Kids say the darndest things....

Tonight was our Ward Talent Show, and we were all excited to participate. We chose to do some skits and try out our performing talents. Kevin helped the kids put together a little skit, and I did one with some of the Relief Society ladies. To make this even funnier, I have to add in that the kids' skit was about needing toilet paper, and at first Palmer was on board, but then he was trying to back out when we were driving to the church because he thought he'd be embarassed.

I didn't have my camera, but even if I had, it would not have captured the priceless moment of the night....

So as all talent shows go, there are the performances, and then there are the gaps in between. To fill the gaps our awesome emcee dazzled us with his assortment of Laffy Taffy jokes, and invited others to share in the joke telling. We had some great "a man walked into a bar" jokes, and lots of fun knee slapper jokes. Well, after about four or five of these "gaps" where open mic joke telling was going on I see Palmer standing with the mic in his hand, then I hear.....

A boy goes to see his doctor and says, "Doctor, I need a new bum, 'cause my old one has a crack in it." The doctor says, "I've told you a million times; everybody's bum has a crack in it!"

Everyone was busting up laughing, I was turning several shades of red. I had NEVER heard this one from him! I pulled him aside to ask him about his joke, wondering where on earth this came from. He told me he read it in 'Diary of a Whimpy Kid'. Then I explained to him that although it was funny, it wasn't the best choice for a joke in the church; with lots of people looking on and chuckling to themselves. This stuff is so much funnier when it's someone else's kid. But, I do have to admit that it was pretty funny.

So, the Kemps managed to make their mark on the Ward Talent Show. Open mic might not be so open next time, and in the mean time we get to be the "butt" of lots of jokes!....at least Palmer said bum.

changes.....

This is what one corner of our basement usually looks like. This is where all the toys go, and where the kids are supposed to go to play with them. What mostly happens though is the kids get out a bunch of toys that they leave out, or the toys find their way upstairs and all over the house because the basement is too boring!

They love to make swords and weapons with their toys and then play whatever adventure movie they've just been watching.... Star Wars, Narnia, Princess Bride...you get the idea. But, they DON'T like to play it in the basement. So I find swords, guns, legos, etc.... ALL OVER!!!! Well......

The kids woke up to a surprise last week. A tv and dvd player in the basement! Now they can watch and play their adventures at the same time!!! Life is good.

Now, we didn't put a tv in the basement purely for the kids' entertainment. Kev and I have been struggling like everybody else to find time to exercise. We do have a gym that we can go to, but with the crazy school schedules we have, sometimes getting to the gym is impossible. So, we decided to put a tv in the basement and make the play area a play/exercise area where we can take advantage of the weight bench we have and the workout videos we own. Last week was my first week, and it went pretty well, I got in 4 workouts. This week I'll do better, and hopefully Kev will be able to join me a couple of times.

I hope these changes will make life a lot better. Kev and I will feel better and get the whole fitness thing back on track, and maybe my house will stay a little cleaner since the basement is more entertaining! The first thing Preston said about the new and improved basement was "Great, now we're gonna have to keep the basement clean cuz mom wants to work out."

Crazy Times!

I have been MIA for a while now, life's been super CRAZY! Here is an update of our last 2 months.

December was great. Kevin and the kids had their last day of school on the 18th. We then cleaned the house, packed the car, and headed for Utah on the 20th. The drive was ok, Nick got car sick the first night, the next day was full of "Are we there yet?" Driving across Wyoming takes FOREVER!! Finally after 1 1/2 days in the car we were home for the holidays. Here are a few pics of the festivities.


This year for Christmas we did a few things we've never done before. First, we spent the night at my parent's house, which was so much fun. It was fun to share our pizza tradition. Second, we let Preston open one of his gifts Christmas Eve because it was a group gift from Kev and I and our parents. We got him a guitar and we wanted the grandparents to see him open it. He was really excited for another instrument to learn to play. He does a really good Nacho Libre imitation! Then, we had a new santa helper this year, and that was a blast for me! It was so much fun to watch my buddy being so excited to make Christmas special for the family. The last thing that was different was all the presents were wrapped, which made for a little christmas morning confusion. We heard the kids get up, then we heard Santa's little helper being a little too helpful showing Nick that Santa had left him presents under the tree. We hurried out. On to the presents!

