Well, it's official: Kensie passed the first grade. Whew, I was worried for awhile there! She's already talking about second grade. It's going to be a LONG summer!!
Her school puts on a dance festival at the end of school every year. It's really fun to see what each grade has put together. This year we had dances from Hairspray, Thriller, High School Musical {of course!}, and many more. The First Grade danced to the Monkees theme song and impressed us all with a surprise involving Planet Of The Apes music and bananas. It was hilarious! Here are some photos from the event {sorry they're so far away- I need a better zoom!}.
Kensie made cards to give to her teacher and Bus Driver Larry on the last day of school. She is the sweetest kid! She also told me that she was able to say goodbye to her duty guard, Mrs. Arigosa {Kensie LOVES her}. Kensie told her she loved her and would see her next year. So cute!
Saturday, May 31, 2008
School's Out!
Friday, May 30, 2008
Happy Birthday, Jackson!

Friday, May 23, 2008
Oh, Marquise!
This one's for the BHS '95ers...........
I was flipping through the channels last night and happened upon this:
Next thing I know, I'm looking at HIM:
That's right, it's good ol' Marcus Hardy {or Marquise to us BHS alum}. Matt & I were DYING!! He even mentioned his pro wrestling career {remember that from the 5 year?!}. Well, he made it past the first round & he's actually really good! Great- now I'm going to have to watch the show to see how far he goes. Couldn't find a clip of him from the show, but I did find this old interview with a radio station:Monday, May 19, 2008
Both of my kids have become obsessed with these shows:
They BEG to watch them! It's surprising to me that they don't get grossed out by all the weird stuff they eat, but they love it.
The following conversation occured today as I was trying to get Lincoln to eat his lunch:
Me: "Lincoln, quit pretending to swing on the blind cords and eat your rice."
Lincoln: "I'm not Lincoln, I'm Survivorman. See, I'm surviving!"
Me: "Survivorman LOVES to eat rice..."
Lincoln: "No he doesn't Mom. He eats bugs. You're silly."
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Party Madness!
Friday, May 16, 2008
Birthday Wishes
Kensie's class put together a book for her birthday that has a note from each child. I thought I'd share them because some of them are so cute/funny. I've translated them so they're easier to read!
To Kensie
I hope you have a good day today. Do you want to know something funny me and you both like to do dance. You're a good friend.
Love your friend Emerson
Happy Birthday. I am going to be able to come to your birthday party!
From: Peyton
Happy Birthday Kensie. I hope you have a great party. You are my best friend.
From Daniel
Happy Birthday Kensie. I hope you have the best birthday ever.
From Savannah
Happy Birthday to you! Go Utah I guess! Ya to you!
From Chase
Kensie, Happy Birthday. I hope you have the best birthday.
Ben S.
Happy Birthday to you! I love you! You are my bestest friend!
Anna Claire
Happy Birthday to you. Hope you have a good birthday.
From Isaac
Happy Birthday Kensie. I hope you have a fun birthday and I know it because I am going to your party.
From Amanda
Happy Birthday Kens! Thank you for inviting me to your birthday party.
Love, Ellie
Happy Birthday Kensie Holbrook. You are the best friend I could ever have!
Love, Noelle
Hope you have a good birthday.
From Dane
Dear Kensie, I hope you have a fun birthday.
From Autumn
I hope you have a great bday.
Easton
Happy bday. I hope you have a good bday!!!!!
Joseph
To Kensie From Zach:
Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday to you! I hope you have a great birthday.
From: Mary
You are cute.
From Jaxton
You're my best friend.
Love, Sydney
Happy Birthday Kensie! I hope you have a very fun party on Saturday.
From: Lauren
BYU
From: Sam
Happy Birthday to you. Utah rocks.
From Ben P.
Happy Birthday Kensie. I hope you have a great birthday.
Tyler
Happy Birthday Kensie. You live in a zoo. You look like a monkey and you smell like one too.
Roman
Happy bday Kensie. I hope all your birthday wishes come true.
Caleb
*stay tuned for pics from the birthday madness tomorrow!!
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
For Your Viewing Pleasure....
Grass-Hater
Another Magic Trick
More from "Walker" {not to be confused with Texas Ranger}
Happy Happy Birthday, Kensie Dear
My baby girl is SEVEN years old today! I'm torn between sadness & happiness. I'm sad because I miss my cute, cuddly baby. I'm sad because she'd rather watch Spongebob than The Wiggles. I'm sad because she is growing like a weed. I'm sad because she goes to school all day. BUT...I'm happy because she loves school and is learning so much. I'm happy because she still loves to give me hugs and kisses. I'm happy because I am still her best friend and greatest mom on earth. I'm happy because I get to see her grow into a beautiful girl, young woman, and lady.
I have no doubt that she is very special to her Heavenly Father & I'm so grateful that she came to our family at the time she did. She's been such a blessing to us since the day she was born.

The Baby Keeper
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Kensie's Dance Concert
Kensie had her final dance concert on the 10th. She was amazing, of course. Their dance was very complicated & all the girls did really well. She knew the whole dance perfectly. I was so proud of her. Afterward, she said "Mom, right when I was about to go on stage I got a little nervous, but then when I started dancing I was okay. Then, when it was over I was so proud of myself!". The next morning she told me that she had cried in her bed because she is going to miss being in Miss Francesca's class. She really loved her teacher this year. Lincoln confirmed this story by telling me that Kensie was crying & he kept telling her to be quiet so he could go to sleep- but she wouldn't.
I'm glad that Kensie loves dance. If she didn't love it that would be okay, but I'm glad she does. It's in her blood.

