we went to san diego

last week, we had had enough of the stinking rain. so we flew down to san diego to get some much needed sunshine. the boys were very good on the plane. still dont want to fly alone with the two of them.... but they were pretty good little angels.

the second we arrived, we found the closest in-n-out. duh.

while the boys played with my aunt shanna's dog, i shopped around la mesa and stumbled upon this white church. 

then we headed up to auntie brookie's house. she was kind enough to let us stay there for the week even though she was out of town. we missed her and scott but had an AMAZING time at their fabulous home. my boys couldnt wait to get swim suits on before jumping in the pool.

that night, we went to rubios. i would have rather had fins but we were hungry and fins was too far. whatever. i will take a fish taco where i can get one. 

after dinner, we got our favorite..... thrifty's chocolate malt crunch ice cream. sully was very impressed.

the next day was more swimming in brooke's pool.

tagg loved scrambling up the rocks to jump into the pool. 

that night, my cousin watched the boys (who were sleeping anyway) so craig and i could see the dark knight rises. and even though i was very anxious because of the colorado tragedy, it was an great movie.

the next morning we woke up early to attend the ward i grew up in. i had not been back in fifteen years and i was excited to introduce craig and my boys to my old friends. i think it was quite a shock to them. lets just say that when we moved from san diego, i was a pretty wayward fourteen year old. i was happy to show my friends that i turned out ok. :)

after church, (and ONLY because we were on vacation. and even then it was hard for me!) we had a delicious breakfast at the original pancake house in poway.

tagg's face in this picture kills me. he sure did enjoy his chocolate chip pancakes.

then we drove down to brooke's beach house in la jolla. sully loved this old hat we found. i kind of want to eat him.

so i guess i got over my feeling-bad-about-breaking-the-sabbath because we stopped by in-n-out on the way back from la jolla for dinner.

then my aunt, uncle, and cousins came up and we watched 60 minutes and made candied ritz (an AMAZING recipe from our favorite restaurant in new york). shanna and i were too busy shoveling the candied ritz in our mouths to care about my crying child.

before my family left, my uncle gave tagg a little ride on  his motorcycle. 

the next day, we went to old town to visit the mormon battalion center.

tagg LOVED panning for gold.

craig loved finding his ancestor, lot smith, on the computer thingy. look! they even have the same creepy eyes!

not sure what tagg is doing with his face. and not sure why my hair looks like a freaking lion's mane. eww.

then we walked around old town. we ate legitimate mexican churros and bought legitimate mexican toys. very fun.

on our way back to brooke's house, we ate at pat & oscars for dinner. i could eat their bread sticks alllllllll day long.

that night was our last night in san diego so we enjoyed some family hot tubbing time.

then we roasted marshmallows and had smores.

the last day, we soaked up as much sun as possible and took pictures on scott's motorcycle. sully is nuts.

tagg and sully had a wonderful time with my cousins, noah and liam. i loved watching them play together.

taggy, on the plane ride home, with some sun on  his cheeks. 

and right on time! seattle decided to get sunny when we got back into town. we had a fabulous week in san diego and recognize how incredibly lucky we are to have such a great family.

homemade ice cream cake

last month, craig requested an ice cream cake for his birthday treat. so i decided to document the process to make a little tutorial. ice cream cakes are SO delicious and very fun to customize. 

ingredients:

1 carton favorite flavor ice cream

1 carton vanilla ice cream

1 box devils food cake mix 

1 package oreos

1 batch of your favorite buttercream/frosting

bake the cake in one 9 inch round cake pan (there will be leftover batter... so make some cupcakes while youre at it!).

line another 9 inch round cake pan with foil or plastic wrap. fill the cake pan with your chosen ice cream flavor. press firmly to make sure the ice cream will take the shape of the pan. freeze.

take half a package of oreos and crush them in a food processor. 

make your frosting (you will only need enough to frost the two middle layers and decorate the finished cake. so maybe about 3 cups). 

