Creative Cupcakes

My sister sent me a text several months ago in the midst of the craziness of the prelude to finals asking if I'd be able to do a cupcake wedding June 30th. I agreed and started corresponding with the bride a bit between assignments. She was an interesting bride with fun ideas. She kept asking me if it would be ok if she did something a little different, and I assured her that she had great ideas and it would make for a wonderful wedding. She sent me a wide variety of pictures that fit their personality. Her husband-to-be was a cowboy by trade, and they were very outdoorsy people. It took some work to combine all of her ideas into one design, but when I sent her my outline of the plan she was thrilled. I was too but it was going to be a lot of work.

The bride referred me to a friend of hers who got married the beginning of June, and I posted on facebook while I was baking all of the cupcakes. My cousin's daughter Tana saw my post and excitedly asked if sometime when she was in town and I was doing a cake she could help. Well after some back and forth coordinating we found that she was going to be in town just in time to help me out with this big wedding. She came and slept over one night a few days before the wedding, and was a huge help making everything!

Beyond the cupcakes we also had to make a cake that looked like a mountain with the bride and groom climbing up it. Tana did an amazing job helping with this project, even going so far as to make the bride! And she did a beautiful job at it too.

We ran into a few issues. Mainly I kept finding ways to accidentally splash things all over me. Tana and I laughed so hard the first time when the water faucet came out and sprayed water all over the place including, but not limited to my shirt, the inside of the spice cabinet, the oven, and every nook and cranny that water could find. The second time I had to open a new can of cocoa powder, and well, you can see the results of that mess :)

With Tana's help we got all of the little medallions for the cupcakes and the larger mountain cake completely done.

After she left all I had to do was bake all of the cupcakes and frost them. I think they turned out really well. Tana was an amazingly hard worker, and did such great work, and beyond that she was just a blast to work with. Thanks again cutie!

Because the bride and groom were so outdoorsy we did medallions of all things that they loved. The frosting is brown and turquoise because those were her wedding colors.

Tents

Campfires. These were ones I wasn't sure exactly how I was going to do them, but with some brainstorming with Tana I think they turned out pretty cute, and may just be my favorites.

Trees

Mountains

All our hard work paid off. So many cupcakes!

The final display. Some of the cupcakes are in the back kitchen. You may also notice that on the edges are also some ice cream cone cupcakes. Those were a little bit of a side order. The bride had wanted them for years, and her mother had never made them, so we made them look like trees to somewhat fit in with the rest of the display. I thought they were kind of fun.

Arabian Nights

So I have only 3 more blog posts to be fully up to date, but those posts are on hold for the week. I am having a so much fun hanging out with my sister and several of my nieces here in St. George for a few days, and wanted to blog while the stories are fresh in my memory. We did this last year when Tuachan was putting on Disney's The Little Mermaid, and we had a great time but we learned a few things. Mainly that if tickets are purchased separately the seats are separated, so I ended up sitting all by myself about 7 or 8 rows up and on the opposite end of the section from everyone else. This time we bought 5 tickets to begin with, and then when Lauren got added into the mix Grandma bowed out so she could have her ticket. (My mother would like to add that she didn't really want to see Aladdin, and was mostly going just to see it with the girls anyway. Basically she was more than happy to give up her ticket and hear all about the play when we got home.)

We went to the play early to enjoy the dinner and all of the pre-show fun. They had a cutout similar to this last year for Little Mermaid, but after the play ended there was such a line up and it was so late that it didn't seem worth it. This year we were there plenty early and there was no line whatsoever, so we got to have a lot of fun poking our heads through as different characters.

We went exploring and found a small area where we could peak over and see the side of the stage. We were excited to see the scenery both manmade and the natural wonder and beauty of the red rock canyon in which the theater is set. Last year it was fun to see them flood the stage with water, but I loved that the hot desert really fit with the whole Arabian setting of the story. Mother nature decided to make the show a little more interesting by putting on quite the lightening show throughout the play, and in some of the most appropriate places. She even threw in a big rainstorm during the aptly named song "High Adventure." An adventure it certainly was. Unfortunately lightening storms like these have also brought some pretty bad fires in the area. We saw one on our way home yesterday evening, and again tonight so bright and clear we could see the flames. The fires this summer have been plentiful and powerful this year, and the cause for much concern and prayer, but I digress.

Our biggest surprise and thrill was to see 3 live camel hanging out and eating from some of the trees to the side of the stage. They very well could have been our favorite part of the night. They were pretty amazing.

There are always performances of some sort on a small stage in the open space before you enter the open air theater, and Kelsea just loved it. She kept moving down a step at a time. At one point she turned around and just laid her head down. I loved how wistful she appeared.

