Life with the Conleys

On Saturday Josh and I headed about two hours north to hike into Fragrance Lake and to go to the Tulip Festival.  The plan was to hike into the lake and then stop at the festival on the way home. The Tulip Festival is really just tulip fields but from what I have heard and from the pictures I have seen they are absolutely beautiful. However, it turns out that we should have swapped our activities and hit the Festival first because after the hike there were WAY too many people and we opted out. The freeway was backed up for miles (not an exaggeration, literally miles) and we had no desire to sit in traffic. We have learned our lesson and next time we will go nice and early to beat the rush. Bet, even with the change in plans, it was still a really great day!  View of the Puget Sound. Half way to the lake. Darling y Pantalones. Lummi Island is in the background. Watch out for a future post about this little isle. On one side of the lake there was a large r...

I do not make cakes frequently. When I do make them they taste good but look a little sad. After years of delicious but ugly cakes I finally made a pretty cake. The cake was for a dessert auction raising money for our Young Women to go to girls' camp so I really wanted it to look nice. Last year my cake, though delicious, just didn't look spectacular and I felt the need to redeem myself. Thanks to food blogger  'i am baker'  I had a pretty straightforward model to follow and redemption was mine. Not flawless but definitely the best looking cake I have ever made.   White/Vanilla cake with chocolate ganache filling and a raspberry buttercream icing.  Remember how this was for a fundraising auction and how I shouldn't have a picture of the insides because the cake should now belong to someone else? Well, Josh bought it. Not sure if it was a sympathy bid or if he  actually wanted it, but either way it ended up back in the kitchen that gave it lif...