Kayla .... growing up too fast

Last Sunday, we were driving down the road, and Kayla said, "You know in 2 years, I'll be gone."

Lane and I looked at each other and freaked out for a second.


She really is 16.  She really is 5'11".  She really is a junior.  She really will be leaving to college in less than 2 years.  She really is growing up.

Can I just say I want to stop time with her?  The other 3 need to keep growing up before I kill them, but this one, I want to stay right here.

She is so beautiful inside and out.  She helps at home, she is so very responsible I never have to get her up in the morning, make her go to bed at night, check homework, remind her where to be or when.  She truly is so amazing.  She has the singing voice of an angel, can kinda play the piano :/, taught herself the guitar, is so nice to everyone around her, even if they are "unique", and gives her mom and dad a run for their money on Speed Scrabble!

How I love, love, love this girl.  She is a joy to have around.  She really is my friend. She can't leave in 2 years.  Yet, that is the very best thing for her.  I remember being so excited to leave and go to BYU and be on my own.  Those are some of the best years, and I can't wait for her to leave the nest and experience a lot of those things too.  She just is going to leave a gaping hole in our home, and in my heart.  Sigh...


On a happy note, here's what she has been up to!

She went to Homecoming at a neighboring High School with Alessandro.  A foreign exchange student from Italy who is living with her aunt and uncle.  He met her at a family dinner, was quite smitten (who wouldn't be?) and asked her to Homecoming.  They had a great time.  It was cute how nervous he was. :)

We had a little trouble pinning the flower to just a shirt!  I think here we were admiring our work??

Kayla and Ale, who happens to be 6 ft. 3in.  Something we were very happy about! :)

A couple of weeks later, we finally got to go see Taylor Swift in concert!  We bought her tix 6 months ago when they went on sale.  It seemed the day would never come!  So, I had the pleasure of escorting 4 16 year olds to the concert.  

I can't help but sing in my head, "One of these things is not like the other" when I look at this picture.  Oh well, we had a great time.

The old mom and the young girls!

Fun mom/daughter date

Then, as if the Taylor Swift concert wasn't enough, Kayla went to Red Mountain High's Homecoming the next night.

Her friend (?) Cody asked her to go.  Again, we lucked out with a boy who is 6 ft. 2 in., and pretty darn cute himself.  They made a darling couple, and had a great time.

Seriously??? Whose kid is that???

Can I just say what a nightmare it is buying a dress for a tall girl?  Ugh, I see some sewing in my future.  Thankfully I haven't had to do a whole lot of dress sewing since all my dances when I was in high school!

Now she just got a job as a hostess at a restaurant close by. I'm so excited for her to be earning her own money, and not stealing it from my wallet.  It's just crazy that they grow up and learn to be on their own. But that's a parent's most important job - raise your kids so they can go out in the world and be responsible, contributing citizens in society.  She'll be so much more than that.  I couldn't be prouder. (Can you tell??)

Savannah's B-day part 2

We had a Rock n Roll party for Savannah this year. With make up, hair, and karaoke with Justin Bieber songs, what more could you ask for? It was kinda crazy, but the girls had fun. I can't believe my little Savannah is 10!!!

Was it really 10 years ago that I had Lane take me at 11 at night up to the Hospital San Javier (Also known as the drug lord hospital) to give birth to my 9 lb. 5 oz. baby girl at 3:30 in the morning? I guess so. It seems like a whole different lifetime ago. I kinda think all of our time in Mexico almost seems like it was a dream. Good at times, and nightmare at others!

Anyway, we sure love our sweet, smart, incredibly witty girl.

Here's a funny example of my girl.

Yesterday morning she needed some money for lunch. I told her to check dad's wallet because I was out of money. Later I asked if she got some. She said, "Yes! I got some out of his $100 dollar infested wallet!"

Funny kid. So his wallet had a bunch of hundreds (Which why didn't I check that and steal some?), but I just think it is funny that my 10 year old is using the word infested to describe a wallet full of 100s! She is quite the girl.

Halloween!!!! and Savannah's birthday too

Halloween was a little bit much this year.  Because it fell on a Monday, we were celebrating for a whole week straight!
The Monday before Halloween (Oct. 24) was Savannah's actual birthday, and Grandma's annual Halloween party.
Everyone but dad dressed up and went to the party.  The kids look forward to it every year.
We were able to have some cake and ice cream with the family, even though no one wanted any, because we were so full from our dinner, donut eating contest, and all the candy around!

