Reflecting on 2007 and Happy New Year

Right now I am sitting in a hotel room in Canada (Wheels Inn in Chatham) while my daughter and husband have their afternoon nap. Today is the last day of 2007 and we are spending it together having the most fun we could drum up. I wanted to take a moment during this pause in the day to reflect on the year.
First let me say that I am feeling full of joy to think of the great blessings we have been given this year. I know that all we have is because our Heavenly Father has blessed us and I feel so grateful that He has filled our lives with so much. We are a family that lives with an abundance of the best of everything. We have the best family we could possibly ask for, loving and united and always there for us. This year we have been blessed to spend a lot of time with family and the family has grown too, Ryan and Casey had little Roman and Rob and Dayna had little Valentino. Our family has shared in the success of Rory's college graduation, Natalia's new job, Fernando's new job and Ryan's new job. The closeness we have with extended family is special to us. We have had fun at the family gatherings and family dinners this year. We love that Jasmine sees her grandparents here every week and that she sees her other family (The Barolins, The Ricks', and Titi and Abuela Meme) here frequently.
We have the best of friends. We pride ourselves in being good judges of character and our friends don't disappoint. We have been fortunate this year to have gone to visit many friends (The Peterson's in Arizona, Terry & Michele in Cleveland, Summer & James in Canada, Amy & Martin in Columbus just to name a few). The friends that live close to us also spend a lot of time with us and we have shared so many memories to last an eternity this year. We loved our trip to Florida with The Childs, Great Wolfe Lodge with The Childs, our trip to North Carolina Outer Banks with The Childs (don't leave us, we love travelling with you!) and made some new friends, The Shupes and The Kolowichs. We visited The Vallejos in Christiansburg VA and I took a trip to Atlanta with Kevin Zarcone and started the year off taking a road trip with Cindy to a scrapbooking retreat. We have enjoyed game nights with Jeff & Jill, Shelly & Matt, and The Hansens. We have spent so much time with our friends and neighbors The Traugers. I can't say enough about how much we enjoy our friends. We welcomed Annie Astle this year and so look forward to meeting Baby girl Child and Baby girl Zarcone in the New Year! I am also grateful for my friendship and partnership with Marcia - we have gotten to know each other so well this year and she means a lot to our family!
This year we have travelled and seen more of the world, both in the United States and abroad. Jasmine and I got to spend a week in Wurzburg Germany for a wedding of a dear friend. We went to Orlando to Disney World and spoiled our little girl. We went to the visits mentioned above. We are a family on the go and hope to continue that trend in 2008. We decided to end our year in Canada and have had so much fun.
I have grown a successful business this year and have begun moving forward to open my own bakery in 2008. I never imagined that a hobby would turn into a profitable business that I would enjoy and still be able to mother my beautiful daughter. I continue to sing with The Mormon Choir of Washington and also have become their flute player. I work hard as a counsellor in the Primary Presidency and above all love my role as mom.
Lorne has grown in leaps an bounds in his job and has closed many successful deals this year. He is impressing his colleagues and his boss and is working so hard and it is really paying off. He has also gained great responsibilities at church as the Elders Quorum president and it has been wonderful to see the changes that have come over him as he serves the members of our ward.
Jasmine started preschool, I can't believe it. She has grown and is becoming a sweet, beautiful, loving and smart little girl. She has had many adventures in her short life and she seems to relish every moment she spends with us and with others. She is a girl with many friends and people who love her and I believe this love makes her blossom into the girl she is becoming. It truly takes a village and we have such a strong one.
We have been able to make some wonderful changes to our home as we slowly repair it and get it looking like we imagine in our minds it will look like when it is finished one day. We remodeled our master bathroom and also got new windows and shutters. We also gave our master bedroom a paint and bedding makeover and are so happy with how it all looks.
We were able to pay down debt and pay off my car and are so happy to be able to be saving for Jasmine's college one day.
As I think about how happy we have been this year and how we have been blessed and surrounded by loved ones, I can only pray and hope that 2008 will be as wonderful for us. We hope to become a bit healthier, do a bit more traveling, remodel a bit more, visit some more friends, get a little older, and if we can be blessed with our deepest desires, have another child. Keep reading this blog next year and we will keep you updated on all our adventures!
For now, We wish you all a Happy New Year and a Prosperous and Joyous 2008!

