THE DISEASE

Today the girls had me bring Jack into their school class for Show-N-Tell. They were VERY excited to show Jack off to their class.
After being mauled by 30 3rd graders, we went to Abby's class. While in Abby's class, the discussion went like this:

Abby: Does anyone have any questions?

Classmate: How much bigger will Jack get? Is he fully grown?

Abby: Well, he won't grow anymore because he has a disease.

Classmate: A disease? What kind?

Abby: It's called Short-Man Syndrome. He would grow bigger but since he has this syndrome, this is as big as he will get.

Me & The Teacher: DYING laughing!

CAN'T FORGET THIS...

One of the main reasons why I blog is to remember the small, everyday occurrences in our family's life.

Like Camille pretending she is in a photo shoot while I was taking her picture in her Christmas dress.

Seriously, where does she come up with this stuff????

Abby is so creatively mischievous. Just today, she bit her sister's bottom. Then, tonight Camille came downstairs crying because she went to brush her teeth and discovered Abby had put a BIG, HUGE BOOGER on her toothbrush!

Don't let her sweet face and big, brown eyes fool you! Last year, while Camille slept she wrote boys names on Camille's face. Luckily for Camille, a Sharpie wasn't involved!!

SPECIAL DAY

This week 2 VERY SPECIAL people have a birthday. In fact, they share the same birthday. I love these 2 people SO much and I especially love that they share the same birthday!!

The First Birthday Girl Is....
CAMILLE. She woke up this morning and was excited to open her first present which was a new outfit to wear to school.

Then, she wanted to have her hair like this:

After a day of her daddy bringing her birthday balloons to school, her parents taking her out to lunch to her favorite place, The Olive Garden, treats for her school class of Kit-Kat's and rootbeer, she planned her special birthday dinner menu. It included much of the same favorites as last year. Salmon, shrimp cocktail, Caesar salad and Shirley Temples to drink. Unfortunately for Camille, Costco was out of Sushi.

I still can't believe how fast the time has gone by! I know it sounds so cliche, but it seems like just yesterday Camille was the happy, bald baby that LOVED her daddy to hold her. Not much has changed, except the bald part.

She is turning into a wonderful young lady. She is definitely the life of our family and is constantly making all of us laugh.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAMILLE!!

We all love you and hope you have had a wonderful day!

The Second Birthday Girl Is....

My dear friend, Sachiko. I adore this lady. She is so cute, so fun and a terrific wife and mother. I still can't get over how blessed I am to have met her. About 2 and 1/2 years ago, her son was one of about 200 students who came to Utah for a week from Japan. We were so blessed to have her son, Sotaro stay with us. And very quickly, I became fast friends with his mother, Sachiko. For the past 2 1/2 years, we communicate frequently via e-mail and talk occasionally on the telephone. Daren always tells me that he can't believe how much alike Sachiko and I are. It is almost freaky how much we like and enjoy the same things. When she tells me about how she spends her day, it is almost identical to how I spend my days. She loves to cook, she is very involved with her children and their education, she loves being a housewife, she spends a lot of time doing wash, cleaning and going to the grocery store. She finds joy in being a wife and mother. She called Camille tonight to wish her a happy birthday and I could talk to her for hours and hours. She is such a neat lady and I admire her dedication to her family, her husband and children. She is a great example to me and wish she lived closer. It is a dream of mine to one day visit her in Japan. She asked me what I'd like to do when we go to Japan. What I want to do the most is just sit in her home and talk and laugh and be around her.

Happy Birthday, my friend! I love that you share your birthday with my daughter.

I'm glad you enjoyed your birthday with NO HOUSEWORK!! I guess us women are all the same no matter where in the world we live. We all would love a birthday filled with NO HOUSEWORK.

REFLECTING

I'm excited for 2011!

2010 was a good year but had its ups and downs.

I can't help but wonder what will be different in 2011. There were quite a few changes in our life in 2010.

First of all, I love to exercise now. NEVER thought this time last year I would be saying that.

And, I am a dog owner. I NEVER EVER thought that would happen.

In fact, I can't wait for the snow to melt off so I can go jogging with my dog. NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS did I think I'd be saying that now.

Moral of the story, NEVER SAY NEVER cause you never know what curves life will bring you.

I was awake until 3:30 this morning with a million different thoughts running through my mind. But most of all, I am truly grateful for my husband, my children and the health we each enjoy.

I just hope at the end of 2011, I go to bed enjoying these same blessings.

CHRISTMAS HIGHLIGHTS AND LOWLIGHTS

Christmas Eve was A LOT of fun. After dinner, we watched home movies from when the kids were babies. It was fun to see them as babies and sad to realize how much they have grown.

