I have to agree with this... and my own opening night photo fun!

You may know that I'm not the biggest Twilight fan of the world... won't go into all the reasons here, but I do love the hysteria involved. So I joined my great friends who are Twilight Lovers for opening night 12:40 am movie. A bunch of us went to dinner at 10:00 pm and we had a great time despite the New Moon hangover for the next two days. (For the record, I'm Jacob all the way...)

I actually told Dave the morning after I went to the movie that I know it is totally hypocritcal but if he and a bunch of his friends went to a midnight show to watch a bunch of young girls I'd kill him. My cousin and I and the check-out ladies at Dick's also had this discussion the other night, and then Dave found this on the internet ... we laughed and laughed!

A few photos of our Twilight night are below...My great friend and Twilight LoverDinner at Z'Tejas

Merry Christmas to you...

Ten-year-old Kenzie Hess sings "Merry Christmas to You" Saturday with the One Voice Children's Choir at The Gateway to kick off the holiday season in SLC.

(Michael Brandy, Deseret News)

Love this picture from the Gateway Lights on Concert on Saturday night -- it was on the Deseret News website Sunday morning. I wasn't able to go because I was with Lauren at the temple, but Kenzi sang a solo on a beautiful Christmas song Masa wrote this year.

The part Kenzi sings is a verse "if He (meaning Jesus) were here I'm sure He would say... Merry Christmas to You, I gave that feeling to you..." and continues on from there. I love the look on Kenzi's face -- she takes words very seriously when she sings and I knew exactly what she was singing just by the look in her eyes.

Happy 12th Birthday Lauren!

Lauren and Cory -- Bountiful Temple 11/21/09

Yesterday was Lauren's 12th birthday... how in the world has 12 years passed since she was born? I still remember the 1st time we saw her as they brought her in the room all wrapped up in a beautiful white blanket. It was definitely love at first sight!

When we got home at midnight Nancy Wright had put pink balloons all over the yard and my family came over. Dad brought a cake -- that Pugsley proceeded to eat by sneaking up in the kitchen and climbing on the counter while we were all oohing and aahing over Lauren. The choas has continued to this day!!!

For her birthday Lauren wanted to do baptisms for the dead. Her cousin Cory (who also just turned 12) and Cottles, Walls and Grandpa joined us. Knowing that this was the kind of event my mom would "pop in and watch" and remembering the other times Lauren was at the temple during her sealing and Kenzi's sealing made this a little emotional for me. Dave, Uncle Mike and Jim (Cory's dad) helped do the confirmations and baptisms so it was especially cool to watch Dave baptize her!

Cory and Lauren loved doing baptisms and Lauren asked if we could go back next week!

So Lauren... my energetic, neat freak, organized, intelligent, beautiful pianist, extremely giving and generous, good money saver, good cook, athletic, enthusiastic, great back massager and incredibly loving baby girl... Happy Birthday!!!

Mom -- You are the most Beautifulest Mom in the Whole World... Even when your hair is messy!

I love that at one point in their lives all kids idolize their moms! When Kenzi was in preschool at least 3 times I day she would say "Mom, you are so beautiful! Dad is so lucky to have married you!" I think I heard that from her every day for about a year.

So this morning Cam and snuck into our bed and about 6:00 am he woke up, looked at me and said, "Mom, you are the most beautifulest mom in the whole world... even when your hair is messy. I love you, I love you, I love you!" This random, but welcomed comment was followed by a big kiss, a huge hug and then turned over and immediately fell back to sleep.

Too bad my kids grow out of this stage!! (Except for when they want something and they know if they start the sentance with "beautiful mom" their chances of getting what they want increase significantly... )

Cameron -- AKA Rocky Balboa

This afternoon I got the call you dread answering... "Stephanie, this is Debbie from Oak Hills. Cameron fell on the playground and cut his head. I'm pretty sure he'll need stitches, can you come up right away?"

