Miss to Mrs Bridal Shower...

My niece Brimley is getting married which was reason to celebrate!

I threw a shower with my counterpart Kristin and we had a legion of family and friends helping out; this girl is more than loved! We had soups and bread bowls with all sorts of fun fall treats. We're excited for Scott to join the family!

DIY Number Marquee...

I've received a lot of questions regarding the large number 8 featured at Hallie's baptism dinner. I was inspired by this project here from the website Tater Tots and Jello. I mentally "pinned" the item a while back and knew that I wanted to make a marquee - I made an 8 in honor of Hallie's baptism (knowing that we'll have several kids turning 8 - call me crazy but I think it would be fun to create all the numbers to use on their birthday every year.) I never referred back to the inspiration site, so I'm not even sure how they created it but it was really easy.

I bought a hobby piece of plywood from Home Depot and drew a large 8 and cut it out using a jig saw. I found round patio lights at target (string of 25 lights) and marked off on my board where I wanted to drill. I tested several bits until I found one that the base of the light would fit through, but once the bulb was screwed in, they would fall through the hole. I had my trusty assistant sand the whole thing down and paint it white. (She was beyond excited to take this project on as her own!) Once it was painted, I removed all the bulbs from the string. From the back, I inserted the base of the light and screwed the bulb in from the front. I attached a conduit fitting to the back so I could mount it on a pole in the ground. And we were done.

Really easy (as long as you can follow a line with a jig saw) and inexpensive and it was the main focus (also lighting the food table) as the night grew dark. The best part was watching Hallie tell people how we made it - she was pretty proud of her work...rightfully so!

Halloween Birthday Carnival Part 2...

Yesterday I posted the decorations for the party (here) and today is all about the activities.

When I start brainstorming party themes and ideas I always make a list of activities that could go with each theme. It was fairly easy to come up with Halloween/Carnival games, probably one of the easier parties to plan activities for and then Hallie helped narrow down the list to what she wanted to do. The only thing that was on the list that I ended up cutting was apple bobbing. It screams fall carnival but I couldn't get past the idea of all those germs jumping from one kid to the other, I figured the parents would thank me! We started by decorating porcelain plates with permanent marker. After they finished we put them in the oven to make sure the marker wouldn't come off. I read a lot of tutorials online and some had positive feedback and some resulted in failures. I'm happy to say, ours worked great. We used cheap dollar store plates (which supposedly has a cheaper glaze allowing the marker to set in) and sharpie brand permanent marker. Several of the colors faded in the oven but the darker colors worked the best. Then we played some "Boo"go. I found it at Target and it was a huge hit. We played several speed rounds where Steve would read off the squares very quickly and as soon as someone got a bingo they would run up and grab candy and then hurry back to their card and continue playing. We did some potato sack races and ate donuts off a string. This was hilarious. At first they couldn't use their hands and the donut kept hitting them in the face (made for some very sticky faces). After we had some good laughs, we let them hold the string and it was still a little difficult for most of them. There was also "Spider Toss", tossing bean bags but somehow missed a picture of it.

Hallie was beside herself excited with everything about her party and had a hard time deciding what her favorite part was. We sent the kids home on complete sugar highs, their parents may never let them come back!!

Halloween Carnival Birthday Party...

Hallie has a birthday just around the corner, just days after the baby is born. Since it's an even year for her (8 years old) she got to have a friend party and we threw it a little early just so it's not lost in the newborn nonsense.

Although there were a lot of ideas circulated - Hallie chose to have a Halloween themed party; we made it a Halloween carnival. We used washi tape to label the cups and found the fun straws at Joanns. Caramel apples to send home with each kid. Donuts tied with bakers twine for one of the party games. I found Halloween Boogo (bingo) at Target and it fit the theme perfectly. Tune in tomorrow for all the details of the fun that was had!

Bittersweet Goodbye...& Baby Shower...

Steve and I have been spinning plates to the best of our abilities trying to keep elements of our life from crashing down on us for a while now; which meant we needed to remove a plate. Evaluating which plate needs to go is always hard and often disappointing and this case was no different. With Steve's work and school and demanding church responsibilities and me being pregnant and trying to manage a home it was time for me to say goodbye to working with the youth in the church. I fought it for a while but it was clear to many that we couldn't keep up with two demanding callings within the church so on Sunday I bid farewell to the sweet girls/leaders that I worked with, bittersweet. There is something so rewarding about working with the youth and I will miss it terribly.

