Family Fun Fiesta!

Cameron's Musical Revue

Cameron has been asking me everyday about doing this post. On Thursday, Dec. 18th Cameron had his first Musical Revue. He was in several musical numbers. He performed "Take me as I am" from Jekyll & Hyde, "Do you hear the people sing" & "Drink with me" both from Les Miserables. He was in other numbers as part of the ensemble. I thought that he did a great job! And he had a lot of fun with it. We did video tape his songs, but I was sitting to far away and my little point and shoot camera didn't do the best job recording, plus it was too dark. So, next time I will try to sit closer and get a better recording of him. Good Job Cameron, We are Proud of You!

Still Catching Up!

On Friday Dec, 5th we had our Ward Christmas Dinner. It turned out very nice. I am very happy to have it behind me now! I had so many people to help me put it all together. We had a very yummy menu planned; Holiday Salad, that was just awesome, Roast Beef, that shredded & fell apart perfectly, Mashed Potatoes, without any lumps, Cooked Carrots, that were nice and tender, and freshly baked Rolls. For dessert we served Spice Cake & Ice Cream.

We had a Wonderful program put on by our Primary Kids. The kids started the program by first singing, and then they acted out the Nativity with Narrators and more singing with the audience. They did such a great job! Shelby was supposed to be an inn keeper, but the day before the activity her friend called and said she wouldn't be able to play the part of Mary and thought that Shelby should do it in her place. So, Shelby stepped up and did a great job as Mary!

I was so happy with the whole evening. We have such a great Ward Family! So many people helped to make this a Great Christmas Dinner & Program! I can't thank them enough!
The same night of the activity, Cameron had his first indoor league Lacrosse game. James went to that and took videos of Cameron. For those of you who don't know much about lacrosse, it is a very fast paced game and very physical. I am glad that they wear helmets and pads. Even with all of his pads on Cameron still comes home with bruises! Anyway, here is a short video of Cameron taking a shot at the Goal, he is #7 in Black.

Even though his shot didn't go in, his team still won the game! Way to go Cameron! Ok, I think I am all caught up now! Phew! I am tired!

Catching Up!

Things have been very busy around here, so I am very behind on keeping up this blog.

It was great to have Samuel home for Thanksgiving, even if his visit was a short one. He flew home on Tuesday before Thanksgiving and flew back Sunday afternoon. The kids loved having Samuel home, and I didn't mind it too much either! This year we spent Thanksgiving with James' side of the family. The kids and I went down to Hollister to be with family close by, while James spent Thanksgiving in Idaho with Aunts, Uncles and cousins at a Wright Family reunion.

It was nice to relax, enjoy a great meal, and spend time with Family! James came home the following day and we set up the tree and decorated the house for Christmas. Cameron was determined to do all of the decorating while Samuel was home! It is nice having older kids, I was able to just sit back and supervise while they did most of the decorating themselves. The house looks great!!

On Saturday night James got a phone call from his Best Friend of many years who happened to be in town for the Holiday. So James and Tom were together again if only for a short visit. They had a lot of fun reminiscing! They have been friends since they were 4 or 5. They went to church, school and on many road trips together and Tom was James' Best Man at our wedding. It is fun to see these two together, they are like a couple of little boy's who love to goof off! Thanks for the visit Tom! It was great seeing you!

October has Come and Gone...

This month has flown by. Our first activity for the month was Cameron's school play. He played a Butler in the play "The Importance of Being Earnest" He did a great job! I went and saw him on opening night and then James went and saw him on closing night. According to Cameron he was better closing night because he wasn't as nervous by then. He enjoys the Musical Theater class at school and will have a musical revue coming up soon. My brother and his wife had a weekend away together so we got to have the girls stay with us! Kendall loved it. He loves his cousins! In fact one day when we were driving out to Livermore to see family Kendall was saying how much he Loves Madalen & Carmen. I asked him if he loves Mommy? He said "No, just Madalen and Carmen!" I think that has since changed, He loves me again and tells Cameron and Shelby that I am His mommy and that the baby is His baby sister! We will see how and if his love changes again when the baby comes.

