HO HO HO!

**Attention** Subject matter of this post is NOT for Children, but pictures are viewable by anyone!!** (Some of us still believe in Santa after all!)

We have friends who own a Santa suit and asked us to do a switcharoo with them on playing Santa and coming to their house. So Cortney dressed up and went to their house last week, and then they dressed up and came to ours last night! It was AWESOME!

So we had Cort's sister whose in town from AZ and a sister who lives local come over with their kids (although a few couldn't make it)...and magically after they were at our house for 5 minutes, the doorbell rings and everyone is wondering who it is! When I open it, Kyler and Brayden were standing right by me and were so shocked to see Santa standing at our door.

It was priceless. Meanwhile, little cousin Ashlyn looked half terrified/half shocked/half excited yet not really excited to see Santa. Again, priceless.

So all the kids took turns sitting on Santa's lap, except Ashlyn who talked to him from afar through her mother, and accepted a candy cane from him ;)

To my surprise, Keaton was not afraid of Santa at all! He loved him!

Ashlyn with her mom...

Cousin Kallin who really warmed up to Santa and was laughing with him!

My three boys! Although Keaton wouldn't look up for a picture because he was so excited to get a candy cane!!

It was an awesome, amazing experience that was more special than I could have imagined!

We are so excited for Christmas tomorrow!! Merry Christmas everyone!

I'm In LOVE

There are many things this holiday season that has brought me cheer. Mostly, it's family and friends, our health and all the many wonderful things we are blessed with.

But I must also give a shout out to a few fun new things I have recently been blessed with:

Here in Utah, these headbands are all the rage- they are warm and fashionable! I'm in Love!

And this one I wear like every other day (and you can too at whitecauldron.blogspot.com)

This FABULOUS purse! I have never owned such a stylish, fun and well made purse before! I got this for hosting a party (again, whitecaulron.blogspot.com)..Host a party OR just buy one!!

This fabulous accessory to go with the purse (I know, you know where to go by now, but I must tell you how much I love my friend's stuff!! (www.whitecauldron.blogspot.com)

My wallet has never been so organized or thin...EVER!

This fabulous wreath! Can you believe my little sis made this?!?! She saw it on some do it yourself blog, read how to, and when we were in AZ, we sat down to make these bad boys and a kagillion things came up, so she ended up making three of these! One for me, one for her, and one for my other sis. Can you believe? i LOVE it!

And how can I not put in this adorable little babe of mine! I love winter hats on boys! My cutie pie is growing up so fast!

As the song says "These are a few of my favorite things"...

I.Love.Dreams

My hubs and I LOVE the show Castle. It's witty and funny and interesting...anyhow, the lead "detectives" in the tv show are Castle (who's actually a novelist following the detective for a book he's writing, but is actually really good at helping her solve cases), and Beckett, who is the leading lady and detective. Anyhoo....

So last night I had a dream that Cortney and I were really good friends with them and that we were following them around on their cases and helping out. (So weird, I know). So Castle is trying to help a girl escape from a place where she works but is actually secretly abusing her/threatening her. So I actually see Castle push what I thought was a person down to their death. I went right to Beckett and told her, and she and I went to investigate. It was very Mission Impossible/James Bond/every detective show you watch-ish. It was awesome. I didn't have a gun, but boy was I SO COOL! Anyhow, after some secret detective exploring done on my part, and Beckett seeing Castle actually rescuing this girl, the case is all put together, the bad guys are caught and Castle DID NOT push someone to their death after-all. It was very weird, very cool and very funny all at the same time.

I love dreaming. I dream pretty much every night, mostly really weird ones. All very vivid and real. Sometimes while I am dreaming I can figure out that I am dreaming and change my dreams around a little. It's pretty cool.

So there you go.

WHOA Peoples!

So friends, family, everyone...I am currently offering a stinkin' killer deal with my business.

I have learned from doing my second boutique and shopping around that #1, my prices are too low (I know, I am sorry to have to raise them but the cost of fabric has gone up AND everyone else sells covered wipey cases WITHOUT a pouch for $15-18...), So I am raising my prices from $15 to $18-$20 depending on the case...SORRY....But its still so worth it, I promise! ;)
And #2, House Parties are the way to go. They are smaller, but free (no paying for a booth/spot), AND you get people coming for exactly your product and/or to check it out, not checking out a thousand other products from other vendors as well.

