Yea!! Nama and Papa are coming home!

I don't think I've said much about Kevin's parents in this blog yet, but its high time I did!

Mike and Carol are terrific people. They are kind and extremely generous, caring and very good to their children and grandchildren. They've helped us out of many tough spots more times than I can count and I don't think we can ever thank them enough for that.

They are wonderful! We love it when they come visit (which is never often enough!) and now they are FINALLY getting to retire and move back to Cedar City! These two have sacrificed so much to be away from family and lived in the Chicago area almost their entire working career to be able to provide for their children. Chicago was a great place to live and have their children grow up, but I know in their hearts they've always wished they could be "back home" and now they can be! We are more than excited for them and hope we can see them so much more often when they get back to Utah.

Mike is the hardest worker I know. He is a great example of a protector and provider. His attitude has always been positive and he is helpful and kind. He is easy to be with, generous to a fault, and funny! He has had some struggles with pain for as long as I've known him but he doesn't complain and he works hard right through the pain. He is extraordinary.

Carol is a great person and is up for almost anything! She will be right in the middle of the grand kids, right there to do whatever they'd like to do, play in the yard, go to the zoo on a hot, humid day, she'll play with them on the floor, help their mom with anything she needs, take the kids for walks, and play the Wii! She is very cool! Carol is kind, caring, and such a great grandma and mom to her children. She send suprises in the mail, which the boys love. Her gifts are very thoughtful and individualized for the boys. She is very in tune to what would make them happy, that means a lot to me. She has always taken such good care of the family and is there for all of us, all the time. She takes great care of Dad and makes sure he has what he needs to succeed. And bless her heart she is trying to get the family home all packed up and ready to sell all by herself, and that is a HUGE job to take on. I know it is difficult, frustrating and exhausting work ,and I wish we could be there to help her, but she has amazing energy and a positive attitude and will get it all done!

Both parents have always been strong and faithful in the Church and have always been a fantastic example in this capacity.

I feel very privileged to have them as my parents too and feel like Dad has been a great father figure for me. I hope they know that we think about them often and pray for their safe arrival here in Utah. And we CAN'T WAIT!!

See, she's up for anything! Look at those crowds!

Nama giving Cameron a big squeeze when he was 4

Nama and Cameon when he was one

Nathan and Papa

Nama braving Dinosaurs with Cameron

WE LOVE YOU NAMA AND PAPA!!

Weekend Adventures

We had a fun filled weekend! CJ and Christopher came to visit us from Chicagoland. They could only stay 2 full days so we packed 'em both full of great Adventures! They flew in Friday and we had the two boys play, and play, and play. Then Saturday morning we gathered everyone up (Except Kevin, who was at school) and we headed to the Hatch's and on to the Ogden Dinosaur Park......

The kids don't seem to be bothered by this at all......look, hands in pockets, like they were asked to pose or something? Run! RUN for your LIVES! C'mon you guys!!! Christopher thinks he's on a roller coaster, or maybe the Dino just said "stick em up."

Well we made it through that one....Now here is Cameron, showing Zoey something interesting....

Cameron is on top of a giant sea turtle...... looking smashing I might add.

We found this dino and before we knew it all the kids were inside it, then the adults felt like it wasn't fair we were expected to act like adults and wanted in on the fun....but we had a little trouble getting in there.....

Here's Zoey looking out the Dino's eyes....she's such a cutie!

All the Adults got in the thing.....

then all the kids found a golden opportunity and ran off... we thought about staying there, ready to claim we'd been inhaled by a dino and could no longer function as responsible parents, but instinct got the best of us and we made our way back to the real world to chase down our rugrats some more..... but then some of us had some trouble getting out of the thing.....Matt and Teri turned it upside down and backwards to get out...we had a few laughs with this one....and one picture I won't post (out of my undying devotion to Teri.)

Then we found another Dinosaur carcass to disrespect and climbed on top of this sucker; it was six feet up, once we all scrambled on top, a lovely stranger offered to record this for posterity.....

Then CJ had to show us all up.....he's about 12 feet of the ground here, sitting on an ancient Rhino's horn.....doesn't look to comfortable to me, but he seems okay! No trip to the ER today!

Towards the end of the trip we tried to gather the kids next to these pumpkins for a pic; this is as organized as we ever got them......

Not too bad! All in all it was a great day and we all went back to Matt and Teri's for some Wingers Wings and Dinosaur chicken nuggets! (how appropriate!) Good times guys!

After heading home and getting a well deserved nap (I think the adults needed this more than the kids, but who's counting) we got packed and headed up to our Cabin where we relaxed and played games, the boys played toys and watched lots of "Noggin."

This is also and when Nathan, who lucked out of the Dino Adventure, also made himself scarce for the rest of the weekend, as any normal teenager would be expected to do.

