Dotter #1 is 10 today!

My oldest is officially a decade today. How did that happen? She woke up to a room that had been Birthday bombed. (Thanks Emily for the great idea.) The bomber trashed her room with streamers, balloons and her favorite candy. (Anything with carmel.)


We woke her up crowned her the birthday queen and served her breakfast in bed. Yummy eggs, toast and of course a red velvet cupcake, her favorite.

Tomorrow, she and I will take the day off for shopping and lunch. I can't wait to spend the whole day with my girl. I love her so much.

Happy Birthday my sweet Bronwyn.

Four Words

TULIP FESTIVAL........LOVE IT!

Artful Thursday....on Friday

In 10 days my oldest dotter will be turning 10. It really is hard to believe. I know this is so cliche' but it really does seem like yesterday that she was just a little baby. I love her so much. Well, in preparation for her birthday, I made a birthday crown. I love making the dotters crowns and they love getting them.

I used this wonderful velvet paper I got at Paper Source when I was away. Unfortunately, they do not have one here in Utah :( but you can order online. I sewed the velvet paper to a really stiff felt to make the shape. I then added all the embellishments. Some of those trims I got recently from my trip to L.A. The prices can't be beat in the fabric district. I got that cream trim for .30 a yard. I wanted to put her name on it, and I thought that a star would be perfect. She has a wonderful brightness and countenance about her. She is a star in our family.

I love making crowns and I make one for each of the dotter's every year for their birthday.

What are some special things you do for the ones you love on their birthday?

More LA Fun

We had a fun time meeting our new nephew/cousin Liam. Finally, a boy in the family! He was adorable!

I think we wore him out!

Such a cute boy!

We love our new cousin!
We spent a day at he beach. We went to Manhattan Beach which is one of our favorites.
Yes, they really wanted us to bury them! :)

Not really used to the salt water when she's swimming.

Definitely our California girl!

Spent one day at California Adventure. The Dotter's loved it! They had never been to that park before (always Disneyland) but I think they really enjoyed it especially since they are a little older. Here they are riding the Ferris Wheel with Dad.

Here we are waiting in line for the Grizzly Run, the fun water ride there. All happy and smiling.

Guess who got the most wet?? Not so happy and smiling.

The Dotter's loved the Toy Story Ride.

The trip home: we take safety really seriously as you can see. Dotter #3 made sure her new friends were buckled up.

Hope you all were able to have some fun during your Spring Break.

I LOVE L.A.

After my theatre conference in Kansas City I flew to Los Angeles to meet the Dotter's and Dotter Dad for a little Spring fling vacation. I've missed the last 2 Artful Thursdays and have been itching to craft however I got lot's of great inspiration in L.A.

Like the Randy Newman song " I Love L.A.", I really do love LA and miss living there. My husband and I lived there 9 years and 2 of my dotter's were born there. It was fun to go back and the dotter's are old enough that we could share some of the places and things we love about L.A. Since I don't have a Artful Thursday post I thought I would share "our L.A." with you.

I love downtown L.A. especially the fabric and garment district. The dotter's had a great time going down Santee Alley and buying lot's of fun jewelry.

Lunch at Philippe's an L.A. iconic establishment. They serve the best French Dips in the world. The place is over 100 years old so they've had plenty of time to perfect it.

Next up is the American Girl Doll store. Need I say more?


While the other 2 dotters have dolls, Dotter #3 got her first one. As you can see, they became fast friends instantly.
This is just the first day. More to come when I get a few extra minutes.

Artful Thursday....even in Kansas City

I am attending a theatre conference in Kansas City, Missouri. I've been many places and have even been to Missouri a few times but never Kansas City. It is a really fun town, full of great artistic people. Aside from being an awesome theatre town my students and I have been able to get away for some exploring. Today we came upon a wonderful shop called Bon Bon Atelier. It was really one of the most unique and inspiring stores I've seen in lately. The shop owner was so cute and delightful, we had a great time talking with her and looking at all her cool stuff. So...since I really wasn't able to create anything for today, I thought I would post these pictures of the shop.

We also visited this wonderful kitchen store called Pryde's . It was amazing and I loved the mushroom table and chairs.



I'll probably do a few more posts about my adventures in KC. I think one will be the "amazing BBQ" to be had there. Also have loved the time with my wonderful SM students. One has an interview with Cirque de Soleil tomorrow, I am so excited for her. My other wonderful student has an internship at Tuacahn this summer. Next week I am off to LA for Spring Break with the kids. I might have to post more Artful Thursday Travel pictures next week.

Hope you have all had a wonderful creative week!