Tagged by Rachelle

This post is all about belief. Here are the rules --some of your answers can't be religious. You should include at least one belief about food and one belief or unbelief that reflects your philosophy about life.

6 Things I Believe:

1. I believe that with God all things are possible.
2. I believe that family is most important.
3. I believe that not forgiving will mostly hurt you.
4. I believe that you can live on candy. (for a day or two)
5. I believe that being a good person will make you happy.
6. I believe that everyone needs love.

6 Things I don't Believe:

1. I do not believe that the grass is greener on the other side.
2. I do not believe that one woman can do it all.
3. I do not believe that just being a good person is enough.
4. I do not believe you can judge a book by its cover.
5. I do not believe my body will ever be the same as it was before kids.
6. I do not believe in worrying about the things you can’t change.

6 Things I am not sure about:

1. I’m not sure if I can ever become really organized.
2. I’m not sure if I can ever teach Jack to behave.
3. I’m not sure if I can ever have the sex talk with my kids.
4. I’m not sure how children from the same family can be so different.
5. I’m not sure if Steve will be Hawaii ready by next November.
6. I’m not sure why I am so blessed while other people around the world are less unfortunate.

Now I am tagging: Shanna, Holli, Brandy, Jenise, Jamie, Holly

The Girls

It’s so nice having another woman in the house. However, it’s a little hard to think of Megan as a woman. We love it when she comes to visit. We don’t get to see her very much anymore now that she is off to school and in Young Ambassadors. It’s hard for her to get away with all that goes on, but the times she is here she is so much fun. I'm very lucky to have her in my life.

I'm Thankful

Here's a cute picture of Kennedy and Rylee last Sunday.



I cooked Thanksgiving dinner this year for most of my family and extended family, a turkey and all the trimming. Here is a picture of Megan and Rylee pealing 10 pounds of potatoes. I was very grateful. Pealing potatoes is one of my least favorite food preparations. It was too crazy the rest of the day and therefore I didn’t take any other pictures.



It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without doing a grateful post. I don’t have 12 or more hours to do this so know that it will be utterly incomplete. There are just too many things on my list.

I will start with my family. I’m not sure how I got so lucky. I have the most beautiful children. They are also the smartest kids I know. Ok now I may be a little biased but this is my post. I am blessed to have 3 more children who are one of the greatest blessings in my life. They are amazing individuals who teach me by their example everyday.

I’m thankful for our air purifier. It’s about 20 years old and very loud. I need the noise to sleep. I am a very light sleeper and even with the rumbling of the purifier right next to the bed it’s still hard to tune out all the little noises.

I’m thankful for down comforters. My body turns into an oven in the night. I open the window in the winter and close our door so all the cold air stays in. Poor Steve freezes. The comforter helps him quite a bit. That way I don’t have to feel so guilty.

I’m thankful for take out. I use cook a lot and I think I’m pretty good at it. However in the last couple of years I have slacked on my job quite a bit. Take out has fed my family many nights.

I’m thankful for my membership at Spirit Fitness Club. Without it my sanity would not be intact.

I’m thankful for face bronzer. My skin tans rather easily in the summer and I’m still not too concerned with the skin damage, however on my face it is a different story. I am completely obsessed with covering my face. Therefore my face sees very little sun and therefore is white while my body is dark, not very appealing. That’s where face bronzer comes in. It is absolutely perfect. You can look like you have a tan without any damage. It clears up a lot of blemishes as a bonus.

I am also thankful for the peace of mind I am given each day. I am definitely a worrier. I have been all my life. It caused great stress and anxiety for me. For years now I have been able to control it with help from Heavenly Father and it has completely changed my life.

I am thankful for my friends. I am very blessed to be surrounded by amazing women. I learn so much from each of you and hopefully I am using your examples to better myself.

Lastly I am very grateful to have a testimony. Without my faith I would not be where I am today, which is HAPPY. I am truly a happy person. I have moments where I begin to feel otherwise, however those moments are short lived.

