Thanksgiving Point's Easter Eggstreme | Giveaway

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Who loves Easter more than I do? You would think it is the mom down the street who spends all night sewing matching Easter attire for their babies the night before. Nope. Maybe the super woman who decorates her entire house with Easter buntings and wreaths? Well, perhaps...but I still say no. Need a little hint? I say, Thanksgiving Point.


Are you looking for something amazingly fun to do this weekend with your kids? Well, Thanksgiving Point has your answer.

The Easter Eggstreme at Thanksgiving Point happens this Saturday beginning at 10 a.m.

There will be so many fun vendors and egg hunting activities for the kids. Word on the street is that this event is packed, so prepare accordingly to have an adult on hand for each little one so no one gets lost.

One of the best parts? The Easter Eggstreme is sponsored by Chick-fil-a...and you know how much I love them don't you? We even had lunch there yesterday, so delish.

I am giving away a family pack of tickets for free admission to this event. (Up to 9 tickets!) All you have to do is be able to pick the tickets up from me by Friday afternoon.

To enter, simply leave me a comment telling me what you love most about Thanksgiving Point and why. Please leave the number of tickets you require as well as your email address so that I can contact you in the event you win!

To earn additional entries:

Check out Thanksgiving Point on Facebook
Check out Kim Orlandini Photography on Facebook
Share this giveaway any way you would like, and let me know you did so.

Please leave an extra comment for each additional entry.

The giveaway ends Wednesday, April 4, 2012 at 6 p.m. MST. Winner will be notified by email tomorrow evening.

***Disclaimer: I am not being compensated in any way for this giveaway. However, I do ADORE Thanksgiving Point and love taking my kids to see their beautiful Tulips and gardens and love that they give me the opportunity to share their beautiful grounds and events with all of you...so, thank you Thanksgiving Point!***

I didn't know that you could choose to be happy, thank you Elizabeth Smart for teaching me otherwise.

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I honestly didn't know.I mean, somewhere deep down inside of me I am sure that I did know. Being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, that fact is pretty much nailed into our brains from the time we are infants, isn't it? Or was it lost on me thinking I had to be completely 100% amazing in order to be happy?

The world teaches us that we have to be beautiful and super model thin to be happy. We have to have the seemingly perfect life in order to be happy. Our husbands have to shower us with gifts and they come home from work and clean the house and kiss us and hug us and forgive us for all of our wrong doing. We always have our makeup on and our hair done, and dinner on the table, and our kids are so well behaved and craft masters and reading masters and all other types of masters because that is what is required to be happy. You can't be happy unless your life is without trial and sorrow. If you have not all of these things, happiness cannot be found.

At least, that is kind of what I thought.

Until almost two weeks ago when I finally learned that it is possible to choose for yourself each day to be happy with what you have been dealt in life.



It went down like this. I was up late. As in...extremely late that it becomes early. You know those nights. Life had become all consuming to me. I was being bombarded with trial upon trial upon trial. I was miserable in my marriage and after the seemingly thousandth time of forgiving, I was so done with it. Done with my marriage, done with a huge trial in my extended family, I was ready to run away.
This particular evening, after being up for so many hours I was feeling the weight of everything on my shoulders, and I was feeling it hard. I went to shut down my computer before bed when I saw people talking about the wonderful speech they had heard that evening by Elizabeth Smart. I read the comments from Facebook friends, and went to bed thinking about what she had said in reference to the trials and terrible things that had happened to her during the nine months she was taken from her family. I went to bed that night and I prayed. I prayed hard. I prayed that I could find happiness and that I could learn to truly forgive and let go.

I texted my husband at 4 a.m. that morning. A simple text, where his only response was, "Wow."The next morning I awoke to somehow come across this news article from KSL. It was as if I was being slapped in the face. I took her words literally to heart, they sang to me, rang deeply into my ears and resonated into my heart and a light finally went on inside of me, a light that had either faded after so much sorrow, or one that had possibly never even been lit before.  

