...Night of Chocolate...

Every two years my mom, sisters, and I host a "Girls' Night Out" for my aunts and cousins on my mom's side of the family. It is one of my all-time favorite traditions! So this year, we decided on a chocolate theme and it turned out so cute and was so much fun! How can you go wrong with women and chocolate right? As you can see, we had plenty of chocolate treats and even pampered ourselves with chocolate face masks. Everyone left with a can of chocolate bath salts, a chocolate candle, and cookies. Such a fun night...loved it all!

These were our invitations...inside the box were the party details and a couple of chocolate candy bars.

The Chandelier decor turned out cute I thought, we found these glass vase-thingies at Tai Pan for $2.50 and filled them with different brown & red candies.

Place settings...so cheap...we just used different pieces of scrapbook paper. Then we slipped their name into a Hershey's Nugget.

This turned out so cute....our Ding Dong Cake!

So maybe I'm nerdy, but yes, this is me & Emerson dressed in Brown for the occasion.

Every chocolate-lover's dream...we had sooo many goodies! I don't know about you, but I just don't think you can ever have too much chocolate...seriously!

My all-time favorite: Monster Milkies...from the Sweets Factory in Salt Lake.

My cousin Tiff (in the picture) has a son, Trent DuVal who was just diagnosed with Lukemia...so we spent some time making dolls for Primary Children's Hospital. Tiff has been so strong through all of this, we'll keep hoping for the best!

So it might look scary, but we had fun with our chocolate face masks....yummmy!

That's the jist of it...very fun ladies! Can't wait for our next one in 2009! :)

"Walk With Me"

So here is my dad's newest painting, it's called "Walk With Me" and I think it's one of my favorite that he's done. He wrote a poem to go along with it...so I thought I would share!

"Walk with me," I heard him say, "Walk with me awhile today."

"Talk with me," I heard him speak, "Talk with me of the things you think."

Share with me the things you feel, Share with me so you can heal.

Cry with me through your heartbreaks, Cry with me when your soul aches.

Look with me a new sunrise! Look with me through opened eyes.

See with me the world anew, See with me my point of view.

Laugh with me in pure delight, Laugh with me it's all alright!

Sing with me as we stroll along, Sing with me I love your song.

Learn with me your wondrous story, Learn with me your prior glory.

Know with me just who you are, Know with me we've traveled far.

Create with me and dreams come true, Create with me I create through you!

Walk with me on Heaven's shore, Walk with me forever more!

Dressed for Success

So the other day we were headed out to run some errands, and I asked Zac to go get his shorts and crocs on. A few minutes later, he came running out and so proudly said, "Okay mom, my ready to go!" Ya' gotta love his backwards shorts and mismatching crocs...pretty cute I'd have to say!

...TweNtY iS PleNTy...

so i thought it would be fun to let you all in on 100 things about me that you may not already know...
but for now, here's 20!

1.) I hate seafood, but love sushi.
2.) I love to fold my laundry, but hate actually putting it away...so it ends up sitting all nicely folded in the laundry basket for days.
3.) I have a bad memory, which on one hand is a good thing, because I don't hold grudges. But on the other hand, it's a bad thing because I forget memorable moments.
4.) I love to bake and cook, but I don't enjoy grocery shopping.
5.) Programs I have "Tivo'd": Martha, Barefoot Contessa, Culinary Creations with Mary Craft, The Office, Super Nanny, Rachel Ray, Sesame Street, Dora, Go Diego Go!, The Backyardigans, Wonder Pets, and Blue's Clues.
6.) I do one Sudoku puzzle every night before bed.
7.) I love football...and am a huge Boise State fan, thanks to my hubby...Go Broncos!!
8.) I don't know how to snow ski, but I really want to take lessons...hopefully this winter I'll be brave enough.
9.) I hate doing my hair.
10.) I don't wash my face, although I have attempted many a times to follow tried and true skin care regimens.
11.) I can't sing...anyone who hears me will attest to that.
12.) I don't like being the center of attention.
13.) I'm lucky if my nails stay manicured for more than 2 days...yes I do bite and pick at them.
14.) My siblings would tell you I'm bossy.
15.) I'm horrible at taking vitamins.
16.) I don't sew...I can barely sew a button back on.
17.) I love to doodle. Give me a pen & paper, and I'll be entertained for who knows how long.
18.) My favorite snack is "Laughing Cow Cheese" spread on top of 3 crackers.
19.) I don't scrapbook, but love to make cards and other cute things out of paper!
20.) I hate unloading the dishwasher, but love to load it.

Soo Cute...

I saw this and thought it was such a cute and simple idea for a little party...the hats especially. Hmmm...I love gathering ideas, my problem is deciding on which ideas to actually use.

She's a Smiling!!

There's nothing better than a baby's smile!! It is truly my favorite thing ever to see her smile and hear her starting to jibber jabber. This last weekend we were in Boise visiting Chad's parents and they pulled out some pictures of Zac when he was a baby and can I just tell you that it is crazy how much Emerson and Zac look alike! I knew that she resembled him, but since my pictures are in storage, I haven't had a chance to really compare the two of them side by side. It's pretty fun, I was hoping that they'd resemble each other and they sure do. I'll have to post some of Zac's baby pictures...once I decide to pull them out of storage!! :)

Fourth of July Festivities

The cupcakes turned out pretty cute...and they tasted even better. Heather has a Magnolia's recipe book...and let me tell you...it has the best recipes ever! Mmmm...the banana pudding is to die for...(if you ever end up buying it!)


Here are the cute favor boxes that my mom and sisters put together. It was decorated so cute, the food was delicious, and everyone seemed to be having a great time...what more could you ask for?!


Zac had a great time playing with water balloons thanks to Uncle Nate...and he managed to stay dry...even better!!



Here's Brynn, Danny, and Kalle at the Stadium of Fire...It's so fun having them back from Hawaii!! Kalle is the cutest thing ever...hard to believe she's already 3 months! You would never know she was a preemie, she's packed on the pounds...already a whopping 11 pounds!


And here's Zac with his aunts. Ya' gotta love Zac's infamous cheeser of a smile that can drive me crazy sometimes b/c it's hard to get a decent picture of the kid...but I love him like crazy! Brooke loved looking like a movie star all throughout the day with her adorable sunglasses on everywhere she went...pretty cute!


Me and my favorite guy in the whole world! At the Stadium of Fire this year they showed a clip of families in Utah sending their loved ones away to war. I can't even imagine how hard that would be to have to have to say goodbye to Chad not knowing when I'd see him again. The whole night was awesome...each year I come away with a greater appreciation for all the men and women who sacrifice their lives in our behalf...we have a lot to be grateful for.


Emerson sleeping so peacefully! I was surprised at how well she did, well I shouldn't have been surprised, she really is a great baby. But I wasn't sure how well she'd do with all the noise. Thanks to the nice people in front of us, they let us have some earplugs and she actually ended up sleeping through most of the Brooks and Dunn concert and the entire fireworks show...crazy!


Me and Brynn with our "All American Girls"! It's pretty fun having our girls so close in age. I have a feeling that a lot of fun lies ahead for us!