Finished Odd Thomas!

Yesterday I finished reading Odd Thomas. I couldn't put it down, and finished it in two days... It was a pretty good book, and I was sorry that it ended. I can't really go into details because I don't want to give the story away and spoil it for anyone out there, so i'll just say that if you are a fan of Dean Koontz, this is a good, not-too-creepy read.

Odd Thomas

Odd Thomas, by Dean Koontz, is not a newly released book or anything. It's just one of the many books that I got from my book club and it's been sitting around forever. I just never got the chance to read it. Today, I finally found the time to pick it up and read it, and I'm already hooked! But of course, that doesn't surprise me, since I'm a Dean Koontz fan and most of his books have a way of grabbing your attention right from the first chapter.

Odd Thomas is the main character's real name, and he is, true to his name, an odd person. To me, he seems like an awkward, but still very likeable character. I can't wait to continue reading it!

Chocolate Flan Cake

Julia found this recipe online quite a while ago, and this has been one of our favorites. It's easy to make, takes no time to prepare, but still looks impressive. Not to mention yummy! The recipe is under the photo.

Chocolate Flan Cake

-1 box devil's food cake mix

-1 jar (11 oz.) cajeta or caramel topping

-1 can condensed milk

-1 can (12 oz.) evaporated milk

-1/2 cup milk

-1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, at room temperature

-2 tsp. vanilla extract

-5 eggs (plus extra for the cake mix)

1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. Soften cajeta in the microwave and pour into a greased bundt pan.

3. Prepare cake mix according to directions and pour over cajeta.

4. Pour condensed milk, evaporated milk, milk, cream cheese, vanilla and eggs into a blender and mix well. Pour batter slowly over cake batter.

5. Spray aluminum foil with non-stick spray and cover pan lightly.

6. Set pan in a bigger baking pan with deep sides, and add hot water to 2-inches deep.

7. Bake for exactly 2 hours. No peeking!

8. Remove from oven, and the water, and let set for 15 minutes before inverting.

Note: when inverting, remember to use a deep plate that is at least 1-inch deep and 3-inches wider than the cake all around, or the caramel will run off everywhere!

Alexis' Sweet 16 Party

We have a little downtime today, so we thought we'd update you all a little on what's going on. We just did Alexis' Sweet 16 last night. She had a great blue and white themed party at Delzano's by the Sea in Redondo Beach.

It was a fun event to cover, and her parents are absolutely wonderful people. They were friendly, easy-going, and great to work with.

The party itself involved a lot of dancing at the end. Going to an event like this really makes us feel old, though! Songs like "chicken noodle soup" just make no sense at all to us, and we could hear our parents' voices in our heads, asking us what in the world we were listening to... Are we becoming our parents??

So, I guess we better get to work. We have lots of photos and video footage to edit. We'll probably spend the rest of the week in the editing room!

Julia's Sister

Here's a picture of Julia's sister, brother-in-law and nephew. They made some time, and we set up a family shoot for them. It was a pretty interesting day. We were at home, getting ready for the photo shoot when a girl came to the door, asking if we knew where the next door neighbors were. It turns out that she was an exchange student who had just arrived from Germany, and knocked on the door of her host family only to find out that nobody was home. She got very nervous, and started walking around with her luggage, trying to figure out what to do. We still don't know what happened, but it was just a misunderstanding, or last minute change in flight schedules. Long story short, she came in, had a Coke, the neighbors came home, everything was straightened out, and the shoot went on without a hitch!


Look at that happy family! And isn't that boy a cutie? If he could only stay still for more than 2 minutes...


Don't know what happened to his hair here, but he's still a cutie-pie, isn't he?