A Christmas Morning

What happens when Santa brings boxing gloves to little girls? Well these girls wasted no time putting them on and heading straight for daddy!


They got him good too!








It was so nice to find a little Grant Beckstrand in my husband this morning! Jake made us a yummy breakfast and it was good! He looks cute making breakfast, I think he should do it more often!

This was my SPECIAL project this year. I made the girls blankets. My friend Laurel did a great job embroidering the girls names on them. I'm so glad they were a huge hit because it was truly a labor of love!

Thank You. . .

Grandma and Grandpa Beck! We LOVE our new guitar and wii games! We will be putting them to good use soon! Jake loves his football game too!

Thank You Uncle Tom and Aunt Shannon for the AWESOME coin purses and jewelry case. We love them! We thought we hit the jackpot when we discovered $5 inside!

Thank you Tom and Shannon for the game! From what you guys tell me it should be a fun game. I hope I can talk my family into playing it today!

After Years of Owning. .

a food saver, I finally used it! My blog fairy friend would be sooo proud of me! We bought these sealers about 3 years ago and I just now used it! I was prompted by the latest food storage purchase. I bought 25 pounds of chocolate chips! We all need a little chocolate in our lives when life gets tough, right? So here it is ladies, come and trade with me when you need a little chocolate in your life!

Happy Birthday Grandma!

We love and miss you! We are excited to see you tomorrow! :)

See, I Can Be Fun. . .

SOMETIMES! The girls ALWAYS beg me to buy them one of these gingerbread houses. I usually say "maybe" and pretend like I forget!! I know, I know, I'm such a bad mom! I decided to brake down and buy them one this year. They had a great time making it after fighting about who gets to make what part! Of course, you don't see the after picture of the frosting slash candy fight. See that's why I forget!

*No, that's not our dog and yes that's their cute cousin Sydney!

Yummy Gift Idea

Sure to win over any cream cheese lover. This is a great way to keep your gift giving simple and very tasty. Here's the recipe for all you cream cheese FROSTING lovers.

Chocolate Chip Cheese Ball

1 8oz. package cream cheese
1 stick butter
1/4 tsp. vanilla
Mix well. Add in
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
3/4 c. powder sugar
Mix well. Add in 3/4 c. mini chocolate chips. After you mix in chips, just roll into a ball and refrigerator for one hour. Serve with either chocolate or honey graham crackers.

Need a little pixie dust?

Well I sure did and look what that cute little fairy brought me! A darling new look! Now I have a reason to blog again! :)

Our First Carrie Underwood Concert

The girls and I had such a fantastic time last night! It was great to have a little mom and daughter time with my favorite girls in the world. It was the girls first concert and they worked really hard to pay for half of their tickets. Thanks to our friend Lisa we had great seats. We also enjoyed dinner before the concert with some of our Wagner friends. Carrie Underwood is just as beautiful and sweet as she seems. Her voice is amazing! We had such a great time and we were NOT disappointed!

Classic Allie Move

You can laugh if you want to because I know its funny. . . NOW! I have taken few bad accidents to the nose in my life, that's why I have the nose bump! I was getting ready to go run a few errands this morning and thought I would check the girls bathroom before leaving. After leaving the bathroom, I took the corner just a little too tight and BAM hit the nose! Oh my gosh, that hurt sooo bad! I even left a mark on the wall! After the initial pain left, I went to go take a peek. Yikes! I actually gave myself a bloody nose and a little cut prove it! Why do I always hurt myself? The good hubby that I have came home and checked on me. Then we had a good laugh! I guess Allie = klutz!

Here's For You Anna

Need a cute idea for your teacher? Here's a darling way to do just that. Here is the website to help you make plain jane pretzels into something adorable! http://gourmetmomonthego.blogspot.com/

If you would like the more traditional crayon look go here (under recipes) to print labels.
http://jenniferhardie.blogspot.com/

What a great way for the kids to make their teacher a gift! Good luck and have fun!

