Darleen's Silent Auction

Darling Darleen (my sister) is holding a silent auction for Stephanie and Christian in honor of NieNie Day hosted by Design Mom. The necklace to bid on reminds me of the Stephanie's bird on her header at NieNie Dialogues. Go over and check it out. Happy bidding!

Reflections Of Christ

Have you been over to the Reflections of Christ project? My mother-in-law just sent me an email about this site. After visiting the site, I feel uplifted and had to share with all of you. The photography is amazing and beautiful. Check it out here.

Donate

Many of you know about the plane crash that Stephanie from NieNie Dialogues and her husband Christian were in. Well, I wanted to call your attention to the new link to donate on their behalf.

The extent of their injuries were severe and recovery will be long and costly. Our family has been praying for theirs in an effort to help. We hope that this will help as well. To keep up with their progress you can go to Stephanie's sister's site. Please pray and donate in behalf of their family.

Maps

For some time now, Nora has been asking me questions about where we live as opposed to her favorite people in the world. She will ask questions about why Grandma (my mother-in-law), lives so far away or where is Stella her cousin in Connecticut. In answer to her questions, I would like to buy my family a US and world map. I am sure it has been hard for her to visualize my half answers. Hopefully, a map will help. I found these fun maps at Target. Two of the maps are adhesive which I think would be great and super easy to hang. But, if you know where to buy great US/world maps for kids that will be pleasing to my eyes too, please let me know. I am in the market for globes as well.

47 What!?

I am still in shock. Find out the price here.

Party Garland

The lighting is so bad in this picture. I am sorry for that. I forgot to take a picture of the party garland during the actual party. I found out how to make this party garland via Darling Darleen's (my sister), blog. The sewing part goes by fast but cutting the patterns out was long and tedious. Probably took me about 6 hours spread out between 2 days. Now that I am done I am glad that I did it. It will be something I can pull out for any girl party.

The Royal Bash

If you invite them, they will come. The princes and princesses came to celebrate Princess Nora's birthday with us in our home Saturday. Nora received her very own princess dress in the morning and was so excited to wear it for the party. We had tiaras for all the princesses and crowns with swords for the princes. When all arrived they got to start the party by making edible bracelets and eating lunch. Then they played a matching card game with prizes. We ended with a princess cake and opening the presents. Oh, I almost forgot, Cinderella (my sister Julene dressed up for me), also came to visit the little princesses and princes. Julene (my sister), even got into character and chatted with the kids about how she lived in a castle with Prince Charming, yada yada yada. Is she not great. I of course didn't take enough pictures because I was directing the party. But here are a few that I hope will help you get a picture of how the party went.

More Party Pictures

My My Nora

My my Nora, how you have grown. From the miracle of your birth to you turning 3 today you have brought so much joy into my life. You are my first heavenly ray. I loved you since I lade eyes on you. Happy birthday sweetheart.

Bottom picture by Heather Gibb Photography

QuadSurf

The Internet just got a whole lot simpler. My cousin just let me in on something my 2nd cousin once removed's, (how would you write that one out?), husband created...QuadSurf. They say it's like viewing the Internet in 3D. Similar to Dogpile yet way cooler and easy to use. A must surf this weekend and the coming years. There are some things still in construction on it like the customize your own Quadsurf part, (way cool), but the search engines and everything else are up and running. Check it out here.

Frank Wants to Dance

In getting ready for Halloween, Nora and I have been reading and loving this book. We love the illustrations, the silliness and the itch afterwards to just get up and dance.

Hear Ye, Hear Ye

My sweet and talented sister Darleen, made invites for Nora's birthday and I think they turned out great. The back of the invite gives the party information in royal jargon. I love it. Very pink and very princess. Perfect.

Princess Dress-up

Nora's princess dress just came in the mail yesterday. I am so excited for her to wear it at her party. The unveiling will happen just before the party. In my search I found that Target has a great selection of dresses to choose from. The dresses above are some of my favorites. I think I might be more excited now about this party then Nora.

Last of the Trip

So terrifying, right? Here are some of the last pics from our great trip to visit family in Utah. A huge thank you to everyone who put up with us. We already miss you.

Jake + Jessica

Last weekend Spencer's good friend Jake got married to this beauty. We are so excited for the both of them. Jake has always been more of a brother then just a good friend to Spencer. It was fun catching up with Spencer's buddies while there. Loved the green and white colors for the wedding.























Jake and Spencer. If you can imagine little ol' me (5' nothing) next to Jake (6' 3"). It would have been comical. Really. Both Jake and I really feel uncomfortable standing next to each other.

Had to show the pic of Nora looking at the pretty princess while taking a picture with Jake and Jessica.

The Cabin

Spencer and his family love spending time up at their cabin near Kamas, UT which is just outside of Park City. We enjoy the outdoors, horse shoe games, catching up with family, fishing, food, and homemade root beer. It is not just any root beer. It is the root beer that Spencer's family have enjoyed and made generations back.

The root beer is not made with dry ice but made with yeast and sets for a period of time before consuming. For those who have grown up with this type of root beer, the drink is easy on the taste buds. For most of those married into the family, cringing is usually the choice of reaction after trying for the first time.

Still, making the homemade rootbeer is a fun tradition and although the taste of it makes me feel like I might be breaking the Word of Wisdom (no worries for those of you who might question. It has about the same amount of alcohol in it as orange juice), I make sure that I try some, if only a few sips, every time a batch is presented.