She's Alive!!

Whew! So sorry for the absence, as usual. It's been a whirlwind of fun and excitement around these parts lately. Starting with the ending of September, we had a birthday party for my bestie, Elya. Two weeks later, it was my birthday weekend & I threw a Couples Pampered Chef party for my closest friends & family. It was the first time I've ever hosted such a party and we had so much fun. It was quite a success too! We now have many of the fun products that I've wanted to have for my kitchen & have already broken them in! I would definitely encourage you to throw own if you never have. My family came in for the party & to celebrate my birthday. It was great, though I don't know how excited I am about being 27....eeek! :-)

Since then, I have been working feverishly on Halloween costumes for my little family. For the 2nd year in a row, we have thrown a big Halloween party for our family & friends. We had it last night and it was sooo much fun! For the first time ever, I went all out on my costume (so did the hubs) with full face makeup, a crazy persona, & a nutty outfit. Some of our friends didn't even recognize me at first glance. I guess that's how you know if your costume was a success or not! Ha. So.Much.Fun. Here is a picture reel of some of the fun & goodies:

Our crazy Alice in Wonderland family:

 Witch's hats & Cake Eyeballs

 Pretzel & Marshmallow Bones & 'Eat Me' Cupcakes:

 Our fun 'Drink Me' potion votives:

 Fun pic with the besties, Elya & Crystal:

A couple of weeks ago, we had our family pictures taken by our friends at Cozart Photography. We have used them for all of our professional pictures since we first took our maternity pictures (technically they took my big family pictures before that too!). We have so much fun during shoots with them because they play along with us, put up with our crazy ideas, & always capture just what we want. They're awesome & I would recommend them to anyone in San Angelo's vicinity. You can see our photo sneak peek here. 

Now, I have several other things to look forward to. My father is turning 70 this coming weekend & my brother is turning 30 the weekend after that, so my family has decided to throw a huge combined party for the both of them in my hometown. It's going to be a big dance with food & family & friends...we can't wait! 

For the month of November, Chad & I are hosting for our weekly Married Couples Bible Study. It's a group of our best church friends & so much fun to share in the joys & challenges of marriage with others who completely understand what it's all about. We're so happy & excited to have them over every week this month. Definitely keeps my homemaker self in check too...at least every Wednesday! haha. 

In the beginning of December, the spouses of Dyess are hosting a Holiday Bazaar that features all at-home businesses & crafts. I have decided to have a booth selling fun tutu dresses, wreaths, & bows for little girls. I am sharing the booth with my best friend from Lubbock, Nicole, & it's going to be a blast. I'm really hoping to make a little moo-lah in the process too, so fingers crossed! I have SOOO much work ahead of me this next month to get ready for it, so bring on some time management & organizational skills because I'm gonna need them. And maybe even a little patience too. Ha. If you do any kind of cool crafting, feel free to contact me for more information. You don't have to be a Dyess spouse to feature your work & run a booth. There are still a few openings! 

That same weekend is going to be Kennady's 2nd birthday & I can't believe it. My little girl isn't little anymore. She's a mini-human that can speak in full sentences, puts things together, use logic, ask for things she wants with charm, & play for hours on end without tiring. What a joy she is. She seriously makes me laugh ALL DAY LONG & I would never want to do anything but what I'm doing & that's raising my baby girl. I got a small jumpstart on her birthday party plans this summer, but I still have a little more to do for it in this next couple of weeks. It's going to have an ice cream theme & be so fun!

Well, that's all I have for now. I'll try my best to not be such a bad blogger. I told you we've been busy!! :-)

Jewelry Hanger

I took inspiration for a jewelry hanger from something I saw on Pinterest (surprise, surprise!) & ended up making one for $4. I couldn't believe how lucky I got finding what I needed, but that's what the wonderful store of Ikea will do for you! I found the towel rack for $1.99 & 20 'S' hooks for $2. So cheap and easy & I love that I can actually see all of them as I'm leaving my closet. I have found myself accessorizing even more than before. LOVE that Ikea! 

