DISNEYLAND...check!

We spent the children's 

FALL BREAK

in Disneyland.

I work for a GREAT company and after 

meeting our SALES plan for the year

we got rewarded with a TRIP of the year!

We arrived at our hotel Monday afternoon and went straight to our company party at

JOE'S CRAB SHACK!

Have you ever had the most yummy seafood in the planet?

Well you haven't if you haven't been to Joe's!

I didn't take a picture...but wish I had!

After that,

we were on our own!

We aren't CROWD type people but luckily our good friends

THE FAGRELL'S

were at Disneyland and are Disneyland experts!

They taught us the ropes...

and we loved being able to hang out with them for the day!

 

Luckily they taught us about 

FAST PASS!

And we used it wherever and whenever we could...

the one ride we were willing to wait...

TOY STORY!

 

 

TOMORROWLAND!

FRONTIERLAND!

My least favorite ride?

AUTO NATION.

Jacob drove the car and I thought I had whiplash by the time we were done!

I should have known I was in trouble with this face!?!

LOL!

Ron was the lucky one on this ride!

He made sure Katie was his DRIVER!

Here is Ariel's Underwater Adventure!

Katie enjoying it as well!

This is BEFORE I got drenched!

As I get older...I'm not enjoying these rides that get me 

WET for the rest of the day!

Is that mean I'm not as COOL of a mom as I thought I would be!?!

However, Christopher got it worse than I DID!

I LOVED laughing about the whole darn thing since they somehow always convince me to always get on these WET rides!

 Can you believe that we go to CALI to cool off...

and it turns out to be 100+ degree temperature and 

HOTTER

than what we had back home in Arizona!?!

We took a MUCH needed break from the heat and ate a 

LONG

lunch at FRONTIERLAND.

GREAT KIDS!

An AMAZING husband!

SAME great kids!

The best part of the day for Jacob was getting called onto the stage to help with the entertainment!

All my kids are pretty SHY

except for my Jakie...

he loved every minute of it!

 

Heading home for the day!

Overall we spent 3 days at Disneyland or California Adventure Park and had a GREAT time

despite the crowds, overpriced food and tired kiddos!

Our last night we stayed for the

World of Color

show and I highly recommend it!

Overall fun....CHECK!

We also spent a day at the BEACH and lots of time at our hotel swimming or relaxing watching movies.  We also enjoyed MANY meals out and MANY meals in!  I will post the pictures of the BEACH soon!

Walking In a Path I didn't Expect to Take

When I was young and in my parents home...

I walked a STRAIGHT and NARROW path, one that was easily guided with two

parents who taught me God's ways. 

I left for college 3 weeks after my 18th birthday and never looked back.

I used to think that somehow that made

me stronger

for having to learn how to LIVE on my own.

But the problem was...

I should have been looking back!

I knew the STRAIGHT and NARROW way...

and it leads to JOY and HAPPINESS.

But what happened instead caused me to walk a path I didn't expect to take!

People say you shouldn't have regrets,

because you learn from past mistakes!

But I do!

Have regrets that is!

Now it wasn't ALL bad...I have FOUR beautiful children, 

some amazing friendships, 

and the honor of serving a mission.

 I'm NOW walking the better path....

with these beautiful children!

Christopher, Rachel, Katie and Jacob may you always walk in God's path for you.

Best of the BEST redo

I'm so excited to have my latest furniture redo complete.

This is by far the best...

and I'm learning that the more "practice" I get

the better things LOOK!

I found this piece at 

GOODWILL

on my very first trip!

I loved the hardware detail on the doors as well as the slats!

I thought it would make for an interesting piece once all the stain got into all the knooks and crannies!

I could have waited and bought this for $12 as they have there once a month 50% off 2 days after I purchased this...

but I was so afraid it wouldn't be there that I snatched it up as quickly as possible!

I have to say I was GIDDY with excitement as this turned out to be and ETHAN ALLEN original

and the wood was sturdy and intact!

I forgot to take a BEFORE picture

until I had sanded off the top layer...

but you get the general idea!

I'm so excited to share the AFTER!!!!

 
Here is a closer up look at the detail...
I absolutely am thrilled with how beautiful this turned out.

I changed out the hardware except for the beautiful hinges on the doors and found the knobs on sale at Hobby Lobby for only $2 a piece!  

I bought the paint for $12 at Home Depot...

and already had the stain, wax and other supplies I needed from other projects

so this Ethan Allen original cost me only $48!!!

How great is that! 

Side note:  My wonderful hubby has made me two shelves to go with this so that I can create a front entry vignette.  However, one of the kids stepped on one of the shelves and he has to start over building a new shelf.  I'm hoping to have this done before my parents come into town in a few weeks for Jacob's baptism.  I can't wait to show you the entire finished project!

A highlight and oh so much BEAUTY!

I grew up in the Ozark Mountains...

nothing like the mountains that I live in now.

