Our "Punkin" Patch

Feeling OLD

2012-02-09T17:52:00.000-07:00

Do you ever have those days when you feel WAY older than you really are? Well, I have them quite often. It's not from aching joints, or the fear of falling and breaking a hip. It's not that I may forget to take my medications, or run out of adult diapers. It's not even that any small peep out of a child really grates on my nerves, or that we eat supper at 4:00, watch our program and are in bed before 8:00. So what is it that makes me feel so old so often? It's my MAIL. Collecting the mail is always an adventure. I walk out to the mailbox a young mother and by the time I get back to the house I feel like I'm at least 70. Just so you completely understand what I'm talking about, I've created a little sampling for your viewing pleasure. Please pay particular attention that these (all but one) are addressed directly to me and NOT to CURRENT RESIDENT which makes it even better.

First, we'll start with some hearing information. These were some of the first types of things I received in the mail.

I do understand that the elderly are not the only ones suffering from hearing loss. In fact Jered has said that I should really follow up on some of these. He thinks I can't hear, but I say it's more like selective hearing and choose not to listen to him. Besides, they ALWAYS hold their seminars/free dinners at buffet restaurants and HE of all people should know that I'm not a fan of buffets and will avoid them at all costs. I get something from House of Hearing at least once a week. Maybe they know something that I don't. The plus with these is that if I ever decide to follow up on any of them I'll get some pretty sweet deals.

Next up are the Medicare and Social Security letters.

Check out the underlined parts on the one above; "you may be eligible for MEDICARE benefits within the next SIX MONTHS." I'm pretty sure I'm not that close to 64, unless of course my parents are trying to trick me and that I'm really my mom's older sister. If that's the case, man I've aged well. The very next section says, "PLAN NOW and have your selections ready before age 65." Again, I think I have PLENTY of time to make my selections.

Although I don't have Social Security Income (just yet), it's good to know that all of these companies that are "not affiliated with any government agency" can tell me how to reduce my taxes on it and how to supplement my Medicare at reduced rates. I get lots of Social Security and Medicare mail telling me how much I qualify for and how simple it is to get started. I suppose they just want me to be really educated on all of this so in 40 years I'll be ready.

These next two are DEFINITELY for someone older than I.

The dead give away here is the big, bold SENIOR COMMUNITY. I'm pretty sure they wouldn't approve of us moving in with our rambunctious four year old. I do however appreciate being informed about how great it could be living in a community like this. The back of this one has "thumbs up" and a "thumbs down" list (very literally). The UP's: Clubhouse & Theater, Pool & Exercise Facility, Fun, Friends, Activities (I'm guessing Bingo), Attached 2-Car Garage. The DOWN's: No Yard Work, No Snow Shoveling, No Maintenance, No Stairs. Now I'm no Einstein or anything, but shouldn't ALL of those things be UP's? You know there is some senior out there saying to his wife, "Mable, look at this great community we could be part of. Oh wait, I don't get to shovel snow anymore and none of the houses have stairs. Forget it!"

Why yes, that is my actual hand. No, not the child's hand. The wrinkled, age spotted hand with bright pink nail polish is mine. They asked me to be the hand model for their post card. I had to say, "Yes." Who wouldn't want to do THAT? They are very right about me though. I have "spent many years working to provide for [my] family and [my] future." If only I weren't so close to the grave and still had a lot more life to live and enjoy all of my hard work.

For our final preview you get this:

FYI this was the only one not addressed directly to me, but I couldn't resist adding it here.

I hope you enjoyed my little stroll down "I'm way older than I appear" lane. I hope you got a little laugh at my expense. Jered sure laughs and I'm finally coming to terms with my age.

LOVE Your Hair

2012-01-15T19:39:00.000-07:00

After really stretching the Christmas twists for as long as possible, Camden has a new hairstyle. She was so sad to say goodbye to the beads, but her hair really needs a break from the elastics and beads.

She had a twist out for a couple of days. This is so adorable, we really wish it would last longer than a couple of days.

Man she knew just how cute she looked in this style.

No photo op is wasted in our house. Camden loves to pose and pose and pose. Most of the time, however, we get this silly grin of hers. Still stinking cute though.

Camden decided she was ready for Valentine's Day hair. After some searching on the Internet for some ideas, we had a style ready to try. I thought I could make some criss-cross braids in the shape of hearts work, but much to my (and Camden's) dismay it was a total failure. I tried a few other ideas and NOTHING seemed to be working in my favor. With the morning of failures causing both Camden and I some frustration, I called it a day with ZERO braids completed. I figured it was better for both of us to call it a "fun" morning together and attempt a different style the next day.

Day two we were met with much more success. Although I'm not really happy with how it turned out. Don't get me wrong, I think its cute. Camden loves it which is the most important thing to me. It just didn't turn out the way I had envisioned it.

Only two randomly placed hearts (because they suck to braid) and then some free braiding around them. I'm really not too sure they can even be called hearts. They look more like triangles rebelling from having perfectly straight sides. Some day I'm going to figure out how to make them look more like hearts. Once all of the braids were in I used a yarn needle and sewed some red yarn around the heart braids to make them stand out. Camden also has some pretty thick hair on the back of her head. It makes for some pretty wonky braids, especially with the length her hair is now. It needs about another inch to help those braids look more normal. We're just crossing our fingers that it stays looking okay until Valentine's Day.

Primary

2012-01-15T18:47:00.000-07:00

One of Camden's favorite things to play by herself is Primary. I hear her playing it almost every day. (Not even exaggerating.) It started out pretty simple, but it has evolved into literally hours of play and she has even created a stand complete with microphone (a kitchen stool with her toy microphone standing upright on the edge).

She will open books and pretend to read church-type stories. She pretends to whisper in someone's ear, or that someone is whispering in her ear. Just like you see parents doing for their children when they give a talk in Primary. We hear some pretty great "talks" and we are a little surprised sometimes by what she says. She opens each meeting with a "Hello, Brothers and Sisters."

She even throws in singing. I'm not sure I've ever seen a musical performance like the ones she does in church before, but I guess we all have our dreams. Her rendition of "Mary Did You Know" was particularly interesting. "Mary did you know that your baby boy would grow up and be famous?" I'm fairly certain that this is nowhere in the actual song, but Jesus is pretty famous so at least she got that part right.

Sometimes she will dance while she sings. Those are the times I think about writing "Primary" the musical. If you've ever been in Primary, you'll agree that this could be quite an entertaining musical.

All of this makes me wonder, just a little, about what that teacher of hers is teaching in class. Not really. Camden has the sweetest teacher, Miss Lyndsie. She and Camden share a special bond. I tell people all the time that they are kindred spirits, or twins born 15 years apart by different mothers. It's seriously the craziest thing I've ever seen. We all truly love Miss Lyndsie and are so thankful that Camden gets to have her for a Primary teacher for the second year in a row. It's obvious that she loves all the kids she teaches. She has a great love for the gospel and enjoys sharing that with the kids. Camden will forever cherish the time she has been able to learn the gospel from Miss Lyndsie.

Christmas 2011

2012-01-06T19:13:00.000-07:00

Christmas this year went well. It was a week full of fun, excitement, family and togetherness. Jered took Friday off so we spent the day playing and finishing the last of our Christmas preparations. He basically kept Camden entertained so I could get things done. There is truly no better sound for me than when the two of them play together. There is always plenty of great imagination play, lots of giggles and running around and the occasional tear or two thrown in. In truth, Jered was almost banned from playing with Camden this weekend. I'd almost had my fill of the fun and laughter ending in Camden being hurt.

Friday evening we went to temple square to see the lights. It was so great to be there in front of the manger scene with Camden listening to the prophets teach us about serving others and capturing the true meaning of Christmas. It's pretty incredible to see trees, seemingly on fire, ablaze with tiny red and orange twinkle lights. It was really cold so we rushed through the nativity scenes and went for some yummy warm dinner.

Here's Camden moments before we were supposed to be leaving for Christmas Eve lunch. She was trying to get away from Jered and nearly put her teeth through her lip. Yep, nice one daddy.

Christmas Eve we had lunch with my family. We ate a delicious turkey dinner then had some wild and crazy minute-to-win-it games. The last time I laughed so hard was when my sisters were all together. We ended the festivities with gift opening and a great lesson from grandpa James. Grandma Susan made all of the girls headbands and the boys hats. Our heads will definitely be warm from now on. Thanks for all of the hard work grandma!

Since I was in charge of the games and Jered was doing who knows what, we failed to get any pictures with our camera. My brother-in-law, Chase, made a video of the day's festivities (and a few not-so-festivities: dad reading the paper, O on the kitchen table drinking from the water picture...) You can watch his video here. (Yes, we did keep all of those tissues. With our family being sick they've sure come in handy.)

We stayed way too late and Camden actually fell asleep in the car. Poor thing didn't even get to put cookies out for Santa. Luckily we'd made them earlier in the day so we made sure there were plenty of cookies and hot chocolate for Santa and carrots and candy canes for the reindeer. Camden said the carrots were the healthy part the reindeer need to be strong and the candy canes give them more magic.

We invited my parents over for Christmas morning and told them to come between 7:00 and 8:00 in the morning. We had ignored our alarms going off and woke only when my parents called at 8:00 to say they were waiting on our front porch. I'm not too excited for these sleep-in Christmas mornings to end. I'm really crossing my fingers that we have at least one more year.

Camden thought that the orange in the toe of her stocking was so funny. She couldn't believe that Santa would think of such a great thing. Santa also put a new toothbrush, tooth paste, fun hair things, Lalaloopsy pencil toppers, candy and a juice box in her stocking.

Santa brought Camden her very own camera. Yes, we know she is only 5, but we made sure Santa brought a cheap (aka free), used one. This was more for my sanity than anything else. Camden was ALWAYS stealing my phone and taking so many pictures and videos I didn't have any memory for the the things I needed. (I may have to do a Camden video post just so ya'll can see how funny she is.) Now she can load this camera up with whatever she wants and I don't care.

I think this is the gift she was most excited about, a Sleeping Beauty doll. It was the only thing she told Santa she wanted. I guess Santa thought she was a good girl because he brought her more than just that. Like some new Polly Pocket dolls, some new movies and new shoes. I also spent some time at the sewing machine making some new dolls clothes for her babies.

I know I look so lovely, but I really didn't feel to great...oh let's be honest, this is what I look like every morning. Jered bought me a laptop. I got him a meat thermometer. A little one sided eh? Well, in all fairness he went WAY over the agreed spending. We are planning a trip to Thailand in May so we were supposed to get a little something and then save for our trip. However, our home computer decided to die an untimely death (as did our microwave) and I think Jered was tired of hearing about it. (P.S. He even made the wrapping paper.)

After present opening we had hot, fresh, homemade bagels and quickly got ready for our 10:00 church meeting.

Our meeting was very nice and the perfect fit into our morning. Next came a pulled pork lunch and lots of play. Since my sister Kim's husband was working, we invited her and O over for some more play and fun. Camden is so sweet with O and he adores her so it works out nicely for all of us parents when we get together. We can rest a bit and not worry about the two kids getting along.

With the rush of the morning and the excitement of the day we almost forgot to take our family Christmas picture. Gathering together by the tree was the perfect ending to a fun day.

The day after Christmas we headed off for a week in Washington, Utah. We arrived Monday evening at the "Red Neck House" and spent a few hours washing sheets and towels. Tuesday morning we played a bit then headed out for some errand running. During our running around we got the terrible phone call that Jered's grandpa had passed away. We decided to wait to hear when the funeral would be before we headed for home. We heard Wednesday that the funeral would be held Friday, but that Jered was invited to help dress grandpa Thursday morning. Instead of rushing home we stayed Wednesday and relaxed a little (aka Jered went golfing and Camden and I stayed home to watch a movie and play). We woke early Thursday morning and headed for home. We arrived at the mortuary just in time for Jered to meet his brothers.

Even with the unplanned event and cutting our vacation a little short, our Christmas break was great. It's always wonderful to spend time with family and friends. We are truly lucky to have such loving and caring people in our lives. How blessed we are to celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, at this time of year. We will ever be indebted to Him for His life, teachings and especially His infinite and eternal Atonement.

We hope your holiday was full of love, laughter and a little cheesiness!

Shake, Shake, Shake

2011-12-05T21:04:00.001-07:00

Camden got a new do for Christmas. She has been wanting beads for quite awhile and a few beads were not going to cut it. She wanted them all over so her hair would shake really well.

I tried a diamond part, which looked really awesome, but made for a few very interesting shaped sections. Luckily those are hidden on the sides a little so no one but me knows they are there. This was also my first attempt at twists instead of braids. I love the look of them. I also love that it is giving her hair/head a little rest from being pulled too tight while still being a great protective style. I'll be doing this more often, minus the beads. I'm still trying to get the hang of most of Camden's hair stuff and I'm so thankful that she is so patient with me. Hopefully some day I'll be good enough at this stuff that we can do a style in a few hours instead of days.

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-28T20:09:00.001-07:00

We spent Thanksgiving 2011 in Arizona again. It's such a long drive, but well worth the time with family. Two of Jered's brothers were able to come as well. We drove down with Jered's older brother and his family and Jered's youngest brother and his family came from Hawaii. It was so fun to spend a few days with all of them. Camden had a blast running around with her cousins and she got in some much needed one-on-one grandma time.

We got in plenty of relaxing and loafing around. Don't get me wrong we did help out with dinner and keeping the kids entertained.

I'm pretty sure the Mr. and Mrs. Potato Heads hadn't seen that much action since Camden and Spencer were there last year. (That is unless grandma Susan and grandpa Kim have a secret fetish we don't know about.) Camden and her cousins had them out the entire time. Of course Camden found the princess parts and wouldn't let anyone change that particular potato head. Princess potato head couldn't even go in the box when they were momentarily put away.

Grandpa and grandma had lots of fun things planned for everyone. The grand kids got their fill of using power tools and hammers with the boards and boxes of screws and nails grandpa set up in the back yard.

These boys couldn't have been happier...that is until the hammers came out and total destruction time began. When they had finished with the screws the inside of this box looked a little like a torture chamber.

Camden and Jack thought breaking up the dirt clods and making designs in the hard dirt was the best use of the power tools.

We were able to eat our Thanksgiving dinner outside again this year. It was pretty overcast and a little chilly (I know boo hoo), but we made it work anyway. After a delicious dinner Susan had a little lesson planned. All of the grandchildren shared their parts from their recent Primary Program. Then she talked to us about the Brother of Jared and how we all need to have greater faith. Everyone got to pick a white rock to remind us of the faith we should have.

Camden loved playing with Jack. (Isn't he handsome? We sure think so.) They loved swinging in the hammock swing together.

Jack was even lucky enough to get some gymnastics lessons from Camden. Jack was so sweet. Camden woukld show him how to do something and he would try his best to do it just like she did. At one point they were outside dancing together. When they came inside I asked Jack if he was a gentleman and he just looked at me with a totally disgusted look on his face and said no.

After a little down time and more playing we headed over to the swimming pool. Despite the cold everyone had a great time. As an added bonus the sunset was gorgeous. Wet children in tow we went back to the house for one final surprise; grandma and grandpa had a pinata ready for the beating. Really what Thanksgiving is complete without a bag full of candy?

The next day while the women went out shopping, the men and children stayed home creating. Grandpa had spent some time in the wood shop cutting out cars for the grand kids. They painted and put them together all afternoon. Grandpa even provided little people for each car. Later Camden and grandma sat outside on the patio and painted wooden dolls. Grandma was so sad that Camden wouldn't let her have the doll she painted. Instead grandma had to settle for the face on her doll painted by Camden. Grandma wanted hers just like Camden's; pink hair, red eyes, orange nose, pretty red smile, big black ears and lovely LONG blue eyelashes. (Grandma's doll had even longer eyelashes than Camden's.)

Thanks to Camden's grandma and grandpa for making this such a fun and exciting time for our family. It was so great to be with everyone and are looking forward to a time when the whole family can be together.

First Snow

2011-11-21T09:15:00.000-07:00

This weekend was our first real snow of the season. It has snowed before, but it never enough to make snow play fun, or even possible. Camden has been wanting it to snow for months now. I guess at four years old you forget how long we have snow around here and you should never wish for it to come early.

It snowed a bunch Friday evening so it made for the perfect Saturday of snow play. First thing in the morning Camden was heading out the door. I had to remind her that snow is cold and she'd want more than just her jammies on. I'm not sure she's ever gotten dressed that fast.

You can't even tell she's excited!

Camden wanted to make a snowman, which really meant that she wanted ME to do it ALL for her while she ate snow.

This is about the extent of the help she gave me. I think she moved that snowball about an inch before she decided she was done with the snowman. It was just taking too long.

This picture is in the running for m favorite photo of the year. Even though she wasn't too helpful with the snowman, she was still having a blast outside, and that's all I want for her at this age. I want her to have fun and know that we love her.

Camden couldn't make enough snow angels. (Funny camera angle. I need to think more about that kind of thing BEFORE I take the picture.)

Camden did love dressing the snowman. She was pretty excited that we had real carrots for the nose and that she found the perfect stick for the mouth. We didn't even have to bend it to make him smile. She named him Jackie.

Once the snowman was all done she was ready to go inside and get warm. Hooray for snow days at home.

Adoption #2

2011-11-06T09:33:00.003-07:00

November is National Adoption Month and we feel this is the perfect time to tell you how we feel about adoption. Our family has been blessed by adoption in more ways than we can even describe. We have been truly blessed with the most beautiful gift of Camden joining our family four years ago.

Our love for adoption didn't start or end the day Camden joined our family. Adoption, for us is so much more than just the placement of a child. Through our adoption journey, we gained a better sense of who we are and the love our Father in Heaven has for each of His children. We gained a better understanding of the true power of the Atonement of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Adoption has taught us that there is so much more to life than the things we fret over daily. Adoption taught us about true, selfless love and to more fully love and trust one another. The list for us goes on and on.

