731 Days

Time fly’s when your having fun. Happy Anniversary Sethy!

Twelve

Rachel is having a great year. In June she will graduate from sixth grade and enter junior high school. She made the cheer team at Willis, and last week she celebrated her twelfth birthday! Now that she’s twelve she enters the Young Women’s program at church and gets to go to girls camp in June. What an exciting time in her life!

We started with a pre-birthday party Friday night. Rachel invited 12 of her closest friends over (including her sister) for a sleepover. I took the girls to Skate Land, then we came home for pizza and had a scavenger hunt through the neighborhood. Then the entertainment showed up: the cute big brother and his cute friends. I’ve never seen so many giddy and excited girls in my life … can you say boy crazy?! The girls swam, talked, and stayed up late. It was nice to get to know the girls that Rachel hangs out with. These are a great group of girls.

I couldn’t resist making these cupcakes.

We celebrated with Rachel as a family on Wednesday. We went to dinner at Pei Wei and then we took her to the Sephora make up counter where she learned the do’s and don’ts of makeup and how to apply it properly. And yes, despite her dad’s hesitation we bought her some makeup. It’s hard on a dad to see his little girl grow up!

Happy Birthday Rachel!

Yeah Rachel!

Rachel tried out for Willis Jr. High cheer team and after four days of tryouts she made the team. She is so excited and we are very happy for her.

Mothers Day Every Day

Last Sunday while I was being showered with lovely homemade cards and pampered with meals that were made for me, it felt like any other day. That’s not a bad thing because at that moment I realized that I have been blessed with a wonderful husband who constantly pampers me. He cooks a few times a week, cleans and dose laundry. He’s a keeper!

Thought For The Day…

This was on Mormon Messages today and has been floating around on Face Book. It’s a great reminder of what our divine purpose is and how the trials in our lives can bring us some of our richest and greatest blessings.

NieNie Dialogues – Stephanie's Blog.

Anything For A Sister

I’m so not the creative over-achiever type. I leave that to my wonderful friends (you know who you are). But once in awhile I get a craving to want to be just like them. A couple of weeks ago at cooking club I learned how to make and work with fondant I was really shocked at how easy it was to make and decorate with. After cooking club I started to get the itch to make a cake but since Seth is on a diet I felt bad about making one for us so I decided to make one for my sister-in-law.  Not just any cake mind you, I wanted to maker her wedding cake! Crazy, huh?

Kiersten was excited when I proposed the idea to her and so was I. I was excited for this adventure. How hard could it be? Cake Boss makes it look so easy! Kiersten wanted the cake to be three tiers. She asked that it be in the same colors that the boys wore in the wedding. She provided flowers for the cake that matched what the girls wore. I baked cakes all week: one carrot, one red velvet and two chocolate, two layers each. After I baked the cakes the fondant anxiety set in. I only had made it once and that was three weeks ago. But I made it and my anxiety disappeared. It came out pretty good (I definitely need to practice). I woke up early Saturday morning, the day of the wedding party, frosted the cakes, rolled out the fondant, and decorated the cakes. I made four tiers but decided to use only three tiers as we originally planned. At this point the anxiety of stacking the cakes was getting to me; I almost chickened out and bought a three tier cake stand. But I was feeling adventurous and decided against it.

I think the cake came out pretty well for my first try at not only baking a wedding cake but making and decorating with fondant for the first time. I give myself a B-. The cake had imperfections but overall I think it turned out!

I’m so grateful for my friend Cyndi who lent me her cake pans and decorating tools.

First and second stage is over. Anxiety is setting in for the stacking of the cakes.

Alex helped decorate with the flowers. She was a BIG help!

I love how the flowers cover up the imperfections.

As long as the brides happy with it…I’m happy!

The happy couple cutting into my cake. It felt a little like Christmas, all that work and it’s over in a snap or in this case a slice!

Would I ever do it again? Ummm, probably not! Well, I have learned in life to never say NEVER!

I had to post the fourth tier, Alex covered this tier in fondant and made the flowers. She has been wanting to learn how to decorate cakes for some time. I think I may need to find her a cake class.