SeRiOuSlY...

Could he be any cuter? This picture of my sweet nephew, Danzer, just makes me smile. I get to see him today! Wooo Hoooo!!

FiVe ThInGs...

FiVe ThInGs (you may or may not know!)

10 years ago I was:

1. In college, studying to become a CPA.
2. Dating my future husband, Tanner.
3. Buying my first new car…a white 1998 Honda Civic (which our old neighbors in Layton still own – Tanner finally convinced me that it was too small for him (poor guy had to tilt his head to sit in it!)).
4. Living in College Ave. apartments in Cedar City (for any SUU alum, you can pity me now!). The only thing that made it bearable was cute Tanner only lived a few doors away.
5. Pretty carefree and without much responsibility.

5 things on today’s “to-do list”:

1. Volunteer at Lauren’s school
2. Pick up Lauren, Lance, Paityn and Ally from school
3. Grocery shop…there’s no milk or bread to be found in this house
4. Plan FHE
5. Laundry (does it ever end?!?)

5 snacks I enjoy:

1. Diet Coke (this counts, right?!)
2. Fruit
3. Chips and Salsa
4. Chocolate
5. Kettle Corn

5 places I have lived:

Ferron
St. George
Cedar City
Las Vegas
Syracuse

5 jobs I have had:

1. Checker, pizza maker, meat cutter, produce displayer, cart attendant (you name it…I probably did it) at Ferron Merc & Drug.
2. Auditor at Arthur Andersen (yes, Enron’s evil accounting firm).
3. Auditor at KPMG.
4. Manager/Shareholder at James & Co.
5. Stay-at-home Mom to my three princesses (my most recent and rewarding job yet!).

5 pet peeves:

1. Yucky smells
2. Having a dirty house
3. Terrible customer service (which includes long lines and when the store is out of the sale items you went for)
4. Pushy salesmen
5. Brussel sprouts (who thought those things up, anyway…ewwww!)

5 things that bring me joy:

1. My family. I couldn’t be more blessed. Seriously, I have the best husband in the whole world. I adore him. And, together, we’ve welcomed three amazing children into our family. Family is everything to me. I have an indescribably fabulous sister, mom and dad. Love ‘em to pieces.

2. My church. My belief in an afterlife, eternal families, a kind and aware Heavenly Father and a loving Savior give me purpose and direction. Knowing where I came from and where I’m going gives me great peace and joy.

3. Recreation. I love camping, riding 4-wheelers and boating. I’ve been able to see some of the most beautiful country in the world on a 4-wheeler and a J-Rig. Tanner introduced me to river-rafting in the Grand Canyon…a must-see and must-do in this lifetime. There is magnificent beauty all around us. Oh, and a good workout on the elliptical. That’s some seriously-good, joy-creating recreation!

4. Home. I’m a home-body…what can I say. My home is a sanctuary – it’s a place of peace and rest for me. I love to be at home with family and friends (as long as it’s nice and shiny and clean and tidy!!).

5. Friends. I feel so blessed to live among such warm and loving people. I have friends who would do anything for me. I miss my family a lot and living away from them has been hard. But, I have the sweetest friends who have become my family away from home.

I tag any of my fellow bloggers that would love to share...

My tOoThLeSs Princess

Lauren has been dreaming of losing a tooth for oh-so-long now. As soon as her friends starting losing teeth, it seemed like that was all she could talk about. Well, her dream is officially a reality and she's been so excited about it! Who would have thought?!?!?

Ok, settle down and let me explain. Yes, that is a Leatherman. Yes, that was the tool that I used to remove her tooth. But, there is a good explanation. Hang tight here. Tanner and I were looking in her mouth a few nights ago and noticed two new teeth - one was cut through and in a very wrong spot, pointing in a very wrong direction. I guess her "big-girl teeth" decided they were coming in, whether or not the little teeth left. So, they made themselves at home way behind her little teeth (and angled towards her tongue...what a mess!). Since we don't have dental insurance on the girls, I took it upon myself to pull her tooth. So, it was done for the good of Lauren's teeth. No intentional torture going on here!! There is still one more that needs to come out...but we'll save that fun for another day!

And then there was Pai Pai. In all the hype of Lauren's teeth, she thought her teeth needed some attention too!! So, just for grins, here's a picture of Pai's baby sparklers!!

Happy Birthday Nana!

Last Saturday we celebrated Nana's birthday. We met her and Papa for a yummy dinner at one of Nana's favorite spots, Little America. And, we gifted her with, of course, those silly (but oh-so-good!) Twilight books. We certainly hope she enjoys them! Happy birthday, Nana! Thanks for sharing your birthday with us. We love you!!

I'm ESME

I saw this on Melissa's blog and had to give it a try. I love these silly books!


Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

You are thoughtful and care very deeply for your family. A loving home is of great importance to you and you always try to make people feel welcome. Although you have a great capacity to love, you also have a great capacity to hurt, so at times you can be sensitive. You're firm when you need to be, but people trust your judgment and appreciate the kind way you always handle things.

ScRaPpY Owl Treat Bags

How cute are these trick-or-treat bags? The reusable Scrappy Owl Treat Bags have a lot of heart and can be used year after year. They beat those plastic pumpkin buckets, hands down!