We will never be able to put into words the love and gratitude we feel each day for Camden's birth mother. She will always hold a very special place in our hearts and home. We pray that as Camden grows she will gain an even better understanding of the love her birth mother has for her. We pray that she will know that her birth mother is one of the most courageous women we know.

As many of you know, we are hoping to adopt again. We have been approved for two years now and can't wait for the day we are able to bring another child into our family. We are blessed to have such strong and supportive family and friends. We pray that all expectant parents may also have the love and support they need to make it through the decisions they are facing.

We hope that as you hear about possible adoption situations you will think of us. You can visit or give others our profile here. For questions reguarding adoption or to see other inspiring adopiton stories please visit itsaboutlove.org.

Halloween 2011

2011-11-04T04:34:00.007-06:00

We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day here for Halloween. The sun was shining and it was warm all day long. Camden only needed a jacket for trick-or-treating and Jered and I only had long sleeve shirts. It was almost as warm as our previous two years in San Diego.

Since I'm such a procrastinator, I didn't make Jered and I butterfly wings like Camden wanted. Instead I quickly made us some butterfly nets and we just dressed in our khakis and were bug catchers.

The nice kind of bug catchers that give bugs hugs and kisses before we let them go.

Camden was invited to go around trick-or-treating with some friends from the neighborhood. I only went with them to a few houses then left Camden and Jered to continue on so I could have dinner ready when they were done. Jered said Camden was really spooked at a few houses and wouldn't go to the doors. Even if the house didn't look scary, she refused to go to the door if she could see they had a "grabby hand" candy bowl. She loved handing out candy to the few trick-or-treaters we had after she came home though.

The next morning, after not sleeping all night, she said to me, "I think that maybe Halloween is too spooky for me." I asked her if she wanted to skip trick-or-treating next year and just hand out the candy at home? She jumped all over this and was super excited that I would even suggest such a thing. For our sweet-toothed little girl to say that she'd pass on collecting a bag full of candy I know she must have been scared. That and the fact that she hasn't slept for three days. Right now I'm thinking that skipping that part of Halloween next year is an EXCELLENT idea!

Halloween Carnival

2011-10-14T08:17:00.001-06:00

The Achievement Day girls from our ward put on a carnival for all of the kids in our neighborhood. They did a really great job putting it together. Camden had a lot of fun playing the games...especially that she got candy after playing.

Camden got to wear her costume. This year she chose to be a butterfly. It worked out very nicely for me since we already had the costume. When I first asked her what she wanted to be for Halloween she told me a ballerina cat. A few days later we were looking through her scrapbook and she saw the pictures of her first Halloween when she was a butterfly. She quickly changed from cat to butterfly. She is the most beautiful butterfly I have ever seen.

The girls came up with all of their own games. Camden was concentrating so hard on ring toss that her tongue is even out.

In this game Camden had to toss coins and try to make them land on the flowers. She kept throwing them too hard instead of just tossing them.

Her favorite game was the fishing. Now if she could just get her daddy to really take her fishing. (Although she'll probably say it's just as boring as golf.)

The last thing she did at the carnival was got her face painted.

What a fun afternoon activity. Thanks to all the girls and leaders who put so much hard work and thought into this carnival.

Vegas

2011-10-10T09:01:00.001-06:00

Last week I had the opportunity to go to Las Vegas to celebrate with my friend, Kim, for her birthday. There were four of us that went and we had a great time. Despite the fact that none of us gamble, we found plenty to do. Debbi, one of the girls, was our "tour guide". She knows practically everything there is to know about the Las Vegas strip. We walked it about 100 times and still didn't see the inside of every hotel.

We did a lot of window shopping and tried on a lot of terribly over-priced clothing and shoes. I'd sure like to know what makes a pair of shoes worth thousands of dollars? And who is it that decides which designers items should be the "it" thing to have? While I will never in a million years spend that kind of money on an item of clothing, it was sure fun to pretend and to know that my $20 shoes are far more comfortable.

The only thing that Kim really wanted to do in Vegas was skydive. The weather was so iffy that we weren't sure it was going to happen. Each night we'd check the forecast and pray that the rain prediction would be wrong. The first morning she scheduled her jump it was cancelled and when we went to bed that night we were pretty sure those dark rain clouds would never move out. The next morning she called and they said she was good to go. We drove out to the middle of nowhere, watched her jump her crazy butt out of the plane and were back at our hotel before most of the world was even awake. We had just enough time for a quick soak in the hot tub before the clouds came back and it started to rain again. I guess God knew skydiving was the only thing Kim wanted for her birthday and He'd better find a way to make it happen.

Here she is before her jump. All smiles!

Here she is after her jump. Still all smiles! (I think that was due to the fact that her face was frozen.) When we told Camden what Kim was doing she said, "When she comes back here I'm going to blow some air in her head." I'm pretty sure with jumping from a plane, she got plenty of "air blown in her head."

Thanks for a great week girls. Happy birthday Kim, you crazy woman! P.S. love the pole shoes!

Primary Program

2011-09-25T10:00:00.002-06:00

Sunday was our ward Primary Program. Every year I've been in Primary it's been a little bit hectic in the weeks leading up to the Program and this year was no exception. As leaders, we always stress about how things will go and feel like the kids are way under prepared, but every year the actual Primary Program turns out fabulous.

As the chorister this year, I was even more stressed since half of the Program is the songs they had learned this year in Primary. With each passing Sunday and even our two full

practices I didn't feel like the kids were progressing any and I was sure they'd all just stand up there and stare at me instead of singing.

Now that the Program is over all I can say is WOW! These children are amazing! Not that I should be too shocked. They seem to do this every time they sing in Sacrament Meeting. Every week they barely sing and act like they don't know the words and then they get up and sing their little hearts out. This year was the BEST Primary Program I have ever been to. I held tears back almost the whole time. I finally lost it during their last song. With an ever increasingly wicked world, I have full confidence that these kids will make it through just fine. Their testimonies of the Gospel as so much stronger than even I can understand. They know Heavenly Father loves them and wants them to succeed. They know where they stand and they are never alone in Him. I am so lucky to have the calling of chorister in Primary. I am truly blessed each week as I hear these children share their testimonies of the things they know are true, not just in word, but in music too. I love these children with all my heart and pray daily for them to have the strength and courage they need to go forward.

This was Camden's very first Primary Program. She worked hard to memorize her part. She got to say the Third Article of Faith: We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel. She said it perfectly without any help. She is an AMAZING little girl. We are so proud of her. Several people even told her how great she did.

Her sweet Primary teacher even gave all of the kids in her class super hero capes and masks with a little note that said, "Thanks for doing a SUPER job today!! You're my HERO!" Camden thought this was so cool and wore hers the rest of the day. I couldn't get enough of her running through the house making her cape billow out behind her.

When we got home from church I found this hooked on the front door.

Some of the kids made this sign for me. It has sweet little notes from them. (I'm spelling them here just like they are on the poster) "Thanks for being are music TAECHER! I love the song you are teeching me. I love when you come in are room and sing." "Thanks you for teaching us the songs for the primary program. I love learning songs with you! Thank you for all of your hard work to get us to learn the songs." The border around the whole thing says music music music music... This was the perfect surprise for an amazing day. See what I mean, totally the BEST calling ever!

Fall Hair

2011-09-16T12:00:00.001-06:00

Camden has been struggling a little bit with her hair. I knew the day was coming, but I didn't expect it so soon. She kept telling me that she wanted her hair to be long and straight like the other girls at gymnastics and NOT puffy. I had to explain to her that her hair was different and that those other girls wished they had her hair. I told her that people tell me all the time that her hair is so cute and she is so beautiful. I told her that her hair can do so many things that her friend's hair can't do and that was one of the tings that made her so special to me. We talked about how Heavenly Father makes us all different and how boring things would be if we all looked the same. I asked her if she'd like me to put some long braids in her hair again. Of course she jumped all over this idea. This time we mixed it up a bit though. I love fall and Camden is loving the crunchy "leaf-es" so I thought it would be fun to let her have some colored braids. We went to the store to see if we could find some fall colored yarns. As luck would have it, we found a beautiful skein of variegated yarn that had all the right colors. I was even more excited when Camden approved...mostly because it still had some pinkish color in it. Per her request, I also let Camden pick out some beads for the ends. After two days of braiding here is the final do.

Once the braids were all in we decided that adding the beads was going to be too much so we'll just save them for another style. We are all really loving the colors in it. It totally fits Camden's personality. She loves that her hair is long for a little while. All of her friends love it too, which has made it that much better for her. And I have become the coolest mom (as if I wasn't already...yes, I know totally humble too) because I put all of those colored braids in.

Labor Day Weekend

2011-09-06T07:37:00.005-06:00

My sister invited us to go with them up to their cabin over the long Labor Day weekend. We drove up Friday night and came home Monday night. It was a much needed get away from reality. Jered and I did end up driving home for church on Sunday. With only three weeks left to practice for our Primary Program (more on that in another post), I didn't feel like I could leave the kids with just anyone. Camden stayed at the cabin while we went so at least we didn't have to fight with her through our meetings. Other than that, had fun relaxing and enjoying the great outdoors.

In fact we were so busy relaxing we didn't take too many pictures. I've decided I like seeing the world without a camera obstructing my view. While this leads to fewer photos, it sure has created some much more relaxing times with my family. I don't feel that obsessive need to "document" every waking minute of our lives. I keep a journal for Camden and take pictures when I feel it would be something we'd all enjoy really looking back on and remembering. But enough with the blabity-blab and on with our weekend.

Camden had so much fun with her cousin T. These girls are so funny together. From the moment they see each other, the giggling begins. Needless to say our weekend was FULL of endless giggles. I think the only time they weren't giggling was when they were sleeping and even that was not totally giggle free. Watching them is like looking back in time for me. With six girls in our family, our home was bursting at the seams with giggles (and tears for that matter). My dad even tried to create NG Zones (No Giggling Zones) and just like Camden and T, we couldn't be stopped. I hope these two will stay best friends forever and be able to fill that no-sister hole for each other.

After everyone got their chores done on Monday ( Ed had a big list of things to get done too) we got out the pellet guns. At first we were all just shooting at the pop bottles (one of them full) and cans hanging from the rope, but with boys around everything is bound to turn into a competition.

Here is when we decided we needed someone to really puncture the full bottle to see what would happen. Safety ALWAYS comes first when guns are involved, especially when a cop is involved in the fun. Chase was the chosen shooter, but before he could shoot we all had to move up the hill to the gazebo and he had to put on his safety glasses just in case the bullet didn't go through the bottle. See Ed there in the background? He's not hiding in his shirt to avoid his picture being taken, this was his idea of protecting himself from bouncing bullets. No worries folks, he's the cop...

This bottle had been opened for months so we were all pretty sure the carbonation was long since gone, but it was spraying all the way back to the deck onto Chase and Ed. Why are things like this so funny? Really we were all laughing about this for too long.

Now time for the competition. Ed decided it was time for our own little Top Shot competition.

First it was hitting the small can on the string, pretty easy, even with the not-so-accurate pellet guns. Next the boys did upside down shooting. They had to lay on their backs and shoot the can. Next came the backward shooting aiming with the mirror. This one was a little tough. Then to up the difficulty a little, Ed moved one of the bottles out about 50 yards. Jered got it first try. Chase got it first try. Ed could not hit it. He finally gave up and made me try. Well, I hit it first try too. Now Ed was determined to hit it. I told him I just aimed for the string. That was all it took. Ed, the cop, finally hit the bottle.

Even Camden got in on the action. It took a little convincing that it was ok and we would never have her do anything that was unsafe. Jered is looking forward to taking her out shooting now that she is getting older and can really understand the rules of gun safety. He loved going with his dad when he was younger.

Every night as we were all winding down for bed this mommy moose would come soak in the pond. Camden asked me where her babies were. I told her the mommy had had enough of them all day and as soon as the daddy moose got home she left him with the kids and went for her own private soak.

We love spending time with our families and this time was no exception. Thanks sis for letting us come spend time with you. Hope you had fun too.

The Funny Things You Say...

2011-08-17T15:01:00.000-06:00

I try to keep track of the funny things Camden says and does. She has her own special file on my phone just for this purpose. The file is getting quite full of laughs and it's time to clean it out again. I haven't posted any of them here since September. So we hope our little ham can bring a smile to your face too.

*9/23/10
She was being a dog and doing EVERYTHING that tiger does sit/lay/walk/move/lick the floor.

*9/26/10
She put on the boxing gloves and said, "When daddy comes home I'm going to punch him."

*9/26/10
Jered: Camden, you're crazy!
C: I'm not crazy! I'm just beautiful crazy!

*9/28/10
Her friend Emily had just asked if she could eat over. Here's the conversation that followed:
C: Mommy, can I have a oval?
Me: An oval?
C: Can I have a oval now too?
Me: Camden an oval is just a shape not something you can eat.
C: Can i have one?
(I drew her an oval on paper and gave it to her. She stormed up to her room where Emily tried to explain the same thing I had just told her.)

*10/5/10
After dinner she grabbed a napkin and said, "Maybe this could be like long hair."
Then she made me tuck it into her head band and she ran around flipping it over her shoulder.I got a head band and tied some yarn on it for her.

*10/6/10
C: My favorite is purple with sprinkles. (When she said sprinkles she wiggled her fingers in the air.)
Me: Your favorite what Camden?
C: My favorite color.

*10/18/10
Mommy I have a baby in my tummy. (She came down from her room with a doll shoved up her shirt) I got married so now I have a baby in my tummy.
(Just remember that order sweet girl. Marriage then baby!)

*10/23/10
Mommy I want to get married and have a baby sister and have a pink bed. Maybe I be a baby and get married. Oh I have a good idea, I be a baby like Brinley and she can hold me. (Huh????)

*11/8/10 at 4:00am
C: Jered, wanna wub (rub) my foot?
Jered: Can I just put my hand on them like this?
C: NO! Wub em!

*11/12/10
Jered and I were talking about trying new restaurants we should try...
Me: There's Taste of Thai over there
C: (from the back seat of the car) I want a piece of pie.

*12/8/10
C: Mom we make cookies for Noah?
Me: You want to take cookies to Noah at gymnastics? (One of her teachers is named Noah.)
C: No! Noah yike that.(Pointing to the Santa Claus statue. For the last week she's been calling Santa "Noah" and today I finally figured out who she was talking about.)

*12/12/10
C: Mom can I just have a different name?
Me: Sure what do you want to be >called?
C: Um...Sally.

*12/23/10
I was wearing Jered's apron that says "BIG DADDY" so he just put on mine. Camden kept saying to him, you need to wear the one that says fat daddy instead.

*1/1/11
(Driving past the refineries in north salt lake and steam was flowing out everywhere.)
C: What's that?
Me: That's where they clean oil so we can use it for our cars.
C: And make clouds?
Me: Yes, and make clouds. (How do you argue with that?)

*1/9/11
Mom look at that cloud it looks like a bear. (She loves looking for shapes in the clouds and on the ceilings.)

*1/10/11
C: Mom, mom, come here hurry, hurry. Look my gymnastics. (She was looking at Jered's work brochure and saw a picture of the building where she takes gymnastics.)

*1/13/11
Mom my boobs hurt. (Welcome to being a girl.)

*1/14/11
I want two baby sisters named Polka Dot and Flower Garden

*1/19/11
Hey mom, pause. (She wanted me to sit on the bench and watch her dance.)

*1/27/11
Me: Camden, will you please get me a tissue?
C: Why do I have to do everything! Feed the dog. Get you a tissue.
Me: You do have it pretty rough. Would you like me to really make you do everything while mom watches?

*1/28/11
(I was wearing a sweat shirt with 2010 on it.)
C: Hey oh.one.oh.two.
Me: I had no idea you knew what those numbers were.
C: Yup. I do.

*2/11/11
C: Mom I want to do swimming lessons right now.
Me: You'd freeze in the water.
C: I could just wear my coat and then swim all around and around.

*2/17/11
When the birthday candles for kids club came on the TV she blew and blew and blew trying to blow them out.

*2/24/11
I looked downstairs and saw her kiss her two fingers and touch my picture then the same thing to Jered's picture. (Awww thanks punkers.)

*3/1/11
(Jered walked over to give me a kiss.)
Wait, wait (she said as she squeezed in between us)
OK squish me when you kiss.

*3/5/11
The ambulance comes with noises when you're dead and stuff.

*3/20/11
Me: Camden, are fish good for our bodies to eat?
C: Not real fish just food fish. (Her Primary lesson was all about fish.)

*3/26/11
Hey mom, I a chocolate cookie and you a anidda (vanilla) cookie.

*3/30/11
Me: Camden, what would help you sleep better at night?
C: Um just a people in my bed. (Sorry daddy, I tried.)

*4/1/11
Jered was kissing my ear and Camden looked up with pursed lips and shook her head like, "Oh brother, not again."

*4/6/11
Dads and moms can't do somersalts cause them can broke thems bodies.

*4/11/11
Mom am I still this many? (Holding up four fingers. She had just had her birthday.)

*4/21/11
(During her prayers)
Bless me with a baby sister and a brother too. I don't have a sister or a brother will you get me one please?

*5/3/11
I decided I just wanted to eat the skin of the cookies and not the chocolate.(She only likes the cookie part not the chocolate chips. She will eat around every chip and leave them in a pile.)

*5/12/11
When I get big I want a pink motorcycle with a orange seat.

*5/15/11
C: I wish I had a pet cat.
Jered: Oh they make me sneeze.
C: Well maybe when you die I will get a pet cat. (Way to think to the future.)

*5/17/11
Mom can I go to candy land like Autumn and Emma? (I think she means Disneyland. Still not sure on this one. She asks me to go there a lot though.)

*5/19/11
(Jered tooted.)
That. Was. Not. Awesome.

*6/3/11
C: When I get big can I have a boyfriend mom?
Me: When you get really big.

