chocolate reese's cake.

i found this recipe on this blog. 

she explains how to make the cake here, and here. 

the chocolate cake

1 box devil's food cake mix

1 small package jello instant chocolate pudding mix

1 cup sour cream

1 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups chopped up reese's 

(i bought a family size bag of miniature reese's and split them in half. half for the cake, half for the frosting. or you could buy two regular bags and use one for cake, one for outside. i didn't use as many reese's on the outside as she did)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a small bowl, beat the four eggs, then, in a very large bowl, mix everything together except the reese's. Expect the batter to be thick. Stir in the chopped reese's. Pour batter into cake pan of choice. I bought three 9" cake pans so that i could pour the batter evenly between the three. For cooking time, use the cooking times on the back of the devil's food cake box as a guide and add 10 minutes to whatever it says. when you start to smell the cake baking, check every five minutes or so until the toothpick check shows that they are done. 

she said that it usually takes around 45 minutes for two, 9" cake pans. 

buttercream frosting

1 cup shortening (crisco)

4 cups powdered sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup heavy whipping cream 

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

in a mixing bowl, cream shortening until fluffy. add sugar and continue creaming until well blended. add salt, vanilla and whipping cream. blend on low speed until moistened. then add the peanut butter and beat at high speed until frosting is fluffy. it will be pretty thick as well. layer the completely cooled cakes one on top of another with frosting in between. frost the rest of the cake, stick the reese's chunks all over the frosting and enjoy!

birthday boy!

my birthday boy turned 25 last week! i can't believe he's getting so old, right before my eyes... ;)

we were going to celebrate at disneyland, but decided last minute that we will wait and go sometime next month when the summer crowds have died down. 

 i always like having a theme for his birthday because it makes the celebration and gift giving much easier to figure out, haha. 

this year it was:

something you want, 

something you need. 

something to wear, 

something to read.

(and...something to EAT!)

he got:

the cutest bonsai tree, 

compression work out shorts,

a new t-shirt, 

and a toyota four wheel drive magazine (he's obsessed) 

and the gift i was the most excited about was his birthday cake. he loves reese's almost as much as he loves me (for christmas last year, i got him the 1lb reese's cups). and he loves peanut butter almost as much as he loves reese's. he eats it plain. 

i guided him over to the table with his eyes closed and took off the lid. the first picture shows him smelling the air and telling me it smelled like peanut butter. the second picture is his honest reaction to the cake. just the reaction i was going for!

his birthday was sunday. to celebrate, we skipped church! he wanted to just hang out and watch the olympics. we thought it would be fun to go down to balboa park and walk through the international houses that are only open on sunday's. we went to the swedish house and almost passed out. while he was speaking swedish to an older lady, i was swooning over the house. i wasn't sure if i could take pictures, so i just snuck this crappy photo. i am such a sucker for scandinavian design, i loved the vine that wrapped around the room and the paintings they had displayed. 

birthday boy is olympic obsessed. 

we listened to a couple playing on the spreckels organ while we were at balboa. this is the largest outdoor organ in the world! it was a nice way to spend a sunday afternoon.

we had kenny, lindsay and wes come over to enjoy jon's famous burgers for dinner. they were delicious. then....we indulged in the birthday cake. it was so good! i will post the recipe later this week. i got it online, but the girl posted it on two different websites. it was confusing, so i'll post it all in one place for you here. i sent jon to work with HALF the cake. we thought it was a good idea when we were full of cake, but we regretted it the next day. his friends at work appreciated it, and we had enough for a couple days after. 

all in all, it was a fun and laid back birthday. i love any time that i get to spend with jon, but most especially when we are celebrating fun holiday's like this. i can't wait until we get to celebrate his birthday again at disneyland!!!!

del mar horse racing.

guess what we did? we went to the horse races on wednesday! 

we went for "free and easy wednesday's". we parked forever away so that we didn't have to pay for parking. we walked to the 'military' entrance only to find out that military (and their dependents!) get in for free every day! that is good to know. if it were up to me, we'd go to the races errday. 

before the races begin, they show the horses in this little arena. that way you can size up the competitors and pick out the under dog you want to root for, or the tall and lean champion you assume will win. 

some of the horses appeared very calm, but others were jumpy and fidgety-eager for the race. 

 unfortunately, we got there later than anticipated and missed most of the races for the day. we only made it in time to watch two of them! that's okay though, we made it worth it and had a good time soaking up the atmosphere. 

for the first race, jon and I both bet two dollars on two different horses. we said that they would either get first, second, or third (this is called a "show"). we knew that we were already crossing the line betting our hard earned money, so we thought we'd better play it safe...

I lost my two dollars, but jon's horse took third! he won......$4.20!! 

 the second race was a good one as well. jon bet two dollars that two different horses would show. and i did the same with two others. so we had put $8 on this race. jon's horses took last and second to last...and one of mine got first place! it was so awesome to see him go from fourth all the way up to first and stick his nose across the finish line. we watched this race trackside(i think it is called the stretch). we couldn't see them run the entire race, but it was awesome to hear twelve horses come stampeding to the finish line right in front of you!

here are the horses walking it out after the last race.
they were really close to us! 

the horses are so pretty! very slender and muscular.

here's the horse that won me $6.40! 

i assume he was feeling pretty good about himself at this point. 

 it was such a fun day! next time we will make sure to get there earlier so we can see more races, and maybe we'll get a little daring with our cash...not tooo daring though...
we ended up losing a total of $1.40. so it was pretty much a one and a half dollar date! i'll take it. 

 before jon took my photo, i piled him up with all of my belongings. ha! 

