The Beautified Banquet

Hi Ladies! Wow…what a busy weekend. I just got home from a full day of baseball {tournament weekend} but I wanted to share with you how yesterday’s banquet went!

Needless to say, it went according to God’s plan and it was a huge success! Praise the Lord!

Drum roll please…..

The first thing we had to do yesterday when I got to the church was to put the flowers in water. We used the lemons we cut from the day before to brighten up the vases. I just loved how these turned out. Beautiful.

The tables were set from the night before….so only the centerpieces were needed! Easy.

Then, it was time to heat up those pots and pans! Here we have 2 large pots of water boiling with macaroni, the cheese sauce in the top left and in the center is the poppyseed dressing that goes over the ham and cheese sandwiches. It’s so different cooking in larger quantities- everything is SO BIG! The pots, pans, stoves, ovens….they all seem giant.

Seriously…this may not look pretty, but it is SO tasty. Sauce is ready to pour over top of the sliders now!

And there they are! I bought 5  pounds of brown sugar chipped ham and 3 lbs of baby swiss cheese. This made plenty for 75 people.

For some reason, I have come to find out that the little ones prefer cucumbers, carrots and dip to an actual salad. Give em what they want- it’s a special evening!

I thought these turned out so cute. It’s “dirt” pudding topped with oreos and gummy worms. I found these adorable glass flower pots at Pat Catans for cheap! I am sure I will reuse them for this same purpose over and over again.

My cousin Jen made these sweet little flowers. The theme of Beautified was “to grow in beauty” – love.

Here we are in the midst of it all! lol.

Pouring the sauce on all of the sliders…oh dear, did I honestly put a hair net over my sunglasses? Yeah. I did. This is me with a few days of less sleep and more to do, lol. But, I wouldn’t change it one bit.

Getting the drinks prepped…sweet tea, water with lemon, lemonade. Can you guess which one went out first? lol…the lemonade. I will remember that!

We had the pineapple fluff made, we just had to add the pretzel topping…

Who could forget the “Better than a hug cake”….I only needed to make one tray of this. Boo…I don’t like when I misjudge by that much. But, the jr. high kids will be happy to eat this tomorrow morning! haha.

Setting up…you see the grape caterpillars {thank you Alice}, veggie tray, PB&J heart sandwiches, cucumber sandwiches and strawberry spinach salad.

The cucumber sandwiches were assembled and sprinkled with dill weed. We didn’t do this the previous night because they would have been soggy. Fresh…fresh is good. Love the little signs…again, thanks to my cousin Jen!

Always a hit with the ladies.

Drinks are out! I purchased plastic cups because we had a lot of little ones…and straws, you simply must have straws when you are serving “ladies”… 😉

The candy buffet is ready!

Pink chocolate dipped marshmallows with sprinkles {thank you Julie and Kalie}

I love the new rolling warmers our church has now! We used to have to keep things warm in crockpots/roasters, etc. These make life so much easier! Yea!

Mmmm….Mac n cheese.

My daughter got dropped off at dinner time to enjoy the festivities! She got a huge kick out of trying on all the dress up clothes for the photo booth. Isn’t she a cutie?

Kara and me…she led the Beautified program this year… what a busy servant for the Lord she is! We also co-lead Summer bible studies together. {I am cracking up looking at this photo…my shirt is crooked, one leggin is higher than another- I guess I had an excuse, I was a little busy!}

Our ladies!

Kara, Julie and Me….remember when I told you I have a mentor? This is her! I LOVE her so much and am so grateful to have her as a friend and neighbor. I will be talking more about her in later posts 🙂

Kara and her sweet daughter.

So, what do you think? Better than a hug or what?

Dad surprised their girls by a special appearance ….so sweet. 

Yep! They were surprised alright! Adorable. 

The “Mom and Daughter Newlywed Game” 

Crafts! 

Oh, what a fun event this was to be a part of!!! Again…I feel so blessed God chose to use me in this way. So many people ask “How do you do it? How do plan, shop and cook for that many people?” My answer is always “God”. Before I had him in my life, I would honestly get nervous cooking for just my family…

God also always provides just the amount of helpers I need…thanks to all the ladies who showed up the night before and the night of! What a blessing YOU were!!!! Thank you SO much. 

Now, off to get some Zzzzs before we have to get up for church! 

Love ya!