*6/16/11
(Driving to swimming lessons.)
Yellow car, bingo.
Red car, bingo.
Blue truck, bingo.

(She does this all the time now when we're driving anywhere. I really wish I knew the rules for this game.)

*7/13/11
(We had more insulation put in our attic. When the guy was walking around on the beams they were creaking.)
C: What's that sound?
Me: Just the beams in the attic creaking.
C: Oh. I thought it was a deer.
Me: A Deer?
C: Yeah, a deer up there running around.
Me: Did you think Santa left one of his reindeer?
C: Yeah, and we would need to call him to get it.

*7/24/11
Oh rats! I wanted to say, "Happy Pioneer Day" to Wyndsie. (Her Primary teacher, Lyndsie.)

*7/25/11
(Watching the Days of 47 Parade.)
When I get big can I be a princess in the parade and wave to people?

Golfing with Daddy

2011-08-04T10:00:00.002-06:00

We live near a golf course. Sometimes when we drive by the kids are out on the driving range for their lessons. Camden had been asking for weeks to go golfing with Jered. The perfect opportunity came when I had plans with my girl friends one night. Jered borrowed some children's clubs from a neighbor and took Camden golfing.

Isn't she the cutest golfer ever? We think so. She told Jered and I that she had a good time. A few days later she was showing a friend her pictures and I overheard her say, "This is me at golfing with my daddy. It's boring."

Camden, I couldn't agree more. I think that's why daddy likes it so much. With all of the excitement in his life he needs a boring game to wind down. Even if golfing was boring, she still had fun hanging with her daddy all by herself.

Bowling

2011-07-09T02:41:00.001-06:00

After having my niece stay with us for a week, we decided that Camden needed a little mommy/daddy focus time. Camden has been asking for awhile to go bowling so we found this to be the perfect opportunity. This was Camden’s first time bowling. She chose to do cosmic bowling. She was pretty good at throwing the ball, but her arm got tired pretty quickly so we found a ramp for her to just push her ball down. I think she had more fun just dancing around and watching the lights than she did actually bowling. The poor camera was really struggling with the lights so enjoy the not-so-great photos.

It was some much needed fun family time. We definitely need to do more things with just our little family.

Jackson Getaway

2011-06-10T13:37:00.001-06:00

We spent a few days in Jackson, Wyoming with Jered's brother, Jeremy, and his family. It was nice to get away from home for a few days...even though it was much colder there.

The first day there, Saturday, we walked the few blocks to downtown and watched the cowboy shootout. I remembered it being so much cooler when I was a kid. I'm sure it really wasn't, but I'm going to keep pretending that it was. After the shootout, the kids had fun trying to capture chipmunks in the park and had a blast playing together.

This giant bear was outside one of the shops. Every time we walked over to the shops the kids had to take turns sitting on his lap.

Our next day, Sunday, was spent in Teton National Park. We started out on the hike around Jenny Lake to Hidden Falls. We didn't get too far up the trail before we ran into snow and mud. Despite the snow and mud we hiked for quite a ways then decided the snow was getting too deep and the mud too messy. We didn't make it to the falls, but it was still a really nice hike. On the way back down we stopped at the lake and let the kids play in the water for awhile. It was so beautiful there. It was the perfect day for a hike and some water fun.

Camden and Jered hiking around Jenny Lake.

Camden is obsessed with rocks. The ones she picked up got bigger and bigger. She wasn't about to let the boys show her up. She picked up this rock and then threw it like it was a little pebble. I guess gymnastics really is making her stronger.

She couldn't pick this rock up so she settled for climbing it.

Water fun. Camden was having a great time climbing around on the rocks in the water. She was getting a little too brave so Jered went to help her so we wouldn't have a wet Camden. The boys were having a blast throwing rocks into the water and seeing who could make the biggest splash.

The snow covered Tetons.

Just to prove that we both were really there having a great time.

Monday we drove up to the Snow King and did their "King for a Day" passes. Camden rode the Alpine Slide for the very first time ever. Of course she had to ride with me, but she still got to help steer and decide how fast we would go. Next we played a round of miniature golf. Camden was having too much fun with her cousins to really play too much golf, but they had fun toting their clubs and balls around. We took a little break for some lunch then went back for our scenic lift ride. We rode to the top of the huge lift and got off to explore a bit. Camden loved watching our truck get smaller and smaller as we rode up. There was a storm moving in so it was pretty chilly and windy up top so we didn't stay too long. It was pretty amazing to see the Tetons in the distance and the tiny looking town of Jackson below. At the bottom of the lift we played at the park. The boys had a blast climbing on the bouldering rocks and seeing who could climb the fastest.

Riding the lift up to the top of the Alpine Slide. Camden could hardly contain her excitement.

A little golf, but first things first...fruit snack time. Camden LOVES fruit snacks so much I have to limit her to one a day. Otherwise she'd eat a whole box in about 15 minutes.

Riding up the big ski lift for our scenic trip. It was already getting wind and cold. The trip down was horrible. The wind was blowing up so much dirt that I think I ended up with a sandbox in my eyes.

The view up top. Aren't they a cute family? Thanks for spending your vacation with us. Camden had a BLAST with your boys.

B on top of the bouldering rock. This kids has no fear.

Tuesday morning we spent walking around town and exploring the little shops. Camden loved all of the jewelry and furs they have there. Her favorite place was the toy store though. She was thrilled that they had little carts that she could push around and collect the things she thought mom and dad were going to buy her. She also had fun putting all of those items back when we told her no. Later that night we took the kids to the recreation center to go swimming. This was by far the coolest thing for the kids. They have all kinds of toys and places to play. Their favorite thing was the huge slide. Camden wasn't too sure she wanted to go down, but once Jered made her go once she made the climb and slide down over and over and over.

Wednesday we let the kids play for a bit around the condo. When they started to get a little stir crazy we drove back to Teton National Park for some more hiking and exploring. We stopped at the Visitor's Center and saw pictures, and felt hides and footprint molds of all the different animals that call the park home. The kids thought it was funny to hold the antlers up to their heads and pretend they were animals. We decided to go back to Jenny Lake and take the ferry across to explore. Using this route, we made it to Hidden Falls. It was pretty impressive. The water was moving so fast and was really high. Camden kept wanting to get closer and closer which made me a little more than nervous. We got back to our cars just in time for the thunder storm to begin. Talk about crazy weather. The whole time we were in Jackson it was sunny one minute and down pouring the next.

Riding on the ferry across Jenny Lake. Look at that blue sky. I don't know what Camden is doing. The little goof kept pulling funny faces.

Jered and Camden at Hidden Falls. Jered was trying to tell her why she couldn't get any closer.

Just about the only wildlife we saw. We saw a few elk and deer, but nothing close. This guy was across the river from us.

This bridge crossed the river just above Hidden Falls. You can see all of the snow in the background. The opposite side of the bridge was totally snowed in. A few people were trying to walk around over there, but they kept sinking in the snow.

The cute kids. They were all so dirty after this hike. Camden had mud up to her knees.

Here's the view from our car. About a minute later you couldn't see the Tetons at all because of the clouds.

After the hike we were waiting in the truck for Jered's brother. We had fun watching this bird. We're not sure what kind of bird it was, but it was the brightest blue we have ever seen. The storm was moving in so fast and the wind was blowing so hard that every picture we took was totally blurred.

Thursday morning we got packed up and drove home in a BLIZZARD! I'm not talking just a few little flakes. There was so much snow coming down we could barely see the car in front of us. Who knew it could be so snowy in June?

When all was said and done it turned out to be a very nice vacation. I'm putting my order in for no snow next time we go...I know, good luck with that.

4! How Can that Be?

2011-06-02T16:41:00.000-06:00

Just for the record I had this all typed the beginning of May. I'm still fighting with my computer. It seriously takes all day to load photos into a post and I just don't have that kind of time or patience to wait for it. So I thought I'd show my computer who was boss and just not use it. Since I've received some "hate" mail about how we never update anymore (love you Kim), I'll get this post finished with pictures and try to do a few more in the upcoming days. Please don't hold me to that thought. Like I said, my computer and I are still fighting!

Our sweet little Camden turned four back in April. It's hard to believe that four years have already gone by. She had been begging for months for her own big girl room, "I want a baby sister and a pink bed." was all we heard for months. Her only specification was that it had to be pink. I am really not a pink lover so I was dreading doing her room. The room we were moving her into was already painted brown so I figured I throw a little pink into her bed spread and she'd be good with it. I borrowed some quilting books from Jered's grandma and finally chose a pattern that I knew I could do on my own. I took Camden, my mom and my sister, Kim, fabric shopping and quickly decided that there was a reason those beautiful quilts I was so in love with were so much. At $9 a yard for fabric who can seriously afford to make their own? Nevertheless, I was determined to find the perfect fabric (you know, the one that I had magically created in my head and just knew that I could find somewhere) and see this quilt making thing through. Well big shock-a-roo that we never found that "perfect" fabric, but we did find some that came in a close second and most importantly, Camden liked it.. Thanks to several 40% and 50% off coupons I was able to buy the fabric for a semi-reasonable price. I spent the next few months piecing the quilt top, working hard to have it done by her birthday. Jered and I quilted our little hearts out and I got the final hand-binding stitches in just a day before her birthday. Jered painted the bed frame white and I found some cute flower and butterfly stickers that matched for the walls. We hung a few things on the walls and rearranged the furniture and had it completely put together just in time for her to sleep in her new room for her birthday eve. She was so excited! Finally she had her pink bed!

Here she is showing off her new bedroom. She loves to have her bed made with a bunch of stuffed animals, but will only sleep with one...her Juneau dog. Her Grandma Susan made her the cute white cat pillow for her birthday. The shelves in the right of the picture were already there. All we had to do was trade out all of the guest room stuff for Camden's special treasures, books, a few toys and baby doll stuff. We decided to keep the bigger bed instead of swapping out for a twin bed. This way we still have a bed for company...and for when daddy is summoned to "sweep with me" in the middle of the night.

This is the "mommy" wall. We moved her accessory hooks into this room. The girl has far too many purses. Each peg has at least two purses, some three. Her pegs also hold her dress-up necklaces and bracelets. Her baby doll beds and strollers fit nicely here and she is still able to get to her purses and jewelry.

The left side of the bed is the dress-up corner. The toy box holds all of her dress-ups. In fact if you look closely at the picture you can see a tutu and bridal veil sticking out. We're still not too sure about the set up of this spot, but the mirror shoved in beside the dress-up box hides how hideously curved the wall behind it is. I originally had the box turned against that wall, but with something straight against the wall it looked even worse. We hung the little shelf and put a little tea set Camden's grandma gave her on it with some of the cups hanging from ribbons. Some of our friends gave her a picture of Christ with a cute black girl so we hung that here with a picture of the Jordan River Temple, where Camden was sealed to us below that.

Here is a close-up of the quilt. The color in the picture is a little off, but you get the idea; pastel pinks, chocolate browns, lime greens with little touches of darker pink. I'm still not sure that I will ever make a quilt again. It was so much work, but way worth the smile on our baby's face when she saw her room all put together.

The morning of her birthday we had a couple more presents for her, Disney's Tangled and a Rapunzel charm for her charm bracelet. That evening we had some family over for a spaghetti dinner. We finished off the night with delicious cupcakes (made by Camden's Aunt Kim) and ice cream.

Camden's cousin Owen (and his mom and dad) gave her this awesome container of pop beads. These are not your 1980's pop beads either. They are all different shapes, sizes, colors, patterns, they truly thought of everything when they made these. Camden and her dad have so much fun playing with them...and not normally making jewelry, either. They make things like people and bugs and cars. There has been one necklace that Jered made her that she will not let us take apart and she wears almost every day.

Her Grandma Susan (Poor girl has two grandma Susan's, a grandpa Kim, and Aunt Kim and several friends that are Kim's and Susan's) and Grandpa James gave her a Mickey Mouse Club House Yahtzee game. Grandpa James was actually in Texas so he called and talked to Camden. Jered and I told her that her conversation with grandpa lasted longer than any conversation either of us have ever had with him.

Here's the big candle blow and then we got to eat these yummy cupcakes.

Here are some things about Camden at four years old. Each day we love this little ham more and more. We love watching her grow and learn and LOVE watching her play. She has such an active imagination and we are amazed by how long she will play by herself...with no toys...we're talking hours and hours, sometimes all day! She has several imaginary friends; Doney, Wooker, Spider Man, Super Man, Barbie, Ballerina...and those are just the ones she's named. It's a real kick to listen to her play. She changes her voice for each one and almost put us in hysterics when she started using a deep voice for her pretend boyfriend. Our days are filled with lots of singing and dancing, tag playing and Camden's favorite, hide-and-seek. She still loves cuddling and giving lots of hugs and kisses. Many times a day I hear her sweet voice calling me, "Mom?" "What?" "I love you!" All of those tender "I love you"s make up for the typical four year old naughtiness. She has plenty of tantrums and she spends her fair share of time "thinking of a better way" to ask for something, or handle being told "No." She is very emotional (hate to see what the teenage years will be like) and can still open the flood gates the moment her lip pouts.

She loves to draw and to create masterpieces with scissors.

One of her favorite past times is making funny faces. She never fails to get a laugh from her "Crazy China-Man" face (top left-hand corner). Obviously with the funny faces this girls has, it makes it hard to get a decent "smile" picture. Some day she'll really love that she had to pull a funny face every time the camera came out. She's very picky about her hair ALWAYS having a bow in it. If her hair isn't done fast enough in the morning, she will go up and put these items in her hair herself. The bow and headband are not to be removed under any circumstance util her head is ready to hit the pillow for bed.

She loves for her finger and toe nails to be painted and is quite certain that the paint will magically wash off in the bath. Sometimes she can't even wait long enough for me to help her paint. She taught herself how to flip out of the swings and can almost do the monkey bars by herself. I often look outside during the day to see her hanging upside down on the swings with nothing but her feet wrapped around the swing chain holding her on. (Just think of the trapeze people in the circus and there you have Camden on the swings.) She is still in gymnastics and loving every minute of it. She was just asked to try out for the Mini Hot Shots at the gym because she is such a good listener and will at least try to do everything they ask her (if only she'd do that at home). The girl is OBSESSED with doors being all the way closed. We can't do anything in a room with a door until the door is closed tight, sometimes even locked. She will even get out of her just tucked in bed for the sole purpose of making sure the door is closed tight. Camden loves to "read" us stories. She knows exactly where the library is and can even tell you that we are on the library street when we are still miles away, in either direction. She loves to put on fashion shows for us, complete with model walk and stare down at the end of the runway. One day she made me record her whole shoe fashion show. In one word... HILARIOUS! Camden loves her daddy! Before he leaves to go anywhere she has to kiss him and hug him about 100 times (no I'm not exaggerating). Jered has to plan an extra 15 minutes into his morning just for this. She even follows him out to the garage saying she didn't get a hug or kiss. She has lots of friends and wants to spend every day all day with one of them...mom's too boring to be with all day. She likes to open the front door to anyone who knocks so Jered installed a lock at the top of the door so I could at least take a shower without her letting someone inside. She has just started to ride her big girl bike (with training wheels) more and loves the freedom it gives her. However, she HATES to wear her helmet or shoes while doing it. I, on the other hand,.will not budge on these things. I can't tell you how many times I've asked her if she wants to go for a bike ride and she will get excited to go and then I mention the helmet and she says, "I changed my mind. I just want to walk instead." She truly keeps us in stitches with the things she says and does. We couldn't love her any more and are so lucky to have her in our family. Happy four years baby girl. We love you the MOSTEST love you MOST!!

Ice Skating

2011-04-05T19:56:00.000-06:00

First off let me apologize for the lack of posting. I really do have valid excuse this time. It seems my computer has decided it doesn't want to be Internet friendly anymore. I sit down at the computer with intentions of updating the ol' blog and after waiting for over 30 minutes for the "New Post" page to still not be fully loaded, I give up hope and leave the office frustrated. Hopefully I'll be able to complete at least one post before Mr. Computer kicks me off. Please also excuse the bad pictures. Since my little point and shoot camera got stolen, we've just been using our phones for things like this. Needless to say they don't take the best pictures in poorly lit ice arena.

A few weeks ago we took Camden ice skating for the first time. Jered's brother's company was hosting the event and since it was free we thought it would be fun to go. Before we even got into the ice arena, we weren't sure we'd be able to get on the ice. The place was PACKED!!!! We literally had to drive around two city blocks to find a parking space. Once inside, we saw a sign at the skate rental that said they were out of children's skates in Camden's size. Camden really wanted to stay a watch everyone else skate so we went to the bleachers and watched for a bit. As luck would have it, a little boy was just coming off the ice and his mom said we could have his skates. They were a little big on her, but we decided to try them anyway.

I'm so glad we did. Camden had so much fun and she was surprisingly very good.

In fact most of the time she wouldn't even let us hold her hands because she wanted to do it herself. Doing it herself she fell very few times, maybe three times in the hour we were skating.

We had so much fun. We can hardly wait to go again. Only next time I think we'll plan a day that is less crowded and make sure we get skates that really fit.

Goodbyes SUCK!

2011-03-10T20:46:00.000-07:00

I hate days like today! After being a part of our every-day life for 14 years, we had to say goodbye to Tiger. I never thought I'd get so attached to her, but it's sure going to be different around here without her. Before Jered and I were married I worked at a pet store. He had talked about always wanting a Boxer. One day someone brought in a litter of pups. Tiger was so perfect I just couldn't resist. I brought her home that day and gave her to Jered. So she's been part of our family since before we were an official family. She's been with us through it all.

She was there when we bought our first house and spent many days out back working in the yard with us. She was a great digger, but we really didn't appreciate the way she ate our rose bushes...that really had to hurt. She was such a cute little rat that we could carry her around by the ring on her harness.

She was there with us through cold, cold Montana winters. This is when we decided she could come inside. From that point on she was more of an inside dog. I wasn't too thrilled with the idea, but it made us love her even more.

