Mother's Day Weekend

I can't sleep this morning (I believe hormonally related - as usual - awakened by a hot flash... night sweat... whatever you want to call it), so I thought I would catch up on a couple of posts in the cool and quiet of the 5am office (been up since 4, just taking care of a few other items of business, too).

Here's a review of last weekend:

Mar was inspired by mine and Taylor's bold haircut move to take her lengths to a new level. She was in desperate need of a trim, but decided to make big change and cut it off. I have been preparing her to take charge of styling her own hair once she has completed 6th grade (a week away!!), and she thought shorter would be simpler. We thought to grab a couple of "before" pictures, but things were pretty busy around our house and we didn't get any official "after" pics. Luckily, there are pictures from later in the day to follow.

Bill wanted in the photo action. He also wanted to prove that he was being helpful and productive in the kitchen while I was cutting away.

He was icing the 4 dozen cinnamon rolls I had made that morning for our girls camp fundraiser.

I have to mention that I made these a little begrudgingly. I had not volunteered (I would have made bread like last year - much less effort required), but had been asked via text, along with a "I heard you make great cinnamon rolls" thrown in. First, let me say that I don't think I have ever made cinnamon rolls for anyone other than my family. I think I mentioned back here how I prefer the bready type, and usually just mix up my regular bread dough when I make them for the fam. I am certainly not known far and wide for my awesome cinnamon rolls. 

I decided to make a recipe I had only made once, a few years back. I remembered that they were sweet and soft, more of what most people would expect from a cinnamon roll. In the interest of time, I was daring and quadrupled the batch, not knowing if it would work, then made a few of my own adjustments in rolling and baking them. They took a lot of time, and, being the messy baker I am, made for a tedious clean up. 

Mar had been asking for a trim/cut for weeks, and wanted to have time to play on her Saturday, so after whipping up the icing, I assigned Bill the task of spreading it on while I did the trim + another cut for Emily Yoshikawa who would be leaving on her mission the following Wednesday (less than 24 hours after her brother returned from his).

To be honest, I didn't think the rolls looked that great, but I sent them off with the girls when they headed to the fundraiser to set up.

This was the second year of a "drive-thru" dinner fundraiser and bake sale. I think it's the best idea ever. (You can also catch a glimpse of Mar's new 'do.)

 The girls are each assigned families in the ward to call (and encouraged to invite neighbors and friends) to take orders for burgers/dogs/chips/drinks. Families that order give a 30 minute time-frame of when they will "drive-thru" to pick up their order on the given date.

 The girls help put the meals together and deliver them to the waiting cars.

This year we had a professional-chef-turned-chiropractor do the grilling (nice to have one in the ward), and our camp director was uber organized, so things ran like clockwork. In fact, every last burger was sold. That's a careful plan! Everyone was worried when a dear VERY elderly brother from our ward pulled up towards the end of the drive-thru and we were OUT of burgers. 

He had ordered hot dogs. Perfect.

This was the first reveal of my new hair, and I was anxious to get the initial comments out of the way.

I noted at the bake sale that my cinnamon rolls had all been purchased. I hoped that they were good, and at the very least baked through, but not overdone on the bottom (those kinds of things you can't be really sure of, especially when you're baking a recipe you are not terribly familiar with in those flimsy disposable aluminum pans).

I've gone on so much about the cinnamon rolls because boy-oh-boy did I receive kudos for them the following day at church. One family that had purchased some had their extended family in town for their oldest child's baptism. The best comment of the day was from the grandfather:

"I am a cinnamon roll connoisseur. People bring cinnamon rolls for me to try, so I can let them know if they're good. I've eaten hundreds of cinnamon rolls in my life. My wife makes great cinnamon rolls. But those were the best cinnamon rolls I have ever had. The only thing that could have improved them are raisins!" (I totally agree on the raisin thing, but I didn't put any in because most people - in my family - prefer them without.)

Okay, so maybe the effort was worth the praise.

Other comments I received on Sunday:

"Wow. You got your hair cut!"

"I was wondering who that was sitting up there. From the back I couldn't tell who you were."

"Hi! Are you new to the ward?"

So glad that's over.

Once church was done, Bill was home nice and early (Happy Mother's Day to me!).

We whipped together our fondue (notice the nice pot I purchased received),

 and ate to our heart's content.

 (By the way, fondue is super quick to put together. The following day I whipped some up for Shi on her lunch break, lickity split. Yum.)

Then Mar gave me a swing in the hammock. 

After chatting with our Moms and taking a nice evening walk with the dogs, we indulged again.

I won't mention that I ruined two batches while trying to make the chocolate fondue. Bill's the master. He figured it out and saved the day.

We google chatted with the out-of-town kids, then helped Shi finish up an essay (until 1 in the morning) before hitting the sack.

I can't wait for school to be over!!