Today's Epiphany

An uplifting telephone 

chat with a sister is like 

the balm of Gilead 

for the soul.

10th Anniversary of September 11, 2001

This afternoon we had an opportunity to thank our local first responders.  It was a great community event.  I'm grateful our family could attend and participate in the ceremony. 

 

A day to never forget ☼

 *photo of the scouts holding the thank you banner coming soon*

Battle Hymn of the Republic ☼

Bryan ☼

☼ Photos courtesy of Reyna's photography, used with permission.

Memories

Squeakers the gerbil was the class pet for Daniel's 4th grade class.  At the end of the school year, Ms. Yslas' asked if our family would adopt him.  We gladly welcomed him into our home.  It was a wonderful experience.  He taught us many lessons about love, kindness, gentleness, and responsibility.  We are grateful he was our children's first pet. 

 In order to better hear "Squeakers and The Lego Maze" video clips

please pause the music located on the right hand side

Squeakers and the Lego Maze part 1 of 3

 

Squeakers and the Lego Maze part 2 of 3

Squeakers and the Lego Maze part 3 of 3

Squeakers passed away at home on Monday, September 5, 2011.  He had been ill.  He was laid to rest during a lovely sunset.  He will be missed.  

Thanks for the memories Squeakers!

Swimming

I'm so excited!!!!  

I swam a mile today!!!!!

Actually, it was 2000 yards or 1.136 miles or 80 lengths of a 25 yard pool. 

It took forever (~91 minutes), but I don't care because I did it!!!

Truth be told, my Daniel and Jared inspired me to set the goal and work towards it.  If those adorable little fellas can swim an 800 and run a 5k with a bunch of grown-ups, I can certainly learn to swim a mile.

New Favorite Book

A friend recently told us about this book.  

It's wonderful!  

Sara loves it.  

I cry each time I read it.  

But really, it's wonderful, a new family favorite.  

Thanks Heather Y. for introducing us to it!!






http://bookwizard.scholastic.com/tbw/viewWorkDetail.do?workId=1184823 

Sleeping Beauty

No matter the situation or the circumstance the princess loves to smile.

First Day of Preschool

Ready for a new year of Preschool Fun with Mrs. Malia!

Ready, Set, Go!

Sara carefully picked out her outfit and accessories for her first day.  Doesn't she look so pleased with herself?  It's gonna be a terrific year!!

Our friend, Alexa

Enjoy your college days Alexa!! 

Alexa, Bryan, Sara

We will miss you!!

 

Daddy Daughter Date

Ballet Rincon Academy of Dance Presents 

The Performance Ensemble's Debut

Sara wanted a pic with the dancers after the performance

The princess and her dad

Daddy daughter dates are just the best!!!  They had a great time at the ballet last night. 

Hummingbird Triathlon

THEY DID IT!!!!!

All checked in and ready to GO!

 

getting ready for Daniel to enter the water, in the 2nd heat

goggles on and ready to swim

Check him out!  He's not at all intimidated to be in the pool with a bunch of adults!

Breaking down their transition area, tired but happy!

2nd place in the Male Relay Team Division

Hummingbird Triathlon in Sierra Vista

August 20, 2011

combined time of 2:44.59

Daniel swam the 800 yards, Nate biked the 13 miles, Jared ran the 5K

Nate and Jared just zipped right by that I couldn't get a decent picture of  them in competition.  I'm so incredibly grateful these little boys had a positive experience.  They each hit 'the wall' during their leg of the race, yet they continued to move forward.  They never lost sight of their goal.  They were amazing!!!  My favorite part of the day was watching the look of shock on their little faces when they realized they were getting 2nd place trophies. Such a sweet moment. They were also recognized as being the YOUNGEST competitors in the race. All the competitors gave them a HUGE round of applause and cheered really loud for them. After the awards ceremony, we headed to Golden Corral to celebrate.  Over lunch they started planning for their next team triathlon adventure!  Wow!!  They are amazing little boys becoming amazing young men!!  In my opinion it's all about the process of becoming and they are!  

Way to go Lightning Bull Shark Team!!!

Your families are very proud of you!!

Not Your Typical Recipe

 I thought I'd share a couple of my new favorite crazy recipes.  Enjoy!

At Home Spa Brown Sugar Scrub (Looking forward to trying it)

http://doterrablog.com/at-home-spa-treatments-using-doterra-essential-oils

Zermatt Spa & dōTERRA essential oils recipe

½ cups brown sugar

2 heaping TBS of dōTERRA coconut oil (or almond oil or olive oil)

3 to 5 drops of your favorite dōTERRA essential oil

Mix well.   To apply wet skin and massage gently, rinse with warm water and apply favorite moisturizer

***Homemade Sugar Scrub*** (love it!!)

http://unbailefor5.blogspot.com/2011/05/homemade-sugar-scrub.html

1 ½ cups sugar (white but you could use brown)

¼ cup olive oil

massage oil for scent

optional add-ins: ¼ tsp vitamin E, 9-12 drops of favorite essential oil

blend together well, gently massage into damp skin and rinse, store in an air tight container between uses

***Mom’s Magic Cleaner*** (love it!!)

From Gabby De Carvalho

14 oz. water

2-3 tablespoons Dr. Bronner’s castile soap

30 drops tea tree oil

place in a spray bottle

shake well before each use

no rinsing necessary, can be used as a general surface disinfectant 

works wonders on little kiddo paw prints too! 

