Merry Christmas!

This Christmas, Grant and I were able to make it back to Ohio for about a week and a half. We both took time off from work and left North Carolina on Wednesday, the 23rd, after Grant was done with work. Since we left late, we only drove half way and stopped in Virginia for the night. We finished driving the next morning and made it home in time to finish up some Christmas shopping, have dinner at Grant's parents house, and go to 10:00pm Christmas Eve church service with my mom and grandma. Here are some photos after we got back that night. Don't you love Wizzo's elf outfit?!

This morning we woke up and celebrated our own little Christmas. We exchanged gifts and then let Wizzo open up one of his gifts. He needed a little help getting the paper started, but he did a good job getting the rest off!

We had lunch with the Saum Family and opened gifts with everyone who could make it to the house. It's always an entertaining time at the Saum house! :) Later, we headed over to my dad's and Sheryl's house to visit with them. My step-sisters and step-brother were there with some of their kids. It's always funny to see if they remember me or not. I'm always amazed at how big they are getting, since I remember them as babies! Anyway, we had some food over there too, and opened up our gifts. Wizzo also went along, but we had to put him in his crate for a bit. Some of the kids were a little nervous around him, but I think he was nervous too! He hasn't been around too many kids. I guess I didn't take any pictures while we were there either. :(

This evening, we headed over to my mom's house and had dinner. Rick and my grandma also came over. Wizzo got his second gift and did a much better job opening this time! He also destroyed the toy in about 2 minutes. Good thing it was free!!

Overall, we had a nice Christmas. We've got plans to meet up with some friends in the next few days and try to fit in as much as we can in such a short amount of time while we're here. We have to head back to North Carolina on Saturday January 2nd. Hope you all have/had a wonderful holiday season! :)

Oh and I almost forgot! Here are some pictures of cut-out cookies I made for the Cookie Drive on base. The first picture is of the cookies that I finished and gave to the Airmen. I didn't actually decorate those in the second picture for the drive because I ran out of time, so I finished them a little later that week. I loved them! And they were yummy!

Happy Birthday Wizzo!!

Wizzo turned "1" today! I had picked up a new toy and a doggie cookie from the pet store on my way home from work. So we put on his birthday sweater and posed for some photos before giving the birthday boy his treats! Needless to say, he loved the cookie (which we split in half) and had a good time with Lil' Buddy too!

Happy Birthday Wizzo! We're so happy you're in our lives! :)

Squadron Christmas Party

It's that time of year again...the Christmas season is here! Last night was our Squadron Christmas Party for the 333d Lancers. It was at the Walnut Creek Country Club, and we had a pretty good time. It was kind of fun to get a little dressed up and spend some more time with friends. Here are a few photos from our night. Merry Christmas!!

B-course Spouses!

"Dim"

Tonight Grant had his naming for his call sign. All fighter pilots and WSOs (Weapon Systems Officer) get call signs that they will refer to each other as on a daily basis. It basically becomes their new name, so needless to say, it's pretty important! However, since Grant is still in a training squadron, this will not be his permanent call sign. After he is mission qualifed at Mountain Home, he will get his official one.

So......you may now refer to Grant as "Dim." Why, you may ask? Well, apparently he messed up a couple of important things twice in a row, so they said "This kid must not be very bright, so we'll call him dim." Nice, right?

And in case you were wondering, Grant also had call signs at Columbus for both T-6s and T-38s. He was "Climax" when he flew the T-6 because they thought he got overly excited in the jet, screaming and cussing when he makes a mistake or is about to. When he flew the T-38, he was known as "Bleaux" (pronounced "blue"). This one was kind of a stretch in my opinion...it's supposed to go with his last name so you would say "Bleaux Saum" like Blow Some. Yeah, I don't get it either.

I'm crossing my fingers for a good call sign at Mountain Home! :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Since we couldn't get back to Ohio for Thanksgiving, we decided to get together with some friends who were also staying in town and have our own little Thanksgiving dinner. It was very delicious and we had so much food!! I made some "turkey cupcakes" as well. They were kind of time consuming, but oh so cute! :)

Wilton Cake Decorating - Class 4, Course 4

My last Wilton class!! It's been a busy few months, especially since I've started working. I had a great time learning all of the Wilton decorating techniques, but I'm ready to take a break from the cake decorating for a bit.