Celebrating Mom's birthday

Ok - this happened before Ryan's birthday and I didn't realize that I didn't write about it yet. On Mom's birthday, we congregated at her house and dad got some pizza and we feasted on it and cake. Mom opened her gifts and we had a great time celebrating with her. I am so grateful to live near my mom, I can't imagine raising my daughter away from her abuela!

Celebrating with Ryan!

Yes - I know - I haven't updated in a LONG time - and it isn't because I don't want to. I have just been swamped! So, I am going to attempt to tell you all about the last few weeks!

We celebrated Ryan's 25th birthday with him at his house and had a great dinner of all of Ryan's favorite foods. To cap off the evening, I made a cake for my littlest brother, a Redskins helmet, his favorite football team! He was super excited about it and took lots of pictures of it. It was also tasty when we cut into it!

Girls on a Train!

I know these posts this week are all a bit out of order - but I am trying to catch up and tell you all as much as I can about the fun we are having this holiday season. It has been hard for me to keep these all in order! Please make sure you scroll down so you don't miss any posts - especially when I write more than one in a day!
Saturday the 8th, we went down to Manassas with a group of friends (including The Astles, Team Trauger with Noel and Abuela & Grandpa). We had lunch at the City Square Cafe (delicious - my favorite sandwich there is a toss up between the Chivito and Lauren's Pita). Afterwards, with the hottest tickets in town, we boarded the Santa Train.

It was very nice. We rode the train to Burke and back and were serenaded by carolers, given candy canes and cardboard engineer hats, and had a visit from Santa himself. Jasmine really enjoyed being with her friends and seeing Santa. She also got a kick out of riding on the train. We were happy to take her and it was so nice to be able to share it everyone. She told Santa she wanted a train, a hat and a toy!

A tired Bee fell asleep in about 10 minutes after we got in the car!

Happy Birthday Ryan!

On this day, December 11 in...

1282 - Llywelyn (Llewelyn ap Gruffydd) was killed in Cilmeri, central Wales.

1719 - The first recorded sighting of the Aurora Borealis was in New England.

1769 - Edward Beran of London patented venetian blinds.

1792 - France's King Louis XVI went before the Convention, which had replaced the National Assembly, to face charges of treason. He was convicted and condemned and was sent to the guillotine the following January.

1816 - Indiana was admitted to the Union as the 19th American state.

1844 - Dr. Horace Wells became the first person to have a tooth extracted after receiving an anesthetic for the dental procedure. Nitrous Oxide, or laughing gas, was the anesthetic.

1872 - Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback became America's first black governor when he took office as acting governor of Louisiana.

1882 - Boston's Bijou Theater had its first performance. It was the first American playhouse lit exclusively by electricity.

1894 - The world's first motor show opened in Paris with nine exhibitors.

1928 - In Buenos Aires, police thwarted an attempt on the life of President-elect Herbert Hoover.

1930 - The Bank of the United States in New York failed.

1936 - Britain's King Edward VIII abdicated in order to marry American Wallis Warfield Simpson. He became the Duke of Windsor.

1937 - The Fascist Council in Rome, withdrew Italy from the League of Nations.

1941 - Germany and Italy declared war on the United States. The U.S in turn declared war on the two countries.

1943 - The City Center of Music and Drama was dedicated in New York by Mayor Fiorello La Guardia.

1946 - The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) was established by the U.N. General Assembly. The fund provides relief to children in countries devastated by war.

1951 - Joe DiMaggio (New York Yankees) announced his retirement from major league baseball. DiMaggio only played for the Yankees during his 13-year career.

