Nauvoo Preforming Arts...

While we were in Historic Nauvoo we made sure to see a few of the plays and variety shows that they had.  I was so impressed with them, especially the young adults who where there serving a 3 month Performing Arts Mission.  And I cannot leave out the amazing Senior Missionaries serving in Nauvoo - they were wonderful as well.

You can get a list of the various shows that are performed and the dates here...

Sunset by the Mississippi

Youth of Zion

Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo

 We also saw The Promise but didn't manage to get any pictures...

Sweet Summer Time...

Well I must admit I have certainly taken a long break from blogging this year.  That isn't to say I haven't had lots of great things to blog about.  Actually so many projects I haven't had time to blog.  BUT I have been trying to take pictures, save documents, etc. so that now that I have a little free time in the summer I can share them with you.

This summer has started out crazy but I am happy to say I am finding some down time at our lake house.

I could live here permanently - or at least I think I could!  

...so here are a few things I have been working on that I am going to get posted over the next couple of weeks...

Girl's Camp & All of It's Adventures

(Oh the Crafts, Glorious Crafts)

My Spring Garden

Canning some of my Harvest

Bread & Jam

Just a sneak peek!

Midnight Snacks

By far my most popular post and pinterest pin has been my Backyard Campout post.  I thought it would be nice to share the PDF for the various labels I used to go along with the party favors.

So here they are...
(For some reason when I link to them from the blog it looks as though the graphics did not come through correctly, but when you select print or download the PDF it opens perfectly!)

Chow Time Blue PDF

Chow Time Green PDF

Chow Time Pink PDF

Midnight Snacks Blue PDF

Midnight Snacks Green PDF

Midnight Snacks Pink PDF

S'More Fun Blue PDF

S'More Fun Green PDF

S'More Fun Pink PDF

I printed the "Chow time" and "Take Home S'More Fun" on card stock, and I printed the "Midnight Snack" labels on a solid sheet of sticker paper.  Just used my paper cutter - worked great.  You of course, can print them on whatever you wish!

Letter Press

Today, while in search of ideas for a graduation party,
I came across the most lovely site. 

I had to share it.

My sister and I love paper and type setting.
I will play around with fonts for hours

(until I finally am to exhausted to continue the craziness). 

Trying to find the right invitation is, well, really important.  

After all, it is the first impression people get.

Everything else just follows suit!

Now I know a lot of you are thinking, 

"Oh my gosh - is this woman for real!"

YES - I am.

But then again, I am a crazy detail oriented person.  

And, I do love color, fonts, and pretty paper -
put them together to make a beautiful invitation... 

well let's just say I feel complete JOY.

Click on picture to link to the source & site.

A Backyard Campout

As kids get older it's harder and harder to find fun birthday celebrations that aren't just crazy expensive.  This year we decided to have a Backyard Campout to celebrate my son's 13th birthday.  So I thought I would share a few photos.

I finally posted PDFs for the labels!

The midnight snack included: trail mix, Pringles singles, Slim Jim, a Glow stick, and a small whoopee cushion.

Who doesn't love a s'more!

Luckily we have a pool so that was free entertainment. The boys arrived around 4:30 and stayed until 4:30 the next day.  At first I thought no big deal, but then I realized I would need to find a few things to fill the time.  I purchased Mess Kits at Wal-Mart and the boys used them to eat their Foil dinner in.  For those of you not familiar with what a foil dinner is - you use ground beef as a base and load sliced or cubed potatoes, carrots, celery, onions, and the boys added cheese as well.  Wrap it up in heavy duty foil, then another layer of foil for extra protection.  Write the boys name on the outside and stick it on hot coals or in our case, the grill. That night we had a fire and roasted marshmallows to make s'mores.  Played a few rounds of Man Hunt and of course sat around the fire way to late.

Next day after breakfast and a quick swim, I sent the boys on a neighborhood scavenger hunt - this was pretty fun. Then we finished up the afternoon with a little bit of wii games.

Hope you enjoy the idea! Be sure to search it on pinterest as well - lots of cute ideas there.

Game Party

Our family loves to play games when we get together.   Phase 10 and Dominoes are two of our favorites, but last March we were introduced to a really fun dice game called "FARKLE".  So when my son's birthday came around, just a few weeks later, we took our inspiration from;

I wasn't sure how that would work out for twelve, twelve year old, so we just evolved to a Rotating Game Party. 

I will share that this was a very last minute party idea, so I was going for something that was simple.  Game boards are so colorful and fun all by themselves, that I kinda let that be the decoration.
I did say I wanted something simple, right?!

 

So here was how it went...

As the kids came in they drew a color chip (red, green, yellow, or blue).

Each color chip had a number on it - 1, 2, or 3. So there were four 1's, four 2's, & four 3's.

The number corresponded to a particular game table already set up. 

The color was the chair they sat in.

As they began to play a timer was set for 10 minutes.

When the timer went off they rotated to the next game - 

sitting in their color seat and picking up exactly where 

the previous player left off.

After about 40 minutes or so of this we ate and did all the usual birthday hoopla. 

To finish the party they all played 

Apples to Apples together.

It was really fun & the kids laughed the whole time.

I am sure I could have gotten more elaborate, but this was great for a fast and EASY party.

At the 3 tables we played; SORRY!, Yahtzee!, & Pictureca!