Question #11 Fiercely Loyal

Asked by Rachel+Co (who has wisdom beyond measure and can make me laugh when I don't expect it)

What is your best relationship advice?
Where would you vacation if money was not an issue?
What is the best book you've read this year?
-----

I came up with three ideas. I could
probably talk your ear off on this subject, or suggest a bunch of books to read but here is the short answer.

1) A great man once said, “When you are married, be fiercely loyal one to another. Selfishness is the great destroyer of happy family life. If you will make your first concern the comfort, the well-being, and the happiness of your companion, sublimating any personal concern to that loftier goal, you will be happy, and your marriage will go on throughout eternity”

2) Never stop trying (to be a good spouse), learning (to make things better in your marriage) and growing (to become a better person). Read books (together if possible), attend seminars (together if possible), look up talks, take classes (together if possible). Do you remember that first time after high school that you were asked a math question and you though, "Oh man, it's been years since I've taken a math class, I'm a little rusty..." Don't let that happen to your marriage.

3) Have fun together. Be silly. Laugh. Take some time to not be so serious. Life is hard. Marriage is hard. Sometimes it's ok to push that hard aside and just enjoy each other.

---
A Vacation: Probably a Caribbean/Bahamas cruise. My hubby and I have both been on one when we were younger (with our individual families) but I'd like to go again, with him this time. Either that or touring the USA. Stay in nice hotels and eat at fun places (instead of trying to save every penny just to make it home).

----
Best Book this year: Mmm I've read some good ones, all very different categories. Couldn't decide so here's a few; Miss Delacort Speaks Her Mind (Heidi Ashworth), Catching Fire (Suzanne Collins), The Dark Divine (Bree Despain), Shiver (Maggie Stiefvater)


**Want to play along? Do you have any questions for me? Go ahead and ask me here!

Question #10 Singing Sprouts

Asked by Kayla (Who kicks my butt at scrabble and most other board games)

Question #10
What kind of bribe would you have to be offered to get you to eat a serving of brussel sprouts?
What was your favorite song during your sophomore year in high school?
-----

Brussel Sprouts? I've had them once before and they were pretty nasty. So to get me to eat an actual entire serving (and not just a tiny bite like my 3 y/o would try to get away with) would take something serious. I'm talking like a promise to make dinner for me for a week or big cash prize ala fear factor style.

Song in HS? Light in your Eyes by Blessed Union of Souls (I think it starts about 45 seconds into the video). Of course, it reminded me of a boy. Cause mostly everything did really.





**Want to play along? Do you have any questions for me? Go ahead and ask me here!

Santa Swap with Rita

So as I mentioned in my other post I participated in the Santa Swap over at The-Mommy Files. A few people got added in late (like me, thanks Shan for still letting me play) so there were a few things to shuffle around and I got to do a swap with two fab girls!

My partner was Rita from One 2 Try who has a fun review, giveaway, recipe, food blog. Let's just saw the obvious shall we? My kids were THRILLED tto see this package. Check out the loot that Rita sent over. A coloring book, crayongs, gingerbread cookies, cute santa suckers, candy canes, big pack of Play Doh, Santa Clause chocolate, a super cute Christmas puppy, twizzler bath collection, mint chocolate cookies (yum! I've been eating them while working on my Christmas cards), and a lovely book called Misltetoe Courtship (can't wait to get started on it!). Rita thanks for the fun treats and activities for me and my fam! This was so so much fun!

Santa-Swap with Stacey

I participated in The Mommy-Files Santa Swap giveaway this month and I gotta tell ya, I can't get enough of these swaps. It's such a fun way to get to know other fun bloggers and meet a new friend. Plus you get mail and who doesn't love mail?



