The Hotties of the Group

Here is a layout of the guys in the wedding with the Groom. I love that they wore black with Red Ties. They were all supposed to where Cowboy hats. We changed that so they could were a black hat to fit their own personality if they wanted.

I especially like the large doodled frame in this layout. And the extra big ric rac. Lets not forget the doodled buttons. Love those too.

Sizlin

You all are going to get pretty tired of Wedding Layouts in the next year. With about 3000 photos it will take me that long if not longer to scrap them. No, I will not scrap them all. Just my favs. Problem is........there are sooooooo many favs to do. Seriously, the 3 photographers did such an amazing job.

This Layout includes some very old paper from Rusty Pickle. I think I have about 6 sheets of this paper. See that tassel embellishment on the top left. Well that had a tassel with a maroon color. Now, why on earth would the manufacturer put a RED jem with a maroon tassel? So I took of the tassel and made my own out of real Red. Turned out good. Also, on the buttons. I did not sew them. I doodled on the buttons to make them look sewed. So much easier.

Still My Girl

This layout started out as a lift from Elsie's 52 challenges book. I made a few changes but not really enough to call all my own. It's a good mixture though. I totally love the title. She is still my girl no matter what. That blank green space on the left side will house either journaling or a picture of her when she was younger. I have not decided for sure yet. What do you think?

Something Old Something New

I seriously love this photo of Jen in front of an old truck parked on the side of the road. Don't know who's truck it is. But it reminds me of my grandpa's truck. Old and Blue. Built tough like he was.

I used bubble wrap on this layout for the red dot pattern. Love that stuff. I also took some lace and folded it up then stapled it down. Another one of my favorite techniques. For the words "some thing" I wrote it in freehand then to make it pop I put Glossy Accents over the top. It made the words pop just like I wanted them to.

A Gift For Nikki

I made this lamp shade a couple of years ago for a magazine in the UK when I worked for the fab Helen Bradley. The publisher misplaced the lamp shade for so long. About 4 months ago it apopeared in the mail. I was so excited as I thought it was gone forever. When I made it I intended to give it to Nikki for her Studio. Well, there it was all cute still.

I did not tell Nikki it re-appeared. I saved it for her for Christmas. When she opened it her eyes got all big. She was either very excited or she was a good faker. She is making things for people all the time but she rarely receives something hand made herself. I hope she really does like it.

My Favs

I thought I might share my favorite ornaments from our tree. Each year I have a great time bringing out the ornaments and reminising about each one. This year was especially fun since I had not seen the ornaments for about 3 years. This lovely pipe cleaner ornament was made by my lovely daughter Jenni when she was in pre school. There is a green and yellow one on the tree also. They are always the first ornaments I hang with a smile on my face. She hates it when I hang them as she thinks it is embarrasing. I don't care though. I think they are fabulous.
These cute little reindeer were made by me about 10 years ago. Every year Jenni and my niece Kendra and myself would start making ornaments around Thanksgiving. They are made out of a mixture of stuff you already have in the kitchen. I can't remember the ingredients but I believe it was mostly salt. You could form anything you wanted or simply use a cookie cutter for your pattern. Then you bake them but you need to remember to put a paper clip in the top as the hanger. We seemed to forget that part quite often. After baking we painted them and then sprayed them with a varnish for shine and protection. I used to make them for every ones gifts. It was a long process as I made about 20 a year but it was so fun. The girls looked forward to it every year.
Now these gorgeous little beauties are hand made by a lady that lives somewhere in Sonoma County. I found her at a Christmas Craft Fair. She makes these out of goose eggs. She uses a high speed dental drill to cut out all of the intricut little patterns then fancies them up with formed papers and glitter. They are simply amazing. I bought these for friends a couple of years. Some how I lost track of this lady so I may never get more.
This ornament was purchased by Jenni's dad and myself on our first Christmas together. That was like 23 years ago. It is still one of my favs as it reminds me of our time together and how happy we were then. There are about 5 more ornaments the two of us purchased together but this one is my absolute favorite. It is made out of glass and always hangs at the top of the tree.
And this little elf was also made by me. Again, it is the dough recipe. I think I made 30 of these that year. I just love the cuteness. Merry Christmas to all of you.

