10 years!

Yesterday was our 10 year anniversary!!!!  Yep, Mike has had to deal with all of my issues for 10 years now.  I can't believe the time has flown by.  We had a great day yesterday.  It started Thursday night when he gave me 10 coupons for car washes.  LOVED THAT!!!!  And then I woke up on Friday to 10 tulips and cards with each one.  He has been doing this every year.  Can you imagine what my house will look like in 30 years with 40 tulips in a vase?!?!?!  I can't wait!!!!! Then we went out to eat at Tuscany.  Good food.  Great company.  Great presents.  Mike gave me 10 new pieces of jewelry.  They are beautiful!  I truly was spoiled yesterday!

But this post is for my Mikey.  You can read it if you want to....I won't get dirty.  But just to let him know my feelings.  I don't express my happy feelings very often.  (But if I am frustrated he hears it.)  So here are some reasons why I love Mike!

1. He is the best father!  I love how he comes home and just plays with the kids.  I am nothing when daddy is around.  And I love that!

2. He honors his Priesthood. He hasn't missed a day of reading his scriptures since he has been home off of his mission.  (I have missed 3 days just this week!)  That amazes me.

3. He is a helper.  He will help anyone, anywhere, anytime.  You call, he is there.  And he can work magic at home as well.  Whole house cleaned in 2 hours!

4.  He makes me laugh.  Especially when I don't want to because I am trying to be mad.  I hate/love that!

5.  He loves to socialize.  Party?  Anyone.  Anywhere.  ANYTIME.  He always has something going.

6.  He helps raise our kids.  I remember the first diaper he ever changed and how he had to have a towel completely wrapped around his face.  And he was gagging.  Those days are long gone.  He can change a diaper in 5 seconds flat.

7. I love his passion for sports.  My favorite dates last year were going to the byu football games.  I will be sad that we don't have season tickets this year.  (Recession and all!)

8.  He will go to see a chick flick movie with me.  

9.  I love his laugh.  And his dimples.  Those bad boys have saved him so many times.

10.  He will watch the Bachelor with me and be just as excited as I am.

11. He won't watch Dancing with the Stars with me.  That is how I know he still has his manhood.  That would scare me a little.

12. He tells the girls 'Silly Sally Princess' which I found out last nite and made me cry.  My dad used to tell us make believe stories as well (George, Fred, Herbie stories)

13.  We can talk out our issues.  And then he fixes them.  J/K.  It is me who usually needs the fixing.

14.  He thinks Honda Odysseys are cool! And they are.

15.  He laughed when I told him I wanted to train for a triathalon and then told me what it exactly entails.  Why would anybody want to do that?!

16.  He is a good tipper.

17.  He freaks out about money.  My motto: when you don't have any, what is there to freak out about?  Ha ha ha

18.  He likes to play cards with his mom and dad.

19. He constantly wants his back scratched and now Spencer is onto the goodness.

20.  He listens to the Spirit.  Thanks for checking up on Addie at school.  Sorry the whole house was locked.

21.  He doesn't question my parenting skills.  Or lack there of.

22. He is tender hearted.

23. He married me in the Mesa temple and ripped Parley P. Pratt's temple robe, twice.  Shhh. Don't tell my family.

24. He wants to participate in the Nauvoo pageant as badly as I do.  (There is sarcasm to that.  I would love it...he would hate it but would do it for me)

25.  He thinks I am crazy because I love This is the Place park a little too much.

26.  he loves me for me.  Not how I look, how skinny (or not) I am, or what I am wearing.  he loves ME!

27.  He will hold my hair and rub my forehead as I am puking 7+ times a day being pregnant.  Then he will clean the floor since I was puking so hard, I peed my pants.  Are we really ready for that again?!

I LOVE YOU MIKE!!! I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE WHAT THE NEXT 10 YEARS ARE LIKE!

The perfect day!

I have definitely had those days where my kids were so horrible I wanted to cry.  But Monday was a different day.  It was a perfect day.  The weather was perfect.  The kids were perfect.  We had fun, which was perfect.  Which made me want to cry but in a good way.  Addie is off-track and so I thought it would be fun to go to This is the Place park and have a picnic.  And then ride the train a couple of times.  (Nothing much to do there since it is still off-season but those two activities can really get my kids excited.)  And so we packed a picnic, drove there and began our perfect day.We started our picnic and just enjoyed it.  After our picnic, it was time for the train ride.  We were waiting for the train conductor to come for over a 1/2 hour and so I said, tired of waiting, "Kids, let's go to the zoo." Not wanting to go home and definitely enjoying the weather too much to drive home. 

So we drove across the street and had a blast!  I didn't have to deal with a stroller, diaper bag, diaper changes or anything.  I had Spencer hold one hand and Jayne was holding the other.  We saw everything!  All of the animals were out!  And my kids were sooo good!  Literally, a perfect day!   The sweetest moment of my perfect day was when I was holding Spencer's hand and he kissed my hand as we were walking around.  It melted my heart.  What a perfect gentleman.  I told him "thanks buddy" and he did it again!  I just think he was enjoying the perfect day as well.  

So I told the kids, let's get some ice cream sandwiches.  We enjoyed those on the drive home.  My kids were so tired they all fell asleep in the car ride home.

