Mother's Day, Take Two

I felt just awful that my post yesterday was so bad! I'm so sorry! When I wrote it Sunday night, I really was brain-tired from speaking that morning. (Sometime I should do a post about that. When I started speaking, I was not prepared for what happens after speaking. But we'll save that for another day.) And then when I added in hosting and a long walk, I think I was more out of it than I anticipated. Ryan was also watching a movie that I was halfway keeping up with, so I just did a terrible job with the post, and then I beat myself up for that most of yesterday. So let's try to remedy that today, shall we?

I will say at the start that I do have some pictures I can't use here just to respect those who prefer not to have their pictures shared. So I apologize for that. Also, there were a ton of pictures I didn't even take because I was trying not to be too picture-happy for those who don't care for them. But those obstacles aside, I could have done better than I did!!

I failed to share a picture of my table, because that photo was in a different file (yes, I organize my photos) from the main set of Mother's Day pictures. I took this the night before, so the lighting isn't amazing, but it does show the table with the leaf in and all the plates set!

This was the first time we had used the FULL table, and it worked beautifully!

As for the food, I really didn't take pictures of it. The start of the palooza was a little out of sorts because some came early and some came later, and I was so busy hostessing and trying to get lunch served that I took pictures of NOTHING other than the dessert, which I will tell you about in just a second, because THAT was an adventure.

But for lunch we had homemade chicken salad sandwiches, fresh veggies with homemade ranch dip, and homemade loaded baked potato soup. It was all very delicious, and every single recipe was new to me...

...including the disaster of a dessert. I found a recipe for a salted caramel brownie trifle, and I thought it looked amazing. I really do love making trifles and everything IN the trifle was made from scratch, which is both a beloved personal challenge and delight for me! I dove in headfirst with such joy. 

I made the brownies from scratch. They were ugly as sin, but they did taste delish. Then I started in on the homemade caramel sauce to go in the homemade salted caramel mousse. 

Attempt #1: fail.

Attempt #2: fail.

So then I watched tutorial videos and read posts about troubleshooting caramel-making issues. I even bought a new (to me...it was from a garage sale) pan that would supposedly make the process go more smoothly. 

Attempt #3: fail.

At this point, we purchased caramel sauce. I made the mousse from scratch, and it went splendidly.

I also made the whipped cream from scratch. And the chocolate sauce. And then I assembled the trifle.

It was beautiful and it did taste delightful, although the chocolate sauce became like hard-shell in there. It was so pretty. Take a look, because I am NEVER making this recipe again.

But the next time I make the soup, I will definitely chronicle it so I can share it here. It was worth it. 

Another picture I forgot to share yesterday was my Happy Mother's Day sign. It's not award-winning, but it's cute-ish.

And then about the gifts...

I did take a picture of Mom with her Mother's Day gift, but it was a gift certificate, so I was trying not to share the details. My super-smart husband suggested just editing those out and sharing the picture for you, and that was a great idea! I really do think this is a good picture of Mom!

And then my gifts...

I received a gift card to Shutterfly, which I also did some editing on...but here you go! (And I already had a photo book IN MY CART, so you can know this thoughtful gift is fully loved and gone.)

And I received some body wash/soap products! 

I think those are the main additional pictures I can share. I guess I also have this one from our walk. The river is quite high/flooded and FAST.  These ducks were having quite the time trying to get to the other side without going downstream. I would have dearly loved to see how fast and furious their little feet were going beneath the surface!

I hope this helps make up for may lackluster post yesterday. My apologies! It was such a strange picture day, and then that translates into strange blog posts. Here's to more thorough work for the rest of the week!