The MacDonald's

So we've had a really busy weekend again. It seems that life never slows down at the MacDonald Farm. Friday night Grandma and Grandpa Chambers took Jaidyn miniature golfing, she had such a great time and even got 2 holes in one. They took lots of pictures, so check out the Chamber's site to see how much fun they had. Friday night I was googling how to save my playlist. I wanted to burn my playlist to a CD. It's amazing how much information you can find on the computer. I was successful and made a CD with all of my favorite songs. Yeah!! Saturday morning John and I woke up and decided to start yet another home improvement project. We have had some beadboard in our garage just sitting there waiting to be installed somewhere, and I've been wanting to install some on our kitchen island. A few weeks back I found these great sconces to put in place of the ugly one's currently there. So off to Home Depot we went to get the extras needed to start. Here's what ...

I need to take this moment to brag a little! Ever since Jaidyn was very, very little she has loved being on stage. When she was 3 years old we took her to the Logandale town trunk or treat. There was some karaoke'ing going on and even though was was still a lot of candy and trick or treating to be had, all Jaidyn wanted to do was to get up on stage. After some prodding I went up on stage to ask the DJ if this little 3 year old could perform some karaoke. You can imagine the look he gave me, the look of you're one of those mothers who thinks your kid can really sing, when in fact they can't carry a tune at all. I assured him that she really wanted to do it and my aunt who happened to be one of the coordinators came up and assured him as well. So he then introduced her on stage. She ran up there and to our surprise! she belted out a Hilary Duff song "I'm coming clean", word for word (she had it completely memorized). As she sang the crowd moved closer and clos...

I need to take this moment to brag a little! Ever since Jaidyn was very, very little she has loved being on stage. When she was 3 years old we took her to the Logandale town trunk or treat. There was some karaoke'ing going on and even though was was still a lot of candy and trick or treating to be had, all Jaidyn wanted to do was to get up on stage. After some prodding I went up on stage to ask the DJ if this little 3 year old could perform some karaoke. You can imagine the look he gave me, the look of you're one of those mothers who thinks your kid can really sing, when in fact they can't carry a tune at all. I assured him that she really wanted to do it and my aunt who happened to be one of the coordinators came up and assured him as well. So he then introduced her on stage. She ran up there and to our surprise! she belted out a Hilary Duff song "I'm coming clean", word for word (she had it completely memorized). As she sang the crowd moved closer and c...

Well it has been another CRAZY week at the MacDonald Farm! Here are some of the goings ons this week... Jaidyn had a great time at Grandma Sharon's and Grandpa Jim's house this last weekend. Grandma came and picked her up and then she got to spend the night up at their house in the mountains! She enjoyed going for hikes and taking lots and lots of pictures. Then on Sunday we were so excited to our friends the Savant's again. Jaidyn couldn't wait to see her friend Kennedy. We really miss them.

THE FIVE 10 years ago I was: 1. Working 2 jobs and saving to buy our 1st home. 2. We bought our first home. 3. A Young Women's teacher. 4. Much thinner 5. Trying to have a baby. 5 things on today list 1.clean house (this is on everyday's list) 2.get a massage (I'm fortunate to have a mother-in-law who's a massage therapist, today is massage day! Yeah for me! 3. try another attempt at making bread. 4. organize and clean out the pantry. 5. Relax!! (It's Friday!!) 5 snacks I enjoy 1. Fruit smoothies 2. Chips and Salsa 3. Red peppers & cherry tomatoes (out of our garden) 4. Cheese and crackers 5. Yogurt 5 things I would do if I were a millionaire 1. Travel - ( I would love to go to Venezuela and see all of my family, as well as Italy and visit the tuscan villages, lavender and wine fields) 2. Adopt more kids. (I'm probably crazy for saying this one) 3. Go to Culinary school 4. Move to the country with my wrap around porch house, huge garden and big tree with...

Just recently when we were in Logandale I took the opportunity to ask grandma for some of the family favorites recipes. Besides the family favorites of Grandma's Applesauce cookies, bread, and pie crust. She pulled out an old recipe box stuffed full of canning, cooking and baking recipes that great grandma had treasured. What a wonderful experience it was for me as a great granddaughter to look through those recipes, spotted and marked with many stains it only added to the character of each recipe card. I can't wait to start using some of these recipes and I'm hoping that this year I'll get to use some of the preserving recipes as well. Besides recipes one other thing I love is old aprons and tablecloths. Grandma has some of great grandma's old aprons and tablecloths and I love to look through them when we visit. I have collected quite a few of them over the years. Most of them torn and stained, but the memories that they have written all over them is what I ...

