Golden

Today while eating lunch, Caleb and I had a conversation that topic hopped as usual.  At one point he asked, "Who doesn't have any toys?"  I told him there are a lot of people in the world that don't have any toys and that don't have beds or homes either.  He responded by saying, "like that man at McDonald's."

Almost a year ago we went on a road trip to California.  On our way back home, we had to drop David off on campus for a job interview (we were cutting it a little close). While David did his thing, I took the kids to a park and then to McDonald's for an ice cream cone to pass the time.  We had just sat down to eat our ice cream when I noticed an old man with a long white beard sitting in the back corner looking down.  He had a small bag full of belongings on the bench next to him.  The room was full of people talking, but the tables surrounding the man were vacant.  I picked up both kids and we approached the man and I asked if we could buy him some food.  He looked up at me and asked if I was sure.  I said yes and we walked over to the food counter together.  I told him to order whatever he wanted and again he asked if I was sure.  I told him yes again and he ordered his food.  After he returned to his table to eat his two cheeseburgers, I took the kids to the car knowing that we had several bags of groceries and food that we had not used on the trip.  I told Caleb what we were doing and he helped me pack the bags full of food.  I slipped a little bit of money into one of the bags and we went back into McDonald's and handed them to the man.  He was very gracious, but chances are he doesn't remember me or my kids.  But I remember him and so does my 4 year old boy.

Yesterday David reminded me that I have a birthday coming up.  I did realize that, but what I had not yet realized is that it is my golden birthday.  He laughed when I told him that now my birthday has to be extra special.  This is never going to happen again in my lifetime! After Caleb made that comment today, I remembered reading about The Birthday Project a while back.  I think it will do the trick.




My birthday also reminds me of my sister since our birthdays are a few days apart.  You could say we are bff's.  Here's a not-so-stellar quality, but recent picture of us at a wedding dinner.  We live in different states and she just happens to be coming to AZ the weekend before our birthdays for a wedding.  She and her husband are more than likely going to be living in California for a few years and we don't know where we will be living yet.  Here's to hoping we live in the same state again one day, otherwise birthday weekend trips may become a tradition.

Happy February!

Life is good today

After spending time looking through pictures that I had not seen in awhile, I thought life is good.  Then for better or worse, that country song came ringing through my head.  I am pretty sure that the artist was saying his 'life is good today' because he was partying and sitting on a beach.  Life is definitely a party over here, just a different kind--a better kind.  It starts first thing in the morning and doesn't end until the last kid is snoozing and sometimes there is even a 3 a.m. wake-up call for more partying.

While looking for a family picture to send my grandma, I paused at this one.  Out of the 100 pictures, there were only about 3 where we were all looking at the camera.  This picture is not the one that I chose for Christmas cards and I probably wouldn't frame it, but I like it because this reminds me of how things are right now.  The kids are active, moody, affectionate, playful, funny, and completely unpredictable.  Meanwhile, as parents we just keep smiling, even if it's hard to do sometimes.  

We have some really good kids that I love a lot.  A love that I didn't know I was missing until I held them in my arms.  

That is a good man sitting next to me.  He works hard to make all of us happy and to always do the right thing.  He will always be the keeper of my heart.

So life is good.

Other updates:  

David secured a job with a great company for post-graduation (less than 4 months away).

David turned 30-it still blows my mind.  Luckily that brought no sad feelings for him, on the other hand I was somewhat depressed.  I will need the next 4 years to prep for that one.

Caleb turned 4 and Olivia turned 2 last month.  I still see a 2 year old and a newborn when I look at them.

We bought are leasing a car.  It was a pretty big deal for us.  It's a white SUV.  Naturally Caleb was somewhat disappointed because we didn't get the red sports car that was in the dealership lobby.

Caleb is a superhero and can run as fast as flash.  He is sensitive, cautious, and smart.  He is a sweet older brother and trains his sister in the latest spider-man moves.  He is emotionally intelligent.  He will tell me, "Mom, I feel frustrated" and can talk about what is bothering him.  However, he started to do this pouting thing the last few weeks and that needed to go so I started a pout chart today.  He didn't pout once today so he earned 5 pennies.  Probably some of the best five pennies I have ever spent.  

He recently asked me, "Mom, you are going to be sad when I go to kindergarten?"

Me: "Yes Caleb, I will be sad when you go to kindergarten."

Him: "Why?"

