Christmas is by far my favorite time of year, I love the magic that it brings. I love the lights, Santa Clause, all the baking and wrapping and most important remembering our Savior. I am so thankful for the magic that children bring into our lives and help us be a little lighthearted and joyful and BELIEVE in good things and miracles!

The little girls performed the other night against the game with Kemmerer. They all did so good and were adorable!

It seems that we are being hit by so much cancer in our little community and also our family. My thoughts and prayers are going out to the Hansen family. We are praying for you Putter, Scott and Uncle Roger.

Kennedy took cupcakes to school for a treat and we had a birthday party at Grandma's. We decided to face plant her in the cake instead of eating it. It was such a fun day. Kate is in Boston playing and Matt was watching the U game downstairs and couldn't be bothered for pictures. We missed you Kate! It seems to strange to me that 7 years have already passed. We lived in Phoenix when Kennedy was born, it was such a scary and exiting time. We almost lost her, so glad she is healthy. I love being a Mom!

My Cute Husband

Darren is so exited about me couponing because of the HUGE savings. He has done a few YouTube posts about it on his blog and it's cute...Take a look at darreneastman.com!

I went grocery shopping today and have been trying really hard to stcik to "grocery smarts" and this is what I came home with...I spent 44.07 and saved 128.32. I am so exited, I have learned a great way to build short-term food storage, spend less and get a lot more!

God Bless the parents that drugged us

My friend found this and I loved it. I hope you all enjoy it.God Bless The Parents That Drugged Us...

The other day, someone at a store in our town read that a Methamphetamine lab had been found in an old farmhouse in the adjoining county and he asked me a rhetorical question.

"Why didn't we have a drug problem when you and I were growing up?"

I replied I had a drug problem when I was young: I was drug to church on Sunday morning. I was drug to church for weddings and funerals. I was drug to family reunions and community socials no matter the weather.

I was drug by my ears when I was disrespectful to adults I was also drug to the woodshed when I disobeyed my parents, told a lie, brought home a bad report card, did not speak with respect, spoke ill of the teacher or the preacher, or if I didn't put forth my best effort in everything that was
asked of me.

I was drug to the kitchen sink to have my mouth washed out with soap if I uttered a profanity.

I was drug out to pull weeds in mom's garden and flowerbeds and cockleburs out of dad's fields.

I was drug to the homes of family, friends and neighbors to help out some poor soul who had no one to mow the yard, repair the clothesline, or chop some firewood; and, if my mother had ever known that I took a single dime as a tip for this kindness, she would have drug me back to the woodshed.

Those drugs are still in my veins and they affect my behavior in everything I do, say, or think. They are stronger than cocaine, crack, or heroin; and, if today's children had this kind of drug problem, America would be a better place.

God bless the parents who drugged us.

We went and took Kennedy to get her pictures taken in Sugarhouse on Saturday night. It was so fun and they were taken in an outdoor Tulip garden. I am so exited to see them. We stayed the night and swam until we couldn't swim anymore!

We went to Salt Lake to celebrate Mom's birthday. We went and ate at the Bombay House, shopping and then went to pamper ourselves with manicures and pedicures!

These are pictures of Jill's "Mckinnon Clan" Bridal Shower. We started with a yummy brunch and a few gifts (naughty and nice) and then went to Color Me Mine to make China. After a hard day of painting and laughing we went to Rubios for dinner. It was a great great day!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

This was the fish that were in Wal-Mart in Cabo San Lucas...gross I must say. This is The Arch and Lover's Beach in Cabo San Lucas.

We had such an amazing week, our Condo was on the 3rd floor and sat on the beach in San Jose Del Cabo. We could literally sit on our Veranda and watch the Whales jump and the Stingrays dance..it was incredible. We rented a car for the week so we drove between San Jose Del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas and everything in between. We went Whale watching on this huge sailboat and at in some pretty fun places. The first night we were there a huge turtle was hanging out on our beach. It was a private beach so we happen to be the only ones on it that night. We also saw a couple get married down in the sand...very romantic. The Church that is shown was built in the 1700's and was beautiful! We missed Kennedy and were glad to get home, even if it was to the cold.

This is my darling bouncy little nephew! It was to cute a picture not to show.

I received some Omish Friendship Bread and have been so exited to make it. It is sooo good, but I am not a very good baker, but thought I could do this. I love to cook hate to bake! These pictures tell the story. All the doors and windows are open to let all the smoke out and Kennedy did not want to breath the bad air. I hate to give up so I will try 1 more time and hopefully get it!

I was baking chocolate chip cookies today and feeling a little lonely, anxiously awaiting Kennedy to get home from school and Darren to get home from work. I had 3 of my friends drop in and visit and eat cookies with me. It made my day. I am so glad I have good friends. Thank you girls and you know who you are!

This is how my morning started today, it is a huge RAT crawling around on my driveway and under my car. Kennedy and I ran back in the house screaming and Kennedy was screaming call 911-the damn rat was not in the least bit afraid of us. We have to get to school and work so we had to get back out there, we started walking towards the car and it started walking towards us! We had to wait until we couldn't see it and make a run for the car. I am a nervous wreck about this ugly thing. I need a hunter.

Kennedy got a spa kit for Christmas so we finally got around to having a little party today. She invited her friend Jordan out and they made strawberry perfume and lip gloss, and vanilla sugar foot scrub. We then had a little tea party with mini sandwiches and Cheetos with bug juice to drink. I pretended I worked at the spa and did cucumber masks and eye treatments with hand and foot treatments and then they took turns painting each other's toe nails. It was fun to hear all the laughing!

I have started going in and helping my Aunt Darlene with my cousins, Brenda and Lane. I just want everyone to know what amazing people they are. They have been in wheelchairs for about 33 years with a degenerative condition known as Spinal Cerebellar Atrophy. I am so inspired and want to be a better person because of how they live. They are literally trapped in their body and I have NEVER heard them complain or get upset. I get mad at some of the dumbest things. I am learning as I get older how precious life is and how short it is. They are such a wonderful example to me and my daughter and I feel very lucky to have such a great friendship with them. We were heading to Ogden the other day to go shopping and I was going to take a ton of pictures and this is the only one I got (sorry Brenda) but Lane was ready to go and he kept us hoppin all day. On that note I have to vent...we were trying to find a parking space in the mall on Friday and there was not ONE handicapped parking space available. We drove around and around waiting for someone to come out, no one did so we found a handicapped space for the building next door and started to get out ( a long way from where we needed to be) A big yellow truck pulled in next to us in another handicapped space-all 3 of the people in the truck got out and walked into the mall..it makes me crazy. My 73 year old aunt who has to get 2 people out of the van and into wheel chairs couldn't find a parking space and people who don't really need them are parking there. I didn't get to upset, but was a little disgusted. We got back to the car a while later and were just getting Brenda and Lane in the van to eat lunch. The yellow truck was gone but another car pulled right into the handi space...a little girl, a mother and another lady got out, looked at us feeding Brenda and Lane and said "Oh, we parked in a handicapped spot" and kept on a walkin. I WAS SO DISGUSTED. They should be ahsamed of themselves. I learned a lot from that and decided we all need to be a little more considerate of others!

I went in to take pictures of Kennedy sleeping the other night and when I went in Rufus was sleeping right beside her and Shasta was sleeping on her legs! I have tried and tried to get her to let the dogs sleep on the floor or in their room downstairs and I guess it's just not going to happen, so they all sleep in my bed (Kennedy, Rufus and Shasta) and we have a slumber party every night!