Busy Bonnie

Several years ago we were at a Christmas Party and played a getting to know you game.  We were asked to introduce our spouse with a an alliteration, ie Dapper Dennis, Debonair Dennis, etc. you get the point.  Most of the men were coming up with very flattering things like Lovely Lindsay, or Marvelous Margie.  When our turn came I became "Busy Bonnie".

Seriously...just like that. 

Busy Bonnie

(Whatever happened to Beautiful Bonnie? That would have paid off in so many ways.)

Well it was true then and it is still true.

This week has been

Off The Hook!

But Fun!

I was asked to do a little presentation on Event Planning for the Young Women in one of the wards in our stake. I also had three weddings to prepare for this week, (that's my job).

Anyway, I thought I would show the YW some fun ways to make a beautiful table

here are some of the pictures.

 

This is my Summer Table! 

 

 

Here are a couple of my 4th of July Table

 

Here are two of the Mustache Party-Black and White Table!

Yup, the water picture does have a mustache!

 

It was fun and the girls seemed to enjoy it...especially the snacks at the end!

MY KIND OF GALS!

 

 

We also decorated two weddings today! It was fun/exhausting/fun.

Working with Marni, my business partner, is always a blast. 

We did a new Venue today.

It was the Mesa Women's Club or The Women's Club of Mesa.

 A historic building in downtown Mesa and a great place for a small wedding or open house. 

Here are some of the pictures.

 

Normally I would just take credit for how beautiful everything looks but that dang Guilt thing won't let me.

The Linens, tablecloths, chair covers, bows are OURS.

Lemonade stand, not ours.

Flowers, not ours.

Dishes, not ours.

Cute Ruffl-ee tablecloth in the back...OURS!

Chrystal Chandelier hanging from the center of the room...OURS!

 

 

 

Perfect vignette! Not a single thing in it is ours

But I sure would like to wind up with that

tablecloth/tutu

when we are cleaning up tonight.

 

 

 

Not Ours

 

Absolutely Ours!

This little gal finds her way on to Pinterest on a pretty regular basis!

 

 

Our table top chandelier.

Client put the flowers and letter on the top.

Again, our backdrop, with diamond cut beads in the background

and tied back with diamond mesh and

vintage diamond pins.

P.E.R.F.E.C.T.

 

 So Cute

They did a fabulous job of adding their things to ours!  And the Space was very charming.

 

Have a great weekend!

Busy Bonnie needs a nap!

 

Our Life these Days

We recently had our family pictures taken.  There are

18

of us!

Traditionally family pictures have been a lot like going to the dentist or preparing for a final.

Stressful.

Not because I don't like to do them but because four boys men that I raised had a way of complaining and goofing around and complaining until they would succeed in making it, well 

miserable.

I know people who have their pictures taken every year. Their families always seem beautiful, perfect and they have this record of what they looked like every year of their life. 

Not Us.

We have ours done about every three years. We need to turn over a new leaf.  I have to say that my boys didn't complain at all (to me) this time. 

Our photographer, Brittany, was a joy to work with.

Best of all the kids were adorable.

I love how the pictures turned out.  Not only that but there is nothing like us getting our family pictures taken that prompts the almost immediate outdating of that picture.  This time is no exception!

Announcing:

Two new arrivals in September!  Tyler and Bekah are expecting a new baby boy on September 3 and  Todd and Nikki are expecting a new baby girl on September 12!

We will be up to

20

We couldn't be happier!

 

It is almost a shame that no picture was taken of the scene that we were looking at.  My boys were all going crazy trying to get their kids to smile.

Who would have EVER thought the Danielson's would have so many girls?

 

Just a word about my family. There is nothing more important, more precious, more complicated, more enjoyable, breaks your heart faster or that brings greater rewards.  I would be lost without my family. They mean everything to me. Not a single thing I do would bring me an ounce of joy if they weren't all a part of my family. I hope everyone of them understands how much they are loved and how grateful I am for them.

Especially this guy...he is amazing!

Indulge me! I can't help it, they are just so cute!

 

Alyvia

 

June

 

Claire

 

Audrey

 

Ruby

 

Jacob

 

Nathan

 

Luke

 

Just four more pictures...for me!

 

The kids gave us a gift certificate to have our pictures taken with the grandchildren for Christmas. We decided to have the whole family done at the same time.  Anyway, wanted to take pictures in front of the pretty flowers!

 

Obviously I was holding two babies and I was doing O.K. until Claire started crying!

