Now and Forever

I had a revelation at Burger King

2011-06-23T21:53:00.000-07:00

Today I went to Burger King. I don't even know how long it has been since I sat in the play area of a fast food restaurant. But that's where I was when I made the firm decision to revive the family blog. Lindsay is gone to EFY and Shelby was at the beach with a friend. So I told Owen it was his day and he could do whatever he wanted. First, he called a friend. They played video games while I did the yard work I have been putting off for months. We decided that we would go somewhere for lunch- kid's choice. They decided on Burger King because they wanted to go somewhere with a play area and Owen said the one at McDonald's smells like feet. So I found myself sitting in the play area eating a Rodeo Cheeseburger (it's a little cheeseburger with BBQ sauce and two onion rings - not bad BK!), drinking my first real Diet Coke in a few days and perusing the latest Ballard Designs catalog. There were very few kids there and the air was fresh with no foot odor whatsoever. It was a choice moment. As Owen and his friend ran in and out of the play area coming back every few minutes for a sip of their drinks, I was thinking about what it was like when he was little and I had to rescue him from the Playland every time we went. I don't know what happened up there, but he would always start crying and not come out until I crawled up through the maze of childhood/fast food grime to get him. This happened more than just a few times and in more than just a few different playlands. Don't ask me why I kept letting him go up. He would always promise that he'd be brave and I would believe him. But every time I would leave the place with sore knees and who knows what else stuck to him and me not to mention the humiliation of trying to squeeze my adult sized body into a kid sized tube while everyone in the place watched me. Eventually, we just stopped going and then all my kids grew an aversion to all fast food and the rest is history. Until today, when I was reminded that my blissful moment was due to the fact that I don't have little kids anymore. No playland rescues today...and it actually made me want to cry...
So instead of wallowing in my sad, selfish, "I'm an Old Mom" misery I decided that I needed to hold on to whatever years I have left while my kids are kids. I need to remember the details. I need to savor the few moments we have left. I need to talk it out and write it down, document it and put pictures to it. I am not out to give sage advice, or make my life seem perfect, or try and make it the cutest on the block. In fact, I kind of hope no one will read it from here on out. Takes some of the pressure off. I just want to be able to remember days like today.

Part Two - Two Lakes Three Families

2010-02-09T18:58:00.000-08:00

It's a cold rainy day in February and I think I am longing for those warm days of summer. It's been about six months since I last posted on our sad, neglected family blog. But I guess it is now time to add the second half of our summer vacation post. We have kept you in suspense long enough. So here it is. And now I am longing to be back

at the lake....

The second half of our incredible lake vacation included two fun and adventurous families the Downings and the Gharrings. We all shared a big house overlooking beautiful Bass Lake with a dock where we could bask in the sun to our hearts' desire. Here we are (most of us) assembling for the group photo while we tried to figure out the self timer on the camera.

I guess we never quite figured it out.

The fun was non-stop! Boating and tubing

Swimming out to the water trampoline.

Shelby learned to waterski!

Luke and Owen fishing - how cute is that?

We took another day trip to Yosemite (twice in two weeks!). This time we all hiked to the base of Yosemite Falls. Owen decided he wanted to jump in the pool at the bottom of the falls.

It was freezing, but they did it (even with belts and shoes on)!

Summer 2009 - such sweet memories!

Two Lakes Three Families - Part One

2009-08-20T19:42:00.000-07:00

For our family vacation we had eleven blissful days of pure relaxation and fun! It started out in Twain Harte, CA, a cute little mountain community with a members only lake where families have been coming back every summer for generations! It felt like a good old fashioned family vacation from the 70s. We shared a cabin with the Warrens, so it was lots of girls and then Owen. He took it upon himself to become everyone's pesky little brother. But they had so much fun together. We did a little bit of everything. Here's some of the favorites:

Visiting the mining town Columbia. We got to pan for gold, ride in a stagecoach, and of course drink some sassparilla!

A day trip to Yosemite which involved lots of rock climbing, channeling Ansel Adams and two bears.

Could there be a more perfect backdrop???

A beautiful bike ride through the mountains.

Girls' shopping trip

A round of 70s style mini golf

Family bingo night at the Snack Shack

And of course the lake!

Thanks to the Warrens for being such great vacation buddies!

Sunday morning photo shoot

2009-07-22T06:07:00.000-07:00

We were ready early for church on Sunday so we had an impromptu photo shoot. Unfortunately, we got so carried away, we actually ended up being late for church. But we did get some cute shots.

Best Cousins

2009-07-22T06:03:00.000-07:00

Can you believe they will be starting their last year of middle school?

Boy cousin sleepover - not so scary.

2009-07-22T05:47:00.000-07:00

We hosted the Keeler boy cousin sleepover. Owen was counting down the days and it did not disappoint. They had a great time. Chris took them to the abandoned house next door to shoot paint ball guns at old stuff on the hill. Sounds really classy, huh? That's the way we roll!

Are we a crazy cat family yet?

2009-07-22T05:40:00.000-07:00

Introducing the newest Keeler family member. June the kitten. All I can say is don't even go over to the people with the box that are standing in front of Walmart. And whatever you do, don't look in that box. You never know what might be looking back at you. In our case, it was this adorable little thing. How can you say no to that face? Lesson learned ... sorry Chris.

Going for Orange

2009-07-22T05:26:00.000-07:00

Owen and Ethan tested for their Orange belt in Tae Kwon Do. This was their first time sparring. It is quite hilarious and disturbing at the same time. When Owen first got his sparring equipment - he took out the "diaper" as we call it. It has thick padding in the front and straps on in the back. He took a long look at it and said, "well, at least the front is covered." He thought that he didn't wear pants under it. He is that committed to the sport he was willing to go bare bummed. Although he was visibly relieved when we told him he wore it over his pants!

Here's a video of him in action.

School's Out!

2009-07-22T05:20:00.000-07:00

Last day of school - four of the most beautiful words!

Shelby finished fourth grade with a bang. Straight A's all year. Wow, we are impressed missy!

Owen's last day of Kindergarten! That boy is going to miss his teacher sweet Mrs. E. He was a little disappointed that he didn't get a "real" goodbye hug from her. According to him, she only put one arm around him and gave him an "air hug". I think he was looking forward to a real squeeze. Love that boy!

Towing ability and Che Colbert - what more could a guy want?

2009-07-22T05:06:00.000-07:00

One of the best things about Chris is that he is quite easy to please. Take this year's father's day celebration. The only thing he asked for was a Stephen Colbert Tshirt. Easy enough, I ordered it and it came in XL instead of Large. So they sent me another in the right size. So not only did he get the tshirt he wanted, he also got one for a fat friend. It turns out that the XL wasn't too bad so he is his own fat friend and he can wear his new tshirt most days of the week because he has two. This makes him very happy. Also, Chris finally got a hitch put on the car and he was anxious to carry things around with it (I am told it is a sign of manliness). So we loaded up all the bikes and headed to Mission Bay for a family bike ride. It was a beautiful day. Finish it off with some barbecue and you've got a real celebration. Happy Father's Day to the best dad ever!

Love a great deal on family fun

2009-07-22T04:58:00.000-07:00

It's officially a tradition ... family day at Castle Park. It's a small amusement park in Riverside that sells their all day unlimited ride passes for $5 per person through the Christmas season. For the past two years we have all bought them and spent the day at the park together. We were missing some this year, but we'll do better in 2010. Can you beat that deal? Chris particularly loves it as you can see.

Beautiful Zion

2009-07-22T04:44:00.000-07:00

We had a great family trip to Zion National Park this Spring Break. We looked at a map to see where we haven't been that was within a day's drive and Zion won! We loved it - can't believe we hadn't ever been here. The drive wasn't bad at all. We stayed at the adorable Pioneer Lodge in Springdale. The cutest little town. We loved that it was so non-touristy. The restaurants were all great, we got to see Coraline on a humongous movie screen, we rode our bikes, hiked a bunch and went in the hotel hot tub during a dust storm. There were all kinds of adventures to be had. The weather was perfect. We hope to come back to hike the narrows someday when the kids are older. Good Trip!

The adventure pose...

Just for a day...

