Advent Calendar

Check out these cute cards I made on Heritage Makers. (Check out my website: www.YourStoryToday.com)

They are a very cute way to help your kids countdown to Christmas. Each card has an activity to do every day during the month of December, through Christmas.

If you would like to order a set of these let me know ASAP. They are $15.

I found the stockings I used to display them at Target. Another cute idea is to use mittens and clothespin them to some twine. There is a "To/From" card if you want to give them as an early gift to someone.

HeRiTaGe MaKeRs-CeLeBrAtInG ChRiStMaS!

The Heritage Makers Holiday Hits Sale! This is my biggest sale of the season! Let me help you cruise through this month and next knowing you have your gift giving under control -- especially your Heritage Makers gifts.

This week, Greeting Cards are on sale starting at $49.95 for 50 of them ! Contact me today to get this amazing deal!

To see this week's special, follow this link www.YourStoryToday.com

You can have your greeting cards directly shipped for only 64 cents a card!! You won't even have to touch them!

I just finished making a cute set of countdown cards out of our deck of cards. Each card has a day of the month of December printed on it and then an activity to do to help countdown the days until Christmas.

These are so fun to do with your family and would make great early presents to friends and family. Let me know if you want a set-only $15.

Happy Holidays!

Eye Opener

I recently got back from babysitting my nephew and 2 nieces in Oklahoma while my brother and sister-in-law took a much needed vacation. Wow!

Just in case you need an update...I have 0, nadda, none, zilch, kiddos. I went from that, to 3!

I was excited to spend time with them since I don't get to see them very often, things didn't go as planned. All 3 of them were sick! Addie got better first, but the other two got sick because of her. It is one thing to take care of 3 children, it's a different story when they're all sick.

Not to toot my own horn, but I've always thought I would be a pretty good mom. I'm used to dealing with 25 different personalities everyday. Being a mom is a whole different job: Doctor, teacher, therapist, chef, event coordinator, message deliverer, etc.

All I can say is:

THANK YOU MOM! I LOVE YOU!

And to all you single moms out there, or those whose husbands are away right now. Hang in there. You may be under-appreciated right now, but they'll thank you for it when they're older.

*And Doug and Lu, don't worry, you didn't scare me away from having kids.....I was happy to help! We had a fun time. :) Love you Dillon, Layla and Addie!

My First Trip to the ER

I had an interesting night last night.....it all started when my one-year old niece started throwing up.

My sister-in-law, Lu, and I went to the store to rent a movie while my brother and like 10 other guys from the ward rocked out to Guitar Hero. We came back and Doug told us that Addi had thrown up while she was sleeping and put her head in it. (Don't worry-he had it all cleaned up!) (Apparently my nephew, Dillon, came out and said, "It really stinks in my room."

After we got home she did it again. We got her out, cleaned her all up and Lu held her shivering in her towel when she threw up again. We got everything cleaned up again and then took her temperature. 104.

Since Doug was in charge of the young men activity at the house, I went with Lu to the ER. (He really did feel bad.)

Luckily, the ER wasn't busy and Lu was able to get Adi checked in and they took us back quicker than we thought. Here's where the fun begins: I'm pretty sure the hospital staff thought we were lesbians.

Top 10 reasons why the hospital staff thought we were lesbians:

You know he hospital staff thinks your lesbians when:
10. We walked into the hospital together with a baby.
9. It was 11:00pm. (Wouldn't you normally have your significant other with you when you have a really sick
child?)
8. When the nurse kept asking Lu different questions she would say, "We did this
about this time and this about this time...." (What do you think the nurse thinks when Lu says,
"We.")
7. Lu turns to me and says, "It was about such and such time, right?"
6. Lu's not wearing her wedding ring.....I was. (I guess that makes me the more feminine one in the relationship.)
5. Every time the hospital staff talks to use they refer to us as, "the both of you."
4. They ask for one of us to bring Adi to take x-rays.
3. The doctor introduces himself and shakes both our hands.
2. We're in Oklahoma, not Utah....people are more accepting of various lifestyles.
1. You have to try and sneak in phrases (Because you can't just tell them you're not lesbians. What if
they never thought that?) around the hospital staff like, "My sister-in-law took her..." "Do
you have any towels? My sister-in-law had a bottle in her purse that spilled all
over." Doug calls and I say, "I'll talk to him." (Since the doctor is trying to talk to Lu.)

