Christmas Eve and Day!!

I love Christmas! What a wonderful time to be with the family! On Christmas Eve, Day...all of my family went to Body World in Salt Lake. It was so fun and very interesting. I loved seeing all the muscles and the different bodies. After we went through the exhibit we all went out to eat at The Original Pancake House. The food there was so good! Since I wasn't allowed to take pictures while we walked through Body World, I had to take a bunch at lunch to make up for it. :)After we got back home my mom wanted to take a group photo. It was fun to have all of the family together. All seven kids, mom and dad, two spouses and Sara's boyfriend Chase taking the picture.

Later that night we went over to Dan's mom's house for Christmas Eve dinner together. It's a tradition we have done the past few years, and I love it. Thank you Janice! On Christmas morning Dan and I went to his dad's house to open presents. Did I mention we met up at 7:00 am? Okay, 7:00 really isn't that early...growing up we got up a few hours before that, but when you are married and have to go out into the snow and cold to drive somewhere to meet...that's when it seems so early. We had so much fun opening up gifts!! Dan and I got some great things from his parents, and from his sister Erin and her family. I can't forget, Janice made an amazing breakfast for us all, and Danny made some really good hot chocolate that was much needed.At 11:00 we were to meet up at my parents house to open gifts and to have lunch together. I love getting together with my family, I love the noise and I love the little fights between siblings. Ha. Thank you mom, dad, Skye and Maggie for the great gifts we got from each of you. We love them. My mom never got to do her family dinner around Thanksgiving so that's what we had for lunch on Christmas day and it was amazing! Thanks mom!After we hung out at my parents house it was time to venture out into the snow to head to grandparents houses. First we went to Sandy to see my mom's mom "Ma". She is hilarious. I always enjoy spending time with her. This was her first Christmas without my grandpa "Pa". We miss you and love you Pa. After we left Ma's place, we went to go visit Maggie's Grandma who also lives in Sandy. (Dan and I rode with Tosh and Maggie so we got to make an extra stop.) Her grandma is so sweet and it was great to spend time with her. Later we went to my Grandma and Grandpa Mackintosh's house in Salt Lake where all of my Aunts, Uncles and Cousins were. I LOVE Mackintosh food!! It is so much fun to see all of the family. Dan and I were exhausted by the time we got home, but is was a great Christmas, and one we will never forget.

Dan is the best!

So, have I ever mentioned that I have the best husband in the world?! A week or so ago I asked Dan to color my hair. Dan had colored my hair once before in the past, and he was up for the challenge yet again. He is such a good sport...he put on the gloves (that were too small) ...he put on my apron...and he sectioned my hair to get started. He caught on really fast and was a lot faster this time then he was last time. We had fun while he was coloring my hair, and I couldn't help to take some pictures. Dan didn't like the idea of me taking pictures while he was so vulnerable coloring my hair. haha....so at first he was posing like the sexy man he is. :) Then he started to make fun of hair stylists and started to do hilarious poses. *After we washed out my hair....the color was not what I was expecting. It was horrible...I added too much copper to the color and it was so ugly. So Dan being the good husband that he is, colored my hair again two days later. So in one week I had my hair three different colors! He was a very good sport for coloring it again for me until it was the way I wanted it. I LOVED him coloring my hair. He made me laugh and laugh. Thank you so much Daniel. You truly are amazing and one of a kind. I love you so much! Thanks for making my hair look so good...I love it.

Gingerbread house!

Last Sunday Dan and I decided to make a gingerbread house. I had bought the kit a few weeks before and we finally thought it was time to make it. (Well I forced Dan to making it with me. haha) It was really fun to make, but actually very difficult. The stupid frosting was so thick that I couldn't get it to stick to any of the places that I needed it to stick. Oh well, it turned out okay. :) ...not even five min later, both Dan and I had left the kitchen table to watch TV or something...when all of a sudden I heard the dogs fighting. (they only fight when they get into food that wasn't given to them) So low and behold, I walk upstairs, and the dogs had pulled the masterpiece off of the table and it was gone! Good thing we took pictures for proof. Maybe next year we'll be able to enjoy it. Rhymer and Loaf, I hope it was worth it.