I am thankful for HAPPINESS.

Today I took some head shots of Megan for her portfolio. She is so beautiful.

Happy Day!!! No More Diapers!!!

JACK IS POTTY TRAINED!!!
YEAH OH YEAH!
The week before we went to Phoenix I started putting underwear on him and after he would pee in his pants he would want them off immediately. Several times I told him he would just have to wear them until I had time to change him. He did not like that one bit. Jack has a really hard time with his hands being dirty so to walk around in wet pants was not his idea of something that was ok for him. After about three days of this he told me, as we were sitting up to the table that he had to go to the bathroom. I was ecstatic. We ran in the bathroom and sure enough he had held it until he got onto the toilet. Since then he has been able to run to the bathroom each time he has had to go. I was worried that when we left he wouldn’t be able to keep it up but he did.

The biggest struggle since then has been trying to get him to wear a diaper when he goes to bed. The night before last he woke up at 4am (I was of course already in his bed from him waking up earlier) (that’s how my night generally goes) he was moving around a lot and crying. When he finally woke completely up he told me that he had to go to the bathroom. And again last night he woke up at 3am to go potty. Yeah again! I guess I won’t have to fight with him about diapers at night now.

I thought we would never get to this point and now that we have crossed the big hurdle I’m not sure why I ever doubted him.

YEAH OH YEAH!
I AM OFFICIALLY DONE WITH DIAPERS!!!

"HALLOWEEN" 4 Nights in a Row!

Wednesday was the Halloween party for Kennedy and Rylee at Gymnastics. I FINALLY got Rylee’s costume done so yeah she got to be the vampire she wanted just like Kennedy. I planned on making a costume for both Rylee and Kennedy. However, I began sewing Rylee’s the first of October and by the middle of October I was still working on it. Therefore when we went to Las Vegas for UEA I decided we had better buy Kennedy a costume. We did and it was a good thing because I only finished Rylee’s costume a few hours before the Gym party.







Thursday was the “Trunk-or-Treat” for our ward, again just another excuse to dress up. The kids decided they would dress up as something different for tonight.

Kennedy was a beautiful princess. She always looks like a beauty queen.

Rylee was also a princess. (not by her choice however.) It was short notice and that is all I could come up with. When she got her face painted they asked what she wanted and she told them a skeleton or a spider. Anita Bunker who was kind enough to paint the kids faces said “I don’t know how to paint those, how about a butterfly or fairy wings?” Rylee said “no” so she said “how about a shark” Rylee was ok with that. She’s really quite a tom boy. But at least she’s a cute tom boy.

And then there was Jack. I looked and looked but we had nothing to dress him up as so he said “how about a witch.” We did have that. So he was a cute little witch. He was pretty upset that we forgot his broom though.

Friday of course was Halloween. And lo and behold we had a sick ward. Both Rylee and I were up the entire night prior with the stomach flu. Not an enjoyable night. Poor Rylee was so sad when Kennedy and Jack were headed out the door to go trick or treating that I couldn’t bear it. I allowed her to get dressed up as well. Steve took her and Jack in the stroller. Jack was sick Monday night and once it was all out of him he was ok by Tuesday night. I figured it was probably just a 24 hour bug and that Rylee had the same thing. I couldn’t take trick-or-treating away from her.

Week in Review

If my blog is beginning to look and sound a lot like a journal I’m sorry. However that is the main reason I started my blog. I have no other place that I keep an account of the happenings of my family. This is it. Therefore many posts may be just like this, pretty boring for the world, but good for me to have jotted down.

Wednesday we had a mother daughter pj party for achievement days. Here is a picture of me and my sweet Kennedy at the party.


Thursday was our annual bunco Halloween party. Aren’t we a scary bunch!


