treasures

I came home late after a girls night out last night and found a perfectly clean kitchen and a note:

Dear Mom,

I cleaned the kitchen for you!  I 'heart' you and please come give me kisses and hugs and loves.  Your the BEST Mom ever.

Sincelerly,
Makenna

P.S.  I unloaded the dishwasher and loaded with dirty dishes.

Can I just say one sweet little 8 year old got major kisses and hugs and loves last night.

a day at the spa

I just got back from a relaxing day at the Spa. The Spa-de-Ken, that is. Makenna decided I need a makeover, and gave me a facial, back and leg massage, which was surprisingly AMAZING, and a manicure. Wow, who knew that an 8 year old could rock out a spa day in such an awesome way.

Here were the main takeaways I heard:
As each layer of eyeshadow went on, and there were seriously like 4 "Oh yeah...that looks great!"

As the blush was applied, "Mmmhmmm, you have a nice glow to you now"

And don't forget massive amounts of lip gloss. The colors that were chosen for me? Blue, purple, and green. The pretty pink lay there calling out to me, but was unfortunately ignored. Maybe next time, precious pink.



Thanks Makenna for being a rock star to your Mom!

baptism day

Makenna was baptized on Saturday and it was such an amazing day. We started with a BIG breakfast per Makenna's request. We had a lot of family traveling to Medford, so we invited them all over to share raspberry truffle pancakes, hash browns, eggs, and sausage with us.

Makenna slipped into her pretty white dress, and we headed to the church for her big day. More family and friends joined us as Makenna was baptized by her Dad, and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. While Makenna was changing back into her dress, we had our family and friends write a letter to Makenna that we plan on binding into a book. She was given lots of loving words and advice in those letters, what a treasure they will be for her to look back and use as a tool as she works her way through this life.

We love you, Makenna and are proud of the big choice you made to be baptized!

Makenna was so excited to be baptized by her dad.  These two are the sweetest

together.  Makenna looks up to Ben in the all the best ways, and wants to make him happy

all the time.  I'm so glad that she loves her Dad so much, and is able to have him be a part of 

her special day.  We love you Makenna!  Keep making such good choices, and keep letting your Mom and Dad be in your corner cheering you on!

happy birthday kendoll

Makenna is 8! I just want to know where the last 7 years have gone. What has happened to my little baby girl?

Makenna has grown so much this year!

She finally talked me into buying those roller skates, and she was right...she did awesome!
Has excelled at school, and is part of the TAG program
She has developed a love for music, and wants to learn the violin and piano
Started her first year of Little League Softball, and their team went undefeated, 18-0
Has become a great friend to her Mom and Dad, we fight over who gets to take Makenna places :)
Is a great big sister to Jared, always wanting to make sure he is happy


I am so proud of Makenna and the girl she is becoming. She has made an important decision to be baptized on September 5th at 11:00 am, in Medford. All are welcome, and we would love to see you there!

Happy Birthday, Kenna Rosie!

hot date

We got home from camping, and I was dying to go out. Being pretty last minute, we couldn't get a babysitter, so I traded a date with Ben for a date with Makenna.

I introduced Makenna on one of my favorites...Olive Garden. She loved it as much as I do. We ordered a pasta and broccoli dish, and shared. I taught her the art of filling up on bread sticks and salad, and bringing home the dinner as leftovers for the next day. Life lessons here.

After dinner we went to a friends wedding reception. Ate cake. Chatted. Dropped cake. Blew bubbles. Got another piece of cake to replace the dropped cake. Said goodnight to a wonderful evening with my kiddo, and realized just how unfair it is that someday I will have to share my dates with her.

Makenna is so full of light and life. She loves to laugh and make others happy. What a special girl, I'm glad I got to share a fun night to rediscover what makes her such a great girl!

call us crazy

Makenna and Luke's first time going down the river.

We rented a kayak and Makenna and Luke each tried their hand with the rapids. With the exception of one terrifying moment, when Makenna and Ben got lodged on rock, and almost flipped, it was a complete and total blast. Makenna lost her flip flops out of the kayak, and had to wear only socks the rest of the camping trip. What kind of mother only packs one pair of shoes?

We had some seriously great moments together, complete with a water fight at the water spiket. Makenna and Luke were both totally soaked and in complete water-logged heaven. It was a great way to cool off their bodies from the 100 degree weather. 

This was one of the best trips we've ever been on...

Jared hangin' in the tent. The only place to keep clean.

Oh my...what will we do with this one in 8 more years?