1961 - The first direct American military support for South Vietnam occurred when a U.S. aircraft carrier carrying Army helicopters arrived in Saigon.

1967 - The prototype of the Concorde was shown for the first time in Toulouse, France.

1973 - West German Chancellor Willy Brandt and Czech Prime Minister Lubomir Strougal formally nullified the 1938 Munich pact when they signed a treaty sanctioning Hitler's seizure of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland.

1980 - U.S. President Jimmy Carter signed into law legislation creating $1.6 billion environmental "superfund" that would be used to pay for cleaning up chemical spills and toxic waste dumps.

1981 - Muhammad Ali fought his last fight. He lost his 61st fight to Trevor Berbick.

1982 - Ryan Jahir Ricks was born in Fairfax Hospital and weighed a little over 8 lbs.

1985 - The U.S. House of Representatives joined the U.S. Senate by giving final congressional approval to the Gramm-Rudman deficit-reduction law.

1985 - General Electric Company agreed to buy RCA Corporation for $6.3 billion. Also included in the deal was NBC Radio and Television.

1986 - The government of South Africa expanded its media restrictions by imposing prior censorship and banning coverage of a wide range of peaceful anti-apartheid protests.

1987 - Charlie Chaplin's trademark cane and bowler hat were sold at Christie's for £82,500. 1988 - 62 people were killed in a Mexico City marketplace when tons of illegal fireworks exploded.

1990 - Ivana Trump was divorced from Donald Trump after 12 years of marriage.

1991 - Salman Rushdie, under an Islamic death sentence for blasphemy, made his first public appearance since

1989 in New York, at a dinner marking the 200th anniversary of the First Amendment (which guarantees freedom of speech in the U.S.).

1994 - Thousands of Russian troops, armored columns and jets entered Chechnya. The move by Moscow was an effort to restore control the breakaway republic.

1994 - The world's largest free trade zone was created when leaders of 34 Western Hemisphere nations signed a free-trade declaration known as "The Miami Process."

1996 - In Crystal City, VA, "The Art of the Toy" opened. The exhibit was at the Patent and Trademark Office Museum.

1997 - Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams became the first political ally of the IRA to meet a British leader in 76 years. He conferred with Prime Minister Tony Blair in London.

1997 - More than 270 Tutsi refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo were killed by Juto guerillas in Mudende, Rwanda.

1997 - More than 150 countries agreed at a global warming conference in Kyoto, Japan, to control the Earth's "greenhouse gases."

1998 - Scientists announced that they had deciphered the entire genetic blueprint of a tiny worm.

1998 - The Mars Climate Orbiter blasted off on a nine-month journey to the Red Planet. However, the probe disappeared in September of 1999, apparently destroyed because scientists had failed to convert English measures to metric values.

1998 - Majority Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee pushed through three articles of impeachment against U.S. President Clinton.

2000 - Mario Lemeiux, owner of Pittsburgh Penquins, announced that he would end his three-plus year retirement and become an active National Hockey League (NHL) player again. When Lemieux returned officially he became the first owner/player in NHL history.

2001 - U.S. Attorney General Ashcroft announced the first federal indictment directly related to the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001. Zacarias Moussaoui was charged with six conspiracy charges. Moussaoui was in custody at the time of the attacks.

2001 - Ted Turner purchased 12,000 acres in Nebraska for Bison ranches.

2001 - It was announced that U.S. President George W. Bush would withdraw the U.S. from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with Russia.

2001 - Federal agents seized computers in 27 U.S. cities as part of "Operation Buccaneer." The raids were used to gain evidence against an international software piracy ring.

So unbelievably Proud!

Jasmine takes a bow after an 'unofficial' performance in public at the Manassas tree lighting! She sang Jingle Bells for anyone caring to listen!

