Do they ever really grow up?

My kids are sitting around my living room playing with Rebecca's car track and entertaining my 2 year old neighbor. I love that even though they are teenagers they can still have fun.

We had a fun Halloween, Darren went to a party, Jessica and Stephanie went trick or treating with their different friends, Rebecca went with Ryan and the neighbors and Kathryn and I stayed home and partied. She decided to skip the party in Saratoga which worked out because I really went to bed at 8:15 that night. Rebecca came home to hand out candy because that is her favorite thing to do:) Happy Halloween!!

Our Stake's Youth Trek

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELIa7f3QcaA

Tender Mercy

Today was an interesting day. But it ended up being fabulous... My neighbor called me while I was still at school to ask if she could crash our house with dinner. Apparently she had made too much pot roast and veggies and homemade rolls. Umm YES! Of course she could bring her kids and eat food at our house since she was bringing it for all of us too. So I called my girls to have them do a clean up job and we had delicious dinner... Thanks Jessica it was VERY thoughtful and definitely a tender mercy of our Heavenly Father. It was what I really needed:)

Halloween Party

So last night Ryan and I had the chance to dress up and play. Ryan made his Indian Costume 15 years ago and he has worn it for many different Halloweens but he had figured out he hadn't worn it out here yet. So we decided to be 'Cowboys and Indians'. After my dad met Ryan he told me that I was marrying a 'big kid'. Yes, I married a big kid! But let me tell you it is much more fun to be married to a kid that still likes to have fun after 18 years! I'm glad he is my best friend:))

Kathryn helped me make some chaps and she curled my hair and we played with our neighbor friends. Being a school teacher sometimes makes me dread Halloween but it was fun to dress up with adults and eat treats and not have 'kids' around.

And he did win one of the costume contests:) That makes his day.

Cutting me off at the knees...

Last week Darren casually mentioned to me that he was considering graduating early from high school. At first this was such a shock and something that I had never even thought of but then after we have spent a week praying and discussing it in many different aspects. I think that he is going to try to graduate a year early allowing him to go to college for a year before he leaves on his mission.
He has had fun in school but he seriously hasn't had a really good group of guy friends since we moved from Preston. He has various friends but most are either graduating, already in college or on missions. In thinking about it he would like to have the opportunity to go to school and be in a student ward that is focusing on sending missionaries out into the world. In thinking about my first 2 years at BYU the young men in our ward buoyed each other up as they prepared to go out to serve. This means that he does have to work hard this year but in reality he only has to earn 2 extra credits in order to graduate early. The weird thing to me is that he just chopped a whole year off of us. You tell yourself that you don't have worry because you have less than 2 years left before he leaves on a mission and then all of a sudden he decides to leave home a WHOLE year earlier.
When it comes down to it we are doing a lot of studying and praying and if this is what he is supposed to do it will continue to work out and he will be able to get into the school he needs to as well as get the financial help that he needs.

Lia Sophia

The girls' party is tonight. Come for treats!

Jessica

Yesterday Jessica was awarded her Young Womenhood Medallion. She will be 14 in March so yes, she is still a Beehive. When the church changed the program earlier this year she was nearly finished but she began the altered program which included reading the entire Book of Mormon. We are so proud of her. Jessica is my most shy child when it comes to grown ups and talking on the telephone. She is more than happy to play with any child or baby but ask her to speak to someone is like tightening the noose around her neck. She is also scared of heights and found herself nearly hyperventilating at the top of the repelling tower at Camp Williams. (I told her leaders she was scared of heights)

She is fun loving and silly much of the time but is also a straight A student and always has her homework done and is doing things for others. She has an infectious laugh and you can't help but like being around her. Did I say we are so proud of her? Great Job Jessica!
Love, mom and dad

PERFECTION!

Some days just turn out perfect... I know that is silly but I'll tell you last night our family had so much fun. Rebecca had saved some of her birthday budget so we could go to the BYU Women's soccer game and to cheap dinner.
So last night we drove over to Orem and went to Arctic Circle and the kids had $.60 hamburgers, corn dogs and/or french fries. (I've said it before we are cheap, no drinks, or anything else.) Darren paid $2 more so he could have extras but even including his the total it was $12 then I had won free yogurts on my friend Sharla's blog so we went there and dove right in. It was yummy but it would have been VERY expensive. They charge $.44 cents an ounce so the one that Rebecca and I had was .95 pounds about $5 but the one that Kathryn and Stephanie had would have cost over $12. Everyone elses fell between that range but like I said we had won them so we weren't worried and we loaded on nuts and expensive heavy items. YUM!
At that point the football game was just getting out so we drove up the street, got parking right in front and walked over to the Smith Field House Stadium. Now 20 years ago my roommate Ally was on the soccer team, so we went to all of the home games, she was the top scorer so it was really fun to watch, BUT since then they have built a stadium, put in real turf and it was so cool. Then to top it off BYU is ranked #9 in the NCAA. We had brought coats and blankets and we were donned in BYU blue. The place was packed! There were so many people there. And it was incredible to watch. Rebecca and Steph got to give Cosmo high fives and Rebecca was wearing her medal that she had gotten earlier at her last game so he was noticing that. Then after we won the fans line the fence and the players come and give high fives to the fans. The other great thing about it was that a family ticket was $15. That is just more than $2 a person for our family. Ryan kept saying this is so much more fun than I ever imagined. (for Ryan that is really good)
So except for gas, and including Darren's extra 2 we paid less than $30 for a family date night. Wahoo! Like I said it was near perfection...I love having teenagers. We joked and kidded all night. I love my family.

