Feeling very blessed!

We had our second MacJam on Saturday night. For those of you who don’t know what MacJam is, I will tell you.
Shane had the idea to hold a concert in our house monthly. The last Saturday of each month we have 5-6 musicians booked and invite everyone who will accept the invitation to come and listen. I make some treats of course:)
Last month we had 27 people including our musicians. We had comedy, theatrical, love songs and rock n’ roll. It was awesome, those who came caught the bug and we had no problem filling the roster or finding an audience this month.
This month was fantastic! We counted off the top of our head 50 adults (excluding our family) and 7 awesome artists! The night was amazing, but to me, looking around the room was the highlight.
We moved to Utah 6 months ago, know a few byu students, Shane’s cousin, and Shane’s bosses. This weekend we had over 50 people into our house, people we call friends. How blessed are we?
Here is some pictures of the night:
Our opening act, two of the most adorable performers ever!                                          Once upon a December.
If you want to hear the girls: http://www.youtube.com/supersmackay#p/u/1/dFDVkBF8_YQ

Followed by the HOTTEST performer of the evening:)
Followed by Eli Adams (yes even his name rings rock star)  His proud Father in Law, The Budge/Adams duoThe intermission: Second act was opened by Devin RappleyeSpecial appearance by Corey Hart and Prince!(Side note, Devin didn’t realize Corey was not only my hero who I had planned to marry, but also Canadian)
Our Featured Guests:
Dan Thuet: this guy can sing! He writes his own music, amazing:) As soon as Dan walked in the house, I got a keeper vibe, he is a very friendly guy (and yes young single girls he is adorable!) Once he took me up on supper I knew I would need to keep him in our lives, but when he sang the song about a tantalizing love affair, with his Mom’s cinnamon buns, I LOVED him. Adoption papers are being drawn up, and I am in the process of making him up a room….
Carlie McKinnon and Dan Thuet singing the most amazing rendition of Alleluia (sorry KD Lang they slaughtered you)

And our Karlie We met Karlie through a friend, and we instantly fell in love with her. She is so talented, writing her own music, and yet so humble and shy about it. God sure knows what He is doing, if I had her talent you would all be hearing me all the time, telling you how good I am:)
Of course the night wouldn’t be complete without our new friends:)   
It was such a great night, and I just feel so lucky to have so many talented people in our lives. I hope you can all come next month, we will of course have Eli again, I am pretty sure Karlie and Dan will be back, but we also have a violin player coming! How cool is that?


You can check out Dan on myspace: http://www.myspace.com/danthuet
You can check out Karlie on myspace: http://www.myspace.com/karliemckinnon

Surprise presents!

Today in the mail Meliah and I received some very great presents!

For me, my true loves

Yes the one bar was opened before anything was taken out of the bag. Melanee you know me well! 

For Meliah,  a outfit that has a picture of her and her bestie Kaleigh

Kaleigh this is a message from Meliah to you!

Do you know what she is saying? Because it is true, can you tell that to your mom for me too?

We miss you guys so much, but we have so many memories, your on our minds all the time. Love ya!

Seriously? Seriously!

Today I was craving something sweet, but I didn’t want anything that would break the calorie bank. I have been working out hard and I don’t want to waste it on a chocolate binge.
While Meliah and I were in Walmart I decided ice cream would be the best. Something not to fattening, but full of yummy goodness. When I came across 90 calorie twix ice cream bars, I thought the dessert Gods were smiling on me.

And then I opened it.

Seriously! Seriously!  The white object is a bread twist tie. Seriously! They were advertised as 12 Twix Ice Cream Bars 90 calories each.

I think they need to change that to 4 servings of Twix Ice Cream Bars, 270 calories each. Because clearly 3 is the minimum you could have in one sitting.

Sometimes in life, you can have your cake and eat it too!

I get so dang excited about doing cakes! I am not stellar at it! They look cute, taste good, but if a real cake decorator looked at it, oh boy! Of course you know me, I really don’t care! I love it!

Last week I had the opportunity to do a cake for a young fellow here who received his eagle scout award. I do not know a lot about Scouts, but I do know that earning this award is a BIG deal! Jeremy is very young to achieve it, and its hard work. You need to earn merit badges (something like 30) which all take time and effort, and you have to organize a big project in the end. It seems like a lot of work, but like anything that is a lot of work, it can be a wonderful learning experience. It’s more than learning to tie a knot or build a fire, it’s life skills, people skills, service. A long process that can turn a young boy into a young man. 

When I first heard he needed a cake, my initial reaction was dread! It is different to make a cake for your child than for someone else! Especially when it is a special occasion. I have learned that my initial response is usually wrong, it turned out to be a great learning experience and time of reflection.

Here is the story.

White Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Cream Cheese icing was the flavor palette.

