Christmas is August

Steph: "Mom and I got your Christmas present! I'm so excited."

Me: "Oh, is it a sewing machine?"

Steph: (pause) "No."

Me: "Oh good, cuz I'm gonna go buy one."

Steph: "Well, NO! You CAN'T buy one."

Well, crap. I have a knack for ruining surprises. I really didn't mean to. But when she said that they already had my gift I thought of the thing that I would like to have very most in the world right now and it happened to be a sewing machine. So, I was right. Sorry Mom and Steph. I didn't mean to be such a fun spoiler.

I'm an even bigger brat because I made them give it to me now. I convinced them that I need it so that I can work on gifts for Christmas. There is no way that I could wait until Christmas. However, I LOVE IT!
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

So here she is, the little beauty! She's more than I ever dreamed of! This machine is way nicer than anything that I ever would have picked out for myself. It is so easy to use and the stitches are so even and beautiful. I am in heaven!

Fun with Sparkly Vampire Lovers

As I'm sure most of you know, the new Stephanie Meyer book came out Saturday, August 2nd at 12:00 a.m. My sister Stephanie is an avid fan and planned a girls night of fun for us to countdown the hours until the book was released into our eager clutches. We started our evening by having celebratory food at Johnny Carino's. It was fabulous. Then we attended the Barnes and Noble swinging soiree where you could find twilight lovers of all ages, races, shapes, sizes and genders. There were so many cute creative t-shirts handmade by groups of women. It was awesome.


McKell and I are both Jacob lovers. We were way outnumbered by Edward fans so we had to stick together.

McKell made her shirt and it shined with her creativity stating,
"vampires are cool, but werewolves are hot"


We ran into Nicole our friend and fellow book clubby

Here is McKell telling her theory of what should happen with Edward and Bella


Finally at midnight our wait was over. They called lucky #7 (our group) and we were able to purchase our copies of BREAKING DAWN.

Stephanie was so excited that she bought a whole box!


We finally made it out of the store around 1:15 a.m. and posed for one final picture to remember this wonderful event!


Thank you for organizing this party Steph! You are so much fun and I'm so glad that you listened to me when I told you that you had to read Twilight... look what I started! You are a bigger fanatic than anybody I know! I love you!

Sister Fight

My sister is not speaking to me for what I have done to her daughters hair. Just so that everyone knows, Taylor did get her mother's permission before we began the process. She looks fabulous though, don't ya think?

Yes this is my darling niece Taylor and now that she is done rodeo queening she has decided to cut off this dry, damaged, stringy mess so that she can, once again, have healthy, luscious locks!

Bridal Shower

I know that I am getting old because my niece is getting married in 2 weeks! Last night my mom and Aunt Mary threw Kylee a bridal shower. She is a bubbly little bride and got a ton of cool stuff! Of course I had to play the game that my sisters did for me at my bridal shower. You right down things that the bride is saying as she is opening her gifts. Then at the end you say that they may be phrases she will us on her wedding night. It was pretty funny. Some of my favorites were

"OH! I've never even seen these!"

"Oh good, they are extra sized!"

"Ok, I'm just gonna cover my butt right now..."



These amazing women had been slaving over dozens of delicious mini cupcakes for a week.

Aunt Mary, Mom and their fine artwork. They both confirmed that they now know why bakeries charge so much for these little bits of goodness.




Delicious doesn't even define these morsels. I'd have to say they were delectable, heavenly and luscious! Not only that, they were adorable, dainty and precious! (holy cow the thesaurus people should pay me for that paragraph). My heart melts for anything that is this cute!

My family tied a quilt for Kylee and this was the work crew. It was so fun to hang out with my Aunt's and cousins that I don't get to see very often.

Welcome to God's Country

If you haven't ever been to Glacier National Park... GO! It is breathtakingly beautiful, as you can see...







We had an amazing time in Glacier with our friends Carlos, Cortney, Carson and Beckett Vance. We met Cort's sister Whit (she works in the park) up there too.

I never heard so much sarcasm on one trip. Marc and Carlos always seem to bring out the worst in each other.

We went for 2 days and one night. It is never long enough but we made the most of our short time there. We went on 2 hikes and saw so many beautiful waterfalls and lakes.



We also went on a boat tour with the cutest captain I've ever seen. He just happens to be Cort's future brother in law.




We saw tons of wildlife! We even saw a mama bear and two cubs! Don't worry folks, we didn't use any strawberry shampoo because we asked the bears and they said that it's their favorite.



What would the mountains be without a little wilderness jig? We are dancing for joy that Marc made it through this trip without any migraines! (He has a history of getting sick on vacation)




Thanks for letting us tag along Vancies! We had a blast and can't wait until next time! We love you!

Girls Camp!

Marc and I were lucky enough to go to girls camp this year. It was a blast! We stayed at my parents cabin in Fairview for 4 glorious days. No tents, no outhouses, no critters! We were definitely NOT roughing it. Our theme was

UNITY CONSTRUCTION COMPANY -building the road of friendship-






Marc was one of our fearless Priesthood leaders

It was an awesome experience and I feel so lucky to be a part of the Young Women.

CITY OF FUN???

Seriously?
That's right folks! It's that time of year when the carnies and ex-convicts come and hang out in our front yard. Lucky us. Call to reserve your parking spot in our driveway.