One Last Tag. . .Just For You Claudia

Five things I was doing 10 years ago:
1. Living in Bakersfield
2. Taking care of Morgan
3. Being VERY poor
4. So poor I paid for groceries with my credit card
5. Wanting to get pregnant again (what was I thinking)

Five things on my to do list today:
1. Go visiting teaching
2. Make dinner for a family
3. Never ending laundry
4. Fix a few blogs
5. Make cookies (yes, that's a must)

Five snacks that I enjoy:
1. Chocolate chip cookies (of course)
2. Chips and salsa
3. Sonic Diet Dr. Pepper with vanilla
4. Twix
5. Almond M&M's

Five things I would do if I were a millionaire:
1. Pay off our debt
2. Savings for kids
3. Buy a NEW car (my car squeaks when I drive it) :)
4. Help others
5. Travel with the family

Not five just two places I have lived:
1. Bakersfield
2. Utah

Five jobs I have had:
1. Swim teacher
2. Lifeguard
3. Dishwasher for Kara's Chocolates (free chocolate)
4. Secretary
5. Osborn Video

I tag. . . . Shannon Beckstrand

Super Thursday Idea

I can't really call it Super Saturday because its held on a Thursday in our ward. This was a craft that I was in charge of. I thought it would be fun to share with you. These are flower magnets and they are super easy!

Your local Michael's will have the flowers, wire, discs, magnets, scrapbook flowers and metal. If you are doing a lot, I think its best to spray paint the flowers. Once painted you can then decorate. I did a red scrapbook flower on one. This was easy, all I did was glue a magnet on back and a flower on the front. The daisy flower I painted polka dots in a tan color. I also painted the disc a tan color to match. Then I took the wire and twisted it to look like another flower. All you do now is attach the pieces. Metal word to the disc, disc to the metal wire, wire to the wood flower and the wood flower to the magnet. Now you'll have two cute magnets to keep or give away!

Happy Halloween

I am the worst when it comes to Halloween costumes! Really, I'm just cheap! After going to the Halloween store, the girls couldn't decide on what to be. So what does cheap mom do, that's right. . . go to the clearance section. This is what we found. . . angels costumes for $5 each. I say that's a bargain! They were so excited when we found two. They insisted on being the same!



Here is our rocker girl, or should I say 80's girl. This so reminds me of being in elementary school! She even has a little sass to match the look! :) After going Trunk or Treating on Wednesday, the girls decided they were done. How lucky am I? I say very lucky and that's why I shop the clearance section!

I Love This Picture Tag. . .

This is so much fun! I love having a reason to look at some of my old photos. Here is another tag, this one is from Emily White. Pick your 4th picture from your 6th folder.

This picture is from our special family trip. We took the girls on a Disney Cruise! Yes, I must say it was magical! We loved everything about it, especially the food! :) This was by far the best money ever spent. Here is Morgan and I on the airplane flying to Florida! Boy, I wish I could do that all over again! Come on, join the fun so I can see what's in your folders!

Tag, I'm It?

I've never done this tag thing, but Wendy's being persistent in tagging me, so I'll give it a try. I'm supposed to post a picture (#6) from my desktop and explain the story behind it.

Here's picture number 6. Madison and Makelle's 7th birthday party, or should I say Fourth of July birthday party. They love having their party on the 4th of July because they get fireworks. My family just calls me cheap! :)

The girls were constantly wanting to play with Morgan's DS, so we broke down and bought them. Best investment ever!
I tag. . . . everyone!