once the cake is completely cooled (i even freeze mine for a bit to make sure its nice and cold), carefully slice it across the center to make two layers.

place the bottom cake layer on your cake stand. spread frosting across the cake. cover frosting with layer of crushed oreos. place top layer of cake on top. repeat frosting and oreo layers.


carefully lift the ice cream out of the 9 inch round cake pan, place it on top of the cake layers and remove foil/plastic wrap.

soften the vanilla ice cream (i usually try to get vanilla bean because it's the "whitest" of vanillas but for this cake i could only find old fashioned vanilla. hence the slightly yellow tint) by defrosting it in the microwave or mixing it in the kitchenaid for a minute, adding a tablespoon of milk. this helps make the ice cream act more like a frosting when you go to cover the cake.

"frost" the assembled layers with the softened vanilla ice cream.  

once the cake is "frosted" quickly place it in the freezer.

when the cake is completely frozen (i like it to set up for at least 3 hours) you can decorate it with the leftover frosting. but work quickly because the frosting/buttercream will want to slide around on the ice cream. so get it back into the freezer as fast as possible.

let your finished cake chill before serving.

ENJOY a homemade ice cream cake. theres nothing better!

just ask sully.

scripture treasures

last week my primary lesson was "the scriptures are a great treasure". and whats a better example of that then making scriptures out of actual (hersheys) treasures?!

i was up late saturday night making these mini scriptures. the "cover" to the book was even faux suede (didnt get a picture of it). my favorite detail was the little red ribbon marker. 

and as always, i had to make an extra one for tagg. look at those chubby little hands holding the teeny scriptures. too cute.

fourth of july in sandpoint

we spent the fourth in sandpoint. it was amazing. i honestly could stay there all summer.

we got there late tuesday night. we woke up early the next morning (the fourth) to go into town for the parade.  the boys loved the cars, horses and cotton candy!

after the parade, we went back to that house to sit around and enjoy the gorgeous weather.

i saw these political toms on s girl a couple weeks ago. i loved them! but they were only available for the 2008 election and the only pair i could find was on ebay for $200. so megan and i made ourselves a pair. 

waiting for the fireworks to start. 

before sully went to bed we let him get in on the pyro action.

the next day, was a lake day.

and whats laying out without a panda?

sully went on his first boat ride and loved it! especially with wilson by his side.

that evening, we picked rhubarb from becky's garden to made strawberry rhubarb pie. it was delicious.

a little hot tubbing.

most nights were spent making friendship bracelets. we found a tutorial to made this chevron design and surprise, surprise craig perfected the technique. i love my neon bracelet.

that night, we had a dance party. 

the next day, half of the group drove over to silverwood. my dad took tagg and they had a great time.

while they were gone, we played bocce ball. even linda joined in.

my mom and shelly.

craig had the pleasure of tubing with me for the first time. he might have said i blew out his ear drum.....

then craig took sully on a ride on the jet ski. 

after everyone returned from silverwood we had a huge bbq. i was excited to try this new technique with hot dogs. before you cook the hot dogs, you spiral cute them. that way, they not only look cool but plump up every where and caramelize on the inside. very yum.

craig and me, bbqing.

the next day was more fun in the sun.

the girls took a ride around town in the rands' new vintage car. 

then becky, megan and i went tubing. 

and tagg jumped in the (still pretty dang cold) lake. we were so proud of him!

after we all got cleaned up, we had a mini photo session. sully looks insane. that chipped tooth is too much. :)

tucker leaves on his mission next week so we got together for one last picture of the original five.

and no trip to sandpoint would be complete without a rousing game of cranium. and i am proud to report that I wasnt the one who ran out crying because i wasnt winning...... the person who DID will remain nameless.......

the next morning we sadly got in our cars to come home. it it always so depressing to leave sandpoint.  but an ice cream sandwich on the drive home helped to lift our spirits a little. :)