Let Them Eat Cake....

Me and Leslie that is. I have a dear friend Leslie who is moving to Washington :( I was supposed to go and help her get ready for her upcoming garage sale, but instead we made a fabulous Texas sheet cake. There are many variations of this cake, and I can't seem to find my Mom's recipe, but they are all very close, give this one a try. I also highly recommend this one to my friend Donna because of her love of chocolate.

Lovley Leslie

Stealing A Taste :)
Our Chocolaty Confection

Posing With The Texas Sheet Cake

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk or sour milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Chocolate Frosting:
1/4 cup butter
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
3 tablespoons buttermilk
2 1/4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

PREPARATION:
Cake: Grease a 15X10X1-inch sheet pan and set aside. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In a medium saucepan combine 1 cup butter, 1/3 cup cocoa, and 1 cup of water. Bring mixture to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. With an electric hand-held mixer on medium speed, beat chocolate mixture into the dry mixture until thoroughly blended. Add eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla. Beat for 1 minute (batter will be thin). Pour batter into the prepared pan. Bake in a 350° oven about 20 minutes. Pour warm chocolate frosting over the warm cake, spreading evenly. Place cake in pan on a wire rack; cool thoroughly before cutting. Makes 24 servings.

Frosting: In a medium saucepan combine 1/4 cup butter or margarine, 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, and 3 tablespoons buttermilk. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat; add 2 1/4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until smooth.

Bragging Rights

Everyone said it was a boy. The Chinese google calender said it was a boy. The mother insisted it was a boy. But the at end of the day I have a special gift. I told Sara from the start of her pregnancy that I knew what it was, and I was right. It's a GIRL!

Taking Ephraim By Storm

Pop! When did this happen?Getting all sentimental and girly...bleeh!
The parents to be.
Manti Temple..REALLY beautiful!

I decided to take a quick trip up to Ephraim to visit my very missed cousin. The drive was great. It's only 9 hours from driveway to driveway and much easier than I expected. Sara is now 20 weeks pregnant respectively and starting to show quite a bit. Tomorrow she gets to find out if its a boy or a girl and I am on pins and needles! It was a laid back weekend. Included was a trip to the local Wal-Mart, helping the couple unpack boxes and set up home in their new house, church, and ice cream at the local malt shop. Oh and lots of Jon and Kate Plus 8, Bringing Home Baby, and Birth Day on TLC(making it all a little too real for Sara). We also went to the Mormon Miracle Pageant held on the Manti Temple hillside which was very cool. There was some excitement. While grating cheese, I also grated a chunk out of my finger, which did end up in a trip to the ER, but all is well now. Miss you Sara!

Job Interview

After many months of applications, resumes, and an all too quiet phone, we got some good news today. Tom has a job interview on Thursday. We don't know much about it yet other than it is some kind of office/clerical job and it is full time. Please keep our family in your prayers this week, we could really use this job.

Life's a beach!

Tom and I love the beach! Today was 101 degrees in Temecula, so we decided to go where the weather was a little friendlier. For some reason we did not get to go to the beach at all last summer, so we decided that we will try and make up for it this summer. It's cheap fun entertainment if you have the right stuff. We live closest to Oceanside now which we love. The beach is hardly ever packed and there is convenient parking for only $3. We don't just go to lounge either, we love to swim in the surf. Our must haves for going to the beach:

1. An umbrella with a stabilizer so it won't keep falling.
2. A radio-there is just something about the radio at the beach-it just sounds better.
3. If you are a whitey like Tom and myself -SPF 45 sunblock.
4. A cooler with ice and plenty of water-we also pack subway for lunch sometimes.
5. Nice comfy beach chairs-they make all the difference.

Anyone interested in beaching it up with us this summer, just let us know. The more the merrier!

Hoping I'm my Grandmother's Granddaughter.

New Years-my Gran was a good sport!Not my project but similar

So my Grandma on my dad's side was a big time croche queen. It is how she spent most of her retirement hours. Every grandkid has a Granny blanket or two. By the time I was old enough and interested in wanting to learn, my Granny was already 90 and could not teach me. It was "too taxing to her brain" as she would say. Well last week I got the sudden motivation to learn one way or another. I went into Joannes, bought a beginner book, some yarn, and croche hooks. I was very pleased when after two days I have gotten the basic single croche stitch down. I still have yet to learn the fancy shell patterns or to follow a written pattern for that matter, but I am hoping it will come with time. I am hoping I am my Grandmother's grandaughter.

Belated six years.

Tom and I celebrated our sixth anniversary on June 8th. I can't believe it's been six years-that's just NUTS! We usually take a two week vacation somewhere, but this one kind of snuck up on us so we decided to stay local and actually had a really good time. On Saturday(the 7th) we had a wonderful sushi lunch followed by a movie. We saw Prince Caspian. Not as good as Narnia, but we tend to like the epic movies, so we enjoyed it a lot. We spent a few hours in the evening at the Pechanga Casino. Not being gamblers, we have lived in Temecula 3 years and never visited the resort right in our back yard. We weren't terribly impressed, and probably won't find a need to return, but it was fun to check it out. On our actual anniversary, we fully intended to get up and go to church, but spontaneously took off for the San Diego Zoo instead. We had a great time. The only disappointment was not seeing the Pandas(it was an hour wait). I had not been there since I was 2 and Tom had never been, so we had a lot of fun. We ended the day with a Korean BBQ dinner and headed home.I can't believe how fast 6 years can go. I love you Tom and am looking forward to many more years together. Below are some pics for your viewing pleasure.

Yummy sushi! Cool bird among the flamingos
The snake was actually moving around
The meerkats
Hello there

We do a lot of self portraits-kinda lame.

Gotta love the Monkeys
It was so hot we cooled off with frozen lemonade
Korean BBQ ended our weekend

BFN

As in a Big Fat Negative on my blood pregnancy test today. Our latest round of IUI was not a success. On to IVF for sure now-I am satisfied I have exhausted all the cheaper routes of infertility treatments. I will get my medications in October and we will start our round of IVF in January. It is a ways off, but we did conceive on our own not too long ago, so maybe another miracle will find it's way to us before the first of the year and save us the expense. Adoption paperwork is currently being filled out and we expect to start submitting it by August :) I was expecting today's results for a few days now, so I am dealing OK. Just anxious to move on, why does everything have to cost so much money?

Goodbye House

The best back yard ever.

So my grandparent's house is sold and escrow closes on the 5th. Yesterday we had a final family BBQ at the house we have all grown to love so much. Sorting through the family heirlooms was a bit daunting. I couldn't keep everything, yet I didn't want anything thrown away either. Tom and I packed our little Scion with literally no room to spare. I was lucky enough to inherit my Grandma's china cabinet. It is quite wonderful. I held up pretty well until I did my final walk through the house before leaving. I was alone, kissed a wall and said goodbye. I knew we would not make it back to the house before escrow closes, so it hit me it would be my very last time inside. Life goes on I guess, it just moved on really fast for me.