Santa's an alias

Aidan: (after visiting

Santa at the Children's Museum)

"Santa talks like a mad scientist."

Behind the Times?

This morning Nathan was looking at a map and said, "I want to go to Africa on my mission, Mom."

"Wow, you would probably see a lot of sad things but it would really build your faith, I bet," I said.

Nathan replied, "Yeah, I heard some sad things that happen there. Like people go there and take brown people and bring them back to the United States to be slaves."

Krisi's Pics

My sister took some fun pictures of my kids a year and a half ago that she just sent to me. They are so nice.

Aidan's World

Aidan woke me last night because he'd thrown up in bed and "didn't want to lay in it". It was a fun night. This morning after he woke up ravenous, I had to tell Aidan to be careful what he ate because his stomach might still be upset. He looked at me quietly for a moment and verified,"It's mad?".

The night before the primary program I was laying in bed with Aidan and asked if he wanted me to sing something to him. He said he wanted me to sing "Awkward". Thinking he'd made it up, I asked, "Could you sing it for me?" He said yes, it went, "Awkward, ever awkward." It sounded alot like 'Called to Serve' so I sang that and he said that was it. The next day at the primary program I found that he did know that song when they sang, "Onward, ever onward...".

First Snow

The kids woke up this morning and were so excited to see the snow. Because he didn't have to get ready for school, Aidan was the first to go out and play.






After seeing Aidan have so much fun, Stephanie got her coat and gloves and boots on and went out and built a snowman with him. Once they came in, Aidan had to light the fire and make some hot cocoa. I desperately wanted to stay home and play rather than go in to work.

Halloween

Here is some of our Halloween fun!

We have the cutest baby!

The other kids weren't quite as cute so we'll spare you those pictures.

Family update

It has been a big month for us.
Alexander has learned how to crawl, point his finger, click his tongue (alot), wave and clap his hands. He is growing so fast, but is only 15 percentile for weight. I guess he's too busy and works

off

all that fat. He loves being around his brothers and sister. He loves mom, but is fine going to other people too.

Aidan is still fighting preschool. He says it's boring and I'm starting to wonder if there may be some truth to that because he's a smart guy. He studies his map and talks about locations all around the world everyday and complains that he has to live in Utah and not somewhere more exotic, like New Mexico (his fav), England, China, or Hawaii. He told me yesterday that he is going to die while he is 3 so he can see Heavenly Father. I begged him not to, so hopefully he was convinced. The subject came up this way:
A: I touched the roof through my window.
M: Oh, don't do that. The roof is dangerous.
A: How?
M: Well, if you go out there you could fall and get hurt. Bad. Or die.
A: (Wheels turning) Would I get to go to heaven?
M:(sensing this could go in a dangerous direction)Uh... Uhh...
A: I could see Heavenly Father! I really want to see Him. I don't know what He looks like.

M: Please don't go to heaven until you are a really old Grandpa. I would miss you!
A: You can come too!
My mental capacity is not quite up to the challenge of having such conversations with Aidan all day, everyday. That is why preschool is a good thing!

Nathan is becoming a ninja and he loves it! He is so fun to have around and is great about doing his homework as soon as he gets home. He has been reading non-stop and we are having a difficult time keeping enough books to support his reading habit.

Sarah is our wonderful sister, daughter, and helper...when you can find her. Most of the time she is playing with friends at their house or in her room reading. She is also very diligent about her homework and usually piano.

Jameson is really doing well in Middle School. He is trying really hard to get straight A's and probably will suceed. He just started swim team and is loving it. He is also really doing well with piano. He has a phone, but no texting privileges. Let's see how long I stick to that one.
We continue to have Maddi (from across the street) over everyday and love having her around.
A creature has been taking up residence in our garden--a pocket gopher. I've been pretty tolerant in sharing my bounty with him--probably the best fed gopher on the block. But he signed his death warrant when he ate all my shallots straight to the stem. Jameson and I put an end to his short but guttonous life this last week. He was huge!