 

Gratitude

I'm grateful for a mother and young women leaders who introduced me to the basics of sewing and pattern making.  Thanks to this skill I was able to help Bryan with a 'special' project. However, I wish I'd paid better attention in geometry.  The pattern sure had some crazy angles!

He's a Bobcat

Jared earned his B O B C A T !!! 

Way to go Jared!  
We are so very proud of you!

 

Jared receiving his very first cub scout rank, the BOBCAT

Jared pinning the parent pin on Mom

Jared our cub scout bobcat

Cookies?

Typical Sunday afternoon at the Kemps...

Daniel: Mom, can I make cookies?

Mom:  Sure kiddo, knock yourself out.

    30 minutes later

Daniel:  Mom, wanna cookie?

Mom:  Wow!  Thanks Daniel!

 I love that handsome guy!!

I'm grateful for self-reliant kiddos!!

Fun with Dad

Sara is having fun styling Dad's hair.  Bryan is such a good sport.  He's a wonderful father.

Sara's deep in concentration

Almost done!

Growing Up

I can hardly believe how fast the boys are growing up.  When we moved into this home, our little Daniel could barely walk and Jared was a hope in our heart.  Look at them now, mowing the lawn and caring for our home.  Where has the time gone?

Jared cleaning up the back porch

Daniel mowing the lawn

When Family Comes to Visit - Day 2

We thought it would fun to head on over to Colossal Cave Mountain Park for some good family fun. All 17 of us headed into the cave for a tour.  We learned all about the Cave's history, crazy legends, and geology like stalactites, stalamites, helictites, and a bunch of other -ites I can't remember how to say.  The kiddos had a great time as did the grown-ups.  When we exited the cave we realized the pouring rain would keep us from exploring the rest of the park so we headed back to the homestead (our home and the neighbors' home).

Since the rain didn't really let up much during the day, after lunch we loaded up the crowded and headed on over to the Children's Museum.  Good times were enjoyed by all the little people!

Have I mentioned that we LOVE, LOVE, LOVE when family comes to visit!  Well, we really do.

the 3 buddies: Tucker, Jared, Daniel at the cave entrance

Aimee, Sara, Uncle Stan in the cave

Interesting little story about the neighbors' home.  Our wonderful neighbors who we very much liked recently moved.  Their home is mostly empty and hasn't sold.  When we realized family was coming to visit, we shyly approached the neighbors and asked if we might 'borrow' their mostly empty home to help host family.  They said of course!!!  They really are so very nice and we will miss them.  Thus is the story of how we were able to accommodate all 17 of us.

When Family Comes to Visit - Day 1

When family comes to town, we really know how to show them a good time!!  What do we do?  We take them to a boy scout troop BBQ?!  Seriously, this food was absolutely fantastic!!!  The dutch oven cobblers were made by Cookie Winfield himself.  YUMMY!!  The meat was slow cooked in a pit for days.  The boy scouts were our waiters and they were great.  It was a wonderful evening of fun, hayrides, 'ranch exploring', good food, lovely entertainment and great company.

We LOVE, LOVE, LOVE when family comes to town!!!

Jared, Daniel, and Tucker

Samantha, Mckell, Melece, and her kiddos

Cami and her kiddos (Eve, Samantha, Gwen)

Our FAVORITE Aunt Chris & Uncle Stan

Seriously, I should never be put in charge of picture taking.  Bryan is a much better "memory capture-er"  Oh well, at least we have wonderful memories in our mind's eye.

FYI: the boy scout troop was doing the fundraiser for the upcoming trip to Philmont.  How cool is that!

Mini-road trip

What are the odds that a lovely gal from the Gila Valley (our neck of the woods) goes up to school in UT,  meets a great guy, falls in love, they get married in the Gila Valley and we know the great guy!?!  The great guy is our cousin Ryan!!  The lovely gal is Michelle.  We don't usually have the opportunity to attend many cousins' weddings because of time and distance but we were thrilled to be able to be there for Ryan and Michelle's!!

We got zero pictures of the bride and groom but fortunately our FAVORITE Aunt Chris snapped this little pic of our family at the reception.  I seriously think I should never be put in charge of our camera and picture taking, I always forget to take pics!!

Did I mention the reception decorations were so fun and gorgeous?!  Oh, how I wished I'd taken pictures of them.

Camp out?

Sara really wanted to camp out in the back yard.  She made quite the "tent".  The night was just a little too chilly to camp out, but she sure had fun pretending until bedtime. 

Sara's tent