Evening Under the Stars

Another person I love to love is my lil' sister.  I got to throw her 25th birthday party (with lots of help from my mama and others).

Isn't she gorgeous!??

It was a formal evening in my parents' backyard full of twinkle lights and candles, hors d'oeuvres and wine. I could not have asked for better weather!

Why NOT make up a reason to get all dressed up!?

If you know my sister at all, you know she loves to look her best and turn people's heads. She is always so generous too, to help others do the same.  This night was going to be perfect for her.

INVITE

Due to limited time, I sent out an email invitation using Pingg. 

I loved how perfectly this option fit with our theme.

LIGHTS! LIGHTS! LIGHTS!

We put up as many white candles and white lights as we could.

A beautiful walkway up to the gate.

My mom tied all the gold ribbons and added plastic crystals and tea lights.

Great ambiance to start the journey.

I made a 10x12 inch sign to put outside the gate.

I realized recently that I have a slight obsession with twinkle lights.  They look so elegant.  

I love the reflection on the pool.

You can see the three cocktail tables on the lower patio and our food and drink tables on the top.  

To the far right we had a fire pit going.

Lots of thanks to my wonderful dad, Nate and Ian for spending so much time setting up all the lights.  They made my dreams come true :)

 I am in love with canopy lights. But they are harder than they look. 

GIFTS

DRINKS

What screams classy like a wide assortment of wine??!

Thank you BevMo for your recommendations.

For reds we had a cabernet sauvignon, shiraz, and syrah.

For whites we had BePeachy Bellini and a Pinot Grigio.

We had a few partiers under 21 and some who just don't drink so we had
a pear sparkling juice and a yummy non-alcoholic sangria.

The decaf coffee was a nice touch of warmth.

HORS D'OEUVRES

Another big thank you to my mom, Grandma Bohn, Nikki, and Katie
for helping out with the incredible food.

Antipasto Kabobs: made by the talented Nikki

 Artichoke Wonton Cups: made by my super mom
http://www.mogwaisoup.com/2011/01/atichoke-and-parmesan-filled-wonton.html

Bruschetta made by the lovely Nikki Anderson

Mac & Cheese Bites: made by myself, Nate, and Ian 
http://www.thecurvycarrot.com/2011/08/18/mini-mac-and-cheese-pies-and-a-virtual-baby-shower/

all eaten up!

DESSERTS

Mini Banana Cream Pies: made once again by the one and only Kim Bohn

 http://jumboempanadas.blogspot.com/2011/01/mini-banana-cream-pies.html

Cake Balls and Chocolate Cupcakes with gold sprinkles just perfect for our evening were made by Grandma Barbara Bohn with assistant Taylor.

There were so many people there to love on Lindsey and celebrate her. 

It seemed like they all enjoyed themselves which makes my heart so happy!

 PHOTO BOOTH

I also have a little bit of an obsession with photo booths. I think they are such a great fun way of getting photos of everyone who is there.

We had lots of awesome props to jazz up the photos. I had people write a note about their favorite thing about Lindsey, to combine with the pictures in a scrapbook after the party. It was fun to see themes about Lindsey's love for the Lord and her joy in peoples thoughts.

For the background we had a sheer fabric and icicle lights.

 the birthday girl and her man!

 What an awesome family I have to help me out with all of this!

I really love to love on my sister!

Really, this night turned out exactly how I dreamed.

Crock Pot Lasagna

I have been asked many times for some of my crock pot recipes (I guess I am kinda know for using it), so I thought I would start putting up a few of my favorites. You know why I really enjoy cooking? Because I love those I am preparing it for. One way for me to show my husband I love him is to have dinner ready when he gets home.  He has actually told me this. It allows him to relax after a long day at work. The best thing about the crock pot is that it allows us to enjoy our time together rather than cutting and cooking when he walks in the door.

One of my favorite crock pot recipes is lasagna. It is super easy and super yummy and makes for good left overs.  I found the original recipe through pinterest on

http://www.creativelydomestic.com/2009/02/crockpot-lasagna.html

I made a few alterations.

Spray crockpot with non-stick spray.

Put 1/3 of spaghetti sauce in bottom of crockpot, then a layer of dried lasagna noodles. I usually break them in half. Don't over lap them too much.

Smear a layer of a 1/3 of the cottage cheese, 

and spread 1/3 of turkey

sprinkle with 1/3 of shredded cheese, 1/3 of spinach

Repeat layers, ending with a shredded cheese layer on top.

Put the 1/4 cup of water in your empty pasta jar and shake - 

Pour the juice over the whole pile of food.

Cover and cook for 4 hours on low.