 Hung so pretty...

 After I got the rod hung, I couldn't help but figure out a way to display my earrings too, so I added some jute yarn to the wall with push tacks & hung them all side by side. 

Here's the finished product! You should try making one yourself! 

Have you found any new and fun storage solutions lately?

'Thankful' Banner

Last week as part of my bestie's birthday gift, I made a banner that reads 'Thankful' for her mantle this Thanksgiving season. She really liked it and said as soon as she got home that she had it hung. I have to admit, it turned out super cute and I have another one on my to-do list for my own mantle. I just cut equal rectangles out of burlap, printed fun letters with black ink onto colored card stock, stacked those onto festive scrapbook paper, and went to work on them with my squiggly scissors. After adding a little hot glue to build the layers, the letters were done and ready for stringing with my leather twine. I can't wait to get all of the Fall decorations out, but because we are throwing our annual Halloween party, first thing's first & it's all ghouls and ghosts around here. I hope you like it!

What are your Fall plans...skip straight to Fall decor or take your time & set-up a little fun with Halloween first? I'd love to hear!

Blog Vomit

I have really slacked again, so here we go with bullets since most of you reading don't care too much for the details...am I right? I probably am, so here we go!

*We had an absolute BLAST at the Great Wolf Lodge. I have never seen so many smiles, splashes, & happy slide rides in my life. This little girl WORE the slides OUT!! She was SOOO big and surprised us with her tenacity. We will definitely be returning for future family trips because it was totally worth it! We got to finish out our trip visiting the outlets & spending several fun hours looking around Ikea. It was a fabulous weekend.

*Last weekend we went to Lake LBJ with my best friend Nicole to visit her dad at his lake house. My mom volunteered to take care of Kennady so we have a little more free reign and it was glorious. We didn't do much but swim, sea-doo, rope swing, watch football, sit on the dock, & ride the boat. It was such a fun, laid-back weekend and we really needed it. When we got back Sunday afternoon, we started prepping for a surprise birthday party at our house for my best friend Elya. I made some cake balls that were delicious. Here's a quick recipe for you to add to your collection:

1 cup dry cake mix of any flavor
1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/2 tbsp. vanilla

1. Mix the ingredients together; put in freezer for about 5 minutes; pull them out; roll into 1" balls; refreeze for 5 minutes.
2. Heat 3 blocks of Vanilla or Chocolate almond bark in a small bowl; dip the balls to coat; place on wax paper until they harden.
3. CONSUME!!! They are soooo easy and you (not your hips) will be glad you made them. :-)

The Coffee & Sweets birthday party was a success & I think she really enjoyed herself. Happy Birthday again Elya!

*I never updated you on the fence, but it is UP & beautiful! We are so happy to have a little more privacy, pretty trees to look at, & a beautiful yard of grass coming in more every day. I thought I would be at least 60 before I was happy about watching the grass grow, but no...it happened at a young 26 (for at least 10 more days at least :-)).

*Yes, that's right. My 27th birthday is coming up on October 9th & I'll be honest...I'm indifferent about this one. I know I'm getting older, but I'd appreciate it if that number would just quit going up so quickly. Seriously, it's getting out of hand and WAY too close, too fast to the big 3-0. I guess time flies while you're having fun because my last 15 years sure passed in a hurry!! I don't know what my plans are for celebrating this year, but I'm sure something will come about sooner or later.

*I'm throwing my first Pampered Chef party the Saturday of my birthday weekend and I'm really excited about it. It's going to be a couples party with grilling & some fun kitchen prep, so it will be a fun change up to have men around during one of these parties. We're looking forward to it. Feel free to visit this site to browse the newest catalog & place an order or let me know what you're interested in  & we will get you anything you need.