It was an interesting night.

By the way, Adi is ok. They said she has the flu and is on the tail end of it.

Falling behind

For all three of you who read my blog anymore-I apologize for the lack of blogging. These are my excuses:
1. School started
2. Grading papers
3. Coming up with behavior contracts
4. Grading papers
5. Helping (very little) Kenyan put in sprinklers-he is a trooper!
6. Grading papers
7. Playing Dr. Mario (I'm slightly addicted.)
8. Sleeping
9. Laziness
10. I'm not an eloquent writer-my blogging isn't as fun to read as others. I apologize for not being entertaining, but thanks for reading anyway.....all 3 of you!

Now, to update a little more....Kenyan and I celebrated are 2nd Anniversary on Monday. Two years doesn't seem like very much, especially after dating for 5, but it has been a wonderful two years. For your enjoyment, 10 reasons why I love Kenyan:

1. He doesn't give up.
2. He can fix things himself. (Although if we were rich, we'd definitely hire out!)
3. He is a good listener.
4. He supports me in all my crazy adventures/jobs. :)
5. He is going to be an amazing dad.
6. He likes watching (most) chick flicks with me.
7. He is witty.
8. He can always make me smile.
9. He's an outdoorsy guy. (Don't worry, I can make up my own words.)
10. He's thoughtful.

I could go on more, but I wouldn't want to get too mushy. Happy Anniversary Kenyan!

I've been reviewed!

I just got a fabulous review from The Bragging Mommy-go check it out here!

Switch Flops

Go to "The Bragging Mommy" website: http://www.thebraggingmommy.com/ and check out her review of Switchflops.
Go visit the Switchflops website: http://www.switchflops.com/

Buy one pair of shoes and switch them out to match every outfit....so cute! And they're giving away a pair with 2 straps on The Bragging Mommy website!!

Good News

Well, it seems people have finally come to their senses. I, along with all of my Master's buddies, am getting my lane change pay increase for my Master's Degree! Wahoo!

P.S. One of these days I am going to get pictures of the inside of our house on here....it just hasn't happened yet....I've been a little busy and my house is a mess. :) I'll just keep all of you waiting in anticipation....

Why did the peacock cross the road?

I was on my way home this evening and noticed people slowing down. As I got closer to see what everyone was slowing down for I saw.....a peacock! Hmmmm, peacocks in Magna, who would have guessed?

Vote for my Cousin

My cousin recently entered a scholarship hosted by Microsoft in which I had to make a PSA (Public Service Announcement) about their new web browser Internet Explorer 8. Watch the clip below and then vote for his video!

Create Your Own Internet PSA Sponsored by Internet Explorer® 8

He's Gone!

Wes is finally gone.....off the Bachelorette! He thinks his little shinanigins were good for publicity-he just made himself look like an idiot! Good ridance!

Good Morning America!

Heritage Makers is going to be on Good Morning America Tuesday at 8:00 am. Get on and watch so you can see what an awesome company I work for. If you're interested in getting started or hosting a workshop let me know or go to my website: YourStoryToday.com

This is the next BIG thing!

Too Funny!

We made a slurpee run a couple weeks ago to 7-11 and we pulled into the parking lot and saw this:

Is that not the funniest thing ever?! And then two little girls came out, got in, backed out and drove off with their dad walking next to them. So cute!

What's the point?

So, I need to vent for a minute. I went to a school board meeting regarding the negotiations of the 2009-2010 school year budget. The proposed budget is to freeze teacher salaries and not give us our regular steps increase or lane change....which also means I will not get an increase in pay for completing my Master's Degree.

They allowed teachers and patrons to voice their comments, but then went right to approving the budget. They said they care about teachers, but they don't. They didn't even discuss or value our opinions. They already had their minds made up.

So I took advantage of this wonderful program the school district offered to help me get my Master's degree. I took out student loans and worked hard for two years and now I'm getting nothing for it. What's the point?

There were other options that I won't get into right now, but apparently they're doing all of this in the best interest of the students. How is not supporting your teachers in the best interest? All the extra time and extra money I spent out of my own pocket are going to be no more. I guess I'll be doing all worksheets next year and not doing the fun creative activities that help my students learn more effectively.