I got teamed up with the fabulous Stacey from StaceyBug Creations and her other blog One Domestic Darling! Stacey make some beautiful handmade cards and crafts and was so sweet to send me a box full of awesome gifts! She sent me three beautiful towels, a santa photo frame (can't wait to put my kids picture with Santa in there!), an adorable snowman pillow, a cute santa bag filled with candy (you can be sure my kids ate some of it up), and a lovely handmade card. I'm so excited to have some fun decorations to add to my home. I realized this year as I was pulling out my decorations I'm seriously lacking so I was thrilled to get this lovely gift from Stacey! Thanks so much!!

Wordless Wednesday: Serenity Now!

(Photo taken by me in June 2009 in Utah.)

Question #9 Perhaps I'll Stick To Reading

Asked by L.T. Elliot (who I've recently found likes green beans WAY more than I do)

Question #9 I'd like to know about you as a writer. What genre/age range? Who has inspired you? What is one of your favorite books? Did you ever have an idea you knew was just fabulous and you HAD to write it?
------

This is a fun yet difficult question. While this year I've really enjoyed meeting tons of authors, going to reading and writing conferences and spreading the word on fantastic books I've read, I haven't really tried to write for an audience. I wrote a little (really, a little, like maybe 3000 words) about two years ago, but I've only ever dared let one person read it and I'm pretty sure I'd never want that piece to see the light of day.

So to answer your questions:
Genre/age: I think I'd go for YA.
Inspired me: A lot of good friends.
Favorite books: Oh I've read so many good ones. Here's a handful I like that I've read this year Hunger Games/Catching Fire, The Dark Divine, The Princess Bride, Shiver
Fabulous ideas: I think this is why I haven started yet. I have one searing idea, this idea I started ealier, but I'm so bad at conflict or having my characters make decisions that would hurt. Which I think means I have no plot. Haha.

**Want to play along? Do you have any questions for me? Go ahead and ask me here!

Stuff & movies about books

Bree Despains book comes out in about 7 days my friends. If you're interested she's having a "huge frakkin giveaway" you should go enter. In similar news I've made my very first ever book trailer in honor of said book. Give me a break, I was trying to get it done before the kids woke up and now that I know how to fix it I dont want to repost it because I'll loose my beloved 30 views. Haha. Tell me, doesnt this make you want to read it though? Anyone wanna be nice and rate it on youtube for me?



*****
My cousin is trying to reach a milestone. She needs your help. C'mon guys, it's Christmas! All she's asking for is a follower. Or five. I'm not kidding when I say you won't regret it. I view her blog like I would my morning cartoons (if I read them), brilliant and funny. Go now.

Question #8 Past Time Names

Asked by Jenni Elyse (who's movie trivia puts mine to shame.)

Quesiton #8
What's your favorite past time? I know you're not necessarily planning to have more children, but if you had another one, what would you name him/her?
----

I'm hoping these are two separate questions, one not spurred by the other. ;-) Haha.

Favorite past time: I have a handful of pastimes I enjoy but if I had to pick just one I'd say reading. Finishing up school and doing things solo around here for a while has left me very little time to read and compared to my book count last year I'm dearly missing it.

As for children: Yes you'd be correct that we're not planning on anymore so I wouldn't really try to come up with a name. However there are some names I like but that just never fit any of our kids like Savannah or Jace.

What's your favorite past time?

**Want to play along? Do you have any questions for me? Go ahead and ask me here!

Questions #6 & 7 Secrets and Favorites

Question #6
Asked by Nena (who tells the most fabulous stories.)
Do you have a lot of secrets?
-----
No. I find I'm not a fan of drama so I tend to bow out of things that create it, like secrets. Even silly ones like Birthday surprises. I get so excited I can't hold it in and I have to tell (I dont know if my hubby has gotten very many gifts from me he hasn't known about, haha).



Question #7
Asked by Olivia (Who is fabulously creative and has an eye for fashion.)
-----
I want to hear about some of your favorites. Fav food, drink, candy, music, book, family activity That sort of thing.