2009-07-22T04:31:00.000-07:00

Crystal and I took a trip to the design center in LA over Spring Break. It was a glimpse into another world entirely. The first price tag I looked at was on a cute little dresser that I thought might be cute in my bedroom, unfortunately $15,000 was a little over my budget. People really buy things like that? We finished our day with lunch at the Ivy - an adorable little restaurant where the paparazzi are constantly lurking. We did see Padma (Top Chef - love her!) but the lobster ravioli was worth the trip and almost made the $7 cans of diet coke seem reasonable. I think if you stay too long in that place you get a really skewed sense of reality. One more reason to love Temecula, 99cent cokes at the mobil station are just fine for me.

They must have used the Costco pack...

2009-07-22T04:28:00.000-07:00

Woke up to this one morning. I think we have many years of this in our future! I am also posting this because I love our springtime yard!

Celebrating 17 years!

2009-07-22T04:14:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe we could be celebrating 17 whole years of wedded bliss. I know we look much too young! But it is true. We celebrated our anniversary in May with a trip to Santa Barbara. We stayed in a cute little apartment in Summerland just a block up from the beach and the adorable downtown area. We took our bikes and rode everywhere. One of the highlights was seeing Flight of the Conchords at the Santa Barbara Bowl. The venue is beautiful, set on a hill amongst the trees. The concert was great - we laughed so hard. Here's a short clip of "Hurt Feelings".

While we were gone Lindsay went to her first concert by herself. She saw one of her favorite groups Paramore and No Doubt with cousins Ashley, Allison and Emily. Fun was had by all!

Mother's Day

2009-05-22T05:53:00.000-07:00

Watson Family women (plus Radley - minus Traci!)

American Idol: Take Two

2009-05-14T10:13:00.000-07:00

Note: Posts are out of order. To get the full scoop, read the previous post about Lindsay's birthday first.

Gluttons for punishment or devoted fans? Who knows, but we made a phone call and got "Priority Seating" for this weeks American Idol show. Tuesday comes around and we have to face finding another outfit (I don't own "hip, club attire"), the drive back to LA, and the possiblity of another fiasco. But our hopes are high and we feel good about this day. We get there to find out that everyone else also holds "priority" tickets in their hands as well. Another line- but not quite as much waiting this time. We get into the studio for the dress rehearsal and after a few seating issues - we are in the audience watching our favorite show live and in person! It was so fun and sounded even better than on TV. We loved both of Kris Allen's performances especially Heartless! After the rehearsal, we felt like we had made up for the disappointment and craziness of the week before. But the best was still yet to come!

We were hoping to get into the live taping but we weren't sure if it would be possible so near the end of the season. We rushed back out to the standby line and were lucky to get near the front of the line. After waiting only a short time, they brought us back to the studio. We thought maybe they would assign us as seat fillers or cram us into a corner, but they came through the line and gave Lindsay a pit pass which means she got to go up to the area right in front of the stage. They took her away and I didn't see her again until the end of the show. I was really nervous for her and hoping she was okay and having a good time!

Kristen, Bobette and I got in and they led us right to three open seats in the third row behind the judges. Definitely the VIP section. We were right next to the families of Danny and Kris and next to me was E News anchor Jason Kennedy. Jillian from Fox was three seats down from that. The beautiful people were everywhere we were trying to figure out who was famous and who just got lucky like us. We were so excited! Kristen even debuted her Beyonce moves on stage before the show started. Of course it was a little nerve wracking when they came over and told us we were going to be on camera the whole time and not to touch our face or our hair, or talk to the people sitting next to us. Of course my nose was itching the entire show!

Anyway the show was great. We loved it. We were amazed at 1) how pretty and skinny Kara is 2) how short Randy Jackson actually is 3) that Simon had a very strange looking body shape and 4) that Paula is exactly how she seems on TV. She spent part of the time under the table, tripped on her chair a few times and walked back on stage at the last possible second everytime escorted by her male assistant.

Lindsay ended up having the best time. She was right by where the judges walked in and out. Paula came over to her and gave her a hug, Simon shook her hand and she says she got a smile and "eyebrow lift" from Kris her favorite! So I would say that it definitely made up for the disappointing birthday.

After our regular stops at Cheesecake Factory and Anthropologie we rushed home to watch it on TV together. We saw ourselves lots of times (especially Bobette, of course!) but it's easier to catch when you are watching it in slow motion and rewinding back again and again. So fun!

Chris wonders if I will be able to get back to my normal life or if this is just "what you do now". I'll admit, it's hard but I'll get over it soon enough. Of course I immediately put myself back on the wait list. You can too, go to ocatv.com and sign up.

Look out, there's a teenager in the house!

2009-05-13T11:15:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged in so long. I will eventually catch up in order to keep the Keeler family record alive and well. But this one just couldn't wait...First of all, as the title suggests, our dear sweet baby Lindsay who was born now 13 years ago - is an official teenager. How else do you celebrate that big birthday but to take said teenager to the most most popular show on tv - American Idol. I may sound like the best mom ever for planning the best birthday ever but I can't take that much credit. I signed up on the waiting list for American Idol tickets over a year ago. Amazingly I finally got the email telling me I had 4 tickets for Tuesday May 5th- Lindsay's actual birthday. Yeah, we screamed for a while. How cool is that? Well, maybe not as cool as it sounds.

The big day came and after waiting for over 3 hours we got into the studio ready for the dress rehearsal. We were standing right in front next to the stage- Ryan came out and things were looking great. Then Disaster #1 strikes: the stage manager, who was following Ryan down the glowing stairs, actually fell off the stairs because they retracted too soon. She caught herself and was hanging 20 feet above the studio trying to get herself back up. That didn't work and so she fell and crash landed on the stage. Chaos. Paramedics. Blood. Little kids crying. More waiting... Birthday takes a major downturn.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/07/arts/television/07arts-ACCIDENTSONT_BRF.html?ref=arts

Fortunately, she was okay. But they had to take her to the hospital. The paramedics carried her out on the stretcher through the crowds as she gave us all the thumbs up. But the show must go on. Birthday party is back on! Ryan starts up again - we get excited to see the finalists come out. Then disaster #2 strikes. The big A.I. tower malfunctions and the metal globe falls off its axis, but keeps spinning. It is hitting lights and sending glass spraying across the stage the whole things looks like it might fall down. Lindsay and I were literally right underneath the tower. It took us a few seconds to figure out what was going on -the crowd was screaming and the staff was yelling to clear the area. Everyone ran across the judges area to the other side of the stage. As we were all trying to catch our breath and figure out what would happen next, Lindsay and I found ourselves standing right next to Ryan Seacrest. Well, I couldn't let that opportunity pass us by. Wanting to be a good mom, I tapped him on the shoulder and said, "Hi, Ryan, it's my daughter's birthday today." He was really nice and shook Lindsay's hand and actually patted her head lovingly. He apologized for all the craziness and said this usually doesn't happen! Basically, we all shared a moment. Then, they told us we had to leave. Yeah, after all that they just made us leave. The street was lined with ambulances to take away the wounded - luckily there weren't any.

We were depressed and dejected and slightly in shock over what had just happened. We were heading over to the Cheesecake factory to drown our sorrows in delicious food. When we passed Tracy Morgan walking through the Grove. 30 Rock is our faaaaavorite show so we were very excited. He was nice enough to take a picture with us.

Yes, my eyes are closed! Blurg! But Linds looks so cute! Birthday looking not quite as bad! Two star encounters on the first day of teenagerhood is pretty good. Cheesecake and Anthropologie didn't hurt either. Luckily the story continues and gets better in my next post! Happy Birthday Lindsay!

Easter

2009-04-22T05:57:00.000-07:00

Recently on Stage

2009-03-22T10:20:00.000-07:00

I don't think there has been a Tony Tobin Trailblazer production that hasn't featured a Keeler. We've been to them all. This year it was Shelby's turn. She and Gillian Warren take a ballet class together. Gillian helped her choreograph a dance for the talent show. We were so proud of our graceful little Shelbs! She did such a beautiful job. Here she is in action. It's short but sweet.

Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting...

2009-03-22T09:53:00.000-07:00

I am now a believer in martial arts. Owen started Tae Kwon Do last month. It is a boy's dream come true. Where else do the teachers actually say "Shout louder, Owen!"?? Owen was thrilled to be able to test for his yellow belt last weekend. It was a three hours on a Saturday - but so worth it! He had to show his basic form in front of the master and break a board with his running jump kick. He also had to be prepared to tell the birthdays of everyone in the family and the number one family rule (always greet mother and father when you come home or leave the house). He received two special stars to add to his uniform - for good behavior at home and at school. In order to test, he had to have his teacher's permission. The other day I asked him to help me with something in the kitchen. He actually said "I'd be happy to Mother." I just about fell on the floor.

