Mimi's Cafe

Haley and I went out to dinner with Nani, Lani, and Krystal for a little girl's night out last week. Here Haley's looking like a superstar wearing Nani's glasses.

Family Pictures

Last weekend, we took family pictures with Jason's side of the family. I took a few just candid snapshots in the waiting room.

Now I Can Go on with My Life

I just finished reading Harry Potter! Now I can get back to my regular life. Once I was into it a little bit, I just couldn't put it down. I realized that I wouldn't be able to concentrate on packing or anything else until I finished it so I read almost all day yesterday and until I fell asleep on my book last night and then finished it this morning. It was very good--I laughed, I cried. I won't give away any spoilers though for those of you who will still be reading it.

You'd Think We Were Moving Or Something

This is what my kitchen looks like:

My lovely mother-in-law gave us our Christmas present early. She told me she was giving everyone storage bins and that she would bring ours over early so we could pack. I was so excited since I've been using whatever random boxes I can find for packing. I was picturing about 10 from her, so when she showed up with a truck load, I was pretty shocked. She and Jason went to several different stores to find enough. This morning I counted them and there are 65! Holy cow! I don't even think I have enough stuff to put in all of them. Especially since a lot of my house is already packed. But, I'll probably be surprised at how quickly they fill up once we start completely clearing the house. Otherwise, I'll be storing our storage bins as well! :) What a great gift.

Midnight Madness

Last night at midnight, Krystal and I went to Walmart to brave the crowds and buy the last (sniff! sniff!) Harry Potter book. It was crazy how many people were there! Haley and I went to Walmart about 9:00 and got wristbands so that we could get a book for sure and there was a party going on with people dressed up like different characters. Haley got a black cupcake that turned her mouth and hands all black. It was pretty funny. At 11:30, when Krystal and I arrived, the line was already wrapped around the store several times. I left Krystal in line while I did my grocery shopping. At 12:01, they started handing out books and everyone disappeared within about a half hour. It was amazing. We each bought a book, but, unfortunately, I don't get to just lock myself in a room and read for the next few days. I read the first few chapters before my kids got up this morning, but I'm afraid that's all the time I'll get for reading in the next few weeks. Luckily, I have a LONG plane ride coming up soon.

My Girl

Cheerleading 101

Yesterday Haley got all her dental work done. When Britton got his done, he got a Lego set afterwards so Haley of course wanted a reward as well. So, we went to the store and she picked out a cheerleading doll. It's perfect for her. It's wearing blue and white (BYU colors) and you press her hands, feet, and stomach and she sings different cheers. I know it's going to be one of the more annoying toys that we own, but she loves it.

Anyway, this morning, I took Britton to a birthday party, so Haley and Jason spent the morning together. When I got home, I discovered that they spent the ENTIRE morning practicing cheers. Jason taught her some moves to go along with the cheers that the doll says. It was too cute. They performed for us when we got home. The one they were practicing went like this:

"I stomp my feet, I boogie to the beat, I turn around, I touch the ground, I wiggle it just a little bit."

And then of course they do corresponding actions. I especially liked watching Jason "wiggle it just a little bit". It was hilarious. I'm glad they got some good quality father/daughter time.

Harry Potter 5

We saw Harry Potter 5 today. I loved it. I can't wait for book 7 to come out. After seeing the movie, it really makes me want to go back and read all the books, especially 5 and 6. But, unfortunately, I don't have time for that right now.
Anyway, I don't want to say too much about the movie until people have had a chance to see it, but I'd love to hear what others thought, so feel free to leave a comment! :)

Yesterday

Yesterday, we picked up, Krystal, who will be staying with us until the 27th. She's visiting from Oklahoma.

Here's a few pics from last night--we went to the Mayan for dinner and to Temple Square.

Random Thoughts and Happenings

It seems that I don't have much time lately to post. We have been very busy. Here are some of the things I've been thinking about or doing lately:

*I've been thinking about how incredibly blessed I am with such a hard working husband. He has been working 12-14 hour days for the past 3 weeks and sometimes that much on Saturdays. He's been staying up in Kearns so he doesn't have to waste time and money driving home every night. I'm very lucky to have such a wonderful man for my husband. I don't write about Jason much because I don't really like to sound mushy or braggy or whatever, but I do think I'm the luckiest girl alive.

*I can't stop thinking about China and how soon it will be when we're getting off the plane there. I hope we're ready for it. I can't help but wonder if we actually know what we're getting into--of course we don't really, it's going to all be new to us. What an adventure! I'm starting to get a little nervous. But, I'm more excited than nervous, so that's good. I always get nervous before a change even if it's a good change and one I'm looking forward to. I've been trying to pack up all the stuff we're leaving here and it's been quite a task. It's hard for me to know what to take with us and how much to take. I've packed up a lot of stuff and there's still tons to go! We have way too much stuff. And I feel like we got rid of so much in our various yard sales and DI trips.

*Kids are just too smart. Haley loves to change her clothes a million times a day and I'm getting tired of it. So, the last couple of days I have refused to let her change. I told her that she can only wear one outfit a day. So, this morning, after being dressed for about an hour or so, she spilled a drip of water on her shirt, so she took it off and asked me to get her purple shirt for her. I told her it would dry and reminded her that she could only wear one outfit a day. Later, her friend Alli came up to play and she was wearing a dress, so Haley wanted to wear a dress too. I didn't give in and she stayed in her one outfit. After playing outside, her clothes were a little bit dirty, so she asked again for her purple shirt. I told her just to keep those clothes on. I thought that I had finally won and that she was going to actually make it through a whole day in just one outfit, but then a few hours ago, she came out of her room naked and announced proudly, "I just pee'd on my bed!" I said, "Why did you do that?" And then she said, "Can I wear my purple shirt?" Aaaargh. Kids. They're just too smart.

