The Kemp Family

January 2012

2012-01-22T17:30:00.003-07:00

January has been an outdoor adventure of many flavors. We spent New Year's in St. George and had a lot of fun playing pool and Apples to Apples, as well as a nice hike with Aunt Tam...

The weather has been really weird here in Utah this year. No one has ever seen a January without snow. We have friends and neighbors who have lived here 30 years and have never seen it. It has been warmish (low 40's) so we decided we may as well get out and enjoy it. We have taken a few trips to the skate park (without our camera unfortunately) but here is a shot of Brenny with his scooter...
Kaeleb has been super daring at the skate park, scooting down hills and over little jumps. We are really proud of him!! Kwint and I roller blade... but I am not as daring as Kaeleb.

Finally, yesterday, January 20th, it snowed! For the first time we were able to use the boy's Christmas presents, these awesome little snow skates. They are like mini snowboards without the bindings. They are great because they use the same technique as snowboarding but if they feel like they are about to fall they can just jump off. Kwint and I loved them too.
We made videos, but for some reason I can never get Blogger to download them, so you'll have to use your imagination and visualize how very cute it was to see the boys skating down the little hill at our neighborhood park.

Christmas Day 2011

2012-01-08T15:04:00.004-07:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Here are some pics of our holly, jolly day...

Santa filled our stockings with Angry Birds. We have a family tradition of playing Angry Birds at bedtime. Some families read bedtime stories... we smash pigs with bird eggs.

The toy Brennan most wanted Santa to bring was an Armored Dinosaur.

Both boys also got snow skates and helmets to add to our fun in the Heber Valley... provided we end up getting some snow this year, that is. It happens to be the driest winter since 1927.
Oh well, it'll come!

Kaeleb's big request of Santa was a double ax. He has wanted it for a
very, very long time and his patience finally paid off.

Kwint and I got a few great items we are sharing, including a bike rack (which we have used more than the snowboards this winter), a tablet PC which the whole family loves, and an elliptical trainer (it was a REALLY good sale...). We were all very grateful.

As usual, we spent Christmas Day trying to find the floor, putting things together and building with Legos before going over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house.

We were also glad to go to Sacrament Meeting and listen to the choir sing carols of our Savior's birth. We are grateful as a family, and I personally, for Jesus and all that his birth, life, and resurrection means to us. Life has a way of throwing curve balls and the trials of life can overwhelm us (at least me, anyway...) until we seek for the peace of the Savior, knowing that He suffered not only for our sins, but our heartaches, fears, and weaknesses. I have a personal witness of His ability to rescue us from all our infirmities and my gratitude is immense. I love Him. Merry Christmas to all...

A bit of Christmas 2011

2011-12-26T19:07:00.009-07:00

I know, I know, it's been awhile. The last month has been a doozy for me and I am just glad to be back.... So, let's get down to business with the Christmas joys...

To kick off the week of Christmas, we attended Kaeleb's first piano recital. He played "Up on the Housetop". He practiced very hard and I think he rather enjoyed himself.

His teacher, Kathryn is his best friend Landon's mom. These are the boys who performed that night: L-R, Kaeleb, Landon, and Benson. They get pretty silly and have a lot of fun.
We spent the week doing last minute Christmas details, and celebrating Kwint's 34th birthday. I love the 3 months that we are the same age. ;) He went snowboarding with Kris and they had a good time nearly getting frostbite on their noses. Kwint got a new snowboard and helmet for his birthday and loves it! Yay!

On the evening of his birthday we went to see the lights at temple Square with Kris, Barbi, and their kids. It was super packed-- thousands of people had the same idea. It was awesome to see so many people there to feel the Spirit of Christmas. I know it looks like it is snowing in this picture, but it isn't. It was some sort of reflection or dust, I guess, but it looks cool anyway. I love looking up at the Salt Lake Temple, it is so majestic.
Here we are bundled up enjoying the view.And now for Christmas Eve! Kris and Barbi host the annual Christmas Eve dinner which is always very yummy. We watched Elf and laughed and laughed while eating lots of cheeseball and crackers before dinner. After dinner we let the kids open their gifts from Grandma and Grandpa since we were all together. They had so much fun. I love that the cousins are such great friends. Here is Kaeleb examining his bag o' fun from Grandma.

They took turns being "Santa" which meant they grabbed the presents and distributed them according to whose name was on each...
Brenny and I posed for this self portrait-- he was pretending to be grumpy to tease me. I took at least 5 pics and he did this in all of them then laughed at himself.
Here is the #1 way to get him to smile instead: Baby Gracie. Oh, his loves his little Gracer as he calls her. He says she is the cutest baby on the planet and the whole Kemp family agrees.

I know this isn't a great shot, but I had to capture this moment with Great-Aunt Marie. My kids love her. She is the most generous and thoughtful lady and they can feel it too.The comic relief, I am sorry you have to see this, but it was so funny!! Tom and DeAnn gave Kris and Barbi matching long underwear as a joke, so he modeled it. Then, the joke was on them.

More to come about Christmas day soon!

Halloween Festivities & Routine Surgery...

2011-11-13T18:41:00.006-07:00

I got a bit behind on the blogging... We had a lot of fun in October celebrating Halloween all month. We went to St. George for one weekend and played with Grandma and Grandpa, Tam and Dave and Kris and Barbi's family. We played laser tag, watched Jaiden play volleyball and Sadie dance, played laser tag and went to a trampoline arena- wow, was that ever fun! These are the only pictures we took, unfortunately.
This is Brennan conquering the big bounce house...
Nothing like wall to wall trampolines to make a kid happy!
The Friday night before Halloween we went to Saige's yearly birthday/Halloween party. We all dressed up and had a costume parade and indoor trick or treating. I have pictures on Kwint's phone, which I am too lazy to download now, so I will edit this later. Kwint was a werewolf, I was Little Red Riding Hood and you'll see the spooky boys soon in the Halloween Day pics.

The next day we went to see my grandma in Altamont and took her with us to the Bluebell Corn Maze. We were proud to say that my 86 year old Grandma got lost and found with us in the maze. She is a neat lady, it was good to be with her.

Halloween night we took our little ghost and our mummy over to trick or treat and visit neighborhood haunted houses with their cousins.
Here you can see that Talan (left) and Kaeleb (right) fit right in with the decor at this haunted house.

This is our little sweet ghosty... He was none too happy about the haunted houses and informed me that he is "never doing Halloween again", even when he is a grown up. I am pretty sure he will change his mind, but it did make me wonder about all we do in the name of fun for this silly holiday. :)
Sweet Brenny guy got his tonsils out the Friday after Halloween. He was very brave and has been recovering better than we hoped for.

Kwint and I were unprepared for how hard it would be emotionally for all of us. They talk about a tonsillectomy as if it's plucking a sliver, but it IS surgery after all. Bren was scared, and he had to fast until 1pm- that was awful- and when they gave him the laughing gas his eyes rolled back in his head and they scooted me out the door with his little hand still squeezing my finger... then they wouldn't let us in until after he woke up, so he woke up in a strange place with an IV in his foot and he was very unhappy about it. He cried for a good long time after that.

For the doc and nurses, it was very simple. Maybe not as easy as tweezers and slivers, but the procedure only took 15 minutes. They used a new procedure called coblation, which involves using a saline solution and radio frequency energy waves to dissolve the tonsils a layer at a time, without even a drop of blood. Dr. Tagge came out of the OR with a smug expression, sat down with a happy sigh and said "Well, I'm done. Those are the kind of tonsils I LOVE removing! They were huge and nasty and it was sooo satisfying!" I thought "Well, here's a man who loves his job..." I still find it amusing.

The brighter side for Brenny is, that he drank, ate and took his medicine very well and was ready to run within 3 hours... until the medicine wore off... He was tired and laid around a lot all week, but we had to remind him many times a day not to run or jump. It was a much easier recovery than we expected, based on the stories we've heard from others, but he is a tough kid, and the procedure is much better than the old scalpel way.

We took the opportunity to stock up on movies and ice cream, so it hasn't been all bad for us. We have been hanging out at home watching movie after movie after movie.... We have learned that all we need is each other to be happy... but we are looking forward to getting out and enjoying the upcoming holiday season with a healthy boy in tow!

Kaeleb is doing fabulously in school. He got his first term report card and is loving school. He really loves being with his friends. Recess is his favorite part of the day and as soon as he gets home he is ready to go out and play with them more. I love how social he is and how accepting and loyal he is to his friends. He called me from school on Friday in tears because he felt so sick, so I picked him up and he had every symptom of none other than strep throat... what!!?? No!!! Strep was supposed to be banished from our home with Brennan's tonsillectomy! Gotta love antibiotics though, 36 hours later and he is feeling much better and will be ready for school tomorrow!

I am grateful for this happy little family. I love my guys with all my heart, they are my whole world and the gospel plan that unites us forever is my greatest blessing!

Sensei Kwinten

2011-10-16T21:10:00.002-06:00

Yesterday was a big day. After 8 years of hard work Kwinten received a black belt in Aikido. There is no Aikido dojo here in Heber, so he has had to remember all he learned in St. George and practice on his own. He has introduced and taught Aikido at the karate studio where he trains now. They invited his Sensei from SG to come up and test Kwinten.

The test was grueling. After 3 hours of deflecting attack after attack and throwing two 6 foot tall guys over his shoulder about 100 times (I felt bad for the guys) he was completely exhausted. It was fun to watch-- It is an impressive art and I was bursting with pride at his skill in all the maneuvers and the fact that he could remember them all. Then Sensei ordered 4 guys (all about 6 feet tall and 200 pounds) to attack him at once. It was the hardest thing he says he has ever done. It was NOT fun to watch and I was bursting with anger. He was literally at his breaking point and had to repeat it 3 times. I thought he was going to throw up or pass out- I have never, in 11 years, seen my husband at such a low point. But he got back up every time. I have never been so proud of him!

That night the dojo celebrated with him by performing at his belt ceremony. Each belt rank performed their signature move. Brennan and the little Lion Cubs did Star Set and Kaeleb and the green belts did Creative Set One. Kwint performed a solo sword tato, Sensei Josh did a Kenpo nunchuk routine and a friend of his performed a Bushi Ban black belt Crane Set.

These are his comrades and some of the kids they teach. A couple of the girls made this sign to cheer him on.

Adam Jenkins, Kwinten, Josh Spray, and Patrick Crosby (Josh is our Kenpo Sensei, Adam and Patrick were Kwint's Uke's-- the guys he tossed) during a water break in the middle of the test.
Sensei Kwinten with his black belt. Way to go Babe!!!

More Fall Happenings

2011-10-16T19:21:00.004-06:00

We went to the cabin a week ago and this is what we found.... A little cold spell made for a pretty scene...
Brennan's preschool took a tour of Dairy Keen. Brenny is down in the corner snarfing an ice cream cone, I was trying to get his teacher in the picture because she is super cool. Miss Camie is the blond on the right. I was actually impressed by the quality of ingredients and cleanliness I saw behind the scenes at Heber's favorite fast food restaurant. I decided if I ever do fast food it will be this fast food.
Brennan also recently participated in his first karate belt test. He always looks away right as I take pics so I have one million shots of the back of his head.... but the horse stance is cute.

Just a little fall scene of the Heber Valley... LOVE IT HERE!!!
Kaeleb and Brennan made their very own spook alley. It was the cutest thing ever- we left it up for a week. They made ghosts, mummies and skeletons,
Then they took a little rest and Kaeleb read a story to his little bro. This is one of my favorite things to see when I walk into the room....
Kaeleb's school had a walk-a-thon fundraiser. He and Daddy ran 12 laps together. He was dripping with sweat!!!

Dinosaurs and missionaries

2011-10-02T19:21:00.002-06:00

My mom and her hubby are off on a mission to Washington D.C. We spent the day with them on Sept 17th to say "See Ya Later" and wish them well. We spent the day at Thanksgiving Point, which is a beautiful place!

Here we are enjoying the Dinosaur Museum. I love this picture of Kwint. I call it "Perspective." Actually, I haven't called it anything. I just made that up now.
The boys went crazy over the exhibits. They loved the hands on features and ran around yelling "Check this one out!"

Ever since Kaeleb was 2 years old his favorite dino has been the good ol' Stegosaurus with a spiky tail. he used to say "seggasawus wif a siky tail!"
The boys loved the water feature by the big water tower.
This is the best picture we could get of Brenny, who was thirsty and tired, but here we have Mom, Gary, Me and Kaeleb looking happy to be there...

Happy Birthday Brennan!

2011-09-28T12:03:00.001-06:00

September 14, 2011 Our Brennan turned 4!

He got to be special leader at preschool!
He had a picnic party at the park with 16 of his closest friends. :)
And got the new big bike he has been wanting so he can go "even faster!"

Preschool Mania!

2011-09-25T19:34:00.002-06:00

Well, the big day came. Brennan started preschool on September 7th. He is big in to karate these days, so naturally he would throw a vertical punch while posing with his new Transformer back pack...

Welcome to Sunshine Circle... Brennan's new favorite place. He is older and 5 inches taller than everyone in his class, by virtue of being born 2 weeks past the deadline, but I think he likes it that way. ;) I am sure he is learning a lot, but the only thing I can ever get him to talk about is snack time. So, I know he has had apples & almonds, banana bread, and cheese & crackers so far... (snack of the day starts with the letter of the day, by the way...) I am proud of him for being so good in school!

And, of course, since we are big into karate, here is a little HiYa! for ya.

Labor Day

2011-09-25T19:16:00.002-06:00

We had an adventurous Labor Day at Mt. Timpanogos. We wanted to take the boys to Timp cave to see the stalagmites and stalactites... but apparently you have to get there at 6am to stand in line on a holiday because the tickets were sold out for four hours ahead. We made a mental note to do that on a weekday of no importance. So, we found a trail to hike which was infested with gigantic bumblebees and lasted about 10 minutes there. Finally, we went back to the Timpanooke trail for a breathtaking hike in perfect weather.

Happy Labor Day!

Happy Birthdays!

2011-09-17T19:36:00.003-06:00

In late August we had a birthday party for four of the five cousins in the Kemp Family who have August or September birthdays... It was super fun! We acquired a new fish and two frogs as well as toys and clothes... Annalyn turned 8, Kaeleb turned 7, and both Brennan and Ceralyn turned 4. We think we'll do it every year!!

End of Summer Happenings

2011-09-17T19:04:00.003-06:00

At the end of August we went to Cascade Springs, a pretty little hike around a natural spring seeping out the Northeast side of Mt. Timpanogos. It took all our willpower not to stick our faces in and have a big drink!
We brought Talan (we call him our brother-cousin) along just for fun...

Also at the end of August... Kaeleb went back to school! He is in Mrs. Smith's 2nd grade class. Mrs. Smith is young, tall, and very nice. He is loving it so far! But don't tell him that, he says it is long and grueling but we can see that he loves it. He and his friends spend their recesses playing dodgeball and having Beyblade battles. His best friend Landon is in his class, and they play together after school with a group of the neighbor kids. He is really happy and we are loving watching him grow. He is starting piano lessons next week, and as you can see here... he is progressing in karate. This is a picture of the night he advanced to green belt. Kwinten advanced that night as well, to a red belt. They are on the far right, next to Sensai Josh (in black)
We are proud of Kaeleb!!

Happy Birthday Kaeleb

2011-08-14T18:03:00.006-06:00

HAPPY 7TH BIRTHDAY KAELEB!!

We love our Kaeleb! We have a tradition of opening presents in the morning...

...after blowing out a candle in pancakes
He wanted a ninja birthday... So, ninja he was!
He got the Lego Ninjago Spinjitsu Dojo

and a ninja costume, which he wore ALL day in spite of the 90 degree weather.

I made ninja cupcakes (with tootsie roll swords)

and we played ninja games at the park with his friends and cousins.
They threw cardboard Chinese stars through the eyes of a cardboard ninja, played "Crazy Samuri", freeze tag, and dodge the Chinese star. Thanks to Daddy for knowing some ninja games. I had nothing to contribute on that one.

Then we opened presents and ate cupcakes.
All in all he had a very happy birthday and loves being 7.

2011-08-07T19:46:00.006-06:00

We have had ourselves a busy month! Here are a few of the fun things we've done this summer! We had a company retreat with 3 of our TGY coaches for a week here in the Wasatch mountains.

These next few pics are the Timpanooke trail on Mount Timpanogos.

In Midway there is a fun experience called the Homestead Crater. It is a hollow mountain dome with a natural hot spring underneath. It makes quite a large swimming pool that is as warm as a bath. You literally swim inside the mountain and when you look up you can see the sky through the crater on top. The kids came with us and had a blast!

This is Melissa and Leah
Matt swimming- I know it's fuzzy but I wanted one with the water in it. :)The boys and I in the little fenced off hot tub portion. Brenny went crazy swimming back and forth across it.
This is a hike we took near the reservoir at Smith and Morehouse
Matt and Kwint
The boys and I

In addition to busy business days, we finished up the main part of the yard. I don't have pics because it is not quite lush enough for photo ops. It has been fun to watch the grass grow and plant trees.

I also got crazy and decided to refinish some furniture. This is our new dining set. I love it!!
This is a desk Kwint has had since Jr. High which I sanded and painted and got new handles for. I had a lot of fun with it and love what it did for our little office.We celebrated Talan's 8th birthday at the bowling alley! We also had a BBQ at their house and went to his baptism yesterday. We are proud of our cousin!!
We have been swimming a lot. Here are the boys out just for fun...
Here is Kaeleb at swimming lessons. We've spent two full weeks at the pool this summer... glad they are over, but he had a great time and was really brave.

