Emily's Sixth Birthday

The Party

Emi trying out a new present/decorating cupcakes

The party goers/learning to use fairy wands and pirate daggers


The theme of the party was Tinkerbell & Neverland. It was simple, but fun. They played pixie tag, "tinkered" around and made their own wands, decorated cupcakes, and played games. Josh his friend Chase & our cousin Blake decorated pirate daggers for the boy version of the party. Over all it was a big success and all done just before Christmas! Whew

Catching Up

Josh- "Mom, look at how big the Tropical Guide is in my scriptures!"

I love this kid. He is so amazing. He really has felt more grown up these last few months. He even asked if he was old enough to drink from a Glass cup at dinner time and not the plastic clear cups we usually have. He also wanted so much to have scripture marking pencils. So just before he turned eight we had him choose one colored pencil and gave him the topic of Baptism. Just before and a little after he was baptized he read every scripture in the Topical Guide about baptism and then marked it. He's now on to a new topic. I love that he loves this.

Sick but Gorgeous

Em has been home sick the past couple of days so she's been catching up on some movie time and sporting PJs all day. Today she was sporting a look I wish I had captured on film. Picture Emi in an over-sized T-shirt, morning messy hair and..... a sparkling pink diamond necklace and diamond clip-on earings. She looked gorgeous too! She loved it and wore it all day even during quiet time. What a crazy girl. This isn't a picture of her unique look, but I bet you can imagine.

Christmas Dresses

I have a dozen of my Christmas dresses and skirts in several styles still available. To see what items & sizes I still have in stock go to emidresses.com .

Missed Me?

Have you missed me? Just know, I've missed all of you and reading the latest that is going on in your families. Tons has happened. The Primary Program is done, whew. Disneyland!!!! And I was in my first boutique and actually turned a profit. Whoopy! Needless to say. I have some dresses/skirts left, but am pleased to have had the experience. Many blogs soon to follow.

More Dresses

My sewing has finally come to an end, at least for the boutique. Thanks to my reliable side-kicks "super serger" & "dependable Kenmore" I've completed all that I could. I've labeled and tagged all my cloths. I organized a portfolio so customers could see samples of my work. I have business cards & even put together an entire cloths rack to display everything on. I think I'm ready even though the boutique is not for another week still. I'm ready. (I think) There are not as many items as I'd like to have had, but 25 items was all I could manage. Whew! Have I said that I am excited and terrified all at the same time? Either way, I still love sewing which is a big relief to me. I worried that the "job" of it might take away the fun, but it didn't! I learned that I had to keep it much more simple when sewing in "bulk". Simplicity also taught me how to be truer to the beauty of the fabric & emphasize it's best qualities. I've learned how the littlest accent, where appropriate, can really change the an entire look. I also learned how to make my own customized tags! That was so fun especially since I had to use a new computer program on my own and didn't ask Dan do figure it out for me.

For more information on my boutique visit http://www.shopchicboutiqueaz.blogspot.com/ or visit my blog at http://www.emidresses.com/

The Art of Anticipation

Instant gratification is such common place in today's life. I have to admit I am a bit guilty myself. The internet & cable allow me access to information and entertainment almost instantly. I can reach anyone no matter their location via cell phone. With all of these conveniences, I do worry about the world my children grow up in. Do my kids get everything and instantly?
So without being too depriving, we as a family, have tried to practice the art of anticipation. The kids have been dying to go to Disneyland for just forever. We could have gone a year and a half ago, but for various reasons decided to wait. We shared with the kids our goal of when we did want to go and let them know we would save our money all year for our planned trip.

Publish Post

Somehow all the waiting and saving makes the trip more exciting, more valued, more anticipated. And now that we've waited and saved we can afford to do so many more fun things and have more perks now than if we would have gone initially.