St. George Fun!

After a yummy family dinner!

The Hess', Adams' and Jones'

Great new park Katie took us too... coolest toys ever!

Lauren has loved plyaing in this old truck ever since she was a little girl.

Virgin River -- Dave is quite the Rock skipper.

Great new hike we found behind Grandmas condo.

Aunt Cathy and the kids.

Katie's cool pink scooter ... too bad she looks too young and can't ride it!

We had a great President's Day/Valentine's Day weekend in St. George. Lauren's soccer team had a tournament and it happened to be a sunny 50+ degree weekend. It was the perfect combination of soccer, fun and family too.

And I must admit, the new car DVD was great. Between Dave and I listening to Harry Potter 7 on CD, Lauren playing with her ipod and the other two watching movies -- the drive was calm, short and actually relaxing.

My niece Katie goes to Dixie so we got to hang out with her and she had Kenzi over for a sleepover at her apartment.

Cathy and Ray came in from L.A. to work with Dave and try to get some health/financial issues resolved with their mom so we got to hang out with them too. Of course Viarata Ray brough ceviche, carna asada, shrimp and everything else and we had a divine Sunday/Valentine's Dinner.

We stayed at a hotel with several other kids on the soccer team so the kids loved that. Cam and Kenzi swam whenever they could (Lauren's coach doesn't like swimming before games so they only got to go on Saturday night) but we did have a pizza night, game night at someone's condo and lots of hanging out in eachother's rooms playing games.

Couldn't have asked for a better weekend! (Except for maybe winning a couple of more games -- didn't do too bad -- won 3 and lost 2).

That was awesome mom!!

I wait for the "perfect ski day" to take my kids for the 1st time, and yesterday was that day for Cam. Fresh snow, sunny skies, him asking to go/not be dragging him and just the two of us.

Did he like it -- "I LOVE IT!! It is better than karate, baseball, soccer and basketball." First thing he said this morning, "Can we go skiing again today?"

Except for the little hitch of somehow Kenzi not walking out the front door for her carpool (I left her about 5-10 minutes before her ride got there to get Cam's skis and somehow she didn't hear/see them even though they honked in front for 5 minutes... but she was reading and listening to her MP3 player and I guess she was in a Kenzi zone until she called me at 8:55 am saying her ride never came -- thanks Lisa for bailing me out!!!!)

We got up there about 9:30 am and skiied until 11:45 am. He changed in the car and we went straight to school so we could get a few extra runs in.

Cam did great a job, was very brave and did extremely well. (Thank you inventor of edgie/wedgie.) His only problem was he got a little confident and the last few runs he chose not to slow down at the bottom and about decapitated himself with the rope, hit a pole and fell right in front of the chair lift.

I had to laugh because on one of the runs he said "Mom, let's not talk this time down. Let's just play the quiet game all the way down the hill." He is so his father's son.

He has already planned our next ski day for next week... on a sunny/warm day of course!

12 Weeks of No Missing Assignments = Kenzi Ears Pierced. Way to go Kenzi!

A couple of weeks into the new school year last fall, Kenzi brought home her "Friday note" that shows if you have missing assignments. Her first one showed 11!!! Eleven!

We went back to school and found most of them in her desk, in the garbage or in a pile with no name. It isn't that she didn't do her assignments, she just didn't bother to turn them in. Her desk at school has always been atrocious even though every teacher has always tried to help her. We kept encouraging her and tried to remind her, but things didn't improve much. She has

After meeting with her teachers and Ms. Kotter helping her set up an organization plan, Kenzi set two goals. After 4 weeks of no missing assignments she could earn "Little Man" computer game. And after 12 weeks of no missing assignments she could get her ears pierced.

I must admit... I kind of doubted she'd ever make the 12 weeks and if she did, I thought it would take the entire year!

Well... needless to say she did it and she got to get her ears pierced yesterday.

I've seen the organization spill over to her bedroom as well -- still filled with Kenzi "little things" hanging from everyplace, but it is pretty organized and clean.

Good job Kenzi!! And... thanks Ms. Kotter for helping Kenzi learn a really important skill.

Makenzie Rose...what color of pink is the sky in your world?

Kenzi... my sweet little Kenzi just makes me laugh. Ever since she was a baby there was just something unique and sweet about her. By the time she was about 2 or 3 Dave and I began to notice that she just thinks in totally different way than we do.

I could write pages of funny Kenzi stories... but won't do that tonight, but since this is my journal I decided to document a few funny Kenzi things.

I am completely convinced that in Kenzi's world, the sky is pink. She thinks differently than I do and looks at things in ways that I would never think. She thinks creatively and can come up with a solution for just about anything.

She is incredibly independent and is perhaps the most intrinsically motivated person I know. Kenzi is motivated by Kenzi and isn't easily persuaded into anything she doesn't want to do.