These bags were created by Ellen of The Long Thread. There is a great tutorial here for those of us who need ample instructions (and pictures!) for these little sewing projects.

The HoNeY-dO List

I have a confession to make. I'm a habitual list-maker. Sometimes I make lists for myself and sometimes I make honey-do lists for Tanner. I get so much satisfaction from crossing off items on my to-do list. And, honestly, I've been known to add items to my to-do list that are either done or very close to done - just to immediately cross them off and get that oh-so-good sense of accomplishment. Crazy, I know. Even insane, maybe.

So, I found it very amusing when I came home late last night from a Young Women's meeting and found this list on the kitchen counter. While I was gone, Lauren was at dance and Tanner was home with Paityn and Raegan. Evidently, Lauren had made a to-do list for her dad before she left (since Lauren and I (aka Mother Hens) were going to be gone). This list gave Tanner a clear idea of what needed to be done in our absence. The most important things...brush the girlies' teeth.

Stuff like this just makes me smile. It really should scare me because I've created a monster (or, rather, Kristin II). Lauren and I are so much alike - whether it's to-do lists or anything else. I love and adore that girl, monster or not!

We Believe...

We had the rare opportunity of attending General Conference on Saturday afternoon. It was a first for me and was such a fabulous experience. Thanks to our friends, Mike and Mallory, for sharing their tickets with us. Mallory is a recent convert to the church and we wish her the best in her new journey!

Tanner and I

Tanner, Mallory and Mike

Mike and Mallory really spoiled us. Not only did they share their conference tickets with us, but they treated us to a scrumptious dinner at Macaroni Grill after conference! Thanks for your generosity!!

Lollipop Cookies

In my quest for out-of-the-ordinary cookies for my sweet Beehives, I came up with this fun idea. Granted, I made several batches of different sized cookies with varying sized sticks and wrappers before I perfected (or so I think!) the concept. In the end, these were my faves!


I used a super-easy cookie recipe from "The Cake Mix Doctor" by Anne Byrn. Here goes...

1 package yellow or white cake mix
1 cup flour
1 stick butter, melted
1/4 cup honey
2 eggs
colored sprinkles (optional)
wooden craft or lollipop sticks (optional)
lollipop wrappers (optional)

Preheat the oven to 375. Place the cake mix, flour, melted butter, honey and eggs in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low for 1 minute. Stir and beat on low for 1 more minute. With lightly floured hands, shape dough into balls. Pour sprinkles in a bowl and roll the dough balls in the sprinkles. Place the balls 2 inches apart on a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 8 to 12 minutes. After removing the pan from the oven, immediately inset wooden stick halfway into the side of each cookie. Let the cookies rest on the cookie sheet for a few minutes, then remove with a spatula to a wire rack to cool completely. After the cookies cooled, I put a lollipop wrapper over the top of each cookie and tied them with curling ribbon. So fun and easy!!

Whoa! I'm HoNoReD!

I'm blushing right now! I feel so unworthy!! Thanks so much to 3 Ma'am's and Their Guy for this award. You're too nice. This oh-so-fun blog belongs to my sweet friend Melissa. We just adore her cute family and her blog is an inspiration to me! Love her guts!

Now it's my turn to send this lovely award to some of you:

(1) Kelly at Another Beautiful Day in Blingy-Ville. I've always said that Paityn gets her bigger-than-this-world personality from her favorite Aunt Kelly. Kelly's blog keeps water shooting out of my nose. When I need a pick-me-up, a visit to Kelly's blog is a sure-fix! Since giving birth to her cute new baby, the posts have been a little slow, but I'm looking forward to some serious blogging action soon...HINT, HINT!

(2) Aimee at A Girl, Her Guy and Two Cute Kids. So, honestly, I don't know Aimee very well (although we grew up in the same rural vicinity). Anyway, I went to school with her husband, Jake, and know him much better. Admittedly, he was my jr. high crush. Now, tell me that isn't cheesy!! The moral of the story here - her blog is fabulous. She takes amazing pictures and has a way with words. Her latest post about broccoli made me laugh. Need a giggle fix? Check out Aimee's blog!

Paityn Rylee Cornell

Paityn has been tagged by her friend (and fellow joy-schooler) Madyson! So, here's 5 things about Paityn that you may not know:

(1) She loves to perform. Whether it's dancing, singing, or playing the guitar at Ya Ya's house, Paityn will entertain us for hours.

(2) Paityn's imagination is enormous! She loves to play and pretend she's a waitress (where she's always happy to serve me a big Diet Coke!) or a cashier (where I can only purchase the goods that are "on sale" - I'd like to say that I have no idea where she's learned that from!).

(3) Paityn's heart is enormous as well. She doesn't care for mean people or characters. In fact, she's pretty particular about which cartoons or movies she'll watch. If there is a wicked witch, evil stepmother or other scary character, Paityn doesn't want much to do with it!

(4) She takes after her Aunt Kelly. Paityn loves to do hair and when she grows up, she want to be a Hair Stylish...not a stylist, but a stylish! She also wants to be a fire engine (not fighter!), princess teacher and doctor.

(5) She is a girl through and through. Pai loves to wear dresses and can be found sporting a dress any day of the week. Her pants and shorts get very little use.

There is just never a dull moment when Paityn is around. She keeps this family laughing and entertained. We love you, Pai Pai!