Grace is 3

Grace's birthday was Mon, Sept. 1--Labor Day. She was thrilled. She's been anticipating her very own birthday since Christmas; we even had to put candles on our Easter cake and sing "Happy Easter to Grace."

Ashley started the big day at 7:45 a.m. with a treasure hunt and a makeover. She got Gracie dressed, did her hair in braid-buns and painted her nails. Here's Grace, happy to get $$ and a singing stuffed animal from Aunt Kerry.

She loved wearing her princess birthday hat and opening her Barbie Mariposa.
We had a birthday party at Grandma Knudsen's for everyone who'd had an August birthday, and Grace got her own mini Belle cake. She of course dressed for the occasion in her new Snow White dress-up and had her hair redone in curls.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRACE!!

Kourtney out-takes

Kourtney cracks me up. On occasion she does some really ridiculous things, and lucky for her, I have captured many of them on film. I thought I'd take a moment and give tribute to all the silly moments Kourtney has provided for us this summer.
Let's begin:


Two weeks ago Kourtney stuck her face in this chocolate cake.
A month or so ago she snipped off a segment of her eyebrow.
And of course, earlier this summer Kourt picked a giant tulip, snapped it in half and then stuck the stems up her nose.
Thank you, Kourtney; we look forward to more entertainment from you in the fall.

Another Week in Review

Thanks for tuning in for another Knudsen weekly update.

• Last Friday, Ashley and I went to the Activity Day's Mother/Daughter night. It was a great little spa-themed evening. We gave each other pedicures. I had to really pursuade Ashley to give me my pedi--apparantly I've passed on my foot-phobia. We also did hand massages and facials. Ashley and her friend Victoria.
  Ashley and I covered in cucumbers.
  
• The girls and I also went to Kev and Cecy's summer play at the Sandy amphitheater--South Pacific. It's become our annual tradition, and I really love taking the girls to see Kevin perform. They both gave a great performance. This is the second time I've seen Kevin play Emil de Becque. The music was gorgeous, and I must say Kev's French accent was very good.
  
• Kourtney's first official day at South Jordan Middle School began this morning. Sigh.
  
  

STILL HERE!!

I know I've fallen out of the blogger community this last month. Here's a quick recap:

• Girls' Camp was so much fun. Our ward went to St. George the last week of July. Sounds crazy, huh? I posted the pics on our Young Women's blog. http://www.ywriver9.blogspot.com.


• Ashley's first day of 4th grade was the same week as Camp. My mom was here helping the whole time. She was wonderful. She even cleaned out my basement.

• The Burtenshaw family reunion. I didn't get any pictures, but Deb and Ashley did. They should post some on the family web site. The new babies were so cute, and it was great to see Tammie and Angela again.


• The Brian Regan show. Trista, Heather, Cori (we miss you) and I went last Wednesday. I should have brought tissues. It was great. Thanks for letting me steal this pic, Trista.
  

• Also I read the new Twilight book through twice. Oops, that'll cut into my blogging time. I had to read it once for the initial shock of things, and then once again to enjoy it with a new perspective--such a nerd, I know.
  

Don't know what went wrong

Kev would like me to issue the following warning: I know most of you probably thought this day would never come, but Kevin is convinced the time is upon us. Now, you'll need to go get a handbasket, jump inside and strap yourselves down real tight. Kev's pretty certain you will soon be experiencing a scorching, downward plunge. I myself think Kevin is exaggerating and that everything will be fine.

For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, Kevin was just called into the Bishopric today, and he's more than a little nervous. His family came out in full support; it was very cool. Kevin's parents drove here from Oklahoma so his Dad could ordain him. Kevin wanted them all to sit in the very back so we wouldn't cause a big scene. I told him that was ridiculous.

Kev still can't figure out what he did wrong. He always sat in the back of Sunday school, never made eye contact, tried not to be too social--and now this.

I haven't seen him this nervous since March 12, 1996 around 4:30 am. when my water broke, signaling that Kourtney was about to be born. He was dazed and confused; he kept running around asking me what we were supposed to do. It was almost like that last Tuesday when we got called into the stake president's office.

Actually, during the stake presidency interview I was enjoying a pretty cavalier attitude about the whole thing (because I know Kevin--he may feel uncertain, but he's definitely going to rise to the challenge and be just fine) until Pres. Sohm suddenly turns to me and says something like, 'Now you know we consider the wives of our bishopric members just as much as we consider the husbands. You'll have to not only support Kevin, but also accept this calling just as much as he does.'

Huh? what? So what exactly has everyone in this room been saying for about the last ten minutes, cuz I don't think I was paying very close attention. Isn't there some sort of school for this? Is there at least like a book called "Bishropric Wives for Dummies Named Mindy"? Argh!--Move over people. There's gotta be room for at least one more in that handbasket!

Honestly, I think Kevin will be wonderful. He's patient, goes out of his way to help people, has a really big heart (etc.). He's pretty cool. I fell in love with him 13 years ago, and now more people will get a chance to get to know him. I'm so glad his family could come; even both his grandmas made it. It meant so much to him--and no, we didn't make them sit alone in the back (again, ridiculous). They sat right next to us, and we took up two whole "hey look, Kevin Knudsen is getting called into the bishopric today" rows.

My favorite brides

On Friday the girls and I saw my friends Emily and Sean in Footloose at the Murray Amphitheater. They put on a great show! Emily was the lead; she has an amazing voice, and she put on a fabulous peroformance. Grace was kinda restless at the end so I only got to snap one quick picture of Emily. It definitely, however, brought back some fun memories.

My brother Kevin perfoms in musicals every summer--this Summer is South Pacific. One year I auditioned with him for Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. It was a blast. Kevin and his very own wife Cecy were the leads, and I got to be a bride. The brides consisted of one other young married girl named Becca, five cute high school girls and me. Did I mention I was pushing thirty? We cartwheeled off boys' shoulders, did barrel roles and flew all over the stage for that performance. I was paired with a sixteen year old kid--he's in the orange on the slide show.

Those cute girls and I were inseparable all summer. We had slumber parties, stayed up all night fashioning eighties outfits to wear to practice one morning and had a great time. I still blog with Meredith and Becca. Hi, GIRLS, if you read this. I hope Emily has time to stop by and visit this summer, and Aubrey just became my Facebook friend. So this is for all my favorite brides!!

Cul-de-sac of FIRE! Happy 24th of July!

Forget Stadium of Fire; every July our immediate neighbors gather together to enjoy Cul-de-sac of Fire. It's great! It consists of potluck bbq--bring your own meat and some fire works to share!! As soon as dusk settles the men stockpile the fireworks and start sorting them into groups. Kev and the girls are waiting for the big show to begin.
Ashley and Grace are enjoying the anticipation.
The men meticulously consider each firework before sorting it into its correct category. Ahh--fathers and sons bonding with blow-torches in hand.
This is how Grace watched the entire fireworks show.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Cul-de-Sac of FIRE!!!