Sweetheart's Masquerade Ball

Shawnee took Danny to the Sweetheart's Masquerade Ball as it was a girl's choice dance. They got to our house at about 3:00 where each person made a mask for their date. They watched Phantom of the Opera while doing it and ate LOADS of candy.

Making Masks

Shawnee and Danny wearing the masks they made for each other

They left about 6:30ish to go to Lexi's and eat waffles and ice cream. Then they got ready. Girls from left to right: Liesel, Annie, Shawnee, Lexy. Boys from left to right: Braydon, Michael, Danny and Tony.

Shawnee and Danny again---with and without masks in their dress up clothes.

A weekend of nephews.....

Thursday I came home from Parent Teacher Conference to see our nephew Cory here. He was on his way back home from Idaho Falls to Cedar City and his ride wasn't coming until 1am so he stopped to visit. It was fun visiting with him---although I was exhausted and bombed out on the visit by 10pm.......Sorry Cory! Now...hopefully Cory doesn't get his feelings hurt that I didn't take a picture of HIM and put it on our blog since I have a "few" pictures of Leilani coming up. (Cory...next time bring the kids) (oh...and wife too!)

The next night our nephew Mark, his wife Aki and their little 18 mo old Leilani got here about midnight. Still tired....I said hello, pointed them to their room and went back to bed. I think I'm fighting getting sick, so I'm not my usual night-owl self. We spent Saturday with them while Garrin worked on their car. Leilani was a hit. The only problem was----Saturday morning I ran Jaycee out to the instacare where we learned she had strep throat. She woke up with a 103.8 and even after Tylenol it was only down to 102.5. The day before she had also had a high fever. She was devasted that she would not be able to play with Leilani. Matter of fact....she's STILL upset about it a day later. She was really looking forward to it!

When I asked Leilani a question, she put her hands up like she didn't know the answer..cute! Here she is playing with Uncle Garrin

Jaycee was the photographer most of the day since we didn't let her get near Leilani. The doctor said no hugs or kisses and she could sit about 3-4 feet away safely. We did get a quick picture of her with Jaycee so she wouldn't feel left out.

Jaycee got quite a few videos on my camera but I can't get any to post right now. Anyway---it's cute of Leilani dancing to the music. She's going to be able to do the hula like her mama!

He said ............

Shawnee made a candy bar poster to ask her friend Danny to the Sweethearts ball at school. Unfortunately, we forgot to take a picture of it until it was too late! UGH! Instead of signing her poster, she signed it with her cell phone number. Tonight as she was in the shower, this was left at the front door.

She used the microwave and hot water to get to the bottom of things....................

Inside the red heart.................she finally sees.................a note saying "yes! I'd love to go to Sweethearts with you" signed by his cell phone number. Guess I can't post THAT picture or he'll be getting a lot of random calls.....lol!

Thanks to Kaylee, my little photographer, I didn't miss a thing! I hadn't been feeling too good so I was soaking in the tub. Kaylee captured it ALL for me :) Sweetheart's ball is on Valentine's Day.

Spontaneous Dance

As promised.....Shawnee's first date picture. She went to the Spontaneous Dance at the High School a few weeks ago with her friend Preston. She told me tonight that he auditioned for American Idol, and while he made it past the first cut, he did not make it to Hollywood.

Fashion Sense?

Fashion Sense? You be the judge................

Jaycee's boxing on the Wii. It's a good thing it was a Sunday---don't think I should let her go out like that!!! Since I'm working 3 days a week----Kaylee has stopped her a few times from going to school in ....shall we say....unusual attire! Thanks Kaylee!

Draper Temple Open House

Today started off early with Shawnee and I attending our Stake Women's Conference to hear Sister Mariama Kallon speak. She was amazing. She had us laughing and crying during her talk. She comes from Sierra Leone and told her story growing up in her war-torn country---fleeing the rebels, and losing 5 members of her family to them. What a heart-breaking and also inspiring story she has! It reminds me to be greatful for all that I have. She wasn't worried about what outfit to wear, how her hair looked, etc---she was worried about her LIFE daily and how to stay alive.---and where her next meal was coming from. How spoiled I am!

We left a little early--about 10:30 so we could go onto the rest of our day. We had tickets to the Draper Temple open house. We met my whole family in the "Red Lot" and they bused us up to the Temple. Here we are on the way up.

Left: Garrin, Teresa, Dawson, Devin and Deni in the back

Right pic: Stefanie, Devin, Kaylee in front and Jaycee you can see in the very back.