Shelby finished playing Fall Volleyball with the USYVL. She had a great time and is looking forward to trying out for the team at school in the Spring. Our annual ward Chili/Pie Cook-off this year was a lot of fun! This year it included all 3 wards in our building and had games for the kids, a costume parade, and Trunk or Treat. We had a huge turn out and a lot of Yummy Chili and Delicious Pie. I even brought home a prize for the "Best use of Beans". I thought that was pretty funny because, I didn't even enter my Chili. The reason being: I didn't make it! It was left over Chili from Armadillo Willy's Restaurant that I had frozen from the Stake Scout Camp out. All I did was add a can of Stagg's Chili to it. Oh well, no since arguing with the Judges!The day before Halloween Kendall's preschool had a party! The kids weren't allowed to wear their costumes to school, so they all got their faces painted as one of their activities and then went trick or treating to some of the classrooms. As soon as Kendall got home, he couldn't wait to get the paint off of his face! He is not a Fan of Face Paint! He didn't like how it got hard on his face and started to hurt.Every year on Halloween, downtown Willow Glen has trick or treating on the Avenue for kids. I like how they break it up into age groups. Preschoolers go from 10 to 12 and then school age kids are from 3 to 5. Usually it is very crowded. This year because of the threat of rain a lot of people skipped it. The weather actually turned out to be very nice. My mom brought Madalen and Carmen out this year to go with me and Kendall. They had a lot of fun and got way too much candy. The best thing handed out was at Jamba Juice. They gave out little kid sized cups of Mango-a-go-go and Caribbean Passion. Yummy!! Shelby dressed up like a cat this year. I thought she looked very cute! They had a costume contest at school. Halloween night she went trick or treating with a friend from school. She came home with way too much candy also!
Cameron dressed up twice, once for school and again for a Halloween Party! I didn't get a picture of him in his school costume. He struggled with what he should be this year. He really wanted to win the school contest. Last year, he and his friend were missionaries and weren't allowed first place. This year, at the last minute he put on a trenchcoat and sandals and went as a Flasher! I made him wear shorts and a t-shirt underneath. He took second place this year. For the party, he wore this: I don't know who or what he is!This is not my costume! I just thought that I would throw in the newest pregnancy photo of me. I am now 6 months pregnant. This pregnancy is going by so fast it seems. I think it is because of how busy our lives are. November and December will probably be just as busy. Hopefully it will slow down a little while Samuel is home at Thanksgiving. We don't get to have him home for long before he has to head back to Provo.

Pumpkin Patch

Today Kendall's preschool went on a field trip to the Spina Farms Pumpkin Patch in South San Jose. At first we were scheduled to go to Half Moon Bay to a Pumpkin Patch, luckily his teacher decided to change it to a pumpkin patch closer to home. We liked this idea alot better. We carpooled with our good friends Anne & Olivia. The kids were so excited when they saw all of the Pumpkins!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Happy Birthday Jared!!

On Sunday we went out to Livermore to help celebrate my nephew's 1st birthday!! We always love to get together with the cousins. It was especially fun to share our news with my family. I hadn't told anyone in my family except for my Dad, I told him a month ago. I finally told my Mom the day before getting together with everyone. Everyone was quite surprised! This baby will be the 25th Grandchild on my side of the family and the 24th grandchild on James' side. Kendall loves playing with his cousins, but most of all, he loves Madalen. In fact once when we were driving out to Livermore to see family, Kendall said "I Love Madalen and Carmen" So I asked "Do you love Mommy and Daddy?" K: "No, I just love Madalen and Carmen!"

Jared loved his cake! Cameron asked if for his birthday next year, he could sit on the table and dig in with his fingers and toes like Jared got too!!

One highlight of the night was when the kids asked grandpa if they could sit in his car and pretend to drive. Now, my Dad Loves Loves Loves his BMW! I don't even think he has let anyone else drive it besides him, but he did let the the kids (who wanted to) sit and pretend!!! Shelby loved it! Thanks Grandpa for the fun!!

The Wait Is Finally Over...

Since the other kids started back to school a few weeks ago, Kendall has been anxiously waiting for pre-school to start. It finally started today!! We are so excited!! He is going to school at one of the elementary schools in our district that has an Integrated Co-op Preschool. There are only 7 in the class 2 of which are special needs. I am really looking forward to this opportunity he has. Pre-school is held twice a week, and on Friday we are going on our first Field Trip. Kendall is so happy to be back in pre-school with Olivia, they greeted each other with a hug, I just didn't get my camera out quick enough to snap a picture.

Now that I have more free time on my hands (for a little while at least), what should I do with my time? Nap? Nah, I think I will be doing a lot of shopping, since it has been 11 yrs since I've had a Baby Girl. Shelby's old baby clothes might need to be traded in for some newer ones. We'll see, I am sure that I have a lot more to do before February, like clean out Samuel's room and make room for a crib.

Big News at the Wright House...

We are so happy to announce that I am pregnant and expect a baby girl to join our family on February 1st. We have prayed for this great blessing and are so very thankful that this event is now on the way. The kids are excited, though Kendall still is a bit confused about it all. When he can feel kicking then he'll understand.

We saw her today in the ultrasound. She was kicking and it looked like she was sucking her thumb.

Stay tuned and I'll post pictures of me as I grow through the pregnancy(maybe).

First Day of School & Off to BYU...