 



 

Immediately Ruby became concerned with Claires tears and started to crawl onto my lap to comfort her. Dennis rescued Audrey, whew! Luke and Nathan were pretty bored, Jacob was watching to get some pointers on babies. June and Lyvi were looking at the same thing as Nathan but I couldn't tell you who or what that was. I had too much help on my lap! Dennis never flinched.  (How does he do that?)

 

 Finally Claire was happy again!  Crisis averted...I love having that probably 30 second moment in time documented because it was so sweet.  Good job Ruby. 
 

 

Epilogue: When we were all finished with our photo shoot we started back to our cars. The park we were in was down in a little ravine with a steep dirt trail that led into it. Ruby had brought a little doll stroller to play with during the photo shoot and had climbed into it (she was WAY too big for that stroller) June pushed her in it around the park a bit and then all the way up the trail. It took them a "while" and it was Arizona so it was warm but June did it the whole way by herself. She loves Ruby and Ruby loves "Noon" right back. They are such cute cousins. And that is just the kind of thing that puts a smile on my face every single time!

So Much Sweetness!

Sweet Baby Girl!

A couple of months ago Bekah

offered to

give

Lauren

a

Baby Shower to celebrate the birth of  little

Miss Audrey!

Nikki, Sarah and I offered to help!

We got together and had a planning meeting.

We knew there would be lots of 

PINK

Then we talked and we emailed and pinned and crafted and sewed.

There was a lot of excitement.

Nikki had tons of amazing ideas, she is the QUEEN of CRAFTS!

Seriously, nothing intimidates her and she tries

EVERYTHING.

Bekah has lots of good ideas as well, she made the most

adorable

invitations,

and no one makes baby bows as cute as Sarah

and

thankfully

all of us have

PINTEREST!!!

It was like most showers and parties 

A LOT

of work

BUT

in the end it turned out

as sweet and cute as could be.

Here is what the dining room

looked like before any guests arrived.

 Below is the salad table. 

Bekah made Ruby

a cute lace banner

(like the one behind the table here)

for her birthday

so I copied

and

made

this one.

Then Bekah found the most adorable tablecloths ever on someones Blog.

They had lots and lots

of

cute ruffles

and made the table look so sweet.

We had to have them.

Aren't they perfect?

Don't you think

Salads

should always come in glass jars

with

adorable labels

on them?

Me too!

What is a little harder to see is that in the wood box

to the right

of the

Fruit Salad

are three different Spreads for the rolls

cinnamon butter, strawberry butter, and strawberry jam.

 This is the Cupcake table.

It also has a cute ruffl-ee tablecloth

and lots and lots of

Sweets.

YUM!

 Mmmmmm...so delicious!

We may have made a few too many

CUPCAKES

But

we are enjoying the left overs.

 Besides five different kinds of cupcakes;

white,

cherry,

caramel pretzel,

carrot cake,

caramel apple

there were also chocolate dipped pretzels, candied pecans, pink and white moose munch, and cream cheese mints!

As well as assorted little candies!

We had to fill those jars.

 We had little labels for the cupcakes to show what they  were!

Those girls think of

EVERYTHING

and know how to

make it so

CUTE.

 This is my China Cabinet

all cute and painted

WHITE!

Wasn't it lucky that I just

happend

to

have

PINK PLATES!

Oh but they were

perfect!

We stalked the shelves with

our drinks

water and strawberry lemonade

with

pink and white

striped

straws!

The bottom drawers

were filled with our

favors.

Brown sugar scrub!

Great for dry skin.

 In the kitchen we had a little

bow making station

set up

where Lauren's friends and family

could come and

make a

bow for Audrey!

Oh my

she got such cute bows.

Lots of different kinds

and colors.

Sarah got the supplies

for it

and made

that cute little

peach bow to get things

started.

It was such fun

and

the women

loved sitting down

at the table and visiting and creating.

What a fun day

that was.

Now you might be wondering where the pictures are

of the shower in progress

or the finished bows or

even of

Lauren.

That would be a good thing to wonder

but about the time

the shower started

thoughts of

picture taking

were replaced by

eating and

watching Lauren

open her gifts and

replenishing food

and cleaning up

and...well I'm sure

you get the picture...well actually you won't get that particular picture except in your mind. 

The camera was laid down

and we enjoyed

ourselves

very much.

And we all went to bed early that night.

Thanks again for mopping my floor Sarah, and for having this great idea Bekah and for all of your amazing creatitons you are willing to share Nikki and for having Audrey, Lauren!