Friday at about 10 pm I was able to cross off the school Halloween carnival. Luckily this year was not so bad. Last year I was completely in charge and felt a little crazy after the whole thing. This year I only agreed to help. I don’t even feel like I did much. But I did learn that others can definitely do their part and it will all work out. Last year I did it all myself and that is why I was crazy. I need to work at delegating a lot more.


Saturday was the Pumpkin Festival. It was also Super Saturday for our ward. I had to make a choice of which to attend. I chose to take my kids to the Festival. I’m sorry to all those who worked so hard on Super Saturday. I’m sure it turned out great. We had a lot of fun at the Festival. I enjoy taking my kids to our community activities. I think it is really important to support them, especially when we live in such a small town with limited events and activities.





Today I crossed another big event off for the week. We had our Primary Sacrament Meeting Program. I think it went off amazingly. Luckily we have wonderful kids in our ward. 100 kids up on the stand and they were more reverent than the rest of the congregation. That's something to be proud of.

Here is a picture of me and the extraordinary women I work with in primary.

UEA Weekend

Tuesday the Canadian Brass Band came to Cedar and performed at the Heritage Center. I was very excited to see them perform however we were unable to get a babysitter at the last minute and therefore I allowed Kennedy to take my spot and I stayed home with the younger children. I knew Steve wanted to go a little more than I did and so I figured it was his turn out. They both thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Kennedy said that her favorite instrument was the trombone.

Wednesday the kids were out of school for 5 days because of UEA and Harvest Holiday. We decided to take advantage of it and took off to spend a couple of days in Las Vegas. We stayed at the Stratosphere and took the Kennedy to the top of the for some thrill rides. Kennedy was our only child tall enough to ride and she had a blast. What a little dare devil she is. She’s so very sweet and sensitive however get her around a roller coaster and watch out, the adrenaline starts pumping and it’s hard to get her off the rides. The scarier the ride the more fun she has. Steve and Kennedy rode both in the day and at night. Kennedy loved the night ride more by far. Since this was the kids vacation we did all the things they wanted. Starting with Chuck-E-Cheese on Wednesday night. Thursday was full of pet stores, the 99 cent store, Cheesecake Factory (this was for us as well), FAO Schwarz, and Halloween shopping. Friday was another full day. Not only for the kids but for me as well. They got to go to the park and feed the ducks while I spent the afternoon at the dentist. We finished out the evening with rock climbing at Dick’s Sporting Good Store (where both Kennedy and Rylee rang the bell at the top), and then a little shopping for me. I did spend 3 hours in the dentist’s chair so I figured I needed a little something. I didn’t realize it until I got home but I came home with 7 new pairs of shoes. How did that happen?

FAO Schwarz

Rock Climbing

Today I crossed a hurdle, our first Practice with the Primary for the Sacrament Meeting program. It actually went a lot smoother than I had anticipated. It could have been because half our kids were absent. It’s a little tricky writing and pulling off a primary program for over 100 kids. This is my third year with this job so you’d think I’d be a pro, no chance of that. However, I do love my calling in the Primary Presidency and hope to remain there longer but once you get to the 3 year mark I think your days are numbered. Now I just have to hold my breath until next week for the actual program. I’m sure the kids will pull it off.

Jack's 3! Watch Out!

Jack blowing out the candles on his flower cake!

Yesterday was Jack’s 3rd birthday. All day he said “I can’t believe it’s my party!” He was pretty excited. There really wasn’t a party except for family. That was good enough for him. He just couldn’t believe that the entire day was about him. Now I have to tell you about his flower cake. We went to Dairy Queen to get him an ice cream cake and I picked out one that was covered in Oreos. Well he didn’t want the one I picked out. He saw the flower cake and wouldn’t let up. He wanted the flowers. So that is what he got. When we showed it to the girls, cute Kennedy said “He probably got that for us so we wouldn’t feel bad.” Jack proceeded to say “No I got that for me.”

