Bike Ride

I know that the title of this post is "Bike Ride," but I had to stick one of Porkchop in first. He thought he was pretty sneaky jumping up on top of the cupboards, looking down on us and all. Really he wasn't, and when he realized we didn't care, he jumped right down. Buggar.



It's been pretty quiet 'round these parts lately. The weather has dramatically warmed up, so we've been hitting the trails on our bikes quite a bit.

Tonight we rode to Idaho. I wish it was further than it sounds. It's actually only about a half mile, as the crow flies. I'm sure I've mentioned how much we've enjoyed Wyoming so far, and here are some more pictures of how purdy it is.

Here's Jake looking out at the great, greenness of Wyoming.



And Palisades Reservoir.



And this is when we returned to Wyoming.



It was starting to get kinda dark on our way back and there were a TON of mosquitoes and other bugs out. I needed a windshield! Every time we stopped for a second to take a picture or something, I literally (okay boys, turn your eyes to the next paragraph!!!!) had to sweep tens of mosquitoes out my shirt and other unmentionable places of that vicinity!

So never go biking by the water at dusk. Enough said. Anyway, here is another picturesque picture of Jake and Palisades.



And this last picture turned out kind of dark, but it's still pretty.


We only ended up riding about six miles, but it was almost all dirt. I like to ride really fast on the dirt trails. Hope I don't biff it.

Wyoming has been good to us, and we are loving it!

Jake's Birthday Cake

Jake had his birthday on Friday. The big 3-0-! Last year we made this cake and he requested it again because it is SO good! So here is how you do it. Sometimes its called a poke cake, but I found it googled under Orange Crush Cake. So good!

Start with a regular white cake, baked as instructed. Last year I made it into a bundt cake, but went regular rectangle this year.

As soon as it comes out of the oven I prepare the jello mixture. I use a small box.

Prepare as directed with the boiling water. But instead of the cold water, add this: (I think we actually used Sunkist because we couldn't find Crush) Then poke LOTS of holes into your cake. There can't be too many. Unless your massacre your cake. That would be bad. Pour your jello mixture all over your cake. It will look like too much, but its not. It will seem like it's going to be mushy and gross. But it's not. It's going to be delicious!

Cover it and put it in the fridge for several hours so everything can set up. Prepare your pudding as directed. I've tried it with store brand pudding, but it just doesn't set up as good as Jello does. So fork over the extra forty cents and get the real stuff. Let it set up completely. I use a small box.

Then fold in half of one of these:

I forgot to take pictures of it because it was so good, and we could hardly wait to rip into it. But here is a googled image of how delicious it looks when it is done:


We love this cake! We have done it in strawberry as well, and its yummy! If you don't have the soda to put into it, the full jello recipe is still good. Sometimes I don't like frosting on cake, just because it's so rich. But this topping is so light and I really could just eat an entire bowl of it! You can use any kind of cake, and any kind of jello, and any kind of pudding and it would be yummy. Try it! I promise you won't be disappointed!

PS- Here is the recipe I used:

1 c. Orange Crush soda
1 sm. pkg. orange Jello
1 sm. pkg. vanilla instant pudding
1 orange cake mix
1 (4 oz.) carton Cool Whip

Bake cake as directed on the package in 9"x13" pan. As soon as it is out of the oven, poke holes in it with a fork and pour over the following: 1 package orange Jello dissolved in 1 cup boiling water, add 1 cup Orange Crush soda, and stir well. Chill 9"x13" pan for 1 hour. Mix pudding as directed on package. Fold in the Cool Whip and frost the chilled cake. Refrigerate 2 hours. Keep covered and serve at your next Bronco game! Serves 12.

Yellowstone and Grand Teton

We spent the day in Yellowstone and Grand Teton Parks. The weather was absolutely beautiful! There were lots of animals out, and not that many people. Which is always good for us cranks! One of our main purposes for the visit was to see the Harlequin Ducks. I know, whatever. But we were excited because they aren't seen in inland United States very often, and mostly on the ocean. Anyway, here's the picture. If you look really close, and squint, you can see them sitting on top of the rock in the middle of the river. Crazy, huh?


And here is a picture of Jake and I moments after seeing the little guys. Don't we look happy??


We headed up the road a bit to look out into Hayden Valley. We just about always see something here. Well, it didn't disappoint today! We caught a wolf dragging an elk carcass. We don't have one of those super, duper strong cameras, so I took a picture through our spotting scope. I don't think it turned out too shabby. What do ya think?


Here is a picture of a water fall at 40 mph.


Here are some pretty pictures of lakes in Teton Park. And one from the car of the mountains.



We stopped to take a picture at Jenny Lake. Sorry we got half of the rock in it with us. Did I mention how beautiful it was?


After we got back to Jackson, we wandered around the town square a little bit, trying to fit in with the tourists. I think we did quite well. Especially when we stopped to take a picture of Jake in front of Bigfoot. Sorry its sideways.


We rounded out our day with a dinner to Giovanni's, a newer restaurant in Jackson. So delicious! We also played the license plate game after we noticed the crazy variety of states we saw. We saw all of the states except Hawaii, Georgia, Kentucky, West Virginia, Delaware, Louisiana, Vermont, and New Hampshire. Sometimes we forgot to look at stuff because we were looking for license plates. We missed a lot because we couldn't see them very well. All in all it was a wonderful day!