What's On My Happy List?

Kyleigh's Piano Recital Kyleigh's recital piece was Doyle's "My Father's Favorite" from Sense and Sensibility, my all time favorite movie. Even though I've heard this song a million times, I could shed a tear every time I hear it. It's so beautiful. You nailed it Kyleigh!!! And what a relief to have it over.

Emma's Art Show

This was Emma's latest masterpiece from this semester of art. WOW!

Emmas's 5th Grade State Report-
Oh the joys of school projects that keep us up until the wee hours of the morning.

Emma with some of her friends at the State Fair...

Hannah's Soccer Season comes to an end...

What's On My Happy List?

PJ DAY at Preschool

Today had to have been Brie's favorite day at preschool. It was PJ day!!! This girl loves her pajamas. Like seriously. She NEVER wants to get dressed unless she absolutely has to go somewhere. And she rarely wants to go anywhere (miss homebody) so therefore 95% of the time she's in her pj's with her hair undone, looking like a rugrat. No lie. On the occasion that she does have to get dressed and go someplace, when we arrive back home she'll go get her p.j.s back on. lol I happen to be THE COMPLETE OPPOSITE...like to the extreme. I would pick fashion over comfort any day. Call me crazy! So you would think this fetish Brie has with pj's would drive me nuts but I learned a long time ago to just let it go. You learn to pick your battles. And this one is not worth the fight. If she's happy as can be being in her pj's all day so be it. (can't ya tell she's my youngest and not the firstborn?) Brie did tell me today on our way out the door for preschool that I do dress her cute. So that is encouraging. Maybe there is hope for a day when I can keep her dressed. :)

What's On My Happy List?

Whatever -













I admit it. I love the slang word 'whatever'. I don't know of another word that can express your indifference (or reluctant agreement depending on your situation) quite like this word can. I probably say it way too much but I can't help it. I like it.

So you can imagine how pleased I was this past weekend when I saw this "whatever" clock hanging in the new room that Grandpa has recently built on to the family trailer.

"Whatever" goes pretty much summed up our Memorial Day weekend at Scofield lake. Time just kinda disappears when we are up there. If you want to stay in bed till 9:30 in the morning. Whatever. If you wanted to fish till the cows came home. Whatever. If you want to ATV in the rain. Whatever. If you want to watch four movies in one day. Whatever. If you want to lounge around and read. Whatever. If you want to make sandcastles in the sand or sit around the campfire and pig out on smores. Whatever. To us Scofield=Whatever and it's lovely.... And I can still say that even when I narrowly escaped a third degree burn from a flying, burning marshmallow that landed on my capri pant cuff, inches away from my bare skin. Yes, for a split few seconds this weekend I was literally on fire. Never had that happen before but hey WHATEVER!

What's On My Happy List?

Fun in the kitchen and Gift Giving.......

Our YW recently had an Italian cooking night for our weekly activity. We made an Italian meal and then went to one of my favorite places...Bellisimo Gelato for a tour and dessert. When our YW Pres. tried Mascarpone for the first time and loved the taste of it I knew just what to make her for her upcoming birthday. I made a trip to the Mediterranean Market on State where they carry European Specialty foods to get the main ingredient. On Sunday Grandma helped me make these puffed pastries filled with mascarpone, a sweet Italian cheese. They look sorta gourmet'ish but they are easy to make and taste heavenly! In my thrift store jaunts I found two perfect glass pieces to make her this pedestal to present the pastries on. It cost me a whopp'in $2.75. I tell ya making these pedestals are cheaper than buying a gift bag.

On Saturday Emma wanted to put her cake decorating skills to work to make a "Pixie Hollow" cake for a good neighbor friend who was celebrating her 8th birthday. We got our creative

juices flowing and this was our finished product. We had so much

fun decorating it with icing and fake flowers. We even had miniature bugs and Tinkerbell! We displayed the cake on a pedestal that I made for $2 dollars. squeal

What's On My Happy List?

My Dancing Queens-

After four hour long dance tryouts held last night Kyleigh found out this afternoon that she made Company, the highest dance class in the program. Whoo hoo!! Only fifteen dancers get the coveted title of being a STARLETTE. Out of a program that has over 300 students it is quite the accomplishment. There was only five available spots Can you say drama? and Kyleigh was able to nab one. Way to go Kyleigh!! We are immensely proud of you as well as Emma who moved from a Sr. Starlette up to the rank of Starlette Dancer. All that hard work does pay off.

What's On My Happy List?

Breakfast in Bed....on a Monday morning...