My favorite portion of the article reads:

It was not until later, though, that Smart and her mother would have a conversation that would prove to be life- changing."She said, ‘Elizabeth, what this man has done to you is terrible, and there aren't words to describe how wicked and evil he is,'" Smart said. "'He has taken nine months of your life that you will never get back, but don't give him another moment. The best punishment you could ever give him is to be happy.'""And that's exactly what I'm trying to do for the rest of my life, is be happy."Smart focused on keeping trials in perspective and realizing that what may be difficult for one person may not be difficult for someone else."Nobody is trial-free, but we have a choice," she said. "We can choose to allow our experiences to hold us back, and to not allow us to become great or achieve greatness in this life. Or we can allow our experiences to push us forward, to make us grateful for every day we have and to be all the more thankful for those who are around us."

That night I was able to forgive my husband for everything terrible that had been plaguing our marriage for the last 4 years. I was able to finally see that while I thought I had forgiven him, I had not. I was harboring anger and resentment and misery instead of truly choosing to be happy, and move forward with our life together. I chose, finally, to choose happiness in my life.
It has been 10 days of choosing happiness, and I have a lifetime of more happy days ahead of me. It is truly up to me to find joy in the every single day, even when the days are hard.
Does this mean our marriage is fixed and I am super happy and we are just the perfect amazing couple and family? H no. We both still act like three year old's throwing tantrums and each wanting our own way, but we are both willing to look within ourselves to see what needs to be fixed in order for us to find happiness.
There has been more laughter. SO much more laughter. There has been so much more baby squishing and big kid cuddles. I know my kids feel the change in our home. I know it is because of the changes in me.
I want to thank Elizabeth Smart for sharing what her mother shared with her so many years ago. It has truly changed my life and my heart for the better.I hope you each choose happiness today and every day.

Camilla's Quilt Part 1 | Riley Blake Fly a Kite Fabric

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While browsing fabric stores online, I came across "Fly a Kite" by Riley Blake Designs. I immediately fell in love long before the line was released and put myself on the waiting list to be one
of the first to snatch up a few fat quarter bundles.


I adored the playful theme and bright colors of the fabrics, and what drew me into it the most were the strawberries. I have loved strawberries since I was a little girl. Not just eating them, but anything strawberry themed...I loved, and still do. This fabric line was no exception.



You may remember my last bubble quilt. I loved it so much and learned a lot from it, I decided to give it another go with a few alterations in order to make my life easier. Since this quilt was for little Camilla, I wanted to make it big enough that she could use it on a queen size bed. I didn't realize logistically how much fabric I would need (therefore, keeping my favorite quilt shops in business), as well as ultra time consuming this quilt would be. As it is finally coming together I can tell you it has been worth every minute of Bones and Scrubs reruns. Thank you Netflix!

The first thing? Cutting the circles:



The goal is to end up with a huge stack of perfectly cut circles. When I say huge stack, I mean the photo above is only 1/8 of the quilt. Yes. Yes.

I started off by starching and ironing each of my fat quarters. This enabled me to get them to lay as flat as possible and allowing me to get 4, 8.5" circles out of each fat quarter.





Of course, having a messy faced, sister-dress wearing little girl to help is half the fun.





After I ironed the fabric, the fun began. I purchased this little lovely for 50% off at my local fabric store. I wish that it could cut bigger circles than 8.5", but it didn't, however that turned out to be lucky because, as I mentioned I barely cut 4 circles out of each fat quarter at the 8.5" size.

This is quite possibly one of the coolest quilting gadgets around and if you don't have one, totally get one and create a quilt using circles. I am in love.

Olfa Circle Cutter:



I folded my fabric exactly in half so I could cut two circles at a time.



I carefully eyed the center of where the circle should go so that I made sure I left room for the other two circles to be cut out of the fat quarter. Nothing like making a mistake and ending up with a straight sided circle. That would be very sad.



Hold the little cutter on the pivot point and swirl it around. The blade is SUPER sharp, as is the pivot needle. I may have poked myself more than once, but luckily no cuts. After cutting no less than 1,000,000 circles I may have had some wrist pain, but it comes with the territory.



Finish up the fat quarter by cutting the other two circles, then give your scraps to friends who are making a Dear Jane quilt, then discover that you are obsessed with that Dear Jane quilt and next time you cut circles keep your own scraps.