Ummm, hmmm, problem! After 2 batches of burnt white chocolate, I had a lava cake. Clearly my original recipe was not working. (This was a 8 inch cake, which equals 1 cake with $3 of white chocolate)

So I tried again, this time doing a 10 inch and a 6 inch (yes to those of you who know, equals about  2 cakes and $6 of white chocolate). Again over flowing outers, drooping inners…

So then I tweaked the recipe, and did a 14 inch (which equals 3 cakes and $9 of white chocolate) I put less batter in, same result… Don’t worry, I have a team of dedicated teenage boys who come over 2 or 3 times a week to eat up any left over, mishap cakes.

But I am not one to give up, I did my final round, 1 each of 14, 10, 6 inch cake. (Translation, 4 cakes, $12 of white chocolate) The 10 and the 6 overflowed, but I was able to trim them down flat, the 14 was perfect until it sunk in the center.

Have I mentioned I don’t care for white chocolate, but currently I hate white chocolate. Yes, I lied, it wasn’t my final round, I did more of each size in Vanilla…

Sigh of relief….

For the filling, I decided against my Raspberry Cream Cheese theory, I went with Cream Cheese Icing, White Chocolate Ganache and Raspberry filling. I also decided that the cute little 6 inch deserved 4 layers, it looked really pretty when cut. Love the 6 inch cakes!

Time for the icing, I was wanting to do the cake in the Scout uniform colour.  I played until I got something close to it.

It unfortunately reminded  me a wee bit of newborn poo… 

The icing of the cake, is the part I HATE! I feel good when the cakes are baked, I feel like smashing my head into the running kitchen aid while trying to smoothly ice a cake.

Fondant and decorations

After the baby poo thought, I went outside to watch Meliah ride her bike and to look at the mountain for inspiration. Green, (Jenny Welton, I believe you now, the mountain is green, we do have green! And it is beautiful!)

I did not want to mix the fondant completely, so that there would be different shades of green. Hard to see in the picture, but it worked well.Sometimes you have to play with your decorations to decide what you want. The moose ended up to tall, and the start of my campfire, well it looked more like the droppings of a large moose…

In the end the cake turned out great. Jeremy’s final project was building a campsite with a fire pit, so we wanted nature to be the major theme in the cake.

The best part of the cake, no not the delicious chocolate rocks. No not that it was done, it was the epiphany that came with the conclusion of the cake. Sometimes you can have your cake and eat it too, my cake looked great, but what I learned about life in the process was greater.

The cake was far more than a few days of lava in my oven, and icing everywhere. It was a chance to serve. It was a opportunity to share a memory with new friends.

Watching Jeremy accept his award with a picture of his deceased father on the table, brought tears to my eyes.

Watching him hug his mom to thank her for all her help, made me smile with love, joy and affection of a family I hardly know. Listening to him talk about his older brother who was such a good role model and an example to him, made me so proud, of yes a teenage boy I don’t even know! The entire evening, the entire experience had absolutely nothing to do with cake. Rather it had everything to do with the accomplishment of a young man, with the help of his mother, brother and friends.  It was a time for me to grow and reflect on what was really important in my life.

What are my priorities?

What is my role?

What am I doing to achieve my goals ?

I am so grateful for the opportunity to get to know this family and for the opportunity I have every day to hear the soft promptings of the spirit to guide and direct me. To grow and to learn, and to become a better me!

 

Next: A  Spiderman birthday cake  for Michael! I wonder what I will learn this time? Heck, how do you spell Michael?

Why, Why, Why!

I love to watch Say Yes to The Dress! I love watching the dresses being tried on, the tears, the arguments. I drop my jaw at what people pay for their dresses! Crazy!

Tonight a bride was told by her mother the budget was $3000 for the dress, so to look at $2000 dresses to accommodate the alterations and taxes. The bride tells the consultant that the budge is $6000! Then falls for a $7000 dress ($8000 plus with alterations and taxes) and throws a fit and forces her mother to buy it!

As I was thinking how atrocious it was, my mind immediately went to my new niece to be. Completely random, I know, but its how I work! We just found out today that peanut is in fact a girl… I said she was a girl at the get go! Amie has been trying for a couple of years to have a baby. It’s been lots of tears, but so worth the wait.

I don’t know what it is about a sister having a child that makes me so emotional, but I get teary thinking about it.  My sister, my blood, is going to be a mother. My sister is giving me a niece to love! I love her already, she is a part of me! And I cannot wait to hold her, hug her, love her! Hear the funny stories, see the adorable pictures. Why? Because that is what family is, that is what is important in life.

So ask me to choose any day, a day with my little nephew Eli, a moment with my upcoming niece or a $6000 dress (heck even a trip) and I will always choose my family. Isn’t that all we have in the end anyways?

