Racing Weekend

Still trying to catch up on blogging...

Last weekend we went to two different races.

Ty got the opportunity to race a midget. It's like a small sprint car, with no wing. Here, I'll just show you...

That's him. He did really well. He raced midgets about five(?) years ago, and then raced a full size sprint car for part of a year after that, and since then he only races once every year or two. That being said, he qualified 3rd out of 17 and was in 5th when the race was called to an end early. Not bad against guys who do it every week or two! Good job, Husb! He was also a little nervous because it was a borrowed car - 'you break it you buy it' has a whole new meaning in that situation!

He had a good smooth race and stayed out of all the crashes and we had a good time watching him. Our nephew Austin was able to borrow a car for the race, and our nephew Seth is racing one this season, so it was neat to watch them all together.

We stayed in Elma that night, and drove another hour and a half south to Longview the next morning to watch my dad and brother in the drag races...

My dad is in the red jeep on the right and my brother is second from the front in the left line in the primer gray jeep.

Grandma is always ready to soak up every ounce of grandkid time, even in the chaos of the races...

Of course Mark loved getting to watch the races and track equipment from the comfort of Papa's golf cart...

We got to see Papa and Jake each have a couple good runs...

We had to stop at Starbucks to endure the heat, traffic jams, and our own grumpiness during the five hour drive home, but it was a fun weekend! Good job Austin, Seth, Ty, Dad and Jake!

Gump

I have had a busy couple weeks! I've been trying to get stuff done, but Miss Susanna is so much more social than Mark was at her age; it seems if I am not in front of her face speaking to her, then she is crying! Is that a girl thing??? Anyway, I aim to catch up on blogging this week so here goes.

Forrest Gump stopped by. He left this behind...

Just kidding. I had forgotten our church still used this iconic mower! Husb has been given the job of selling this old thing and upgrading to a newer, sadly, more reliable model. But look, it is only a slightly newer version that Mr. Gump's...

Since I was a bozillionaire, and I liked doin' it so much... I mowed that grass fo' free.

Oh, that movie takes me back. I used to watch it every day after school. In high school. It was bad. I even had a friend that was as obsessed as me. As we jogged around the football field for track practice we'd repeat our favorite lines till we were rolling on the ground laughing and everyone else was like... "wha?" I told you, it was bad. But I secretly do want to watch that movie again - it's a classic.

Anyway, I worked on this monster pile for 3 days now....

Susanna is happy that I am done. While I worked on those weeds, she worked on perfecting her sassy looks...

... discovered girlie-girl hand gestures...

... how to get annoying hats off...

... and then proceeded to her favorite past time, tasting everything in sight...

Mark was happy to chill on the Snapper, kicking back and acting like a man.

So now that the weed monsters are conquered, I only have to scoop out all the wood chip mulch, and acquire and spread compost mulch so that my plants will have some nutrients and my garden might become a little more enthusiastic. Maybe some day I will blog about that - for now, I am still a brown thumb! It is all so beautiful in my mind, but getting there is so much work with two little ones!

A Full Week

On Friday we met my Mom in Snoqualmie, so she could take Mark to meet Thomas the Steam Engine. Not Thomas the Train. Thomas the Steam Engine. He tells me when I get it wrong. A lot. Anyway, he was stoked...

When we arrived we got to see him puff by, and Mark was fixated. Then he passed and all the loud noisy cars went by and I thought for a minute he would jump back in the car...

But he was brave. He got to ride on the train Thomas was pulling (Thomas is the engine, so you don't exactly get to ride on him). He was successful at getting some goodies from grandma in the souvenir shop. He got ice cream. He got to have his mother take a picture of him through the fence because the whole thing was commercialized and I refused to let him stand at the front by Thomas's face and pay for that photo in the gift shop.

He was fine with it though. He was a trooper - it was swelteringly hot and he had been sick the day before with a 101.5 fever. When we were taking his picture, he kept saying he didn't want a picture, he wanted to go on some other thing... I thought he meant this neat little train car...

No. He wanted to go in the bouncy house. What is up with those? I never got to go in those when I was a kid and I turned out fine. Right? [crickets] They are full of wild kids, usually big kids, germs, who knows what else. Though I did always dream of swimming through the ball pits when I was a kid, and never got to. Anyway, he didn't get to go back for the bouncy house since it was so hot and he had just been sick. That's when we took our ice-cream break.

Susanna was a trooper too. She reclined the whole time in Mark's hand-me-down stroller, and barely made a peep.

I made her wait for like 15 minutes to get this one of Thomas when he came back from one of his runs...