Favorites:
food~French Fries, is that too obvious? How about Chicken. I LOVE chicken.
drink~Diet Coke
candy~I just discovered a new one, Reeses Clusters
music~I don't get a lot of chances to listen to the radio so I'm really not up on any new music. I love piano music and alot of kids of instrumental music. I steal my hubby's or friends music to work out to though so I do hear some
book~Mandy by Julie Andrews (from my childhood)
family activity~Pizza Parties. We get to have a picnic in the living room (the kids insist on sitting on a blanket or tablecloth to make it an actual picnic) and watch a movie. They always look forward to our Friday nights.

A few others I thought of:
restaurants~Most any :)
activity to unwind~lunch with girl friends
movie~Overboard
flower~Calli Lily
dessert~cheesecake (homemade)
Jamba Juice flavor~Razzmatazz or Mango A Go Go (I need another taste test, anyone up for going out?)
family vacation~Disneyland!
(which by the way this picture comes from my 'let me introduce myself' post)


**Want to play along? Do you have any questions for me? Go ahead and ask me here!

Writers gotta eat

I have discovered this last year that the best thing for a 'pick me up' is a girls lunch, at least for me, it does wonders. I threw together a little meet up with some of my friends who did NaNoWriMo and my cousin Brodi who brought her fab writing group. We went to Zupa's which I've never tried before, but I got a yummy sandwhich and talked all sorts of crazy topics. It's amazing to me that just the commonality of wanting a little time to chill is enough to give us all a good time. Anyone else up for a lunch out? Seriously. :)

Olivia, Heidi, Brodi , Emily (who wrote The Way He Lived), Sara B, Valynne, Bree (who wrote The Dark Divine), and me. *(We're missing Rachel who took off just a few minutes before we realized we needed to snap a picture.)

Wordless Wednesday: You Name It

Using only ONE word, title this photo.

(Photo taken by me in June 2009 in Utah.)

Tell Me: Your Mom

Tell Me: What's a fun childhood memory you have of yourself with your parents?

When I think of childhood I think of California. My family lived there until I was 9 so my brain compartmentalizes all my memories in 9 year segments.

Often times on the weekend you'd find my family outside playing in the yard. I remember my dad giving us rides in the wheelbarrow. We'd all get to take our own turn being pushed around in the little bucket. While we waited for our turn mom would push us on the swingset or watch as we tried to cross the monkey bars. I love watching old family videos because it just so happens we have a little bit of all of us playing outside together.

Question #5 Kiss me baby one more time

Asked by Merrianne (who is full of life and knows how to live it up!)

Question #5
When was your FIRST KISS????? And DID you LIKE it?
--------

Oh this is a fond memory for me! My first kiss was at the age of 13. I was "going out" with this handsome young lad that lived down the street from me. It was a first for the both of us and we weren't exactly sure how to make it happen. We had met up after school and gone rollerblading. We took a little break (so we could sit down) on the side of the elementary school nearby but neither of us could work up the nerve to make it happen (though passing notes in school we both knew it was going to happen soon!).

A few days later we met up again and went for a walk this time. After an hour or so we were back on my front porch and it had gotten dark. I was hoping so badly it would happen. We both stalled (not leaving) as long as we could but nothing was happening so he said he needed to go. Then he took my hand and pulled me to the side of the house. We stood there face to face not moving. I really wanted him to make the first move but I was dieing to kiss him. Then he said, "So, uhm should I lean in or should you?" (I hadn't realized how nervous he was too.) So we both agreed we'd both lean in and we had a cute little 7 seconds long kiss. (Ok I'm not positive about how long it lasted but I do know for sure I wrote down in my journal, haha.) So to answer your second question, yes I liked it. I thought it was a fantastic first kiss!!


**Want to play along? Do you have any questions for me? Go ahead and ask!

Question #4 In my little blog world

Asked by Kristina P (who is hilarious in real life and on her blog! --and has a little crush on Joel McHale)

Question #4
What is your favorite thing about blogging?
-----
Since this is my game I'm making an executive decision that I can give two answers.


a)I love love love it when people comment on my blog. Validation of something I've done? Oh, yes I get that ALL the time as a mother ("eww I dont want to eat that!") I feel like people like me, or at least that they're interested enough in what I am saying or who I am to say hello. (Which, lets be frank. I love to get virtual 'pats on the back'.)