I rushed up and the secretary met me in the parking lot -- I think to give me a heads up that he was pretty bloody so I didn't freak out. (Fortunately, little Kenzi had two sets up stitches in her head and I know that heads can blead a ton, even if it isn't that bad.)

CAM HATES BLOOD!!! He could chop off a limb and not care... until he saw the blood.

I walked in and Cam's teaching was holding him, blood all over his face. He was pretty upset. I peaked at the cut and wanted to barf. They told me he would definitely need to go to the ER, not the Dr. office.

He screamed the whole way up, but again, I think mostly because of the blood. I was really calm until I called Dave... well then came tears.

We got to Primary, got in there and after they put lidocaine on his head he calmed down and could finally tell me what happened.

He was running across the playground to go in from recess and ran right into another kid. Apparently, he was knocked to the ground and fell right on his head.

The cut was about 4 cm. and pretty deep -- deep enough you could see a bit of the skull. It slightly ripped some covering between the skull and skin so they gave him an antiobotic just in case in get infection.

He ended up with 29 stitches -- 3 on the bottom, 5 in the middle layer and 21 on top! He was so brave -- he didn't even have to be put under. They just wrapped him up like a little burrito and he watched TV. They had numbed his head, but he was so good. It took about an hour to clean and stitch him up.

While we were waiting Dave showed him pictures of Rocky Balboa -- now he thinks he is a cool boxer.

When we got home we had several wonderful friends and Granpda bring over treats/prizes/notes and send him GET WELL wishes. We really do have great people surrounding us!

So... thanks to the nice people at Primary, to Cameron's teacher who I'm sure went home with blood all over her and to our brave Cameron!!

Makenzie the Brave and Weapy One: The Story of Tonsilectomy

For the past 3 years Kenzi has battled multiple cases of strep -- 2-4 per year and several tonsilitis. After seeing the Dr. last week, we decided it was time to take the tonsils out! Thursday morning Kenzi, Lauren and I made a trek to the outpatient surgery and Kenzi had her surgery.

She was so brave going in. She wasn't nervous at all. Lauren was "wigging" out and Kenzi just laid there as they gave her an I.V. and told her what would happen. Lauren kept saying "it is ok Kenzi, it is ok" over and over and Kenzi kept saying "I know, it is fine."

She said she counted backwards from 100 -94 before she was fast asleep.

After the surgery -- she turned into the sweet, weepy child. When they took me back, she burst into tears and said it scared her when she woke up. She didn't know where she was or what had happened. She would stop crying when the Dr. or nurse would come in and then when they would leave she would get these big tear drops again! But, she wasn't complaining at all!!!

She had asked the Dr. if she could keep her tonsils so they had them in a jar. Oooeewww, they were sooo gross we decided to just take a picture and leave them there. The Dr. said her adenoids were really gross as well and she had "goop/bacteria/mucus/gunk" in them. I'm guessing she is going to be a much healthier Makenzie this fall.

Thanks for a high tolerance for pain and pain medication, she has done great. We've had so many nice family and friends bring popsicles, icecream, flowers, balloons, drinks, etc. The night before surgery she picked out 10 movies (many of which were Hannah Montanna episodes) and she has spent lots of time watching movies and playing games.

Today she actually showered, ventured out with me to get a Keva and is feeling much better. She has a way funny voice today and prefers just to use sign language.

Good job Kenzi!!!

The End of Preschool

Cam is officially 5 years old and just finished his year with Mrs. Wing. Lauren and Kenzi went there too -- and I actually told Pam to put him on the waiting list for 2008-09 when I was pregnant with Cam. Pam ended up being Cam's first official "crush"... and what better person to have a crush on. (Early in the year one day I saw Mrs. Wing at a church thing and she told me how much she loves Cameron. I told Cameron that and he told her the next day at preschool that "my moms says you are in love with me!" And his adoration for her has grown throughout the year.)

Anyway... it has been a great year and Cameron has loved ever minute of it.