And when we got home, Mark had some R&R at the other grandma's house...

Then today, we were going to dinner at Ty's aunt's for fried chicken. What goes better with fried chicken than apple pie? So I made mine and, Leah, this is for you...

I was a big girl and made a pretty crust!!! It wasn't your Martha Stewart recipe because I couldn't find it, but I used a double batch to make sure I could roll it big enough and I pinched it just fine. I feel like such a better housewife now. ; )

And, I noticed, when I make my own crust, the crust shields actually cover the crust, unlike the frozen cheap ones I usually buy that are so small, the shield does nothing for them and they burn.

And no, the pie is not cooked. I was just pulling out the pie when it was time to go, so I did not pause to take a pic. Maybe tomorrow when I have my piece for breakfast I will share. A picture, that is.

Tomorrow, I get a tan, my horse gets a bath, the garden gets watered, beans get planted, car gets washed and vacuumed, groceries get bought, ... do you think I am over committing?

Summertime!

I remember last summer. It was so nice when the sun came out and we could roll around in the grass. By 'we' I mean Ty and Mark. Every day Ty would come home from work, we would eat dinner on the patio, and then they would always play in the grass. I was about 7 months prego, so I sat and watched the boys wrestle, race, crash and play. Now, I have a boat anchor named Susanna, and she and I sit and watch the boys together. It's all good - I enjoy the eye candy.

It's all fun and games until someone tips over in the poky grass.

So, my Mother-in-law's armoire was delivered yesterday. Am I bringing you a big reveal? NO. They broke one of the legs off while unloading it, so they have to bring a new one next week! :'(

Random Nature Shot

On one of the trips to my moms a couple months back, we went to visit the small mining town of Liberty in the Cascade Mountains. These are the brief highlights. Brief because there is a 6 month old on my lap.

This is the handy work of the local inhabitants...

And here is the full view...

That tree is a mother! How does the little guy know which side of the tree to stand on when they take the last nibble? My husband would critique their job of "facing it" for sure. I think that is what he calls it. He is pretty much a logger.

Then here is one of the nice little country homes in the town, where people still live, by the way, with a rocker on the front porch...

I could probably live in that town except that it is under snow for about half the year.

Look what we were blessed with on the drive home...

Isn't she the sweetest?

Okay, my girl is drawing all over my arms with a ballpoint pen - I think it is time for me to go!

A last piece of furniture was delivered for the MIL's master bedroom today! I think it is big reveal time!!!

Wedding Cake?

So, a friend is getting married this summer. The wedding is going to be the best country, ho-down (sp?), summer BBQ, picnic style gathering of friends and a boot tapping time, for sure.

The budget, however, is not so well endowed. Never fear, a bunch of friends with big ideas can do a whole lot on a little budget. That is why I am pitching in and trying to tackle the cake. I am testing out this cake for the wedding...

Outside it looks like a pretty normal wedding cake but inside...

Ohhhh inside.

I cut two cake rounds in half using kabobs as guides, then add 3 layers of filling. Each layer has strawberry freezer jam (made with love by yours truly), then real fresh strawberry slices, then a little of the whipped cream frosting with a hint of white chocolate...

Oh man, it is summer defined in a cake. Fresh. Strawberry deliciousness. And that whipped cream with a touch of white chocolate is ah-mazing, and I am not even a white chocolate fan.

But last weekend at my mom's, we tested the cake recipe as cupcakes, layering two cupcakes on top of one another...

I thought they turned out adorable! However, the flavor was not as richly distributed as with the layered cake, and they were extremely tipsy - we had two or three topple right over. If I was a real cake baker, I would make tons of miniature layered cakes like Leah made...

But, I am not a real cake baker. So, I made the executive decision: One layered cake for each table. What do y'all think?

Mr. Mouse

I know I haven't shown up here for a while, but I have been doing very important things like watching these antics...

Mom and I were visiting on the couch, when Mark came down the stairs from his nap and said, "Oh! A mouse!" We both grumbled and got up off the couch, saying, "where?" and found the little guy wandering around the patio! Boy were we surprised! I captured him and we observed his antics until Daddy Ty came home and did this...

It was funny because usually Mark finds a critter and says "he wants to find a new home" and dumps them in the grass right in front of the door. Not this time, this time when I told him Daddy would help him find a new home in the woods, he said, "No, he is going to live in here with us." You can imagine what I said.

Anyway, what I have really been working on while not blogging are Mother-in-Law master bedroom and living room reveals! And a chicken coop re-do, too. So stay tuned, hang in there, bear with me. And all that.

I also might have some sweet photos to share this weekend that will make your mouth water. =)