Dreamer

I so LOVE this layout I did at The Scrappery retreat last month. I was inspired by a member of SIStv. I do not remember her name so I apologize. The trick here is to do a layout using all white or clear. No color. I think it turned out great.

Challenge Club at The Scrappery will be given this challenge tonight at the meeting. I will not be there as I have to work my 2nd job. However, I wish them luck and all the creativity to complete thier challenge. Anyone else up for the challenge? Go for it.

The Missing Tree

Our tree has been missing for about 3 years now. Not that is was physically gone. It has always been upstairs in the closet with all the other Christmas decorations. Two women in the house did not want to carry all that stuff up and down the stairs.

Matt is here now. Meaning we don't have to lug it all anymore. Sunday while I was at work Matt set up the tree with the lights. He even decorated outside. Something Jen and I have never done. When I got home from work I was expecting to see all purple lights on the tree. Real purple. Not the fuchia they sell in the stores. Purple that was special ordered years ago. Matt decided that was too girlie so he added Red that I had purchased for the wedding. It actually looks good and I like it.
Jen and I hung the ornaments when I got home. We now have a Tree and I am loving it. I will share my favorite ornaments in another post. Christmas is in the house.

Chocolate Chocolate and more Chocolate

My bosses 35th birthday was a couple of weeks ago. I decided to make him an all Chocolate cake as Chocolate is his favorite next to Cheesecake.

I got on Food Network to find the ulitmate Chocolate Cake. This cake is called a Chocolate Chocolate with Chocolate Ganach. Yep, super rich and oh so yummy. The comment I love the most that day was "OMG, I just gained 10 lbs looking at it." Jason was super excited and could not believe I made it. His eyes got big as saucers. I love it when he does that.

I did learn a thing or two when making this cake. Most important was to let the ganach cool a bit before pouring it on the cake. I can not tell you how long I had to keep scraping the ganach back onto the cake. The other thing I learned was to be sure the sides of the cake are seriously smooth and cut down. It was too bumpy for my taste. No one else seemed to notice but I did.

And Life goes On

No pictures for you today. Sorry. Just a couple updates.

Matt has been so excited lately. He has been working full time at a Ranch out on Roblar Road. He loves it. He asked me he other day "Is it wrong to wake up looking forward to going to your job?" the big dork. He is working with the horses, animals, barns, tractors, setting fences all kinds of stuff he grew up doing. He said he feels like he is home. Oh, and he will be starting his 2nd job at Fresh Choice next week. All the issues that kept him from working in the past are taken care of. he is super excited about that too.

Jen started working at her previous job a week after she got home. This is the same job she was working at when she left for boot camp. They were happy to bring her back and will be promoting her in January. She has been working there full time on top of babysitting for her best friend.

Married life for the two of them is so cute to watch. You can see the love in their eyes still. Sometimes I stand upstairs or in the other room and just listen (or try to) to the way the communicate. I love that they are so happy together even during the rough times. They encourage each other in ways none of us ever thought they would. And yes, just like any other marriage, they have some moments but they get over it pretty quickly.

Me, I am just me doing what I have always done all my life. Making it work so I have a reason to complain if it isn't working. Living by my moto "You Never Fail Until You stop Trying."

Weird post I know. I just wanted to post SOMETHING instead of NOTHING.

More album and Black Friday

Thought I would post more of the Baby Album I was asked to complete. But I would rather tell you about Black Friday. I got to work at 6am. The line to get into the store was clear down by Burlington Coat Factory. The parking lot was full. Holy smokes that is a lot of people. We had coffee outside for the guests that were in line. Inside the store I go.
They put me on an express register because I am so new there. They did not want me to get over whelmed. Ok, that was a good thing. So all of the cashiers are standing there, 15 of us, when they open the doors. It was so cool. Some of the guests started running. But still it was pretty calm. It took 15 minettes to get them all inside the store.
The first person to come to the registers was about 5 minettes later. The madness began. But really, there was not madness. Everyone was in a great mood. No guest had to wait in line longer than 5 minettes to get out of the store. I can not tell you how many guests told me we were the best store and so freindly. It was a great day. So much fun.
I did hear horrer stories of other stores. Lets see. Wallmart guests were fighting in line before the store opened. One guest tried to break through the line with thier car and almost ran over a little kid. Seriously, that is what I heard. At Toys R Us the line to the register was around the perimitor of the store and then did the "S" line thing.
The line for the registers at Kohls was around the store. The guest that told me that walked into Kohls, saw the line, and walked back out. I heard Mervyns was pretty great. Oh and the Santa Rosa Target was not so good from what they said. So, I think I am pretty happy our store was so great. Each Cashier had maybe two people in line to get rung up at a time durring the rush of the morning. After that rush they came straight to the registers again. Pretty cool day.