*Image used from Kristina P's blog (you can get one there too if you'd like).

When I first started blogging I'd lurk all the time and I remembering having the thought, "I can't comment on so&so's blog because they wouldn't want me intruding." Haha. But now I figure, if it's out there in cyber land people want to be noticed and loved. So now I try comment everywhere and love when others do the same.

b)Making new friends & and getting back in touch with old ones I haven't seen in a while. There's also an added bonus. People usually talk about things on their blogs that generally don't come up in a typical conversation. You don't get a lot of this stuff in the few minutes you get to visit on the phone or sitting in the PTA meeting. You get to find that kind of stuff out from people who blog. Plus I think because there is a lot of back and forth, great posts, supporting comments, etc you start to build friendships that are very dear.

Since starting this blog (as opposed to my family blog where mainly only my already close friends and family post) I've been able to expand my circle of friends and build the ones I already had. Like Victorias stories of the countless missionaries that have stayed at her house (even when she already had a house full of 7 kids), or Grammee's stories of moving to a new state and getting to be nearer to dear grandchildren, or Rochelle's adventures dealing with her miracle baby girl and busy boys, or Jenni's fantastic success with her weight loss. For me, I need the friends. The connection to people who I can/want to relate to. The attention. The love and support. And this blogging is a great way to get a daily dose of that.



**Want to play along? Do you have any questions for me? Go ahead and ask!

Question #3-Pencil me in.

Asked by Ducksfly2gether (Who was my freshman/sophomore college roommate. Good times, goodtimes!)

Question #3:
I'm trying to figure out how you do EVERYTHING you do! What's your typical schedule these days?
---------
Um honestly I'm not completely sure. It varies from day to day as to what I leave out and what I need. So my hubby has been getting some work out of town lately, which translates to mean I do it all alone and some days I physically just can't keep. When I finally get the kids tucked in my brain jumps in to overdrive of everything that must get done and things that need to get done. Without drowning you details here's a peek at my week.

7:30-wake up (try not to bump into walls)
8:15-on way to school (one gone, two to entertain)
8:30-off and running (mark a few off, add a few on to the list)
5:00-dinner (is anyone gonna eat what I made?)
7:00-get ready for bed (spill water while brushing teeth)
7:30-kids in rooms (though yelling for mom)
8:00-mommy free time (HA, I mean continue to wrangle kids for a few hours, promise yourself you'll be in bed by 10, realize it's past midnight, wrap up projects, force self to bed just in time to do it all over again.)

And somewhere in there I throw in a little blogging and a little facebooking because honestly I need the adult interaction and a way to wind down. (So thank you friends of the internet.)

Ok really though, life seems a lot more busy than that. Though doesn't it always. As you might hear me refer to myself often times, "ask me what time it is, I'll tell you how the clock works". Here's a few of the details. :)


Mondays
Errands, Grocery shopping
Preschool with 3 y/o
Family Home Evening

Tuesdays
Babysitting swap with neighbor
Preschool with 3 y/o (find sittter for little guy)
Piano (for 6 y/o)

Wednesdays
Volunteer in daughters 1st grade classroom (this is why the swap is handy)
Cherubs (Kids music group)
Babysitting nephew/niece
Clogging for 6 y/o

Thursdays
Work on larger projects
Fill in any apts or what not that come up

Fridays
Free day

Saturdays/Sundays
Survive


**Want to play along? Do you have any questions for me? Go ahead and ask!

Wordless Wednesday: We still haven't seen much

(Photo taken by me in Dec 2008)

Tell Me: Do you add a little A or P to that M?

Are you a morning person or night person?

