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!

4th of July

Dave loves taking pictures w/ our camera, but I've been waiting around for him to blog some of those awesome pictures and he's taking too long!

We spent the 4th of July morning and afternoon in Delta, UT--"The Best of the Best in the West", according to a shirt I had as a child. Also the place my Dad grew up and the hub of his side of the family. Partly because my Grandpa (a former Mayor of the town) still lives there.

We go every year for the parade and a picnic at Grandpa's afterwards. This year Brian and Mirien (my brother and his wife) and their children and Scott and Heather (same as last parentheses) and their baby, my sister and her husband, Krisi and Eddy, and my parents were there. We also were next to my cousin, Maria and her family. The kids love the parade for the candy and seeing cousins.

Aidan had some issues, though. He loves the color pink and decided he could not chase any candy unless it was pink. If anyone else picked up his pink candy he was inconsolable.

Scott and I had to get in on the action when the library float came by--they throw out books!

Alex hung out with grandma Church. After the parade, we all went to great grandpa Church's. He saw Alex for the first time. He could tell that Alex is a wonderful boy.

All the energetic people played a rousing game of frisbee.

The rest of us sat around.

That night we set off fireworks with just our family and our cousin, Grant. It was a great day.

A Walk in the Woods

Jameson's first campout as an official 12 year old scout was a backpacking trip up to Alexander Lake.

Friday morning we packed up our packpacks, drove up as far as we could, and then hiked in just about two miles to the campsite.

The lake is located in the Uintas, approximately twenty miles up the Mirror Lake Highway outside of Kamas, UT.

Despite hours of casting and sitting, and despite attempts with power bait with floaters, and power bait without floaters, and spinners, the brook trout just weren't bitting. Nobody in our group caught any fish.

Fortunately we did not rely on our fishing skills for dinner, and we brought up some tinfoil dinners just in case. As you can see, it is always good to have a backup plan.

Jameson went up with his scout trop 1651, which included Scoutmaster Mike Sonntag, Assistant Scoutmaster Mike Haney, and from left to right on the log, Jameson Kelley, Alec Anderson, Ryan Anderson, Tyler Lewis (hidden), and Rhet Haney. I (Dave) am never shown because my favorite spot is behind the camera. I had a great time with Jameson on his first backpacking trip.