She was there when we shot our first deer...oh wait, that's her after a long afternoon of play, but dead deer looking none the less.

She was the first one to greet us when Camden came home for the first time. It was pretty evident from that moment on that they were going to have a very special friendship.

Tiger took looking after Camden very seriously and enjoyed (most of the time) all the loving from this sweet little girl.

She didn't even complain when Camden moved into her cramped living space,

or insisted on her wearing a little bling-bling.

Of course there were benefits of having Camden for a best friend. Like her holding the peanut butter container so Tiger could lick it clean without having to chase it back down after every lick.

And the yummy let-me-help-you-get-that-off-your-face kisses. Not to mention the manna that seemed to fall from Heaven when Camden ate.

One of their favorite things to do together was catch bubbles...with their mouths. It was quite humorous to watch them, especially when they were going after the same bubble.

She was there through countless photo shoots.

She has seen us through many, many changes, tough and heartbreaking situations and the challenges that come with life. And she wholeheartedly loved us through them all.

She tolerated our endless torment and teasing and making her look ridiculous.

She loved her play time, especially when Jered was rough with her and she seemed like she could go for hours and hours. I've never seen a dog destroy so many seemingly "non-destructible" toys. She could have a rope torn completely apart in less than a half hour. The ones that really shocked me were the stuffed toys. If they had a squeaker, that was the first part to go. Then the stuffing quickly followed. The amazing part about it was she'd get all of the guts out through a hole no bigger than a pencil eraser. We're still not sure how she managed that since I can't even do that and I've got thumbs.

She was there every night at the end of our bed dreaming her doggie dreams, complete with muffled barks and growls and feet going a hundred miles an hour.

Sometimes she pretended to be a race dog. If we stood on the porch, clapped our hands and said, "Run, run, run!" She'd tear around the yard, grass and dirt flying, like she was the fastest dog on earth.

She's been our protector and had a special stair she would lay on just so she could see out the window to make sure no one came without her checking them out first.

She had one of those faces it was hard to say, "no" to. We taught her to say "please" when she wanted a treat. She would sit and lift her front paw. Not only did this earn her lots of treats, but lots of loves.

And there was nothing quite like laying down on the couch for some down time only to find THIS in your face a few second later.

I guess all there is left to say is...

Thanks for being such a loyal friend and for making our family great. You'll always hold a very special place in our hearts.

WE LOVE YOU TIGER!

San Diego...FINALLY!

2011-02-04T18:06:00.000-07:00

As promised, I have finally finished scrapping our October 2010 San Diego trip. I decided to mix it up a bit and just do one big journal page instead of journaling on every page. Still not too sure I like the idea, but that's how it's going to stay for this group of pages. Please don't remind me that it took me so long to complete very few pages. Like I've said before, I'm easily distracted. In the middle of scrapping I decided to put together a new quilt for Camden. I'm hoping to have it completed for her birthday in a few months, but I'm not holding myself to that. (Kim, this is your official notice that you may receive a package of brown, pink, green and white fabric pieces half way put together. Please just work your quilting magic and send the completed project to Camden with a note reminding her that sometimes her mom gets in WAY over her head when it comes to projects.) Really I am doing quite well with that and have completed quite a bit considering I was sick for a week and took some time off to braid some hearts and beads into Camden's hair...see what I mean about distracted. Now you know why I have to start birthday projects months in advance.

Ok enough rambling. Without further ado here's San Diego.

Christmas Nothingness

2011-01-19T20:15:00.000-07:00

(Just for the record I had this typed up a few weeks ago, but silly blogger wouldn't let me upload my pictures.)

Our Christmas was pretty uneventful. We normally have Christmas Eve dinner with Jered's family, but since his parents live in Arizona now we spent the night at home. We didn't even think of doing dinner with just Jered's two brothers that live here. I don't feel too bad about that though since none of them thought about it either. Perhaps next year we'll be a little more on the ball and can plan something. It's kind of funny how all of the craziness that comes with getting together with the family makes the holidays so much better.

Christmas morning we rolled out of bed at our normal time; 7:30ish. Oh how I love that Camden didn't wake us up early. I'm not so sure that will happen next year. She's comprehending more and more about Christmas. We are just hoping that she doesn't catch that darn greedy bug that goes around and that we can continue focusing more on the life of our Savior at Christmas time.

Camden only asked for one thing this Christmas. A talking baby.

She was definitely happy after seeing that Santa brought her just what she wanted. The funniest part is that the doll has an on/off switch and after playing with the doll for a little while she asked me to turn her off. The doll kept saying she was hungry or thirsty and poor Camden got tired of telling her she just had a snack/drink and shouldn't be hungry/thirsty. I told her that now she knows how I feel all day with her except I don't have the luxury of just flipping her switch to help her stop talking. This really is a cute baby doll and she really isn't one of those annoying talking dolls. Luckily for Camden, mom made a request to Santa that the baby be cute and not have a strange voice. Thanks Santa for making my girl the happiest girl on Christmas morning.

After we cleaned up we went out to my parents. We made some clam chowder using this recipe to take and share since my dad loves clam chowder. (It's Market Street Grill's recipe and it is soooooo delicious! If you like clam chowder, you can't beat this recipe. If you don't like clam chowder, you could just use the recipe without the clams and it would still be very tasty.) We had fun playing games and watching movies and just plain being bums on Christmas.

One of our Christmas traditions is to take our picture in front of our tree. This year we decided to take it right after present opening in our jammies. I couldn't ask for anything more for Christmas than to be with the people I love most!

Some Old and New

2010-12-10T16:17:00.001-07:00

This poor neglected blog. I have such good intentions for keeping it updated. I also have really good intentions when I start the laundry and its still not done a week later (not because there is so much of it, but because I'm so easily distracted) and when I think instead of posting a bunch of pictures from our San Diego trip I'll scrapbook all of them and post the pages instead (I really am doing this. Coming soon I promise.) and when I say, "Today is the day I'm going to get it all together." If only life were as simple as all of our good intentions coming to fruition the moment we think about them.

That being said, I finally got the Christmas decorations all put up and the storage totes put away. I thought I'd show some "new" decorations along with some of my favorites. We'll start with the tree. **Please pardon the not-so-great pictures**

I couldn't let fall have all the mattress spring decorations so I made myself a tree star. We've never had one before so it was even more exciting to put it on the tree.

It looks great with our hodge podge of ornaments.

Of course I had to try to make other Christmas items. Here's an ornament too. We have an ornament exchange every year with Jered's family. So one lucky member will get one of these fun creations.

For the past few years I've hung ornaments in our window. Every time I hang them I remember how much fun we had making them.

Here are a few of my favorites:

SNOW with red and green dots,

purple and yellow swirly squiggles,

big pink polka dots,

and circling orange stripes. Each one is perfectly imperfect and so much fun.

They were so simple to make and it's fun to see what everyone comes up with. You just need clear glass balls and puffy paint, (the kind you paint on fabric with)and a little imagination. We even made some of our old scratched colored glass balls clear for this project. Wanna know how? The outside paint comes off with hot soapy water and you are left with beautiful silver balls. To remove the silver paint from inside you fill them with bleach and let them sit (an egg carton works great to hold them upright when their full of bleach). Pretty neat trick huh? My mom taught me that one.

The last thing I'll share is one of our favorite family things. I made some big yarn puffs and we just have them sitting around all winter. They are perfect for indoor snowball fights. We have a lot of fun randomly grabbing them and throwing them at each other.

These are just a few of my favorite things this year.

To see some more super creative ideas check out the link below.
http://shanty2chic.blogspot.com/2010/12/i-made-it-without-my-hubby.html

A Warm Thanksgiving

2010-12-01T14:51:00.001-07:00

We spent Thanksgiving weekend in Arizona with Jered's parents. We headed out Wednesday afternoon for the 12 hour drive to the Phoenix area. My sister and her family were driving to Arizona too so we decided to caravan and do a little child swaparoo. Okay we didn't really get to swap our child, but we were able to have Camden's favorite cousin ride with us most of the way. It was a little different traveling with two children instead of one. The girls had fun entertaining each other and playing with play dough. Camden is normally a good little traveler, but it was nice to have a break from the normal routine.

We had a delicious Thanksgiving dinner with Jered's parents and his older brother's family, who also made the trip down to Arizona. The best part of our meal was eating it OUTSIDE in the SUN. That was a first, and hopefully not the last, for me.

Jered's parents had lots of fun stuff planned for the kids; treasure hunts, rock collecting (for prizes), painting, a visit to the fire station down the street and even a pinata after Thanksgiving dinner. While these things were fun, the kids had way more fun using grandpa's tools. He brought out a board and a bunch of nails and screws and just let the kids go to town. Seriously, who'd have thought that something like a bunch of hammers could entertain kids for two days? Camden had a blast playing with her cousins and was sad to see them go home the day before we did.

We had lots of right-off-the-tree oranges and grapefruit and are hoping that we'll shortly find some in our mail box. We had a very nice visit and are looking forward to another one...especially upon arriving home to more than a foot of snow and below freezing temperatures.

**We took our camera with us and never took it out. Not even for one picture! We were too busy having fun and being camera free.**

Inside My Head

2010-10-05T16:16:00.016-06:00

Have you ever seen or talked to someone and instantly thought, "I'd love to get inside their head for awhile."? I'm sure most people who talk to me think this. I have a confession to make...I do too. Sometimes I really wonder where all of my randomness comes from. Then I take a look at my family and it all makes sense.

I like to think I'm a little like my great grandpa Leo. They say he was the only man in town who could outsell the junk man. He was very creative and had lots of inventions...mind you most of them never really worked right. Like the egg washer that broke more eggs than it ever washed. He did, however make his own dentures out of a car bumper, giving himself the ultimate "grill" and built his house using railroad ties. Although my great grandparents have long since passed away, my great grandpa's legacy still lives on. The house he built was torn down several years ago and a new home was built on the lot. The new owners still find pieces of metal and strange things in their gardens.

Why do I bring all of this up? I've been busy creating lately (read the last 9 months or so). It all started with Jered and I getting a new mattress (bless you Sleep Number Bed). We hauled the old mattress out the back door and left it on the patio. (I know totally red neck, but at least it was in the back.) It became one of Camden's favorite past times to go out and jump on it. One day my sister, Kim, was over and we were looking at this mattress and I said, "There's got to be something we can make out of that." We went out and cut the padding off still not sure if there really was anything we could do. After much thinking, the only idea that we came up with was making wreaths. At first it seemed way to crazy of an idea so we Googled several things like "old mattresses". We found lots of people who had used the wood from the box springs to build stuff, but found nothing using the actual springs from the mattress. Well, that was it, I had to do it now.

After lots of wire cutting, tearing apart and plenty of blisters, I had my first wreath made.

I loved that it was different and kind of crazy (like me), but I knew there had to be other things I could do. So I came up with this.

Super simple, but just what I needed to hang on my old living room ladder. Still I knew there was more I could make, or at least try to make. That's when I came up with this crazy thing.

I loved it and so did everyone else in my family. After looking at this one for awhile I came up with another ~~crazy~~ fabulous idea.

First you have to know that I am a HUGE lover of pumpkins. I love anything pumpkin! I love their sweet squashy smell, their slick, straight grooves, their nice plumpness, their crooked little stems and even their slimy guts. That being said, this is my FAVORITE project I've made out of my old mattress.

Yup a sweet little, rusted pumpkin! I've gone a little crazy with these, but I just can't help myself. They're just too darn cute!

I've also been having fun with old books...

Making decorator book page balls.

And bird houses. Then if that wasn't enough, when my sister, Mindy, came for sister's weekend she brought a little purse she found so we thought we'd try our hand at making some ourselves.

They are totally unique and definitely one-of-a-kind, made from old neck ties.

Since I really needed a hobby and have a little free time while Camden is napping and at preschool, I've decided to make these things and sell them. You can find all of these items here in our Lil' Sisters Etsy Store. You'll also find some awesome handmade scarves and sweet girlie tutus. So go check it out because you know you want to.

Linked on:

http://tearosehome.blogspot.com/

http://firefliesandjellybeans.blogspot.com/

Camden Silliness

2010-09-09T09:13:00.000-06:00

I just love the way Camden's mind works. I love the things she says and the questions she asks. I love watching her discover new things. All I can say is we love this girl!

On our way to Montana we stopped at a little drive-in in Ashton, Idaho. This demonic looking pig was there and Camden couldn't get enough of climbing on his back.

*In July she started asking all the time, "Do you want to see my siddy (silly) face?" Followed by her contorting her face into all kinds of crazy faces. We get this SEVERAL times a day, especially when we are driving. Here's just a small sampling of her many silly faces.

Hopefully she won't make it too much of a habit so EVERY picture we get of her has some sort of silliness.

*She calls Dumbo the elephant Bumbo (Guess it could be worse. It could be Bimbo.)

*She calls Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh Eewah. (took me awhile to figure out who she was taking about.)

*She is very concerned if people/things/pictures are boys or girls. "Is this (holding a book) a boy or a girl?" And whenever she is asking about a person she says, "Is him a boy or a girl?"

*She calls her little fingers Pogies. (Pronounced poh-gees.)

*EVERY time we drive by the corn field by our house she says, "Look at all that corn." She says corn like she's from the south coh-wun. (just imagine Paula Dean saying it.)

*She tries to get our dog, Tiger, to come to her by saying a whistle sound, "Uh woop." (The Uh part is said lower and the woop trills up) Instead of whistling, which she can't do.

*When Jered or I go somewhere as we are walking out the door she will say, "Ok, don't be stinky."

*At nap time she sleeps with her hands held palms together under her cheek.

*Her prayers usually say this, "Heady Fader this day my mom and dad. This day a baby sister. This day a food. Inna name Jesus Cwist amen." (Sometimes she will repeat a few of these things in the same prayer. Jesus Christ is always said slow and very enunciated. And yes she says "this day" before everything just like it's written.)

*In the song "I Am a Child of God" she sings, "...has giving me a werthly home...)

*She loves to go fast in the car and really hates to stop at red lights. She also loves to get mad at us when we go through yellow lights.

*5/29/2010

She danced all around the aisle at Hoppers while we were eating. Great entertainment for our neighboring tables too.

*6/14/2010

Me: Camden why didn't you sleep last night?

Camden: Uhcause I scared.

Me: Scared of what?

Camden: Kitty cats. (She said this without any hesitation. She was almost in tears too.)

I guess they are pretty creepy????

*6/21/2010

Jered stalled for a second while saying family prayers so she started whispering in his ear what to say, "A baby sister."

*6/24/2010

She had a friend over and I was working on the computer she came in for this gem:

Camden: Mommy will you turn me into a puppy?

Me: Sure poof.

Camden: Arf, arf, arf, arf. as she was running away down the hall.

*6/28/2010

"Mommy, I want this baby sister."

(Pointing to the baby on the Huggies diapers box. We've been stocking up so we'll be ready whenever our adoption goes through.)

Jered told her, "If you can find her."

*7/3/2010

She loves the temple so when the JR temple was closed for cleaning we went and walked around the grounds. She discovered her first Snap Dragons and we found some teeny tiny strawberries, smaller than a little pea. I'm pretty sure they weren't supposed to be eaten, but Camden ate them anyway.

*7/13/2010

She was so excited to help me put her swimming pool up that she was filling herself with air.

*7/21/2010

After getting her baby doll all dressed she said, "Now my baby is as cute as you mommy." (Ah thanks sweetie.)

*7/22/2010

I told her she couldn't have something so she stomped up to her room, screaming and then proceeded to slam the door repeatedly just to make sure I knew she was mad. (Can't wait for those teen years to get here.)

*7/24/2010

She was having a tantrum at the dinner table so we sent her to her room. She was up there for a few minutes and I went to see if she was ready to come down.

Me: Are you ready to come down and eat your dinner?

Camden: Yes

Me: Are you lying to me?

Camden: Yes (Don't think she really understood what I meant or what it means to lie, but still funny.)

*7/26/2010

She was dancing around the patio in her jammies and a hat while singing "Follow the Prophet" and "I Am a Child of God" into her toy microphone.

*7/27/2010

Me: Camden, why were you crying last night?

Camden: Uhcause my nose is sick.

*7/30/2010

Jered asked her what she wanted to eat and she said, "Wandermedon shortcake." (The girl LOVES watermelon!)

*8/6/2010

Driving through Montana.

Me: Wow Camden you are smart. How'd you get so smart?

Camden: Uhcause of Kim.

Me: How did Kim help you get smart?

Camden: Um...Uhcause I fell on the chair and bonk my head and so Kim helped me be smart. Then I cried and cried yike waaaa waaaa waaaa and Kim said stop crying.

(Ok whatever you say kid.)

*8/8/2010

Changing her into clothes from her swimsuit

"Mom, I don't have no hair in my armpits." (She says hair like hee-air.)

*8/16/2010

Camden: Mom is dad taking a shower?

Me: Yes

Camden: To get clean?

Me: Yes

Camden: And crunchy?

(Again, whatever you say.)

*8/20/2010

Camden: "Mom I'n star-ving!

Me: Ok, let's get you some lunch.

Camden: No, I'n not hungry. I'n starving for Teagan.

(Teagan is her favorite cousin. She has started saying this "starving" bit for just about anything. Starving for daddy, movies, walks, bike riding. I tried to tell her to use the word anxious or excited, but that didn't really work for me. She's still always starving.)

*8/21/2010 (5am at the cabin)

Camden: Mommy my eyes are broken.

Me: No baby, it's just really dark right now.

Camden: But I can't see.

Me: It's just still night time. Go back to sleep and when it's morning you'll be able to see.

Camden: But mommy I'n blind.

(She kept holding her hand out and couldn't see it in the dark so she was convinced that she was blind. I finally showed her that if she held her hand in the direction of the stairs she could see it. Now when it's dark and she can't see, she insists that she is blind, but will be able to see after she sleeps.)