Here he is with the group on testing day. His master Keung Jung Kim is in the black. His other favorite teacher Jef is in the green sweatshirt.

He got a really cool glass trophy that day. Can you tell he's holding it extra carefully? It was a big day!

Nature Church

2009-03-11T09:44:00.000-07:00

Every once in a while we like to have what we call Nature Church. Chris wasn't feeling well and didn't think he could sit through 7 hours of meetings, so we all took the day off. We drove out to a nature preserve called Wilderness Gardens. Amazingly, it is only about 20 minutes from our house. The wildflowers were just beginning to come up. They will be really beautiful in a few weeks. It was quiet and peaceful and felt like a warm summer day. We had a little picnic and just enjoyed the scenery. I love nature church.

I love my birthday!

2009-03-03T20:33:00.000-08:00

I don't even care that it means I am getting older. I really do love my birthday. I like to think of it as a birthday week. I have been working that angle since Saturday when I convinced Chris to spend the day at Plant World with me. He loves me that much! I have shopped and lunched and breakfasted and dinnered. Oh the food - but birthday calories don't count right?

My talented girls crafted me up some adorable jewelry.

Owen gave me the always popular coupon gift. In case you can't read it, it says "This cupon good for getting your robe for one month." How sweet is that?

And my sweet husband knows me oh so well...

This is what happens

2009-03-03T20:27:00.000-08:00

when you have two older sisters.

Snow Day

2009-03-03T17:34:00.000-08:00

We went up to Idyllwild in search of some wintertime fun. We found it - along with half of Southern California. The snow was abundant, the sun was shining, there was a port a potty what more can you ask for? No one was seriously injured (although Shelby did fall off a cliff while no one was watching), no damage to the cars (although the driving/parking conditions made me think we might die), and we stopped for Dairy Queen Blizzards on the way home. That is the recipe for wintertime fun!

The Sorenson Train

It's all about Shelby!

2009-02-13T13:39:00.000-08:00

Our artist is in print! Shelby's art made it into the City of Temecula's annual recycling calendar - out of over 500 entries. She's featured on the month of July. Here she is in the city council chambers where they had a special meeting to honor the winners. Best of all, she was given a $30 gift certficate to the mall - which she promptly put to use. So I guess that makes her a paid artist!

Shelbs celebrated her tenth birthday this week (along with cousins Lauren and Ryan!) Mom decided no parties this year :( - they have had parties every year of their lives! But we did go to California Adventure with the family. It was better than a party, right Shelbs?

Matilda's Mouse

2009-01-30T18:20:00.001-08:00

Isn't it great to have friends, especially friends with great little secrets. My friend Sarah let me in on a good one. Matilda's Mouse is an invitation - only antiques sale held once a month in a barn in Valley Center. She told me it was amazing - she was right! Here we are lined up outside the barn waiting for it to open. As soon as those doors opened - it was pretty much a free for all.

This is Matilda, the owner's wire haired terrier. She was dressed up in this tutu, with a tiara and huge feathered wings. I didn't get to the camera before she got tired of the wings. When they opened the barn she was sitting up on top of the white cabinet. It was amazing. She got tired of being up there and laid at the register counter the whole time I was checking out.

For me, it was like heaven!

Sarah with a treasure ...

I found a few of my own!

Thanks for sharing friend!

Christmas and a Goodbye

2009-01-02T14:22:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Christmas this year! We were especially busy spending lots of time with the Keeler side of our family. Chris' parents Ron and Elizabeth will be leaving for a humanitarian mission in Ankara, Turkey on January 5th. We tried to get the family together as many times as possible during December. Here are pictures from some of our fun parties.

The Girls

The Guys

We had an open house for them a few days before they left for the MTC. We were so exhausted entertaining and feeding all of their many many friends. It was apparent that they will be missed by more than just their family. They set up a blog to keep us up to date on their turkish adventure. Check it out at http://www.keelersinturkey.blogspot.com/

We'll miss you!

Rudolph by Owen

2008-12-24T14:34:00.000-08:00

It's not a sad song, but for some reason this makes me cry!

Festivities!

2008-12-20T18:29:00.000-08:00

December is party time! It always starts off early in December with the annual Dean family Granddaughters' Luncheon, hosted by Chris' grandmother Pearl. We get to enjoy a whole afternoon in her beautiful home, where we are treated like royalty. There is always a delicious lunch where we sit at a gorgeously decorated table while she serves us. We always have a fun little gift at each of our places. And Grandmommy will come in and give us little lessons on caring for our linens or silver or other lessons of refinement. It is a treat that we look forward to every year. Did I mention she is in her nineties?? She is an amazing woman! I want to be just like her.

Here she is with all the girl cousins at the Dean family party (everyone gets invited to this one!)

It is such a fun tradition. The kids have a blast playing with all of their cousins. There are about four ride on cars that are being driven recklessly at all times. So far no casualites! And we always have a big jumper.

Of course it's not all fun and games. We have our Christmas program, with the traditional nativity.

Some like the program more than others...

And on to the next party.

Owen and Ethan at our ward Christmas party. They managed to have snow for us! The kids loved it.

I hope the Sorensons don't mind, but I had to put this in to show their holiday spirit. They were part of the Christmas parade - they looked great!

And of course Holiday Open House at the School... where we get to do all kinds of fun things. Owen was a little shy to sit on Santa's actual lap. This was our compromise...poor santa!

Lots of singing and performing.

And more singing and performing!

We don't have many more years left of this so I am trying to tell myself to enjoy it while it lasts!

Nice Job Smartie Pants!

2008-12-12T21:08:00.000-08:00

Hooray for Shelby!! She made the honor roll with all 5s (a "5" is an "A"). We are so proud of her. Here she is at Friday Flag receiving her award.

The Halls are Decked!

2008-12-08T08:11:00.000-08:00

We love Christmas! It is so exciting to pull down all of those boxes from the attic and be in a crazy mess for a few days. Just ask Chris! He did a great job putting up the lights (braving the second story for the second year in a row- my hero!).

And the band played on

2008-12-06T20:04:00.000-08:00

Lindsay had a band performance in Old Town (love the vest and bowtie Linds!). We sat outside in the pouring rain but they played their Christmas music enthusiastically. Luckily Dad saved the day by running across the street for Starbucks hot chocolate to warm our cold hands. On the way back through Old Town we stumbled across SNOW! There were huge mounds of snow piled up behind the children's museum (leftovers from their Winter wonderland party the night before.)

It made for a very fun, very impromptu snowball fight.

Christmas Card Photo Shoot

2008-11-30T07:56:00.000-08:00

What a perfect place to take Christmas card pictures! We love Coronado and the Hotel Del. We hurried down after church where we met our Photographers aka Jenni and Rob. We only had about an hour of daylight so we ran around snapping tons of pictures. As a bonus, our photographers invited us back to their house for dinner. What a deal!
We're definitely using them again next year!

And the winner is...

Turkey Turkey Day

2008-11-28T19:54:00.000-08:00

A family tradition we have established is to eat not one, but two fabulous Thanksgiving meals on Thanksgiving Day. It actually isn't as hard as it may sound. Lunch with the Watsons at noon and then on down to feast with the Keelers for dinner. It takes a little bit of self-restraint not to stuff yourself at the first meal, but we've been in training for a few years now. A few before dinner pics at Grandma and Grandpas.

Go Padres!

2008-11-17T13:57:00.000-08:00

Owen started T-Ball this fall. It has been perfect for him (and me!) because they meet on Saturdays for an hour for a game/practice. He has loved it! It has been hillarious to watch the games. Most of the kids are younger than Owen, so they are pretty much clueless. The first week he fielded a ball and then was actually tackled by a teammate. The kid took the ball from him and then just stood there. Owen just looked at us so confused.

Playing catch with Dad.

Killing time in the outfield.

Power hitter at bat.

The team.

SF Sweethearts

2008-11-10T16:57:00.000-08:00

I found visual documentation! Taken from a photo booth on Pier 39!

