Tyler's Birthday Cake

I was so excited with Melanie asked me to make a birthday cake for Tyler. I searched all over the Internet for ideas, and then combined three of my favorites to come up with my cake.

Melanie and I decided it would be fun to make the inside of the cake camo. So I started with a white cake mix and divided it into 4 bowls. I then colored each bowl a different color: tan, brown, green and black.

I coated my pan with Wilton cake release (BEST stuff EVER!) and dropped the colors in, one at a time, rotating around to create a messy camo pattern. When the entire bottom of the pan was covered, I still had quite a bit of batter left. So I went over each color and built it up with the same color.

This is what my pan looked like before I put it in the oven.

I almost couldn't decorate it, it looked so cool!

We decided to do an outdoor scene. I thought it would look cool if I built a hill. So I cooked one regular sized cake and then 2 square cakes. I used the square cakes to get my hill.

I tried to keep it simple. A pond in one corner and then a river over part of it. After I had finished those, I was worried I didn't have room to write "Happy Birthday Tyler," but I was able to get it in.

I loved how the river flowed off the side of the cake. It also started to flow off the board, so I had to divert it. The pond also spilled down the side of the cake a little. Josh said you could tell we had a great water year when even cake ponds are overflowing. :p

Melanie found a moose toy. We didn't put him until right when we lit the candles. I didn't want him falling over and destroying my hard work. I also had to refill the pond in a few spots because a little boy found his cake early and decided to help himself. After all, it was his birthday. He should be able to have his cake and eat it too.

The inside didn't look quite how I pictured it, but it was still pretty cool.

25. Put your ipod on shuffle – first 10 songs.

1. "Just a Kiss" Lady Antebellum
2. "Me & My Gang" Rascal Flatts
3. "What Hurts the Most" Rascal Flatts
4. "Need You Now" Lady Antebellum
5. "Enchanted" Taylor Swift
6. "Hello World" Rascal Flatts
7. "I'm Taking the Wheel" SheDaisy
8. "The One" Gary Allen
9. "Love Don't Live Here" Lady Antebellum
10. "Good Together" SheDaisy

*I set went to my favorites play list instead of all songs. :) It hit just about all my favorite artist.

Riding in Dry Gulch

This weekend we headed up Dry Gulch with family to ride our horses. 

But first, here is how tricked out my horse has become. :) I'm convinced she is the prettiest horse on the farm. 

On Thursday night I went to Vernal to meet Josh and pick out the rest of the stuff I needed for my saddle. It was hard to choose a saddle blanket. I wanted something in purple, but the only purple they had was ugly, and expensive. I was finally able to settle on this neutral one. 

The only thing I was able to pick out on my own, without Josh there to guide me, was the harness and lead rope, which I did a few weeks ago. The pictures don't show up well though, the harness is purple, not pink. The lead rope is purple, pink and blue. 

I also picked out a breast collar when I met Josh in Vernal. 

 We went with Mel and her family, Dallon & Natalie, and met Josh's uncle Willard and Aunt Judy who had brought a few of their nephews with them. We had 5 horses between all of, so we had to take turns. Willard and Judy's horses, Tuner & Peanuts, are the calmest horses ever. 

 The boys LOVED riding the horses. I didn't get pictures of Judy's nephews, but each time one of the boys came back, another boy was begging to go. For the most part, the boys only got to ride Peanuts and Tuner, but at one point, Josh took Sugar and let Tyler ride with him.  (No picture though, the camera was in Josh's pocket.)

 No one thought Colter would ride, but when he saw how calm the horses were, he decided to go too. Tyler missed the first family ride while he finished his nap.

Then we started to get up for the long ride which included, myself, Josh, Dallon, Natalie and Willard

 Tyler woke up, so he got a quick ride in with his uncle Josh before we left.

We rode for about 2 hours along a trail that took us through some pretty country. I forgot my camera, but was able to borrow Barb's. Some of the pictures are blurry because its hard to take pictures on a moving horse. 

I tried to take a few pictures over my head to get pictures of Dallon and Natalie.

We stopped at this pond to look around when suddenly something started to move in the middle. 

