Murder Mystery Mardi Gras

My mom knows how much I enjoy planning group dates so she bought me this game.

What I loved about this game, is that it has the whole date already planned, 

you just invite people...

dress up.... 

and enjoy some food together as you play.... (we did party food, appetizers and desserts)

Decorations aren't a must, but were way fun to buy and put up

I have never celebrated Mardi Gras, infact I had to look up when Mardi Gras was. 

This game was lots of fun and the most appropriate way to celebrate this risque holiday.

I recommend the games 100%, have fun!

Help Husband Plan Our Valentines Day Date

Dave at HotDateIdeas.com is a great inspiration for this Date Idea. To see his take on this date and look at some other romantic date ideas, click the link above!

SO... February 14th was coming and my husband was busy busy with school, work, and applying to grad school. Was it really fair for me to remind him that it was his year to plan Valentines Day? So I thought I would help him out and this is a great idea to get husbands involved in the planning.

Every day I texted him a question, "do you like it hard or soft", "do you like it hot or cold", "do you like it fast or slow", "do you like it wet or dry" and so on ... and every day he picked one or the other, which in the end, ended up planning our date.

Wet or Dry - meal - alfrado or chicken fingers

 Hott or Cold - desert- pie or ice-cream 

 Fast or Slow - activity - airhockey or billiards/ laser tag or minature golf. 

          Hard or Soft - gift - hammer or socks (practical gifts, we are poor collage students)
   

it was alot of fun... He loved the suspense.... and I loved that he was planning our romantic date! 

Valentine Crafts

Valentines Day is now one of my new favorite holidays. I have the most incredible husband, I am head over heels for him, & there is a holiday to celebrate that!

I saw this in a local craft store and wanted to do this craft so bad, but the wood letters were $3 a piece and the scrap booking kit was $12 and I just couldn't afford it, but I also couldn't forget about it, and with a little creativity and time I figured out how to make it for

ONLY $2.50!

$1 foam board at the dollars store

$.25/paper in the discount section of my local craft store.

I came home picked a font on my computer, resized the letters, and printed them off.

Then, I used the letters to cut out the foam board with a razor, my husband helped me with this part, he did such a good job because he is so precise.

While he was doing that I used the letters he wasn't using to cut out the fancy discounted scrapbook paper.

Then we glued them on the foam board.

My next decoration idea was to buy this glass vase, also at the dollar store and fill it with those conversation hearts. It wasn't as cute as I thought it would be, but I sure loved snacking on those hearts. I also filled the center with newspaper so I didn't have to buy as many hearts to fill it.

Next year I want to make a special valentines frame to put along these two crafts, I want it to say "A Life without Love is no Life at all"

Ninja Turtle Date

We love making pizza, and wanted a fun themed date to go with it, so we all dressed up as characters of ninja turtles. Then we made and ate pizza together.

We decorated with pizza box's, and pizza slices made out of construction paper. We put man holes on the ground. When we were done we hoped on the old sega set we have and played a teenage turtle, ninja game, I am so lame at any type of video game so the pizza part was defiantly my favorite part.

The Best Pizza Crust Recipe

Heat oven 425 degrees

2 cup warm water (not hot)

2 TBS Honey

2 TBS yeast

I let that sit while I prep some of the toppings

Then I add

1TBS oil

3-5 cups flour

1 tsp salt

kneed that and let it rise for 5-10 minutes while I prep more toppings

Roll it out on a pizza dish or a PIZZA STONE (worth the investment if you love pizza, put mozzerella sticks around the edge and roll in to make stuff crust.

Throw it in the oven 5-10 minutes, pull it out put toppings on and put it in for another 10 minutes.

TOPPING IDEAS

BBQ- chicken, pineapple, purple onion with some mozzarella cheese

ALFRADO- chicken, bacon, onion, tomato, with a white cheese

PIZZA SAUCE- with all the classic combinations, Supreme is our favorite

BREAKFAST- whipped up eggs, with sausage, italian seasoning, cheddar cheese (make sure crust is thinner for this dish)

Sesame Street Party - 1st Birthday

 FIRST Birthday

So it started here with the announcements. I recreated the sesame street sign and customized it for my son, then printed all the information on the back.

I have the blank template I made that you can download for free here 

For Decorations we made our kitchen hallway into a street, which was my husbands idea, he is actually way more creative then I am, and usually gives me the best ideas.

Then I made characters out of construction paper and hung them up everywhere

The night before the birthday party, we made sesame cupcakes as a family. My husband and I had a blast, but I think it confused our son, because all night we wouldn't let him eat the cupcakes and then the next day we are begging him to smash it in his face! Poor kid.

I can't believe I am the mother of a one year old, and soon to be the mother of 2 BOYS! I have a feeling that the years are going to just start flying by faster and faster....

Matching Crochet Hats

Crochet is a hobby I picked up, because it gave me something to do while I watched TV, and I could try and justify that I wasn't wasting my time...TRY is the key word.

My first Crochet project was matching hats for the family, a complete necessity for family pictures for our christmas card!

The pattern is really easy for those who know crochet. (For those of you who have never crocheted before, this will be way to confusing...)

