The Good News and the Bad News

First the good news.

Kaycee performed in her first piano recital last Saturday. She has been taking lessons since June and is picking up on it really fast. She loves it so far and I don't even have to remind her to practice. She just does it! Her teacher says she is a "natural". She did a great job at her recital! She played a Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer duet with her teacher and then a memorized piece called Minuet and Trio. I would have posted her playing but our other memory card broke and the one I am using won't hold video :( But we are so proud of her!!!

Kaycee was so blessed to have both sets of grandparents there!

Kaycee received an award along with her friend Kennedy for passing off piano flashcards in less than a minute!

Now the bad news.

We have the throw-ups at our house. I HATE THE THROW-UPS!!! John and Luke were unable to attend the recital because Luke was throwing up from Friday night through Sunday afternoon (including in his bed and on the floor - absolutely disgusting! Just the sound, smell and/or, sight of it makes me want to vomit). Kaycee started throwing up first thing Monday morning and is missing all of her school Christmas fun. Poor thing. John started throwing up last night and is home from work today. But everyone seems to be doing better at this moment. I'm the only one who hasn't "gotten" it yet and I better not because I have a big family party at my house on Christmas Eve. I'm saying my prayers. There's nothing worse than being sick over the Holidays!!! I hope it doesn't find any of you this Christmas either.

And in case I forget later: HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!!!

John Turns 36!!!

Happy Birthday Johnny! You know you're gettin' old when your approaching 40. Lucky for me I am still so in love with my man. He is the greatest and I can't think of a better person to celebrate. John's official birthday was November 21st but we did most of the celebrating on the 20th. We were given free tickets to New Moon and to a light buffet at Magelby's. We even got free popcorn. It was awesome! Thanks Brandi for the wonderful tickets! It was my 2nd time seeing the movie (see below) and I was excited that I got to see it again. John hasn't read the books but has gotten into Twilight Mode from me because I had to tell him all about every book I read. He really liked New Moon the movie so it worked out great. After dinner and the movie we went home and Kaycee, Luke and Kaycee's friend Kennedy had decorated the house with "hidden" balloons for John in the end they spelled out: "Dad We Love You". They also hung cards they made from the door. I thought it was cute and John loved it. Then John opened his presents, mostly some much needed clothes (sweaters, pants, socks, shoes, etc.) and then we sang HAPPY BIRTHDAY to him and had "better than sex cake" because John had never had it before. It was super good. We all decided that we needed to give the cake a different name and so we changed the name to "chocolate dream supreme". It was a great night. John's parents, brother and some nephews came over and shared some more cake with us on Saturday. We love you John!!!

They even made this cute crown for him (a little small but that's OK)

Kaycee bought this cute clip at the school's "Santa's Secret Workshop" and wrapped it up for John

New shoes

New sweater

The kids had a ball playing games with all the balloons

John was making all of us crack up

Especially during his wish

I seriously love this picture

NEW MOON!

So if you know me you know that I went to the midnight showing of TWILIGHT last year, waited in line for 2 hours for a good seat and then came out very disappointed with the movie -makeup, special effects, and Robert Pattinson (sorry to those of you who love him -I just don't get it!). However I am such a big Twilight Book Series fan that I have to have and see everything to do with it. Needless to say I had to go to the premiere before the premiere of New Moon. 8 pm on Thursday, the 19th. We made it an official Girls Night with dinner at the Olive Garden beforehand. This time we had assigned seats perfectly in the middle. Thanks Melanie for the awesome tickets! I have to say that I had my hopes up for New Moon (knowing that there was a new director and much bigger budget) and I wasn't let down. I LOVED IT! The makeup and special effects were SO much better and it followed the storyline good. It's official. Despite my "Team Edward" shirt (book purposes only), I am a Jacob and Wolf Pack fan. If you've seen the movie then you know what I'm talking about. Can I just say WOW? Thanks for the great time ladies!!!

Brooke, Nora, me, Melanie and Jeanie

Kaycee's 4th Grade Utah Program

Kaycee performed in her 4th grade program a couple of weeks ago. It was so great! Do you remember dancing the Virginia Reel (like square dancing) when you were in 4th grade? I remember it and apparently the tradition lives on. The boys still think the girls have cooties and don't want to hold hands. It's funny. Kaycee did a great job singing and dancing. She was one of the 4 kids in her class with a speaking part - the other 3 were all boys. Go Kayc! She did a great job! She didn't even tell me she was speaking until the night of. Excuse the eyes in the picture but it's the only one I got of her speaking. After the program was over Kaycee was able to dance with her dad and they had a blast. John is really going to appreciate the picture that I picked out of them dancing.

Happy Halloween from a Dracula Vampire, a Vampire and a Purple (Rainbow) Fairy!

Happy 10th Birthday Kayc!!!

Our little girl turned 10 years old yesterday! It's cliche I know but I swear it was yesterday that she was acting out the part of Princess Fiona and dressing up like Sleeping Beauty. She is so happy, kind, beautiful, smart and confident!

This was a family party year but because she's into double digits we made sure to have some fun. Last weekend John and I took her out to dinner at Cafe Rio (not very exciting I know but it was her choice) and then she had a sleepover with her cousin Claire and saw "Where the Wild Things Are" at the movies. Yesterday her Aunt Janelle surprised her with a gift after school. Last night we had Grandma and Grandpa Chamberlain and Aunt Brooke, Uncle Blake and cousin's Tyler and Raleigh over for cake and ice cream. To top it off Grandma Bastian checked her out of school and took her to lunch today.

