The Life Of Me, Smile Magee

06/10/2026

For a while, I occasionally sold prints of my photography, and honestly, it was one of my favorite things ever. ❤️

About a month ago, I was surprised with a photography print order (🥹), and it made my heart so happy. Between glaucoma, cataract surgery, and some new vision challenges, my confidence in my photography has definitely taken a hit at times.

Because of that, I decided to gift some of my work to a few people who have made a huge impact on my life.

One was my glaucoma specialist at .eye.center ⁠. He is genuinely one of the kindest people I have ever met, and these photos literally wouldn’t be possible without him. 😂❤️

The other was one of my oldest friends, who also happens to be one of the people I admire most on this planet. She also shares her life as a farmer, mom of three, and all-around superhero on Instagram. (. .christensen13 ) and tends to blow my mind all the time 😂❤️❤️.

Getting back into photography has been so much fun, and it reminds me why I fell in love with it in the first place.

Thank you to everyone who has supported me along the way. It means more than you know. 🥹📸

And if you’d like to see more of my photography, check out my Instagram:
📸

06/08/2026

My Maine C**n, Luna, proving there’s definitely more than one use for a shower chair 🚿😂👌

I have to admit, I use this as a vanity chair with a light-up, up-close mirror every time I get ready, and I absolutely love it.

As my favorite makeup artist, , says: “Work smarter, not harder.” 😉✨

Accessibility tools don’t have to be embarrassing—they can actually become life hacks. 👸💖

And apparently… premium cat furniture. 😹🐾

Do you have an accessibility life hack ?
Share it below ⬇️!

**nCat

06/08/2026

From cuddly baby, to a fluffy ball of smarts, love, and absolute chaos… and I’m here for every second of it. 🐾❤️

I used to scream from the rooftops that I was a “big dog person,” but this little dude may have me convinced that the secret to happiness is having both a giant dog and a lap dog for the ultimate quality-of-life experience. 😘😄

06/07/2026

Some say social media is a “highlight reel.”

And sometimes, I think it should be.

We should get to see the dream vacations, the beautiful homes, the little escapes from reality—the petals.

But not mistake them for the whole story.

I’ve been trying lately to make my content a little lighter, and honestly, when life has felt heavy, I’ve actually enjoyed that. I’ve been trying to choose the petals when I can.

Because when you’re given a rose, you can admire the petals or focus on the thorns.

Lately, it’s been my goal to notice more of the petals.

But medically, this week has been one of the hardest I’ve had in a while.

And I think I’ve been afraid to share the hard parts, because that means I have to fully face them too.

Tonight, I don’t know if it was my brain lesions, multiple infections, epilepsy—or something else—but I had one of the most severe episodes of left-sided weakness and numbness I’ve had in a long time.

It started with tingling in my face and progressed to not being able to move my left arm and leg.

About 30 minutes after taking my seizure medication and some baby aspirin, I regained movement. I’m still a bit tingly, but I’m grateful it passed.

It brought me back to the kind of guttural prayer I whispered earlier this week in the ER—“God… am I being punished?”

Maybe my brain is still recovering, and this is just me trying to put scattered thoughts into words.

But I want to say this:

You’re allowed to have both.

You’re allowed to have highlight reel moments and moments of absolute despair.

You’re allowed triumph and tragedy in the same breath.

That duality is what makes life so human—and so real.

06/06/2026

He is most definitely the cutest buddy I have ever binge watched Americas next top model with 😉🐾

Seriously I don’t mean to be a baby but between the side pain, back pain, ear pain, and this massive headache that I guess is coming from my ears, I barely left my room today! Just lifting my head off of my pillow was a struggle.

I did watch AGT with the girls today though.

And I’m pretty sure their belly laughs could possibly cure a multitude of the worlds maladies ❤️

And I also got this sweet little surprise gift. 📸

So even though I feel like absolute death today, it reminded me there is so many little beautiful blessings tucked into every day life ❤️

06/04/2026

He definitely feels ✨ Bonita ✨ 😉

My mom picked Bernie up for me from the groomers and he ran to my room to show me his new hair cut . Then ran outside to use the bathroom 😂😂❤️. My groomer seriously does the BEST job ! And after this cut all his gray hairs are gone 😂😂😂 she took 3 years off of him !

