Hoby Get Your Gun Ready!

This summer Rylie spent almost a month in Arizona. While she was there she got her hair cut. (by Cara's friend Brittney) I love it but it made her look so much older than she is. Now there are all sorts of boys hanging around her. Including some of Tyler's friends who have started noticing her. And as you can tell by this picture she is starting to learn how to "work it".
Here she is "kickin it" in our front yard. She is growing up way too fast for me. It is hard to believe that she will be 14 less than 2 months.

Family Reunion

We had a Family Reunion for my Mom's family this past weekend. There weren't a whole lot of the family that was able to make it but those of us who went had a nice time visiting. My Dad and Mom were in charge so one of the activities that they planned was finding prizes in the saw dust. Here is Rylie with some of the nephews, nieces and cousins searching for candy and money in the saw dust.
Hoby wasn't too thrilled about having to go but he was a good sport and went anyway. This is his "ok I'll try to look like I want to be here" look.

These are my youngest nephew, Gavin, and youngest niece, Malia (Mia for short) showing some of their haul from the saw dust. It was pretty fun to watch the differences in ages. The really young ones, like these two, went for all the candy they could find. The older ones were all about finding the money.

Even though Family Reunions aren't the highest ranking activity on my list of favorite things to do, I appreciate that my Mom and her sisters still have them. It gives us a chance to spend time visiting with family and getting to know the histories of our ancestors. I have learned a lot about my Mom's ancestors by going to these throughout the years.

Happy Birthday Tyler

Tyler turned 16 on August 24. It is hard to believe that he is that old. He had a party and so I decided to make him a cake. Lately he has really been excited about playing the bass guitar so I chose to make him a guitar cake. Here he is with the finished cake. Other than the strings (and a few wooden dowels) the entire cake is edible. It was fun making it for him. He was so excited and all of his friends were amazed. They were all telling me when their birthdays are and wanting me to make them a cake.

Here is the cake next to his real guitar. The party seemed to be a success too. There were approximately 15 to 20 kids here. They played Guitar Hero and Rock Band. They had a fire in our fire pit outside and played cards and games. They had pizza and tons of munchies as well as cake. They topped the evening off watching a video downstairs in our movie room. I didn't get any pictures of the actual party. By the time I was done making the cake I was tired so I left the party supervision up to Hoby and went in our room and shut the door.

Happy Birthday Tyler. We are so happy for you. You are growing into such a wonderful young man. We love you!

Treasure Chest Cake

Here is my first attempt at a 3-D cake. A friend of ours was doing a pirate birthday party for her son and asked me to make the cake. So here is the final product. I had a lot of fun making it and was really excited with how it turned out. I am looking forward to having the chance to make more in the future.