Weekends are rough .... sometimes!

So here is the rundown of my crazy busy week/ weekend ....

In our stake, they hold an annual dinner for all the High Priests and the Sisters over 55 yrs of age. About a month ago, I was asked to be in charge of the menu and making the dinner.

I, of course, said absolutley -- would love to!!

Now this dinner usually has about 120 attendees each year and they have served pan lasanga from Smart and Final for the last 5/6 years except last year, when it was catered by a guy in our ward's resturant. Last year, they had so many issues that they wanted a new person to take over and they called me. So I immediatley started planning and thinking about what I could make easily and cost efficiently,

as my first budget was only $ 500.00. 

I wanted to really treat them to a great tasting dinner which was still easy to execute.

Here's what I came up with:

Apple and Mandarin Salad

Honey Baked Ham (from the shop)

Sweet Potatoes with Brown Sugared Pecans

Mashed Potatoes with Roasted Garlic and Grilled Onions

Mixed Vegetables with Citrus and Garlic Vinagrete

Dessert:

Brownies with Apple Carmel Drizzle

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Vanilla Cake with Buttercream Frosting

Cheesecake with Mixed Berry Couliee

Now, the desserts were volunteered out, we bought and the Honey Baked Ham and the cheesecake but the rest of it -- I, Maryia and Victor Vaile Made from scratch.

As I started to do cost comparisions from available stores I quickly ran out of money, feeding 130 people with $500.00 is why they were consistantly getting lasanga. So my Stake advocate, Dan Fife, went back to the Stake Presidentcy with the menu and got me $700.00 for food and $150.00 for supplies. As they renovated our kitchen last year, they also donated all the supplies from the kitchen including all the plates, glasses, silverware, salt & pepper shakers and everything else I would need to achieve this feat!

So I was very happy when I got news about my funds being increased :}

Any way, I bought a costco card and started shopping, grateful for amazing friends and a great roommate! After several trips to the store and the church, cleaning, dropping off groceries,

Saturday morning finally came.

Here is the days rundown:

Christi Synder and I went to the Flower Mart at 6:30 am - we bought the flowers for the centerpieces,

went to the church at 7:15am and cut and arranged the flowers,

Chris, Joe & Dan showed up around 9:00 am to set up tables,

We had an Enrichment Activity that morning to With Leslie Ragland (see previous post),

so we arragned the table for that - luckily the formation worked for the dinner to, just a few adjustments,

I think my friend Matt took pictures for everything so I'll try to get them and post them here!

Enrichement started at 10:00 am ish - we ended up sending home Mariya to get my computer for Leslie's presentation as her notebook wasn't equipped to attach to the projector! So around 10:20am we actually started enrichment, much to Leslie dismay - she is an on-timer like me but it all worked out.

Speaking of which, she did work us out -- it was great and I'm still feeling it :) in a great way!!!!

So at 1:00pm Victor showed up and our team got to work - what a great team, we worked together so well it was steamless, I so grateful for them and all the talents, skills and overall greatness!!!

There was also a Football game that day, so after that Dan, Jen & Justin came back to finish set up. Jen helped me create a stage vignette with lattice from the garden, drapery I bought and furiture from the Stake Office Foyer (I think Matt toke pictures of this - I didn't --- my bad!!!!)

At 3:30, Mariya & I went home to shower and change in something nicer than a sweats

and did it in record time - 30 minutes total -- we were back at 4:00 including driving time, picking up McDonald's for us and Victor ..... and yes we broke the speeding laws - absolutely!!!

The servers started showing up around 5:00pm -- They all amazing and helpful with the last minute things,

they plated, stirred, drained, tossed and made my life so much easier!!!

I just delagated and ran the show, It went off without a hitch and I mean NOTHING went WRONG!!!!!

I know Heavenly Father was there and amking it happen! and I am so grateful - he really is amazing.

Before we started serving, I had Chris say a prayer and ask for the extra help,

even though I don't think we needed to -- I know it helped. It was such a great success - nothing but complements - no compliants at all! The server did thier jobs flawlessly and took direction so well.

It was just a wonderful experience for everyone involved

and if they asked me to do it next year - I probably would!

After all this, we went to a birthday party for our friends - Vic Davis & Charity Rawlings - I only lasted 20 minutes but I made my appearence - they understood and appreciated the effort!