My little girl is 10!!

Stephanie has been a total joy in our lives. Her c-section was easy and I recovered so fast. By the time she was less than 3 weeks old she was sleeping through the night. I was choreographing Cinderella and I would feed her, put her in her car seat and go to rehearsal at 6:30 then she would sleep all through rehearsal, I would put her in her bed and she would sleep until I got up at 6:00. She was happy and would crack up everyone. She had the longest black hair that stood straight up. My mom kept putting in gell and it still stuck straight up. She reminded me of those Munchee munchee dolls. My dad drove up the kids and we actually blessed her when she was 8 days old.
I really liked the name Stephanie but everyone was sure that I had named her after our next door neighbor Stephanie Fackrell.
She has always had curly blond hair and has loved to dance and perform. For her birthday she wanted Ryan and I to take her shopping and spend the day all by herself. So that is what we did. She had so much fun spending her money. We give each of our kids a birthday budget. With that money they can choose whether to get all surprises, to have a party, to get the money it is totally up to them. Steph started out saying that she wanted some in surprises and some on her shopping spree. But while we were shopping she changed her mind and we spent all of the money. She had made a list of stores and items she was looking for. She is so silly.
I hate that her stomach hurts her all of the time. I feel bad that we can't find anything that will help it feel better. She mostly just doesn't say anything about it anymore. Lately she has been suffering from migraine headaches also. I feel bad because she is in a lot of pain.

An old (not really) friend

Many moons ago (like 17) I lived in Carroll Hall, in Heritage Halls at BYU. At the time Jennifer Berry lived with me. We had a wonderful year. We got along so well. We walked to class each morning singing "Oh what a beautiful morning" whether it was snow or shine. She was a business major and I a dance so we would walk to the Tanner building and I would cut across to the RB. She was a fantastic pianist and she would accompany my voice lessons, in fact my teacher liked her so well that she made all of her students pay her to play for their lessons also. My perk was that if I wanted to practice she'd gladly go to the practice room with me for many hours and play and play. That is a dream to have a live-in accompanist. But there were other things too. Jenn was a fantastic example to me. She read her scriptures everyday, prayed faithfully, and always made her bed. This was a special year for both of us because we both met our husbands and made the decisions to get married. We had many long talks about family life and goals and dreams we wanted to accomplish. She was from Washington so that January we made a trip to Washington together, her and Sam, for him to meet her family and get engaged, and Ryan and I for me to meet Ryan's family (as we were already engaged). She even helped Ryan pick out my wedding ring.

Anyway after Darren was born we lost contact. I think we were both busy trying to get through school and we were in different wards, neighborhoods etc. A couple of years ago I ended up on this website and I happened to look at the name of the webhost and it was hers. I couldn't imagine anybody else having that name from Price UT so I emailed her. Since then we have exchanged Christmas cards (not me this year I was lazy) and blogs. Always saying that we needed to get together but never doing it. Well, yesterday they had tickets to the open house also and they had agreed to drive out here for lunch afterwards. We had so much fun. Her kids are adorable and she and Sam haven't changed at all. You can tell that they are a happy family and couple.

When I was growing up my mom used to say that you can tell how good of friends you are with somebody if when you get together after time and you can pick up where you left off and it feels like it hasn't been that long. That was definitely how it was for us. We talked about old times and things going on now. The lucky thing about the Gospel is that you always have that core in common also. The hours flew by and it was starting to get late so they left. But it made me sad to realize how much I've missed her over the years. The other really nice thing was that my kids took right to hers so they were having fun also. Now we'll have to make the trek to Price and go and play with them!!

Thanks guys!! Of course chainmail was tried on...

The Draper Temple

Saturday morning we had the opportunity to go to the temple open house. It was beautiful. Rebecca's favorite room was the baptismal font. Maybe she just likes water?? Steph loved the brides room but then when we were in the celestial room she was amazed. It was fun to be in the temple with all of our kids. I was trying to show Rebecca the mirrors in the sealing room but they were shooing us out too quickly. We teased Ryan about the groom's dressing room. You know a locker, though there is a mirror in there. ha ha

I know that I posted that some of us had gotten haircuts here they are too.

A New Camera!

So I bought a new camera with some of my foundation money. It is AWESOME! I have been going to do it for a few months but I decided to go to Costco and buy it last night. It will be fun to play with!! Then I can actually post pictures!!

January

Guess what?! We are almost half way through January. Doesn't that make it awesome?

Last Saturday Stephanie decided to cut off her hair. She probably cut off a good 10 inches. Her hair is so dang cute and curly it doesn't matter how she wears it. Kathryn and I got cuts also, just not quite 10 inches.

Sam and Treva came on Saturday and Ryan taught them how to make sushi. They had a great time and ate lots of sushi rolls. Then we went to Orem for my nephew Cory's Eagle Court of Honor. I couldn't believe how many people there were in the Eagle's Nest almost 30.

Cory is an awesome kid and I can't believe he is a senior and going on a mission next fall. It won't be too long before it is Darren leaving. It was a great ceremony and they had tons of people there to support their family. Great Job DEENA!

BEDTIME STORIES

We took the girls to see Bedtime Stories yesterday and it was very cute. We all enjoyed it. It wasn't naughty at all. Rebecca said this "there was not swearing, but the daughter was dressed immodestly." Do you think we talk about this too much since my 8 year old walks away from movies with that in mind??