Our House is Warm

This weekend we had our house warming party. It turned out really well but I am glad it is over!

The invitation I made and mailed out to our guests. 

I had all of last week to prepare and I waited to do the grocery shopping, cleaning, organizing, and cleaning on Saturday. I did a little on Friday but I did most on Saturday and just about died!

I made this checklist in Excel to help me remember everything. This does not make me OCD, just organized. :) 

Friday I did a little cleaning and tested out our new vacuum. That is a whole other story...note to self, never buy a needed item last minute like that again because you will end up spending too much money impulsively out of desperation. BUT, I do LOVE the vacuum and I look forward to using it often because it is amazing.

Saturday morning I woke up later than planned, ran to the gym and the grocery store and then got home at noon. I figured I had enough time to clean and cook considering I had like 6 hours---all the time in the world, right? NOT.

Luckily my mother-in-law came over and helped me cook and clean. She was the BIGGEST lifesaver, ever! Seriously I could have not pulled it off without her. We cooked and cleaned dishes together and then I ran upstairs to clean and organize and she dusted, swept and mopped my whole kitchen! I was shocked! I just asked her to dust but by the time I came down an hour later she had done it all. I was so relieved! If she wouldn't have done that I would have not gotten everything done in time. THANK YOU CONNIE!!!!

So I finished my room, 3 bathrooms, vacuumed the stairs and all floors, and organized our crazy 2nd bedroom in like 1 hour. (AKA-I threw everything in the closet.) I will be finishing that room up this week...esh.

I ran downstairs, literally sweating, and threw in some loads of laundry and cooked a few more things and while they were baking did some last minute crafts. I had a hard time deciding what I wanted to do along the wall of the stairs. It's a small space but the walls looked weird with nothing on them. I know what I truly WANTED to do, but I didn't want to spend that much money. My original idea that I had and bought all the supplies for ended up not working the way I planned so I improvised. It turned out AWESOME and I can't wait to show you the pics. I did that in like 30 minutes and quickly hung it on the wall and then got back to cooking.

Nephi got home and I had him do a few things and then Neal and Angie came over to help. I had them do stuff but I still had other things to do!  It was 6:45 and it started at 7 but I still had things to do. I figured people wouldn't show up until 7:30 so I thought I was fine--nope. Some family showed up at 7 and so I was still in my gym clothes all gross and VERY sweaty. *Yeah, I sweat in my own home.* I didn't even get to make name cards for all the food! Bummer :(

At 7:15 I put them in charge and I ran upstairs to take the shortest shower in record history. Literally I was showered, dressed, make-up and hair done, by about 7:30. I was still sweating because I was rushed but I ran down stairs and more people were there but everything looked great and I am so thankful Neal and Angie came to help. Again, couldn't have done it without them either. I have great family.

We ended up having about 25 guests. I planned for 40 but I was happy that we had so many come and support. There were a few people who didn't come that upset me. I didn't ask for RSVP's but really, I expect too much out of people so I always get let down. Oh well.

Here are a few pics that I took with my phone. Since the house is all clean, I plan on taking legit pictures this week and having a post done soon with the tour. I am going to change our blog a little bit to have more features and our home will be one of the new features. I am excited.

Here is some of our family in the family room. Nephi's uncles are so savvy and turned our pilot light off in our fireplace. Whew! That will save us money on our electricity bill AND not make our house so warm.

Nephi eating some snacks. I made these awesome dips that I will blog about later. They were a HUGE hit and will be a must for all our parties in the future. 

The desserts! This photo was taken about an hour after the party had started so people already dove into the treats but I think we had a pretty good variety. Thank you Pinterest for inspiring our how food spread. I could not have done it without Pinterest!

More desserts!

The drinks and candy table. We had water with lemon, limeade, and then this other drink that is amazing. It's white grape juice and fresca. It was a huge hit! I even put some whole fresh apricots in there for appeal and it ended up adding some great flavoring as well. This will be a new staple for all our parties. 

The party went very well and our house is officially "warmed" by our friends and family. Maybe that is why I hardly slept last night because I was so hot? Probably.