The Hellem's Wedding

This past Saturday Mikey and Alyson tied the knot. They had a small ceremony at a chapel downtown and then a reception at Mikey's parents house. They did a phenomenal job decorating the house and transforming the backyard into a wedding venue. I was so impressed! The food was delicious, the couple radiated happiness, and we all had a great time. Great event Hellem fam!

*I forgot to take a picture of the couple! Whoops!

Katie's Baby-Q

On Sunday my mom and I hosted Katie's Baby-Q. We had so much fun coming up with the theme 

and pulling together all of the fun details. Katie is having a boy so we knew we wanted to do something that could be gender neutral since Katie is very girly. We decided on a Baby-Q where we could have a slider bar and fun red, white, and blue details. 

When you first walk into the house there was a table set up with a few activities for the guests. We had diapers with a cute poem about writing Katie a message for those late night diaper changes. I found the poem on Pinterest but used Pages on my computer to make it my own. Then we had Wishes for Baby where the guests write different things like "I hope you love, I hope you learn...etc." Then the guests hung the wishes on the clothes line. It was adorable! 

We also put up a tissue paper banner that I found at Target for $5. It looked way cuter in person :) On the other side of the archway was a clothesline of baby boy clothes with a plaid and blue theme.

Then in the living room we had a diaper and present table set up. In the invites I included a little insert about bringing diapers and we did a raffle during the party.  

I also made a banner that said Baby Canfield. I don't have a close up from the party but I'll include the one from my house when I was setting it up. 

We made mini fruit pizzas out of sugar cookies as a dessert. For the favors my mom found mini pies at the Commissary and I made gift tags for them that said "Thanks for celebrating the Cutie Pie"

For the food we have a slider bar with hamburgers and chicken breasts. We also had a condiment tray that Mark made for me last week. He's so handy :) 

We also had sliced watermelon, a strawberry, red onion, toasted pecans, feta cheese and poppyseed dressing salad, chips and dip, and fresh veggies. 

We used small paper bags and cut them down so they would be perfect for Kettle Chips. I also made little signs for all of the food on Pages. 

For drinks we had lemonade, iced tea, and wine spritzers.

We played a Who Did it? game at the shower. I emailed both moms and asked for a list of things Breyen and Katie did as little kids. I compiled the questions and asked them to the group where they had to decide if it was Breyen or Katie. Some questions were: Who lost a pound after they were born because the refused to eat? Whose best friend was their great-grandma? I even made little pictures of the two of them as babies for the guests to hold up. They were a big hit! We also played a nursery rhyme quiz game. Katie is a music teacher so I thought this game would be fun for everyone! 

The shower was so much fun to plan and I am SO THANKFUL that I had my mom to help me execute all of our ideas and just the preparation and set-up in general. My mom is a great party planner so I'm hoping to acquire all of her skills one day :)

Wreath Craftin'

I bought a wire wreath base at Hobby Lobby a few months ago while I was home in Vegas. I wanted to make a wreath for a seriously long time... I guess since I saw the adorable one my sister made. I FINALLY made one today. I used a tutorial I found from the youtube channel Nia's Nest (click to find the page). Her family does daily vlogs and they are adorable.  I didn't follow it exactly but more used it as a guide. The wreath didn't turn out exactly as I planned and I think it needs a little something else to finish it. I'll show you what I did and the steps I took to get there.

The cast of characters: 18 inch wire wreath base, denim ribbon (hard to see), burlap roll- 30 feet ( I only used one), glue gun, and the burlap flower. ** I didn't end up using the flower though. 

 

1st- Tuck the burlap under the wire base.

2nd- Tuck the sides in and make a point.

3rd- Using the four wires on the wreath, put the burlap over the first, under the 2nd, over the 3rd, and under the 4th. Leave a little bit of the tail out to help keep everything in place.

4th- Using the wires pull the burlap in between the 1st and 2nd wire to make a row, then the 2nd and 3rd, and then the 3rd and 4th. You will have three rows. Do the same thing again in that section to make 6 total bunches.  

The base has small sections so you will continue working around the base making sure each section has 6 bunches.

It will start to look like this. My bunches got a little small at the end but I still think it looks okay. 

I cut the burlap when I finished and twisted the end so I could tuck it into the back of the base. 

Here is the finished base.

I forgot to take picture of myself making the bow. I used a tutorial that I found here on youtube to help make a bow out of denim wired ribbon. 

