.

Because doesn’t every family take pictures with their oversized gourd?

This is the kids’ pumpkin, which I think will be a personal best. Unlike Jamie’s pumpkin (which started out white), theirs is a nice lovely orange. Hadley and Bode are already plotting how much money they can make selling it off.

They’re obviously not the sentimental types, particularly when they’ve been saving for a trampoline for over a year.

As usual, my friends delivered with some fabulous pumpkin recipes–everything from pumpkin strudel to pumpkin dip to cookies to krispies to muffins to cake pops.

Delicious spinach dip in a pumpkin

I’m not one to toot my own horn but I was repeatedly told my “Better than s&x pumpkin cake” was a huge hit. I needed something quick, easy and delicious and this bad boy delivered (recipe here).

Also, don’t judge me for the name. Because I clearly labeled it so everyone else could.

Of course, the main event of our pumpkin party is the vine cutting and pumpkin hauling. Everyone made their way to the back and stood enthralled.

It cracks me up how our friends keep coming back year after year but I’m sure glad they do. Several rookies were present and duly impressed.

If you’ve never been to a Great Pumpkin Par-tay, the first step is to tie a rope around the bottom of the pumpkin and make sure the lifting straps are positioned just right before the forklift lifts it off the bed of sand.

As soon as it is airborne, Jamie needs to check underneath to ensure there are no cracks (which mean disqualification in competition). I’ve heard horror stories of growers who slaved all season long, only to finally lift the pumpkin to transport it and realize the entire bottom had rotted out.

Fortunately, that has never happened to Jamie; it would be ugly to see a grown man cry.

Because the kids’ pumpkin weighs significantly less, a few guys were able to transport it with a lifting tarp.

Though this picture is fuzzy because it was taken with my iPhone at night, it needs to be included. Why? Solely because there are FOUR GROWN MEN hauling it to the car and Jamie will make ‘lil ‘ol me take it out with just him.

Translation: I am equal to three grown men.

I was grateful so many friends came out for the party because I know many had conflicts. Earlier in the day, I tweeted out:

The school’s fundraiser or travel are NOT good reasons to miss our infamous pumpkin party. Pregnant neighbor getting induced? She gets a bye.

Because I’m generous like that.

P.S. Baby’s middle name had better be “great” or “pumpkin.”

Stay tuned for details of the big weigh-off, my better than s&x cake trauma and the explosion that happened mere moments before the party started.
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Can’t get enough of the Great Pumpkin Parrrrrr-Tay? It has greatly evolved over the years.

Check out:
* 2011
*2010
*2009 The Year That Wasn’t (when the tornado took out The Great Pumpkin)
* 2008 Our 1st Annual Fete!

Filed Under: Humor, Jamie, pumpkins

Not my cup ‘o tea

September 28, 2012 by Amber

Airing out the archives. Here’s another post in my draft folder I wrote on May 9 but never published.

On Monday, I did a segment on 9News for Mother’s Day. I had several products I was showcasing, as well as some ideas for homemade gifts.

The problem with homemade gifts is you need to make them. At home. Yourself.

So, I sat down with the kiddos and we made some cute Popsicle flowers and a footprint stool. I was juggling a bunch of others things so as usual, crafting was stressing me out.

Jamie walked up to me. “Don’t be offended but….why are you doing crafts?”

Offense taken.

Filed Under: 9News, Humor, Jamie

Hadley: Yoda Incarnate?

September 27, 2012 by Amber

One of my favorite quotes:

Do or do not, there is no try.

I saw it for the first time when I was doing the full-pull in Moab–an insane day of rafting, biking and mountain biking. My friend John and I were trekking through Mill Creek Canyon to a cossetted swimming hole when I saw Yoda’s infamous words.

Fast-forward to last Sunday when Hadley had an exceptionally great day. Not only was she agreeable but she went above-and-beyond to be kind and make us a fancy dinner without asking. I fed her many praises and she glowed.

That night, in bed.

Me: “I was really impressed with Hadley today. She really tried to be good.”
Jamie: “She tries every day.”
Me: “Huh?”
Jamie: “Some days, she tries really hard to be good. And others, she tries to be bad.”

I’ll take the former, thanks.

Filed Under: Hadley, Humor, Jamie

Touching Base

September 26, 2012 by Amber

Has it really been a week since I last posted?

I’m marveling how I thought I’d have waaaaay more time to myself once the kids were back in school. And I guess I would if I hadn’t taken on more freelance assignments, more travel and well, just more everything.

I spent a few days last week in glorious Coronado Island paddle boarding, biking, touring and lots and lots of gourmet eating. I’ll be posting about it all in the coming weeks but for now, I’m slammed with deadlines and stress with the pumpkin party and weigh-off looming this week.

I mean, I haven’t even had time to publicly tease The Pumpkin Man about his pumpkin obsession. How sad is that?!

So, stay tuned. I’ll have many updates in the pipes when life calms down a bit. In the interim, enjoy this picture of the magnificent Hotel del Coronado.

I know I did!

Filed Under: Uncategorized