I know this is a weird picture to end with, but it's a memorable story I can't forget to blog. If you look closely to the right of the garbage can you will see what we affectionately refer to as the blasted whistle pig. Yes, aka woodchuck, aka, marmot, aka massive groundhog.

This little buddy moved into our garage, unbeknownst to us one Saturday night. He was locked in and shredded the seal on the bottom of the garage door, trying desperately to get out. The next day we wondered what in tarnation had happened to our garage door. Until I spotted his big fluffy tail behind the garbage can and thought "That is one big squirrel..." Upon further inspection and googling "large rodent with fluffy tail" we discovered the beloved marmot species and narrowed it down to a yellow-bellied marmot, also called a whistle pig, because of their high pitched squeal when they are scared, which we heard plenty of. We called animal control to come get him. By the time the guy came, the marmot had climbed up into the engine of my car where the blasted whistle pig shredded every inch of the insulation under the hood of my car. It cost me 100 bucks to get my car fixed.

My boys have a bad habit of leaving the front door open. I used to yell, "Close the door before the wasps fly in!" Now I yell, "Close the door before the woodchuck gets in!" Not a big fan of that particular rodent. Not so much.

4th of July Celebrations

2011-07-10T19:24:00.009-06:00

This 4th of July was quite an event. Here are some pictures of various activities... Once again I posted them backwards. You'd think I'd figure it out and start at the end. Oh well!

So, the end of the day brought us fireworks. Here is everyone's all time favorite: Tank wars. They light two tanks and whichever one catches on fire first loses.
The ever popular sparklers...
This year Utah made aerials legal. Everyone went to Wyoming to buy illegal fireworks, so this year they decided to keep the revenue by making them legal.
Cera and Brennan... of course, this is totally posed.
Next, here is the Sheriff. He was in a play written and directed by his cousin Anna who is almost 8. Brennan played Mr. Brown who owned a horse farm. Mr. Sheriff didn't like the 4th of July and his daughter Anna tried to convince him that fireworks were fun.

We played a hundred and one water games during the afternoon. We sported: Water Weenies (blast from anyone else's past?)
The Shark Slip and Slide (Kaeleb)
Brenny splish splashin'
Brenny slip slidin'
and Super Soaker Squirt Guns. We had a lot of wet fun.
Not to mention, bubble swords from Aunt Tam.
Earlier in the morning, some of the family hiked Adam's Canyon, one of our favorite pastimes. Kwint and Kris enjoyed some time with Tam on this hike while Barbi and I stayed with the littles.

Earlier this month Kaeleb went to a birthday party. When I went to pick him up I could not find him, but this scary guy got in my car so I brought him home.
We sure love Heber. The weather is perfect! It has been a wet spring, and here is one of the rainbows we found in our front yard.
All month Kaeleb has been on a neighborhood T-ball team called the Blue Bombers. We've all had a lot of fun with it. All his friends are on the team and all my friends are in the bleachers. He even played his cousin Saige's team, the Grasshoppers. Here he is playing catcher. He also had some good plays this season as short stop.

Every sunny morning, this is the view from my kitchen window. I love Heber!!

This is my cute nephew Ben. We had a really fun weekend with him and his family (My brother Gerritt and his cute wife Melissa came to visit with Abby, who is 4 and this cute little guy.) He won't let anyone hold him, but he smiles like this constantly.

When I'm a Grown Up

2011-06-24T19:56:00.003-06:00

Oh, another funny. Yesterday Brennan was playing with his friend Isaac and when I picked him up he came running up the stairs with a pile of broken pieces of an electric bubble gun. He was holding the motor and several wires. He loudly & enthusiastically said "MOM!! Isaac and me broke this and he said I can keep it! I am going to light these wires on fire--when I'm a grown-up."

Boy, am I glad he remembered that kids should never play with matches! He has an elaborate plan to save the wires until he is a grown up and then he and Isaac will own an "electric company" where they will stand inside a cage and use a computer to light the wires on fire and make lightning all around them. (Sound familiar to anyone who has seen the Sorcerer's Apprentice?) He drew a picture of them inside the cage with lightning all around them and asked me to label it "Lightning from the Electric Company of Isaac and Brenny Guy."

I love these funny boys. Kaeleb wants to be an inventor when he grows up and has already started drawing rough plans of his inventions and deciding which materials he will need to make them. So far, the favorite ideas are a real light saber and a flying car. He said "I will build my company in Heber so I can live close to you, but you might see me on the news sometimes, too."

Someday, when my children become a physicist and an engineer I will remember this day.

How Buff is Kaeleb?

2011-06-23T15:43:00.003-06:00

So, we have been digging & throwing rocks around getting our yard ready for topsoil. The rocks here are incredible. Awful. Huge. But most of all, PLENTIFUL.

So, Kaeleb has a friend over right now and I just overheard him say "Riker, do you see how buff I am? I used to be skinnier than this until we started working in our yard."

Ah, yes, a fringe benefit of yard work. Soon we will have grass and I will post pictures of us lounging lazily on the green, rock free grass.

We love our little monkeys.

2011-06-12T14:43:00.006-06:00

It's official-- Summer break is here!! We have been living it up, and here is a backward itinerary... I am always too lazy to post the pics in reverse order so that they show up in chronological order. Sorry.

Friday & Saturday Kwint and Kaeleb went to karate camp. They played steal the flag and had Tron disc wars, training stations, target practice, roasted marshmallows and more. But, they didn't take any pictures...

Last Saturday we went to the zoo to reward Kaeleb for his good grades on his report card. I will spare you pictures of the animals... it was really crowded and they were all hiding or sleeping. I don't blame them. The kids were not as impressed as I had hoped they would be, but I can't blame them either. Our zoo is really not very impressive. But.... there was something new-- dinosaurs!! The zoo placed animatronic dinos throughout the exhibits and the kids loved them!

When I asked Brennan what his favorite animal at the zoo was he replied "T-Rex!" Mental note: next time skip the zoo and go to the dinosaur park.
My guys and the scary king of the Jurassic period...

I can't remember the name of this guy, but paleontologists theorize that one of their offensive weapons was spitting at their prey. So this dino sprayed water every few seconds at passersby. As you might imagine, we spent a long time passing by.
And, of course, the ceremonial trip to the gift shop to complete the grade prize. Happy First grade Kaeleb!
The night before, which was the last day of school, we took the boys for a hike at Dutch Hollow. It was pretty fun! We are always finding new reasons to be glad we moved to Heber!

This is Buzz Lightyear. Brennan got this idea from Andy, the boy in the cartoon, who at some point makes cardboard wings and pretends to be Buzz. He colored the other side.
Now we are back in time to Memorial Day. Kwint got a new BBQ for an early Father's Day present because I wanted to grill, and then we wanted to make S'mores in our little cute fire pit which was a gift from his parents for our up & coming back yard... but it was crazy windy! We couldn't build a fire.
So, we improvised. We roasted marshmallows over the gas burners in our warm, wind-free kitchen. We really know how to rough it!

Kaeleb learned to ride his bike with no training wheels two weeks ago! The video won't load so I will have to take more pics another day, but he was pretty excited. I was at a RS meeting and in the short 3 hours I was gone, he figured it out! He waited up to tell me all about it.

Yesterday Brennan watched part of a cooking show. He was determined to make the dish. Unfortunately, we didn't have cabbage, kielbasa, and pierogies on hand, so he improvised.
This is the soup he made. Special ingredients included one celery stalk, 4 baby carrots, mushrooms, ketchup, ricotta cheese, basil, lemon pepper, and rosemary. He actually ate it and exclaimed "MOM! I'm the best cook in the world!" so I assume he liked it.

Kwint has been learning a lot from his Mr. Mom experience while I am serving in RS. It really has not been bad-- I am amazed. I was so nervous about the time commitment and the weight of the responsibility but the Lord is providing and we are feeling very blessed to be able to juggle it together. So far, anyway. :) I love so much about it-- the ladies I serve with, the amazing women in our ward, & the way the Spirit guides us. I have a whole lot to learn.
On to the next adventure!!!

More of the same

2011-05-22T19:18:00.004-06:00

Life has become busier in the Kemp home. I got a new calling last week, to serve in the Relief Society Presidency. It was somewhat terrifying... and I am not quite sure how to put into words how I feel, so let me simply say that however inadequate I may be, I know the Lord called me here for a reason and the joy of the Spirit has blessed our family already. I am so excited to serve with the other 3 women, I have so much to learn from them.

Friday night Talan spent the night, which was fun for the boys. He came with us to Kaeleb's last soccer game. By the way, if it ever stops raining, the rock yard you see here will be grass...
Kaeleb became quite the little defender. Most of the time his coach had him as a midfielder and defender. He got in a goodly amount of blocks and had a great time doing it. He took his position very seriously. I love this guy! That is him up front.
After lunch I took the boys to Talan's sisters' dance recital. This is the older girls who dance at their studio. Although none of my niece's are in this, I thought it looked so beautiful that I had to include the picture.

Here is Bailee (2nd from the right) doing a dance called Sassy.
Next, little Miss Saige (5th from the left)- (the cutest one) being a butterfly fish. They performed Finding Nemo. Saige got to be on the poster they hung all over town. :)

And, finally little Krystal as a clown fish.They did such a good job. These kids have wriggled their way so deeply into my heart. I am so glad we live here so my boys can grow up with cousins their age. They love each other and always play so well.

After the dance I took Kaeleb shopping and out to dinner. It was such a good date with my K. He is growing up so fast and I love the boy he is becoming. Smart, thoughtful, studious, and witty... He is getting pretty funny. I love to hear him laugh. Precious little gives a mama more joy than the sound of her child's laughter.

Last, but not least, we have the Bren-guy. One morning while I was upstairs getting ready for the day I heard a good deal of banging around in the kitchen. Soon, Brennan came running in to my room exclaiming "Mom! I made a cake!" Instantly nervous, I asked "Really? Tell me how you made a cake." He said "I put applesauce, yogurt, oatmeal, and a little salt in my bowl! Let's go put it in the oven!" I was able to convince him that the oven would melt his bowl, but he did insist on candles and me singing "Happy Birthday" to him. He saved it all day to show Kaeleb and Daddy. I just love this guy. His enthusiasm for life is so contagious.

The good news is, after 3 and 1/2 years, Bren-guy sleeps through the night. Woo Hoo!! The secret to our success? Imaginarium Train Set. I bought a train and track set and told him for every night he stays in his bed ALL night he will earn one piece of the train. I am so happy and proud of him.

Easter and Soccer season!!

2011-05-09T15:43:00.005-06:00

Spring is finally (somewhat) upon us. For Kaeleb, that means soccer season! Here he is on the field. He has been loving the games this year and is really getting into it. He takes his positions very seriously and stays exactly where his coach tells him to be, even if the rest of the team is on the other end of the field. I think he might make a good goalie. :)
During the games Brennan takes the opportunity to run through the grass. I know this is a weird picture, but if you look in his eyes, you will see that this picture captures the essence of who this kid is. He is on his way to have as much fun as he can as fast as he can.
We celebrated Easter by decorating eggs with Kris, Barbi and their kiddles. I know they don't look super excited here, but they actually had a very good time.

Kaeleb and Talan, best cousins in unplanned matching shirts.Easter morning egg hunt
Emptying the baskets
Looks like someone woke up a little earlier than he was expecting... (Brenny woke him up)

Don't tell Kwint this one is here. He is shy about this kind of thing, but I think it is so AWESOME! This is a pic of him testing for his fancy new purple belt in Kenpo.
The same night, Kaeleb was awarded his orange belt, and as you can see from the black stripe, he is now a member of the Black Belt Club. (If he sticks with karate as I believe he will, he will get two black belts, one as a youth, which means under 12, and one as an adult, anytime over the age of 12.)
This is Brennan's friend Ashtyn. She is the girl version of himself. They both think they are hilarious. I adore her, and so does he. I heard him tell her that she is the prettiest girl in the world. At the moment, she was dripping wet, because they had been spitting water on each other. Yes, they thought they were very funny.
Kaeleb went on a field trip to a farm where they gave him a stick horse, so of course I had to figure out how to make another one for Brennan. As you can also see, we are beginning to landscape our yard. We are getting sprinklers this week. Yay!!
This is picture Bailee drew with oil pastels and I loved it so much I had to take a picture of it and show it off.

Spring Break 2011

2011-04-17T19:35:00.015-06:00

Warning: THIS IS LONG! I don't scrapbook or do photo albums anymore (too busy or too lazy, not sure which) so this blog is intended to be our family journal and photo album, so if you don't have hours to pour over our family vacation, please feel free to scroll on through to the bottom and pretend you read it all. I will never know.

We set out to Southeastern Utah last Sunday, the 10th, which happens to be my little bro's b-day (Hi Ira!) It was my first trip that direction. My mom, as you may know, married a super neat man from Blanding (way down in the SE corner of the state) so we went to spend a few days with them and Gary played tour guide for us.

Day one: Anasazi ruins near Blanding

Natural Bridges National Park- if you are like us, you may not have known this place exists-- it is worth a visit. We loved it.

Owachamo Bridge (I probably spelled this wrong, my mom, who may be the only one who loves me enough to read this entire post, will tell me if I did)
This is Kaeleb being sworn in as a Junior Ranger at Natural Bridges. He took the program very seriously. He had to fill out a workbook and look for items at the park and pledge to pick up litter, recycle, conserve water, and hug his brother on his birthday. He and Bren both went on to become Junior Rangers at two other parks we visited during the week. You'll see...
The boys in the backseat of Grandpa Gary's truck where we spent many an hour, and they were sooo good!
Muelle Point (again spelled wrong, most likely) Gary help up the rock so we could walk under.... then Kaeleb took a turn...

The view here was incredible! These are the goosenecks of the San Juan river
Mexican Hat- To some this is an upside sombrero... we were partial to the idea of a UFO.
Kaeleb wearing the Mexican Hat
Bren Guy wearing the Mexican hat
Bluff Utah, where the Hole in the Rock Pioneers first settled
Day Two: Mesa Verde Colorado, where the ancestral Puebloans SOMEHOW scaled down or climbed up the cliffs and built cities in the rocks.

This is the Cliff Palace dwelling which they estimate housed 150 people
The ranger who guided our tour saw Kaeleb's Jr. Ranger badge and gave him the ancient tomahawk and invited him to lead the way
Brennan climbing the ladder to exit the Cliff Palace

This is the Spruce Tree House where we got to climb down inside the Kiva (you can see the ladder poking up) It was very dusty down there!
The first of many self portraits you will see... We are inside the Kiva
Little Ironman guys blasting lasers with their hands...
The inside of one of the rooms in the Spruce Tree
Ah, the Sun temple-- this is a view from the window, we loved the rows of doorways.
The Square Tower House, my personal favorite, it's just aesthetically pleasing.
Day Three: Imagination Hill. Kwint made me post this one of me hiking.

The rocks look like petrified versions of animals, we had fun imagining what animals they were. This is an alligator. We also saw a chicken, a frog, a dove, a rhino and more.
Then we hiked Butler Wash and found a cactus that is obviously Mickey Mouse.

At the end of Butler wash there are ruins similar to Mesa Verde
Kwint found this view at Butler Wash
He also found this view...
Kaeleb, Nana, Gpa Gary, and Bren Guy
In the afternoon we toured a local pottery shop and saw how they create all the fancy pots we can buy in gift shops all over the world who sell Indian artwork. This lady did the hand painting and she looked like she could have done it with her eyes closed. Amazing.

Day Four: Arches National Park... On the way we drove past the Monticello Temple, first of the mini temples announced by Pres. Hinckley years ago.
Church house rock outside Monticello
Arches-- The 3 Gossips (aka Relief Society Meeting said the men)

Turret Arch
The North and South Window arches-- you may notice the people wearing jackets and hoods-- it would have been a sunny, warm day if it were not for the biting Arctic wind that chased us all over the park.
This is all of us beneath the South Window Arch
This is the underside of the South Window
Balancing Rock
This was our favorite hike-- The kid friendly version of the hike to Delicate Arch-- this is a zoom across a canyon that overlooks Delicate Arch.
Ah, another self portrait. We love these.
The kids favorite arch was Sand Dune Arch, these are my guys who found a good rock to climb on the way...
Where's Kwint? If you can spot his hat on top of the rock you get a star. He climbed Sand Dune Arch (probably against the rules, don't tell the Jr. Rangers). I wanted a picture of him on top, but sand flew into the lens of my camera and locked it up for awhile.
Double Arch
Tunnel Arch (We think it should be named Elephant Arch, don't you?)
Our collective favorite, Pine Tree Arch

Thursday night we parted ways with Gpa and Nana and went to the Holiday Inn in Moab. Here the boys are sporting their new duds, matching Moab shirts and hats.
We went to dinner at Pasta Jay's, which by the way, is the BEST ITALIAN RESTAURANT EVER!! We decided it may have been the best meal we have ever tasted anywhere. Get the manicotti or chicken pomodora if you go there. And you should go there.
We had planned to stay in Moab on Friday (Day 5) but received a call from a dear friend of ours in St. George who decided last week to get baptized on Saturday. We gladly cut our trip short and drove across the state to be there for her baptism. On the way we found the San Juan reef. Neither of us had ever spanned I-70 to see this before and the view was incredible. One thing we learned on this vacation is that Utah is an incredibly diverse state!

