Bake-Off/Game Night!

 Is it a bird, or a plane that friends are looking at?  Wait!  No!  It's Sophia!  The girl didn't like being the center of attention and she made it known.  A humble little one my niece is.  LOL!

Below: Sophia seems to be checking up on what Abraham and Dan are doing.  :-)

 It has become a little tradition to host a bake-off/game night out on our Coats' Homestead once a year.  I have to say, I thought the last one went well, but this one double rocked thanks to all of the lovely guests who took time out of their busy HQ schedules to come out and share in the family fun.  People usually thank the host/hostess for hosting, but it goes both ways.....you can't host anything if no one gives of their time and comes, so I'm thankful for all of the wonderful friends!  :-)

Below:  Thanks to Sarah E. and Deepika for jumping in and washing/drying my pile of dishes from making all of the pizzas.  That was a BIG help!  It's one of those helps where you don't realize the full impact of it until everyone is gone and you look around and realize how helpful it was.  :-)  A HUGE thanks to my mom and Jamie H. for helping me basically turn my little home kitchen into a Sunday Pizzeria.  Together we made 18 pizzas all from scratch including the crusts, and they were extraordinary pizzas, so we followed recipes!  No way I could venture out making 18 pizzas alone in a few hours.  My mom and Jamie are great!  They are both so giving and willing to serve.

 Above:  Behold, the pizzas!....well, all that would fit on my island top.....  :-)....and Tiffany brought hot wings!  Thanks for the wings Tiffany!

Below:   Thanks to Anthony and Justin G. for offering to serve with their pizza cutting skills. :-)  That took them a little bit of time with so many pizzas.  They did a great job and that was so helpful.  I love how Danielle U. is watching them.

 I didn't have time to take a pic of all of the pizzas, but above is a barbeque pizza with mozzarella, turkey bacon, chicken, and cilantro.  Below is a sharp cheddar pizza with turkey bacon, broccoli florets, and fresh tomatoes.  Yummy!

My fav pizza not shown was the one we made with horseradish and mayo as the sauce, and then topped it with sirloin steak, mushrooms, blue cheese, and red onion.

 Dinner pizza is served.  :-)

Above:  Micah picked a good "seat" in the house.  Looks so comfy.

 

Below:  Benjamin looks like he's thinking on which pizza he wants while Justin Y. looks like he's going for the first available one w/a smile. :-)

 Above:  I really like this pic of Victoria T. and Nikki!  Lovely ladies!

Below:  ...let the bake-off judging begin!  We had key lime pie, tartlets topped with blackberries, Oreo cheesecake, chocolate cheesecake, and champagne cake.

 Above and Below....the two winning entries...the Champagne cake...hence the name......made with champagne in both the cake and the homemade frosting...and the tartlets.  I made the champagne cake, and Sarah E. made the tartlets.

 Above:  Sarah C's yummy cake!

Below:  Oreo Cheesecake that Jamie assembled, and I somehow didn't get a pic of Grace's pie!  Shame on me.  :-)  It looked delicious though!

 Thanks to the guys for judging and to Sarah E. for helping them to cut the judging samples, etc!    The judges were Joel H-S., Dan A., Kyle T., Anthony C., and Micah T.

 Victoria and Nikki watching the judging going down.  :-)

 Above:  The bro and sis in law with the niece.

Below:  Finally everyone can partake of the desserts.  :-)

I was so excited...after dessert my new Bible game that I made was debuted for the first time.  I was so excited to play it.  Hopefully people enjoyed it.  It's fun with education and purpose. I kept score but don't know who won because my score sheet dissappeared on me.  :-)  We were in teams of 4.  I do remember that the Turgeon family team was tied in the lead with one of the groups...the question remains which group.  :-)

Above and Below......after the Bible game, about half of the guests left.  Those that were left decided to play a game I made up from the last Bake-off/Game Night from last year called Building up the Family.  It's where you guess who the person in the room is based on a character trait read  In the below video my bro said the trait of nurturing, and as a joke someone said Dan Westerbaan.  LOL.  He's nice, but nurturing would obviously be a woman in the room.  :-)  Thanks to Dan W. for renting the big white van so that the students could all come together.
Everyone pitched in to make this truly a fun extended family night to remember!  Thanks goes to everyone who made it out.  :-)