Good job board of education, way to slap all your teachers in the face and screw me over.

We're Moving!

Kenyan and I got our first house! We're so excited and can't wait to move, as Kenyan says, it's like waiting for Christmas. It's amazing how things work out and we feel so blessed for how everything worked out with this house.

So I'll post more pictures when we get them and after we're moved in... but here it is:

Happy Graduation!

It's hard to believe that graduation has come and gone, but thank goodness! I got my Master's Degree last Saturday from Southern Utah University. The bad news is, I still have a couple classes I have to finish up two classes in July. It's kind of weird graduating from a school that you've never been to.

Class of 2009

My #1 supporter!
But he sure is glad to get his wife back!

The proud parents

Me and Thor the Thunderbird

My partner in crime-we are so glad to be done!
I couldn't have done it alone-thanks Amy!


The Academia Champion!
You had to have seen my Rocky moves. :)

Pop-u-ler.....lar

The wait is over....WICKED was amazing!

These tickets have been sitting at our house for.....a year! (Thank you Leslie and Holly!)
I had high expectation for Wicked, and I left satisfied. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was much funnier than I thought it would be. (If you haven't seen the Wizard of Oz, you're not going to get a lot of the jokes, so watch it!) I was ready to watch it again the minute it was over. And now I can finally relate all those songs to parts in the show, and they mean something when I sing them!
I loved it! If you can get a hold of any tickets........grab them fast!

Come See Me

So I booked my first boutique on Friday to promote my new Heritage Makers business. Come stop by and check out all the other vendors as well as mine! I'll be there on Friday from 1 to 6. The boutique is at 14329 S. Knapper Ridge Cove (6450 W.) Herriman.

You can go check out my website at YourStoryToday.com

I'm a Heritage Maker!

How many of you have stories to tell? How many of you have pictures stored away where no one gets to see them? Do you want your heritage to be forgotten?

I have just started my own business as a Personal Publishing Consultant for Heritage Makers. Heritage Makers is a digital scrapbooking website. We offer many products besides storybooks. Greeting cards, decks of cards, family picture folds, cookbooks, posters, and more. Our books are library bound-very secure! Some of our most popular items right now are a "Familyland" game and a "Proclamation of the Family" poster surrounded by your pictures.

Even if you aren't a "scrapbooker," you can do this! It's easy and a friendly website to use. Kenyan even helped me create a deck of cards.

Go check out my website at www. YourStoryToday.com and see our products. If you want more details let me know. I would be more than happy to sit down with you and tell you more about what this wonderful site entails. If you would like to host a workshop I can do that for you to! If you're not located in Utah I can still help you out. Email me at YourStoryToday@gmail.com

Share your story today and don't let them be forgotten.

Fun Facts

As I continue to take breaks from writing my papers, or continue to stall, here are some fun facts about St. Patrick's Day I found on the internet:


- In Ireland on St. Patrick’s Day, people traditionally wear a small bunch of shamrocks on their jackets or caps. Children wear orange, white and green badges, and women and girls wear green ribbons in their hair. (Lots of green at school today!)

- In Chicago, the Chicago River is dyed green with a special dye that only lasts a few hours.

- There has been a St. Patrick’s Day parade in Boston, Massachusetts since 1737.

- St. Patrick was born in 385 AD somewhere along the west coast of Britain, possibly in the Welsh town of Banwen. At age 16, he was captured and sold into slavery to a sheep farmer. He escaped when he was 22 and spent the next 12 years in a monastery. In his 30s he returned to Ireland as a Christian missionary. He died at Saul in 461 AD and is buried at Downpatrick.

- Some American towns have “Irish” names. You could visit: Mount Gay-Shamrock, West Virginia; Shamrock Lakes, Indiana; Shamrock, Oklahoma; Shamrock, Texas; Dublin, California and Dublin, Ohio.

- According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the highest number of leaves found on a clover is 14!

- One estimate suggests that there are about 10 000 regular three-leaf clovers for every lucky four-leaf clover.

- Legend says that each leaf of the clover means something: the first is for hope, the second for faith, the third for love and the fourth for luck.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Anyone there?

I want to apologize for the lack of posts lately, but apparently that seems to be the case with everyone lately as I look down my blog list. I haven't had anything really exciting to blog about; therefore, no posts.