*8/22/2010

She found Jered's hard hat, put it on and then said to him, "Now I'n yike you, daddy."

*8/23/2010

While we were driving to Bear Lake she was singing in her sleep.

"Juneau, Juneau...Juneau, Juneau..." The last time she sang it she scrunched her face up really tight and kind of screeched it. She was swaying her head the whole time too. When Kim laughed at her she woke up and looked at her like, "What are you laughing about?" (Juneau is her little Beanie Baby dog.)

*8/30/2010

Camden: Mom I want a baby sister.

Me: I know Camden. You tell me, is she coming soon?

Camden: Yes.

Me: What should we name her when she gets here?

Camden: Ummm Jenka.

*8/30/2010

We made soup for dinner so she called Jered to tell him that it was "Yummy, yummy D-necious!"

*9/5/2010

She rode her big girl bike, with training wheels, for the first time. She started heading for the gutter and turned really sharp. She tried to bail because she could tell she was going to fall over, but ended up with a scraped knee. She got right back on and rode it again. She was so proud of herself that she couldn't stop smiling.

*9/7/2010

While eating fruit leather.

I'n using my chunkers. (Meaning her big chomper teeth in the back. She always wants her fruit leather rolled up "yike a taco. I do it myself.")

*She loves to wear my sunglasses in the car and for me to call her "Hollywood".

*She's quite the little car dancer and loves to move to the beat. She's very picky about her music. If the station is changed during a song she likes she is sure to let you know that is not acceptable.

*When she falls asleep in the car she likes to tuck Juneau under her chin to hold her head up.

*9/8/2010

While driving into Salt Lake we drove down a hill and she held her arms up and said, "Weeeeeee." Like you would on a roller coaster.

We never know what we're going to get. The is one thing we know and that's we love our Cam-a-lama-ding-dong!

Who stole August?

2010-09-08T09:10:00.000-06:00

What a crazy month! I feel like I never got an August. I really can't complain since we did get a real vacation in there.

My sister's weekend officially ended in August. I miss my sisters already and we are hoping to plan another get away next year.

Just a few days after my two sisters who were staying with me went home we went up to Montana for a wedding. I know it seems like a long way to drive for a wedding, but Jered taught seminary there and now all of his kids are getting married. He would be fibbing if he said he didn't have favorites in his class. This wedding just happened to be for one of his favorite girls. She was always respectful, even when Jered made her sit next to the weird kid who had a crush on her. After driving an additional two hours on top of our normal six and half hour drive, I was beginning to wonder if it was really worth it for a wedding. When Ashleigh, the bride, saw Jered she LITERALLY ran down the stairs, with a HUGE smile on her face to give him a hug. Well that right there made it worth the drive. She told Jered, "You just made my day by coming!" Jered did remind her that the best part of her day was marrying Seth. Our friends, Kim and Dennis, very graciously allowed us to stay at their house even though they weren't home. Since they came home when we would have normally gone, we decided to stay an extra day. We also had a chance to visit with our friends Paul and Aimee. Not as long as we would have liked too, but it was still great to see them and hear all of their exciting news. We can hardly wait to see their new house...and baby. Camden stole the camera Sunday morning as we were getting ready for church. As I've said before, she is obsessed with people making silly faces and with taking pictures. So here we are in our silly-Camden-took-the-picture blurriness. Oh and Kim, in case you were worried about Camden having blackmail pictures of you...

...need I say more?????

We celebrated my grandpa's 85th birthday on the 14th. We had a family party and got to spend the day with all of my cousins. My grandpa used to come to our house for dinner every Tuesday night. He started to get really forgetful so they moved him to an assisted living home near my aunt. Unfortunately, he's now too far away from us to just drop by or have him over for dinner. We really miss having him here and love to go for visits (probably not as often as we should though). Sometimes Camden will say, "Mommy, I want to see Grandpa George." I love that she was able to develop such a love for him and that we could have him as such a special part of our little family moments. He and Camden have always had such a special bond that I hope will last forever.

The following weekend, the 20th and 21st, we went and stayed at my sister, Shaunda's, cabin. We ate delicious ribs for dinner and had fun just hanging out. The following morning we packed some lunches and headed off to Rockport for a day of boating. When we got there it was kind of windy, but we launched the boat and jet ski and set up on the beach hoping the wind would die down. Instead the wind got even worse. I couldn't even make a sandwich without the wind blowing the bread away and by the time I got the sandwich made it was pretty dried out from the wind. We decided it just wasn't worth it and drove home to my Shaunda's to play games instead. Hopefully there will still be at least one more nice weekend that we can get her family out in the water...and have fun.

We got home and I had a day to do all the laundry and get packed up to go to Bear Lake for the week. The water was so blue and the weather was nice most of the days. It was nice to get away for a week and spend time somewhere I went all the time as a kid. Of course my family never had a boat so that added a lot to the fun. I didn't get out on the boat too much, but I was able to wake board a few times.

It was still fun and relaxing for me to spend time on the beach with Camden building sand castles and playing in the water. Once I convinced her to get in the water, she loved to wade out and greet the boat when it came in. Here we are waving to Kim who is back on the beach.

We went to Bear Lake with my sister, Kim's, family. Camden is in love with Chiaki. Anything Chiaki is doing Camden wants to do. She seriously followed Kyle and Chiaki around everywhere. They are pretty sweet to let her be part of everything they did.

There were seagulls most of the days and when they'd get close to our canopy Camden would chase them away. She thought this was pretty funny.

As an added bonus I got to spend more time with my sister, Kim, and had lots of baby Owen time.

The only down side was that we didn't get to see Jered too much. He and Chase were the designated boat drivers. He did get a few chances to get out himself though. Here he is on the knee board. (Look at that water. See what I mean about BLUE) He was messing around on the board where we could see him from the beach. Of course he tried to be fancy and do a spin and ended up taking the lake to the face.

Camden found the camera and had a blast taking pictures of everyone...even herself.

It really was a fun month, but a little bit crazy at the same time. Hopefully we'll have just as much fun next summer, but maybe we'll be able to spread things out through the whole summer instead of just one month.

Sister's Weekend

2010-08-03T18:04:00.000-06:00

I just got back from a great extended weekend with my sisters and mom. We spent Thursday through Saturday in Park City, Utah. It was so much fun. No husbands or kids, except baby Owen, were allowed. We spent most of our days shopping on Main street and the outlets, but our evenings were filled with card making, movies and games...and very little sleeping. I think I need a vacation to recover from all of the lost sleep.

Thursday morning we had a girl come to my house and do glitter toes for all of us. I'm still finding glitter in my kitchen.

We were all laughing about the flip-flop tans we all have and decided that Catrina's were definitely the best (Although in this picture Shaunda's are pretty great). The favorite color went to Mindy's blue toes and the award for "They're blue...no wait they're green...no wait they're grey...maybe they're purple..." went to Shaunda. For those of you counting toes, not counting my mom, there are six girls in my family. Yup five totally AWESOME sister's for me. I have one brother. Sadly, his wife couldn't make it for our weekend. And just in case you were wondering, my toes are the orange ones with the toe ring.

One of our favorite things to do when we're together is to have an ugly fashion show. We go shopping and see who can find the ugliest outfit or article of clothing. We didn't find too many ugly things. I don't know if it's because we weren't really paying attention to the ugly things or there weren't too many of them. I wasn't the photographer that day so I don't have any pictures to show you. I will tell you that the ugliness included a few pair of black, made-to-look-like-leather, stretchy pants. The other problem we encountered in our search for ugly is that I would find something to put on for our show and everyone would tell me how cute they were and that they really weren't ugly. I ended up buying a couple of these item and if you live nearby you are bound to see me out and about in my "Brena has a way of making ugly look super cute" clothes.

We ended our official weekend by purchasing a pair of totally rad, but mostly jut cheap, shoes. We wrote little notes on the then threw them in the shoe tree. We had two cars up there so only one car went to throw the shoes in the tree. I'm told that it took about 15 tries to get them to stay up there, but as you can see they managed to snag another pair of shoes and were hanging on for dear life.

Needless to say, I have the BEST sisters and mom in the world! Thanks for the fabulous weekend! I can't wait to do it again!

Remembering Trek

2010-08-03T13:31:00.002-06:00

I tried to think of the best way to write about our trek experiences and rather than write in detail about everything I decided it was easiest to make a list. Most of these things would be considered highs, but some are truly lows, while others seem to be a little of both. These are not in any real order. I just wrote things on the list as they came to me.

*Walking 12+ miles the first day.
*Our family pulling Ashlyn on our cart because she had a migraine.
*Decorating our family flag
*Everyone asking Daisha to draw their pea pods on the flag
*Teaching our family to play Ninja
*Having three water bottles break...Our family was cursed. I don't think any other family had a single one break.
*Everyone willing to share their water with those unfortunate family members whose water bottles broke.
*Sharing snacks and water with other families.
*Seeing how happy youth could get over a piece of white bread to eat.
*Climbing hill after hill after hill and finding there were still MORE hills.
*Our family bonding so quickly.
*Drinking so much water I felt like I was going to puke.
*Spraying our kids with the spray bottle.

*Looking up from lunch to see the handcarts lined up along the top of the hill.

*Watching a herd of antelope run right between us eating our lunch and the carts at the top.

*Eating meals plopped right on the ground
*Helping to push/pull the cart with our kids.
*Giving our kids that last little bit of encouragement they needed for each hill. I'd say something like, "Everyone give it all you've got, you're almost there." and our cart would magically seem 300 pounds lighter as our kids, almost effortlessly, got the cart to the top of the hill.
*Watching our family push and pull and work together. When someone needed to trade positions on the cart there was always another kid right there to take over.
*First night wondering why when our family was the first cart in our company to pull into camp we were the last to get tents put up.
*First night our kids almost missing dinner because they didn't have their tents set up. One of the cooks even came over to tell them to get their stuff and go get dinner. When we told the cook we told our kids they had to have their tents set up first, he agreed with us. Boy were our kids disappointed to learn that their Ma and Pa outranked the cooks and they still had to get their tents set up BEFORE they could go get food. We're talking TWO tents.
*Finally eating dinner the first night. It was around 9:30 when our family finally got food.
*Sharing stories about the ancestor I was walking for.
*Hearing some of our kids tell about their ancestors.
*First night hearing the coyotes yip and howl at the top of the hill while we camped at the bottom of the very same hill. Our family was camped closest to the hill.
*Waking up to cows mooing...I think they were sick because I've never heard a cow that sounded like that before.
*Having to get my feet taped with duct tape to prevent blisters.
*Second day walking over five and a half miles.
*The women's pull on the steepest, most rutted, winding hill yet.
*Listening to the Stake Presidency's wive's talk to the girls about honoring the Priesthood and telling them what an important roll they play in the lives of the young men they know. They told the young women that there will be times in their lives that they will have to "push the cart" on their own. As they grow and marry worthy Priesthood holders, there will most likely be a time when their husbands are the Elder's Quorum presidents, Bishops, Stake Presidents and other leadership positions. These are the time when they will have to take charge and push their carts to support their husbands and strengthen them in their time of service to others.
*Seeing the men at the top of the hill waving their hats in the air and shouting, "Horrah for Israel."
*Pushing a cart with amazing women.
*Wishing I could have been with "my girls" as we pushed. They needed more women on another cart and I volunteered to go help.
*Feeling our ancestor's helping us get our carts to the top of the hill.
*Seeing the men silently watching, with their hats over their hearts, while the women pushed with all they had.
*Fighting back tears when I saw Jered and "our boys" at the top of the hill.
*Sitting with the Lougy family for lunches and breaks.
*Sharing stories about some of the pioneers who crossed the plains with our kids.
*Having Sacrament Meeting.
*Feeling the overwhelming love my Heavenly Father has for me and knowing that my Savior, Jesus Christ, atoned for my sins and shortcomings and that through Him I can be made whole.
*Watching the wonders of nature.
*Watching the sunset and seeing the clouds change from white to gray to blue to purple to pink as the sun slowly went down.
*Teaching Mindy an Rachelle to play Cat's Cradle.
*Watching Robbie play with the pioneer yo-yo (aka button on the string).
*Playing lacrosse and loving how protective of our little family Jered was. He nearly tackled a kid on the other team because the kid kept checking our family members.
*Looking at the stars and feeling like I could so easily just scoop them out of the sky.
*Pointing out the constellations and the Milky Way to our kids.
*Watching the dust slowly rise at the square dance, as the sun set in the distance.
*Dancing with Jered on the prairie.
*Seeing Mindy and Ashlyn so giddy after the dance.
*Praying for our kids.
*Praying with our family.
*Listening to our kids' sweet prayers and gentle pleas for strength, health and courage to go forward each day.
*Hearing our kids pray for one another.
*Watching Breeanna and Daisha become best friends.
*Watching Rachelle with Lyndi and Ashlyn when we had to carry them (on separate occasions, both having fully passed out). Rachelle kept them talking and really made them feel at ease.
*Listening to Robbie make sure Ashlyn was drinking and awake as we were pulling her and feeling his true love and concern for her.
*Taylor diligently spritzing Ashly with the spray bottle.
*Seth quietly pushing the cart and never giving up or backing off, even when we told him too. He found out, on the trail, that his wrist was broken and he wasn't supposed to be pushing at all with that arm. We had to keep telling him to stop. Because he was so determined he'd only stop for about half a second.
*Taylor never complaining and only changing places when someone else needed a trade.
*Andreas always making sure our family flag was proudly displayed on our cart.
*Chandler keeping our family laughing.
*Robbie downing snacks and meals like he'd never see food again and still having room for more.
*Mindy and Rachelle trying to make sure everyone was involved or invited.
*Taylor being our time keeper. He was the only one with a watch.
*Ashlyn changing the words to Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer" to "Livin' on a Prairie." Oh, oh living on a prairie. Push that cart and we'll make it I swearie. Oh, oh livin' on a prairie.
*Chandler, Andreas and Taylor always playing Ninja.
*Breeanna and Daisha constantly talking about boys.
*"It's all Breanna's fault....It's all Breeanna's fault...It's all Breeanna's fault..."
*Girls dropping the boy's tent (with the boys inside) after the boys were teasing them.
*Boys crashing (we even heard snoring a few nights) before the girls even thought about getting into their tent.
*Watching our kids read, write and play games in their journals.
*Seeing how excited a Gobstopper could make our kids.
*The Indian raid.
*Robbie wanting to give himself up to the Indians and the Indian's not wanting him.
*Seeing how excited our kids were to get all of their tents and another family's tents put up in about five minutes. It's amazing what a little rain will do. Oh, rain where were you the first night?
*Our boys starting a game of tag and President Hill running to catch the cart in front of him to keep the game going. What their leaders won't do for them. President Hill had a GIANT blister on the bottom of his foot. (All of the kids had to have a least one hand on the cart at all times which made the game of tag that much better.)
*Jered chasing after President Goaslind's hat, reaching it several times just as the wind picked it up and spun it even further away.
*Jered finally catching the hat, after chasing it for about a quarter of a mile, and hearing the entire company shout with excitement for his accomplishment.
*Getting stuck in traffic in the canyon.
*The girls in my car wanting to ask the cars next to them for food.
*Getting hugs from our kids as we said goodbye.
*Telling our kids that we truly loved them.
*Walking close to 30 miles in four days with an amazing group of kids.
*Watching the stick pull around the fire after the hoe down.

Pioneer Trek

2010-08-03T13:25:00.000-06:00

As I shared in the last post, Jered and I were asked to be a Pa and Ma on our stake pioneer trek. After months and months of training (we started our training back in January) and walking to get our bodies ready for the trek, July 7 through July 10 we were able to embark on a pretty incredible journey.

It was an amazing experience for us. I went on trek when I was a youth and I still remember so much about that experience, but it is totally different being an adult and really seeing all that goes into something like this. It truly strengthened my testimony of the power and influence of the Spirit.

In those four days we walked close to 31 miles. I truly never believed there could be someplace on earth that was UPHILL the whole way. It seemed like the GIANT HILLS would NEVER END...and they kind of didn't. Our poor children never saw flat ground. Some even said they thought they were in good shape and ready for trek, but they had no idea it could be so hard.

Our little family was amazing. It was incredible that 12 strangers could bond together so quickly to really become a family unit. And though we never want ten 14-18 year olds of our own, we were truly blessed to get to know these kids. Each one had something great to offer to our family. They each came from different backgrounds and have different hobbies, but when it was time to get that cart moving they worked together and gave it all they had.

This is our family on the last day. Yes, we're all smiling. I think that's due to the fact that in just a few hours we'd be home, showered and napping. (Unfortunately, I didn't get my camera out until the last day so we have no "before" picture. Honestly Jered and I were helping our kids too much to take pictures and the camera just made one more thing I had to keep track of and try not to get filled with dirt.)

So to our trek family, all you Lil' P's, Rachelle, Mindy, Breeanna, Daisha, Ashlyn, Andreas, Seth, Taylor, Chandler and Robbie, thanks for making your ma and pa proud and for giving us the opportunity to know you. You truly are AMAZING youth. We promise you that if you stay close to the Lord he will bless your lives and help you push your "cart" up any hill no matter how long or steep. He loves you. We love you and wish you the very best life has to offer.

Hair Full of Yarn

2010-07-14T10:25:00.002-06:00

I finally had my first go at yarn braid extensions. It only took the better part of three days and a whole bunch of yarn, but the end result is darling. Camden was such a good girl to let me do this to her hair. Before she saw the first little bit in the mirror she wasn't too sure she wanted me to continue, but once she looked in the mirror and saw her long braids she didn't want me to stop. I made it long enough that we could pull it into pig tails, but most of the time she won't let me do anything but put a headband in. She wants to take full advantage of finally having long flowing hair just like all the little girls her age. Truthfully the braids on top are not much longer, maybe an inch and a half, than her real hair. Her natural hair is just so kinky it's hard to believe that it could actually be almost five inches long. Camden looks like such a big girl with her new style. We're excited to see how long it lasts and to not have to comb her hair every day. Camden's pretty excited about not having to have it combed every day too. She still doesn't like the daily spritz, but appreciates as much as we do that she doesn't have to sit for a fifteen minute comb job.