We had planned on being home for church so we had to go shopping (oh, what a pity) for new fancy duds. Don't they llok great? We spent the Friday and Saturday night at Aunt Tam's and although we neglected to take pictures and are kicking ourselves now, we had a great time. We spent Saturday at our accountant and best friends of the South finishing up the doozy of a disaster our taxes turned out to be, and then on to the baptism that afternoon at 4pm.
Kwint and Shelley. Kwint met Shelley over two years ago at Fitness Ridge and was able to introduce the gospel to Shelley. At the time she was living in Ohio and over the next few months made friends in St. George and learned more about the church, ultimately deciding to move to St. George (to our old house, which was our little miracle) and now is the newest member of the Red Cliffs ward in St. George.
We love our Shelley. The Spirit of peace that has accompanied us is a reminder of how true this gospel is and how much the Lord loves us all. I am so grateful to have this church and for my testimony.
We finished off the vacation with a pizza party with Tam's family, Kris' family (who were on their way back from Disneyland) and Barbi's brother Chris' family (who lived in SG). Kris, Chris and Kwint took the kids fishing while the girls enjoyed some girl time.

We are finally home and unpacked and sooo not ready to go back to school!!!!!

St. Patty and My birthday

2011-03-23T20:06:00.005-06:00

Karate Kids (and man)... I love watching these guys practice. Kwint is loving help instruct and working on his fast track to black belt and Kaeleb is working hard toward his orange belt.

This lovely portrait was drawn by Brennan on the back of a wooden puzzle. He loves drawing, writing and coloring and is having a hard time learning the lesson that we "only write on paper", not toy boxes, floors, walls, tables, counter tops or Mommy's pants. But in this case, I thought it was such a cute picture that I decided not to scold him. The one on the far right is me, with the longer hair and big hips (I am sure, or at least I hope, it is symbolic of me being the biggest-as in most important person in his life, and not that I am the fatso of the family). Next to me is Kwint, notice the beard. I just love it.
On St. Patrick's Day a little leprechaun sneaked in through the window and left treats and crayons for the boys.
We had shamrock pancakes for breakfast to celebrate!

Friday night we had the pleasure of a sleepover with the Jacob's! Kris, Dan, and Kwint went to the cabin for a weekend of snowmobiling fun, so I invited DeAnne and the boys to stay with me. We had the best time! I love this pic of the boys watching Megamind. I didn't notice that Tracen is picking his nose until I posted it. Ha ha! Sorry Trace, this will be used as blackmail later and/or in your wedding video. Hmm, looks like maybe Kaeleb is too...
This is my little buddy Trev. He just sits quietly smiling at everyone under his binky. Love him.
Dee and I were so much enjoying our chatting time that we let the boys stay up until 11 (don't tell our husbands) and they played hard! They played the Wii, they sword fought, they drew pictures of ninjas, they played Harry Potter and Indiana Jones. The next day they played equally hard on not enough sleep,and we hooked up with Barbi and her kids for ice cream and a tour of their new being-built house. We wore the kids out, so here we have Brennan and Tate relaxing... right before they dumped all the legos on my bed.Saturday night we celebrated my birthday. I needed a haircut and looked pretty ragged so I couldn't find a decent birthday shot of myself, but I did find a picture of the cutest girl at the party... Baby Gracie. She is getting so big and is so sweet!
This is my cake. The decorator wrote Happy Birthday Tina, so this is Tom's attempt at re-spelling my name. Haha!

It was a truly Happy Birthday and I am slowly coming to terms with the idea of being 34... mid 30's... means I am a grown up now, I guess... I appreciated all the phone calls, FB messages and texts I got. I love you guys all very much!

New Supers in town...

2011-03-10T16:35:00.003-07:00

Introducing the hottest new Superheroes in town...
Kaeleb Klassic and Brenny Bravo... capes specially designed and begged for by the heroes themselves.
This was a project brought to us by Grandpa. Wooden dragon puzzles... very intricate with many, many pieces. They had fun putting them together and painting them.

The snow is starting to melt, revealing lots of fresh mud... but the blue skies are cheery and we are enjoying the beginnings of an almost Spring. :)

Our Garfield- Style President's Day

2011-02-23T15:20:00.003-07:00

We really wanted to do something fun this President's Day... but since we recently took a trip to St. George we didn't want to leave town. So, we decided to go sledding. I didn't get any pictures, but it was a memorable day.

It began as most days do, with a good workout. Kwint was using the door gym to do pull ups. Kaeleb wandered down the stairs and walked through the door it was attached to. Kwint called out to him, "Don't close the door!" Kaeleb thought he said "Close the door!" So, he closed the door. The door gym came crashing down gouging a hole in the wall and tearing through the laminate flooring below. What a way to start the day.

When the time came for sledding, the house was a mess and I didn't want to go sledding at the time of day that Kwint wanted to go, so I was very grumpy. But we suited up and I was determined to let everyone else have their fun in spite of my bad mood.

We got to the sledding hill and trudged up. Kwint helped both boys into the sled and gave them a little push. They barely moved. So, he moved them to a more packed path and gave them a bigger push. This time they went barreling down the hill at light speed. Un-be-knownst to us was a jump someone had built 2/3 of the way down. It had recently snowed and the jump just wasn't visible from where we were standing. But, the boys found it... and rather than catching some good air, the sled crashed into it and stopped. The boys didn't. Brennan bonked his head on Kaeleb's chin, did a full flip in the air and landed 10 feet away. Kaeleb flailed through the air landing on his face a few feet behind Brennan. They were both sobbing, but not badly hurt.

So, I was even more grumpy and now the boys were terrified to get back in the sled. But Kwint persevered and coaxed us all into another hour of good fun. And we actually did have fun.

Glad to have won the battle against the grumps, we loaded back into the car, ready for lunch. Unfortunately, we hadn't noticed that we had driven off the beaten path into a snow drift on the way in, and we were stuck up to our bumper in the snow. Try as we may to get out, we were spinning further and further into nowhere. We got out and dug as much snow as we could from under the tires and bumpers. Then I got behind the wheel and Kwint tried pushing the car while I hit the gas. Still no luck. Kwint finally hiked over to a nearby construction site and rallied 3 big construction workers to help him push. This time it worked! Phew!

We drove home deciding that we had better not try anything else that day and we both agreed that Garfield was right-- some Mondays you should just stay in bed.

Today Brennan started gymnastics. He has been so excited, so I thought I would take a few pics to remember the occasion. Tumbling very much suits his personality and he had a great time. Halfway through he came bounding over for a drink and I asked if he was having fun. He said "I sure am, Mom!"

Here he is waiting his turn for the vault. I love how straight and tall he is standing. :) When the teacher yells "Pineapples!" the kid on the purple circle makes a run for it. The girl standing next to him is one of his little Sunbeam friends, Ashton. We were glad to see that she is in his class, and I was glad to have her mom to chat with while they played.

Here is a happy smile after demonstrating a knee tuck off the wedge.
This part is his favorite-- a somersault down "the cheese", as he calls it. I love his ready pose.

My babies are growing up. *sigh* They are getting minds of their own. Both have decided they want to grow their hair out (Luke Skywalker style, of course) and have certain clothes they want to wear. Kaeleb is gone at school, playing with friends, and karate so much, and now he wants to take basketball, piano, and soccer. Brennan, of course, wants to do everything Brother does and I am beginning to realize just how precious the first 5 years are. It's all we really get! Suddenly, they are big and busy, and I just have to hope I get in enough influence when they are actually home!!

One funny story and I am off to get the boys from the neighbor's house. One evening last week Brennan said, "Buff guys don't wear shirts." We were amused, but didn't think much of it until the next morning when he sauntered into the kitchen wearing blue jeans... and no shirt. Kwint said "Where's your shirt?" Bren replied "I don't need it." I said "Oh yeah, cuz you're buff?" He said "Yep. I sure am a buff guy." Now it is all I can do to keep a shirt on the kid and if I want him to do anything I only have to say "Buff guys always eat their vegies" or "Buff guys always listen to their moms." and he jumps right up to do whatever I ask. I did have to tell him that when it is cold outside or they go places, buff guys do wear shirts.

Our All-American Weekend

2011-02-06T21:21:00.002-07:00

While I would consider ourselves fairly normal people, we tend to be an atypical American family in the sports arena. Translation: We don't follow sports. At all. We like to be active and play sports of many sorts, but we don't watch ESPN, read the sports page, listen to sports radio or know what to say when conversations drifts towards any sport at all.

But this weekend we have felt very All-American and typical. Last night we went to a Jazz game. Our brother-in-law had a good deal on tickets (sort of) and a big group of our family decided to go watch the Jazz play the Oklahoma City Thunder. The game itself was rather upsetting since they lost, but we had a really good time.

Kaeleb especially loves basketball. He was on a city team last year in St. George and can't wait to play here in Heber. (They don't have a team until 2nd grade, so that will be next year.) He was super cute to watch during the game. Whenever the Jazz had the ball he would timidly yell "Go, Jazz, go!" and when they scored he would nearly jump off his chair with a hoot and an arm pump.
Brennan however, felt a bit apprehensive about the whole thing. We were up high, which could be intimidating to a 3 year old, he had never seen so many people in one place in all of his life, and it was pretty noisy. This is the expression on his face most of the game.
Until the end when he barfed on the stairs as we were leaving. Yes, it was great fun. We think all the nerves mixed with too much candy and Sprite were a not-so-winning combination. Or, it could be that he was so disgusted by the loss that he wanted to tell the team what he really thought of their lack of defensive action. Either way, we were slightly embarrassed, though everyone in the stands around us thought it was hilarious.

This hard to see, but we were so impressed that I have to include this picture of the Jazz Bear. (Why is our mascot a bear?) As you can see he is upside down, doing the splits on top of a really tall ladder. That would be hard, even without the bear suit.

Today we were even more American and actually watched the Super Bowl. Mostly we were looking for a reason to coerce our good friends Dave and Staci over to our house for salty snacks and lots of chit chat. Kwint and Dave have been friends since 8th grade drama class and we have had a lot of fun over the last ten years since we got married and he met Staci. Our house became a grand mass of chaos when the kids (our boys and their two daughters) put on knight armor and chased each other around with swords. They also have the cutest baby boy with dark eyes and dimples who crawled around getting stuck in the furniture. In between the food and catching up on life we sort of watched some of the game. At least, I know that the Packers won. So, thanks for coming guys, that was so fun!

I didn't blog last week because we were out of town and I forgot to bring the camera, so we have no pics; but we spent last weekend in sunny St. George. We had dinner with our best friends of the South, Nathan and Mary Lynne and their cute little guy McKay, which was another funny ordeal of sword slinging, train building, drum playing racket, but very fun. We spent a couple days with Kwint's sister and their family and did some hiking in our old stomping grounds. We hiked an old volcano and when we got to the top we walked in the crater it left when it erupted how-ever-many years ago. It was cool. The boys were amazed and only agreed to hike it once they were convinced it was not going to blow up while we were on it.

Kaeleb had a great week-- I went to parent teacher conference and was very pleased and proud of how well he is doing. That same day he tested for his gold belt in karate and passed. He was very enthusiastic about it. He actually slept with his belt. He said Sensei Josh said he could.
I am very proud of what a good boy he is and how hard he is trying.

Kwint has been busy with trying to balance his multi-faceted business and helping to open a new dojo with Kaeleb's karate teacher. He is rather excited about it. He is working on getting a black belt in Kenpo within a couple of years and is also contributing his Aikido experience and helping teach and write curriculum.

I am busy trying to keep up with everyone else and keep order in the house. I keep cleaning and cleaning and never actually finish. But I like the illusion of order in my brain. I have actually felt a great deal of stress over taxes this year. Our book keeping system is different in Park City. It took me two years to figure out the old system and now I am clueless again. Accounting and I just don't get along and yet I am doing the books because who else will? Luckily, I am not an accountant and we have a good one (Hi Nathan!) who is patient with my ineptitude.

My favorite Brenny story of the week is this: He picked up a pen and a piece of paper and said "Mom, close your eyes. How do you spell 'I love you with all my heart'?" I melted. I wanted to hug him. He yelled "Close your eyes!" and then as I spelled it he wrote chicken scratches on the paper, and then said "Open your eyes, Mom, this is for you!" Amidst the chicken scratches he did write 4 actual letters, which surprised me. lool and an upside down v. I loved it.

Well, apparently I needed a little journal time. I love blogging for myself, even if no one else reads it. Sometimes I wonder if I leave out all the junk and make it sound like life is too good here at our house. Trust me, it is hard here like it is at any one else's house, but who wants to read all the crummy stuff, and why would I want to remember it anyway, unless it is to learn from it? I will wait until I learn a few things to write the crummy stuff and use this as a place to count my blessings, because I really am thankful for the 3 guys in my life and all of our opportunities to grow.

This Is Why We Are Here...

2011-01-09T18:36:00.006-07:00

Yesterday we spent the day in the snowy woods of the family cabin... This is my favorite "look" in all of nature!
The snow is piled pretty high...
and the boys had fun playing "Three Kings" which is a game they made up by fashioning three thrones in the snow pile you see here.
We spent a good chunk of time snowmobiling with Kris, Talan, Barbi's dad and her brother Preston. Here are Kris and Talan...
Kaeleb, Kwint, and Brennan ready to ride...
Me and my Brenny guy... No, he wasn't driving, just posing...
Kwint hookey-bobbed up the hill and snowboarded down...
A fun mode of transportation...

Happy New Year 2011!

2011-01-04T19:44:00.003-07:00

A few last tidbits of 2010....
Here we are, making a gingerbread train on the day after Christmas when we finally felt good enough to celebrate.Here is the pre-New Year's storm which dumped 26 inches of snow on our porches. Next year, when this isn't a novelty, I will stop posting pictures of snow. For now, we think it is amazing!

Kaeleb took this picture of himself. Ha ha!! I love it.

I didn't take any pictures on New Years, but we had a lot of fun with friends (thank you Burke and Heidi!) and family (thank you Grandpa & Grandma!). We went to the movies and finished the weekend off by celebrating Baby Gracie's blessing day at Kris and Barbi's. Now, back to the grindstone this week!

Merry Christmas!!

2010-12-26T06:28:00.006-07:00

He Came!!
Kwint and I woke up early aroud 6 am.... We are both pretty sick. Still. We couldn't breathe to stay asleep. So, we waited for the boys to wake up. We waited and waited... showered, ate, read scriptures, watched half of a movie... Really? When we were kids we both remember waking up at 3 am and being told by our parents we had to wait until at least 6 to get up. Then we would get up every half hour or so to ask if it was 6am yet. Not these boys. Around 8 am Kaeleb woke up and sauntered down. He looked at all the presents and said nothing. We said "Kaeleb, look! Santa came!" We showed him the cookie crumbs....We showed him the apple core remains the reindeer left on the back porch...
And then he started smiling. He begged to open his presents. We told him he had to wait for Brennan to wake up. Tick, tock, tick, tock. He ate a bowl of Cheerios. He watched a TV show. Got dressed. Combed his hair. Tick, tock, tick, tock.... Finally at 9 am we let him investigate his stocking.
A few minutes later Brennan came downstairs looking very sleepy. He is pretty sick, as well, but not sick enough to ignore the sight before his eyes. He ran from place to place investigating and then started grabbing presents that had his name on them, ready to rip into them. We suggested he start with his stocking... Both boys were so excited that Santa put spin-toothbrushes in their stockings.
Then we took turns (sort of) opening gifts. Here are a few of the favorite items received... Legos!! Brennan lucked out and got Lego Star Wars from Santa and Uncle Gerritt & Aunt Melissa. Kaeleb got Harry Potter Lego sets from the same two sources. I love themed Christmases. I couldn't have planned it better myself. ;)
Playmobil! Oh, how we love Playmobil at our house! Kaeleb got a giant dragon and a wolf knight and Brennan got a castle with a mini dragon and a knight with a horse. We love putting them together and creating great battle scenes. These will go well with the knights and pirates we already had.
Here they are with their favorite items: The giant dragon and the green knight who sits on the green dragon.
Grandma DeAnn bought the boys and their cousin Talan matching pirate shirts. They were so happy! The shirt says "Shake Your Booty" I love it.
Grandpa Tom gave them matching sword & shield sets. Oh, for joy!! Especially since mean Mom told them they had enough swords and couldn't ask Santa for any weapons. Grandpa always comes through with the goods! What are Grandpa's for if not to spoil their grandsons?
Kwint gave me some nice clothes and this jewelry set, which I always love, and his mom gave me a food processor so I can lazily chop & grate all my veggies & cheese from now on. YES! My mom made us a new afghan which is beautiful and exactly matches our couch pillows.
I didn't take enough pictures and none of Kwint who felt too sick to want to be in them anyway, but he got a new TV from me and his parents and a few other trinkets he was amused with. We missed the family breakfast (didn't want to share our germs) and we didn't feel good enough to do anything except watch movies-- luckily we got 3 new movies to keep us busy all day-- but we learned that the simplicity of Christmas was all we really needed to feel the joy of the season. We have each other, and we have our testimonies of the Christ child, and that is what matters most on this special day.

Now, if we can get better, we have a whole week of family fun ahead!

Daddy's Birthday & Christmas Eve

2010-12-24T21:30:00.006-07:00

Oh, Santa...
"I just can't wait for you to come... and I've got cookies..." (Veggie Tales Christmas Spectacular)But first, Happy Birthday to Dad!

We have had a very interesting holiday thus far. We are sick. Very sick. We think we may have the flu, or something like unto it, with a bit of a bacterial twist as certain symptoms, but not all symptoms, have responded to a good ol' Z-pac. It started two weeks ago when Kaeleb got the gunk, then passed it to Brennan, then on to Kwint and me, then Kaeleb again with a fever and the gunk, then me with a fever and gunk, then Kwint again, and Brennan again. We had 3 parties in a row planned for this week... and canceled.

