I've moved!!!!!!

http://leanne-kempfamily.blogspot.com/

So much to catch up on!!!!!!

I like posting pics, because it reminds me of what we did for the last month, and catching up becomes so much easier. Because I have so much to catch up on, these posts are going to be out of order, and probably so scattered.........but at least I'll have the memory. This pic of Marcus and Santa was taken at Lydia's dance at Tuacahn.

John had not seen any of Lydia's dancing, so he was excited to see her perform. We got there about 15 minutes early, and I realized I had forgotten her ballet shoes. I thought we had plenty of time, so I sent John home to get them.

Lydia performed two songs and John missed them both! She was sooo cute, she just loves dancing. Well, fortunately they were performing twice. It was outside, and they had heaters, and a fire, but it was pretty chilly. After fifteen minutes, they started to perform again. Lydia wanted a drink before she performed, I couldn't find one. Her class was going up on stage, and she was not going to perform until she got a drink. I told her that daddy missed her first performances and he really wanted to see her dance. Well I wasn't sure if she'd perform, because she's pretty stubborn, but I still took her up to the stage and stood there with her. The music started, and fortunately she forgot about her drink. The second time they danced, she told me she was too cold. I begged her again, and she finally stood up on stage, but stood there the whole time shaking from the cold.:) oh the memories!

Marcus(6) Lydia(3) Brigham (1) Payton(8)


I love Brig's face

lydias Dance

This is Marcus and Trey up on the stage Lydia, Jayni, and Brielle performed on. The boots Trey has on are from Jordan....passed on to Marcus(he wore them everywhere).....passed on to Trey(who now wears them EVERYWHERE!)

Jayni, Brielle, and Lydia

Lydia sooooo cold.

Greggy got his MISSION CALL!

We were able to go up to American Fork Monday(December 22nd) on Greg's birthday. We also got to see Tami's nutcracker that her students performed, it was awesome! I LOVE watching Sydnee DANCE!!

We are so proud of Greg, he got his mission call to Colorado Springs, and leaves in February. Maryann and I thought he better start learning to cut his own hair, or have fun butchering his companions, so we got him a pair of scissors, and a razor for his Birthday.

The kids LOVED Greg's dog Diamond. Diamond was very good to the kids.

christmas eve

I took this picture off of Laurie's blog, I was excited someone took a picture of where the kids slept. We had Eleven kids sleeping over at Grandma's on Christmas Eve!

The kids sang, "Christmas Day" for all the parents,

My mom made these horse blankets for all the kids, and the adults. We still love to wrap up in them to stay warm, thanks MOM!!!!!

Then we jumped in Dad's wagon, and went caroling around the neighborhood. It was definitely the highlight of the trip.

kemp christmas party

Because we came up early, we were able to make it to the Kemp Christmas Party at Jason and Mary's. It was the first time in a long time that EVERYONE was able to be there.....This is a picture of Lydia being the angel in the Nativity.

We all enjoyed watching "ELF"

This is Hayden, Corbin, Marcus and Payton playing Joseph and the wise men

We really enjoyed the party, and got a wonderful gift from John's Parents, lots of dishcloths, towels, and money! This is our sorry attempt at a picture with our Family.

Christmas Day

Oh what the best Christmas Ever. The kids were standing down at the bottom of the stairs waiting Patiently to be able to come up. Jordan, Marcus, Bryson,Payton, Lydia and Jayni(Trey is turned around).

Here they Come!

Each family had a corner set up in mom's family room. This is our corner with Brig chilling on the floor.... all he wanted for Christmas was a BOTTLE!

Trey's motorcycle was definitely a hit!!!!

Brigham enjoying his BYU basketball

Brig wondering what in the world was going on!

Payton and Marcus were so excited to give their dad a BYU shirt

Lydia loved her dollhouse, and mom loves it too. All she wanted for Christmas was BARBIES!!! I loved Barbies also when I was little, but I just was getting sick of the barbie thing, so we tried "My Loving Family" dollhouse. It is SOOO much fun, and Lydia didn't even notice she didn't get one barbie for Christmas.

