GOLD CANYON CANDLES!!

Different scents can remind us of a favorite time in our lives, a special person or place or just conjure up an old memory. We are all influenced by scents~they can calm your emotions, lift your spirits and bring peace to your soul during rough times in your life.

I LOVE how fragrances can trigger a memory. One of my FAVORITE memories from my childhood was when the orange trees were in bloom! The orange blossoms were heavenly. Now when I smell them it takes me right back to the orange groves in the Valley! I love to breathe them in and just let that sweet fragrance permeate through me!!! It doesn't matter where I am, when I smell them~that is right where it takes me, every time!!!

We ALL relive precious memories through different scents that remind us of the "good ol days"

It might be Cinnamon, Gingerbread or Evergreen at Christmas time. It could be Mulled Cider, Fireplaces burning in the crisp air, Apples or Pumpkin Pie in the Fall, it might be the sweet smell of Lilac bushes or Honey Suckle Vines in the Spring~or maybe its the memory of Fresh Cut Grass, Swimming Pools and Coconut Oil in the Summertime!

Well FINALLY I bit the bullet~and decided to sell Gold Canyon Candles after being a faithful customer for 12 years! I thought "Why am I not selling these? Something that I have loved for so many years?" So back in October I signed on to do just that, and I am having a blast!!! Those of you that have already had a catalog party earned TONS of FREE merchandise!! Anyone is welcome to do the same! Or just order what you want~I'm here and taking orders ANYTIME! Also anyone who is looking for a side job~this is perfect~its fun you can do it from your home and you earn 25% commission to start (not to mention all the FREE goodies on top of it)~

Be sure to check out all the AMAZING new scents that GCC has come out with for Spring and the new Summer catalog has just come out and has even more amazing fun scents offered as well! You will find that GCC has a scent for every memory you have!!

If you would like to have a catalog let me know and I will get one to you! If you have never tried Gold Canyon Candles~give them a try, you will not believe the quality that these candles have to offer!!!!

Surprise......

THIS IS A SURPRISE BIRTHDAY PARTY FOR

WENDY LOU MCCULLOUGH!!!

This is Francie, Wendy's friend for many years...Since 1990 to be exact!!

Silly girl gave me her password a few times to help out with some blog tweaking....little did she know I would use it against her to throw her this surprise birthday party!!! TAAA DAAAA

Gottcha!

As I said, Wendy has been my friend for many years. She and I first met when we lived across the street from one another and our little girls played together and my daughter came home and insisted that I come over to Kacie's house and see her new baby sister Madison!

That was the beginning of our friendship. We have been through alot together, ups and downs with marraige, children, Wards, Callings, neighbors, parents...anything....you name it we have shared it!

Wendy, you are the best friend a girl could ask for....the ONLY one that I can tell anything and EVERTHING too, the one I KNOW I can ALWAYS count on to keep a secret, share a smile, lift me up and push me forward! You are a women of true compassion and you show it in all you do. You inspire me and I love ya chickie!!!

I hope you have a wOnDeRfUl, fAnTaBuLoUs dAy!

love,

Francie

I invite your friends and family to leave a birthday wish to you in your comments....what would a Surprise Birthday Party be without friends and family to share it with!

HAPPY 90th BIRTHDAY PACA!!!!

These were the shirts that my Uncle Phil had made for all of us to wear at Paca's birthday party!

On the front was Paca in his college football picture at Occidental University in CA

on the back it said PACA 90 They were very cute, my kids haven't wanted to take theirs off! Tess even wore hers to school today for Show and Tell and told about the party and a little bit about Paca to her class~they loved it!

This past weekend we went down to the Valley to celebrate my Grampa's (Paca's) 90th birthday! We call him Paca ~because of me~I was the 1st grand child and couldn't say Grampa and the word Paca came out and so that is what I always called him and it stuck through all of the other grandkids/great grandkids and great great grandkids. Paca was the head football coach at Westwood High School for about 20 years, one year when the royalty for the sweetheart ball was chosen they labeled all of the girls "Paca's Sweethearts"~Paca has just become his name!