*As I was carrying some boxes out to our shed, I saw a mouse run by inside the shed. It scared me and I dropped the boxes and ran in to call Jason. I told him I saw a mouse and he didn't act at all surprised. He said there's probably always been mice out there. I've always assumed there might be, but I haven't seen any or any signs of any in the whole 5 years I've lived here. And I've spent a lot of time out there, especially lately, cleaning and organizing. Now, I'm just creeped out to go in there. I told him I couldn't finish loading up all the packed boxes. He wasn't very sympathetic. He asked what I was afraid of and I said, "What if it runs up my pant leg?" Then he just thought I was ridiculous. It reminded me of being at Oakcrest, stranded on the top bunk with Beta, screaming until someone came to rescue us from the mouse. Then having Barb make fun of us being scared of mice and having me say, "I'm just worried it might try to crawl up my nose while I'm sleeping". Then I just got mocked more. But, seriously, mice can get into the smallest of areas. I think I read somewhere that they can fit through a hole the size of a dime. And that's where the picture of one crawling in my nostril probably came from. But, I am proud to say that I did finish loading up the boxes and I didn't even see the mouse again let alone have it climb up my pant leg or into my nostril. I was much more cautious and on-edge though. I'm not really into rodents.

*I can't wait for the next Harry Potter movie. I think I'm going to go see it on Wednesday. And then of course, I REALLY can't wait for the 7th book to come out. Only a little more than a week for that. Unfortunately, I may not have time to read it until we're on the plane to China.

*Tomorrow we're having a friend come stay with us for 3 weeks--Krystal Lowe. She's from Oklahoma. We stayed with her family a few nights while we were in Oklahoma last October. Now, we get to return the favor. I've been trying to think of all the fun things I can do with her since she's never been to Utah. We'll probably do all the typical touristy things plus go to our cabin and just hang out a lot too.

*I have been extremely happy lately. I think I've always been a happy person, in general, but it's been a different kind of happy lately--a happy-all-the-time kind of happy. I don't really know how to describe it. I read in a book the other day that the 3 requirements for happiness are to have something to do, someone to love, and something to look forward to. I definitely have something to do--so much that I am constantly busy. I have an over abundance of people to love, but most importantly the ones I see everyday--Jason, Britton, and Haley. And I have something to look forward to--going to China. I think in the past few years, I may have been lacking one of those 3 things at different times. There's always something to do as a stay at home mom, but it's not always defined and it doesn't ever feel like anything gets done. And there hasn't always been something to look forward to other than just everyday life. Anyway, for whatever reason, I am extremely content and happy. I love that feeling.

*I am glad that I am doing a fitness contest with Amber and Desiree right now. It's been really fun so far and has really kept me in check with my eating and exercising. It would be really easy for me to get out of control with my eating and skipping my exercising because I've been so busy and not been home a lot of the last 3 weeks. So, this contest is really saving me. We have a blog where we write about the contest at http://www.3fitfriends.blogspot.com/ Check it out.

*I think I may have found a way to continue blogging while in China. My cousin Kathryn is there now and she's been able to do it. My cousin, Nathan (her brother), figured out a way for her to do it and he shared the secrets with me. I hope it works because I love blogging and I especially love to be able to read other people's blogs.

This has turned out to be far longer than I anticipated. I guess I had more random thoughts than I originally thought.

Playing with Davis

Sara, Davis, and Eden came to town last Monday and we got to play with them in the morning. Then, Tuesday, Davis came over to spend the whole day with us. We decided to go to Chuck E. Cheese because we haven't been in a really long time. And it was Davis's first time going so he was super excited. We played there for several hours and used up lots of tokens all for a few little prizes. But, it was fun. A couple of the rides take pictures of you, so I scanned our pictures. They are not the best quality, but it's pretty fun.

We spent the afternoon playing and swimming in the backyard. It was a fun day. I'm glad that Britton and Davis are still such good friends even though they live so far apart. They always get along famously whenever they do get to see each other.

All Good Things Must Come to An End

I just got an email from my friend, Melanie, who is living in China right now. She said that she is no longer able to read any blogs on blogspot because the Chinese government banned them. (They regulate the internet). She has tried everything she can think of to get around it (i.e. RSS feeds, etc) and nothing has worked.
Anyway, I'm really sad about this news. I LOVE reading my friend's blogs and I also LOVE blogging. I was anticipating using that as my method of keeping in touch with everyone while I was in China. I even thought about starting a new blog just for our adventures over there. So, now I guess I need to start researching and figure out if there is something similar that will work over there.
In the meantime though, will everyone please send me their email addresses if you're someone that I don't email regularly, so that if I have to go back to the email updates as a means to keep in touch, I'll have everyone's addresses. My email is mary.kemp@gmail.com

Girl's Camp

I had such a blast at Girl's Camp. It was amazing. It was so much fun to get to know the girls better and to be up in the beautiful mountains all week. We hiked, canoed, sang a lot, played a lot of games, did pranks, and had so much fun. I met a lot of amazing people--both old and young. I stayed up late with the girls playing games almost every night. We mostly played Psychiatrist and Mafia--two of my favorite games. It's been quite a long time since I've been to girl's camp and it was so much fun. Camp has always been a special thing to me and I was able to relive a lot of fun memories and reconnect with myself (if that makes any sense). Now I'm going to go through withdrawls from seeing the girls all day everyday. I'll have to think of some project or something that they can help me with so that they'll come over a lot.