Last night we thought we were on the mend so we decided to go to Kwint's parents to celebrate his birthday. We'd had to cancel a party with our friends, so we were sad and wanted to do something fun. And it was...

This was everyone's favorite-- an authentic imitation Star Wars light saber.
We settled in to watch a Christmas carol when my fever set in. It was a miserable night and when we woke up this morning we knew we'd better just head home and hunker down, missing the family Christmas Eve dinner.

But first, we let the boys open a present each-- the ones they picked out and purchased with their allowance money for each other. Brenny bought Kaeleb a blue basketball,
and Kaeleb bought Brennan a lego airplane set. They were both so happy and thankful to each other. This will be a good tradition. :)
Then, we hit the road at just the right time to see SANTA himself, driving a tractor down Main Street in Layton. I suppose the sleigh is getting the pre-Christmas tune up. Awesome!!
Upon our arrival at home, we put on our Christmas jammies,
and after watching several old Christmas movies on TV while blowing our noses, we drank the ceremonial hot cocoa and toasted to our good health, which we hope returns by morning, and read Luke II before retiring early to bed.

We set out the cookies, and an apple for the reindeer (Brennan heard that they like to eat apples, core and all) and then Kaeleb said "Mom, I think we should leave a present for Santa. I thought it was so kind of him... but what would we leave? He looked all around and decided on two kit kat bars. He wrote a note that said "Dear Santa, I want you to have this." Next year we will have to plan a purchase for Santa. I think he gets enough sweets on Christmas Eve, don't you?

As he was falling asleep Brennan, who asked Santa to bring Playmobil knight sets, said "Mom, if Santa brings me playmobil, I hope he brings a princess so you can be her." Oh, Santa....

Let it Snow!

2010-12-21T16:46:00.006-07:00

The First Snow!

Right around Thanksgiving we had our first snow... (Not counting the time it snowed for a day in October). We were pretty excited! Then, sadly, it melted and warmed up for nearly all of December. "Strange weather for Heber," we thought. We were under the impression that we would be snowed in from October to April.... We were beginning to feel frustrated. After all, we waited 7 years in the desert for a White Christmas and were wondering if we would be jipped.

And then we woke up this morning....

The Real Snow.

I was planning on cleaning my house this morning. The toilets haven't been scrubbed for almost 2 weeks-- you who know me well will be shocked-- it is vile, I agree. Unfortunately, I spent the ENTIRE morning shoveling the driveway so I could drive to Kaeleb's school Christmas party after lunch. The snow you see here is all after Kwint shoveled his way out of two feet of snow on the driveway before work. The worst of it was that when the city plowed our street they pushed all the snow into a pile blocking the driveway. So, while the road was nicely plowed, I had no way of GETTING TO IT. I dug myself a crevice just big enough to slide my car through. Don't misread me though, WE LOVE IT!! We bought a little snowboard and both boys have amazed us with their mad skills on the slopes. (The park by our house has a 10 foot slope they have mastered!) We also love how pretty the Winter Wonderland is!

This is a fun little pizza place in Midway... It was a happy night & I just want to remember it. :)

Here is still tiny but ever growing niece, Baby Gracie with her big sis Bailee. What a cute baby! We went to see the girls dance in their Christmas program and loved it. I am so happy to have nieces!! I get my fill of girly things amidst all the pirates, knights, and dinosaurs at my house.

December..... where did you go???

2010-12-17T23:06:00.002-07:00

This month has been a flurry already. I don't want it to pass me by without cataloging a few events.

Hmmm..... Well, the flurry left me blank.

First of all, the snow melted. It has been a very warm December and we are feeling a bit jipped. We waited 7 years for a white Christmas and will not be satisfied with anything less.

Midway does a Nativity set show. We saw hundreds of different Nativity sets from all around the world. I took about a hundred pictures. I will post some soon when I am not too lazy to go downstairs and get my camera.

Kwint's dad had hip replacement surgery a week ago, so we have been down to visit, assist, and cheer him up a few times.

I sang "Mary, Did You Know" for our RS Christmas party last night. It was a very neat experience-- There were 6 women who portrayed Mary's mother, Joseph's mother, the Innkeepers wife, a shepherd's wife, Elizabeth, and Mary. There were 3 musical numbers including mine, Breath of Heaven (love it) and Mary's Lullaby (not the Primary song, but the "you are a king, but tonight you are mine," one, which is gorgeous.) The whole program was based around the testimonies of these women that the baby Jesus was their promised Messiah and the musical numbers were so powerful. I was very thankful to have participated.

The boys have been sick yet again and that means.... NO SLEEP FOR MOM. (And not much for dad, either.) Wednesday Brennan woke up at 3am with a fever and wouldn't go back to sleep until 11am. Just when I thought I would get my own nap, the phone rang and a timid little Kaeleb voice said, "Mom? I just barfed in the lunchroom." Fun times. So, I packed Brenny up in a blanket in his PJ's with bedhead and went to pick him up. At least I didn't have to clean it up!!

Kaeleb came home yesterday all excited because Santa visited them at school. He gave them goody bags and they got to sit on his lap. I was very proud of Kaeleb-- he came home and voluntarily split his goody bag in half with Brennan. Atta boy!

Brennan and I had a cute conversation this week. Over lunch he asked "Where is Daddy?" I said "He's at work in Park City." He asked why he wasn't working at home. I answered that there were people he needed to meet with in PC. He asked "Do they have problems?" I said "Yes, and Daddy helps them decide what to do about their problems." He replied, "Yeah, he helps them get rid of their gratitudes." (attitudes) It was so funny!

Next week is a big party week, beginning with Kaeleb's class party on Tuesday afternoon. I am in charge of a gingerbread story and house project, which I am very excited about. I have decided that I really like kids. Not that I didn't before, but I am loving my nursery calling and volunteering so much!! Maybe having children opens our eyes to just how cute they really are.

So, the big day is 8 days away.... 8 days with at least 5 parties. Get ready for fun!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

2010-12-04T18:50:00.004-07:00

This Thanksgiving was a happy, almost week long event for the Kemp Family. We went to St. George this year, to celebrate the holiday at Kwint's sister's home. His parents and Great-Aunt Marie also came down. We had planned on driving down on Wednesday morning, but on Monday we watched the 5 o'clock weather report, which promised a blizzard for Tuesday and Wednesday. When we heard the weatherman say driving conditions would be treacherous and dangerous we decided to head down that night. It was either Monday night or not at all! Kwint worked all day on Tuesday doing phone and Skype sessions, and then the party started.

While he worked the boys and I went to Walmart to buy everything I forgot in our hasty departure. They embarrassed me for a full 40 minutes by chanting, in unison, at the top of their lungs "CHEESEBALLS...ha ha ha! CHEESEBALLS...ha ha ha! CHEESEBALLS... ha ha ha!" I have never been so stared at! People were either glaring at me, laughing at them, or shaking their heads in disgust. I am sure the whole store could hear, no matter where they went.

That afternoon we visited a few friends in the neighborhood. It felt so good to see everyone! I wish I could have seen more friends, but the family stuff started and we got crazy busy. It made me realize just how homesick I have been. Then I saw a cockroach in the bathroom and I remembered how much I love Heber.

Kaeleb missed the big Thanksgiving party at school on Tuesday, and was DEVASTATED. It was a Pow Wow with Indians and Pilgrims. So, on Wednesday, after a full day of shopping, we had our own Pow Wow. Everyone pitched in to help make it special for Kaeleb. We made colorful Indian necklaces...
Headresses...

Bows and arrows...
Bonnets...
And ate rotisserie chicken & spice cake, which seemed appropriate for the Pow Wow without being the same as what we would have on Thursday.
It was super fun. Grandma made a big map with a story drawn on it of two Indian brothers who went on a Turkey hunt to save their people from starvation and earned their true names (as pictured above). She is so creative and really made this a fun night for the boys.

Thursday we enjoyed our feast at Tam's. I thought the table was so beautiful that I had to get a picture of it before we spilled juice and gravy all over it.
These guys were excited to eat, as were we all.
Our wonderful Pa and Ma... We love them so!
We watched a lot of movies during the rest of the weekend, including Megamind at the theater on Thanksgiving, which was so funny!! Kaeleb laughed so hard that most people were laughing more at him than they were at the movie. We also did a little more shopping before heading home on Saturday.

Now the blur that is December begins.....

Family PIctures

2010-12-02T12:57:00.002-07:00

Here are a few of the family pics we had taken last week... stay tuned for me to finally have time to blog about Thanksgiving before Christmas arrives....

Two funnies

2010-11-19T06:05:00.003-07:00

I forget to write down the funny things they say all too often. So, before I forget, here are two funny sayings from a couple days ago...

Brennan, while eating a sour piece of Halloween candy: "Mom, sour things make my eyes want to fall out." Good description.

Kaeleb, talking to his friend Mason: "Yeah, my mom is a yoga master." Yes! A master! This is what happens when you live in a house full of martial artists. :)

Veteran's Day

2010-11-11T19:14:00.003-07:00

Kaeleb woke up sick today and was very, very distraught to not be able to go to school today because his teacher had told them it was Veteran's Day and that she had a special surprise for them. They were all supposed to wear either camouflage, green, brown, or gray (hence the picture above in military green).

I emailed Mrs. Bell to ask what the surprise was and if there was any way Kaeleb could still participate. She emailed me back, and I had such a good feeling that I had to write about it, even though Kaeleb wasn't there.

One of Kaeleb's friends in his class, named Jay, has a father serving in the military, stationed in Afghanistan. There is a big picture of him in a tank hanging on their classroom wall. He has been there since the summer and will be there until March. Today Mrs. Bell surprised him by arranging a Skype session with Jay's dad over the internet. He got to talk to him "face to face" and introduce his classmates.

I don't have any friends or family in the military, so it hits home to have a child that is close to mine having the experience of sacrificing time with his Daddy for the benefit of our country. I am pretty sure I am much too selfish for the military and I am grateful for those who give to me in this way. It warmed my heart to imagine the way Jay's dad felt today to be honored in that way and to be able to see his son, happy and surrounded by friends.

Kaeleb is going to write a letter and send this picture. :)

Stuff I Forgot

2010-11-07T18:35:00.003-07:00

My mom & Grandpa Gary came to see us on her birthday so we would have an excuse to eat chocolate cake.
Baby Gracie was born last Thursday (Kris and Barbi's 5th). She was 5 weeks early but 5 lbs 8 oz. and very healthy. She has been in NICU for observation and hopefully will come home tomorrow. She is a little sweetie who squeaks and wrinkles her face every few seconds. We had the other 4 kids at our house Thursday and then took them all to the hospital on Friday. We had so much fun!! The girls let me do their hair. :) I have a picture I need to download of Brennan and Krystal snuggling. Neither of them would sleep without me so I ended up with both of them in my bed (poor Kwint slept on the couch).
This is the Jack-o-lantern Kaeleb drew and Kwint carved. We called it the happy pumpkin.
My painting projects... I have long forgotten to post.

Halloween

2010-11-07T17:54:00.004-07:00

This blogging once a month thing doesn't work so well for me... I can't remember what happened this morning, much less last month, so here are a few pics to jog my memory & get something in.Kwint & Kris wore these while trick or treating. In the dark all you could see was the floating skull.

Here are the rest of us trick or treating from the back of Grandpa's car.
On Halloween day the boys made a fort and Kaeleb read books to Brennan.
Here is McKay, our favorite little friend, the weekend we saw Thriller.
Brennan came downstairs wearing this get up-- the knight-pirate-ninja-superman-Jones (He also had the Indiana Jones whip two steps up).

We went to the Cornbelly's corn Maze and got lost.

But we found ourselves.
Brennan and I went on a filed trip with some neighbor friends to the Jordanelle Fire Dept. I thought he would be super excited but he was really shy. This is me trying to talk him into spraying the firefighters hose.
This is a picture of a beautiful hike we went on.
Our Halloween Family: Harry Potter, Sneaky Ninja, Vampiress & Vampire.

Fall Happenings

2010-10-10T20:16:00.003-06:00

Oh... I don't love it when I fall behind! We have been so busy and it is always so hard to catch up on the blogging!! So, let's skip the small talk and review (as briefly as possible) a few of the things we have been doing for the last 3 weeks.
Kaeleb and our cute neighbor Paizlee have played a lot of Harry Potter. These are their broomsticks:We took a day-trip to the cabin with some family and friends... On the way we had to stop and take pics of the beautiful changing leaves. Of all the things we missed while living in St. George, Autumn makes the top of the list.
I didn't take many pictures at the cabin because I was so preoccupied with Baby Trev! This is our dear friends, Dan and DeAnne's new little guy. Brennan is watching me blog and just said "I miss Baby Trev, Mom!" Which is funny, because we went to his blessing today and it has only been 3 hours since he saw Baby Trev.
One of my best high school friends & her family spent a weekend with us. (You can see her daughter throwing a fit in the background! That is pretty funny.) This is my Laurie, and she is just as funny as she was 15 years ago. Her husband and 3 kids were such fun to have around. Kwint said it felt like a party the whole time, just to have them here.
Kaeleb is now an official martial artist. He is taking karate at Kobayoshi Studios here in Heber. He loves it!! It looks a lot like cardio kickboxing to me, which I think is loads of fun, but next year they say it gets more technical. I am so glad he loves it and hope will stick with it until he old enough for Aikido, which is Kwint's martial art of choice.
Over conference weekend we spent some good time with Gpa and Gma. They came up to Heber so that Kwint and his Dad could attend the Priesthood session together. While they were being spiritually enlightened, we were making Halloween crafties. Wooden bats and mummies now adorn their bedroom.

Last Friday Barbi watched Brennan for me in the morning and Kwint took Brennan to the cabin in the afternoon so that I could go with Kaeleb on the 1st grade field trip to Cornbelly's Corn Maze at Thanksgiving Point. We had a whole lot of fun. We watched a real pig race, went on a hayride, played on slides, and got to pick out our own pumpkins. I was so glad to be able to go and Kaeleb was super excited and bubbly. We sat down on the bus and he said "mom, I would like to just sit here and chit chat with you." In that moment I knew I was right where I belonged.
Yesterday we went to Saige's birthday party/Halloween costume party. Here we have the necromancers, grandpa and grandma, a cowgirl Aunt Marie, Harry Potter Kaeleb and Brennan the Ninja, or as he calls himself "A Inja". He said "Don't watch me when I go sneaking."
Kwint had the camera all night and we didn't get a picture of him , which I am very sad about because he looked super good. But, here is a close up of Harry (he won the contest for "Smartest Costume")
And, I am sorry I was too lazy to rotate it and I can't figure out how to do it once it has loaded here, but but this is the Inja up close and personal. He got the prize for "Most likely to sneak off with your stuff".
Last and least, this is one half of the vampire couple. We got these creepy looking teeth that look so real-- they mold right onto the canines and click on and off. By the way, that is a sombrero in the background, not my hat. I wish I had time to load pictures of everyone- there were some great costumes, but alas it is bedtime.

Happy Birthday Brennan!

2010-09-14T20:16:00.009-06:00

Happy Birthday Brenny Guy! Today, our baby, who is sooo not a baby, turns 3. We celebrated on Saturday with a Buzz Lightyear party. Brennan loved Toy Story 3 and we have been talking about a Buzz party ever since.

Brenny loved his Space Ranger Station cake.

Here are a few of the party attendees: Krystal, Grandma, Bailee, Brennan, and in the background, Talan, Daddy, and Grandpa. I thought this was a sweet moment.

He got some really nice presents this year... A Leapfrog Leapster (so they can stop fighting over Kaeleb's)from money pooled by Mommy & Daddy, Nana & Great Aunt Marie...

Toy Story's big Buzz Lightyear that shoots lasers and speaks English and Spanish, a little green Toy Story Alien and a fuzzy Toy Story blanket from Mommy & Daddy...

Grandpa and Grandma gave him clothes and a Playmobil pirate ship. We love Playmobil around here, and this ship is amazing!

I still need to get a picture of his all time favorite present from Kris & Barbi-- a sword and shield. Yes, he has 15 or 20 swords already, but this one takes the cake and he has slept with it every night, and scarcely lets it leave his sight.

He was super cute when opening presents. He is an enthusiastic little chap and every present warranted a very loud and emphatic "Oh, Thank You Berry Much!! It is what I wanted for so long!" I love his gusto for life!

Speaking of gusto, before we finished singing to him, he had already blown out the candle, so this is the best picture I could get of the "make-a-wish moment".

Grandma brought make-it-yourselves candy necklaces for a fun little activity.

Last, while I was decorating the cake, Brenny begged me to let him help. Now, I know that my cakes are not professional by any stretch of the imagination, but I could only imagine the cake he would have if he did it himself, so I gave him graham crackers and let him at it with the leftover frosting. Ta Da!

Brennan is the spice of our lives. He is not quiet by any means, and never gets bored. His happiness is contagious and Daddy always refers to him as "exuberant". Indeed, he is. He gets excited about everything. Tonight while I was cooking dinner he was playing on the front porch. He yelled "Mom! Mom! Get out here!" I went out to see him pointing up to the sky. "Look Mom!" He yelled. "Up there! It's a berry DEEP storm cloud!"