This year was also different because our kids are all getting older, and gift giving is a little harder to figure out. When we asked what they wanted the things were either too over the top, or too little kid. For instance, Kaydie wanted a Dora bathtub toy she had seen at the store. What the? I had to remind her she's going on 7, not 3! Then, we had lists that included PSP's, DS Lites, huge Lego sets! But as the kids told us it's ok to ask Santa for those because the elves can get the expensive things, then they're free! Let's just say this Christmas morning will not go down as one of the more magical ones! Palmer was upset that Kaydie got the MP3 player HE asked for, and he did not get anything that was on his list! He and Nick got remote controlled cars, what was Santa thinking?! Kaydie only got A Barbie, not BarbIES! There was some pouting and whining, and Kev and I almost fought back with "Well, maybe if you'd behaved better and had done a better job of obeying then you would have gotten what you asked for!" but we resisted. As the morning went on they decided their gifts were not as bad as they thought, it took until the afternoon til they would admit that they were having fun with their stuff. Preston got a digital camera, and Kev got a big hug from him, that made it mostly all better.

We had so much fun being home. We played lots of Battleship and Wii, had yummy dinners with friends and family, and had a great time being with the people we love and miss so much. But all good things eventually come to an end, and so did our holiday.

It was hard to leave again, I had to fight back tears when it was time to go. Nick got car sick again, then we decided to go a different way home, and ended up driving the whole way home in one day! We did not intend to do that, but when when it was 11:00 at night and we thought we were 3 hours away, we figured we would just go and not worry about stopping at a hotel. Well, we were actually 5 hours away and we got home at 4:00am! The kids were so funny when we were getting them out of the car, they couldn't believe we made it all the way, they were so proud that they had been such good little travelers and helped us get so far!

We got home early Jan 2. I was ready to get back on a schedule, looking forward to the kids being back in school, and excited for a week when the kids would be in school, but Kevin was still on his break. The kids had their first day back on Tues., and they went on Wed. Then came the arctic blast that made the temperatures dip to 30 below zero wind chill.... NO SCHOOL! Another LONG weekend. The kids were thrilled, me, not so much. Our anniversay was on Fri. the 8th, Kev and I had planned to spend the afternoon together, and we did.....at the Olive Garden.... with the kids! The plans changed, but we still had a fun day. It was fun to include the kiddos on our day, I think it made them feel pretty special too.

The next week we were back on track. All had been going well until Thurs the 14th when Kevin's brother called to tell us Grandpa Kemp had passed away. We weren't sure what to do, sometimes it's so hard to be a 1000 miles away. I told Kevin he needed to be there, and his uncle offered him a plane ticket. Kevin was going to fly out Monday, go to the funeral on Tuesday, and fly home early Wednesday. This decision was really bothering me, I couldn't get passed the feeling that all of us should be there, but I didn't want to make waves. My schedule was not the problem, it was Kev's that was hard to work around, but I didn't want to make him feel guilty about it. Finally on Sunday morning I couldn't hold it in anymore, and as we talked we decided to change the plans. We decided that we would drive out that day, and then he could still fly back on Wed, and I would drive back with the kids.

So, less than a month since we had left the last time we were headed back to Utah, again. I am so thankful for guidance from Heavenly Father, even when it's a pit in your stomach and a thump on the head saying WRONG! We felt so much better about going together, even though it meant a long week.

Being home for Grandpa's funeral was such a blessing for our family. It was so good to be able to be with our family and be able to participate in the funeral. We were so glad that our kids were able to listen to stories about their great-grandpa and learn more about him.

Kevin flew home early Wed morning, then we headed out on Thurs. I had not planned on driving 4,000 miles in one month, and definately not driving 1,000 without Kevin, but we made it home on Friday!

Then, I think Nick picked up a flu bug at church on Sunday. He got sick Tues night (26th) and threw up AGAIN! He asked me why he was the only one who throws up! I felt sad for him. But, he didn't have to feel bad for long, Preston followed on Thurs, then Kaydie and Palmer finished up the group on Sunday night. Another week and a half of school that my kids were missing. Finally, February arrived on Monday, and by Wednesday everything was back on track.

So now, after 6 crazy weeks I am hoping (knock on wood) that life will get back to whatever normal is! Time is flying, there is always so much keeping us busy, but life is good and I wouldn't have it any other way.

These are some pictures of some snow fun for the boys. Kaydie wasn't feeling well, so she missed it. We love playing in the snow!

These are from my parent's house. They have a big jetted tub and the kids put it to good use while we visited. The soft water and jets were a great combo for tons of bubbles.