Chain 8 and then slip stitch into the first loop of the chain to make a circle

chain 2 and then fill the circle with double crochet's ending with a slip stitch

Next row chain two and double crochet 2 in every hole, with a slip stitch at the end

Next row chain two and double crochet 2 in the 1st hole, 1 in the next, then 2, then 1... end ss

" " dc 2 in the first hole, 1 in the next, then 1, 2,1,1,2,1,1,2,1,1 " "

so this row the pattern is 2,1,1,1,2,1,1,1 and every row you keep adding 1 until it is wide enough

Now to make in long, stitch 1 double crochet for the rest of the rows until it is long enough.

Then I just winged the ears, and finished it with a single crochet around the whole bottom, including the ears. At the end of the ears I strung some yarn through, braided it, and tied a knot in the bottom.

Our Christmas Cards turned out to be very cute, although I noticed we didn't pick any of the pictures with our matching hats! Don't worry it wasn't a complete waste, a winter hat never goes to waste during an Idaho Winter

The FATE Burger DATE- A Great Grilling Date Idea

the FATE BURGER

My husband and I love this group date, especially in the summer when we can use our grill.

It's easy

It's fun

and It's DELICIOUS

First find a group of friends (don't invite your picky eater friends to this party)

Then make a long list of burger toppings

Bacon

Different types of Chesse

Onions

Mushrooms

Tomato

and make sure to include some non traditional ones

Onion Rings

Avacado

French Fries

Cucumbers
Potato Salad
Baked Beans
Different sauces (A1, Ranch, BBQ, Peanut Butter & Jelly)
Fried Egg (don't judge until you try it, WOW)

Split the toppings up with your friends so everyone is contributing

When everyone shows up the girls usually prepare all the toppings, and bake some fries, while the MEN go and play with fire and GRILL and do all that MAN stuff (Grunt Grunt)

Then we take all of our toppings and put them on a dart board, but you could pull them out of a hat, or put them on a spinner, anything that makes choice random, and puts FATE in charge.

Here is the fun! We throw darts (but you could draw toppings out of a bowl) for 3-4 different toppings, we made a rule you can swap one of the toppings but we encourage everyone to stick with their FATE BURGER

I have had some of the most unique, yet incredibly delicious burgers EVER, from this DATE.

We give this date 5 Stars, 2 thumbs up, and an A+

Haunted Gingerbread Houses

We never do traditional Gingerbread Houses, it is so much funner to do HAUNTED Gingerbread Houses. If a cookie is broken or the frosting is messy it makes it even better.

No Kit needed ;)

A Halloween Costume for the Pregnant Lady

One of the funnest family home evenings my husband and I have had was making our halloween costumes together. I was 7 months pregnant with our first and decided to do the old bun in the oven idea.

We got a huge box from the local movie theater and then turned it inside out and taped it all up again. The we used tin foil, construction paper to decorate it. We cut the holes with razor cutter and it was so funny because when I tried it on to see if I would fit I got stuck in the box and couldn't get out.

My husband was rolling on the floor laughing. My husband also wanted the front to open so people could see my belly and see our ultrasound pictures, so he used two magnets to make it open and shut.

JON's costume was way easy, he just threw on an apron and then we took a strip of poster board, taped tissue paper to it and wrapped it around his head. He made one good lookin Baker ;)

Miss Rexburg Hostess

So I couldn't do pageants anymore, but I could still be involved. I had the opportunity to be a hostess for Miss Rexburg and it was such an amazing experience I am doing it again this year!

My Girls were such hard workers, they studied hard for the interview, put multiple service hours toward their platforms, worked hard on their talents, and were beautiful that night

I believe in this program. I watched these girls grow and I know from personal experience that the Miss America program teaches you valuable life skills that you can take with you, crown or no crown. I can't wait to meet my girls this year!

Becoming a Mother

I thought adjusting to life as a wife was an adventure, and soon that adventure was going to be doubled as I added Life as Mommy. We found out we were pregnant with our first baby!

I decided that an Associates Degree was going to have to be enough and left school to become a mom. What an adventure!

Becoming a Photographer

So my sister, who is incredibly beautiful, asked me to do her senior pictures and graduation announcement. I was of course honored that she had so much faith in me and started surfing the internet looking at poses and designs. She came up to visit and we took pictures for TWO DAYS. She was such a good model, it was hard to take a bad picture of her, she is so cute. She was SO patient with me as I was learning and trying new things.

Together we came out with some great pictures and an incredible announcement.

I hung the announcement up on my fridge proudly and when my husband came home and saw it he turned to me and said, " this is really good....you should do this for real" and if you've read my past posts you know my husband is amazing but I have to brag again. 

The next day he found a SLR camera for me, bought it, and asked me to start taking pictures. I never could have bought a camera that nice for myself and by buying it for me he helped me do something I never dreamed I would be able to do. He not only makes my dreams come true but he creates them. And that is how I became a photographer!