In order to accomplish the intricacies of the cave of wonders they gave everyone 3-D glasses, and had a screen as part of the play. I thought it was brilliant, and very well done, and we sure did look stunning in our spiffy glasses :)

We got back pretty late, and were exhausted. We had decided to go out to breakfast this morning, but were so tired that we slept in and didn't make it out until nearly 11. We split up after breakfast and Lisa took her girls off to do some shopping and run some errands while we took Lauren school shopping. Do you know how weird it was to do school shopping, and not be the one going back to school? I still don't think it's hit me that I am actually a college graduate, and that I am not headed back this fall. If I annoy anyone with my random statements about having bachelors degrees I promise I am not trying to show off, or indicate any bit of superiority because that is so far from the truth. I just can't seem to wrap my brain around the fact that all of the hard work and effort is truly over and I actually made it across the finish line. Total tangent, sorry.

So we got back to the condo just before two, and the girls all got in their swimsuits and headed for the pool. I joined them about half an hour later once I got the internet up and running. My brother and his family moved down here last week, and we were trying to coordinate with his daughters all day to come hang out with us before they start school tomorrow. They got there at some point while we were swimming because next thing I knew Maddie was splashing into us, and joining in our crazy. We didn't come back in until nearly 5, and by that point we were tired, but still pretty wired. I was thrilled to find that my sunblock worked, and I only have minor sunburns on my shoulders and chest.

Cleaned up and looking a little more presentable we headed out, picked up some Panda and went to see my brothers new house. It's brand new, and beautiful. Perfect for them, and I loved it. We stayed there for several hours; the adults visiting in the living room, while the younger girls played for hours. I heard so much giggling, and excited voices. It's one of the most beautiful sounds in my opinion. We left around 9, though we could have stayed for hours more visiting. We would have too, if my sister-in-law didn't teach school, and if tomorrow weren't the first day of school for their girls. Early mornings all around made it a necessity to leave. In all honesty, we probably could visit for days and still end up leaving under duress. I love all of my siblings and their families. They are all so different, and yet so similar, and it's fun to see how well we all get along.

Tomorrow Lisa and all the girls head back up north, and my mother and I will have a few days to visit some of her friends and family down here, and do some activities of our own before heading back up to more madness and crazy (in the absolute best way possible).

Hometown Fun

I spent all of my school years living in West Jordan, but my early memories are from growing up in Ephraim, Utah. We lived there until just before my 6th birthday, while my daddy worked at Snow College. The biggest event of the year down south in Sanpete County is the Manti Pageant. Manti is another small town just a few miles south of Ephraim. It's a fabulous production put on by volunteers each year on the hill in front of the gorgeous Manti Temple. It covers some of the early history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and hits on some of the major events from the Book of Mormon. We used to go every year, and my daddy was even in it a few times. I hadn't been since I was in Young Women's nearly a decade ago for Youth Conference, so when my brother Dave sent out an email to the family saying that his wife Maile was wanting to go, and would anyone else like to join in the road trip I responded very quickly with an affirmative.

My brothers and sisters are all older than I am, and I don't share most of their childhood memories, so when they start sharing I just listen and don't have much to contribute. Ephraim is a different story because Dave and I actually share memories of living there, and it was really fun to drive through there with Maile and recount our stories.

Sorry for the crappy picture, but it's the only one I took of the amazing food (after it was just about gone)

We ate dinner at Roy's Pizza in Ephraim. When I lived there is was a bit smaller, and called Fat Jack's, but the food is still the same. I haven't eaten there since we lived there nearly 20 years ago, but I still think back on those mozzarella sticks and my mouth waters. I was grateful to learn that my little 5 years old memory hadn't mislead me. The food was AMAZING!!! and so much cheaper than I expected.

The pageant is free, and was awesome. It was a fun trip. I don't think I've seen that goofy, light-hearted side of my brother in many years, and it just brightened my whole day. It ended up just being Dave, Maile and me, but I was actually grateful because I enjoyed getting that time with them. I really have the most awesome family.

A Blue Ribbon kind of Day

South Jordan has a big fair with a carnival each year. Last year we had just barely moved in and were still getting settled, but this year we actually talked about going. Every time we passed the sign we'd say "Oh that looks like fun, we should see if Lisa and the girls want to come." but we never actually called them. The day of the Carnival came, and as we were looking on Facebook we realized that my sister had had dental work done, and was on some pretty good pain killers, and her husband was out of town. We figured we'd call her and see if she wanted us to come get the girls for the night. She said sure, so I headed out there, picked up the girls and we came back to the house to get grandma and head to the carnival.

The girls and I went on the twirly madinger thing like 3 times. It was probably our favorite. Grandma considered going on the ferris wheel with the girls, but ultimately her fear of heights got the better of her and she bowed out, so I went instead.

