Kesley turns *8*

How did my lady grow up so fast?  I was just reading last years post that was all about her "birth" day...such a lovely memory.  She's been a calm, sweet, thoughtful lady--most of the time. 

This year she seemed to start that transition into pre-teen.  Sad but fun and exciting at the same time.  Brent and I get a good laugh when she locks herself up tight in her room and cranks her music so loud we can hear it up stairs.  We sneak down and listen to her belting out Taylor Swift and The Sound of Music all in the same morning.  She puts on her lip gloss and carries around a purse....full of Pet Shop animals!  She sits down and does her homework--all by herself without being asked, but still can't fall asleep until Brent or I come pull up her covers and tuck her in--kiss included. 

She is a tender heart.  Sometimes she tears up while saying her prayers.  She doesn't want to talk about it, but she knows it's the Spirit.  She also teared up while talking about her best friend at school who happens to be a little black girl.  Learning about Martin Luther King and the fight for equal rights was a hard day for her.  "But Mom!  Mikkiel is black!  And she is my BEST friend!!"  I love that lady.

We had a few ideas for her big day on Saturday, but at 9:30 p.m. Thursday night our friends, Chrissy and Charles, invited us to St. George for a quick weekend getaway.  We left the final decision up to Kesley, not wanting to take anything away from her big day, but when she gave the thumbs up Friday morning--we packed up and headed out for a very quick but SUPER FUN adventure!
Kesley woke up on Saturday to a lovely, brisk spring like day.  After a pancake breakfast we headed up Snow Canyon for a small hike through some red rock.

After hiking, we headed back to the house to swim.  This pool was as cold as any polar plunge can get--but these kids seemed immune to the cold.  They would float around on these rafts and then warm up in the jacuzzi.  I jumped in once--and it took my breath away!!  It was SO COLD.--but that hot tub is still calling my name...

We had such a great time just hanging out, eating good food, playing ball, riding in the jeep--it was the perfect day. 

The night ended with an ice-cream cake and the BEST present ever!  Josee gave Kesley a Chinese lantern--just like the ones on Tangled.  Definitely a highlight of the trip!

 Brent and Chrissy filling the balloon--that almost took out baby Francis!  Note to self: Do not attempt when windy!

Her day ended when she fell asleep in the middle of the movie--sun kissed and exhaused from a wonderful day.  Beautiful lady.  Happy Birthday my sweet, sweet Kesley.

The Stay-cation

Well, we are 2 days into our STAY-cation.  (We are using this word as much as possible for the next few days...partly to be annoying, partly to remind ourselves that we are actually DOING something!)  Our plan was to head to Vegas this weekend, but instead we opted to stay home and spend our gas money on things around here that we never do.  Friday, we picked the kids up from school and went swimming at the Legacy Center--with their water slide and kid friendly pool--then ate at our favorite, JCW's.  Today we headed up to Soldier Hollow and went tubing.  Our friends from Vegas were here this weekend (part of the reason we opted to stay home) and they came with us.   SO FUN!

I never post pictures of me--probably because I'm always the one taking the picture.  But ya--I exist.













Jenna was exhausted about halfway through--I thought she had fallen asleep, but it turned out she was just a really good faker!  So realistic! We did love us the tow rope that took you to the top of the runs everytime.

This is just before our last run--everyone is tired, but trying to please me and pose for a picture.  p.s. I hate my hair...and why do I FEEL 20 years younger than ILOOK in pictures????

Kesley and Audrey--cute ladies.

After tubing we headed into Heber and ate at Dairy Keen--good burgers and shakes.  Then we headed to the Homestead to swim in The Crater.  I'm not sure if it was exactly what the kids were expecting--With all the scuba divers underneathe us we couldn't jump off the dock or anything.  And everyone HAD to wear the stupid yellow life jackets that buckled between the legs...not ideal.  It was kinda like floating around in a bathtub for 40 minutes--but it wasn't a bathtub at home, so I guess it was fun... 

Kinda hard to get a good picture with all that STEAM!

Valentines Day

We had a lovely Valentines Day.  Mine started at 1:30a.m. when Jenna came running into my room.  I had snuck a balloon and a little bag of goodies into each of their rooms after they had fallen asleep, and she woke up and saw, "something is ON my ceiling! No, really!  ON my ceiling!"  She had a good laugh when I walked her back to her room and turned on the light. :) 

Brent and the kids surprised me with new perfume and a yummy dinner in the "SMITH BISTRO" complete with candle light, menu, chocolate dipped strawberries and great staff.   It was the first time I've ever had to break up a fight between the staff while being served--but it was awesome!

Christmas Break--in review

Looking back at all these pictures I realize how much FUN we had this Christmas Break.  School starts again TOMORROW---and I am pretty excited about that--but I am already missing our vacation.  I only had my camera phone, so pictures aren't awesome--but at least it's something, right?

