EDIBLE SANDCASTLE

Tomorrow (Sunday) we are having a baked potato bar and dessert auction at church to raise funds for Beachfest which is the annual youth rally that we host in August every year. I was asked to make a dessert and the first thing I thought of making was a cake because lately I've been loving watching "Ace of Cakes" and "Amazing wedding Cakes" and I'm so fascinated with all the cool things you can do with a cake. However I haven't made very many cakes and I was a little nervous at being able to find something both cute, creative, and semi-easy. After browsing and browsing I finally decided on making a sand castle cake since the fundraiser is for beachfest which takes place primarily at the beach (clever huh). However, I wasn't liking any of the designs I saw because they were all so elaborate and complicated looking. Then I came across a princess castle cake and my brilliant idea to combine the princess castle cake with the sand castle cake was formed. So like any good cake artist I traced out how I wanted my cake to look (which is a big feat cuz I stink at drawing) and below is what I ended up with.

This is the start of the process, well these two cakes plus 2 more

Here is the chocolate layer cooking


Evening out the cakes for stacking

My cool new spatula that made the frosting easier

Carter crushing up the graham crackers for my "sand"

I cut the chocolate cake into a smaller circle for my top tier

The stacking and frosting was interesting, the top cake kept falling apart

The sand part was probably the most frustrating and slowest part

Starting to take shape

Tada, the finished project. You can click for a bigger picture!

I am so proud with how this cake turned out and hope that it brings in the big money for our rally. I would have to say that it is the best cake I've ever made and I hope for the peoples sake that it is yummy too. But who can go wrong with 4 layers of yellow cake with buttercream frosting and a chocolate top with chocolate frosting. Um yum!!

Sunny Memorial Day

I Carried around my camera all weekend long and these are the only pics I took. Whoops!!

This weekend was fun for us because if Clayton and Sarah (Carter's brother and his wife) hadn't come down it would have been just another boring weekend for us since we both always have Mondays off. They came up Saturday night after Sarah got off work and came to church with us on Sunday. After lunch we decided to go to the beach since it was gourgeous out and we crossed our fingers that it wasn't windy by the water (which it wasn't)!!! We rented a skim board because we thought that it would be fun not realizing how much skill it takes to stay on the stinkin thing and how much it hurts when you fall. If you don't know what a skim board is it is about 3 feet tall and 2 feet wide and when the tide recedes you throw it on the ground in a forward motion and try to ride it like a skateboard while it "skims" the sand. The boys had fun trying to stay on the thing but after Sarah and I watched their many falls and poor attempts we had all but chickened out on trying it. However after the boys encouraged us we both made half hearted attempts at it trying to do it but in slow motion (which doesn't work) so that we wouldn't fall and hurt ourselves. I made carter stand on the other side of the board so that if I started to fall I could lean on him instead of hitting the ground. Anyways, after we tired of that Sarah and I made a rock awesome sand castle and then we all played frisbee for quite a bit. By the time we got home we were tired and ready to settle down for a movie.

On Monday we went to Downtown Bandon which is the cute little section with shops down by the water and had a good time browsing. The 3 of them enjoyed their fish and chips from the blue hut while I enjoyed my chicken strips (I'm a party pooper I know). When we got back home the boys went to see terminator and Sarah and I decided to browse around Ross and Wal-Mart. We both wished we could buy things but had fun chatting and browsing none the less. When we all got back we played and intense game of "last word" and watched the show "The Newlyweds" which was actually pretty cute.

Clayton and Sarah left this morning and already our house is quiet without them. We enjoyed having them here and sharing our Memorial day adventures with them!

A New Fav

On one of my last trips to the Store they were out of the generic type of Orange Juice that I usually get so I grabbed this other kind that was a little bit more expensive but I've heard is good. It is Called "Simply Orange" and once we brought it home we were hooked. It tastes like it is fresh squeezed and it says on the label that it is not from concentrate. So on my next trip I decided to pick up their "Simply Lemonade" and let me say that it is AMAZING, it is like I made it myself but with a whole lot less effort. So, I recommend it to everyone!!

Rally on the Rock

This past weekend was the second youth rally we have taken the kids to. It was called rally on the rock and it was held in Redmond, Oregon. We know that this youth has gone to this rally before but I believe it was the first time for all the kids we took. The theme was "Rock in the Boat" and was focused on Noah and the mission he was on to build the Ark. It was an interesting time and the speaker who was from grass valley was good and kept the kids focused the whole time by incorporating in a lot of humor. We took 6 kids with us and it was primarily a younger group with 3 6th graders, 2 8th graders, and one who is 18. I believe that all the kids had a good time although I think that the early mornings and late nights were a bit much for the youngest ones, especially since it was probably one of their first stays without family.
The ride up was 5 hours and consisted of a lot of chatting and car games and although we were still a little tired when we got there we still had a full night.

