Thanks Sweetie!

I just need to make a quick post to thank my sweet Brian for spoiling me rotten on Mother's Day! You would not believe it, but following church, he surprised me by fixing me a feast! Seriously, a feast! When he finally let me come into the kitchen, the table was full of sauteed shrimp (to die for!), a fruit platter with fresh pineapple, watermelon, cantalope, strawberries, kiwi, grapes, apples and pears, chips and fresh salsa, a caesar salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, and carrots on the side, and teriyaki chicken! The girls were so great to jump in and help dad too! Thanks so much, family of mine! (Now, if there was only a way to celebrate Mother's Day every Sunday...)

My baby is 5 years old!

Oh, you're not going to believe this and I am so devastated, but Kelsie Ann just turned 5 years old and her pictures have simply disappeared from the dang SD card! I even made a somewhat cute cake, but hence, no pictures to show! We had nine little 3, 4, and 5 year olds partying it up, but hence, no pictures to show! She woke up to her bedroom door decorated, but hence, no pictures to show! If I can figure out the video camera, I could post a video, but hence, I'm retarded with the video camera! I'll have Brian help me with posting the video later, but seriously, there are NO pictures from her big birthday and I have no idea how they could just NOT be on the SD card! I'm so sad!

Well, we ended up bagging the pinata at the party (it was too cold and windy outside and there was NO way that I was going to have a bunch of preschoolers swinging a stick inside the house!) so at least I still have the pinata! Her birthday was on the 9th, and since I didn't realize until today that her pictures had vanished, I had her pose on her new bike and show us her unbeaten pinata! Happy birthday Kelsie Ann!

Let's get this party started!

Yippee! Ben, my big, little brother, graduated from the University of Utah and is now officially a "Doctor of Pharmacy"! He graduated on May 2, but I'm finally able to sit and post about it! Luckily, Nadja took a bunch of great pictures from the graduation ceremony, so check their blog (I was having trouble inserting a link to their blog, so just click on their name on my bloggin' buddies to see them!) and then they hosted a wonderful graduation party the next day. There was tons of yummy food and also tons of yummy company! Here's a few pictures from the party:
The happy couple (Way to hang in there Nadja while Ben was plugging away at school!):


Here's our crazy Campbell clan (I made Ben stand in all the pictures...after all, the party was for him, right?!) click on it to see it enlarged


And of course, Ben's proudest accomplishments:



Thanks for being an awesome example to all of us, and our kids, Ben! And thanks so much for an awesome party Nadja! We love you!

Kaycee's 9! (Yeah, I'm old...)

Happy May Day to all of you! Yes, it is May 1st and that means that it is Kaycee's birthday! Hip hip hooray! Nine years ago today my water broke and Kaycee came into this world (we were supposed to be at Andrew's baptism on that day, too! Sorry A.J.!)! Well, one of our traditions is to decorate the birthday girl's bedroom door so that when they awaken, they have to come through streamers and balloons to start out their day. Well, I had a long day with our Youth Temple Celebration practice (we are preparing for a huge celebration for the Twin Falls Temple Dedication) and I fell asleep on the couch downstairs. I woke up around midnight, dead tired, and realized that I hadn't decorated her door yet and I HAD to do it before morning, so thus, the hastily decorated bedroom door:

Oh, and notice that Kaycee already has her school clothes on...I didn't wake up in time to video her coming out of her room as she woke up...and she DIDN'T want to put her jammies back on just for a picture! Well, Briana gave her some more PetShops and Kelsie gave her another Tamagotchi, Grandparents spoiled her with money and Webkinz and we gave her a trampoline...yeah, you heard me, a trampoline. I'm already having nightmares of broken bones...do you remember Kaycee broke both of her arms a few years ago...no, not just one, but BOTH arms at the same time! That was from jumping off a swing, not from a trampoline, so (knock on wood) we should be okay...Okay, back to birthday stuff... Well, some friends came over for a party and spoiled her with a few more PetShops, and some other very nice gifts! We played lots of games, ate birthday cake-in-a-cone, made mini pizzas and whacked a pinata (I don't know what it is about me and pinatas lately...maybe the "karmen" in me is coming out...you know, if it's spelled with a "c", it is SO dang Spanish, or Latin, or Mexican, or, you know, pinata-like. If this is not making sense, sorry, I'm just tired, but I really wanted to post something, okay!!) Enjoy the pictures:

Happy Birthday, Gup!

