WATER!!!!!

We have had tons and tons of rain here and so the rivers are VERY full. My brother works for the water district and they went on 24 hours flood watch. Anyway, we decided to go check it out and it was amazing to see how full and beautiful everything looks. This is the Feather River in Oroville.

This usually looks a lot more like a waterfall then a little down grade. the area on the left side of the fence usually has almost no water. This is the fish run at the hatchery.

This is the spill way from the dam. Last year the lake was so low they had to close some of the boat ramps and this year it's so full they have to let water out so it doesn't overflow. It was very beautiful even if it was still raining on us. This is a straight on view and the next is from up hill a little. We also drove on the dam and saw the view from there.

Happy b-day to Me!

Race and I had our usual combo party at Mom's house on Sunday that consisted of Mom's homemade Lazagna that can't be beat, presents, and her homemade cinnamon rolls, that come in a close second, instead of cake at our request.

Kasen had to help open everything. My cute new hat from Mom and Dad and hair thing from Cypress.

This is one of the cute shirts Terry got me along with a Shark steam mop which doesn't seem that exciting but it is for me and I LOVE it! I got lots of other fun stuff, like gift cards, fruit trees, and a certificate to make an online scrapbook.

It actually ended with Breakfast in bed instead of starting because that came on Monday, my real B-day. It was very nice. The kids thought it was awesome that I let them eat in bed with me. Well it didn't really end there because April brought me a huge balloon and flowers to TaVaci and after Terry and I got to go on a date (first one since January) to dinner and the movies. Thanks to everyone for making it a great day!!

Cake, Cake, and More Cake

So my Brother's family was sealed in the Oakland Temple this last weekend and they asked me to make a wedding type cake for the after party. I love making cakes but have never really done more than just play. But I took on the challange and with TONS of help from my good friend Katherine, from Idaho, we got it done. This is stage one, making the mixes. We were going for 4 teirs, each teir consisting of 2 layers of cake. Stage 2: baking allt he cakes - they turned out beautiful. 4 are Red Velvet/chocolate mix and 4 are French vanilla.
Stage 3: Dirty Icing - those of you that watch cake show know what that means, but those that don't, it's when you from the cake generously and it will contain crumbs but then you refridgerate it and then it hardens and you can refrost for smoothness or cover with fondant.

Stage 4: I chose Fondant. so I made 2 batches, one is complete on the wax paper and I'm just starting the second.

Stage 5: Roll out fondant and then cover the cake, smooth, and cut off the excess.

Here, three layers and covered and one is not to show the difference between dirty icing and fondant cover. The circles you see on top are the pillars to hold the next layer.

Stage 6: Final product. The top is a wood H that is fance and has jewls, ribbon and tewl on it but it's hard to see that with the back ground.

It was a time consuming process over 2 days but it turned out pretty good if I do say so myself. It also tasted really good, even the fondant, and that's an even bigger feat. Thanks mom for the help with the fondant and Katherine for help with it all (over the phone of course).

Bed Room!

I always seem to forget to take the before pictures until it's mostly too late so you only get 2. Just remember that our room has been America theme for at least 8 years. I've wanted a change for a while but no money prevented that. So when Terry left on this job, I decided it was time and while he was gone changed it. I couldn't post until now because I didn't tell him about it. But he finally saw it this weekend, so now you get to. The wall is white and taped for painting.

Same shelves, but new paint and place, same pics, new place. (all that's left now to finish the room is new blinds and carpet but those are the big ticket items so I'll have to wait much longer for those.)

The wasll was white around the closed and is now a light sage green and the swordage Terry has always had and had to hide under our bed but now it gets to be displayed, much to his pleasure.

The sconces are black with gold and the "cone" is goldish glass. Night stands were switched and note the new bedding and mirror.

Midway Museum

The Midway is a retired aircraft carrier that they turned into a museum and it's amazing. We spent quite a few hours there. They have planes you can climb in and push buttons and you can go into the living quarters and all sorts of fun things. Again, it rained off and on but not enough to make it a bad time. Terry loved seeing the guns that are inside the planes and telling the kids about them.

The kids loved pushing buttons of all kinds, shapes and sizes most of all!

Morgan had to put her seatbelt on just in case :)

This one's for Jim :) THe old fighter jet! Thanks Collins' for a GREAT TIME!

Sunday we went to church and hung out then drove back to Lancaster. Monday morning we were back in the pool of course. We then met Terry's bosses for lunch in Bakersfield and then drove home. It was a great time!

President's Day Weekend

Terry had been working in Southern California for about a month, so we decided that since the kids had a 4 day weekend for the holiday, we'd go visit him and go to San Diego for the weekend. We arrived at his hotel at about 8:45pm and were in the pool and hot tub by 9. This was what the kids were looking forward to the most. Kasen however thought the pool was too cold (it was heated some but it was only 40 degrees outside) and the hot tub was too hot. Eventually his feet were in but that was all. Neither of those stopped the other kids though.

By 9:00am the next day (Friday) we were back in. Cypress spent most of her time practicing her dives and trying to make us across the pool in one breath. By the end she was pretty straight and made it over 3/4 of the way.Cypress and Tayla did some acrobatics and practiced their syncranized swimming as well.

After the swim, we drove to San Diego (his hotel was in Lancaster about 3 hours north) and met Paij and Morgan at the Mission San Diego. Cypress is in 4th grade and in California that means you study the missions and have to make a model of one. We decided it would be much easier and more real if she acutally got to go to one. It as a littly rainy but still fun!

This is the first mission that was built in CA and is still used as a chruch today!

Most of the stuff was roped off and you couldn't touch but this little hut wasn't and so we had to let all the kids get inside and take turns having their picture taken (there was a sign that said only one at a time).Ater the mission we went to the Science Museum (similar to the Exploratorium for thos of you taht know what that is). We spent hours there, shooting balls through mazes, trying experiments, building blocks, building a suspension bridge, talking to each other across the room using satalite dish type things and lots more!Much fun was had by us all!Saturday we went on a Cruise around the Bay for 1 hour. It was a little chilly but gorgous and very fun and entertaining. The ship was big and you could go on 2 levels, at the front or the back, and be inside or out, so of course some time was spent in each place :) Cypress enjoyed the time with her daddy!It was so fun to see their excitement about everything!

The found a hole in the bow that was raised about 10-15 feet off the water that they loved looking through, you can barely see kasen's feet on the left side, he was doing the same thing on the other side of the ship!

Tayla didn't love being out on the water or the movement of the ship but it wasn't too bad.Our group witht he city scape behind us - Beautiful!THis is a huge statue of the sailor kissing the nurse from that picture you know you've seen. Tyden was a very typical boy! Notice his eyes and hands :)We played in some trees while we waited for Brent and Tery to get our tickets to the Midway Musem.