At this point I gave the camera to Josh and told him to get lots of pictures. He did a great job. 

My thought on this picture was, why didn't I think of that and hold hands with Josh? But his horse was in one of her "sassy" moods, so we probably couldn't of anyways. 

 Sugar and I did so well together. She is a pretty calm horse and I'm getting more comfortable riding. I'm not near as sore as I was last week after we went riding. 

Back at the trucks so the others can take turns again. The spot we met at was so nice. We set up our blankets and picnic food in the shade of a few trees that kept us nice and cool. Then there was a huge field where all the kids could run and play and we could be able to keep an eye on them. And there was no running water nearby so it was nice to not have to worry about that. 

Josh took these pictures of Dallon and Natalie. Watch closely.

I can't figure out where Preston came from. Maybe he was hiding behind that tree?

Melanie & Colter took one last ride with Tyler. They said he kept switching between them and he never stopped talking to the hose. He LOVED it!

It was the perfect fun day. Hopefully we can go again soon. 

24. A Place You Have Traveled To UPDATE

My mom reminded me of our Park City Trips. Those were FUN! There were a few summers were we would go stay in a friends condo and then ride the Alpine Slide. This would've been back when you could actually afford to, I've heard its gotten pretty expensive. I think that is one of the reasons we didn't continue that trip every summer like we had been doing before. One year we also went on a horse ride. My brother was too young, so my mom stayed behind with him while my sister and I went on the trail ride. It was pretty neat. And for some odd reason, I also remember people telling me that year that they loved my hair. Not sure why that memory sticks out the most...

I guess in my vacations post, I was only thinking about big vacations. But we had lots of fun mini vacations too. Each year we went to Lagoon, and most often we went at least twice, sometimes more. We'd usually go with my mom's family. Then later in the summer my dad's employer would've give him tickets for the family, so we'd go again. :) During that second time, Lagoon was usually running their "bounce back". You had to validate your ticket, and then you could come back for free (or half price, I can't remember) a few weeks later. We'd usually go as a family the 1st time, but then we would only validate some of the tickets. Then we'd go to the other end of the park and sign our friends names so they could come with us the next time. ;)

I also remember camping a lot, until our family outgrew the camper. The last time I remember going, my brother slept in his car seat on the stove. I think one of those trips is where I said my first swear word. (Again, another odd memory to have.)

Water Marble Nail Art

A few weeks ago I stumbled onto a blog, My Simple Little Pleasures. This girl is obsessed with her nails. But she does the coolest things! I had never heard of Water Marble Nail Art until then. I shared the tutorials with several friends and some of them went right home and tried it.

I wanted to try it too, but I didn't want to cover my pretty acrylic nails. Finally last weekend I was bored and thought I would try it out. I tried to take a few pictures, but its hard when half of my nails were prepped and the other half still wet. I only had 2 colors of nail polish in my house, so I tried to follow her flower tutorial using red and purple nail polish. I started with a purple base, but when I did several fingers, it was too dark and the red didn't show through. So I cleaned up all my fingers and painted on a red base. The next day I was still unhappy with half of my fingers, so I redid them again. I think one nail I did 5 times total!

Here's my cup after I've added the colors, but before I drew in my design.

My flower design. Then I choose my favorite spot to dip my finger.

I had taped wrapped around my finger so it wouldn't be so messy. I once dipped the wrong finger, that wasn't taped, it was a mess. After the paint dries, you peel off the tape.

I tried several times to take good pictures, but the pictures just don't do my fingers justice. They turned out so CUTE! Its been a few days now, and I still just stare at them.

Here is the tutorial I followed.

24. A place you have traveled to

I wish I had pictures to go with this post, but I don't think I do. Josh and I aren't big into traveling, so we've never gone too far from home. But we are planning a cruise to Alaska next year and I'll be sure to take lots of pictures to make up for the lack of pictures on this post.

As a kid, my mom was big on vacations, so we went on one about every year. Sadly, mostly all I remember is fighting in the car, fighting in the parks, fighting in the hotel. Well, you get the point. I think that is why I don't like traveling.

Nevertheless, here are a few of the non fighting memories from those trips.