I would classify myself as a night person. I enjoy putting the kids to bed, sticking in a movie and having time to do my own things. However I discovered recently, my husband would much rather run errands in the afternoon (any time after lunch), while I prefer to run errands in the morning (right after breakfast and be home by lunch). While I don't enjoy getting up really early in the morning, I do enjoy getting a lot of things done first thing in the morning.

The Greatness You Are Building

I saw this video on Motherboards blog and cried when I watched it. I think all women need a bit of reminder of the great and glorious work they're doing. Of the worth we have, of the valuable work we do, of the precious daughters we are of God.

Poster Print Winner

The winner of the Large Format Poster is:
(I threw a bunch of numbers in a hat and we drew one out)

Kimberly!

Congratulations! I'll be emailing you with the details. Thanks everyone for entering.

Question #2-How I met your mother...er my husband

Asked by Barbaloot (Whom I met at a fun bloggy lunch and knew I would love her blog! Plus she's got great taste in movies.)

Question #2:
Maybe you've shared it and I just haven't seen it...but I wanna know about you and your husband. How you managed to date in high school, wait for him, and then get married:)
-------------

So hubby and I met many moons ago. I was 16 and he was 18 and we were both attending a week-long LDS youth camp thing called Especially For Youth (EFY) in the summer of 1998.

We lived far away from each other (180 miles approx 3 hrs) so when we returned home it was a bit difficult to hang out so we settled on emailing. Later that year he was traveling down to my city with his buddy and asked me out on a date. In December he came over and we went out on our first official date, where he not only asked me to be his girlfriend, but asked permission to kiss me, which I excitedly allowed (yes on our first date).

(I made him take <----- this picture a few months before he left on his mission. It's ok, we laugh at it now too.) So as you can imagine, as two young teenagers it was a bit tricky to work out the traveling arrangements. Looking back on it now I still can't believe how cool our parents were about the whole thing (letting us drive so far so often-esp considering I didn't have my own car). We'd see each other every other weekend or so while we finished out the school year and a bit more often over the summer before he left on his mission. (We got to go to a bunch of dances together but these are my fav two pictures.)

He left on his mission a few weeks after this picture was taken (my senior year Homecoming). I'd spend many a school hour writing him letters which meant he got ALOT of mail. Luckily my parents had plenty of stamps around. It was pretty fun hearing about his mission and he'd send me pictures and I did the classic thing: made him a missionary scrapbook. (What's really neat is now when he shares stories or talks about them I know who they are or remember stories myself.)

So off to college I went, and many transfers and letters later he returned home the beginning of my Sophomore year in college. We dated for a bit and later he surprised me with a visit that Halloween (2001) when he came down to visit me at school. We went for a walk and he popped the question with my dream ring! (It felt like I waited eternity to hear that question come out of his mouth but again, looking back on it now I can't believe how fast it all happened. Well at least from the standpoint of when he got home. :-P )

We were married in January 2002 (yes just 10 weeks later) and had a perfect wedding day (which if you want more details we had lunch at Wendys).

I think I covered it all. What do you think? Any more details?


**Want to play along? Do you have any questions for me? Go ahead and ask!

Question #1: Fear

Asked by: The Head Eagle over at An Eagles View. (Who has a fun blog about life as a working mom, giveaways/reviews, and life.)

Question 1:
What is one thing you truly fear?

I'm sorta afraid of heights (or better yet falling from huge heights) but I can overcome it for the sake of rollercoaster awesomeness. I'm ok going up into tall buildings but I dont do so hot on ledges. :)

I'm sort of afraid of creepy crawlies, or more importantly, ever having to be faced with the idea of needing to eat one (ala Fear Factory to win $$--that is why I could never ever be on that show).

But truly really? I'm afraid of emergency fires. Not candles, or campfires or fireworks or anything like that. But having to escape a burning building. A save-my-family-and-important-papers sorta fire. I used to lay awake at night, as a kid, devising plans about what I would do/take if my house started on fire. I lived on the second floor with the driveway below my window, not a soft landing, so I was always devising plans to not break my legs and save as much of my stuff as I could.