When she was 4 she asked to change her name to Rose (her middle is not Rose) and started to call herself Rose. She wrote Rose on all of her papers and asked people to call her Rose. That lasted until about 1/2 way through 2nd grade. We called her Rose and she said "I don't want to be Rose anymore, please call me Kenzi."

She has a very acute sense of smell and does not do well with smells she doesn't like. We've had several dinners with Kenzi sitting there with tape across her nose and face to "block" the smell.

Last night I was reminded again about another funny Kenzi trait. She woke up in the night sick to her stomach. She went in the bathroom, threw up, made herself a bed on a floor (hard tile floor) and went back to "bed". A few minutes later she came in and calmly told Dave and I she was sick, throwing up and would be in the bathroom. I went in the bathroom and she laid down back in her "bed" and spent the night on the floor.

Someday I'll share her 1st grade food fight story, chocolate milk escapades with a little boy, the "little" beds and homes she creates for everything and other favorite Kenzi stories. Until then Makenzie Rose (I know you don't like to be called that anymore, but I will always think of you of Rose) I'd love to join your world sometime.

Either I'm a really, really, really good mom or a really, really, really bad mom... just not sure which!

Ok, so on the way home from SEPs today Cameron and Kenzi are in the backseat talking about who knows what and we then have the following conversation:

Cameron: Mom, in my next life I want to be adopted.

Me: What did you say?

Cameron: Well you know, don't we get two lives -- another life after this one? Well I want to be adopted.

Me: Sorry buddy, in the next life we are all sealed together so you will still have the same mom and dad.

Kenzi: It's ok Cameron. All of us are kind of adopted. Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother really are our real parents so it doesn't really matter.

Cameron: Oh.

Me: Yeah I guess you're right. So Kenzi I guess that makes you and me sisters.

Kenzi: I know. I was thinking about that earlier. That means Jackson and I (a kid she fights with a lot at school) are really brother and sister. Eww!

Me in my head 1st thought: Wow, I'm a really great mom that has helped my girls feel so loved and secure about adoptions and sealings, etc. that Cameron even wants to be adopted. (Side note -- at our house Cameron has been told not so nicely "you don't have a birth mom." "Oh yes he does" I reply. "Oh you don't count. Your not a birth mom your just mom." He once asked me what his birth mother's name was because being just "born" wasn't very exciting.)

Me in my head 2nd thought: Or more likely... Cameron is still ticked off that I am his mean mom and that he inherited the Bevan cry face and my lack of ability to control tears (see blog post from earlier today) and is thinking that his only chance for a really good mom is in the next life.

HELP!!!!! What to do with a son that cares way too much about his clothes!!!!

Ok... so my sweet, handsome and charming 5-year old has been walking around the house for 45 minutes crying about what he is going to wear to school today. He only has 2 pants he will willingly wear and they are in the washer... meltdown. He also refuses to wear any of his 3 new shirts I bought him for Christmas so they are now in a bag waiting to be given to his friend. (Let me clarify -- the clothes he won't wear are the "cool/trendy" looking clothes. Anything that is plain, colorless and very boy is all he wants to wear.)

Unfortunately he also inherited the "Bevan cry face" so he also looks like he has been punched in the face after being out in the hot sun for 10 hours. (The exact look that caused me to hold my breath and pass out in 5th grade when I couldn't get my new Farrah Faucet hair cut to look right... but that is another story.)

So to my girls who always had 15 outfits a day on and didn't really care what they were wearing... thank you! And Cameron, buddy, I'm afraid you have a long life ahead of you!!!

Addendum: when our carpool buddy got in the car today he looked and Cameron's face, got the strangest look on his face like "what the heck happened to you?" Not a word about the pants that "everyone would laugh at" just shock at the Bevan cry face.

Rapping Cousins -- Jordan, Mandy, Lauren & Kenzi

Found this old video of Mandy, Jordan, Lauren and Kenzi summer of 2008. I only wish I hadn't cut off Jordan's comments at the end. (BTW Jordan, Cam LOVES this video and watched it about 10 times today.)

Here is the youtube link if this doesn't play.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVE7sz2zbm0

Congrats Scott Brown! ... and thank you Mom and Dad

I'm loving following political news tonight! And in honor of both my mother and father, I just need to document my "role" in the election results (so that my children and grandchildren will know how strongly I feel about political involvement and be aware of what is happening around us!)

Mom... only heard her swear a couple of times my whole life -- one instance was while she was mowing the lawn, talking about the Iran Contra Affair and politics and told me about "those damn democrats." She talked to us a lot about our government leaders and even though she didn't vote for him, in the 70's she drug all of us down to the Salt Palace to see President Jimmy Carter when he came to Utah.

Dad... well if you know my dad you don't need me to tell the countless tales of his voicing his political views, protesting against "injustice" and driving around NSL in the back of a truck with a "bull horn" voicing his opinion. (And I can't forget the time Scott made me go door to door with him in Idaho once campaigning against gambling!)