I usually serve it with some veggies, salad, and/or garlic bread (you can't go wrong with garlic bread)

 

Crock pot Lasagna

• 8 oz box of regular lasagna noodles 
• (you don't have to use all of them)
• 26 oz jar of pasta sauce
• 12 oz container pureed low fat cottage cheese (you could use ricotta cheese)
• 8 oz package of shredded Italian cheese
• 1 bag of fresh baby spinach
• 12oz ground turkey cooked.
• 1/4 cup water

Spray crock pot with non-stick spray. Put 1/3 of spaghetti sauce in bottom of crock pot, then a layer of dried lasagna noodles , smear a layer of a 1/3 of the cottage cheese, spread 1/3 of turkey, sprinkle with 1/3 of shredded cheese, 1/3 of spinach. Repeat layers, ending with a shredded cheese layer on top. Put the 1/4 cup of water in your empty pasta jar and shake - Pour the juice over the whole pile of food. Cover and cook for 4 hours on low.

Let me know how yours turns out! 

And may the recipient feel truly loved!

Jungle Baby Shower

Have you ever had someone that you just can't wait to shower love upon? 

Well last weekend, I helped throw a baby shower for this little guy, Benjamin,

...and his mommy!

Theme: JUNGLE 

Marsella loves giraffe print so we ran with it and everything turned out great! 

We also primarily used green and brown.

Invitation: 

I designed the invitation using Adobe Illustrator. 

We sent half out as hard copies and half as an e-vite. 

Food:

We had an open house brunch WAFFLE BAR! We had three waffle makers going, someone in charge of prepping the batter and then people just scooped and waited. 

Guests then loaded on the toppings (syrup, butter, powdered sugar, and fruit) 

and got bacon and sausage. At the end of the table, we had a chocolate fountain and dessert. 

                                                                                          

With breakfast MUST come juice and coffee.

We had bought cute animal print fabric to put around.

FRUIT TREE

This was a highlight. A friend of mine had done this for a shower she threw and I just had to remake it. I wish I would have taken pictures of the process.

Basically, there is a wood base with a 1.5in dowel screwed into it.

We cored 4 pineapples and stacked on pole. The 5th pineapple we cut in half (leaving the top) and just cored out some of the center. Then we stuck fake branches into the top. 

We cubed watermelon, pineapple, honeydew, and cantaloupe and
just stuck it on using sandwich picks.

It is not a difficult process but it was time consuming. 

Dessert: 

Chocolate Fountain, chocolate cake and cupcakes made by Miss KJ.  

Ok look at the invite, now back to cake, now back at the invite, now back to cake. 

(Old Spice anyone?) Didn't she do a great job replicating it? I didn't know what it was going to look like and after all the time I spent on the invitation I was really honored actually.

Banners: 

I made three banners with my Cricut for miscellaneous decoration. They were all the same style with green leaf backgrounds using "Accent Essentials" cartridge. I actually didn't have one that looked like palm leaves so I had to hand cut the notches.  I used "All Mixed Up" font.

The first banner said Baby Benjamin and we hung it in front of the food table.

I did a "Welcome to the Jungle" one and placed it as people walked in. 

I also made one to put in front of the gifts, but didn't get a good photo of it.

Favors: 

These turned out so cute! We got jars at Michaels, filled them with Runts bananas (no we did not separate them, you can buy them in bulk), and tied animal print ribbon around the top.  I designed the little labels with the monkey that say "Thanks a Bunch for Hanging Around."

 Activities: 

There were a lot of fun things to do. I personally am not a fan of lame shower games so since it was an open house and people were coming and going, we didn't do any!

When people first walked up we had them guess how many Werther's Caramels were in the jar. Most people had left when we did the count so prizes were mailed. 

This was our activity table.

"Please LEAF your fingerprint and sign your name, 

to help us remember who shared in celebrating this special day" 

We had different color stamp pads, pens, baby wipes, and trash can at this station.

 

"Once someone touches your heart, the fingerprints will last forever"

I wish I had a picture of the finished product. So many people love this family!

Prayer Card Magnets

These are prayer requests from Mommy so people can be praying for them.

Advice Station

People wrote advice for the new mom on 3x5 cards.

Gifts: 

This baby is going to be set! 

I made a blanket tree with ribbon and safety pins. 

 Tables: 

Stella (grandma) did a great job with centerpieces. 

Mason jars with rocks, water and bamboo sticks really tied everything together. The animal print fabric and letter blocks were just perfect!

Like I said before this family is so loved and supported! 

I think everyone was happy to shower it upon them!

 

Last but not least a big thank you to my planning partner, Michele! This is our 4th shower to plan together but I'm sure it is not the last. I told her we have to be careful not to get a reputation. We are a great team and I couldn't have done it without her. 

Thank you to Stella, you took on so much in the midst of craziness! May God bless you for it! Thank you Geri for loaning me so many jungle theme decorations!

It was such a beautiful day showering love upon the Moreno's!