And here's the rest of them...Dawson, Devin, Ryan, Deni, Jaycee and Grandma, Grandpa and Brett, Kaylee and Shawnee, Jordan and Bailey.

After we went through the beautiful, but small temple, they had a chapel with cookies and displays where we visited for a bit.

My family was the only one that braved the cold windy weather to take a picture in front of the temple. I look like I could fly with my hair :)

On the way home, the cousins Sydney, Kennedy and Jaycee made silly faces, PRETENDED to be asleep (we couldn't be so lucky!) and then finally...a cute picture together. Even after waiting 45 min -1 hour for our bus to pick us up and take us back to the parking lot---they were having fun.

Once we were done, we all came over to our house for soup (which Mom made and brought) and visited the rest of the day. It was fun. We played the Wii (wow Brett---what a hula hooper). In the picture---Kaylee is showing Ryan how to hula hoop. Hope I'm alive still after posting the video :) What are sisters for though, right? Kennedy, Jaycee and Sydney loved playing dress up

No more blessings!

I've always thought...if you can't say anything nice---don't say anything at all!!! So...that would be the reason for no posts for awhile! I usually don't post anything too deep on my blog as that really puts myself "out there". I guess I don't like everyone knowing all my deepest darkest secrets. I wasn't going to post anything this week as it's been a rough week, one of those you'd rather not write about, but quickly forget and hope it doesn't ever repeat itself. Unfortunately, I've had lots of those recently. Anyway----I went to the temple yesterday hoping for some answers and some peace and ran into an old friend who made me laugh and made me think. Thanks Karen---although I doubt she'll ever read this--it helped me a lot.



I've been reflecting on lots of things this week and realized that we all have struggles---some people just hide them better than others. I used to be the "great at hiding them" person---but I become more transparent the older I get. Hmmm. Anyway, I was thinking of the song "Lord, I would Follow Thee" and it says "in the quiet heart is hidden, sorrows that the eye can't see". How true I think that is as we go about our lives interacting with others---but not truly knowing what others are going through. As I talked to my friend, I realized that she too had a teenager she had struggled with--even though I thought her teen was awesome. Teens make mistakes. Heck---adults make mistakes too! I guess it's part of the learning and growing in this life. However, it was nice to hear how my friend had been through struggles and how she had lived through them.


She was telling me that she had started reading the scriptures with her family again recently and they started at 1 Nephi. Don't we all have that verse memorized by now? I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father; and having seen many afflictions......" She was explaining to her kids what afflictions meant when she looked down at the footnotes--and it says Topical Guide: Affliction; Blessing: Gifts of God. She said at that point she kind of laughed and said "God....no more blessings....please...I have enough". I know I've felt that way. It made me laugh---and it gave me a sisterhood with her---even though she appears happy and carefree---she has struggles inside. It made me realize we're all different---but we are all so alike in so many ways! I need to reach out to others more and smile more...you never know what someone is hiding on the inside.

Kaylee is 14!

Happy Birthday to Kaylee! She turned 14 today and advanced to Mia Maids. She is excited that she can now go to EFY and Youth Conference and Stake Dances. We had a quiet day at home and church. Her YW leader brought over balloons and a bag of candy. Devin came out and we had cake and ice cream. She's growing up!!!

Shawnee has her 1st date!

We gave Shawnee a hard time as she had her first date tonight. She went with a boy named Preston from her ballroom dance class to a "Spontaneous Dance" at the high school. They gave all the boys blue arm bands on Monday and the girls got pink. When you got asked to the dance, you traded arm bands. She went to Olive Garden before the dance to eat. Since she was little, spaghetti has always been her favorite and everytime she ate it, she ended up with it all over her face. We would always tell her that she better not eat spaghetti when she started dating....guess what she ordered...yep...spaghetti. Pictures to follow.....

Let's Play Ball........

Kaylee joined an indoor soccer team with her regular outdoor team---Eclipse ---so they could get in shape for the upcoming season. Her first game was tonight. they play 4 on 4 on a little tiny field surrounded by nets. It's interesting some of the rules they have. For instance, if they kick the ball and it goes over 3 lines, it's a penalty. They have to really power it down as they are used to kicking it clear up the field. They can play off the walls, but if it hits the net then there is a free kick. The pictures are horrible because I was either shooting through the net or cheating and taking quick pictures in an area where I wasn't allowed :) She played keep about half the time and on the field half the time.