Party Planner

After I broke my toe, I watched a lot of David Tutera's show. It must of rubbed off on me, because I was a bit extravagant in decorating Noe and Kaleb's parties (at least compared with my previous standard).


I actually painted this castle for New Beginnings in YW, but I am into recycling- tee hee. I also got a dozen pink, purple, and light pink balloons to tie on each chair and to put on our front porch.


I made another 80 tissue paper flowers, then strung them up into a garland.


The table all ready to open presents and eat cake!

I used pink on top of white table cloths, with these cute pastel plates and napkins.

The piece de resistance, a pink castle cake- voila!

Len drew this pirate ship for me, and I did my best painting it. (I think it turned out pretty cute, actually.) The dozen balloons were blue, red, and light blue this time.

I made pirate flags into a birthday banner.

The table all ready for presents and cake again.

I used red on white table cloths, blue plates, and blue striped napkins.

I'll journey with this ship, right down to my tummy! I made a total of 8 pirate cupcakes for each of the guests too.

*Both of these parties had games & prizes (musical chairs, pass the parcel, and pin the nose on the clown), but the main activity was a scavenger hunt. My husband made up 8 darling clues for each group to find their treasure with. Everyone had fun, so I think they were both a success! Now, will I do all this again next year? Kaleb and Noe are worth it, but NO! We're going to rotate each year with a party and an outing with a friend, and even with the parties we're going to rotate with separate ones and parties together- phew!

Love to Paint

I painted a second picture to hang in our play room. The room is slowly coming together. I can't wait for it to be done, but it's a fun journey to get to "done."

Fabulous Friday

For our Stake Youth Fabulous Friday I made 80 tissue paper flowers and painted 24 hearts. It's amazing how cute a little bit of paper and paint can make things.

New Beginnings

For our New Beginnings in Young Women's, the Beehive class took charge, and I was asked to do the decorations. We had a "Once upon a Time" theme, and I solicited the help from a talented artist I know named Leonard Reil.


This is the 7 foot tall, 5 foot wide poster Len drew for us. It took him 4 nights. He was going to paint it too, but I went ahead and did it for him one day (it only took me 7 hours!) We will recycle it though for Noe's birthday party.


I also made these tissue paper flowers. The first batch of 20 took me 2 hours, but I got faster with the second batch and finished them in an hour and a half. I'll be recycling these and making more for our Stake Fabulous Friday, later this month.


Our beautiful Princesses- Carolynn, Katie, Jenn, Sierra, Tori, Anngela, Tasha, & Julia with our Bishop. Dayna and Christina came later, but unfortunately I couldn't get another group shot. These girls are great!


The program consisted of a darling skit put on by the Beehives, an introduction to our new Personal Progress program by the Beehive Counselor, a few words from me on this year's theme, a few words from the Bishop, and then dessert! Each girl received their new Personal Progress books and a board to hang in their room with this year's theme from Joshua 1:9, "Be Strong and of a Good Courage." I think this theme was chosen just for me. I feel so weak and afraid and get anxiety all the time these days. I'm trying my best to be strong though!

"Value"able Bracelet

For one of our Young Women's Activities in January, I brought my slew of beads from Taiwan for the girls to make bracelets. I made this one for myself with all the value colors. Here's what the colors stand for:
White- Faith
Blue- Divine Nature
Red- Individual Worth
Green- Knowledge
Orange- Choice & Accountability
Yellow- Good Works
Purple- Integrity
Gold- Virtue
My body may be aging, but I'm still a Young Woman at heart.

Happy...

...New Year's,


Valentine's Day,


St. Patrick's Day,

Easter,

Graduation,

Anniversary,

Independence Day,

Birthday,

Back-to-School,

Halloween,

Thanksgiving,

and Christmas!

At the rate I'm going 2010 will come and go and I won't get to post on here as I would like, so

HAPPY EVERYTHING!!!

Goodie Exchange #2

We are definitely spoiled this Christmas season with lots of yummy goodies! If you've never been to a goody exchange and would like to host one, this is what you do. Invite your friends over, let's say there's 8 of you. Each person makes 8 dozen of 1 kind of cookie. You meet up and everyone shares and goes home with a dozen of 8 different kinds of cookies. I participated in 2 exchanges this year and ended up with 24 types of treats! Now I'm going to make up plates to give to my neighbors, and the rest our family will enjoy on Christmas day.

For the first exchange I made Oatmeal Scotchies. Blogger's not letting me cut and paste for some reason, so click on the cookie title to link you to the recipe.

For the second exchange I made Pumpkin Cookies. If you make either one of these recipes let me know- I think they're so good!

