Catching Up (in no particular order)

The Payson LDS Stake celebrated it's 10th anniversary last weekend. The theme of the party was, "High on a mountain top Zion blossoms". They asked Vernon and I to make a cake to serve 250+ people. 22 cakes mixes and 20 lbs. of fondant later ....

Close up:

Nick turns 18 on May 6th and will be graduating from High School on the 27th. Grandma & Grandpa Randall bought him a 2009 Chevrolet Cobalt. Spoiled rotten, huh?


Nick took Chelsea Park to the Prom.


Wanda made vests for Nick and friend Russell.

For Nick's Eagle Scout project, he built concrete "contemplative" benches for the Pioneer Cemetery.

They turned out great!

My nephew Michael (ASU born & bred) married Saundra (from Tucson) in February.
I finally broke down and purchased the Eiffel Tower vases I've been wanting for a long time.


While I was working on the flowers arrangements, Mandy decorated the cake!


The Sun Devils vs. Wildcats grooms cake:

Wedding cake for Jordan Ashby:

Mandy & Logan on a midnight quad ride in the snow. As grandma Phyllis used to say, "Where there's no sense, there's no feeling!"

This crazy life we lead ...

Last week was a busy one. Nick is in Student Government and had many Homecoming Week activities and responsibilities. We had the senior float in our driveway, the royalty arch in our living room, flowers in the fridge and miscellaneous shtuff scattered everywhere. In the middle of it all, we also did the cake and flowers for our friends Max & Marilyn's daughter's wedding which was Friday ... the same day that Mandy and Logan's bee-u-tee-ful new house closed. They spent the weekend painting and cleaning and I went down Monday and scrubbed cabinets and tile. The Campbell clan got them mostly moved in that night. In the end we survived.

The cake ...

Jonah and the whale

Baby Jonah is due in just a few weeks. A whale themed shower for mom Hannah was held Saturday. Since Hannah loves cannolis, Vernon baked a white cake, torted it and spread cannoli cream (from Gerardo's Italian Bistro) between the layers. It was nummy. I covered it with an ocean of whipped cream frosting and a whale made of fondant and gum paste (I cheated and put an empty soda can inside.) It turned out fabulous ... if I do say so myself!

"Cool" Truck

Tomorrow is my buddy Chaz's birthday. He likes trucks. I asked him if he wanted a truck cake for his birthday. He replied, "I want a COOL truck cake". Hope this is cool enough ...

Though the detail is hard to see in this picture, my son-in-law Logan would be impressed with the rims.

p.s. I never posted a picture of the bear cake I made a few months ago for Chaz's sister Ryley.

Another Diaper Bag Cake!

This time for a boy baby ...

How did we ever survive?

Though Vernon watched TV as a youngster, the Petersen's didn't get a television until I was in High School. It was a HUGE 19" COLOR Zenith in a behemoth stereo cabinet (with turntable). It had 13 channels and we thought we were so cool! Vernon and I actually made it through high school and college without an IPod, cell phone, or labtop computer! Our kids think we were raised in the dark ages. Though I have gladly embraced the technology age, I'm proud to have made it through the "no remote" years. (However, having spent my youth filling the wood box on the back porch and splitting kindling for the fireplace, I have to say my gas fireplace with the remote that you can program the night before is mightly nice.)


Back to the subject at hand .. I have been decorating cakes for about 30 years and I have never used a turn table. My mother gave me an old wooden lazy susan that I tried a couple of times but it was almost more hassle than it was worth. This week as Vernon and I were buying supplies for a wedding cake, we impulsively went over the edge and bought a real bonafide top of the line cake decorating turn table called the "Fat Daddio". Isn't it beautiful???



I can honestly say I have no clue how I ever survived this long without one. My black and white world is now screaming technocolor. It's a amazing! And the fruits of our newly simplified labors ...

Bag It!

This evening the Young Women in our Ward are having a "Diaper Party" for one of their leaders who recently delivered a baby girl and they asked if I could make a cake. If everyone is bringing diapers, there needs to be a diaper bag ...