Darren

September was the month of DARREN... to begin with he had his Eagle Court of Honor.
It was such a neat night. I am so proud of the young man he has become. He had LOTS of people there to support him and not only did he have sugar treats we served Del Taco tacos and slurpees! What 17 year old doesn't love that? Kathryn even decorated a cake for the center piece.

Then his birthday was on the 19th. Some of his 'girl' friends gave him a hat, balloons and had a surprise party for him. It was really fun and I'm glad that he has these people in his life.

The next week was Homecoming and he went with Katie Wankier and doubled with Kenneth Stock and Jaden. They watched movies for their day date and then went to Texas Roadhouse and then the dance.
He has been working at my school as a sweeper which is helping him raise money for his choir trip to Seattle next April. I'm glad that he is driving and can help get people where they need to be.

Rebecca 2010

My baby Rebecca turned 10 yesterday. Wow! Since she was a scheduled c-section we didn't find out what we were having so we would have something to tell people about her birth. Funny thing was that it was the year 2000 and there were more babies born that week than there had ever been in the USA. The reasoning being was that most people stayed home over New Years for Y2K. Rebecca was actually due 2 weeks later so it made me laugh to sit in the hospital and watch Good Morning America while they interviewed parents who had just given birth.

The weekend before her birth I had been judging a Nutcracker audition and carrying Stephanie down the stairs from the stage and I fell and bruised my entire back. When we went into surgery the doctors and nurses all commented on my purple bruises that looked HORRIBLE. They spent nearly an hour cutting through scar tissue just to get to my uterus to deliver her and and then when they did finally cut it she kind of swam up. Neither doctor could get a hand on her and finally one of the OBs laid across my ribs (bruising those) and pushed really hard so that Dr. Noorda could get a grip on her. When they finally told us it was a girl they noticed they had cut her forehead a little bit (nothing that a little super glue couldn't fix).

Now I consider myself an expert on c-sections seeing as how I've had 5. But this recovery was nothing like the others. I wanted to believe that it was the same but the doctors had already told me that I had an infection, I lied and went home early, and sat at my house lying to myself, Ryan and my mom about how I felt. The Sunday after she was born my mom was scheduled to fly home and I woke up really early knowing that I needed to go back to the hospital. I woke her up and we woke up Ryan and we went to the ER. Anyway they got me feeling better and eventually I recovered. I know it was Heavenly Father saying "Yes, Kerri your body can't handle having any more babies, you need to be here to raise the ones you have!"

Rebecca was born singing and listening to music. She has sat through hundreds of piano and voice lessons. She would practice my opera with me as I would drive to my lessons in Logan. When she was four we went to the dollar store and she bought a sword. She came out and had me put her hair in a low pony tail. Then she told me she was Raoul from the Phantom and she was singing the songs that he sings at the cemetery.

She was in nearly all of the children's theater shows that I directed and she would help me choreograph them. Reminding me of things that I had done at home with her. In Peter Pan she couldn't decide whether she wanted to be a pirate or an Indian. She knew all of the material and had a place on stage for whichever part she came out on.
When she was 4/5 she played Gretl in Sound of Music. She was darling and took her part very seriously. Kathryn would go to rehearsals and the performances with her making sure she was ready for each of her entrances. Since I was playing the Barroness and I couldn't worry about whether she was in the right place at the right time.

She plays sports with anyone who will. Her favorite is soccer. She has boy cousins that she plays with faithfully. She is her Uncle Jeff's 'dream daughter' and we tease that she is Ryan's favorite Daughter and Son. She truly is the brother that Darren didn't get but don't let that kid you because she does like her hair curled and to wear dresses.

She has a strong testimony of the Gospel. When we found the bone tumor in her leg it was very scary. She asked her dad and uncle Jeff to give her a blessing so that she wouldn't be scared. It is still scary to know that she still has to have it taken care of but she knows that she will be okay. I love that she gets up to bear her testimony and she tells "stories" because it is more interesting when someone tells a story. (that is how she explained it to us later that day)
She loves learning especially science. She wants to play the drums when she's older. Anyway I just wanted to post a little bit about her since this is as close to a journal that I get.