Here comes the pictures. Just a warning, it's stinking cute!

There you have it. My very first ever yarn braid extensions. I can hardly wait to try these again and to really practice making them look even better, as well as, getting even faster at putting them in. In all honesty that thing that takes the longest is the parting. I'm too much of a perfectionist to let even a little bit of difference on each side slide. I'm still racking my brain for some sort of invention that will make getting totally even parts easier. If you have any ideas I'd be glad to hear them.

I decided to put the braids in to make life easier for my sister. Jered and I were selected to be a Pa and Ma on our stake pioneer trek and Camden stayed with her while we were gone for four and a half days. I know what it's like to have to do Camden's hair every day and I really didn't want to put my sister through all that.

And just because Camden is so good at modeling, I'm going to share her secret poses.

So you see we go from the "I'm not too sure how to smile" to "I might be constipated" to "Sassy hands on hips" to the "Shoulder shrug and turn" to "Look at my cute little bum" and end with the "I've watched too many episodes of America's Next Top Model" pose.

Swimming Lessons

2010-06-09T17:06:00.000-06:00

Not only did we get Camden signed up for gymnastics, but she also started swimming lessons. Her first lesson was Monday, May 7th. So yes I've turned into one of those crazy moms who shuttles their kids from one activity to another. She has swimming lessons three times a week for three weeks and gymnastics just once a week so I think this is manageable.

Camden's swimming lessons are being taught at a private pool in my parent's neighborhood. She gets one-on-one attention since the maximum number of kids in each lesson is two. Monday she was the only one so she had the full hour devoted to her.

She was so excited to go that she put on the sunscreen all by herself. Let's just say that there is no way her forehead or nose was going to be sunburned. She didn't put a drop on the rest of her face.

All ready to go. I finally figured out how to get all of her hair covered by he swim cap without having her face super scrunched.

Meeting her swim teacher, Makenzie. She is so cute with Camden and really knows her stuff. First Camden had to blow bubbles to get the orange ping-pong balls to move away from her.

Then she had to blow bubbles and then put her ear under to listen for the fish blowing bubbles.

Learning to tummy float. Makenzie had Camden blow bubbles while floating too.

Learning to float on her back. Camden was pretty good at this one after she trusted that Makenzie wasn't going to let go of her.

Learning to kick, kick, kick. When Makenzie said, "Green" they would kick really fast. When she said, "Yellow" they would kick really slow. When she said, "Red" they would stop.

Using her kicking skills to move around the pool.

Sadly, all those smile came to an end when Makenzie asked her to put her nose under the water too. I should add PLUGGED nose under the water. Yes, this is how we left swimming lessons. Camden would have been happy to never return. Mommy and daddy, on the other hand, won't let her get out of it that easily. We thought that most of the reason is it was freezing in the water. You can't tell from the pictures, but Camden's lesson was from 6-7 and it was cloudy, without a drop of sun, and so windy it was pushing Makenzie around the pool. Truthfully she did learn some things and she did really well, alt things considered. We crossed our fingers that Wednesday's lessons would be sunny and warm and have a much better ending.

Today's lessons started great. Makenzie has actually cancelled them because it was so cold and cloudy this morning. She called about an hour before Camden's lesson and said it was looking like we should go ahead and do it. Camden shared her time with one of her friends, Autumn. I thought this would give her a little more motivation to do what Makenzie asked her if she saw one of her friends doing the same thing. It worked for a bit, but alas my dreams were shot when the tears started again. Please refer to the above photo for how we left today's lessons.

For Friday's lessons I'm going to just take her to the pool and go back to my parent's house. Maybe if I'm not there she will be better. I'm crossing my fingers for that. Until Camden really figures out that she doesn't get out of swimming lessons just because she's crying, (Makenzie is really good to not let her get out of things, especially when she's crying) I think it's safe to say that Makenzie won't be using her as her poster child for advertising purposes.

Dance or Gymnastics?

2010-06-09T16:10:00.001-06:00

I decided it was finally time to stop just talking about getting Camden into dance or gymnastics and actually sign her up. Jered and I talked A LOT about which it should be. Neither of us are too fond of what we see in the dance world; the kids not really being taught to dance, "dancing" that looks like it should include a pole, three and four year olds wearing make-up. You get the idea. I had done my research though and had found a few programs that had been suggested to me by a neighbor with the same concerns. She has her two girls in one of these programs and is very please with the things they are learning and her girls love it too. The only problem I had was that it's kind of pricey. I guess that's the problem with wanting your child to learn something, you've got to pay the price. I was willing to pay it if it meant that Camden would come out of it having really learned some dancing and not thrashing her body around in some kind of seizure put to music.

I had also looked around at some of the gymnastics programs, but wasn't in love with any of them. A few weeks ago I took Camden to a Rotary fund raiser Jered's club was putting on. The fund raiser happened to be at the recreation center. While the fund raiser was going on, the gymnastics program was doing their end of year program. Camden was glued to the window watching these girls performing. She even made me go into the gym and sit in the bleachers so she could see better. She was not too happy when we had to leave to go participate in our real reason for being there. On the way out after the fund raiser I grabbed some flyers about their gymnastics program. After a little reading and seeing this program in action I decided it was what I was really looking for. I loved how the teachers interacted with the kids. I loved how they were so patient and realistic about what the kids could do and remember. I loved that the class wasn't just taught by some high school kids and that the instructors really knew what they were teaching. I loved that it wasn't just a tumbling class, but that Camden would be able to learn all of the things involved in gymnastics. After getting all of this information, Jered told me that it is one of the top programs in the state. (Not that I was looking for that, but no wonder they were so good.)The down side to this that it's about a 15 minute freeway drive to get there. The up side is that if this is what Camden chose Jered would be able to come watch since his office and the recreation center basically share a parking lot.

Since I had found a dance and gymnastics program that I liked, I decided to let Camden make the final call. Almost without hesitation she said gymnastics. She had her first class on Friday, June 4th. She absolutely loved it.

Here she is before. She was soooo excited to finally be here. She had been wearing her gymnastics outfits (thanks to her cousin Teagan's hand me downs) for the weeks leading up to her first class.

Stretching and warming up.

Hand sanitizer time. They had to pretend to read a book and then one of the teachers would give them a squirt of sanitizer.

Camden's group's first station was an obstacle course. First they walked on tip-toes with arms stretched high in the air across the thick blue mat. Then they bounced off the springboard onto the first target then had to hop onto the next target. Third they ran up one side of the ramp and had to do a somersault down the other side. Next they had to crawl under the arches (Camden kept bumping the tops with her big head). Finally they had to hop, hop, hop from the middle of one hula hoop to the next. Camden was pretty good at this station. Even when it was time to rotate she had to finish the obstacle course before she could get in line.

Next was the springboard. You can see the Camden blur right in front of her teacher. They had to run down to the springboard and then bounce off onto the target. For some reason she had a really hard time with this. She couldn't bounce off both her feet at the same time. It turned out more like a funny skip type thing. I did like that her teacher made her come back and do it the right way. If you look behind the teacher there is another runway. If you look really close you can see that there are stuffed frogs down the center. They were supposed to hop over each one to get back to the beginning, but only one girl in the group actually did that. In fact Camden didn't even go back that way. She would run on the opposite side of the springboard.

The last rotation took them to the bars. First they monkey walked across the parallel bars then they each had a turn just hanging from the uneven bars.

Camden did so well. She had so much fun she was sad when the time was over. It was so great to watch her learn some new things and also pretty funny to see some of the things she and the other kids did.

Camden Blogger

2010-05-19T11:01:00.000-06:00

Today Camden wanted to do the blogging so here we go.
t h nnhheeeeeeeeeeeeeeello xfghjkl;'
96++++++++300000000ouyoioupyuoipooiuooooooooooooo[pi[poip[i[pouioipouou[puiouoiuopuipuupoioiipuoiuuopoiuouiouiuiiupiuouipouopioouu9767760000000067966979609707999660876976867086858576423344341443413213433343e1342w4w42q33333333e344343e4e43eeeeeeeeee33333333333333rr3r3

(As she's typing this she is saying, "Juneau...mommy...Juneau...Bear...Jazz Bear...Juneau...Tiger...mommy")

Camden also took some pictures with our camera and she wanted me to put them here on her post. She insisted that we post EVERY one she took so there are quite a few. Hope you enjoy Camden's picture show

She was a little too anxious to push the button. Don't you love the focus?

She actually let me smile in one...more on this later.

Camden's new cousin, Owen. Again, love the focus.

This is Tiger. Camden' doesn't quite understand that if she backs up a bit she can get more in the picture.

She was very adamant that she take a picture of this burp cloth.

Camden's favorite couch lounging blanket. Her great grandma made it for her. It's the perfect size for the two of us to cuddle under.

My sister, Kim. To Camden she is mostly "Aunt Shim" although lately she has been practicing how to make the "K" sound.

Baby Owen's blanket.

This picture was actually taken by me. Before she takes a picture of someone she will tell them how to pose. The majority of the time she wants you to stick your tongue, hence the comment about smiling above. She will say, "Ok do wike dis" and then she'll show you the face she wants you to make. The following pictures are her "posed" pictures.

Yes, this is the face she wanted.

Her cuddle friend, /Juneau's paw.

Juneau.

This last picture she said, "I want to take a picture that guy."

She's quite talented don't you think? Now back to Camden...

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Thanks for stopping by, Love Camden

Welcome Owen

2010-05-19T10:58:00.001-06:00

On Friday my sister, Kim, had her baby. We want to welcome Owen Kristoffer to our family. We feel extremely blessed to have him here and know that it was truly a miracle that he could join our family.

He's a bitty little guy coming in at only 5 pounds 11 ounces. Unfortunately, while they were at the hospital their bedroom flooded so they couldn't go "home" from the hospital. We graciously offered them a room here until things got cleaned up. We hung a "Welcome baby Owen" sign on our front door and had several neighbors call or drop by to tell us congratulations. Sadly, we had to tell them the sign was for my sister, but hopefully soon we will have our own great baby announcement.

We LOVED having them here, but we are excited that they really got to go home yesterday to enjoy some private time together as a family. Camden wouldn't leave them alone. Even when Kim and Chase were showering she sat on her chair at the bathroom door, eating her snacks and knocking every so often to see if they were done. She loved holding baby Owen, watching him eat, helping to get his "facifyder" if he was crying, stroking his long dark hair and showering him with kisses and loves. Of course I got plenty of baby time too. Little do Kim and Chase know that I was secretly plotting more cuddle time by telling them they could go rest more and I'd watch Owen. The suckers fell for it every time.

Thanks Kim and Chase for putting up with nosy Camden and her parents for a couple of days and giving us some good time with you and Owen. Hope things keep going well for all of you and Owen gets stronger and bigger every day.

To the Mothers

2010-05-09T17:51:00.000-06:00

Happy Mother's Day to all of the mothers in my life.

First, to my mom who taught me so many things. Thanks for teaching me how to cook and how to sew (although if she saw how I sew now she'd probably fall over). Thanks for teaching me how to knit and crochet (sorry mom, I don't really remember much of that stuff). Thanks for teaching me that serving other's was more important than thinking of myself. Thanks for teaching me how to be so frugal and how to make something amazing out of nothing but junk. (She learned this from her grandfather; the only man in town who could outsell the junk man. If you think I'm creative with junk, you should have met my great grandpa...he made his dentures out of a car bumper.) Thanks mom for teaching me so much and for being there when I need you and most of all thanks for letting me be me.

Second, to my sisters. Thanks for letting me "practice" my mommy skills on your children. (I hope I didn't mess them up too bad. Truth be told, I could have used a little more practice before Camden came along.) Thanks for letting me watch you struggle with your little families. Thanks for letting me watch you teach your children. Thanks for sharing in the heartaches of my many childless Mother's Days. Most of all thanks for teaching me what it really means to be a mother.

Next, to all my friends. You are amazing women. Thanks for giving me those tiny glimpses into your lives. Thanks for letting your children have tantrums and breakdowns while I'm around. (I know you don't have much control over this, but I really do appreciate seeing that your children are just as cranky and mean as mine is sometimes.) Thanks for loving Camden so much and for treating her like one of your own. Thanks for your sweet, sweet words of encouragement and helping me through all the "phases" of life.

Finally, thanks to Camden's birth mother for making Mother's Day what it is for me. Thanks for trusting me enough to be your child's mommy. Thanks for being such and important part of my life. Thanks for teaching me about selfless love and true sacrifice. Thanks for being a loving mother to your daughter. Thanks for holding a special part of Camden in your heart always. You've taught me so much about myself and life, probably without even knowing it. Thanks just doesn't seem adequate for you.

So to all the mothers in my life, know that your are all truly inspiring to me. May you all have a beautiful Mother's Day and feel loved and appreciated every day!

Camden is 3

2010-04-29T15:59:00.001-06:00

Seriously, I want to know who told my baby she could grow up? She and I have had this talk many times and I've told her she will just have to stay my sweet little baby girl FOREVER. I guess it doesn't do much good to talk about it because she's growing up and there's nothing I can do about it. It's so amazing how fast time goes. It certainly doesn't seem like it has been three years already. My, my, my how our little Camden has grown. She is such an amazing girl! She reminds me every day of what is really important. From her kinky, black hair to her sweet, round toes I love this girl. Her giggles and squeals could make anyone laugh. Her deep dark eyes and ultra curled lashes could make anyone wish she'd never blink. Don't even get me started on that smile; the perfect teeth, the luscious lips, the multiple dimples on one cheek, the twinkle in her eye. Daddy get your shotgun ready because soon the boys will be knocking.

We decided to go for the simple birthday this year. We just played around the house together. Later Camden's grandparents and her favorite aunt and uncle came over for a hot dog dinner.

Camden was so excited to get some swim goggles. She wore them most of the day and couldn't wait to try them in the swimming pool.

A little Princess and the Frog action. We took Camden to see this move in the theater and she got up and danced through EVERY song. She loves "Pwincess Tinana".

Camden is a real game player. She loves to play just about any game so we thought Cootie would be a fun one for her. Sadly when we opened the game there wasn't a game board. They are supposedly sending us one in the mail, but we have yet to see one and it's been 3 weeks. Not that Camden really cares. She just likes putting the bugs together and playing with them. However, I have decided that I need to buy 3 more Cootie games so there can be 4 pink bugs, 4 bows, 4 pretty eyes, 4 lips and 24 roller skate legs to avoid the fight that erupted between Camden and a girlfriend. Oh how I love 3 year old girls.

The look of excitement on her face after opening every present was totally worth the birthday spoiling. Well that and the, "Ooooo, thank you" after each gift. What great manners she uses...sometimes.

She got a few new pairs of jammies. All of them had to be tried on immediately upon opening.

Kim and Chase brought her this GIANT balloon. Yes, it really was this big, no Photshop here. Best of all it was Camden's favorite color, purple.

Unfortunately the one present Camden wanted we couldn't get for her. She asked her daddy for a baby sister. Hopefully before her next birthday we can make that happen.

The birthday cookie. Camden is not a cake eater. She eats the frosting off the top and maybe a tiny nibble of cake, but she loves cookies. I sprinkled it with dogs and dog bones shapes before I baked it. Dogs are Camden's favorite animal. Most of the time she is pretending to be a dog, complete with fetching, barking and even licking (Not my favorite part of the pretending). Seeing that I'd never made a giant cookie before, I had no idea how to tell when it was really done so it was a little crunchy, but still very tasty. I would totally recommend Betty Crocker cookie mixes.

I just love the look on her face, "Mmmmm I could eat this whole cookie ALL BY MYSELF!"

One of my many projects was making this flag for Camden. I've been wanting to do this since she was born, but it's taken me three years to get it done. We'll fly it on special Camden days; her birthday, adoption finalization day, sealing day and I'm sure many more days in the years to come.

Camden, we love you! We're so excited to watch you grow and learn and can't wait to spend eternity with you.

Dear Blog

2010-03-29T13:53:00.000-06:00

Dear Blog,
I sure wish I had something exciting to tell you. I realize it's been almost a whole month since I posted, but you'll have to forgive me. I have been trying to spend less time on the computer. I promise I haven't forgotten you. Maybe some time this week I'll get some pictures posted of projects I've been working on. I'd love to stay and chat right now, but my time with you is limited. Enjoy day and don't miss me too much.
Hugs and Kisses,
Brena

Come with me mommy...

2010-03-05T14:41:00.000-07:00

I put Camden down for her nap and came downstairs to work on the computer. She'd been up there for about 45 minutes and I hadn't heard any noise or movement coming from her room. I assumed she was asleep until I heard her little voice at the top of the stairs calling for me. I went to the bottom of the stairs and there she was at the top with a HUGE smile on her face. Every mother should know that this means I will not find something very happy upstairs. She said, "Mommy, come with me." as she waved me up the stairs. I could only imagine what I was going to find. I never thought I'd see this...

Her sweet little baby doll all lotioned up. You can see her hands are nicely covered and her legs have just a few spots, but her head is TOTALLY covered.

Let's not forget her eyes. Those little peepers open when she is sitting up. Camden said, "Her eyes so pretty." I'm thinking, "Yes, yes they are. Let's just hope that all of that lotion can be washed out so her eyes work again."

Camden gets lotioned every day and I guess she wanted her baby to have nice soft skin too.

I did give Camden a little credit for not smearing lotion all over the soft parts of her beloved baby Tasha. That credit was all use up when I noticed her mirror is covered in little lotion hand prints and smudges.

Needless to say, the lotion has been removed from her room. For anyone worried about baby Tasha's recovery should know that after removing her "voice box" and having a nice scrub down, she seems to be fine. As for Camden, she still is not napping! She's down here telling me how funny her baby is.