Me: "Because then I won't get to be with you as much as get to now."

Him: "I got an idea.  I'll go to the other (kindergarten) school then I'll come home and do school with you and then we can play."
I am glad that he is looking out for me.

Olivia is funny.  She says things that are so laughable when they come out of a 1 or 2 year-old mouth.  She is very loving and always wants to be held and hold hands.  She is suddenly becoming more independent and feminine.  Every day she pulls out her 5 outfits that she wears on a daily basis (3 of which are princess nightgowns) and admires them while saying "this is lovely" "this is wonderful" then after getting dressed, she will say in a singsong voice while touching her chin to her shoulders with the most dazzling face she can muster, "I'm beautiful.  I'm a princess." She says it in the most serious manner, too.  Even when she has dirt all over her face, she doesn't care what anyone thinks and she believes with that whole little heart of hers that she is lovely.  And she is.  I hope she never loses that and the world never penetrates that sweet heart to make her think that she is not a beautiful princess.  

So there's a little peek into what's going on around here.  We are excited for the new year and to see what 'parties' lie ahead.

A Week With Dad

Last week David had fall break...5 days of bliss!  Holiday breaks may be my favorite thing about going to school.  We planned outings each day and the kids loved having some extra Daddy time!

We were in California last weekend for Grandpa Schofield's funeral.  It was a nice service and good to see family.  It is always sad to not be able to see someone anymore and he will undoubtedly be missed, but we know that he is happy to be with his wife and daughter again.

We extended our California stay to the beginning of the week since David didn't have school.  We visited one of David's best friends from his glory days back at Bountiful High and BYU.  Dan and Sara were such sweet and generous hosts and we had so much fun visiting them.  Caleb enjoyed snuggling right up to Dan and playing some Wii.  Hopefully we can return the favor and have them come stay with us:).

We went to Leo Carillo Beach because I thought Caleb would enjoy exploring the tide pools because we had just done a lesson on fish and frogs-perfect field trip!

I should have better predicted Caleb's response to the tide pools.  Caleb is one of the most cautious 3 year-old boys you will ever come across.  For example, when standing on the steps of the swimming pool, he grabs Livvy and says, "Stop Livvy!  You will sink to the bottom and die!"  Needless to say sometimes his cautious attitude makes him a little fearful of new things.  So when we started walking among the rocks and tide pools looking at the anemones and crabs, Caleb ran back to the beach where there was more stable and dry ground and no unknown creatures.  He preferred exploring the rock caves, finding cool sea shells and and looking at the sea creatures from a distance.  Sweet boy.

On the other hand, Olivia was walking in the pools and loved touching and holding the crabs.

I enjoy seeing how different our kids are and their unique personalities and gifts.  Hopefully they will use them to continue to help each other as they get older.  Final summary:  We all had a good time being together.

 Later in the week, we went to AZ Air Time.  This is probably the kids favorite place to go.  Bounce houses and trampolines galore!  What could be better than that?!  It also makes for the perfect wrestling medium for Caleb and Daddy.

 We also made a trip to the zoo thanks to a culture pass.  Culture Passes have made our Friday Field trips so much cooler.  They are at public libraries and you can get admission for 2 into several museums/gardens/zoo in the area for free!  It was a little bit cooler outside when we got there in the morning so the animals were actually walking around rather than lying hidden in the shade somewhere like usual.

Caleb was the official navigator and didn't let go of that map in his hand for 3 entire hours.  Caleb and Olivia have become quite the little buddies.

Coolest animal award:  Jaguar-although he looked like he wanted to eat our faces off! 

Wedding #4

Wedding #3 was David's sister Rebecca and it was also in June, but I don't have any of those pictures so we are going to have to come back to that one pronto once I get some pictures in order to finish this wedding series.

