HOLIDAY DIPS & SIPS WITH THE SMITHS

My sweet friend Stephanie (another Smith with a love of parties, yummy food, and darling decor) and I teamed up for a holiday party this past weekend. We focused on having holiday dips & sips, which was essentially finger foods, dips, and fun mocktails. With both delicious and pretty holiday sangria in hand, guests loaded plates full of baked and cranberry goat cheese, candied pecans, bacon wrapped chestnuts, and cucumber canopies (my favorite!). We ended the night with a round of white elephant, and boxers of all styles were quite the 2014 hit. It was a fun night of great food, company, and friends!

FABULOUS AT 50 SURPRISE PARTY

Can I just say, I totally lucked out in the in-law department. I'm not just saying that. I married into such a wonderful, loving, and FUN family. In January, my sisters in laws decided that we should try to surprise my sweet mother-in-law Trina for her 50th birthday in September. We managed to pull off a total surprise by corresponding via texts, e-mails, and phone calls, all while being long distance from each other! Between Katie, Whitney, and myself, we managed to shop, create, decorate, and figure out all the fine tuning, while sweet Grandma provided her lovely yard, Aunt Tanette and Tami gave us lists of friends to invite, and ALL of us for keeping a tight lip for about 9 months, we totally pulled off the surprise without a hitch! Alright, I might have slipped a couple times, but HOW do you not?! 

WARD CHRISTMAS PARTY

This year, my awesome enrichment committee & myself were able to throw the ward Christmas party. The wheels for this started spinning months ago-- we wanted all things classic with a punch of glitz & glam. Thanks to the many talented people in our ward, Lela & I were able to plan a delicious menu, sparkly decor, and a spiritual musical program using all the resources in our ward. I can't even begin to count the musical talent we have in our ward, let alone the amazing gourmet cookies we had brought for dessert. The night was a major success thanks to the help of so many talented people. For the most part, I was running around, serving food, and cleaning up that night, so most of these photos are just of the decor, which was the brunt of my piece to the big puzzle of the party.