Commisioned Baby Album

One of my co workers asked me to make a baby album for a shower she was throwing. We talked about the likes and dislikes of the mom to be. She is more earthy, hates pink and her favorite color is purple. We don't know if she is having a girl or a boy.
We talked about how the album would be "SIMPLE" and the price. The price we agreed on would be $75.00 for the finished product. Being that it was "SiMPLE" it did not take me long to finish.
We talked about what the theme would be for each page. At the end of the album are extra protectors for the mom to make more or for the giver to add to later. Or maybe leave the album as is.
Most of the papers I used in the album were Basic Grey. I wanted the album to have more of a shabby chic look since mom was more earthy. I really like the look. Notice it is not really babyish in look. But more classic/vintage.
On this page the piece that has the title on it comes out of the pocket so mom can add more photos OR can write on that piece. There are more pages I will share later. For some reason Blogger only allows me to add 5 photos at a time. Not sure why. But whatever.

Why I am single

Ok, so I am a little late posting me on Halloween. With all the time it took to make the cake for the bakeoff I did not have time to make up a costume too. So, the morning of halloween I just added a touch of mascara and lipstick then I smeared it. Off to work I went.
When asked what I was, I just told them this is how I wake up and it's the reason why I am still single. Everyone got a good laugh. Oh, and the hair.......yea, it's very ratted up. It took me forever to get it out. Kind of hurt. So, don't try this at home.

Prince and the Pea

About a week ago I washed the doggie beds as they were all dirty and gross. When they were dry I took them out of the dryer and dropped them onto the floor. The next morning as I sat here blogging I looked over and noticed Joey laying on all four of the beds. I was reminded of the story "The Princess and the Pea." It was just too cute so i snapped the picture for all of you to see.

That morning I went to work and told a couple of my co-workers what he had done. A couple of them had never heard the story of the Princess and the Pea. WHAT????? The rest of us (the older ladies) could not remember the whole story. So, I thought I would share it with you. It was written by Han Christian Anderson. I thought it was a classic story until the young girls at work told my they never heard it. What kind of fairy tales do moms tell their kids now a days?????? Hmmmm, kind of makes you wonder.

Here's the real story....................

The Real Princess (The Princess and the Pea)
by Hans Christian Andersen
Illustrated by Edmund Dulac


There was once a prince, and he wanted a princess, but then she must be a real Princess. He travelled right around the world to find one, but there was always something wrong. There were plenty of princesses, but whether they were real princesses he had great difficulty in discovering; there was always something which was not quite right about them. So at last he had come home again, and he was very sad because he wanted a real princess so badly.

One evening there was a terrible storm; it thundered and lightninged and the rain poured down in torrents; indeed it was a fearful night.

In the middle of the storm somebody knocked at the town gate, and the old King himself sent to open it.

It was a princess who stood outside, but she was in a terrible state from the rain and the storm. The water streamed out of her hair and her clothes; it ran in at the top of her shoes and out at the heel, but she said that she was a real princess.

'Well we shall soon see if that is true,' thought the old Queen, but she said nothing. She went into the bedroom, took all the bed clothes off and laid a pea on the bedstead: then she took twenty mattresses and piled them on top of the pea, and then twenty feather beds on top of the mattresses. This was where the princess was to sleep that night. In the morning they asked her how she slept.

'Oh terribly bad!' said the princess. 'I have hardly closed my eyes the whole night! Heaven knows what was in the bed. I seemed to be lying upon some hard thing, and my whole body is black and blue this morning. It is terrible!'

