Grandpa's 85th Western Party!

This past weekend my Grandpa turned 85! We celebrated with a Western themed plaid party at Phil's BBQ in Point Loma, Ca. We all had a wonderful time, except for the fact that I got really sick and literally had *no* voice. So much for chatting it up with my girls! I did lots of listening, nodding and thumbs up!

 My Mom and I were responsible for the dessert table! I love this collection! With burlap, chalk, classic plaid and western flare- it came together perfectly! Plus it was so fun working on it with my mom! 

Yee-Haw! 

Happy 85th Birthday Grandpa!

The Dessert Table

Boots, hats and Sheriff's Stars

One of my Favorite Details....Western Wisdom!

Cupcake Wraps

Mini Cherry Cheesecakes (and BRD tent cards)

BHR: My grandpas Monogram: Bruce Reed Hartley

Hand made pennant Cake Topper

The Cake

Smore's on a Stick: A favorite of the kids! Really they just love anything on a stick!

I loved how the flower arrangements turned out! Simple yellow daisies and baby's breath!

The Banner with Burlap ties 

The Howdy Cupcakes (and one of my favorite DIY cake stands I've done) 

:::: Party People ::::

My Mountain Man looking cute in Plaid. 

Grandpa & Nana and all their Grandchildren!

My Sisters!

My Littles- not really in picture mode!

Grandpa was so sweet and yet still hilarious in his little speech! 

Such a great sense of humor!

My beautiful mom and her dad!

This next series of photos was just too hilarious not to post. Trying to get a photo of Nana and Grandpa with their 14 Great Grandchildren (ages 1-11) was nothing short of hilarious. Im pretty sure I didn't really get one good pic, but they are all sweet because I love how even despite the chaos around him, Grandpa sat there with a smile the whole time! (also I was proud of my 3- they did a good job too! The girls are usually shy in these types of situations, but the just sat/stood sort of watching the other kids melting down!)

Poor Franky. Begging not to be in the picture.

Claire was really concerned about it.

This one was almost good!

This one too.

My little Claire sat so sweetly with Grandpa the whole time! Some of the Grandchildren have been intimated by Grandpa's towering 6"4" frame and deep voice, but we've spent a lot of time with Nana and Grandpa and my kids love them and Claire especially loves Grandpa. One of my all time favorite picture is of the two of them from a couple Christmas's ago and Grandpa is reading Claire a story on the couch. So sweet.

Claire always has little bags/packs of treasures. This night was no different. My aunt had cute little favor/activity bags for each of the kids to keep them entertained. 

Cake time!

These are my peeps.

So blessed to have such a neat family with such an incredible legacy.

Love you Grandpa!

Legos Legos Legos

My Sweet Boy. He's Lego Obsessed.

                                                  They are everywhere.

In every room, on every surface- there are legos. 

Huge gigantic lego ships, tiny cars and itty bitty lego bricks. 

I love it. I love that he loves it. He is so creative, it actually blows my mind.

He builds these sets that are for 9-14 year olds. And then he takes them apart and builds something even cooler- that he invented. I love his diligence and his determination. 

His attention span is unreal for an active 6 year old boy! 

I love how when he can't find a certain piece he is looking for he uses what he calls, 

"Upside View"

where he get a chair and looks down at all the little piles of organized pieces.

A different perspective, a new vantage point, an "Upside View."

And it always works. 

I sorta think hes a genius. Just saying.

It made me think how so often we have to trust God with our lives and circumstances. 

Sometimes they don't seem to fit. There are things that don't make sense.

We can't find the right piece.

But God sees our lives with "Upside View"

We see a part. He sees the whole. He always sees the missing pieces.

Sometimes we get to see those pieces too- sometimes only looking back, do we see how God was working. 

Or maybe we need a little perspective on our lives, and to be reminded of 

how utterly blessed we are in so many ways.

And sometimes we just grow in trusting and knowing He sees it all.

In the trusting He changes you. 

You begin to see with Upside view. 

You see others with Upside view, and they look different.

You view your circumstances and trials differently too. 

Upside View. 

Who knew legos had so much to teach us about faith?

Anyway......On to the party details :-) On his real birthday we filled his room with balloons and I made lego faces out of the yellow ones. He woke up surrounded by balloons and minifig faces. It was awesome.

His birthday totally sneaked up on me, so we literally threw his party together in a week, which is so not my style. I like to prepare. It takes time, but we just went for it. 

He wanted to do it at the park around the corner...so we did, but never again. 

Too many people, too hard to transport everything...no, never again. 

I made the piñata the night before. No joke, it was so last minute! I kept asking him if he really wanted a piñata, but he emphatically answered, "YES!" I think its funny that he loves that I make piñatas, but to him its not a birthday if I haven't made  piñata.

 This was the other labor of love. This cake. Ive never used fondant before- so this was a first, but it turned out pretty cute and he LOVED it! 

I also made these cute, albeit a tad messy, mini fig sugar cookies. I was in a hurry :-)

These were a free printable on the internet! Win! Find it here

Piñata!

When they first got there the boys did a little building.

Party Sign on the bench (by Bradford Road Designs)

Totally cute birthday boy in his Master Builder shirt with his name on it by 

Sunflower Patch Designs on Etsy.

Cake Time!

And yes, we destroyed the piñata. Don't you love his face though? He's like

AHHH, Don't hit me!

 But we did!

It was a fun time celebrating my sweet boy! 

Even though it was a little crazy!

Find his invite in the shop!