Color in Spring

I love the Amazing Race. Call me a fan, obsessed, crazy whatever. I remember an episode from last season where the contestants, who were in India, had to run through a crowd of people throwing colored chalk at them, to retrieve an envelope. I thought what fun that would be. Well come to find out that it was a celebration to bring in spring for the Krishna's. Some friends and I decided to go and participate. What an experience!!!! There were so many people we had to fight to buy the last few bags of color. We were lucky!! They light a big bonfire and the color throwing begins.

(great video of it on YouTube look up festival of colors 2009- Spanish fork,UT)

When I got home bubba usually calls out my name and like clock work he did until he saw me. I was then that the tone in his voice changed to a "I know it's Mimi but she is colored with color" tone. It was cute.

Seattle Fun!!!

I always enjoy going to Seattle to visit my family. Since I am living with Jay and Jake right now I get to do alot of things with their kids. Well Tami, Chris, Chelsea and Cassidy picked me up from the airport and decided that it was their turn to have fun with me. The girls were so excited to spend the day with me and show me all of their favorite things to do in Seattle.


We started off by having lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. I have never eaten there but have looked at all of the great things on the outside. The hostess sat us down right by a group of gorillas. Chelsea loved it but Cassidy was not too sure. The lights would start flashing and you would hear thunder and all of the animals would start to making noise and moving. It was a great atmosphere!!

Next we went to the girls school and I got to meat their teachers and see their classrooms. They were so excited and had been looking forward to this all week.

Finally we ended up at Pike Place Market. This is one of my favorite things to do. I remember going there while in culinary school with the rest of my class and just walking around looking at produce and trying new things. I am surprised at how well the girls know their way around the market. We both have a favorite spot to visit first and that is the Doughnut Booth!!! It is a little 10X10 booth with a machine that presses the mini doughnut batter out of a device into the hot oil with a arm that flips it over half way through and pops it out into a tray. They are always fresh and they come plain, cinnamon & sugar, powder sugar or the favorite SPRINKLES!!!! It costs about $2.50 for a dozen and you just walk down the market with brown bag in hand and see the sights. It is a tradition. Another thing that is just so Pike Place is the beautiful flowers that are there. They have dried flowers year round but when the flowers are in bloom, like right now it is tulip season, there are fresh flowers everywhere. It is a feast for the eyes and perfume for the nose. We decided to get a bunch for grandma as a surprise!!!

They have a really cool pasta booth where you could buy everything from normal pasta to fruit pasta to CHOCOLATE Pasta. Way cool!!! Yes I am a food nerd!!

Tami had a camera she thought I would be interested in buying from her and she let me take it for a test drive while I was home. I fell in love with it and had a lot of fun shooting pictures of all of the kids with their cousins and at Pike Place Market. Here are just a few of the tons that I took. Enjoy!

What happens in VEGAS........

Things have been a little crazy since my last post. I catered Brad & Ericas wedding reception up in Seattle. It was fun and crazy all at the same time. When I got back to work we were busy getting ready for a "wedding" in Vegas at the ICA/Catersource convention. The party was for 1300 people and it was a fake reception. We had dozens of sponsors that wanted us to do our best to spotlight their food or product and convince the thousands of others caterers there to purchase and use in their own businesses. NO PRESSURE!

We were staying at the Hilton which is where the conference was being held and working in their kitchen. Working in an kitchen that is not your own is stressful enough, but then throw in chefs from other companies that have volunteered to help prep and our own event staff that know a little about helping in the kitchen, and it can make the situation worse. We had two and half daysto prep about 85% of the food for the event which was on Tuesday night.

The menu was a "his" and "hers" type of theme. They each had their own appetizers, speciality drinks, desserts and action station menus. There was a fake bride, groom and wedding party. They would wander around and mingle as if it were a real reception. It was fabulous. The room was beautiful and we had plenty of food and no one went thirsty. I think that means it was a success.

I will admit I was dreading the trip. I arrived at work at 4 a.m. on the 22nd we packed the food we had already prepped and hit the road by 6 a.m. We arrived in Las Vegas by 12:30 ready to unload everything we had brought. After a tour of the room where the party would take place and the kitchen we would be living in the next few days we ate a quick lunch and got right to work. We finished at about 6:30 and had dinner reservations for 8:30. At about 11:30 we were in our rooms hitting the sack having to be back in the kitchen by 7 a.m. the next morning.

