Flippin' Forty!

Aliesha Goodwin is now 40 year old! We celebrated her four decade milestone with a "Flippin' Forty" themed birthday party- a week after her actual birthday! Audra and I spent a lot of time preparing decorations for the party which I loved every minute of it.
We made a fabric flower garland which was inspired by my BFF's baby shower a few months ago.  And thankfully she told me where to find an online tutorial. (Click here!)

Backing up a few, Audra found the party's theme on a creative blog, but I have no idea which one.

We made four flip flop centerpieces, which doubled Aliesha's gift because we bought all new Old Navy flip flops in her side (10, in case you want to buy her some shoes- giant feet)!

Flamingos are my fave! So cute!!!

Moving on, we found some killer beach party items on clearance at JoAnn's Wal-Mart and Dollar Tree including the table cloth plastic lays and the beach towel.  All tied together with twine and embellished with a coordinating fabric flower.

Lastly, we made a few tissue paper pom poms to decorate Aliesha's big outdoor umbrellas. EASY!

So now lets talk food...
We made snickerdoodles, rice crispy treats, layered jello salad (no carrots) and fruit kabobs.  Delish!
And of course we bought all the proper fixings for yummy sub sandwiches.  Oh and my Mom made pasta salad-my fave!

events + time crunch= very bossy Amanda  :)

And in 108 degree Las Vegas heat, the kids swam and the grown ups talked. 

But what's a party without.... CUPCAKES!!!

We didn't make Aliesha blow out forty candles-we didn't want a fire! But coincidentally, a siren singing fire truck drove right by after the "Happy Birthday Song" was over and the flames were out! Classic!

Happy Birthday Aliesha, hope you didn't get hot flashes blowing out those candles- Melinda's meds will help with that! :)

Ashley has the cheeeesiest smile :)

New Obsession

In November of 2009, one of my best friends Sarah decided to ditch me in the singles ward and get married.  Now don't get me wrong I was totally happy and excited for her, but I was going to miss hanging out all the time.  Fastforward to April 2010, Sarah writes me on Facebook demanding I come over and make my famous Snickerdoodle cookies with her.  I jokingly said, "Sweet deal, Girls Night!" Anyway, I brought everything over to make the cookies and invited a few other friends to join us.   The cookies were delicious as always!
The next day, I get a new Facebook post from Sarah stating that she taken it upon herself to appoint her and I as co-presidents of Girls Night and that every month we would round up the girls and do a fun activity each "member" taking turns hosting and planning the night's activity.  So we have baked a few yummy treats and cratfed a few cute creations, and now it's July 2010 and I have a new addicting obsession- making stuff!
I love to cook, to bake, to sew (on a sewing maching) and to craft.  I can't get enough, I have so many "Wonderful Web sites" (see side bar) I steal all my best creations from.  There is one site in particular I stole my best idea from Design Thief. 
Quite some ago my cousin Karry created a blog solely for stealing other's ideas and sharing them with others-Genius! So I in turn created a blog to share with all my friends and family the awesome ideas I find lurking on a few of my top crafting sites.  My new blog The Domestic Dillard Diva's name came from an apron kit I saw at JoAnn Fabric and Craft Stores.  I though it fit my sense of style and crafting perfectly!
Enjoy the new blog, I hope you can use a few of my plagarized ideas! :) Also see the side bar of this blog for other "Wonderful Web sites."

Catching up with the Dillards

The last seven months have flown by!  So many things have changed for our family so far this year.  Since the last two posts are well all about me...shocker, I figure it's time to do a quick family update!

January 2010

Ronnie rears up for his first season of Supercross.  I was lucky enough to see him race in Anaheim, Calif. for a few races out of the season.  

Another major event in January was the arrival my new little niece Emily.  This is a more recent picture of her with Tim at the cabin.  

March 2010

March was a fun birthday month for Ryan and Tom, both on the 28th.  I made Ryan an MX finish line podium cake.  