06/04/2026

Friends ,
It’s been a rough couple of days

Medical Update

As we all know my right ear is infected .
But for the past couple of days I’ve been having painful popping in my left ear.

So I went and got it checked out at the urgent care while I was already in that same building for my
asthma shot .

She didn’t prescribe me ears drops though , and my insurance is requiring a prior auth for the steroid drops she wants me to use because both my ear cannals are swollen

And then last night I got this HORRIFIC pain in my back that radiated to my abdomen on my left side . I’m talking about the kind of pain that makes it hard to talk .
They did a urinalysis and some blood work , only to find that my white count is really high
( 19.5 )
So since I have had some dark blood when I use the bathroom . The best guess is that I have diverticulitis .. which is basically swelling and infection in your large intestine..

Not a fun time .

And if you have been keeping track that brings this months infection tally to

1 gnarly stomach bug
1 case of thrush so bad it hurt to eat
2 outer ear infections
And now one VERY painful case of diverticulitis

5 infections in one month 🙃 5 ..

I’m trying to manage the right mix of tyneol and nsaids together to keep the pain tolerable. But I’m just crossing my fingers things actually improve.

I am exhausted .

05/31/2026

My feet are absolutely KILLING me
( friendly reminder . One is broken , one has ripped tendons )

But after 3 days of not puking , I FINALLY felt good enough to go to church today ! ❤️❤️

We had a super interesting group lesson with the adults and the teens in our church about how to keep our teens / youth “ cyber safe “ from a member of our ward who actually works in that department of our prison !
Some of the stories he shared were absolutely mind blowing.
Like for example one of the youngest cases of child po*******hy minor sending to a - minor
was at the ELEMENTARY school . .

And how child preditors are using AI to lure more children, they can even use AI to make videos and alter there voice ( I gotta admit I love AI but I didn’t know it could do THAT 😅 makes me want to never online date again. )

It also talked about how it increases su***de and self harm risk

Then we just talked basically about how to be smart ourselves, and teach the kids in our lives the good and the bad about phones

I must admit After some of the facts he shared …. I asked K how she felt about us raising the girls Amish 😂😂.

It’s a crazy, and sometimes downright scary world we live in .. but we still have to remember that through it all. There is so much good ❤️

🐷

05/30/2026

Thank you for all the love and prayers!!!

Thanks to them (and a big shout out to the IVs I got yesterday to refill my tank 😂), my stomach still isn’t the happiest camper, and I’m still on full nausea meds, but I haven’t had to run to the bathroom every 10 minutes 💩.

I’VE ALSO BEEN ABLE TO EAT TODAY!!!!

Being able to eat is such a freaking blessing!!! Actually having calories in my system today meant I had real energy and was able to play with my nieces, and man, they wore me out 😂❤️❤️!!

My fingers were SAUSAGES. I couldn’t even straighten them after playing with those puppets.

But how could I regret any of that pain when it was full of moments of a 9 and 10-year-old belly laughing? 😂❤️

This is why God made anti-inflammatories, right? 😂

Life is a gift, my friends.

Life is a gift.

I’m so grateful to be here, even for the small moments. ❤️

(And Nat said to tell you all she IS going to be on AGT like Darci Lynne someday ❤️😂❤️)

05/29/2026

I love this!

As millions of Americans celebrate the 250th birthday of our nation, here in Utah, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is marking the milestone with acts of service, such as donating roughly 20 tons of food to all 50 states.

A special delivery rolled into Tooele Thursday morning. A semitruck unloaded 25 pallets of food that will be distributed to the local food pantry, courtesy of the Church of Jesus Christ.

Read the story: https://ksltv.com/?p=913109

🎤 + 🖊️: Tamara Vaifanua
📷: Kainoa Johnson, KSL and Meghan Thackrey, KSL