Brennan loves deeply and snuggles us as much as he can. Every day at one o' clock we watch Sesame Street so I can take a nap. Until this week we were having a problem that as soon as I fell asleep he got lonely and woke me up. Now, I hold him while I sleep and he snuggles in without a peep for the whole show & I get a whole hour nap! Last night during FHE I complimented him on his reverence (it is rare, believe me) and how we could all feel the Holy Ghost in our home when he and Kaeleb are reverent. He put both his little hands on my cheeks and said quietly. "Mom. That makes me want to snuggle you." I love him so much.

Since he missed the preschool deadline by 2 weeks, I have him all to myself this whole year, and I am loving it more every day. I loved my one on one time with Kaeleb before Brennan was born, and now it is Bren's turn. He is so much fun and so energetic. We have a place to go or an activity of sorts every morning and each afternoon, after I take my nap during Sesame Street, we do "school". I am teaching him a new letter every week. So far, he has got Aa and Bb down pat. By March he will know them all.

How grateful I am for the day, three years ago, that Brennan came into this world and stole our hearts. None of us will ever be the same!

School Days!

2010-09-03T00:24:00.002-06:00

I really haven't blogged for 3 weeks? Yikes!

I can't remember anything from that long ago, so I will just pick up with what's current, and that is... FIRST GRADE!!

Kaeleb started 1st grade last Thursday. I love my little Guy. He was very nervous the night before. Going to bed he was a motormouth of "What-ifs". "Mom, what if I get lost? What if I cry? Do you think I will cry? Do you think I will be embarrassed if I cry? Do you think anyone else will cry? Do you think I won't be embarrassed if someone else cries too? What if I can't find the bathroom? What if I can't find the lunchroom?"

Thursday morning I dropped him off and I could tell he was scared, but he didn't cry! He gulped and said a shaky, "Bye Mom!" I left wondering what the heck is wrong with America that we leave our tiny little, terrified, innocent six-year-old children with a school full of strangers for 7 and 1/2 hours a day, and I was ready to start home schooling right then and there.

It didn't help at all when I picked him up after school and he said "My teacher is really stern and I am so tired. School is too long." Or, when the next day he said, "My teacher isn't just stern, she is MEAN. And nobody wants to play with me at recess." I was so sad! I prayed about it a lot over the weekend and had such a good feeling that it would be ok, and that it was just his first day jitters.

I was right. He has bounced out of school every day this week, happy and excited. He has said for two days in a row, "Everything was good today! Not even was tiny thing was bad about school today!" I went and volunteered on Tuesday, so I got to see his teacher in action and she is not mean, but she is very strict and structured and doesn't like it when they don't listen well. That is fine with me and now that he is used to her style, he likes her. Kaeleb is making friends and loving the kids in his class. They are all really cute.

Kwint is also doing really great with his work. He has literally pounded the pavement marketing this month and is getting busier every day. His partner in Park City, Max, said that summer is always slow in PC and we would see things pick up in September. We were still nervous, but we reminded ourselves that the Lord sent us here and would back us up and He really has. I guess PC people go on vacation all summer and then come back needing therapy for spending 3 months with their families. (Just kidding) We are very grateful that God opened this door for us. Kwint is very happy with his work, happier than I have ever seen him.

So, when I left SG after serving in the nursery and as the ward choir director, I was looking forward to a little R&R, and spiritual enlightenment in Gospel Doctrine and Relief Society. While we were in Layton, however, I spent most Sundays in Nursery trying to help Bren with his separation anxiety. Once we got here we thought we'd really get him trained up to go on his own, which he is finally doing, albeit reluctantly. It's a miracle! Well.... after church on Sunday I was extended a calling.... in the Nursery. I can't believe it! I had this moment of thinking "Are you kidding me? No rest for the weary? Really? Nursery?" But I am actually really excited about it. There are going to be 67 kids nursery age soon, so they split it into 3 nurseries and they will have them rotate between 3 classes. I am going to be in charge of music time. I learned a few tricks from the music lady in Layton and from a music class I took Brennan to this week, and I am already so excited about it that I want to invite my neighbors to bring their toddlers to my house once a week for a little Toddler music class. I am going to bring a variety of instruments and little pictures on popsicle sticks (kids love those) and also get them dancing.

Kwint is still calling-less, but hoping soon to have a job. He has been Mr. Service Man around the neighborhood to make up for it. He sees people out working in the yard or moving furniture and rushes out to help as often as he can.

We are hoping to have pictures of our red fireplace wall next week. It is not red yet. I am still building the courage, but I plan to paint on Saturday. Then I have a couple hallways to paint tan, the master bedroom brown and the boys' room blue. Guest room and office are still undecided.

Kaeleb Turns Six

2010-08-15T12:20:00.004-06:00

We had a wonderful week. The pictures loaded randomly and I am too lazy to move them around, so here is our week in a random fashion...

Actually, this is a few weeks old, but this is Kwint's new Dodge Nitro. We love it! It drives like a car but will be sturdy in the snow, which is why we bought it. Now we are a double Dodge family.

Friday night Kwint took me to see Jack Johnson. He has been our favorite artist for years. He chills us out and helps us relax. Brenny spent all his colicky nights listening to us sing along to Jack as he cried. It is the only thing that sorta calmed him down.

This is us, sitting on our blanket waiting for the show to start. He really puts on a good show. Jack is so laid back and makes it look so easy to be ultra mega talented. We both agreed that in ten years, it was the best date we have ever been on. The kids were even great with the babysitter!

NOW, for the BIG story of the week.... KAELEB'S BIRTHDAY!!
Like I said, these are in a random order, but we had such a fun party. We opted to keep it small, since we had not had a party at our house and weren't sure we could house many people, but boy, did we have fun!! Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Marie came to support his big day, as did Kris and Barbi and Dan and Dee with all the kids. We had 9 kids in total, which is perfect for a party.
Our first pic was one of the last I took, and I just couldn't not include it in this post. Tate, my buddy in the affinity for chocolate... Look at that face!

Kaeleb's party theme was the movie, "How To Train Your Dragon". We all loved it, it is a super cute show. So, I made the cake and put Kwint in charge of the games. So, of course, he went to the cabin and brought back LARP props. They played dragon freeze tag, a Vikings vs. Dragons bean bag toss, and Viking, viking, dragon (variation on duck, duck, goose). They had the best time and Kaeleb was so excited that Kwint did so much for him.

Here is our little viking in one of his new presents. He has wanted this little get up since the movie came out. He has been wearing it every day. :)

ANd, now for the cake. I love how it turned out. I am a simple girl, so it had to be easy, but all the kids loved it. I used my round Pyrex containers. I usually have leftovers in them, but they are oven safe and perfectly tiered, so I turned the little cakes upside down and hollowed the top one out to make it a crater.

Lastly, we have a shot of Kaeleb opening his gifts. I always love how all the kids gather around and get so excited.

Kaeleb was very happy and grateful for how his day turned out. We love him more and more. He is so imaginative and fun to have as a son. He is smart, sensitive and silly. He has always been our little intellectual, asking questions, taking things literally and understanding life in a way beyond his years.

Kaeleb and I have started reading Harry Potter together. It takes a half hour or more to get through a chapter because he asks so many questions! He loves it though, and it is fun for me to have this new way to connect with him. I have realized that he is growing up and doesn't "need" Mommy in all the ways that he used to, but we do still need each other and this feels like a good way to show it. Oh, how we love our boy!

2010-08-08T11:09:00.003-06:00

Kwint took the boys for a hike one evening while I studied, and came back with these cuties:

I love life lessons. We have really felt uplifted by the Lord this week and are learning to relax and trust Him. Well, ok, Kwint relaxed and I relaxed as much as I am capable of. Ha ha! Kwint has been a busy bee managing his current caseload and marketing. He is working hard and I am really proud of him. The week turned out to be pretty good. We are thankful that the Lord hears our prayers!

We really do love Heber. The valley is beautiful and the summer weather has been fun. Almost every day this week it has either started out sunny and ended with a thunderstorm, or started with a storm and ended with sunshine. Kris said this happens a lot in August. I love summer rain!

Reality Checks

2010-08-01T10:40:00.003-06:00

There are some weeks that I re-read my blog and think life couldn't get much better. And then there are weeks that feel like a slap in the face. This week was one of those.

BUT, we are learning!! We lost a major referral source and spent the week marketing and brainstorming how we can drum up enough business to make up for what we lost. There is so much potential in Kwint's career and we have a lot that we can do, it will just take some extra work and time. We are willing to work, and in the meantime we will keep learning.

I also suddenly got very homesick for my friends in St. George. I read all of your blogs and got so sad!! I was ready to hop in the car and drive down. I couldn't come on moving day like I wanted to, and I think it will be September before we can make it down and it is really pulling on my heartstrings.

We didn't take any pictures this week, but even during our challenging week we were able to spend the weekend with cousins and wonderful friends. It feels good to love and be loved, and no matter what, we know that we are richly blessed in everything that matters.

The big news from our house this week is that Brennan has officially decided (by way of persuasion) that he is a big boy and will never wear another diaper. WOO HOO!! Brennan has been very anti-potty. We have tried for 6 months to talk him into it and he just kept saying "No!" No matter how I tried to bribe him, nothing would convince him. On Friday I was making the grocery list and said "I am so sick of buying diapers. Don't think we could talk him into potty training?" So, Kwint said, "Hey Brennan, we ran out of diapers so you'll have to wear underwear now." For some crazy reason, that is what finally worked.

Friday we went through 5 pairs of undies, yesterday 3, and today only one so far. He woke up dry both mornings. I am truly pleased. I can no longer stand the smell of the garbage can.

Happy Pioneer Day!

2010-07-25T18:03:00.006-06:00

Today is double post day. I didn't want to make such a lengthy display as I did over the 4th. So, here we will blog about the 24th, and please feel free to check out the blog below about our recent move to Heber.

First of all, Kaeleb has outgrown his bike. We made him a deal that if he did extra jobs around the house for a while, he could earn a new, bigger one. We told Bren that he could earn Kaeleb's old bike if he helped. (Ha! We tricked the kid into working for a hand me down!) So, they have worked very hard, which has been easy with the move, and yesterday they took their first spin on the new bikes. Kaeleb was so excited and happy that he rode two whole miles!

Stay tuned next week for pictures of Kwint's new wheels... The last two times we have moved into a new house we have also bought a new car and had a baby. No, this is not an announcement, I am not pregnant, but we are buying a new car tomorrow. We have been planning on it anyway, because the Saturn is not the car for driving to Park city or up and down Parley's canyon in the winter. We would have waited, but the AC in the Saturn went out and we didn't want to pay to fix a car we were not going to keep anyway. We went car shopping on Friday and put money down on a Dodge Nitro, which we pick up tomorrow at 4pm. Sometimes I wonder about us and why we add stress during stressful times, but hey, it is tradition.

Yesterday we went to Kris and Barbi's for a 24th BBQ and fireworks. The boys (meaning Kris and Kwint) had soooo much fun with fireworks. The kids were very happy as well. The all time faves were the dinosaurs that shoot fire out their mouths and then backs and then feet, as well as some big displays that were surprisingly pretty for being ground fireworks.

I know this is not a cute picture of me, but I had to include it because I am wearing a sweater. On July 24th. I am so acclimated to St. George. Winter will be a shock to my system I am sure. This should be fun.

In this one, they are waiting for a parachute to fall. They loved them! They launched so many parachutes and ran all over the neighborhood to catch them, including the neighbor's roof.

For some reason, Kwint and I go ga ga over the back of our kids' heads. We love nothing as much as the way we feel when we look at them together, even the backs of their heads.

We are so blessed by the sacrifices the Pioneers made for us. I truly cannot imagine crossing the plains. I know I am far too wimpy to have survived and know that the Lord knows me well to have placed me here today, but I respect and revere the brave souls who made Utah what it is today. Even though I was not raised here, my mom was, and I would not be who I am were it not for her ancestors paving the way.

Today would have been my Dad's 56th birthday and I can't post without paying tribute to my Daddy. Love him forever, miss him for now.

Moving Day

2010-07-25T17:17:00.003-06:00

Home Sweet Home! We are officially moved. It was a three day process getting it all in and will be a three month (or more) project getting it all unpacked. On Thursday (the 15th)Kwint's mom and I filled two cars full of our things that we brought to Layton and took them to Heber.

On Friday Kwint and his parents drove down to St. George and spent the evening loading the U-Haul. My sweet hubby worked so hard and so many friends and family came to help. Our well trained EQ buddies packed it all in good and tight in just a few short hours in the blistering heat. We were so thankful for all the friends and family who came to our service! On our own, we could never have done it... especially on the hottest day of the year thus far down there. I was sad that I stayed behind, but I had to be here so that good ol' RC Willey could drop off the fridge and microwave.

The boys and I came up to Heber Friday night (the 16th)and had a little slumber party on the floor. It was not as fun as I thought it sounded. Kaeleb didn't fall asleep until 11:30pm because he did not like not having a bed and he forgot his suddenly very precious teddy bear-- even though he had his Buddly Lou, the Green Lantern, his Monkey AND his furry bear-- poor baby bear was left all alone at Grandma's house. As soon as he fell asleep Brennan woke up and cried "Where is my Daddy? My legs hurt! I don't like this floor! I want my bed!" He was up until 2:30.

We didn't get bored or lonely waiting for the truck though. Shelley came and brought us food, in "you get to keep these as housewarming gifts" containers. I got a double crock pot, a new cooler and three Pyrex casserole dishes. WOW! She is my favorite adopted sister. After she left, Paul and July brought a truckload of things from Layton. (I accumulated a few large items while we stayed there, planning ahead, you know?) It was fun to talk to them and share our food. Not long after they left, the big truck finally arrived and the chaos commenced. The EQ here showed up bringing a few strong men with jovial attitudes, for whom we are truly grateful.

We went to bed tired that night. This picture is the chaos that resulted from speedy unpacking. For FHE we broke down boxes and to take to the recycling center.

Now, 8 days later, with not a box left in the house, here are a few shots of our home. (Just don't ask about the boxes in the garage or the basement. That is a party for another day.)

This is the bunk bed Kaeleb earned by being brave and going to bed on his own. We are so proud of our little guy!

We love Heber! Everyone we have met is super nice. The post office guy, the city people, the trash company, our new bug guys, and wowsers-- our neighbors! We are completely surrounded by nice people with kids the same ages as ours. We are so thankful and excited to get to know everyone.

Our ward is wonderful so far. We have been very welcomed. It is huge and will probably split soon as they are receiving one to two new move ins every week. We don't feel like we stand out too much because everyone else is new too.

So, halfway through Gospel Doctrine a man made a comment, and when I turned to look at him it was none other than Michael McLean. I totally stared because I was telling myself it couldn't be him, but he has one of those unmistakable hair do's, if not faces. I decided I would rather not introduce myself, although I have met him before and sang in a back up choir at one of his concerts many years ago, I felt a teensy bit awkward. Who'd have thought that Michael McLean would be in my ward? I am still weirded out.

We also have had a lot of fun with Kris and Barbi and their kids. It is always an instant party to have family close by. We are excited for this new chapter in our lives. And tired. Definitely tired.

Boondocks, Fireworks, Boating, and By The Way, We're Finally Moving!

2010-07-11T19:32:00.013-06:00

Get ready for the ONSLAUGHT. We took a few vacation days to enjoy the 4th and took about 200 hundred pics. I chose a "few"... they posted backwards, so we will start with yesterday and work our way back to the 2nd of July.

We had sooo much fun! Tam and Dave came for a week and Kris and Barbi came for a few days as well, so we had a house full of cousins and the boys were in heaven. I have purposely left out a good many pics I wanted to post, and I will condense the itinerary for the sake of us all.

But first, we are actually moving into our new house on Saturday! S-WEET! Kwint is going down on Friday to load up our stuff and bring it home on Saturday morning. We spent ALL day yesterday putting up blinds. Thanks to Uncle Kris for putting together the boys bunk beds! We didn't take any pics, which I can see now is a good thing. ;)

Friday night we took the boys bowling. We didn't take any great pictures but I had to include this one because of the flower in my hair. I MADE it. Yes, with yarn and a crochet hook! Jaiden bought one at the mall and we all loved it. So, Kwint's mom sat down and figured it out, then taught Tam and I how to do it. We spent a whole evening, until midnight crocheting. I made three.

Tuesday afternoon we spent at the Hansen Planetarium in Gateway. It is the best place for nerds like us. Kaeleb and Kwint both love outer space, and ever since I got hooked on Stargate SG-1 many years ago, I have become a nerd too. This is a pendulum which always swings in the same path, but because of the tilt of the earth, it appears to move in a circle. Cool, eh?

Here are the kids on Mars. I always knew that they were Martians.

On the moon... One giant leap for mankind...

Here are the boys beneath a giant replica of the solar system, which I couldn't fit in the picture.

On Monday we went boating at Pineview Reservoir with thousands of other people. Here are the boys playing on the beach. I usually take a few pics of Kwint showing off on the wakeboard, but I was holding a sleeping Brenny this time. It is always amazing that the little ones fall asleep so easily on the boat.

Backing up to Sunday, the 4th. The Fireworks! We actually set them off for two nights in a row, which was very fun.

Here were the onlookers.

The tailgate party... Cera, Brennan, and Krystal, who all turn three this summer!

Earlier that afternoon several adventurous souls took turns skateboarding on Kwint's newly inherited Tierney board which is a snowboard on wheels.

This is Shelley and her daughter Samantha. Shelley is our office manager, which is short for "the woman who can do anything and we would be nowhere without her". She has become a sister to us, and Sam an Auntie for the boys. Sam is a pro snowboarder-- she gave Kwint the Tierney board.

