Party Favor central

Photo Essay of a Party Favor

Photo below courtesy of Angie Gubler at Blonde Designs. Original ice cream photo of Gabby courtesy of Haley Ann Warner photography.

Melting Ice Cream

Some scenes from Gabby's Ice Cream Party

1. Gabby and Friends 2. Gabby wearing the top of the Ice Cream Pinata

3. Enjoying Ice Cream Treats 4. "Pin the Cherry" on Gabby's Ice Cream

For more pics check out my dear friend, Angie. She designed the invites, and party favor tags and was kind enough to think our soiree warranted a post on her all things fabulous blog.

Notes to self:

1)Next time check to see if party location (aka Spring Mountain Ranch) is hosting an annual festival on the day of the party that would prevent you from hosting your own annual festival! In my defense, Spring Mountain Ranch is one of Las Vegas's secret jewels--no one is ever there when I'm up there, so I thought I was safe!

2) File under "Whose Party is this Anyway." I spent a lot of time, 2 weekends, prepping Gabby's adorable party favors (see angie's blog and my next post ) which melted in the unseasonably hot sun of late September. Next time, Simplify!

3) 20 kids is a lot of kids! Gabby is quite the social gal. She simply couldn't cut the guest list down and in fact added to it on a daily basis. After church one day when a girl in her Primary class was quite rude to her, Miss Gabby informed me that she needed to give XX an invitation to her birthday party. "That will make her so happy and she wouldn't act the way she did today if she were happy."

As I finished writing this post, I was reminded that today marks the actual day that we brought Gabby home 5 years ago. She was a mere 12 days old and the most beautiful baby I'd ever seen. I still see in my mind's eye that little baby every night I tuck her in to bed and I'm so proud of the sweet girl she's become.

Gabby's hit the big 5!

Today marked the birthday of my dear Gabriella. She turned the big 5 today and feels very grown up. As she said, now she can say she's five like everyone else in her kindergarten class.

She woke up uncustomarily early for her (7:30am) and told me she wanted pizza for her birthday breakfast. I told her I couldn't really whip that up before school so she decided a blueberry banana smoothie and some cinnamon toast sounded like a good Plan B.

Her celebration today included delivering custom cupcakes (shown in picture above) made by Mimi (my mom) and her Ellie Lou (Ellie Lou is what my mother calls Gabby), a post-school dip in the pool, and a night out on the town at CheeBurger where the balloon lady whipped up a Princess Ariel and the whole restaurant clapped for Gabby's big day. Gabby said it was "the best day ever!"

Saturday is the official birthday bash. Angie, my dear friend, who is a better Martha than Martha, designed the invites, thank you cards, and favor tags. Photos to come of the party next week.

Back to School

So today marks a lot of things in our household. While the weather hasn't changed much, my summer is officially over, it's Gabby's first day of big girl school, aka Kindergarten, and our 13th wedding anniversary. I know you readers are thinking we look far to young to be married 13 years.

Today began with me rising earlier than my daughter--shocking--to make her requested breakfast. She wanted a smoothie and pancakes for breakfast. The whole family then escorted miss gabby to school and did the photo thing. She picked her ensemble out, complete with knee highs. My fancy nancy loves those accessories.

I held up bravely until I got home and then I cried like a baby. I have been sitting on the couch working and secretly trying to plan out how I could make it back to the school playground in sunglasses and a wig to see how she's doing, but I think I'll refrain--we don't want the cops to pick me up on the first day of school.

I am looking forward to after school where I can chat with Gabby about her day over cookies and milk.

I am also planning on a retro dinner for Justin tonight. Retro, as in 13 years ago--which means I will light the stove on fire, burn the dessert, and we'll head for take-out.

One Quick Thing

So I am technically on Summer Hiatus from blogging--I know I didn't really clue you readers in on my hiatus, but you are smart readers and have figured it out for yourself by now.

I had to quickly put this one down for posterity though:

Today, July 30 at approximately 8:00am this morning Gabby walks into my bedroom after waking up for the day. (Yes my daughter takes after my love of early mornings and doesn't rise until she absolutely has to!)

Mommy: Good morning miss Gabby!


Gabby: Mommy I just have to say that you are the best mommy ever and I am the best Gabby ever and Daddy is the best daddy ever because he cleans up after us!



Love that Gabby girl.


Happy Summer--only a few weeks left and then I'll be back at blogging school.

Oh the Places You'll Go!