Celebrating in San Fran

2008-11-10T13:33:00.000-08:00

Chris had a conference to attend in San Francisco on Thursday. We decided to use it as an excuse to celebrate his birthday. Actually, he was invited to be the keynote speaker for the CALSPRA conference. Chris throws around a lot of acronyms - but I believe this one stands for California School Public Relations Administrators. In case you didn't know, he is in high demand as a conference speaker. He has lots of fans! Since it's his birthday, I'll toot his horn a little by directing you to his firm's website. He started the firm about 2 1/2 years ago with 7 other partners. They are now employing 50 attorneys and have offices in San Marcos, Santa Monica and Oakland. It's pretty impressive to see how far they have come. Of course, I have witnessed (and maybe complained about) the hard work and long hours it has taken to make their vision real. But I am proud of him and all he has accomplished! Check it out!http://fagenfriedman.com/

Anyway, we literally ate our way through San Francisco and had a great time doing it. I forgot to recharge the camera batteries, so unfortunately we have no visual documentation of this trip and all the fun and beautiful sites. We were on the 25th floor of our hotel - so one of the best parts was our amazing view of the city, the bay, Alcatraz island and Coit Tower (the picture isn't quite as good as our view but pretty close). There are so many amazing restaurants in SF. Our first night we ran around the corner to a restaurant recommended by the concierge and found ourselves in this little alleyway filled with tables and people all crammed in together having dinner. It reminded us so much of Europe. We literally sat right next to Jerry Brown who was on a double date. We tried to eavesdrop - and we did hear Prop 8 mentioned but we didn't want to be too obvious! We made some new friends due to our tables actually being the same table - a retired Stanford professor and his wife and a couple from New Zealand who were in the US to run the NY marathon. She had just come from a photo shoot with Harvey Keitel. She asked what I did - "I'm just a mom of three kids from Temecula". It still felt good to say that!

We walked all over creation this weekend! We would just start in a direction and walk and walk. And stop here for a snack and there for a little "pick me up". Our hotel was between the Financial District and Chinatown - perfect place for cheap souveniers. In fact, Lindsay was a little put out when I accidentally left the price tag on her I {heart} SF t-shirt and she saw it was only $2.99. You gotta love that! We had some authentic chinese food at the place where shark fin soup originated - it was $60 a bowl, so we declined that one. We also ate at El Faro - home of the first burrito in California. We're just history buffs I guess. We went up Coit Tower, rode the cable cars - visited the Fungi Festival at the Ferry Building, ate clam chowder in sourdough bread bowls at Fisherman's wharf, visited our favorite restrooms at the St. Francis hotel in Union Square, had dinner with our friends the Hyders, and did a little shopping - how can you avoid that? It was the perfect combination for a weekend - and to celebrate another year of life with the love of my life! Happy Birthday Chris!

Goodbye Halloween

2008-11-05T14:05:00.001-08:00

On Friday morning Owen woke up and said,"Is it the last day of Halloween?" I explained that it is actually the ONLY day of Halloween. But since we have been celebrating it going on two weeks now, I could understand his confusion. I was so thankful to say, "yes, hooray no more parties after today!" You can only dress your kids up so many times and have it still be fun, right? Well, here are some pictures from the last day of Halloween (and the night before the last day of Halloween). Don't get me wrong, it was fun. I'm just glad it's over!

Politics and Pumpkins

2008-10-30T14:17:00.000-07:00

Here's what we've been up to this week...

Who knew political activism was so much fun!?! After being obsessed with the signs and bumper stickers for the last few weeks, Owen finally asked "What IS Prop 8?"

Our experiment - much better than carving, lasts longer, costs a lot more...

Happy Halloween!

Bikers, Zombies and a Cat Lady - oh my!

2008-10-27T15:15:00.000-07:00

We had our annual Keeler Family Halloween costume party this weekend.

I love this tradition! Everyone dresses up - even Mimi and Grandad (check them out this year!)

You may not know what Chris and I are dressed up as unless you watch a certain tv show which comes on Thursday nigths. Some people got it right away, others needed a little explanation.

We have had some really creative costumes over the years. This year I think the awards go to Crazy cat lady and renegade girl scout.

We usually eat dinner and play some games and it always includes a spooky story told by Mimi. Chris was entranced by his mom's storytelling.

Indiana Jones taking down a Bad Guy.

Jenni made adorable owl cupcakes!

We love belonging to such a fun family! Thanks to the Burnetts for hosting another great one!

My first bus ride, and oh yeah, I went to the Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-27T14:39:00.000-07:00

Owen had his first official field trip last week to the Peltzer Farms Pumpkin Patch. What was he most excited about? Riding the bus...go figure.

I got to go with him as a chaperone. We had fun finding our way through the corn maze, visiting the farm animals, and picking out a pumpkin to take home.

By the end we were hot and tired but it was a fun day!

Our scary Halloween house

2008-10-18T16:17:00.000-07:00

I love all holidays and feel an intense need to decorate for every changing season. The kids love it too and get so excited on decorating day. I pulled out 4 boxes of Halloween stuff this year. And if you know me at all - you know it's the cutesy smiling pumpkins type of stuff - no skeleton hand candy bowls here! Our kids are far too wimpy for that kind. Shortly after decoration day - Shelby had a hard time falling asleep one night. Chris immediately blamed me and my "scary" decorations. "How do you expect someone to sleep when the house is full of skulls?" I guess he doesn't appreciate them as much as the kids do.

Another thing I love about fall is baking. We've already had pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin pie, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, apple strudel, apple crostada, apple cake ... it's just the beginning of the 3 month long holiday eating frenzy! Now, if the weather would just cooperate we can begin to celebrate properly. I would like to be able to wear a sweater some day soon.

Surprise!

2008-10-16T18:54:00.000-07:00

My dad really loves his birthday. This year we actually pulled off a great surprise birthday party for him. Unfortunately, in order ensure that it was really a surprise, he spent most of his birthday feeling neglected and unloved by most of his children. We had to pretend that we were just too busy to get together for his birthday. By the end of the day, he was just depressed. I think he got over it when Mom (acting like she was taking him out for his birthday dinner) brought him to Johnny Carinos where there were 24 of us waiting to surprise him in the banquet room. We had a fun dinner - then we came back to our house for a "chocolate extravaganza" in his honor! Happy Birthday Dad - we love you!

I want to run!!!

2008-10-06T17:24:00.000-07:00

It figures ... I go and spend most of my life trying to avoid any type of physical exertion then when I figure out that I really enjoy sweating and look forward to getting up early out of my comfy bed to go running of all things - I actually lose the ability to do it. How's that for irony! I have been recovering from a "sports injury" for the last THREE weeks. For once, it was more than just getting hit in the head with a ball (my head is a ball magnet), I pulled my hamstring playing soccer. Why was I playing soccer? Why was I trying to run down a teenage girl? I don't know the answer - all I know is that now I can't sit through 3 hours of church and I can walk but for some reason I can't run at all. It's thoroughly depressing. I run with some friends on Saturday mornings - last week they ran NINE miles while I was home probably eating a donut or something. I will never be able to catch up!

Weekend Happenings

2008-09-16T14:04:00.000-07:00

Now that I have the apology out of the way, I can blog about our fun weekend. Chris' co-worker gave him tickets to the Counting Crows/Maroon 5 concert on Saturday night. She said she didn't want to stay up that late. Since we are slightly less boring than that we said we'll take them! The concert was at the Cricket Amphitheatre - minutes from Chris' parents house, which made it ultra convenient to drop the kids off and for us to spend Saturday night there.

We had such a great time. The Counting Crows cancelled at the last minute but that still left us with Augustana (a local San Diego band that we loved- added them to my playlist!) and Maroon 5. We were really surprised at how great they sounded and how entertaining it was!
We were in the lawn seating. It was blissful sitting on a blanket under the stars, having a whole bag of kettle corn and my husband to myself. Perfect night!

Meanwhile the kids were having a great time! We were told the highlight of the night was a game of sardines. At one point Lindsay and Shelby were stuffed in a closet with Mimi, Granddad, Aunt Jenni, Uncle Rob and Robby while Owen looked for them! Our kids are so lucky to have fun grandparents!
Owen got up early to help Mimi sweep the front walk (apparently they do this every time the kids spend the night there). Elizabeth told me later about their conversation that I thought was hillarious.

Mimi to Owen: How did you sleep?
Owen: Pretty good. But I didn't have my sound machine.
Mimi: Oh, you have a sound machine to help you sleep?
Owen: Yeah
Mimi: Oh, that's good.
Owen: Well, it's more of a baby machine.
Mimi: It is?
Owen: Yeah, but one of the songs is educational.
Mimi: Which is that?
Owen: It's the ABC song, so that's okay.(Owen's sound/baby machine but it's okay because it's educational.)