Jared couldn't get enough of this juice. It was an orange and pineapple mix.  

I just want to bottle this up! I loved this moment with Luke!!

little hoodlums?

Jared rockin' to the ipod. You should see this boy's moves.

He can dance like nobodies business.

Throwing the ball back and forth. and back and forth. back and forth.
Get the idea?

Jared playing Peek...

a boo.

 A picture that's worth a thousand words...looking at Luke's legs
being held securely in place by Dad's.  How, as parents, we try to
protect our kids and keep them safe from harm...just as Ben is doing here.

Oh Luke, you just conquered the world...or maybe just the river for today.
But he knows he did something big today, and he was so proud of that.
Conquering the river today, the world is for tomorrow.  So proud of you buddy!

I loved sharing this experience with our children.  They had
an absolute blast camping, getting filthy, water fighting, and rafting
the river.  It's so fun to watch memories being made.

Makenna's picture taking skills.  So fun to see the world out of
her eyes for a second.  I loved spending so much distraction free time with
our family.  There's nothing quite like camping. 

Nothing says successful river run, like crashing hard in the car afterwards.

Ben relaxing on the kayak.  A rare moment where Jared is being completely still.  

I was making dinner, and used the tent as a way for Jared to get down and play without getting FILTHY! Jared sat and "read" books for 20 minutes. I took this picture through the mesh of the tent.

So darling!

This kids imagination never ceases to amaze me.  Luke took a couple
of lego car frames and strapped them onto his shoes.
He skated around the campsite for as long as he could,
before they slowly came apart and broke.  It was worth it, though,
great idea, great execution, and so fun to watch his imagination go strong.

Oh, man. Those eyes know how to work magic

And Ben wrapping up the evening reading to Luke.

We had an awesome time, and was greatly reminded of how the Lord watches over us and keeps us safe. I am so grateful for the great teaching moments we had on the river and for all the fun we had in strengthening our family by playing together.

san fran

We just got home from a quick trip to the Bay area, we had fun at a Disney Train Tour promoting "The Christmas Carol" movie coming out for the Holidays, then we headed to Discovery Kingdom for a couple of days. We had a blast! Makenna's favorite ride was the Tony Hawk and the Roar (a wooden roller coaster that drops 10 stories at one point). Ben took her on the wooden roller coaster, and Makenna was shedding a few tears as the roller coaster was loading up, she almost changed her mind, but the competitor in her wouldn't back down...she went and she loved it!

Luke's favorite ride was a red train and the helicopters that went up and down depending on how you pushed the joystick. So fun, and so cute to watch their happy little faces. Discovery Kingdom also had some amazing animal shows. We saw Dolphin shows, Shouka, the Killer Whale, and tigers.

The Train Tour was amazing! It describes how they made this movie using a combination of acting and animation. Special sensors are placed on the actors bodies and faces, the computer recognizes movements and facial expressions, then they animate the character. At the end of the tour they had kiosks set up to take your picture and allowed you to morph your face into the different characters. Makenna's favorite was Belle, and Luke loved himself as the ghost! Then we headed over to take a sneak peak of the movie.

Makenna was interviewed by the Oakland Tribune, and was quoted in the next day's paper as saying: "It was cool to see how they did movies. I'm very grateful I got to go on this train with my parents. I was excited to see the movie. I also enjoyed getting my face morphed into Belle." Needless to say we made a stop at the store the next day and bought Makenna a paper to keep in her "special box".

No trip to California is complete without a stop (or, in our family, a couple of them) to In-n-Out, and this trip was no exception. We stuffed ourselves silly on grilled cheese sandwiches (my favorite) and milkshakes (you should see Jared go to town on those! He definitely has the sucking thing figured out!)

All in all the trip was fantastic. We did have our moments of baby food being flown into my hair, and poo water flying out of the toilet (don't ask.) But all things considered it was a great trip and great memories were made for all!

Makenna and Ben taking a virtual tour of London, where the movie takes place.

Kissy face

Ben and Makenna morphing themselves into different characters.

This is a perfect picture, it captures everyone in the phase they are going through. Makenna is being goofy, Luke shy, and Jared constantly distracted.

What a goof ball! Getting ready for the 3D sneak peek to start.

Then, we headed to Discovery Kingdom...Makenna and Jared on the Thomas the Train ride.

These two had the best day.  Watching them laugh and ride on

different rides together made my day.  They are at such a great age right now, 

where they get along and play so great together.  Memories were made, and bonds

were formed that I hope will carry with them a lifetime.