'twas the night before Christmas . . .

and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in hopes that St. Nicholas, soon would be there.
The children were nestled all snug in their beds, while visions of sugarplums danced in their heads.And, it's done. I'm off to roll out the cinnamon rolls for breakfast, and then I'm going to bed.

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas, and I hope you enjoy it with your families and loved ones.

Shake it!

It just wouldn't be Christmas without doing "ElfYourself"!



Send your own ElfYourself eCards

December's halfway over?

Since discovering that it was December, I've been a little on the busy side. I have the blog posts stacking up and much to post. I have finally downloaded the Phoenix photos on my computer (not too many) and will post about the last couple of weeks soon. Hopefully tomorrow.

Happy Birthday Dayna!

One of my favorite photos of the two of us was taken on the day she went skydiving. I wanted so bad to do it with her. Sadly, now I will never do it, because I have little ones. I'm not that gutsy!

So, today she turned another year older, and if you know Dayna, she is always wiser. She's extremely smart and very savvy. Always stylish and her home is absolutely beautiful. She has impeccable taste. She's one of the only women I know that is skinnier after having babies than before (and she was skinny to begin with!).

While in high school, (she was a senior, I was a sophomore) we were often confused for one another. At the end of the day we would tell each other which of their friends said "hi" to us thinking that we were the other one. This did work to my advantage though, because the security guard "joe rent-a-cop" always thought that I was my sister. Seniors had an open lunch, sophomores did not. But I left everyday to go home for lunch, and never heard another thing about it.

Dayna and I have lived both near and far from each other and have been very close. We ran a successful business together, ( I remember a couple of entrepreneurial experiences) I even lived with them for a while, when I started culinary school. It was extremely difficult for me to move to Utah, so far away from her, after spending so many hours together running our business, and raising our kids together.

Dayna, you're a person I'll always look up to, and strive to be like. Forever an example to me. Thanks for the fun times, the sad times you helped me through, and the many memories.

I love you!

December already?

I can hardly believe I'm decorating for Christmas.
Maybe it's because I just took down my Halloween decorations on Monday.

Happy Birthday Dean!

I love your strength, courage, wisdom, faith, and wit. You have an awesome family, I love them so. I love you and think of you often. Miss you tons! You're the best!

Twilight once again

Thanks go out to Torie and Challene today. They hadn't seen Twilight yet, so I went with them last night. It was much better the second time around. Pattinson still isn't the Edward in my head while reading the books, but he's gotten better since my first screening. Still wish he wasn't just wearing t-shirts and jeans the whole time, and I wish he had a better car.

Challene was hilarious to watch it with. She screamed so loud at one point the whole theater was cracking up. Maybe I'll really like it if I watch it a couple more times . . .

Happy Birthday Dianne!

My sister Dianne is having a birthday today! Let me tell you a little about her, and our relationship.

She is older than I (well, all my sisters are older. Yes, it's great being so young!) and I have always looked up to her. I have many, many memories of her reading me bedtime stories, giving me baths, getting me dressed for photos, etc. Most of all, she did my hair every morning that she was home (not away at school or on a mission). And not only did she just do my hair, it was always so cute and stylish in fun fancy braids, with ribbons. I always received compliments on my hairstyles when Di did it.

Don't get me wrong, it's not like my mother watched soap operas and ate bon bons. She had her hands full running a household and being a wife and mother to 10 kids.

I had the opportunity to live with Dianne when I was 19. I left home and moved to St. Louis to live with her. I loved it! We had so much fun, I learned a ton, and have many great memories of our time together in Grandma's basement (not our grandma, that's another story).

Then we decided to move to - and went to Phoenix. Had we ever been to Phoenix before? No. Did we have jobs in Phoenix? No. Did we know anyone in Phoenix? Not really.

It was a hard first year there, but we got through it together. We didn't always love it, and we were pretty poor. But we still managed to have fun and we got very close because of it. I then left on my mission and circumstances changed for both of us.

After my mission when I looked into what profession I wanted to go into, I chose Culinary School. I researched all the schools and found the one that was a great education at a price point I could afford. The bonus was it was in Scottsdale.

Long story short, Dianne and I moved in together again, and once again began our adventures, while both in school.

She has always been a role model to me. Dianne is the best, and favorite, aunt around. We had so much fun staying with her on our visit home, and already miss her.

She's now a fantastic teacher, who puts her whole heart and soul into her fourth graders. They love her to pieces and I do to! Thanks Di for being you, and for helping me become the person I am today. I love you!

ASU! ASU!

One of our favorite dates Jeff and I go on is to the ASU football games. We love to get out and enjoy the crowd, and some football. I'm not a huge football fan, but through Jeff and his great enthusiasm for ASU football, I can appreciate the game and it's fun to attend the games.

My favorite part of the date is eating at "The Chuckbox". Yes you sit on a wooden crate and it's not the most stylish restaurant. But it awesome football food. The line is always out the door on game days. Best hamburgers and fried mushrooms. (Jeff hesitated taking me there for the first time because I'd always make fun of the name. He was so shocked when I loved it.)

That's where we'll be tonight. Eating and cheering - ASU! ASU! ASU!

Let the shopping begin!

We'll be taking part in the mayhem at midnight. The smartest thing retail ever did was to start opening stores at midnight, for those of us night owls!

What about you?

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you all have an enjoyable day with your families. I'm so grateful for my family, both near and far. For their love, support and most of all, friendship.

I'm grateful for my health and well-being. I'm grateful that I have a nice home to live in, in a nice neighborhood, with great friends all around me. I'm grateful that I live in this free country, where we can worship as we please, and raise our families as we choose.

I'm grateful for my loving husband. For his constant support and allowing me to be me. Because of him, I am a better person. I'm grateful for my children. For their sweet smiles and unconditional love for me. I love to see heaven when I look in their little faces.

I'm grateful for my Savior, Jesus Christ. For his sacrifice which allows us to return to live with Him and our Heavenly Parents again. I'm grateful for the gospel in my life, for loving parents that have taught me values and to follow God's commandments.

Twilight

Apparently I'm in the minority.  I tried to go in without too high of expectations, but they were too high.  I was pretty disappointed in the movie and really have no desire to see it again.  I am however dying to read the books again so that I can recapture the feeling and excitement of the series.  

In my opinion, they need to fire the make-up artist, the costume designer, and the director.  I think some of the simplest things should have been addressed, that are important to the book.  How hard would it have been to put Edward in a leather jacket?  It's a big deal in the book, and he's wearing a stupid tweed jacket that's too small for him.  And then they put a stupid blue jacket on him and zip it up to his chin - he looks ridiculous.  He doesn't look like he's straight out of Calvin Klein ad, like he should.  The fashion just wasn't there.  And how hard would it have been to paint Bella's room yellow, it's too small for a rocking chair to fit in, and where did the brand new laptop come from?  Where's her archaic computer?

My favorite characters were the villains.  They were believable, and I am looking forward to seeing them in future movies.  I was actually sad to see James die, he was a great cast.  I didn't feel any chemistry between Edward and Bella.  

Oh well.  I'm so very glad that so many of you enjoyed it.  I wish I could say the same!