Hey bloggy friends: What is one thing you truly fear?

**Do you have any questions for me? Go ahead and ask!

Smell like Twilight

The winners of the Essence of Twilight contest are

#1 Brie (entry #19)
#2 Jenni Elyse (entry #2)
#3 Brie (entry #14)
#4 Terra H (entry #23)

Congratulations ladies! As I stated on the original post here's how it'll go down: First person chosen will get their first choices of scents/flavors of 2 lotions and 2 lip glosses. The second, third, and fourth prize winners will then go in descending order of their choices pictured above.

Winners please email me your order of preferences. Don't forget to check out some of these awesome companies for unique Twilight (and New Moon, Eclipse) inspired gifts.

• Essence of Twilight for things pictured above plus more.
  
• Infinite Jewelry Co for Bella's Engagement ring and Bella's Bracelet
• Charmed for an assortment bookmarks and cell phone charms and book thongs, and key chains and tons more unqiue gifts like aprons, umbrellas, scrubs, magnets, etc.
  
• Tarls Scribbles for original artwork like eeny meeny mo.

So True

Wordless Wednesday: Creative Trap

(Photo taken by me in Summer 2009.)

Tell Me: Are you curious?

What would you like to know about me?

Ask your questions, any questions. Fun questions, silly questions, crazy questions, random questions. Ask away! And in advance, thanks for playing!


This post was inspired by my bloggy friend Evonne over at Sell Party Of.

The Dark Divine-My Review

So as part of 'The Dark Divine Street Team' I got a handful of swag to pass out and a cute t-shirt to wear (that I proudly wore this weekend to two New Moon big movie events). Plus my very first ARC copy of a book. I read it in 3 days (although had I not been study for my final test ala graduating, that same week I'm confident I could have done it in a day-I really wanted to! But you'll also perhaps notice that instead of just waiting a week the book was burning a whole through my pocket. Or perhaps my nightstand. Ok on with the show...)

The Dark Divine by Bree Despain hits stores in just under one month people. Are you counting down? Because you should. This book is fabulous!

I've gotta tell you I read ALOT (as in I actually counted and it was over 107 books last year). And not all the books I read are recommend-to-others worthy. In fact a lot of times when people ask what I'm reading I purposely won't tell them until I'm done because I want to give them a good honest review and I want to stand behind what I'm talking about and really promote great authors.

Let me tell you a little bit about The Dark Divine. There's this nice girl named Grace, who has a brother named Jude and the two of them have a friend named Daniel. You think you know where you're going but this book keeps you wondering and very invested in the characters.

You can read the first chapter on Bree's website, where she's also hosting 'a huge frakkin giveaway' over on her blog so go enter and tell her I sent ya. She'll also tell ya how to find the first SIX CHAPTERS. But really, I'm pretty confident you're gonna wanna own this for yourself.

Thank You Card Winner

The winner of the Digital Room sponsored Thank you cards is
(as chosen by my daughter comment #4 because that is how old she'll be turning in a few months)

Christie!

Look for an email from me shortly. Congratulations!

Be sure to check out the next few prizes this week including lotions and body sprays and a 16x20 rolled canvas.

WIN a Large Format Poster

In preparation for the Holiday season LargeFormatPosters.com is rolling out another giveaway – 16x20 rolled Canvas. Rolled canvas prints are perfect for home decor, photo prints and signage.


Giveaway Prize: (1) Rolled Canvas for One Lucky Winner
Shipping: FREE UPS Ground Shipping in the US
Eligibility: Limited to US Residents due to shipping costs. We will negotiate better shipping rates soon.

LargeFormatPosters.com is sponsoring this giveaway so one of you lucky duckys can win this for yourself! Check out their Canvas Printing or the fun Poster Printing. You can also see some of the reviews at UPrinting Reviews. I've recently seen this and they're great quality! I couldn't believe that not only was the quality impressive but it was a super quick process (printing/shipping).