We went to church at our old Stake Center, drove by the home where I spent my teenage years,
and climbed to the top of the water tower by my house just for old times sake. check out the cool M5 concert Tshirt!
Back home in time to make some delicious Key Lime sugar cookies inspired by Crystal's key lime cupcakes - Yum! Fun little getaway for all the Keelers!

An Apology...

2008-09-15T14:04:00.000-07:00

Well, I guess because of my last post Chris has taken a few hits (particularly from the paintball team). So although the square dancing diploma will proudly remain on this blog, I feel like I want to add a few extra things about my beloved husband Christopher Dean Keeler. His confidence in his masculinity not only allows him to be a fine square dancer, it gives me the freedom to decorate our house the way I like, enjoy an occassional chick flick with me and wear a unicorn patch on his paintball vest with pride. He is a hard worker and I am so proud of what he has accomplished, especially in the last few years. His 2 year old law firm that he created with 9 other partners, now has 3 offices and over 50 attorneys! Chris is so good at his job that they made him general counsel for the firm. His clients love him too, especially the more mature female school administrators, who he charms with his sense of humor and boyish good looks. I have also been amazed at how he is faithfully serving in the Bishopric. His dedication to his calling has blessed our family. Chris is the best dad! He comes home from his stressful job and always wants to play with the kids. They adore him! He is always willing to help me with whatever crazy project I have going on. And he never ever complains about having breakfast for dinner or when I can't even manage that! I truly can't imagine having a better husband - and as a bonus - he can square dance! (even though I have never actually seen him do this).

Things you find out about your husband...

2008-09-08T17:10:00.000-07:00

Can you believe it? We have been married for over 16 years and I am still learning new things about my multi-talented husband! Chris pulled out his childhood Ziggy scrapbook (circa 1970s) yesterday. To our amazement, we found that he had forgotten about a particular diploma he had earned while in Middle School, one to go right up there on the wall of his office with the diplomas from Stanford and BYU Law School. If you can't read it: Let it be known to all square dancers! Chris has earned a bachelor of square dancing from the College of Square Dance Knowledge! It only took him 3 years. But apparently he did master the art of executing the Do Si Do and The Allemmande Left. It is an honored degree and title which he certainly does proudly bear. In fact, he took it to work today to put up on his office wall of diplomas and certificates. He knew it would make his co-workers so happy!

Report from Room 1

2008-08-19T13:24:00.001-07:00

I just picked Owen up from his first day of school (that 3 1/2 hours flew by). He said he didn't miss me at all when I asked. I also asked if he made any new friends. He said no. But he did say that he had some "friendly moments". I guess that's all a guy can hope for on his first day.

Ready or not, here we come

2008-08-19T09:52:00.000-07:00

It's the end of summer. The kids went with mixed emotions. No, actually Owen cheered everytime we said "it's the last day of summer". Lindsay and Shelby were excited to go back, but sad that our fun summer was over.

Lindsay is in the middle of middle school! She looked so much bigger this year when I dropped her off. At first it made me feel better, but then it just scared me!

Shelby got the teacher she wanted, but this year Mrs. Rogers is teaching a 4/5 combo with only ten 4th graders. Shelby will keep up, don't be fooled by her beauty, she's got the brains too.

Our Kindergarten Guy - was ready for school a full two hours early this morning. He asked me if it was time to go every 5-10 minutes. When it was finally time to leave, I think he was just plain angry! He loved his teacher Mrs. Ellevold. I am sure it won't take long before he wins her heart too. Owen has a way of doing that. He will be a fantastic Kindergartener!

Today is the first day that I have all three kids officially in school. Wow, I thought this day would never come. But now that it is here, it feels like it came too fast ...

Owen is Six!

2008-07-29T23:46:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Owen! Where has the time gone? Our baby is six and ready to head off to school. Some of my favorite things about Owen:

his cute blonde hair
his songs that he writes and performs (he was part of a band, but has recently gone solo - our favorite song is titled "Owen C. K. is the one I want")
he is always willing to hug and kiss me anytime I want him to (all the time!)
he likes Target as much as I do
he misses me when I'm gone
he is passionate about his interests (when he was in his Chicken Little phase he wore green paper glasses everywhere for about 6 months and made me pin a tail feather made out of construction paper to the back of his pants)
he says the funniest things (like when I was dropping him off at preschool and he saw the cute girl in his class and told me "make yourself scarce, I'm gonna make my move!")
he is sensitive (he cries at the sad parts in movies)
and oh so sweet.

We love you Owen!

Where do I begin?

2008-07-21T10:57:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been 2 months since my last post. How time flies! It's been a busy couple of months so I will do a quick recap!

Recently on stage: Our beautiful ballet dancer Shelby starred in a dance recital in May.

Swimming success! Owen went from holding me in the death grip in the pool to running and jumping in while yelling "Cowabunga!". All within one week! Thanks to his wonderful swim teacher Marni who learned that flattery really works - Marni to Owen: "Owen, you are so strong!" Owen: "Yeah I work out." Pause, "Well, not every day." Pause, "Actually, just once." Great job Owen!

So You Think You Can Dance Part Two: I finally got called up for tickets to the taping of one of our favorite shows! Jen, Amberly, Stacy and I all went to celebrate Stacy's birthday. We had such a fun day! We were inches from the stage and where all the dancers came in and out. You can see Amberly's blonde hair through half of the show! The rest of us faded into the background *blurg* Jen gave Cat Deeley one of her bracelets from her new business venture CoDo Jewelry Designs. She was very sweet and said she would wear it on the show. We ran into Kherington at Cheesecake factory and she agreed to take a picture with us even though she still had bed head from the bed dance. We are very angry that she got voted off! It was a great day.

Girls Camp times Four! It was my fourth year as the Redhawk Ward camp director! I don't know how that ever happened in the first place- as I have not ever been involved in or enjoyed camping before this. But this is not real camping - so I guess I am qualified. In fact, Chris looked at the big pile of camping "gear" that I had assembled and thought I was insane. It included a blue mailbox, a fake fire, blue paper lanterns made to look like blueberries, nail polish, pajama pants, notecards and pens, streamers, things tied with ribbons, and maybe a flashlight thrown in just in case. Like I said, not real camping! But, it was a fun year. Our ward YW are outstanding. Finally, Lindsay was old enough to go this year! I loved having her there!

From Camping to more camping: We came home from Girls camp on Friday - ourselves and our belongings covered in a layer of dirt. Had enough time to clean it all and pack it right back up. On Sunday morning we headed for a family camping trip at Minaret Falls in Mammoth. We met up with the Greenes, Gilberts and Carpenters at the most beautiful camping spot right on the stream. It was so much fun and so much work. Cooking for 24 in the outdoors takes a bit of effort. But those were some delicious meals thanks to our combined efforts and a little secret ingredient. We fished and floated on the river and hiked to Rainbow Falls, sat by the fire, survived a rainstorm, were attacked by swarms of mosquitos, showered in the natural hot springs and then decided to pack it up a day early and head for Lake Tahoe.

The Big Blue: Swimming in Lake Tahoe is like swimming in a giant pool of Aquafina. It is so clean and clear and blue. And the sky ... it is all so beautiful. We spent the rest of our trip at the Greene's family cabin - sleeping in beds and showering in real showers. We spent two days on the beach at Sand Harbor where we kayaked and boated and played on the rocks. It was heaven. One day we rented rafts and floated down the Truckee River, where we were attacked by a band of super soaker toting hooligans. They attacked us, soaked us all and then followed us the rest of the way down the river until Scott got out of the boat and assaulted them with their own weapons. The kids had so much fun, they begged us not to leave. But we had to come home! And now on to the endless pile of laundry!

Mother's Day Slideshow

2008-05-17T21:18:00.000-07:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Family: let me know if you want me to email this to you!

Lindsay turns 12 and more

2008-05-12T15:34:00.000-07:00

Lindsay had a big birthday last week - she's 12! On Sunday she sang with the Primary in Sacrament Meeting for Mother's Day - even though she said she wasn't technically in Primary anymore - just one last time for me on Mother's Day!

You can tell she's growing up because she requested to go to sushi for her birthay dinner. I guess Richie's Dinner doesn't cut it anymore (well it never has but that's beside the point.) And she decided to adopt the Sorenson tradition of birthday creme brulee. Once we figured out Stacy's industrial sized blow torch, it was beautiful!
Also this week, she participated in a band concert with Gardner Middle School and the high school bands. She and Ashley are in the flute section. It's amazing how much they have learned in a few months. Here's a cute picture of them at the concert.
She'll have her party next week- I'm sure there will be more to come on that.

