Elder V is HOME!!

My brother returned from his mission to Chile on December 13th. I was able to go down to the airport and meet him. It was such a wonderful day and so great to see him again. He was such a good missionary and really poured his heart into the work. Here is the pose he chose to be remembered by! haha             WELCOME HOME!!

I'm Gonna Love You Through It

The past few months have been very trying for our family. There have been times that I have to admit that I wasn't sure what more we could be faced with and just wished for different circumstances - - all the while knowing that Heavenly Father was trying to teach me something if I would just open my eyes and look for it.
Over the past couple of weeks I have had several experiences that have reassured me of the love that my Heavenly Father has for me. I know that He knows who I am and the trials and struggles that I go through. I know that a lot of the time He is reaching out his hand to me and all I have to do is extend mine to his.
I heard a song by Martina McBride the other day called "I'm Gonna Love You Through It". I know that it is about dealing with cancer, but for some reason it totally hit me differently that day. I love the last part of the song
- - -

'She said, "I don't think I can do this anymore". He took her in his arms and said "That's what my love is for".

When you’re weak, I’ll be strong. When you let go, I’ll hold on. When you need to cry, I swear that I’ll be there to dry your eyes. When you feel lost and scared to death, like you can’t take one more step, just take my hand, together we can do it. I’m gonna love you through it.'

- - -

These words really struck me as something that my Heavenly Father wants to say to me sometimes. I have hard days when I feel like I can't handle things anymore and I know that He reassures me of his love and concern for me. What a wonderful blessing it is for me to know that I can always turn to my Heavenly Father when I am feeling down.

Summertime Cake

This was a cake I did for a friend in August. It was such a fun cake to work on with the bright flowers and the fun design on it.

Blessings From Heaven

The past few weeks have brought several changes to the Simmonds' home. About two weeks ago I got a phone call from a neighbor and she said that a local bakery had an opening for a part time cake decorator if I was interest. She said that it would be a few days a week and I would also get to help out in the back as well. Erick and I discussed it that evening and I turned in my application the very next day. Just a few days later I got a phone call and an offer for the job. The following day I had my orientation and then started work a few days later. My first week was only supposed to be two days - - and that turned into five days with full shifts most of the days. What a tremendous blessing it has been. I have always known that our Heavenly Father loves us and answers our prayers, and this experience just strengthened my testimony of that.
Our Heavenly Father cares about each one of us. He knows our trials and our struggles and is always willing to help us....all we need to do is ask. He may not answer when we think he should, but he knows what is going to be best for us. I have learned to rely a lot more on my Heavenly Father over the past few months as Erick and I have dealt with and overcome several challenges and struggles. I am so thankful for blessings from Heaven!

In Time....

Erick and I have done a lot of talking and planning over the past few weeks. I think we both have decided that we want to make a lot of changes to our lives a lot sooner than we had originally planned. This weekend Erick got very excited about buying a house. It has always been on the back burner for us as something that we would work towards over the next four to five years. This weekend he decided that he wants to buy a house within the next 18 months. Looking at houses and house plans has always been something I have loved since I was little. I just love looking at houses, inside and out, and seeing how I am going to paint and decorate and such to make it my style. It has been fun looking at them with Erick and seeing how our styles combine. We have found a few houses that are already built that we absolutely love and we also have two house plans already picked out if we decide to build. It is so exciting!
Erick is also in a very domestic mood lately. A few weeks ago he got this idea that we should have a huge garden next year and grow lots and lots of fruits and veggies. Behind our house was a huge pile of weeks on the edge of the grain field. Erick wants to put the garden out there so he spent a few hours clearing out all of the weeds and then he prepared the ground using the tractor at first. It definitely made for a lot of hard work made simple and quick.

Erick on the tractor

With no weeds :) Almost ready for next spring

Summertime Cake

This was a cake I made for a wedding on September 10th. I wasn't able to stay to wait for the florist to put the flowers on it, but I think it was a pretty fun cake even without any flowers on it.

"Let Them Eat CAKE"

 A few weeks ago I did wedding cakes for a couple. One was for the Bride's reception and one for the Groom's. They have completely different backgrounds as you can see from the cakes, but it was really fun to do two completely different cakes for them.

Bride's Wedding Cake

Groom's Cake

Close-Up of the top tier - Bride "roping" Groom

Close-Up of middle tier - Groom getting bucked off a horse

Close-Up of bottom tier - Groom's cowboy boots

I made the boots by hand out of gumpaste

Close-Up of the detail of the boots