After the kids and Daren went to bed, I couldn't sleep. I was so excited for Christmas. I started watching a movie and then I started thinking about my friend Sachiko in Japan. I decided to call and surprise her since it was 4pm in Japan and midnight in Utah. It was so much fun to talk to her. I sure wish they lived closer and I miss them SO much! We also got a Christmas card from our last Japanese student. It was fun to hear from hm. (Kazuya...I promise I will send you the pictures you took after the first of the year.)

Christmas morning finally came and the kids were VERY excited to open presents!

Even Jack was excited to get his presents.

Abby loved her soccer goal.

Camille loved her American Girl doll.

And, Tanner loved his new lacrosse stick even though I don't have a picture.

Everything was going great on Christmas Day. I even had a nice nap before dinner.

Then...everything went downhill!

Jack bit the nose of my 6-year old neighbor girl. Talk about guilt!! I felt HORRIBLE!!! It was sort of a freak thing that happened but I still felt awful! Luckily she is okay and her parents said they would still be our friends. WHEW!!

Shortly after that, Jack puked and then the kids told me that they had been keeping a secret. Apparently, the kids and Daren all made a pack not to tell me that Jack has had several potty accidents in the house. They have all cleaned them up and decided not to inform me because they knew I would freak out. Well, I freaked alright and seriously thought about sending Jack away. But the kids were all crying and then I had guilt about sending the dog away.

So, the dog is still here...BARELY and other than our dog issues, Christmas was AWESOME!!

CHRISTMAS EVE

Twas the night before Christmas...
Even Jack has a stocking. It has his initial 'J' embroidered on it.

One of the few perks of living in Utah during the winter is using the elements as an extra refrigerator. Usually we have a backyard full of snow that we put all the drink into. This year, all of the snow has melted away. See you Arizona people can't do this with your drinks!!

Every year we buy the "Soda Collection" of rootbeer, grape soda, strawberry soda and orange soda. It's great that all the drinks stay cold outside!

We had a BIG Christmas Eve dinner. This is only the appetizers and dessert. The main dishes are on the kitchen table.

We had to have Sushi. I always think of our Japanese friends everytime we eat this.

But at the end of the night, I am most grateful for 2 dishwashers! That was the BEST thing we built in our house. I feel like I have washed the same dishes like 100 times during the past week.

Abby has spent most of her day tracking Santa Clause on Google.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

LUCKY LOTTERY

About a month ago, I went out to the mailbox and there were 4 tickets to see 2 of my favorites in concert...The Mormon Tabernacle Choir and David Archuleta performing together for a Christmas concert at The Conference Center in Salt Lake City. I had entered "The Lottery" (I think it's funny everyone refers to it as A LOTTERY since members of our church don't play the lottery, but whatever) back in October. I forgot about the tickets until I saw them in the mail.

It wasn't until about a week ago that my friend told me that she hadn't heard of anyone winning THE LOTTERY for the concert. I pulled out the tickets again and realized that not only did we get tickets but they were in the lower level...not even in the balcony. She was freaking out because she knew I had 4 tickets to the hottest concert in town! I felt so happy and grateful to have these tickets. I put the tickets in a SAFE PLACE until the concert. Then on Friday, I went to find the tickets and COULD NOT remember where I had put them. I tore the house apart looking for them.

After 12 hours of searching I found them in a folder that I had put them in. See, this is why it's better to be messy and unorganized, and leave stuff of the counter. That way I always know where stuff is.
Last night we went to the concert and it was one of the best things I have ever seen. The music was amazing, David Archuleta was amazing, Michael York was amazing and the crowds....WOW! I have never seen anything like that. I've been to the Conference Center many times but I have never seen so many people trying to get in.

David Archuleta has a voice that is unbelievable. The girls were so excited to see him in concert.

Afterwards Abby said, "That was the 3rd best thing I have ever seen in my entire life. The first was The Rockettes-which we saw earlier this month when they were in Salt Lake. (Camille by the way saw the North Korea army marching on TV yesterday and said, Is that the Rockettes? Totally made us laugh!) The second best thing she had ever seen was Disney on Ice last year and this concert was #3."

I feel so grateful and extremely lucky that we had the opportunity to attend the concert. I love living in Utah to be able to attend events like last night. It put me in the Christmas spirit and I love this time of year. I love feeling the spirit of Christmas and celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.

P.S. I was even happier to come home after being gone for almost 6 hours and the dog didn't have an accident! He hasn't had one yet. YEAH for Jack!!!