My Pinterest Inspired Blog!!

I waste an enormous amount of time on Pinterest. I am planning my country chic yet modern home with an upstairs tree house/reading loft with a slide staircase, pretending I am a world famous baker/chef, and planning for our yet to be convinced children and how I am going to be the most creative, fantastic, mom ever! Yeah right. I have one general rule while I am on Pinterest,  I have to at the very least look at the blog/website connected with the Pin to see if I could even attempt what I am posting. If it looks simple enough, it makes in onto my board.

Well, there are a crazy amount of fabulous bloggers out there. They are blogging about EVERYTHING, including how to make fun recipes. Now, obviously I enjoy blogging. Not the the extent where I will post everyday, but once or twice a month just because. So today's blog post is inspired by all of those oh so creative bloggers out there that have driven us to believe we can make anything as long as there are fun pictures posted to see the ingredients!

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls! I give you "Leigha's oh so wonderful, inspiringly (yes, I realize this is may not be a word) creative, simply fabulous CAKE BALLS!" That's the official title  so if you decide to Pin this exciting post you will know how to mark it!

Step One: Pick out your ingredients. 

I originally wanted to make cake balls for our 2nd Annual Calfy Family Christmas Treat Bake Day (we are going to have to work on my titles for things). I however have no patience and wanted to try them now! One trip to Hobby Lobby and the grocery store later I have what I need for Halloween  themed cake balls. I wonder how many times I am going to type the word balls in this blog...

I chose Rainbow Chip cake and frosting. Why? Because it's my favorite!!! I got milk chocolate and green vanilla  candy wafers to dip the cake balls in. Finally, I have cute monster toothpicks and orange decorator's gel to make them extra cute once finished. At least that's the plan!

Step Two: Bake your cake!

It's not hard to bake a cake, just follow the directions! I would say anyone could do it, but you never really know how well someone can follow directions. I have left the eggs out of cupcakes before, soooo.... yeah. On a side note, the mixer in this picture is one my Grandma bought me several years ago when I rented my first house. She knew I liked to bake and thought this would help! :) I like to use it any chance I get because it makes me smile! 

Step Three: Put cake mix in pan and bake per directions on the box! :)

Just in case anyone is not sure about anything, I want to make sure there are plenty of pictures!

Step Four: Listen for oven timer. Test cake with toothpick to see if it's ready. Remove from oven. Let it cool. COMPLETELY!! 

Again, just in case you needed help! 

Step Five: Crumble up your cake!

I had read somewhere on Pinterest that you should use a food processor. I don't have one, so I read I could use forks or a blender...

That worked as well as a sharp stick in the eye, so I went back to Pinterest and found someone who used a mixer!

Score! It really worked! Who knew? 

Step Six: Add the frosting of your choice! 

I only added about 2/3 of the container. I had read it could make the cake balls too moist if you use the whole thing. 

Step Seven: Make the cake/frosting concoction in to balls! Finally...we made it to the ball step!

I used a melon baller in order to keep them all around the same size. Place them on wax paper and pop them in the freezer for 30 mins to an hour. I ended up balling up about 48 pieces!   

Step Eight: Melt your candy wafers and dip away. 

Really, this is not as easy at it sounds. I couldn't figure this out. I tried toothpicks, forks, dropping them in there then fishing for them...I say do whatever works for you on this step!

Green Vanilla Candy Melt Stuff!

I hope you all can appreciate my attempt at artsy camera angles! LOL!

Milk Chocolate 

My Mess!!This is the place toothpicks come to die...

Step Nine: Decorate and Enjoy!!

I picked up some cute monsters at Hobby Lobby! Only 24 balls made the cut...wait for it...LOL! The others are just waiting in a bowl to be eaten! Enjoy!!

TJ said the green ones looked like boogers...I won't be using that color again.

So all in all, this was a long process. When I do this again for Christmas I will make the cakes the night before to save time! I am also going to investigate how to better dip my balls in chocolate! Ba HA! :) 

Talk to you all soon! 

Leigha

Dirty 30-Zombie Edition

I sit here in insurmountable pain and think to myself..."self you should blog about this day so you don't soon forget the madness and sign up for another obstacle course race in the freezing cold." So here it goes..

In May of this year Kaytie and I ran the normal Dirty 30. 15 obstacles, lots of mud, and not cold! It was fun! I really enjoyed it. It was difficult and I climbed over walls and through the mud and through a cold ice bath, but I did it and survived!

YAY! Happy Warm Mud Run!

So of course when the Dirty 30 came out and said they were doing a Zombie edition in October we signed up and convinced my friend Cheryl to do it too! Little did we know we would have a record low high for temperatures!

