Cupcakes!

A week had gone by without baking anything, so I just had to bake something on monday to share with work just because. These are chocolate fudge cake with chocolate italian meringue buttercream icing. They got rave reviews from my coworkers and one of them even asked if I could bake for her next party at her house...hehe. Very easy and very simple design, but delicious.

I am so excited with fall coming and planning of this year's gingerbread house. I haven't found a competition in town yet, but if I do it will be my first. I keep going back and forth whether I should do a building from Disneyland or repeat last year's house with extra's like Santa and reindeer on the roof (that will be a good challenge).

First OSU game of 2009!

Elvis was there! It was kind of funny because people kept coming up to him and getting their picture taken with him.

We went to the first OSU game on Saturday vs. the PSU Vikings. OSU of course killed them it was 40 something to 7 final score. We had a great time and the weather held up well. It made me realize how much I miss that campus and town. It is so cute and quaint and the grounds so pretty. My dad played with the OSU Alumni Band and they sounded great.

belated post on Grant's visit home

The boys are so cute. Jackson all fancy and Grant in his uniform.

This is a very belated post. I meant to post in July..oops! Grant came home from Norfolk, VA to visit July 1st-12th and it was the first time we had seen him since September of last year. It was awesome to him and every time we see him we of course forgot how tall he is. He is like a giant. Katie is tall and he towers over her.

On his last night, we went to a nice dinner to celebrate both Katie and Grant's birthdays since Grant would not be home for his birthday this year.

We all miss Grant a lot, but we are excited because he will now be an a air craft carrier that will soon be stationed in San Diego...just a couple hour plane flight away.

Jackson's 9th Birthday Party

The kids scrambled to get the candy from the pinata

Jackson's friends

Jackson in his cool pinata hat

Jackson taking a swat at the pinata

Today was Jackson's birthday party and these are some of the pictures from the party. We had a good time and it was fun to meet some of Jackson's friends from school and the neighborhood. The pinata was a huge hit. I guess I forgot how much kids like pinatas. I will have to remember that. The cake was as good as I thought it would be. I made a mistake of taking it outside and it started to melt, so I had to rush it inside and put it into the fridge...oops. I guess I learned my cakes are not meant for outside.

Jackson's Birthday Cake

My first frozon buttercream transfer (FBCT). I thought this came out cute. The picture isn't so great, but it looks much better in person. The birthday boy requested chocolate cake with chocolate icing..hehe. I hope he likes it. He just started playing football as shown in the previous post so hence the theme of the cake and I put his jersey number on it too.

Jackson's First Football Game

Today was my little brother Jackson's 9th birthday and his first football game. It was so cute to watch him. I didn't realize what a big deal football is. It was just like going to high school games with the announcer and everything. He looks especially cute in his uniform I think. It will be fun to watch the rest of his games this season.

Visit to Stacy's in Reno

A wild stallion...right off the side of the road!

Stacy's Backyard...look at that view!

The Chollar Mine Tour

Dinner at the Basque Restaurant

City of Stateline right at the Gondola

The Beach at Lake Tahoe

I visited by best friend, Stacy, at her new place in Minden, NV right near Tahoe and Reno. I had such a good time visiting with her. We went up to the beach at lake Tahoe, went to Stateline at the border of Nevada and California and walked the shops and got pedicures, ate a Basque Restaurant and then went to Virginia City, a old mining town that is like you have stepped back in time. I can't wait to visit her again.