I need your ideas

So, I have been asked to teach a cake decorating class in the evening RS mtg in Jan. I have NO idea what to teach/talk about. I have up to 30 minutes. Anything you would like to know or things others would might like to know?

For your viewing pleasure

I enjoy making cakes. Here is what I have done through October.

William's Birthday cakes.




Joseph's Dad's birthday cake



Parker's birthday cake.




not my best work, plus it melted on the ride home.

A going away present for one of Joseph's buddies at work.

A cake from class.

A birthday cake for one of Joseph's friends at work

I have followed in the footsteps of my mother

I have not posted as of late even though I have thought of several things I could post. I have even written part of them in my head, but then I remember I don't have any pictures and move on to something else. It's not that I didn't take pictures it's just that I lost the cord to my camera yet again. After I lost and then found it the last time I put it in a safe place and now have no idea where it is. If you know my mom at all you know she is notorious for her safe places. It looks like I will be following in her footsteps.

Cute Story

When we got to church on Sun, Joseph pulled out his phone to put it on vibrate and Parker asked,"Are you calling Jesus?"

More Cakes

These cakes were for Alex's Birthday and Parker's preschool graduation party.

These last two were done for my 2nd cake class, which they no longer teach. These were a lot of fun. I really like making the fondant roses. All of those roses took me about 6 hours to make. In all the tiered cake took about 12 hours with baking time.

my latest investment

I thought I would share a few pictures of what has occupied most of my time in the last month or so. I have thouroughly enjoyed it and plan to continue. Here are a few pictures from my first month of class

Joseph's blog about the space program

Check out Joseph's letter to the president at www.rocketpolitics.com
Send letters to your Congressmen and Senators that we need to save Constellation - our manned space program!

Balance

Balance is something I struggle with. I have not been able to find a balance in much of anything as of late. How do I balance the need to work and bring in income and having the time I need with my family? We've balanced it in terms of one of us always being with the kids, but that doesn't balance family life or time to do things together as a family. How do I balance keeping a neat home with not creating contention and a bad spirit by 1)yelling at the kids 2) being frustrated and angry with them and 3)both not yelling and not being frustrated and angry when any little progress I make is destroyed five minutes later. How do I balance the need to fulfill myself so I have something to give with the constant needs of five little ones and a husband, not to mention sisters I visit teach, people in the ward who need help and the many other demands on my time that stem from the afore mentioned? How do I balance the budget with the ever increasing demands on it, including a house that is in need of repairs, not cosmetic upgrades but structural, functional repairs?
How do I fit in time for scripture study and prayer and the basics? I can't fit in time to use the bathroom without something or someone being hurt or needing my attention.
So like I said balance is something I'm really struggling with. I am sorry to be such a downer right now. Hopefully I will find a little more balance and be able to post more often, and share some happy and fun things!

Hopelessly Behind

That is how I feel in about every aspect of my life. My blog shows it the most however. Maybe someday I 'll catch up on the past 7 or 8 months, but until then I'll just start with this week. We are currently trying to refinance our house.
we were hoping they'd be able to do an electronic appraisal, but that fell through when the difference between high and low was somewhere in the range of $150,00. So, we made an appointment to have the appraiser come on Thursday evening. As many of you are aware, I am not a neat person. Housekeeping and organizing is NOT one of my talents. So on Monday we made a list and were planning on prioritizing it after the kids were in bed and then spending every spare moment the next few days tidying and cleaning and organizing. Then the phone rang. It was the appraiser wanting to come the next day mid morning. He lives in the Salt Lake area (by the way - is it really that hard to get and appraiser who is from the area? There is a HUGE difference between Brigham and Salt Lake. When we first got the house appraised when we were moving here, the guy did comparisons of our house with houses all over Brigham. I know its a small town but that's ridiculous. One of the houses was a few hundred feet from the train tracks!) and would be up in this area and wanted to make it all in one stop. PANIC! We rushed around and cleaned and tidied and organized as best we could in the short time we had. We went to bed about 1 am. and said that's as good as it's going to get. I spent the entire morning yelling at the little boys to not play with toys and keep the house clean. I was suddenly reminded why my house is never clean.

I believe I was tagged...

It's been a really long time since I've posted, and I don't really have much time right now, so you'll have to wait for news. I believe someone tagged me with the 6th photo from my 6th folder so here it is: