Book Festival

For the last few months I have been helping with the 13th Annual Utah Humanities Book Festival.  It's been a very fun project.  The big event was this past weekend at the City Library.  We had 40ish authors in town doing panel discussions, readings, etc.   The event was very well attended and while it was a lot of work, I had a lot of fun too!

These are the gorgeous flowers that Robert put together for the stage.... they are now at our house and still look fabulous!

We had SkippyJon Jones and Madeline at the festival too!

A few more photos...

Troy and I :) The guests have started to arrive.... we had an amazing team of volunteers that checked everyone in and out... they did a wonderful job!
The Mystery Boxes are always a hit.... the bid sheets just have a little hint and the bidding starts pretty low. Everyone seems to love the surprise.
The gorgeous flowers..... designed by EBT, of course!
The auction tables looked great, thanks to all the help from volunteers, board members, and especially Robert and the whole team at Every Blooming Thing!
Before...
After...
The Company's Founders, Shirley Ririe and Joan Woodbury, with Gigi Arrington (Education Director) and Charlotte Boye-Christensen (Artistic Director). Crystal and Betty.... Betty was all decked out in a ballerina outfit, complete with toe shoes (socks with toe shoes on them)..... so cute!!
Some of our amazing Board Members.... DawnAnn, Jeff and Robert.
Robert and Jessica practicing their "hip shake" for the "flash mob"
Not a great picture of me.... but it's the only one where you can see my whole dress... Haha!
We had our own little "Flash Mob".... it was quite disastrous since we were all out of sync, but the audience seemed to love it anyway. It was fun to see the board members, step-up kids and dancers all work together. That's us on the stairs... The Stage... The Company Dancing...
We had the biggest crowd ever... about 270 people in attendance. We had the most auction items, and it looks like we have raised the most money! Hooray! The numbers aren't final yet, but I think we will net about $27,000 raised. I couldn't be happier!

Long overdue update...

We've had a lot going on lately...

Troy started his new job earlier this month. He is working for a Commercial Real Estate firm. It's all commission, of course, so the next few months will be a little rough, but he is REALLY enjoying it!

We also had the annual Blooming Hope Flower Auction at the Spring and Garden Show, with Every Blooming Thing. All of the money from this event goes to Primary Children's Medical Center, which is such worthy cause. We don't have much extra money right now, so we didn't spend much, but we did buy a couple arrangements...... and they are just so beautiful. Mark and Robert both made some wonderful arrangements! I LOVE having fresh flowers around the house! Coming up in about a week and a half, we also have the Cabaret of Fools - the annual fundraiser for Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company. It's a great event that helps to fund the company's extensive education programs. I have been very busy with planning, and am a little worn out, but it's been fun too. I look forward to it being a great success and also to it being over! Haha! Thank you Mom for the painting! Thank you Mandy for the earrings! Thank you Carly for the earrings and necklace! Thank you Darren for bartending! Thank you Troy for putting up with my stressed out state. :)

It's all in the details....

My "Something Blue" for the wedding was my awesome blue argyle socks that I wore with my boots. They were so soft and comfy, and it was such a fun little touch. And of course, we didn't want Troy to be left out of the fun, so we got him some argyle socks in the perfect wedding colors... brown, orange and sage. Thank you Mom for lending me your garter from your wedding for my "Something Borrowed" and my "Something Old"..... that was so perfect and meant so much to me! As for "Something New"... take your pick... dress, jewelry, wedding ring.... I was so spoiled!

Troy's boutonnieres (sp?) were just perfect! Loves them... and yes, he had two! :) The one below, and then one with a Calla Lily - my favorite flower. And he had two ties too! They were both so perfect, that we just couldn't decide and had to use both!
Oh.... and thank you Sherri for helping with getting the perfect cuff links! They couldn't have been a more perfect wedding gift for me ot give my groom!
Then there were the boots! Yes, everything started with the boots! Haha! I found them years ago and told Troy that I was getting them for our wedding. He just laughed and said OK. :) So I bought them and we planned everything around them... silly, yes, but I plan my everyday wardrobe around my shoes... why not my wedding day???
I loved the jewelry that Troy helped me pick out for the wedding... the stones were the perfect shade of sage and the medal work had the perfect vintage look. I loved it all and have worn it all several times since. How many of you knew that the bride's bouquet was traditionally a gift from the groom? Well Troy is a traditionalist at heart and he wanted my bouquet be a gift from him. So.... my bouquet was a surprise creation of Troy, Robert and Mark - and it couldn't have been more perfect! I loved it!! I didn't know what to expect, but it was absolutely gorgeous! And had all my favorite orange flowers (and not a pink petal in sight! haha!)... lilies of all sorts, orchids of all sorts... just wonderful! Thank you Troy for my perfect present! XOXOCarly was such an amazing help with the place cards! Thank you Carly! They turned out absolutely beautiful!
Our cake not only looked perfect, it was delicious too! We had 2 different flavors - Red Velvet Cake with Bavarian Cream Filling and Lemon Cake with Raspberry Jam and Bavarian Cream. Yummmmm! Rockwell Cakes definitely does an excellent job! I am already looking forward to our anniversary cake! Our two dear friends and florists from Every Blooming Thing in Salt Lake flew down to do all of our flowers. They created the perfect feel at every turn.... my bouquet, the corsages, the boutonnieres (ok I seriously have no idea how to spell that word.. haha!), the centerpieces, etc. I just loved the way everything turned out... broken vases and all! Haha! Thank you Robert and Mark! Then there were the flowers for everyone's hair... thanks Carly! All the nieces, sisters, sister-in-laws and 2 of my friends had orange or brown flowers for the their hair... such a great touch! And I especially loved the one that I wore! And of course we can't forget the infamous PINK flowers! Haha! Troy (our florists and my little sister apparently) were all just giddy about Troy's practical joke. Not that I have anything against pink roses, but they were definitely not in my vision of the perfect wedding day... much to Troy's chagrin. Haha! He loved the orange flowers and the colors we picked for the wedding, but still thought it fun to torment me about about getting me a pink bouquet. It was a fun joke and made us all laugh and giggle endlessly. :) I don't have any pictures here but I also want to mention the delicious chocolate (and white chocolate, of course) covered strawberries, and all the delicious food that Turnip Rose provided at the reception... yum! yum! yum! Everything was so delicious!

Almost forgot to mention Mark and Tracy! They are both dear friends of both mine and Troy's. We are so thrilled that they could both make it down for the reception! Mark also gave a toast, which was so sweet of him! And Tracy helped Mark and Robert all day with the flowers! So sweet of him to spend his vacation doing that! Thank you to all our family and friends for their love, support and help with making our wedding day perfect!! XOXO

45th Anniversary of the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company

Last week was the final show of Ririe-Woodbury's 45th Season. There was a big dinner to honor the 2 founders of the company - Shirley Ririe and Joan Woodbury. The dinner was hosted by Zion's bank and held at their offices, with beautiful decor by Every Blooming Thing and delicious food from Cuisine Unlimted. A few people gave some short speeches, there was a slide show and then it was time for all the introductions. There were so many important people in attendance - dancers from all 45 years, former and current staff, former and current board members, friends of RW, etc. It was an excellent way to honor the legacy that Joan and Shirley have worked so tirelessly to build.

And of course I came home with flowers, just as I do from every event we attend... haha!Then we had three nights of shows, including a special Alumni piece at the beginning of the Thursday night show. It was so wonderful to see all of the past dancers participate. Troy and I both felt so honored to be a part of all of it!

We also have one dancer who is retiring this year.... we will miss Jo VERY much! He is a great guy, and an amazingly talented dancer. The Saturday show was his last official performance with the company, but hopefully he will still be around a lot!

After the show we also had a Studio D party and we had a great turn out! The party was at Flemings... very yummy food! After the party at Flemings, we headed over to Caine's for a "going away" party for Jo. Caine and his roommate Audry were excellent hosts and we had a wonderful time hanging out with the dancers, their friends and a few of the other board members as well. It was a very fun night!

Did you know Derrick Bolton has a baby now?

Well, OK she is 19 now! Haha! Troy and I were at the Home and Garden show on Saturday, for the Blooming Hope Flower Auction (fundraiser for Primary Children's Medical Center) and we ran into Jim and Anne Bolton. :) It had been AGES since I had seen them but Jim recognized me and when I saw him looking at me, it just took me a minute to recognize them. It was great to introduce Troy to them too. :) Anyway.... they say hi to everyone!!

We had a great time at the flower auction, as always! We picked up some flowers for Tom's grave and something for Colleen too. And a small orange arrangement for me. :) Primary Children's Medical Center does such amazing things, we just couldn't resist bidding on a couple items.

The Burgoyne's were also in town for the weekend, which is always fun! I didn't take a lot of photos but we got a couple cute ones of Henry, who is growing way too fast! I will post those shortly. :)

We are still hoping to come down for the Morris family temple sealing, but flights are not working out very well time or cost wise so we shall see.... If we can't make it to CA, we will be at the temple dedication here so I suppose that's along the same line at least. :)

time flys...

Wow... is it Tuesday already? Time is just FLYING right past! We had a fun weekend but it went by way too fast, as usual!