Sam just got back from France and brought the boys these police hats and giant balls of the French flag.

The Robinsons made Navajo tacos for dinner. Here are Sadie and Dave heating the oil.

Meanwhile, the ladies prepping yummy food inside.

While Grandpa played Wii Sports Resort (his father's day present!!)

I just love the smile. Aunt Tam is filling a bucket to diffuse the fireworks.

Sadie and the boys were doing acrobatics in the yard moments before this shot.

On Saturday, the 3rd of July we went to the Jacobs for a little game of cards and a 4th of July relay race.... which we famously lost. The boys swam in the pool and terrorized the basement. Jacobs parties are always fun-- we love to crash each other's family parties. Dan and Dee have 3 boys with one on the way, Bruce and Kristy have 3 boys with one on the way, and we have 2 boys with none on the way, so it always a funny chaotic mess of boys! We love boys!

Friday, the 2nd of July, yes, folks, we are nearly done with this post. This day kicked off our family stay at home vacation. Since we are moving this year there would be no Disneyland, no cruise, no hiking Mt. Everest, so instead... we went to Boondocks!! What a fun filled day we had!! The boys loved Rollerball, which is bowling for tots. The balls are small, with no holes so they can chuck 'em granny style. The lanes are short and the pins are small. It is perfect. (Of course, they did just as well real bowling on Friday, considering the bumper pads. They both beat me.)

I love this one. Brenny begged and begged to ride the carousel, but once it started moving he got scared. I made him stay on because I was not about to waste the whopping 25 cents it cost to get the thing moving.

This is for my brother, Alan, who is obsessed with guns. I am not, but my sons are. Thanks bro, for passing that gene on.

This is Kris on the Go-Karts. They were going so fast I could never get a shot of anything but the back of their heads as they raced by.

Everyone's favorite... The bumper boats... a refreshing ride which consisted of everyone shooting each other with blasts of water as we scooted through the pool. Kaeleb and Talan rode it six times. The rest of us at least four.

And last, but not least (actually this would have been first if blogger had uploaded it in order...) Mini Golf! This is all of us on the 1st hole. After that we scattered to the four winds. Kaeleb and Talan golfed hockey style, scooting their balls through all 18 holes in record time. On the second hole Brennan wiped his brow (it was very hot) and threw down his club, declaring "I'm done with this." After that Kwint and Kris tried to keep up with Kaeleb and Talan and I tried to keep Brenny from jumping in the water.

So, that is that. Wow! I don't know about you, but I am tired.

Summer Days

2010-06-28T14:49:00.002-06:00

Oh, summer fun! I have neglected my blog for a few weeks, and I have neglected my camera, so if this is a boring post, feel free to skip it. For posterity's sake I have a bit to write, but it's more so that I don't forget these precious days than anything else.

We have been having a fun summer. I love it up here!! I am so happy that we can be outside and not suffocate in the scorching desert! Right now the boys are running through the sprinklers and I am sitting in the shade quite comfortable. Ask me again in 6 months how I feel when I am snowed in and terrified to drive anywhere, but this is sure nice.

Kaeleb took swimming lessons for two weeks, which was fun because I could take Brennan swimming in the outdoor pool while he was in his lessons inside. My quirky little guy would not participate in a lot of the events in his lesson because he hates getting water on his face or in his ears (which is why I waited this long to put him in lessons) but he had a blast and ended up passing the class so he will move up next year anyway.

We have had a little kink in our house plans and are going to be in Layton for yet another month. The loan co. Richmond Homes uses is a small lender and a week before closing the underwriter had a panic attack about loaning money to people who are self employed... regardless of whether they have perfect credit and make enough money to afford the payment... but whatever... So, we had to move on to a bigger lender who will can "afford the risk". It is ridiculous, but we started over with Chase and hopefully we will close within a month. The house is finished and beautiful, and here we sit.

It is a good thing we like it here! It has been great for the boys to have four grown ups who love them and great for me to have help with the discipline and keeping them busy. They love to be outside helping Grandma in the yard. They pull weeds and dig with spades and even helped her plant two trees.

They also love playing the Wii with Grandpa. Kaeleb insisted on getting him Wii Sports Resort for Father's Day and they have been playing the Swordplay showdown ever since.

I got Kwint a door gym for Father's day so that he could show off how many pull ups he can do and I can whine about how many I can't do.

I have been missing my dad a lot this summer. Father's day is an obvious time to miss him, and his birthday is in July, so when summer hits, with all the fun, I also spend some time thinking about him. His face and the sound of his voice are still so vivid... I guess there are some things that are so familiar time cannot dim them. I am excited because my mom brought me some old pictures of him so I can make scrapbooks for my boys to keep that are all about Papa. I treasure them so much I almost slept with them the night I got them. But I would have wrinkled them. :)

Last weekend we went to a Monsen Family Reunion (my mom's family) in Fountain Green and had quite a lot of fun. I am ashamed of myself for how little I keep in touch with my cousins and I was amazed by all the little kids and how much they look like the cousins I used to play with. It was really fun to match the kids to their parents and in some cases, grandparents... (Hello Hayden!) My cousin Mindy and her hubby put together some creative games, as well as rockets for the kids to blast off and a big water balloon sling shot. So, as you can guess, Kwint had fun too.

I have the most amazing family. My grandma must be an angel sent from heaven to have raised such a family. She had nine children, one of which died as a toddler, but all eight living were married in the temple and of her 45-ish grandchildren, all but 3 or 4 are active in the church. It makes me proud to be part Monsen. As I listened to my cousins talk about their children and the various joys and trials they have been through, I was impressed and grateful for their examples. They have beautiful children and awesome spouses.

Brennan got his first mosquito bite there. (One thing we do miss about the desert-- there are so many bats in St. George that eat mosquitoes and we had narry a bite in 7 years.) He came running to us screaming "A bee is biting me!" with the mosquito still attached to his arm. We assured him that if it was a bee, it would not have been such a pleasant experience. Kaeleb loved the rockets best and had to make one as soon as we got home from church yesterday. We are so glad we went.

Kaeleb is such a good boy. I can always count on him to be obedient. He tries really hard to do the right thing and keep his brother in line. He is also so very smart. I love our scripture time at night because he understands it so well. We ask a lot of questions and he always has an answer, usually well thought out. I am proud of my boy. Speaking of bedtime, he is earning his bunk bed. We told him we would get bunk beds for them if he was brave enough to go to sleep without Mommy in his bed. It took two nights and he was saying "Night-night Mom, Night-night dad!" and hopping off to bed. Miracles do happen!

One more story and I will stop with my ramblings, oh how I do love to ramble... it is so therapeutic. Brennan said his first solo prayer (aka without help from mom or dad)two nights ago. It was very cute and went like this: "Henly Fadder, I'm fankful for dis day, fankful for Jesus, fankful for fam-i-ly, for Daddy, for Mommy, for Me, for Brudder, for Baby Lou's (their buddy dolls), for Bear...." Amen. He is the sweetest little rascal I have ever known.

The BEST ten years!

2010-06-08T20:34:00.002-06:00

A little piece of why we moved back up here...

This last week (June 3rd) we celebrated our tenth anniversary. We have always talked about going to Hawaii for our tenth... but then we decided to move... and the cost of a U-Haul, blinds, fencing, a yard, and all the incidental expenses associated with moving (you know, like all the things I have been wishing I could buy and am now using the new house as an excuse to spend money... towels, bedding, pillows, pans, etc) trumped our travel fund.

So, we celebrated by going to see the Red Butte Gardens near the University of Utah one night, and going to dinner and a movie the next night. We took the kids with us on Thursday and everyone loved it! It is so beautiful and peaceful. We took 98 pictures. I opted not to post them all.

Friday night we left the kids and went first, to dessert at Cold Stone Creamery (cookie doughn't you want some?), then to see Prince of Persia (we liked it so much we took the kids and Kwint's parents to see it again the next day, haha!). We finished the night by eating at Corbin's, which is a semi fancy restaurant in Layton owned by an old friend of ours who also took our wedding pictures way back ten years ago. We had a table right next to a glass waterfall. The waiter pulled my chair out, put my napkin in my lap for me, and told us our menu choices were his favorite. The food was sooooo good. Kwint got grilled salmon and I got blackened chicken tortellini. WOW, can I say WOW again? So, maybe it wasn't Hawaii, but it was memorable for us.

I sort of skipped past Memorial Day, but that was fun too. Kwint's parents took us all to see "How to Train a Dragon" which was so funny and so cute. The kids loved it! Then we went hiking up by the Layton castle where we were surprised to find our beloved Jacob's family doing just the same thing. We love 'em.

So, the only funny kid stories I can remember from the week are the ones that won't be funny until the kids are older... Kaeleb begging for Wii sports resort at Sam's club and then after I scolded him I tried to distract him and he said, "Nice try Mom. I know you are trying to make me feel better. Not working."

Brennan flooding the basement, throwing a 45 minute tantrum at swimming lessons, breaking Grandpa's model wagons, hosing me down every day when I try to take away the garden hose he is flooding the backyard with, yelling at me, kicking me, hitting me, sitting in time out for 15 minutes after punching Kwint in the face.... I'd better stop now.

But, on the flip side, they are both so sweet. They love to help Grandma in the yard. Brennan came up behind me, gently grabbed my face with both hands and kissed me right on the lips, saying "You're my mom." (His favorite term of endearment.) I do love them with all of my heart.

These are happy days... We are looking forward to tens of tens more years like these.

What a Week!

2010-05-30T16:30:00.007-06:00

Progress on the house... Our official walk through is June 17th and we close and move in on the 25th. We do love this house and are looking forward to being there.
They added the middle shutters, I think it finished up nicely. They still need to paint the front door, which will be the same color as the shutters.

Here is a bit of the kitchen. The cupboards are not as fancy as our SG house, but it will finish up nicely once we get knobs and decorate up top. We also may darken them a bit, antiquing, is what Kwint's mom calls it. In order to get the fancy ones we would have had to do a big upgrade package that just wasn't in the price range. So, we'll do our own upgrades!!

The bathrooms: Sorry, I couldn't rotate it, I tried. This is the 1/2 bath.

The kids bath.

The Master bath.

It is hard to capture in a photo, but every window has an amazing view. Mountains on every side... and the kids can see the park from their room, which may or may not be a good thing for me. :)

I am going to miss being here at GnG's though. I am blessed with the kindest of in-laws and there is a lot of love in this home. Not to mention, Grandpa is the only one who can get through to Brennan when he loses control. He has saved my bacon a good many times, just this week.

This has been an interesting week in terms of learning from life... I love it when that happens. I start being grumpy about it, and end up being grateful.

As I mentioned last week, we worked through the weekend getting ready for the big "launch". We were super stressed and very excited to see Erik on TV and hear him announce his new career as a Life coach and tell about the website on Live TV. So, if anyone was able to watch the Biggest Loser on Tuesday, you will have noticed, as we did, that they didn't weigh Erik in as they had promised. They showed him in the audience and announced his weight loss, but that was it. He looked great, but didn't get to say anything. NBC told BL they had to shave an hour off the finale, and so they cut out his weigh-in.

I was a bit mad because they made this huge deal about the fact that he'd gained weight back and made him a promise that he could weigh in at the finale and show everyone how he was doing. He spent several months away from his wife and three kids at Fitness Ridge and worked SO hard, and all he got was a 10 second blurb. I wish that he could have promoted Fitness Ridge, they deserve the attention.

On the bright side, he was able to appear on Larry King Live the next night, with several of the contestants from this season. He spoke from his heart and was so sincere. He did announce the website (which received 800 hits that night). He was also featured in an article in "InTouch Weekly". So, we are proud of him and excited to be in business with him.

Speaking of business, Kwint has been pretty busy. He has been doing a lot of phone sessions with clients from St. George and previous guests of Fitness Ridge, and he spends two afternoons a week at Utah's Live-in Fitness Camp-- which by the way, is a sweet program that I really want to get more involved in as I finish my certification. Kwint loves the owners and hopes to help wherever he can. I think it may have something to do with the fact that they are planning on expanding soon... in Hawaii. Ha ha!! He does have a few clients in Park City, but doesn't spend a whole lot of time in his actual office because of the drive. Once we live there he will do most of his work there. I am so proud of him for working this hard and growing his business so quickly.

I got sick this week and lost my voice, which made parenting a wee bit tough. On a particularly frustrating day, Brenny ran away from me and as I lunged to grab his arm, I pulled a muscle in my neck. I was grumpy about that, I must admit. My shoulder just barely healed and here I was, sick and unable to move my head.

But, as the weekend rolled around I began to learn from my frustrations. First of all, with our big launch that didn't launch, I learned that it is ok that we work a little harder for success. Everything we have comes from God and it could be gone in a moment. It is not my place to demand, but to be grateful when the blessings come. I am grateful for every hour Kwint spends helping others and every penny he makes. I spent a long time barely breathing when we first opened the private practice, worrying about money, and although I do not wish to relive that stress, I can be grateful for every little success along the way without having to be talked about on national TV.

Second, I am so grateful for my health. Yes, I have had some annoying injuries lately, from my feet to my back to my shoulder to my neck, but my body has bounced back amazingly fast every time. Except for my feet, but I have learned to live with that. Priesthood blessings work miracles! Rotator cuffs usually take months to heal, and I was better in two weeks. My back injury could have lasted years and involved surgery, but I was better in less than two months. My neck healed in 3 days. I am still hoarse, but I was only mute for two days. If I can't be grateful for that, that is pretty selfish. I am active and healthy and grateful for it.

Here are the precious moments of the week:
I took the kids to the park on Wednesday. It has a couple hills which they gleefully rolled down on the way back to the car. Then as they were running through the field, Kaeleb spotted a fuzzy dandelion. He stopped, stooped down, quickly said "I wish light sabers were real!", blew off the fuzz and ran away. I giggled so hard!

Kaeleb will be starting swimming lessons in a week, and we were talking as we were driving one day about how important it is to learn to swim so they don't drown if they fall in the water without a life jacket. Brennan piped up in his most matter of fact voice and said "If I fall in da water I won't die, betause I know how to turn myself into a frog." I laughed, and Kaeleb said "Oh yeah? Then do it!" Brennan scoffed and said huffily, "Well, I tan't do it NOW. Dere's no water in here!"

I love these guys!!

The Biggest Loser is our big winner...

2010-05-23T14:32:00.003-06:00

The best part about Grandma's house, by far, is the backyard. We all love it.

Another busy, busy week. We are making a mad dash at getting ready for the launch of our growing business.... Tuesday, during the live finale of the The Biggest Loser, our new business partner, Erik Chopin, (season three winner) will weigh-in and talk about his new career as a weight loss coach.... Erik lost 214 pds, and has recently received a lot of attention because he gained a lot of it back. The Biggest Loser offered to let him work it off again and weigh-in at this finale. He has been out at Fitness Ridge working super hard, which is where Kwint met him. We are so happy to have him on board. Some other former contestants are reviewing our materials and we hope to build a huge network of coaches. We are expanding our services to include teleconferences and webinars as well, and we are really excited about it. Feel free to check out our website www.thegreateryouonline.com if you are curious to see all the details.

We are loving being back in Layton. It has been so nice to see our friends and family so much. We love being at GnG's and we are really going to miss them when we get in our house (which, by the way has cupboards and is painted now). We have not seen it for a couple weeks, so we will have to get up there soon.

Have a happy week!

Fun, fun, fun

2010-05-16T15:24:00.007-06:00

I am sad... I did a blunder. We had a fabulous Mother's Day with both of my mom's here for dinner, AND my brother and his family, AND Kwint's family... and I forgot to take any pictures at all. I will just have to remember the fun without any visual aids.

We had a good second week. We tried to go to the zoo yesterday, but apparently EVERYONE else in Salt Lake City got there before we did, and there was not one place to park anywhere within a mile of the zoo, so we went to "This is the Place" monument five minutes before they closed.... So, we went to Gateway and played on the splash pad. We had the Jacobs with us, so it was fun anyway!!

We also went to Kris' birthday party and enjoyed some good food, family and friends. While we were in Heber we checked the progress on our house. We have trim, doors, and primer... it is starting to look like a home and we are excited!

I impinged my rotator cuff on Friday morning. I don't recommend it to anyone. I wish it was a cool story, but just like when I threw my back out, I was doing something completely ordinary. Sleeping. I woke up with my arm over my head and when I put it down, I could no longer move it. I have been gimpy lady all weekend and now that the inflammation is dying down I can move it 45 degrees. It will seriously cramp my style lifting weights for a couple months, but I have gained a new gratitude for my shoulders.

So, that is that, pics will edit in later....

This is the House....

2010-05-08T17:39:00.009-06:00

This is our house (soon). We love it. We went to check out the progress on Friday. It is drywall and cement but they said this week will be a big one, so next week we should have a few finishing touches.
There will also be shutters on this middle window.

Check out the size of the yard! Compared to SG I feel like we have a whole park at our house!!

Nice big front porch... can't wait to get a swing...

and little back patio...

It is the perfect size and layout on the inside. Next week I will post inside shots. I am so nervous about my not-so-green thumb and this big plot of land.... and the cost of the fence to keep my kids contained... sigh.

So, we have had a fantastic week!

Kaeleb had an amazing first day of school, and in fact an incredible first week. I am so proud of him. If any of you remember how the first month of Kindergarten went, you will be proud of him too. He has afternoon kindergarten in Mrs. Moore's class. Kaeleb is going to the school where his Grandma teaches first grade and Mrs. Moore is one of her best friends. I took him early, during the teachers lunch break to meet her and see the classroom. He was SO nervous, but she is very kind and positive and he calmed right down.