I was young the first time we went to Disneyland. There was just me and my sister at that time. We drove all the way to California in my dad's truck with a camper in the bed. I don't remember this part, buy my parents relate it often. They had prepped us for a long time that the trip would take us 2 whole days. TWO DAYS! We left home and headed down the road. They stopped in a town only 30 minutes away where they told us that we were there. We were pretty disappointed after seeing the town of Duchesne. What I do remember from that trip was the truck lost a hubcap and my dad had to look for it on the freeway. And I remember the ride "Its a Small World."

The 2nd time we went to Disneyland, we went with half of my dad's family. My grandma wanted to take all the grand kids, but the family is so big, she decided to split it in half. She took the older grand kids and then a few years later took the younger ones.

The highlight of that trip was meeting Belle. We went to a restaurant in the park where some characters walk around the tables and Belle was supposed to be there that night. But she somehow got held up and we ended up waiting FOREVER to meet her.

One year my family went to the Black Hills. I don't think my parents planned it on purpose, but we ended up going during Sturgis. The closest hotel we could find was in Wyoming. I've never seen so many motorcycles! I don't remember much else about the trip, except that just about every morning we ate at the same place because it was so good! I think it was call Perkins, but I can't remember.
Another year we went to Yellowstone. I'd love to go there again with Josh. But we have conflicts on when to go. He wants to go in the fall when the elk are bugling, but that is also the same time he usually hunts. Hopefully someday.

The only big trip we've been on since we got married was to Lake Powell. I LOVED it. Josh endured it. We went with a friend and his two younger sisters. I loved living on a boat for a few days, the tubing, all the water fun. Josh is not so much a water person, unless we are fishing, but we didn't do much of that. I think the only part he enjoyed was a nap he took on a sand dune. We had hiked up a canyon one day and made it to the sand dune. He slept while the rest of us played in the sand. He still talks about the nap and how wonderful it was. I don't know if we'll ever go back, but I'd love too. This trip has actually led to a dispute. We both want a boat. But Josh wants a small fishing boat while I wanted a much larger boat.

Josh and I aren't completely boring, we just both seem to prefer to stay close to home. We both enjoy camping and try to do that every year, even if its just for a night. We also try to go somewhere new every year on our anniversary. I think my favorite place we stayed was a Bed & Breakfast in Cedar City about 6 or 7 years ago. It was the cutest place and they were running a special so we were able to stay in the honeymoon suite for half the price. Last year we talked about going again, but the place is no longer there.

Now we are looking forward to Alaska. I can't wait!

23. Favorite Movies

I haven't forgotten the 30 posts I was going to do, I've just got sidetracked. Or stumped on a few of the items. Getting back on track, here is #23, Favorite Movies

"While You Were Sleeping"
I LOVE Sandra Bullock. I think she is my favorite actress. And I used to have a crush on Bill Pullman. So of course I'm going to love this movie. I haven't watched it in a while, but each time I do, my heart just swoons as she falls in love with the brother. And his family cracks me up. To me, there is something comforting about a chaotic family. They are so comfortable with each other and so close that no matter the level of chaos, they are an amazing family full of love.

Disney's "Beauty and the Beast"
This movie will always be my favorite animated Disney movie. Its the last good movie Disney made, in my opinion. I even wore a yellow dress to prom one year so I could feel like Princess Belle. I also thought about naming my horse Belle, but decided not too. I was worried people would call her Bella, not Belle. And Sugar fits my horse much better anyways.

"Ever After"
I love pretty much any Cinderella type movies, but this one is my absolute favorite version. We have it on VHS, but no longer have a working VHS player. I was so delighted when I found it on Netflix instant play. When I was dating Josh, we watched this movie together, and afterwards was the first time I told him I loved him. Maybe that's why its a favorite movie because it relates to a favorite memory.

"Enchanted"
Can you tell I'm a sucker for princess movies?

"Stardust"
I think this movie is kind of an unknown, but it is so good! Someone at work mentioned it so I bought it. I've also read the book, but for once, the movie is much better.

I'm sure I could think of many other favorite movies, but I think I'll just stop with my top five.