Tuesday, July 26, 2011

My new hobby...

I am finishing the 4th cake decorating class tonight.  I have learned a lot and I am looking forward to taking the other 2 sets of classes so I can get even better.  These are my latest creations.  :)  I am having fun.



Sunday, July 10, 2011

Aren't the girls getting prettier and prettier...

These are from Sunday the 26th of June.  It was a special Sunday when Mommy and Daddy both received new callings so we dressed in our finest princess dresses.  :)  
It's very rare I get Alyssa to look at the camera. :)
Smiling Hannah ready for church. :)




























Wow! 2 pretty smiles in a row...it was a good picture day. 
I like these in black and white too.
I need a better camera and photo editing software...my pictures could be so much better!
Maybe Christmas!?  If Santa saves up a bunch of money.  LOL!

Updates!

We have been having a great month so far.  July has been full of changes.  I have a new calling at church and will now be busy on Sundays and Wednesday nights...as the Young Women President.  I love this calling and have served in YW several times before.  I love helping the girls (age 12-18) bloom into virtuous young ladies.  Jim also got a new calling the same day I did...He is now serving as the Branch President of the HIlliard Branch.  He just got a whole lot busier, but he is doing great and loves serving the people here.  He is also taking classes at UNF (my alma mater) to finish his degree in psychology.  He is really enjoying going back to school and feels great to have a goal in sight.  He would love to become a school counselor or work with the VA as a counselor. I am so proud of him for all that he is doing and how he is helping our family receive many blessings by serving the Lord.  We are so grateful to have the opportunity to serve.

The girls have been growing like weeds and learning more everyday.  They are enjoying mommy being home for the summer as am I.  We are doing lots together.  I am taking a cake decorating class so they love helping me practice and eating my practice cookies and cupcakes.  :)  I have only had one class so far and already learned many good tips on baking the cake properly and how to make icing and get it smooth on the cake and add a few decorations.  Next week we will learn more cool stuff.  Here are some pictures of a couple cakes I have done.  The Father's day one was before my class started.  I wanted to play with my new tools and see if I was any good or not.  I think it was nice for my first try.  Then I made the white one for the potluck today after learning a few things.  It is much better.  Some of the ladies thought it was store bought. :) Yeah!
  This was just having fun with my new tools.  I really didn't know what I was doing and my icing wasn't the right consistency which is key to decorating properly. But I still liked it.  I also tried torting the cake and putting cherry pie filling in each layer as filling...3 layers of cherries was too much moisture.  It made the cake too moist.  It tasted good, but the second day it was soggy.  Lesson learned!
This was my  practice cake after my first class.  You can already see some improvement.  Having the right tools and some tips from an actual baker can really make a difference.  It had peanut butter butter creme filling and chocolate cake.  It had mini pb cups for decoration.  It was much better.  :)