Enjoying all the snow

Because there was SOOOOOO much snow the week we were up at my mom's, we did a lot of SLEDDING!!!!! John and Lydia taking their turn down the mountain

Cam pulled kids behind his truck, that was fun

my attempt at making a picture pretty.:)

Oh I love this boy so much!!!!! He wants to grow up way too fast though

Payton snowboarding behind the truck

Marcus didn't care about much but having fun, and boy did he have it. He pretty much wore this smile all week. Although on the last day, he got a pretty nast burn from the ice on his face.

This is my mom's street. Another highlight of the week was running the old route we used to run all the time. John does not like running, but I'm determined to get him to:)....anyway he came with us both times we went. Running in the snow is so much fun, and I really enjoyed running with my husband.

What has kept me up at night

I'm not sure what it is, but I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS. A couple of months ago I got called to be the Primary Chorister in our ward(my FAVORITE calling). I knew that the Primary was in charge of an evening for a Nativity, so immediately I started planning. I started out just putting the program together, and I think I really started to make the Primary President nervous, because I tend to go ALL OUT!:)

So for the last week this has been on my mind constantly, and for the last three nights, I have gotten 4 to 5 hours a night of sleep. I have been up making signs and a folder for myself, thinking and thinking again of whatever would help this go smoothly. It was set up as a medley, so there was really no stopping, we went from one song to another, and the kids had to be ready for their part.

Of course if anyone has heard Payton sing, I had to have him sing a solo. He sang the first verse of, "When Joseph went to Bethlehem", and the Shepherds sang the 2nd, and he sang the third. Well when it came to his part, he had to get to the microphone that was on the stage, and Joanne (our pianist) played the introduction, and then started playing the song, well I don't think she noticed Payton didn't start with her, but he jumped right in and sung, 'When Joseph' real fast to catch up. I was so proud, he has a beautiful voice, he counts really well, and really has a feel for music.

I had a cute 3(Breele), 5(Jara), and 6(Ethan) year old sing Silent Night, and everyone that had parts were so good, they knew exactly when to come in, and it was just perfect. The spirit was so strong, and I honestly can say I know good music is so important in our children's lives, and I KNOW that it will and can strengthen testimony, because my heart is burning tonight.

I am sick I didn't take picture of the stage, so if ANYONE took any kind of pictures I want some please, and I wish I had someone video it. We had an awesome manger that Cam (my brother-law) made, and a stable on the stage, and a big star above the manger. While the children sang, "Picture a Christmas", the angels, wise men, shepherds, Joseph and Mary all came out on stage as we sang about them.

Major CATCHUP

ok, this is going to be LoNNNg........... so be prepared! As many of you know, our lap top hit the dust, and I lost lots of pictures from it, I'm still hoping and praying my brother-in-law may be able to save it. So now I have decided that I am going to keep up on my blogs, because a lot of those pictures are on this blog. Here is a recap of our last month or so...........We had Thanksgiving at my mom and dad's and every year I decorate my mom's house for Christmas for her, cause I love to do it. This year, Michelle and I were at Roberts, and Michelle saw a cowboy Christmas tree, and we both loved it.(my mom is a total cowgirl) We called my mom up and asked her if she wanted to do a cowboy Christmas theme. She loved it, and couldn't believe we were letting her do it. Here is her finished Christmas tree, and yes there is my mom's cowboy boot in the tree.
and her banister

Thanksgiving was so nice, we spent it at my mom's and some of mom's brother's(Richard, Bob, Brian, Greg). Mom always loves to get the quartet stuff out and play, I'm glad my cello that I bought and used once got used by Bob this year. I stick to the violin, so much easier:)

Me, Brigham, and GRANDPA JOHNSON, what a handsome guy he is!

Payton played tackle football this year, and it was so much fun for him, but by the time November hit, I was so ready to be done. (his practices were Tues, Wed, and Thurs 5:30-7:30, and games on Saturday). I asked him on his last week, if he was ready for it to end, and he said, "No way, I love football!" He did really well. His team was really big, two more kids, and they would have split it, so he only played defense. He is a perfectionist, and always had his eye on the ball.

