You name it.....

What's in a name? This is my newest great-nephew (for those of you that are idiots like me... that's my niece's new baby boy), Stetson Cort Taylor. He was born Saturday at 10:06pm and he told me I'm his favorite aunt already, second to Aunt Brookie!!! He is such a doll and I am so proud of Brittney. She's amazing. So, your name... what does it mean to you? Mine, Hope, such a simple name, a lot of people think I was named Hope because my parents were hoping for a boy (I am the youngest of 6 girls), but I think it had a little more to do with drugs and living in the 70's.... keep in mind, I was adopted!!!! But Hopie? Well, my sister had a baby when I was 3, and Aunt Hope sounds so big for a little kid, so it became Hopie. I know my long time friends because they call me Hopie. Even my friend's parent's still call me Hopie. I prefer it, actually. Now, Randy's full name is Randy Garth, his doctor's name was Garth and that's where that came from. His parents had THAT much respect for the old Dr. Last. When it comes to our kids, Maddison is simple, I always liked that name, but Randy wanted a weird name and I refused, so when I was doped up after a c-section, he filled out the birth certificate and intentionally put a second D in there. I was mad at first, but now? She is definitely Maddison, with 2 D's!!! Maddison's middle name Rose, was my dad's sister's name. She died when my dad what a little boy, so we did it to honor my dad. Tyler? I just always liked that name. Tyler James, after Randy's dad (James Richard), but if you ask Tyler, he's named after his Uncle Cory (Cory James). Then we have Cambelle. Randy's mom's maiden name is Campbell, and as you know, there is a lot of Scottish pride in our family. On NBC, there is a newscaster named Campbell Brown, I thought, if she can do it... so can we!!!! But I wanted to doll it up a little, so we spelled it Cambelle. She doesn't have a middle name, we knew Cambelle had enough history, she didn't need anything else. But, those aren't the only names we go by... Randy often to me is Randolpharino. Aunt Launa calls my kids Maddy Moo, Tee Ty, and Cambella. Adam calls Cambelle, Cam-bo. And I've been known to be called you-little-shit from time to time. Randy calls Tyler, Bubba (I don't know why) and lately had been calling him Duck!?! To Randy, Maddison is Whooper and Cambelle is Turkey. They even answer to those crazy names, they know who he's talking to!!! I love having special names for loved ones. There are plenty more nick names that my kids have, but I have to stop somewhere!!!! So, what's with YOUR name?

Toothless Annie

Yesterday it a day that will go down in history for our family.... Maddison lost 2 teeth in one day without a trip to the dentist!!!

At 4am, she woke up and decided to wiggle her very loose tooth and it came out. Nothing like waking up to a 9 year old saying, "DADDY!!! I JUST LOST MY TOOTH!!!". The second one was a little more work. Her new tooth was growing in around her baby tooth, we've been working on her to get that one out, but she has anxiety issues when it comes to losing teeth, the Tooth Fairy coming into her room and then TAKING HER TEETH?!?! She has NEVER let the Tooth Fairy take her teeth, she has written many notes that say, "Dear Tooth Fairy, please leave the money AND my tooth. Love, Maddison". So, she gets pretty freaked out every time she's gonna lose a tooth. This second tooth of the day, only came out because of "dollar fifty Thursdays". It was a rule we "remembered" with one of Tyler's teeth than needed to come out really bad one day and it was on a Thursday. Getting $3. was THE ONLY thing that got that second tooth out of Maddison's mouth last night. She was so proud she finally got it out. After calls to the grandmas and grandpas and the generous offer from Mike and Gina to "help her find the teeth she lost" she finally went to bed and we're happy to report that the Tooth Fairy came through with her $3. and left her teeth!!!! I love the magic that surrounds children. All these wonderful things that happen when kids are small is what it's all about.




Now Maddison has more gaps then teeth, it seems!!! Watch out for our toothless Annie!!! (Notice the "just got out of the shower" hair and the bloodshot eyes from crying about the tooth finally coming out!!!)

I think....

I think that people are amazing.
I think that the community of Hurricane really knows how to stand up when they are needed.
I think that it's cool when everyone is hurting for money that people's pockets still open up for a good cause.
I think that family is the most important.
I think that friends are a close second.
I think that there are angels all around us, all we have to do is give them a chance to work.
I think that it's a privilege to be a part of the Campbell family.



