My dad would be proud

I had no idea until last week that Blake knew how to say The Pledge of Allegiance. This is one of those things he could tell me when I ask him what he learned in school today instead of the standard " I don't know" response. Maybe my questions need to get more specific. Next week I'll ask him if he learned how to sing the star spangled banner.

My dad was a military man and he would have loved this. This one is for you dad.

Rose Festival Waterfront Village

Yesterday we spent the afternoon at the Rose Festivals Waterfront village using the free stuff I won. We rode rides, we ate fair food, we looked at all kinds of stuff and listened to some good music along the way. The weather was perfect, not too hot with a nice breeze off the river. I was pleasantly surprised that there weren't too many people there so we didn't feel crowded.

Here is Blake and I on the big Ferris wheel. We had a wonderful view of the river and the city and the mountain. It was great. **The pics were taken with my cell phone so I didn't have to carry my big lug of a camera with me**


Here's Blake looking at a giant tortoise in the African exhibit where they have lots of animals especially snakes and reptiles.

We thought Blake would love to do this but he got up there and it kind of scared him so he didn't want to jump to high. He's a daredevil when he chooses to be.

Mr. Cool on the ferris wheel thinking he's all that.

This was Blake's favorite ride. He rode it 3 times and smiled from ear to ear the whole time.

I would definitely go again but I'd need to have coupons or free stuff again because it is spendy. It's not like carnivals that I grew up going to where you could play a game for 50 cents and ride a ride for about the same price.

Best Stake Conference ever

Last weekend was our Stake Conference and we had the privilege of hearing from an Apostle of the Lord, Elder M Russell Ballard. The whole weekend was wonderful. It was the first time I have seen an Apostle in person. The spirit was so strong that I was sure you could cut it with a knife.

Saturday evening Adult session was my favorite. All the speakers felt like they were talking just to me. 2 of the speakers talked about their conversions to the church among other things. They both did a great job.

Elder Ballard was the last to speak and he talked about the 10 virgins and keeping our lamps full and ways that we could do that. The usual things came up such as prayer, family home evening, scripture study. He said that he often hears people ask why we talk about the same things all the time and he said something like "As soon as you all get those down pat, we'll move on to deeper doctrine" He talked about rededicating ourselves if some things had started to slip. One thing he mentioned was kneeling each night as a couple and thanking Heavenly Father for one more day together. Tim and I had always had family prayer but didn't really think to kneel each night, just the two of us. We hope to rectify that. I found him to be very sincere and funny. I truly felt like my lamp was filled to overflowing from the whole experience. I did get to shake his hand after the Saturday session. I told him that I would rededicate myself to those things that I have let slip.

Sidenote: I have a 4 day weekend and the weather is beautiful. Hubby has 3 of those days off with me. It's rare that we have more than Sundays off together so I'm really looking forward to some good quality family time.

Sidenote 2: I won a radio content yesterday and got 4 tickets and free ride coupons to the Waterfront Village which is part of the Rose Festival. It's a carnival/fair that is on the waterfront in Portland. We've lived here 15 years and have never gone so we're going to do that tomorrow. The prize package also included a $25 gift cert for KFC and a gift cert for 5 laps at Malibu Raceway.

21 more days

That's all that is left of my son's first year of school. I can't believe the time has gone so fast. I'm amazed at how much he has learned. This is a picture from his first day. The little boy in the picture didn't know how to read.

One short school year later and now, check him out. He's a reader. It's been so cool to watch as his mind soaks it all in.

Wednesday night they had a kindergarten conference at the school where all the kinders and their family came. The kids sang a couple of really cute songs and then took us around to 9 stations that were set up to demonstrate all they have learned this year.

Here they are singing a super cute song called "Tootie Toot"

They were cracking me and themselves up.

Showing us his skills with colors and paints.

He's reading his "popcorn" words.
We've been blessed to have a great teacher this year and we're looking forward to his first year of full day school. Watch our first grade. Blake is on his way.

Random Happenings

What's going on these days at the Kelley house you ask? Oh, you didn't. Well, I'll tell you anyway.

Last week was Spirit Week at school. They had pajama day, crazy hair day etc. Here's a picture of Blake on mis-match day. I think his favorite was pajama day. I've sent an email at work trying to institute pajama day Fridays. We'll see how that goes.

Mothers Day was great. The boys cooked breakfast for me and got me a pretty new locket necklace.

Tim and I celebrated our 16th Anniversary yesterday. Blake took a picture of us right before we went out on our hot date Saturday.

And last but not least, here's a picture of the stink eye you get when you keep bugging your hubby. This happens to be a favorite way for me to pass the time.

Rocking the dog park

So apparently we have been missing out on a great dog park about 15 minutes from our house. It's called Hondo Dog Park. Who is Hondo you ask? Hondo was a police dog that protected the county that I live in and died in the line of duty in 1997.

I didn't have my regular camera with me so these are from my cell and not the greatest but hopefully you can tell what a great time Lexie had playing and running full out all over the place.

I heart the dog park!