Voila. Beautiful and perfect circles. The 8.5" size leaves a .25" or (1/4") seam allowance, so when the circles are finished you will end up with 8" finished circles.





Dig in and cut all of your fat quarters, as I mentioned you will need no less than 1,000,000 circles. (I may be exaggerating, when the quilt is finished I will let you know how many you may need.)



Don't forget to take two photos and allow your helper to put her little hand in one. It makes for a fun post. Are these fabrics not the most delicious you have ever seen?



Work on your quilt for three months only to determine you don't have enough fabric. So, order some more fabric. When the fabric comes and spring hits, and you go to photograph the rest of your tutorial, realize that the lighting in your photos is so drastically different, because your first photos were taken in the winter and processed at Walgreen's, and your second photos were taken in the spring and processed at your preferred lab. Then pretend that no one will notice anyway, but that your mistake allows you to photograph the next step of your tutorial and everyone will be so grateful they won't even notice the changes.

Sew each top side quilt circle right sides to your backing fabric circles leaving a quarter inch seam allowance. I went with a cream backing and a pink gingham backing. (When the quilt is finished there will be a checkerboard of pink gingham and cream squares...photo to come.)

The second thing I am doing differently from last time is cutting my batting into squares instead of circles. I wanted to cut down on bulk and needle breakage. So I measured my circle, found the size of square to fit inside. (It is about 6")





I used a rotary cutter and mat to cut the squares.



After I cut about 500,000 pieces of batting, it was time to get the batting to stay in place. This is where Quilt Basting Spray comes in SUPER handy.



I got a deep box and stuck a stack of my batting squares inside. I sprayed one side lightly with batting spray.





I took that piece off of the top, flipped it over and 'glued' it to the quilt top fabric side of each circle. This step is important. If you are like me and tired at 1 a.m. and on episode 101 of Bones, you will start to glue them to the backside. As you will see in a few steps, this will cause you to cut your backing fabric, and then you will cry when you realize that you have to order more fabric...thus continuing to keep your favorite fabric store in business. Thanks Angie!



Time for cutting.



Carefully separate your backing fabric from your quilt top fabric and slice a small hole only through your quilt top fabric. Cut along the edge of your batting so that you can turn your circle inside out.



Open the hole and flip your fabric right sides out.





You will end up with a deliciously messy stack of fabric circles.



Next (or it would be 100 times smarter to wait to do this step until after you iron, but again, I like difficulty) take the same template you cut to fit your circle and start drawing your squares. Remember to see my last tutorial if you feel a little lost.





Trace a square on your quilt top fabric, make sure to line the edge of the template along your cut fabric line. This helps ensure that your square batting piece lines up with where you will be sewing later. Continue to trace until all 500,000 circles are done.



Next, set up shop in front of your favorite Netflix shows. You will be ironing for a few hours.

We are going for perfect circles here, so I used a butter knife to help pop out my edges while I ironed.



Just slide the knife in the cut slit and kind of trace the lines as the iron glides the fabric.







You will end up with a pretty flat, almost perfect circle with the square piece of batting in the center. Like a little quilt hamburger bun.



Finish up the stack.



You will end up with stacks that look like this:



Stay tuned for post number 2 of Camilla's Quilt. She is very excited about it, and I am too now that I am 2/3 of the way done. Can't wait.
Happy Friday.

Thanksgiving Week in Instagram | Toothpicks in Feet |Birthday Bash

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If you know me, my life is c.r.a.z.y.I am not sure how it got to be this way...but let me share a little bit of the crazy with you.


This was what last week looked like in The R House Couture's workshop. a.k.a my basement.

We made over 60 necklaces last Tuesday evening. The beginning of our very busy holiday season. As I package each one I love thinking about where each one of these beautiful gifts are going, what the reactions will be of the recipient, and especially for the wives whose husbands ordered them a special little something.