For her birthday she wanted a mountain bike that was NOT pink or purple. So we found her a white and silver one (with just a hint of pink) and she loves it. She also got a new Webkinz horse that she named Prince after Grandpa B.'s horse. Other things she received were money, a pretty bracelet and a rug and bolster pillow for her room. She's set!

It's a big bike but she's got the hang of it

Luke had to get in on the action too.

Look at all those candles

John, Brooke, Grandma and Grandpa C.

Luke, Tyler and Blake

Raleigh loved this balloon so much. It was cute to watch him. It kept him entertained the whole time and he took it home with him

*Totally random pictures but Kaycee made a really cool relief map of Utah for a school project so we took a picture (she really does have more clothes than just a white shirt and pink pants)

Here comes Fall (and some catching up)

Fall for us always begins with the deer hunt. John has a lifetime hunting license and when we were first married he was a bow hunter (bow and arrow), which is a many months long hunting season. As life has gotten busier he now does the week long muzzle loader deer hunt. It is something he and Luke look forward to every year and they do the male bonding thing for 3-4 nights while Kaycee and I do the female thing and go shopping, out to eat and hang out with friends. In the end we all are able to relax and have fun. John got himself a nice 3-point this year and we gave the meat to a Mexican family who wanted it. I only like deer jerky and I've had enough of it to last me a while. This way we didn't have to pay for the processing of the meat (rule of thumb: you must always eat what you kill - or in our case - give it to someone who will). The only thing missing from John's hunt this year was Grandpa Lu. He's been going out with John for the past 5-6 years and he is the one who taught John how to hunt.

John and his buck.

Grandpa C. got a deer too. Well, he shot it in the leg and John finished it off. These men LOVE to hunt! I love this picture of Luke and Grandpa.

Luke missed 2 days of school for the hunt but was faithful at doing his homework at camp (with dad's prodding of course).

This boy loves to throw things and hit things. He found a stick at camp and played one man baseball. John said it kept him busy for a while.

Luke came home in the worst mood and we have no idea why but I don't know how much longer I can handle his sulking, crying, stubborn, orneriness. I guess he loves the mountains as much as his dad does.

Random Fun

This is a picture when we went with Brooke's family up AF Canyon a few weeks ago. The kids loved climbing the rocks and I loved sitting by the fire and eating graham crackerless s'mores (we'll remember the graham crackers next time)

Kaycee, Raleigh, Tyler and Luke

On the 19th of September we went to the zoo and had more fun there than I think we've ever had at the zoo. There were tons of babies to see - baby elephant, baby giraffe, baby crocodile, 3 baby tigers and a baby snow leper. They were so cute and fun to watch. Unfortunately I brought the wrong memory card - the broken one - and so I didn't get any pictures. I borrowed these few from my sis - thanks Brooke.

Kaycee on her favorite animal - the lion - although we didn't see any lions there.

Baby Zuri. She was so fun to watch because she was so little and playful. I kept thinking of the Babar the elephant books.

Luke (in the back) on his favorite animal - a snake.

Labor Day in St. George

For Labor Day weekend this year we went to my parent's new house in St. George. We were in desperate need of a break and it was a blast! Their house, all finished and furnished, was beautiful. My brother Cole, his wife Melody, and their 2 kids Hailey and Kate came up for the weekend too. It was so fun to see them.

On Saturday we took the kids to the pool at the new rec center there and then we watched the BYU vs Oklahoma game (GO BYU!!!).

Lovely Kaycee!

This was Luke's favorite spot. He loves to splash and play in the water but he Hates water slides

Love his face here!

Bathing beauties Hailey and Kayc

On Sunday we went to sacrament at Grandma and Grandpa's ward and then we skipped out and went to look at some historical sites.

Looking cute for church. Luke refused to cooperate for any of these pictures and that's why you don't see him.

Me and the love of my life.

We visited the ghost town of Grafton. It's a little town that Brigham Young had the saints establish in 1859 so they could grow cotton along the Virgin River. It's a really neat place with lots of interesting history to see and read.

The old schoolhouse. Still in great condition.

Melody in front of a polygamist wife's house (don't remember the husbands name)

Exploring

There were lizards everywhere. You can't tell but this one was huge. They were too fast for John to catch.

There were also huge, scary, fire ants all over the place

There were some wild turkeys on the other side of this fence on the farm

This is an Indian Cemetery

Grandpa had the idea to lift the grand kids up and take a picture in the hole of this big tree. They did turn out pretty cute.

On Labor Day we went to the Wild Animal Museum before we had to head home. It's a really cool place and the kids loved it! They give you phones to walk around with that tell you all about the animals and amazing stories and facts. It was cool. The only negative - it's not very big for how much you pay to get in. One family shot all of the animals that are on display (a bazillion) and they really are portrayed well in their natural habitats.

Kate, Hailey, Luke and Kaycee with the binoculars they loan you to get a closer look at the animals.

Getting in some early camo practice for the big deer hunt

Love this picture of Luke and Kate

Wiggly Kate, grandma and Kaycee in front of the giraffe

Grandpa and the girls. It's dark because there was a storm inside the museum with lighting, thunder, and rain. Pretty neat.

It was a nice get away and we had a good time like we always do when we hang out with family.