I've always been fairly politically active and during the Clinton years, due to my constant letter writing campaign, Dave was pretty sure I was on the Secret Service watch. I don't know a ton about Scott Brown but as I've heard about him and watched the news this past week I decided I wanted to make my opinion heard. I signed up to make "get out to vote" calls for the election today. Due to some technical issues I only was able to make 2 calls, but oh well... two is better than none!

So... dad you should be proud and mom, I hope you know I really was watching and listening to you. Cameron keeps asking me what I think about the "dummacratics and dammacratics" (and no I didn't tell him those names) and tells me he is glad he is an American so I guess it is rubbing off on your grandkids as well!

Run Lauren Run!!!

Today Lauren did the Presidential Fitness tests at school ... and now holds the school record for the Shuttle Run -- 9.4 seconds. She beat the two fastest boys in school (rumor has it they weren't very happy about that)! The PE teacher came into Kenzi's clas to talk about the fitness tests and told them about a 6th grade girl Lauren who was so fast and holds the school record. Kenzi was so excited and let them proudly know "that is my sister!"

Ok... so I wish I could say she gets it from me, but Cameron, who runs like Forest Gump, can even outrun me.

(Watch out Dave... Dave and Lauren are having a 2010 contest to see who can do the most chin ups/pull ups by the end of the year and so far Lauren is winning. If I had money on this one I think I'd put the odds on Lauren.)

Happy New Year and Cabin Fun

I love, love, love the chance to go to the cabin after Christmas. The frenzy of December is softened by eating, eating, eating, watching movies, sledding up and down the mountain, playing hours of Phase 10, Monopoly and Guess the Name Game. Sitting around talking in our PJs, going to bed late, getting up late, no phone, no guilt for not putting away the Christmas "stuff." This is my time to sit down and read a book in one day and then every night stay up late and read a Reader's Digest Condensed Book (I've read tons of mini novels I would never have read). The snow, the quiet and the beauty make it the perfect way to wind down and enjoy the end of the Holidays. We had a chance to spend the weekend at the cabin with just our family and Kaylee Lyman and Lauren Spencer and then we enjoyed the New Year with the Walls and Grandpa!

This year I loved watching Cameron learn to skate -- literally 1/2 hour to go around the first time and he refused any help. I also was so proud of him for being brave enough to be pulled up and down the mountain on the snowmobile sleds. At the beginning of the week he was in tears saying "they are all going to die" as he watched the kids go down on the sleds, and by Saturday morning he was begging Dave to take us up one more time, go faster, and yell awesome up and down the hill! Grandpa also bought a TON of poppers and streamers and the kids had a great time banging pans and making a mess. The next day the deck and front lawn looked like the remains of a frat party... but the clean up was fast and worth the fun.

The New Year had a sad note as we found out Rob (my brother) has prostate cancer. Definitely puts perspective on what is important. Terri and I were talking after midnight and I commented that I was "so thrilled to start the new year with a broken water heater." She laughed and said at least I wasn't starting the new year with a husband with cancer. We decided "husband with cancer" definitely trumps "broken water heater." News like this really helps you focus on what is important and what should matter. Rob and Terri (and their kids) have a really good attitude about the situation and they are great examples to me!

Christmas Day 2009

Top Things I Love This Christmas... in no particular order!

* Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, except for Lauren and Cameron! This year Lauren made a list of things to do in her bedroom while she couldn't sleep. About 11:00 pm Kenzi fell asleep, and at midnight Cameron and Lauren were still downstairs coloring, reading, talking, etc. Lauren just can't sleep on Christmas Eve! It drive me nutty, but fun to see her excitement.

* Lauren didn't wake up at 4:30 am this year. She managed to wait until 6:00 am to start calling us (I tried the Mayfield phone idea). Finally at 6:15 am Dave convinced me that they are only kids once and I should just let them get up.

* Kenzi screaming and running to hug me as she opened each gift. She is so sweet and so appreciative of everything.

* Cameron loving the "fingerless" gloves more than any present he got. (Which by the way were $1 gloves that I cut the tips off at midnight when I realized he really DID ask Santa for fingerless gloves). And then, Cam sledding with the neighbors on Christmas Day and only wearing the fingerless gloves, despite the frosted fingertips!

* Lauren giving everyone at least 5 gifts. Lauren is very generous and loves to buy and make people gifts. She made cool things at school, she bought fun gifts for everyone with her babysitting/cleaning money. When she was about 3 she started wrapping up anything and everything and putting it under the tree. This year she continued this tradition with gifts for all!!!

* Laying on the new couch as a family. It really was fun to snuggle all together by the fireplace and just be together.

* Dinner and games with the Russells. We usually get together on Christmas Day with them and this year was full of funny stories, great food and games!

* Just being together as a family on Christmas Day. I loved when I was growing up just laying around in jammies on Christmas, eating a big brunch together, playing with the games we got and just soaking up the Christmas music and spirit together. I had that same wonderful feeling this year.