) can hardly believe today the last day of the year is here! As I have checked my email & facebook this morning, I've seen Top 10 Lists everywhere. I thought I would do one of my own!
DAISSON TOP 10 (in no particular order)
1. Jonathan turned 15, obtained his learner's permit & wiped out our mailbox the first time he backed out. His driving skills have greatly improved over the year.
2. After 3 years of living with us, my Dad moved to California.
3. Hannah turned 8 & was baptized! It's great to be 8!
4. Jonathan worked at Maple Dell Scout Camp as a full time paid employee,
5. Our family vacations included a trip to Rexburg & and Northern California where we played with family & visited Six Flags Marine World, & San Gregario Beach.
6. Kaitlyn decided to pierce her ears & started wearing make-up
7. Emily continues to excel in Gymnastics.
8. Stephen was accepted into BYU- Idaho's online advanced nursing program. In 3 years, he'll be a Family Nurse Practitioner.
9. I went to the doctor early in the year & found out the reason I was in so much pain & unable to sleep was because I was having muscle spasms every 5 seconds. 2 pills a day has completely changed my life! I no longer hurt, and I get 8 hours of sleep and wake up rested.
10. Stephen was released as 1st counselor in the Young Men's presidency after serving 3 years. Before that, he was ward mission leader. And prior to that, he was executive secretary in the Bishopric. Now he is the men's sports cooridinator. The release has been an adjustment for him, but one that will allow him to balance work, family, & school more effectively (This is what the Bishop said.)
It's been a great year & we're excited to see what 2011 brings!
Friday, December 31, 2010
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
1st day of school pictures
Yay, I am caught up for the year! I have been blogging all morning. Here are pictures of the kids from the first day of school.
September- St George
Kaitlyn & Stephen went to St. George over her birthday weekend. They took A LOT of pictures! I haven't gone through them yet, but I'll post some when I do.
November
We spent most of November working on Jonathan's Eagle Scout Project. He finished the project & then went to his pre board of review right before Thanksgiving to review the paperwork. We had worked pretty hard on it, so I was confident that all was in order. Wrong! There were several things the committee wants him to fix before final submission. Jonathan has been pretty busy with homework, & with the holidays, I've been pretty busy as well. Slowly, he has rewritten several parts of the paperwork, & he is almost ready to resubmit the paperwork. We have to get this finished within the next few weeks because he starts driver's ed and wants to find a job. Always busy.
Originally, we planned to go to California to spend Thanksgiving with my family, but snow storms kept us in Utah. We spent Thanksgiving at Stephen's counsin's houe. It was a lot of fun! The kids enjoyed playing with second cousins.
On the last Sunday of the month, we decorated our house for Christmas.
Originally, we planned to go to California to spend Thanksgiving with my family, but snow storms kept us in Utah. We spent Thanksgiving at Stephen's counsin's houe. It was a lot of fun! The kids enjoyed playing with second cousins.
On the last Sunday of the month, we decorated our house for Christmas.
December Fun
There wasn't a whole lot of time to do fun things before the kids started Christmas break, but we managed to squeeze a few things in.
One day after school, we made cookies.
The living planet aquarium had a free day, so I checked the kids out of school after lunch (Emily had a presentation, and Jonathan had a test). It was fun. We bought Kaitlyn a camera & she took most of the pictures. I think she has talent!
Stephen & the girls went to our ward Christmas Party. Jonathan was at a debate tournament & was supposed to be home at 6:30 pm. I was waiting on his call to pick him up. They ended up being 2 hours late & we both missed the party. :( However, Emily was nice enough to bring us a plate of delicious food!
Emily, Hannah & I went to a Christmas get-together with my old Room mates from Ricks college. The girls enjoyed playing with their kids, & I enjoyed visiting with some of my best friends & eating good food.
One day after school, we made cookies.
The living planet aquarium had a free day, so I checked the kids out of school after lunch (Emily had a presentation, and Jonathan had a test). It was fun. We bought Kaitlyn a camera & she took most of the pictures. I think she has talent!
