Weekly Pic--Mar y Cielo

Mar y cielo~sea and sky. This picture was taken looking through the massive aquarium at the Atlantis resort. I thought it was kinda neat how you could see all the way through to the huge arched window. If you look closely, you can even make out blue sky and palm trees in the window.

I'm Always "Right"

Joel and I have a "tradition" of taking one-armed pictures. Someone asked me one time why I am always on the right and he's always on the left. I think the person thought I might be hiding some secret scar or blemish on the left side of my face, but the simple truth is that Joel has the longest arm and he has to hold the camera in his left hand to push the button.

Instead of writing about every piddly detail of our recent cruise, I thought I'd just share the one-armed shots we took. After all, who really wants to hear about the extravagant food, relaxing in the sun, and how many times Joel visited the soft-serve ice cream machine?

On the tender (which is really just a little boat) riding from the ship over to CocoCay.

In "our secret spot" on the beach at CocoCay~the sun is in my eyes and I'd really appreciate if you'd keep the comments about my granny-gardener hat to yourself.

In the lobby of the Atlantis resort in The Bahamas. Man, it was fancy!

No pics of the soft-serve ice cream machine, but here we are in front of Ben & Jerry's~with a cherry on top.

People are often gracious enough to stop and ask if we'd like them to take a more traditional picture of the two of us; but honestly, the one-armed shots are always my favorites.

Weekly Pic--Snow Day

So the biggest miracle of last week was not that we received a record 12 inches of snow in north Texas, but that the sisters called a truce in their sibling rivalry long enough to build a pretty impressive snowman.

Baking with a Buddy--The Sequel

Each year our Children's Ministry at church hosts "Baking with a Buddy". Its basically a cake decorating contest for kids and their dads or some significant adult. Hallie and BigJoel had a pretty tough act to follow after last year's Love Bug; but this is one of Hal's favorite things, so they were up for the challenge.

On Monday, HanK and I had to go dress shopping (oh, the drama) so Hallie and Joel stayed behind to do some research and plot their strategy. By the time we got home, they had searched online, watched a video, and had a solid vision.

On Tuesday after dinner, they took over the kitchen so they could bake the cake. This enabled them to refrigerate the cake overnight so it would be easier to cut and decorate.

So today, they showed up at church with the cake still in the pan and all their supplies. Here they are waiting for the starting signal.

First they used a template to cut the shape.

Then they began to assemble their masterpiece.

Even though time was of the essence, they couldn't skimp on details.

And finally, the finished product! They called it "Love Song".

The competition was tough, but Hallie & BigJoel emerged with the 1st Place award for Teamwork. It was definitely a collaborative process and so fun to watch them work together. If this road manager thing doesn't work out for Joel, I think there might be a future for he and Hal at CharmCity Cakes or perhaps working for the Cake Boss.