Like I said in an earlier post, This has been a crazy month for us!! Today was Cameron & Shelby's first day back to school. Cameron as a Junior at Branham and Shelby as a 6th grader at Price Middle School. I can't believe she is in middle school!! I think that she was more excited than nervous about starting school this year. Cameron wasn't nervous or excited about school starting. I think he is just feeling a little lonely not having Samuel at the same school this year.

As for Samuel, he and James left this morning for Utah. I am an emotional wreck. I started crying last week in anticipation for this day, and at church yesterday when the Bishop recognized him for his Duty to God Award I started crying again. When I hugged him goodbye this morning the tears just flowed yet again. I am going to be terrible when he leaves on his mission.

Even though I cry I am very excited for Samuel. I know that he is going to have a great time at BYU!! He is my first born, I can't help feeling over emotional about him leaving home. We love you Samuel, Have a Great Time at BYU!!!

Happy Birthday James!!!

Here are some pictures of James that I found, that I thought were really cute.
This first one is taken in Poughkeepsie, New York, with his Mom. I think he is about 1yr old. I love this one, I couldn't find a date anywhere on it, my guess is that he is 2.

This last one is of course on his Baptism day with his Dad.
James is 43 today, I have to say that he has grown into a Wonderful Man!! And I am so happy that he is mine. I look forward to many more Birthday's to Celebrate with him. Happy Birthday James, I Love You!!

Wright Family Reunion

This slide show took 3 tries to put together I am a little tired of slide.com I tried another web site and didn't have any success with it either. I finally got this one to post. Anyway, these pictures go along with my earlier post.

The Crazy Month of August...

And it isn't even over yet!! We have been so busy this month. It started with James & me taking Cameron and a friend to EFY in Fresno and then the two of us traveling on down to So. Cal for our belated anniversary trip. We left Samuel home and in charge of Shelby & Kendall. (It is so nice to have an 18 yr. old who is responsible enough to leave the younger ones home with for a whole week!!) We made no plans, we just made them up as we went. It was Great!! Wicked was still playing so we saw that on Tuesday night. It was Awesome!! I loved it!! James had just seen it in London with Samuel, but he enjoyed it enough to see it again with me! We spent our days at the Beach, me relaxing, while James was skim boarding. We saw that our favorite play ever was in concert at the Hollywood Bowl on Friday night so we knew we couldn't miss that. So I would have to say that the highlight of our week was seeing Les Miserables in Concert. We got home late Saturday afternoon, just in time to clean house, do laundry and welcome James' side of the family for the Wright Family Reunion!! We drove out to Vacaville on Sunday after church to visit with James' brother's and sisters' families, on Monday we had them at our house for swimming and BBQ. Tuesday, I think I got to relax a little. Wednesday we drove out to the outlet's where I met up with family and brought back some to stay at our house. Thursday we woke up to a T-P'd house, we cleaned it up before heading off to San Francisco. We started at the Exploritorium and went on to Fisherman's Wharf, Pier 39 and Ghirardelli Square. Friday we went up to the Temple to do baptisms and sealings. The kids 12 and up did about 80 family names and then the adults did the sealings. We were able to get a room at the inter-stake center for the little ones to hang out and play while we were in the Temple. After the Temple we had lunch at a nearby park and then drove to Boomers for some miniature golf, go-carts, laser tag, bumper boats & arcade games. Saturday we went to Santa Cruz. We have a very generous friend who was able to give us some passes to the Boardwalk, so while some headed off to the Boardwalk others stayed and enjoyed the Beach. The day ended with a BBQ and Talent show at our house. Kendall missed out on the BBQ, he fell asleep on the drive home from Santa Cruz and slept until 6:15 Sunday morning. He was so worn out from all of the activities of the week. We had such a great time with all of our family and we were so happy to have them in our home. It was also nice to be able to have most of them join us at church on Sunday, before having to catch an airplane or jump in the car for a long drive back to Utah, for Samuel's Ordination to become an Elder. It was a great week. Now maybe I can help Samuel get ready for BYU and try not to get emotional. I doubt it but I will try!!

Happy Birthday Shelby!!!

I can't believe that Shelby is turning 11 today. It has been so much fun having a little girl in our family. She isn't so little any more, she is growing into such a beautiful young lady. When I found out that I was pregnant with a girl I was so excited! Don't get me wrong, I love my boy's, but I wanted a little girl so badly. She was so much fun to dress up! She was also my easiest pregnancy. I was never sick with her and my labor and delivery were shorter and easier by far compared to the boy's. We love our Shelby and are so happy to have her in our family. We will be having her birthday party this afternoon, so I will post pictures of that later. Happy Birthday Shelby, we love you!!!

Plumbing Woes!!!