Stephen & the girls went to our ward Christmas Party. Jonathan was at a debate tournament & was supposed to be home at 6:30 pm. I was waiting on his call to pick him up. They ended up being 2 hours late & we both missed the party. :( However, Emily was nice enough to bring us a plate of delicious food!
Emily, Hannah & I went to a Christmas get-together with my old Room mates from Ricks college. The girls enjoyed playing with their kids, & I enjoyed visiting with some of my best friends & eating good food.
December Performances
This month was crazy busy until the 21st. Kaitlyn's rehearsal schedule for Beauty & The Beast increased from 2 days a week to 3 days a week. Emily had a few extra choir practices in preparation for their December concert, and Hannah had mandatory dance practices for her recital. I felt like I was in the van more than I was at home from 3 to 6 pm, and I admit, I felt a little cranky about it. I kept wondering why I agreed to let them participate in so many activities. But it was during their performances, that I realized how worth all the craziness was. They all performed beautifully!
Kaitlyn's Choir Concert
Hannah in her dance costume:
We took video of Emily's concert & I'll upload it soon.
Kaitlyn's Choir Concert
Hannah in her dance costume:
We took video of Emily's concert & I'll upload it soon.
Salem Pond- Festival of Lights
I have a confession to make, I did not take these pictures. I googled to find pictures. I love taking pictures, but sometimes I just want to enjoy the moment with Stephen & kids.
Last night, we took a drive through Salem Christmas Pond. We do this every year, & it is one of our favorite places to see Christmas lights.
Then we headed to the Festival of Lights in Spanish Fork:
Last night, we took a drive through Salem Christmas Pond. We do this every year, & it is one of our favorite places to see Christmas lights.
Then we headed to the Festival of Lights in Spanish Fork:
A very special present
This post is a little emotional for me to write. Both my mother and Stephen's mother have passed on. The kids never knew my mom, but they adored & loved Stephen's mom. When she died four years ago, it really affected the girls. Kaitlyn would often say, "It just isn't fair that my grandma had to die when I was a little girl. Why Mom?" All I could say is that God has a plan & we need to trust him. Still, the girls miss having a Grandma.
A few weeks ago, Stephen's Aunt Irene called to say she was in Salt Lake visiting her sister, & had gifts to give the children. When the girls, saw the gifts magically appear under the tree one day after school, they rushed over to see who they were from. Each tag stated that the gift was from "Grandma & Grandpa Campbell."
They were all silent for a few seconds. Then Emily said, "Well Aunt Irene is Grandma's sister. She won't mind if she is our Grandma here on earth until we see her again in heaven." Hannah & Kaitlyn both agreed & they all happily poked & prodded the packages trying to guess what Grandma Campbell had sent them. We have a tradition of letting them open one gift on Christmas Eve (besides pajamas), and they all chose this one from Grandma Campbell:
Now these dolls are really special to me as well. My Granny made dolls like this for me when I was a young girl. When I was a teenager, I wrapped them up & put them in a black plastic garbage bag to save to give to my children one day. I set them in the garage to store. My dad was taking out the garbage & accidentally thought my dolls were another bag of garbage. He felt really bad about it & I've always felt sad that I wasn't able to pass them on. Now, the girls each have a doll & plan to take care of them so they can give them to their girls one day!
Thanks Aunt Irene/ Grandma Campbell!
A few weeks ago, Stephen's Aunt Irene called to say she was in Salt Lake visiting her sister, & had gifts to give the children. When the girls, saw the gifts magically appear under the tree one day after school, they rushed over to see who they were from. Each tag stated that the gift was from "Grandma & Grandpa Campbell."
They were all silent for a few seconds. Then Emily said, "Well Aunt Irene is Grandma's sister. She won't mind if she is our Grandma here on earth until we see her again in heaven." Hannah & Kaitlyn both agreed & they all happily poked & prodded the packages trying to guess what Grandma Campbell had sent them. We have a tradition of letting them open one gift on Christmas Eve (besides pajamas), and they all chose this one from Grandma Campbell:
Now these dolls are really special to me as well. My Granny made dolls like this for me when I was a young girl. When I was a teenager, I wrapped them up & put them in a black plastic garbage bag to save to give to my children one day. I set them in the garage to store. My dad was taking out the garbage & accidentally thought my dolls were another bag of garbage. He felt really bad about it & I've always felt sad that I wasn't able to pass them on. Now, the girls each have a doll & plan to take care of them so they can give them to their girls one day!
