Merry Christmas

Elley the Photographer

Elley wanted to try using the camera. I was trying to teach her to make sure you could see everyone right in the middle of the screen. She did a pretty good job, and now all she wants to do is take pictures...(thank goodness for digital!!!) Every time I take a pictures of anything she says, "Okay momma, my turn!"

A Small Gift, A Big Christmas Miracle

Most of you that read my blog, know that my mom died a little over 3 years ago, September 8th 2006.

I want to share a story of a Christmas Miracle that happened to me that year!

Christmas Eve, Adam and I packed a few things in an over night bag and headed down south to stay with my brother and his family for a few days. I was excited! One, because I LOVE my brother Craig and his family, and Two, because my dad was going to be there and I hadn't seen him since the funeral.

Christmas Eve was fun......with food, good company and a great holiday spirit. Although, there was something missing. If any of you have ever lost someone who is one of the most important persons in your lives, you know what I'm talking about. Holidays are hard, especially the firsts ones.

Christmas morning was fun! My brother and his wife have 3 kids so, the wrapping paper was everywhere. The ripping, the laughter, the fun...who wouldn't love Christmas? In the midst of all this Christmas fun, my sister-in-law Lori handed my a present and said, "this is from your mom." I was a little confused but a warmth filled my heart as Lori said, "just open it." I had a million thoughts running through my head as I unwrapped this gift. When I finally got it open, I saw a wall decoration that I loved. It was something I would of bought for myself and it matched other decor in my house. I looked at Lori, still a little confused and she told me the story.

That summer, my mom and dad had gone on one big road trip visiting friends and family. From California, to Utah, to Idaho, to Washington, to Canada, and back down again. It was so good seeing her that summer. Her Chemo was done and she had a new outlook on life. I remember calling in sick to my job one Saturday while they were visiting Adam and I, and we went to garage sales all day long. It was one of the best times I had ever had with her. I still remember getting excited and laughing as we found another sale, and another sale, and another sale. I also remember the looks we got from Adam and my dad as we unloaded all of our treasures from that day.

After staying with us for a week, they went down south to stay with my brother and his family. While shopping with my sister-in-law Lori one day, my mom found this wall decoration and thought that I would love it. So, she got it and asked Lori to keep it at her house. That way she wouldn't have to mail it to me in case we didn't all get together for the hoildays.

After Lori shared that story with me, the gift had so much more meaning. The fact that it was from my mom, who had just died 4 months earlier, the fact that it was exactly what I would of wanted, and the fact that it said LOVE. I like to think that that was a BIG Christmas Miracle. It didn't happen by chance, nor was it a coincidence. It was her way of saying, "My dear sweet Keely, I know that's it hard to have me gone, especially around the holidays, but I am thinking about you, and I'm with you, and most of all I LOVE you!

Every time I see that wall decoration I obviously think of her, but I also think about the tender mercies of the Lord. Who, without Him, I would not be able to see my mother again. That is why I celebrate Christmas, because He was born and made all things possible.

Something That Made Me Laugh

My dad called me yesterday to tell me that he was sending a doll house that he had made for Elley in the mail. Originally, he and Judy were going to drive it here but the weather and time of year made it so that wouldn't be possible.

Later that night, when Adam got home, I was telling him about the conversation I had had with my dad. We were all in the car so I had to be careful of what I said because Elley catches onto everything. Lately we have started spelling words so she wouldn't know what we were saying.

Keely: "My dad called this afternoon and said that he was going to mail the H-O-U-S-E and it should be here Friday."

Adam: "Wow, that's sure nice of him!"

Keely: "I know, I guess he and Judy were going to drive it here but the weather is so bad right now."

Elley from the backseat: "Momma, Grandpa and Nana Judy are gonna S-O-T to my house?"

O Christams Tree

Daddy and Molly picking out the perfect tree, while Elley and Ella play in the background

Here it is, the one we picked

waiting for dad to put on the lights so Elley and I can put on the ornaments


Elley unwrapping all of our ornaments. A surprised gasp every time..."look mom, Santa!"

Isn't it beautiful?

Family Pictures 2009

My amazing friend Melinda has taken family pictures for us 3 times now. Last November, in March for my dad's wedding, and now this year. I think she's got a beautiful talent for taking and editing pictures. I've never been disappointed with what she comes up with. Here are a few of my very favorites and why I like them.

I love this family picture because we are all smiling and all looking one one direction.

How could you not LOVE this picture....this girl is the sunshine in my day!

I love Elley's smile. She's got a huge leaf in her hand and she was hiding her face behind it. She was playing peek a boo with Melinda and Melinda was able to capture the "here I am smile."

I too love this family picture....1. because of the smiles, and 2. because of Molly's look. At this point Melinda was on her back, kind of in a half sit up position, and her legs were up in the air (if you can picture that) It was very entertaining. I just love how Molly is looking like, "what on earth are you doing....am I suppose to smile or laugh at that?"

Daddy and his girls

I love this one because this is my life.....perfect! Maybe not a perfect picture, or a perfect moment. But a perfect little smile that melts my heart while chaos is all around

Me and My girls

This was the story of the photo shoot! I like to pretend that Molly has enough hair for a clip. (she has a lot more than her sister did at this age)

And this is another picture of my life. Tea parties with 2 of the most important girls in my life!

Sugar and Spice and Everything nice

Molly's birthday has come and gone, but wish we could celebrate her everyday. She is such a fun little girl and I love her so much.....how could I not, just look at her!

She is getting so big and so old. I still can't believe a whole year has gone by! Here are some things she is up to.