Last Wednesday, I knew it would be my last activity with the girls (although they had no idea) and I was a little down - you can imagine my surprise when I showed up to the activity and found a surprise baby shower with everyone in attendance. (thank heavens for phones to capture moments that you're not expecting!) I was overcome with gratitude as I looked over the group, both girls and leaders, and was reminded how lucky I was to get to know and build relationships with each one of them. We had such a good time; eating food and playing games and constantly laughing - this group knows how to have a good time. Not to mention my love for themed parties, "Prince of the Sea"! (yes, an advisor made that boat, wood base and all!) It will be hard to not spend so much time with this group, but I'm hoping I can lure them to visit me with a cute squishy baby at my house!

Graduation/birthday party...

We celebrated a birthday and graduation all in one day for the same nephew (here or here).

I was happy to see the banner I made for Brimley (here) was being put to good use. When I made it originally, I gave them the extra numbers so they could replace the last two numbers and use it year after year. Personally, I'd like to make a new one each year, but that's not how everyone rolls!

My sister-in-law also made these darling pinwheels to match the decor and I couldn't help but want them for my fourth of July table. It just so happens that the school colors coordinate nicely with a holiday; I love multi-purpose decorations! I'm adding the pinwheels to my to-do list, possibly for a couple holidays! (I already have them from easter and love them!)

Even on the day he was being honored, Paxton made sure that Bennett didn't miss out on the goodness of oreo delight; tender moment. When did these kids get old enough to go to college and go on missions?!!

Cuatro de Mayo...

Steve and I were chatting last week and decided we should get a couple young families from the neighborhood together for a mexican food potluck in celebration of Cinco de Mayo. A couple meaning two...but narrowing it down to two families was next to impossible. Which meant we were going to have a potluck for 6. Which turned into 10 and then 16. Even at 16 families we could've invited many more but we knew we didn't have the space - besides that would make it a block party all over again.

But this wasn't like most the parties I throw. This was last minute (which is not how I typically roll). Very last minute - like I said, a small potluck which snowballed into a fiesta. As I'm running to costco the day before I kept thinking of all the cool things and decorations I could do if I only had more time, there's always next year!

I was reluctant to host so many people because I had no clue what we would do with all of them. Our friends joining us in our fiesta were gracious enough to let us borrow tables and chairs and they threw in a bounce house to entertain the kids. For throwing it together last minute, we had a good time. We supplied a nacho bar with all the toppings and everyone brought a dish to share. We ate very well. And most revisited the food table a couple times!

We stayed outside late into the evening enjoying the weather and conversations while our children ran around crazy, hyped up on nacho cheese and lemonade - the kids were in heaven! We still feel like we're getting to know so many families in the area and this was a great way to build some relationships. Definitely going to make this an annual event - but with a little more planning of course!

Block party 2013...

You often don't know what you're getting into when you move into a neighborhood. This can be for the good or the bad. Fortunately for us, our neighborhood continues to impress us. We attended our second block party (last year's here) and it easily rivaled the school carnival we recently attended, but the block party was free! There's one street in particular that organizes the shindig and all the families do what they can to help out and adds to the party however they can. And although we know a lot of the neighborhood from church, we had such a great turn out and met so many new people, and we were lucky to have Steve's sister and family join us for the fun (sadly no pictures with them!).

It will be hard to surpass this year's party - they pulled out all the stops.

The mechanical bull Cotton Candy and Popcorn BBQ featuring the special J-Dawg sauce from Utah Sno-Cones by the wonderful McKelle Beck. Bounce House Balloon Animals (and swords) There was a live band (The Jeff Hunt band) which allowed us to dance the night away. And then there is the kids favorite attraction: The candy cannon. Last year was our first exposure to the cannon and I remember thinking, "Who in the world came up with this?" But the kids go crazy for it! It's a metal cylinder that is stuffed full of candy. With the light of a fuse it shoots out into the crowd and kids are showered in candy. It blows with such great force that the majority of it will break on contact with the street, but the kids don't seem to mind! They shot the cannon several times and the kids squealed with delight each and every time.

Not only did the evening give us an opportunity to meet new people, but also build relationships with the friends we've already made. Our kids ran around crazy and consumed far too much sugar but we made the decision to let everything go for the night. It was more enjoyable for us to not be constantly telling them no and they were pleased to run around with their friends as if they were older than they really are! There were several times throughout the evening that I was taking in the moment and was overcome with gratitude for the people that surrounded us. I'm sure many live in similar neighborhoods and can relate. But more than anything it was comfortable and it was home. I foresee collecting years of photographs with my kids surrounded by these same friends. Yes, many will move and new friends will move in, but at some point in the road we'll look back and smile at how cute and little they once were, arm-in-arm with one another. It feels so good to be part of a neighborhood that acts as a community.