Let Preface this with I DON"T BAKE

So......today is Anna's 6th Birthday (photos and festivities to follow) and she wanted a Belle Cake. We are doing a Belle party with her friends next week and my Belle from Beauty and Beast is coming......I digress.......so I have this big problem with cakes. They NEVER turn out and I mean never. I do cookies and that is about it. (Great cook, horrible baker) So, Since you can't buy these cakes I knew I was going to have to make it and I read many a website on suggestions and how to do this. I felt prepared...................as long as I could get the dumb cake out of the pan. It is not the preparation that is the problem,.......it is getting the cake out. ( I know you all have suggestions on how to do this.........I know I have tried them all.......cakes just hate me). So I tried and of course the cake came out in 3 pieces so I used my mother manipulation power (which I hate to use) and convinced Anna that cupcakes (which are only slighty better then cakes) are the way to go. She agreed. I sent her on her merry way to school and I started feeling sad. She wanted that Belle cake and this is probably the last year she will even like princesses. She is getting so mature you know. So, I made A TON of frosting and went to work. It is not the world's best Princess Cake but my daughter has a princess Cake:

Yes, there are a few holes without frosting because I was trying to make ruffles and yes, there is a tiny bit of frosting in her lucious locks, and yes, I did BREAK the legs off the Barbie to get it to fit (yes, I know I have to buy her a new one to replace) HOWEVER, she has a Barbie Cake and I am just praying that her 6 year old brain is happy with it. (I sent a picture to Tracy and he called me back giggling, how rude). Happy Birthday Sweetie!!

p.s. for the party next week I am buying a cake from Bowman's. So There!!!!

We finished with Savior of the World tonight and it was miraculous. So many amazing little moments and some incredible one too. I wish I could tell them but most are too personal and sacred to share on a public blog but this work is a gift and it is strongest in the sharing of it. I came home to an email from a dear friend of mine who sent me this email and it was the perfect ending to a perfect experience.

"I came to Savior of the World tonight more because I felt like my heart needed a boost. And I pretty much bawled the whole time. Please tell your cast thank you from an audience member who sincerely needed and is grateful for the wonderful spirit they brought to the performance. It was beautiful."

Here are some of my favorite moments:

Savior of the World

Our Stake Production of Savior of the World that I have been working on since June opens this weekend. It has been such an interesting process all along the way. It started out really rough. The folks that showed up on a whole were not what you would call "seasoned performers" by any stretch of the imagation. We have a stake full of singers and performers and very few of those showed up. However, let me say that never in my life have a seen people put more heart and love into a project then this group of people have put into this show. We have had to really work at this show. Work on learning how to read music and how to create a believeable character on stage (we are still working on this with some) along the way remembering what this show really is about; a testimony of our Savior Jesus Christ. This is what I learned that this show was about for this group. It was about learning to trust each other. Trust that we all would be there to support each other when things came tumbling down and trusting in the Lord to even make it all possible. We have hit wall afterwall in this show and we have pulled together as a group and made it all happen. From only having enough men to have 4 apostles in the beginning to having ALL of our costumes given away to another Stake and lot's of other weirdness-- we have made it through it all and we have created together our simple yet powerful testimony. I have learned so much about myself and about my Savior through working on this project and will always be grateful for the opportunity I was given to do it.

Rehearsals Pix:

I should not be this excited....

I realize it is probably a sickness that I get this excited for a television show to start but after the week I have had nothing sounds better then sitting and watching one of two things. 1. Really great dancing or really bad dancing. Both hold equal love in my heart. I am excited about this season too. Fun stars................and Maxx is back people!!!!!

My sister and the Blog.....

My sister McKell is doing an internship in Washington DC and we as her family have begged her do a blog while she is there so we can keep up on her many adventures. She has thus far been resistent to the blog. So......I being the good sister that I am have set up a blog for her and will be updating it with lot's of embarrassing adventures and photos until she decides to start blogging it herself. Please feel free to visit her blog and encourage her to blog her life to us.

Her blog address is: www.is-this-happening.blogspot.com

Thank You for your help with this matter!!

Musical Summer '09

So I finally decided on a musical for next summer. Usually I know before this but I had a hard time deciding this year. We have done such HUGE shows the last two years with HUGE casts that I was ready for something REALLY different with a SMALLER cast. We have gone through about 5 different choices and not until a friend said to me, "you need do a tapping show again" did it hit me. This is the show for this year. 1920's (great costumes) tapping (I have a great choreographer) small cast (around 30) and it is fun and not overly complicated (okay the dancing is but my part is not). That's what I need in my life right now......oh yea and no kids in the cast (this I really need). I know this show will cut out a few of my "regulars"for lack of a better word but I am really looking forward to doing this show. It is one of Jess' favorites and Christine loves to costumes time periods so we are going to be good this year. I am very excited. So, those of you that tap and want to come and play this summer-- we are auditioning in the first of April this year. YEA!!!!

A story follow up.....by the cutest boy ever!!

I was cleaning out Hayden's backpack tonight and came across the following art project. (frequent readers of this blog will hopefully be able to see the event that is portrayed in the artwork).

It took me a minute to figure out what this was but you will see the brown car is my dad's tahoe that was pulling the trailer. He even has the series of events with the set wall hitting the three different places on the van following behind. When I realized what it was I nearly cried I was laughing so hard. He is so freakin cute. Tracy came up to see what I was laughing about and we were both were rolling on the floor. These little minds are so impressionable. I later found out they had a free draw during art and could draw whatever they wanted and my sweet little Hayden drew the dramatic events of our week. I realize it affected them as much as it did me. What a great kid!!!