They saw at once that she must be a real princess when she had felt the pea through twenty mattresses and twenty feather beds. Nobody but a real princess could have such a delicate skin.

So the prince took her to be his wife, for now he was sure that he had found a real princess, and the pea was put into the Museum, where it may still be seen if no one has stolen it.

Now this is a true story

Burning Buns

Last night we had family night. We watched a movie and ate popcorn as we cuddled on the couch with one blanket. Jennifer has been craving Cinnamon Buns ever since she got home from Boot Camp. So Matt, being the good guy he is gets up and puts them in the toaster oven to bake. All is good. Right? Yep, until his next smart move.

He is at the computer and all of a sudden needs to go to the store. It was late but I got up and loaded the dogs in the car. The entire family takes off to the store. As we are driving down the road I all of a sudden ask Matt. "Did you turn off the oven?" "Ummmmm NO." AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

I am in the far left lane. We have already driven all the way out of our complex. (We live in the back with about a million speed bumps). Matt tells me I gotta turn around. Jen tells me to drop her off she will take care of it. Matt tells me to "pull over and Jen can run across the Golf Course to the house." I start to get into the right lane when Jen tells me "No." She does not want to run across the golf course. So I get back in the left lane.

Now I gotta drive a ways to get to the stop light to do a U Turn. Joey the Chihuahua is on my shoulders as usual. I start complaining that it is 10:13 at night and now I gotta take longer. We finally get to the stop light. I am panicking that the house could burn down. As we are sitting there I look in the side mirror. I did not like what I saw and I was not real sure I was seeing correctly. So I tell Matt "get the dog" no reaction "take the dog!" as I push Joey off my shoulders Matt takes him. The light turns green and I turn. BLINK BLINK BLINK. Red and Blue lights start flashing. Dam! I am getting pulled over. Now I am really not a happy camper.

The cop said "I pulled you over because you did an erratic move back there." I agreed and told him the whole story about why I did that. Mind you I am sitting there in my oh so HOT (not) jammies. He looks as though he believed my story and was going to let me go. But then he asked me if I had been drinking and I told him "No Mam" oh my god I just called him Mam. "Sir" crap! What the heck is wrong with me? I just called him MAM! Dumb ass!

So he makes me put my head out the window and follow his finger without moving my head. Great.......now he thinks I am drunk. I pass the test of course. Then he asked for my license. Yep........left it at home as all I did was grab the keys. BAD MOVE! He takes my name and license number and tells me to hold on. Wait....wait.....wait........At which point Jen says......"NICE move mom!" Matt says "I have been there many times." "OK I AM NOT YOU" They both shut up. Kind of!

My "MAM" comes back and says "Debbi?" "yes?" "What are you going to do about your warrant?" "WHAT! WHAT WARRANT?" I am about ready to just die at this point. "you have a warrant out for your arrest for your animals." "WHAT?" Then it hit me. I forgot to pay that stupid fine for the dogs barking. "Oh my god. Are you kidding me?" "I can pay it in the morning. What time do they open?" he tells me they open at 8am and I tell him perfect I don't have to be at work until 9am. "ok. you be sure and do that." He let me go.

All the way home Matt and Jen are like rubbing it in and laughing at me. As you can see the buns burned and we had to go to the store again to get more. I took my purse this time and did not make an irrational move. I am going to the courts on my way to work this morning. I can not believe I forgot to pay that stupid little $100.00 fine. UHG!

Totally Embarrasing hehehehehe

Everybody knows I LOVE to embarasse and play practical jokes on people. I got the Son in Law good. REALLY good! Just know that posting this picture of him will embarrase him too. So this is going to be a double whammy.

First.....we were making dinner a couple weeks ago and I look over at Matt. He is leaning over the counter with the A1 bottle up to his eye. I am like "WHAT are you doing?" He tells me he is looking for the sauce and he laughs. Oh my gosh! Hold that pose....I get the camera so I can send Jen a picture of her funny husband. I could not believe he actually let me take the picture. If he would have known I was going to post it here he probably would not have let me take it. So that alone is one embarassment. He will flip out. Gotta love it!

