Julie's Reception Food

This summer was spent traveling to David's siblings' weddings. (Did I write that correctly?...) That's right, two of David's siblings got married over the summer and I haven't blogged about any of them. Let's start with Julie's wedding. She got married in the Snowflake, AZ temple July 20th, 2013. The reception was in Layne's newly renovated back yard.

Kimberly and I had lots of fun figuring out where all the food was going to go. I don't know about her, but I had a blast working with her to make Julie's reception as perfect and wonderful as possible. Incidentally, we have similar tastes and opinions which was great, not to mention convenient.

We planned it all out on Layne's counter but then went we went to transfer it to the table outside. It DID NOT fit; we had to use two tables which didn't look nearly as nice as what I envisioned. In the end we decided one of the church's table's would do quite nicely. 

The AW rootbeer served as our make-shift center piece.

Luckily, Layne's dining room table worked marvy-fab as a substitute. 

We're missing a few dishes on the left, in case you wondered about the space.

I took pictures so we could remember what serving ware went where (say that 10 times fast). 

The final product: 

I was quite proud of how the banners came out. It was my first sewing project since middle school, but they don't look too shabby. :)

I also made the labels for each food item. 

Homemade--thanks Brittany! 

Note the three flavors of cake pops: Vanilla, Lemon and Mint Chocolate. 

Naturally we had Japanese water (a Reece tradition) and plain ice water.

Yum! Finally able to sit! 

Here's a sneak peek of my next post: Food and reception prep. It was a whirlwind week. 

I turned 26 (wahoo)

Hello. If you want to see pictures from my birthday, this is the post for you. My birthday landed on a Sunday this year (which, in my humble opinion, is lame). It was fast sunday too. Double lame. So to decrease the amount of lameness, I had a delicious breakfast of toast, bacon, eggs, OJ, and milk.

I was the only presidency member there that day in primary, so it was a bit hectic to say the least. Thankfully I had a ton of help from some lovely volunteers who sat in with the kids during sharing time. Sharing time itself went well, I suppose. It was on baptism, and little did I know (until the following Friday) one of the kids was going to get baptized on Saturday.

Anyway. On to the pictures.

I received some awesome gifts, among which was Ticket to Ride (YES!) and an awesome mini bundt cake pan I've been eyeing for a while.

There is something very peculiar about this next picture...my head and arms look ginormous compared to the rest of my body and it looks like my hands are doing some sort of gangster-like sign. And guess, what (wait, you can see for yourself) I did not make my cake this year. It is rather sad, but since it was only going to be David and I, I bought a cold stone cake instead. I've made my cake every year since I was 10 or so...until now. 

Self portrait. 

I chose to have 8 candles...2 plus 6.

For some reason I wanted to prove my cake-candle blowing out ability so I moved the cake back a foot or two. It was still incredibly easy. Next year? 27 candles from 3 feet away. Just kidding.

Note how the inside of the cake looks much less delicious than advertisements lead you to believe. There is also a discouraging amount of cookie dough inside. 

PS, David was there, but for some reason he didn't get documented. :( Boo. 

Atlanta Recently (the past 4 months...)

I think motivation for blog-writing comes in waves. Perhaps this post is the start of a very long one? Early in the year the primary hosted a "Primary Pajama Pancake Party" It was successful, but only an hour into it. ha. Mormon Standard Time? Relaxed Southern Time?

This is Jessica and we're VT companions!

David was a good husband and accompanied me. I forgave his computer for accompanying him.

Our awesome pianist.

And then we had a girls night while the guys were at the Priesthood session. 

I made a home made confetti cake for David's birthday...I learned a few things, including, don't buy cheap sprinkles because they melt. It looks like half the batter is composed of fruity pebbles, no?

And I'm simply in love with our birthday banner my mom made me.

I figured a few more sprinkles wouldn't hurt...

David requested the ONE thing I didn't know how to make: biscuits and gravy. His mom makes gold-medal worthy breakfasts. With her detailed coaching and encouragement it turned out quite yummy, if I do say so myself. After all, David ate more than I have ever seen him eat before in one sitting.

Ok, ok. So I don't know how to make turducken, home made puff pastry, ect. 

I don't remember why we had three candles. He turned 26... There was at least SOME logic involved in the decision.