Cinderella Fun!

Another BHS play come and gone. Kenzi loved working with the Sandorfs again and Leila and Angela's little boy. The High School kids were darling and had mock weddings, treats and so much fun with the kids. Kenzi loved the nightly warm-ups, prayer and cheer rituals. Kenzi and Lauren S. are so funny together and loved coming up with funny things to do in the "background." She loved seeing friends there, loved being a mouse and Cinderella and I think especially loved the 2 weeks of heading out to treats after!

16 Years Later... I Still Miss You Mom & Happy Sealing Kenzi

Today is our "we miss you mom" celebration (can it really be 16 years since she died) and our "we love you Makenzie sealing" celebration (can it really be 11 years ago?)

At dinner we shared our favorite things about Makenzie and I had lunch my Jenn and my dad today and started thinking about great things about my mom. Since this blog post can't be 1000 pages, I can't really write all of the great things about her -- but just a few things random memories came to mind.

1. I love that my mom never got mad about water fights at dinner and how many plates/crystal glasses Scott broke over the years.

2. I love that my mom always made everyone feel special and important -- and that I'm pretty sure every boy that dated me secretly was just dating me because of her and praying I'd be like her someday.

3. I loved the fact she and I could talk and talk and talk and talk. While at BYU in the pre-cell phone days it was not uncommon for her phone bill to be over $100 a month with most of the calls going to me. My mom told my dad to never say anything to me about it because she didn't want me to stop calling.

4. I loved all of our Nordstrom shopping trips when we would sit in the dressing room for a few hours trying on outfit after outfit and our friend Becky that worked there would bring us OJ and cookies and hang out with us all afternoon. I’ll never forget our first post mastectomy shopping trip. She wouldn’t buy anything new for a long, long time and it was really traumatic for her to take the first steps to believing she could make it and go on and love her body again someday. And it still makes me laugh that the first time I went to Nordstrom after she died I cried and had to leave ... fortunately and unfortunately her dying ruined my love for shopping and now one of my most favorite past times and things to spend money is no longer shopping.

5. I love that when she and my dad and I went anywhere together (and it was a lot since I was the last at home for several years) we would share the front seat because she didn't want me to have to sit in back alone. (Seriously... we drove 100s of miles with me tilted on my left hip and my bum 1/2 way on her lap!)

6. I love that we shared clothes and look a heck of a lot alike from the waist down. Yes I still laugh about the time I was walking behind Dave and I watched him go up behind my mom -- about to pinch her bum... thinking it was me. In hindsight (no pun intended) I shouldn't have yelled to stop him!

7. I love that when we would go out to dinner on the weekends she would have my dad stop about a mile away from home and she and I would walk the rest of the way home (and that Val will now walk with me on a Saturday nights at 10:00 pm because my body can’t stand to go to be on a super full stomach).

8. I love that she told me to always take the stairs and to this day I still feel guilty if I take an elevator. I also love that she took me to "Jazzercise" classes when I turned 12... I still remember the moves to the song 9 to 5.

9. I love the fact she could never, ever tell and joke and get it right... and since she taught elementary school her jokes were always usually really short/lame and she still couldn't remember them.

10. I love that right up until she died (and even one day in the hospital) she would always tell me to come in and lay on her bed in our jammies on Saturday mornings and we would have a great time just chatting and being together. I will never forget just a few days before she died when she was in the hospital and she asked me to come and snuggle with her. She was so fragile and I was afraid I'd break her but I layed by her in her bed -- and I slept peacefully without a nightmare for the first time in several weeks.

Ok... as I said earlier I could go on and on and on ... I love you mom!!

20+ People, Lots of Fresh Snow... Great Way to Ring in the New Year!!!

Tons of snow, lots of food, banangrams/lagreto/monopoly deal, great new BBQ place, track and field Olympics on the Kinect, every spot in the cabin filled with people (and then a day with just Russells and us), sledding... perfect way to bring in the new year!

Mud Bowl 2011 & Other St. George Highlights!

* 2nd Place in the mud fest wasn't too bad... I pretty sure they would have taken first given a normal playing field.

* I have never seen so much mud in my life. The mud fest (AKA soccer tournament) is played on a sod farm and after two straight days of rain mud was everywhere. We banished Kenzi & Cameron from getting out of the car. Pictures don't do the mess justice.

* Good samaritans got extra points for pushing cars out of mud -- have you seen what they look like when the car finally gets out? Kind of odd watching a tractor pull an SUV out of the mud.

* People got very clever... the best was garbage bags tied around their feet... or the barefoot option was good too!

* Loved the patches of mud on the girls' heads after they "headed" the ball... even Lauren who hates dirt didn't stop playing hard.

* I must admit that I was a little disappointed that I didn't get to have a mud fight with Mikelle's dad ... we said we'd mud fight if the girls took 1st place.

* Even though it was sporatic, and a few hours here and there, it was fun to see Dave's mom and Clint and I think the enjoyed the visits despite the mud and kids wrestling.

* Grandma must be mellowing out -- she laughed at the ponytail the girls put in Cam's hair.

* I'm pretty sure Cameron's trip highlight would be the open breakfast bar and our room being very to access from the breakfast. No exaggeration... while I was getting ready for church on Sunday morning Cameron made at least 20 trips for breakfast, drinks, napkins, more food, more cups, more cereal, and on and on and on.

* Despite 2 freezing cold games in the rain on Saturday, somehow the soccer girls had enough energy for a swimming/pizza/game night back at the hotel!

* I love having parents on the team who take each others kids between games, to get drinks, that let my kids hang out in their hotel rooms, and on and on.

* Kenzi, Cam and I got good use of the workout room... they thought that was so cool since they can't go the gym with Lauren and I at home.

* Although the car DVD is banned for use at home, can I say how much I love it on trips?! I love car games but... the time whizzes by!

* Kenzi discovered the joy of hot chocolate with creamer... I'm pretty sure she drank some little cups straight.

* Dave, Lauren and Kenzi highly recommend Tangled. Lauren and I didn't get to see it, but we will for sure be going.

* Snow against red rock is amazing!

* Being the witnesses for a freeway wreck and calling 911 can be considered an aerobic workout. Pretty cool how the GPS on 911 calls on cell phones work though.

* The city park in Green Valley is probably my favorite park anywhere. And the sunning coming up after 2 days of rain made it even better!

Is it bad...

Is it bad to not feel so bad that my son was sick today? And that when Makenzie had this a few weeks ago I was fine to be snuggling with her, watching movies and just spending a lazy day together.

When the Ibuprofen was dulling the fever Cam and I did math games, we read for an hour, we watched movies, I cleaned the freezer while he ate popsicles, and I used him as my blanket as we napped and his fever-ridden body kept me warm.

I hate the fact that my kids have to have a sick day in order for me to just spend a lazy day at home with them... doing nothing but being with them.

I wish each of my kids could have a "vacation" day from school -- when they aren't sick -- when we didn't miss school to go skiing or go on vacation -- a day where it is ok to miss school -- and we only can do just relaxing/fun stuff together at home.

I guess it isn't too bad, to not feel too bad... but Little Man just know I sure hope for your sake you feel better in the morning!

(Another benefit of having a sick little boy is watching the older siblings be sweet and tender. Some pictures of Kenzi making Cameron "breakfast in bed" this morning -- he didn't eat much, but it was a great thought!)