California Fun

Here is an overdue post about our trip to California. Paul had a conference in L.A. on Friday (June 8th) so we decided to tag along and make a family trip out of it. On Thursday we headed to "the happiest place on earth" aka. Disneyland! The kids had a lot of fun, but I feel like we only saw 10% of the whole thing. I'm sure as our kids get older we will be able to do more, but we did the best we could with just two adults. This is Max fighting Darth Vader in a little "show" they had. Each of the kids got chosen to participate! They thought it was the best! The best part was that when Max had his turn, Darth Vader said, "your style is unorthodox"....UNDERSTATEMENT! We laughed so hard. Nora at the end of a Disneyland day! Note the dirty knees, shirt, and great big smile!!

Friday we just had some down time while Paul was at his conference and tried to get some rest to gear up for Saturday. We decided to head to Legoland in San Diego on Saturday. It was actually really great! I think it was much better suited for our stage. Ella was tall enough to go on most of the rides, and there were so many things geared for little kids. They have a new pirate adventure splash area that the kids had a blast in.

Sunday we got our things together and headed to the San Diego Temple before making the drive home. I LOVE that Temple. It still amazes me how beautiful it is every time I see it. The kids had fun running around the beautiful grounds and asking why they couldn't go inside. After all that, it was time to make the trek home. It was not a pleasant experience. Between frequent potty stops, bad fast food, and Nora's CONSTANT crying, I decided I needed not a "trip", but a vacation! It really makes me dread the long drive we have ahead of us next month to Utah. I want everyone who reads this to send me their best tips, suggestions, toys, distractions, etc. I am desperate. My kids ages are 7, 5, 3, and 15 months. We do not have a DVD player, or anything like that, so that puts a damper on things. I'm serious about wanting help.

Happy Fathers Day!

I want to take time to honor both my Dad, and the Dad of my kids - Paul. I hit the jackpot when it came to Fathers. The older I get, the more I appreciate his hard work, his faithfulness, his expectations of us, and the sound advice/wisdom I benefited from (and still do). My Dad makes me feel like a million bucks and I am well aware of what that does for the life of a little girl, young woman, and now not so young woman! He always made me believe that I was talented, capable, beautiful, smart, and good. You will never know how much I appreciate all you have done for me Dad! I love you so much and wish you the best Father's Day!Is that the best smile or what? Do you see where I got my eyes and skin from?
This is a picture of me "shaving" my Dad at a Daddy Daughter outing in the early 80's!
Another picture from the 80's to show where my inspiration and love of running came from.

I just had to include this picture because my parents looked like the most "fly" couple in this picture. I never knew they were SO hip! This has got to be in the late 60's on a trip to Washington D.C. Am I right Mom?

Paul has a great example when it comes to Fathers. His Dad has got to be one of the most patient, kind, honorable, and good men I know. I am so grateful for his life and for all he instilled in his kids. I see so many similarities in them and I am so grateful for that. I love you Colin!
Now for my awesome husband Paul. I honestly don't know where to begin. How did I get so lucky? Paul is the the guy who would do ANYTHING for his family. He truly does everything he does for us. He put in 12 long years of schooling after his mission to ensure a stable good life for us. He always makes me feel like a "hottie" and is such a sweet Dad.

One thing about Paul that I admire is that he has so much integrity. During residency he would always stay later than he had to if he felt like he was needed. I remember during his anesthesia rotation I got so excited because everyone said he would be home by 3:00pm. They didn't know Paul very well. When he finished up with anesthesia he would go up to the Oral Surgery Clinic and see if he could help get the other guys out any sooner. Every rotation he went on he became the favorite resident - except for maybe internal medicine. He would get notes, cookies, fruit baskets, etc. from the families of his patients, and still gets emails from some of them.

I am so proud of all his sacrifice of time and energy, and his hard work for our family. His kids adore him, and I love him so much! Thanks Paul for all you do!
Paul with Ella and Jack overlooking one of his favorite golf courses in La Crosse, WI.This is an old picture of Paul and the boys at a different golf course in Wisconsin.
I'm so glad my boys have not only a strong hand to hold, but a strong man to look up to!
Paul adores his girls, and they love him too! I know he will help them feel the way my Dad made me feel....special.


We Love you DAD(s)!!

I always knew he was a looker!!

Okay, so I had to do it for Paul too! Of course I don't know who most of them are, but come on...George Clooney!! Luckily Paul is even cooler that Danny Ocean!

