Our little missionary

So, we have talked to Blake about being a missionary someday and most of the time he says "No way" Lately he's getting more okay with the idea. He's such a wiggily kid that we often wonder if he gets anything at all out of church.

Well, last week we found out that he indeed is getting something out of church. His babysitter has a 3 year old daughter that Blake has grown to love and they often act like brother and sister. My sitter does not take her children to church or talk to them about God unless they ask her a question. It's a long story as to why this is but I digress.

My sitter Paula said that her aunt or someone had sent a Christmas Book to Victoria (the 3 year old) Blake saw the book and asked Victoria if she'd like him to read it to her. As he's reading the story of Christs birth to her she says "Blake, who is Jesus?" Blake says "Victoria, do you not know who Jesus is?" He starts to tell her about Jesus and the story of his birth. Of course this was in 7 year old terms. When he was done Victoria said "Blake, is this true" He said "Every word of it"

When we talked about this later, we pointed out that he was being a missionary. Maybe there is hope after all.

Christmas memories

It's hard to believe another Christmas has come and gone. The years seem to be really flying by as I get older. Christmas Eve marked 4 years since my mom passed away. I'm so thankful to know I will see her again someday. She left me with some very sweet memories until then.

We had a wonderful Christmas. Good food, great family, wonderful memories, I couldn't ask for more. Here are some pictures from Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Santa stopped by to visit. Blake is on to the fact that it wasn't the real Santa. He said "Mom, I know that was just one of Santa's helpers" "Santa is busy delivering presents tonight" I think it's the beginning of the end of the magic of Santa. I hope we get a couple more years out of it.


My niece and nephew.

Blake's haul from Santa. This year we didn't buy presents for each other. We adopted a family instead. It was fun to shop for them together and then imagine their faces as they opened the presents yesterday. We don't know who they were and vise verse. We were hoping to teach Blake that it's more about giving then receiving.

His grandma got Blake a digital camera. He's ready to take some pictures. Well, once we get some AAA batteries.

The cousins.

Blake was in lego heaven. He has spent hours building his new sets. This is my favorite toy for him and I'm glad he likes them so much. It's much better than sitting in front of the TV playing a video game.

Blake in the aftermath. The slinky never goes out of style.

Life is good!

Oh Chirstmas Tree Part 2

It took a few days but the tree is finally decorated. Now I need to get my cards out and wrap presents and...and..and...lol I refuse to get stressed about what is left to do. I am determined to slow down this year and enjoy the spirit of the season.

Oh Christmas Tree

We have lived in Oregon for 16 1/2 years and we have never gone and cut down our Christmas tree. We've gone to the same lot all these years. But this week we changed that. We decided to find a tree farm and go for it. I'm so glad that we did. We had so much fun. We drove out past the golf course and just kept going until we found one that looked like it was open.

The property was beautiful. It was up high and had a fantastic view. The ground was frozen solid so no mud. It was freezing cold but that just added to the trip. We found the right one right away.

Here is it is......

Our friends came with us.

Erik, Blake and Laura. Can you hear Laura's teeth chattering.

Looks like we have a new tradition.

Elves, Kelley style

I saw this on my friend Yvonnes blog and thought it was cute. My son laughs everytime he watches it.

Thankful

Today is Thanksgiving. I have so much to be thankful for.

First of all, I am thankful to have the Gospel in my life. It's hard to remember the person I was prior to joining The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Days Saints. I am thankful for the knowledge and direction it has given my life and now my families life. I was happy before I joined the church but now I know what true happiness and joy is.

I am so thankful for my family. For a long time I thought that I would never get to be a mother but Heavenly Father sent me Blake. We all have so much fun together. I love these boys. My in-laws have been so good to me. They took me right in and treat me as one of their own. I do miss my parents but I know that I will see them again.

I am also thankful for good friends. I am blessed to have a handful that have been there for me through thick and thin. They have become my family.

So, on this day of gratitude, I am so thankful.

Birthday boy

Dear Blake,


It's hard for me to believe that it's been 7 years since you came into my life. I never knew how deeply I could love until I met you. I could go on and on about how much joy you have brought into my life but probably by the time you read this, you'll be too big for all the mushy stuff. So, I'll just tell you a little bit about your 7 year old self.

You are such a funny boy. Always ready with a laugh. You make me laugh every single day. You are very smart and have become quite a good reader. You are liking 1st grade quite a bit. I think it's mostly because of the 2 recesses. You're learning to add and subtract. The other day you said that "math, math, math" was all your teacher wanted to talk about. You are a very good friend and love to have play dates.

