Cake decorating lessons

My cousin-in-law/friend Brittney is an amazing cake decorator. She even has her own business- Sugarhouse Cakes. Mostly she says she just does stuff for friends and family, but she's even done wedding cakes. I'm always blown away by her talent.
She works mostly with fondant, which totally scares me, because I have never worked with it before, and I think I've mentioned my irrational fears of the unknown before, so I thought if I could watch someone, and ask questions, I might feel more comfortable.
So the other day at the Easter Egg hunt, she brought huge chunks of her daughter's left-over birthday cake to share and I imposed myself on her by asking, "Hey, next time you're making a cake, can I come over, and hang out in your kitchen, and just watch?"
She couldn't think of any upcoming cakes in the next couple of weeks, so she decided on the spot to make a cake for our family reunion, and invited me over to not only watch, but actually help.I got a lesson in layering cakes (but I'm sure when I actually try it, she'll be getting more than one frantic phone call) and then we started playing with fondant. It was fun. And it's not so scary any more. (But of course I haven't tried it on my own yet)Of course, I'm not a fan of eating it. I hear homemade fondant tastes better, but is harder to work with. But still, it seems kind of weird to go to all that trouble, and then just peel it off. I know there are some butter-cream purists out there, but I think there's a lot more versatility with fondant.

She's been married to my cousin for almost as long as I've been married, but this was the first time we'd really spent much time together, and besides all the valuable cake decorating advice, I really enjoyed getting to know her better. My kids played with her kids and now when I say "You're cousins Hannah and James" they know who I'm talking about.

So, thanks Brittney! You're awesome.