My Celebrity Look-alikes

Need an ego boost? This is kinda fun! I'm not sure if I agree, but I'll take it. Especially since my husband thinks Jessica Biel is a hottie! I have to laugh at the last one (Kelly Hu) because I have been asked several times it I have any asian heritage?! I can't wait to see everyone elses results! Especially my SIL Sue because I have always thought she has a tad of Celine Dion, and a lot of Jessica Alba (LUCKY!) Sally, how hard would you laugh if yours had Tori Spelling? Paul would feel so vindicated!!

Jane Austen anyone?

Take the Quiz here!

I love Jane Austen. This quiz was fun. How accurate it is I'm not sure, but fun to take anyway!

Temper Temper

I am actually in California right now, but I wanted to quickly post about a great experience I had Wed. morning before leaving on our trip. I was up bright and early at 4:15am and on my way to pick up some of the beehives (girls group from our church ages 12-13) to go to the temple to do baptisms for the dead. For those of you not familiar with my church, click here to find out what I mean. Anyway, it was so fun to see how willing/eager these girls were to wake up early on a summer morning to serve the Lord.

Anyway, before doing the actual baptisms we had the President of the temple and his wife talk to us a bit. The temple Matron said that she felt inspired to talk to us about how she had grown up in a home where a lot of harsh words and loud voices prevailed. That was something she was somewhat used to until she got married. She told about how she and her husband were in California where he was in law school at Stanford. While they were there she was in Sunday school where the lesson was about controlling your tongue. She then said that her bishop at the time made a comment about how he felt like every time he lost his temper, he lost a piece of himself. That bishop turned out to be my uncle who later was made a General Authority of the church. I was so touched, not only because it was about my dear uncle, but because this is something I have been thinking about a lot lately.

I was blessed to grow up in a home where harsh words/voices were rarely used. I can honestly say that I cannot recall a time that I heard my mother's voice raised in anger. Now, I am the youngest and I'm sure there were times where she did raise her voice, but they were obviously few and far between because I do not remember a single time. Of course this was normal to me and have since learned that I was truly blessed by this "not so normal" behavior. I grew up with the delusion that I would be a mother exactly like mine. I have learned that I am not nearly as patient and nurturing as she was. It hurts me to know that I have raised my voice to my children due purely to my own frustration. I have really been praying for an increase in patience, and for the guidance and discipline to control my voice. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not yelling and verbally abusing my kids, but I am not at all happy with the ever increasing times that I have lost my temper.

Again, I have to pay tribute to my mother for her great example and nurturing. I don't think I was unaware of the blessing of her positive nature, but as a mother I think I have a more sure appreciation of the ENORMOUS effect it has had on my life. I want so much for my kids to feel warmth, love, kindness, and happiness when they are with me, or hear from me. As I have gotten older I have become so much more aware of how many homes have daily bouts of yelling, name calling, blaming, and disruptions. I truly think that I was at the right place at the right time while doing that work at the temple. Not only for the service it provides, but for the message I received and the inspiration to do better.

Thanks for letting me blather on.

• Any thoughts?
• Do you ever feel the same way?
• What are the best things you have learned from your mother?

Check back on Sunday as I will post a pic of my dear Mom, and also updat on our trip to Cali!

How cool is this?

This is too funny. I found this on another blog and just had to share! The first one is of my first and last name currently. The second one is of my maiden name. I guess I was the only one!

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 63 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 0 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Visitors...We LOVE them!!

Me and my awesome sister Heather! I have so much fun with her. We love to talk, eat, talk, and have fun!
Here is her husband Bruce throwing Ella into a back flip. He is such a fun uncle. He plays really great with the kids.

Two of my handsome guys!

Heather and I enjoying one of our favorite activities...talking!!

The kids got our little "roller coaster" and decided it would make a great addition to the pool. It was hilarious seeing them all anticipate the drop off.

I'm sure you are all sick of me talking about how dang handsome this Jack kid is, but I just had to say it one more time!

It is always sad to see our visitors go. Luckily I (and the kids) will be spending the majority of July in Utah and will be able to see Heather's family, and many others again soon!