When it was time for school, Kaeleb begged me not to take him. He wanted to know exactly why moms can't just teach kids everything at home. I said I could, but I wouldn't be very good at it and there wouldn't be any friends. SO, I was all geared up for a fight and a good cry, but once he saw his classroom he zoomed in without looking back or saying goodbye. PHEW! Was I ever amazed!

The kids in his class have welcomed him with open arms. He made friends the first day and they are so cute together. He gets to be the spotlight kid on Monday so I made a picture collage and get to go to his class and tell the kids all about him.

Kwint has had an equally impressive first week at Gale & Associates in Park City. (He's one of the associates.) He had a nearly full schedule (Already?! WOW!) and was so happy. The drive only takes him 45 minutes, so it is better than we were planning on and once our house is done, 20 minutes from Heber will feel like nothing.
I have never seen him so excited about his work and there are some really awesome irons in the fire. You might just hear about him on TV if you watch the Biggest Loser finale two weeks from Tuesday. :)

Brenny and I are having a harder time than those two guys. I am really surprised at how emotional I feel-- I wanted this after all, but I miss SG so much!! Even though I saw on the news that it was 90 degrees there and I am walking around in a jacket here. I miss my friends and Tam like crazy. I love it here and have had a great time being back with my friends here. I went to hang with Dee and her boys one morning. It was nice for all of us to have some familiar faces and friendships that have stayed so strong. We also went to see our good friends, the Chavez family, who had a very handsome baby boy two weeks ago, and it felt soooo good to be there! We are truly thankful to be back. So, I am sad and I am happy and it makes me feel all jumbled up inside.

Brennan has been saying "I liked St. George Mom." and "I don't want to sleep in this bed, I like MY bed." and "I'm NOT going to Heber." I took him to the library on Tuesday for Story Time. We went every week in St. George and he loves it. He was all excited for it, but when we pulled up to the Davis County Library he looked at it and said "This is not my library." and utterly refused to get out of the car. He curled up on the floor of the car and yelled "I want MY library!" His disdain is waning every day though, and I expect that he will be fine very soon.
I bought them both swords and guns since they had to leave their toys packed, we have been to the park with GnG, and we brought their scooters & have been out scootering the neighborhood, all of which helps him to realize he will be happy wherever we go. We all will. :)

Goodbye is never easy

2010-05-02T20:22:00.003-06:00

Yesterday we drove out of this driveway for the last time...
I went for a walk early in the morning, listening to the birds, feeling the sunshine on my back and reflecting on our 7 years in St. George.

I am so grateful that the Lord brought us to Dixie. I realize now that His hand was in every step we have taken and I am amazed at our growth and our blessings. We have faced many challenges and learned lessons we could not have learned anywhere else from any other group of people than those we associated with in St. George.

Miracles of miracles that He knows us all, individually, well enough to give us what we need even if we don't know it is what we need.

As I walked, I thought to myself, "It feels so right to leave now. Why?" After suffering through 5 hot summers, last year I finally stopped complaining and decided to follow Elder Wirthlin's advice to "Come what may and love it." We struggled through the first stages of owning our own business and now it is thriving! We have the perfect home that is all we could ever need. We have family close and incredible friends. One of the owners at The Biggest Loser Resort asked Kwinten, "With all we have going on with NBC, WHY are you walking away now?"

We don't know. It sounds crazy and no one understands, least of all us, but we KNOW it is right. I am sad, very sad to say goodbye to what we have "grown" there-- deep roots-- but it feels so undeniably right, right enough that I am willing to leave not knowing why.

We didn't know why the Lord prepared the way for us to move to St. George in the first place, but now we do. So, we take the first step to Heber now, not knowing why, but knowing that we will.

A Better Offer

2010-04-28T13:34:00.003-06:00

Well bless my soul... we actually got a better offer on the bigger home. We are totally excited! I don't have a picture of this one, but I will get one eventually. It is new (still not finished, in fact.) It has 4 bedrooms upstairs, a big kitchen and an unfinished basement. All for only 4,000 more than the little one. Sweet Dreams do come true! If you are really curious, you can go to richmondamerican.com and click on the "Aaron" to view our floor plan and see a picture. Ours is elevation B. We love it!

Kwint starts work in Park City on Monday, so we are setting sail on Friday afternoon. We are actually looking forward to spending some time at GnG's and we will get to help pick out carpet, paint and fixtures. It will be fun!

My first item of business though, will be going to the zoo. I have wanted to take the boys for sooooo long!

It has been a hard week saying goodbye to our family, friends and neighbors but we are really looking forward to a new adventure. 2 days and counting....

Joy in the Crazy Times

2010-04-24T19:21:00.004-06:00

So.... Still don't know on the house. We got a REALLY sweet counter offer, which we are about to wholeheartedly accept... IF this one more house doesn't pan out. Kwint's parents went to Heber today and took pictures for us. It is bigger and costs more, so it would have to be just the right price to get us to walk away from the super cute smaller one. We will know for sure tomorrow night. We are sooooo excited! Either way we will be really happy.

The plan for now.... If we get the house pictured in the last blog it will close on May 31. If we get the other one, which is not yet complete, it will close on June 30. That means we get to camp out at GnG's BnB. (Grandpa and Grandma's Bed and Breakfast) We love it there! We are really excited. Kaeleb will finish kindergarten at the school Grandma teaches at and she has a favorite teacher all picked out for him.

We are going to leave all our stuff packed in our garage here. (We love our buyer. One of the benefits of selling a home to a friend... Actually, Shelley is more than a friend, she is also Kwint's office manager and our unofficial adopted big sister. She has a 17 yr old daughter, Sam, who is a big sis to our boys. This will be their vacation home and Shelley's niece will be renting it from her whenever they do not need it.) Once our house closes we will drive back down, visit friends and family, then load up our stuff and go home. Ah....

I am actually very glad to have a break in between packing and unpacking. I can do all the address changes and utility hook ups in a relaxed state of being, rather than while packing. I may also refinish a little furniture.

Whenever I get too busy I manage my stress by being creative, which makes me more busy. While I have been packing, I also bought couches, made pillows, hung new curtains in a couple rooms, and painted a desk and a bookcase. Oh yeah, and we put in the backyard. What is wrong with me? I get so manic. Even when I am not moving, if I feel stressed on a busy day I always make bread or cookies. It is an anomaly.

In the midst of the chaos, my short term memory is going, going, gone.... So, I thought that I had better take a moment to reflect on the little guys I have neglected to mention. I have to tell a couple cute stories before I forget them and then it is off to pack and clean and pack and clean and pack....

Brennan told a little girl at the park that his brother is five and he is "half of five". Brilliant! He really is! I think he actually meant 5 and 1/2, because he hears Kaeleb say it and it is how old he wishes he was... but he is still brilliant anyway.

I made a stroganoff of sorts for dinner on Thursday and he growled when he saw it. He yelled "Not THIS! I have eated this for two days! I don't not want it again!" (I have not made it in months.)

This one is my favorite: When the Jacobs were here, I heard Bren and Tate talking together, just chattering away. I thought, "I wonder what two two-year-olds are talking about?" So, I perked up my ears in time to hear Brennan say, "Tate! Heavenly Father built your head." Yes! He does listen in Nursery!

Kaeleb is doing so well in school. He is reading like a champ! He got to skip a reading level, which apparently is very important to the kids because I heard all about the conversation he had with Avril, the smartest girl in his class in which she bragged that she was a level ahead of him... but not anymore! I love watching him learn.

He went on his first field trip a few weeks ago and has another one on Tuesday. I thought he would be so excited to ride on a school bus for the first time but when I asked about it exuberantly, he said "It's just a bus, Mom. It was just a field trip." Sheesh, what do I know anyway? I'm just a mom.

The boys have decided they will all learn to play the guitar. Kwint dusted off his old guitar and bought new strings. He plans to teach himself online (having learned a bit in HS and not played in 15 years...) and then teach the kids. I guess this means I better start re-teaching myself to play the piano.

This post is very long, for one reason alone... I am supposed to be mowing the lawn while Kwint finishes raking the last of the gravel in place.... guess I better get mowing...

2010-04-19T21:28:00.001-06:00

We had a successful house hunting trip.... This is the house we are hoping to get.... We should know in a couple of days. We love it. I love it because it reminds me of Weiser architecture. Ha ha!!

We also found a buyer for our home here and set up a lease purchase which is going to be a really great deal for both us and our good buyer, so it has truly been a miraculous week. We have prayed for this miracle for 8 months and knew it would happen, it just didn't happen when we thought it would!

We got new couches this week to put in our new house. If I may toot my own horn, I made the pillows and am pretty proud. I love this picture-- Kwint and his mini-me. :)

Springtime Happenings

2010-04-11T15:39:00.008-06:00

Lovely Spring... we have been blessed with mild weather two years in a row in our beloved scorching desert. I love Spring!! We spent Easter weekend in Layton and Heber. Our main purpose in going up was to find a home, which we did not accomplish, but we are going back up next weekend and won't come back until we have found our new home.

We have a very creative solution to the house situation in St. George, thanks to Kwint's brilliant and kind parents, which I will blog about once it is official, but blessings from Heaven have distilled upon us and there is a solution formulating. We are very thankful.

The boys were pretty lucky... the Easter Bunny managed to find them at Grandma's house!! They were quite excited by these new short swords, and amazed when Mom let them eat candy for breakfast. (and lunch.) (and cake for dinner.) Ugh.

We went to an Easter egg hunt at the Parker's (Aunt Barbi's Mom's house hosts the annual event)

I am an now an official Soccer Mom. Kaeleb loves playing and especially loves his cleats. He wants to wear them any time he thinks he may be running in grass, you know, just to make sure he doesn't slip. It is really cute to watch kids his age play. They mostly just run across the field and back in a big pack and every once in awhile someone gets a lucky kick in and they all turn around and run the other way. Those are pretty much the rules, right?

I love the tongue in this one. It was actually very cold (Ok, cold for St. George is 50.) so the kids were all wearing coats instead of their blue and yellow jerseys. The week before this it was 80, so you just never know what to expect down here. Kaeleb's team is called the Monkeys, and he is hoping he will get a trophy like the one he got in Basketball.

Business endeavors are looking better every day and we are so excited to be heading up and see where it all leads. We are truly sad to be leaving The Biggest Loser Resort, but have been connected with another fitness resort in Sandy, called Utah's Live in Fitness Camp, where Kwint is set to start lecturing and taking clients as soon as we are up there. It is a 45 min drive, so it may only be one or two days a week that he spends there. He will stay busy the other days with referrals from Max and doing phone therapy with the clients he keeps from St. George. He is so happy. I love watching him grow and creating a niche for himself.

I am excited too, because I am meeting this week with a personal trainer and am ready to learn how to do this. I have put my studies on hold until after the move but it will be so good to get some hands on learning in the meantime. Once I get my certification I am going to move on to another certification called "Lifestyle and Weight Management" which will enable me to write meal plans as well as fitness plans. It may be another full year before I actually start working, when Brennan goes to preschool, but at the rate I am going, it will take a year to finish my certs.

We had a wonderful weekend with the Jacob's Family who graciously came to visit us even though we will be up there in just a few short weeks! I neglected to get any good pictures, even though we had a sooooo much fun. It was a bit noisy and chaotic, as you might imagine with 5 boys, but they were in Heaven. Both boys were completely depressed when they left. Kaeleb wanted to know exactly how many days it would be until we see them again and Brenny whined for an hour "I just wanna go wif my friends! I just want my friends to tome to my house!" We are glad they love Tracen, Tyler, and Tate as much as we love Dan and Dee. It will be such a blessing to be close to our good friends up North again. We have pretty strong roots grown in both places now, and we are feeling very grateful that the Lord has blessed us so.

We Are Gonna Miss This Place!

2010-03-28T19:51:00.003-06:00

Yesterday we hiked the "Saddle", a beautiful hike behind Tuacahn that heads up a canyon and over a saddle shaped crest down into Snow Canyon. (The boys didn't last all the way, but we had so much fun playing on the rocks!) It is free and has some of the most incredible rock formations in Southern Utah. According to us, anyway.
Kwint has dubbed this one the Dragon Head...

We found a mini "narrows" a crack we sidled through just for fun. Here, Kwint sat on top and I hoisted the boys up to him.

Me and the boys from Kwint's bird's eye view...

HOW, we asked ourselves, did a rock form itself into a perfect cube?

And, here is one of many fun rock piles we climbed on, just for fun.

We so love these red rock hikes. We will miss having it in our backyard, but we know that even after we move, we will be here for many a weekend vacation and revisit all our favorite hikes. Maybe not mid-July... but all spring and all fall we will be hitting the rocks. (All winter we will be hitting the slopes in Park City!!)

There are many, many things we will miss. We have become so rooted here that it really is with heavy hearts that we will say goodbye to this chapter in our lives. We will never say goodbye to St. George because we plan on traveling down as often as we used to travel up, and we will keep all that we hold dear close to us-- Tam, Dave and the girls, and our wonderful friends. It is interesting how much deeper our emotions are flowing now that we know how close we are to leaving.

We had three interested parties in leasing our house this week, but no offers. We are finally feeling peaceful about it, though. We have 4 plans, A,B,C, and D. We are praying and studying things out, and we trust Heavenly Father. He knows what we need and He will make the way. We are ok with whatever we have to do. It has been a rough road emotionally in this "down economy", and hearing every negative and discouraging thing possible from anyone and their neighbor hasn't helped, but we really know it will work out however He has planned it to, for our benefit, even if it doesn't feel beneficial to us at the time.

So, plan A: A miraculous, cataclysmic event occurs and we get an offer to buy our house at what we are asking within the next 4 weeks.

Plan B: We get an offer for someone to lease purchase or to purchase by seller financing.

Plan C: We keep the house and find people to go in on a time share to cut the house payment down so that we can afford it while renting in Heber. I will start working from home to offset the cost. (I got a job offer from a colleague of Kwint's who has a website business and I would read and summarize newsletters to put on her blog.) It would be a delicate balance, because I am easily over-stressed, but I could make it work.

Plan D: Rent the house out. This is not our favorite option, because we have heard too many stories of renters who trash the homes they rent (although we are planning to rent for a couple years and we are not planning on trashing whatever home we rent) and we never know if they will default on their payments and the we will be stuck in the same situation we are stuck in now. But if we have to, we will look for renters.

So, we are going to refinance this week and see if we can get our payment down a bit, because no one will pay the amount of our mortgage as rent or a lease purchase... It has been so frustrating!! The buyers all want soooo much house for sooooo little money, and because of all the foreclosures and the fact that there are literally 8,000 houses for sale in Washington County, they are pretty much able to find it. We just can't compete in this market unless we short sell, and we don't want to damage our credit. We are already kissing goodbye all of our equity, unless we keep it for awhile until the market rebounds more, and then hopefully we'd kiss a little less goodbye.

Now that I am finished with my rants and raves, we are getting ready to head up to Heber this coming weekend to look for a place to live. It will be nice to have a place to picture us living in as we pack. It has felt strange putting things in boxes, unable to imagine their next destination... We are excited for the weekend. We will DVR Saturday's General Conference to watch throughout the next week so we can house hunt, and then spend Easter Sunday with Grandpa and Grandma. Yay!!

Speaking of conference, I went to the YW broadcast last night with Tam and my nieces. I loved all of the inspired messages.... funny, how I am no longer a YW, but all of my prayers were answered as I listened. All of us could benefit by reading it in next months Ensign. Pres. Uchtdorf told his love story with his wife, which was adorable, and I came home very glad I went.

The weather has been so perfect this week! We are outside a lot with the neighbors. The boys love to play with the Evans and the Rands across the street, and they love digging in the dirt. We are getting our backyard in, which we will enjoy for the next four weeks. It looks great. (We are hoping it will help sell the house.)

I know this was a long one. Feeling talkative tonight. Stay tuned next week for Kaeleb at soccer-- he joined a city league two weeks ago and LOVES it.

2010-03-24T19:57:00.002-06:00

Oh, the Luck of the Irish was upon us once again....
We had a festive, albeit icky looking, St. Patricks Day.
We enjoyed Green Eggs & Ham...

Green Tuna Fish Sandwiches...

And Green Shamrock Cookies....

The Pot of Gold was hiding a little surprise for the boys from a lucky leprechaun. Not that Kaeleb fell for that bit of fun.... He said "Leprechauns aren't REAL Mom. YOU dropped those things on the table." Nothin' gets past him.

This past Monday marked my 33rd birthday, which we celebrated for four days, but got no pictures... Mom usually takes them... I felt very loved and remembered, so thanks to those of you who wished me well.

We are feeling the stress of our upcoming move.... We are doing everything we can think of to sell our house and a big fat nothing is happening. We are praying for the miracle, but have a plan B and a plan C if it doesn't sell in the next couple of weeks. It is just a really crummy economic world we are living in these days and I can't think of anything positive to say about it.

I am focusing on the only thing I actually have control over, which is my strategic packing process. Empty boxes, full boxes, packing priorities, etc. Loads O' fun.

Spring Break

2010-03-14T17:01:00.006-06:00

This week was Kaeleb's first "actual" Spring Break. He did have one in Preschool, too, but a kindergarten Spring Break is different. It's legit. So, since we are not-- due to the upcoming move-- in a position to take a vacation, I tried to think of fun things to do at home, for free. I had big plans... most of which were foiled by the rainy week we had, but we did get out on one hike once most of the mud dried up.
I love these little Billy Goats. They were positively bouncing along the trail. Kaeleb was trying to catch Brennan in this one, he wouldn't stand still for the picture. :)

The other fun days included a Wii tournament, in which Kaeleb schooled me on the baseball field, 8-0. Yes, I struck out every time. I blame the umpire. But I beat him at boxing. He was really mad at me for not letting him win. Ha ha!

