Baking a cake is fun to do....

Miranda volunteered to make a wedding-ish cake for the Young Women's New Beginnings. We looked for ideas online and finally found one that would be fun to make. So I baked up the cakes and Miranda and Shaun pitched in to help decorate.

They each had their own layer they were in charge of

They first had to smooth the base coat of buttercream to prepare for the fondant layer

They did a fantastic job!
After covering the cakes with white homemade marshmallow fondant (yummy!)
We cut long strips to form flower petals and leaves

 As well as circles to form flower centers

 Then they got to sit aside to dry and get ready for the next step tomorrow

Then the exciting part....we got to clean up the huge mess!!

Whew....now back to the fun stuff
I piped lattice in all the flower petals and leaves (forgot pictures) then Miranda helped me place them on the cake...
Here is the result of all our work...

It was pretty fun, and something different to experiment with. 
Miranda wanted to "bling" out the flowers with some sparkles

I think they show up a little in this picture
I was getting it ready to take over to the church, but kept thinking it was missing something...
but what was it?  
I know, a topper! 
So after a quick design and cut with the cricut...voila! the Final final cake!

It was french vanilla cake with raspberry filling.  Everyone seemed to enjoy it :)
It was fun to work on this with Miranda!

Trek Video

This is a video that our Stake put together to show at the fireside on Sunday.
It was an amazing heart-touching experience that I will always remember.

Pioneer Trek

So the day of the trek started at 6:30am when we met at the stake center, had an opening prayer then headed to our location.
Once there, we loaded up our handcart with supplies and we divided into families. 

Ryan and I had 2 kids that we knew from our ward, but by the time it was over we knew, and loved them all!
There were many ups and downs (literally) but it was all memorable.  There was a time when the men were taken away and the girls were left to pull the carts alone.  This was tough, but we all pitched in and were able to do it (with the help from a few angels)
 A couple times during the trek, we had to stop and draw trials for our family.  One time we planted strawberries and were given a fresh pack to enjoy :)   The next time we weren't so blessed...Pa aka. Ryan got sick and had to ride in the cart for 20 minutes.  We weren't supposed to help the kids pull the handcart, but I felt I needed to during this "trial".  Ryan seemed to enjoy the ride and even complained he didn't have enough back support and wanted someone to shade him :)
  Once we made it back to base camp, we played a few games, ate dutch oven dinner then headed for home. 

Enjoy these pictures we took while on the trek....

Pioneer Life

Ryan and I were asked to be a part of our Stake Youth Conference - as a Ma & Pa on a Pioneer Trek...
(I know, I know....don't be too jealous)
It started off at a Kickoff where Ryan & I had to introduce ourselves in a "clever & fun" way. Hummm, right up my ally, but it took a little convincing for Ryan to join in the fun
I ended up changing the lyrics to the Green Acres theme song
Ryan did a fabulous job and even added some of his own stuff in there.

The next week it was time for the Trek. It started off Friday night at the Las Vegas Mormon Fort...in the middle of downtown.
We all came dressed in our finest pioneer clothes

After arriving at the Fort they had all the youth make 2 large circles and began square dancing.

It was killing me that none of the kids knew how to do-se-do, but they caught on by the end.

It was a great start to a fun weekend...next up...THE TREK

Puppy Love

This is why I put up with all the paper shredding, shoe eating, paper shredding mess!

What a cutie!

Band Festival

Parker went to Band Festival with his Middle School Band...
I was able to watch and support them while they were there.
Unfortunately I didn't get a good view of Parker (darn stands)

They did a wonderful job.  Mr. Kellerman is an amazing teacher.  His love of music truly shows as he teaches these kids....

They ended up getting a 1 - Superior rating!
Way to go!!!

She's Legal!!!

Miranda couldn't wait until she turned 15 1/2 so she could get her
driving permit. She technically could have gotten it January 15th, but she didn't feel like she was ready yet, and wanted to study a bit more.
Time passed and she still didn't feel like she had studied enough, but decided to try taking the test anyway....

I waited patiently while she answered the questions on the moniter... hoping she could pass her first time taking it...
Sure enough...she Passed!!!
She was so excited and even smiled cute for her Permit photo

They gave her a temporary paper to use until her true Permit arrived in the mail 10-14 days later...

Watch out everyone....she's legal and on the road!