Happy Birthday to me….

Surprise Surprise! I was dreading my birthday earlier this week, but it was great! I am so very blessed! I was having a woe me week, really feeling how far away my family and my long time friends truly are. Not even a girls night out for my birthday! Generally I am birthday month kind of girl,

1. Dinner out with the family
2. Date night with Shane
3. Lunch with Dreena and Mel
4. Girls night with my friends.

With our move, I knew it would be different. I was ready for my sad and lonely birthday… Surprise! I had so many facebook messages I had to turn off my cell phone notifications. My phone rang, my door bell rang. My heart was warmed, I felt loved. I felt at home.



When I came home from helping at Meliah’s school this was there from the relief society presidency. Along with a copy of President Monson’s talk, ‘Finding Joy in the Journey’.







My friend Jennifer (well she was a friend before I ate 5 of these babies) made me these cookies, moist and yummy!





From Amie, well she gave me money to buy whatever I wanted so I got this. I am so excited! A new Book of Mormon and a new Journal (with an owl even)






My sweet friend Emily (the first one I made here) left these pretty flowers on my step. With the cutest card!






She thought this card suited me because I bake so much… I love it!







Living next to a Mary Kay lady does have it’s perk’s. Some yummy smelling sparkling body butter and spray.







But the sweetest gift of all! Not just sugar content, one of my little sunbeams (Taylor the T-Rex) brought this over to me. Shane was even happier, he no longer needed to take me for dessert!



I had no idea I would be so spoilt! And I did get my dinner with Shane, we had Thai food:) I feel grateful and blessed! Thank you family, thank you friends, I love you too!

I am a stalker!

So I have been thinking about how strangely, odd and wonderful social networking is. I have decided I am somewhat of a stalker…. Not in a bad way, I just feel so inspired by a blogger http://nieniedialogues.blogspot.com/. She makes me want to try harder and be better. I weep when I read some of her blogs… I am so grateful to have her as a friend… And then I remember, I don’t even know this person!

I have never met her, yet I know a lot about her. I know her kids names and what kind of things she is into. I know she has a strong faith. I know she loves her husband deeply. I know she is in a lot of pain, but yet keeps on going, grateful to be here.  If I were to see her on the street I would not be able to keep my mouth shut, I would be forced (by my own weirdness?) to talk to her. And she is a perfect stranger!

As weird as this might be, I think we all have stranger friends! Think about facebook, who actually knows all those people! (Your all a bunch of stalkers too)! For instance I have one friend named Danielle, I know her clothing size, her favourite shows, and that she is a fashionista, but I have never met her. She is my sister’s best friend, and because of that I automatically love her! Weird, yes I know! But you do it to!

Yes you stalkers are all busted! That oughta teach you a thing or two about judging others:)

This is a video NieNie did with her family:

http://www.youtube.com/mormonmessages

Fairies, cakes and my baby is six!

    
This week my baby turned 6!
How in the world did my little baby get so very old? It seems like yesterday that she was a baby.



Well, here is her birthday party! It went pretty well, and we all had a lot of fun. We were missing some of our favourite little people of course, it was Meliah’s first birthday with out Kaleigh! Not sure who was more concerned, the girls or me and Mel!

 
For starters, Meliah wanted to her school, so we made 36 cupcakes (well if you count the burnt ones it was 54) then her and her little friend decorated all 36 cupcakes with grass buttercream icing and a lady bug on top. They turned out so cute! The even did them all themselves.

Next we move on the main event:
 
Meliah opted for a strawberry cake with strawberry mousse and fresh strawberries sprinkled with coconut in the center. Lilac coconut icing and vanilla fondant.







Meliah being a huge fan of Cake Boss, felt it very important to have a 3 tiered cake. She was very adamant she wanted tinkerbell toys on it. This Diva knows what she wants!

She also wanted a cupcake tree. Of course cupcakes are easy as can be, but it did mean a lot of cake for us to consume! The 10 little fairies coming to the party would get to feast on these.









Terann drew a Fairy so the girls could play pin the wings on the fairy. I didn't give her much notice to do it, so whipped this out in just a few minutes. It was a hit with Meliah and her fellow Fairies.

In case you ever wondered what 10 fairies going on a scavenger hunt with butterfly nets looked like, this is pretty much it. The girls had to scour the fort for 7 hidden treasures: Bubbles, hair bow, candy ring, candy jewelry, Tinker Bell fruit snacks, flower necklace, and sour candy. They collected it all in butterfly nets that they got to take home.





Nothing like a game of Princess, Princess, QUEEN to get the girls running! Aren’t they adorable!





Meliah blows out her candles. She got every single one!






 

Cupcakes enjoyed by all the fairies of course!





Some photo’s of our Fairy Festivities:




 



 

A very happy group of Fairies!