Our Story

Goose Egg Bakery was founded during the pandemic as a way to stay home with my preemie son and pay down the debt from his NICU stay in May 2020! 

Here's our story:

Before there was Goose Egg Bakery, there was a new family that had just welcomed their first child- unexpectedly and a bit too early in 2018. A baby that was 34 weeks gestation and fighting for breath, learning to feed, and needing constant monitoring in the (then) Davis Hospital. 

I had been working for Discover Bank while I was pregnant with him, but I hadn't been there long enough for FMLA to cover my extensive maternity leave as I healed from severe pre-eclampsia, tearing and looking after my son who was in the NICU for 10 days and came home on oxygen for 2 months. He was born 6 weeks early, and the doctors let me know that we'd have up to 5 years of delays ahead of us. 

Beginning to Bake for Money

In the summer of 2019 I needed to return to work, so I started at a local grocery's scratch bakery, in the cookie dept. I'd always had a knack for baking, and had procrasti-baked whenever I was stressed at college. For my 12th birthday the only thing I'd asked for was the opportunity to bake my own birthday cake and decorate it like Duff Goldman of Ace of Cakes (my FAVORITE show at the time!) I felt right at home, waking up at 3 AM and heading to the store to prepare about 1,000 cookies a day for the store.

I worked there for the summer and my husband, son and I moved to Rexburg, Idaho where he and I went to college for a semester. I had a polymer clay earring business at the time, and I was going to school for business, but business was slow and time consuming. We decided to return to Farmington, Utah to live with my parents on New Years of 2020.

2020- The Beginning

By April of 2020, three things became glaringly obvious: the Pandemic was here to stay, my now 19 month old son needed more support to meet his milestones than we were ready for, and my husband's job at a chain BBQ joint wasn't enough to cover our basic expenses AND pay down the debt from the NICU.

I needed a way to stay home, have flexible hours that fit my son's life, and make money. I could've revived my closed polymer clay earring business, but it was an art that took a lot of time for little yield. I was already familiar with marketing from a part-time job I'd had since 2014 with a local ceramic and art studio, Salty Clay. (Iraima and her studio are a huge part of why I've been able to start and succeed in business!)

I pulled out my then 20 year old black, Kitchen Aid 5qt lift bowl mixer hand-me-down from my mom and got to work. I offered 3 flavors of cookies: Snickerdoodle, Chocolate Chip, and a custom "Maui Wowie" flavor I'd dreamt up for my husband: A coconut cookie with candied pineapple, white and milk chocolate chips and macadamia nuts. 

I posted my sad trio of cookies for sale on marketplace, holding my breath that someone would take a chance on a local mom selling cheap cookies in a dollar store clothing gift box RIGHT out of Lockdown. Everyone was still wearing masks! Social distancing was in full swing! News headlines were tragic and terrifying. Who would order cookies from my home kitchen right now?

Surprisingly, a TON of folks would! I was instantly booked for the day. Then the week, rinse and repeat. I started a business, got my licensing together, formed an LLC, started selling with Simple Treasures Boutique, and the rest is history!

Kind of. 

2021- The Cocoa Bomb Craze

 In late 2020 these tasty, spherical cup-of-cocoa-with-marshmallows in a hard chocolate shell went VIRAL. They were called "Cocoa Bombs" or "Hot Chocolate Bombs". 

I saw them pretty early on and decided to go get the supplies in the stores before anyone else in Utah (that I could tell, probably not actually the first!) could launch theirs. It was around September and I wasn't sure folks were ready for hot cocoa just yet- but they were!

Once again, I found myself booked, but now weeks and even months in advance. 100-200 cocoa bombs left my kitchen A DAY. It was beautiful.

It paid off my son's NICU bills on his 3rd birthday! I temporarily "hired" my younger sisters to work with me in what we jokingly referred to as "the Sweatshop", and we did corporate events, we were noticed by a local blogger, Davis County Date Nights, we were commissioned by Encircle SLC location to create a rainbow Hot Cocoa Bomb specifically for their cafe they had going (and my cocoa bombs supposedly landed in the hands of the singers of Neon Trees, CEO of Apple, and our Governor Cox! I wasn't able to attend this event (more on that in a second) and did not receive picture proof, so we'll just take their words for it- still gives me the warm fuzzies.) and I was even noticed for a news segment on Good Things Utah in March 2021!

Dec 2021- The Break

My second season into Hot Cocoa Bombs was nearly as busy as the first, and business was driving itself. We had paid off my son's NICU bills, and I was tirelessly working from the moment I woke up to the moment I went to bed- as bakers do in December. (Yes, we're always ready for a hug or some extra hands in December, so kind of you for asking!)