She did go on the merry go round with them to make up for it. Mostly because the girls were begging to go on a ride with Grandma. They had an absolute blast and made faces at me every single time they came around the bend.

Almost from the time we arrived the girls kept talking about going on one ride in particular. You sat in a car that dangled, and it spun up and around, and you got the sensation of falling fast, and coming up fast like a roller coaster. It terrified me, but I knew there was absolutely no way in heck my mother was getting on that thing. She screamed like a baby on a very small kiddie roller coaster at six flags. Since we were the only two adults there with the girls that meant Aunt Missa was on deck. I think the girls got a big kick out of watching me squeeze my eyes tightly shut and smile through the fear. We did it though and the girls couldn't stop talking about it for hours afterwards. It was their favorite thing, so I guess it was worth it. They were smart enough to not ask for another go around though.

Whats a fair without a pony ride?

Our last stop of the evening was the Mad Scientist booth. The girls and I got to make our own slime, and the girls posed with grandma in this fun photo prop. The girls loved playing with their slime when they got home. Grandma's only rule was that it had to stay outside.

TomAto TomAHto

I'm working on pulling together a few more catch up blogs, but after spending time out in the garden picking tomatoes today, I had to take some pictures of our ridiculously prosperous tomato plant. When my mother bought the plant it was one of 3 in a pack for $7. The other two were planted in pots, and are doing respectably well, but Godzilla is just an overachiever.

That is a loveseat size chair underneath it holding it up in the front. We would have put a better cage around it, but we didn't get to it with my mother's foot surgery, and by the time we got a small back together it was to large to really be able to do much more than punt in the front.

Seriously! Can you believe that this is just ONE tomato plant?

We harvested over 20 tomatoes just today, and we've harvested another 20-30 in the last few weeks. Thats impressive on it's own but there are easily at least 40 more tomatoes of various sizes growing on this plant. We've gotten several from the others, but nothing like this! Good thing I love tomatoes. And homemade tomato soup :)

Cupcakes

I've done several wedding cakes over the years, but up until the beginning of June I hadn't ever done cupcakes for a wedding. It's a relatively new trend, but I absolutely love it. They are much easier on me, the decorator, and I think they're more fun for the guests at the wedding, but that's just my opinion. This wedding ordered a very basic order. 200 cupcakes. Half white, half chocolate. White frosting all around, and sprinkles in her colors of blue and yellow.

It's amazing how many 200 cupcakes really is. And I made extra incase I screwed up on the frosting, or some got dropped or smashed. I basically took over the entire kitchen and dining room for 2 days, as I got these all ready for the wedding.

This was my cool technique that I came up with. I take a floral pin, which basically looks like a large staple and I stick it through the bottom of a cake board, and then I slide the cupcake on top of it. It leaves 2 small vampire pricks in the bottom of the paper liner, but they aren't visible, and it keeps the cupcakes in place on their board during transport, and they don't slide all around smashing into each other and messing up the frosting.

They make cardboard inserts to boxes that allows for 12 to 24 in a box. My little technique allowed me to put 35 on a cake board. I was thrilled. It meant that I was able to put all of my cupcakes into 6 boxes. It also allowed me to put 5 extra of each flavor for them just in case. It was a fairly easy project, and a ton of fun. Great preparation for the big wedding later in the month. That blog post to come later.

Supa-hewos!

My niece Livy told her mom a few weeks ago that she was a supa-hewo (superhero). Not sure where she got that idea in her mind, but she did have fun swimming at Bennion's superhero birthday party back in May, so I'm thinking maybe had an effect.

My sister Lisa has a swimming pool in her backyard, and since our nephew Bennion's birthday falls right around memorial day, and thats about when the weather starts to warm up we often combined them all to have her pool opening party. This year, with our family's love of superheros, and the release of the movie the Avengers we had a fabulous themed party.

My brothers Mike and Dave asked me if I could do some sort of an Avengers themed cake. After a lot of thought, and several crumpled up pieces of paper I decided to do some cupcakes with medallions for each of the main heros, and then a cake with the Avengers A on it.

Dave and Mike are the biggest geeks of the family so they were in charge of planning this event, and they set up a game for us to compete in. They had "arrows" and a foam "Thor's Hammer" for us to throw for points. We had a great time competing a trying to get any points whatsoever. I think 10 or 15 of us tried it out, and only 3 actually got any points, but we sure had fun trying.

Obviously with a swimming party, fun in and around the pool is a given.

The prizes of the game were Captain America and Hulk masks and shield/hands respectively, in addition to the foam Thor Hammer made for some pretty fun beating up on each other.

Kelsea, my little pink giggle, who is all things pink and girly, had more fun wrestling and beating up on her cousins all night.

We had a fun time that night. I sure do have a super family.