Reading Rainbow!!!

"It's nighttime, the kids are finally in bed and have surrendered to sleep. Husband is out playing basketball. Free at last! I noiselessly creep across to my bedroom, brush my teeth, slip into my cozy slothware and snuggle up in bed. With joyful anticipation, I quietly crack the cover of TWILIGHT, close my eyes, take a deep breath, and smile as I re-enter the world of Forks, Washington."

Yes, every time I open these books, it is a Reading Rainbow moment for me. As the pages flip open, light and joy spew forth and fill my mind with the dewy magic of Forks, lucious vampires, and chummy werewolves. It's like loosing an appendage to close the covers. This reading has lead to my crazy obsession with all things TWILIGHT.

To complete the journey on the Twilight Train, I had the AWESOME opportunity to meet the Queen Mother herself, Stepehnie Meyer, on May 17, 2008!!!
We had a fabulous outing hearing Q and A, meeting up with the Twilight Moms and getting our books signed. (A HUGE THANKS TO KATIE CAMPBELL, for knowing I would have to go and for securing me a ticket even though I was miles and miles away in no cell phone zone on the Caribbean!)

Let me preface the rest by just saying, more than anything, I want to be her sylist. I have been wanting to do this for some time-to create an exterior look that is more reflective of her creative genius! SO, as I sit in the audience, stomach churnin, I quickly ripped out a deposit slip from my checkbook, circled my contact information, write a note and screwed up all of my courage to ask her if I could be her sylist. It was nerve-wracking as we approached the dimly lit stage. We then had to organize our books just so, get in line and have our ticket. Well it was too much for Tara and I because we lost a ticket and we start to panic. "You have to have a ticket to get your book signed." HELLO, this close to the goal and what?! We scramble to find it in which book and she just patiently looks over and smiles at the inept moms scrambling to find our GOSH DANG TICKET!!! (See photos)...the agony! Finally, we get it and as we approach her highness, I blurt out, "I SO want to be your STYLIST!"
She looks at me and says, "DO I really look that bad?"
Time stops. And, as my husband would say, "BOI_OI_OING!" I randied.
I try to quickly jump out of the crater I just put myself in and explain that it is just for fun, to refine, to embellish! It was NEVER meant to be insulting. But, that is pretty much the story of my life. Tact=A big old goose egg.
When I told Brent, he just shook his head and said, "When are you ever going to learn tact?"
My guess, at this point, is never.
My big chance and I blew it. HOWEVER,at least I did what I felt I wanted to. I didn't bail out at the last minute, or cave in the Soup Nazi type setting that threw off my whole game. Stephenie Meyer is not someone who 4.5 seconds with can satisfy. She's the type of gal you really pray, to someday have a conversation with.
And for now, like Anne of Green Gables, I'm content with my [4.5 seconds]. (However bad I bonered them!)

READING RAINBOW Pt.II

The same day as my Stephenie Meyer frenzy, Provo City sponsored a "UTAH AUTHORS" fair. Grandma Green was nice enough to take ALL of the kids down to Academy Square and visit the various authors and illustrators. They had the time of their lives!!! They got to meet Brandon Muil, Guy Francis, and Shannon Hale among others. Kenz even got Austenland autographed for me!
It was wonderful to see them so excited about how the books are made and written and illustrated. WHy don't we do more things like this? It was seriously as good as a day at Disneyland for our kids. SO THANK YOU PROVO, for forgetting about carnivals and other useless Oriental Trading give aways. This gift was far more precious!

Dancing like the Stars

Our girls just completed another year of dancing and had their annual concert. IT was fun this year to see McKenzie joined by her little sister, Presley. They had five shows within two days and did so well. (I thought for sure, Presley would die.) But, she showed off her usual uninhibited self, and stopped to wave at audience members. McKenzie has a real flair and rythmn that makes her so much fun to watch and enjoy. Once I install the new ilife, I'll post the movies of their dances for the world to enjoy. You can even see that Grandpa got in on the action. Hats off Ladies! Bravisimi!!

Special Day

Last Saturday, May 3rd, our first-born, McKenzie was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. She went in looking like an angel and came out even more pure, clean and beautiful. WE are so proud of her for wanting to follow the example of Christ in this and know that it will be a blessing in her life. We are also SO grateful to all of the family and friends who came to show thier love and support for McKenzie and us. We had such a fantastic day, and it was just one of those things that makes me SO indescribably happy to have been given the opportunity to be a mother to these amazing, and fantastic kids. I love being a mom. And it was a precious moment for me to see her go into the waters of baptism and come out and hug her and let her know what a choice daughter she is to us and to her Heavenly Father. I'm sure she will do amazing things with her life. WE lOVE YOU KENZ!

Family Pics

Here are a few family pictures from our parties. Everyone is always complaining that I never post pictures of myself on the blog. As you can see, you're not missing much. ENjoy!
They are: Dora Calling, Goofing Off, Daddy's Girls, and Sit down and act nice, twice!

Coming SOON...

to a theater near you, INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL!!!
AND, just to be super cool, our son, who is named after this ficticious character has a birthday on the EXACT date of the movie release: May 22nd! SO we will be celebrating INDY style all day, taking in a matinee, and finding some chilled monkey brains to eat, only after we finish getting rid of any snakes we can find!
Brent has been contacting Lucasarts and others trying to get a favor in for this cute, smart and amazing kid. Just look at him! Who can't love THAT?!

Baby Presleys Birthday!

It's a sad event for me to watch my baby grow up. But we had so much fun that day, that I couldn't help to relish in the joy of having another beautiful and amazing daughter.
As I had promised several months earlier, and she had remembered, we had to go and get, "dora plates, dora napkins, dora balloons, etc." ALL THINGS DORA and ALL THINGS PINK AND PURPLE were the order of the day. We enjoyed the morning together making cupcakes and party bags. Each time the door rang, she BOOKED 90 to get there. She would then open the door, jump up and down and say, "Did you bring me presents!" Unfortunately, due to her endearing personality and popularity with so many, she always DID get a present. Talk about being showered with love.
She had a small DORA party with 3 friends, and I ran out of games in the 1st fifteen minutes. My husband had a good laugh about that. And due to my AWESOME neighbor, we had a gloriously perfect and amazing DORA cake. (I looked at that pan about sixty times before I made myself face reality and that this is certainly beyond my level of abilities.) THANK YOU GINA!!!
That evening more visits from grandparents, neighbors and friends, made a perfect day even more filled with joy. Thanks so much for this precious thing in our lives and loving her like we do! Happy Birthday Baby Presley!