Cards...Thank you!!

With this busy time of year, I feel overwhelmed with all the stuff I DIDN'T get done, (like baking homemade goodies for the neighbors ~ wait ~ I don't have neighbors ~ Good! That guilt is gone.) But there is one wonderful thing that keeps happening! CARDS! Thank you, all of you who have sent me Christmas Cards. Especially the picture kind. I just LOVE them! I have them tucked all over into my nifty little card holder. Jen, Brooklyn DID do a fab job taking your family picture at the Oregon Coast. And all you Ross's look like MODELS! Val, your beautiful family is just, well, BEAUTIFUL! Those pictures of the kids are to DIE for! Kally, my little pearly-girl gone and grew up on me! And those eyes... The boys will be mesmerized! Deb, your team-theme is the BEST! Bridger was pretty mad we didn't think of it first. He kept mumbling, "our beach pictures are SO GIRLY!" Erika - it looks like you guys are STILL in Disneyland! Do you lucky dogs EVER leave that place? My kids want to join YOUR family! D... you are looking GOOD, buddy! Your oldest daughter is your little twinner! And do you guys EVER stay home? I think you travel more than anyone I know! Mindy (Gwen), you guys look SO GOOD in black and white! (Course Ken always looks black with his perpetual tan!) Wendy, those boys of yours are little hotties! Am I allowed to say that? I'm speaking for my 7th grade daughters... The rest of you... hmm here's a big sarcastic thanks for the cards! Or lack of... (hee hee just kidding! Now all of you are gonna remind me that I didn't send YOU one either!)
Merry Christmas everyone! Now, go drink a nice big egg-nog for me ~

FIRE!

So, yesterday I'm in the basement & all of a sudden I hear a whole bunch of commotion upstairs. I am a mom, so OF COURSE I can't ignore it, & I go flying up the stairs. Tony is outside on the back deck putting out a fire from a greasy pan. Apparently he started cooking, then got side-tracked watching a football game, & forgot about the pan. Brig was sitting at the island in the kitchen & says in the sweetest little non-emergency, but most admiring voice, "FIRE!" Everyone ignored him for a few seconds while he continued to repeat his amazement, then someone actually looked up to see what he was talking about... And he was talking about FIRE! The pan had fire all the way up past the microwave oven that hangs above it. That's the commotion I heard ~ everyone RUNNING to grab Brig & put out the fire! Luckily Tony was smart enough not to throw water on it (I've seen that you-tube clip about grease fires & water... YIKES!) & so there I am watching him put out our fire on the back porch. What a smart 2 year old! He saved our home from destruction by telling us there was a fire! I've spawned a genius, I tell you! And I'm married to an idiot... (hee hee just kidding!)
So anyway, today I'm sitting there & Brig comes walking up to me with that same innocent yet amazed look on his face & he takes my hand & says, "Wanna see my fire? I made it myself!" Panic mode hits! I mean, I'm BELIEVING this kid, now! Remember, he saved us just a day earlier?? So I pick him up & yell, "Where?! Where is the fire?!" & this adorable little guy leads me to the HUMIDIFIER he had turned on in the bedroom. You see, it makes FOG... but it looks like SMOKE coming out the top of it, so he thought he had made a FIRE! Relief! No Fire! Just this cute little kid who thought he had made a fire because he had seen smoke. Oh, he melts me...

Spilling Family Secrets!

The 1st grade teacher at the school called me last week because her father had passed away, & she asked me if I would take her class all week. I did, & I think I spent most of the week laughing my buckets off! Kids tell family secrets. Funny things... & they don't even realize they are being funny!
There was this one little guy that I'll call "L". L sat by me & stuck his pencil into my armpit & asked if he could see in there. I laughed & asked "why?" & he said he wanted to see if I had short little hairs growing in my armpit like his mother has. Hee hee. L also told me that he likes to make "armpit farts" & asked if I can do it. I told him that I used to be able to when I was younger but I can't do it anymore. He nodded his head, like he understood something that I honestly didn't get, then he told me that his big sister used to be able to make armpit farts, too, before she started wearing a bra! I decided that this kid could sit by me anytime, cause he kept me in a good mood when all these other little grubby kids were tattling or picking their nose... When it was time to have the kids write their own sentences using the word, "mom", L's sentence went something like this, "My mom says hell." I started laughing so hard, wondering if this sentence was allowed at school, when L came walking up to me and said, "My mom also says S-H-*$@! That night after school, I was talking to L's mom, and I told her the funny stories. He was absent the next day. I wonder if she was just worried about what he'd tell me next! Hee hee!

