Week Three: General Conference, Cupcakes, and Alligators

 This last week has been WONDERFUL!! I got a phone call AND a letter from Spence, and he sounds like he is doing so well!! Apart from the asthma thing of course, but we'll deal with that later. In his last letter he told me, "I hope you're staying busy, working, hanging out, going out with friends, working out." Well. I am doing none of those things. Actually, I AM working, which I am soooo grateful for! But everything else.... well... Lets just say that after that letter I've decided to come out of hermit-ville, and do something productive with my spare time. So, my fabulous Aunt Jenica led me to this awesome cupcake book! Now, I am not a fancy baker, by any means. But this book is brilliant, it shows you step by step the easiest way to decorate cupcakes! Whoever thought of this is genius. I've decided to bake my way through the whole book before I even start on the second one. These are my delicious creations so far.

 

Arent they cute?!?! I just love them. This is what I did during Conference weekend. I LOVE conference. It is such a wonderful opportunity that we have to listen to the Prophet and His Apostles! I feel so blessed to hear them give me personal guidance! I just love that about conference. I think one of my favorite talks was Elder D. Todd Christofferson's talk in the Sunday afternoon session. You can listen to it here. All of the talks were so wonderful, and I feel like there was a HUGE amount of service talked about. Through the temple, tithing, The Church Welfare Program, etc.etc.
So, my service this weekend was giving all my friends a sugar-overload! Thats right. I love love LOVE to bake, but then I find myself eating everything, so to stop the lbs from forming on me, I give treats to everyone else! It seems like a win-win situation to me! And I have yet to find someone complaining when I drop off goodies. In fact, I was actually treated myself when I went to the Savio's to deliver! My dear friends Katie and Mike Savio (and their beautiful daughter Eevie) were over at Mike's mother's house. Being only a block away from their own, I decided to drop the cupcakes off there. Well, what a surprise I received when they told me, in exchange for the cupcakes I was now welcomed any day of the week, and also... I could hold all of their pets. Including the Alligator. This is not a joke. They have a real. live. alligator. In their basement. So, Katie braved it with me and we went downstairs to hold the creature. As we were looking at it through the glass, Stephan's hand all of the sudden ATTACKED! I felt like I had just watched an episode of Crocodile Dundee. In one quick motion he lurched, grabbed the reptile (probably gave it a minor heart attack), and pulled it out of the water. After a brief lesson on how to hold him, I took command! He squirmed for a moment, but apparently I am the ultimate Alligator whisperer, because he calmed right down, and Im pretty sure he loves me now. So, after the absolutely necessary photos were taken (proof), we went to the other animals. They have an Emu in the back yard, 2 pythons upstairs (gross), hedgehogs, tortoises and a pony. This is my new favorite house. And Im definitely bringing my kids over when they're older. I mean, seriously. Who just happens to have a pet Alligator?