Daughter-in-laws are the sweetest of God's Gifts to me.

It's Never Easy!

It doesn't hurt,

there is no physical pain involved (I take that back, well usually no pain),

 but for some reason getting a family picture of this group

 always comes accompanied by lots of moaning and eye rolling.

 Just figuring out

 where we are going to put eveyone is a lot of work and

a tremendous amount of discussion,

loud discussion. (Danielson's talk LOUD.)

 I thought I was ready,

Lyvi

helped with the seating.

Bekah

worked on the  lighting arrangements.

I just had to sit there...I'm good at that.

 Sometimes

even the best laid plans are

futile complicated.

 June was hoping to hold

Ruby!

 The movement makes us look a little

Back To The Future-ish!

 Remember when I said there was no physical pain?

Wrong,

Lyvi and June bumped heads.

Family pictures

are

more painful than I thought.

We normally don't pick on expectant mothers but Lauren

was in charge of hitting the timer on the camera

 and then getting back to her chair before the camera flashed!

 I like this picture, except Nathan and Ruby

are not looking forward. AND...

We

Have

To

Have

Those

Two

CUTE

FACES

facing forward in our Family picture.

They make the cuteness meter

soar!

Finally, this is probably the one we will go with. 

Not a lot of smiles on the pink couch

but

we are all looking forward!

Jacob and Luke were so patient

during this whole process.

They definately win

for sitting nicely and

waiting and smiling at all the

right times.

I wish there was

a sound-o-meter (audio feed)

connected to this picture because

you would have heard

RUBY

sucking so hard on that finger!

Ohhh, she did love her finger last night.

Actually,

she was sucking on everything she could find

including the knobs on

my ottoman!

Getting teeth is hard work.

August 2102 our Family is: A Grandpa and Grandma

Four Awesome Sons

Four Beautiful, Talented and Amazing daughters (in-law)

and 6 Adorable, brilliant, athletic grandchildren

with three more on the way

thanks to Lauren and Sarah

and one more on the way

possibly starting this week

when Tyler and Bekah's adoption profile

hits LDS Family Services

watch for it here

https://itsaboutlove.org/ial/ct/eng/site/adopting-families/?lang=eng

and click on their blog button

on the right hand corner of this page.

After it was all over and every one had gone home and

my house was hauntingly quiet (Dennis was

out setting apart a couple that are going on a mission

to Argentina.) I checked my camera

to see how the pictures turned out

and this is what

I found on

the

very

last

frame.

I guess Justin really does like to have his picture taken.

I love my family!

Anniversary Trip...here's to another 35 years!

I'm pretty sure that for most people who look at us that it would come as no big surprise that we are celebrating our 35th wedding anniversary this year. But to me, I'm in a little bit of shock and I kind of go back and forth between feeling like we have been married FOREVER and feeling like we just got married a couple of years ago. I guess when I think about it I really have a hard time remembering what it felt like not being married, and I can honestly say that getting married was the BEST thing I ever did, it simply shocks me that I have been married that long because we still seem like we should be a couple of kids.

 Oh we did have a wonderful time in Seattle. Here are just a few of the things we did. This is us standing in front of Snoqualme Falls...they are even higher than Niagra, but not nearly as wide. I've seen them both though and they are both beautiful.

 This is the Seattle LDS Temple. We enjoyed a pleasant walk around the Temple grounds last Sunday when I took this picture. The grounds are nothing short of spectacular and we really enjoyed all of the succulent plants and grasses and trees. The grounds of our Mesa Temple are super beautiful as well, just different.

 This is the entrance to Pikes Market.  It is a hustling bustling place and we had a good time there looking at all the fish and the produce as well as arts and crafts.

Seattle's famous Gum Wall. Disgusting but kind of like a train wreck, you don't want to look at it but it's hard to turn away. 

This is us at the port on Bainbridge Island. Super duper fun and again, BEAUTIFUL. 

It's interesting. I'm a desert rat, for sure. I loved Washington and it's beautiful trees but honestly, I couldn't live there. Hope I don't ever have too. We were there during the "sunny" time of year and while most days were sunny-ish the rainy or overcast ones are too much for me.  I like rain on Sunday's that's it.  That said, I sure did enjoy being close to a lake. Our hotel room was just a short walk to a lake and we enjoyed that so MUCH.  I guess when I'm missing the beautiful Sammommish lake I will just look outside and stare at my swimming pool and be grateful there is some water there. It isn't the same though...really hard to ride your bike around our pool.