Easter scrooge or 'real' meaning of Easter celebrator

I don't know about you but I do not go all out for Easter.  We hardly talk about the Easter bunny. I definitely don't buy the $20 Easter baskets filled with junk.  And I really don't buy a lot of gifts.  Blame it on my growing up.  My friends would act like it was a Spring-time Christmas, getting $200cash from the Easter bunny, 5 new outfits, and then massive baskets from the Easter bunny.  Call me an Easter Scrooge if you want, I don't care.  We do color Easter eggs.  We do have an Easter egg hunt and have the kids get chocolate and have fun.  And I did get them new church outfits.  And Mike and I give them some kind of gift from Christ.  It might be a new book to keep them quiet in church.  This year it was cute CTR rings.  Not expensive but kid friendly.  Especially since Jayne chewed hers up in 10 minutes.  But on Easter I was wondering if I am doing my kids a service by focusing more on Christ or am I just making Easter boring.  And then I found this video and realized that, for my family, I like our 'traditions'.  Just go to Youtube and search Mormon Messages.  It is titled "An Apostle's Easter thoughts on Christ"  (for some reason I had issues downloading it on the blog).  Elder Holland's talk was, by far, my favorite talk during Conference.

But here are some pix to prove I am not an Easter Scrooge.

Croup, shingles, and weeds

What do these three things have in common?  They are living at the Kelly household in one way or another.  We just got back at the dr.s office for Addie because she has croup.  Yesterday we were at the dr office for Addie because she had an ear infection and sore throat.  Last week we were in the dr office for Jayne for stomach issues that prevacid is helping.  So my kids have seen the dr 3 times in less than 5 days.  (don't get me started on the temper tantrum that Spencer had yesterday at the dr. office...all I am going to say is that the front office, drs and nurses all stopped what they were doing to watch spencer freak out since he wanted the whole basket of stickers)  That doesn't include my two dr visits last week.  I went in the beginning of the week with my kidneys hurting.  The dr said that I had a back spasm.  Whatever.  I didn't get better and so I made a second appointment 4 days later and as I was getting dressed, noticed all of these bumps right where it was hurting me internally.  I started freaking out thinking whatever has been bugging my 'insides' is now eating away my skin.  Dr. looks at it again and says, 'shingles'.  So now I am on pain meds and some massive blue pill that even a horse couldn't swallow.  

The good news is that I have realized I am an expert weed grower.  Anybody need any advice on how to grow weeds, give me a call!  All you need to do is look at them and they will grow.  Tulips...not growing.  Daffodills....not growing.  Perennials...still dead from winter.  Weeds....THRIVING AND BEAUTIFULLY GREEN!!!!!!!  All you need to do is spray weed killer and they will somehow still grow.  Pour a bunch of preen on the flower beds....and you still get weeds.  It is the best trick ever!  NO Hassle!  No worries!  Spent all last summer pulling weeds and whammo---they are back ready to challenge you in every way possible..  Even when there is snow on the ground, they will pop out and add color to your otherwise colorless ground.  Aren't they just wonderful!

I am doing what I do best....keepin it real!

St. Patrick's Day wishes

Addie brought this home the other day:

If you can't read it it says: "If I was granted a St. Patrick's Day wish, I would wish...... I would wish for pots of gold, and a baby sister and a baby brother and friends and toys to play with."

Let's just leave the twins to my sister, Heather.  I just love little kids imagination.  

Have you ever felt?

Have you ever felt that if somebody were watching you, they would be laughing hysterically at your poor attempt at something.  Anything?  Anyone?  I feel that way every time I have to snow-blow the drive way.  First of all, our house faces north so that the house blocks a lot of the sun to the drive way.  Second, our next door neighbors have a single story home so they really can have the sun melt a lot of the snow.  My neighbors across the street have south facing homes so that the snow melts 99% of the time without them even having to snow-blow.  Third, I am from AZ, how do you snow-blow properly?  Is there a specific pattern you need to follow so that you don't blow snow onto spots you have already cleaned?  In spite of my insecurities of snow-blowing....I do it anyway.  Easier for me to do it and hope that the rest will melt than wait for Mike to come home when the snow is ice anyway.  I just wanted to to tell you guys that my feelings were confirmed today.  I was out there snow-blowing away when the street guys came to snow-plow the street.  I looked up and the men were totally laughing, waving at me.  All I could do was smile and wave back.  Why were they laughing?  Was it because my 'pattern' is wrong?  Was it because the wind was blowing the snow back in my face?  Was it because I am an idiot and they could tell?  Was it because if I waited just a couple of hours, the snow would melt anyway so that I am completely wasting my time?  But I have tried that....NOT snow-blowing and then sure enough, the snow becomes ice and I have to shovel the ice to get it off.  Not my idea of fun.  So I hope my neighbors and anyone else who drives by, enjoys a good laugh.  I will be out there next time because I am so nervous about snow becoming ice, someone slipping, hurting themselves, and then suing us.  So just enjoy the laugh.

I think I'm ok now!

Booooo!!! Hisss!!!!!!  What in the crap?!?!  Please tell me that I am not the only one who wasted the last 6 weeks every Monday nite watching the Bachelor?  But just like the title, I do think I am OK now.  I just can't believe that he actually dumped Melissa on tv.  My major beef with that is that only 1 Bachelor/Bachelorette has worked out, none of the others have dumped their fiances on air, so why would Jason?!  I will tell you....RATINGS!!!  Stupid ABC!!! or if you actually think about it, ABC is extremely smart....I know I am not the only one who has talked for hours about the whole ending.   

Here is what it comes down to: ABC editing.  We really don't know what was happening.  Molly could have been the sweetheart from the beginning but ABC wanted to change things up so they made Melissa look like the best one for Jason.  And don't even bring up the whole 'producer coaching' stuff.  My major question is what was Molly talking about after the second 'after the rose ceremony' when she said that her character has been questioned the last couple of weeks?  We only found out the night before that Jason dumped Melissa for Molly.  How could her character be in question for weeks?  

All I know is that Jillian/ABC better be smarter.....I am really hesitant watching it anymore.