And we're off...............

again. I know, we just went to CA. I can't stay away.
It is dumping snow outside and I hope we make it out of here:) Hahaha!
It could be interesting...........
I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!!
We did. I'm excited to visit some of you over this next week.
I'll post picture's when we come back.

Shoot me an email.

If you didn't know, I'm taking picture's! I'm keeping somewhat busy with it. I love it!
I'm not very expensive because I'm still starting out. If anyone is interested in having their pics taken of them, babies, kids, families, etc....(not sure what else there is) email me at danawillis@gmail.com

Tell me what your needing and I will tell you the price. You will get a cd of picture's. I know it is winter and it is hard to get the kiddos to be happy in the freezing cold, but I can take picture's of babies most days up in my room where the light is good.

Just keep me in mind:)
If you haven't seen my photoblog, go check it out.
There is a link to the right underneath "All About Me".
Happy Holiday's!!

Is it worth $7 ???

No, but I had a $2 off coupon to present and that made it worth it.


We have a family tradition to go to Thanksgiving Point to see the lights. We get to drive around the route they make and look at lights. Is it super exciting? Not really, but it's tradition gosh darn it! We could have gotten out at the end and seen two of Santa's LIVE reindeer, but it was really cold last night.

Now you don't have to go because you just saw the whole thing.........just kidding. This is most of it:)

I like poinsetta plants so I added this one for fun.

Simply Bliss Boutique

If you have any Christmas shopping left, you should swing by this boutique that one of my friends is putting on.


Here it is:




It is pretty close too. Trolley Square. Then you can go eat at the Old Spaghetti Factory because it is yummy. :)
Also, Saturday is open until 7pm now, not 4.

Whoops-a-Daisy.

Okay, I wanted to change my dumb blog background/template for the holiday's and it was not working. I don't know what to do. I did everything according to instruction on those stupid websites and it still would not work. So then I have Jake work on it for a minute last night and the page came that said, "All your widgets will be deleted.....blah blah blah" and I said it's ok because it won't delete them. Well, it did. I clicked on the same button earlier and it did not delete but now it is all deleted. SO! I have been trying to get all of my friends blog addresses updated again so if you are missing from my list and are offended, please give me your address as a comment so I can add it. Eventually, I will remember and update, but for now......I'm drawing a blank!
Thanks! Is there anyone out there who is really good at changing backgrounds and stuff because I still don't really like the one I have now. It was a guinea pig template that happened to work.
Do you like the snow? heehee. Jake put that on.

Fun in CA.

Okay. We are road trip happy! We just did the whole drive for Thanksgiving and we are going again in about 22 days or so. We are nuts, I know. I hope I'm more used to the idea of driving the twelve hours each way again then. HA! I can't get enough of my family though. We love to go and just hang out with eveyone. We don't have to do the Disneyland thing every time. The beach is FREE and we can go to the tide pools or whatever. The kids love to play in the sand and get their feet wet, even if the water is a cool 55 degrees in December.

It is nice to just be away from "life", not that it is bad or anything but, well, you know!

I saw "TWILIGHT" the day before we left for CA too. I loved it! I'm not die hard into the series but I have read them. I went into the theatre expecting an awesome, teen romance, cheezy stunts, vampire movie and I got it! I loved it! I could totally see it again too:)

Edward has grown on me too. He is cute! I like his car too.

Anyway, I just wanted to change my post........finally. Sorry about the Halloween pictures that sat there forever.

I also got to see my little brother who just came home from the mish! He looks great! It was fun to hang out with him. He is pictured below.

Breck at a lake near my sister's house.

My brother Jay.

Jonah and Gavin.

My Mom and Breck.

Me and Jake.

Halloween....better late than never!

Well, Halloween came and went quickly. As you can see, we thought long and hard about the boys costume's. I'm just glad they didn't care about it all that much. haha.
Breck was a kitty.
The best part about it was that she would put it on and walk around the house howling like a ghost and say,"Ooooooooo....I'm a halloween costroom!" She thought she was pretty scary:)
I didn't take too many pics of the costumes, surprisingly!

Jeffrey-Strong and True

Well, my brother Jeff is quite the guy. He is 30, tall and quite muscular. He has his opinion's and is always ready to share them with others. Although many of us supported Prop 8 in CA, we did not go to the lengths my brother did.
After Prop 8 passed, there still were many protesters on different corners of CA. My brother felt like he should go protest against the protesters in Huntington Beach.
There was a reporter there and he asked my brother a few questions about what he was doing.
Here is the video:

This one goes out to the one I love...

A very Happy Birthday to the most important person in my life and the center of my universe.

You are beautiful. You are sexy. You are an amazing wife. You are a wonderful mother. You are so fun. You make life so much better for me and the kids. We are very blessed to have you in our lives.

Well now you are 29 (wink wink). Crazy, huh?

Happy Birthday, babe.

I love you forever.

- Jake

Crummy outside........

........but in my mind, this will be the weather today:)


If anybody knows me well, they would know that one of my favorite things in the world are palm trees. I love the tall slender palms, or the short stubby palms, all of them! (This is why I have a plam tree sticker on my car:)
This is San Clemente, CA. The beach I grew up going to every week. It is free and it is therapy for everyone. The smells, the sounds, the breeze, the temperatures..................you get it!

Is that Michael Phelps on the bass guitar?

Hahahaha! I saw this and laughed a little.
I wonder if these guys really do play it all of the time. I never have........yet.
Check out this brief commercial.