What can I say about Jack? I think a better question is what isn’t there to say about Jack. He’s quite a character. My life definitely would not be the same without him. He keeps me on my toes. Out of the blue he always seems to come up with something that completely catches me by surprise. A couple of months ago he came up to me and said,
Jack “do you know what is funny to me”
Mom “no, what’s funny to you”
Jack “Pluto’s not a planet anymore.”

He seriously said that without any provocation. He has a rocket movie where they teach kids about the planets and he loves it. His older sister Megan was home from college during the summer and told him and his others sisters about Pluto not being considered a planet anymore and several weeks later he decided that was funny to him.
One of my favorite one liners that he is infamous for is.
Mom “honey”
Jack “my name is not honey my name is Jackson Ray Knell”

He loves to get me with that one.
He is player to the T. He will be as mischievous as you can imagine and then look at you with his big brown eyes and give you the tenderest smile. Every teacher at the Gym’s daycare say they love Jack because he has so much energy and they never know what to expect from him. That is absolutely true. I never know what to expect from him. He loves to make everyone laugh. Being the center of attention is preferred by Jack. He will definitely always be in the spotlight.

Jack is all boy. He loves to play rough. I only wish he had another boy that played as hard as he does but I have yet to find one that he won’t make cry. He loves dinosaurs, swords, and guns, guns, guns. He is already into teasing girls. It seems as though he really can’t help himself. In nursery he will take anything a little girl has just to see her cry and get upset and then chase him. I’m not quite sure what to do about this one. But after a while he will go up to the girl and hug her as though everything is perfectly fine. Like I said before, a player.

Sometimes I say I wish he were different, maybe just a little bit more mellow, however when I really think about it I wouldn’t want him any different. We do have to channel some of his energy into more positive behavior but he is an awesome little boy. He is very smart. Everyone he meets is amazed at how he talks and the big words he is always using. I am very blessed to have this little firecracker for my son. I love you Jack.

Happy Birthday Jackson Ray Knell


BYU's Homecoming Spectacular!

This past weekend we spent in Salt Lake City. We went to the homecoming spectacular on Friday night at BYU. My stepdaughter Megan is a member of Young Ambassadors. It was a really good show that they put on. A big highlight was the special guest Jenny Oaks Baker, I couldn’t believe how amazingly beautiful she played the violin. Megan, of course was amazing as well, as she is with everything she does. This was only their second performance since beginning rehearsals in September. You wouldn’t have known it they were phenomenal.

Megan & Kennedy after the show.

One of the big highlights for the kids when we go to Salt Lake is staying at Little America, and when I say staying I really mean swimming at Little America. They love the pool. Morning and night swims are a must. We also took them to Chuck-E-Cheese for the first time. It’s so wonderful that just the little things can make kids so very happy.

Jack being his normal silly self.



See how sweet Jack can look!

Chuck-E-Cheese

Sunday was the blessing of the newest nephew Caden. Babies are so wonderful. They truly are God’s way of saying that the world should go on. All and all it was a pretty good trip.

Great Grandma Janet with baby Caden

My 3 perfect Angels

Kennedy's 9th Birthday!

My children’s birthdays are one of the big highlights of our year. I look forward to them almost as much as they do.

For Kennedy’s 9th birthday, which was yesterday, we decided to go to a new restaurant in town called Ninja. It’s currently my family’s favorite place to eat. There is a Hibachi table where they cook the Japanese food in front of us. Many of my daughter’s friends had never been there so that was the pick. Afterwards we walked over to Grandee’s old fashion Ice cream parlor in order to attempt to conquer the Zion, which is the largest sundae in Utah. There are 24 scoops of ice cream, 15 toppings, 5 different sprinkles and whip cream. I’m happy to say, the kids did an awesome job and the Zion was no match for them. We had to scale down on the number of kids this year for cost effective purposes. The count for the past 5 years has been between 20 – 24 kids. We limited ourselves to 15 this year including my own 3. After we were stuffed beyond compare we played some games and Kennedy's Aunt Nancy even taught the girls a couple of line dances. It was a hit. I'm pretty sure they all enjoyed themselves. I know Kennedy was happy and that was most important.


