Birthday Party!!

Tess had her 10th Birthday party on Saturday. It was a couple weeks after her actual birthday but we were waiting for the movie "HOP" to come out. We made backpacks of goodies for all the girls with their names on them. The girls wore bunny ears to the movie and had a really fun time - they loved the movie (especially Phil, the chick)!

Little Love

My Little Love is 10 today! Seriously - the time goes faster each day. Tess was our only baby born in Texas and she loves that fact. She has been our "Little Love" since that beautiful day 10 years ago. Wasn't she scrumptious?! Little cinnamon roll legs and arms - deliciousness!

We love you Tessie!

Tess with her birthday gifts & stuffed animals

(one of these is not like the other - can you find Lacie??)

Rodeo 2011

We love going to the Rodeo each year. We've seen such a variety of performers - Black Eyed Peas, Beyonce, Brad Paisley, Tony Bennett, Hannah Montana, Taylor Swift and tons more! But I do think this year was one of the best shows - Keith Urban. Jose didn't know any of his songs but still enjoyed the show. It was even better because we had front row "action seats" - dirt was flying up from the running horses - that's how close we were! They have all the free food you want and Keith is the kind of performer who comes right up to the crowd (insert swoon here). Marisa also took a group of friends but they were up about 10 rows from us super lucky ones. Great night :)

Camp treats

I had a camp meeting with my directors last week. I wanted to show them how much I appreciate their hard work for camp - so I made little "crayon" boxes for them (referencing our theme - Amazing Race) and filled them with Hershey's Treasures. 

I think they turned out pretty cute (and yummy!) :)

Another attempt:

Here's another attempt to get you all to watch my addition - 

THE AMAZING RACE!! 

It's starting this Sunday, Feb 20th!!  This season is all returning contestants (kind of like an All-Stars). There are a few teams that I'm so excited to see again - and a few not so much ;)

 I had to also add this picture below because the top one left out Phil - the host! (My favorite)

Here's why I heart Phil:

"Jeff Probst may have the Emmy, but Phil is the better host. He shows up at various points in each episode to introduce locations, explain tasks, and eliminate the unlucky teams. Beyond that, he just steps aside and lets the show be the star. He never picks favorites and does not interfere with the events of the competition (as Jeff Probst is prone to do lately). Nor does he attempt to outshine the show (as Ryan Seacrest tries to do). He maintains a low profile, moves things along from start to finish, and never overstays his welcome."

GIRLS CAMP 2011!!

Most of you know I'm in charge of Girl's Camp for our church girls (ages 12-18). This is my 3rd year and it takes all year of planning and prepping and breathing the theme! I love every theme we've done ("Life is Sweet", "Heavenly Ever After", and now "My Amazing Race - to become a SOUL Survivor") but this one really is going to be awesome. "Why?", you ask? - because I'm an Amazing Race fanatic (don't you read my blog?!)

Tonight was our Camp Kickoff meeting where I introduced the theme to all my camp directors. Here's the poster I made for the meeting. I also had travel posters all around the room.  I made up this "clue box" that held all the clues with the meeting agendas & info in them for each attendee.

You can't have an Amazing Race without a clue box, right?!

Here are the goodies from tonight-

Each person got a tear-strip envelope with their "route info" envelope, the cd with the camp song and the music & lyrics for it. Then I made them all "world" cookies and themed water bottles.

Here's the "route info" for the night - the meeting's agenda

Close-up of the tag on their cookie

Blog Giveaway & Marisa...

Marisa's cute photo of Sabrie in my previous post was featured on a blog giveaway today! Yay Marisa :)
http://millerhappilyeverafter.blogspot.com/2011/02/first-ever-give-away-sneak-peek.html

MarisaRose

Here are a couple of Marisa's latest photography subjects. Sweet little Sabrie and handsome Leo.

We're so proud of Marisa - she's even been booked for an upcoming wedding shoot.

Christmas Card

I'm a little late in posting this - most of you hopefully received one. But for those of you loved ones who I carelessly forgot, here's our family :)  Happy 2011!

Terrible Scary Night

Last night I got the scary call from Marisa that she had been in an accident (insert dropped heart and stomach here). Every single time she leaves the house, I'm just scared for her to be out on the roads. Granted, she's a very safe and cautious driver but you just never know. I just had my first accident this past year so I did have a little hope that she would and could go decades of driving without incident. It wasn't meant to be - a lady ran a stop sign and hit Marisa. Luckily it was in the front of her car and not into her door. And luckily there was another car next to her that saw it all and stayed to help Marisa and talk to the police. So other than a couple pulled muscles in her shoulder and back from jolting on the seatbelt, she's going to be fine.  The car is a different story....

Here it is when I got there leaking all sorts of fluids everywhere. I have to say this bad iPhone picture looks pretty good on the wreakage - there was so much debris sitting in the road too.

 Attempting to get it onto the tow truck even though it was not drivable - falling apart rapidly!

(See all the sand stuff they had to put on the road to soak up the fluids?)