Another rainy day activity was going to Barnes & Noble to look at books and play on the stage. We love it there. It is one of our favorite places to go when it is too cold or hot to play outside. Kaeleb always picks out a new Berenstain Bears book. He has a plan to collect ALL 50 of them. This time he chose "Moving Day". (I put the idea slyly into his head)

Our plan was to use the Berenstain Bears to help Brenny transition to Heber. Kaeleb is SUPER excited to move. He loves the snow, the cold (reminds me of my dad, he never wants to wear a coat and says he likes it that way), and is most excited to live close to his favorite cousin Talan. Brennan on the other hand, is less than excited about the idea. Every time we show our house I drag him out the door screaming "Dis is MY house!! I not dunna sell MY HOUSE!! I don't WANT dose peoples in my house!!" You wouldn't think a two year old would really understand the process, but apparently they pick up on more than we give them credit for.

I don't know if the book helped, but when Kwint went snowboarding with Sadie and Jaiden on Thursday, Brennan was quite jealous and begged to go. So, Kwint told him "When we live in Heber I will take you snowboarding all the time." That did the trick. He became excited to move... but when we get there in May and there is no snow, I have a feeling we will have one disappointed toddler, who will not forget that Heber = snowboarding.

Other than that it was Candyland and Dawn of the Dinosaurs. So, maybe it was lame as far as Spring Breaks go, but we had fun and that is all that matters.

Saturday we had planned on helping our dear friends, the Millers, with their backyard. But it was windy, cold, and hailing. So, we had lunch, and then Mary Lynne and I went shopping while the men and boys played. This is the best picture we have ever taken of McKay. He likes to tease me and run away, so I usually only get the back of his head. Little turkey. While we were gone, Brennan treated him to his first fist fight, but in the end, they are still best friends. As we were driving home Brennan said, in a dreamy voice, "I love McKay. Sooo much."

So, I feel like I am living in Seattle again. This winter, and last winter too, actually, have been long and wet. It is going to be up to 70 this week, but it has been fun for me to enjoy the rain a bit. My kids have picked up on the fact that I am always happier on rainy days. Kaeleb said once, "Hey, it's raining! Mom's favorite kind of day!" and another day Brennan looked out the car window at the clouds and said "Its a Bootiful day today." It is because every day that is cloudy is not blisteringly hot. I will miss everything about St. George except the heat.

Black is the new black

2010-03-07T19:37:00.005-07:00

It is beginning to sink in that we are actually moving... Once March rolled around, we realized that May 1st will be upon us before we know it. So, we thought we'd better take advantage of every moment we have left in this beautiful sunny city. We went for a hike on Friday night before dinner and had a great time. The boys were hopping around like little mountain goats and we had to keep yelling "Slow down! Get away from edge! Get back here!" It was nice to see them having so much fun.

This is one thing I have always loved about Kwint... he is happier in the air than on the ground-- figuratively and literally. His motto is "Why walk when you can run, and why run when you can jump?"

I had a difficult time getting Brennan to stop moving long enough to smile, so although he is not looking at the camera, at least I captured the front of his face instead of the back of his head as he ran away from me.

Kaeleb loves crawling through caves and arches, which are plentiful in these wind eroded red cliffs.

This has been an unusual spring-- it is normally in the 70's by now with buds on the trees, but I guess the groundhog saw his shadow because there is nary a leaf out there... but this is my favorite view of the city-- with the Temple in the center, just as it should be the center of our lives.

Here are our shadows on the bluff... a poetic photographic moment for me...

This week I didn't have much on my schedule and was feeling particularly energetic (which has not happened since Brenny was born) so I decided to refinish the table and chairs. This table belonged to Grandma Ruth and although it was pretty beat up, I couldn't bear (or afford) to part with it. The edges of the table were worn to the bare wood and there were bite marks on the backs of the chairs from Brenny's teething days. (We compared him to the baby on A Series of Unfortunate Events that bites everything and hangs on with her teeth) So, three days, 100 dollars, and five trips to Home Depot later, this is the end result. I quite like it. I had to paint the picture frames on our kitchen wall and a shelf black to match, and just because I had all the stuff out, I painted an old run down bookcase that was once Tom's. Kaeleb started getting a little nervous and timidly asked, "Uh, Mom, are you going to paint EVERYTHING black?" I laughed and said "It looks that way, but I promise I will stop after this." I think he was imagining his toys and all turning black.

This was a silly moment after baths one night this week..

Kwint likes to style Kaeleb's hair this way...

And, speaking of black, I learned a valuable lesson last Sunday night. Never let the boys wrestle while sitting on my lap. This black eye I am now sporting is the unfortunate result of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. This was it on Monday.

And here it is on Thursday. All week I have creatively matched my shirt and my eyeshadow to the changing color of my black eye. I wore black one day, blue two days, purple two days, and am now getting closer to the green spectrum. I found that if I plastered it with makeup and matched the eyeshadow on the other eye to the black eye, no one even noticed it. It is only the second black eye I have ever had. The first was a gift from my big brother when I was just a toddler. I have been surrounded by strong, rowdy boys all of my life and I wouldn't change a moment of it. I have also been the victim of many a fat lip and lacerations from flying toys. Oh well.

2010-02-28T11:58:00.003-07:00

Some highlights of the week...

Frist, the funny things they say...

If any of your kids watch special Agent Oso, you will appreciate this. Kaeleb had a bowl of food on the counter which he was finished with and was about to take to the sink when he lost his balance. Food went flying everywhere. He looked at me, waiting for a reaction. For some reason, this time I did not react with my usual "Oh Kaeleb!! Pick it up now!" I simply stared at him, waiting to see what he would do next. He smiled slyly and said "It's all part of the plan-- more or less. OOPS!"

I love to listen to Brenny talk, because he still doesn't say the C or G sounds and things sound so funny. While looking out the back window I said to Brennan, "We are going to get a backyard there soon, won't that be fun?" He said "NO! You tan't! Dat is my darden!" I said "Your garden? What, your weed garden?" "Yeah, my weed and dirt darden."

And, the funny things they do...

Kaeleb won a trophy at Iddy Biddy basketball. He was sooo excited. He said "My first trophy!" He carried it around all the next day and made a spot for it on his shelf. He said "It's gold because I did my very best, right? If I only did sorta my best it would be silver, and if I didn't do much of my best it would be bronze."

Kaeleb came running to me shouting, I need my dinosaur costume!" I said, "Kaeleb, you were three when you wore it. It is too small." "No, mom!" he replied, "It will fit." So, I relented, and it was a bit small, but it still zipped. Then Brennan piped up, "I need my tiger costume!" to which I laughed-- "Ok, so Kaeleb can squeeze into the costume he wore when he was three, but you were only 6 weeks old when you wore this. You couldn't even fit it on one leg." Well, he insisted, and as you will see, he did fit it on one leg. Two legs even. My how they grow. They played Dawn of the Dinosaurs for hours that day.

We had the Millers over for FHE and Kwint was in charge of the lesson... We were well entertained by Captain Moroni with his Title of Liberty, Nephi with his broken bow, and Ammon with his sword.

As far as the grown ups go, we are busy getting ready to move. Kwint is organizing his caseload and putting things in order to move his practice and I am cleaning out closets and dejunking. It is my favorite thing to do. I get a little too excited about throwing things away, actually. We are still praying for the miracle of our home selling, but also trying to think of "creative" investment ideas for plan B. It is a wee bit overwhelming, but we feel right about it and so the Lord will prepare the way...

Snow much fun!

2010-02-18T16:56:00.008-07:00

We spent our long Valentine's Weekend up North. Kwint met with a private practice group in Park City, who he has been corresponding with for the last several months and they have offered him a spot in their practice. We have said that he will take it. We have a lot of things going here and don't want to slow down so we aren't talking a whole lot about it to anyone but friends and family, but we are hoping to be up there by May 1st, though nothing is set in stone datewise.

Anybody wanna buy a house in St. George? We are pretty motivated... It is a super horrible time to sell so we are praying for a big miracle. :)

Here are some fun shots of the weekend. Naturally, I forgot to take pictures on Saturday of our get-together with friends... and I forgot to take a picture of the new little Jenkins baby I got to hold... though here is one of his big sis, Mikell, and Kaeleb.

The boys were obsessed with the teddy bears at Grandma's house this weekend. They kept fighting them with swords, throwing them downstairs, and of course, burying Grandpa with them.

Here we have the shirtless duo... Brenny was diggin' the potato chips... a delicacy Mommy never buys for him.

Kaeleb vacuuming up cupcake crumbs, another delicacy Mommy never provides.

And outside, while our friends in St. George were sporting around in 60 degree weather, we were building snowmen and snow forts.

Reading with Great-Aunt Marie... Yes, Brenny is sound asleep.

My Funny Boys

2010-02-07T14:45:00.002-07:00

We have had many a sleepless night lately, which I suppose is just part of parenting... but it has impaired my ability to think and write, and therefore blog about anything interesting.... We have actually had quite a lot going on lately, but it is too overwhelming to think about on this amount of sleep... so, for now, here are some funny pics of my guys to keep things light...

Kwint is such a great dad-- Here he is taking his boys fishing

Yesterday we went to Dixie Rock with some friends... in the rain... very cold...

Kaeleb making a shot at "Iddy Biddy Basketball"

These are Brenny's toes, poking out of the sleeves of his leather jacket. He said his feet were cold. Ha!!

Kaeleb on the 100th day of school

Brenny giving his Buddy a bath. His Buddy's name is Fuzzy Mike.

He is on a strict See Food Diet

Finally, here is the master sleep fighter who "is NOT tired" every afternoon. Double HA!!

Fun around the House

2010-01-24T13:55:00.002-07:00

It has been a rainy week!! We love it when that happens... once every two years...
So here are a couple things we have done to pass the time:

Watched one too many shows...

I don't know why, but one of my favorite things is to see the back of their heads together... melts me every time!

We read a book about gingerbread men... and made them a couple houses.

Brenny ate one candy for each that he put on the house....

King Peter of Narnia :)

Happy Late New Year

2010-01-10T18:55:00.004-07:00

A bit late... but better late than never... We have had a tough time recovering from the holidays. Food hangovers, sleep deprivation, piles of paperwork.... yikes! Now comes tax season, here we go!

Not only was Dec 31st New Years Eve, but it was a blue moon, which I finally learned means that it was the 2nd full moon in the same month, which happens only once every 27 years. Ya learn something new every day, eh? I never stopped to think about what a blue moon was, although I have often used the expression "Once in a blue moon." It got us thinking about the funny things we say and I have to ask, does anyone know where the expression "It doesn't hold a candle to..." came from?

Here we are at midnight. Yes, we all stayed up. Kaeleb was quite determined, even though he started asking "Is it midnight yet?" repeatedly, because he was getting tired.

Brenny on the other hand, has no qualms about staying up until midnight, or any other hour, for that matter.

New Years resolutions, anyone?

God Bless Us Everyone!

2009-12-26T18:19:00.007-07:00

Merry Christmas to all! What a happy holiday we have had, and we hope you have, too. Here are some shots of the action around here!
First things first, however, was Kwint's birthday... here he is making a wish...

The Robinson's came to help us eat Calzones....

The Miller's came to support the cause....

Brenny took this picture of me, not a bad aim. :)

Kwint had a great birthday and the party was super fun.

Next up, Christmas Eve at the Robinson's! Tam made chicken pot pie and Dave made his ever famous cinnamon rolls... Cinnabon has nothing on these...

Here is Brenny enjoying his cinnamon roll-- who needs a fork... or hands, for that matter!

After dinner and a couple good games of Mafia and Screaming Viking we opened our traditional Christmas Eve PJ's. This year the boys got bathrobes, per request by Kaeleb, who loved his so much he wore all the next day over his clothes.
Here is Brennan in his sports robe.

Kaeleb got pirates, to match his PJ's.

Sadie, Tam, and Jaiden (sorry, none of Kwint and I-- we give each other workout clothes, which just can't compete with tiger print PJ's.)

After a movie we went home to put out the cookie plate and reindeer oats, then settled into bed at the early hour of eleven o'clock. (Santa was up until one, however!!) Here is the result:

They started with their stockings, which provided their favorite presents, little Star Wars figurines! Kaeleb got Luke and R2D2

Brenny got OB-1 and Captain Rex

Santa was good to us this year and brought us all a Wii, which has been entertaining and helped burn a few holiday calories, which we needed.

The boys got scooter from Kwint and I. Bren on a Radio Flyer:

Kaeleb got a Razor:

Kwint and I got a masssage chair and foot massager from his parents-- When the Robinsons came over that afternoon we took turns playing the Wii and sitting in the massage parlor. :)

It was a very relaxing Christmas with our family. We went to the Robinson's for another movie that night and ate leftovers. They are the best brother and sister anyone could hope for, by the way.
Today we got up early and drove up through Parowan to Brianhead Resort where Kwint and Jaiden went snowboarding and the rest of us went tubing. It was soooo fun!! It was about 100 degrees cooler than we are used to (5 degrees, to be exact) but our snowclothes kept us nice and toasty as we sailed down the mountain. Kaeleb and Bren took one run and then both threw fits about how fast and scary it was, so we had to go to the baby sled area and Tam and I took turns tubing and babysitting.
Here we are on the way, being silly.

Here are the cute boys on the tubes they loathed entirely.

The part they did like was the tailgate party where we ate lunch. Tee Hee.

It is going to be hard to get back into the rhythm of life... but here we go anyway... Welcome 2010!

Oh, Santa!

2009-12-22T20:04:00.004-07:00

Last night for FHE we went with the Millers to see the lights at the temple. So, maybe it's no Temple Square excursion, but hey, it was fun and beautiful, 20 degrees warmer, and only takes 10 minutes. The boys were happy to be running wild and free and we appreciated the beauty of the temple.

Gina and Mary Lynne

Brennan and Kwint

Kaeleb, McKay, and Nathan

Afterward, we came to our house for hot chocolate and you will never believe who knocked on our door!!

Kaeleb and Santa!

Nathan, McKay and Santa.

What a fun thing to have happen! Brennan fell asleep on the way home and if you know anything about Brenny's wacky sleeping habits you will understand why we did not wake him up for the big Ho, Ho, Ho event. He may use it against us later in his life, but someday he will have a son like himself and understand.

We spent last weekend at Grandpa and Grandma Kemp's. I forgot the camera so I will insert pics later when Gpa emails them to me cuz we had some serious fun!! Kwint went snowboarding with Kris and 3 of our cute nieces, and the boys and I built a snowman, a snow fort, and had a snowball fight. Oh, the fun!!! (What I will not talk about is the disaster of a shopping trip getting the boys outfitted for snow play. Let's just say that everyone in Layton had a good earful of just how mean a mom I am and just how naughty my boys can be. Luckily, we all redeemed ourselves in the nick of time before Santa rescinded Christmas for the whole lot of us.)

Parenting is not always peachy. Mostly not peachy. I always hesitate to write anything negative in my blogs, because who wants to read about that? But I use it for a journal because I never have time to write in a personal journal and if I don't at least allude to the difficulty, I will, on some future day, forget all the reasons for the mental and emotional breakdowns and wonder why I used to be so crazy and grumpy.

Saturday night at Grandma's we had a serious party. Well, not serious, it was actually quite silly. We celebrated the 5 December birthdays in our family (Tam, Coby, Dave, Kwint, and Jaiden, in that order)and had a little cousin to cousin gift exchange. It was really, really fun. Brennan got a punching bag from Romalyn. Oh, man, was that ever the most "fwavowite" thing he has ever received! Kaeleb and Talan both got the same thing from their cousins- a space police lego kit. Kaeleb was yelling "It's what I wanted! It's what I wanted! How did they know? How did they know!" Oh, what fun!

The boys keep saying the funniest things, and I keep forgetting to write them down. I will at least jot down a couple, but I know I am forgetting some really good ones...

We have been listening to a lot of Christmas music and Brennan has been singing all the songs in medley form, such as "Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way to the winter wonderland and Fwosty the Snowman and Wudolph the Wed-nosed Weindeer are baby it's cold outside!" He is sooo funny. He loves the song "Santa Baby" and has started calling Kaeleb "Budder Baby" all the time.

Kwint got a stuffed Yoda from his parents and Brenny was playing with it. I said "Brennan, Yoda likes to say "Do or do not, there is no try." Then, I heard him pretending with Yoda and saying "Der is no twy. I tan't twy! I tan't twy! I just wanna twy and I tan't!!" (I love the way he talks- he says T for the C,K sound- ie, Taeleb, Tutumber, Tan't" and D for the G sound- I dot it!, do away, I want a piece of dum, etc.)

Today's funny quote of the day tops the cake, though. We had Brennan's playgroup at our house this morning. Kaeleb is on winter break, so he was the ring leader of this big group of toddlers. The boys were all sword fighting and had ganged up on Brennan (a little taste of his own medicine, I'd say) and Bren was getting really mad. My friend went to check on them and said she saw Brennan sitting on his knees with his fists clenched and then she heard Kaeleb say, "Watch out guys, when you see his ears turn red it means he's GONNA BLOW!" The moms all got a good laugh out of that one.

More will come tomorrow... Happy almost 32 years to my sweetie tomorrow!!