So the most recent wedding was for my older brother Daniel and he married LeeAnne one week ago in Dallas, Texas.  One of my brothers getting married is kind of a big deal (because it has never happened).  Daniel is the youngest of my brothers and he has long claimed that he would definitely be married by the time he was 'fill in the blank' (I think the first chosen number was 26, maybe 27).  That number changed each year that passed by with him still single.  The most recent number that he had been saying he would be married by was age 30.  One of my other brothers gave Daniel a timer last Christmas that was counting down the hours, minutes, and seconds to his 30th birthday that was coming up.  Daniel didn't have a girlfriend at Christmas, so we didn't think he was getting married anytime soon and was clearly not going to make it to the approaching deadline.  Then came the miracle.  Shortly after Christmas, he started dating one of his bf's whom he had known for a while (LeeAnne) and realized they were more than bf's and he didn't want to be with anyone else.  They fell madly in love and were engaged a few months later.  He didn't make it quite before his 30th birthday, but he did it!  I don't know if I had ever seen my brother look as happy as he did on their wedding day.  He's not usually really open with his emotions, but he could not stop smiling ear-to-ear the day they got married.  I am so glad that he found a girl that makes him that happy.  They are so good for each other and bring out the best in one another-they are going to make a wonderful couple.  Congrats to the most recent newlyweds and welcome to the first Fuller sis-in-law!

My dad and I took their wedding pictures so these are some of the photos that I shot.

It was a long day for the woman.  Here she is chowing down on some fishies that temporarily relieved the crazies. 

The Fuller family with a few more.  My brother Carlen recently got engaged and his fiance is in the picture as well.

My four siblings and I.  The first thing that I thought when I saw this picture was, "Wow, we are all grown up, WEIRD!"  I can't believe we are all adults.  I still don't feel like an adult myself sometimes.  It was one of those moments of epiphany when you realize how much time has passed since you were the little girl playing baseball cards with your brothers and jumping on the bed with your sister when you didn't want to go to sleep.  We all live in the grown up world now, doing the grown up thing...I can't believe it.  We still love each other and still have a good time together. They are pretty awesome. 

We had a small handful of normal-smiling pictures and about 30 of these.  Like I said, we still have fun together and they make me laugh.  Poses from left to right:  Aleasha-I think I am still 17 and have smooth moves; Jason: Congratulations Daniel, you just got married, here's a punch in the chest; Daniel-  I am invincible, and even a punch in the chest will not brake my smile today; Carlen: Dang you look good Daniel, I wish I could be like you; Jarelle: I am so much more mature than the rest of you.

Poses from left to right: Aleasha - I will twirl my hair through the sky in the hopes of showing up Rapunzel; Jason- I am a stud and a gangsta; Daniel- Where are you LeeAnne?  Let's smooch; Carlen- I think Daniel asked me to poke him in the face to make sure he's not dreaming or point to your man crush (ok that's just weird); Jarelle- I won the award for the best smile-check out my pearly whites guys!

Since I was taking pictures and doing LeeAnne's hair, that meant that this man was left in charge of the kiddos a good portion of the day.  He was such a good sport!  He is an incredible and not to mention very good-looking dad.  I love him a lot.

Time to party!  Daniel got married and Caleb and Olivia made it through another wedding!

 

Welcome, welcome LeeAnne-we are so excited to have you in the family and grateful that Daniel found you!

Wedding #2

The next wedding was for David's brother Daniel.  He married the beautiful Danielle back in June.  Their wedding pictures I posted were taken by their photographer; I just snapped a few of my kids because for the most part they were unwilling to take pictures:).

They make for a very fun couple!  They both looked incredible!  Looking at their pictures makes me miss them.  We wish we lived closer.

Danielle looked beautiful in her all-lace dress.

 The Campbell siblings looking very sharp.  It seems that I don't have the family picture of the growing Campbell family-need one of those...

That is what we got when we tried to get a picture with all of the kids.  Caleb can sometimes be persuaded through negotiations, but the rest of them would have nothing to do with it!

So I had plans to sew my dress for their wedding.  I saw a dress at Nordstrom that I was going to copy.  I had the best of intentions of doing it myself, but my mom noticed I was running out of time and I was probably in way over my head!  So she came to the rescue and made that dress for me in a few days!  She is awesome-thank you again Mom!

I didn't get to my dress because I was busy sewing Livvy's dress.  Somehow I managed to take a few weeks on her dress while my mom sewed mine in a few short days and Olivia's dress is clearly much smaller than mine!  Oh well-I did it and I was happy with how it turned out.  I copied a darling dress I saw at baby gap. 

 This is the best picture I got of my two kids.  They are almost smiling, kind of?  Caleb and Daniel were twinners.  Caleb looked like a little stud.

 Caleb and Alyssa busting a prom pose. 

 This is what Caleb was doing most of the reception-hanging out with Sarah and Patrick and playing on someone's iPhone...

or eating goldfish.

We had a lot of fun spending time with family and we are glad to have a new fabulous sister-in-law on the Campbell side!  We miss you guys!