Irish Cream Cake

We have two bars for entertaining in our home. This is the downstairs bar. Yes, I know...there is a variety of 'spirits' to pick from here. The bar always looks like this. It never decreases in variety because we almost never use any of these mixers/liquors. Brent sticks to his martini's, and I'm a wine girl with the occasionally mojito. The bar is simply for entertaining friends when they are 'thirsty' for something special....hahaha.



So as I was dusting off the bottles this past week, I came across this unopened bottle of Irish Cream that I can tell you has never been touched and who knows if it ever will.


But when I saw that bottle, I immediately thought 'Irish Cream Cake'! That would not only utilize some of our 'spirits' stash, but it would also please my sweet tooth! So I found a great recipe and got to baking!

Ingredients

1 cup chopped pecans
1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
1 (3.4 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
4 eggs
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup Irish cream liqueur
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup water
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup Irish cream liqueur

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease and flour a 10 inch Bundt pan.
Sprinkle chopped nuts evenly over bottom of pan.
In a large bowl, combine cake mix and pudding mix.
Mix in eggs, 1/4 cup water, 1/2 cup oil and 3/4 cup Irish cream liqueur.



Beat for 5 minutes at high speed.
Pour batter over nuts in pan.
Bake in the preheated oven for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.



Cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then invert onto the serving dish.
Prick top and sides of cake. Spoon glaze over top and brush onto sides of cake. Allow to absorb glaze repeat until all glaze is used up.

To make the glaze: In a saucepan, combine butter, 1/4 cup water and 1 cup sugar. Bring to a boil and continue boiling for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in 1/4 cup Irish cream.

This ended up being a great recipe! A very delicious, moist cake!

George Bush Presidential Library and Museum

One of our favorite stops on our trip was in College Station, Texas: The George Bush Presidential Library and Museum. Ashlan and I had both visited there before, but Ashlan was too young to remember. I love this library. It's spacious, informative, beautiful pond and gardens, and so interesting. Plus, the Library is down the street from one of my best friends! So what a perfect day it was to visit the Library along with my friend and her two children!

At the entrance



As you walk through the gardens behind the Library, the pathway ends at the burial place where both President Bush and Barbara will be buried. Their daughter, Robin (who died at age 4) is already buried there. It's such a quiet, beautiful, serene place.

Ashlan and Jenna enjoying their walk through the gardens and around the pond

We were lucky enough to get there on the last day of the Red Dress Exhibit. All the presidents wives red dresses (from American Heart Association Balls) were on display.

Ashlan and Jenna were given 'homework' to do throughout their tour of the Library. They had so much fun!

Ashlan and I in a mock exact replica of the Oval Office during Bush's term.


We definitely enjoyed our time in College Station. Thank you to my friend Hailey for feeding us and spending time with us. Your friendship means more to me than you'll ever know.

The Alamo

Another stop on our Mother/Daughter trip was the Alamo! Ashlan has already learned about the Alamo at school, so she was excited to finally see it.
You are not allowed to take pictures inside the Alamo, so we only snapped a few while we were visiting.

Sea World - San Antonio

A special treat for Ashlan and I on our 'Mommy Daughter Trip' was visiting SeaWorld. Ashlan has a LOVE for dolphins so I knew this park would be very special for her!




When the park opened, the very first place we headed for was Dolphin Cove. There you can pet and feed the dolphins! She loved Dolphin Cove so much that we went back 3 more times to feed the dolphins.






Of course, because Shark Week (on tv) just finished, we were eager to go see the sharks!


Watching a scuba diver clean some coral


She loved the Sea Lion/Otter Show! We even had a chance to feed the sea lions after the show!


The Shamu show was neat, but it would have been a lot neater if Ashlan would have let us sit in the splash zone! I feel like that's all the show showcased....the whales splashing the audience...constantly. But I understand the trainers can't get in the water with the whales anymore. I miss the Shamu shows from when I was a child though.

Whale Tail Cookies - genius!

And the Dolphin/Beluga Whale/Acrobat Show. A-maz-ing! We saw it 3 times!


I am hoping Ashlan and I can visit again next summer!!!

Our Home Away From Home

While away on our Mommy/Daughter trip, we stayed at a fabulous resort, the Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort and Spa It was such a nice resort and had so many fun activities for kids!

The resort lobby


Enjoying one of the aquariums in the lobby


A lazy afternoon on the back porch of the resort


There were a couple of pools, even a Texas shaped pool. But the highlight for Ashlan has the lazy river around the property and the small beach.






A pony ride before dinner one night


They had Smores every night between 7-9pm


And they had Movie on the Lawn every evening at 8:30pm


We enjoyed this resort so much that we hope to make this a new tradition each summer......Our Mommy/Daughter trip!

Sic 'Em Bears!

To break up the road trip to San Antonio, Ashlan and I stopped at Baylor University, where Brent and I both graduated from! I loved showing her the campus and where I lived.....but most of her excitement came from seeing the mascots!!






I am looking forward to taking her back to campus in the Fall when the weather is much cooler! It was hard to walk the campus in 105 degree heat! No wonder the bears were in their pool the entire time!

Smudgers Soccer Camp

With this heat wave we've had this summer, every activity you do (besides swimming) MUST be indoors or it's unbearable! And with soccer season weeks around the corner, we needed to get Ashlan ready for it! Several of Ashlan's teammates enrolled in the Smudgers Indoor Soccer Camp so we took advantage and enrolled Ashlan as well! It was a 5 day/week, half day camp and worked perfectly for our schedule!


Ashlan going one on one with one of the professional players!


I think we are now ready for soccer season!

How Do We Keep Cool?

We have an ice cream party!!! It has been record breaking HOT here in Texas, and most of the time the swimming pool water feels more like luke warm bath water. So to try and make things feel a bit cooler - we had some neighborhood friends over for some ice cream sundaes and swimming!


Lots of yummy toppings for our sundaes! Ashlan added the smurf for a touch of fun!




We will definitely be having more of these parties! It was a great way to cool down and have fun!