Party and a Cake

One of our neighbors turned 40 this past week and his wife threw him a big 40th party bash to celebrate!

We've been friends with the Richter's before we got here-- Brooks and Shannon went to China together back in January for work and Rhonda is a cake decorator and Twilight fan-- needless to say we have a few things in common.  Life over here has been busy for everyone, so Rhonda found herself not having a lot of time to make a big cake for her hubby's party so she asked me if I would make something.  Shannon LOVES to fish and goes out to our beach everyday when he gets off of work to have some man time-- fishing!  Rhonda found a few images online of cakes that she liked and here is what the end result was.  I had to seek help from a talented and capable engineer who has a background in art to create the fish head and tail.  I'm not good at sculpting and having to consider angles and proportions and all those things... Brooks was a huge help-- he designed the fish, sculpted the fish, decorated the fish, and painted the fish!!  There is no way I could have done that without him.  Thanks babe for your help!  Just to give you an idea of how "into" making the fish Brooks was--- I had given him several pictures of this cake idea, all of which he explained to me how and why the physics of the fish's position in the cake was incorrect and how a fish's body doesn't move in certain ways.  Needless to say, he was very particular and adamant about the location of the fish's tail based on the position that the head was in.  None of that mattered to me, but I REALLY am grateful that he wouldn't let me make an incorrect cake!   It makes me happy to see his willingness and desire, cake after cake, to  help me and be apart of my hobby!!!  This cake was all chocolate with an oreo filling-- Shannon's favorites!!  

 

 

Enough about the cake.. the party was a blast!!  There were a lot of fun people there and we shared some great laughs!  When people turn 40 they sure do get some "interesting" gifts.  They were pretty funny and the best part about them was they were random and from Saudi.  One of Shannon's gifts, a motorized Camel that sings, got a lot of use.... Gavin took a major liking to it and played with it a majority of the evening.  I don't think Shannon saw it after he opened it.  This party made me miss home-- there was gumbo and etoufee'- yummy!!  We got to visit with great friends and made some fun memories.  There were tons of kids there for Gavin to play with so he was very entertained.  The guys hung out while the girls chit chatted.  One more memory to keep with us from Saudi!!  Did I mention they asked everyone to come wearing black!  We all dressed up for the most part and felt like we should have been taking a family portrait!!  Happy 40th Birthday Shannon!!