Now the funny one. So we are at the airport going to pick up Jen. We are both so excited to see her. You know those moving walkway thingys? The ones you stand on and they move. Matt gets on the one moving from the parking lot to the terminal. I get this wild hair. No one is on the one moving from the terminal to the parking lot. So.....I run and jump on that one and start running all animated like. Matt looks at me with this "What the heck are you doing?" look. So, I stretch my arms open wide and start yelling, "MATT.....DONT LEAVE ME.....DONT GO TO YAMIN.....PLEASE MATT DONT LEAVE ME" Well his eyes got about as big as saucers. He started turning left and right like he was gonna run. There were people in front and behind him. HAHAHAHA no where for him to go. He had to stand there as I am still yelling. "YAMIN IS NOT THE PLACE FOR YOU.....PLEASE DONT LEAVE ME MATT.....PLEASE" (those of you that watch Friends will know what I was talking about)

I thought he was going to just die. Seriously. I was about ready to pee my pants laughing. Just the look of panic on his face alone was hysterical. And no where to run. That is the moment when you just want to hurt your mother in law really bad.

Time for the Count Down

I made this Advent Calendar for a class to teach at The Scrappery. So far it has taken 9 hours to design, and really, it's still not done. Little tags still have to be made and ribbons connected to put into each envelope.

The entire thing is mounted onto Canvas which I painted and then stamped on with bubble wrap. Loving the bubble wrap lately. I used last years Basic Grey Christmas papers. The letters and the numbers were cut out with my Sizzex. The word Christmas, the light bulbs, Snow Man, Holly berry, lights on the tree, the snowflake and the number 25 are covered with Glossy Accents to help them pop.

Each of the envelopes, template made by me, are distressed with dashes around the edges to make them look stitched on to the canvas.

I like the outcome of the project. But, heck, that is a lot of time for a two hour class. We wont be able to finish it in class so I have started to create instructions for the project. That is not a small feat. And then I still need to recut and package up the bits and bobs for each envelope. Yep, thinking this is gonna take another 9 hours. What was I thinking?

The Witch Cake

Totally fun goodness cake style. We had a bake off at work for Halloween. I had this image in my head of a 3 tiered witch. My first attempt at a themed tier cake. This goodie is about 12 inches tall with three cakes. The bottom layer is a white cake with lemon filling. Orange frosting with a web design. The spiders around the bottom were a last minette addition. I am so excited how they turned out as I did not practice it first (I know Helen......practice practice practice)they just turned out right. The middle layer is also white cake with lemon filling. The frosting under the fondant is purple. And the top layer is just white cake carved into a circle (that was not so easy) with the green frosting.
The middle layer has fondant I dyed black. It was not black enough for me so I sprayed it with black food coloring spray. Matt helped me lay the fondont on the cake so the front of the cape was smooth and covered the middle layer in the front. The back came all the way down to the bottom of the first layer. I made the fondant ruffle so it looked as though the cape was flowing. Then I took an edible powder sheen and painted it onto the cape to give it depth and highlights. That was fun but it was a first time for me to use this product.
Love the head. I made the frosting all bumpy by patting the spatula all over the head. Then I added the eyeballs with red bloodshot veins. I adore the red blisters all over her face. Just made her a little more scary. The hat, well, I knew I had to do something to reinforce it for the drive. So I took some thick wire and made a cone. Layed it on her head and applyed the frosting around it. It is the only part of the cake besides the arms that is not edible. Then the hair. I know I should have done the hair first but I was not thinking. I did it after the hat. It was a new frosting tip I was dying to use. I just love the hair.

I had to transport the entire cake about 15 miles, so I re-inforced the heck out of it with wooden dowls. Normally I would put the dowls in each layer of cake and set the next layer on top. But this time I put the dowels Through two layers including the cardboard each layer sat on. It turned out VERY sturdy and made the trip with no problem.
I won two of the three trophies given out that day. One for "Best Execution" and one for "Tastiest Treet". Our marketig girl made these trophies. I simply ADORE them. Aren't they the cutest. She thinks she is not creative but I beg to differ. I think my favorite comment from a co-worker that day was, "Debbi, could you have not brought a normal cake. That's the cake of the year."

