International Cake Conf.

I was asked by a friend of mine to volunteer at the International Cake Conference held in Albuquerque this year.    I had NO idea what I was signing up for.  She and I were one the decorations committee, (turned out we WERE the decorations committee).  So this is what I helped out with and did for the conference that was held in Aug.

One of the breakfasts that we decorated for, we used cookie cutters as a little take home gift.  So along with the cookie cutter I made everyone at the breakfast a cookie made from the cutter. 150 of them to be exact (chile's, coyote's, roadrunner's and NM)



Another thing I helped with was the Show Piece.  This is a 7 foot tall balloon cake that was in the center of the cake room.  It represents everything New Mexico. 

Here is the side I did with the Chile ristra's.  Another girl did the flag.

 

Here is one of my favorite decorations we did.  We filled glass vases with beans, rice and colored Indian corn.  Then topped the vase with some grasses I cut out in the canyon.  They were simple but I thought they turned out so pretty.

Coolest part was I made the news.  Channel 13 did a little blurb on the cake show.......

Here is a still shot I took of the TV just because it was me on TV!  O thought it was so cool that I was on TV.  Couldn't stop talking about it.

The conference was a lot of work, I did have 1 of the 8 days off so I could go catch a few demos.  I was so tired each night.  It was an experience and it will look great on a resume but I don't think I will be doing that again in the future.

Navajo Lake Prop.

This weekend we went camping on our piece of property out on Middle Mesa.  We had a great camping dinner which was made up of cheese stuffed hot dogs wrapped in bacon, fire roasted corn on the cob, baby carrots and snap peas.

It made for the perfect campfire dinner in the best surroundings.



 

After dinner the boys did some target practice.  They did awesome.  I totally missed getting a "shot" of Em dang it!

 

This camping trip was put together last min. and I totally forgot the marshmallows :0(

 

Bedtime!

After breakfast (pancakes, sausage and OJ), we headed to the lake.



 

Soaked in some sun, had a picnic, played in the water, watched the crazy people in the water and made some great new memories.

LaPlata Mountains

Last week we went to the LaPlata Mountains and spent the day.  It was a beautiful day.  There was a slight chill in the air, the sun was shinning and there was still a bit on snow on the ground.

 This guy rarely lets me take a photo of him anymore, so when I get the chance I take it!

 

Found a great waterfall to eat lunch by

 

We stayed and explored around the falls and stream for awhile.

 

This kid is pretty much a monkey!

 

Em thought it was so cool to play  in the snow in his shorts

 

Found a great place to make a little sledding run.  Ay did this one 3 or 4 times.  Then they got a little too wet and toes got cold.

Chama

I had to make a run to Chama to pick up some Art work. So we decided to make it a day trip and go see the trains.  The trains don't start running until May so it was very quiet, but it was still really cool.

I loved this pic that Greg took

Here is the shot that Em got

 

Cakes and Snacks

In the little guys Kindergarten class, the parents take turns bringing healthy snacks.  It is really fun because there is only 13 kids in his class.  So I decided to stroll the internet of fun snack ideas.  Here are some that I found and recreated.  I have to change a bunch of them because most use peanut butter as glue.  So I have to rethink or use toothpicks.

P.S.- The kids LOVE when it is O's snack day!!!

carrot and graham cracker airplanes with grape wheels

 

Snack cones with grapes, cutie oranges and graham cracker sticks

 

Apple cars with grape wheels

 

These are my favorite to date.  String cheese scooters, with pretzel handle bars, carrot and tomato wheels

 I have had a few cake jobs in March.  The 1st was for one of Em's friends.  She loves to sing and plays piano so I came up with this cake for her.

Here is a close up of the microphone I made.

 

 O's teacher had a birthday so I made her this apple cake. She is a snowboarder so I made a little snowboard, a motorcycle helmet, her boys play baseball and then little school papers.

 

Then this weekend I had the biggest cake job yet.  It was a castle cake for 60 people.  It took 4 days but I learned a lot and even though I totally stressed out on it, I think it turned out pretty good.

I made a mold of a king and queen, then used fondant pressed into the mold to make them edible.  I hand painted them with food coloring.

The dragon is hand made out of green modeling chocolate.

100% edible. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Busy months for Ay

Ay turned 10

I can not believe this guy is 10.  He is growing up way to quick.  He loves Minecraft which is a video game where you build all kinds of things.  I don't mind it because everything they build comes from their imagination.  It is all squares so anything you build has to use there different squares.  So his cake this year was rice crispy treats colored to look like the different materials used in the game.  I love this guy.  Being affectionate is not high on his list but I love that he lets me kiss his cheek (only when I tuck him in at night) and every now and then he surprises me with a hug. 

Happy Birthday AY!!

 

This was Ay's last year to participate in the Pine Wood Derby.  He came up with the idea to make his car into a Space Shuttle and had it all drawn out.  So then he and his dad spent a day at the shop and got it all cut out.  Then I helped him with his paint job.

Here it is without the wheels.

At the races

This is Ay and one of his best buddies. 

It was a successful design because all he wanted was a trophy so 3rd place was just like winning to him.  His cute smile just beamed most of the night.

 

We decided to go have one more trip to Santa Fe while Poppa- T was in office.  One more tour of his office, the lobby and the floor. 

 

 

One last entry about Mr. Ay

This year there was about 6 of my sisters violin students who got to play with the 7th Grade Honor Orchestra.  Ay made 5th chair.  His goal next year is to make the High School Honor Orchestra as a 5th grader.  I am thinking that is a pretty great goal.