Evan the Little Poet

Evan was reading the label on a sock package and saw that there were six pairs of socks. He decided that he liked the sound of "six socks" and was inspired to write a poem. There is some misspelling but I thought it was really cute.

Translation for those that can't read it:

Six Socks

Six socks I have.
I wear them every day.
I am a camel.
Clever me.

My Little Girl

Last night Megan didn't want to go to bed when it was time. We sang a song and had family prayer, and then after hugs and kisses, all of the kids went and got in bed except for Megan. She insisted on telling me a story. So, I humored her by telling her that she could tell me a very short story. I'll tell the story the best that I can remember.

Once upon a time, there was a light bulb that fell and broke. Then there were two more lights. And then a giant came and ate them. Then the giant stepped on the house and smashed it. And there were dead people. Then the people ran away. And then the giant saw a fire and he got his feet in a fire and and he said "ow" and then he got dead. The end.

Where did that come from?? Shouldn't she be telling princess and fairy stories? Seriously! Giants and dead people. She's mostly such a girly girl. She loves pink and princess everything. Where that came from is beyond me.

My Cake World

It's been a while since I've posted. My website and the competition and media have taken up all of my time. In fact, I shouldn't be posting right now either. I should be making a cake for the teachers at Evan's elementary school. But I really want to catch up.

Just a warning; If you've read Vilate's or Lexie's blogs, I apologize for the use of the same pictures. Vilate was the photographer on this trip.



So, for those of you that haven't heard, I went to Tulsa, OK in the end of September for the Grand National Wedding Cake Competition. I entered a cake entitled Love Letters.



The theme for the competition was, "The Language of Flowers". I had to pick flowers that had the meaning that I wanted the cake to portray and then design a cake around that flower and the meaning that went with it.



I chose magnolias and oak leaves. The magnolia symbolizes perseverance and the oak leaf means strength.



I originally wanted to use the title Steel Magnolias but due to copyright issues, I decided to name it "Love Letters". The cake ended up being a tribute to my grandparents. I was able to copy some excerpts of their love letters that they wrote while my grandpa was in WWII.

I absolutely loved these letters. My grandparents were so sweet and romantic. And they fit so perfectly with what I was trying to accomplish. (the letters are sugar)



This was my inspiration piece that I used to show what I was trying to accomplish with the cake. I used the patterns on this needlework for the cake. Vilate worked so hard to make this for me and I appreciate her help so much.



These are the judges. They had a hard job. There were some extremely beautiful cakes there. I actually watched while they judged my cake. How unnerving. I couldn't hear anything they were saying. They just pointed a lot and whispered and pointed some more.



They spent a lot of time talking about my magnolias. That's one thing I did understand that they were talking about since they pulled out a flower handbook. They talked about how the flowers open and the way the flowers were colored. It seemed like an eternity.



This was Kerry Vincent handing me the Third Place Award!! I still can't believe I accomplished something so huge as to be one of the top 5 in the nation. I am honored to be a part of such an amazing group of master cake decorators.



Here's a picture of me and Kerry Vincent after the award ceremony. Ms Vincent is quite the woman. I love her candor. It's what makes her so respected in the cake world (that and the fact that she's extremely talented).



This is a picture of me with some of the judges after the award ceremony. I enjoyed getting to talk to them after the judging and hear what they had to say about my cake. And I really appreciated the scores they gave me. :)



This is Dianne Holgate. She won fourth place. What a fun person! I'm so glad I got a chance to get to know her. She's a fellow Mormon from the Four Corners area.



This is Edith. She had a lot of good advice for next competition (yes, I'm gonna do it again). She's a talented woman. I loved her cake.



While the competition was going on, James Rosselle, Marina Sousa and Dawn Nemec did some demonstrations. While they had some free time, Vilate and I asked them to take some pictures with us. They were fun to talk to and get to know. Can I tell you how 'celebrity shock' I was in throughout this competition?



This is Leanne. She was the one that jumped in to save all of the cakes that were in danger of spectators. She was a lot of fun and she had a beautful cake as well.



This is Mark, Cindy and Paul. Mark had the cake next to mine. His flowers were beautiful and the cake was grandiose. They were such a fun group to hang out with. Cindy was such a hoot.



This is Rebecca Sutterby. She won Grand prize. Her cake was absolutely perfect. I loved it. She's a really nice person also. All of these guys were so cool.



This is Kim Payne and her husband BJ. Kim won Second Place. She had a georgous cake and she was such a sweetheart. She was the first fellow cake decorator that I really got to know. She is so easy to talk to and such a great friend.



I actually had real fans. There were a bunch of people that came every day to see my cake and and me and to see how I did. It was so fun to get to know some of these people. They were so nice and had such nice things to say.



This was the cake that stole the show. Rebecca Sutterby- Grand Prize



I loved her bamboo. Loydene Barrett- First Place



Georgeous cake. Kim Payne- Second Place



The detail on her cake was amazing. Dianne Holgate- Fourth Place


Thanks for bearing with me through this long blog. I thoroughly enjoyed myself at this competition. And from all of this has come a few articles in news papers and even a segment on a news show. Now if I can translate all of this into money. :) I expect that I will stay busy. Things haven't started to slow own yet. And I don't imagine they will anytime soon.

If you want to see more of my cakes you can go to my website. It's looking pretty great thanks to Mike, Lexie and Tricia. Come check out Frosted Fantasy Cakes!