So Boutiques are great, but I do better with house parties.

SOOOOOOO Book your party now! When you host a party at your house, you get a wipey case for FREE. That's right folks, FREE. So tell your friends and family, especially pregnant ones all about how fun and fabulous my covered wipey cases are- and how convenient it is to have diapers and wipes together in one grab. I can't tell you how many people have told me that now that they have their wipey clutch, they can never go back to searching through their purse for diapers and a wipes case. They are fab.

Oh and did I mention the fun new fabrics and designs I currently have? I have several new and wonderful designs that I will have posted on my site soon...but let me tempt you by telling you about them now because they are so incredible! Cant...wait....to....show.....YOU!

Anyhow, thats enough from me. Book your party, get your wipey clutch, have some fun, girls night out.

Check me out...

http://www.lizzyluu.vpweb.com/

Run, Run as fast as you can

Soooo...my sister has talked me into doing a half-marathon with her over my b-day weekend (end of January) in Arizona. I have never really been a runner. I love aerobics, kick boxing, that kind-a stuff. So I am totally not prepared. But she made me a training schedule, and I committed. And I have started running.

So I ran 4 miles today. 4 MILES! ME! It was awesome. So I am publically announcing this so I cannot back down. So there you go.

Family Pics- Sneak Peek

My little sis, who is a part time photographer for a hobby, took family pics of us while we were in AZ. This is a little sneak peek because she has only sent me a few! But so far, I love them! So fun and cute...so here's your little taste...


Thanks again Sis!

Okay, I am very vain...so I feel I look HUMONGOUS in this picture, but I am still posting it anyway cause its so darn cute...I know, I know, its just a picture...but I am so vain sometimes...

Arizona, Part 4, Almost Home

Okay, so I must admit I was really nervous about the drive home by myself with the 3 boys. The trip there, with Cortney, was broken up in half so we could make it easier on the kids. We stayed the night in Vegas. Both to Vegas, then to AZ the kids were TERRIBLE. Pretty much the entire time! So I did not know how we were going to be able to make it.

But somehow, we made it! ALL 3 boys ended up taking naps in the car at the SAME TIME! And they were for almost 3 hours long! How does that happen?!! It was amazing.

And with the help of some sour skittles to keep me in check and alert, a lot of junk food and stops for the potty and 11 hours later we were home. What a great trip!

Arizona, Part 3, NEW MOON

So my little sister is AMAZING at pretty much everything she does. She spent over an hour on my toes one night perfecting them! They look sooo adorable. I love them!

This, if course, was in preparating for an amazing movie...
So what movie could I possibly be talking about?! NEW MOON. Now, seriously ladies and gents, this movie was so good. I liked Twilight, but mainly because I love the books, not because the movie was that great. There was so much missing and lacking...and New Moon more than made up for it! It was seriously just like the book...and sooooooooooooo good. I am definetly an Edward woman, but Jacob surely does his part of almost winning me over in the movie. Okay, not really because I love Edward too much. Anyhow, here we are waiting in line!

This one IS a little different...I just had to post it too cause I love pics with my sisters!

My little sis kissing a cup with Edward on it! Gotta love it!

I can't wait to see it again and again and again!

Arizona, Part 2, Spending Time

So I spent some time with my Dad and brother Dave...

And lots of time with my sisters...

And my mom before she left on her honeymoon...

Gotta love Grandma!

Arizona, Part 1, The Wedding

My Mother got married on the 14th. WE, as in my sisters, sister in law and I, did EVERYTHING! We did get some help from others, but we still did pretty much everything. So here are some of the beautiful/creative decorations...

All of us sista's with mom after the ceremony...

Brayden really wanted a picture with me...

Tom, the groom and my new step Dad was one of the ONLY people Keaton will go to. Which is really funny cause he just met him the day before...and he won't really even go to Cortney...

Me and my sis Bekah...

The Happy Couple during the Wedding Dance...;)

I must say, this was an awesome amazing event,. but I am SOOOO glad its over. We are exhuasted! ;)

New Moon

NEW MOON NEW MOON NEW MOON NEW MOON NEW MOON. I'm in AZ having an amazing time...Lots of pictures to come. NEW MOON. SIGH.

PARTY TIME!

Okay, so I am in Arizona having a B-L-A-S-T! But while I am here, I had this little thought about a party I am having in a few weeks and thought...I really need to let people start planning their Christmas Shopping now...which brings me again, to MY PARTY!

