Adventuring...

We have a friend at church who likes to take backroads on his motorcycle, and he often gives Randy good ideas for places to check out that have beautiful scenery. One of the drives he suggested is near our hometown. We mapped the drive up to Kanopolis Lake on Google to make sure that we didn't get completely lost. While we wondered how old the data was that Google pulled from, we had a great adventure and broke in the truck as an expedition vehicle...finally. And we again realized that not all of Kansas is flat!

This was called 2nd Ave. on the map and believe it or not had road signs.



This was Rainbow Road. It may have had two plowed fields that ran through it, but it did have a road sign!















We eventually got up to the lake and went hiking on the trails. More pics later.

Tomatoes, Grapes, and Girls

Tomatoes...I just picked a heaping ice cream pail full of romas. I've already made sauce twice and salsa a couple of times. Does anyone need tomatoes????

Grapes...tonight Randy and I were working in the yard when we caught a whiff of a sweet scent. Like a can of grape pop. Turns out it was our grapevine loaded with concords that are just about to ripen. I better call our moms for grape jelly and grape juice recipes. Num.

Girls...I had 18 (yes, EIGHTEEN) 3 and 4 year old in my class Sunday! Thankfully, I had 3 helpers too for the 15 potty breaks. They all did great! Other than one hiding under the table, the morning was surprisingly calm.

Why I Like Cake

This blog was named "I Like Cake" for a reason. In our house we like cake. Before I met Randy cake was...cake. My mom's chocolate cake was mmm yum, but it was for birthdays. Other chocolate cake might taste like chocolate styrofoam (Not so yum) .

And then I met Randy and his cakes. His cakes each have specific flavor and texture. Then he started playing with different combinations of dark chocolate and new textures of frosting and filling and ganache. Oh mercy. So I thought I should start posting pictures of his cakes. While it won't be a cake of the week (although there is almost a cake of the week), I'll try to get the best ones posted.

This latest (mostly eaten!) cake is a fluffy chocolate. The cake itself has great flavor, but combine it with the ganache and filling and it makes me melt. The thin blue layers are a light blueberry filling, a perfect compliment to the dark chocolate. On the middle layer he used his "special sauce," the perfect chocolate sauce for ice cream and now cake, too. The whole four-layer confection is topped with a light, glossy ganache that absolutely melts in your mouth! Now that's yum!

Weekend of Calm Chaos

This weekend seems to be a pivotal one. On the same Saturday, we scheduled the training for Reno County Backstage Pass and the GBC Women's Conference (Oops!) So, while I did get elicit help from my mom for early morning registration duties, I didn't get to enjoy the day with her. (Sorry, Mom!) Instead I got to go do a presentation and finish hosting a meeting for work...all before noon. Everything went off without a hitch...so far.

This weekend is also Promotion Sunday at church. That means that my 5 year olds and almost 5 year olds are moving up to the next class AND I get a brand new group of 3 year olds! For the last two years I've had mostly boys...very busy and often entertaining boys. These boys include one who very earnestly prayed for my dear friend "Danika in Danikastan" (I think he meant Afghanastan!).

Tomorrow it all changes. I am getting at least 6 girls and 1 new boy in my class. We'll have sorts of adventures in learning to sit still and to raise a hand instead of shouting and to be lady when wearing a skirt. And Lord willing, these sweet (I think) girls will learn a whole lot about the love of Jesus and how much He has done for them!

It's a surprise after all!

This weekend we threw a "surprise" birthday party for my Dad's 60th birthday party. It wasn't much of a surprise since we threw one for Mom's 60th in February. But there was one very fun surprise element for all of us. About 20 minutes before the guests arrived Jeff & Lindsay and Ella and Jack showed up at Brad and Shirley's! We had a fun party and a great weekend...thanks for coming Jeff & Linds!!!

Watch the slideshow for the progression of events...it starts with Kaitlin & Ella hiding, then Jeff & Jack starting to come out and the look on Mom's face when she saw Jeff. Fun times!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Sweet Thing #2

The one on the right? Not-so-sweet-thing. The one on the left? VERY sweet thing!

The one on the right makes a MESS of pureeing tomatoes and making salsa and it has no guts for mashing through garbanzo beans for hummus.

The one on the left whips through 6 cups of thick tomato sauce in no time. Cabbage for slaw? Even better. It has power, it's quiet, and clean up? Clean up is a breeze. Most food processors (or food pros for you Iron Chef America fans - yes, I'm a dork) have all these extra pieces that don't do much except make a pile of dishes that are hard to clean. You actually have to pay for a simple, easy to clean option.

So thank you, honey, for my 9-cup Kitchenaid food pro with 4 blades. It's going to get plenty of use! It is the perfect early birthday present! (Yes, this is the one time I told him it's okay to get me an appliance for a gift...other than the coffee maker he got me for a wedding gift. He said it was the best thing he could think of to help our marriage - fresh coffee for Dana in the morning. And he was right!!)

Celebrating the Sweet Things - Sweet Thing #1

For the first time in 2 1/2 weeks I can open my car door from the outside. No more opening up the rear driver's side door, stretching as far as my short arm could reach and to open the driver's door from the inside. No more forgetting it was broken only to pull hard and be reminded that for a few weeks I had a ghetto car. My handy older brother who can usually fix anything related to the body of a car took a long look at it and decided Ford made the latch to be broken. He didn't want to break it anymore (thank you!), so we took it to the mechanic (the very busy one who usually takes a month to get in to) yesterday, and today it's done. Amazing what a working car door can do! Makes me appreciate the little sweet things!