And a added tid bit......Matt helped with the decorating the cake. And he LIKED it. He took the leftover fondant and made the feet. His idea by the way. Then he made the arms out of wire for me. He did a great job and he admitted to having fun. It was also his idea to give the spiders red fangs. Yep, he is creative himself.

Guess Who's Home

My Girl is home from Boot Camp. We are all very excited she is back. And NO she has no desire to go back and try again.

The only regret she has is that she never got to actually train. She wanted to train. She craved the training. But they never even let her try. When she got to Parris Island her asthma started to act up from the humidity and the air quality there. When her body started to react she admitted to them she had asthma. They put her right into FRP (female rehabilitation platoon) until they could do testing. There are 5 levels of testing. They give you pills to take that makes any normal persons chest feel tight but you can still breath. In an asthmatic person it will cause you to have an asthma attack and you will not be able to breath. Jen did not make it past the 3rd level before they told her they would not go further and her levels were off the charts.

She also hurt her knee while she was there but she did not tell them as it would have taken longer for her to get home. Her experience was horrible. She said they take away all your emotions and every bit of personality you have. You can not smile, laugh, cry or even say "bless you" to the person who just sneezed. She only got yelled at by the Drill Instructors 3 times. Once for saying "what"? She should have said "this recruit did not hear you, Sir". Opps.

Jen is having a little bit of a hard time re-adjusting to a normal life. Not too bad though. She is having nightmares every night about boot camp. I am sure that will pass in the days to come. I caught her in a daze eating the other night. Eating like she was back in boot camp. She did not even realize she was doing it. I pointed it out to her and she just breathed out and said "oh my god."

The one thing she was most excited about when she got home was to take "A real Shower and wash her hair" They give you 15 seconds in boot camp to shower. Yes, 15 seconds. Which means your hair does not get washed. The girls have a tone of gel in their hair and it is pulled so tight the folicles are kind of popping out of your head. She said some of the girls had huge bumpes all along thier neck from it. To stop the itching they would put hand sanitizer on thier head. Gross huh?

The hardest part for Matt and I was not knowing what was going on with her at all. We got little tidbits of information but really nothing. We did not know when she was coming home until the day before. Then we did not know what time, or where, until the day of her homecoming. We did not know what medical tests they gave her until she got home. We did not know anything. It was rough for us all. Rougher for her. We are just glad she is home and things can be normal again.

Bad News

Remember me telling you that jenni was put into a Medical Platoon in Boot Camp? They did testing on her to see if she can serve in the military? Well, from what we can gather, and it's not much, she has now been moved to the Separation Platoon. Meaning, she is coming home. They did more testing on her yesturday. I guess she failed her medical tests. But keep in mind we can not get much information. We do not know what tests they gave her or what medical conditions she may have. My guess would be that she really does have asthma and I never really believed her. What a horrible mother that makes me feel like. I am trying to stay possitive. It is hard. I feel like I should have known all along and everything we have gone through up to this point was for nothing. I am still proud of her for even going and trying in the first place. She is still an amazing young woman. She has done things most people would never even think of doing. I feel defeated for her and wonder what her future holds now that her one GREAT chance is gone. I keep trying to remember that this just means she was not meant to be there. God has a different plan for her. I just wish I knew what that was.

We have heard it could take up to 3 months for them to get her home at this point. That would suck. We have heard they put them on a bus with $90.00 cash. How horrifying is that to think she will travel across the United States on a bus. A single lonley female. Not very safe is it? That scares me. I wish I could find out more so I could feel more at ease. I will let you know if we learn anything new.

Marine Recruit Interview

My friend Jaime works for PNN Network. She interviewed Jenni a couple days before she left for boot camp. I only wish she could hear this interview while she is gone. It would remind her of why she made the decision she did. Leave her a comment on the web page PNN set up for her support.

Thank you Jaime for sharing this information with us. It means so much to me. I really needed to hear her voice right now. I miss her.

http://cereals.pnn.com/3228-the-front-page

A Little Cuteness

I made these on Saturday for the SIStv crop in Fairfield on Sunday. They were a hit. I used white cake and colored it orange. The icing is Buttercream. I think they turned out rather cute but there was another learning curve for me on these.