Tonight we learned how to make the Fondant Favor Box. We used the large daisy cookie cutter to make 2 flower shaped pieces, cut a long strip of fondant, and used some gum glue (gum paste dissolved in water) to make them stick together. You can see the one I made in the picture of my final cake below.

We also learned some other techniques using the cut-outs. Last we learned different border designs, including the ball (fondant pieces rolled into balls and placed side by side along the bottom of the cake), embellished rope (a rope shaped piece of fondant with round ball-shaped indentations), and the punched strip (a strip of fondant with designs cut-out using hte decorative punch set). I used the Ball border for my final cake.

I also decorated my cake with some leaves and daisies from the first class. I added a fondant strip around the center of the cake and put some circle cut-outs on for added decoration. The cake is a 4 layer chocolate cake, and it was yummy!!! :)

Idaho, here we come!

Grant found out his assignment for his first operational squadron tonight. We are going to Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho!!! This was our first choice, so we are very happy and excited to be going there. Our choices were to stay here, Idaho, or RAF Lakenheath in England. We thought for a while that we wanted to go to England, but after more deliberation and thinking, we decided moving halfway across the world might not be the best choice for us right now. We didn't want to stay here because more than likely we'll end up back here at some point in the future. So, Mountain Home it was!

Grant is excited because the flying is really great out there. Otherwise, the town is small and from what we've heard, there is not much to do. It is about 45 minutes from Boise, which is where most people go to shop/eat/etc. We don't have official orders yet, but we expect to be moving out there sometime shortly after graduation in March. Most people say they are hesitant to go there but end up loving it. The common phrase we've heard is "You cry as you drive into town and you cry when you leave." I guess a lot of spouses have cried haha! I figure I'm from one of the smallest towns you can find...it can't get much smaller than that.

Look for more news on our move as we find out orders and the time gets closer!

Wilton Cake Decorating - Course 4, Class 3

Tonight we learned how to make different flowers using gum paste. We used the shaped cut-outs for each basic flower shape and then used the ball and veining tool to make details in the petals. First was the daisy, which is actually 2 daisy cut-outs, one placed on top of the other, with a small piece of yellow fondant rolled into a ball and dipped into the shimmer powder (basically yellow sparkles). Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of this. Edited to add: See this on my final cake in class 4!

The carnation was several pieces of circles cut out and crimped on the edges. You add each piece to the carnation base we made last week and push it down in the middle until you've reached the fullness you like. We also learned the carnation calyx, using the small daisy cut-out and forming it around the base of the carnation. To go along with the carnation, we made carnation leaves using the big leaf cut-out and cutting it into strips and curling them.

We learned the basic leaf, also using the leaf cut-out and using the ball & veining tool to line the center and edges to make it look more real. Edited to add: See these on my final cake in class 4.

The last flower we learned tonight was the Fantasy Flower, which I'm not sure I really like much. You cut out small and large hearts, crimp the edges, and overlap them into cupcake liners. After they've dried, you put the small pieces inside the large pieces and then add the fondant ball with stamens.

Next week is our final cake where we learn a couple more decorating techniques and decorate our final cake with our favorites!

Retirement

Today I officially began saving for retirement...I opened an IRA!!! Grant has been pushing for me to do this for the past few years, and since I've been working and finally started making some money, what better time to get started? I opened a Fidelity Roth IRA in two different mutal funds. I am hoping to open more next year! The path to retirement starts today. :)

Wilton Cake Decorating - Course 4, Class 1 & 2

Before our last course ended, our instructor told us that if we took the final course (this one), she was going to fit it into 3 classes vs. the typical 4 due to Thanksgiving falling on the same day as the last class. So tonight, we combined Class 1 and 2. It wasn't really a big deal because the first class would have only covered covering a cake with fondant, which I learned in Course 3, so we didn't need to spend an entire class on that again.