Gabby reached her first educational milestone--she graduated from Pre-School. My 4 year old is a true smarty pants. I'll brag for grandma and grandpa's sake--she's mastered 52 sight words and read 46 books on her own. As a mom, moments generally fall into two categories: 1) moments you want to freeze time because it was picture perfect or 2)those you want to fast forward because in the words of Miss Kara, you've gone to "crazy town." I can honestly say that seeing my girl ready to take on the world of big time kindergarten, I was so thrilled for her possibilities, I just wanted to fast forward just for a moment to see a glimpse of what she will become.

Congratulations my sweet Gabby--in the words of Dr. Seuss "OH the places you'll go!"

Gabby's New Do

Off the Reservation

I am sorry I have been MIA lately. I haven't been in the blogging mood. Not that I haven't had some fun things to say, but just no umph to say them to the 5 faithful readers of my blog :). But I have decided that I break healthy habits way too easily (in this case using my blog as a journal) while I continue to embrace empty habits all to often (watching too much reality TV). So here is a photo essay of what we've been doing the last month.

If you didn't write in the captions yourself--lots of SOCCER for miss Gabby, a quick trip to Disneyland with the Jones Grandparents, and Justin finished his first triatholon. I finished two month's worth of book club books and highly recommend both of them--one for some in-depth looks at good and evil and the other is a quick read, but amazingly written, heartbreaking and thought provoking.

Our New Addition

Her name is Kit and she was born in 1923, but didn't arrive until Santa brought her to our home in late December of last year, Christmas Eve to be exact. From day one, Kit has been attached to Gabby's hip, but just recently it has taken on a whole new level because I decided to surprise them both with matching nightgowns.

Now, neither Kit or Gabby will take the nightgown off until I get them another matching outfit! I am no seamstress, nor am I made of American Girl dollars, so if you see Gabby and Kit shuffling around in their nightgowns please don't judge :).

Happy Friday!

Update on last week's post: For those wondering, I created a full week meal plan on Sunday night and we stuck to it. We had a nice family dinner together every night but Thursday (because of my book club posse).

I'm Bringing (Sexy) Dinner Back

Sorry for the lame attempt at using a JT song for my post, but I just watched him on Oprah today and he is just so yummy!

Last night was our Church's Relief Society Birthday Party dinner. A shout out to miss Angie and her team--it was a fabulous event! We had a guest speaker, the talented miss Erin Buck, who talked about making family dinners a priority.

Among other great nuggets, Erin cited studies from Columbia University that found children who have family dinner consistently (5 nights a week) are less likely to engage in drug use and promiscuous activity--fascinating stuff!

The stars must all be aligned on this family dinner thing because I was also reading Design Mom today and she had a guest blogger discussing family meal time. She referenced a fabulous article from Cookie mag. There are lots of reasons that we get in ruts--many of us have kids who are picky eaters, we work full time and can't imagine fitting in one more thing, husband's work late, or we just generally have a lot on our plates (no pun intended). But I've been re-awakened to how important this time is for our little family.

I found a fun weekly meal worksheet, complete with space to make your grocery list. Go to http://www.theprojectgirl.com/2009/01/19/menu-planning-form-free-download/.

I am energized and inspired. Share some of the recipes and ideas that work for you!

“Creating this ritual where you turn off the TV, ignore the phone and just spend quality time together is crucial to helping your children feel emotionally, spiritually and mentally balanced. We all can generate a list of reasons why we cannot possibly fit dinner with the family into our schedule. The time has come to say enough with the excuses and just do it. Trust me, it means more to your kids’ futures than you think. If I can find the time to have meals with my family, so can you. ”
Jamie Lee Curtis

And of course, for Grandma Lue and cousin M, a Gabby picture for your weekend--we played with make-up and curling irons this week!

First Signs of Spring

Gabby was taking a nap today, yes my 4 year old still naps on occasion--it is lovely! I cleaned the bathrooms on Saturday, did a load of laundry yesterday, so without guilt, I decided to take the opportunity to soak up some sun in the backyard and read my book club selection.



I was not really paying much attention to how much time had passed, but I heard the porch door open and looked back to see Gabby dressed in her bathing suit with a copy of Alice in Wonderland. Truly the first signs of Spring are upon us--Las Vegas style that is.

(I love how gabby created her own little Zen space, complete with a little bud vase of flowers)

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Some days, you get gems that are too funny and you just have to write them down.