Happy Birthday Ella

Yes, Ella's birthday was last Tuesday May 29th, but I am so behind on my posts that I am just now getting to it. Her party turned out to be so much fun. I was inspired and had two girls that live around the corner from me come and help (ages 10 and 12). It saved me! I also had my cute sister Heather there, so together we were ready for the fun. Here we are on the back porch. I am helping with the tie dye (note the sexy yellow gloves). Brittany one of the fabulous Young Women from our church is helping the girls with a Spin Art project. (I turned them into the thank you notes for each girl. I had pre-printed a thank you message with spaces for thier name and gift. Then each girl wrote her name on the card before she did the spin art on the back. After we opened gifts all we had to do was fill in the blank of what gift they gave. ) Brittany's little sister Kylie is in the back behind the barbecue making snow cones.
View from the back of the yard so you can see the slip and slide! At the moment all the guests were involved in projects or getting their snow cones.

The pile of tied and dyed shirts waiting to be rinsed out.

The finished product!! Isn't that cool? I was glad to hear afterward that many of the girls wore them the whole next day and even to bed! Just goes to show that with tie dye it is hard to mess up!

Heather the lifeguard keeping an eye on all the action!

Ella and her cousins that were at the party. Ella is in the tie dye and from left to right is Ashley, Gracie, Sarah, and Lauren. We love cousins and feel so blessed to have so many!!The whole gang of girls....and Jack and Sam! What a fun day.

I just quickly want to say how grateful I am for my sweet Ella. I always call her my sunshine girl because her smile and personality bring so much joy and light to our family. She is the perfect oldest child because she is so easy going, loves her brothers and sister, and is a cheerful helper. I cannot say enough about what a wonderful girl she is. I am so proud of the kind of friend she is to everyone around her. I love you Ella, Happy Birthday!!!

Chicago/Wisconsin trip Part 2

We woke up (8:00am - YAHOO!!) Friday morning in La Crosse and I took the kids to the YMCA while I went for my favorite run up Ebner Coulee with my new friend Stephanie. It was so fun to see some of the homes being built, and just enjoying the mild temperature on a challenging run. I was mad I didn't have my camera. Paul went golfing with the Oral Surgery residents (funny how that worked out on a Friday!) After the YMCA we went over to the resident housing so the kids could play with friends and I could chat with mine! I then got to go to lunch with two of my favorite people in La Crosse, Callie and Casey. We had so much fun just talking and catching up. I am so mad I didn't have the camera with me. I wanted a picture with them so bad.

After my lunch date we paid a visit to good old Emerson Elementary School. We love this place!!! Ella got to see her beloved kindergarten teacher Mrs. Bemis. It was so fun to surprise her and see how excited she was to see Ella! With Ella being our oldest child, and having Mrs. Bemis be her kindergarten teacher, all teachers in the future have an incredibly high standard to live up to. We feel so blessed to have had her in Ella's life as her first introduction to Elementary school. Good teachers are priceless!!!

Here is a photo capturing the most anticipated reunion of our trip. This is Ella and her dear friend Ally. They were so excited to see each other and hugged for what seemed like a full minute!
It was so much fun seeing their two cute faces together again. This picture is getting framed!!
Later that night we went to dinner with the residents, wives, and a couple of the assistants. Of course they are more than that, they are our friends too. This picture is of Stephanie, Nichole (resident wives), Me, and Rochelle (an assistant and dear friend). We went to a great new restaurant that is right on the Mississippi.

Saturday we got up to make our last round of visits before we had to drive back to Chicago and catch our plane. There was a rain storm during our picnic with friends, but as you can see it didn't dampen any spirits!

Jack enjoying the rain dripping all over his cute face!

Jack and his friend Aidan.

The "old" neighbor girls Katie Jean, Ally, and Ella.

Ella, Haven Ruby, Jack, and Rowen Ruby in front of resident housing.

The only picture of our good friends the Ruby's with their new baby Lily. I'm sure they are bored with whatever I am going on about. I have to learn to shut up sometimes! Does anyone else have that problem?
Goodbye Mississippi River!!

Audra, Jack, Ella, Hayden, and Lauren. SOME of the resident housing gang!

After we said all of our Hellos and Goodbyes we were off to Chicago and the plane ride home. I was blessed/cursed to be sitting next to a really nice older lady who was on her way to Phoenix to do missionary work for the Jehovah's Witnesses. She sure knew her Bible and that was impressive, but bless her heart, I was wanting to get back to my book! I have a lot of respect for the JW's for their commitment and knowledge, and also because I would want anyone who encountered the missionaries from my church to treat them the same way. Unfortunately for me I was stuck in an airplane on a 3 1/2 hour flight, so I was easy prey. We had a great conversation and she actually inspired me to become a better scholar of the scriptures. She properly warned me of the evils of Santa Claus and "jelly bean laying Easter bunnies." About an hour before we landed she had to use the bathroom and I was engrossed in my book when she came back. Whew!!