Anyway... all of my Aunts, Uncles and cousins that we haven't seen for awhile all came to my cousin Brianne's house (thank you Brianne and Casey!) We had so much fun visiting, the time went way to fast!

Paca is AMAZING! He is in incredible shape and doesn't really age~his health is in tip top shape and he just keeps on going!! He works out everyday in one way or another! He announced that we will all be coming to his 100th bday in 10 years~and I don't doubt that at all!! Go Paca Go!!!

Doesn't he look GREAT for 90????? You should see him in a speedo! My cousin Sara had everyone send in pictures of Paca and she made a DVD out of them~it turned out so cute! There are many speedo pictures on the DVD~you wouldn't believe how good he looks unless you could see for yourself!


Some of my family hanging out around the Guacamole bowl! Paca also coached Danny White in High School and they have stayed in touch having lunch etc. over the years. One of Paca's friends arranged for Danny to sign a football and photo of him playing for the Dallas Cowboys for his birthday. Danny wrote "Thanks for starting me off on the right foot"~Chandlar is holding the football and you can kind of see the framed photo on the table!



Cooper and Chandlar




I LOVE this picture~Tess just went up and hugged Paca and told him Happy Birthday! I think its so sweet!

Me and Pac

My Brother Jason and his wife Krissy

The barbershop quartet that came and sang to Paca~they were REALLY good!






The Birthday Boy!! Isn't he cute?

We took pictures of each family and then one big group shot!~the Group shot is on my sisters camera and I will post that one as soon as I get it from her. This is of just OUR extended family

This is my Aunt Nancy and Uncle Rue's family

This is my Uncle Phil and Aunt Brenda's family

Aunt Wendy and Uncle Ron's family

After Paca blew out his candles he put his arm around me and asked everyone if they remembered where the name Paca came from~then he told the story, and gave me a kiss! I love you Paca thanks for ALL the fun memories over the years!! You were and still are a HUGE part of my life!

Let em eat cake! This is my niece Chloe, Tess and my niece Piper







Jaxon met Calvin, my cousin Sara's little boy and they were fast friends and had a lot of fun together~Jaxon is still talking about Calvin!

At the end of the night everyone was starting to wind down!

Madison Curtis and Paca


We love you Paca and CAN'T WAIT for the next party!!!

oops I Forgot...

Curtis & Jaxon went down to the High School to decorate Madison's car~and Kacie took Madison the balloons to walk around with all day!~I think she had a pretty good birthday!

The little guy drawn in the back window is courtesy of Jaxon!!!

Happy Birthday Madison!! (Feb 5th)

Madison had her BIG 18th birthday last Thursday! I can't believe she is 18 (the years really do fly by!) We had lots of fun (even though it landed during the week and we had tons of school projects to work on)~We are so proud of Madison and how hard she is working toward her degree during High School. Madison has decided she wants to be an elementary school teacher. In May when she graduates she will start at NAU as a Junior and she will only have 2 years left to reach her goal!! Way to go Madi! WOO HOO!

This picture was taken right before this happened...

Gracie thought she better dive in if she stood any chance of getting a bite of cake!!! It was hilarious!!! But what was even funnier was that...

Tatum was told that she had to eat 5 bites of her rice BEFORE she could have any cake~well we all stood on our heads to help her eat her 5 bites. As soon as Gracie grabbed her BIG piece of cake Tatum stated screaming~she was saying "Gracie ate all the cake, Gracie ate all the cake!" She was thinking Man I ate my 5 bites and now my sister ate all the cake and I don't get any!

It was pretty funny!

My Best Present Ever!

