Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting and Chocolate glaze

A few weeks ago I got a book called, Sky High Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes, from the Library and this week I made a cake from it. All of the recipes looked good, but the Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter frosting stood out. It sounded like a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup and I love those!! The cake wasn't very hard to make and I was pretty happy with the results. The cake was really good, but it was also really rich and hard to eat a lot at one time.

My cake isn't as pretty as the one in the book, but it tasted good.

3-D PHOTOS

Today Kimberly had a 3-D ultrasound and she sent us some photos of our baby girl. Look how cute she is. It is so amazing to see her lips, eyes, and fingers.

Happy Halloween

This year Halloween was interesting. We both enjoy Halloween and usually go all out, but this year we weren't as excited. I think we have just had a lot going on and I wasn't feeling well, so we needed a break. Rich was more in the Halloween spirit than me though. He carved his pumpkin and attended our ward Halloween (harvest) festival.

We grew these pumpkins in our backyard.

Rich used his Dremel tool to carve his pumpkin.
Rich designed his pumpkin to look like it had one swollen eye.

Happy Anniversary

On Oct. 9th we celebrated our 12th anniversary of our first date. We went to Round Table for pizza. That might not sound too exciting, but we enjoy just being out together. It also might sound weird to celebrate our first date, but it really was a special night.

Rich and I met on my 19th birthday...to date he is the best birthday gift I've been given. We were in Utah at school and I was feeling a little homesick. My roommates made me a cake, so we invited some people over (we didn't know) from our apt. complex to join us. In this crowd of people was Rich, but I was feeling awkward with everyone staring at me that I didn't notice anyone in particular. He says he thought I was pretty and liked my hair barrettes.

After cake we went to the Fall Fling dance at BYU. On the ride there I still was feeling shy, so I didn't notice Rich until he said he was from California. This sparked my interest because it reminded me of home. At the dance my roommates kind of ditched me by going off with some of the guys in the group. Since I wasn't enjoying the dance I asked if anyone in the group wanted to go listen to some bands playing on campus. At first nobody seemed interested, so I took off by myself. Before I got too far I heard Rich say he wanted to come with me.

The two of us went to garden room where the bands were playing. We discovered we both loved music and listening to live bands. We talked quite a bit that night and I knew he was someone I wanted to get to know better. Back at the apartments Rich showed me some of his music collection and we talked a little bit more.

After this first meeting it took Rich a month to ask me out. We talked almost everyday and became friends, but I thought he wasn't interested since he wasn't asking me out. I found out later it was because my roommates and his roommates were trying to make him ask me out and he didn't want me to think that was the only reason he asked me out. He says he liked me and didn't want me to feel like he was forced to ask me out. Whatever it was, I almost gave up on him.

The night before he asked me out I gave it one more shot. I made him some chocolate chip cookies because he was studying for a big test. I left the cookies and a note of good luck for him at his apartment. I guess there is some truth to the old statement, "the way to a man's heart is through his stomach," because the next day Rich asked me out...Good thing I'm a good cook.

On Oct. 9, 1996, Rich took me to see "Blue" at the BYU International Theater. This is an interesting french film. During the movie I waited for Rich to hold my hand, but he didn't seem to want to and again I gave up hope. I made it obvious that I didn't mind if he held my hand and finally at the very end of the movie (a long movie) he held my hand...YEAH!! I know it sounds crazy, but we definitely felt sparks...it was amazing. I knew that there was something special about Rich and from that night on we have been together.

Rich and I dated for a little over a year before we were unofficially engaged and we were officially engaged in January 1998. Later that year on May 9th we were sealed in the Oakland Temple for time and all eternity. When Rich and I look back on our first meeting and date we often laugh about how awkward we were. At the time I was frustrated with him not asking me out, but now I think it was sweet for him to take his time.

Our first photo together. This photo is before our first date. We were at the Joseph Smith Building with some friends in Salt Lake.

This is our wedding day, May 9th, 1998.

Nathan's Baptism

On September 27th our nephew, Nathan, was baptized and confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We were so excited and proud of him. Nathan is a great kid with a lot of lovable energy.

Toward the end of the baptismal program one of the infants in the audience pulled the fire alarm, so we all had to leave the building and the fire department showed up. The mother of the of the kid was embarrassed, but Nathan thought it was pretty cool.

Back in Action

For the past couple of weeks our laptop has been down, but it is now up and running...YEAH!! We had a big scare because one day our laptop wouldn't open the desktop. We thought we had a virus, but learned later it wasn't that. We thought we lost all of our photos from the past year and I was a wrecked. We found that our photos and documents were still on the hard-drive in Safe Mode, so we felt better. We had a friend, Bill Barnes (the coolest person around), come and help us. He was able to save our files onto our much older and slower computer (thank goodness we kept it). We then reinstalled Windows and all our other programs. We are now back in action and able to put photos back on our laptop and now on our blog.

Tonight we bought an external hard-drive to backup our photos and other documents. We don't want to worry about losing them ever again. To any of you that have priceless photos on your computer I would recommend backing them up often. We are going to keep our photos on the external hard-drive, CD's, and on the internet...we want to make sure we are completely covered.

Checkered Board Cake

I let Luca get a little too close to the cake and he actually got a little lick.

For my birthday my mom made me (from scratch) a checkered board cake. This is my favorite cake and my mom makes the best cake. We had some with my family and then I took the rest of it home. I shared a little with Rich, but ate most of it myself. I love cake and I have a hard time sharing when it is so delicious and my birthday...sorry family.