I'm feel'in the love. Mother's Day was extended around here as I was still getting special treatment as of this morning. Emma served me breakfast in bed and what a treat that was....every Monday morning should start out this way! I believe she got the idea yesterday in Primary when the kids made these "Breakfast in Bed" bags. They drew pictures of their mom in bed, (what a kick) put the drawing on a sack with a cute poem and filled it with breakfast food items. Emma really did it up right this morning fixing me some whole grain eggo waffles, strawberries, lemon yogurt and hot chocolate presented to me on a silver tray. She even offered to ask Grandma or Grandpa to take her and Hannah to school so I could just stay in bed. lol I thought I better not milk it, so after eating I got up. What a thoughtful kid she is.

I loved the little gifts the girls made at school to give to me for Mother's Day....Emma wrote her autobiography, a book of poems from Hannah and the tinest little pot with clay flowers and ladybug made by Brie.

Quote of the week: Yesterday, Brie woke up from a nap (which she rarely takes anymore, so THAT in itself was a Mother's Day gift) and said to me...."I love you mom...you make me smile." I've never heard you make me smile come out of her mouth before. lol

SHE makes me smile. She is such a loverbug! Here I am pictured on my special day, one being strangle-hugged by Brie and one with not.

Happy Mother's Day!

What's On My Happy List?

Tea Parties!

We had our first annual Mother's Day Weekend Tea Party. As the English would say...It was "brilliant"!

{I personally am not a hat person, like...at all. But the rule was you had to wear one to the party
or you couldn't come...so of course I obliged}

{We ate an assortment of finger foods... crab salad on toasted bread shaped like fish, cucumber sandwiches, a tuna, egg and creamcheese sandwhich roll, English biscuits, an assortment of cheeses...one being England's Stilton blueberry cheese on pound cake, little cheesecakes, chocolate dipped strawberries as well as strawberry/tapioca mini pudding pies, English chocolate and Fruit Squash drink....not only did everything look so delicate and f-a-b-u-l-o-u-s...it tasted d-u-l-i-s-h!}
{Here is Brie trying to learn how to hold a tea cup properly, she raised her index finger instead
of her pinkie finger...so cute!}

{my prim and proper Kyleigh}

{Hannah's mouth full of ...Galaxy Chocolate }

{Emma did a b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l job setting the table}

{Grandma is simply amazing at putting on a spread such as this. She is the best cook! Other than the strawberry pudding mini pies that I made and making a run to the London Market, she was the mastermind behind all the other delicious finger foods.}

{Dori stuck a flower in a cowboy/fishing straw hat in order to gain admittance into the party}

Crack me up!

{After tea we went out for an English game of croquet}

{Emma and Grandma working as a team...as usual}

{Our croquet champion}

{We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves this evening and have already planned to make this a tradition every Mother's Day weekend. I just love that I have all girls. Seriously. Although

a butler would come in handy on occasions such as these.}

{I'm overjoyed with my Mother's Day gift this year...even if it's my Anniversary gift and quite possibly my birthday gift too (LOL). My sister says I'm not allowed to say how much we spent to get 7TH. ROW. IL DIVO. TICKETS. for their upcoming Salt Lake City concert. Let's just say the tickets were almost four times the amount we have paid for our Vegas tickets. I'll just leave it at that. To say I'm stoked is an understatement..... Twenty six more days and I'll be front and center listening to this.......whoo hoo!}

What's On My Happy List?

DIY Cake Pedestals-

Did you know you could make your own cake stands?

I sure didn't. But my niece Chelsey taught me how and I think it could be my new favorite hobby. squeal. Lately, I've been searching Thrift shops as well as an antique store to find just the right pieces that will go together. They are SUPER inexpensive to make. Who wants to spend $30 or more for a cake pedestal when you can find pieces to make your own for a couple of dollars? Seriously, some pieces I've found for .75 cents. These pedestals pictured are some my niece made.

I made one similar to this flower one (mine was slightly more bowl shaped) for a friend who came into town to bless her baby this weekend. She was throwing a "pink party" for family and friends for the special occasion. I'm such a sucker for anything pink. Because she lives back East, she didn't have all her party "things" for entertaining. I knew she was without her antique pink cake pedestal that she practically carried home from Paris a few years ago. Being the Paris Loving friend that I am, I tried to make up for her loss by making her a glass pedestal that she could hold little "tiney" pink cupcakes in from SO CUPCAKE. The only thing is, in the craziness of this past weekend, I forgot to take a picture of it before I wrapped it and gave it to her. So I had to copy and paste this photo from her blog. Hope that is okay Andie. Anyhow this pedestal is upside down in the picture but at least you get the idea.

Hoping to make some cake stands with the miscellaneous pieces that I have found so that Emma, having finished her cake decorating class, will have something to display her cakes on. I'm thinking these would be great to have for a tea party too. Speaking of tea parties. Our Jane Austen book club met to watch "Sense and Sensibility". We had English scones with currents, goodies from the London Market and drank Squash, a citrus-based drink that is popular in the UK. We used 60 yr old tea cups that I had brought from my mother-in-law's collection. It was delightful! Emma's got a tea party planned for mother's day weekend. Can't wait..