Monday morning the alarm goes off and I get out of bed, hit the shower and walk down to the kitchen. We had a quick continental breakfast and pulled out the knives and went to work. Luckily we were ahead of schedule so Kalli, Adam and I were able to go out and enjoy a little of the strip. We hit M&M world (to get the kids treats from Vegas) and the Coke store. Took out picture with Elvis and Micheal Jackson and my favorite color M&M the green one.

We needed to save out feet for Tuesday night so we decided to head back. We saw a photo booth and could not resist so we squished ourselves in it and made a memory. Tuesday rolls around and we are in the kitchen again at 7 a.m. ready to begin another long day. We had chefs from all over the country helping us prepare and cook that day. The event started at 7 p.m. and was supposed to wrap up at 11 p.m. The chefs were told to leave after we had broken down our stations in the back which we finished up at about 11:30 p.m. The rest of our crew were there until about 2 a.m. They were up again at 8 a.m. ready to load the last of our things and hit the road to head back home.

The event was a success and proves to me that I am blessed to have a skill that can take me to any kitchen any where and be able to do my thing. I am also grateful for the wonderful team we worked with. It was not possible without all of them. We are more like a family and I know this experience will be with all of us for a long time.

I was able to take a few pictures in the kitchen but none the night of the event. I am also in charge of a section of our work blog. I am sure there will be more pictures there. www.culinarycrafts.com click on the blog link.

Mixing wild rice pancake batter

Scooping the pancakes

Flipping the pancakes on the grill to cook








Kalli scooping 1300 Lamb Burgers





Seperating butter lettuce for
Pork Wraps

Work Christmas Party

This year we went to soldier hollow for a few hours of tubing. What a wonderful experience. I had so much fun. It was a pleasant evening and not too cold. The tube tow rope is a fantastic invention. The one thing I don't like about tubing is the walking back up the hill and being so tired that it is almost not worth the ride down again. The tow ride up the hill was an enjoyable one with a quick little hill at the top to make sure you get out of the way before the next person pops over. My friend Kalli and I made a train for our first run down and it was so slick that night that they told you to dig your heels into the snow to start slowing yourself down so you would not run into the fence at the bottom. When the time came to dig my heels I did and Kalli was blanketed in a soft white powder. Since Jake works with us the kids were able to go and they didn't even wait for supervision. Once they saw how the whole thing worked they were off!!!! Kalli and I made a train with Riley once and then Kaley and I made a train. We had so much fun I can't wait to go again.

A Year Of Change

As in years past and just like everyone else I have set some resolutions for the year. I have not had much success in years past but would like to change that this year. I have been through many different challenges this past year and have grown from each of them. With some of those challenges came with lots of tears and heartache others many, many tears and endless nights of prayer. Then there are those that included all tears, heartache and prayer. My family and friends could not have been a more of a support of blessing during the past 12 months. I am truly blessed and thank my father in heaven for them every night.



I have made a list of things I would like to change this year and I figure it would be better if all of those people that have been a support to me knew what it was that I wanted to accomplish so they could once again help and support me in their own and unique ways.




So here is the list.......

Attend the temple at least once a month

Get healthy (given)

Be more outgoing and social (single adult activities)

Serve in my new calling to the best of my ability

Complain less and compliment more




Look for more opportunities to serve






Share my testimony at least once a month

Stay out of debt and become more financially stable

Organize and expand my emergency preparedness




Be ready to own a home by the end of the year




Start gathering my family history


There you have it. I know there are always things that I will add or some of the things that I have forgotten to put down, but these are the important ones. I feel a great sense of hope about the year ahead of me and am excited about what I have accomplished so far. I again thank everyone who has helped and touched my life.


The lord knows what we need and also who we need.

Santa Claus did come

This year I had to opportunity to play Santa. Things have been a little tight for many people this year, including my sister's family. I have been blessed and wanted to help her family so they were able to have a Christmas this year. They have helped me so much this past year it was the least I could do. I told my sister that she and Jake were in charge of the stocking stuffers and I would do the rest. It was so much fun picking out the gifts for each kid. Jake and I stayed up too about 1 a.m. assembling all of the gifts. I was the one who could not sleep on Christmas eve because I could not wait to see the look on their faces when they woke up.

