raw meatloaf ... smoke alarm ... PSHAW!

cake made by Nancy Olson ... those are sugared roses & sugared rosemary ~ mmmm!

in preparation for our big Relief Society Birthday Party

last night,

I found a great meatloaf recipe from cracker barrel

to feed 42.

perfect! i just doubled the recipe

then divided it into 4 big pans for sisters to cook and bring.

i made the centerpieces from dollar-store base & windmill ... flowers from lowes. total cost: $3 each!

the recipe got rave reviews on the site, so it seemed like a safe bet.

apparently the cooking time was very wrong!

we had meatloaf arrive RAW

so we cranked the ovens up to 400 and filled them with meatloaf;

changed the program to do the games and activities 1st

to give the meatloaf time to cook.

mid-way thru the evening every smoke alarm in the building went off

and trust me:

those are LOUD alarms!

our nursery filled with about 20 kids and a half dozen high priests

zipped out to the parking lot;

the other ward's scouts and YW, although seemingly confused, appeared to carry-on in their respective rooms ... while we scrambled wildly to open every door,

turn on every fan, and grab whatever we could

to fan the smoke out of the building.

our YM and their leaders were there to serve us and managed the airing out of the kitchen

of course, this is the night we invited our bishopric, our YW

AND

the stake rs presidency

BUT WE WOULD NOT BE THWARTED!

we had nearly 70 people in attendance

and the night was filled with fun

the young women seemed to mingle well with all of us old women

and the young men were AMAZING as our servers

but i can't say i'm not glad it's over :)

pictures taken BEFORE the smoke alarm