Princess Party

My Stella is not a baby anymore. She is now four. A young little girl. We always say that four is the age you start acting like a big kid for example washing your body, wiping your behind (ahem), making your bed–just to name a few. Well, this year Stella was in on the action for planning her birthday party. And she wanted it to be just like her cousin Nora‘s recent birthday party–all princess. She even wanted her princess birthday cake to be holding candles just like Nora’s cake. And for all the guest to come dressed in princess (prince) attire. Well, her party was a huge success, eventhough it ended up being held inside instead of the original plan of being outside. Rain was the cause of the minor change. I just made sure to set rules and keep a tight ship with 14 kids running around my house.


Invitations mailed out with a look-alike Stella princess on the front.
Decorations–I got purple and pink balloons and picked up one of Martha Stewart’s paper flower kits to hang from the chandelier. All the paper products were purple and pink. Each princess received a tiara and wand when they entered the “palace”. And each prince received a crown and sword.
Food–I served pizza and strawberries (Stella’s favorite fruit) along with pink lemonade and fruit punch in plastic champagne glasses.
Favors–all things princesses for the girls in little pink organza bags along with rock-pop rings. The boys got to take home a knight-helmet piggy bank that I found in the dollar section of Target.
Stella’s Snow White birthday cake. It came out so beautiful! I picked it up a day in advance and the cake lady told me to put it in the freezer and take it out a couple of hours before the party. Bad idea. The frosting started to melt. Refriderate next time.
Activities–all the princesses made necklaces with sparkly beads. And the princes decorated paper shields. But the girls were more into the shields than the boys. Opening the gifts, of course, were part of the party.
Toward the end of the party a famous princess made a surprise visit–Miss Cinderella. She was quite the center of attention and had all the children participate in a mini ball. The children danced to the story of Cinderella pretending to be the birds, the mice, the pumpkin, the stepsisters, etc. After the dancing, each child got to have their picture taken with her.
Well, I know it’s a success when my daughter tells me it was the best birthday party ever. The end.

Message Bean

My sister mailed me one of those planting jars that comes with seeds. You add a little water and in a week a plant starts to grow. Well, this little plant came with a message. And when we saw it pop it’s little head out, we all marveled and were quite surprised. You can gets yours here. They have lots of other messages.

Birthday Fondue Pampering Party

This past weekend I got to celebrate my 30th birthday with a few of my girlfriends with fondue and a pampering party. It was a blast and a great way to “ease” myself into an older age bracket. My girlfriend Ashley hosted the party at her house. The cheese fondue was delish. The chocolate fondue hit the spot. The dippers were all so yummy. A professional masseuse came and gave everyone back massages and little pampering goodies. Definitely the highlight of the party. Manicure and pedicure tables were set up so everyone could beautify their nails and toes. Both equipped with soaks, oils, scrubs, and lotions. There was a mini spa bar. The evening was very delightful and a perfect way to ring in my thirties. I love being pampered it makes you feel relaxed and very special, I know it can’t happen every day but once in a while is a great thing to take part in. Visiting sites such as Organic-Looks.com can help you with skin, body and hair care tips for when you need that extra little help. Now I’m in my 30s I want to make sure that I’m using the right products for me and my skin and fall in love with it all over again! Thank you to everyone who came out and celebrated with me!




Country Wedding

Remember this wedding I posted about a few days ago? Well, I had to share some of the pictures because the special event came out so beautiful, and I love all the little country-style details that went into it. Sarah wore cowboy boots under her tulle-tiered dress. The wedding party arrived in a horse carriage. All the guests received a jar of local Idaho honey. Homemade pies adorn the dessert bar. Invitations, menu and thank you notes were printed on recycled paper. And everything was done with an environmentally-conscious mind. I had the honor of designing all the jewelry for the bride and bridemaids. And is Sarah not one hot bride? Seriously I could marry her myself.

All the beautiful photos taken by Dev Khalsa Photography

Hello 30!

It was my 30th birthday this past weekend. And I spent the day laid up in bed recovering from another bout of extreme pregnancy pain that I endured the whole night before. My luck of course. So, our original plans to the city were cancelled. I slept all day. By evening I felt much better to at least head out for a dinner date with my honey and to finally stop by Chocopologie.

While I was recovering, Seth took the kiddies to pick up a birthday cake. It was too cute–when they got home the kids raced into my room, pulled me out of bed, found all the remaining candles in the house (and there were only 12), put them on the cake, sang happy birthday, watched me blow out the candles and then devouted the cake. It was quite amusing watching them get so excited over a little cake.

Thank You Notes

I finally made thank you notes for Lucas’s second birthday party; and those of you who attended our thanks are in the mail. Since it was coming from a little toddler, I liked the fill-in-the-blank idea. I was able to put more thought into why he enjoys the gift so much.

Cheesecake Toppings

Buy a pie of cheesecake, cut into slices and then top each slice with different combinations of fruit, sauces and nuts. Quick, easy and will steal the show at any dinner gathering. Click on the image to get topping ideas.

{via BHG}

Lucas’s Birthday Party

While we were in Vegas, we decided to throw a birthday party for Lucas so he could celebrate his second year of life with cousins, family members and Vegas friends. The theme was cars because right now he loves anything with four wheels.

For the decorations, I saved milk cartons, cut the top off and had some of my older nieces paint the cartons to look like traffic lights. I then bought red, yellow, green and black balloons and weighed them down with sand and put the sand bag in the carton. These were the centerpieces and there were four tables. I bought black and white checkered flag garland and hung them around the backyard umbrellas. Also each table had a checkered table runner over a colored table cloth. I loaded up a large toy dump truck with chips as the center of the food table. Each food dish had race car flags sticking out of them.

My sister Marleen made a fabulous race car cake with a large number two as the race track. For games/activity, the kids each painted a little wooden car. Outside we had a matchbox car play area and a pop-up kidsize fire truck. Then we played pin the car on the race track and had an obstacle course. After food and cake, we had a pinata, which the older kids went crazy and completely demolished. Then presents. It was a lot of fun.



Pretty simple. I didn’t have a lot of time to put into. I was glad to have happy nieces excited to help me get everything together. Also a mom who did all the food and fed well over 50 people. A sister who brought over the play toys and another sister who made the cake. Thanks!
The adults hiding in the house to avoid the chaos.
Ashley, Ella, Julene and little Benjamin
Good friend Judi and her beautiful family came down from Salt Lake to visit. Miss her and love her. Wish we had more time together.

Birthday Food

Cuban sandwiches and a peanut butter fudge cake is what I made for Seth for his birthday dinner. Peanut butter is his favorite and a sandwich with a lot of meat hits the spot. Birthday present? Another climbing trip to Mt. Rainier!

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