A Candy Land Birthday Party - Jenna's Two!

For the second year we had a joint birthday party for my nephew, Cooper, and Jenna. Since they were born just 3 days apart this is what's happening for now. We had the funnest time at the party. My sister, Sara, and I decided to do it in Saint George this year since her family was in town for Thanksgiving and went with a Candy Land theme. As most of you are probably aware, we don't really do anything on a small scale. So, yeah, went a little overboard....but it was to be expected, right? You'll have to forgive the 1000 pictures but I promised pics for the out of town fam...

We had candy cane balloon pillars on the entrance to the clubhouse.

When you opened the doors you were greeting by the start of the construction paper board game. 

It lead you around the room to each of the stations.

You started by getting your ice cream. 

You then stopped at the "Gingerbread Plum Tree" station. Where you could top your ice cream with chocolate sauce, crushed graham crackers, cheese cake crumbs, yogurt chips, brownie chunks, crushed Oreos, Butterfingers crumbs, mini Reese's peanut butter cups, milk chocolate caramels, or cookie dough chunks. 

The next station was the "Gumdrop Mountains" / "Lollipop Pass" where you could have a choice of Skittles, Dots, Smarties, Gummy Bears, Nerds, Mike & Ikes, M&Ms, gum balls, Pixie Stix, and lollipops. 

At the "Peppermint Stick Forrest" station we had well, peppermint candy canes, peppermint mints, licorice, and Jolly Ranchers. 

We also include the kid's gift "bags". Because we were pumping these children full of sugar before we sent them home we decided to not include any candy in the gift bags. We were lucky enough to come across some Candy Land chapstick in the Target One Spot {oh man, I love that place way too much!}. Target also had bubbles in a ice cream cone container, and we topped it off with a squiggly straw. 

We had cupcakes topped with Airheads Xtremes to look like a rainbow.  

I made a wreath from water balloons, tulle, and ribbon. I bought a Styrofoam wreath and inserted each balloon/tulle/ribbon piece in with a floral pin. It took FOREVER and my fingers were killing me by the time I was finished but I loved how it turned out. And I can totally reuse this at another party. I finished it off by printing a miniature version of the bunting banner I made for the entrance. 

We also had a water station, thinking these needed to be grounded with water after all the sweetness. 

My lollipop tree. Loved it. 

The reversible banner at the entry way. "Happy 2nd Birthday" on one side...

...Cooper & Jenna on the other. With a picture of each of them at either end ended up being the perfect number of characters. 

Birthday girl, Jenna Rose! 

We felt so supported by all of our friends and family that came out. My cute sister, Sara did the ice cream serving. The Quarders clan; Cooper, Sara, Chloe & Chris. And the birthday boy, Cooper. Seriously, how cute is he, all sugared up?!

We had a little cake walk for the kids to play. It was the only game we had. It was a great night. A lot of work!!! I really need to figure out a way to reign it in, but so far, that's not my m.o. so I have little hope of that changing. 

Thanksgiving

What a fun Thanksgiving this year! My Aunt Janice (my Dad's sister) and Uncle Mike both a second home in St. George a year or so ago and decided to host Thanksgiving this year. My Aunt Ruann, Uncle Robert, and my cousin Jared made it over from Colorado Springs. My Dad, Holly, Sara, Chris, Chloe, and Cooper all came up from San Diego. And my cousin Ashley (Janice's daughter), her husband Ken, and their kids Maile, Michael, and Xander came down from Highland, UT. It was so great time to get some time with the family. My Aunt Janice made these really cute place cards with our names and glued a penny on each one. 

After we were done eating, we went around the table and told a story or something good that happened in the year that was on the penny. Aunt Janice had the year she was born and told about how they didn't expect her to live with she was born. She was a "blue baby", which usually meant heart problems. She received a blessing, and obviously survived, with no signs of any heart problems. Sara Lyne, got the year she and Chris were married...lucky bitch. 

Holly's veggie turkey

Uncle Mike carving the turkey

The kid's table

Aunt Janice sharing her birth story

Dad and Holly

Aunt Ruann

Let the rough housing begin...

A quicky to Portland

I made a quick 2 day trip to see my dear Kimberly. It was great to get a little time with her. her moving has been so hard for me, and I miss her so much! We did a little antiquing, a little crafting, and a lot of shopping. Can't wait to get back up there...

Breaking Dawn: Part One

 Angie, Michelle, and I went to the premier of Breaking Dawn: Part 1...the tradition continues. This year we were joined by Angie's friend, (and my new best friend) Jennie Christensen who was feeling a little left out because she didn't have a ridiculously cool I <3 Vampires shirt. And who wouldn't?! They're fantastic. (Thanks for picking them up Ang) I'm so glad we have continued this, even though the movies are silly, it's just so fun. 

The Admiral

So, we've bought a new car...and yeah, it's a Cadillac! With our plans to move to Santa Clara, Casey was a little worried about the extra commuting time on the scooter, especially during the winter months. So we've been looking for a second vehicle. We really wanted to pay cash, but finding something under $5,000 that had lower miles and was slightly safe was feeling like it was becoming more and more unrealistic. I was playing around on auto trader yesterday and I saw this beauty for sale at a local dealership. I say to Casey, purely as a joke, we should go test drive this car. So we did...and here is what happened. We got the giggles. I say we should buy this car just because it is hilarious. We were laughing so hard. I had tears streaming down my face at the mere idea of Casey floating along in this boat. It was listed for $3500 and had 65,000 miles on it. So we bought it. Not only is actually a good deal, but it's a fully pimped out {leather, power everything, etc.} safe ride. Though the most important feature is that it is hilarious! I don't know when it will stop being funny, but I doubt it will be any time soon. And we have appropriately named him, "The Admiral".

Halloween

Jenna was a little bumble bee this year for Halloween. She was darling and loved her costume. We started the season with Trick or Treating at Casey's office. She was a total hit; but who wouldn't love a bee carrying a Winnie the Pooh? I'm glad we started trick or treating at the office so she could get down the concept a little before we hit the streets. On Halloween night we went over Papa Nick and Grandma Liisa Frei's neighborhood. There is a street just around the corner from their house that shuts the whole street down and the houses go all out. One house served up corn dogs, one popcorn, and one donuts along with all the other goodies. It was kind of amazing. Jenna had a great time with Grandma Liisa and we ran into Uncle Matthew and some co-workers of Casey's. It was such a fun night and more and more this city is starting to feel like home. 

Our little bee smelling the flowers. 

Liisa's daughter Maddi and her friend, as Quinn Fabray and Rachel Berry from Glee

Loves from Grandma Liisa and Papa Nick

Our traditional new Halloween pajamas!