On Saturday we had to be at the church to tie die our own shirts at 7:30am and it was a lot of fun and our shirts actually turned out great. Then we went out to a state park that had a huge rock where we ate a picnic lunch and had a devotional in front of the rock. Then we went to a local middle school to use there gym where the kids played a rotation of fun games and the hits were the 70's game show, and dodgeball on scooters. Finally we headed back to the church tired and sunburned to continue with another lesson, singing, dinner and desserts, a talent show. And then the highlight of the night for Carter and I was a powerful hour of singing gathered in a circle with the lights off. We haven't had this kind of experience since we left OC and it was a much needed spiritual lift for the both of us. The only thing was that our kids didn't appreciate it as much because they were so young and it's something that you learn to love, so we spent a lot of it making sure that our kids were okay since it didn't start until 10 which is when all our kids are usually fast asleep.


Sunday we woke up early once more, had breakfast, attended church, then a potluck and then we headed on our way back home. It was a most successful trip!

Having some fun in the car

The kids loved playing on this rip-stick which is like a skateboard

One of the games was digging stuff out of whipped creamScooter Dodgeball

Our whole group in front of the rock

The view at the rock was beautiful

Tie-dying

Folding the shirt so he can tie-dye it

Our group singing

Off for the Weekend

In a couple hours we are taking 6 of the youth to a Youth Rally in Redmond Oregon which is near the center of Oregon. It will be a fun uplifting time and I'm sure I'll have a few interesting stories when we get back. Until then take care and have a safe weekend!

Water Aerobics

So I bet you're wondering what this picture has to do with water aerobics. Well I found out that the local community college offered a swim aerobics class mon, wed, fri from 7:30-8:30 and I decided that I would give this a try since I love swimming but hate excercising I thought it would be a good middle ground. However much to my suprise when I showed up this is what the class looks like. Where were the younger people that I was hoping to form relationships with and how in the world can I get a good workout if it is geared to the elderly? The next youngest person there is the instructor who is probably late 40's and other then that I am the youngest by at least 40 years. However, after the first class I realized that as long as I push myself the whole workout It is really great. I was already both sore and tired at the end and the ladies (and one man) are actually pretty funny to listen to. So, I guess lesson learned...don't judge a book by it's cover. You'd think I would know this by now but I think we always need reminders!

Dear Faithful Blog Followers

Today marks and amazing event, it is our first day of internet in our house and so far I am loving it. Today's blog is being posted from the comfort of my couch with coffee cup in hand. Can things get much better then this?

Well here is much much anticipated post on our anniversary trip.

Carter and I decided that we are going to rotate years on planning what we do for our anniversary and this year was my year. I decided that we would go out of town for a night (I really wanted to do 2 nights but funds are short and Carter had to preach on Sunday.) So after weeks of looking for the perfect place to go I found this cute hotel with a bed and breakfast feel in Newport which is 2 hours north, just keep following 101. It is a toursity little town but our room was great and overlooked the harbor and to our delight we found out that we had sea lions right outside that we could watch from our own private balcony. After we got settled in we went 30 minutes farther north to this town called depoe bay which has a cute little boardwalk with touristy shops and taffy shops that we walked down until we got hungry so we checked out the menus for the restaurants there. I let Carter choose the restaurant and he chose this place called the "Sea Hag" which sounds kinda trashy but it really wasn't because it had a great selection of sea food and it actually was pretty expensive. After our delicious meal Carter asked if we could go see the new X-men movie since we had seen a theatre and since the weekend was suprises for him I agreed. It actually was pretty good and I would recommend it if you are into the whole X-Men thing.

On Saturday I had plans for us to take a ocean adventure cruise and then go to the aquarium but Carter informed me that he really didn't like boats so we just went to the aquarium which although it was small was still fun. They had some great exhibits and we had fun getting to touch the manna rays, baby sharks, sea stars, and other things. Below is a link that you can follow to my facebook album to see pics of our trip. I'm also going to post a video of the sea lions. If you look in the bottom left corner you can see some of them fighting, it's pretty entertaining!


http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2034765&id=168301063&l=ba331ddb15

2 Years

Today is mine and Carter's second anniversary. It feels like we were just married yesterday and like we've been together forever both at the same time. Anyways we went on a trip this past weekend and although I'm dying to post more the internet connection at the library doesn't like me that much. The good news is that we are getting internet on FRIDAY!! So expect an update for sure then and hopefully much more frequently.