Here is the finished product on my door. I think it looks pretty adorable but I want to add a red, white, and blue B to it. What do you think?

Five on Friday

1. It's the last day of school! 

So exciting! I love my sweet kiddos but I am in need of a break. The last day of school with the students was last Friday and this whole week was just inservice and moving classrooms. It was a much more laid back week.

2. Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas

My friend Ashley and I made these two weeks ago to drop off to two families that just had babies. I had never made them before but found them on the HelloHappiness blog. I made them again this weekend because I was dying to try them. Plus with Greg staying with us I need hearty meals to fill up both guys haha. 

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients
6 tablespoons honey
5 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
16 oz. green verde enchilada sauce
3-4 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
8-10 flour tortillas
1 bag colby/ monterey jack cheese, shredded
1 cup sour cream

Directions
1. Bake Chicken at 350 degrees for 35- 40 minutes. *Season first with salt and pepper.
2. Combine honey, lime juice, chili powder, and garlic powder together and add to shredded chicken
3. Pour 1/2 cup of green verde sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish
4. Fill tortillas with chicken and shredded cheese and place in baking dish
5. Mix remaining enchilada sauce with the sour cream and pour over enchiladas, and then sprinkle remaining monterey jack cheese on top
6. bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes and enjoy!

We also topped ours with salsa, tomatoes, onion, and avocado. SO DELICIOUS! 

3. The new Zac Brown Band Album: Jekyll & Hyde

I have been listening to this album nonstop and I LOVE it! My favorite songs right now are Homegrown and Loving You Easy.

4. Wedding weekend and Katie's Baby Shower

I am SOOO excited that we are heading to Vegas today. It's Greg's brother Mikey's wedding on Saturday which will be a blast. My parents, the Canfields, Mark's brother and mom, and of course the Hellems will be there. All my fave Vegas people in one place! Woot woot! Plus, on Sunday my mom and I will be hosting Katie's Baby-Q themed shower. I can't wait to see all the decorations and food come together. 

5. Blog Lovin' 

I LOVE reading blogs, especially fashion blogs. I'm not into high fashion but I really love to get new ideas on things to pair together or just new ways to style something in my own closet. Since I am a teacher I am constantly looking for inspiration. I read Southern Curls & Pearls because she has the cutest style! She is way smaller than me so some of the things she wears would look ridiculous on me but I still love to steal ideas from her. I also really like Emily from The Sweetest Thing Blog. She often has outfits that are a little more expensive but I love her most recent post where she paired a white dress and a jean jacket. I am ALL about the jean jacket haha. I stumbled upon this blog as well. She was pregnant when I started reading her blog but has recently had her baby. I am definitely taking style notes for when I have a bump one day :)

Homemade French Onion Soup

On Saturday Mark and I were driving home from the Commissary and were randomly talking about soup. Weird conversation right? It was kinda cold and over cast so I wanted to make something a warm and delicious. So naturally I thought of soup! When we got home I started looking up recipes and I realized I had almost everything I needed (plus some substitutions) to make French Onion Soup. I love when that happens! Don't you? I found the recipe here on the food network's website.

Ingredients:

**I halved the ingredients since it was just for Mark and me.

1/4 cup unsalted butter

2 onions, sliced

1 garlic clove, chopped

1 bay leaf

Salt and pepper

1/2 cup white wine (we didn't have red)

1 1/2 tablespoons of flour

1 quart of beef broth ( I used better than bouillon)

1/2 baguette, sliced

2 handfuls of grated cheese (I used a Formaggio blend from Trader Joes instead of the Mozzarella pictured below)

Directions:

Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onions, garlic, bay leaf, and salt and pepper. Cook until the onions are very soft and carmelized. This took about 35 minutes. Add the wine, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the wine has evaporated. Discard the bay leaf. Dust the onions with flour and give them a stir. Cook for about 10 minutes at a medium low heat to get rid of the raw flour taste. Add the beef broth and bring soup to a simmer. Cook for 10 minutes and season to taste.

When you're ready to eat the soup, preheat your broiler. I heated mine to 450 degrees because the crocks I had couldn't be boiled. Ladle the soup into oven safe bowl, place a few baguette pieces on top, and cover with cheese. Toast the bread and melt the cheese. When it's nice and brown the soup is ready! Seriously soooo delicious!

I also made a chopped salad with eggs, bacon, tomatoes, green onion, and basil. Yum!