This is a picture at his last game, his team won the championship!!!

Here is his first trophy, he is so proud of it!

The night before Halloween, Payton did not have a costume, so guess what mom did til 2 in the morning! He just never could pick, and I guess I was kind of hoping maybe he'd choose to be a football player:) I told him that I would paint a skeleton on his black ninja clothes, and he liked it. I started to paint it, and like I said, "Payton is a perfectionist", he was critiquing me like crazy, "um, mom.... the skeleton's ribs are supposed to get smaller towards the bottom.....um, mom....do you know how many bones to paint.... um, mom...." I finally sent him to bed. In the morning, I got him up, and I looked him in the eye, and I said, "Payton, I was up til 2 am painting, and I don't care if you think this is the ugliest costume in the world, after you see it, the only words I want to hear are, 'I love it'. " He looked at it, gave me a hug, and said, "thanks mom, I love it." I think he enjoyed wearing it especially after getting his face painted!

Marcus wanted to be spiderman, I just couldn't get myself to buy a spiderman costume when Bryson had one he could wear, but with no mask, so I asked him if I could paint his face, and he loved it. I decided to dress up at the last minute, because Marcus said he really wanted to see dad and mom dress up, I'll have to work on John next year:)

Brigham was a puppy in the morning, and a dinosaur at night, he hated the puppy ears!

Brig's 1st birthday pics I never got up, or did I? Actually I think I did steal this pic off of Michelle's blog and post it......oh well, he's so darn cute no one will mind.

Some of his cousins, he was really unsure the whole night

Payton gave me the idea for his cake.

LAKE POWELL .....one month late

So these pictures may be old, but I want this trip documented, because it was so much fun! It was a little frustrating at first, because it was a hard time for John and I. John was coaching the freshman football team, and was not going to miss a game! We were going all the way to bullfrog (5 1/2 hours away verses 2 hours to Lone Rock for us). So, I did not want to wait for John to get done with his Thursday night game, and only be there for two days. I wanted to go for the whole week. Well it worked out. Maryann and I went with our kids on Tuesday. I was able to arrange for Brigham to be babysat in the day, and have John bring him with him on Thursday. It was just wonderful to have Wednesday and Thursday to just relax without having to take care of a baby. I didn't realize how wonderful it was until John, Clayton(Maryann's husband), and Brigham came late Thursday night(actually early Friday morning). This is our campsite. It was very private, and so peaceful~~~

Nobody mentioned the little scare mom gave us. My mom is so healthy and strong, so when she got sick on Saturday night, it made us all so nervous and scared. She was playing with the kids on the back of the houseboat, dipping them in and out of the water, when she sat down, she felt shortness of breath. She thought to herself, she was too young to have a heart attack.....We were so lucky to have a doctor on board, Travis tended to her, and after an hour or so, she was starting to feel better, but insisted she go to the nearest clinic and have blood work done. Everything turned out to be ok, but it sure made me realize how much I love my mom!

I don't know if you can see Marcus' smile, but this smile was on him all week!

So Brigham was at a hard age, he was not comfortable walking, so he crawled all over, got so dirty, and put everything in his mouth!

He was trying to hard to hit the ball with the racket!

here is Ken, I mean Greg(Nice hair)!

NICE CHRIS!

The kids, and this is not all of them, there is 6 missing!

Lydia and Trey

Payton got up on the wakeboard, but would never stand up, I remember when I first got up on skis( I was eight), I never stood up either, I skied the whole loop in a squat.

Chris and Laurie catching some rays

Surfing was a fun thing to try. This is Payton and John.

These are my favorite pictures of the kids going off of the slide.

and Cam

Brigham really hated wearing the life jacket and didn't care to be on the boat much.

The air chair........John tried so hard to do it, he was up for a couple of seconds, it looked very difficult, but this is Travis showing off his back flip. That's all folks, sorry so late!