Thanks Aunt Irene/ Grandma Campbell!
Spoiled by Aunts & Uncles
This is a story worth telling. Every year, we rotate gift giving with Stephen's brothers. Last year, his brother Mike had us, but they weren't able to get the presents the bought for us down here. A few weekends ago, I received a call from one of Mike's wife's friends, saying that she had a box of presents from Mike & family to give to us. She wanted to arrange a time to meet the next day, Sunday. It was during this time that we were dealing with the news that Grandpa Lee had died, & Emily's cat had disappeared. Christmas cheer was pretty low, so to pep things up, I told them a surprise was coming after Church & wouldn't say anymore. Emily & Kaitlyn, who love a good mystery, kept trying to guess what it was. They even passed me notes during Sacrament meeting with their guesses on them! They came close to guessing, but didn't quite put all the pieces together. They were all excited when we picked up the presents, but a little let down that they couldn't open them until Christmas!
We also enjoyed presents from Uncle Ernest & family! Thanks for spoiling us! We love you all!
We also enjoyed presents from Uncle Ernest & family! Thanks for spoiling us! We love you all!
Christmas Day
We had a wonderful Christmas day despite the fact that Stephen had to work at 6am, which meant that we had to get up at 4:30am to open presents. It was fun to watch them open presents:
I bought Emily & Hannah princess dolls, & although Kaitlyn is technically too old for Barbies, I bought her Belle to sit on her shelf, to remind her of the year that she was in the musical, Beauty & The Beast, Jr. We also gave her a retro 80's boom box with a CD player & alarm clock.
Emily loves all presents big & small, especially ones from her best friends. I think this was one from Carly.
I bought Emily & Hannah princess dolls, & although Kaitlyn is technically too old for Barbies, I bought her Belle to sit on her shelf, to remind her of the year that she was in the musical, Beauty & The Beast, Jr. We also gave her a retro 80's boom box with a CD player & alarm clock.
Emily loves all presents big & small, especially ones from her best friends. I think this was one from Carly.
Christmas Eve
Each year, I buy the kids a new set of PJ's. They know without fail that they will get PJ's, so I stuff a little something in with them so there will be some sort of surprise. This year I put card games in with their PJs. Around noon, I told them it was time to open PJs, which perplexed them since we usually don't open them until right before bed. To add to their confusion, I made them draw a number 1 through 4. Emily drew 1, so she opened hers first. Along with her PJs, she found a new deck of Uno cards.
We played a round of Uno, then Kaitlyn opened hers & found Phase 10. I guess I won because I was the only one starting phase 4 when the kids decided to end the game and move on to the next person's PJ surprise.
Hannah opened hers, and found The Diary of a Whimpy Kid card game. It was a fast moving game, and we all loved it!
Last, Jonathan opened him PJ's, & found Skipbo. Kaitlyn & Hannah were sick of card games, so they sat this one out. But Stephen, Jonathan, Emily & I had a blast playing.
We thought Jonathan using his pocket knife to cut through scotch tape was pretty funny!
We played a round of Uno, then Kaitlyn opened hers & found Phase 10. I guess I won because I was the only one starting phase 4 when the kids decided to end the game and move on to the next person's PJ surprise.
Hannah opened hers, and found The Diary of a Whimpy Kid card game. It was a fast moving game, and we all loved it!
Last, Jonathan opened him PJ's, & found Skipbo. Kaitlyn & Hannah were sick of card games, so they sat this one out. But Stephen, Jonathan, Emily & I had a blast playing.
We thought Jonathan using his pocket knife to cut through scotch tape was pretty funny!
Cookie Day
Last Wednesday was our first official day of Christmas break. I planned to spend the day baking cookies with the girls. Jonathan volunteered to be our taste tester! It was fun, & took up the entire day. The clean-up wasn't so fun, but worth the time we spent together. I didn't get any pictures since my hands were covered in cookie dough all day. We made truffles, Chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, and sugar cookies.