So the day arrives and its 44 degrees outside! Woo hoo! Let's do this! We get there and it's too cold to get out of the car so we wait it out for a little bit, then we scoped out the start and finish lines. It's so cold. We make our way to the start line and the nervousness of what is about to happen sets in. A series of zombie songs play to pump up the crowd, then the event coordinator says a prayer in which he thanks the Lord for this opportunity to run from the undead. I'll let that one sink in for a bit. Finally, the race is on! Wait what is that just over the first hill? Oh good, a huge pool of muddy water and mud hill! Nice! Right out of the gate we are wet, freezing and muddy. We continue on this insane 5K dodging zombies, climbing over HUGE hay bales, dodging more zombies, climbing over a wall, more zombies, some crazy huge staircase thing, zombies, crawling under barbed wire, zombies, mud pit, zombies, I think I am forgetting some, more hay bales, zombies, huge slide that leads to a watery pool of mud, and finally the finish line where we climb over a mud hill into the final watery pool of mud. I am so frozen by this point that I can't feel my legs or my hands or my torso for that matter! And to top it off at the finish line my sweet darling husband was LAUGHING at my failed attempt to finish without falling in the water multiple times.

Fine, we did it we finished the race!! YAY! The zombies stole all my flags and technically I was infected at the end, but who cares. It was over and I wanted to warm up, well, after we got our free beer! Okay so we get to the car and it is way too cold to make it back to the porta potties to change. We sure has heck weren't going to use the rinse off station. So concealed by the truck doors (sorta) and towels we tried to take off our nasty wet clothes and put on dry ones. I couldn't feel my body! Trying to get a wet long sleeve shirt and pants off was PAINFUL!! I put my shirt on backwards and couldn't turn it around because I couldn't feel my arms. I have never been so stinkin cold in my life! I hope I don't get pneumonia!! 

So we get home, I take a hot shower, and I was feeling pretty good UNTIL... I text Cheryl and ask her if she is sore. She say not really... I'm sorry what did she say? Not really!? I am limping around the house and my legs look like someone beat me with a bat! So I text Kaytie and she says she is extremely sore. I feel a little better with this information, but still! Who says NOT Really when referring to the torture that we had just endured?!? Wonder Woman. That's who. 

Enjoy these pictures! I am going to go enjoy some more ibuprofen! 

Zombies!!

We so tough!

Drink up peeps! 

Wildfires

When you are a kid you dream about the future life you will have one day. You do this even as an adult. You imagine what kind of house you will have, what kind of car you will drive, how many kids you will have, the type of pet you will own, your job, your good lookin spouse, etc. You don't think about all the scary things in life that could bring those dreams crashing down around you. 

TJ and I purchased our home October of 2011. It is our dream place. We don't own a brand new house with all the latest this and that's, but we have our home. He wanted a place to shoot his bow/guns and hunt, I wanted a place with a back porch and a place we could start a family. When we found our house we jumped on it. This house holds so many future memories. I already imagine decorating a nursery  and where I will hide Christmas presents when playing Santa Claus. I think about making updates to the house and putting in new floors and painting walls various different colors based on my mood! This house is our home, a place we picked out together and that belongs to our present and future. 

Friday night our home was threatened by the wildfires in Luther. We don't live in the town of Luther, we live in the country side south of the town. Friday after we realized what was going on and that the fire was two miles from our house I tried really hard to get home. All of the roads leading to our house were blocked by fire. TJ was at the command post trying to find out the situation and help where he could. He had 15 years with the fire department before he got hurt. I was trying to find a back road in to our area. Finally, I went through Jones and followed Britton Rd to Highway 102, up to Wellston to a dirt road that would take me in a back way. When I turned the corner on Route 66 this was the image I saw:

My heart was racing. All I could think was what if I couldn't get to my house? What will I do if they won't let me in? I just wanted to be home and see TJ face to face and find out a plan. TJ met me at the dirt road and I followed him in. Car after car passed us going in the opposite direction. When we finally got in the house, the news said they had extended the evacuation area to include where we live. I had a bag packed, the dog's stuff ready, our important home owners paperwork, and just a few little other things packed and ready to go.  We were waiting it out. The fire had moved north to the town of Luther. Around 7 something the power went out at our house. Since we have well water this meant that not only did we not have electricity, we didn't have water. We had to leave quickly as it was getting dark and we would have no way of knowing if the fires continued to move towards our house. So we left. 