What's On My Happy List?

Our Cinco De Mayo Celebration-
I've said this before but I'll say it again.
I'll take any excuse to celebrate....

especially if it is theme oriented.....

Ole!

We had quite the Mexican spread to celebrate Cinco De Mayo
...taquito's, empanada's & mini taco's with mango salsa and
chips for appetizers and the main dish was Taco salad that we
ate from the tortilla shell bowls that I baked.

My favorite was the non alcoholic margarita's that we made.
We topped everything off with Emma's killer Mexican Sheet
Cake and Fried Ice-cream. It was YUMMY!

What's On My Happy List?

Dancing Girls-
The girls had their Spring Dance Recital
this weekend. They performed songs
that were hits on American Bandstand.
Barry Manilow's 1969 "Bandstand Boogie",
Little Richard's "Tutti Frutti", Oingo Boingo's
1987 hit "We Close Our Eyes", the Rivieras'
"California Sun", the 1976 hit "Turn the Beat Around",
Robert Palmer's "Simply Irresistible" and Kenny
Loggins' "Footloose". It was great fun!

Flowers from Daddy...the prettiest roses
I've EVER seen.

Kyleigh's congratulatory flower and rose from
her Young Women leaders and her special
admirer.

Emma on Monday night with a
gift from her boy (who is just a )
friend.

Warning...Journal Entry for this
weekend gone public. lol
Whoa, what a whirlwind weekend! It was filled with
Dance, Dance and everything else in between. Here's
just a glimpse of my weekend starting Friday morning
...finished packing Brie to go with Daddy on a fishing
overnighter up to Scofield. Got a haircut, ran three
errands. Tutored at the center. Ran another errand.
Kids home from school. Took Kyleigh to her 4 1/2 hour
dance rehearsal at 4:00. Came back home, took Hannah
to her rehearsal 45 mintues later. Stayed to watch.
Brought her home and then took Emma to her 2 hr.
rehearsal. Ran one more errand plus went grocery
shopping with Hannah. Picked up Kyleigh and Emma.
Dinner. (thanks to Wendy's) Some TLC TV. Bed at
Midnight. Up at 6:00. Took Kyleigh to another dance
rehearsal at 6:15 AM. Came home and crawled back in
bed. Picked Kyleigh up at 8:15 from rehearsal. Came
home. Got ready. Took Hannah to another rehearsal
at 9:15. Had to nix her soccer game. Kyleigh leaves to
attend a dance workshop where she received instruction
from a Masterclass who is in Wicked. Ran to Costco.
Picked up Hannah 45 minutes later. Came home.
Decorated for our Cinco De Mayo celebration this weekend
all while baking taco bowl shells and helping Emma bake a
cake. Took Emma to her final dance rehearsal at 1:45. Stayed
to watch. Came home. Got six dance teacher thank you gifts
ready. The next two hours were spent getting Kyleigh and
Hannah performance ready for their dance recital Sat. night.
Major production...
let's just say we keep the beauty supply industry in business.
Dozens of bobby pins, two different hair gels, hair gloss, hair
piece, and ribbon = One perfect ballet bun and pig tail do.
Now on to the makeup routine (my favorite)...foundation,
bronzer, blush, sparkles, red lipstick and all the eye essentials
which includes gluing 7 starlette stars around Kyleigh's eyes.
Jaren gets home from Scofield with Brie. He takes Kyleigh and
Hannah for curtain call. Recital time. After three and a half
hours I've watched two shows, each with 24 dance numbers.
We celebrate a job well done by going out to dinner with four
other dancing families. During our meal I got a kick out of
watching Kyleigh having to sit by the boy who has the hots for
her. We come home happy but exhausted.


Hannah danced twice, Kyleigh, a total of 10 times with 8 costume
changes. I figured in just two days I had driven to the school 10
times AND that does not include the 10 ten times I've been there
Mon-Thurs. of this week for routine dance lessons. It's crazy but
I love it! And good thing I do, because I get to do it all over again
for Monday night's recital. This time it's Emma's night to shine
along side with Kyleigh.

Favorite Quote of the weekend...As I'm doing Kyleigh's hair for
the show she says..."Just think Mom, you could be doing this for
the next 10 years!" And I hope I do. Heck, I've been doing dance
up do's for the past 8 yrs. what's another 10?
(Brie starts dance this fall, so if she follows in her sister's dancing
footsteps, her statement will be so very true.)

I didn't even get to our Sunday events...my friend's baby
blessing, the "pink party" gift I made (I think I may have found
a new hobby) and our Cinco de Mayo celebration. More on all
that.... later.