Well, Jasmine debuted as a singer this past Sunday in public! I was asked to do a special musical number for church and also asked to do one next week also so I didn't want to do anything elaborate. I decided it would be fun to see if Jasmine would perform in public. Lorne and I discussed it and we set out to teach her Away in a Manger. Well, she learned the first verse and the Asleep chorus. Lorne played the piano for us so it was a whole Campbell family effort.
Sunday came and she was ready. I had decided that I would not force her. If she came up and the music started and I was singing alone, that would be fine. I prepped her by asking her if she was going to sing with Mommy and she gave me an enthusiastic YES! When it was our turn I asked her if she was ready (as we were getting out of our pew) and she said very loudly, "I'm ready!" as she bounced up to the stand.
They put a stool in front of the microphone that she could stand on and I stood next to her. She was perfect. The music started and she wanted to begin singing during the into but I whispered to her not yet. Then when it was time, we sang the song together. She didn't fidget, she didn't grab the mic or yell into it, she didn't freeze up. She was so amazing and a very sweet Spirit filled the room. You could tell by looking out at the congregation that they were touched by her sweet little voice.
As we walked back to our seats, Jasmine exclaimed loudly, "Mommy, I did it! I did it by myself!" and people chuckled. I was happy she didn't try to take a bow!
We got so many compliments afterwards. Everyone told us that Jasmine was a born performer and that she was like her Mommy - they were amazed that a 2 year old girl could learn the song so quickly and sing it so tunefully well and didn't have any fright!
Yes, we bubbled over with awe and admiration for our little girl. I can't believe that Heavenly Father entrusted me with this precious little spirit that brings us so much joy, laughter and love. She makes life worth it and her success and happiness is all I can ever ask for!

More Jasmine Anecdotes!

So, Jasmine has yet again said some funny things that I have to post because I want to remember them and share the laughs with you.

About a week ago, I was sitting at my desk trying to get some work done and Jasmine comes marching into the office and puts her hands on her hips and says in a loud tone, "Don't upset me Mommy!" and then turned and walked out of the office. I sat there stunned and chuckling!

It has begun - and a bit early I might add. A few weeks ago, Lorne was telling Jasmine that she needed to sit still and finish her food, and he was being stern with her. She looked at him with her wide eyes and said, "Why?"

Last night I performed some concerts at the Visitor's Center (post on that later). Jasmine and Lorne arrived and Jasmine was mesmerized by the 450,000 lights that were displayed on the temple grounds. She looked up at Daddy and said, "Daddy, are we going to see Santa?" Lorne replied, "No sweetie, we are going to the Visitor's Center" (think of how he says it with an Australian accent Center pronounced "senta"). Jasmine instantly got excited and said, "Oh! We are going to Visitasanta?"

I had a stark realization that my little girl was growing up today. I took her to a local library because they were doing a story time and activity for children 2-3 years old called Gingerbread Tales. As we were sitting there, a mom and a cute little girl walks in and Jasmine gets all excited and says, "Mommy look! It's my friend Gracie!". I looked but didn't recognize the girl and thought she was mistaken. I asked Jasmine where her friend was and she again pointed to this little girl. So I thought a minute and realized that maybe the girl was in Jasmine's preschool class. During a break, I asked the mom if her daughter went to Epiphany and she said yes and that her daughter was in the 2 year old class - just like Jasmine. I then explained to her that Jasmine had recognized Gracie when she walked in and the mother said that it cleared up a mystery she had too because apparently Gracie was telling her mom, "Mom, there's my friend." The realization is that my daughter now knows people I don't know. It made me a bit sad but it was bound to happen sooner or later - I just wish it was later.

After my concert last night that Jasmine attended, Lorne brought her down to the stage to see me and she threw herself at me and gave the biggest hug and kiss and said, "It was so beautiful Mommy!" I melted.

My favorite Jasmine line lately is when she feels loving. She will put her hands on my cheeks and pat them and say, Mommy, you're my sweet!"

Decorating the House

Before we began to decorate!

We decided to setup our tree last Sunday night as a family. This year, Jasmine is the perfect age for this! We have 2 trees in the house, one in the basement and one in the living room. The living room tree is mine, it is the fancy tree with all the matching ornaments. The downstairs tree is the family tree which has all the special ornaments we have collected thus far in our marriage and as a family.