 OK - let's just pull this bumper off since it's hanging by a thread!

 

edited recipe

I posted this recipe awhile back and just realized the butter amount was doubled! Here's the revised card - sorry to any who tried it with that amount! They really are yummy - but not with extra butter :/

Favorite Things

Last night my friend, Melanie, hosted a really fun party. It was a "Favorite Things" party - we were split into groups of 6 girls. We brought one of our favorite things for each of the girls in our group.  My favorite thing lately has been my Silhouette cutter. So I made these frames (magnets on the back) for their kitchens. I cut the names in mirrored image out of vinyl so they stick to the back side of the glass. That way they won't come off when they clean the dry erase marker off the front.  And since it's not just printed on the paper, they can change out the papers for different seasons or to match their decor better.

I got so many fun gifts also - a kitchen gadget, an awesome book, some delicious treats, great cd, and the cutest custom made scarf - thanks girls!!

A must for Christmas time!

Each Christmas I have a Treat Making class. We always decorate the traditional "gingerbread" houses and then make a whole bunch of other treats. This year Tess had several of her good friends in class with her. Here she is with one of her BFF's - Morgan. They made cupcakes, the Smore's guy, caramel chocolate pretzels, Christmas mice, candy cane hearts and more - yum!!

Here's the whole crew! Eleven cute girls with the best imaginations!

A couple of the cute treats - Santa & Rudolph (can you guess which one is which ;)

Personal Progress treats

Just a little idea I did for the girls at church on Halloween Sunday. Our young women are amazing - I just love them!

 Even cuter all in a halloween basket (made by my sis Cathy)!

Mixer Makeover

My friend, Jenni, showed me a cute idea for your mixer. Of course I had to try it with my new cutter :)  I'm thinking of all the different possibilities - especially for the holidays!

Perfect Yum!

I got this recipe off of HowDoesShe? - they have a lot of really fun and great ideas. I wasn't sure how they really would taste so we broke down and made some last night - YUM! 

It's not really an "eat the dough" kind of recipe. The melted butter makes it a little flat rather than nice and fluffy. But the cookies look great since you dip them into chips before cooking. This recipe made about 2 1/2 dozen with the size we made - Happy Baking :)

Happy Haunting

We've been busy decorating for Halloween. I love this time of year when the weather gets cooler and we start getting into the big holiday seasons.  I decided to add some decor in my foyer with my little "Skull Alley" - I call him Mr. Peabody. 

 I've also been using my new Silhouette cutter and making all sorts of Halloween stuff. I cut out the little haunted house scene that's on the mirror (bats, graveyard, house, etc.).

 This is probably my favorite decoration this year - Mr. Peabody printed and framed on my front door! He looks perfect in this ornate frame don't you think? I printed him 16"x20" and he fits perfectly. You can also see I printed him on damask paper in the photo above and stuck him in a frame we usually have a family photo in.

 Here are a few more things I made with my new cutter - these silly ghosts and the word "BOO" on the glass. They are sitting on the cutest runner my sister made for me. She has one listed on her Etsy site - in case you're in need of some cuteness.

 Even the lamps and pumpkin gourd are getting in the spirit!

Sunroom Chairs - FINALLY!

I bought two of these slipper chairs at Pottery Barn last October. I loved the style but not the fabric for my sunroom - you can obviously see I have a garden toile fabric on the French doors that I love. So I when I bought them, I knew I'd be slipcovering them.  I wanted a variety of fabrics in that room so I used four different fabrics in the chairs. I've had the fabric for about 10 months but just now finally sewed them up!

 Here are my more feminine looking chairs in the sunroom. I love the fabrics and now they aren't an eyesore - they're just cute sitting in there calling me to come sit :)

 Close up of the roses on the lumbar pillows with their cute Mother of Pearl button centers.

And this is the back of the chairs - I've closed the slipcovers with big bows made of the cute dotted linen fabric used in the skirt and pillows.

Homecoming 2010 (revised)

Marisa and Kurtis went to Homecoming tonight. Kurtis is a senior so Marisa wanted to make sure it was a really fun memory for him. They got together a bunch of friends to go out to dinner and to the school dance.

They grow up way too fast :( 

(I have to give a shout out to Angie Ward - she did Marisa's hair. I wish I had taken a picture of the back - it was all twisted and had flowers in it that matched her dress - so cute - thanks Angie!!)

Revised....I FOUND A PICTURE :)

 Kurtis' mom said she liked the leg up pose (meaning Marisa's) but Kurtis got in the act too :)

 Allie S., Devin H., Jenni, Kaylyn, and Marisa

 Marisa, Kurtis, Kaylyn, Jerrod, Jenni, Zach, Devin, Jacob, Allie & Kyle 

Wearing the traditional Mums. This crazy tradition is only in the South, I believe. The girls wear these monstrous creations - this is minimal compared to most! The boys wear a smaller version on their sleeve. I don't really understand it but "When in Rome...", right?

Silliness after a joke :)