The next day we got to get Savannah's ears pierced!!!  I said when they are 8 they can, Lane wanted at 12, so we compromised, and the girls get their ears pierced at 10.  Conner, never! :)

Savannah was a little scared, but she did great, and didn't shed a single tear, unlike Kayla who literally was bawling and sobbing in the place.  Even I was embarrassed for her! :)  

A nervous Savannah who wanted to sit on my lap to get her ears pierced.

Ready, set, shoot!

What have we here?  Someone found some glasses mom will never let her have.  Hope this isn't a sign of things to come! ha!

Wednesday I had a Silver Sneakers luncheon I was in charge of, so I had to dress up for that.  Friday night was Savannah's birthday party, then Saturday night was the ward Trunk or Treat.  Dressed up for that again.

By Monday, the actual day of Halloween, I was really ready to be all done!  So, I just took the kids trick or treating as mom.

We went with a bunch of friends from the ward in their neighborhood, because our neighborhood is full of old people who don't trick or treat!  Oh I can't wait to move.

Well, 2 days after Halloween, we discovered that we forgot to carve the pumpkins.  So, the kids decided to do it anyway.  Better late than never!  Then I was able to make roasted pumpkin seeds, which I love!

Needless to say, I was ready for Halloween to be over, but that means Thanksgiving is around the corner, then you blink and it is Christmas, turn around and it is New Years, and before you know it you are in the dreary letdown of January.

Let the madness begin....

Goodbye little tummy tail!

Hi Everyone!  Addi here guest blogging again.  Mom's been busy and asked me to cover for her on this one too.

I was born with what my mom and dad say was an umbilical hernia.  All I know is I had a big long tail above my belly button.  All my life people have asked me what is wrong with my belly.

I didn't know.  I knew that if I pushed it in, it made a squishing sound that was kinda cool.  I also know the doctor said they may have to do surgery to fix it if it didn't go away.  It got smaller as I grew, but it hasn't gone away.

Well, my parents said they had waited long enough, and were ready to do it.  So, my surgery was scheduled for Wednesday.  Tuesday afternoon the Dr. office called and said they had to change my surgery to Friday.  Mom wasn't too happy about that, but she was able to rearrange everything, and she said we were going to "bite the bullet and get it done".  Why would anyone want to bite a bullet?

Friday morning I checked in at the Cardon Children's Hospital in Mesa.  It was a really neat place just for kids.  After mom signed her life away, and gave them something like a million dollars, they sent us upstairs.  They put me, mom and dad in a room, and let me choose some cute jammies and socks.  Then, they let me choose a movie.  I was going to watch Tangled, but I saw they had the Justin Bieber movie, so I chose that movie instead.  I put on a little show singing and dancing for the nurse.  She liked that.  For some reason all the nurses laughed when I told them I am going to marry Justin Bieber.

They were running late, so my 9 am surgery wasn't actually started until about 10:15.  It only took them about 30 minutes, and I was as good as new!  Mom and dad came back while I was waking up.  I didn't really want to wake, but I finally did, and really was pretty OK.

I was a little groggy for awhile, but perked right up in the afternoon, and became my normal self, just in time for mom and Kayla to leave to Taylor Swift, and dad have to take care of me and the kids the rest of the night. :)

This morning, I wanted to peel the big bandage off my belly, so we did.  I saw that underneath is a little tiny scar, and my belly looks normal!  Daddy pulled the bandaid off, and I said, "I like my new belly button!"

Mom says I better, because it cost like $3,000(before insurance), I guess that isn't a million, but it's probably close.

A very costly trip to the Pumpkin Patch

Hi guys! Addison guest blogging here. Mom says she can't do this blog because she might put some 4 letter words she shouldn't in it. I don't know any 4 letter words but love, so I don't know what she's talking about!