I may have gone a little overboard but everyone got at least one thing that they asked santa for. I did all of my shopping on line because I was at work the majority of the day and so tired when I got home that it was easier to look at a computer screen than wander the stores. It was a wonderful way to shop, I may do it that way next year. There is one funny story about one of the gifts I got for Bubba. It was a Elmo Live doll and it came in a box all by itself. Jaylynn had put the box in my room not knowing what it was. I had picked it up and put it on my bed to open it and I heard Elmo talking to me. He said, "Elmo just wants you to know that Elmo loves you." Then he blew me two kisses. I started to giggle and hoped that he had not done this while the kids were around. As I started to peel the packing tape off the box Elmo repeted what he had just said. When I opened the box it was full of foam peanuts and elmo was no where to be seen, but when I started to search for him he started to talk again and the pile of peanuts started to move. (by this time I was grining from ear to ear) When I finally located Elmo in the box he was upside down and backwards. When I turned him around to see if he survived the journey this is what I saw...................








I started rolling and immediatly screamed for Jaylynn. We both started laughing and I knew we had to take a pictue to share with everyone. Elmo has a line that says" Look no cavities!!" I giggle every time because I have a picture of elmo with teeth. It was just as funny when I hit elmo's foot and he threw up all of those peanuts. Priceless!!!!

Santa brought me an elipitcal for Christmas. I am so excited to use it. I just hope the excitement stays after I am sore when it kickes my butt.

I hope all of my loved ones had a Merry Christmas and has much Happiness and Health in the new year!!!!

Crazy Christmas Time!!

Merry Christmas



I don't have pictures at this time of year because I spent all of my time at work. I sleep, wake up and go to work then come home, eat and then go back to sleep. Almost the entire month is spent working and sleeping. My co-workers/friends become my family for the month and we have some good times while getting our work done. I will have to remember to take my camera to work with me next Christmas so I can have proof of what happens.
This year our rush started on a Monday the first day of December. That also happens to be my birthday. I think the best gift I received was to have my day start at 3 a.m. This was for sure the longest birthday I have ever had. Unfortunately the majority of it was spent at work. I was able to go to dinner with my sister, Jaylynn and her family. We went and had Mexican! My favorite!!!!! I opened a few gifts and then went to bed around 10p.m. The rest of the week was about the same, in to work by 4 and home around 4 or 5.
In the catering business there are bound to be mistakes when you have the work load that we have during the holidays. As long as everyone does their job to the best of there ability everything should run smoothly, yea right. It happened for the most part that way with only a few bumps along the way. First there was our bakery manager, she had some problems with
some of the recipes not turning out and instead of telling some one above her that she had ruined them she tried to hide it. In a small kitchen with 8 staff members something like that is hard to hide. We had to let her go in the first week of December so we could focus on our own work and not have to focus on cleaning up other messes that we didn't know about.
Then there is a new secretary in the front office who's husband was helping in the afternoon in the kitchen doing dishes. The office manager came back one morning, during the second week into our madness, and asked to speak to one of the owners. The tone in her voice sounded urgent and of importance. We later found out that our new secretary was taken away by a bondsmen because she had skipped a bail hearing for some fraud charges. Come to find out later her husband was later arrested. We were loosing people left and right.
Last but not least we have a lock on our refrigerator out side because of some theft problems we have had. It is my job to go out side and make sure all of out events have the proper menu items on their assigned shelf. I was out one morning doing my job and the executive chef decided to change the combination on the lock. Instead of just changing it and leaving it on the side of the door he actually locked the door with me inside. He thought I was inside and had finished what I was doing out there. I was freezing inside and was glad that I had my cell phone in my pocket. The only problem, I was in a metal box with no reception. I tried banging on the door and pushing it as far as it would go hoping that someone would hear me and let me out. I could picture my co-workers/friends out there laughing and thinking this was hilarious. I was not laughing. I decided to turn off the fans in the fridge hoping that would allow me to get a signal on my phone. It worked and I called one of the bakers, she didn't answer so I called the executive chef and he didn't answer. I thought I was stuck until someone finished a project and needed to put it outside. I said a silent prayer for some help. Then I heard some noise out side like someone was moving things around. I pushed on the door a few times and then heard the noise of the lock being undone. It was the chef he opened the door and said, "I didn't know you were in there. I thought you had gone back inside. " I was relieved to know that he had not done it on purpose and was not outside the door laughing at me. I was cold, but we all had a good laugh when I got back inside. We all survived to see another Christmas.
We are blessed to work for such a great company and have not only a great work relationship but a wonderful friendship. I am so fortunate.