The Weekend we "lived" at the Stokes

So a few weeks back we had a really long but great weekend. We went over Friday night to watch a basketball game. A few of our other good friends were over as well. As it got late and seeing as I never really cared about the game I snuggled up on the couch and feel asleep. As I did so I couldn't help but think how lucky I was. We have been so blessed to have found "family" in some of our really good friends. Its so nice to walk into someone else's apartment and feel like you are "home" with people you really care about. (I know oddly mushy, but its getting late and these things happen when I get tired.) We are also lucky to have such an awesome ward with so many people we feel blessed to call our friends. After two years in our rather large ward I'm finally to the point where I at least know everyones name when I go to enrichment and have what I hope are friendships with a lot of them as well. Our ward seriously rocks and so do our friends in it!

So back to the weekend. We ended up leaving pretty late that night. The next day the ladies got together and had lunch an I believe some of the guys studied for the CFA together, the joys of friendship. The best part of the weekend was that night though :)

It was our good friend Cynda's 23rd birthday. We had rented out a room in the Stokes apartment complex that could hold a good number of our friends for a little party. As Mike and I were walking out the door we get a call from Cynda's husband Ben who had organized the whole party. I believe this is how the conversation went...

Ben: Dude, you know how sometimes I do stupid things?

Mike: Yeah...

Ben: Well I just did one...

Mike: What was is?

Ben: I sat on Cynda's cake I made her.

Mike: WHAT? How the heck did you do that?

Ben: I don't know. I put in on the front seat of my car and then came back and sat down on it. Can you go pick up a cake at the store. No one will want to eat my "Butt Cake."

(Also this is not the conversation verbatim, just an overview to get a feel for the situation.)

And thus it officially became known and loved as the "Butt Cake." To make things worse though poor Ben spent HOURS making the cake and had been thinking about it all week. It was a three layer chocolate cake. The first layer was filled with chocolate ganache, then a layer of chocolate mouse?, and then a layer of like a cream cheese filling (correct me if I'm wrong.) The frosting was home made as well. It looked so good... so we cut apart the area he actually sat on and served out the rest. It was actually a really big hit!
The party itself was great. Everyone lives in pretty small houses/apartments so its hard to get all the people together that you want to hang out with. A space like this allowed us to see so many more of our good friends as once. It was a blast visiting with everyone. We had the usual party segregation going on most of the evening. Women at the table eating and gabbing...
...Men on the couch drinking {soda} and watching sports.
Mike and I broke the segregation for a brief moment to pose for a picture.
We had a few cute little kids running around that night. They two 4 year old boys Mike use to have in nursery last summer and man did they love him. "Jenson" was the main attraction for them, and he loved it!

Please not the "Butt cake" had a better response by the consumers at the party seeing as more of it is missing than the regular cake...

After most everyone went home like responsible adults who had church in the morning we went back to the Stokes apartment until 2am that morning. The men got caught up in some scientific experiments and completely lost track of time :)

After little sleep the night before and waking up for church early the next morning we all were suffering from what had to be "hangover" like disorientation due to lack of sleep. To help each other cope with the lightheadedness and slurred speech we all scourged our fridges/freezers for food to be contributed to a large feast. We did have quite an array of goodies. After lunch it was time to sleep. But don't worry after the nap we went back over and stayed late again watching "The Pacific." Its like "Band of Brothers." but takes place in the pacific Islands during WWII. This has a special spot in my heart because my Grandfather was in that area during WWII and fought in some of the worst battle over there. Watching it gives me a greater respect and admiration for him and the others who have paid such a high price for our freedoms. Thankfully he made it out of the war with a few minor injuries and is still here to share the stories of that time in his life with all of his adoring fans {his 8 grandchildren!}

It was a great weekend and a special thanks to the Stokes for being so willing to let us "live"at their house!