This class is Fondant and Gum Paste, so it's my first time working with gum paste. It's very similar to fondant, but it's very sticky and dries very quickly. It is used to make more delicate and intricate flowers and details, basically because you can shape it easily. So tonight we learned several techniques, including draping, handkerchief-style overlays, and ribbon garland and border. The student kit that we purchased prior to tonight included all of our cut-out tools (circle, leaf, heart, daisy), the ribbon cutter/embosser (to make wavy/zig-zagged lines), and the decorative punch set (to make different small shapes/designs). We also brought a cake pre-iced and covered in fondant, ready to decorate. You can see the different techniques we learned tonight on my cake in the pictures. I think my cake is super ugly, but I was just practicing all the styles and attempting to put them on the cake. I also tinted the cake fondant pink, which takes forever (as I think I mentioned in the posts from last course)!

Lastly, we learned how to make the carnation base. The basic method is to roll a golf tee-shaped piece of fondant and then flatten part of it, cut it out with a small circle cookie cutter, and crimp it on the foam with the veining tool. I think the carnations will be really pretty when they are all done. We are supposed to make more at home and bring them for the final cake.

Fall Adventures

The Saum Family came to visit and we stayed at Atlantic Beach for the weekend!

We visited Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, Virginia on one of the coldest days of the year, yet! We had a good time, but it's got nothing on Cedar Point. ;)

I decorated for Halloween/Fall.

Grant's B-course class volunteered at the Merci Center to help pack up clothing and food for people in need in Afghanistan.

We celebrated Halloween with friends as Mario and Princess Peach! :)

Wilton Cake Decorating - Course 3, Class 4

Tonight we made our final cake! I was really excited for this one, because it's definitely "wedding worthy" and was fun to do! First, here is one of my better fondant roses I brought to class that I had worked on over the weekend:

We also had to bring two cakes--one 10" and one 6" (meaning, I had to go buy new pans to add to my inventory!) already iced and covered in fondant. I have been super busy this week, so I didn't get the chance to cover my cakes at home. I brought them to class, covered them with fondant, and worked on the ruffle border. When I got home, I added my roses to the cake. I didn't make enough fondant roses, so I took some of the royal icing flowers we made in Class 2/3 and added them to my top layer. I also added some rosebuds I had from a previous class to fill in some gaps, along with buttercream leaves to fill in the rest of the gaps. Last I added some buttercream dots all over. The cake in our course book has small fondant flower cutouts, but I was too lazy for more fondant and used some leftover buttercream instead. :)

P.S.-The cake was the Perfect Party Cake from Dorie Greenspan's book "Baking: From My Home to Yours." It was a lemon flavored cake with a lemon flavored buttercream. The actual cake wasn't too bad (as long as you like lemon), but my buttercream did NOT turn out right. It was really thin and very buttery. I don't know what happened...I doubled the recipe, so maybe it had something to do with that. Or maybe my butter was not right. No idea, but I'm not sure I'd try it again. I should have stuck with my Wilton buttercream.

And because I figured I'm on a roll, I'm going to sign up for the next course, the final course, Fondant and Gum Paste. Using gum paste allows you to make even more intricate decorations and designs with the fondant. Should be fun!

Wilton Cake Decorating - Course 3, Class 2 & 3

As I said last week, we combined two nights of class into one longer class tonight. We began by learning how to roll out the fondant and cover our cake. This wasn't too difficult, but you do have to be careful not to roll it too thin because it will tear easily when you put it on the cake. It also took some practice to get the edges/bottom of the cake to lay flat without overlaps or bubbles.

We then worked on coloring our fondant (takes FOR.EV.ER.) by adding some gel coloring (same that we use for icing colors) and kneading it into the fondant. The bigger the piece of fondant, the longer it takes. But you can't just color it in small pieces, especially if you're using the same color for several different decorations on your cake, otherwise you may end up with different shades of fondant. After our fondant was colored, we cut strips to make the ribbons, bow, and curlicues (we were making the Fondant Package Cake). I didn't finish all of mine in class, so I brought it home and finished by adding the flower cutouts and a buttercream bead border. The cake was a Halloween funfetti that I made as Grant's birthday cake (his birthday is the 27th!). I think it turned out pretty cute. :)

We worked on the package cake for part of the time and then our instructor showed us how to finish The Fondant Rose that I mentioned last week. This was quite a lengthy process with pretty detailed directions. To sum it up quickly, you use a flower cutter and use the ball and veining tool (similar to an orange peeling stick, but one end is has a ball and one end is pointed) to make the petals curl in certain directions. Then you mold the fondant into the rose shape you want with your hands. Our instructor said that once you get the hang of it, it's not so bad. I will have to try it out this weekend and see how it goes! We'll use these for our final tiered cake on the last night of class. One thing I've already learned from fondant is that it's pretty and looks really nice, but it's time consuming! It can also dry out quickly, so you have to work quickly or keep it covered.