Snow Day
Last Tuesday was supposed to be the last day of school before Christmas break, but it was CANCELED due to hazardous driving conditions. 2 feet of snow fell overnight. School has not been canceled due to snow in 20 years, so the kids were elated! Stephen tried to go to work, but kept getting stuck. Finally, after an hour of trying to find an open gas station & digging out his wheels every few feet, he came home. He called work, & they said they had adequate coverage, so he was able to stay home as well!
Emily & Hannah played in the snow all morning long:
Stephen & Jonathan shoveled our walks & driveway, then joined the crew of neighbors in helping other people dig out as well. The snow plow from the city arrived around noon, doing a terrible job of plowing as usual, mostly pushing snow so that it blocked driveways. Stephen & Jonathan, & Neighbors spent the afternoon cleaning up the plows mess.
Kaitlyn loaded a sled with neighbor gifts & passed them out for me. I walked around, taking pictures.
Emily & Hannah played in the snow all morning long:
Stephen & Jonathan shoveled our walks & driveway, then joined the crew of neighbors in helping other people dig out as well. The snow plow from the city arrived around noon, doing a terrible job of plowing as usual, mostly pushing snow so that it blocked driveways. Stephen & Jonathan, & Neighbors spent the afternoon cleaning up the plows mess.
Kaitlyn loaded a sled with neighbor gifts & passed them out for me. I walked around, taking pictures.
Christmas Break
I have a lot to catch up on here in terms of pictures & things we have done since school started. Kaitlyn was reading the blog entries I posted last summer & said she enjoyed reading through them & remembering all the fun we had. I resolved then to start blogging again. First, I'll start with the past few weeks, then play catch-up from there.
Hannah's Dance Recital
She performed so well! We really enjoyed watching her & realized what a great dancer she is! Shee took a jazz/tap combo class and said it was ok. She wants to take Ballet & we will be looking into finding a class for her this summer.
Hannah's Dance Recital
She performed so well! We really enjoyed watching her & realized what a great dancer she is! Shee took a jazz/tap combo class and said it was ok. She wants to take Ballet & we will be looking into finding a class for her this summer.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
King George Returns
This may seem trivial after my last post, but the day after Stephen's step dad passed away, our 8 year old cat disappeared. It completely devestated our children. I have to back up and tell you the story of how this cat came into our lives. About a week before Hannah was born, 2 year old Emily was asked to say family prayer. In her prayer, she asked for Jesus to bring her a black & white kitty. We all laughed, thinking she expected me to give birth to a kitten! '
Hannah was born a few days later & Emily didn't seem at all displeased. I quickly forgot her prayer as I settled in to caring for a newborn & three other children under the age of 5. Two weeks after Hannah was born, I was exhausted. I finally had baby Hannah asleep & needed a nap myself. Stephen took Jonathan (5), Kaitlyn (4), and Emily (2) on a walk so I could rest. On their walk, they found a kitten covered in oil one street over from our house.
They brought it home & cleaned it up. It was a black & white kitty! They begged me to keep it, but I was hesitant since I'd heard the stories of cats suffocating babies. So I made them knock on every door in the neighborhood to see if they could find his owner. They did. Jonathan claimed he was the Comte's cat. Kaitlyn claimed it was the older Allred's cat. But all 3 children insisted the owner said if we wanted the cat, he was ours! It was then that Stephen remembered Emily's prayer and, well, we had to keep him!
Jonathan was not at all happy that Hannah was "just another stinkin girl." He really wanted a brother, and even had a name picked out for him. So, we figured since we didn't give him the brother he wanted, he could name the new male kitten. Without hesitation, he named him the name he'd picked out for the baby brother he'd wanted.... George. At the time, Curious George was his favorite show on PBS!
I made George live outside at first, & as soon as Emily woke up, she would run outside, find "her" kitty, and cuddle him until I made her come in to get dressed & eat breakfast. One day, about two weeks after we found him, she ran outside & he was nowhere to be found. The kids were upset. 2-3 days went by, & he didn't return. At breakfast that morning, Kaitlyn said the prayer. She began, "Dear Heavenly Father, please bless that George will come home. In the name of..."