I forgot to post this cute little story about Tess. During the last few weeks of school before Christmas break Tess was able to make a stocking for herself or someone else~she chose me. In order to decorate her stocking she had to read a book and then take the test on it and pass it. Each time she earned another ornament for it she would be able to go glue it on her stocking. She was soooo proud of her work of art as it took her quite sometime to finish it! I knew she was working hard on something at school but didn't know what it was~when she gave it to me I LOVED it and realizing all the work that went into it made me love it even more especially that she did it all for me!! Isn't it so cute??

Simplicity at its Best!!!!

WOO HOO!!!!OK if any of you are as over whelmed with food storage as I am you have to check out this system!!! Our LONG time family friend Wendy Dewitt gives classes on how she does her food storage system and it is AMAZING!!! She makes it so simple~and it all makes so much sense!~FINALLY a way that will work for me!!! Check out her video below to see how she does it!! Get ready to REALLY catch the bug!!! PS there are 9 parts to the system so after you view the video on the post click on 2-9 at the bottom of the video!

Lock Down At Snowflake High!!!

Click HERE for one of the newsclips!

In this picture above~you can just barely see our old house in the upper right hand corner (actually our old picket fence)~that is how close we lived to the HS!

Yes you heard me we had ANOTHER lock down yesterday!! This has happened twice since we have lived here 11 or so years now! and this is Snowflake~this kind of thing doesn't happen here!

So weird!!!

The first time was the day of Kacie's baby shower and we had to be in the Valley by 7pm well the kids weren't released until around 5pm so we ended up being an hour late to her own shower!!

That lock down didn't have anything to do with a student with a gun it was someone on the outside that they knew to be walking around NEAR the school with a weapon who was traveling through the town and this incident just happened to take place here after he wrecked his car into a wall!

And yesterday, apparently a girl saw a student with a gun tucked in his belt. She ran and told the resource officer, and that is when the police were called. This all started at around noon. Madison was in Seminary and Chandlar was in his weights class. Madison had her phone so she and I could stay in touch, Chandlar on the other hand didn't have his cell phone, so needless to say I was frantic for a few hours until he was able to borrow someones phone to call me (they were stuck in the weights room dressed out with no backpacks IE cell phones).

At one point there was an announcement to have all the students stay at their desks and to stay away from the doors and windows. Then the Swat Team came to each classroom and searched in all the cabinets and under desks etc. with a HUGE gun (as Madison described)~ then one class at a time was escorted by policemen to the auditorium until all of the students were there together. They stayed there watching "Kung Fu Panda" until all of the kids were questioned and backpacks were searched. They were finally released to go around 5 ish.

The Seminary Students stayed in the Seminary Building. Madison was all bent out of shape because the other kids got to watch a a fun movie and all they had was "Work and The Glory"!!

I said no worries Madison if anything happens it'll be you guys that are translated!!

The Seminary Students were finally released out the back door one at a time to their parents!

The school was blocked off for 3 blocks around it! They had called in all police and fire departments from here, Show Low, Holbrook and then the Swat Team, DPS and The National Guard were here also.

When it was time to go pick up Tess who's school is right across the street from the High School, they made all of the parents park down a side street and the kids had either a fireman or police escort to their parents.

This was all a very scary situation that could have been a very tragic one! As far as we have heard and in the letter the HS sent home to parents no one was ever arrested and no gun was found. We feel very comforted that the school erred on the side of caution and that their first priority were the kids! One never knows when something like this could be a very serious situation and we feel safe knowing that there are certain protocols in place so the students are protected!! I was just very happy to have all of my kids home safe last night and hope that this NEVER happens again!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009!!!

Those that made it!!

Those that didn't!

.....( and Jax tried soooo hard to stay awake too!)
Chandlar had worked with Curtis the night before and was way too tired to even try and stay awake!

Cooper had turn 14 a couple weeks ago and was FINALLY old enough to go to the Stake Dance this year~Tess tried to give him lessons before he left! ~He was thrilled as you can see!

Madison wanted to stay home but willingly went with Cooper!

Cooper so Excited to go shake his groove thing!

Christmas at Papa and Mimi's

Cousins
kids

Cousin attack on Chandlar!!!