1. Loves her daddy more than anything. She lights up whenever he walks into the room and squeals in delight. Whenever I'm holding her and Adam puts his arms out, she will lunge for him. If Adam is holding her and I put my arms out, she'll turn away and buries her face in his shoulder. She has got him wrapped around her little finger.

2. She is standing on her own and will even take a few steps. She walks along the furniture and crawls very fast....sometimes a little too fast.

3. She loves to crawl up the stairs and into her sisters room......big sister's toys are much more fun than the boring baby toys downstairs.

4. She loves her sleep! Great nighttime sleeper and great naps during the day.

5.Great eater except when it come to vegetables!

6. Loves babies...especially my friend Kim's little girl Kiley.

7. Says mama, dada, and dog. She also loves to blow raspberries to make her sister laugh.

8. She hates bows, headbands, hats, hoods, soxs, shoes, and bibs. Any of these, if I'm lucky, will stay on for 2-3 minutes....except for the bows, headbands, hats, and hoods.....those come off immediately.

9. She has 3 teeth and one that will cut through any day now. She has the cutest smile, even with only 3 teeth. I love to see her smile in the morning when I go and get her out of her crib.

10. And last, she is the cutest little girl and I can't get enough of her. She makes me so happy! I am the luckiest mom in the whole world.

We Love Our Molly

What a special little girl Molly has been, and a wonderful addition to our family. I love her more and more everyday. She's sweet, and lovable, and I just want to squeeze her. I still don't believe she's one, where did that year go?

We celebrated her birthday on Sunday and we're so glad that our family was able to help celebrate with us. We had Mark and Jordan and their family, and also Jay and Leah and their family. Elley was so excited to have a birthday party for Molly and couldn't stop talking about it. I thought she was going to explode waiting for her cousins to show up. We hadn't see our family in awhile, so this was a good excuse to get together.

A few weeks old...(look at those juicy lips)

One year old and still as juicy as ever!

Opening her gifts. She is one lucky girl. She got some pretty neat presents from her cousins. She didn't really like opening presents as much as I thought she would. I think she was a little overwhelmed with her sister who couldn't wait to get the paper off.

The cupcakes

Molly's own cake

She knew right what to do, I hadn't even set the cake down and already she has a handful of frosting in her mouth.

She figured that her hands were slowing her down and just went right in with the mouth

What a mess!!!

She ate quite a bit considering she had 2 pieces of pizza for dinner.

The party was fun.....family, pizza, presents, and cake!







The actual BIG day

Molly's actual birthday was just a normal day for us.....except for the doughnuts daddy got for breakfast!

Halloween...a few days late!

Okay, so I'm kind of a lame mom.....or maybe I just have a lame camera. This summer, while using my camera, the flash broke. Right in the middle of taking a picture I hear this pop as the flash goes off and then a little smoke. That's it.....the flash bulb popped and now I have no flash. I take it into a camera store to see if they can replace the flash....no big deal, right? Wrong! Replacing the flash will cost more than the camera is worth. Bummer! It was the summer though, and most pictures are taken outside that time of the year, and so I put it off. And I kept putting it off, and off, and off! It's now November and still no new camera. I hate buying things that cost more than a hundred dollars. Now I think I will wait until Black Friday and see what kind of deals I can get.

In the mean time, I have to be really creative when taking pictures. Mostly during the day, and with all the shades open and lights on.

Well as you all know, Halloween takes place at night. So today, while Molly was napping, I dressed Elley back up and had a little photo shoot outside. Later this evening, I put Molly's costume on but it was too dark outside. Every light was on in the house....a little blurry and dark, but you can still see how cute she is!!!

Molly hates headbands! She is giving me the evil eye with her finger all ready to rip it off. It's a miracle I got even one picture with her bow on
Isn't she a terrific poser...you'd never guess this was November 3rd.

The cutest Tinkerbell I've ever seen!!!

A is for Apple

The last time we took a trip to Kerilynn's house we took a little extra something for her whole family.....sickness! A few weeks ago we went to visit again, and decided that this trip shouldn't be any different than the time before! That's right....two trips in a row!

On the way there, Molly started to get a little fussy. When we were about half way there I felt Molly's head and she was a little warm. By the time we got to Kerilynn's she had a temp of 102.5! Anyway, to make a very long story short, I started getting sick that night and was sick the whole weekend....along with Molly. Fevers, aches, coughs, runny noses....I'm so sorry Kerilynn! We were there for 4 days and the day after we left her kids started dropping like files! The girls and I came home and continued being sick for a few more days. What a rough week that was. Well, we are all healthy now and hope that that was our hit for the winter.

One of the main purposes in making the trip to my sister's was of course to see her and the family, but also to pick some of their beautiful apples from their trees! My sister and her husband were lucky enough to build their house on property with 5 apple trees. What a blessing to go and visit her, but also to bring home enough apples to make about 20 quarts of applesauce and share with other members of my family and also some friends.

Here are a few pictures of that weekend.

Cousins showing off their caramel apples

Cousins taking a delicious bite

Elley and Briley....best buddies!

One of the apple trees

Pumpkins

I figured I better post these pictures from the pumpkin patch before November rolls around and Halloween has come and gone. A few ladies from our ward took a little "field trip" out to the farm a few weeks ago. Originally, Adam was not working that day so he could stay home with Molly. Well, he ended up working and I got to take 4 kids to the pumpkin patch. A huge thank you to all the great ladies in my ward who helped me keep track of them all.

If you're wondering who the 4 kids are....obviously Molly and Elley.....and I also watch 2 of my friends kids during the week, Ella and Ethan!!!