If You Have Tweens. . .

you might consider getting these books! I love these little American Girl books. I started with The Care and Keeping of You when Morgan was around 8 or 9. This book talks about how to take care of your hair, face, nails, and more. It's a great little book that helps girls understand what to expect in the upcoming years. Then, I saw The Feelings Book today while working at the school book fair. I think this book is great too! It talks about different emotions such as anger, stresses, moods and thinking smart. It gives positive advice on how to handle these feelings with friends and different situations. I think these are great easy to read books that give me a little extra help in the girl department! :)

Classroom Party Idea

I don't know about you, but ever year I get suckered into being a room mom. Now that the holidays are coming, I am trying to be a little more prepared for the classroom parties. I found this darling idea and wanted to share it with you. Our class will be watching the "Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown". I thought it would be fun to put the kids popcorn in these cute little bags. I'll go a little crazy and in a little chocolate. Gotta have chocolate with your popcorn, right?

Pumpkin Treat Bags -Fill orange mini craft bags with candy. Twist the top of the bag up into a stem. Pull floral tape off roll and stretch it so it becomes sticky. Wrap floral tape around stem, starting at the top and moving downward. Rip off take, leaving 3 to 4 extra inches hanging on the bottom. Twist extra tape into tendril, wrapping it around finger until it curls.

Gettin Down and Dirty

Didn't know helping Toys for Tots would be so much fun! The annual Mud Run was this past Saturday and it was a blast! The McCaa's and I did the mixed team 10k run. A total of 8 people and we all stayed together to help each other over the obstacles. Here's Jamie, John and I running after doing a few water obstacles.







I couldn't understand why my girls wouldn't give me a kiss, I thought they loved me!

Here's Jake and I going over a big plastic tube.

Here's Tawine and I coming off a hill that drops into muddy water.

Jordan was on the Musick team but hubby got a picture of him!

This was a killer! I was proud of myself for going all the way across but I have paid a big price, bruised legs! My hubby took pictures but my camera gave out, so I don't have a group picture. If I get one soon I'll post it. It was so much fun gettin down and dirty. I'm definitely doing this again next year!

Camp Keeper Comes Home!

Here's Morgan with her friend McKenzie as they prepare for the trip to Camp Keep. They enjoyed great food, lots of hikes and fun campfires.

We all missed Morgan while she was gone, especially her two little sisters! We're glad she had such a great time and she's home where she belongs!

Don't Forget To. . .

check your credit card statements each month! Jake and I were wondering why our credit card had jumped so high in the matter of a few weeks. After checking our statements online we found over $500 worth of charges to our account. Luckily, we were able to close our account and have the fees waived. I really don't know how they got our account but the purchases were all online at some buy.com store. Kinda crazy so I thought I would give you all a heads up!

Endeavour's New Sports Commissioner

We now have a famous daughter! Morgan decided to run for office this year as Sports Commissioner. She did such an awesome job! Her friend Mckenzie was her campaign manager and they passed out tons of stickers. Morgan came up with her own speech and it was pretty cute. She talked about how she would be a great sports commissioner and help make P.E. more fun because her initials were MLB. Major League Baseball. This turned out to be a hit especially with the boys! :) Way to go Morgan!

A New Home. . .

Here is a picture of our new home! We are very excited and are looking forward to moving in. The girls are thrilled that we now officially have our own swimming pool! We are looking to move in around November. Just in time for the holidays!

I Know It's Gross. . .

BUT don't knock until you try it! I've been really sick this past week with all kinds of different stuff. It took me until Firday to realize the ear infection was the kicker and I needed to see a doctor. On Friday morning a friend of mine was telling me about this NeilMeds. Its a sinus rinse. I thought how weird and gross. After going to the doctor, I asked him about this rinse. He told me how he uses it all the time when he gets sick. I had no idea about this undiscovered wonder. He told me he recommends that I use it twice a day until I'm well. He even gave me a free sample. This stuff must really work and now I'm hearing more and more people talk about how great it is.I think this is just hilarious! Well I was to the point were I was so sick I was willing to give anything a try. So when I came home I did just that! All you do is simply fill the bottle with water and add a pH solution to it so it doesn't give you the burn! Then the fun part! You put it up to one nostril and squeeze! The water goes up on one side and and flushes all the junk out on the other nostril! I didn't get a good enough look but I all I could hear were the girls saying, "Oh mom that's gross" so it must of been bad! It worked and it worked rather well! So all of you out there who are battling the cold go ahead and give it a try, you just might like it!
ps. gotta love the add. . . it's as essential as brushing your teeth!