Time Away

2010-02-27T20:17:00.001-07:00

We spent this past week in St. George, Utah. It was a nice little get away for our family. It was a little cold and rainy, but we still managed to get out and do some hiking and lots of swimming. I use the word swimming, but it was more like follow Camden from the hot tub to the pool, where she would stay for less than a minute, back to the hot tub. Camden loved that I made her a purple (her favorite color) swimsuit and that she got to pick out her very own swim cap (also purple) just for this vacation.

Most of our hikes were not very long since it was so cold. Camden was shivering so bad on our first hike that it took about an hour for her to really get warm.

If you look real close you can see how red her little nose is. She had her hoodie on and was also wrapped in Jered's jacket. We tried to convince her that she'd be much warmer if she got out and hiked instead of riding in the backpack, but as you can see that didn't work so well for us.

She loved riding in the backpack. Really who wouldn't? A free ride and you still get to enjoy all of the scenery.

Scenery like this for instance. There were huge puddles all along the trail from all of he rain. Jered took this great photo. I love the reflection in the water and the way the snow covered mountains look like someone accidentally merged two very different photographs together. It's pictures like these that remind me of just how crazy Utah weather is.

After I put on my favorite bucket hat, Camden said I looked like grandpa. My dad always wears his hat outside. Camden is very observant and can remember almost anything so I'm not too surprised she said I looked like my dad.

The one and only shot of our little family hiking. Thank goodness for our rock "tripod".

We were out on the trail pretty close to sunset so the lighting was pretty cool. These dead bushes looked like they were glowing. It was such an amazing contrast between the deep red-orange of the dirt and the stark white of the bush I just had to take a picture.

Our last day in St. George it was actually really nice. We didn't even have to wear our jackets. We met up with Jered's boss and his wife and went on a lovely hike. The hike was kind of a requirement for the boys. I know they enjoyed it, but the real reason they wanted to get together was so they could go golfing. I made Jered feel a little guilty (though I'm sure he'd never admit it) for wanting to ditch me on our vacation, on the ONE nice day no less.

Camden walked a little on this hike. She loves rocks and had a great time searching for the perfect rock to bring home to add to her collection. (After doing the laundry at home, I discovered she brought home more than one rock. Apparently she had her pocket full of gravel. I'm sure it did great things for my dryer.)

Not too far into our hike, Camden wanted to ride in the backpack. All of the warmth and gentle rocking was too much for her to handle. She caved in to the sleep monster and slept for most of the hike. It was nice to end our vacation with a beautiful, warm day before having to come home to the coat-weather cold.

New Heart Hair

2010-02-14T13:16:00.005-07:00

As I said in the last post, Camden's cute heart braids didn't quite make it to Valentine's Day. I did a little thinking (yes, it did hurt a little) trying to figure out a cute, easy (more or less), less stressful on Camden's hair, Valentine's Day style. After a morning full of cartoon watching, her heart puffs were done.

I did piggy-back pony tails in the shape of a heart then wrapped pink ribbon around her hair to hold in some of the frizzies.

It made for one happy customer. I really can't believe she is so happy after all of the hair torture I put her through, not to mention all of the people who make her stand still so they can examine her styles.

Since this post is full of love I have to put a picture of the card Camden gave me.

It's not so much the message that I love, although it was pretty clever and so like Camden. I love her little drawings. She is such a little artist. Jered traced her hand for the card, but she can now trace her hand all by herself. Every time her hand is traced she HAS to draw a smiley face in the middle. Those kind of round things on the other side of the card are hearts. The red, blue and purple squiggley lines say, "I love you mommy." When I asked her what everything on the page was she kind of looked a little surprised that I didn't know that the circles were actually hearts and those squiggles said something.

Love Is in the Hair

2010-02-10T15:19:00.001-07:00

Before we went to St. George, I decided to do some more braids in Camden's hair. Since Valentine's Day is coming up I thought hearts would be just perfect. After a day full of braiding, my fingers were extremely sore and my index finger actually had a blood blister. It looks really cute, but I'm a little disappointed with all of the fuzzies poking out. I'm not sure what the problem with that is, but we're hoping that it's new hair growth and that our new hair routine is really making her hair healthy. To me her hair seems much healthier than a few months ago. It looks and feels so moisturized and it smells DELICIOUS thanks to the coconut oil.

I forgot to take pictures right after I was done. I finally got some pictures last Thursday after the braids had been in for about two weeks so they were really fuzzy.

I did a little wave braid on the sides. And two braids across the front for her bangs. Camden picked the pink and purple (her new favorite color) beads for the ends, Since I just trimmed her hair, the braids were barely long enough for four beads. Camden was a little sad that her hair didn't shake as well as last time.

When I tell Camden to, "Smile Pretty" she always put her hands like this next to her face. (Kind of like when you pretend to be sleeping.) I don't know where she got this from, but at least its better than her "looks more like angry" smile.

Unfortunately her love hair didn't even make it to Valentine's Day. I took it out Sunday night before it had a change to get really matted and hard to comb. (You can't tell from the pictures, but it really was frizzy and falling out and you almost couldn't tell that it was braids and not just dread lock yuckiness.) We'll have to figure out some other way to have love hair for Valentine's Day.

Camden's newest hair obsession is ALWAYS having a bow or flower in. The minute she wakes up she will start crying for her flower to be put in her hair. She doesn't care if her hair is even combed or if she's still in her jammies, she WANTS that flower in. Bed time is a whole other story. She doesn't want that flower off her head. I'm going to have to make her a sleep cap with a flower sewn on the outside.

Yesterday she actually let me comb her hair before putting the flower in...no such luck with getting dressed. I guess a girl's gotta look her best at all times.

She still isn't sleeping well at night, but she is so fun during the day. (Most days that is.) She is the biggest HAM and keeps me laughing. Her smile melts my heart. (and makes me a little jealous. Really, look how perfectly straight and white they are. Nice and evenly spaced with enough room for permanent teeth to come in the same way. We're crossing our fingers for no braces!) Her laugh is so contagious. She has two dimples on the right side of her face. One in the middle of her cheek and one next to her eye.

She says some pretty funny things.

"I want __________. It's my favorite." (It really doesn't matter what you insert in the blank. If she really wants something she will say it's her favorite.)

"Run/play/read a me, two minutes." (Anything she wants us to do with her, she wants us to do it for two minutes. She doesn't say "to me" or "with me" she says "a me")

"Duh" (Not my favorite and yes she does get "the look" when she says this.)

If Jered or I call her a funny name like Punk, Silly, Crazy, Cutie, you name it, she will say, "I not ___________. I just Tapin Esta." (Camden Estelle)

My sister is pregnant and is really showing her bump. Camden loves to talk to the baby and is so fascinated that a baby could be in Aunt Shim's belly. The other night she rubbed Jered's tummy and said, "You have a baby in you tummy dad?"

Any kind of spice that comes from a shaker is called sauce. Her usual bedtime snack is applesauce. She will say, "I like applesauce. With sauce (cinnamon) in it."

She walks around the house singing "I Am a Child of God" and "Tiny Turtle" song. (If only she really understood the meaning of the chorus to "I Am a Child of God" we'd sure have wonderful days with no sassing and talking back and her thinking she is in charge.)

He eyes light up and she smiles EVERY time she sees the temple. (This picture is from our trip to San Diego in October.) After we drive by the temple she will sometimes say, "Anunor popple." (She wants me to drive by another temple.)

Any time she hears a loud car or truck outside she says, "It's Bane." (One of her most favorite people is our neighbor, Blaine. He has a big Dodge diesel truck and he tries to make it extra loud for Camden when he drives by our house.)

One of my favorite things about her is this...

Do you see how her nose is all scrunched up? I love those little fat pockets that form perfect triangles at the top of her nose when she makes her scrunchy face. I want to pinch them every single time. Pictures just don't do justice to this adorable feature.

Camden, thanks for making me smile and giving me plenty to laugh at each day.

"Mist"ified

2010-02-01T15:55:00.001-07:00

Our strange weather lately has brought us many evenings and mornings full of fog. I've always been a little intrigued by fog and have always loved the new perspective it can bring to the world. Sometimes I tend to overlook the little things and focus only on the big picture. While it's good to see most things in the "big picture" perspective, I enjoy how the fog forces me to take a step back and look at the things close to me.

My favorite part of a foggy, winter night is the morning following. Everything outside is intricately decorated in delicate ice crystals. As the day warms and the sun begins to shine, each, seemingly insignificant, ice crystal magically catches the sun as it journeys to the earth, creating a dancing shower of glitter.

I haven't figured out how to capture the glittering in a picture or video and really do it justice, so for now I have to settle for pictures of the motionless ice crystals.

It amazes me that even the little blades of grass are individually decorated in the tiniest of ice crystals. It's things like this that remind me that there really is something so much bigger than me out there.

"...all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator." (Alma 30:44)

P-p-p-p-polar P-p-p-p-plunge

2010-02-01T15:15:00.000-07:00

Some people will do anything for charity.

Take this guy, for example. Jered has one of the biggest hearts and is always showing me the true meaning of charity. Any chance he gets he's doing something for someone else. I must admit that at times I get rather frustrated with him helping so many others while the things I ask him to do sit and wait.

Saturday, was Cedar City's Polar Plunge. Jered is working on a project down there and some of the guys working with him suckered him into freezing his buns off. All of the money raised by the event went to the city's special needs program so Jered decided it was a worthy cause. Nothing like jumping into a frozen pond to show how truly dedicated to service you are.

That's Jered cannon balling away. I've never seen so many people excite to jump into ice water before. It was really quite a sight to see. (I'm really not too sure that those two girls on the doc would have known what to do if someone really didn't come up out of the water. That hook only does so much and I'm pretty sure neither of them would have jumped in after a drowning person.)

Once out of the water he realized that it really was COLD! On our drive home he said, "I think I need to do that more often. My whole body feels rejuvenated." Well darlin', you did try to freeze your whole body. I think maybe your body is trying to tell you it's not ready to be frozen.

Even though Camden kept telling him how stinky he was, I'm pretty sure my crazy man would do this again. Like I said, some people will do anything for charity.

Ice Sculpting

2010-01-19T16:40:00.000-07:00

Last February we had a new furnace installed. The thing is supposed to be super efficient and do a better job than our old one. Since the furnace was installed it has never really worked quite right. It will do great for a bit and then all of a sudden the house will feel really cold. The high limit switch keeps kicking off, but the furnace will continue to blow cold air. We've had too many service calls to count with a different repair man almost every time. We've been told some pretty dumb things, by said repair men, as to why the furnace keeps doing this. So as I share some of these, please keep in mind that I'm not a furnace expert, however, these repair men seem to think I'm totally clueless. Without further ado here are my favorites (Pay special attention to the last two, my all time favorites. Sad isn't it that I have "favorite" furnace repair moments?)

"Your coils are dirty." (Well you were supposed to clean them when the furnace was installed.)
"The gas pressure is too high. I'll adjust it and I'm 99% sure this won't happen again." (This guy seemed pretty ticked that no one else in the company had checked this and was kind of bad mouthing them the whole time. I just had to smile and laugh because, hmmm I kind of feel that way too. Sadly, adjusting the gas pressure didn't solve our problem.)
"Your filter was in the wrong way." (Before I could say anything this guy thought for a second then continued on with this...) "Wait, our guys put this in didn't they?" (Yes indeed-a-reeno) "You never know what those little buggers are going to do next." (This guy was from Australia, hence the use of "buggers" in his comment.)
"You don't have enough return air coming in." (Again, no expert, but should't you check that there would be enough return air for the type of furnace BEFORE it is installed? Guess it goes to show that it's all about the Benjamins. This visit was followed by us having to leave the furnace doors open so it could get more air. Let's just say that it was about as quiet as I imagine watching you favorite television program on the airport runway would be.)
You might remember the guy who got stuck in the bathroom. "I promise I'll fix the furnace." (...didn't happen. I should have shoved him back in bathroom, but he'd still be in there!)
"Oh, it's because you don't have all of the vents in the house open." (HUH?! Again, I'm not an expert...)
"Well it couldn't be a faulty part because that's against code." (I should tell you that this comment was made by the same guy that made the previous comment. I wasn't quite sure what to say to this guy. I really couldn't believe that someone could say such stupid things. Apparently this guy has NEVER heard of a recall or had to take his car in for something not working right. I could be wrong, but wouldn't you say that a faulty car part would be against code????? I wanted to tell him that his brain was against code, but I refrained.)

These are only a drop in the bucket though. We actually had repair men here Christmas Eve and they have since replaced some parts (maybe they should find that Adam guy and tell him that yes, some parts can be faulty). We're crossing our fingers that this really works. Every time the furnace comes on and I feel a little cold air I start to roll my eyes. So far things have been ok, but the new parts have only been in since January 6th. I guess I'll never be truly convinced that our problem has been solved.

This rather long story brings me to the actual reason for my post. This furnace does do something pretty cool (Ha...no pun intended there, but feel free to laugh. I did.)

Behold our spectacular ice volcano.

It's right outside our back door and is about 2 feet tall. It doesn't spew molten lava or anything, but can you tell me of another volcano that can double as a dog's outdoor drinking station?

Let me show you the where our volcano comes to life.

This BEAUTIFUL (Yes, you're sensing some sarcasm.) furnace exhaust mess. The condensation that collects when the furnace is off, drips when the furnace kicks on.

You can't tell from the pictures, but the guys who installed the furnace cut a hole in the outside cold air return (thus creating a rusted bent cover) and there is blue PVC glue all over the ceiling of the patio cover. When I saw this for the first time he said, "They make a box-like covering that you could get in the same color siding to hide it." (Yeah, that's just what I can do since we have a money tree in our back yard.) The end of the pipe where the exhaust actually comes out is just a big open pipe hooked to the roof with a metal strap. (I know they make covers for the ends of ventilation pipes...I've seen them.) Since the pipe creates a triangle shaped vacancy between it and the roof, we get birds creating little homes there. Don't get me wrong, I love birds, but when they live in this little space it creates all kinds of fun noises, like the scraping of sticks and their fast and furious landings and take offs, and sends them right through our furnace.

Needless to say, I am not happy with our repair people, but unless we want to raid our money tree we're stuck with them for the next four years. Here's to the hope of NEVER having to see them again!

Goodbye Ticklish

2010-01-18T17:31:00.001-07:00

Camden has had her special little bear, Ticklish, since she was born. She and this little toy have had such a connection since day one. Well, as all well-loved toys do, he started to get pretty ragged. You may recall that for Christmas 2008 we found her a brand new Ticklish thinking that she'd let us trade for a nice fluffy, soft version of her old friend. She wanted NOTHING to do with this new bear. He couldn't even be called Ticklish. He had to be called Pickles. We knew the day would come that there was no way I would be able to fix her beloved Ticklish bear. He started to get holes in his feet and they were just about big enough for the "beans" inside to fit through. The only way to fix this would be to replace his feet. I love Camden and I'd do anything I could to save her heartache or grief, but let's be realistic. This bear is really disgusting. Most of the time it's wet because she chews on it.. (I should apologize to all of the parents with children Camden INSISTED on sharing Ticklish with. So parents, I'm sorry you/your child had to touch Ticklish. I hope you sterilized your hands after the encounter.)

With Ticklish full of holes I couldn't fix, we decided it was time to say goodbye to our dear friend. We didn't want Camden to be totally without a friend so we took her to the store and let her pick out a new cuddles as part of the goodbye process. Not wanting to influence her decision we let her just start looking through the baskets and shelves of cuddles. Wouldn't you know that the one she wouldn't put down was a bear dressed in Shaq basketball gear. I was not too thrilled, but if that's what she wanted, so be it. Jered, on the other hand, was not really ok with the Shaq gear. He took her aside with a few other options and talked her into one that was "so much softer and better for cuddling." She ended up with a dog named Juneau.

On the drive home she rubbed him on her shoes. Wet from walking on the road, dirty shoes. I had to clean him before she could even cuddle with him the first night.

Not really knowing how Camden would handle Ticklish being gone, I purchased a clear box to put him in so she could still see him in her room. It turns out it was a waste of money. Camden would have been fine if we'd just put Ticklish away in a box in the closet. She said her goodbyes and she was done with Ticklish for good.

One last big hug.

and kiss.

Ticklish in a box and new cuddle friend, Juneau.

Loving on both her friends.

She was being so silly while Jered was taking pictures so I still wasn't sure she understood that this was the last time she'd get to really cuddle Ticklish. I guess she got it because the only one who shed tears for Ticklish was me.

Dear Ticklish,
I love you so much. Nothing could ever take your place in my heart. I'll miss not cuddling with you. Thanks for being my very best friend.
Love, Camden

A note from Ticklish in his much loved, but much cleaner days. We'll have to make a "goodbye" page now for Camden's scrapbook.

Boring Beginnings

2010-01-11T09:45:00.000-07:00

We're a week into 2010 and I have nothing exciting to talk about. I just looked at the camera to see what pictures were waiting to be downloaded and the card is empty. That's right, we haven't even taken any pictures yet. I sure hope this is not some sort of preview to how the rest of our year will be. I hope your first week of 2010 has been more eventful than mine!

Christmas "Re"do

2009-12-26T16:55:00.005-07:00

We decided to do Christmas a little different this year. Instead of spending a lot of money on things we didn't really like, we completed a few projects (and added a few new ones).

I'll start with my favorite. I've wanted for Camden to have her own little table and chairs for quite some time. Seeing that she loves to "cook" in her kitchen, I thought she would really enjoy being able to present her "home cooked" meals on a table that was just her size. My mom said we could redo the table and chairs that her grandpa had made for her when she was little. We were excited for Camden to "eat" at the same table her grandma did when she was a little girl and brought the set home. After much discussion with Jered on how the table should be repaired and look when it was finished, we put it up on the self in the garage and didn't do anything with it. (This is pretty typical of us. We discuss things and get excited to do them, but then most of the time don't follow through right away.) With Christmas coming I decided I would revisit the idea of Camden having her own table.

