Nick and Melanie

Okay, I don't really have too many pictures from the big gathering yesterday. If you haven't read my D.C. post...I lost my camera. So I'm using my backup camera that doesn't work all that great in low lighting. Heather and Jori, PLEASE send me copies of your pictures. 

Half of you reading this right now were at the party, but for those of you who weren't, it was quite lovely. My cousin Nick got married and had a baby and so we hosted a reception/baby shower at my place. It was SO great to get everyone together. I don't even remember the last time I had seen Nick. And I had a chance to meet his wife, Melanie, and their son, Mason. He's such a good, cute baby. Wouldn't it be great if I could post a picture of their adorable son? Ya...talk to the camera. 

Anyways, I digress. I'm sure you're all on pins and needles, wondering how the cake turned out since I posted my practice cake last week. It was touch and go for awhile, but overall it turned out all right. I don't know about any of you, but I've noticed that when I try something out for the first time, it often turns out quite nicely. So when I go to do it a second time, I think I've got it under control and it somehow ends up not as great as the first. This was no exception. I had quite a bit of anxiety about the cake and wanted it to turn out beautifully. After all, this was their wedding cake. The fondant cooperated very nicely when I did the cake last week. So I figured it would be the same for this week. WRONG. I think I rolled that thing out a bazillion times. I couldn't get the creases and air pockets to go away. After about an hour or more I decided that I just needed to get it done and couldn't be a perfectionist (that's a very difficult concept for me). So I rolled it out and placed it on and it wasn't perfect, but it also wasn't as bad as the last bazillion rolls. After spending two hours just rolling and placing on the cake and beading up the pearls at the bottom, I still had to figure out what to do for the top of the cake. So after half an hour of playing around and giving up (and everyone starting to arrive), my mom took over and cut out the VR (last name is Van Rij). Then I painted it silver and the beads silver (though you can't tell too well on those). All in all it was pretty good, especially at my first attempt at a wedding cake. It also tasted pretty good, better than the one last week. So that was a bonus. I've decided to cancel my plans of opening up a bakery, though. Sorry for those of you who wanted a Richins original. 

Gregory got a hold of my camera and figured out how to turn it on and take pictures. He SO loves his picture being taken. So after my brother discovered him taking pictures with my camera, he took this snapshot of Gregory. It's totally crazy and not in focus, but I love it. It totally captures his energy.