You never stop moving. Since you were little your theory has been that you can't fall asleep if you are running. It often looks as though you aren't paying attention but I'm learning that even when you are firing on all cylinders, you are hearing and absorbing what is said.

You love to spend time with your grandma and Papa and they love to spend time with you. I love the relationship you have with them.

Your dad and I are so thankful every day that Heavenly Father blessed us with your sweet spirit. You are an amazing kid.

Love you forever,

Mommy

Here you are the night of your Birthday party chiling out with your friends.


Playing the Wii

With your grandma at Red Robyn

Reading your card

Your Birthday party at Out of this World pizza.

Rocket man

Monkeys on the wall

Fall Fun

Well, it's a good thing I left myself a note or I would have forgotten some of the things I wanted to blog about. We have the laptop back so hopefully I won't be such a blogger slacker.

Here's a few pics of the fun we've had this fall.



We went to a great Halloween party this year. It's been a long time since I dressed up.

Here I am as the Princess

and here with my pea..lol

Spooky Pumpkins

Lexie trying hard to get that pumpkin


Bat cousins having fun

Some serious concentration

Papa showing the boys how it's done

Blake posing in the hay

My boys (even if one of them is wearing a dress)

Making his pick

All about the loot!

This might be animal abuse but oh we had fun trick or treating with her.

Boba Fett and Optimus

Still here

Just a quick post to let you (all 3 of you) know that I'm still here. I've just been really busy lately. Also, our laptop died and so it's not as convenient to be on the computer as it used to be. I promise to get caught up later. I have a lot to blog about.

I'm going to make a list to remind me to blog about

1) the pumpkin patch
2) pumpkin carving
3) Halloween party
4) My birthday
5) Primary program

I'm woefully behind in my blog reading but some day I will get caught up.

Have you done any good in the world today

Another great general conference has come and gone. I always feel so blessed to be able to listen to the inspired leaders of our church.

We watched Saturday conference here at home (hooray for BYU TV). This morning we were invited over to the Newberry's again for conference and a wonderful brunch. This is our second time getting to join in their tradition of Sunday Conference Brunch. Lots of great food , great talks and great company.

Several of the talks really spoke to me but my favorite was by President Monson. He talked about service. He talked about a man that would always ask each member of his family nightly what they had done to make someone else's life better that day. He told us of many letters he received in response to his request that people serve each other for his birthday. Some of the examples were so sweet.

It really made me realize how wrapped up I get in my own crazy busy life and how I need to pause the remember what is really important. I am going to start asking myself each day "Have I done any good in the world today?" I hope the answer is always yes.

First day of school and scissors gone bad

Blake started school on the 8th of September. (Yeah, I'm late) He's a big 1st grader now. This is the first time he's gone to school all day. I was worried it might be a bit much for him but he's really loving it.

We were hoping to get his kindergarden teacher Mrs. Bayley because she moved up to 1st grade but he got Mrs. Ahlberg instead. At first I was a little disappointed but after talking to her a few times, I think we are really going to like her. Blake seems to like her a lot. He wasn't disappointed at all.

Sadly, he decided to try out his new scissor skills on his hair. Yep, he took a chunck of his hair out right in the front. I thought we had passed the age where this could happen and that we had dodged this particular typical childhood episode. Apparently he is just a late bloomer.

Oh yeah, did I mention that school pictures will be taken on the 20th? Maybe I should just buzz it.

Takes a lickin and keeps on tickin

It's starting to feel like fall and I'm loving it. The cooler weather makes me think of spice candles, pumpkins, chili, stew, sweaters and all the things I love about fall.

But enough about the weather.

I'm really posting to say that Blake had his follow up with the cardiologist and he passed with flying colors. Everything looks great! He doesn't have to go back for 3 more years. I always hold my breath a little while they are doing the echo-cardiogram and today was no different. So glad that all is well and he doesn't even have that much of a murmur anymore.

Speaking of the word murmur, my son laughs every time someone says this word. This all started when reading scriptures with him one night. We were reading a passage that talked a lot about murmuring and he got the giggles. Now he laughs whenever he hears it and he'll just randomly say "murmur" to make me giggle.

To blog

First of all, thanks to everyone for your input on my last post. I really appreciate it.

I've decided to keep blogging and I'm going to take the advice of a few of you and mush them together. This is my blog. It's for me and my family. I am a big girl and can blog about whatever I like. I don't need to worry about who is or isn't reading it. I've never been that private of a person but I'm sure there are some things that I won't want on the world wide web. For those things, I will use my written journal. It won't be updated as often but at least I'll have a place to put my thoughts down if I don't want the whole world to see.

