Beach, Cheese, Cupcakes and Jam!

It seems like I only get the urge to blog about once a month....and today is that once!

The Beach & Cheese
Several weeks ago we headed to the Oregon Coast with the Forsberg clan (including Maren, Blake and Braden who traveled over from Pullman). We rented a nice house just minutes from the beach. We had so much fun just hanging out...and eating out! We also toured the Tillamook Cheese Factory, which was pretty incredible. I had no idea there was such an intricate process to making cheese. While we were there we enjoyed some delicious Tillamook ice cream (of course!).

Baxter had to sleep in his crate at night...he was NOT happy.

Little Braden and Baxter absolutely loved each other.

The water was freezing, but Toren attempted boogie boarding anyway.

We also discovered a way to take Bax on bike rides. It's also an excellent way to tire him out.

And this was what he did the whole ride home. Being on vacation is exhausting...

Cupcakes
I took a cake decorating class with Cheryl (my mother-in-law) and Mallory (my sister-in-law). It was a 4-week course, and each week we learned different skills. I can't exactly say we were experts by the end, but we did make some pretty awesome cakes and cupcakes. Does anyone have a birthday coming up? I'm dying for an excuse to use my new skills...


Jam
To earn some money this summer, one of the young men in our ward picked and sold raspberries and marionberries from his backyard. We ordered a half-flat of both. But then we had so many berries we didn't know what to with all of them (and they were getting VERY ripe VERY fast in the hot weather). So, I decided to make some jam. My grandma and mom have made homemade jam for years, though I never took the time to learn from them. I did pretty well on my own though. I made about 12 jars and so far we've already gone through 3 of them. Now we're wishing we would have bought more berries! I guess now we know for next year.