On Sunday I got a new calling in the ward (well it's not official yet) I'm no longer in the primary, I am joining the ranks of the Young Women as the Beehive advisor. I'm really excited-I love being in Young Women!

I got my graduation announcements in the mail about a week ago, wahoo! The light is getting brighter and brighter. I have to brag about what a wonderful husband I have. Kenyan has been so supportive and helped me so much around the house. He has made some delicious dinners lately!

So here's the timeline:
April 8th-Mail in National Board papers (Sleep all day on April 9th since I will be off track!)

May 2nd-Graduation!

May 7th-Last day of my math classes

July 16th -Officially done with my masters degree-last day of classes!

July 17th-Amy and I are partying like rockstars because we don't have any more classes!!

I'm exhausted, I know it will be worth it when it is done, but as of right now I don't know how much longer I can go. Pray for me!

Are you smarther than a 4th grader?

Today I started talking about the 3 different types of rocks with my class : sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous. It was actually a very tasty lesson...more on that later.

I'm just curious as to how many of you can correctly match-up the rock with the correct definition. Here are the definitions....in no particular order of course:

a. changes to another rock
b. solidifying magma
c. layered rock

No peeking anywhere! Good luck!

Who's it Gonna Be?

For all of you Bachelor fans out there....I'm just wondering, who do you think it's going to be?

Melissa or Molly?
Or do you think DeAnna still has a chance?

Lack of Blogging

Forgive the lack of blogging, but if I could get a little empathy...this is my life right now:

Math class every Wednesday night for 3 hours.
- Read chapters and do homework for next class

Write papers for my portfolio for National Board Certification: Due April 15th
- Entry 1: 10 pages
- Entry 2: 14 pages
- Entry 3: 12 pages
- Entry 4: 12 pages

Master's Class: Attend Friday and Saturday once a month and get reading and assignments done before next class.

Teach 27 fourth graders how to understand double-digit multiplication and division....load up on the Advil!!

Poor Kenyan will be glad to have his wife back when this is all through. He has seen a lot of tears the last couple weeks, but he is so supportive. Luckily, the end is in sight: May 2nd-Graduation Day!

Disney World!

Where do I begin? We had a wonderful trip to Florida and got to stay with my sister and her family. (Thank you again!)

We ran from one park to the next....we were tired! We started in Animal Kingdom. They've added a lot to this park since I've been there.The tree of life

Do you see the baby elephant? So cute!

The meerkats sunbathing! Hakuna Matata!

T-I-Double G-ER
Everest was a fun ride-kind of a mix between the Materhorn and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Dinosaur was pretty fun too, similar to the Indiana Jones Ride in Disneyland but with dinosaurs. :)

Next stop.......Epcot

Kenyan has a picture just like this from his mission, he thought he could have just served here instead. :)

Kenyan had fun reminiscing in the Japan part of Epcot. We ate sukiyaki at one of the little restaurants in Japan and Kenyan said it was exactly like what they serve in "real" Japan. In one of the shops you can pay to pick a clam, so we did and I got a beautiful shiny pink-white pearl...that's what they called it. It was cool to watch them open the clam and get the pearl out.

"Fish are friends, not food!"

We had a lot of fun riding Soarin' and Turtle Talking with Crush. Kenyan barely survived Mission Space. We chose to be part of the Orange Team, the more intense team. Kenyan thought it would just be more shaky, not so. It really feels like you are taking off. For those of you who remember the Gravitron in the 49th Street of Galleria-that's what it is. It was fun! We were really excited to ride Test Track, but we were not so impressed. The last part of the ride is fun, but the first part is kind of lame.

Our Favorite.....Hollywood Studios

In front of Mickey's Sorcerer Hat with my nephew and niece, Matthew and Makenzie.

Our new favorite ride: Rockin' Rollercoaster. The first time we rode this ride we got the front row! Love that!

Our picture on Rockin' Rollercoaster.


Our other new favorite ride, (yes we are allowed to have two) the new Toy Story ride. It is similart to the Buzz Lightyear ride in that you are shooting at targets, but in this one you wear 3-D glasses and stop in front of different screens with different targets to shoot at. The accuracy and details are remarkable! Definately a must ride.