As most of you know, my oven does not work so I have been doing all of my cakes etc. in a toaster oven. I did not have a cupcake tin to fit in it. So, I got this great idea to use the new silicone baking cupes. All good so far. Right? Sure! The cupcake paper holders did not fit in the silicone cups. The cups are smaller. So I clip the edge of the paper to make it fit in better. Problem was, the paper still did not go all the way to the bottom of the cup. Most of these cupcakes came out with a rounded bottom and deformed top. Oh well, no time to start over. So I decorated them up anyway. They came out so moist and yummy. I have found a tin to fit in my toaster oven for next time.

My next plans for a cake are BIG. Gonna try something BIG. Can't tell you what yet because it is for a bakeoff at work. I don't want one of my co-workers cheating by reading my blog. I hope it comes out right.

She's a Recruit

It's been a week now since Jenni has been in boot camp with the Marines. I can not tell you how hard it has been for Matt and I. I can not even begin to imagine what she is going through. She called us from the layover in Dallas crying to come home. I think she just all of a sudden realized she had really left and there was no turning back. She was so strong in front of us. It probably all caught up with her when she got on the plane. It was a horrible phone call. Matt and I were strong until we hung up and we both lost it.

Then at 11:30 our time, 2:30 am her time we got the "official call". That was even worse because she could only say to us what was on the script. "Recruit arrived safely at Parris Island. Do not send bulky items or food. I will send a postcard in 3-5 days with my address. That is good for now." Then we heard a click. That was it. Nothing else.

We got a phone call from Gunnery Sargent Monroe, the head of the recuiting office, two days later. Jenni had told them she owed outstanding traffic tickets. Gunny said we had to get them paid now or they would send her home. So, I went to the president of my company and got the money to get it paid. Not even an hour later Gunny called again and said Jenni had gone back in and told them she had Scoleosis, flat feet, headaches, HPV, and asthma. UHG! They had to have scared her real bad. Gunny said she is thining "what the heck did I get myself into, got scared and spilled anything she could to make them send her home.

So, long story shorter, they have her in a medical platoon. They did a lot of tests on her yesturday to see if she has asthma or not. If she fails the test there is an 85% chance they will send her home. If she passes, and I am sure she will, then they will drop her into the next incoming platoon there is. So, now she is going to be gone longer than we had planned.

I know she is having a horrible time. They all do. She will get through it. But her mind is not there yet. Brenda started and support group on yahoo for her. I would REALLY love it if you all could go there and leave her messages of encouragement. She does know the group is formed and I will be printing the messages to send her. I can't tell you how she knows but trust me she does. The address is http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MarineRecruitJen/ ...... please leave my girl a message.'

Oh and this picture is of her swearing in to protect our Country literally 5 minettes before they took her from us. I will post her address as soon as I get it. Thank you all for your support.

Going away Cake

Most of you know my daughter Jenni is going to Marine Boot Camp. Yep, leaving in 4 days. Last night her and Matt decided to have a going away party here in our house. There were about 35 young adults here to show their support for Jen. Her friends love her. This is the cake I made for the occasion. I tried really hard to make it look like the Marine emblem. Didn't quit turn out that way but it's close.

First off lesson one was never use parchment bags for Whip Cream. It's too wet and the bag will bust open on you. Lesson two was if your gonna use black, then put it aside and then use black again, get a new bag. Otherwise your old bag will drip black runny gunk all over your cake. Lesson three was when you run out of plastic decorating bags you can use a sandwich baggie but don't cut the hole too big or your whip cream will shoot out in a big splat right where you don't want it to land. Just wanted to share with you.

Most of Jens friends said they will still come hang out with me even though she will be gone. I believe some of them because they are amazing friends. I will miss her.

Lizzie's 1st Birthday Cake

I had a great time making this cake. It took about 11 hours total including the baking. The cool thing is I used all whip cream. Even for the decorating. I was not sure how that would work as I have never worked with whip cream before. It worked out great. I now know it would not work for something like roses. It is far too thin.

Elizabeth turned one and her mom wanted the cake to not look like a cutsy first birthday cake. We talked about it. She wanted a tiered cake that was off kilter with strips, dots and swirls. Oh......and PINK. This is what we came up with. It was a hit at the party.

