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

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

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!

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!!!

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

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!