Christmas Trilogy

I picked up The Christmas Hope from the library this week and got her read. Even though I guessed the end from the beginning, it was still a nice read. I also want to read the other Christmas stories by the same author. Maybe next year!

Goodies for my mind and tum- yum!

I'm behind, but only have time for a quick catch-up.


October's book- really cute. I had seen the animated and live-action movies, but it was sweet to read the real story.


November's book- undecided. I liked the positive female relationships between mothers and daughters, but it had too much creepy stuff in it for me to wholly love it.


December's book- waiting for it from the library. This was a sweet little Christmas story.

January's book- also waiting for it from the library, but this is JK Rowling's favorite book, so I'm really excited to read it! In some ways I loved this book, in other ways it made me mad. I don't like love triangles and I hate it when I finish a book but I still want more closure.

This is the book I got from our White Elephant exchange. I love the title and can't wait to dive in. This book is Trash with a capital T! After I read it, I threw it in my recycle bin because I didn't want to take up space in a landfill with it, but nobody should waste their brain on this story. I wish I didn't.

This is a book I bought for its title! I enjoy my own book club and cookie exchange, so we'll see if this book lives up to its name. This book wasn't as bad as the previous title, but again it reminded me why I usually read Juvenile or Fantasy fiction- fiction for adults always has to have some "adult" content in it that I really don't want to read.

All of the above treats are from goodie exchange #1. After goodie exchange #2 next Friday I'll post more pics and maybe recipes? I might be too busy eating to type though- ha ha!

Fine Art

I just ordered this "Yummy Rooster" from FineArtAmerica.com to hang in our kitchen. I L O V E it!! I can't wait for it to arrive!


I'm also going to attempt to paint this flower to hang in our family room, but I'll do it more red. Wish me luck!

Remember this?

This was a little sketch I did earlier in the year.


I finally painted it! It's 22 by 30 inches painted with acrylics. Now I just need to paint the frame so I can hang it in our playroom. We painted the playroom last month, but I'm still unpacking boxes, and sorting through stuff, so it may still be a while before the whole room is complete. I can't wait until it is done and then I'll post more pictures here.

Judge a Book by its Cover!

So, I haven't kept up on the books I've read this year and wanted to add them here since I gave up on Good Reads. Maybe one will peak your curiosity?


The Actor and the Housewife-
I'm not sure if I liked this book or not. I bawled, bawled, bawled my eyes out though. My friend Mary and I have been having our own mini book group discussion about it for the past couple of days. I can't wait to hear everyone else's thoughts about it next week.


Warbreaker-
This is by the author that will finish Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time" series. My brother sent Len an autographed copy of it. I wasn't sure I would like it since it said "Sci Fi" on the cover, but I really enjoyed it. I would label it as "Fantasy Fiction," but I'm not a publisher. Their alternate universe was very interesting. I would love to be Siri for a day!


Next to Mexico-
This is the cutest little book about the cutest little 6th grader with buck teeth. My friend Leslie lent it to me this summer and guess what? it's written by another girl I went to high school with. Isn't that so cool? Way to go Jenny!


Traditions- Creating Memories to Draw your Family Close
My friend Amanda told me about this book and I had to get it. It's chock full o' great ideas for the holidays and every day. Love it!


101 Expert Solutions for Scrapbooking-
I used to scrapbook. I thought I would do it forever. I miss it and hope to still do a little here and there. Once upon a time I entered Creating Keepsakes Hall of Fame contest. I didn't win, but I collected all 9 special issues. Last year they didn't do a special issue, but made this publication instead. Since I like round numbers I bought it, but I'm done collecting now.


The Dragon Reborn-
Book 3 in "The Wheel of Time" series. I've got 8 more books to get through written by the original author and then we'll see how many books it takes for the new author to finish the story. I'm enjoying it though. Alternate universes are fun to visit!


Inkdeath-
I have the first 2 books in paperback, but I couldn't wait for this one. I checked out the hardcover from the kids' school in Taiwan. An interesting little trilogy, and I thought the Inkheart movie wasn't too bad either. Now I want to see The Thief Lord's movie version.


Rise of the Evening Star-
Fablehaven book 2. These books are kind of the opposite of Harry Potter- instead of having magical experiences during the school year, 2 siblings experience these adventures during the summer. I would like to visit Fablehaven too someday.


Grip of the Shadow Plague-
Fablehaven book 3. This series gets better and better with each book. They're fun little reads. I enjoy Juvenile Literature because they usually have interesting stories without all the unnecessary adult stuff.


Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary-
Fablehaven book 4. Again, I bought the previous books in paperback, but I don't want to wait to read this. Our local library doesn't have it yet either, but I can order it. I should go do that right now!