Connie and Maurice Sauve are proof that parents and children can forge a dollhouse-building bond at any age. Connie was 23, and dad Maurice, a carpenter, was 52 when they built a dollhouse together in Minnesota, where Connie grew up. It was a labor of love that required 56 hours of work for the shell alone.

Since then, Connie - who now lives with her husband, Ken, in Stockton, along with a dog and a cat - has gone on to excel at creating miniatures on her own. At this summer's state fair in Sacramento, Connie's miniature "For the Birds" took both first prize and best of division for scale models, and her miniature "The Garden Shed" was awarded second prize. This is the second year that Sauve has entered her work in the creative arts competition at the fair.