Weekend Happenings

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...

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...

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

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

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!

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?

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!