The Week of Bean Burgers

Travis and I don't buy meat during the summer. 

(Besides lunch meat.)

But you know how it goes, no one is more

obsessed with meat than vegetarians.

They try to make everything they eat look and taste like meat.

Travis is pretty good at making up recipes,

and he'd made bean burgers before, he just wanted to find

the right recipe--the one that has the best

taste and texture.

So, we had a week of bean burgers.  

A different one every night.

It's a good thing we both enjoy them.

So, we've come to the conclusion that onions help with the flavor,

(especially if you carmalize them, but it's not really worth the time and effort)

oatmeal gives it a better texture than bread crumbs,

and I think we both liked the black beans

more than the pinto beans.

(And yes, I am a food photographer on the side. :)

Celebrate Independence

Independence day is basically bigger than Christmas with the Stradley family.

I love everything about it.

This year was slightly different for Stacey, being married and all.

Instead of spending the 3rd with family, we went to the Logan

fireworks. The entertainment was an ABBA cover band

and they were pretty amazing.

The morning of the 4th was our usual breakfast and water fight.

That's my favorite part.

Travis had fun with the kids in the kiddie pool.

The night of the 4th we have a BBQ and head to the park

for some fireworks.

 Dallas Loved the Grass.

Nicole Loved the Muddy Buddies. :)

Softball

 Stacey joined a women's league softball team.

I've only played softball once in my life...freshman year of college.

My boss' team needed more players,

so I figured, sure, free shirt, get to play an organized sport,

why not?

We're terrible. 

Little league team.

Seriously.

Also, they apparently have a rule that after one team gets to like,

20 points while the other hasn't scored at all, 

it's game over.

That happened to us this week.

But it's still fun. :)

The One Hit Wonders

Cakes and Tractors

Travis and I have been developing new talents.

His mom had a great idea to send Colton (Travis' brother)

a birthday cake down in Texas where he's serving a mission.

So we volunteered to help.

We decided it would be best if we used

fondant...maybe it would make it in the mail if we did that.

Rule for fondant: if you don't know what you're

doing, ask a professional FIRST.

Now we know.

This was our practice attempt.

We could not get the red to look like red.

And don't even ask about the black.

Cute, right?

We tried again...this time using a whole tube

of red and black.

This is what we got.

I went to the craft store to look around.

While there I decided to do what I should've done

from the beginning. I called my Aunt Kim who

is awesome at decorating cakes.

She informed me that we should be using a paste.

Worked like a dream. 

 The finished product.

 Much better.

Still have plenty of practice, but not bad for our first 

and second time with fondant.

 We froze it and sent it in the mail and supposedly it made

it there in one piece.