Kennedy with her sister Rylee at Ninja on her birthday!

To my beautiful 9 year old daughter Kennedy,

It’s hard to believe that I have been blessed with 9 wonderful years with you. It really doesn’t seem like I should be so lucky. You are truly an angel sent to me. You were a beautiful baby. I remember everyone telling me how gorgeous you were. And I also remember our neighbor at the time and also my doctor Laurie Hansen Hunter, telling me that I should not always talk to you about your appearance that instead I should constantly tell you how smart you were. Luckily neither has been a problem. You have been told your entire life how pretty and how intelligent you are by everyone who has met you. Both of which are very true.

I do have to admit that there was a time in the very beginning that I wasn’t sure I would make it as your mom. You cried constantly as a newborn. Your father and I would take turns throughout the night sitting on the edge of the bathtub holding you draped over our lap or arm with the water running. It was just about the only thing that would soothe you. And even that didn’t last very long. After about 3 months you did outgrow the colic and from then on have been pretty easy.

You have a tender heart that is easily broken. Luckily I do not have to get mad at you very often. I know how hurt you are when I do. You try to please everyone and are very conscious about making sure things are fair for all involved. I know how tough it has been with the different personalities that have come into our home. Your sister Rylee and brother Jackson have been a challenge. I am so grateful for your help with both of them. Some days I’m not sure I would be able to make it without your help. This past summer was quite a growing experience for you. I trusted you enough for you to tend your sister and brother every morning for an hour while I went to the gym to workout. A normal 8 year old probably would not have been able to do that. That is how helpful and responsible you are. It was a piece of cake for you. I always gave you a list to complete before I returned home. It went something like this; 1. eat breakfast 2. get dressed 3. make beds 4. do homework. There was one day that I had not left yet however you thought I had. I was so impressed to hear the way you handled following the list with the younger children. You got right on top of it and began getting them all breakfast. I was so proud. Everyday when I would return, sure enough the entire list was always complete. I am so grateful for your help during that time.

From the beginning of your school years, beginning at preschool you have been loved by every teacher. Bonnie Bishop was your preschool teacher at the SUU preschool. She adored you and still asks about you when I run into her. Bobette Clark was your kindergarten teacher and instantly fell in love with you as well. She would even let you attend the morning class occasionally and spend her lunch hour eating lunch with you before the afternoon session would begin. She loved to have you read to the rest of the class and was just as proud as I was at the time for your eagerness of learning. Kathy Riddle was your 1st grade teacher. In a parent/teacher conference she had so many wonderful things to say about you but by far the best compliment was that if she had had a daughter she would have wanted her to be just like Kennedy. Cheryl Apgar was your 2nd grade teacher. Again an instant connection was made. She even attended your baptism even though we had only just met her. She said that Kennedy was one of a kind. Even though Kennedy was much farther advanced than the rest of the class she said that she never rubbed it in. She would only help the other kids if they needed and wanted help in a very loving way. Martha Bayer is Kennedy’s 3rd grade teacher. Last week we had our first parent/teacher conference she, as well, went on and on at how smart and friendly Kennedy is.

I hope you know how much I love you. I could not imagine my life without you in it. I am so grateful to Heavenly Father for trusting me enough to be your mom. I know how special you are to me and therefore your worth to our Father in Heaven is probably inconceivable. You are my daughter but before that you are a daughter of God. I pray that you will never forget that.

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

I have to appologize for the beginning of these pictures. It was obviously before we had a digital camera and my scanner did not do a good job at scanning this morning. You can still get a good idea of how cute Kennedy was and still is.

AGE 1

AGE 2

AGE 3

AGE 4

AGE 5

AGE 6

AGE 7

AGE 8

AGE 9

WOW! WHAT A BEAUTIFUL GIRL, INSIDE AND OUT!
PLEASE STAY 9 FOR A LONG TIME!