I used a 8 inch, 6 inch and a 3 inch pan. Supported it with wooden dowls and wa la! So flippin cute.

Give Me More

This man is going to take Jen away from Matt and I in 11 more days. Yep, Gunnery Sargent Monroe will be taking her to boot camp. He looked amazing at the wedding. He walked me down the isle and then he was one of the men in her life standing along the isle to give her a rose as she walked down the isle. I think one of the dumest questions I heard that day was, "Why are the Marines here." Um, duh, because she is going in the Marines. People crack me up sometimes.
Before the wedding I told my photographers that I wanted pictures of Matt talking to Jen through the door. I am so glad we got these pictures. Matt was sooooooo NOT happy about not being able to see her the day of the wedding. He just could not understand the "tradition" and the "bad luck" thing. To this day he will not tell me what he said to her through the door. Anybody else that was there can't remember. So annoying. I want to know.

Ahhhhh, this is Jen on the other side of the door as Matt talked to her. How cute is that? He made her cry so whatever he said had to be good. From what people tell me Jen got rather impatient after she talked to him. She just wanted to "Get the show on the road." It was taking far to long for her liking.

I LOVE this picture. It was taken right after they talked through the door. I love how they captured this moment. She cried a lot throughout the whole thing. So much so that her eyelash fell off in the middle of the ceremony and landed on her dress. It was kind of funny. I am glad she did not freak out over it. It was what it was.
AHhhhh. The traditional carrying of the bride. They both look so happy. I hope it lasts forever for them. They are rather cute together. Even today they are. The only thing I have noticed that has changed since they got married is that Matt does not make my coffee for me anymore. Hmmmmm..........

Some of my Favs

Ok, so I got 3 DVD's full of wedding photos. Can you believe it over 2000 photos. I am so glad we had 3 fab photographers. Each had their own style so we got a ton of awesome photos. This one just happens to be my all time favorite. Jen was sooo beautiful. She wanted to feel like a princess. I am pretty sure we acomplished that

I so love that her picture was taken in front of this old truck. Kind of reminds me of old meets new. And check out that train on the dress. Totally HOT! If you know what I mean. I can not even tell you how many amazing photos were taken. But I seriously love this shot.

This is a shot of all the girls next to an old building down in Railroad Square located in Santa Rosa. Love, love, love the building. I am so into non traditional photos. You know, the artistic look with the grungy non expected backgrounds. Loved the girls dresses too. Red is HOT



And then there are the boys. Oh yes, the boys. You gotta love them. They were all amazing and really got into the photos. I think they all did a fab job of being themselves and feeling comfortable for the camera. I can not wait to show you some of the other great pictures these boys took. They had a great time.

I love the looks on all their faces in this photo. You can tell they were all having so much fun, not posed at all. They just did what was coming natural. Having a great time. This photo cracks me up every time I look at it. More photos coming soon. How could I not share more when there are so many to choose from. I can not wait to scrap some of them.

Matt and Jen's wedding photos

Brenda Smith is the BESTEST EVER friend. She made this amazing video of Matt and Jen's wedding on September 15. What a great keepsake for them. Oh, and for me, the mom.

I swear I cried when I saw this. If you were at the wedding you may cry too. I love the fun funky non traditional photos. So artistic and they are going to be a hoot to scrap.

The song playing is the song for the first dance. It is about a Back hills country boy and a fairy tale princess. It is SOOOOOO the right song for them. Describes them perfectly to a tee. The name of it is "Livin our Love Song."




For those of you that dont know any of us, I hope you enjoy the photos. And a BIG thank you to Brenda for putting this together.

Baby Shower Cake

Here is the cake I made for Claudia's baby shower at work last week. I had to teach myself how to do the basket weave on the top. I missed that class when every one else learned. It was not as hard as I thought it would be. I think it turned out kind of cute. I was going to put roses around the bottom but they were not turning out good so I skipped that idea and just did a quick little border.

I did absolutley nothing this weekend except sit/lay on the couch. Watch TV and read a little Harry Potter. Talk about lazy and loving it.