And what's a birthday without a photoshoot?

 "The Smolder"

Parley is 2!

Even though Parley has been acting like he's two for over six months now, I guess its official now.  This crazy bundle of impossible energy had a fun party this weekend!

The hardest part was keeping Lincoln's excitement contained!!  He's been talking about Parley's birthday party for MONTHS!

Gosh, I love this kid.  Lincoln picked out this Thomas train (with a birthday check from Grandma Hancock), and it was a major hit.

He also really loves the sandals from Grandma Millar and the beach toys from Diana!  They are perfect.  Thank you, thank you!

 Does this give you a hint as to where we're moving next month?!  A major increase in rent is kicking us out and we've found a dream-rental right by the beach!  We can't wait to spend the entire carefree summer on the sand!

Can't Get Enough Canary Yellow

This week's project was finishing up another pillow for our room.  You can read the full tutorial HERE on Viva!

#NW10Years

What a fantastic weekend!!  x10!

Words can't describe what it meant to be able to see all my best friends from college.  These girls (plus Megan, who couldn't make it) were my lifeline, my cheerleaders, my teammates, my listening ears, my vacation buddies, my songmates, and my closest friends. 

 Several of the alumni organized this 10-year reunion and concert.  We met up for a dinner Friday night where we giggled, told stories, met everyone's husbands and kids, watched the current NW group perform their ICCA set, took pictures, and hugged.

 Aaaaaand I had to make a dress for the occasion :)

Saturday we threw together a show!  We'd been practicing our tracks from our old recordings and brushing up on choreo from youtube videos at home.  Its amazing how it all comes back!

 

This concert also celebrated the new release of our 4th CD!  It is called "Unbound", and the songs are killer.

We had the Covey at 8am, and fit in vocal rehearsals, choreography, sound checks, and pizza, before the show that night. 

Getting to perform for Travis & Holly, Braden & Lauren, and Janae made this performance even more magical!  Most of them had never seen me perform in NW, and it was fun to feel like I was in college with them.

My two years in NW put me in the "1st Generation" group as well as the "2nd Generation", so I got to perform in twice the numbers.  A moment I will never forget is being introduced at this concert as the group that won ICCA, and before even singing a note, hearing our friends, our families, and our dear show parents completely warming us with applause.  What an incredible feeling!  Going back to 2007 as if nothing had changed, but then thinking of all the things that have happened in those 7 years, was humbling and touching.

Here's a little "Don't You Worry", part of our winning ICCA set:

The closer (or 2nd encore, rather), was "How Great Thou Art". 

Its a good thing Travis' video ends where it does because we all start to lose it, the pitch drops, we're all in tears, and I'm a wreck.  These girls.  That song.

Kristen describes it all best when she wrote, "Late Tuesday and Thursday nights, early Saturday mornings, scraping to get by, dodging HFAC night closing crew, eating too much, dancing in front of mirrors, discovering the etiology of my sore knees to be the frequency of prayers said with pinkies clasped on hard floors, wondering if anyone would care about female a cappella, choreographing when I should have been studying, "visualizing" a win, the vision board (a perfect score), Saturday night gigs, NW limo ride in NY, trying to arrange parts, negotiating show flow and a set list, awkward talkies, getting kissed by a 40 year old man at a gig, winning best choreography, corded microphones at ICCA, winning ICCA 2007, road trips and speeding tickets, chappy, 12 minutes on the Lincoln Center Stage, the Tuacahn, heels and hair up, Barbie hands, and retreats.  It was all of that.  And more.  It was finding myself onstage with 8 other women ready to bear witness to the world what we knew to be true about womanhood, music, and the gospel of Jesus Christ.  It was a journey to "win the world", and I won so much more." -- Kristin

The Next Blogging Adventure

You guys!  This week, I've started on as a contributor on Viva Veltoro!  I'll be slowing down and eventually leaving Dandy, but I'm thrilled about this next blogging adventure!  I'll be doing a new recipe/craft/project blog post each week, plus a giveaway or review on the side.  I'm excited about posting for a significantly larger audience and still getting to do what I love with giveaways, while at the same time having an excuse to start and FINISH all these projects I've had swirling in my head for months and months!  My first post was this Happy Easter Egg Cake I created in a frantic frenzy Monday morning (just after arriving home from a red-eye from CA).  More on that soon...

See and read the full recipe with more pictures at HERE or at www.vivaveltoro.com!

Happy April!

Its finally starting to look like Spring around here, and we couldn't be happier about it!  Especially Lincoln, who filled up his entire Potty Chart and earned a BIKE!!!  Potty training was actually not at all as hard as I thought it would be.  I seriously have been absolutely dreading it since the moment I found out he we was a boy in the womb.

 

This was a really fun commissioned job for a birthday girl in Ohio--an Elsa dress!  I broke down and bought myself a ruffler foot, and I can't believe I've ever lived without one.  Oh right, I have boys!  No ruffles.

 These were "Goodmorning Muffins" that I baked for Jason's team at work.  At home, we're really into building forts, ships, trains, and as seen below, airplanes!!  Our favorite place to travel is the jungle where we land a do a leopard puzzle.  Every time.  These kids are a blast.

We had a family night at the pool!   I love seeing Jason teach our boys new things.  He got Lincoln to do all sorts of brave things.  Parley is a natural water rat.

I took these pictures to show the new gym clothes I was reviewing for a giveaway, but here's a look into our weekly routine.  We have been loving the Easty Y!  Because of their awesome daycare, I've been going three days/week, fitting in a 5k every Saturday.  Jason joins us on the weekends and we look like a cute little healthy family.

 Our bedroom got another little facelift, courtesy of Brylane Home.

I set out to make a whole bunch of pillows, and kind of lost steam after the first one.  Recognize the leftovers from making that wedding dress a few years back?

Speaking of lace, this was a fun idea that turned out well: take a portion of lace and clip it into the shape you want, spray-starch it on both sides, and hand-sew onto a taupe ribbon.  

Aaaaaaaaand, Lincoln was a champ at his first dentist appt. this morning!  It probably helped to have that TV screen a few feet from his face.  Squeaky clean teeth!  Grandpa Richardson would be proud.