Kind of cheesy but I love Kobe. I know most of YOU do. heehee.

I'm still starting.........

......but I put a link to my "website/photoblog" on the side bar so I can share the picture's I've been taking. This is for those who want to see a preview before they get them all, or so their family members can peek too. I am hoping also that I might stir up a little business with it. I promise that isn't the main reason I did it though. :)
It is under "Awesomeness". Go take a look.

MacGrubber

Okay, I refuse to watch SNL anymore because the show is supposed to be funny.......and it's not!
Every now and then, however, they might have a random skit that is pretty funny.
Jake and I were flipping through the channels Sat. night and stopped upon SNL.
After seeing a few not-funny skits, we saw a short little skit making fun of MacGuyver(remember the show and the sweet mullet he had?).
It was about MacGuyver, or in this skit MacGrubber, and he was having financial trouble's because of the economy. Anyway, Jake and I laughed so hard at the ending of it. I won't spoil it for those, who might, for some reason, still record the show and have not watched it yet.
Did anybody out there see it? Just curious. I want to laugh with you!!!!
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

Girly Girl

Breck is such a sweet little girl. I wanted to experiment in my kitchen using my walls as background. Here are a few that turned out really cute. I love her eyes the most:)

Beginning Photography Class in SLC!!

Okay, most of you know that I love photography and I'm eager to learn and get experience in that field.
Well, there is a gal here in Utah offering a class on Oct. 25th. The morning class filled up quickly so she decided to have an afternoon class too. It is from 3-7pm and the cost is $75!
Click here for more information on this class. I'm doing it! If any of you have an interest, check it out.
Thanks!!

Gotta love the blog tags.... you know you love it.

8 TV Shows I watch:
1.The Office
2.House
3.What Not To Wear
4.Fringe
5.Chuck
6.ANTM(when Jake's not around, and I usually skim until the photo shoot and to see who leaves)
7.Hidden Potential-HGTV!
8.The Backyardigans(Best Cartoon)

8 Favorite Restaurants: (In no particular order)
1.Cafe Rio
2.Paradise Bakery
3.Applebee's
4.Chili's
5.Rumbi's
6.Spaghetti Factory(I promise I'm not copying you Jen G.)
7.Biaggi's
8.Olive Garden(soup, salad, and breadsticks...yum!)

8 Things that Happened Yesterday:
1.Showered
2.Went to Church.......late, again.
3.Took pictures of the crazy snow I woke up to.
4.Lauged at Jake and his little comments during church. (at appropriate times)
5.Drove to Provo for family dinner at In-laws.
6.Ate chocolate pie.
7.Played "For Sale", fun game.
8.Went to bed too late....again.

8 Things I look Forward too:
1.Going on a trip with just Jake sometime.
2.Getting to sleep in on Thursday and Friday because there is no school.
3.Swimming workout tomorrow night.
4.Having water in my head for a day because of swimming workout tomorrow night:)
5.Dinner with some friends tonight.
6.Possibly going to a condo this weekend to stay a night or two, with the kids.
7.Hopefully, selling our van soon so we can get a newer, low miles van to road trip to CA in.
8.Jake getting home in a few hours:)

8 Things I love about Fall:
1.Jeans and sweaters.
2.Socks and shoes to help smooth out my dry heels from summer.
3.Hot Chocho.
4.Orange, tan, and red leaves.
5.Rotating our "summer" bedspread for our "Winter" down comforter.
6.Christmas Music, eventually.
7.Yummy smelling candles.
8.My birthday in November. Haha.

8 Things on my Wish List:
1.Newer Van
2.Canon EF-S 55-250 IS lens
3.House
4.Trip to CA to see family.
5.New clothes.
6.Pina Colada smoothie from Jamba Juice.
7.An hour massage, not too hard though, ouch.
8.A list of great photography spots around Salt Lake area, anybody heard of such a thing?

8 People I TAG: (no pressure, at all)
1.Kelly Furg.
2.Shawna T.
3.Linda S.
4.Robyn
5.Lori
6.Mary J.
7.Tricia
8.Victoria

WHAT THE..........?

I'm not ready for this at all. I didn't want it to come yet! It is pretty, but oh man, it's so cold out there right now. I just went out in shorts and flip-flops and couldn't stay very long. Blah!

Atleast it is Sunday and I can wrap in a blanket and be warm........until about 12 noon and I have to get ready for church. Every now and then I regret opting out for the fireplace in my home. It was $2700 dollars, come on! Today I regret that decision.

Anybody looking for fun kids music?

Well, I have collected a few albums from iTunes within the last couple of years that I love. Oh, the kids love them too.
First, Ralph's World, a guy and a guitar and silly lyrics. He is great. His music is sort of "folkish" and fun. His voice sort of reminds me of James Taylor a little bit. Anyway, my kids sing along to all of the songs and I like that.
Next, They Might Be Giants. I know, I know, you are also wondering where they have been the last 10 years! They have been busy making kids music. You hear them on Disney Channel a lot. They do the "Higglytown Heros" opening song. They also do the "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" theme and "Hot Dog" song.
Anyway, they have an album about the ABC's and another about the "123's". Jake and I bounce along with the songs. "High Five" is one of our favorites. :)
Anyway, if you have any good tips on music then let me know. We love to road trip, but only if we have good tunes. I wish we could listen to "adult" music, but I don't want to explain to Jonah and Gavin what "I'm bringing Sexy back" means. You understand.