So, a week ago I called the Plumber. We had been hearing water running that sounded like it was coming from the refrigerator. When he went under the house we found a nice flood going on. He was able to do a temporary fix for the night and then came back Saturday morning to start the clean-up process. He found one big leak that was caused by the refrigerator water line that was apparently hooked up wrong, and it caused several other smaller leaks. The old galvanized pipes were a mess, and only getting worse. We decided to go ahead and have the house re-piped with copper. We knew we would have to eventually, we just hadn't planned on doing it this soon. After the crawl space was all dried out the Plumbers came back on Monday to start our re-pipe. A couple of years ago we had remodeled the bathroom's upstairs and the plumber we hired said he would change out our pipes to copper then. Well. when our plumbers on Monday started getting into their work they found that the previous guy didn't do everything we apparently paid him for. So, long story short we had plumbers here thru Friday evening. We had water at night in the downstairs bathroom & one working shower, but during the day nothing. Thank goodness we live across the street from the park with Restrooms. Kendall thought it was fun to go Pee at the Park. Lesson to all, if you hear water running check it out before it is too late and you have a flood. I guess these are the joys of home ownership, especially in an older home.

Happy Belated 4TH of July!!

Since I was just called to be the activities chairperson in our ward my first activity was to do the food for the annual 4th of July Pancake Breakfast. I don't know what I was stressing out for. I had so many people help me and the whole thing I think was a huge success. We planned food for 350 people and I think we ended up with close to that amount. After the breakfast, we went down to San Juan Bautista for a family BBQ & swim. We always have a good time when we are with our extended family for Holidays. We did miss Samuel & James and can't wait until Tuesday when they get home!!! After a lot of yummy food, swimming, and being with cousins, we went to Hollister and stayed overnight with my Sis-in-law's family. Kendall had a lot of fun with the poppers and sparklers and even stayed awake to enjoy the firework show at the Middle School in town. We had a great 4th of July!! We love our family and are so happy that we got to spend the Holiday with so many of them!!The Scout Troop performed the flag ceremony before the Breakfast, Cameron played his Trumpet as part of the ceremony. I wish I got pictures or video of it but I was busy in the kitchen and Shelby had my camera so this is what she got!Kendall and Jacob are a year apart, so they get along great with each other and they had so much fun exploring together.Cameron supervising Kendall with the Sparklers.

Staying awake for the very last of the fireworks was tough but Kendall made it.

Happy Birthday Kendall!!

Three years ago Kendall joined our family kicking and screaming!! I remember that day so vividly. He just didn't want to come out. He was my most difficult and longest labor. I thought Samuel's was bad after 24hrs of labor and then an emergency C-section. That was nothing!! Kendall was just stubborn. After about 36 hrs and what seemed like forever of pushing he was finally here. We love our little Kendall and are so happy to have him in our Family!!
Saturday evening I took Kendall to get his Birthday pictures taken. He was looking forward to it, until we got there. He didn't want to do anything the photographer wanted him to do. He wanted to do his own thing. Well the session went better than I had thought, the photographer got some really cute shots of him. We celebrated Kendall's birthday with my brother Ron's family and my mom. As you can see in this picture James was able to Skpe in and join the party. Kendall loves his cousins and was so happy that Madalen and Carmen were able to come. Thanks guys for celebrating with us!!
Happy Birthday Kendall, We Love You I love this picture of Kendall with Carmen and Madalen. Just ignore Cameron, He is always being goofy, and he wonders why we don't have any good pictures of him.

20 Years Ago Today!!!

It is hard for me to believe that James & I have been married for 20 yrs. This is a big one! So to celebrate we are thousands of miles apart. James left yesterday on a 3+ week business trip. I am sad that we aren't together but I am happy that he is getting paid to travel. Hopefully he will rack up the frequent flyer miles and we can go on a Cruise to the Caribbean again.

I looked thru our wedding pictures to scan the best photos of us to post. It is so funny to see how much we have changed. I had huge hair, but it was the 80's!

At our reception James & I had planned on being very nice with the cake, so after James gave me cake first(very nicely) it was my turn to give him a bite(nicely). Well, I have 6 brothers who were all egging me on so I took the cake and smeared it on his face. In this picture, James is reaching to get some more cake to smash on me. When we were done it was in my hair and on my dress.

It has been a great 20 yrs. with James. We have had some great times together and I look forward to a whole lot more. He is a great Father to our children, it is fun to see him and the boy's quote lines from their favorite movies or tv shows. Our kids got his crazy sense of humor, and out going personality and I am so glad that they did!! It is never a dull moment at our house with each of them trying to out do the other and to make James laugh. James is a great Husband. He puts up with my moods, my nagging and my endless bugging him to help me with computer stuff. I am so thankful that I have him and that we can be together forever, so what's 3 weeks, I can handle being a part that long when I know that he is mine for Eternity! I still miss you James, Come Home Soon!