I like looking back over this blog and seeing the good times and even the bad. I think my child will someday as well. The good, the bad and the ugly. It all makes up this blessed life that we live.

Thanks again, I really do have some great blogging buddies out there and I love ya!

To blog or not to blog...that is the question

When I first started this blog, it was to help me keep some kind of journal of life in the Kelley house. I was very faithful in the beginning and posted several times a week. I have posted a few things here and there that we were purely for having the stories down in writing. But mostly it was just things like vacations, birthdays, milestones in Blake's like, ramblings here and there etc.

Over the last couple of years I have started to taper off in my writing. From several times a week to now it's twice a month if I'm lucky. I am starting to wonder if I am doing it justice. There are only a handful of people that read my blog and most of them I either know if real life or have become close enough to that I have them as Facebook friends (facebook: a whole other story) Anywho, where was I? Oh yes, to blog or not to blog. That is the question. I do have to say that this is the longest I have ever kept any kind of journal at all. On the other hand, I really hesitate in writing some of my true feelings because of the people that I know are reading. So am I giving just a glossed over version of my family and life? I think it would be different if I had family that lived far away and read my blog but I don't and the few that I do keep in touch with, are on Facebook now.

So, do I keep the blog and just keep it like it has been? Do I go private so I can blog about some of my innermost thoughts and know that it's really more of a personal journal? I've heard that some people have both a blog like this and then a private blog where they keep their more private thoughts. If I can't keep up with one blog then I surely can't keep up with 2. I wish I were better about keeping a written journal. I truly do want my posterity to have some kind of history. I would love to have journals written by my parents through the years.

I realize that I'm rambling but hey, it's my blog and I can ramble if I want to right? If some of my family reads this in the future, they should know the real me and the real me...rambles.

Last days of summer

Just home from work and I'm soooooo looking forward to a 5 day weekend. I can't believe that summer is almost at an end. Is it just me or did it go by faster than ever.

For the most part, summer was really hard this year. It started June 6th when my dear friends amazing son died in a car accident. I'm telling you that I blinked and all of June was gone. I've done my best over the months to be there for her. It's so hard to see someone you love in so much pain and you can do nothing to ease it. I mean, there is no fixing that. Sure, time does help a little but there will always be a missing piece. My family has been great. They have supported me when I probably should have been home but was there instead.

How depressing do I sound..sheesh. Don't get me wrong, we have had some fun this summer. We had some great little mini-vacations in August. I love just being with my family no matter where we are but the beach is a nice enhancement for sure.

So now, I have 5 days to get a few things done around the house, have some fun and then it's back to school. I can't believe that Blake will be a 1st grader. He's very excited to go back to school. I think it's mostly because of lunch and recess. He really enjoyed picking out a lunch box and talking about what we'll pack for lunches. Once the newness wears off, we'll see if he's still so excited.

We're talking about going to the Oregon State Fair this weekend. No firm plans but definitely some quality time is in order.

Beautiful Bandon

Here are some pictures of our little Bandon vacation. If you haven't been to Bandon, you really should go. It's about 5 hours down South on the coast and it is National Geographic pretty. We camped in a Yurt at Bullards State Park which is 2 miles N of Bandon. We used to tent camp but once we tried a Yurt there was no turning back. We really had a great time and I wish we were still there. Alas, it's back to the real world. But we'll have our memories.

Here is a picture of Face Rock from a distance. Hopefully you can see why they call it that.

Blake's face in this picture sums up how we all felt about the weekend.

Here's a close up of Face Rock. Does that help?

It was really windy on the beach and a little cool so we let the boys play in the water for a bit, snapped a few shots and headed back to the warm fire at camp.

Home sweet home for a few days.

Blake's best friend was able to go with us. His dad was on his own while his wife was out of town and we ended up with a extra yurt so it worked out great. Here they are proud of their catch of the day. Yes, they were yummy.

More of the Bandon Coastline.

Sidenote: I haven't made it around to my favorite blogs lately (you know who you are) but I haven't forgotten you. I have just been super busy lately (who isn't). Don't give up on me, I'll get caught up eventually.

Sidenote number 2: Do you ever feel that the faster you go, the more behind you get? Yeah, me neither..lol

Beach Birthday

Last weekend we went to the beach to celebrate my sweet hubbys Birthday. In case you didn't know....I LOVE THE BEACH!!! Something about it instantly relaxes me and makes me a very happy girl. It was a great family bonding weekend.

Tim had fun opening presents.

Writing notes in the sand

We all had fun playing in the pool

Walking on the beach.

I feel very blessed to live in such a beautiful place where the Ocean is just a short drive away.