Tabby's Candy Party!

I can't believe my oldest is 7! Where the heck has the time gone? I swear I just had her!

I still call her my baby girl and she gets mad when I say it. I tell her that I'm her mama and I reserve the right to call her that for the rest of her life because I fee like she will always be my baby.

Anyway when it came time to pick a theme for her party she said she wanted a candy party. This is in true Tabby fashion because she is most definitely a connoisseur of candy.

In planning for this party, I swore I would keep it simple and low key. I worked so hard on her Pinkalicious party last year and I wanted and easy party this time. After all she wasn't even supposed to have a party. I had made a rule a while ago that my kids would only get parties on even number birthdays. Of course I broke that rule and of course I didn't keep it simple.

I want to change and I hope to change but I love a good party and I can't resist planning the crap out of one.

But to Tabby's credit, she is such a sweet girl and she doesn't get much outside of her birthday and Christmas. She never asks for a lot and she deserves a super fun party, I think.

Tabby gets a great party and I get to plan it. It's a win win.

So here are the pics of the fun event!

First here are the invites. I did go the easy route this year and made the invites on the computer. Last year I made them all by hand. Painstaking to say the least!
I hope the girls loved the lollipops!
Lollipop walkway:
Sign on the door:
The entryway table had a headband for each girl and a cotton candy pop:
I learned from this website how to make these paper flowers:
The dining area:
The candy bar:
These Snoballs are seriously nasty and nobody ate them. Purely for decoration!
Another delicious masterpiece cake by my sis Magi:
The finishing touches:
The birthday girl!
Some sweet little girlies:
We played Musical Gumballs to the tune of "Lollipop" I actually had a whole play list of fun songs about candy playing in the background.
Opening all the gifts:
I hate this picture of me but I LOVE my new apron that Alyson made me!
Cake time:
She doesn't look very happy in this pic. Maybe she's concentrating on coming up with the perfect wish.
Our wonderful neighbors the Switzers loaned us their water slide. The girls loved it!
And so did Rex!
Hey, where did your teeth go?
Gunn boy had a great time too!
All in all it was a lot of work but a lot of fun! Thank you to Janeice, Marcy and Magi for all your help!

I still can't believe you are 7, my sweet girl! Please please please always let me call you my baby!

9 Year Anniversary Celebration Extravaganza!

Well, not really. But we did manage to go out on a date which is a big deal these days.

So yes, May 19th marked our 9 year anniversary. Are you surprised that it's been 9 years already? You can't be more surprised than me. Literally. Dale had to remind me two days before that our anniversary was coming up. Whoops. No biggie that I forgot though. But if HE forgot? Big trouble. Am I right ladies???

I kid.

So anyway, we weren't going to go out because our anniversary was on a Wednesday and I had already made plans for the weekend and who wants to go out on a Wednesday anyway? But Dale's brother Ken insisted we go out and wouldn't take no for an answer when it came to watching our kids so out on a date we went!

First we went to Kona. Most fave restaurant ever. Let the record show that I absolutely loathe seafood. Which is what Kona is known for. If it comes out of the water, I won't eat it. But the reason I love that place is the Macadamia Nut Chicken. Holy crap it's good. It's pricey but on special occasions, totally worth it. You have to order it with extra sauce. Once you taste it you can't get enough of it.
Afterwards we went and saw Robin Hood. I was super excited to see it and it was pretty good. Looooonnnnnng but still good. But it's no Gladiator. I love what they kept saying over and over in the movie: "Rise and rise again until lambs become lions." I think that has a lot of meaning to it.

After that we called it a night and went home. We are old, what can I say.

Dale did surprise me with 2 wonderful gifts that morning.

This hair clip/brooch:
And this belt/headband:
They are from my favorite etsy shop. I was really thinking about buying them myself and then I saw that they had been sold. I was pretty bummed out about it until they were presented to me as gifts and I realized they were sold because my husband bought them! That sly guy. I've already worn them a few times and I feel like a pretty pretty princess when I have one of them on.

The past 9 years has been a beautiful ride. We've shared amazing moments and sometimes some not so great trials but we've pulled together and trudged through whatever has been thrown our way. And we are the better for it.

We make a great team, I think.

Can't wait for our 10 year!

The Coolest Family Ever!

Last week my friend Brooke asked me to take her family's pictures. They are moving away and wanted to get some pictures taken in good old AZ before they split.

I am so sad that they are moving! I thought of telling her that I would only take her pictures if she would stay. But unfortunately, my photography skills aren't good enough to be that persuasive.

On a positive note, I got to spend some time having a ball while taking their pictures.

Twirl Girl

A secondhand Minnie Mouse dress can make a 3 year old's day. Thanks Aunt Magi!
You are a pretty princess! Wild hair, bare feet and all! I love you sweet Ella Rose!

My Mom Is An Artist!

Oh you poor blog, you! You have been sorely neglected! I have been up to my eyeballs in headbands and I will try to do better!

I'm sure you all have been just dying for another blog post, right? If I had a sarcasm font, I would have just typed that sentence with it.

Anyway, I've missed so much it would be a bore to me and you to try and catch up on all of it so let's just pick up right here, shall we? Here we go:

Did you know that my mom is an artist? I have been wanting to post about her for awhile and today is the day!

My mom has a master's degree from BYU in art. She has used everything from oil paints, pencils, pastels, to stained glass.

Her styles have been landscapes, abstract, impressionism, you name it.

Her latest is photography. Well sort of...

I will be honest. I have a hard time explaining what she does now to people. I will just let her super cool pictures do the talking.

What Happens At Night:
Interview:
Self Critic:
Delivering Peace:
Movement Is Not Progress:

Pretty cool, huh? If you like her stuff, please go to her Flickr page and leave her some friendly comments. You can see lots of her other work there too!

Another Milestone

Gunn Boy is growing like a weed. He's started to move around so much more and he loves that he is getting mobile. I, on the other hand, am sorta bummed because it means I'm going to have to sweep and vacuum my floors a lot more and he's getting less chubby due to all the effort he puts into dragging his hefty body across the floor. I love his fatness and I will be sad to see it go!

Here are some funny videos of his attempts to crawl. Cuteness!


A little better this time:

Giveaway!

For those of you that like giveaways, my headbands are being featured here today and it's a giveaway. Visit this link to enter!