Jasmine and the first ornament placed on the tree - this year's Mount Vernon Ornament!

Jasmine was so excited to set up the tree as she has been exclaiming everytime she goes into someone's house that is already decorated, "It's Christmastime in here!". She was totally into it and she was such a great helper. Daddy also helped which is special because when Lorne was growing up, he saw putting the tree up as a punishment. They didn't do it together a family with the soft lights and the Christmas music playing in the background. In my family it was always something we did as a family and so I am stressing that and trying to make it fun and painless for Lorne. I think he actually enjoyed it this year. He made sure that the tree wasn't bogged down in the front by spreading out the ornaments. He was also instrumental in helping Jasmine put the tree topper on top!

When we were done, we lit it and Jasmine was so mesmerized. She has also learned to leave the tree alone once it is up and hasn't been taking off the ornaments like she did last year. It is amazing to see her and how she views the holidays - it makes me young at heart and brings back the purity of the spirit of the holidays as I gaze into the beautiful eyes of my lovely daughter. Her excitement and wonder and joy fills my heart and makes me want to do everything I can to give her all the magic of the season.

Hanging the stockings by the chimney with care - in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there!

Phew! We are done!

The finished product - we did great!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Mom - We love you and are so happy that we can be around to celebrate these special days with you! You are the best!

On this day, December 6 in...

1240 - Mongol invasion of Rus: Kiev under Danylo of Halych and Voivode Dmytro falls to the Mongols under Batu Khan.
1534 - The city of Quito in Ecuador is founded by Spanish settlers led by Sebastián de Belalcázar. 1768 - The first edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica is published.
1790 - The U.S. Congress moves from New York City to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1845 - Alpha Sigma Phi Fraternity is founded at Yale College.
1849 - American abolitionist Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery.
1865 - The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, banning slavery.
1877 - The first edition of the Washington Post is published.
1884 - The Washington Monument in Washington D.C. is completed.
1897 - London becomes the world's first city to host licenced taxicabs.
1907 - A coal mine explosion at Monongah, West Virginia kills 362 workers.
1916 - World War I: The Central Powers capture Bucharest.
1917 - Finland declares independence from Russia.
1917 - Halifax Explosion: In Canada, a munitions explosion kills more than 1900 people and destroys part of the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia.
1921 - The Anglo-Irish Treaty is signed in London by British and Irish representatives.
1922 - One year to the day after the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, the Irish Free State comes into existence.
1933 - U.S. federal judge John M. Woolsey rules that the James Joyce's novel Ulysses is not obscene.
1947 - The Everglades National Park in Florida is dedicated.

1951 - Susan Ruth Barolin is born and weighs a whopping 13 lbs!!!
1956 - A water polo match between Hungary and the USSR takes place during the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, against the backdrop of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution.
1957 - Project Vanguard: A launchpad explosion of Vanguard TV3 thwarts the first United States attempt to launch a satellite into Earth orbit.
1965 - Pakistan's Islamic Ideology Advisory Committee recommends that Islamic Studies be made a compulsory subject for Muslim students from primary to graduate level.
1969 - Meredith Hunter is killed by the Hells Angels during a The Rolling Stones's concert at the Altamont Speedway in California.
1971 - Pakistan severs diplomatic relations with India following New Delhi's recognition of Bangladesh.
1973 - The Twenty-fifth Amendment: The United States House of Representatives votes 387 to 35 to confirm Gerald Ford as Vice President of the United States (on November 27, the Senate confirmed him 92 to 3).
1975 - Balcombe Street Siege: An IRA Active Service Unit takes a couple hostage in Balcombe Street, London.
1977 - South Africa grants independence to Bophuthatswana, although it is not recognized by any other country.
1978 - Spain approves its latest constitution in a referendum.
1989 - The École Polytechnique Massacre (or Montreal Massacre): Marc Lépine, an anti-feminist gunman, murders 14 young women at the École Polytechnique in Montreal.
1991 - In Croatia, forces of the Yugoslav People's Army bombard Dubrovnik after laying siege to the city since May.
1992 - Extremist Hindu activists demolish Babri Masjid - a 16th century mosque in Ayodhya, India which had been used as temple since 1949. Hindus believe this structure was built on the site of the birthplace of Lord Rama.
1997 - A Russian Antonov An-124 transport cargo plane crashes into an apartment complex near Irkutsk, Siberia, killing 67.
2001 - The Canadian province of Newfoundland is renamed Newfoundland and Labrador.
2005 - Several villagers are shot dead during protests in Dongzhou, China.
2006 - NASA reveals photographs taken by Mars Global Surveyor suggesting the presence of liquid water on Mars.

