Carving Pumpkins

My dad came into town to pick up his retired police dog. We went out to dinner and then carved pumpkins at our house. I made Branden get the guts out of my pumpkins because I hate the yucky insides.

Branden & I were racing to finish....my dad and I tied.

We were making fun of Branden because his facial expressions were so intense. He was super focused.

This was my pumpkin....

My dad's was the witch....

And Brandens was a headless pumpkin horseman. Ok, his was most impressive. I guess his focus paid off.

Lake Tahoe

When I graduated with my undergrad and Branden graduated with his masters degree (May 2008), my Grandpa let Branden and I pick a vacation spot and he got us a condo for a few days. We stayed at the South end of Tahoe right across the street from Heavenly Ski Resort. This is us at a lookout point on the south-west corner of the lake.

Pic of the lake from the lookout.

This is a pic of us right next to the edge of a cliff. This waterfall is right off of the side of the road and it "falls" right over the cliff. It was weird to be able to walk right to the edge.

See...

So we decided to hike to the source of the waterfall...so we followed the river up the mountain. (I was sure that we were going to run into a bear and die the whole time).

This is the lake at the top of the river. It was so peaceful. There was no one else at the lake or on the trail..so we got to enjoy it all to ourselves.

You can see the lake at the top and the river as it runs down the mountain. It was so pretty!

A few miles away there is an old castle that is in a cove and there is this winding trail that's about a 1/2 mile long but the grade is really steep. It takes you from the road down the mountain to this castle. They give tours at the castle, but we missed the last one by a few minutes...so all of the people that were down there were headed back up the trail. There was only one other couple left down there and we came across a bear. The other couple was walking right toward it so we tried to get their attention. While we were doing that...we lost the dumb bear. I know it's super hard to see, but behind the cabin and on the left side of the big tree trunk (about 1/3 of the way up the trunk) you can see the bear's bum and back half. I was terrified. It wandered off TOWARD THE TRAIL that we had to take back up the mountain. There was seriously nowhere he could go but in the water or up the trail. So the whole time back up the trail I was sure he was going to jump out and eat me.

The place we stayed let us "check out" bikes for a few hours at a time and they even offered to drive us in one of their trucks to this bike trail that was about 10 miles away. We fit the bikes in our rental car and spent a few hours on this bike trail! It was cool because it was only about 100 yards from the highway on one side and 100 yards from the lake on the other...but you felt like you were in the woods because there were so many trees you couldn't see either the lake or the highway. It was a fun little trail "in the woods" that we didn't have to go too far to get to.

This is me on the side of the bike trail.

We got off of our bikes and worked our way through the trees to the lake. It's unlike any other lake I've been to. At Tahoe, in most places the trees come right up to the lake and the sand isn't sand at all...it's rocks. (and p.s. it's way too cold and dark to swim in). It's like a gorgous little mountain lake on a much larger scale.

Pic of the south shoreline. Makes me want to go back. We haven't been there since the fires on the south side. I wonder how much has changed because of the fire.

I was so obsessed with the sand that wasn't sand. It was tons of these amber colored rocks (and it wasn't that soft to walk on barefooted) It was so pretty though.

This is a beach on the east side of the lake a few blocks from where we stayed. It was close to walk to, so we went down there a few times. I don't think Branden's ever been more frustrated....standing so close to this goose and not being able to shoot it. It's good for him. Birds are meant for flying.

This is the Stardust Lodge, which is where we stayed. It had a pool which was cool. We went to "orientation" on friday night after we checked in and it was 99.9% people over the age of 65. The orientation was to tell about the different "activities" that would be going on at the Stardust throughout the week. It was really funny. It was all geared toward the old folks. It was fine though. The staff was awesome and we didn't need any entertaining. We spent every day out kining, biking, and exploring.

Since we checked in early, we got "upgraded" to the honeymoon suite. I almost fell over laughing when we walked in. The bed (and the couch below) were made of crushed orange velvet. It was so sweet. It was 1970s vegas in the woods. We were just grateful we had somewhere free to stay.

