Prom

I love my calling. I love to serve with the Youth. It's totally different doing it at the Stake Level then the Ward Level since everything is on a huge scale. But still so, so, so much fun. This year our stake was in charge of the food portion of the Tri-Stake Prom (basically a formal dance for Laurels and Priests and alot like a school Prom except with modest dresses). Me and Linda (our 2nd Counselor) handled all the food. (Pictures of the food are way at the bottom)

We asked our Stake Youth Council what food they wanted. Here is what they came up with:
*Bacon-wrapped Something
*Cream Cheese Stuff or Cheesecake
*A Nice Punch
*Chocolate Candy or Dessert
*Cream Puffs
Don't you love the very explicit list:-)
I'll get into the details later about what we made.

So, the only downside to my calling is that I don't have any youth in Young Men or Young Women's, at times it can feel like I am away from my family a bit. Really, I'm not complaining because we have benefited so much from my calling. Just hearing the council from our Stake Leaders or Regional Leaders or talking to other Youth Leaders really helps me and Ken as we teach our children. It's like I get a sneak peak into things my kids will face in 5 or 10 years but we can bring pieces of that into our family life now. It's awesome.

Anyway, I love when I do an activity that my children can help me with so that way they can be part of it some and see what it is that I do. I love sharing it with them.

I even shared it with our little preschool group. Inevitably, it seems like it is always my time to teach the week that I have a big YW event! I like to think of this not-so-happy coincidence as Heavenly Father making sure I keep my family in focus.


The girls were making cupcakes. Of course we only needed one set of cupcakes, but I split them up into to groups. One made the cupcakes for us and the other mixed up one of my chocolate sheet cakes.

I had been making these Temple Mints out of White Chocolate all week. Rose and Ginger had been helping me. And by helping I mean eating them almost as fast as I made them. So I hid them on top of the fridge. It just so happens I forgot to actually take them to the prom so I now have a gallon size ziploc bag full of them.

Since the girls liked them so much I had my preschool girls make flower ones for our cupcakes.

Hmmm, I wonder if this pretty girl kept sneaking bites of the chocolate???

This cutie pie hummed as she squished the chocolate.

Filling up the molds. See this activity actually teaches them fine motor skills. I'm not just all about fun stuff. Ok, well I am but that's the best way to learn anyways, right!


The finished product!

Are you wondering what happened to the cake they made for me???
It was a beautiful chocolate cake and just waiting helplessly on the counter to be covered in a rich chocolate ganache...

Then my boys came home from school and everytime they walked by it in the kitchen to say get a pencil, sharpen a pencil, get a piece of paper, or throw a piece of paper

They...

Yes, my sons were raised by wolves! And apparently a mother who does not scare them at all. They kept taking little chunks out of it all afternoon.

I think they really learned their lesson when I served them the rest of the cake after dinner:-)

Speaking of dinner...My family was in HEAVEN the week before the Prom as I road-tested my recipes.

I really needed to find a way to cook Chicken Wrapped in Bacon for a crowd. Normally I do it in a skillet but I was trying to figure out how to do it in the oven.


I also made Cheese Fondue with Red Potatoes and Broccoli

Oh my goodness I just want to squish and kiss her cute little cheese covered face. She is so cute!

Obviously with that on the menu 3 out of 5 days, I didn't have any complaints from the guinea pigs!


I put them to work too. It wasn't all fun and games for them. Well, maybe it was. One night we played a bunch of rounds of Citadel and inbetween turns I had the kids help me flatten 450 tiny goildfoil cupcake wrappers. They made just the perfect size for the chocolate cake bites to be placed on so they looked a bit dressier.


Okay, here is the good stuff. Our food got rave reviews and it was a pretty fun night working in the kitchen with ladies I love and our husbands too. I only wish I had taken a picture of all of us.
Sausage Rolls and Bacon Wrapped in Chicken

Potatoes and Broccoli

Cheese Fondue and French Bread slices

Chocolate Cake Bites

Mini Cheesecake Cups

Cream Puffs

A Nice Punch

Never in my life have I had the opportunity to buy 18 lbs of bacon, 9 quarts of whipping cream, 9 lbs of cream cheese, 30 lbs of chicken, 5 cake mixes, 12 loafs of french bread, 20 cups of chocolate chips, and 3 large bags of broccoli. It was WAY fun!!!