One funny story involves two of his best friends -- Paige and Keaton. (Cameron loves Paige and they are so funny to watch. They have planned to get married someday if they can just over the Utah/BYU rivalry in a way without one of them not mad and in tears. When we go to the store they hold hands, they take care of each other -- and like all couples they have their drama too.) Misty told the story so well... I'm stealing from her blog.

Cut to Misty Mayfields blog.

"Paige adores Cam. Can you tell? She loves him so much that she doesn't want to share him with anyone else, which becomes a problem when you have 10 other kids in school with you who just might want to play with him, too. Enter Keaton ....Cameron and Keaton are friends, too, which frustrated Paige almost the entire year. She called Keaton her "worst enemy" and would report to us at dinner that she'd had a wonderful day when Keaton was absent or that she'd had a horrible day because "my best friend went home to play with my worst enemy!" Drama, that child. She was finally able to come to terms with Keaton by the end of the year and decided that he wasn't so bad after all. We haven't had a 3-way playdate or anything yet but we'll see. Baby steps." END MAYFIELD BLOG

Cam is such a sweet, loving and kind litte guy.. we love you!

Merry Christmas!

The past 2 weeks have been full of school ending, soccer tryouts, yard work, field trips, painting and ... yes Christmas Carols!

The choir puts a song on the FM 100 Christmas CD each year and Masa wrote a great new song. The brave girls both tried out for a solo part -- and Kenzi ended up getting a small solo in it.

We all went down to a beautiful recording studio in Alpine yesterday and they recorded for it. It was fun to watch them with the headphones and watch how the producer mixes the tracks, has them sing it once normally, once with "young voices", once enunciated and then they will mix it all together.

They played games while each group was recording and just had a great time. The kids in the choir are such good kids that really support each other.

I really love this choir... and Merry Christmas!

Our Home Science Project... with a Sad Ending

A couple of months ago I was weeding and went to pull a weed -- only to be surprised to find a nest under one of our plants. We soon discovered a quail had built a nest and laid 16 eggs.

Unfortunately the nest was right next to our front door, with kids in and out all day. It was also right by a sprinkler so it go wet ... a lot!

We watch as she and the dad spent day after day protecting the nest, warning each other when people would come and fighting off the enemies... our cat, 13 kids in the neighborhood, and a blue bird that seemed obsessed with trying to get their eggs. All of the neighbors would come over and check out the eggs and I even received "warning" phone calls when our neighbor would see the kids getting to close.

We've watched as the mother would "kick out" an egg or two and then break them open to find them empty or a dead little quail fetus.

We watched them in the morning after they had to fight off the cat or the blue bird try to clean up the nest area from their feather.

During the past two weeks the eggs have dwindled from 16 -- down to 3.

Saturday morning we woke up to find the nest empty (actually kind of cleaned out) and the last three eggs "kicked-out."

We were all so sad we didn't get to watch any of the babies hatch and wander around the neighborhood. I'm so sad for their weeks of work -- and no little babies to show for. I'm so sad our daily "quail" update is over.

Sorry little quails!

A Spanish Opera -- set in Atlantis .... Kenzi's 3rd Grade Opera

Ok... I have ever said how much I love Kenzi's teacher Miss Merrill? She is amazing in many, many ways. One of the best things this year was their opera they did in cooperation with the Utah Opera Festival.

They wrote the story, had it translated into Spanish, created a new score, painted their own scenery and helped design the costumes.

AMAZING!!!

I was one of the pianist for I went over once a week and played the piano and watched the whole thing evolve. The kids did a fantastic job and it was so much fun!

Suessical

Lauren and Kaylee Lyman joined 50+ other kids in a great production of Suessical. Lauren was Thing 1 and Kaylee was a Bird Girl. They had a great time and really did an amazing performance. A fun (if not extremely hectic) way to spend our winter months!!

Star-Spangled Banner at Real Game

A few weeks ago about 15 kids from the choir were asked to sing the Star-Spangled Banner at a Real Soccer Game. It was a beautiful night and the kids were amazing! Kenzi was one of the lucky ones to get to join them. A few pix from the night.

