Love Oreos

My birthday cake was epic this year. It is one of those cakes where you say it's the thought that counts. Erik knows I like brownies and peanut butter. So he wanted to make me the ultimate cake. He baked two pans of brownies. Then put peanut butter frosting in between to create two layers. Next he found a recipe for chocolate buttercream frosting online. 

This recipe had 4 sticks of butter and a pound and a half of chocolate in it. My chocolate buttercream recipe has 1 stick of butter and 2/3 cup of cocoa powder in it. YIKES! That is a lot of butter. So Erik channeled his inner Paula Dean to make this recipe. The cake was good but too much. I had to lie down after eating a piece. We also ate the entire thing because we are American. 

I love that he wanted to make me a special cake for my birthday. I told him, never make this again, but thank you. It's the thought that counts sometimes!

Matthew and his puzzle!

The ultimate cake!

Halfway gone

 Each year we go on a camping trip with the Masts and Mabrys and Brubakers. We went to Lazy River and had a spectacular time! The kids got muddy, sandy, wet, and loved it. The Mabrys bought a camper and this was the first time they took the camper out for the weekend. It rained (of course) but only one day. For the most part it was nice. We also went to Whit's for frozen custard (after the rain) and that was yummy! Jen, Joy and I got to sit and talk quite a bit this weekend. That was my favorite part of the trip - hanging out with my friends! I hope to continue doing this camping trip every year.

Kids in the water

Mast, Mabry and Cooper kids

Kids being silly

 Tricia and I took our kids to Young's Dairy. We got lunch and ice cream (obviously!). I got the ultimate peanut butter sundae. It had 3 scoops of ice cream, whip cream, peanut butter and hot fudge topping, reeses pieces, and a buckeye. It was heaven. I couldn't even finish it and I don't back down from a challenge.

My sundae

 The kids liked feeding the goats at Young's Dairy too. I also got some cajun cheese curds - yum!

Matthew, Jenna, Addie, Tyson, and Sarah

 For my birthday I requested to spar Erik at tae kwon do. YASSSSS! While sparring Erik was amazing I found that I was at a disadvantage because I do not have as long of a reach. So I have to get in close to punch him. Usually I spar Jenna but sparring Erik was a lot more difficult. It was still fun to beat up Erik!

SPAR!!

 Oreo has a new flavor - Mocha. I think it is really good. After eating these oreos I thought long and hard about the different flavors of oreos I have tried. Unfortunately I have not tried candy corn oreos, gingerbread oreos, neapolitan oreos, fruit punch oreos, swedish fish oreos, and blueberry pie oreos. That is sad since I like oreos and didn't realized I missed my chance!!

mocha oreo

My favorite oreos:

1. Brownie batter
2. Chocolate cream
3. Cookies n cream 
4. Filled cupcake 
5. Mint 
6. Mocha
7. Peanut butter 
8. Smores 
9. Cookie dough 
10. Firework 
11. Chocolate strawberry
12. Regular
13. Lemon
14. Birthday cake
15. Double stuff
16. Golden
17. Caramel apple
18. Red Velvet
19. Watermelon
20. Cinnamon roll
21. Peeps
22. Pumpkin spice

In other news:

1. Our book club finished the Bridge of Birds. Good riddance. We will pick another book that will definitely be better. I'm hoping for All Our Wrong Todays. I heard it was good. 
2. Matthew is riding his bike pretty well in the cul de sac near our house. I've been working with him every day and today he pedaled 8 times without me holding on!! He is SO close!
3. Sarah went to Y camp this week. She likes swimming every day and the crafts. She doesn't like getting up early and missing her family. I thought that was so sweet!
4. Last weekend Erik went to Sacramento to spend the weekend celebrating David's 40th birthday. They spent the entire time playing games and Erik won a large percentage of them. He is good at board games. We play Castles of Burgundy almost every night and he wins most of the time. Yet I still keep coming back to get beat up again! They also played golf and drank an obscene about of disgusting, nasty, wretched gasoline-flavored liquid scotch. 
5. I have moved my balls to the wall workout to Wednesday. Over the summer the schedules have changed at the Y and now they offer weight lifting on Wednesday. I've really noticed a difference since I've started weight lifting and I actually enjoy it.
6. My 4 classes have been going really well this session. Next session I'm teaching Visual Basic and I haven't taught that in years so I'm pumped about that. It gets boring teaching the same courses over and over again.
7. I've finished the first 7 of 9 books in the Fever series by Karen Marie Moning,  Silent Songbird by Melanie Dickerson, and Valor's Choice by Tanya Huff. I've been reading a lot of mindless books lately.