Sara's Secrets

Hello, my name is Sam Westbrook, and I will be hijacking Sara's blog this evening. So, I'm pretty new to this whole blog thing -- and most who know me know that I am computer averse. With that said, I believe I've picked up on a thing or two about blogging. Perhaps I am making assumptions here, but I believe that blogging is mostly about divulging dark secrets - am I right?? Ok, then. Since Sara won't tell you, I guess I will have to... here are Sara's Top 5 Celebrity Crushes!

Now Sara won't typically make overt comments about her celebrity crushes. Nope - she's reaaaaal sneaky - a subtle remark here, a sigh there. Well, its taken me 8 years, but I'm on to ya!

So then without further ado, I present Sara's Top 5 Celebrity Crushes (with appropriate commentary from yours truly)...

5. Dwayne Johnson / The Rock

Verdict: Mmeh
Comment: He's kind of small for WWF wrestler isn't he? - plus his name is Dwayne - I mean... Dwayne. (my apologies to readers who are named Dwayne)

4. Zac Efron / The High School Musical Wuss

Verdict: Pansy x 10
Comment: Come on Sara - don't they at least have to be older than 14??

3. Curtis Jackson / 50 Cent

Verdict: Ok, not bad
Comment: Surprise! - you guys didn't know Sara as well as you thought you did! Actually, he's probably more like me than anyone else on the list.





...Ok, jk - here is the real #3...
3. Will Smith / The kid that was beat up on the basketball court before heading to his Uncle's in Bel Aire

Verdict: Scrawny
Comment: I really don't think he's had much success since 'Wild Wild West'. More like a B-lister now 'n days.

2. Orlando Bloom / Legolas / William Turner

Verdict: Frail
Comment: I was really hoping goldie locks here would get eaten by a Nazgul - alas, it wasn't to be.

1. Harrison Ford / Indiana Jones

Verdict: Wuss
Comment: I was really rooting for the Germans to end his story quickly... then I rooted for the crazy priest from the Temple of Doom... then I cursed my luck as he drank from right grail - come on, there had to be a couple hundred grails there! What are the odds??

And there you have it. Be sure to chide Sara about her totally lame celebrity crushes. Wusses, the whole lot of 'em.

LOST

Last night was the season premiere of Lost and I have to say that it definitely lived up to my expectations! This year I have tried really hard to avoid all the trailers so that I would be completely surprised and I was! I love where the show is going and I can't wait to see next week's episode! What did you think of last nights episode? Do you have any theories? *****Spoiler Alert*****Were you as excited as I was to see Dr. Candle and Mrs. Hawking? Let me know in the comments!

Christmas

Hannah working on our Gingerbread Train



Hannah, Elise, and I doing some Christmas baking.

Hannah and Elise decorating the tree!


Hannah and Elise in Christmas Dresses






We had a lovely Christmas in our new home. Santa even knew how to get to our new place! Sam had the entire week of Christmas off so we were able to spend a lot of wonderful time together. On Christmas Eve, Sam made a fabulous prime rib and crab dinner and we were so full that we didn't even think about eating dessert!
Here are the girls and I right before dinner!

After the dishes were cleaned up we gathered the girls into the living room and read the nativity to them from Luke. We talked about the importance of Christmas with them and then they were off to bed. Would you believe that neither girl made a peep once they were in their beds? The next morning Sam and I woke up the girls so that we could get to the fun presents.

It is so much fun to watch the excitement on their faces as they look at all of the wonderful presents. I just love it.
Here they are checking out the note Santa left for them!
When the girls got their stockings Elise noticed right away that Santa had brought a bunch of dum dum suckers. She was so excited that she grabbed one out and handed it to daddy and then she grabbed one for herself and popped it in to her mouth. Her daddy did likewise with his. She is quite sneaky since she knows she's not supposed to have candy on the carpet but since she shared so sweetly she got away with it. After we tore through all the presents Sam made us a lovely breakfast (is anyone sensing a pattern here, Sam does the Christmas Eve and Christmas morning cooking and it is wonderful!) He made us some yummy puff pancakes with fruit topping and whipped cream! This is a holiday tradition that he brought from his family and it is one that I thoroughly enjoy. We spent the rest of the day relaxing and playing with new toys!

Beck Family ChristmasParty

Beck Family Christmas Party

My side of the family has a family Christmas Party annually a few weeks before Christmas. Because my family is so large, (there are nine children in my family and we are all married with multiple children) we have this annual get together at a church in Eastern Idaho. This year we had it in American Falls, Id. It was a beautiful wintery day on the day of the party, which is great except that I had to drive in a vehicle that I was not used to yet from Aberdeen to American Falls in the snow storm. We made it to the church and had a fantastic time. We had a nice potato bar with every yummy thing that you could possibly want on it and then every one brought there favorite treats and we snacked, and snacked and snacked! I actually brought a box of oranges because I thought that there would be lots of sweet stuff and the oranges went over quite well. We played some serious games of Bump, similar to lightening except that unless you are playing with Michael Jordan, the game never ends because whenever the person that got you "out" gets put "out" then you get to go back in! The kids got to do a piniata which Hannah and Elise thought was just grand. They also ran around in the gym trying to get into mischief, but thankfully not succeeding! Then we had a white elephant gift exchange where the presents varied from FootLoose on DVD to a hideous green macrame straight out of the 70's that should have stayed there but instead it always manages to find it into one of the packages at the Beck Family Christmas party! After this we played a mean game of name that tune which my brother Jeremy really rocked at, especially if it was 80's rock tunes! Jeremy then presented us with a beautiful video called "The Nativity" put out by my church. He synced the film to "Silent Night" by Manheim Steamroller and it was just so touching. Thanks Jeremy for letting us feel the spirit together at the Christmas party.
Eventually we had to give up our strong hold on the church (there was something else scheduled for the evening) so after we finished at the church the party continued for many of us at my brother Joel's house, which is just up the road from the church. We had a great time sipping hot chocolate, visiting and boxing, on the Wii of course! All in all, I believe a great time was had by all! I know I certainly had fun. Thanks Joel and Ann and John and Pollyanna for organizing one heck of a party this year!

Happy Halloween???

I know, I know, this is beyond late but the pictures were finally uploaded and I had some cute ones that I wanted to share so here without further ado are our Halloween pictures!

At Sam's work they had a fun little trick or treat party for the kids in the Atrium. Hannah (as Minnie) and Elise (as Alice) had a wonderful time and got lots of fun treats including apples, bannanas, and carmeled apples as well as candy galore!
That evening we went to our Ward Party / trunk or treat and I dressed up as Sarah Palin! I had fun channeling my inner politician!