Welcoming Senia

Last night we had Corey, Shannon, Tia, Kaitlinn and Senia over for dinner. This was the first time we got to see precious little Senia. I couldn't believe what dark hair she had. We had so much fun with them. Since we didn't get to see them before Christmas we exchange a few presents and played games. The blanket Senia is laying on... Mom and I made for her. We so enjoy having them come down to visit. We did promise that next time we would go up there. Their kids are always so happy and smily. Very cute little girls. We love you guys!

Diane's 70th surprise party

Diane and Farrel
Mom gave her a crown saying "Mother to be" on it.
We couldn't find one that had a 70
on it so Mom thought this would work since she will be the new Mother to
the sister missionaries in Oakland at the Visitor Center. They are leaving
for a mission. They were called to be the new Visitor Center
Directors at the Oakland Temple.

Diane was very surprised when everyone screamed out....
Surprise and sang Happy Birthday to her.
She had no Idea this was going to happen.
She has a wonderful husband that planned it for her.

LeAnn came over to help me cook the food.
We had a very yummy dinner consisting of
Shrimp Pad Thai, Chicken Pad Thai,
Beef in Oyster sauce and Cashew Chicken.

This is a few of the people that came.
(left to right)
Cami, Tami, Marilyn, Aldine, LeAnn

(Left to right)

Christian, Kirsten, Leslie, Mike, Erica, Brenda, Joseph, Harry and Debra

I was so pleased that I could have a part in making Aunt Diane's 70th Birthday a happy one for her. I wish you the best this next year and thank you for letting me be part of it. I love you Aunt Diane! You are an amazing woman and we are all so lucky to have you in our life.

Lukas' Birthday Party

Lukas had a playdough cookie dough party. I'm not sure who had more fun making them.... the kids or the parents. I think the kids just wanted to eat the dough. There was some bright dough and some blue mouths at this party.

This is Emilynn.... loved her big blue eyes and the pigtails.

Thanks for inviting us to his special day! We had fun watching the kids. I hope Brandi got pictures of Lukas jamming out on his new guitar. He was dancing like Elvis.... he had his leg action down. After he would open a present he would squeal WOW! oooo and hold it up for everyone to see. He was very proud and excited over his presents. I hope you have a wonderful year being "2" Lukas and I hope your parents can live through it! I love you little guy!

My "Special" Friend

I told Jan not to give Hillary any Ideas....
She is our little shark!
Love your guts!

Utah Sunset

January 8th 2009

Mom and I were just cleaning up after dinner on Thursday night when I noticed from the front window the orange poking through. We went outside and this is what we found. Utah can have some of the most beautiful sunsets. I love the cloud formation.

Let it snow Let it snow...... then I shoveled!

One huge snowman!
This is located in our neighborhood. I have never seen one so big.
I just had to share it with everyone.

Monday night it started snowing and I shoveled a few times.... then Tuesday morning I was out again shoveling. It didn't stop snowing until late Tuesday night. It was beautiful and I wish I had the pictures off my phone to show you some when it was snowing. One day I will figure it out... yes I did try to email them to me but my phone won't let you do that. I thought it was a cool phone. :) This was taken after the sun shone on it all day. Melted and all it is alot of snow that Orem hasn't had for a few years. Well at least not in one day that is.... I would say we got 12 to 18 inches.

Just one from the front porch.

Christmas at the Lopez's

Mom and I decided to go to Arizona this year for Christmas. We stayed at Kristy and Juan's and we visited with Greg and Leslie and their family. Mom had a special day with Kristy and Eli as she was able to go threw the temple with both of them on the 23rd. After which we all went out to dinner and came back to the Lopez's and played Christmas Bingo and had dessert. We had a great time getting together. It has been a long time since I have spent Christmas with the Benson's and Lopez's in Arizona. It was so fun to see the excitement with the children for Christmas. Christmas morning was with the Lopez's then we headed up to Greg's for the evening. Thanks for having us for Christmas!

Christmas morning at the Lopez's

The Kids seeing what Santa had put in their stockings.

Little Miss Sofia as Princess Sofia

Kristy showing off her new sweater Juan got her.
I would have put in the picture of Juan getting his
playstation 3 from his wife but it didn't turn out.
sorry!

Mom fast asleep after all the excitement.
This is what she does best! :)

I want to thank everyone for making this a wonderful Christmas. It wasn't just the gifts I want to thank you for but for being my family and friends and caring for me. I feel truely blessed to have you all in my life. May we all have a wonderful and Happy 2009 with no plagues attached! I love you all! Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Thanksgiving Points

A few weeks before Christmas, Dan and Brandi had me watch Lukas while they attended Dan's work Christmas Party. They dropped off Lukas at the salon and needless to say he wasn't to happy about his parents leaving him in a salon filled with "girls". All the way home he cried until he saw Christmas lights then he would stop crying and say "look look" or "uuuuu aaawww" then start crying until the next set of lights. Silly Lukas. So after dinner I thought he would love to drive threw the lights at Thanksgiving Point. So mom and I packed him up in the car and headed over to Lehi. As we drove threw the lights he would point and say uuuu aaaawww, look look or just laugh. His laugh is so funny, you can't help but laugh yourself. After the light show we went up to the tower to see the reindeer and Santa Claus. I was a bit worried about how Lukas would take to Santa but he just walked right up to him and held out his hand to shake Santa's hand. It was cute. He loved the reindeer.



