Thanksgiving 2013

I love Thanksgiving and it is always so fun for me to prepare Thanksgiving dinner! We had a very low key celebration at home this past year. We spent time together remembering all that we have been blessed with. It was great. Just us, our Bear boy, and our friend Bob. I made the same turkey I made last year and it was F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S! Here is the recipe! I also tried a homemade cranberry sauce (recipe) and it was so easy and super yummy (and I don't even like cranberry sauce)! One more new recipe I tried was for a gravy made with the drippings from the turkey, oh.my.goodness. I'm not kidding, you need to make it! I was surprised that it was so good! If you make this gravy, get the fat separator, it is really useful.

A simple table with stuff we already had!

I love the natural light we get in our home. Grateful for desert sunshine! 

 recipe for cranberry sauce

recipe for gravy

Olympic Party Opening Ceremonies 2014

We had a super fun Olympic party with the youth from our church. I work with  the young women who are part of the leadership for girls camp this summer. These girls have been working hard and planning for a fabulous camp. We had an overnighter for leadership training and bonding time! Our camp theme is "Around The World", Young Women United! The language of the gospel is universal. This is the theme the girls picked and I am super excited about it. Our overnighter fell on the night of opening ceremonies and I immediately knew this should be our party theme. My friend, Tiffany, that works with me for this, suggested we do minute-to-win-it games for our own olympics. It turned out wonderfully! All the decor was SIMPLE SIMPLE and it turned out darn cute! We also did snacks from other places to go with our theme.

 Simple Olympic rings with green foam wreaths from Joanne's and cheap fabric wrapped around. I cut all the fabric in 2 inch strips then wrapped and hot glued it.

 I LOVED the flag banner. I found it on this great blog here

 I really wanted to make these earth oreo truffles but thought it would be difficult. 

IT WAS SO SIMPLE! I'll do a post on how to make them!

 Olympic torch aka mini cupcakes in mini ice cream cones, easy peasy

 Before we finished the set-up of our Italian soda bar

 Minute to win it games found here

The girls loved the games and they were hilarious!

Halloween 2013

Thanks to my friend Erinn, I decided (and copied her idea) to be a "super" family for halloween. Costumes were super easy and I had or made everything except the superman shirt. We went to our church halloween party one night and decided to switch costumes for a party the next night with friends. I thought it was hilarious and I was surprised Rob was down to go as wonder woman!

A Baby Shower for My Bestie

A few months ago we had a fun baby shower brunch for my bestie. Sweet baby Ruby has been welcomed into the world now and we just love her to pieces. It was fun to celebrate this wonderful friend in my life and the sweet little Ruby! 

The guest of honor!

Making a mimosa, with cider of course! 

Drink set-up

Starting to fill the food table! Lots of friends were willing to help so I enlisted a few of them! One friend did the cute and delicious fruit cups, another did the sausage, and another did our perfect bacon skewers! 

Guys...simple and cute! Pre-made frozen mini waffles and pancakes! 

Everything is better in mini form! 

My new favorite!
Skewer bacon and bake for 25 minutes at 400. 

I purchased mini succulents and wrapped them in butcher paper and washi tape. I have a thing for succulents and washi tape!

Rob's birthday surprise...

For Rob's 30th, his parents flew out and surprised him! It was seriously one of the best moments ever. It is his favorite birthday memory yet! He had no clue and their arrival was priceless. They arrived really late and we were already in bed when our besties, who had picked them up from the airport, dropped them off at our house. They taped a birthday card to our door and then doorbell ditched us. In the card it said that his present was in the driveway. He was still out of it and in his underwear so he went back to bed annoyed at me thinking that I bought a new car without telling him and had it delivered in the middle of the night....I know, he can be crazy. I finally convinced him to put some clothes on and go grab the gift. He was SHOCKED to see his wonderful parents waiting in the driveway wondering what took him so long! He was so excited and then began connecting the dots of little things that all made sense now. The next day we headed out to go to Disneyland and San Diego! I can't thank my wonderful in-laws enough for making this possible. There is nothing my man loves more than those parents of his (and me ;) )!