Peppermint Cream Bites

Peppermint Cream Bites from the Better Homes and Gardens 

All-Time Favorites 2012 Cookbook. 

1-1/2 Cups crushed Oreos

3 Tablespoons butter, melted

2 Cups powdered sugar

2 Tablespoons butter, softened

2 Tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon peppermint extract

6 Ounces bittersweet chocolate baking bar chopped

1 teaspoon shortening

1. Pre-heat oven to 350. Line an 8x8x2" baking pan with foil extending foil over the pan edges, set aside. 

2. In a medium bowl, combine crushed Oreos and melted butter. Press mixture into bottom of prepared pan. Bake for 8 minutes. Cool slightly in pan on wire rack. 

3. Meanwhile, combine powdered sugar and softened butter in a food processor. Cover and process until butter is evenly distributed, with processor running, add milk and peppermint extract to make a paste. Spread peppermint mixture evenly over prepared crust. Freeze for 45 minutes. 

4. In a microwave safe bowl, combine chopped chocolate and shortening. Microwave on high for one minute or until chocolate is melted, stirring once. (We don't have a microwave, we just melted it in a pan on the stove. If you do this, make sure you stir it a lot so that it doesn't burn). Let chocolate cool for 15 minutes. Pour over mint layer and spread evenly. Using edges of foil, lift the uncut bars out of the pan. Use a 1-1/2 inch cookie cutter to cut mixture into rounds, or cut mixture into squares. 

Each cookie: Roughly 107 calories :)

we made these last night, and they were easy and yummy, 

the best combination. 

enjoy!

i'm going to get back to the olympics, you can go shave your back now.  

fair time.

jon and i went to the fair on saturday with some friends! kenny and jon have been friends forever, and we are all lucky enough to be stationed together here in SD. kenny was sent home early from afghanistan a few weeks ago. although the circumstances were unfortunate, we are happy to have him home and be able to spend time with him and his fiance, jenny!

we put a video together, enjoy.

SD County Fair Time! from Alexandra Robinson on Vimeo.

he's done it again.

need a smile?

my favorite part is obviously 1:21-1:35.

but i think i need to note the little old/young/who knows man standing on the guys shoulder in the very middle of the screen at 1:59. 

annnnddd 4:31. rwanda. and lastly, the happy baby in the last scene. 

so cute. 

like dancing slower would make it okay!

and one more. amanda sent me this and i simply can't get enough.

!!!!!!

irvine lake mud run.

things are getting back to normal. it's weird to think that life just goes on for the family members and friends after a death. in my grandma's case, it was somewhat expected, and it was a good time for her to go. in other deaths, such as my sister's dear friend Brynn, it's different. with something as unexpected and earth-shattering as that, it is difficult to find a balance in missing them, but still trying to be happy, and not feeling guilty for doing fun things. brynn was always so kind to me at school, and other times when amanda and her friends would let me hang out with them. jon and i were in DC when we found out about her accident. i wanted to write about her, but i just wasn't sure what to say. i'm still not sure. i felt guilty in the following days for having a good time on my vacation with jon when she was gone and her friends and family were so broken hearted. my heart still hurts for them, but i hope that they have found some peace since her passing. 

i know that my gran is smiling down and still telling me and my sisters to not cry because it makes her cry. some days are more difficult than others, but i find comfort in that fact that she now knows exactly where i live, what our house looks like, and what i do on an every day basis. and now she doesn't have a difficult time remembering anything. 

(she suffered from Alzheimer's) 

yesterday, jon, wes, alex, and i ran the irvine lake mud run! my cousin, lindsay, lives here in la jolla with her BF, wes. we love having them so close and always enjoy our time spent with them! lindsay and wes are both unbelievably smart. when they aren't being smart talking about doctor/scientist and accounting things, we relate to them pretty well! they love SNL and gourmet soda's just as much as we do. actually, we are planning on brewing our own soda sometime this year...i'll keep you posted. 

alex flew in on tuesday and we've been having tons of fun with him! he is turning into such a cute high school babe. 

 here we are right before the race! lindsay was supposed to run it with us, but she hurt her knee. way sad! instead, she was our photographer. 

(jon bought me that tank top in maine on his way home from afghanistan. isn't that sweet? he gave it to me right when he got off the bus. i don't know why it says what it says.....)

 the race included tons of mud pits, several wall obstacles, a huge water slide that dropped you off into chest deep mud, tire/cargo net obstacles and more mud pits! it was about 3.5 miles. i wish i would have had girlfriends to run with, i felt bad keeping the boys from running their fastest, but it was still really fun! alex had some pretty funny falls, one of which lindsay caught on camera. i hit my knee on a rock in the very first mud pit. i panicked briefly, but it didn't bother me again during the run.

this was the last stretch of the race. 

 all in all, it was a blast! we all agreed that we'd definitely do it again.