To enter:
Leave a comment describing what photo gifts you'd want to have printed for your family and loved ones.

Additional entries:
~Follow me on Twitter @cranberryfries.
~Twitter this contest. (You can copy/paste this: Win a 16x20 canvas rolled custom canvas print at http://cranberryfries.blogspot.com/2009/11/win-large-format-poster.html)
~Post this on facebook.
~Email at least 4 friends and cc me cranberryfries [at] gmail [dot] com.
~Add me as a friend on facebook (or if you're already my friend, could you help a girl out and suggest a few friends?).

Contest will close Nov 29th and the winner will be announced on my blog by Nov 30th.

*I will receive a poster print for participating in this giveaway. Thanks to LargeFormatPosters.com!

Even a little can help.

My cousin Kristin recently has worked with some foster teens in the Salt Lake City area. She has created an incredible idea for Christmas and I'd encourage you all to check it out. A few points:

~Check out the blog link below to get more details, stories, and information.
~These teens are the most overlooked population when it comes to Christmas and donations. ~They usually get what's leftover from other houses. ( One year one of the teens in the home opened the one present he got and said, "I just can't believe I got an actual present and not just candy!")
~The idea is to get their dream list (that's below) FIRST before doing other donations. These are things that not only they would want but really need.

(Click to enlarge picture or click on the Teen Foster link below to see a list.)


You can see what they still need or what's already been purchased at

It's a Very Merry Teen Foster Christmas blog.

I'd love it if you could help pass the word along. Send it out in emails, twitters, facebook, anything you can think of. She's tackling this project not just for a few youth she's hoping to help 17 boys and 17 girls. Even if you dont think you can do this along, get together with a group of friends, neighbors, family members and pool your resources to help.

Freebie Friday: Essence of Twilight

In honor of this eventful weekend (for some of you) I'm giving away some fun products from
Essence of Twilight

Pictured here is: Edward, Bella, Jacob and Nessie lotions. All with their own unique hand-picked, book-described scents. I also have an Alice body spray.
There is also Edward, Bella, Jacob, Honeymoon and Nessie lip gloss.

I'm going to pick 4 winners. Here's how it'll go down:
First person chosen will get their first choices of scents/flavors of 2 lotions and 2 lip glosses. The second, third, and fourth prize winners will then go in descending order of their choices pictured above. Okey dokey? Yahoo go enter!


To enter:
Leave a comment.

Additional entries:
Check out any of the companies below. I helped contact companies for the giveaways and swag bags for the folks in our theater tonight. These companies all kindly donated their products and I thought it'd be fun to share the love. Come back and tell me anything you learned on their site(s). 2 entries for each site you visit and tell me about. (You can leave one comment I'll make sure to count each entry! For example put +2 for blah blah +2 blabbity blah)

• Essence of Twilight gave each movie goer a sample of one of their lotions. And three lucky winners will get a party bag full of an assortment of fabulous products!
  
• Infinite Jewelry Co donated a Bella's Engagement ring and Bella's Bracelet to two different winners.
• Food Should Taste Good donated a bag of (my favorite) Multigrain chips to each movie goer.
• Charmed gave each movie goer one of an assortment bookmarks and gave away 2 cell phone charms, 2 book thongs, and 2 key chains to 6 winners.
• Tarls Scribbles gave each movie goer one of an assortment of bookmarks and/or eeny meeny mo postcard.
• Bree Despain gave each movie goer The Dark Divine bookmark.
• Gnome Sweet Gnome is also doing something crazy cool but since the movie hasn't happened yet (It's at 1am folks and I'm preparing this post at 7:30pm since I will be crazy busy this weekend) so if you're interested I'll add that in later. :)

Contest will close Nov 26th and the winners will be posted on my blog. Please make sure to either have your email enabled in your profile or leave it in your post so I can contact you. Thanks!