Maui!

I don't even know where to begin...this trip was AMAZING!! Thank you so much Ben and Jamie, we loved every second of the vacation. I took thousands of pictures (not really, but close) thank you everyone for letting me drive you crazy with all the picture taking. You can see all of the other pictures in our slide show on the right side of the blog. :) Here are some pictures of some of the places we went. We went to so many fun, gorgeous, interesting, amazing and relaxing places while in Maui. Thank you Ben for the full days planned for us with some of our favorite memories together. This first picture is of all of us in Lahaina. For those of you who don't know, Lahaina is full of little stores to shop, restaurant's, and a gorgeous view of the ocean. It was so much fun to hang out there and to visit all of the little stores. In the middle of Lahaina there is a HUGE tree. I couldn't help to take a picture with all of us hanging out in it.This is taken on the balcony at the condo where we stayed. We couldn't have stayed at a better place. It was the perfect size for the four of us.....plus, look at the perfect view we had of the ocean. It was truly amazing to see the sun set behind the water. It was so relaxing to watch, not to mention how beautiful it was.Ben and Jamie knew of a cool place for us to snorkel. I do have to say at first I was a little worried about where they were taking us. (in the shade, climbing all over huge rocks, far away from where we started) but little did we know that they had the perfect spot picked out. The ocean is so amazing and beautiful. While we were snorkeling, my mask kept filling up with water, so Dan told me to follow him to a place where we could sit on some rocks while we adjusted. When we got over to "the spot" the waves were crashing in like crazy, and we were unable to just "sit there" to fix my mask. While the waves were trying to take us away, one hit Dan pretty good and when he grabbed a rock for balance his wedding ring came off. (first you have to know, Dan kept yelling and telling me over and over to make sure I take my wedding ring off before we go in the water so I don't lose it.) Dan let us all know that he had lost his ring, and both Dan and I basically said..oh well, we'll never find it in the OCEAN and especially with all the waves crashing in where he lost it. Ben thought otherwise and started looking. After each of us saying our silent prayers to find the ring, I finally went in the water to look for the ring also. Not even 5 min went buy and as I was looking in the lava rock I saw something huge and shiny, as I got closer I realized it was Dan's wedding ring. I couldn't believe it!! It was a miracle that we found it. I'm sorry that I was the one to find it Ben...I know how much you wanted to be the one to find it. :)Iao Valley. It was gorgeous there! Dan kept saying he was worried the theme song to "Jurassic Park" was going to start playing and then a TRex would come stomping over all the trees. haha. Needless to say, it was completly beautiful!I loved this view, the water was perfect too! I also love this picture....we put the camera on timer. :) (gotta love that) Maui is just so relaxing!!!Boogie boarding on Big Beach!!! This was a blast!!!! Daniel and Ben were able to enjoy the water first with the boards. It was fun watching the boys out there. I got a few good pictures of them. After Ben had his fun he let me enjoy the boogie board. I had so much fun. The waves kept rolling me up onto the shore. I got plenty of mouths full of salt water and sand. :)Ben had a cool place in mind for us to go see, so he pulled off the side of the road and we started walking.....this is what we found...a jungle!! Everyone was swinging from vines off of the trees. Ben had the great idea of playing a game of hide-n-go-seek, maybe next time we'll play! It was amazing there. It was so green and beautiful, and we were the only ones there! There were little lizzards everywhere too. GORGEOUS, GORGEOUS, GORGEOUS!This picture is taken on our first day at Dragon's Teeth. As you can see, there are lava rocks everywhere. We walked down the side of a golf course to get to this place. We took so many pictures at this place. I know I say this about every place...but it was so beautiful there. Daniel and Ben wondered off...so it was fun to just hang out with Jamie for awhile. She is so much fun to be around. Thank you Jamie for letting me come on your vacation. :) I loved getting to know you better. Also Thanks Ben for planning everything. I'm sorry none of us are good at making choices of what to do. haha. We loved going to Maui with you....I hope we can do it again someday. :)

Mahalo, Maui

I enjoyed writing the Coldplay entry so much that I am officially taking over for Shandi, well, at least for one more entry. This is the first entry, in a forthcoming series, detailing the events of our recent trip to Maui-- a vacation this good can’t be given justice with a single entry.