I was lucky enough to have my mom take the day off from tennis to join me and my preschool class at Mother Nature's Farm. My best friend/cousin Chloe and my Aunt Kami came too, because she goes to preschool with me also. We drove down the freeway singing Taylor Swift at the top of our lungs. I love, love, love to sing Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber. Everyone tells me I am super cute when I do. :)

We got to the farm, and they put us on a great big trailer and pulled us around a field over to some animals. When we got to the animals and got off the trailer, my mom noticed her purse that was under her feet was no longer there. She didn't panic, she just asked the farm guy if they could go find her purse on the trail because she was sure it was there.

We waited for the purse and looked at some goats and cute baby pigs. I got them to eat out of my hand and it was fun. Then the farm guy brought my mom's purse. She was very thankful until she looked inside her purse and said, ****!!! Oh, maybe that was the 4 letter word she didn't want to say if she was writing this.

Poor mom, the inside of her purse was covered in slimy lip gloss, and her phone was shattered!!! Some of you may remember that her phone was shattered not too long ago, so this time she got ghost armor on it. Well, it kept the phone together, but she decided it doesn't protect against a great big trailer wheel running over your purse. (I'm not sure anything would protect it from that!)

I gotta hand it to her though. She kept on through the farm without being too angry. We decorated our pumpkin, played in the bouncy house, had a snack, and lots of fun.

Then, we went to the phone fix-it store and she ordered a new screen. The man says it will be in in a few days. Mom is OK because her phone still works, but she will be glad to actually be able to see the stuff on the screen better.

All in all, it was a fun morning together! Next, I'll tell you about my surgery!

Conner boy and Addi girl

Today at church, Conner was bored during Sacrament meeting, so he wrote a story.  When he came home, he immediately came to the computer and typed it all up himself.  I did help him spell faucet, but that is all. He then printed it out and taped it to his door. I had to post it here because it was so cute.  I love this boy.

ME AND MY FEET

My feet are really stink.  I can’t stand it.  They don’t let me clean them.  My feet will get in a fight if I try to clean them.  My feet will get really mad.  They won’t even get close to water.  I thout it was time to fight fire with fire. So I had to trick my feet into getting clean.  While my feet were sleeping I turned the faucet on and my feet woke up.  I jumped in the tub and my feet were clean at last.

Now, Addi gets her post of the day as well.  You know Conner is obsessed with Rocky, so Addi is too.  We got home from church, and everyone had run into the house except me and her.  She is always the last one out of the car - ugh!  Anyway, she was hanging on my door waiting for me to get out and said, "I am the Tiger!" 

 I said, What? 

 She said, "I am the Tiger!"  

I said, "Oh, you're a tiger?"

She said, "NOOOO!!!  I am the tiger like Rocky!"  

Then, she starts singing the Rocky theme song EYE OF THE TIGER, yet sings it "I am the tiger." 

That earned that girl a great big squish and kiss.  

Homecoming Dress Math

One darling black homecoming dress on MAJOR clearance  $17.99!!!!
One darling pair of shoes that match perfectly, on clearance   $14.99!!!!

$17.99 + $14.99 + tax =  $34.06  TOTAL!!!  PRICELESS!!!!! :)
(Now, I must point out that this dress is strapless, and I will have to go to the fabric store and buy some matching fabric and somehow fashion some sort of strap/sleeve to make it pass Dad's inspection.  Wish me luck!)

BUT!!


Now we have to subtract the pain in the butt Addison was.  She took off out of one of the stores we were in.  I went looking for her, couldn't find her.  Looked and looked.  Knew she was around somewhere but couldn't find her.  After about 5 mins. of looking, I asked the girl at a kiosk to call security.  She tells them I can't find my 4 year old.  They tell her they may know where she is, have me stay right there and wait.

I wait about 5-10 mins.  I'm really not worried, because honestly, if anyone stole her, they'd bring her back within minutes I'm sure!!!

So, I stand there helplessly, until FINALLY a security guy comes wheeling through the mall on his Segway!  He finds me, then escorts me 2 stores down from where I was, and there is Addi standing there at the cash register with the worker there.  Are you kidding me?  I was like 200 feet away, and had the guy on the phone just told the girl to tell me to go there, I would have!  Instead, I had to wait forever, and eventually go find her "escorted" by the Segway Police!   She was a little scared, and I'd love to say learned her lesson, but let's face it, this is Addi here.  I wonder if she will ever learn.

So, in the end,
$34.06 - 5 years of my life (in worry or embarrassment) = a mom not sure if that trip was worth it! :)