A couple of weeks later about 40 kids from the choir did the Star-Spangled Banner again. What a great experience for all of them -- and a lot of fun for us that went to watch.

Isn't it cool to learn to .... CLIMB THE LYMAN'S TREE!!!

There are certain milestones in a little kids' life that fascinate me. Some of Cam's have been:
* Learning to read words.
* Discovering his shadow (I used to love to take walks in the sun with him as he chased it around.)
* Riding a bike for the first time -- loved that with all my kids.
* And finally for Cameron ... climbing the neighbors' tree.

For years he has watched from below as his sisters climbed, played and hung out in the tree. We have a family rule -- if you can't get up and down yourself, you can't get on it.

A few weeks ago ... with a little encouragement from the new neighbors'... Cameron mastered the art of climbing the tree. He has scratches all over his back, legs, arms and stomach, but he loves it!!! He spent a solid week in the tree and now has entered the world of the BIG kids. Good job Camo!

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Dave loves baseball! Let me just repeat that one more time, Dave LOVES baseball. I've never been able to figure it out, but he claims it has more strategy than any other sport.

We went to San Fransisco and Monterey on our honeymoon, and surprisingly there was a MLB game while we were there. (Think that had anything to do with where and when we went?!!)

For Cameron's birthday Dave took him to a SL Bees games. We generally go to a few every summer, but this was a "man only," go to watch the game not to jump in the bouncy house, baseball game. They had hot dogs, bought a hat, a ball and tried to catch the balls off of first base. Cam came home with a big story about catching a ball with his bare hands (but of course it still had the tag on it so I wasn't fooled).

A week later Cameron took Dave to a SL Bees game for Dave's birthday. Dave and Cameron got new mits for their birthday so they took their mits, hats (Cam got his signed by the Bee) and had another father and son outing. Cam was so excited he was still wandering around the house at midnight!

They've been playing catch and baseball every day since and Dave taught Cameron how to throw to ball against the stairs so he can play catch with himself.

I'm pretty sure when Dave retires he and John Ferguson will be at the BYU games during the fall and the SL Bees games all spring and summer.

Happy Birthday Cam -- 5 Years Old!!

Cam the Man
Kerri and Jonah
Singing Happy Birthday
The cool race car cake -- designed and decorated by Lauren!
Our great friend Karen!
Cam with one of his favorite presents -- artichokes (or moraccas as he calls them) from Lorie.
Cute little Anniston
Our good friend Livi!
Great cake Lolo!
Uncle Rob was a little tired, they taped his glasses and he didn't even wake up!
I'm 5!!!
Cam and his police stuff from Lauren.
Breakfast in bed... or in the living room!
Sweet Cam loving Lauren's presents she gave him!
Trix -- the breakfast of choice for Cam

Cam turned 5 on April 26th -- how can that be. He was a little disappointed his birthday was on a Sunday, but it turned out just make it a 3-day celebration.

Saturday night he got to choose dinner of his choice. Bratwurst, artichokes (Cam wanted a whole one to himself) and donut holes for dinner. Yum, yum!

Sunday he had breakfast in bed, Trix was his choice of breakfast, and then openened presents. After church the whole family came over for a big party.

Race Cars were the theme and we all raced cars and had prizes on Cameron's track. Lauren designed and decorated and awesome race car cake (with real race cars) and he loved all of the attention and presents -- from cool race tracks, Indiana Jones wii, a great new nerf cool bball, a fireman set, tons of guns and pirate stuff to reading/phonics books, a frog house, artichokes and cash... he loved everything!!!!

Cam is such a loving sweet little boy. One night he went around the room and gave me and my sisters all back rubs. He loves to snuggle and tell his mom how great she is -- and then can run out the door with weapons and chase and "shoot" all of the neighbors. I love our reading games, watching him play Indiana Jones on the wii, ride his bike and hurry and do his jobs before I ask him just to surprise me. I love how he wants to follow Jesus and "not Satan -- he is so stupid" and how loving he is to his sisters. I love how he idolizes Dave. I love everything about you Cam!!!