{Swoon.}

Thanksgiving Eve, Jothan was invited to spend the night with his little cousin. They adore one another, cannot get enough play time in, etc. So, when school is out, we try to make that happen. My sister in law lovingly watched my girls so that I could go out with my cousin, even though she felt like death. {Bless you Anna!} I picked up the girls and as we drove home my phone died. I got home, plugged it in to charge and proceeded to get the girls in bed, and work on party preparations. About thirty minutes later, I can turn my phone back on and I have 8 missed calls. 8. I begin checking texts when my sister in law calls me to tell me Jothy stepped on a toothpick. They feel terrible and I assure them it is no big deal. My brother is bringing Jothan home because he isn't sure what to do.

We sprawl Jothy out on the kitchen island and proceed to examine his foot. It isn't bleeding. Zero blood. It just looks...puckered. He is settled down but if you touch his foot he cringes and screams. Something is definitely in there. What to do? Soak it, try to get it out? My brother, Flavio and I just look at it for seemingly forever. Instacare is closed, he is in obvious pain, so the decision is made to head to an ER. We are all feeling a little silly that it can probably wait until morning, but my gut says, "Take him."



It is about 10:30 p.m. when they arrive and they give him anesthetic to try and see what is up.  They draw a line around it so they know when it is "numb". Emmaree is the sweetest little nurse on the planet to her brother. She begged to go to the hospital with him and Flavio and she was the greatest blessing to Jothan. The doctor begins digging around in Jothan's foot and can not find a thing. He is about to give up and is cleaning the wound when Jothan flinches and cries out. That is when the doctor notices something pushing out near Jothan's ankle.

This is where my famous Instagram #intheheelouttheankle begins.

{Say. What?}

It went in his heel and out near his ankle.


What we thought was a 'sliver' of a toothpick was in fact about half a toothpick.

I think Jothan was a little excited to get stitches. Emmaree was too. I guess stitches are pretty neat.


We keep the toothpick as a souvenir and on Thanksgiving people sign Jothan's "cast". However, the toothpick gets lost in my brother's room and we scour it for thirty minutes to no avail. The toothpick seems lost to time. Thankfully we have photo evidence. 


I cringe and get a little lightheaded when I think about it too much. There is just something about this little boy. When he gets hurt I turn into a pile of mush. This isn't the first time I have nearly passed out from the thought of him hurting or suffering and not being able to help him.

He is healing so very well and I am so thankful. He was feverish for a day this week and generally pale looking and we were worried about infection, but his meds are doing the job and he looks great!

After all the toothpicks were cleaned up I could begin tying up all of the loose ends for my birthday bash which is tonight!

{I am SO excited.}

This is my first 'friend' birthday party ever. With the exception of one Leisha and Lindsey threw me three years ago...but they tell me it was a family party because we were the only ones there.

{Giggle.}

So, even though my birthday is six weeks away, I never got to have my dream 30th birthday party. You know what? That is okay, because I am so much better approaching 31 than I was 30. That is what this party is all about...the things I learned when I was 31. Mostly? How to love me and take care of me, and be happy and thankful with me.

Mostly? I found hope. Hope when I didn't think hope was ever possible for me to find.

Hence these babies:


Adorable mini hope charms. Just one of the few little party favors being given out tonight. A labor of love I am so happy to share with my friends.

And this guy:


Who inspired me after reading the words. I am raffling one off tonight at the shindig. It is beautiful.

Go see: Take Nothing for Granted Necklace from The R House Couture


Monday I finished these guys, and packaged them up so pretty.

{Love a good party favor.}

Then it was off to Mom it Forward's service project.

{We used it for our Family Home Evening.}

My kids loved it and it was so much fun to see friends, drink milk, and relax, all while tying blankets for those in need of some snuggles.


Cyber Monday did amazing things for The R House Couture this year. We trumped the prior week's orders by nearly double and a half.

{Uhm...wow.}


These HUGE piles meant that I got a total of 8 hours of sleep in 48...nearly 72 after a second work night last night. I woke up yesterday looking like this:


This photo got mixed reviews. From "F***** up!" to "Stunning".

{I will let you be the judge, for truly, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.}

Last night brought another long work night and final party prep with some fun previews:






Are you coming?
I would love to see you there. So would Damon and Stefan.

{I am not sure yet if Elaina will be making an appearance.}
Register below:

Kim Orlandini's 31st Birthday Party Bash