OK, how to go about this.  Things started with a bang at the VanCott Christmas party--but I already blogged about that--so moving on from there:

Dinner & Lights with most of the Smith Clan! We opted not to hit Temple Square and walked around the Riverwoods instead.  I don't know WHY my stupid computer won't let me change this picture around...DUANE! I NEED YOU!

Pizza and the park with Gillespies--Love this cheesy lady:

Christmas EVE tradition of making gingerbread houses--I thought the girls won--but then Gavin pulled out his plastic bubble SNOWMAN!

Kids right before bed--SO EXCITED!

THE TREE! 











Christmas Day!  Dressed up for church:

Very easy and relaxing Christmas Day night with a fire and a movie and LOTS of Lego building!  I think this kid built every Lego kit he got for Christmas in one marathon build!

Day after Christmas Ice-Skating in Midway with Grandma & Grandpa VC money!  SO, SO fun!

We had such a blast, I took the girls up again a couple days later!

We squeaked in a couple of movies during the break--favorite had to be Dolphin Tale that involved cousins and ice-cream--Oh and WAY too much popcorn...





Breakfast at the Crackle Barrell--THANKS Grandma and Grandpa Smith!

New Years Eve party at the Shumways!  SO MUCH yummy food, excited cousins and FIREWORKS!

Grandma and Grandpa Smith gave the kids each some Christmas money and Kesley bought some new roller blades (supplemented my mom & dad...), Jenna bought Kesley old ones that were still like new and Gavin decided he couldn't live without some too, so we are taking him to buy some today!  Thanks Grandma & Grandpa!  Kesley is pretty good and Jenna is catching on really fast---I think we found our new family fun activity!

Brent and I broke ours out too...and he proved he still has it!  And yes, we were both VERY sore the next day!

You may be wondering where Gavin was--well, he opted to stay home that afternoon & have a read-a-thon on the garage roof with his friend, Truman!  He finished Harry Potter-book 1--just don't ask him what it was about! :)

And finally, we capped off the vacation with a trip to Temple Square last night to see the lights--very pretty and so peaceful--except for the fighting... Gavin took this picture--I think he did alright!

Brent and Gavin are at Mission Impossible right now, and I am taking the girls to see Puss in Boots this afternoon--but I think that about sums up the vacay--so sad it's over!

VanCott Clan Christmas PARTY!

We sure missed you, Mom & Dad at the VanCott Clan Christmas Party!  Good food, lots of treats...sorta skipped the talent show--and the Nativity--but we did sing all the carols, does that count?  We kinda got sidetracked playing our new favorite family fun game "MINUTE TO WIN IT!"

Joseph ran the show and Danny brought his computer and projector with the official music and countdown---soooooo fun!!  With 58 people it was a little crazy, but I did capture two of the games on video:  The first is a game where Johnny, Brian, Duane & Rob have a nylon sock on their heads.  The sock has a tennis ball at the bottom of it and they are trying to knock over a row of cups with just the ball.

The second video will not upload--I'll try again tomorrow.  It is of Mary, Holly, Liz & Olivia trying to "bounce" out 10 wiffle balls that are in a Kleenex box strapped to their backs.....HILARIOUS!

Happy we got to hear from you guys at the end. Hope the baptism was wonderful.  Love you guys!  Merry Christmas!

CHRISTMAS Decor

I never did get any pictures of my decor up. I like how things turned out this year.  We had a several new traditions start:

1.  Fun--kid friendly tree.  Apparently my homemade ornaments and white lights were not particularly "fun" according to Brent----whatever.  Anyway, I re-strung the tree with colored lights, added a few BIG round bulbs for extra FUN and we bought some SUPER F.U.N. kid ornaments that I probably would have drooled over as a kid.  The result--(which looks SO much better in person)
My old boring stuff was transferred to our largest Alpine tree which looks very lovely in the entry.

 #2 I added a star wall behind my Nativity.  We have many Nativity sets--most of them kid friendly so they can enjoy setting them up, but my nice set sits on the entry table.  I have wanted to somehow put a large star above it but never quite knew what to do.  I saw this one in the craft store and had an idea...I kinda like how it turned out!  I think this will definitely be a new tradition.

#3  I had an extra garland and lots of ornaments I bought at a garage sale a couple years ago.  Jenna had a great idea and I think it turned out pretty. 

 #4 The Holiday shelf.  I started this holiday shelf last Christmas.  Each month is a new theme and it has been so fun.  This year I had just gotten back from Disneyland and I think I may have been channeling the "It's a Small World" ride when I set this up the day after we got back....it's very glittery and sparkly--the picture just doesn't quite capture that.

One last one of Jenna in front of the super fun tree!

 Now...on top of all the Christmas decorating and shopping, I threw in 2 room makeovers!  My room and Gavin's room.  I'm exhausted.  I haven't taken pictures of them yet, but I will...