On Monday, there was a benefit concert for Randy's Aunt and Uncle that live in Hurricane. Randy's Aunt Lorraine was just diagnosed a couple of weeks ago with neuroendocrine carcinoma. Long words that mean "nasty cancer". The cancer has spread throughout her spine, it's in her liver and lungs too. The specialists are saying that her odds are in favor of her only living a couple more months, of which there is no doubt they are being truthful. We have watched in the last short couple of weeks that her condition is changing rapidly. She's only 49 and will leave behind 3 kids still living at home plus the 2 that are married and one daughter getting married next Friday. It's just tragic. This family is a very important part to the town of Hurricane. So loved, so, so loved. When one of the high school teachers heard of what was going on, he put together this benefit concert. It was such an amazing night. So much talent. We are blessed to live in an area that rallies around to help. By the end of the night, there were a lot of tears shed and lots of pockets emptied. The family needs it but would never ask. I learned a good lesson about service when Cambelle was born. My Grandma Albrecht came for 5 days to help out and I felt bad for the Relief Society bringing food to us. My thoughts were that we could run to McDonald's. That's when my grandma taught me a lesson I still think about still to this day. She said, "How dare you deny those sisters of blessings? You will have to answer to your Heavenly Father one day about that, and do you think he will be proud of you turning them away?". I had never looked at it that way. I love the way my grandma teaches. She doesn't mix words!!! I know it's harder to receive service than give it, but I'm glad Danny and Lorraine let us serve them on Monday night. We all need those blessings!!! I love all those Campbell's and our constant prayers are with them that they will continue to rely on our Savior.

My favorite song of the week.....

Is Poker Face by Lady GaGa. I love the way it sounds. The lyrics are kinda weird, but I don't care. When I hear this song, I want to choreograph a dance and make everyone learn it. I'm sure I could do better than whoever choreographed the dance she did on the Ellen show with Just Dance. It was a good laugh!!!! I used to have it on my DVR just for when I was having a bad day and needed something to make make me smile!!! There are a lot of songs that make me want to dance. This is just one of them!!!! Anyhow.... enjoy the listen, I know I will!!!!

Right now....

..... I am the proud mom of a son that survived being born with a diaphragmatic hernia.....



Dawn, the founder of Cherubs is an amazing woman. She did a blog post that made me cry. Randy and I have been through EVERY SINGLE ONE of the things she talks about except for the last one (thank goodness). I'm glad she did THIS POST so I can continue to count my blessings. Some might say I blog too much about Tyler's illness. To that, my response would be.... I'm glad I get to!!! His progress is an absolute miracle. I might be the only parent you know of who's had a kid with CDH, but we know more than just us. Sadly, there is a higher concentration of kids with CDH in Southern Utah than the average for the U.S. Why? We don't know yet. Maybe this will get you thinking and talking, raise awareness and quite possibly make it so we find a cause/prevention/cure for CDH. Wouldn't it be GREAT to never have babies have to suffer like our Tyler did? Dawn, THANK YOU for the hard work you put into Cherubs. It IS making a difference. Keep up the good work. When we didn't know what to do when we got our diagnosis, we turned to Cherubs and have appreciated the info we have got from that organization. I would ask that you read the post I'm talking about and know that someone is going through all of that right now. Our turn for that is over, hopefully, but our prayers are constantly with those facing hard times. Please know that we have a loving Heavenly Father that will help us all, we only have to be humble enough to ask.

So what?

So what if I want my 9 year old daughter to teach me the Hoedown Throwdown? My niece, Brookie, wanted to go to the new Hannah Montana Movie and didn't want to look like a dork, so she borrowed my kids!!! Smart girl!!! When the kids got home, I downloaded the newest Miley Cyrus song for Maddison and now I'm hooked. We'll be having a dance lesson when they get home and it will be HER teaching me the Hoedown Throwdown!!! Wish me luck!!!

Happy Easter!!!

7 Years ago on Easter, we had a really cool day as a family. Randy got to give Tyler a name and a blessing. When Tyler was in the hospital, expected to die, the one hope we hung onto was that we would someday be able to bring him home to bless him with all of our friends and family. At times, it looked impossible, but we kept up our faith. It ended up that our testimony meeting was scheduled for Easter Sunday, so that would be the big day!!! When we got pregnant with Maddison, we researched and got the Strath Clyde tartan to have Randy's mom make a kilt for the baby if she was a boy, but she ended up a girl, so we tucked it away till we had Tyler. Peggy made Tyler's kilt, vest and bow tie. She had a blast. She would giggle every time she worked on it and the first time she showed it to us, I laughed out loud. It was the cutest thing I have ever seen!!! You can't see, but there are tons and tons of pleats on the back. She modeled it after Randy's even down to the pin on the front!!!Randy's kilt is the Campbell of Argyle tartan and because of his Scottish heritage and then serving a mission in Scotland, he knew he would bless our son in his kilt. When we got to church, it was great to see so much of our loved ones there to support us and celebrate. There were 18 men that stood in the blessing circle. When Randy held Tyler up for everyone to see him, there was an audible, "AWWWWW!!!" from the ward members. Randy was in the Young Men's presidency at the time and there weren't enough boys to pass the Sacrament, so Randy ended up passing in his kilt!!! He will never forget that!!!
After church, we had a BBQ at our house, where everyone got to chat and enjoy each others company. So, on this Easter Sunday, we always remember that wonderful day 7 years ago and I thought it would be fun to share!!! Today was made more special by Randy's nephew getting blessed!!! Grandma got to make another kilt for him!!! These Clyde boys are lucky to have such a cool family to belong to and we're lucky to have them in our lives!!! Happy Easter everyone!!!