Halloween!

Just to let you know: Academic Learning does not take place on October 31st. If you thought it did sorry to burst your bubble but when you have 1400 kids in costume, and you spend 2 hours parading through the school, and do class parties etc by the end of the day you really wonder why we have 'school'. It was a really fun day though and I had pink hair all day so that was fun.

A crazy household

If anyone ever doubted our household is a bit crazy. We start the morning very early and read scriptures/pray at 6 so that Ryan can leave by 6:15 and I leave about 6:30. I always just assume that my kids make it to school because really they could stay home and ditch everyday and I wouldn't ever know. But as most of you know my kids are great and they do exactly what they are supposed to do. All of the time! Yes I know if you believe this I have some great swampland to sell you in Florida.

Anyway last week was filled with choir concerts, classes, mutual, scouts, Fabulous Friday and of course our Christmas party. Now I have to explain a little bit. 12 years ago Ryan wanted to have a party. It was right before Halloween and I said I would have a party but I didn't want to have to dress up. (Yes Rheanna many of us don't like to do that either, unless it is a show that is a whole different story!) Anyway he also said that he wanted to get presents at it. Then we started joking around and we said we should do a Christmas party because if you think about it when it is December who has time to have a party just for fun. So we called our friends (yeah we lived in Preston and we did have friends, at least that is what they told us to our faces, hee hee) They all laughed a bit but came and we borrowed our neighbors fake tree and decorated our whole house in Christmas. (the other great thing is that you bring your favorite treat that you probably haven't had since last Christmas so it is really exciting). It was such a fun night that by the next August I had people calling wondering when the party was so that they could plan on it. So the tradition started. Then over the years people moved in and out of our ward and some different people were invited but it was always hard because you had people that came every year and you can't have EVERYONE come. When we moved to Saratoga was the only year we didn't do it. And we were kind of sad.

Then last year Ryan suggested we try it again. Only that year we didn't have "regulars" and we just had to explain ourselves over and over. I know that we are goofy and most people don't appreciate our senses of humor but we did it and we had a good time.

So when we were trying to decide about this year we once again the list process. I hate having parties for this reason. I can only fit so many people into my house and I have such a hard time eliminating people from lists just because I can't fit everyone. In fact one year we were tempted to have a party every Saturday night until Christmas because there were still people that I wanted to invite. Anyway I wasn't going to blog about our party at all because I really feel bad because I have people that I LOVE that I didn't get the chance to invite and I don't want you to feel bad. The only reason I am putting this on is because other people have mentioned it and I don't want you wonder what was going on. If you are reading this and feeling bad because you didn't get invited just call my house and Ryan and I will gladly invite you for dinner, as we are happy to always have company and seriously have people invite themselves often. Right Bishop?

I hope that I haven't seriously offended anyone and you have to know that I seriously thought about not having the party this year because of the many comments that I have heard people say about our ward lately. Sorry, love, Kerri

Young Womanhood Medallion

Kathryn is an awesome girl! Today she is receiving her Young Womanhood Medallion. She has worked so hard without much help from mom or leaders. It is just in her blood to OVERACHIEVE and have a desire to get it finished. Last night Ryan and I took her out to celebrate. We told her we would take her out to eat or to the movies or she could go shopping and buy things with the money we would spend on dinner. She opted for the mall. But after 2/3 hours she didn't settle on anything she was in love with. So she'll get something another time. It was really fun. We had also rented the Emma Smith movie so when we got home at 11 they started watching it.

Ps by the way this was posted by Kerri not Kathryn just telling you how awesome she is! hee hee

Rebecca's Baptism

Well Saturday was a beautiful day. Rebecca was baptized and confirmed by her dad, Ryan. Her grandma Jagard gave a great talk about Baptism and her Aunt Deena Horton gave a talk about the Holy Ghost. Rebecca had planned the whole program, Sister Vander Hoeff and Sister Ledbetter did the music and many others participated. Sister Whetten did the programs and they looked FANTASTIC! We had lots of family come, Grandma, Aunt Marlyn, Aunt Deena, Uncle Tom and their kids, Kristin and the boys, Sam, Treva and Sarah and then we had some friends like the Brabys and Hunts. Of course we had food afterwards. Look at us do we look like we don't eat??? Don't answer, you know what it is.... It was so special. I can't believe my baby is baptized. Now we will be having graduations and missionary farewells, instead of baptism luncheons.

Tag I'm IT!!

YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car) Fishy Ford

YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (favorite ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) mint Macedonian nut

YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name)Khac

YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) Blue puppy

YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born) Cherry Provo

YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) Hacka

YOUR SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink) The Pink Shirley Temple

YOUR NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers)
Brent Dennis

YOUR STRIPPER NAME: (the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy) Amber Romance lemonheads

YOUR WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names) Louise Oreme

YOUR TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter) Andrus Austin

YOUR SPY NAME/BOND GIRL: (favorite season/holiday, flower) Spring rose

YOUR CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y) Cherry pantie

YOUR HIPPIE NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree) Colossal Crunch lemon

YOUR ROCK STAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”) The Shopping Overcast Tour


This was Kathryn and YOU are now it!!

