So, tomorrow I get to teach on President Uctdorf's conference talk A Matter of a Few Degrees. I am still trying to figure out how to put this lesson together. I read the talk, and figured it would take me all of 10 mins to relate it in Relief Society. I am hoping to come up with a small activity/demonstration on how a "few degrees" can really effect things. However, I am not really sure. I thought I could get some Jenga blocks and show a few degrees on the lower levels, however, I don't have Jenga.

Maybe, I can make some cookies...and cook them at different degrees in the oven....I will have to think about this. I really don't have ingredients to make cookies, and it is a bit late to go and buy them. I would have to go to Bakersfield since the grocery stores here are about to close.

I will have to give it a bit more thought and see what comes of it.

To Beach, or not to Beach??

I am trying to decide if I want to escape to the coast next weekend or not. I don't go swimming in it because I am a bit scared of what might be down there with me, plus at Morro Bay, the current is a bit cold and swift. However, it is a nice place to see and up the beach a little we can see sea lions.

I only made it over to the coast once last year, and I haven't made it this year. It is nice to just walk on the beach and have the really chilly water crash onto your feet and legs. Last year when I went, it was the Kite Festival, and it was neat to see all the different types of kites people had. We even got to watch a portion of the kite flying contest. It was where contestants made their kites dance to music. It was interesting....maybe for a couple of shows, but after the third "dance," I was done.

Pansies, Daffodils, and Roses, OH MY!

So, on Tuesday, we made five different types of flowers out of royal icing. We started first with the roses, then we went on to the daffodils, pansies, primroses, then daisies.

By the time I made it to the daisies, I could hardly push out the icing. The icing we were using was the royal icing...aka...cement. My hand was so tired. I didn't even take any pictures of my crazy daisies. They are very sad and wobbly looking. The more tired my hand got, the more it shook. I think I will try to make some more daisies on Saturday. By then my hand should have recovered enough that I should be able to squeeze out more "cement."

My favorite of the flowers were the pansies. I thought they were the prettiest and the most real looking. I can't say the daffodils are that realistic, but really, how realistic are purple daffodils? The middle primrose in the picture, you can tell I was starting to have problems with my hands. The leaves weren't quite getting out as far as they should. Then on the one that is closest to the roses, the leaves aren't as defined. The teacher did say that I had really stiff icing. I didn't put all the water in it since my buttercream icing is always way to soft. I figured I wouldn't be accused of having soft royal icing. :-)

Sunday School

So last week I was able to teach another Sunday School lesson. We are meeting in the chapel, and I hate trying to get every one's attention so we can start. I hate trying to talk loud so people can hear me because I don't think shouting in the chapel is appropriate.

A couple of weeks ago when I tried to start, someone "shushed" everyone, and within seconds it quieted down. So I first said quite loudly that it was time to start. Only the people on the first three rows heard me and turned around towards me. However, no one else did, so I remembered the "shushing" and tried it. Within a second or two, the noise level dropped so I could speak, and then about 20 people scurried out of the room because they weren't going to stay.

Other than that, I had a great lesson. I was able to teach about the anti-Christ-Korihor, and what happened to him. I have to say that I like teaching out of Alma. It is a good book. There are plenty of good stories in there.

So when we went into RS, I said to the person next to me that I think I got out of teaching RS for July as well. We have one too many teachers in RS, and I hadn't been asked to teach yet. Later at Linger Longer, the RS President came up and asked if I would teach this next Sunday. She didn't have the lesson, and would get it to me later. Of course I will teach. However, that same lady was sitting next to me and said that I didn't get out of it this month.

I thought I had a good chance. I taught the Enrichment, and two Sunday School lessons and so I thought they would have pity on me. Oh well, it is a lesson that I probably need.

Another Field Trip

So, yesterday we went for another field trip. This time we wanted to see the new equipment that is coming in for the harvest. The harvest will be starting in the next couple of weeks, and the equipment was already supposed to be here.

Here I am in one of the shakers. I was told not to touch anything. Not to worry, I didn't want to run around a break a $100k piece of equipment. I just wanted to get into it. This piece of equipment sits kind of low on the ground, but the sweepers, which I don't have a picture of are a bit lower to the ground. I know that everyone thought I was "nuts" to get into the cab, but why not.

After this we went over to the ground they are prepping for the 2009 planting. I was a bit more impressed with the equipment they were using. This machine that was approximately 20-25 feet tall was cutting a 5 foot trench every 20 feet across this block of land. Followed behind him was another trencher that was digging 3-3 feet trenches at the same time. This was a bit more impressive since they were digging though this dirt like it was butter. There were huge clods of dirt.

Field Trip

So last week I was told an exciting excavator had been brought on the property. It apparently took three semi's to bring in this piece of equipment, and that everyone that saw it was impressed. So all of us accounting folks loaded up into a vehicle to go see this awesome piece of equipment. I went more for the ride...why stay in the office if everyone else gets to go out and play, right?

So after a small drive through the orchards we happened upon the piece of equipment. There were actually two of them. They were digging 10-15 foot deep trenches by 8 foot wide. I have to say that the hole they were digging was slightly impressive. I would never want to dig a hole by hand that deep. What they were doing was connecting two irrigation districts together and so the trench was about 5 miles long. Then they were putting cement pipe in that was 50 inches in diameter. So this excavator was first digging the hole, and then laying the pipes. While I was impressed with the trench skills, I can't say the piece of equipment left me awestruck. I was hoping to see something quite a bit bigger.

Lazy, Lazy Laura

I have been thinking for the past couple of weeks that I need to do some serious writing. However, I just keep thinking I will do it tomorrow. Well, I think I need to do it today.

So how did the cake decorating class go???? It went pretty well. I can't say it was worth all the effort I put into it, but I know they had a lot of fun. At some point, the missionaries stopped in and started having a group chat off to the side, and no one was able to hear me, but it turned out okay. Also, I have to say that it was a lot of prep work and clean up. I am still picking bits of frosting off my walls.

The wonderful chocolate cake that I made was really good, yet a little disappointing. I thought I was being extremely creative by putting pecans, coconut, chocolate chips, and caramel sauce on a layer of chocolate buttercream icing on a chocolate cake. However, it tasted like the German chocolate coconut icing. It was really good, but I thought I was creating something unique.

I do have another cake I need to do this Tuesday, I am thinking of putting a key lime cheesecake mix in the middle layer and seeing if that is any good. :-)

Of the 25 people that signed up, there were 21 people, and 22 cakes. I think it was a great turn out. I did have plenty of leftover icing. I probably had 8-10 extra batches. However, I sent some home with people and then brought some back with me. The Linger Longer committee called me Saturday to see if I would bring in the extra frosting so they could frost cupcakes. So I really didn't have any extra frosting. Which is entirely okay.