A special thanks to all the awesome companies for being so cool!!

*I did not receive any monetary compensation for this post from any of the companies listed.
**I know it's Freebie FRIDAY but I wanted to make sure the post came up ok so I'm posting it now a few hours early.

Enjoy the music (Winners!)

The winners of the original Christmas music Cd's by Victoria are:

Comment #7- Rachel @MyPinkFlipFlops
Comment #3- Jill Hunt
Comment #10- Owen's Mom

Congratulations to the winners! Thanks for entering everyone. And if you'd like to grab one for your yourself or friends, you can order them here.

Wordless Wednesday: It's Official!

(Photo taken by me in 2008 at Brigham Young University of a friend. Photoshoped by me last night as now I can include myself in the loop.)

(As long as I use parenthesis I can say whatever I darn well want on Wordless Wednesday. Right? Ok. Today you get two because I'm just that excited. The end.)

Wordless Wednesday: For Kayla (hehehe)

(Photo taken by me in July 2008 while flying near Seattle Washington's Floating Bridges.)

Tell Me: Traditions

What kind of traditions does your family have for Thanksgiving and/or Christmas?


As a mother of three young children our family is still establishing our traditions and it's been fun to use ones from our past and create new ones together. What things do you remember or have you started?

My friend Brie asked her friends this question recently and it got me thinking about the fun things we do.

A few of my favorites for Thanksgiving includ:
Crafts (like the one over there-->) or making a leaf garland by letting the kids cut, color leaves and on the back writing what they're thankful for.
Board games with the family

For Christmas a few favorites include:
-Driving around on Christmas eve/Christmas night to look at all the beautiful lights and finding our favorite decorated houses.
-Make cookies and put out cookies and carrots for Santa and his reindeer
-Read/act out/film the bible story in Luke
-Read The Polar Express.
-PJ's on Christmas Eve
-Watch holiday movies the whole month!

A few of the memories

Here's a small sampling of our trip to Disneyland. (And a small background first.)

When I was 0-7ish my dad worked as an accountant for Disney so we'd get family passes and we'd go a lot. I loved it! And I think because we were still little when my dad decided to get a new job the magic is still magical to us as opposed to some folks whom I hear grew up in that area and went so often it's no fun anymore.

Any who for our first annual my-side-of-the-family reunion my parents took us to Disneyland.




Ok back to our trip. Obviously most of the pictures are self explanatory. A few highlights included:

~Lunch with the princesses. All the kids got a big kick out of that.

~Day 2 we bought autograph books. I didnt think they'd care, but they did. So we ended up scoping out the characters. At last most of us did. My oldest got shy all of a sudden.

~Turns out my 6 y/o is a roller coaster nut. She rode on Matterhorn, Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Gadgets Go Coaster.

~My parents kindly took the kids back to the hotel one evening so hubby and I could stay and play in the park. It was a blast! (We went there on our honeymoon.)

~I love seeing my kids love every part of the trip. The plane ride, the bus ride to the parks, staying at the hotel. It's so fun watching them enjoy all the little things.

~My son was so excited about every thing he saw. It was awesome watching him discover so many things.

~My 3 y/o was loving all of the magic!

~My 6 y/o lost her 5th tooth on the shuttle from the airport to the hotel.

~We had a fab lunch in the Blue Bayou where I even tried a tasty new dish. (mmm I'm hungry)

~We got to see the debut show of The Princess and The Pea. I think we're all looking forward to seeing how good the movie is.

~Favorite characters:
2 y/o: Buzz, Woody, Lightning McQueen
3 y/o: Tinkerbell, Buzz
6 y/o: Princesses

~Favorite rides:
2: Monsters Inc., Nemo Submarines
3: Dumbo, Teacups
6: Splash Mountain, Autopia
Me: All of it
Hubby: Indiana Jones

~Favorite treats:
2: Suckers
3: Churros
6: Popcorn
Me: Churros
Hubby: Cotton Candy