*Besides all of this, my house is slowly being taken over by all things Halloween. Ghosts, mice, glitter, banners, spider webs, wreaths...they're all over the place. We have our 2nd annual Halloween Party coming up & I'm soooo excited to host again. It was a blast last year and this year should be even better. I have a lot of work ahead of me though, both in getting our costumes together & going all out on decorations, so just call me crafty Kelly for the next couple of weeks! I'll be becoming best friends with my hot glue gun & scissors if you need to find me. :)

*I think that's enough 'catch-up the blog' vomit for now. Hope you feel better now...I know I do.

BOO! Candy

I was inspired by this on Pinterest the other day, & decided to do my own version...for $6!!

I saw these candle holders at the Dollar Tree & paired them with the votive candleholders with a little hot glue & voila! New candy dishes were born. It was super easy & only took about 10 minutes.

 I added some jute around the groove in the glass & cut B-O-O letters out of cardstock & tied them on. It turned out cute, I think.

Plus, the candy is practically gone already, 4 days later. Ha. I put Reese's Pieces, the Autumn Mix, & original Candy Corn in the dishes & let me tell ya, they are delicious together! So hard to stop eating them once you start. Can't wait for Fall!

West Texas Fair & Rodeo

Tonight was the last opportunity that our little family had to experience the stock show, rodeo, & fair that is in town. As a result, we randomly decided that we would go munch on some nasty-for-us food & jump in some rain puddles at the fairgrounds. Kennady ate up the whole experience. She had belly laughs while petting the donkeys at the petting zoo, huge smiles on the rides, giggles as she ate her first bite of funnel cake, & so much FUN overall!! She was taking in all of the lights, activity, stuffed animals, kiddos, & noise & hung in there until almost 10 o'clock tonight. We rode the Bear Affair as a family, the Jumbo Elephants, the mini-train (which she repeatedly referred to as 'the dinosaur train' from PBS), & she rode The Doodle Bug all by herself!

At the Petting Zoo:

Walking the fairgrounds with daddy:

 On her first ride ALL BY HERSELF!:

Spinning in the Bear Affair ride with mommy & daddy:

Arms up & WHEEEEE on the Jumbo Elephants:

Aboard the 'Dinosaur Train'....Choo-Choo!!

As you can see through the pictures, we had such a great time! After a fresh-squeezed lemonade, a fatty delicious funnel cake, & Chad's favorite candied apple, we are officially over our allowed family calorie count by oh, maybe 3000. Ha. Oh well, life only happens once & calories will be burned through nonstop swimming for 2 consecutive days at the Great Wolf Lodge (read below).

I LOVE my little family. The End. 

Goin' to the Lodge...

Man am I excited about this coming weekend! Chad & I decided to take an impromptu trip to the Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine, TX with a couple we really like, the Kopers & their 3 kiddos! This will be our first trip to the lodge, though we always sang along to saw the commercials for it when we lived in North Carolina. Kennady has been too small for it until now, so we can't wait to see the fun she has. Not to mention that my husband turns into a very mature 5 year old boy when he gets to climb through watery nets & when jumbo water guns are in reach. And don't even get me started on how much he loves when the huge 1,000 gallon bucket of water pours out over his head. It's fun to watch & it's a blast to play at waterparks, so we're stoked! We figure since we missed out on a Schlitterbahn trip this year, we deserve a little last minute, swimmy fun as the summer comes to a close. And we are so happy that the Kopers decided to jump on our spontaneous wagon & go with us. We have yet to take a family trip with other families, so yay for firsts all the way around. They are veterans to the Great Wolf, so we also have someone to show us the ropes (bonus!). Excuse the lack of posting until we return on Sunday. We leave early in the morning so that we can take full advantage of the 2 days at the waterpark. I also have plans to hit up the outlets at Grapevine Mills & Ikea in Frisco. CAN'T WAIT!! Come on tomorrow!! :-) I hope everyone has a fun and blessed weekend! 

This is a pic of the pajama party before story time down in the lobby right before bed. Can't wait!