We then moved onto the Class 3 portion of tonight's class. We switched back to using Royal Icing to make different flowers using the Lily Nail. We learned the (l-r, top to bottom) poinsettia, easter lily, morning glory, and petunia. I embellished them with clear cake sparkles and yellow icing dots or stamens in the middle. I can't say these were my favorite to make...they were a little more difficult, but they could be pretty with practice. I only made a couple of each just to get the feel for it, plus we weren't going to be saving these for anything specific, so no need to make several. :)

We ended the night by learning how to stack our pillars for the tiered cake we'll decorate on our last night of class. Stay tuned for that in 2 weeks!

Morphed

Meet our future son and daughter:

HAHA! I found this site through another blog and had to check it out for myself. You upload a picture of 2 people and then morph it into a child. I'm pretty sure it's completely random, and I'm not sure I even see either Grant or myself in those pictures. You could probably upload any picture and it would give you a similar face. Regardless, it was still fun! I'll let you know if our kids end up looking like that someday. ;)

Wilton Cake Decorating - Course 3, Class 1

Course 3 is fondant and tiered cakes, and I'm excited to learn how to work with fondant! To start the class tonight, we reviewed all of the basic techniques we learned in Course 1 (the icing recipe, filling the bags, etc.). Since we didn't decorate a cake tonight, I don't have pictures of the decorating techniques we learned, but I'll post links to the Wilton website that shows them.

We started by learning Cornelli Lace and Sotas. Both are pretty random, but with the Lace you sort of make your own pattern/design. Sotas are the easiest thing to do...just squeeze the decorating bag and however the icing falls is your design! We also learned the Bead Border (essentially a border of dots), Brush Embroidery (using a brush to pull in some of the piped icing), Drop Strings (single, multiple, and overlapping -- which are all much easier than they look!), Ruffle Border (I found this difficult to get the spacing for the "ruffles" just right), and Ruffle Garland (same as the border, but draped around the cake like the drop strings).

We also learned the first step of the Fondant Rose. Our instructor showed us how and we are supposed to make a whole bunch ahead of time so that we can make roses for our tiered cake on the final night of class. It is basically just a teardrop shaped ball of fondant stuck on top of a toothpick.

Next week we are combining Classes 2 & 3 because our instructor has another commitment on the night we are supposed to have our 3rd class. So we will be bringing an 8" square cake already thinly iced (we're going to cover it with fondant), as well as Royal Icing to make some fancier flowers.

Wilton Cake Decorating - Course 2, Class 4

Tonight we finally got to use all of our flowers to decorate our cake. We started by learning the basketweave and rope border, which you can see on my cake in the pictures below. The cake was a strawberry cake and iced in traditional buttercream. It was also oval shaped. I'm not sure why Wilton wants you to learn an oval cake, but the pans were included in our Course 2 student kit.

The basketweave was not too difficult once I got the pattern in my head. We practiced on our practice board before actually doing it on the cake. We use a template to mark out spaces around the top of our cake, so that the basketweave "stripes" were evenly spaced. I then added the rope border and my flowers! "Ta-Da!"

Close-up of my flowers!

F-15s even did a flyover. ;)

I've also decided to sign up for the next Course, Fondant and Tiered Cakes. I've never worked with fondant, so it should be fun and interesting!

Wilton Cake Decorating - Course 2, Class 3

Tonight we learned the Victorian Rose, which is similar to the original Wilton Rose, but the petals are supposed to be slightly more curved.

We also learned the primrose and daisy, the pansy, and the daffodil (again using templates and the flower nail).

The daisy was kind of a pain to get the petals to form correctly. The concept was simple, but it was just hard to make the petals "perfect." The daffodil was fun and pretty easy, and I just think the pansy is really pretty. :)

Next week, we bring our iced cake and get to decorate it!