The phone rang, interrupting the prayer. it was the Brady's & they had found our George. At that point, the kids begged me to let George live inside, & I relented.
George settled himself in. Naturally, he settled him with Emily, her arms wrapped tight around him as she fell asleep. The routine has continued for nearly 8 years.
So, when we discovered him missing the night after Grandpa died two weeks ago, the kids felt like it was pouring salt in an open wound. Especially Emily. Their grief intensified, & since their was nothing we could do about Grandpa's death, we focused on finding George. We all prayed for his return. We have looked every day for him. Searched two shelters. We just kept telling the kids to pray, have faith, & if it was meant to be, he would turn up. A few nights ago, we prayed that George would return home on his own.
This morning, we woke up to find George sitting beside our bedroom door! I scooped him up & took him to each of the kid's, who were delighted to see him! He has lost a lot of weight, needs a bath, but otherwise, in great shape!
Now, I am not a cat lover, but I love what this cat has taught our family. Prayer is real. Heavenly Father listen's to prayers big & small. I hope when my kids are faced with much tougher problems in their lives, that the will remember these experiences with George, and turn to the Lord, trusting Him, and finding peace during the challenges they face.
Hannah was born a few days later & Emily didn't seem at all displeased. I quickly forgot her prayer as I settled in to caring for a newborn & three other children under the age of 5. Two weeks after Hannah was born, I was exhausted. I finally had baby Hannah asleep & needed a nap myself. Stephen took Jonathan (5), Kaitlyn (4), and Emily (2) on a walk so I could rest. On their walk, they found a kitten covered in oil one street over from our house.
They brought it home & cleaned it up. It was a black & white kitty! They begged me to keep it, but I was hesitant since I'd heard the stories of cats suffocating babies. So I made them knock on every door in the neighborhood to see if they could find his owner. They did. Jonathan claimed he was the Comte's cat. Kaitlyn claimed it was the older Allred's cat. But all 3 children insisted the owner said if we wanted the cat, he was ours! It was then that Stephen remembered Emily's prayer and, well, we had to keep him!
Jonathan was not at all happy that Hannah was "just another stinkin girl." He really wanted a brother, and even had a name picked out for him. So, we figured since we didn't give him the brother he wanted, he could name the new male kitten. Without hesitation, he named him the name he'd picked out for the baby brother he'd wanted.... George. At the time, Curious George was his favorite show on PBS!
I made George live outside at first, & as soon as Emily woke up, she would run outside, find "her" kitty, and cuddle him until I made her come in to get dressed & eat breakfast. One day, about two weeks after we found him, she ran outside & he was nowhere to be found. The kids were upset. 2-3 days went by, & he didn't return. At breakfast that morning, Kaitlyn said the prayer. She began, "Dear Heavenly Father, please bless that George will come home. In the name of..."
The phone rang, interrupting the prayer. it was the Brady's & they had found our George. At that point, the kids begged me to let George live inside, & I relented.
George settled himself in. Naturally, he settled him with Emily, her arms wrapped tight around him as she fell asleep. The routine has continued for nearly 8 years.
So, when we discovered him missing the night after Grandpa died two weeks ago, the kids felt like it was pouring salt in an open wound. Especially Emily. Their grief intensified, & since their was nothing we could do about Grandpa's death, we focused on finding George. We all prayed for his return. We have looked every day for him. Searched two shelters. We just kept telling the kids to pray, have faith, & if it was meant to be, he would turn up. A few nights ago, we prayed that George would return home on his own.
This morning, we woke up to find George sitting beside our bedroom door! I scooped him up & took him to each of the kid's, who were delighted to see him! He has lost a lot of weight, needs a bath, but otherwise, in great shape!
Now, I am not a cat lover, but I love what this cat has taught our family. Prayer is real. Heavenly Father listen's to prayers big & small. I hope when my kids are faced with much tougher problems in their lives, that the will remember these experiences with George, and turn to the Lord, trusting Him, and finding peace during the challenges they face.
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