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.  :-)

A Fav Quote

A Dinner Time Post! :-)

 It's really wonderful to be able to get together with friends/extended family and share a meal!  I try not to ever take that for granted with it being so easily done here.  I wish everyone could get together, but at least I can share the experiences for those wanting to see.  Can't wait until everyone is all together at last!

 Last Saturday evening the lovely Leap's, Burks', and Victoria Terrell shared a meal at my place.  It was great.  We reminisced about the PCG's early days.  With the Leap's there, we had so much history to talk about.  It was fantastic!

 The dinner and dessert from that meal.  I admit, I cheated on the dessert...store bought though I added the little chocolate syrup garnish.  Didn't have time to make homemade dessert this time.  :-(   :-)  Also, thanks to Victoria for helping me cut garlic and for taking care of the broccoli while I was getting the beef, and the rice, lentil, and pea pilaf done.    ...and thanks to Mrs. Leap for bringing the yummy Greek salad!  Delicious!  Truly a nice family dinner.

Switching gears!

We didn't have Bible study last Friday, so Sarah E. was so kind and hosted a dinner for the McCarty family, the B. Nice's, and myself.  The food was yummy, and the fellowship was even better. 

Below:  Matthew and Christy smiled for my camera.  I really admire this couple.  They are genuine, friendly, and seem like they are such wonderful parents to their two sons who are very respectful and bright shown below.  Those boys are going to grow up to be manly men.  :-)

 Can't forget the cat Russell.  Even though he hissed at me, big time, I'll still give him props:-)

 Above:  Matthew sacrificed his own hand to open a bottle of champagne that I had brought.  He didn't want the cork to go through the house celing, so he held his hand over it while he opened it, and did it ever pop with a loud sound.  He said it hurt his hand, but Matthew is a tough man, so he was alright.  Impressed that he was so thoughtful to look out for someone's home like that.  If everyone was like that.......  :-)

Below:  Ivory Nice smiles in the kitchen prepping peaches into a dessert.

Above:  Aiden took this pic of his bro Brendan and I before dinner.  Again, I really love those boys!  They're wonderful.
Below:  Brandon at the table.

 

 Switching gears again!.....Earlier this week, the Wickware's had me over for dinner.  Mrs. Wickware asked me to help her put together a cookbook that she wants to publish and market since I've done one of my own in the past.  In return, she fed me an absolutely yummy dinner.

 Mr. Wickware at the dinner table.

 Below:  A sneak peek of Mrs. Wickware's cookbook.

Below:  The fact that my car is all washed and shiny is blog worthy.  I live on a dirt road, so it is a waste of time to wash it all of the time, but when I hear the weather is going to be decent for awhile, I'll wash it.  I went to a professional car wash yesterday and got it done for free due to a VERY impatient car wash worker.  I took me about 30 seconds to dig into my purse to find my wallet, but apparently 30 seconds was too long for the car wash worker....he told me to just go on through for free since it was taking me "so long;"  LOL!  Sometimes I guess it pays to have a big purse combined with a young impatient worker.  :-)  Free wash!

Last week the weather was just out of this world gorgeous.  It was in the 70's!  I took advantage of the nice weather and studied out on a bench outside of the field house by the fish pond on the AC campus.  James Lowery came out to feed the fish and I shot a few "fishy pics." 

Last week was such a lovely week.  Life is such a blessing!  Onward on into a new one!  :-)