Listen... I'm Creaking!

I feel like an antique table that creaks every time you put something on it. This body is creaking, I tell ya! Is that even how you spell "creak"? I mean, if I spelled it like "creek" that would be water, right? Who knows. All I DO know is that last week, my new friend, Liz, started teaching weight training at the church on Tuesdays & Thursdays. I've desperately been wanting a gym membership with the long, cold, Bear Lake winter right around the corner... but Bear Lake HAS NO GYM! So, I get on these pathetic spurts where I'll do my own workout around the house while Brig dangles from my legs, thinking it is a game. Needless to say, my workouts never work. And I quit fast. Well, I'm real proud of myself, 'cause I've made it TWICE now to the church to Liz's workout. And that is where the antique table comes in. MY BODY CREAKS!!! She beat me up so good that with every step I take, I swear I can hear my muscles cussing her out! I have pain in places I didn't know there were muscles! I hate her and love her all at the same time. I figured that this is my chance to get my bootie back up where it belongs, so if my body must yell at me every time I move, I'll just have to ignore it. Tomorrow is the next workout. I hope I can get up to go. My motivation is Liz'a stomach & arms. If I dream about them, that doesn't make me gay, does it? Hmmm... Maybe I shouldn't say that out loud. Some things should be kept to ourselves. But those who know me also know I have a talking problem & no matter how hard I try, I can't shut up. So, on that note, I guess my poor aching body has the right to keep talking thru all this pain. No pain, no gain. Get out your microscope, folks! If you look real hard, there IS a muscle growing!

The Waterboy...

So, Sacrament Meeting turned out to be a tad bit embarrassing for me. Tony was just called to be the new Young Men's President last week, so they asked him to speak in Sacrament Meeting yesterday. Brig (my 2-year-old sprinter), had to be taken out of the chapel at the VERY beginning of the meeting because he likes to go visiting... very loudly I might add... every single bench in the chapel. So anywhoo~ Kenna had taken him out & I was sitting there quietly enjoying the nice meeting... then it was Tony's turn to speak. Tony got up and was doing a fantastic job of relating the game of life to the game of football. He was talking about how Heavenly Father is calling the plays & the Savior is our quarterback, running the team. We are all on this winning team yada, yada, yada. It was really good. He was really relating to the young men with this whole football analogy. Little did I know that Brig ALSO heard Tony's voice from the depths of the hallway where Kenna was letting him do VROOM VROOM up and down the corridors with his toy jeep. Brig took off for the chapel, following the sound of his daddy's voice, & Kenna snagged him before he got in the door. She sat him on her lap to listen to daddy's talk. Then he pulled a Houdini & apparently (according to Kenna, it was shear MAGIC that he escaped), jumped off her lap and took off for daddy! I didn't even know they had come in until there was this adorable little sound of prancing feet as they RAN (told you this kid was a sprinter!) to the front of the chapel! I just FROZE! I mean, seriously, I lost all spine I previously had & just sat there paralyzed! The giggling begins from the congregation. I throw a quick glare to Kenna for letting the little devil loose, & she is just hiding down in the bench, as if that somehow HELPED the situation. So Brig is on the stairs near the podium, smiling gorgeously to everyone. As he's standing there melting everyone's hearts, I'm mouthing to one of our Bishopric members (the one that Brig LOVES) to tell him to grab Brig. So, we've got Bro. Lauridsen in this "grab the wild baby" stance, Tony trying to keep on giving his talk, Kenna's still being a big coward and ducking down REAL low into the bench, the congregation is now OPENLY LAUGHING (can't they even PRETEND to stifle it?!?!) & Brig decides to sprint across the entire stage! He's so fast! Bro. Lauridsen misses him. Daddy misses him. The HORROR of it! I finally found my backbone & stood up and walked up to the stand (hoping & praying the whole time that my presence wouldn't spark another baby- race past the Bishopric) & snagged him by the Sacrament table.. Then I had to turn to the laughing congregation & walk, red-faced, out the door & into the hallway. So much for my husband's nice talk being reverent or anything... We decided that with all that football talk, Brig thought we just needed a waterboy!