I was having some problems with my blog, and my original post for my grandparent's anniversary was deleted. Luckily I had the original saved but the comments were all lost. PLEASE repost your comments for me, I was so bummed that we lost them. Here are a few that I know wrote some comments: John, Mom, Annette, Carlen, Tami and Torrey. Thanks so much.

Yesterday was Grandma and Grandpa Waters' anniversary. I thought this would be the perfect time to share with you how WONDERFUL my grandparents are and how blessed I feel to have them in my life. Grandpa was born on 9/21/24 as Ronald Morgan Waters in Beaver, Utah. He grew up with 3 sisters and 3 brothers. At the age of 17 he was shipped off to fight in World War 2, and shortly thereafter became a prisoner of war. For days he was held in a fox hole and only fed small amounts of bread and water to keep him alive. Then was rescued and sent on a train to France where he was shipped back to the states. Shortly after arriving back to Beaver he met Grandma. Grandma was born on 5/3/30 as Retta Decker, she was born a twin but her twin sister died shortly after she was born. Grandma met grandpa at a dance, they dated for awhile and got married shortly thereafter. Together they raised 8 children. Annette, then a child that was born still born, then my mom Ronda , Rodger, Jolene, Kevin, David ...

Here are the pictures I promised to post, of our cute little Jaidyn missing 3 teeth!! This is something she does regularly now, sticks her tongue through the very large hole between her teeth! (drives mom nuts!!)

My Favorite thing in my kitchen right now? Well I would have to say it's not really in our kitchen but has helped so much in keeping my kitchen cooler and cleaner! It's our BBQ. We got this puppy last year. John had plans of a barbecue area (which he has not quite got to yet, in his defense the garden has taken most of his time), and so he wanted to get the biggest and the best. We shopped around for quite some time and then found this BBQ. Last year we used it a few times mostly to do your usual hot dogs, hamburgers and an occasional assortment of grilled vegetables. John even went as far as taking a BBQ grilling class from "Nothing To It" and learned a lot of great grilling tips. But this year, we have used it a lot more! I really don't know what I'd do with out our BBQ. Besides the usuals we have made BBQ and Teriyaki Salmon, Rotisserie Chicken (yes, it has a rotisserie bar), Grilled peaches, Grilled oysters, Grilled Sea Bass (o...

I don't know what was wrong with me last night but I just couldn't go to sleep. Maybe it was all that resting I did yesterday. So I stayed up until 4:30 a.m. (I know I'm crazy) working on none other than my blog layout. This one I did all myself, no template here, so after about 4 hours I think I've mastered the whole html thing. Anyway, I woke up at 8 a.m. not really ready to wake up but needing to get the kids ready for their visit and Jaidyn ready to take to school. Social Services had a runner come and get the kids today because I wasn't sure how I was going to be feeling. Luis did not want to go. I have never seen him act this way before, when the social worker came to the door he took of crying and ran to the family room. I went in to pick him up and try to assure him that everything was going to be okay and that he'd be back home soon. He calmed down a little and then when I went to put him the car seat he started crying again. I felt horrible. ...

Well it served me right, today I woke up not feeling well at all. It was Jaidyn's 1st day back at school so I wasn't quite sure how I was going to work out all the logistics of getting her to school on time, taking care of Luis and Luhanie and going to the doctor. Thank goodness for Grandma. I am so thankful that they live here in Reno now for many reasons, but especially for times like this when we just need an extra hand. So Grandma came over and sat with the kids, and a friend of ours took Jaidyn to school, so Grandma wouldn't have to lug the kids around. John took me to Urgent Care they happened to be closed so we ended up going to a place called "Fastercare". When we walked in it seemed like a nice place and luckily there was no one in the waiting room. Great, we won't have to wait that long. Not exactly, I filled out all my paperwork and the standard info that they always ask for and then waited, and waited and waited, 20 minutes had gone by and...

We arrived in Reno at 4:30 this morning! It was so good to be home. I love coming home after a few days away and opening the door to our home and smelling that "new home smell" Our house isn't really that new anymore but still every time we come back home from a trip it smells new again. You can smell the wood and fresh paint, etc..it's like the new car smell, it just makes you feel good! While we were gone we decided to let Shu (one of John's co-workers) take care of our dogs for us. It was a pretty easy task as they spend most of the day in the dog run on the side of the house, but at night they just need fed and the doggie door let open so that they can come in and out of our bedroom. Poor Shu, he's a little Japanese guy, so polite and nice, he left a little note for us at the front door that said "sorry, I tried to clean the mess up a little but I was in a hurry and couldn't get it all". Thinking the worse, I was extremely afraid to en...