German Chocolate Cake

Irene said her favorite cake was German Chocolate, so for her birthday Wednesday, I thought I'd give it a try. I've made very few from-scratch cakes, so I was nervous as I searched the Internet for a recipe. I found this one on MyHomeCooking.net and figured I'd go for it.

The recipe was easy to follow and included many good photos. But it was a long process from start to finish. I made a double batch of frosting to make sure I didn't run out. I didn't have time for the frosting to cool completely, so it ran a bit down the sides of my three layers. It looked fairly impressive, but I forget to take a picture before it was cut. It was a bit crumbly, but I'm much more concerned with taste than appearance.

The birthday girl (actually, we were celebrating FIVE February birthdays!) said it was delicious, so I guess it's a keeper :)

Bend

Michael, Kendra, Jacob and Lindsey joined us for a wonderful Valentine's ski weekend in Bend. Here are some highlights:

First stop during the long, snowy drive out was a yummy teriyaki place in Sandy. (Notice the heart-shaped green onion I found in my dinner!)

French toast casserole for breakfast. Thanks, Lindsey!!!
Saturday was a cross-country ski trip from Mount Bachelor to Todd Lake. We got off trail to play in the thigh-deep powder! Michael navigating the slope:

Time to stretch. Notice the snow depth at the street sign!
Lunch break at Todd Lake.
Brad's turn to make some turns.
Now Brad's icing his groin pull. (He's done this before on the same trail!)
Jacob ended up wearing MY party pants covered in little hearts.

I brought along a little plug-n-play Ms. Pac-Man video game. We (mostly Jacob, Michael and Brad) spent hours and hours and hours playing Pac-Man and the other games on that thing.
We skied to Tumalo Falls for Sunday's outing. It was amazing!
Lunch in the sun.
We hit the Madras Abby's Pizza on the way home, and Jacob tried his hand at the Big Buck Hunter game while we waited for our pie. (Apparently, he's addicted to video games!)

A good time was had by all! :)

Happy birthday, Kendra!

Kendra has finally joined the rest of us in the 30s! Family and friends gathered last week for a surprise party to celebrate her big day... YAY!!!

Training Hike: Newton Road & BPA Road

Brad and I were easily talked into leading another summer climb to the rim of Mount St. Helens. We've already started training with some of our teammates, including a nice 5.6-mile hike today in Portland's Forest Park.
Walt, Tim and Kevin joined us for the adventure. We started at the Newton Road trailhead off Skyline Boulevard and headed down to Highway 30. Then we turned up BPA Road and had a nice sunny rest at the top with views of Rainier, Helens (next to my left shoulder) and Adams... and the Willamette and Columbia rivers. Then it was back down to the highway and back up to our cars. It was a nice incline (about 1,500 feet in all) to get the heart racing and the sweat pouring. We were also testing our equipment and working on our callouses.

We had a great time getting to know each other better and working out on a pleasant Saturday morning. I hope to get out again soon!

-Liz :)

Freedom

Verse of the day:

For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love.

Galatians 5:13 NLT

Happy Valentine's Day!

Despite her status as a recent graduate, Karianne returned last week to bake Valentine's Day cookies with Bonnie (Sue's mom!).
Learning to roll dough...
Baked to perfection!
Time to decorate!
Sue has to join the fun...
The finished product looks terrific!
Andy always stops by when it's time to "test" the finished product!


Then it was on to making homemade cards for our Valentines!

Happy Valentine's Day!
-Liz :)

Best news story ever!

Have you heard the story of Sam and Bob? You have to read it!

Reward!

McKee Fitness Challenge update: Everyone met their workout goals for January, so we rewarded ourselves with lunch at Thai Basil in Lake Oswego.
Some came over to play cards.
I didn't win.
Linus enjoyed the fire too.

I hope you'll all doing something to become stronger and healthier in the new year :)

Fun times in (CE)2

I'm still here. Our computer blew up and was out of commission for a week or so. Some fun things happened in the meantime...

Karianne and Andy got cool new matching glasses:

What a good-looking bunch!

Sue turned 50!

We had a pizza party:

with chocolate cake!

YAY!
-Liz :)