Dec 17th, 2021- The absolute LAST day I was doing anything work related before Christmas. I had a 3 year old who hardly knew what Christmas or who Santa was! I just needed to drop hot chocolate bombs at Rooster's Popcorn and Rust&Patina- two local stores 45+ minutes from Farmington- and then I was on my way to start celebrating the season with my Husband, Son and extended family at The Forgotten Carols in Draper at the high school. 

We were running late to the show, so we ran to Rooster's and dropped our bombs off, then jetted over to the musical at the high school. As some of the last folks in the building, we had to park in the furthest parking spaces, but we made it into the musical and were able to enjoy it.

Afterwards, we all decided to go to dinner. My husband was carrying our three year old and I said, "be careful, the ground is slippery." And then I received a text about going to dinner and I... rushed forward. 

I fell to my butt- but as I was falling I heard a distinct POP come from my leg. An ambulance ride and an ER trip later it was confirmed to be a Spiral fracture. The kind one might get skiing, or snowboarding... And I acquired it slipping on black ice in a parking lot. 

I had surgery- a plate, a rod from knee to ankle through my Tibia, and 19 screws. I was unable to walk and wheelchair bound until April, and had physical therapy for months. 

But I tried to make life go on. I'd been searching for a commissary kitchen for months and found a local ghost kitchen to make cocoa bombs in for Encircle's big opening. I had my sister helping me- nearly due with her first child. (She actually ended up having to be prematurely induced after all the work we were doing for a March Simple Treasures Boutique! Not ideal, but my niece is phenomenal.) 

The Cafe opening came, and I went to attend so that I could socialize with the significant figures I'd mentioned that would be getting my signature hot chocolate bombs- and I realized they didn't have wheelchair accessibility in their historic Salt Lake City building. I had no way of getting up those stairs, so I have no personal proof of my claims. 

How Things are Going 

In 2023 I finally was able to get pregnant with our second child after 3 years of secondary infertility. His pregnancy was far more calm than my firstborn's, but I still developed health issues through that journey. I had started doing custom sugar cookie orders in 2022, as they allowed me to sit and be creative while I struggled standing for long periods. Through my pregnancy with my second, I continued custom sugar cookies and custom cake orders until I re-developed Pre-Eclampsia and delivered our second bouncing baby boy in Nov 2023. 

4 weeks after I delivered our secondborn, I found myself struggling to breathe or lie down and rest for several days. I noticed it felt like glass in my shoulder and maybe I had a rib out. I had a scary episode in my house one morning and called my mom to take me to the ER while she watched my kids and my husband met us there because I suspected I'd developed a pulmonary embolism- and I had. A few minor PEs provoked by Pre-Eclampsia and Post Partum. 

Why am I telling you this bit? Because it effects what happened next. 

I was sent home on blood thinners for 6 months, and after about 3 months I started to feel ready to get back to baking. And as I was coming to this conclusion, Milkbarn Creamery called. They said they needed somebody to bake the cookie bits for their ice cream shop in Morgan, UT, and they'd love to carry my cookies.

I decided to hit it HARD. I applied to every show I could to get sales, and I rented a commercial kitchen space from Sabone Kitchens in Woods Cross/Bountiful area starting in July 2024.

This was amazing because that previous space I had tried for cocoa bombs didn't work for myself or the owner of that store as they were a specialty gluten free kitchen and I... bake cookies. (Not sure why either side ever pulled the trigger on that, but she was so kind to let me try!) 

After the 4th of July event I did here for Farmington Days, I noticed I couldn't fully extend my knee, and it was swollen. This made working on my feet every week in the kitchen very difficult. (My surgeon had warned me that I wouldn't feel as strong on my feet for 2-3 years after my leg break.) I continued on, doing as many markets as I could and working tirelessly with my mom who was my volunteer employee- as I could hardly stand or walk around the kitchen. 

By November, I was having frequent dizzy spells and heart palpitations. By December, I was made. I lied to myself through January before I had to tearfully leave Sabone Kitchen at the end of January 2025. 

A Revival

For months, I cried. I told all of the businesses I had been selling with that I was taking a break or maybe done. 

In April, I started seeing a Functional Medicine Doctor after being told my knee would need surgery to fix, I had joint pain in all of my hands and feet, ankles and wrists, and my labs were coming back as "normal". 

She was able to find that I had a lot of nutritional deficiencies from stress, pregnancy, post partum, breastfeeding, working, breaking my leg, taking blood thinners- you name it. I found out I had sleep apnea, which was causing my heart issues and furthering my inability to recover. I found out I had gout, which was causing all of my joint pain- and I started to work on myself. (May 2025)

By September 2025 I began to feel like I could get back on the horse, and started slowly with custom cookies, custom cakes, and the last 3 Simple Treasures Boutique Farmington shows of 2025. 

January 2026 I'm happy to say we've been here for nearly 6 years (in May!) serving cookies, cakes and cocoa bombs to our Davis County community, and proud to be ramping up to serve you for longer! Thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope you feel even closer to your local baker- Gabby of Goose Egg Bakery!