Among all the other things in my crazy week, a friend put together a cupcake exchange. What is a cupcake exchange many have asked? Well, the point is to find the recipe for and make an amazing cupcake that you share with everyone else. That is much more easily said than done. There were delicious cupcakes, but it was funny to hear how many different recipes people had to try, about the failed experiments, and how much everyone was despising cupcakes by the time it was over. I wish I had a picture of our beautiful cupcake display - but this was my submission.

and this is what my kitchen looked like when I was done making them. I probably won't do that again!

Cupcakes and Magic in the OC

2008-04-29T13:07:00.000-07:00

Two words: Girls' Weekend. It has to be done at least once a year. This time we headed up to the OC and stayed in the lovely Dana Point. The weather was outstanding and just added to the blissful perfection of the girls weekend! Chris really doesn't understand exactly what you DO on a girls weekend - so this list is for him.

We relaxed at the pool sipping on our pina colada smoothies, hit just about every mall around, saw 2 movies, shopped in 90 degree heat at the Santa Monica flea market, searched Montana Ave. for "macarones", played papparazzi at the Ivy, chatted with Magic Johnson and Cookie while waiting in line for popcorn at the movies, taste tested Crumbs cupcakes vs. Sprinkles cupcakes (Sprinkles won, BTW), stopped to get a Diet Coke probably more than once, were awakened at 3 AM by the evil hotel fire alarm, visited Roger's Gardens, shopped with Billy Baldwin and Hope from "Thirty Something", and gave a shoutout to someone called Ruffio from Hook, we ate gelato, crepes, amazing salads, sweet corn tamale cakes, cupcakes and more until we were sick, shopped at Anthropologie for almost an hour after they had closed (no one bothered to tell us they were closed they just gave us dirty looks), took a walk on the beach, read trashy celebrity gossip magazines, drove in lots of traffic and laughed the whole time! Girls, please let me know if I left anything out! Thanks to our wonderful husbands for making it happen!

Maui Highlights!

2008-04-15T17:35:00.001-07:00

Stranded on an Island

2008-04-05T20:49:00.000-07:00

Actually, it's not such a bad predicament to be trapped in Maui! And we might not actually be trapped, but for a while there we weren't sure if we'd be able to get home. We still aren't sure! We didn't find out until we were actually on the plane that we were on the last San Diego to Maui flight that Aloha Airlines would fly! We heard some rumblings that Aloha was closing - we just didn't know that we were on the last flight and that they had no intention of getting us home. We were just happy to be on our way, feeling lucky that they didn't cancel our flight and hoping that the soon to be unemployed pilot wasn't too depressed about his situation - and take us all down with him. It was a memorable flight, the attendant on the intercom cried through her announcements and the entire flight applauded when we arrived in Maui to lots of people on the tarmack taking pictures of our flight landing. The airport was a ghost town with no one at all in the terminal where we landed. We waited for 2 hours at the airport to see if United would fly us home - as you can imagine there were lots of angry people there who arrived at the airport for their flight home only to be told "sorry airline closed"! They weren't much help to us either. We do have reservations with Hawaiian for a flight next week. We're still not sure if we'll get on it - but until then, we're having a great time stranded in paradise!

Happy Easter!

2008-03-23T21:30:00.000-07:00

Every easter we take a picture of Grandma and Grandpa with all of the grandkids. We're missing Ethan and

once again Jonah is not happy about the picture, but it's a tradition. Some of the grandkids are starting to outgrow the grandparents!!

Here is last year's picture. We even had the easter bunny!

Easter was great!!! Shelb and Owen and I all got a bunch of candy and we all got Webkinz!!! We had two picnics at the park and three easter egg hunts and celebrated Easter about three times!
We had a fun weekend!
Lindsay

Owen's Jedi Training

2008-03-05T17:32:00.000-08:00

To view Owen in action, follow this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNd1fmI1EyY

Yea, a day off!

2008-02-21T15:40:00.000-08:00

Well, the weekend wasn't exactly relaxing with a birthday party Friday night and then laboring all day Saturday on the neverending home projects. We decided we had to get out for a fun day on our free Monday. It's museum month at the SD county museums. You just get a card from Macy's and you get in for half price. We headed down to the Birch aquarium in La Jolla. Lots of fun. Then went to check out the seals and sea lions at the cove. A baby seal had been born that morning and we got to watch its mom trying to teach it to swim. We thought she should at least give him a day, but what do we know? Dinner and pazooki in La Jolla, getting home by 7 pm- the kids in bed by 9pm - no dishes ... perfect day!

Party time

2008-02-19T08:40:00.000-08:00

It's Friday night - the end of a hard week and what does Chris come home to? A house full of 16 girls in their jammies singing High School Musical and playing DDR. Actually, it was calm through dinner. We could hardly believe how quiet and polite they were. After dinner was another story. We decided to play the crazy hair game (Chris' idea!). It was all screaming from there on out. We were wise enough to make it an everything but sleepover - sleepover. They were all gone by 10pm and everyone got a good nights sleep!

Shelby is 9!!

2008-02-12T07:23:00.000-08:00

Our cute, sweet little Shelby...

is growing up!
Happy Birthday Shelby!! We love you!

Little Froggy leg

2008-02-07T20:15:00.000-08:00

No, he didn't break his leg. It's a stretching cast. He'll wear it for about 2 weeks just to give his leg muscle a nice long stretch. As he was on the table with the technician cranking his foot down as hard as she could, we made up some stories to tell in case anyone asked what happened. Our favorite is: "I was in Paris climbing the Eiffel tower when someone hit me on the head with a baguette and I fell down and broke my leg." We haven't fooled anyone yet. Last time he had a blue cast and he decided then that the next one would be green. So when they asked what color, there was no hesitation. He picked the brightest greeny-est color there. He was very excited about it until the tech finished and then looked at his leg and said, "Hey, it looks just like a little froggy foot." You should have seen his face, he was so sad. He gets really mad if I call him froggy, but I can't help myself. All his preschool friends signed it and then he christened it with a nice mud bath at preschool the next day. It was the first time he came home from school dirty. How lucky that it happened to be on the first day of his two week no bath or shower stint. There was actually mud on his little toes in the cast - gross! Dirty little froggy foot! Anyway, I'm so proud of my sweet, brave guy! He is handling it like a little trooper!

Animal Rescue

2008-01-29T15:52:00.000-08:00

We tried to pull off an amazing animal rescue, "Diego" style today. This morning I saw this bird out in our front yard. It's a crazy looking bird, right? I got as close to it as I could to see what the heck kind of beak it had. At first I thought maybe it had some kind of trash stuck to its beak and it was suffering, but the closer I looked the more confused I got. I snapped these pictures because I knew no one would believe me, just like the time no one believed me when I saw a kimodo(sp?)dragon on the side of the road in Fallbrook, but that's beside the point. Anyway, when I got back to the house later in the afternoon it was still in the same spot. I guess because I felt I owed a good deed to all animalhood because of how we mistreated our cat earlier in the month, we decided to call animal friends of the valley. I tried to describe it to the operator but I was pretty sure she thought I was a crazy lady calling them to save a pigeon with a red beak. Well, to make a long story short, the person who came out had no idea what kind of bird it was or what was up with the crazy red and green plastic beak. But the bird turned out to be just fine, because it flew away like a perfectly healthy bird as soon as she tried to grab it. I still feel good about it!

A great day

2008-01-27T17:26:00.000-08:00

Saturday was a big day for our family. Aaron (my little brother) married the beautiful, sweet Amberly Crosby. We are so excited to have her in the family. They are truly perfect for each other! She is so sweet with Ethan too. I have to give them credit for pulling off a fabulous wedding in spite of just a few minor setbacks. The room in the clubhouse that they were supposed to use was damaged due to flooding a few short weeks before the big day. They ended up putting a tent outside and despite the wind and rain, we were cozy and warm inside. It was sunny just long enough for them to get some fabulous pictures which we hope to see on the Blue Lily website soon. Shelby was one of five adorable flower girls and Lindsay was thrilled to have a job as official wedding greeter, (but still coveted the flower girl position and actually told Amberly that!) Owen was satisfied with his title "guest" but he later got confused and asked if Spencer was going to be a "ghost" too. My pictures do not do justice to the event but I will still share them. Congratulations Amberly and Aaron!