Santa Arrives in Manassas

The holidays this year have been super fun because Jasmine has an awareness of them now. Beginning with Halloween, where she kissed all the pumpkin decorations and loved getting dressed up, to Thanksgiving where she had lots of fun with turkeys and family. We have so much fun explaining these things to her and it is a joy to watch her little spirit light up when she catches on to something else that she loves. She has discovered Santa this year.

We have a family tradition where we turn on Christmas music (usually tuning in the radio to 97.1 - they play Christmas 24/7 until Christmas) the day after Thanksgiving and leave it constantly playing in the background all day and all night. No one is allowed to turn it off, it helps to bring in the spirit of Christmas. Well, we turned on the Christmas music in the car on our drive back from North Carolina and at first, Jasmine wasn't thrilled. She didn't like the music because she couldn't sing along with it. She didn't know the words. But we persisted and taught her a few.

Well, she learned the song Santa Claus is coming to Town and she loves it. We also started telling her about Santa and how magical he is. She expressed interest in wanting to see him so we made a plan. We found out from my uncle that Santa would be arriving in Manassas Friday November 30 - on the VRE train. They were also having a tree lighting ceremony and a lot of other activities for the kiddies.

We decided to take Jasmine to meet Santa and braved rush hour traffic going south on a Friday to make it happen. We arrived with enough time to stop by The City Square Cafe and say hello to my uncle and aunt (who also happen to own the restaurant - for those of you who may not know!). When we walked in, Jasmine was not pleased. She tugged on my hand and said, "No Mommy, I want to see Santa". I told her to be patient. We had a small chat and then off we went to see him arrive.And see him we did! We had front row standing positions on the train platform as the train rolled up and Santa waved at us from the conductor's window. It was really neat and Jasmine was super excited to see him. Alas, we weren't standing close to where he got off the train so he quickly disappeared into the crowd. Jasmine got upset and I promised her that we would see him that night. She said she wanted to give Santa a big hug and kiss! She also said she wanted to ask Santa to bring her a train and a hat and a toy. We walked over to the lawn of the Manassas museum and enjoyed the tree lighting festivities. They announced that Santa would be sitting in the gazebo across the street for all the children to sit on is lap. Jasmine and I hurried over to stand in line. The line was not short.We waited in line for an hour and a half. Jasmine was so patient. She had managed to make friends with a newspaper photographer for the Manassas Journal Messenger and she took many pictures of Jasmine. Much to our joy, she was in the paper the next day and I have bought a copy of the picture to frame. I will post it below!
As we got closer to Santa, Jasmine grew a bit nervous and I was afraid we would have a repeat performance of last year when she went hysterical when she sat on his lap. Luckily, Santa had his missus with him so when it was Jasmine's turn she began to get upset and I suggested that she sit on Mrs. Claus's lap first. She did and she warmed up to Santa and eventually sat on his lap and gave him a big hug and kiss. She was even more excited when she got candy from Mrs. Claus.We went over to the restaurant afterwards and had dinner. It was so nice because Tio & Tia were able to sit down and eat with us. We had the most lovely time. The food was delicious, the conversation was great and we were all smiles. It was the nicest night and Jasmine went home asking when she could see Santa again!