Saturday afternoon saw us make our way to SLC airport, carry-on bags in hand and us fully expecting to be denied a seat on the plane. This vacation was only made possible by my friend Ben Kent. He provided the buddy passes, (a wonderful benefit of being an airline employee) and the travel experience that made this trip so enjoyable. Anyhow, rewind to the airport, flying standby has its ups and downs, but this time luck was with us and we were on-board for a quick hop to LA.



When we landed in LA, luck was with us yet again, Ben and his wife Jamie were bumped to first class and Shandi and I were also cleared for the flight to Maui. Being the stand up guy he is, Ben adamantly offered his first class tickets to Shandi and me, insisting he had “been there and done that” and that we needed to experience it for ourselves. I sheepishly declined a few times before accepting his gracious offer.

I contest, I have the best friends in the world, I just don’t know how better people could exist.

So as we boarded the plane, Shandi and I made our way to the front, huge childish grins on our faces. The other passengers must have thought we won the lottery, and indeed, we felt like we had-- we were about to travel to Maui in first class for less than $200.00 each.

So we were off, the sun setting in LA. Apparently, when you’re traveling at 550 mph to the west, it takes considerably longer for the sun to submit to the darkness, before it did, we snapped a few pictures.

A nice view from 35,000 feet:





For anyone wondering, first class isn’t a bad way to travel, a full meal in our case, and more soda than we could drink. Ben gave up a lot to let Shandi and I take his seats, and I was reminded of it every time the flight attendant leaned over to me and said “Is there anything else I can get for you Mr. Kent”.

We touched down in Maui, and stepped 5 hours into the past, as we walked off the plane I immediately realized I no longer needed my jacket. We made our way to our hotel\time share, where we were duly impressed by our accommodations. Although we tired from traveling, we were excited enough to be in Maui that we stayed up to have a good chat and walk across the street to the beach.







Shandi will resume the next entry, undoubtedly full of days at the beach, Iao Valley, Dragon's Teeth and other incredible experiences from Maui. Until then...

Going Private!

We've decided to make our blog private. Please leave your email if you would like to be added. Or if you don't want to post your email you can email me at shandirae14@hotmail.com Thanks!

I've been Tagged! I started the post awhile ago, but never finished until now...so here you go!

8 Favorite TV Shows
1. The office
2. That 70's Show
3. One Tree Hill
4. Grey's Anatomy
5. Private Practice
6. Scrubs
7. Everybody loves Raymond
8. Two and a half men

8 Things I did Yesterday
1. Went swimming at the beach
2. Went Snorkeling
3. Went shopping in Lahaina
4. Ate lunch at Bubba Gump
5. Went boogie boarding
6. Tanned on the beach
7. Took a lot of pictures
8. Loved every second of MAUI!!

8 things I look forward to:
1. Being married to Daniel for all eternity
2. Being a mom (no, I'm not announcing anything)
3. Having Daniel done with school
4. Going one day to England with my hubby
5. Christmas
6. Getting another dog (boxer puppy)
7. Not having to work
8. Being the best wife ever

8 Favorite Restaurant
1. Chili's
2. Wingers
3. Cabo Grill
4. JCW's
5. Outback steakhouse
6. Chuck a Rama
7. Wendy's
8. McDonalds

8 Things I wish for:
1. More time to get things done
2. To have a baby/adopt
3. Go on a cruise
4. Go to Australia
5. Keep in touch with friends more
6. Forgiveness
7. To be a better wife
8. To stay home and watch my favorite shows/movies all day!