Here's CJ in my kitchen, helping out and making me VERY happy that he likes to cook!

Matt, Teri and the kids came up the next morning to play too! We had mildly controlled chaos everywhere with 6 kids, all playing and drawing and playing going up and down stairs, and eating and playing and having a great time!

We ate lots of food, Teri did a whole sink of dishes like three times, and Matt once, and we lounged....

We adults tried to play cards, but the offspring made that a little challenging;
So we took them on a two mile hike in the mud to wear them all out. (it snowed that morning and covered everything with three inches of snow...by 4 it looked like this, just sunny and muddy!)

The kids did surprisingly well, no one but the baby had to be carried, or even requested it.... (Even me!)

When we got home, we shed all the muddy shoes, socks, and pants, in some cases, on the balcony and headed back inside for more!

Here's CJ and Christopher enjoying the outdoor adventure together..... we had to get them on a plane Monday afternoon, and now they're gone, and normal life must ensue once more. Curses.

Love you guys!! We'll miss you!

And thanks Matt and Teri for putting up with our Chaos.... It was a blast!

The Little Things

Stuff I don't want to forget.. updated

Cameron at 5 years....

Cameon is all about pretending, he's a waiter today, he said to my mom, quite politely.... "Ma'am, I'm sorry but we only have one apple left..... and it's for me"

He took orders with a pen and paper, told mom what we had available, "In the back" and offered, Cheese, Crackers, and M&M's.

October 4th, 2009....

Conference weekend? Cameron had had enough of church on TV. When the last session came on, and when he heard the organ music, he put his hands on his heads and shook his head and said, "Oh NO!! Not Jesus!! I don't want to hear anything else about Jesus!"

Cameronn 3 years old.....

In response to my sister's blog she mentioned she didn't usually write stuff down so she blogs memories so as not to forget the precious moments in her life...here's some of mine...

Cameron is barely 2 here loving "marbles"

Cameron is very silly, and indecisive..He must get it from his dad. :)
He says the negatory of things immediatly after the other....
"But I wont, but I will,"
"But I can't but I can"
"But he does oh oh yeah, he doesn't!"

Back Before the end of the binky, these three binkies were a joke, but he'd do this more often than you'd think, he'd have two in sometimes. His binkies were toys to him, he had like 20 at one point, when he was 1 1/2 to like 3 he'd carry around a bucket of binkies as toys (this worked GREAT for us at church) he's pop one out, chose another and pop that in without a moments hesitation, there's not rhyme or reason for when he'd do this, he could be in the middle of doing something, totally engrossed in a toy or a movie and just sporadically switch binkies, it was like second nature to him.

Bedtime:
I'll say at night before bed to Cameron (as not to announce "Bedtime!" and thus induce the fit of the century) instead, I put a positive spin on it and I'll say "It's almost time for songs and stories Do you want to clean up first or go do songs and stories? Which one?" Then I get what I want and he gets to put off the inevitible bedtime routine for 30 seconds longer.
Once we're on our way to "Thongs and Thtories" (we have issues with S's) he has to go potty and brush teeth first, if he does that all well without complaint or delay he gets 3 stories and 5 songs before bed...but I take one away of each if he annoys me...oh, I mean if he doesn't do what he should. :) parental bribery....Anyway,
Well, today I said, do you want to finish your cornbread or do songs and stories?" He said, "Moooooooooom, say "Which one!" You're possa say which one, foos!" (First)I didn't realize I had an exact script to follow. :)

"Bad" Habits:

He's picking up some girlie habits at daycare I'm afraid. He'll say, "I not talking a you any moa!" (more) and "You not gonna be my friend!" and turn his head and pout. Or he'll say, "But moooooooooooooooom! that's not faya!" (fair) Oh wait, maybe that's a teenage one...

Growing Big:
"When I grow up, I'm going to have TWO "N's" in my name just like Nathan!"
And, He'll tell me what he will be able to do when he gets bigger like this, "When I grow big like a brutha (Brother), I'm going to....."

4 Years old

"Am I falling out of this chair" Thanksgiving 2008

Cute! He just broke out in a sporadic happy dance!

He said today 1/15/09....
"Mom, I'm hungry and drinky." For Thirsty! :)

On 4/4/09
Cameron was watching me take out Chocolate Chip cookies from the oven, I gave him a glass of milk and a cookie that was cooled, then I gave him another one just out of the oven still warm, he said "I d0n't want a bendy cookie I want a fixed cookie!"
This is the not so subtle difference between the out of the oven melty break apart ones (MY favorite) and the cooled ones you can dip into milk without the cookie breaking apart.