Ririe-Woodbury had its first show of the season this past week and it was phenomenal! Troy and I actually ended up going twice because we enjoyed it so much! Haha! We were able to work with the cutest little bakery to provide cupcakes for the intermission receptions, and everyone seemed to love them - Including us! Thank you So Cupcake!! (http://www.socupcake.com). And there were, of course, gorgeous flowers from Every Blooming Thing as well! Here is the arrangement that we hijacked after the last show... love it!! I just wish we didn't have to return the vase! Spanish classes also started last thursday....Yikes! I NEED to practice! I was sooo very lost last week! I hope it is more smooth this week... I have been working with my vocab flash cards all week.. hopefully it will pay off.

Saturday evening I went to the Women's Conference at the Conference Center with one of my girlfriends... we had a wonderful time and the speakers were all wonderful! They focused alot on performing acts of service and recognizing/maximizing our own talents... both good reminders for me. :)

Other than that, the mountains are all decked out in the beautiful fall colors! My favorite time of year!! Troy and I went up to Park City on Saturday and it was great to see the gorgeous colors all along the mountainsides.... I just can't get enough of it!

Last but not least... October is breast cancer awareness month... go get checked out!! Both of my visting teachers are fighting this disease right now, as have many other people that we all know so... please be vigilant in getting exams, etc! The sooner its diagnosed, the better the chance of survival!

P.S. Happy Birthday Tommy!!! Hope you have a wonderful day!!

oh my...

.....what a week! Needless to say, I am glad its the weekend! :)

I had all these great intentions of posting my RS lesson from last week, and an update on the opening weekend of the Symphony... but it just hasn't happened. Sorry! The "season" is in full swing and I am definitely feeling the strain of the extra time commitment that the Vice Chair position holds.... tiring, but STILL FUN! :) And Troy is feeling a little stressed out too... between school and trying to help with arrangements for the intermission parties next week, he's a bit overwhelmed.

So.... very briefly... the Symphony last week was great! We arrived to a lovely rose on my chair (since we are season ticket holders) and it was a very nice gesture. :)

Tonight we are off to the Gallery Stroll (several galleries and shops host little parties/receptions on the 3rd Friday of the month to help encourage patrons to come to the galleries, etc.) Every Blooming Thing (our friend's flower shop) is hosting a reception tonight at their shop and we are very much looking forward to checking out their art collection.

Tomorrow evening we are going to another Young Benefactors event. This time we are touring the private collection of a family in the Federal Heights area. It's supposed to be a rather extensive collection and we are very much looking forward to it.

And sometime in there we hope to get lots of time to visit with the Burgoyne's too! However, Troy may be hiding in the basement doing homework.... hopefully he will get it all done quickly!

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!!!

Flowers Everywhere!!

The Blooming Hope Floral Auction was so fun, and we now have flowers everywhere!! I love it!! And Primary Children’s Hospital is such a very worthy cause that it was so worth it! It wasn’t about the flowers after all, it was about raising money to help the children – but all the gorgeous flowers are a definite bonus!

Here’s the scoop - Every Blooming Thing (my favorite local florists!!) has planned and hosted this event the last few years. They worked with their wholesalers to get the flowers donated, but all the floral designers and the owners from the Every Blooming Thing shops came and generously donated their time and talents (not to mention vases, Irish baskets, ribbons, etc). The arrangements were AMAZING! And most of them were created right there on the spot, in a race of sorts. Each designer would create an arrangement while the audience watched, and then it would be auctioned off.

We were outbid on a few that we REALLY wanted, but we ended up with some gorgeous pieces that we love! And they all have great vases that we will be able to use for years to come, which is a nice bonus! And since we lost out on one that we loved, the owner (and auctioneer, who serves on the Ririe-Woodbury board with me) had one of the designers do a custom piece for us that turned out unbelievable! We love it! We also commissioned a “bundle” of flowers for Tom’s grave, with lots of flowers in his favorite color (pink) and went to visit yesterday and took those up to him. We think he was very pleased with the flowers, and with the fact that the money went to the kids.

From this experience, I have decided that it’s not always a good idea to go to an auction when the auctioneer knows you by name (Haha!)… we definitely ended up spending more than we had planned! But it will be worth eating cold cereal for a couple weeks to help such a great cause! Primary Children’s Hospital is such a great place, and while I hope that no one in our family needs to send a child there, it comforts me to know that they are there if we need them.

Anyway, the event raised just over $5,500.00 in about 3 hours! It was amazing to see the generosity of all those that attended the auction, and I know the money will make a huge difference! Congratulations to Every Blooming Thing and Primary Children’s Hospital on a very successful event!

Here's a few photos... First, the flowers at Tom's Grave -

The awesome mango calla lillies (and others) that I get to wake up and see first thing in the morning -

The one that was made just for us, orange vase and all. We both love this one! -

The one that Troy and Colleen get to enjoy this week. I think Kangaroo Paw is one of my new favorite flowers.. its so cool looking! (It's the red stuff that you see at the top, for everyone besides Carly. haha!) -And last but not least, the spring looking one that is on my desk at work -