Dave has been pretty busy at work and we were able to go to a work retreat in Deer Valley last weekend (with Alex).
He is going to argue in front of the 10th Circuit Court next month in Denver. He's excited and nervous!
Love,
the Kelleys

San Diego Vacation

This summer our family vacation was a trip to San Diego. We rented a small house on the beach and had an awesome time.

Here are some pictures from after church on Sunday. We went to the San Diego 6th ward and Aidan thought it was really cool because there was a parking garage under the building. I guess land there is a little expensive.

There were some old stairs off the back of the house we could go down to our own private beach. The waves were really strong at the beach, so we didn't go in too far while there at that beach. We headed up to Ocean Beach, which was about 2 miles away for our time.

Here are some pictures from Ocean Beach. This is Dave's kind of vacation. Laying on the beach with nothing to worry about but a bit of a sun burn.

Legoland

Legoland was definitely a place for Nate and Aidan. Those two have the greatest imaginations and love to play with Legos. Here, Nate got to battle Darth Vader. And Aidan got to hang out with Bob the Builder!

The rides were not all that impressive, but it wasn't too expensive and made for a fun day away from the beach.

Here we took a little boat ride and saw some of the cool things they built out of Legos.

Kelley Family Update

Here in Draper things are going pretty well. This was our first full week back at school, middle school for Jameson and preschool for Aidan included. Jameson likes his freedom in middle school--no more uniforms and he can even chew gum. We are hoping to get him in swim team and he started piano this last summer. This week will be his first day to bring his saxaphone to band.

Sarah is in 4th grade and after a let-down of a first day, she seems to be bouncing back in her cheerful way. She is trying to make new friends, as she did not have any in her class. She also started Jazz dance, which she loves, since she is not doing gymnastics, and continues taking piano.

Nate is in 2nd grade and came home with 2 kids phone #'s the first day. He is a friend magnet! He is lobbying to start Karate, in which he'll probably be successful.

Aidan has very mixed reviews on preschool, depending on the time and day. Sometimes is was fun and other times it was "boring". It will be a good thing in the long run, hopefully, especially for his mom. He goes Tues. and Thurs. afternoons. He has a strong obsession with his cousin Andy and New Mexico. He reminds us everyday he has not been to Albuqurque and is determined to go. He also has intentions of traveling to Hawaii, England, Washington, California, and Canada (where he says heaven is because he saw Jesus driving there the other day). We better get him a passport.

Alex is still the joy of our family and makes us smile, laugh, and go "Awwww" everyday. He has a wonderful temperment for an 8 month-old and we all are sad that he's growing so fast.

Temple Quarry Trail

Sunday July 13th after Jameson and Sarah left with Grandma and Grandpa Kelley to visit cousins in Washington, Alex, Aidan, Nate, Stephanie and I went hiking with Grandma and Grandpa Church up the Temple Quarry Trail at the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon.

Grandma Church pointed out where the holes were drilled in the granite to cut it for use on the Salt Lake Temple.

Grandpa Church brought his binoculars to look for mountain goats. My zoom was not good enough, but with the binoculars we found a mommy and baby on the other side of the canyon. It was amazing how nimbly the climbed around the rocky cliffs.

Nate and Aidan loved going off and exploring whenever and wherever possible.

A Swimming Summer

One of our favorite activities this summer has been swimming at the Treehouse Athletic Club.




Aidan loved swimming, but it always took a lot of energy for Dave and Steph because he wanted to jump in to us. Recently he found the joy of goggles and since then has been swimming like a fish.

Nate loves underwater acrobatics. We will have to get him into swim team for next year because he has taken to the water so much.

Sarah has always loved the water, our only problem with her is finding her at home for once. She is constantly playing with one of her friends. Every once in a while we get her to ourselves and love having her around.

Typically, while the kids are playing in the water, Dave and Stephane are laying out reading a good summer book. I'll spare you those images.

Summer has to be the best season of the year!