We drove in to Edmond. I dropped the dogs off at my sisters house and I met up with TJ to figure out a plan. It was late and we were exhausted. My dad called us and offered to get us a hotel room on Memorial. We were so very thankful for this. In that moment we were tired and couldn't think. We needed a plan and didn't have one. Every hotel in Edmond was full and that is not an exaggeration. We literally checked EVERY hotel. I didn't want to put anyone out especially since we had two dogs with us, my moms and Elizabeth. I just wanted to lay down and go to sleep. Kaytie kept Elizabeth and Jacob took Molly (my mom's dog) home. We made it to the hotel sometime after midnight. I had kept it together for the most part, but on the way to the hotel I cried. The whole situation was stressful. 

As we were driving away from our house that night, all I kept thinking was that with one shift of the wind or one ember to start the fire up again our house could be gone. I don't really care about the items in the house, it can all for the most part be replaced. I had TJ and Elizabeth and that is what mattered most, but I have strong emotional connection with our home itself. This home is so much more to me than a place with walls for a shelter. It is ours for all the reasons I mentioned above. It may sound silly and I know we could rebuild, but it would never be the same. 

Around 5:30 am Saturday morning our neighbor called to let us know the power had come back on. We slept in until about 10:30 and then started to get around. TJ headed to the house and I went to get Elizabeth. When TJ got to 164th and Luther the roads were still closed and they were diverting traffic. He talked to the County officer and explained where we lived. TJ waited for me to get there and then the officer let me follow him in. We drove by charred land and firefighters were still out there watching the hotspots. It was so sad to see it all burned up and scary to see how close it was to our house. The fire stayed about two miles from us, but that is two miles too close. When we finally got to the house, I made us some sandwiches and we fell asleep for the rest of the afternoon. We were home. 

It never really crossed my mind when we moved to the country that wildfires could be a threat. However, with as much wide open space that surrounds us it will always be a possibility I guess. I am thankful we are safe and that our property was not damaged, but my heart is heavy for the little town of Luther. So much was lost, but thankfully no lives were. Thank you to all the men and women who have been working non stop to try and get this fire under control.  Thank you to all our friends and family who offered us a place to stay and expressed concern. It meant more than you will ever know. As for the crazy man who started this fire, I hope you get caught and go to jail for a long time.

This was the view from our backyard.

Talk to you soon,

Leigha

Hawaiian Vacation Part 8- Oahu (Our last day)

Our vacation has finally come to an end. Today was our last day in this beautiful state! I love it here, however, if I had to live here, I would choose to live on the Big Island. It is much quieter and not quite as touristy!

Today we had our big time plane ride where we tour the island from a Cessna. So everyone really enjoyed it! We got to see all the beauty Oahu has to over from 1500 ft up in the air! It was really cool! Mom loved it and so did TJ. I on the other hand got sick! Turns out me and tiny planes are not friends!! I had horrible motion sickness! I think if I could have taken some Dramamine before we started I would have been better off. Poor TJ has claw marks in his hand from where I was doing everything I could not to hurl! It was still really pretty though. Even though I could only look out the side of the plane that had land and not the other with the water. Ridiculous!

How cute is my mom?

I was so sick in this picture! LOL!

After the plane ride around the island we headed up to North Shore. On our way we stopped at the Dole Plantation! It was really cool! We had pineapple ice cream and walked around a bit.Once we got to the North Shore We spent a few hours on the beach swimming. We then headed in to Haleiwa for some lunch. We found a little area with lots of food trucks so we thought we would try it. It was actually pretty good! Then last but not least mom and I had to get Shave Ice! It was pretty good I had some strange local flavors with ice cream. There were some weird beans we could put in them, but I tasted it and opted out. After the Shave Ice stop we headed back to the hotel to pack.

TJ is done! LOL!

Our vacation has come to an end and it has been an crazy fun adventure. TJ and I are talking about coming back for our 5th anniversary. I would like to renew our vows on the beach and have a very Hawaiian ceremony and embrace this part of his culture. I have no idea what is waiting for me at work. I turned my email off on my phone over a week ago now! For now, I will cherish these fun moments I have had with my family and enjoy my last few minutes before we get on our plane.

Aloha,
Leigha

Side Note:
We finally made it home!! We landed at DFW at 1:00am Monday morning and drove straight home! We got in about 5:45 am and we were exhausted! My poor mom had to be on another plane to Nashville at 1pm today for work! I don't know how that lady is going to do it! Elizabeth Taylor is spending the day at Bow Wow. We needed to sleep without her here! We are going to get her shortly and bring her cousin Molly home with us since mom is out of town for another week. I loved our trip and I am ready to go back if simply because the weather here sucks! Just sayin!

Hope you enjoyed the blog! I will get back to regularly posting now! And yeah I am still on Weight Watchers! I'll update you all soon with that progress!

See ya!