My brother Derek owns a Martial Arts studio here in the Antelope Valley. He was recently interviewed and photographed by a reporter for our local paper, and we were pleasantly surprised to see that he made the front page! He has worked really hard to make his business successful and we are so proud of him and glad that he is being recognized. Check out Derek's blog for his business, Shendenkan Dojo. It's the best place to go here in the Antelope Valley for martial arts, women's self-defense, learning Japanese or calligraphy, or sword training.

Our awesome friend and amazing photographer Angela Meyers took pictures of us kids to surprise our parents for Christmas. We LOVE how they turned out, and I hope you do too!

We consider it successful when we can make our parents cry on Christmas morning {tears of joy, that is!}. We were very successful this Christmas! :)

Here are some of my favorites -









Having a real photographer is so worth the money! I saw the raw images, and they were good, but then after she edited them, I fell in love!

You can see ALL the pictures here on Facebook.

I know money is tight everywhere, but I don't know anyone who can't sacrifice $10 to help aid those in Haiti right now whose lives have been shattered in the earthquake. I know if I were there, I would be on my knees begging God, praying for help from people like you me. We are all so blessed people!!! We can't sit here and allow those people to suffer without offering the slightest bit of help. Right now is the time to help.

Read this article.

Really, just take the 5 minutes and read it please.

Did you read the part that states there could be as many as 100,000 dead? Or maybe even up to 500,000 dead?? Or more???? I can't even imagine the heartache involved in such a disaster.

For those interested in helping immediately (YOU AND ME!),simply text "HAITI" to "90999" and a donation of $10 will be given automatically to the Red Cross to help with relief efforts, charged to your cell phone bill (I checked it out and it's 100% legit, set up by the mGive Foundation. Every penny of that $10 goes straight to the Red Cross). Once you text, they will text you back asking to confirm. Reply "YES". They will send you 2 more texts and you just reply "STOP" to never hear from them again. Simple as can be.

Or you can go online to organizations like the Red Cross and Mercy Corps to make a contribution to the disaster relief efforts.

Here is our First Annual Family Newsletter...hopefully it will get more interesting throughout the years with new jobs, new locales, and new members of the family! I mailed out a ton of these, to as many addresses as I had, so if you are reading this and didn't get one (and if you want one next year) make sure I have your address! :) Also, I just LOVE getting these newsletters, so make sure I am on your mailing list too!

Huge thank you to Don Atherton and Angela Meyers...without their photography our newsletter would have been pretty blah! You guys are the BEST!

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas, and take a step back from the craziness to ponder the real meaning - celebrating the life of our Savior Jesus Christ. The only gift he wants from us is for us to serve our neighbors. This season let the spirit of Christ enter your heart as you serve your family, friends, neighbors, and fellow man in any way that you can. Hopefully it will become a habit for us to continue on into the next year!

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Cody & I are at baby-sitting for some friends tonight. My friend Heather's husband {Richard} whisked her away for a night for their anniversary. It was very cool. He had pre-arranged for us to be there when she got back from picking up the kids, totally surprising her. I gave her the video camera, which had a clue that started her on a scavenger hunt that eventually led her to Santa Clarita for a night away. What a great guy!

So far we've had lots of fun. Richard left us money for happy meals at McDonald's, and with the loan of our friend's van (Thanks Jennie!) we were on our way to get tired out at the Playplace! :)

The closest McDonald's to our house is in a shady area (also, the area where I grew up :), so I was a bit wary to go there, but when I walked in, I was amazed! It was gorgeous! The classiest McDonald's I've ever seen! It's like we were in a different city!

But then you looked outside at the cops bustin' someone and realized that you were still in East Palmdale. :)
The kids had a great time. Before we went, the oldest, Tyler, was so excited to play in the Playplace. He said his parenst never let them because it was full of germs (I concur Heather, I made them wash their hands right after). I told him it was a special treat because his parents were out of town. Tyler than said it was going to be great because there are always other kids there and he would make a friend! Awww! They did make quite a few friends and had a great time.
Afterwards we dropped by In 'n' Out to say 'hi' to Cody and get some shakes and hats! Thanks Cody!
We headed back home for a PJ party while watching Monsters vs. Aliens. I totally thought they would fall asleep during the movie, but they were way into it. But when they went to bed their heads were only on their pillows for a few minutes before sleep came. They were all tuckered out...exactly as planned! ;)
I can't wait for our adventures tomorrow!

Um, I don't mean to offend you, but your blog needs a makeover.

ha ha! I kid, I kid. But if you're like me and like to change your blog as often as you change your clothes (ok...maybe a smidge less), check out my latest post on heathermade. I can help you design your blog or you can pick up tips on how to do it yourself.

Happy blogging!

Our good friends the Savages gave us a gift card to Buffalo Wild Wings for baby-sitting for them (Thanks guys!), so we used it on Tuesday, fifty cent wing night. If I would have known that Thursdays are sixty cent BONELESS wing nights, I would have gone tonight. But I digress.

I love the food there. I have been twice and both times have gotten the salad with chopped up medium wings on it...delish! Cody likes the popcorn shrimp & ribs. We also got some wings of course, and Cody decided to try the hottest, the Blazin' ones. He was seeing if he would be able to attempt their challenge - if you eat 12 of them in 2 minutes with no water, you get a shirt and your picture on the wall (If you eat them under 6 minutes, still get the photo but no shirt). Here is a photo journal of the results - (click on it to see it larger)
Needless to say, I don't think he is going to attempt the challenge anytime soon. He will really need to train. Those suckers are HOT! I only tried a nibble and I wanted to shout expletives! He could only eat 4 of the 6 we ordered. The other two are in our fridge, waiting in case we want to disguise them into someone's food and really put them in the hospital. :)

Ok...not really. But I did get a message on Facebook from my friend Felix that he saw me in USA Today on Thursday. As you can imagine, I was quite confused. Luckily my dad gets USA Today and we were able to see "me" on the cover!


ha ha! I don't look like her as much in the other picture, but that one on the cover sure is similar!

We showed it to my nephew Tai (who is 2) and asked him who it was. Sure enough, he said, "Aunt Heather." :)

I'm not an ice skater, but I am going rollerblading tonight. I don't think they have that in the Olympics yet. Oh well...I have enjoyed my 15 seconds of fame.

My friend Emily had a fun party at her house tonight! We carved pumpkins and her sister Wendy painted the kids faces and we made caramel apples and just had a fun time!

I haven't carved a pumpkin in a long time, and this was the most fun I've ever had doing it, thanks to Cody...he is so good at these kind of things!

I am so happy Fall is finally here! Now if the weather would just cooperate...high 80's today! What the heck?

To see all the pics check them out on Facebook

I just LOVE anything with pumpkin flavor...cheesecake, ice cream, muffins, bread, cookies, etc... This is my favorite time of year because there are pumpkin flavored goodies EVERYWHERE! There is a grocery store in Utah, Macey's, that makes my favorite pumpkin chocolate cookies...I have to stop there anytime I'm close and get some. I know I could just bake some, but I hate baking! So when I saw this recipe for pumpkin chocolate chip cookies with just THREE ingredients, I knew this was the recipe for me!