Sunday, the 13th was Guppy's birthday (I won't say how old she is, I'll just let you know that it starts with a "3" and ends in a "6") and the girls and I were able to zoom on up to Montpelier to spend a few days with her and the Ruuds! Tiffany was there for some of the time too so we made sure that we had a party! First, we made her an angel food cake (Okay, "Hostess" made it, but Tiff, Kenna, Brooklyn, Briana and I decorated it up a bit!)

Oh, and notice the chocolate fountain in the picture...we had lots of fruit and lots of snacks to dip! The funny thing about the chocolate fountain...this was our second batch of chocolate...you see, the first batch was just as beautiful and delicious looking until TONY DECIDED TO ADD MILK TO IT BECAUSE HE THOUGHT IT WOULD MAKE IT A BIT SMOOTHER! But NOOOOO, it totally clumped it up and clogged the motor thingy! I thought that I had a picture of the nasty stuff, but it must be on Gup's camera! Check out the bonfire that was created from all of Koriann's candles! (If you don't already know...Koriann is Gup or Guppy...check her blog for an explanation of this nickname that has stuck with her since she was a baby!)

Here we have the crowd gathering for some chocolate fountain, minus me and Tony (I was taking the picture and Tony was probably still hiding under the bed-worried that he was going to mess up another batch of chocolate!)

What would a party be without a pinata?! Tiff and I thought it would be fun to have a pinata, so here's a picture of Tiff, Gup and the pinata, and me...does it look like her?! The kids had a blast beating on that thing while Tony swung it from the banister overlooking their family room! (Check out Briana's blog to see pictures of kids swinging at the pinata! )

"What is Tony doing?" you might ask...he's making out with the head of a forlorn and beaten pinata that looks like his wife!

Well, Gup, we hope you had a very happy birthday and thank you so much for letting us come and celebrate with you! Oh, and she even had to teach Relief Society on her birthday! Because we were all there, she didn't even start preparing for her lesson until like midnight and it was a great lesson! She is excellent with her wording and making a lesson exciting and spiritual all in one! I'm jealous. Happy birthday Gup!

General Conference...you gotta love it!

Oh, what a wonderful weekend it has been! Don't you just love General Conference? To participate in a "solemn assembly" and sustain a new prophet of God was amazing! Every speaker seemed to have a message just for me and I grew to LOVE President Uchtdorf (I already had a soft spot for President Eyring, and of course for President Monson)!. I loved how down to earth President Monson was during the last session; so dang funny, but also so sweet and to the point. Here's a few pictures showing our family enjoying this Conference Weekend...
Kelsie and I started the morning off with a fresh batch of cinnamon rolls (before you start thinking that I'm Miss Molly Homemaker, remember, I make the dough in the bread maker!)...

Kaycee and Briana listened intently to our Church leaders as they played Conference Bingo...

Brian was "listening with his eyes closed"...

I know that our Church is definitely inspired of God, because we get this awesome spiritual rejuvination every 6 months! General Conference is always so uplifting to me and it comes just at the right time...when I'm starting to feel inadequate as a mother, as a visiting teacher, as a Young Women leader, as a wife, as a member of society. The prophet and General Authorities speak to me, make me feel loved, and give me that little push that I need to continue moving forward. I hope you all enjoyed it too!

Dying Eggs, Hunting for Eggs, Singing to Grandpa, Going to Church, Eating Cadbury Eggs and Egg-Salad Sandwiches

It looks as if Easter Weekend has come and gone, and boy was it early this year! We had to pull out the winter hats and scarves just to have an Easter Egg Hunt! Brian's dad turned 60 so all of Brian's family was in town for a surprise birthday party for him. While here, we had all the Pope cousins at our home for an Easter Egg Hunt. We had nearly 200 hidden eggs; the kids found them all in record time as they tried to hurry in from the cold! Sunday morning the Easter Bunny left a few good things, including a new outfit for the girls (instead of the usual Easter dress...he must have noticed that they have enough dresses in their closets!) and our Sunday lessons were very nice and focused on the Savior and His Resurrection. And we finally finished eating the last colorful hard-boiled egg! Farewell Easter of 2008!

 

Typing Test

I thought that I was a pretty fast typer, but apparently not as great as I thought. If you have a few minutes, scroll down to the bottom of my blog and take the typing test...let me know how fast of a typer you are (or how slow....it's okay!) I was a little confused when I first took the test, so make sure you press the space bar or enter/return when you are finished typing the first two lines and then the next lines will appear. It times you for a minute. Have fun and let me know how you did! ( I really am a busy person, but I had to take a minute and throw this on my blog!)