Sorry my camera isn't working very well so that is why you get all the funny lines. I had a great time taking care of Lukas. We laugh alot together. Thanks for letting me have some fun with your little boy at Christmas time..... Brandi and Dan.

My blog is Fabulous!

Thanks Stephanie, for awarding me with a fabulous blog! Here are five blogs I think are FABULOUS!!

1- House of Juan... It is always so fun to see what the Lopez's are doing and what crazy thing the kids have done. It gives me a good laugh and it makes you smile seeing little miss Sofia!

2- Wilkinson Crew... What can I say.... Lukas is to cute to miss out on. Brandi does so well keeping us posted on everything they are doing. I'm looking forward to seeing little miss Blair in a few months. I feel so special to know that you think so much of me to name her after me. Thank you Brandi and Dan!

3- Sheffield troupe... They are so far away I love seeing what is going on in there life's. Plus I have to keep up on what my Goddaughter is doing. She is growing so fast. I miss you guys! Thanks for keeping us in the loop!

4- cgaddisgo.... What amazing recipes! She even teaches you how to make them. I love to find new recipes to try out... She makes them look so good you want to try them all. Thanks for sharing with us!

5- Sandoval's .... I have so enjoyed being able to catch up on Stephanie and Sal's life. Isaac is so cute and I'm a bit jealous of their relationship. Stephanie does so much fun things with Isaac. Seeing all the Christmas crafts they are doing is making wish I had one of my own to do things like that with. I'm so glad we became friends.

Fabulous Addictions!

1- Chocolate... What else can I say... it's just damn good but it has to be dark chocolate.
2- Shobi..... My wonderful husband. I just wish he was here to be truly addicted too.
3- Caffeine... It helps me get through the day and I am so glad and so are my clients! :)
4- Date cookies... mostly the dough. It isn't Christmas without them!
5- Laughing... it makes life easier to deal with through the tough times. A child's laugh is the best! Lukas keeps me laughing with his!


Alright ladies, here are the rules to receiving this award:

1. You have to pass it on to 5 other fabulous blogs in a post.
2. You have to list 5 of your fabulous addictions in the post.
3. You must copy and paste the rules and the instructions below in the post.Instructions:On your post of receiving this award, make sure you include the person that gave you the award and link it back to them. When you post your five winners, make sure you link them as well. To add the award to your post, simply right-click, save image, then "add image" it in your post as a picture so your winners can save it as To add it to your sidebar, add the "picture" gadget. Also, don't forget to let your winners know they won an award from you by emailing them or leaving a comment on their blog.Now get to it I can't wait to see your creativity in recreating your own blog awards!

Plagues

If you have read Kristy's blog then you know the crazy week we have had. It all started with a lousy headache that arrived on Thanksgiving Day. I wasn't going to let it ruin Thanksgiving for me so I put on a smile and headed down to Shelley and Jim's house for Thanksgiving dinner. It was a yummy dinner and it was nice to visit with all the family. This lousy headache persisted for 5 more days. As that was going on we had a case of lice hit with Maxx. When the Lopez's came up for Thanksgiving, Kristy had said he was itching his head alot. I checked out his hair and I didn't see anything. I figured he is 7 and shampooing his own hair and not rinsing out the shampoo well enough. Well That wasn't it!!! Saturday as we were getting ready to go up to Salt Lake City for Rachel and Jake's wedding reception they hatched. Now being a Hairstylist this is my worse NIGHTMARE! After shampooing, combing with the gel and shampooing again I could still see them. Needless to say Maxx is now sporting a shaved head. As I was shaving his head, outside, we was looking down at the hair coming off and telling Abby to come check out the bugs in his hair. He thought it was kinda cool. That's a seven year old. Poor Rachel..... I was suppose to do her hair for her reception but when she heard about the lice she said she could do it herself that she liked her long hair and wanted to keep it. I don't blame her. After the reception we went over to Temple Square to see the lights. We got a late start and so as we work are way around to the old tabernacle the lights went out. We were looking at the lights on main street, enjoying them. After a potty break we came back out and they were out too. So much for a long enjoyment. Sunday morning mom had noticed her wedding ring was missing. She had looked all over and worried that she had lost it up at temple square. Luckily it came off in her glove and fallen out in my car. What luck! We spent all of Sunday and most of Monday sanitizing the whole house and everyones hair. Thinking that things couldn't get worse..... Tuesday morning when the Lopez's were getting ready to leave, Juan saw a mouse run into our pantry. YUCK! So I spent Tuesday morning cleaning out the pantry with clorex wipes. I put our some decon but they still are invading us. Monday a pest control guy will come out and hopefully get rid of them. WE are clean people I promise! Oh I forgot to tell you that Sunday was mom's 81's birthday and she woke up sick with a cold. Thursday I got the stomach flu and now it is Friday and mom still has her cold and now my stomach flu. This was a plague of a Thanksgiving! I'm not sure what we are suppose to be thankful for this year! Sorry I didn't take any pictures.... dealing with it all and a headache I spaced taking pictures. Or maybe it was I didn't want to remember it!! I hope you all had a plague free Thanksgiving!