Getting away and abusing our pet

2008-01-14T15:59:00.000-08:00

Chris had a partner retreat in Oakland this weekend, so I just tagged along. While Chris was in meetings, I spent most of my time reading in the room with a box of See's candies. I did venture just outside the hotel to wander around Barnes and Noble for hours, visit the cafe and then return to my cozy room. It was a dream (I only felt the teeniest bit guilty about it). We had some incredible dinners with the partners and went to a jazz concert one night. The kids were well cared for by Mimi and Granddad. They had a day at the zoo and a pizza party and sleepover with the Burnetts. The only one who suffered over our getaway was Quincy our cat. We came home and discovered he had been locked in the garage. His cat door was stuck closed. When we rescued him his little nose was cut and bloody from trying to get the door open! And he was very hungry. Please don't tell PETA about this.

The Big Christmas Tear Down

2008-01-02T13:54:00.000-08:00

Today is the most dreaded of all days for me. I am beginning the process of de-Christmas-ing the house. I had a friend growing up who convinced her mom to leave their Christmas tree up every year until her birthday in February. Even as a kid I thought that was a little weird. Now I can kind of understand. I am posting some pre-take down pictures to document the many hours we've spent.

Ringing in the New Year

2008-01-02T13:17:00.000-08:00

We had to finish out the year in a big way. Our friends the Greenes were in town from Arizona, so of course we had to have a party for them. We are still trying to convince them to come back! We had so so so much delicious food - thanks everyone! Then we entertained ourselves for hours with guitar hero and American Idol karaoke. We got everyone to sing -that means it was a REALLY good party!

Second Annual Christmas Shopping Trip

2008-01-01T11:10:00.000-08:00

Here's a picture from what seems to have become our tradition. The Keeler family after Christmas shopping trip. Mimi and Grandad gave all the Keeler cousins real Visa cards this year. Owen got a new wallet for Christmas, when he opened it he said "When I grow up I'm going to get a credit card to put in this". You can imagine how proud we were! Well sure enough the next day, he got one. He promptly put it in his wallet. It was so funny to see him sign his name on the credit card receipt when he made his purchase! We met up at Fashion Valley and split up the boys going one way the girls another. It didn't take long for the girls to find some cute clothes at Abercrombie. The boys managed to spend theirs too. We finished up at the movies! What a fun day!

Christmas morning at the Keelers

2007-12-25T13:43:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-25T13:33:00.000-08:00

We've been to parties and eaten
and shopped til we're beaten
Wrapped gifts, gifts galore
and then wrapped some more
The beef was well roasted
to Christmas we toasted
We laughed and we sang
and Santa, he came!
Presents chosen with care
are now everywhere
Pollys, Cars and hoodies
and more Chrismtmas goodies
have brightened their eyes
though it's not a surprise
We'll make such sweet noise
with guitars, drums, karaoke toys
but now they are busy, toys in their lap
and finally, oh finally it's time for a nap!

A visit with the Big Guy

2007-12-16T21:29:00.000-08:00

We went to our ward party and what do you know, out of all the thousands of Christmas parties being held that night, Santa came to ours! And can you believe that we were lucky enough to have our camera?! As you can tell by the picture, we were all happy to see him except for Owen. That might be because we have told him once or twice that Santa was going to assign him to the naughty list. According to Owen, kids on the naughty list get underwear for Christmas. Although he is working hard to get back on the nice list, Owen may not have felt confident about where he stands with the guy in red.

A welcome reminder

2007-12-03T16:27:00.000-08:00

I just finished a wonderful book for my book club, A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. I read and loved the Kite Runner, so I knew this wasn't going to be a light read. Our book group wasn't sure about reading it for our December book because of the heavy subject matter. I am so glad we did. I think it was the perfect time to read it.

It's about two women living in Afghanistan and the hardships they endure. The thing that struck me the most was that the timeframe of their lifes was parallel to my own. When the Taliban moved in and forced women to wear burqas and forbade them from even leaving their homes without the company of a male relative, I was getting married. A woman had to give birth by C-section with out the use of sterile instruments or any kind of medication by a female surgeon wearing a burqa, at the same time I was having my first baby in a beautiful, fully equipped hospital. I thought I had a hard time!

I read most of the book on Saturday. Chris had taken the kids to Katie's baptism in Mission Viejo and I was home sick. I really got absorbed in it. I was at a point in the book where the family was so poor they were desperate for food and living in horrible conditions. I got up to get a drink and I was literally taken back by my surroundings and how lucky I was to be living in a such a nice home with so many food choices right in front of me. Things I take for granted every day! It also made me so thankful for my husband and the freedoms I enjoy in this country. People, we are so blessed!

'tis the season

2007-11-29T20:53:00.000-08:00

We had a great Thanksgiving! We enjoyed not one, but two amazing Thanksgiving meals. Then to top it all off, our kids went home with Mimi and Grandad for a sleepover at their house! As Chris and I drove away from our last Thanksgiving meal stuffed full of good food and enjoying the peace and quiet in the car, we certainly counted our blessings!

Now we are in full Christmas mode. We climbed ladders and strung lights and I attempted to duct tape sparkly garland and snowflakes to the stucco on the house (by the way, it doesn't work I just retaped it for the bazillioneth time). At one point on Saturday, the whole family was on the roof - even Owen and the cat. I would have liked to get a pic for the blog, but I couldn't leave them up there alone to go get the camera! I'm not crazy.

Well, maybe Chris thinks I am. Every day he has come home from work to a house that looks a Christmas bomb went off, kids who have had very little supervision, no dinner and me covered in glitter. Let's just say, I get a little intense at this time of year. But, I promised myself last year, that this year we would have a simpler, more spiritual Christmas. I am publicly reminding myself of that! If anyone has any advice I'd love to hear it! My family would certainly appreciate it!

Not just a girls night

2007-11-20T20:36:00.000-08:00

I have experienced quite a few girls' nights out in my time, but never like this. This was the one to top them all. It started with shopping ... nice! Then let's throw in a little Cheesecake Factory, better! Then the highlight of the night was going to see the So You think You Can Dance tour. I went with 6 other moms. (Sorry Shelby and Lindsay, I'll take you next time!) We were all big fans of the show (well Debbie became a fan, right?). The show was great. It was amazing to see all that incredible dancing in person.
But, it was all over too soon. We decided that we were just "crazy psycho fan" enough to wait for them behind the building. We were hoping to just catch a glimpse of them running to their buses. We got so much more! Just as we were about to give up thinking they had already left via some secret exit, out they came! We were able to meet all of the dancers and get autographs and pictures. I may be a 37 year old mom of three today, but last night I felt like I was 16! Don't be embarassed for me, I'm okay with it!

Neil, my personal favorite

even better up close!

Danny and Dominic

Bustin' a move with Sabra (so cute, sweet and tiny!)

The incredible Hok

Pasha, suave and smooth

Kameron, obviously another favorite of mine

What a fun night!

Someone's having a birthday!

2007-11-09T16:31:00.000-08:00

This post is all about the big guy in our lives. He is having a birthday tomorrow and we want him to know how great we think he is (so great!)and how much we love him (so so so so so much!!) Happy Birthday Chris!

I like my Dad because he hugs me and he sings the good morning song. I like when he reads stories to me. I really love it when he plays Cars on the Playstation with me. Owen

The thing I like best about my dad is he is funny. He dances and sings for us and makes funny faces. He plays games with us like Monster and Poison. I love him!! Shelby

My dad plays with us a lot. He always makes us laugh when he does the running man. Thanks Dad for helping me with my math homework. He works really hard for our family. He is really smart and kind and funny. I love and appreciate my Dad! Lindsay

Thanks for spoiling all of us. We have the best life because of you! You're the hard worker, good time party guy, patient teacher, Saturday laborer and unselfish husband. We are all lucky to have you, but especially me! Happy Birthday!

Halloween Fun

2007-11-05T15:55:00.000-08:00

Lindsay and Ashley designed their own cave girl costumes
Owen as a handsome Diego

Shelby the cutest carhop!

Jonah who learned the true meaning of Halloween this year

Ethan the magician with his buddy Diego

We had a fun party at my Mom's house this Halloween (Dad was in Turkey, so he missed out!) We went trick or treating with all of the cousins except we missed Gabe and Katie. They wanted to hit every house in the neighborhood this year. I think they did - even Owen! The amount of candy they brought in was scary!!

I took some video of all the kids. Unfortunately I did it in portrait view instead of landscape, so it is sideways. If I ever figure out how to flip it I will post it for you.

