When I was younger, highschool age, I use to call my family “mi familia.” The reason was two fold — I love the Spanish language and I felt like the Spanish culture had a different meaning for family. Spanish families are always close knit and care for each other in any way possible, never abandoning one another. Now, don’t attack me if your family is Spanish and you have seen otherwise, this is just something that I have noticed in some of the Spanish families that I have known and also saw as I studied the Spanish culture. I admire that so much because family in America is so different than that.

Not my family! I love my family! We stick together through the good times and the bad. We are there for every single celebration, big or little.

And there they are… the whole gang (missing: Joe, Ixchel, Julianne and dear Grandpa (RIP). I just wanted to share how special my family is to me. We are unique from many families out there. Many families desire to be close to their families the way that we are. As the grandchildren continue to grow up, get married, graduate from college and succeed in their careers, we are slowly seeing each other just a little bit less and it makes you miss the old times when responsibility didn’t come in the way of family. But we are strong and I don’t see us ever stopping the love and time together.

And just for the fun of it, I thought I would include a video the usual fam jam session and a photo of myself with my Grandma and cousin Jasmine. This photo is my favorite photo right now. The smile on my Grandma’s face is priceless and she is beautiful!

… phew, weddings can be a bit crazy sometimes!

This last week I was working oober hard on my cousin’s wedding photo board! It was the worst week ever to have a major creative block… But I made it through. Once I decided to make my own roses, versus using fake ones, things started rolling a bit more smoothly for me (the NIGHT before the wedding!!!!). Thought I would share a quick little tutorial on how I made these cute little gals!

All you need are the following:

• Glue Gun (& Glue Sticks…)
• A 3×3″ or 4×4″ Piece of Cardstock
• One or Two 1″ Strips of Paper (I don’t really recommend cardstock for this)
• Pearls or Buttons or Brads (anything really!) for the center.

Now, just follow these easy steps:

1. Fold your 1″ strips of paper in half (lengthwise) and crumple it up in a scrunching motion.
2. Then twist the paper while continuing to scrunch. (This is the crazy part, because you may not fully understand that last step but you just need to play with your paper in order to make the rose they way you want)
3. Make a small 1 1/2″ circle of glue on the cardstock square
4. Quickly curl the first end of your scrunched strip of paper into a small circle and press down onto the glue.
5. Add more glue around the edge of your center circle and press the remainder of your strip down.
6. Once your flower is the size you would like, simply cut the flower out of the cardstock square and glue down your rose center of choice (I used 3 pearls for my larger roses and 1 for my smaller ones)

The best part about these roses is that you can make them as crumpled or smooth as you want and really cater to your project by using different types of paper or center embellishments! I love an accessory that is versatile! Yay! I used them all over the photo board for the wedding, along with some left over fake leaves I had. I think it turned out beautifully, myself :)

The whole wedding was absolutely gorgeous! Hot pink with some orange, light pink and greens throughout… it was perfect for Katie (who was even more gorgeous). We danced the night away and had a blast. Here is a photo of  the finished product and a couple of the wedding itself, because it was too beautiful not to share :) Have a wonderful weekend!

I hope that you all have a very blessed Easter with your families!

Just a quick reflection on what Easter means to me: Each year, I walk through the aisles of Easter candy (and toys) and can never get myself to purchase anything. While it is just my hubby and I, I cant deny the temptation to make him a basket full of goodies — but when I am there to pick it all out, I just cant! I am not saying Easter baskets are bad or that I wont do them for my children in the future… but I do know that I want to keep the reason for Easter the most important point of the day/week. Christ died FOR ME so that I wouldnt have to take on the punishment for MY SIN. That is huge! There are people I would die for… but Christ carried every single one of our sins (the entire world’s) on His back, making His death beyond anything we could ever imagine. I am so thankful for His love, that He would carry my sins for me.

If anyone has any fun ways to keep the fun traditions of Easter without taking away from the true reason of the celebration, I would love to hear them! ** Check out some fun activities at the end of this post to try out too!

Blessings to you all as you spend this day rejoicing in the Lord’s sacrifice and vitctory! I have also included a passage that I will hold on to during the day tomorrow…

Isaiah 53

¹ Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

² He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

³ He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

⁴ Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.

⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.

⁶ We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

⁷ He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.

⁸ By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
And who can speak of his descendants?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was stricken.

⁹ He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.

¹⁰ Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.

¹¹ After the suffering of his soul,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.

¹² Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.

Easter Activites

Bunny Pops!

Rubberband Egg Decorating

Martha Stewart Table Place Cards

Peeps Sushi!

This weekend, I threw my handsome hubby a SURPRISE birthday party for his 25th! Some people ask me why I have a party for him (and myself) every single year… First of all, I can rarely resist any reason to throw a party! Second of all, I love him!

This year, I decided on a Mustache Party! Did I know that this theme existed? No. But it sounded pretty hilarious and what better reason to grow a mustache than the fact that it is ‘Mustache March!’ I definitely wanted to share some of the fun photos but also some of my favorite inspirations and products that helped make this party a huge success (see below)! Enjoy!

We had the party Sunday afternoon (and it was the perfect day for a pool party in March! yay!) and had an amazing spread of delicious Mexican appetizers and sweet treats. I made a bunch of milk chocolate and dark chocolate Mustache lollipops (link below) and stuck them into some styrofoam that I had placed in some mini bowls. They were the perfect touch to the chocolate section of our spread (right next to the chocolate covered strawberries!). I also hopped onto Photoshop and created some fun name tags for the drink cups — I simply grabbed some images of different mustaches from the internet and made them gray on the tags, printed them onto mailing labels and chopped em up. Easy Peasy!