How Cute Are These!

I think any kid would love this! Especially if you turned it into a cookie sucker! I found this on a girls blog who loves to share. I thought I would share it with all of you too!


Pinwheel Cookies
3/4 cup butter, softened
3 ounces cream cheese
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon saltassorted colors of paste food coloring
24 lollipop sticks

DIRECTIONS
In a bowl cream butter, cream cheese and sugar until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; beat until smooth.
In a medium bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture. Stir till soft dough forms. Divide dough into fourths. Tint each with a different food color. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Working with half of each color, shape dough into 3/4 inch balls and for each cookie place 1 pink, 1 green, 1 blue and 1 orange ball together to make 1 large ball. Shape into a 12 inch long roll (like a snake), starting at one end, coil roll to make a 2 3/4 inch round cookie. Place cookies 3 inches apart on lightly greased baking sheet. Carefully insert lollipop sticks into bottoms of cookies.
Bake cookies for 8 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool and store in an airtight container

Here It Is. . . .

Our new home! Yes, I know your all sooooo jealous! Things have been rather crazy around here and I just can't seem to get myself to blog these days. Anyways, this is our LITTLE lovely home! It's small and its actually rather nice. Chores are a breeze and I don't have much to keep up on. That is one nice perk of living in an apartment! We still don't know about the home we put an offer on. Word from the wise, don't waste your time with a short sale, its ridiculous! We are still looking for that Beckstrand home and hope to find something soon. Wish us luck! (cause we really need it)

Happy 14th Anniversary

Where has the time gone? It seems like yesterday but yet forever ago that we were just newlyweds! I am so grateful for you in my life. I love and appreciate you for all your hard work to provide for our family so that I can stay at home. You have never failed me but always been there for me. You are just the man I needed and how grateful I am for you. Thank you for always believing in me. You are one in a million and your mine!

First Day Of School

The girls were so excited for their big day! So excited that breakfast was a piece of cake because no one was hungry! :) The girls came home in a great mood telling me how wonderful their teachers are! So for now. . . life is great!

These Girls Fight?

Yes, I am so done with the fighting around here! I'm mostly tired of yelling just so I can be heard. I decided to talk to the girls and get some feed back from them on what they would do if they were me. How would they handle the whole "consequences for my actions"deal. I was pretty excited with their answers. We shall see how long this will last and if it really works. If you have any other good options for me, let me know! Here's what they came up with. . . .
1. Whoever is fighting must go to the bathroom together. *The bathroom represents being too close together and being uncomfortable. 2. They must talk it out and say I'm sorry. 3. They can come out of the bathroom and play a game together. 4. They must give each other a nice compliment.

Grandpa's Treat To Pismo Beach!

We love going to the beach with all our family. Our trips usually consist of a eating, shopping and the ocean. Here we were eating at Garlands. It's good and greasy! I personally love their fried zucchini and onion rings!

Here we went to the beach to catch a few good waves! Morgan and Sydney were so much fun to catch waves with. They made me laugh quite a bit!

Madison did awesome at learning how to ride the waves. It was a blast to teach her.




Makelle picked up on it just as fast! It was so much fun watching them!

Even my daddy got in the ocean with me! We had a great time and we hope to do it again soon! Thanks dad!

We're Official!

We are finally official members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! We have been so excited about this special day!

We were baptized by our daddy. We think he's pretty special!

He confirmed us too with lots of help from family and friends!

We were so happy to have grandma and grandpa Beck come and share our special day with us!

We are so grateful for the support from all our friends and ward family. Where did that Aunai family go?

Here's our great big family and we love them so much! We are so thankful for all of them. Thank you all for making our special day the best day ever!