Plum diaper! Yummm...

My beautiful new friend, Heidi, & her family

Last night, my friend, Heidi, came over for an impromptu dinner & playnight. It was so fun! her little son, Sam, had been eating plums all day long, & then he had a stinky, rotton diaper happen! Heidi changed his diaper in their van, then ran kids to soccer, & came back to my house, forgetting about the diaper. Shortly after that, I had to pick up my kid's from volleyball, & since her van was blocking in my Excursion, she told me to just take her van. I jumped into her van (the one with the stinky plum diaper still in...) & ran to pick up Brikenna & Brooklyn. After we got back home, Heidi realized that diaper was still in her car & was HORRIFIED that her van probably reaked. As she started to apologize, Brikenna walks in on hearing only a portion of the conversation, and pipes up, "Your van smelled GOOD!" Ha ha ha! We laughed our heads off! She LIKED the smell?!?! What?!? Kenna is NEVER gonna live that one down!

My poor baby!

Oh, my poor little Brig! Today we were getting ready to go for ice cream after Bridger & Brielle's soccer game. As we were walking to the car, one of my kid's friend's was carrying Brig, & she stepped into a TRENCH that Tony & Bridger had been digging (it's a long story WHY they were digging a trench... so we'll just leave it at that~) and they both FELL straight onto the hard driveway! Brig's head was bleeding like no other (you know head wounds... they are scary cause they bleed like a siv!) & this poor little gal thought it was her fault. Plus her ankle got hurt pretty bad when she fell in the trench, so she was crying, Brig was crying, & I wanted to join them both out of panic! We ran inside the house, and Tony had just left about 2 minutes earlier to go to the hills to get firewood for the winter. Kenna called him in a crying panic, telling him that Brig's head was bleeding all over. I'm at the kitchen sink trying to get a cold cloth onto his head & see how bad it really was. This sweet little friend was sobbing & apologizing over & over. Tony comes BARRELING into the driveway & I just hand Brig over to him. (Once he gets the truck stopped...) There was blood drips all across the kitchen tile, the driveway, & down my clothes. It looked pretty dang gross. Brig is such a little toughy, though, 'cause as soon as we got him cleaned up, he just sat there, excited that I was going to give him MOTRIN! ("Yummy orange Motrin! I LOVE orange Motrin!") Ya'all should be glad I don't have access to my own computer & can't load any pics on this, cause you probably would've seen the trail of blood thru my house & my poor baby's disgusting head! Count your blessings. I know I already counted mine!

CRASHED!

Okay, so my dang computer crashed last month. I had SO MUCH to say, too! I mean, with an incredibly fun & busy summer, I was all ready to give you all a slide show of the Oregon Coast with my sister, Jen (I've never personally seen such beauty! Cliffs & waves... reminds me of the creation straight out of a temple video..) But I can't. See, all those wonderful pictures are lost in hard-drive land. My Christmas card picture of my kid's silhouettes on the Oregon Coast ~ GONE. My handsome little hottie nephew, Justin's Sr. Pictures ~ GONE (Good thing I had already made HIM a disk of them all!) Our fun visit to Utah for the Salt Lake Bees Game ~ GONE! All our Bear Lake escapades ~ GONE! First day of school pictures, I CAN'T EVEN load them! ARRG! I am helpless!

So, lessons learned when you have no computer:
*When the computer tells you that a fatal error is occurring & to please turn off the computer immediately, BELIEVE IT! After all, let's be honest, computers ARE smarter than us.
*When your friend tells you to just break down & PAY for virus protection, it isn't because they have a brother's cousin's boyfriend's neighbor that works for them & will make a buck off you...
*Credit Card companies who no longer send you paper statements DON'T CARE when you can't make a payment on time 'cause you can't get your e-mail, or passwords... In fact, I'm pretty sure they all went out to Disneyland on the fees & charges I just got slapped with!
*Bill Gates needs to come over for dinner & fix my stupid junk of plastic that I call a computer that has taken hostage all my perfectly beautiful pictures in it! And maybe he'll leave me a house for a tip...
*The library SUCKS when you have to blog from it. I mean, they won't let me hook up my camera to it so I can post pictures on my blog...
*Librarians are probably laughing at my expense. I like our librarians, but come on! Who can't resist making fun of idiots who don't have virus protection...
*I can't even think straight to make anymore reasons why I need a computer. The smoke coming out of my ears is blocking the monitor anyway.

