Doll House Dreams

This is the doll room of my dreams. It will be auctioned in New Port Beach this next month. The woman who owned it, collected for over 30 years. She devoted the fourth floor of her Vienna mansion to her more than 1,000 pieces of antique German and French dolls, doll houses, and miniature rooms. This one is a porcelain shop. I LOVE IT! I bought the hardbound two-volume book set so I can drool over them for the rest of my life! LOL! Isn't it the most beautiful thing you have ever seen?( As far as doll stuff goes.....) I even love the little drawers and shelves!

Okay....the auction was last Sunday.... I looked on Monday and it sold for 4,000 dollars! WOW!

Family Christmas Party

I had the idea to make a miniature Christmas Tree Lot, since the trees take about 15 minutes, each, to make. I knew they wouldn't have enough time at the party...so Lara and I decorated the sugar cones to look like trees and Mark helped me make a little lot complete with "snow" (coconut) and battery operated lights and miniature garland. We had so much FUN doing it! That's my beautiful niece, Kiersten....can't tell who is cuter....the trees or her!
I am a dumb blond.....that's why I only have a "dummy" camera with one button....actually...my camera has TWO buttons....one is for indoors...so that people won't get red lights in their eyes.....OH, YOU CAN SEE THE RED LIGHTS IN THEIR EYES? Enough said.....
I think everybody had fun...isn't that what parties are for? This is Sonia's husband and children.
Here are Larkie and Jon....Dan and Keira with Kristin's girls and Kristin.
Dan is creative and so he put a whole row of suckers around the outside of his little house....I know what that means Dan......you can have a sucker everyday for about a week.....CLEVER!

My Darling Grandchildren

Thanks to our talented daughter-in-law...Keira...we have a nice picture of the grandchildren all dressed up for the Nativity. They will act it out again at the Family Christmas Party tonight. In the original picture you could see the neighbors' roof top in the background. Keira photo shopped that part out. Nice work Keira! Lara is due in June of 2010..so we will have yet another Infant Jesus next year!! Kristin's children are: Joseph, Jesus and angels. Sonia's children are: Mary and the three Wise Men. Dan's are: Shepherds and smallest lamb (in his Boppy.) Lara's baby is the larger lamb on the right Sure wish we could have all of our Utah and California cousins here....we miss you guys!

Family Christmas Party Preparation

The Elves are busy at work helping Grandma Gigi get ready for the Family Christmas Party. Moochie handles the candy canes while Andrew sets out the gumballs. Juliann just closes her eyes and takes in the aroma. Boy...does my house smell good right now. Who needs candles when you have 14 freshly baked Gingerbread Houses? We are almost ready for the party. It will be tonight. Must take lots of pictures!! Merry Christmas everyone!

Prelude to Christmas

We got the tree up at the cabin...but no tree at home yet...Mark had to speak in Stake Conf. so things will start happening this week...finally!
Found the Gingerbread boy in California..he had hideous colors of red and blue and green. This is me..changing his eyes from green to black. I added copper and gold glitter paint as well as some 3-D buttons and nose, etc..

Festival of the Trees

My talented friend, Linda, does all the set-up decorating for the Festival of the Trees. She always invites me to do a tree. I did one the first year and skipped last year. She called again this year and the theme was "Storybook Christmas" ...could I refuse that? No!! This is her daughter, Shelly's, peacock tree. It sold.
Here is one of my favorites....Hansel and Gretel. It hadn't sold when I saw it on Saturday. They were asking close to 2,000. Maybe that's why...
Here is a sample of Linda's talent. Some people just buy stuff and throw it out. She designs and BUILDS it herself. I have used her one of her back drops for a mutual activity. She designed and built a New York City skyline out of cardboard complete with night lights...she is amazing!
This is my entry...Gingerbread Baby...including the book...sweets imported from the U.K. ( a shop in San Francisco) and a freshly baked Gingerbread House. I loved the yarn I found in Phoenix at a fabulous shop called ...."Knit Happens." I crocheted the tree skirt to fit the colors of the gingerbread and added some filament so it has a sheen to it. Found the luscious tree at a Designer's warehouse in Orange County California. I love to go there and get their wholesale prices...thanks to my sister-in-law and her card to get us in.

Thanksgiving at the Cabin

We enjoy the park near our cabin. It was fun having a family kick-ball game. I can still see little Tatoe running the bases. Here is little Ryder getting the attention.
DANG! I have the most talented kids...don't I??? Can you tell who this is?
Just sitting and waiting for the food...it was a glorious sunshine-filled day.
I bought some 3-D turkey cookie cutters online. The kids all loved painting them.