My work, pictures and designs, can be found at www.pinkpearlphotography.com

I currently am a photographer for SLC Valley in Utah, Cache Valley Utah, and Franklin County Idaho

Trailer Trash Bash - Party Ideas

As poor newlywed collage students, our first place was a trailer, it was great first place with lots of good stories to tell our children and grandchildren. While we were living there I realized this was the perfect time to throw a "TRAILER TRASH BASH"

This was actually the easiest party to plan, because all your trash becomes treasured decorations...

The center piece was a Shopping bag, packing peanuts, empty cans, and some dandelions from my front yard

a laundry line over the dinner table, some christmas lights hung...

and a pringle can chandelier in honor of my husband who can't get enough of these chips.

I sent out some invited hand written, I mean Scribbled on the back of old reciepts

I covered the table with a big card board box, used newspaper as place mats, and TOILET PAPER as napkins!

For dinner we grilled hot dogs and had them with potato salad, chips and twinkies.

These were the best costumes and no she isn't pregnant!

it was more fun then any of us expected!

On a side note our neighbors came to meet us that day and welcome us to the trailer park. I opened the door to my house decorated in trash, and I have curlers in my hair with crazy 80's makeup. What a great first impression, right?!?

Wedding Video's

So during some of my boring days between the party planning I would sit down and watch our wedding video. I just loved it. Pictures of us growing up, stories of how we met, first kiss, the proposal, all topped off with footage of our wedding day!

While watching it one day I realized I was in a college town people meeting and getting married everyday, I had a camera, and my husband is technologic....I would like to try this, and my husband was way supportive when I told him, showing me what program to use and all the cool stuff I could do. This is why I married him ladies, he is simply amazing.

A CLUE DATE

The morning came, when I woke up next to my Husband and realized the life I had when I was single was gone, my old hobbies just couldn't be apart of my new life.  It was a weird sensation, it was like starting over... I felt like a little kid again with the teacher asking me, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" How was I suppose to know?!  The days that followed, boredom became my companion. I was going CRAZY and needed to find something to do...FAST. 

That is when I  found my first new hobby...Planning Dates/Parties! It was perfect, it would keep me busy and give my husband I something fun to do together after a long day. My first Party I threw as a wife was my CLUE PARTY and you can find all the free PRINTABLE'S HERE

So I picked two couples I thought would get into the party theme and assigned them all Characters. I made these great announcements I took green card stock and put two sheets together, on the front I had a picture of clue and on the back I had the invitation, I also used a razor to cut two slits into the paper in one slit I put cards of the characters they were supposed to be and in the second slit I put two weapons for them to bring. Then I stuck the whole thing in a one of those tan envelopes and wrote confidential on front to make it look like the envelope you use in the game.

We had dinner together and admired everyones costumes. Then we broke out the board game and played a good old game of clue.

It was Mr. Green, in the Lounge with the Candlestick. Watch out Miss Scarlet!

After the game we took pictures and watched the movie "Clue." For those of you who haven't seen the movie it is great a comedy, mystery.

On a side not I just want to brag that Ms. White and Professor Plum had their first date at our house and are now happily married. My first Party planned was a success

November 22, 2008

I have lived 2 lives, one from birth till November 22, 2008 and the other from November 22, 2008 till now. . .

Before I met Jon, I would have describe my life as

Pageants, Ballroom Dancing, and School.

I was apart of the Miss America Program for 3 years and LOVED every second of it, of course the pretty dresses and the crowns were thrilling, but I really fell in love with the opportunities it brought to share my talents and to give back to my community through the Children's Miracle Network and my platform "Awareness and Education of the Deaf Community". Opportunities I never would have had outside of this program. It also paid for most of my schooling which was the second thing that I did in my past life.

I was the going to be the super senior of college, I could never pick a major because I wanted to learn about everything, and that didn't bother me, I just loved exploring the vast fields of knowledge in front of me and didn't want to be confined to a corner quite yet.

And then there was DANCING!!! My passion.... I was on a Ballroom team, in Dance classes, teaching a Jr. High Dance Class, and was the Instructor for Latin Dancing at my university. My week was filled with dancing and all my spare time went into movin to the music.

NOVEMBER 22, 2008

So this was this was the BIGGEST and BEST DAY of my life bigger then shiny crowns, poofy gowns, swinging music, dancing heels, or the cha-cha. This is the day I married the most incredible man in the world and started "my new LIFE as a WIFE"

So getting married, meant giving up some stuff, no more Miss America Local Pageants (those are for single woman) and no more dancing. I only partner danced and personally don't want to dance with any other man except my husband (and it's my life goal to turn him into a dancer) but till that day came, I had to figure out how to occupy all this time that was no longer taken up by my OLD HOBBIES....

There was Cleaning, and Laundry, and More Cleaning, and Organizing. Now I enjoy an orderly house, but these things defiantly are not fun or exciting. There was cooking which I loved until I realized meals were 3 times a day everyday, and cooking became mostly a chore and occasionally a fun thing. I quickly learned that while I could do and was willing to do all the WIFE stuff, I needed something FUN in my life, for me, something to look forward to when I was done with all those yucky dishes...

AND this BLOG will take you on my journey through LIFE as a WIFE