At the BBQ for Sam & Jill we turned the webcam on my laptop on while Aubrey was playing with it and i found the video on my computer yesterday so i posted it just for fun.
4th of July Happy Time…
Okay, here’s the photo story of our weekend with a video thrown in of us roping on the 4th. I think we all had a blast and everyone enjoyed it.
The first night we all got together and watched “The Cowboy Way” in the backyard. I brought a tv and we hooked it up in on top of the water cooler and it didn’t even rain on us.
Dad was breaking in his new saddle with Granola (Canola) Oil. It still squeaks like crazy but it feels good to ride.
On the 4th we got up and went to the parade. Same place as usual, but we had a roping dummy and a deck of cards out for the wait.
After everyone got a nap or time playing the Wii at our house we all went out to the barn and roped a little. It ended up being a blast! Check out the video for our skills. I’m in the middle of the video in between my Dad and Kody roping on Buff. (Brown Horse) I headed a round for Clancey, and i can’t remember the last time we had roped together.
Can’t get enough of the sunsets here.
We headed up onto the hill to watch the fireworks and have Dad’s birthday cake. Cynthia brouht Catch Phrase and we played it in the dark. Pretty good stuff!!
Pictures were took in complete blackness so we didn’t know how they turned out till we got home.
I think they were having way to much fun at the roping in Pinetop.
It rained a couple of times so hard they stopped the roping. We had enough jackets and everything to stay pretty dry.
Clancey roped really well for how much rain we got. He actually came back high team in the short-go, but didn’t get the third steer down.
It’s good to be around family on the fourth. Last year we had to stay in the valley and didn’t get to do much outside going to a BBQ with Matt Hubbard’s family which made it all worth it. Without that it would have been pretty boring!
Portal Cake | Aperture Science
Ingredients
- 1 (18 1/4 ounce) package chocolate cake mix
- 1 (12 ounce) can coconut pecan frosting
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil
- 7 egg whites
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 3/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2/3 cup cocoa powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/3 cup water
- 2 (12 ounce) cans vanilla frosting
- 8 strawberries
Directions
- This recipe is simple, it just takes a lot of ingredients and mixing/sitting around time to complete. Pop in a movie while making the cake to help pass the time.
- This recipe can easily be made for those who do not consume dairy by making sure the frosting and cake mix you use do not contain dairy. Which is easily done, I being dairy intolerant myself.
- And lastly, this cake is for fun. It is for the nerd in all of us that just wants to sit down with a bunch of friends, and eat. This cake is perfect for that. Heck, you could all bring food and call it a Lies and Deceit Pot Luck, and LAN your way through the meal!
- Warning to the wise: this cake is VERY rich. Don’t cut it into eight slices, cut it into sixteen. Regular sized slices will just make people sick to their stomachs because of how rich this cake is. So do eat carefully.
- The night before, mix 2/3c cocoa powder with 1.5 cans of vanilla frosting. Save the remaining half can of vanilla frosting for later.
- Next day: remove mixed frosting and vanilla frosting from the fridge and set to the side. Also place the cherries and chocolate chips to the side. They will not be used until the cake is completely done.
- Pre-heat over to 375 degrees F.
- Lightly butter two 9 inch cake pans.
- In one bowl combine all reaming dry ingredients.
- In larger bowl, combine all liquid ingredients and egg whites. Mix thoroughly.
- Slowly sift dry ingredients into the large bowl of liquid ingredients. Mix thoroughly.
- Pour half of the batter into one prepared cake pan, and the rest into the second cake pan.
- Cook for 30+ minutes, until a knife can be removed cleanly from the cake.
- When done cooking, allow the cake to cool for at least one hour.
- Remove top quarter inch from one cake round. Basically, let it have a completely flat top so that the second layer can rest smoothly on top. I suggest using a bread knife.
- Use the coconut frosting as the inner layer.
- Place second layer on top of first layer.
- Frost with the cocoa powder mixed frosting. Warning: this stuff is stiff, so it takes a little work.
- Coat entire cake with chocolate chips, press them lightly into the frosting to get them to stay. The recipe suggests one cup, I would suggest just taking from the bag. Measurements are just suggestions for chocolate chips.
- Using the remaining vanilla frosting and a table spoon, dallop eight circles around the top of the cake.
- Place the eight strawberries on top of the eight vanilla frosting circles.
Wes’s Birthday
Happy Birthday Wesley!
So Wes is usually the one who updates our blog, so forgive me that this is about Wes’s birthday and it is over two weeks late!