Max had a great time with Katherine, her husband Brent, and their baby Porter, but I sure was glad that he was excited to see me when we got home.

Nora was excited too, but she was having a great time in the sprinkler puddles in the backyard!

The cutest dirty, wet, happy face in the world!

We got home in time for Paul to rush to church and teach his Sunday School lesson. What a good guy! Even though church had already started and I didn't plan on the kids going, Ella said, "I want to go to Primary!" Max was down for his nap, and you can see what all the traveling did to Jack, so I stayed home with the sleeping kids, and Paul and Ella made the Kelly clan proud and showed up for the last two hours of church. It was a fabulous trip and made me love my husband, kids, experiences and life even more!!!

Where to begin???

I've been MIA for a while and have SO MUCH to write about. I will have to break it up into several posts so that people don't have to wade through something that bores them! Last I posted we were heading out to Chicago and then on to Wisconsin. We had THE BEST TIME!!! Paul had a conference on Wednesday and Thursday, so the kids and I just jet-setted around Chicago. It was a blast being with just my two older kids. When we arrived at the airport and I realized I had no diapers, sippy cups, car seats, or strollers...I was in heaven!! What a different traveling experience. I was so sad to leave Max and Nora home, but excited to have this time with Ella and Jack. The plane ride was uneventful, and I read almost my whole book -New Moon - Not as good a Twilight, but I wanted to know the story. It was a dilemma though because what was I going to read on the way home? I remedied that situation and bought The Kite Runner at the airport. Anyway, we arrived in Chicago and got all cozy in our hotel room. It was fun to take more time than usual to tuck the older kids in. They were beat, but excited to be on our trip. I just sat there and sang to them while rubbing their feet and scratching their backs. I truly enjoyed it. Our first morning we got up and headed to the Shedd Aquarium! Ella and Jack at the Entrance - right now they have a big Komodo Dragon exhibit The kids loved the bottle nose dolphins! This one was so friendly and came right up to us and was singing some dolphin songs to us!I'm sorry, but isn't he the most adorable guy ever?!!! I'm so sad his red hair is getting so dark!

Looking through the bottom of the dolphin tank. Sorry about the flash glare!
Ella waiting patiently for the dolphin show to start. Isn't the view out to Lake Michigan awesome?
We met Paul for some good pizza at a place where the kids could write on the walls! I'm ashamed to say that I can't remember the name of the place. Could it be Gino's? Anyone who knows Chicago can set me straight!
We finished off the night on Navy Pier! Me and my cutie pies with the Hancock tower in the background!
Paul and the kids with the opposite view - Lake Michigan (am I lucky or what? Look how cute Paul is, and of course those two smileys!)

We took the kids up on the big Ferris Wheel on the Pier. We had to talk Jack into it, but he ended up enjoying himself. Did I enjoy it? Not so much! This picture is me trying to fake how "wowed" I was by the experience. The view was great, but I am realizing that in my old age I do not like heights AT ALL. I didn't get sick, but I had MAJOR anxiety. It was weird because I didn't even anticipate feeling that way. It wasn't until we were on the upswing that I started to get nervous. Needless to say, that was my last experience on a Ferris wheel.

Thursday morning we hit the Hershey store, the Lego store, the Hello Kitty store, the Disney store, and the American Girl store. I don't know what I was thinking about missing a picture with Jack in front of the Lego Darth Vader! After all those visits, all we bought was a treat at the Hershey store, a $10 Lego set for Jack, a $10 Hello kitty activity set for Ella, a $7 peter pan figurine set for Max, and a $2.99 princess ball for Nora. Pretty good restraint if I do say so myself. It's just a good thing Dad was in a conference or the damage would have been much worse. I'm the mean one who doesn't have a problem saying "NO!" The one thing I could have gotten talked into was every book in the American girl store. I didn't even buy one, but now I have a lot on my list for Christmas etc.

After lunch, we met Paul and headed on the 4 hour drive to La Crosse, Wisconsin. I'll document that part of the Journey on tomorrows post! One quick thing though, we had a rental car and they upgraded us to the new GMC Acadia? Anyway, we got all sorts of comments and people asking us if we liked it. It was great, but for me with four kids I need a bit more trunk space and perhaps a bench seat in the middle row instead of two buckets. Anyway, it was decked out with leather, XM radio, navigation, and the kids favorite... a DVD player. Jack even said, "Mom, I sure wish we could keep this cool car!" I guess the crowded, cluttered, boring minivan just isn't stacking up!