Another fun thing I did was I created a few mini signs to place around the house and the food spread to reinforce the mustache theme. The sayings were: ‘Never transport leftovers with your mustache,’ ‘With great mustache, comes great responsibility,’ ‘ Don’t get caught in public with a naked upper lip,’ and ‘Savor the Flavor.’ Simple and fun. I printed them up on green cardstock and matted them with black cardstock — here is the thing though… I NEVER USED THEM! Amongst all of the craziness of preparing and trying to keep everything a surprise, I totally forgot to set them out :(

I know that there are a ton of other fun ideas for a mustache party, but I wanted to keep it fairly simple; didn’t want it to be too childish for my big man! Here are a few other ideas I had (or found):

• Pin the mustache on Burt Reynolds,
• Print names of all of the famous people (list below) that were known for their ’stache and have each person wear one on their back when they get there (everyone has to guess who they are by asking others Qs about their own character — great ice breaker!),
• Play Pictionary with the list of Famous ’stache wearers,
• Mustache Trivia of some sorts (ask questions about different styles, famous staches, etc). Fun stuff!

My Mustache Inspiration:

• Fashion in Motion Mag: Movember ‘09 Post
• Erin Conrad Photography: Stache Bash ‘09 Post
• Hostess with the Mostess: Mr. Man Party
• Deal Extreme: Fake Mustaches
• Bake It Pretty: Mustache Lollipop Mold
• Martha Stewart: How to make a Mustache on a Stick
• How Nice Etsy: Mustache Magnets (photo below)
• LittletJane Etsy: Mustache Stamps (photo below)
• BirdofaFeather Etsy: Mustache Chapstick (photo below)

Fun Garland for an added touch (unfortunately, I ran out of time to make one :(

Fun little saying (again, didnt save the source! To put around the house/food spread!)

Adorable Mustache Card (Sorry, I didnt save the source! Too cute not to share!)

Too dang cute: Mustache Chapstick!!Fun Magnets (or buttons if you want)… I used these as the prize for ‘Best Stache’

Fun homemade Mustache Stamps

‘Stache Character List: (I am sure there are more that you could come up with!)

Yosemite Sam
Captain Hook
Burt Reynolds
Gomez Addams
Mario
Luigi (Mario)
Wimpey (Popeye)
Ned Flanders (Simpsons)
Hulk Hogan
Nacho Libre
Charlie Chaplin
Clark Gable
Jacques Clouseau (Pink Panther)
Adolf Hitler
Alex Trebek (Wheel of Fortune)
Prince
Ron Burgundy (Anchor Man)
Capt’n Crunch
the Burger King
Cheech Marin
Sonny Bono
Albert Einstein
Magnum PI – Tom Selleck
Robin Hood
Wyatt Earp
Teddy Roosevelt
Mike Ditka (Coach for Chicago Bears)
Mr. Moneybags (Monopoly Mascot)
Mr. Potato Head
Zorro
Capt’n Jack Sparrow
3 Musketeers
Walt Disney
Robert Goulet
Edgar Allan Poe
William Faulkner
Freddy Mercury (Queen)

This Christmas has been very different for Garrett and I. Long story short, we decided not to move into that apartment, were told we needed to move out by the 1st of the year, frantically looked for a new place, found a great apt, were told we didn’t have to move after all, and decided to stay put for the time being. So as you can see — Christmas didn’t really begin until all of that was over. It was a growing experience and are so thankful to God for answering our prayers and teaching us how to truly trust Him with all parts of our lives.

So now, I would love to share our little piece of Christmas spirit with you all…

Due to a late start, we did a lot less this year with family and friends… it was okay though, sometimes it is nice to keep things simple, right?! The weekend we decided not to move out, I broke out the Gingerbread cookie mix and got to baking the little guys! Gare helped me decorate them… such a fun little activity to get the Christmas spirit started. That weekend, we also went and got our Christmas tree (which we didn’t think we were going to have this year!) and I love it! Words can not explain how special the Christmas tree tradition is to me and I felt it more this year than any year before. We also realized that we need some more Christmas ornaments with color in them — problem is that we like the very traditional colors — no black, purple, blue, etc. We are also pretty picky about our ornaments so we need to be present together to purchase them (I know, I know… the perfectionist couple!!). Enough about the Christmas tree… on to the *new* recipes of the year!

It is my personal tradition/goal to try out at least two brand new recipes every Christmas. No leaning on the familiar, there are just too many great holiday recipes out there! The center photo above is how it all turned out — Oreo Truffles and Peppermint Fudge. Now I admit, not too challenging or adventurous, but as I said earlier, this year we had to stick to the simple stuff to stay sane :) The Oreo Truffles were a HUGE hit at both mine and Garrett’s workplaces and at our community group. I am still always amazed at how easy fudge is to make! I love it. I simply added some peppermint extract to the fudge for a minty flavor (Peppermint Mocha style!) and sprinkled some crushed peppermint candies on top. Click the links to check out the recipes… you wont regret it!

I truly hope everyone is enjoying their Christmas season with their friends and family! Many blessings to you and yours on the special day, however you celebrate!