I was talking with my friend, Angie, about our plans for a table and chair set. She said she had a table in her basement that they were getting rid of if we wanted it, it was ours. I decided to look at her table just to see my options. While we were looking at the table she said someone had suggest that she just Mod Podge some torn paper on top and it would look so cute for her kids, but that she had never found the time, or energy, to do this project. In the mean time she'd found a kid table that matched her furniture so she didn't have a need for this table. (I know clear as mud right?) So needless to say I brought this little table home and even used her idea of Mod Podged paper on top.

I painted the table black with a few coats of high gloss paint. Then it was time to bust out the Mod Podge. This took WAY longer than I thought it would. After DAYS of paper gluing, I had to put five or six coats of clear gloss on top to really protect the paper. I'm really pleased with how it turned out and Camden loves the Mickey Mouse theme.

Now for the chairs.

I had these yellow and green school chairs hiding in the garage. I had taken them from my parents about a year and a half ago, (The same day we brought the other table and chairs home) intending to redo them shortly after I brought them home. I took them apart and pulled the green vinyl and carpet padding from the seats and scraped a little paint off. Thinking to myself that the paint was probably lead based, I stopped the scraping and just tucked the little darlings away until I could protect myself from the harmful paint. Alas, the chairs just stayed on the shelf in the garage awaiting the day that I would really give them some love. I sanded them down (safely) and Jered cut the seat corners to remove some damage. Then they received the love they deserved; a few coats of black paint and some paper Mod Podged on the seats to match the table. The chairs and the table turned out so much cuter than I imagined, but I'm not sure I would jump into doing this sort of Mod Podge project again...any time soon at least.

Than came the sewing projects.

As Angie, was loading the table into her van so she could bring it to our house, I asked her where she got her baby doll high chair. "Oh, it's going to the DI so if you want it you can have it." (She also gave us some two-drawer dressers. We haven't decided what we'll do with them, but stay tuned for more on them.) I cut apart the old high chair cover and made a new one out of my sister, Kim's, fabric stash.

I didn't want the high chair to be the only hip and trendy baby doll item so I also remade the stroller we already had.

Then just because I'm a freak, I made a blanket and pillow for Camden's new baby doll.

Jered, being the good dad he is, spent a long time out in the cold garage making Camden a doll cradle. (He also made one for Angie's little girl since they were kind enough to give us so much.) Camden loves to wrap her baby in the blanket and rock her back and forth. She is such a little tender heart and I love to watch her care for her babies. Hopefully she will be just as caring when a new baby joins our family. I should mention that she has tipped the cradle over a few time from rocking it too hard.

The last sewing project was for Camden's friend gifts. I have to go back a little for these though. We had a family party at our house in November. It was really snowy outside so the snow from people's shoes melted into little puddles all over the entry. Although the floor is tile right there, I decided I would make a rug. I cut up a bunch a pants I had waiting to be used for just this purpose and crocheted them into a rug. Once the rug was done, I had all of the pockets left over. The more I looked at them the more I thought what cute purses they would make. I suggested the idea to Camden and she loved it. After each purse was finished she would put it on her arm and ask, "Mies mommy?" Each time I had to tell her no she was heartbroken. She was so happy to see her very own purse on Christmas morning.

They turned out so stinkin' cute! The best part was I had all of the stuff to make them right here in my craft/fabric stash. I even had stuff to personalize each one.

We hope that Camden will enjoy these things for many more years to come and can some day appreciate all of the time and energy mom and dad spent on them. We really had fun redoing so many things and can hardly wait for more fun projects. (Angie, we hope you are saving us some good stuff for next year. We'll be by to do some shopping.)

Christmas 2009

2009-12-26T09:26:00.002-07:00

This year was so much fun with Camden. It's great to see how much she really understands about Christmas. She LOVED all of the music and fun we had, as well as the stories of Jesus' birth and love for us. She had fun decorating (and un-decorating) the tree. Several times we even caught her trying to eat the ornament that looks like a cookie.

We loved her smile and the amazement that came with her first look at what was under the tree Christmas morning. She couldn't believe that Santa had actually come to bring her presents or that he had eaten her cookies. (Maybe she was so surprised because she had been so naughty the whole month of December.)

We loved her mouth-wide-open-with-surprise look that accompanied EVERYTHING she pulled out of her stocking and EVERY present she opened. I started to wonder where she really got this look from and then I saw this picture of Jered.

Yep, she learned well!

I however, was still mostly asleep. I got up earlier than Jered and Camden to get our breakfast going. Every Christmas morning we have homemade bagels, hot from the oven....YUM!

We were really surprised when Camden started hugging us and saying, "Oh, thank you, mommy and daddy" all on her own. Who would have known that our little two year old would be so appreciative and remember to thank us on Christmas morning?

With all the gifts and fun the best part of Christmas was just being together as a family.

Mommy, paint?

2009-12-12T12:21:00.001-07:00

Camden loves to have her fingernails and toenails painted. I, on the other hand, am kind of a polish hater. I was a bit of a tom boy growing up and always made fun of the girls who cried over broken nails or had to spend hours painting their nails. There were so many other things that I could do with my time. I never really understood the point of spending so much time on something that would just get smudged, scratched or chipped the instant you walked away from the bottle. It wasn't until I graduated high school that I even owned my very own nail polish. I must admit that I've relaxed a little on the hating and normally have painted toenails. However, I still HATE having my fingernails painted.

Well, Camden begged me to let her paint my nails so I gave in and let her have a go at it (only after she begged Jered to paint his) and...

this is what I got. She actually did an okay job, for a two-year-old. Most fingers missed being painted to the first knuckle, by mere millimeters. After the paint had dried I realized that we didn't have any nail polish remover. The other bonus of the day was that we went out to dinner BEFORE we went to the store. Yes, that's right, I got to don these beauties through a whole meal outside the walls of my own home. Let me tell you it's not easy eating tacos while trying to hide your fingernails.

Maybe some day Camden will make a total girl out of me, but for now I think I'll stick to polish free fingernails.

APPROVED!

2009-12-09T14:24:00.005-07:00

After more than a year of procrastinating we finally got all of our stuff together and we're approved for our second adoption. We're all pretty excited and glad that all of the initial stuff is done. (Although after the week we've had with crabby pants Camden, we're not sure it's excitement or just plain craziness!)

We'd love nothing more than for you, our family and friends, to keep us in mind when you hear of an adoption situation we might be interested in. You can direct people to our profile here on the It's About Love website. Our Profile ID: 22390494, or Jered and Brena from Utah, could be used in the search box on the site. There is also an option to "Share Profile" which allows you to send our profile information via e-mail. Please feel free to take a look. Not to brag or anything, but our case worker said it was phenomenal (her actual word) and one of the best profiles she has ever seen. Who knew we could be so awesome? Okay sorry I'll get off my pedestal.

We're looking forward to another adoption. We hope you will enjoy sharing in this experience with us. Hugs and kisses from our family to yours!

It's Santa?

2009-12-04T08:32:00.001-07:00

This is my baby sister, Kim, or as she's called by Camden, Shim. Kim is one of Camden's favorite people and she often asks if we can go see Shim.

Yesterday I got out some Christmas decorations. Camden was having a blast looking through the bin.

I pulled out Santa and the misses and put them by the piano. Camden instantly sat down and started talking to them. When I asked her what she was doing she said, "I talkin a Shim." I thought maybe she was thinking that Mrs. Claus was cute just like Kim. Boy was I wrong. She got mad when I assumed that one. She said, "No mom. This Shim!" pointing to the Santa. I don't know about you, but I'm not seeing much of a resemblance. Yet even now as I am posting, Camden came in and saw the Santa picture and said, "It's Shim."

I told my sister that maybe that's what Camden is having nightmares about at night. She keeps dreaming that her cute aunt Shim turns into a fat, white haired, old, kind of creepy man. Sorry Kim. You will forever be Santa in our hearts! Just remember to bring us something good when you come down the chimney (or through the front door in our case).

P.S. Kim sells those cute aprons in her Etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/LilSisters as well as some other cute stuff. Perfect for Christmas gifts!

Shake, shake, shake

2009-11-24T15:22:00.000-07:00

Camden is sporting a new do. All Thursday morning Camden begged me to put some braids in her hair. She carried around her comb and her elastics all morning hoping I would give in. I did give in, but it took waaaaaaay longer than I thought it would. I probably should have just done the usual two braids across the front and called it good, but I wanted to try something different. The end result is pretty cute. Please just don't look at it too closely or you might notice how uneven the squares are. I was pretty meticulous about the parts being straight, but I failed to notice that the back part wasn't even on both sides of her head until I had already done a bunch of braids on the uneven side. I know, nice work mommy. I'll do better next time. I promise. I'm still trying to decide if I should do some more in the back or maybe some cornrows. If I do more I'll post another picture.

Here she is with her new style. You'll be seeing this for a few weeks. Camden loves how her hair shakes and rattles.

Camden also insisted that we have a picture together. At least one of us has cute hair. Mine is currently out of control. Jered wants me to grow it out so here's to shaggy hair for a bit.

Camp...In

2009-11-19T15:47:00.011-07:00

Last Friday morning Camden asked me if she could do something fun with her daddy. I told her we sure could do something fun when dad got home from work. I tried to come up with a fun thing to do, as a family, that wasn't going to cost a bunch of money. After a bit of brain racking and talking with Camden we decided it would be fun to have a camp out. Seeing that it is far to cold (and still quite stinky) to really camp out, we opted for the much warmer version of camping in the living room.

Since we don't have a fire place I had to make us a camp fire.I cut some flames out of yellow, orange and red construction paper and glued them onto a strip of orange paper. They weren't thick enough to stand up all alone so I glued and taped some gold sparkly pipe cleaners to the back of some. Then I just curled the ends a little so they would look a little more flame/smoke like. I pulled out the lights we use for our Halloween pumpkins and taped the flames around them. When the lights are on they flicker just like a real fire does. The logs are obviously toilet paper rolls. I drew some wood grain on them with a marker and glued some brown construction paper circles to the ends. It looks a little corny in the day light, but trust me, it was AWESOME when it was dark and the pumpkin lights were flickering.

See here's proof...kind of. Just blink your eyes while you're looking at the picture to get a flicker-like effect. I cut out some paper stars and taped them to the ceiling and pulled out some star lights. I strung the lights through the regular light fixture and also hung a string of them on the wall.When Jered got home he put up the tent. It's a lot bigger than we remembered so we had to move one of the couches into the hallway. The tent provided a delightful place for us to eat our hot dogs and chips while we watched the Jazz game (Hence the blue glow on our heads in the picture below). We "warmed" ourselves by the fire.We ate some DELICIOUS "smores". We didn't really have the right stuff for smores so I improvised a little. We used two, fresh from the oven, peanut butter cup cookies with a large peanut butter cup and a little cream cheese frosting in between. They were sure tasty and just a grain of sugar shy of being complete sugar overloads!

We encountered only one wild animal. Luckily she was very nice so we let her sleep with us too. The evening came to a close with us howling at the moon (aka the flashlight shining on the ceiling)

Camden agreed that it was a fun night and that we should do it again. The best part about it was it didn't cost a dime. We will definitely do this again and maybe next time we can even throw in a little fishing.

Newest Villain

2009-11-11T13:46:00.005-07:00

I'm not sure if you've heard, but there's a new villain in town. She's quite small and most people don't know her secret identity. Most of you will be safe from her secret weapon, as your faces are a few feet away from her reach. I reveal her to you now, at great risk to myself, mind you. I hope all of you appreciate what I'm about to do...

It's my arch-nemesis, MARKER FACE!

For those of you who are still unsure of who this is, here she is without her mask.

Yup, it's Camden. She got some markers trick-or-treating at Sea World and decided they would color beautifully on her chin.

The best thing about this is I didn't even notice when she came downstairs wanting to play a game on the Wii. I got the game all set up for her and she played for a few minutes before she decided she was hungry. She came upstairs and was getting into the pantry when I saw the streak across her cheek. At first I thought her nose was bleeding or maybe her finger that she'd wipe across her face. Upon further inspection I asked her if she wrote on herself with her markers. She proudly replied, "Uh huh" then ran over to her desk and picked up a marker and said, "With this one." Lucky for me it was a washable marker. And lucky for the rest of the world, her secret weapons (aka the markers) have been confiscated and must now spend a few days in time out.

God Bless America

2009-11-11T13:11:00.005-07:00

Happy Veteran's Day! This morning Camden and I headed over to the park for a little bit of play time away from home. I had totally forgotten that the city does a Veteran's Day parade and ceremony, until we arrived at the park. Bands were warming up and motorcycles were roaring to life. We had about a half hour to play before the parade began. I wasn't sure if I wanted to walk out to the street for the parade, but Camden was excited to go watch. I'm really glad we did. I was reminded of how much I love the USA.

Camden and I quietly placed our hand over our hearts as the leading flag made its way past us. I was brought to tears as the flag billowed in the wind. (This is nothing new to me. It happens at every parade.) Through the whole parade tears were rolling down my cheeks. I couldn't stop

thinking about the brave men and women who protect the freedoms I enjoy daily. I am truly blessed to be a citizen of the greatest country in the world! God bless America!

Thanks to all who serve with a very special thanks to the best grandpa in the whole wide world!

Who Stinks?

2009-11-09T15:41:00.002-07:00

I love our house. I love the neighborhood it's in. I love that sometimes during the day I can hear the kids playing outside at the school around the corner. I love that Camden has so many cute little friends. I love all of their mommies and am so lucky to have them as friends. I love that the geese fly right over our house, honks of encouragement flying through the air with them. I love watching the kids race to school, their backpacks almost as big as they are. I love watching the sun set through our front window. I love that on our walks around the block Camden can stop and see the cows. I love hearing the sound of the old tractor, plowing the fields just down the street. There is so much more I love about it here, but this time of year it really STINKS!

Along with that old tractor plowing comes the wonderful scent of POOP! Yup, poop. This is the time of year they fertilize the fields. What's better that poop to fertilize? Lots and lots of poop. We literally have to check our shoes before we come inside to make sure we didn't step in dog poop. On the up side it's made for some fun, "You stink" jokes.

I'll get you my pretty...

2009-11-01T22:23:00.002-07:00

"He, he, he" (as Camden says when you ask her what a witch says) Happy Halloween! Have you ever seen such a cute witch? We spent the day at Sea World and Camden was definitely NOT this cute there. She was kind of a pill and really cranky all day.This is her at Sea World...pretty witchy! She didn't want to wear her costume, but I told her that since I took the time to make it she was wearing it weather she liked it or not. Once we told her that she couldn't get any treats unless she was wearing the costume she decided it would be ok. They had little trick-or-treat stations around the park. Each one was giving out hand fulls of stuff. By the time we left the park her bag is full even though we only hit a few of the stations. She ended up with a bunch of candy, some Crayola markers, pretzels, pencils and even some tiny bananas. As soon as we got back to the condo and Jered asked if he could take some pictures, she turned on the ham. She was doing all sorts of poses and was full of smile and giggles. The rest are super cute and maybe we'll post more later.

I will post this one though because every time I look at it I have to laugh. As we were headed for the exit we saw a photo booth with Oscar the Grouch waiting to meet kids and have pictures taken. Camden was having a blast watching him come in and out of his garbage can waving and even blowing kisses. As soon as it was her turn for a picture with him she started freaking out. Pretty scary witch right? It's bad when Oscar the Grouch has a bigger smile than you.

Right now we are soaking up the SUN, SUN, SUN! It's been very nice to get away from the cold and get to wear shorts and flip flops all day, every day. It was so nice of the folks her in California to order such nice weather for us. I just wish we could bottle some of this up and bring home with us to use throughout the winter.

Our condo is right on the beach so we get to watch the waves crashing in and have seen some beautiful sunsets. We've been sleeping in too late to see any sun rises, but maybe before our vacation is over we can convince our lazy bodies to wake up before the sun. Don't count on it though. This has definitely brought back some memories of being here when I was a little girl. Can't wait for more fun the rest of the week. We're sending WARM thoughts your way...sorry if you can't feel them.

San Diego or Bust

2009-10-28T22:10:00.005-06:00

We leave for SUNNY San Diego bright and early tomorrow morning. We're excited to get away from the snowy, cold weather for a week. I'm not so sure any of us are looking forward to the long drive. We've packed lots of goodies and books and to occupy the little monster I have a bunch of little presents for her to open along the way.

Just in case anyone wanted to know, it really stinks trying to pack with a two year old "helping". The way we pack around here is that I get everything (except for Jered's clothes, most of the time) all together and lay it out on our bed then Jered actually packs everything into the suitcase. He's very good at making everything fit so it takes up much less space than when I do it. It really is quite amazing. The added bonus to doing it this way is that he can kind of double check that we have what we need. The down side to this is that Camden can see EVERYTHING. Things have a way of jumping off the bed and running away when she's around.

Today she was extremely helpful to try on all of her clothes. While I was in the shower she came upstairs stark naked and proceeded to tell me that she needed to change her clothes. She then tried on a few outfits until she settled on a pair of orange pants and a red tank top. She insisted that she was going to wear this today...I insisted otherwise and promptly changed her into long pants and a sweater.

As soon as we got home from running a few errands she went upstairs and changed back into her orange pants and red tank top. I guess the girl knows what she wants.

I came downstairs to start some more laundry. As I was pulling clothes out of the dryer I heard her throwing a fit upstairs. All I could hear was something about her "pampees" (panties). She had to try on a different pair of panties with every outfit she put on so I was just figuring that she couldn't find a new pair or something. Upon reaching the stairs this is what I saw...

She had both of her legs through one of the shorts leg holes. Look how proud of herself she is. After further investigation I discovered the problem with the panties.

Not only is she wearing two pairs, but one is on backward AND her poor little cheek couldn't be contained by either one. I suppose the "Wedgie Free" claim on the underwear package only applies when the panties are worn the right way.