Check it... www.whitecauldron.blogspot.com

Pick out some great stuff, come to my party December 1st @ 7:00PM at my house and BUY some great stuff for yourself or your friends...or your family, or BOTH!

There are purses, hats, hair accessories, jewlery, clothing...and even more than whats on the website.

And all the things on the website are things in stock so you can take it home with YOU! YAY for Parties!

So mark your calendars, plan your budget, cuddle up to your husband in preparation for it and COME!

Can't wait to see you there!

First Fat Lip

Sweet Keaton. He has fallen down stairs without crying, he has fallen down from the bed, been rough-housed plenty of times by his brothers...and he is one tough cookie.

Well, this is his first visible boo-boo. I mean, sure, he has had a few little bruises here and there, but those don't count because those are normal for Boys!!

So he fell in the kitchen this morning while he was crawling around and banged just the right way to get a fat lip. And he is so cute!! I can't stand how cute his little fat lip actually is...but he wouldn't hold still to get good pictures, so this was the best I could do:

I know, not that bad...but so seriously cute my little man! And he looks bald from this angle cause we just gave him a grown up boy haircut. ;)

14 days

Until New Moon comes out...

13 Days until I get to see it with my sisters.

SIGH

Much better

So I've been trying to think of a creative cheap decotative item for Kyler and Brayden's room. They have a lot of wall space to fill. Well one day on Studio 5, I saw Teresa Collins (www.teresacollinsdesigns.com) showing this project...and fell in love with it!! So this was my first time using Mod Podge and I LOVE IT!! I can't wait to use it again for something- it's fabulous and sooooo easy!!

So I got a bunch of different sports scrapbooking paper, including some BYU/Cougar paper...4 canvas's to work with (and I must say I invisioned thicker canvas, but it was just so darn expensive). And some cute ribbon to tie to the top and hang like a picture! Then it was just a matter of creatively arranging the papers together. And voila!

See, especially with the bedding on Brayden's bed, this just looks so cute!

I did 4 total, but had trouble downloading one of the pictures, so this is all you get folks! ;) now go mod podge something!!

The Latest and Greatest

Okay, so this post is specifically for those who want to see first hand in detail the breakdown of my latest GrocerySmarts shopping trip. I am breaking this down bit by bit so you can understand how easy it is and how You can DO IT TOO!!

First and foremost, read this entire post not just looking at the pictures if you really want to know. I DO NOT like buying junkfood, lots of processed foods, etc. Those are not the only things that go on sale...and the more experienced coupon shopper you are, the more you find!!

So here is it: Picture 1, My entire purchase at Smiths this week...Total spent $89.18. Total SAVINGS $93.48, with a savings of 52%. You must know, that is NOT huge as far as savings goes...so let me go on to the next picture and explain...But first, in this pic, 10 gatorades (at .49 cents each), 5 cans evaporated milk (Name brand) at .25 cents a can), V8 juice, del monte tomatoes, 2 pkg double rolls Quilted Northern TP (at less than $4 a pack)...just to name a few...
These items were NOT sale items/couponed items, but items we needed. This is where the lack of savings comes in. If I had strictly bought the items I had the coupons for, I would have had a greater percentage in savings...but I needed a few more things... As I get more experienced, I will have a lot of these things stocked that I was able to get with a coupon...And I never buy bottled water here in Utah...the water here is fabulous!! This was just for a party. So what I spent here was around $35 just for these items! it's because I did not have coupons and needed to get them now without waiting...anyways...

And finally, these items are items I normally would never really buy...So I know, as you see these things, you might think "but I never buy those, why do I need to worry about coupons for things I never buy"...so thats where I step in and tell you that sure, there will from time to time be a bunch of things that you don't normally buy. Either don't buy them, or take advantage of a killer deal (example .25 cents per package of cookies, Aussie hair product at $2 a bottle when you buy two) and store for a later occasion... Grocery Smarts SHOWS you how good a deal it is...If it has three or four stars by the product, its a really good deal. There are often times you will get things for FREE.

So now I just go to my basement for a cake mix before actually going to the store to get one and its really nice! All in all...I did stock up on a lot of things this trip and did not buy a lot of day to day items, such as cheese, fresh fruits and vegetables...but it takes a few months of getting into the program before you really start to see strong savings... Just thought I would share for those friends of mine who are getting started and still learning...