We were too nervous to touch the couch. In fact I threw Branden's pillow on it once just to watch him freak out. (those of you who know him know that germs will not be tolerated by him). I really hope we can get back to Tahoe soon. It was probably the best trip Branden and I have been on together.

Our 2 Kits

We love our 2 kits. They both came to us by accident. We found Little Buddy in the road and he never left and the Black Kitty used to be my grandma's. We never gave them proper names, but it is not a reflection of our love for them. (Black Kitty's "real" name is Nibs and Little Buddy's is Max. They only have "real" names for use at the vet's office.) Here black kitty is giving little buddy a bath.

Ready for dinner.

Anyone who has cats knows that they love to squeeze into warm tight places. I don't even know he managed to get into the middle of this blanket and keep it all folded with a pillow still on top.

Boxes, plastic sacks, and paper of any kind are also kitty favorites.

Black kitty sheds a lot in the summer, so as soon as it is warm outside we shave her. This time we forgot to tell the groomer to leave her tail hair, so he looked like a rat this summer.

I think maybe this was kitty's revenge for the shaving. I guess that's what we get for getting our camping stuff ready in the front room.

Little buddy is such a poser. He knows he's cute and he knows what to do to make you think he's cute so you'll give him loves. He'll flop down on the floor right in front of you and strike a few poses.

When Branden worked crazy shifts at work, he slept a lot in the daytime which meant he usually had some cuddle buddies. (They're not allowed in our room at the new house....so I'm sure they're feeling a little neglected. Little Budy LOVES to sleep under the covers!

Curiosity about the duck boat. Who knowa what # this duckboat was. Seems like Branden gets a new one almost every year.

Curious, but cautious.

I don't know why, but buddy sleeps with his arms out in front of him a lot. I think he just knows it's cute.

Branden would probably punch me if he knew I posted this picture :)

Here's a pic of what Black Kitty looks like when her tail isn't shaved. (and notice....a different duck boat in the background)

Guess we took too long to unload the grocery (looks like Costco) run.

Cakes, Cupcakes & Cookies Galore

OK, so a for graduation with my undergrad, my dad gave me a cake decorating kit. I honestly thought it was a tackle box....I let it sit in my basement for about a year until I decided to start messing with it. I looked at the little instruction booklet and tried to make some stuff. I signed up for a beginners cake decorating class at a local craft store...and I'm definitely still an amateur, but I really like to decorate cakes when I have time. Actually, cupcakes are my favorite. So here are a few pictures of cakes and cupcakes that I've done. These monsters are by far my favorite cupcakes. I do them every halloween.

My second favorite Halloween cupcake.

Mini cupcakes...kind-of fun with the raspberry in the middle. This was a marble cake mix and they were YUMMY!

I made 2 of these cakes for Branden's little sister's (Kami) wedding shower.

I made this cake real quick one saturday for a friend's birthday (Stacey Hansen).

I really liked this cake tin when I found it. It lets you decorate different "layers" but it isn't a full on 3 tiered cake.

I made this cake pretty early on in my cake decorating days. It was inspired by some cool henna cupcakes I saw online. I did the Celtic knot at the top since the cake was for my mom's birthday and she loves all things Celt, especially the knots.

My mom's cake inspired me to do a similar cake for Branden's Dad's (Ronnie) birthday.

Some fun easter basket and spring flower cupcakes.

My grandma Jan had a bridal/reception center for many years. She did all of the catering and she is awesome. It was really special to me when I first started to learn to use the icing bags and tips that I was able to spend a day with her doing nothing but decorating cookies. She definitely taught me a thing or two. For some reason I love this picture of my grandma's hands. It's the perfect picture for how I remember her hands.

Enjoying the fruits of your labor is dangerous when frosting and sweets are involved. (you can see the "tacklebox" in the background)

My experimental easter bunny cake.

I made BYU cupcakes (against my better judgement) for a party we were having at Keb and Amy's (Branden's cousin and his wife) to watch a BYU game. The cupcake on the bottom right is a cute little football....that was my favorite one.

My first cake with roses. This is a cake that I had to make for my cake decorating class.

This was my first cake that I had to make for my class.