Happy Birthday Mom

To all of my devoted readers, (hee hee) I have to tell you today is my mom's 64th birthday. My mom is an incredible person. She has been one of my best friends my whole life. She is a woman of great faith. She taught us the Gospel on her own.
She had 10 kids and forged ahead when it would have been easy to stay home from church because of not having the support of a member husband. She raised us to know that the reason you go to church is because of your testimony not because of your friends, or the social atmosphere. She has spent many meetings in the foyer with crying babies or nursing others but she went every week. She worked hard to clean her house so that my dad couldn't find reasons to make us stay home.
When we were growing up she stopped teaching school so that she could stay home full-time. That was when I was in kindergarten. She drove kids around in the van full-time then. I don't know how many HUNDREDS of lessons, ball games and recitals my mom has sat through. When we were growing up she tried to let us take as many lessons as our schedules/time would allow. She used to tell me that I should have been an only child because I had so many activities that she could be my full-time driver. To give you an idea in 9th grade I was in Concert Band, the tall flags captain, played school volleyball, did a stake musical, was also taking piano and voice lessons and did the Miss TEEN California pageant.
My mom had my drivers license appointment the morning of my 16th birthday because she was tired of driving me around. Then I could drive to early morning seminary and madrigals then my dad would drop her off at the high school so that she could get the van and do the rest of her errands.
My mom is my best critic. She would listen to me practicing for shows or working on characters and she could make suggestions for dance moves or the way I pronounced things that would make it better. She has sewn prom dresses, Madrigal costumes, drill team outfits, costumes, costumes and more costumes. She is still making costumes for shows for my kids.
When I moved away for BYU it was very weird to not have my mom around. I was so used to her being there to talk about everything. It was weird to get engaged to someone my mom hadn't even met yet. But the night the Ryan drove me home to meet her she got up in the night and talked to us for hours.
When Darren was born she brought Sarah (my sister that was 5) and spent nearly 2 weeks helping me recover and getting used to being a new mom. When Darren got sick she was the first one on a plane to Utah to be with us. She knelt with us in the waiting room of the ICU begging Heavenly Father for his life. She slept in the parent sleep rooms with us and then called everyday while we were there for that month.
She has tried to come after each baby for sure and that has helped. When Rebecca was born I got really sick and she cancelled her flight and stayed longer, even though she still has kids at home. After my hysterecemy she sent Marguerite for the first 3 weeks and then she came for the next 3 weeks. I would sit on the bed and she would help me clean out closets and organize things. Then we did nearly 10 years of scrapbooking in about a week.
About 5 years ago Marguerite was graduating from Grad school in London and Teresa, my mom and I went to Europe. It was such a fun trip. We had such a good time running all over countries that we hadn't ever been too. But also staying up in the middle of the night and talking.
When my dad got baptized and then we went to the temple is was very bitter sweet. Because it was very obvious that we were missing kids. There were only 6 of the 10 of us there. (Marguerite was on her mission)
My mom has 7 college graduates and Meri is in college right now. She has sent 4 full-time missionaries. She has also dealt with drug abuse with some of her children.
She has also raised Sarah who is 20 now and has Down's Syndrome.
I didn't start out thinking I would write so much but it just has sort of happened.
The hardest thing about me living in Utah is that my mom isn't close by. I'd love to be able to go and visit or shop whenever I want too. Anyway whether you choose to read this whole blog or not I decided to write it so that I have a journal entry of it.
Happy Birthday mom! You really are an incredible person and I know that you are the last person that would think. "Wow I'm an incredible, strong person." But that makes you even better. You are a humble servant of God who has devoted her life to service in the Father's kingdom and striving to raise righteous children that serve the Lord also. We love you!
ps I'll see if I have any pictures to post but that may take me a couple of days... seeing how it is parent teacher conferences right now and I just got up at 3am to blog.

Conference Weekend

I love General Conference. Sometimes you hear things that you know are meant just for you. Yesterday was filled with inspirational talks and ideas that make me want to work harder and be a better person. Our stake president has challenged us to read and study the conference talks each day. I started doing that with April's conference where each day I read and thought about one talk. It was really cool. It didn't seem overwhelming like if you sit down and read the Ensign from cover to cover each one was about 2-3 pages and you could get the gist and think about that throughout the day. One of the talks yesterday afternoon could have been given in our ward conference last week. Our conference theme was "Becoming a Zion People" and his talk went right along with it.
We also did a lot of cleaning, organizing and shopping last night. Remember the baptism is on Saturday. I did take off Friday so that I could get everything done and I'm not a stress case.