Tom blew his candles out on a chocolate cake made by his momma.  

April 2010

I love the month of April.  I know it's because I love small farm animals (bunnies and chicks) and the best time to get all the cute bunny and chick stuff is Easter time! Also, I love peeps so April is a great month.  For Easter this year Audra and I decided to do a small egg hunt during Sunday dinner for all the kids.  

Luke really loved all the eggs he found.  

A fun picture with some of the Dillard girls!  

In April Seth also achieved his Eagle Scout Award.  We are so proud of him.  He worked really hard to donate beautiful quilts to families whose newborns didn't make it.  Congrats Seth, we love you!

We also went to a few free fremont concerts celebrating the ACM awards.  We saw Lady Antebellum, Luck Bryan and Miranda Lambert with special guest Blake Shelton.   

Audra and I went with our close friends Sarah Hales and Krista Froemming.  

May 2010

May 8th was a busy day for the entire family.  First at 2 p.m. I graduated from UNLV in a 4 hour ceremony.  It just so happened that my college was dead last, so everyone was pretty tired and antsy toward the end.  (Note: Megan not wanting to take this picture)

I owe a big thank you to my parents for all their help not only the last four years of college, but the last 22 years! I call this shot the $40,000 shot! Love you Mom and Dad! 

 Laster that night.... Ronnie's last Supercross race of the season, and I was not going to miss that for anything! 

Ronnie didn't know the Willow Springs Ward started a fan club for him! Audra and I met friends Zach, Brady and Judd at the race! 

They are so jealous I know Ronnie.

  

The Racer and the Graduate! whoop, whoop!!!  

(Lovely picture of me by the way!)

Well those are the highlights of the last few months! July will be a fun, separate post- Aliesha turns 40!

Winners Week

April 19-23 began the annual Mother's Extravaganza Giveaway Week for Fabulous Fun Finds, a product review blog created by a local mother of three.  The blog features new giveaway items almost everyday as well as crafty tips and information about up and coming companies.  For the mother's giveaway week, close to ten items each day.  Let me tell you, everything is fun, quality items that any girl would want.  During the week's celebration, I submitted more than 100 entries for these fabulous products.  For every giveaway post, bloggers can enter to win the items by posting a comment describing what you liked on the participating companies product Web site, additional entries can be posted by including various promotional tasks such as following FFF on Facebook, Twitter and Blogger.  Once the giveaway items deadline has been reached, the creator of the blog will email winners within 24 hours.  This week I have been a winner of some fabulous, free giveaways. 

The first item I won was a small, black picture frame from Obrien Schridde Designs as shown below.  The retail value of this frame is $50.  I am looking forward to hanging this vintage-looking frame in the new house. 

This morning I woke up to an even better email from Fabulous Fun Finds indicating that I had one a second prize for my entries.  This time I had one a very fashionable yet practical purse from Miche Bag. 

In a few days I will receive a classic black purse insert with two shells of my choice.  I picked the gathered brown Kandance shell and the Silver Cori, a raised leather shell.   

Hopefully, tomorrow I will have one another Fabulous Fun Find giveaway to blog about.  I spent a lot of time entering for these all the week's items and I'm glad all my hard work finally paid off!

Graduation

Graduation is just around the corner and what a relief! This semester has been pretty good to me, but I am ready for it to be over.  I have several essays and projects to finalize before I will officially be done with class.  I'm looking forward to seeing my family at the Thomas and Mack on May 8.

 As for work, I am still working as a public relations intern for the City of North Las Vegas.  This job has been a serious blessing I work with great people, I have a flexible work schedule and I love all the fun things I get to do.  I have to say, coordinating City events is my most favorite task as an Intern, not to mention all the fun giveaways I get to purchase! Hopefully, once I graduate and the City's financial situation straightens out, I will be able to work full-time in the communication's department as a public relations specialist under my good friend and mentor Juliet.  I hope the next two weeks go by fast- Graduation here I come!