We all really missed the Keeler cousin Halloween party this year. It is true that the holiday actually did go on - but we don't want to miss it again!

Hawaii!

2007-11-02T21:33:00.001-07:00

Highlights of Hawaii

2007-11-01T18:49:00.001-07:00

Some of the highlights of our trip:
Driving around in the blue party van.
Electric Beach - like snorkeling in a giant aquarium with a jacuzzi
Renting our own boat for free diving (thanks Jeff!)
Molosadas (the first day)
Walking the beautiful beach at Lanakai
Watching the guys take part in an illegal financial transaction with Morey in Kailua
Seeing the Carpenters and Greenes launch their kayaks
A perfect day on the beach in Waikiki
For me, two good meals (Roys and Dukes) lots more for Chris
Swimming with a sea turtle
Cruising in our 'stang
A giant shave ice (next time it's Matsumotos!)
Getting upgraded to business class on the way home because we were late
Having our kids be thrilled with tacky souveniers we brought home from Hilo Hatties

The lowlights:
Coming down with the flu on our second full day
Throwing up in the room
Throwing up on the beach and having a guy give me post hangover advice
Losing a whole roll of pictures from the underwater camera of the most amazing snorkeling
Molosadas (Sadly, I may never be able to eat them again.)

It has been a cathartic experience going through these pictures, as I have been in a post vacation slump. I'm still having a hard time believing that I spent a whole day in bed while in Hawaii. Looking through the pictures makes me realize that we really did have an awesome time. Thanks Mom and Sorensons for taking such good care of our kids! Now I am just plotting a way to get back with the whole family!

We answered the call of the Islands

2007-10-31T11:09:00.000-07:00

This blog is dedicated to my wonderfully patient and loving husband and to good friends who stand behind you even when you are throwing up in a towel on the beach, you know who you are ...

We drove away to the airport early Tuesday morning with a view of a fire just starting in the mountains in front of us in DeLuz. It was hard leaving the kids with practically all of So. Calif. on fire and so much uncertainty. After a few phone calls home to reassure us that everything was okay, and after we settled into the amazingly beautiful KoOlina Beach Club - we got over it. We had the most amazing view from our room (thanks Scott and TeDD!) We ran right down to the lagoon and met up with our friends in their rented cabana, drinking lava flows on the beach. I was giddy with excitement. Could life be any better than that? We snorkeled a little in the lagoon. Then finished the day with an incredible dinner at Roy's.

Giving in to Disney once again...

2007-10-15T17:10:00.000-07:00

A while ago, Owen and I were in Home Depot. You know how they have the Disney line of paints. We always have to go over and check out the paints and pick out a few hundred sample cards that then get left all over the car. Well, little did I know that they had added a new "Cars" themed room to their display. Owen was in awe, totally speechless. He thought it was the coolest room he had ever seen. He had been bugging us for over a year to paint his room. He had even drawn up some sketches of what he would like his room to look like (we may watch too much HGTV around here). As soon as he saw that room there was no putting him off any longer. He wanted that room - the lightning mcqueen bed, the red, yellow and blue color theme that hurt your eyes -- disney in its full glory. Well, we made a few compromises .. the room turned out a little more Disneyesque than I had promised myself I would allow in the house. But really how can you resist buying that cheesy $5o Cars lamp when your son thinks he has died and gone to heaven when he sees it?? I couldn't. We aren't quite finished with the room, but I have a feeling it may be like this for a while!

Blog Envy

2007-10-12T16:25:00.000-07:00

I have blog envy. I look at other people's blogs and they are so cute. They have music and cool fonts and all of their posts aren't squished to one side like mine are. They don't have cheesy titles either. Why can't mine be cool like that? I have tried, but not been able to figure any of it out. I wanted to add a picture of the Jonas Brothers from the web to my last post. I couldn't do it. I feel really lame.

Rockin' with the JoBros

2007-10-11T12:58:00.000-07:00

I took the girls with some friends to see the Jonas Brothers this week. If you don't know who they are just turn on the Disney Channel and it will take about five minutes to figure it out.

The picture is blurry for two reasons 1) I was using Lindsay's camera which may not be of the highest quality, plus it was too dark to figure out how to use her flash, 2) the bleachers we were sitting in were actually bouncing because thousands of girls were screaming and jumping up and down. It was impossible to hold the camera still. We waited in line for four hours to get into the concert at the lovely Perris fairgrounds. But it was worth it ... the girls had a blast and rocked out with lots of friends. I must admit those boys are cute!

Activity Time for Owen, Shopping Time for Mom

2007-10-10T21:10:00.000-07:00

First of all, I am a bad blogger. I announced from the get go that I would be. Here's a picture of Owen on his first day of school at Activity Time preschool. Cute, huh? This was taken over a month ago. I had every intention of coming home that day to add these cute pictures to our blog - - instead I went shopping. Don't tell Chris, but I think I have gone shopping most of the days that Owen has gone to preschool. And when I'm not shopping, I'm returning which then leads to more shopping. When I get home I can't spend time blogging, no, I have to run around doing stuff like cleaning and laundry and grocery shopping (not as fun as the other shopping) to make it look like I filled my day with respectable and productive activities. So that is my excuse for being a bad blogger. I am really trying to stay home more because even Lindsay says I have a problem.

2007-10-10T21:09:00.000-07:00

Another cute picture I was supposed to add that day...

Labor day with the masses

2007-09-04T19:31:00.000-07:00

Like the rest of So. California, we tried to beat the unbearable heat by escaping to the beach on Labor Day. We got there early enough to find a good spot, but by mid day we were literally surrounded by people. We actually had someone put up their easy-up just inches behind our heads. Dan dug the kids an enormous sand cave that was the envy of every other kid on the beach. Although the waves were strong enough to take your feet out from under you if you got close enough to the water, it was a great day!

Owen's post

2007-09-04T19:11:00.000-07:00

A few of you have suggested that the Keeler men have not been well represented in our family blog. Here is Owen's contribution...

Hi, this is a picture of me playing Playstation 2. I like to play Cars and Spy Hunter and Chicken Little Ace in Action. I also like to play on the computer and play with my Big Mack truck and my Small Mack truck. Ever since the girls went back to school, I have been doing this a lot. Bye everyone!

Thanks Whirlpool!

2007-08-27T11:18:00.000-07:00

What else do you do when your kitchen is wrapped in plastic? Beach Vacation!

The kitchen in the plastic bubble

2007-08-27T11:07:00.001-07:00

We discovered that our dishwasher had been leaking for months! Of course when we pulled out the dishwasher we were horrified to see the mold growing up the walls. Shea called in the big guns -- Mold Remediation Specialists. Our air was sampled and tested, the plastic bubble went in and the offending surfaces were thrown out the kitchen window. Our kitchen sink is on the floor of the garage and our lovely dishwasher is now in the backyard. Ah, the joys of homeownership!

Movin' on up - I'm in 3rd Grade now!

2007-08-20T16:18:00.000-07:00

I had a great first day back to school. My teacher, Mrs. Siptroth, is really nice and funny. We have a new principal. He came out to lunch to sit with the kids and he played on the field. I'm excited to learn to write in cursive. I think third grade will be fun! -- Shelby

Middle School Here I Come!

2007-08-20T16:12:00.000-07:00

Today was my first day of Middle School. I had a great first day. I joined the band and will play either the flute or the clarinet (I haven't decided yet). They put me in 7th grade math - Pre-Algebra!! I really liked my Science class. So far, all of my teachers are nice. I think this is going to be a great year! -- Lindsay

2007-08-17T08:10:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it is our last day of summer! We have had such a great summer, packing in as much fun as we possibly could! Some highlights were: Keeler Cousin Camp, watching fireworks from the boat on Lake Tahoe, seeing Beauty and the Beast at the Starlight Theatre, the Getty, camping with the Duffys, swimming at Grandma and Grandpa's house, HSM2 (for the girls) and the long, lazy days spent at the beach. I think we definitely filled our "fun quota". My ideas of "getting stuff done" kind of fell by the wayside. But, who cares, it's summer! Some of our favorite summer pics...

I got inspired ...

2007-08-12T21:51:00.000-07:00

After checking out a few different blogs I got inspired to start my own. I am pretty confident that I will be the worst blogger ever!! But I'm giving it a shot and hoping my technically saavy 11 year old will want to do some updating for the family too. I was blown away by all the adorable pictures and everyone's fun posts. So here goes....