Big Brother's Gets Married

Okay, okay, I know it's been a long time since I have posted. I am playing a little game of catch up when it comes to the blog. Over the 4th of July weekend my Big Brother got married to a wonderful young lady. Cassius and I left Wednesday the 1st of July. We had an easy going drive all the way to Snoqualmie. Cassius adjusted well to my parents house and did exceptionally well staying within the boundaries of an unfenced yard. He didn't even bark or growl at the golfers and their carts when they stopped at the tee behind the house. Because the weather was so nice I was able to get a couple good runs in while I was there and of course they were/are never long enough to wear out Cassius so I decided to try something I had wanted to for a while. Anyone who knows me knows how much I respect Cesar Milan. I decided to give his treadmill technique a try and amazingly Cassius was not even close to being fazed.

On Thursday I had to tackle Project Wedding Cake. After running a few errands to pick up miscellaneous cake pans and all of the ingredients I started the bake-a-thon. The cake consisted of two twelve inch rounds at the base that were coconut yellow cake, followed by two ten inch chocolate rounds, and then three eight inch coconut rounds at the top. The coconut rounds were filled with a pineapple sauce and the chocolate was filled with chocolate ganache. I didn't take photos of the cakes on the day that I baked them so here are a couple from the day of the wedding as I was assembling the cake.

Anna helped me with some of the decorating and I let her finish the cake off by using flowers from Boyce & Khristy's yard. I think she did a great job with the flowers.

I was excited that my wedding cake turned out to be an overall success story. I did learn a few things though. For one, cream cheese frosting is tasty, delicious, and foolproof to make, but it doesn't set well with the heat. If I could have had a dedicated refrigerator for the cake I would have. By the time we got around to serving the cake it was starting to look a little sad. But hopefully people had enjoyed enough wine that they didn't know the difference.
So I got off track for a minute there. Friday Cassius and I spent the day with my wonderful friend Linda and her family. Cassius had a blast running around her property and especially enjoyed the creek and vacant land at the back of Linda's acreage. He didn't really know what to do with the horses and once took off after Magoo. Thank Dog for e-collars because with a small little tap I had him running back to me. Linda, her husband Nelson, and I went out for Mexican Food and then Nelson gave me a tour of a city well that he had done a lot of work on. It was lovely to see them and as always our time together was way too short.

Saturday
Saturday my mom, Cassius, and I drove out to Boyce & Khristy's house to spend the morning with them. It was great to meet my new nephews and to see Boyce III & Sailor. We had a great time just hanging in the back yard and working around the house. After lunch mom and I traveled back home and spent most of the afternoon just hanging out. Saturday evening I went to the airport and picked up Anna. We enjoyed some fire works on our parent's patio and then decided it was time for some sleep.

Sunday was the big day. Anna and I got ready and stopped by our brother's house first to play with the kids and help prep the house. For lunch, Anna and I met up with her good friend Julie and her son Truman (who is about the cutest little boy you will ever meet). It was great to talk with Julie and just relax before the chaos of the day began. Our first task was to pick up Sailor and get her some new shoes to go with the dress we had already purchased for her. It was so much fun to go shopping with our niece. After shopping it was time to get to work. Once we arrived back at the house I started frosting the cake, layer by layer it came together. At three, it was time for pictures. I love this photo of the new family.
Boyce's two children are standing in front of him (Boyce III & Sailor) and Khristy's boys are standing with her (Noah, the youngest; Nathan, the middle; and Nicholas, the oldest). The wedding was a blast and I loved spending time with my niece and nephews.
Being with Boyce and Anna was great as well.
After a great BBQ dinner it was time to cut the cake.

The kids were like vultures as soon as the cake was cut they were in line telling me what flavor they wanted and how big of a slice. I don't stand in between anyone and their cake, so Anna and I got to work on distributing slices.

The chocolate layer fell apart a little bit, but again I don't think anyone really cared. Noah and Sailor were pretty happy with their cake.

It was a great day full of fun and food. At the end of the night Anna and I returned to help clean up and to hang out for a while. Here is a photo of Anna, me, and my new sister in law, Khristy.