Sunday, May 11, 2008
Happy Mother's Day!
Happy to be Mom to 3 beautiful kids.
Happy to have my loving Mom close by and so helpful.
Happy to have a great Mother in law.
Happy to have awesome sisters-in-law.
Happy to have a wonderful Grandmother-in-law, and grateful for my amazing Grandmothers {the "Junes"} who have passed on and left their legacy!
Flowers from Kensie- she stole the "Happy Mother's Day" sign from some other flowers because these didn't have one.
A pack of gum from Lincoln- he was beyond excited to give this to me! He worked very hard choosing just the right pack, apparently.
Jackson made me blueberry muffins from scratch {with Daddy's help}.
Do I have the best kids or what??!Saturday, May 10, 2008
The Ultimate Mother
Oh, those Duggars! I remember watching their show on Discovery Health when she had 14 kids. Now I find out she has 17 & one more on the way. What the?! Simply amazing. I cannot even imagine! Here are some fun facts about their family:
Michelle’s been pregnant for 135 months of her life.
Average number of months between Duggar births is 18.
Estimated number of Duggar diapers to date is 90,000.
The Duggars do approximately 200 loads of laundry each month.
The Duggars feed their entire brood for less than $2,000 per month.
The only person in the Duggar family whose name doesn’t start with "J" is Mom — Michelle.
Every Duggar child learns to play both violin and piano.
The family organizes their household chores by assigning "jurisdictions," so everyone knows exactly what their daily responsibilities are.
The Duggars estimate all the family members combined have worked approximately 39,000 total hours building their new house.
The Duggars are debt free {what in the world does Jim Bob do for a living???}
Man, she must have easy pregnancies and births is all I can say. Plus, tons of patience to home-school that many kids.
Lucky Me!

Thursday, May 8, 2008
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Ain't It The Truth
"I’m no scrapbooker, but that’s mostly because I’m lazy and not very artistic. I know women who have made phenomenal scrapbooks for their children, and not because they are motivated by some sort of crazy Mormon guilt scrapbooking gene, but because *gasp*, they enjoy it. Yeah, this is unfathomable to me, right up there with people who take a break from blogging to sew stuff .
But in scrapbooks, there are no pictures of poop. There are no pictures of dirty, grubby children, unless you are pointing out how completely cute they are covered in food in their high chair, or how much fun they had playing in the mud. In scrapbooking, everybody is well dressed, happy, and having a great time.
In blogging, children finger paint with poop from their own diapers, spread it all over their faces, and feed it to the dog. If the kids are covered in food, it’s a good bet that the mom is too, and that mud pie? Well, let’s just say an apple pie might be nicer to the carpet.
Basically, scrapbooks are there to show you the shiny stuff. Blogging is there to show you the poop.
Here a few scenarios I’ve whipped up to further illustrate my point. Feel free to add your own:
A day at the beach:
Scrapbook: Little Sister had a great time at the beach! She laughed at the water, waved at the seagulls, and thought digging in the sand was so fun! A great family bonding moment.
Blog post: Little Sister ate about 3 pounds of sand, got some in her eyes, and cried all the way home.
Learning to walk:
Scrapbook: Our little girl is growing so fast! Look at her standing up by herself–she’s such a little doll!
Blog post: She climbed up the stairs without me knowing, tripped on her own feet, tumbled to the landing below and got a bruise on her head. At the grocery store, everybody thinks I’m a child abuser.
Playing with her older brother:
Scrapbook: Little Sister just LOVES her older brother Jay! They laugh and play together like they’ve been friends forever. It’s so nice to have them getting along!
Blogging: Jay gets really bugged when his baby sister tries to play with his toys, and has taken to poking her in the stomach with his stocking feet to keep her away from his Legos.
Family togetherness:
Scrapbook: I love my kids–they are such a blessing! I can’t imagine life without them.
Blogging: Remember when we used to sleep? That was the sweet life.
Do you agree with this assessment about blogging? Is this why we blog, to see that there are messier parts of life that don’t get put in the scrapbook?
Please discuss.
Friday, May 2, 2008
Whoa.
*I'm not posting this to stir up "hate mail" or push political views on anyone. Everyone's entitled to their own views, and I'm sure there are videos out there about all the candidates. I just thought this one was very interesting {and eye-opening}.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Dancing Queen
Yesterday was Kensie's last dance class for the year. Her teacher this year {Ms. Francesca} has been amazing! Kensie's learned so much. They will have their final concert on May 10th, and their dance is cool and pretty advanced for 1st graders! Ms. Francesca wants Kensie to try out for CDT {childrens dance theatre} next year & Kensie really wants to do it. We'll see if she makes it {& if we can afford to do it!}. It will be an amazing experience for her and I hope she gets to do it. I have so many great memories from my dancing years, and I hope Kensie will get to make lots of her own!
{I tried to upload some video but it's not working at the moment- I'll try again later, so check back}
Eleven Months Old
I can't believe that my baby's almost a year old! He is such a good kid. He is still not walking {out of sheer stubbornness}, but that's fine by me. Here are some things he loves to do as of late:
- be outside
- eat {what's new?!}
- play with his brother and sister
- wave
- clap
- bite whatever he can with his 6 teeth
- cuddle {love it that he still does this!}
- play with my hair
- show everyone that he's Number One {see pic}
- grunt and squeal when he doesn't get his way
- stand up on his own
- laugh at silly faces
- climb on, in, & up whatever he can
- wrestle with daddy
Having a tea party with Lincoln
standing up
just playing {pardon the nose treats}
climbing the stairs
"I made it!"
"Whoa, that's a LONG way down!"
"I'm Number One!"





