To McKenzie

I have been thinking that I need to take some time to write down all the stuff I love about McKenzie so here it is:

I love that you are a total goof and love to play around. I wish I could be like you and not be so serious all the time.

I love that you can be a wonderful example to me and Dad. You have unconditional love for so many people....even when they aren't the nicest to you!

I love that you love to dance and sing and perform. You used to be so shy, I was worried about you, but you have definitely come out of your shell and love the be the center of attention.

I love that you love Justin Bieber and fake faint every time you see a picture of him.

I love that you love gymnastics. You are so much more talented than you think you are! Not very many 6 year olds can do a round off back hand spring like you!

I love that you like to follow the rules and choose the right.

I love that you like to go to school. Even though you don't like reading, you are so good at it! You are good at everything you do!

I love that you want to have a baby brother or sister. You practice with your dolls and are going to be an amazing big sister someday.

I love everything about you!

Love, Mom.

Catch Up!

We have been busy for the past few months. Things have finally slowed down a bit. Here are a few of the highlights!

Halloween....Several halloween parties, tons of candy, and one cute little Princess

Leia...who has a major crush on Han Solo!

Lost her 2 front teeth...which are taking their sweet time to grow in! She lost them around Halloween and here it is January...still no teeth. We are going to the dentist next week! I almost don't want them to grow in. I think she looks so cute!

Thanksgiving (and new family pictures) at home with just the 3 of us and Mere. I love to go to St. George with my family for Thanksgiving, but every other year, when Bodie is on call, I really like hanging out at home by ourselves. Our holiday weekend was spent eating, Black Friday shopping, sleepovers with cousin Grace and hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa Topham. We were all in heaven!

Santa Claus came to visit McKenzie and we didn't even need to leave the house! We wondered if Conan got on the naughty list because he growled at Santa when he came in the door (even though he has met him before)!

McKenzie's dance recital. She is taking a hip hop class and absolutely loves it. She has some great teachers and some fun friends in the class. She is a talented little dancer. We are so grateful for supportive family that came out to see her perform in the recital. McKenzie loves to be on stage! It is funny because she used to be so quiet and shy, sometimes she still is, but for the most part, she loves to be the center of attention. She wants to get on the competition team for gymnastics so that she can have the spotlight on her for her routines!

Annual grandkid pictures at Tyler and Janece's house. I couldn't get a good picture of all the grandkids with Grandma and Grandpa, but I did manage to get this one of McKenzie and Maddie. McKenzie gets lonely being an only child, but thankfully, she has great cousins who are her very best friends. I couldn't ask to have been born, or to have married into, better families.

Our traditional Christmas Eve...beginning with ice skating. Then going to Grandma Diane's house for a Mexican dinner complete with a pinata that the kids love hitting so much, that now Grandma buys 2 so all the kids get enough turns to hit it. Even my little 1 year old nephew Noah was excited about the pinata. We did white elephants, cousin gift exchange, and listened to the Christmas story read from the Bible. It was a wonderful night.

Christmas morning. McKenzie was so excited to get an orange in her stocking. She had a lesson in primary where the kids were told of a little boy who got an orange in his stocking every year. (There was more to the story, but I didn't get to hear it as I was busy getting the primary kids gifts ready!) After she heard that story, McKenzie was obsessing about whether or no she would get an orange in her stocking. We enjoyed our Christmas day going to church, and then to Grandma Diane's for breakfast and time to play with cousins. Then we came home to spend some time together...just the 3 of us. It was a perfect day!

We have spent our January trying to get back into a routine after so much celebrating during the previous months. We did find time to go down to St. George for a weekend with Grandma Diane for Bodie's work, where I won a $50 gift card to the spa. I can't wait to use it!

McKenzie was also picked to be the student of the month at school. I am so proud of her. She works hard at school and is such a great example to Bodie and I in the way she always makes sure she is following the rules. In fact, I totally blew past a stop sign the other day...I really didn't see it until it was too late....but McKenzie was stressing! She was not happy that I didn't stop!

Here's to new adventures and a happy 2012! We wish the same for you!

Disneyland 2011

My family was going to Disneyland this October and I had decided not to go because Bodie couldn't get the time off work. I was talking to one of my favorite sister-in-laws and she talked

me into going. My brother wasn't able to go, so Janece and I drove down together with our girls. We got some condos within walking distance to the park. It was awesome! We did drive on the last day of the trip and it was ridiculous. Finding the parking lot and then a parking space took 45 minutes. It was only 10 minutes to walk.

This was our impromptu party for Leslie. We bought her a birthday crown and cupcakes and sang to her at McDonald's

We started out our trip driving Tuesday to Primm, NV where we stayed the night. We got up Wednesday and drove the rest of the way to California and headed straight for the beach. It wasn't really beach weather, but the kids didn't care! They had a good time getting their "feet" wet. They were all soaked and freezing when we left!