7:14 a.m."Dad, how does Santa know what we want for Christmas? He must talk to Jesus and Heavenly Father and they tell him what I want from my prayers."





7:27 p.m."Poop is strong. People are strong. Peepee is not strong."

Takin Time to Love

So I stole this idea from my gal pal over at Focus Jennie!

This Valentine's Day week I am loving:

Giving the ducks a little love at Sunset Park.

A rockin' Yoga workout complete with some Chocolate Dipped Strawberries.

Letting Gabby create her own Valentines and being just fine with her getting glue and glitter all over the kitchen and the office and the bathroom, etc.

Seeing my Gabster so excited about getting love notes from her friends at preschool.

Having AHA! moments at Parenting Class this week. Thanks Kara!

Taking in a celestial experience with family. Congratulations Emilee, Danny and baby Summer!

Throwing a surprise dinner party for an old *not in age* friend.

Celebrating the birthday of another old (not in age) friend.

Running on a crisp February morning with this dear friend.

Decorating the dining room table for our pre-V-Day dinner.

Making a mess with Gabby as we cooked Daddy a home cooked pre-V-Day dinner

The Menu

--Parmesan Crusted Tilapia

--Roasted Fingerling Potatoes

--Tomato Avocado Salad

--Fresh Bread

--Panna Cotta with Blueberry Compote

Runnin' Rebels game tomorrow night with my honey!

Have a lovely LoVE day!

The Party!

After the solemn afternoon, it was time to celebrate! The pictures pretty much say it all.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Part of History

Make a Smilebox postcard

As you can see, we had a truly incredible time in Washington, D.C. Gabby stayed with our parents (THANK YOU!!) and we partied like Barack Stars! We started off at the Washington Monument Jan 18th for the Concert of ONE--Bruce Springsteen, Garth Brooks, Bon Jovi, Patti LaBelle, and U2. It was giant love fest. We were packed in like sardines, but nobody seemed to mind.

January 19th--We celebrated Martin Luther King Day with my boss, Senator Harry Reid at his lunch for Nevadans.

January 20th, Inauguration Day! We woke up EARLY and put on the thermal underwear to truck down to the Capitol for the big moment. I have never seen so many people in one area in my life--but everyone was so happy to be there and the unity was palpable. It felt like the whole world was celebrating.

One of my favorite passages from Obama's Address:

"On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness."

I feel so blessed to be part of the historic moment and so inspired to continue to participate in our government. There are times where I am cynical--I have been in the "business" of politics for a long time, but this feels different. Even if you don't agree with all of Obama's policies, his campaign has shown that we can make a difference when we work together. As they say--Obama's slogan is "Yes WE Can."

Off Like A Herd of Turtles!

Tomorrow I am off to our NATION'S CAPITAL where 2 million people will be crowding the city I once lived in to see history and I am thrilled to be a part of it. But I can guarantee it will be one large herd of VERY COLD turtles. I plan to post some pics while I am out there to my FACEBOOK account--hopefully you all are my friends :).

BTW--on a totally unrelated topic and if you didn't already know--NIE IS BACK!

Jones Winter Olympics 2008

The day after my family Christmas we piled into the car bright and early to get over to Utah to celebrate Christmas #2 with Justin's side of the family. Our timely start turned into quite the adventure as we--and when I say we I really mean JUSTIN--ran out of gas about a mile from Cedar City. A nice couple picked Justin up while Gabby and I waited in a freezing car. He returned with some gas and some profuse apologies, but the car decided not to start. So we sat in the same freezing car for another 45 minutes waiting for AAA to come give us a jump. Twelve--yes 12 hours later we arrived at our destination.

Once in Salt Lake though, we wasted no time. Justin's family rolled out the red carpet for us. We first hit the Nutcracker, complete with a Sugar Plum Fairy backstage party after the ballet ended. The event sealed the deal for Gabby and she now wants to be a prima ballerina when she grows up.

Day 2 of our Jones Winter Olympics included a morning of sledding and an afternoon of ice skating with a dose of hot chocolate and a nice nap!

Did we stop there you ask? NO--we decided to go skiing/snowboarding (Me on skis and Justin on a board). Gabby hit ski school and had a ball with "Fancy Nancy," her instructor. I don't think Justin could have been more proud of his little snow bunnies.

I have to say, looking back at December, we really packed everything possible into one month. I'm not sure if I would do it that way again, but we did have a wonderful time. Come on--snorkeling AND skiing in the space of a couple weeks--Joie de vivre!