Last Stop.....Magic Kingdom

Cinderella's castle

Dumbo the flying elephantKenyan having a showdown with GoofyPocahontas is not one of my favorite movies, but I love Meeko!

We didn't spend too much time in Magic Kingdom, but we did have a fun time. We went to the Monster's Inc. laugh floor, Kenyan was afraid they were going to put him in the spotlight, but no worries, we were in the safe zone.

We had quite the adventure home, we didn't want to come home, but we were relieved to finally make it. Instead of flying from Orlando to Salt Lake we went Orlando-Atlanta-LA-Salt Lake. We went from coast to coast, what a trip! Luckily, we made it on each of those flights and didn't get bumped on any of them. The stress of making the cleared list was a little much, but we made it. Kenyan had quite the adventure on the Atlanta-LA leg, but that's a whole other story!

Thanks again Tiffany, David, Matthew and Kenzie-we miss you!

Delicious!

(I know...it's been a while, but I'm back. That is, until the craziness of school, both attending and teaching, catches up with me!)

The other night I made Hawaiian Chicken for dinner. It was delicious! And easy....even better! So I thought I'd share:

4 to 6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 can (8 oz.) crushed pineapple
1 bottle (16 oz.) barbecue sauce
4 to 6 cups rice, cooked

Place meat in greased 31/2 to 5-qt. slow cooker. Combine pineapple and barbecue sauce and pour over meat. Cover and cook on high heat for 3-4 hours or on low heat 6-8 hours. Serve over rice. Makes 4-6 servings.

Enjoy! (Recipe from the book "101 Things To Do With a Slow Cooker")

Disney World

Hello everyone.....Kenyan and I are off to Disney World for a week so no posts for me for a bit. But I wanted to tell you about something else I'm doing in a couple weeks. On Thursday, January 29th I am having a Heritage Makers party at my house. Heritage Makers is a digital scrapbooking website (my favorite)! The party will be at 7:00pm. They have a variety of different things you can make: books, posters, cards, calendars, playing cards. I made my mom and dad a deck of cards with all of our family pictures on them for their birthdays....they loved them! And if you need good gifts for Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day, birthdays. Out of all the websites I've looked at for digital scrapbooking they are the best! So come on over! (If you need my address let me know.)

And a Happy New Year!

We decided to have our own, Rockin' New Year's Eve party this year.
One of our Christmas presents to ourselves was Guitar Hero World Tour. We invited our friends over to rock out with us and dress up like rock stars. We had a lot of fun! And even Mason had a wonderful time! I think the pictures pretty much explain it all, so Happy New Year everyone!

Sean and Kenyan

Sean, Mason and Jeff
My favorite part was Mason was totally rocking out with us and getting into playing that guitar!

The Band
(Sorry Beej, I don't sing as well as you do!)

Jeff, Marci, Kenyan and Sean

Mason rockin' out on the drums!

I'm married to the band leader! What a hottie!

Merry Christmas...

Don't worry that it has only taken me a week to get these pictures posted....and I don't even have that many, apparently I did more video taping then picture taking.

Christmas was wonderful, a little different, but wonderful. Kenyan made a delicious roast beef dinner that we had with his mom, sister and brother-in-law. We came home and put out presents and went to bed, woke up in the morning.....at 6:30 (but I might add that is an hour and a half later than last year!) We're like little kids, we get so excited!! Kenyan got me the Anne of Green Gables series on DVD (to his own dismay) and a Mosaic Mickey puzzle-which I completed in about a total of 8-10 hours! Not too shabby, if I do say so myself. (Thanks to Kenyan for keeping up the puzzle tradition which my parents started!) And since I am a Disney fanatic I also asked for a couple of Disney movies that we don't own: Monster's Inc. and Beauty and the Beast, and he got me both. And my favorite gift of all.......the leather storage ottoman....it holds so much!

This was one of Kenyan's favorite games when he was younger that I managed to find. (Don't worry.....I kicked his trash the first time we played!)
That's not the only thing he got......he also got some Wii games and movies and a new sweater, but his most favorite thing is the mini-fridge. (I know what you're thinking....???? Kenyan ALWAYS gets thirsty in the middle of the night and always talks about wanting a fridge next to the bed so he doesn't have to get up in the middle of the night to get a drink. So if you ask him what he got for Christmas, he'll tell ya, "A new nightstand."