Our first day in Disneyland was on Thursday. It has kind of become a tradition that on family trips, my Dad is in charge of breakfast...this trip was no exception. We started out with a really yummy breakfast and then all 17 of us walked over to Disneyland. McKenzie was all decked out in her Leia costume ready to go to the Jedi training. A good friend told me to have her dress up like Leia and she would for sure get picked for the Jedi Training Academy and she was right! Their training started with the Master Jedi teaching them how to use their light saber. After they all figured it out, Darth Vader and Darth Maul came out and tried to get the kids to join the dark side. All the kids had to fight either one of them to complete their training. I asked McKenzie what she thought when she found out that she was going to fight Darth Vader. She said that she didn't know if he had a real light saber so she was just going to watch a few other people go first! Her turn came and she defeated Darth Vader...there was never a doubt in my mind that she could do it! Then all the little Jedi's forced Darth Vader to leave! It was the highlight of the trip. After Jedi training all she wanted to do was Star Tours...everything else was just a bonus for her. Of course, when I was putting all the pictures on the computer, I accidentally deleted the ones of her Jedi training. Luckily I still have a video of her fighting Darth Vader, but I don't know how to put it on here! Just know that it was really cute and so fun to see her so excited! She wasn't really totally interested in seeing the Princesses or anything. She just wanted to go on all the roller coasters after she did her Jedi training and Star Tours ride. She is definitely her Dad's daughter!

Mckenzie (or is it Leia) and I at the entrance of Disneyland

This is the reason she wanted to do Star Tours more than once...she got to see the REAL R2D2!

We spent 2 1/2 days at the park and then Saturday evening began our drive home. Our plan was to get to my parent's condo in St. George that night. We got there at 2am....we were so tired and I have never laughed so hard in my entire life. Thanks to Janece and Madi for making the trip so fun! Sunday morning we got up and drove home. It was a really fun trip, but we missed Bodie a lot, so it was good to be home! Next time he is going with us for sure!

D.I. Treasures...

Since Mckenzie has started 1st grade and I am only working part time...on a prn status so it is VERY part time....I have had a lot of time on my hands. I have a very talented friend who finds things at the thrift stores and refurbishes them into something really very cool. I decided that with all the time I have now, I would do the same thing. Here are a couple of my projects.....

Started as this...(for $3)

Ended up as this...using stuff I already had in my basement! (Now I need to work on making this to go on the shelf!)

Beginning product....
Ending product.
I needed something to keep all of McKenzie's hair bows on so they don't get all squished. I know it is very colorful and probably not what I would have picked, but Mckenzie picked out all the colors and she loves it, which is what matters because it is hers!

12 Years!

It is hard to believe that this labor day weekend, was our 12 year anniversary! We thought we were being so smart by getting married on a holiday weekend so we would always have time to go somewhere and celebrate. Well, the problem is that EVERYONE goes out of town that weekend, so either we don't have a babysitter or where ever we decide to go is already booked! This year we lucked out. We booked a condo up Ogden canyon near Pineview Reservoir for a couple nights. It was awesome! We got there too late on friday night to do anything, so we just went to bed. Saturday, we went to check out a new place we have never been before. The concierge at the condos told us about Causey Reservoir. It is a fun little place about 20 minutes from Pineview Reservoir and is MUCH quieter! It was perfect for fishing. We spent the morning getting ready for our fishing trip, visiting the Monestary in Hunstville, and going to find a canoe to rent. I have never fished from a canoe before and let me tell you...it was a lot of fun! We did have one incident though, we got out of the canoe to fish from the shore in a little cove where a bee or wasp or something crawled in McKenzie's shirt and stung her. I have never heard her scream like that before! We got rid of the bee/wasp and had a good rest of our day even though we didn't catch anything. There were salmon in the lake and they were spawning, so every once in a while we would see their red bellies when they jumped. When it was time to take the canoe back, we went back to the condo where Bodie grilled up some steaks and McKenzie and I went to the hot tub. McKenzie kept telling me on the way back to the condo that she really could use a soak in the hot tub. I can't really blame her...it takes a lot out of you to sit in a canoe and fish while your parents row around the lake! Sunday morning, we woke up really early and went up to Logan for our nieces baby blessing. It was a really nice day and a great way to end a fun weekend. Two of my favorite people in the whole world at lunch on our way to the lake.

Causey Reservoir...So pretty!

McKenzie and Bodie fishing.

It has been a great 12 years and hopefully there are many many more!

A short one...

Mckenzie was getting ready for school yesterday morning and Bodie was complaining about his allergies...wondering why he was having such bad hayfever this time of year. When he asked McKenzie why she thought he had hayfever she said "I don't know...maybe you have Bieber fever". Bodie assured us he didn't but I think secretly he really does!!!

First Day of First Grade!!

McKenzie is in first grade!!! I can't believe it. How did she get to be 6 so fast??? She was pretty excited and a little nervous to go back to school. She was bummed that she can't sleep in anymore or be lazy all morning watching TV, but once she got to school she was so excited to see her friends from last year. It was a lot easier to send her to school this year because when she started Kindergarten she didn't know anyone. I was so worried about her having to play at recess all by herself. I didn't have to worry about that for long though...McKenzie made lots of friends really fast. She came home from school yesterday so excited about eating lunch with her friends and her and the other girls chasing the boys at recess. When she told me that, I realized that she is not my little baby anymore!

She also loved the part where she got to go school shopping. Grandma Diane took some of the grand kids when we were in St. George and bought them some new school clothes. Her favorite item that she came home with...the Star Wars t-shirt. McKenzie couldn't wait to wear it! She definetaly impressed some of the little boys at school with that one!

She is such a cute sweet girl and I know she will do really well in school...even if it is hard for me to deal with the fact that she is growing up!