8 People I tag:
1. Heidi Stoddard
2. Kristie Holt
3. Jordan McEuen
4. Nicky Hadfield
5. Amber Hadfield
6. Hanna Hopkinson
7. Forrest/Carla DeMille
8. Leslie Batty

Utah Flash basketball game

Thanksgiving & Park City

Thanksgiving was a blast! We went to my Uncle Dane's and Aunt Gay's new house in Lindon. It was so much fun to be around all of the family. We all ate so much. That is by far my favorite part of thanksgiving is all the amazing food. Here is a picture of how much fun me, my sister Kelsey and my cousins daughter Claire had...
After everyone left their house..Dan and I have a tradition that we go to Park City and spend the night at a hotel and shop like mad. Dan and I had our 4th anniversary on November 24th...we can't believe it's gone by that fast. So for the past 3 years now we have spent our anniversary in Park City hanging out and shopping all night. Last year and this past time they opened the stores at midnight. We shopped from Midnight until 5:00 then went and got some breakfast at Mcdonalds and then finally went to sleep until 10:00. At that time we had to check out of the hotel and we were back off shopping. We stayed at park city until abut 2:00 and then we ate like always at Ruby Tuesdays! (amazing!) On our way home we stopped at Nordstrom Rack and then to the South Towne Mall. Finally after that we were able to go home and sleep. We were both SO SO SO tired!! It was so much fun!!!! **Also this year we invited a couple friend to come with us to Park City. Thank you so much Guthrie and Laura for coming with us, we loved having both of you!We bought so many things! I searched all night and day looking for a dress for Sean's homecoming...here it is! Dan bought a new shirt and tie for the homecoming. He looks so good! I love my husband.

playing games

My brother Tosh and his wife Maggie invited a bunch of us to come to there place to play games. It was so much fun!! We love hanging out with them. Here are a few pictures from that night. ***People there...Tosh, Maggie, Daniel, Me, Sis Sara, boyfriend Chase, Maggie's cousin Katie, husband Dan and their daughter.

WELCOME HOME ELDER MACKINTOSH

My little brother Sean is HOME!! I haven't had much time lately to blog so I'm a little behind. Sean got home on 11-24-08 from his Detroit MI mission. I was SO excited to see him. He still acts the exact same..I love it. My dad, mom and Sara went to MI to go bring him home. They took some pretty cool pictures and video of Detroit. As soon as I get some of them I'll post those too. Here are a few pictures from all of the family at the airport. WELCOME HOME SEAN!!

Coldplay Concerto

Shandi afforded me the opportunity to give this blogging thing a shot, she's been doing a bang up job of it, so I'll try not to disappoint.

I have to admit, I was looking forward to this concert for many months, Coldplay are my favorite band right now and I had huge expectations for the concert. I'd read that their show for the Viva La Vida tour was phenomenal, but I had no idea what we were in for.

Rewind to several months ago, I purchased tickets, and anyone who has purchased tickets well in advance for a big concert knows, when you buy the tickets you get excited, but you have to wait so long that the excitement dies down because you basically forget about it. This concert was no different.

Somehow, I also talked my brother Mike into buying tickets just a few days before the concert.

Anyway, November 22nd came, and we made our way up to ESA. Printed right on our tickets it said, "No Cameras\Recorders" me, being a good little boy, and a good little boy who didn’t want to hike back to the car after being "caught" with a camera, opted to leave it in the car. The moment we walked into the arena, we realized everyone and their dog had a camera so I was pretty upset. I asked one of the ESA people if I could leave to get something and come back, my request was denied. So there we were concert of a lifetime with no stinking camera. Luckily, we had something of a camera on my phone, so out it came and Shandi was happy to take a boat load of pictures.

So after a lot of waiting, the concert began with a band called SleeperCar. They were decent-- a country rock group with some Johnny Cash thing going on. Next up was a guy named Jon Hopkins, who did some turn table stuff with the accompaniment of seriously psychedelic animation.

Finally, at 9:30 pm (two hours after we sat down in our seats)Coldplay made their way to the stage. They opened with an instrumental tune titled “Life in Technicolor”. Halfway through the first song I leaned over to Shandi and said “this is already worth every penny”, and it was. Typically, when you have big expectations, you get disappointed; but this concert knocked my socks off. The production of the show and their musicianship was absolutely unbelievable. They played a great mixture of classic Coldplay songs, and new Viva material. One more thing worth noting, during " Lovers in Japan" they had these canons that shot out confetti cut-outs of Butterflies, it was quite the sight. I nabbed a few for Shandi to scrapbook.

We had a great time, and I was very happy that Shandi not only let me spend that kind of money on concert tickets, but that she also had a good time too.

Here are a few pictures of my favorite moments from the show.