August has been a very busy month.  It didn’t start out that way, but it sure got busy fast.

On the 14th I celebrated my birthday.  I made myself a grand birthday cake that I am calling a Banana Split Cake.  It was composed of layers of chocolate, banana, and cherry cakes.  In between the layers of cake I added Tillamook Banana Split ice cream.  Then I covered the whole thing in whipped cream and drizzled chocolate over the top of it.  Finally, I decorated the top of the cake with sprinkles, chopped nuts, and cherries.

It was a beauty, but more importantly it was delicious!   It was also a behemoth, easily one of the tallest (and heaviest) cakes I have ever made, and half of it still remains in my freezer.

The cherry cake layer of this cake was delightful.  I don’t really even care for maraschino cherries, but they are spectacular in this cake.  I used Sprinkle Bakes recipe for Cherry-Vanilla Layer Cake.  You can find the recipe here.  This is one cake recipe that I know I will use again.

Just two days after my birthday, we were celebrating again.  This time it was Samuel’s turn.  For his second birthday I made banana cupcakes with bits of chocolate covered toffee inside.  I topped the cupcakes with molasses buttercream, chocolate drizzle, and more bits of chocolate covered toffee.  I will share the recipe for them soon.  They were very tasty.

The day after Samuel’s birthday we had our family photos taken.  This is something that I hope we will be able to do every year around Sam’s birthday.  Photos are very special to me, because at this age, Samuel is changing every day.

Our photos were taken by Krista of Richardson photography.  She did a great job with our photos and I am very pleased.  If you would like to see more of Krista’s work or if you would like to hire her to photograph your family, visit her website or find her on Facebook.

After the birthday celebrations were complete and our photos had been taken, we spent the next two days autocrossing.  This was to be our last event before we head to the Solo Nationals in Lincoln, NE, so we were doing some last minute tire testing.  Hopefully the last minute testing pays off in Lincoln.

On August 20th we flew to Las Vegas for a little vacation.  We stayed at the Worldmark Las Vegas Boulevard.  It was a wonderful resort with 4 pools and a lazy river.  I think the lazy river was probably my favorite.  I could spend hours floating around in it.  It was so relaxing.  Samuel also enjoyed playing in the water.

The best part of going to Las Vegas was getting to see my best friend, Candyce.  We have been friends since the 6th grade.  She lives in southern California, so I don’t get to see her as often as I would like.  In fact prior to this vacation, I had not seen her since 2010.  It was a real treat getting to spend a few days with Candyce and her son Andon.

We returned home from our Vegas vacation last Saturday.  I’ve spent the last few days doing laundry and getting ready for our next adventure.  Soon we will be on the road to Lincoln.

We are driving the 1,625 miles to Lincoln over the course of the next two and a half days.  This will be our longest road trip with Samuel, so I am a little nervous.  For the first stretch of the trip we plan to drive all the way to Salt Lake City.  I am looking forward to meeting up with a friend from culinary school who lives in the Salt Lake area.  From there we will head on to Nebraska.

So as you can see my August has been very busy.  Fortunately, I have been busy doing fun things and spending time with the ones I love.

How has your summer been?  Have you been busy doing anything fun?

-Lacey

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