Christmas Performance

Tonight was the girls' Christmas Performance.
Our wonderful neighbor N'Lice came to watch (and hold John, of course!)


At the end they had a Dad's drill down.
It was a lot of fun to see the dads attempt to do what the girls do so well.
Kempe got second, after falling to our good friend, James Derrick.
We are all so proud of him.

Happy birthday to my BFF

Kempe turned 34 today.
Emma was dying all day to open his presents.
She wrapped up some of her special treasures for him :)
She even offered to open all his presents and then re-wrap them.


Kempe had tons of help with the rest of his presents.


Riley made him a chocolate sundae with a rootbeer.
I decided to make him a cookie pizza.
Then, I had a better idea to make him a large Y-shaped cookie.
But it melted altogether.
It actually looked like a heart.
So not all was lost. :)


Happy birthday to my best friend forever!

Friday night at the ball field

Friday nights Kempe has been playing softball with the elder's quorum.
The past couple of weeks we've been tagging along to cheer him on.


But the best part about being at the game?
Free nachos and snowcones!

Boys shaved heads

The boys in our house shaved their heads.
Not according to my wishes, but they did.
It's a bonding thing I suppose.

Parker's been begging to do his, so Kempe shaved Parker a mohawk.

And Parker finished it.

Then, Parker did Kempe's.

And then they converted the little one to the dark side.
{remember how he sobbed through his first haircut?}

Finally, the bonding.
Matching haircuts and In-N-Out shirts.

I then realized, we will soon have another little one that they will include in their bonding ritual.

Happy 11 years!

Daddy's Day

Happy Father's Day to our Daddy!
We a great day celebrating our fathers.
{So much that I forgot to take pictures.}

This year the kids and I gave Kempe a Father's Day journal.
Each of the kids got a page to write and draw something for Kempe in it.
My idea is to have the kids do it each year for Father's Day, so one day Kempe will have a book full of reasons why our kids love and appreciate him.

Kempe,
We are so grateful for you and all you do to provide for our family.
The kids love being silly with you, know you love BYU, and think you make the best pancakes in the world!
Thank you for everything.
We love you!

campout

Kempe took Parker and KJ on the annual father and sons campout tonight.
As soon as Kempe told KJ about it, KJ would not leave Kempe's side.
He followed him everywhere.
He wanted to help with everything.
He was so excited!



They enjoyed s'mores and KJ kept saying, "Hey guys, it's Bigfoot. Follow me!"

They decided to sleep in the bed of Kempe's dad's truck instead of pitching a tent.
Parker said he was cold, but I wasn't surprised when I saw the pictures from the hike the next morning:


Yes, they're hiking in snow.
Looks like a boy's heaven.

The girls and I, on the other hand, went to the McDonald's playland, rented some movies, picked up ice cream from Cold Stone, and watched movies in my bed until we fell asleep sometime after midnight. Yes, girl's party.

WGU Ball

Kempe has been playing on a rec basketball team with some guys from work for the past few weeks. The games happen to be when Riley has dance practice so we haven't been able to go, but tonight Riley's practice was cancelled so we went out to see the big guys play.

According to Parker, Kempe's 100% at the free throw line.
And Parker's been to a couple of games, so I'll take his word for it.

{Our #43}

It was a lot of fun to be there.
Kempe is really good about cheering on his teammates and trying to pump up the team.
Tonight Parker said, "Dad's kind of embarrassing."
It really wasn't that embarrassing. I hope Parker learns from his dad.

Out to Lunch

Today Emma had an eye appointment.
Great news ~ no patches for the next 8 weeks.
Hopefully it that it stays that way.
We were early for our appointment, then early in & out.
Kempe's work is just down the street, so we were lucky to get to go out to lunch with him today.
Lucky for me, the pregnant lady got to pick the restaurant.
My current craving ~ California Pizza Kitchen.
The California Club sandwich with Caesar salad is so fabulous {great, now I'm craving one}
It was a very happy day for all :)
{You know, because when's mom's happy, everyone's happy :}

Conference Weekend

Oh how I love General Conference weekend!
Kempe and I were lucky enough to get a few tickets from my dad for the Sunday afternoon session.
Yeah, yeah, I know you can see better by staying home, on your comfortable couch, in your warm jammies, and eating chips and dip, but there's just something about actually being there, that you have to experience.
It's awesome.


We were on the front row of the balcony this time.


Kempe got this cool panoramic picture with his phone.


I love going to Conference.
Especially with my hubby :)

remember when...

Today is our engagement anniversary.
I know I've written our story before, but every year I love to think about everywhere we've been and how we ended up here ~ less than a mile from where Kempe proposed ~ the Bountiful temple.
Kempe's in Arizona this week, so he's not here to celebrate, but I took the kids up to walk the grounds and reminisce.
I'm glad the weather cooperated.
Too bad a certain someone didn't want to.

He didn't want his sister next to him...

then, he wouldn't stay put...

and this one... {didn't notice this until I loaded it on my computer}

so they squished him into place...

Individual shots are always the way to go:

These two were good for the camera,

but...in between shots it was like this...

I love how their personalities even show in their feet:

Just as we were heading out, I noticed the sky looked exactly the way I remember it looking 11 years ago... perfect.

And there we were, 11 years younger...

Up late with Dad

Look what can happen when you stay up late with Dad.