Sunday Dress Up and Scare

Welcome aboard the Evening Endeavor!

I thought it'd be fun to write another murder mystery party so I convinced Elle to invite some friends over to act it out. 

It was on a yacht (which Elle named the Evening Endeavor). I had so much fun decorating and planning and writing. 

Chris made this fantastic palm tree for the centerpiece. We had soup, salad, and sandwiches like last time. 

For dessert I made brownie bites. Elle and I made chocolate seashells for the tops. 

I also made mini cheesecakes using the cutest mini cheesecake pan. It was like a mini muffin tin except all the bottoms were removable. So cute!

I also had mini pb cookies that Elle and I made using a half tsp of dough per cookie. I love tiny things!

The guests:

Dining hall:

Pool:

Upper deck:

Shuffleboard 

Engineer room (she was the murderer):

Passports so they could take notes on the other guests 

Everyone said they had a great time!

Sunday Dresser and Hair

So. . .

remember my little dresser that Chris was fixing up all nice for Elle?   

Well. . .

We decided to buy her one from IKEA instead.

It was a family effort to put the thing together.

And I must say, it looks lovely!

"What about the little refurbished dresser project?" you ask.

Chris still finished it! 

And now I use it again!

Now on to the "hair" portion. . .

 

Isn't my mom's hair amazing in this picture?!  I love it!

What I love even more about this picture is her smile and the happy brightness in her eyes.  Isn't she beautiful?!  

Beauty isn't only skin deep for her though.  She is beautiful from the inside out.  She is my biggest cheerleader and constant support.  She is a great example to me and to everyone who knows her.  I love her humility, kindness, and strong testimony.

She was there every dark step of the way when I had my health problems during my teenage years.  I couldn't have done it without her.  She has prayed and fasted and cried countless hours for me. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful woman as my mother.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom! I love you!

And here's to the cute girl who made me a mother!

Another great smile, same happy light in those eyes.  She was also my little cheerleader during her first few months on earth and my second round of health problems. She was and is there to smile at me, warm my heart, and keep me going.

I love being her mom!

May the 4th Be With You!

Since it is Star Wars Day I thought I'd share a bunch of memes I found--just for fun...

Sunday Dress and Hair

Elle is famous! Check out your Ensign on p. 105 :)  Incidentally, she's under Elder Hales' talk!

And Friday Elle went on the 4th year overnight hike and loved it! They hiked two miles in, made dinner, ate s'mores, played card games and slept under the stars! No tents! She had a blast!  What a trooper.

She's very excited to do it again (only WAY more hardcore) in Washington with her old friends.

Sunday(although it's actually Tuesday[technically it was originally a Saturday])Dress and Hair

I finally got the group shot of the Mia Maids at the lip sync!

A Basketball Bit Mah Finga

Elle has been practicing a cello duet with her friend for like, two months.  They signed up to play at the solo ensemble festival at school.  Their Jr. High teacher is in charge of the whole thing, so that makes it even more fun!

Last night, Elle went to her friend Mitali's house so Mitali's teacher could coach them.  They are sounding so great!

She had a dream that night that she broke her arm and couldn't play in the festival! That would be terrible!

Today, Mitali (and another friend) walked home from school with Elle.  After snack we went to Elle's teacher so he could coach the girls too.  (He was so bummed when the time was up because he said he was having so much fun!)

After the practice, we dropped off Mitali and went home.  As Elle and I were chillaxing on the couch, she said, "So, guess what happened in PE today?"

While Elle was doing an awesome job at defense in their basketball game, the ball landed on her finger and her finger  made a pop! sound.

She was a good girl and went to the nurse and got ice.

She didn't have a chance to tell me about it until we got back from the 45min practice with her teacher and Mitali.  By then her finger was swollen and turning purple.

It was so sad.  We didn't want to go to urgent care because we knew they would at least splint her finger and then she wouldn't be able to play cello in the festival!  

We  thought about it, but couldn't justify doing anything but heading over just to make sure it wasn't broken.

It's not. (Thank goodness)

We told the doctor about the festival and she almost cried when she told us Elle couldn't play in it!  She was very nice.

While we were there, I texted Chris that "A basketball bit Elle's finga"

In case you haven't seen the YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPDYj3IMkRI 

I told Elle she was prophetic and thankfully it was just a finger sprain and not a broken arm!

(she said she was prophetic because she's narrating the Priest in Romeo and Juliet  at school and he is prophetic! ha ha)

Anyway, when we got home, Elle was lamenting about all the things she can't do. . .

Like help with building cleanup tomorrow ;)

Like playing basketball with her team in PE--there are only three of them so she'll be greatly missed!

Like being able to work on her piece in ceramics.  Chris said, "You can put a plastic bag over your head and then you can do ceramics" Which was totally funny. (he meant to say "hand" of course)

Most of all, she's disappointed that she can't play cello--especially not in the festival tomorrow!

Poor thing.

 :(

Sunday Dress and Hair

Last night we had our ward lip sync where the youth made up silly dances and we all got a good laugh.

The Mia Maids did a 1950's theme and Elle wore a poodle skirt and looked very adorable. (I'm still waiting on pictures that the leaders took of the girls)

This year, the bishop's wife decided that the bishopric should do a number too. The bishop agreed as long as the wives were in it too. 

Unfortunately, that included the executive secretary!

Our song was "Accentuate the Positive" and we all wore 1940's garb.

Don't you love Chris's tie?! His baggy pants are pulled way up too. 

It was totally embarrassing and a little fun.