Wow! I can type with a vengeance when I'm mad! I just re-read this post & thought about deleting it all, but then there would still be no post for my blog. I guess you'll all have to read this & remember that my demons momentarily came out & hopefully I can find some computer geek somewhere to fix this.

The Campbell Family Reunion

The Whole Fam-Damily!

Tawnja, Jen, Brenda, Tiffany, Karmen, Debbie, Mom, Papa, Ben, Keith, Joel, Me, Tracy, & Val

We just got back from my 4 day Campbell Family Reunion at Albion School. It was such a great time! I think the best one so far... & every one of my brothers & sisters were there this year! All 12 of us! We had a huge water fight (the brother-in-laws targeted us poor women. I think they were liking the idea of a wet t-shirt contest...), played family Fear Factor (Ben & Keith served Asian missions & brought lots of gooey CRAP! It was AWESOME!), we had huge blow-up water slides, a Talent Night, a pool, a hot tub, our pyromaniac boys blew stuff up (apparently spaghettios fly the farthest in a big bonfire... & then they went for a 4 am dip in the pool in their skivvies), oh my heck, what DIDN'T we have??! I was sad to see it end and now I have to wait one whole year to see all my adorable nieces & nephews again!

Here's Bridger gagging down an oyster. At first, he challenged Keith to eat it which meant that if Keith ate it (and Keefy ain't scared of eating ANYTHING!) then Bridger HAD to eat it. No backing down ~ No spitting it out. Well, Bridger changed his mind & decided to just try it. He's a manly-man! He popped it in his mouth and a few gags later, he had it swallowed!
Tony is the next video, and he's totally not faking here! His gag reflex is SO sensative! He rolled the dice & had to eat SQUID IN ITS NATURAL INK! He thought he was going to chuck it up on everyone, so he took off away from everyone, continuing to gag while he tried to swallow! He said that when he bit into it, the ink just shot out into his mouth so absolutely disgustingly that he wanted to spit it out.. but he had to be a manly-man like Bridger. This was so funny! Aren't we morbid to laugh so hard while people gag & try not to barf?!?!


Here's Brikenna gagging down a "preserved" (that simply means it is old & rotton!) duck egg! She was having such a hard time swallowing it, but then everyone kept telling her not to choke on beaks & feathers, which was even more hilarious because that grossed her out even more! It took her long enough, but she finally did get it down after a few full-body convulsions! Oh, this Fear Factor is going to be a new tradition! What a hoot!!

Sweet, Sweet Summer!

Jen & I
Jennifer, Holly, Sherilyn, Me, Janice, & Amy (& a few babies:))

The aftermath...

I just don't care to be on the computer at ALL right now. I mean, we are FINALLY warm outside, & there is no chance it heck that I'm staying indoors to blog. I've got a good 9 months of that coming again when October hits (sickening, I know...). So, this week, some of my friends and I got together & hit the beach. TWICE! HEAVEN! I swear, Bear Lake is the most relaxing & pretty lake out there. The shallow water goes FOREVER & I can literally lay there & talk to my friends without worrying a BIT about someone drowning!

Ahh, but laying out all day has it's drawbacks. The sunburn. I have a LOVE/HATE relationship with sunburns. I LOVE getting them & then I HATE peeling for the next week.

For the rest of you out there sitting in 100 degree traffice in a city... ha ha ha! This is paybacks for all the times I PRAY for a mall to be built here & you are out shopping in one! This is even-stevens for all the times you are outside in March while I'm still holed up in snow. This is my 3 months of rejuvenation! You'll all be laughing when our stupid snow hits before Halloween is even here, so for now I'm allowed to gloat! Yeah Bear Lake! I'll be back there as often as possible! It's only a 15 mile drive, & I am SO THERE! NOW, don't you all wish you were me? (That's a first for ya, huh?!?)