Rumor has it that every year on Wes’s birthday they are at some rodeo or some arena riding and roping, and they usually have pizza for dinner. Well I didn’t know about the pizza part, but we did get to go out to the barn and rope some. Aunt Belva and Uncle Dave wanted to bring Aaron (their grandson) out so he could ride a horse. We hadn’t heard from them all day so we just thought they ran out of time or something. We were on our way out there and Belva called and wanted to make sure it was still ok for them to come out. We said absolutely! So they ventured out to the barn where we were just warming up the horses. Tanner Lund was there practicing the barrels and poles for the rodeo that was happening that weekend. Once he finished we were able to put Aaron on Buff and lead him around for a little bit. He really enjoyed the ride and really liked Buff!
Rumor has it that every year on Wes’s birthday they are at some rodeo or some arena riding and roping, and they usually have pizza for dinner. Well I didn’t know about the pizza part, but we did get to go out to the barn and rope some. Aunt Belva and Uncle Dave wanted to bring Aaron (their grandson) out so he could ride a horse. We hadn’t heard from them all day so we just thought they ran out of time or something. We were on our way out there and Belva called and wanted to make sure it was still ok for them to come out. We said absolutely! So they ventured out to the barn where we were just warming up the horses. Tanner Lund was there practicing the barrels and poles for the rodeo that was happening that weekend. Once he finished we were able to put Aaron on Buff and lead him around for a little bit. He really enjoyed the ride and really liked Buff!
I went and got all of the ropes that Dickie has out at the barn, and gave one to Uncle Dave. He found a barrel that looked like a good target and started roping it. I don’t think he missed a beat roping! I think this was the first time he had picked a rope up in years. Dickie talked him into getting on Buff and giving it a go, seeing what he still had in him! He did great, and I am sure he had a great time.
They (Dave and Wes) even caught one! 🙂
Aunt Belva and Aaron got to go and check out the baby goat that is out at the barn. He thought that was pretty sweet!
Earlier that day Mylea and I made a cake for Wes’s party that we were going to have that night. Mylea wanted to either put a peep or teenage mutin ninga turtles on the cake, I actually had a big plastic peep from Easter, so it turned out great! Mylea was very pleased with the way the cake turned out 🙂
He got something really cool for his birthday from his mom. A few weeks ago Merr was at work and Wes’s 1st grade teacher came down to her office and was laughing so hard. Merr was wondering what was going on, his teacher was cleaning out some filing cabinets and found a book that Wes had written in the 1st grade! It is really funny, but so cool that we have that now. Thanks Merr for giving it to him 🙂
All in all I think his birthday turned out to be very good! Thanks to everyone that was able to participate in the celebration!
To Letterbox or to Geocache??
So Sally posted about letterboxing on her blog, and sure enough Amanda Skyped me part way through the day asking about it. It sounded a lot like geocaching, and sure enough it is. Letterboxing seems a little more “scrapbooky” with the Stamps and all, and geocaching does have those cool tags you report into the site when you find on and move it. since we live in a pretty small town with little around the letterboxing is pretty limited, while geocaching is more attractive to people around here. Maybe we’ll get into both of them, and have to place letterboxes around here somewhere.
Check ’em out, they are a good time.
Luna Goes For A Swim
So we headed out to the barn for a while this afternoon so we took Luna up to the stock tank. Obviously he had a blast!!!
24 years old huh… that’s weird
so today is my birthday. thus far it feels like most other birthdays, but i guess that would be my fault for deciding to work today and not getting to sleep in. I’ve had a migraine for about a week now, and frankly i’m tired of it for sure. it comes back like a bad habit everyday about now. i’ve been “lucky” enough to have it hit me in the morning where i can subdue it better, but ya i feel like a champ right now.
newho i don’t want this entry to be a downer, but i don’t exactly feel awesome right now. i did get a few presents so far though. i got a firepit from “everyone” and kody bought me madden for the wii. some of amanda’s family is supposed to come down so their kid can ride a horse, and that would only solidify the birthday dealio (especially if pizza is ordered). like clancey says, “we will see, we will see.”
Dares Visit
So the week after our anniversary my parents came to visit us. They brought a BIG gift!! Luna. He is my dog that they have been taking care of for me until we were able to take him back, and now because we have our own house and a huge yard now was the time 🙂
While my parents were here we went to watch one of Mylea’s softball games, which was a great time. The next day I went to work in the morning and Jennifer told me to go home and spend time with my family. My Mom and Dad and I went up to Green’s Peak to see Aunt Susie and Uncle Dave and Aunt Belva. They have an amazing camp!! Uncle Dave helped a tree fall down and it fell perfectly on the trunk of another fallen tree and he made a teeter tauter. My Mom and I and Aunt Susie played on it for a while, which made me feel like I was 10 again.
Then Saturday night we had everyone from the camp and Wes’s family over for dinner. Wes made Carne Asada and all the fixins. It was a total hit, we have to thank Chad and Mindy for the recipe, it is soooo good!
We also introduced my parents to our new toy, the Wii. They loved it! My dad is even thinking about getting one. That would be awesome then we could all play online with each other.
All in all it was a great weekend with the Dares 🙂