Yesterday he told me (4/5/09), "Mom, you need to have patiench!" (Patience) when I was asking him twice to clean up his crayons

4/6/09 -Today I said to Cameron "It's Spring!" he said, "Is it time to go to Nama and Papa's house yet?" I said "No, that's in the Summertime" he said, "I don't like Spring, I only like Summer." With a pout.

4/8/09 This morning he cuddled with me in bed (early 530am ritual) and said "Mom, I want you to stay home and make it a Cameron, Nathan, Daddy, Puppies day." I said I would go to work but be home soon and then it would be, he said, "Mom, you have to tell your work peoples.....um, what are they called?", I said "Workers", he said "K, wukers, that you need to stay home with yo Camwon and hug and snuggle awl day instead K?" Amen baby. Amen.

My "Baby"

Look Who's Five!


My Blue-Eyed boy is FIVE! This was a sad day for me, I must be honest, there's something about the big "5" that makes you feel like your baby is not a baby anymore.....

Ah well. We had a nice family dinner with Grandma "D" and Uncle Jeff, Cameron had Spaghetti and purple jell-o while everyone else had Pot Roast and some other good stuff.
Cameron couldn't wait to open his presents....(of course!) There was this GIANT one on the table before dinner started that he couldn't keep his eyes off of.



When we "finally" were done with dinner the presents were opened....he got some fun things from everyone....Money from JaNae and Family, and money from Grandma D, (which he bought two Spongbob movies with) some pirate and knight "guys" from Nama and Papa, a Castle and accessories from Kevin and I.....



we couldn't get him away from those until this came in.....

Nice! A new bike from Grammy and Jeff!

THe cake was fun to make, a rainbow cake at Cameron's request, you can read about it here.

He had a great day, thanks everyone!!

He went on his bike four times the next day and played with his castle for 4 hours straight!

We love you Cameron!

Cameron the Artist

I had a week off from work and so took a TON of pictures and had a lot of fun doing things and spending time with the boys during my "Staycation"
Cameron enjoyed having me home and enlisted my help with his creative endeavours which I am always happy to oblige. Cameron LOVES to draw, color, create anything Lego's, blocks, etc.

He can do any one of these things for one to three hours at a time! It's fascinating to watch his long attention span and wonder when the stinkin' heck is he gonna get bored already! I watch him create while I accomplish tons of other stuff of course.....my attention span is not as long as my 4 now 5 year old's..... SAD.





Here's those beady thingies you create then iron together....I helped with this one...a little.

Here's a Haunted House sticker/glitter project he did himself . No help was requested....in fact; no help was demanded. Look at the cute crooked shutters he did. One opened and one closed....how does he KNOW this stuff?

This is an X-Box controller and DVD/Game. He made many games of different colors and built a Lego TV and X-Box to plug them into and "Watch"

Here is three of 6 Monster's INC. Pictures he drew after we watched the movie

He begged me to use Nathan's spare Poster board so he could draw REALLY BIG.....so he drew his shoe.....among other things. It's cute! He didn't trace it or anything, the perspective is really good.

This is the collection of Spongebob Coloring pages he did in ONE SITTING

Well we did this and Play-doh, and sidewalk chalk and drew LOTS of Ed Emberly's step by step drawing books (HIGHLY recommended for any kid 4 and up) ....he loves it! I really enjoyed my time with Cameron, he's sweet and lovable, very cuddly and fun, it's an adorable stage this 4 turning 5 time. I hope he doesn't outgrow this stage too soon.

Birthday A-Fair

Yes, on my Birthday we went to the Utah State Fair, and if any of you know me at all you know I NEVER miss the fair.....the freaky sales people selling their weird stuff, the animals, the atmosphere....aw, who are we kidding! It's all for the FOOD!

I love it!!

Yes around here we only give shoulder rides when we're sitting down....

Pony Ride!

Here's Kevin enjoying his favorite Polynesian Roast Chicken Vendors' Kahlua Pork.....

Then there's the weird stuff the weird people are trying to sell...... Seriously, who buys a mini-rat transplanted from some exotic rain forest somewhere....if you ask me it's nothing but disaster waiting to happen.... (Actually we DO know this, a friend of ours bought one of these Sugar Gliders.....nightmare)

At the activity farm again.....same as last year....

I thought this pic was funny, I was about to delete, then saw the like father like son pose....

Cameron liked the 4-wheeler that was just his size....

And then....my favorite Vendor.....the.....

My Friends....this is IT! HEAVEN on a STICK! Yes, they serve it on a stick, but it's a full size sandwich, warm and gooey inside, crisp and fluffy on the outside.....

Of course I could have stayed for the Deep Fried Snickers, Twinkie, Oreo, Brownie....etc.... But I had restraint....which I now regret....I would liked to have gorged on more items....

I have the recipe for this if anyone's in!