McKinley Park

Last Saturday we decided to bug bomb our bedroom one last time to make sure the bed bugs are completely gone before we move back into it. This meant we had to leave the house for 3 hours with Luca. It's not hard to find something to do for 3 hours, but it is a little harder when we have to have our dog with us. We came up with a great plan to go to McKinley Park in Sacramento and then to a cool yogurt shop that has an outside doggie water bowl area and tables.

We went to McKinley Park to see the rose garden and feed the ducks. When we got there it was pretty crowded and as we headed toward the rose garden we realized it was being set-up for a wedding. We were a little disappointed not to be able to walk through the roses, so we headed over to the pond. Unfortunately I forgot the bread to feed the ducks, so we just walked around and let Luca sniff everything. Luca didn't seem to be bothered by the ducks, but he did try to chase a squirrel up a tree.

After the park we went to the yogurt shop, but when we got there they were repainting the outside and there was nowhere to go with Luca. Again we were disappointed and frustrated because most of our plans were not working out. Since we couldn't go home for a while we decided to get a hamburger and go to a more local park and hang out for a while.

Even though our day didn't work out according to our plan it was still nice and we enjoyed being together. We are also happy our room is bug free and we will be moving back in this week...YEAH!

Monterey Trip

Fisherman's Wharf Rich eating his traditional clam chowder in a bread bowl.

While on the pier a pelican landed right behind us. I was able to get close enough to get some great photos. I was so excited because I love pelicans, but have never been able to get that close.

Pacific Grove Natural History MuseumMe sitting a top of humpback whale.

Rich petting a stuffed badger.

Blue Whale eyeball.

The Food of Monterey

Archie's Diner Garlic Fries

Ghirardelli Hot Fudge Sunday

Monterey Bay Chocolate Factory

Turtle Bay Taqueria

Tidepooling

One afternoon while in Monterey we went tidepooling.

Monterey Bay Aquarium

Squishing into a giant clam in the splash zone.

This past Thursday we headed down to Monterey for a birthday vacation. The Monterey area is one of our favorite places to go. While we were there we went to the aquarium. We were hoping to see the 4th great white at the aquarium, but it was released a few days before we got there. We were a little disappointed because we had seen the previous 3 great whites they had. They are just young little sharks, but still impressive to see up close.

We did enjoy seeing many of the other exhibits. We saw the jellyfish exhibit for the last time because it will be leaving the aquarium in January, but in the spring of 2009 a new seahorse exhibit will be opening in its place. We also got to see the newly remodeled splash zone (for the kids), but it didn't seem that different to us.Each time we go it is hard to pick a favorite animal or exhibit because they are all pretty cool. I think my favorite is still the sea otters. The mola mola (ocean sun fish) was a pretty close 2nd. If you haven't seen the mola mola before it is a very ugly and unusual fish, but that is why I like it so much. Rich's usual favorite, the giant octopus, was not active this time, so he picked a different favorite. His favorite exhibit this time was the outer bay. Rich liked to watch the school of anchovies moving together to look one big fish.

Morning Rounds at the Aquarium

Last Thursday we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We got up at 4:30 a.m., so we could get there for morning rounds at 8:15 a.m. Morning rounds is an extra tour that takes you behind the scenes. This was a special treat for me for my birthday. We really enjoyed this tour, especially feeding some of the fish and bat rays. We also got to help prepare the penguin's food.

Feeding squid to the bat rays.

Me carrying the fish food (squid, krill, and other stuff).

Standing on the roof of the aquarium to feed the anchovies in the kelp forest.

Lisa stuffing a vitamin in the penguin's food (smelt).

Rich holding krill and Lisa throwing it to the anchovies in the kelp forest.

Competition for Luca arrives in January

In a previous blog we shared some of our trip to Utah. We had a good time at the reunion and visiting old hang-outs, but that was not the best part of the trip. The main reason for our trip was to meet Kimberly, who is our birth mom...That's right, we are expecting a baby girl in January. We know this probably sounds a little crazy with everything that happened in June, but we are excited and really enjoyed our visit with Kimberly. We have had the opportunity to really get to know her and look forward to talking to her each week.

While in Utah we were able to go to an ultrasound with Kimberly. At this time she did not know the sex of the baby and Kimberly was kind enough to invite us to find out with her. The first ultrasound was unsuccessful because the baby would not unfold her legs and was keeping it a secret. We went back the following day and Kimberly had eaten a lot of sugar to help the baby be more active. This time the baby was more active and the ultrasound was successful. We are happy to announce that we will be the parents of a baby girl this January.

Rich and I are happier than we can express. It is hard to believe it is real at times and other times it is a little scary to think about. We are starting to prepare our home and think about the things we will need. We have a few big items that family and friends gave us, but soon will slowly start to collect other baby items. Lisa is having a hard time not buying cute clothes and baby shoes...I love baby shoes!! I am also really excited that the baby girl clothes are so much cuter than before. I love that there is so much more that just pink. I especially love all the pink and brown combinations.

We know that having a baby is so much more that cute clothes and shoes. We have been waiting for a long time to have a bundle of joy to love, teach, and nurture. We can't wait to share our life and love with a child. We have already been thinking about the next few years and the things we want to do with our baby. We know January is still a ways off, but so far the time as been flying by. Again, we are happier than words can express and we are eternally grateful to Kimberly for giving us the opportunity and gift.

A photo with us, Kimberly, and her mom before the ultrasound.

CPR and First Aid Class

This past weekend we took a CPR and first aid class. We had to recertify for our adoption agency. We both have been certified for 10+ years, so the class was pretty easy, but also pretty boring. There was a change with the CPR...again. It seems like everytime we recertify they change the chest compression to breath ratio. It is now 30 to 2. We also had to practice different kinds of splints. First I immobilized Rich's arm and then he put a splint on my ankle. After a long day of CPR and first aid we are now recertified...YEAH!!