We should call them just what they are....BIG hills!

So it wasn't until college in Utah that I learned how to go skiing.

I fell in LOVE with it the first time down the hill even though I spent most of the time on my backside or face plants in the snow!

We still live 3 hours

from the SNOW...but I've become hooked!

I love that we have now had our three children...

KATIE

CHRIS

RACHEL

follow us to the beautiful high country of Arizona to ski!

I'm amazed at how strong and talented my children can be and how much 

JOY

they bring me!

Here are some of the pictures of our beautiful day.

We were so excited that we arrived at the slopes over and hour early...

we stayed warm inside the lodge at this cozy fireplace.

Rachel taking her first ride up the lift...can you see the excitement?

Can you see the thrill and JOY in my face? 

I can't wait to share this fun with Rachel!

Getting ready to take our FIRST run of the day!

Hold onto your "beanie's"!

She is so dang cute...she is my cautious skier!

It took her one run down to get brave enough to realize she knew how to ski!

My cutie girls!

I love being these two girls mommy!

I love that no matter how different these two girls are...

they still LOVE and DEFEND one another!

 

Chris has skills...
 

SNOWBOARDING skills that is!

Chris did a GREAT job snowboarding.

I was so impressed as it was only his 2nd time.

We hardly saw him on the slopes...he lapped us a couple of times, and I was so glad to get these few pictures of him!

We are a family that ski's!

Now that makes me go...

YIPPEE!

Footnote: We decided to go to Sunrise again this year but choose a different side of the mountain to avoid the large crowd at the main lodge.  We are so glad that we did as we heard from other skiier's that it was packed at the main lodge.  We also decided that Jacob was still to young and we left him with Cameron and Chelsea.  We are so grateful to them for taking such good care of him.  Lastly, Sunrise had gotten a record amount of snowfall and was noted as having the best snow in the Southwest since Utah and Colorado had gotten minimal snowfall.  However, a week later after our ski trip the snow has melted more than 20" with record high temps!  That is mother nature for you!

I'm THANKFUL for...

 

One of my greatest blessings in life has been the opportunity

to be BORN into a family

where the FULNESS of the GOSPEL of JESUS CHRIST

was taught.

A wonderful example was set

by two

LOVING parents.

And yes...it was even a blessing to have seven siblings!

And while I spent another

THANKSGIVING

without my siblings or parents,

I was able to have my brother Kent come the following day to spend a few days with our family!

Yippee...I love him so much!

And his wonderful wife Whitney...

well I love her just AS MUCH!

She is pretty much amazing and fits into our family perfectly!

I regret not taking more pictures of all that we did...

but we did enjoy an afternoon of 

BOCCE BALL

and they pretty much "killed" us...

but lucky for me

I was too busy enjoying there company!

Jacob only wanted to COLOR!

Side note: Ron had to work the entire weekend including the night before Thanksgiving and the following day after Thanksgiving.  Unfortunately he wasn't able to participate in all our activities. While I am thankful he has a job...and a good job at that, I'm sad that we can't spend more time with him during holidays and weekends!

Being BLUE makes me happy....

I am so "giddy" over my new

CHOICE

of colors.

 TURQUOISE 

It has made me so happy as of late that I've decided to change up my LIVING ROOM

and create a piece that makes me happy to look at!

It may not make everyone as happy as it makes me...

and you might find it a little shocking at first,

but I am just downright

HAPPY

with it!

Here is what the table sort of looked like BEFORE...

(well not really because this is nicely painted and mine was a VERY used table)

Ron cut the legs down so I could have a coffee table for my front room.

After I painted it, sanded it and distressed it...

it now looks like this in my room.

 

 Of course I had to do a little shopping...

and find the perfect accessories,

and I still have a few more things to do...

but I'm so happy with it!

And I think I must like the word Happy today!

Originally I had only planned on only painting the legs

turquoise but when I stripped the black paint off the top of this pretty little table,

there was nothing there but ugly MDF board!

To me it is always fun to find what's hidden underneath and sometimes you get beautiful wood and 

other times ugly MDF or particle board.

But the exciting part is just taking the time to discover it and create a custom piece that just makes you

SMILE!

Giving THANKS....

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

 

Katie and Jacob made these darling headdresses for everyone to wear.  They spent several days and lots of hours and I was so impressed with how well they turned out!

Everyone was good sports...and wore them...even for our picture!

I loved using my NEW message board I made at a Relief Society Craft day...

for our Thanksgiving Menu!

Nothing fancy...just the basics...yummy!

I made two games for the kids including:

Don't EAT tom!

Turkey HUNT!

Everyone grabbed a tag off the tree...

then they had to go look for that TURKEY

somewhere in the neighborhood!

The kids couldn't wait for me to say "GO!"

Cameron and Chelsea hid the TURKEY'S for me!
 

We are so grateful for family and friends who spent a special 

Thanksgiving DAY with us!