If I Had a Million Dollars....

Okay, so Cooper brought home the most adorable story the other day that he wrote. The prompt was, "What would you do if you had a million dollars?" This was Cooper's response:

If I had a million dollars I would spend it on a toontown card and a poster, bike, motor scooter, yoyo, four wheeler, a tv for my room, a poster of Hannah Montana. I would buy furniture for my room (gold), a robe, move to France, buy so many wiis that it will fill all the rooms (only one per room) then I will have a mansion and a basement with a theater as big as one in a normal theater but with a popcorn machine, ice cream machine and a hot dog machine. Then I will buy a house in Hollywood, California and buy a house with a room with a swimming pool inside my house and all games portable like a play station 1, 2, 3, and a game cube, x box 360, flight and rock band and guitar hero and a lot of games for game cube and psp (playstation potable) a pole table and a hockey table and a big game room full of tvs and games and 3 cars that has no tops and that are red that can go 500 mps. Then I'll have an arcade in my downstairs basement that has bumper cars, games a trampoline that is red and black and a bowling alley with 18 alleys, sky diving with a parachute, rock climbing, a gym and for my room I'll have a couch that's golden and a cheetah bed cover. I'll by 12 6 packs of bakugans, even more Bakugans! Then I'll move to Russia and go snow caving in the mountains, buy some fish to eat and some meat and veggies, work as a pilot and earn even more money!!!! Bwa ha ha ha ha!!!! Then I'll get another job for even more money! Then I'll work for a Weber State University professor. Then I'll go back to utah and have a wife and get her a job that will get her over a million dollars and then we'll have kids and live happily ever after.

Okay...I couldn't stop laughing when I read this. What is he? A child Hugh Hefner? What's up with the gold furniture, cheetah bedspread, and a robe? That's what he wants? Should I worry? And perhaps I should get Coop interested in something other than gaming systems. It seems to be all he thinks about. At least he wants to work for Weber State. Maybe when he goes and gets that wife and then gets her a job, she can work at Weber State too? And maybe he'll teach his classes in a robe? What am I doing wrong?

I'm so proud of myself....after about 9 freaking hours of trying to figure this out, I think I know how to post a video! I wanted to figure it out because I wanted to share this awesome video I took today of Kaid at his Ballroom Dance performance at Festival of Trees. It was too cute, and I was so proud. Kaid tried out for Ballroom Dance in the summer and made it. He has been going to practices every week, and today was the first time I was able to witness all of his hard work. I love his outfit..it was so PIMP (I'm not sure if that's appropriate for a 7th grader, but it's the only word that comes to mind). He had to wear a shiny black shirt with black pants, and the dance group gave him his shiny red vest. Woo Woo. As you watch the video, look how serious Kaid is throughout the entire performance. He didn't smile or anything. He was totally concentrating. Sometimes you can even see him counting. I was laughing. However, from one dancer to another...timing is everything. You don't want to step on your partners toes or even worse...drop her. I'm so glad Kaid likes to do this because it is so fun for us to watch him. Who knows...maybe in a few years, Kaid will be on Dancing with the Stars.

Thanksgiving in Vegas

We were able to go to Las Vegas this Thanksgiving and spend the holiday with our family. We had a GREAT time. Our kids absolutely LOVED it. It seriously takes a couple of days for our kids to get over leaving after spending so much time with them. I am so happy that our kids feel so comfortable with their cousins and that they all get along so well.
On one of the days, we made the mistake to venture down to the Strip to go to the Bellagio. I thought Robb was going to have a heart attack on the way there. It took a couple of hours and a fight with another driver later, but we made it inside.

What cuties!

In the Bellagio, if you haven't been there, when you first walk in, they have these really awesome glass flowers hanging from the ceiling. Robb had this great idea to take the picture with me on my knees with the camera pointing up at the ceiling. Other than me looking like a fool on the floor of the Bellagio, the picture turned out pretty cool. Robb is so creative.

This is right before we totally gorged ourselves with turkey and goodies. This Kelly family can't tell the other Kelly families (even if your last night has changed) how much we enjoy spending our special days with you. Matt and Samantha opened up their home and hearts to a TON of people and kept their cool the ENTIRE time. I was honestly worried a couple of times because there were a TON of kids and even more mess. But Matt and Sam's hospitality is remarkable...they didn't threaten to kill anyone at any point. They probably had to go to bed at night and scream in their pillows, but they always woke up with a smile of their face.

The Greater Things in Life

Okay....so I filled you in about Cannon's counting fetish. So, I was driving with him late last night and he turned to me and said, "Mom, how old are you?" Interesting question.... I replied, "I'm 34. Why?" He sat there for a minute and thought about it, and then turned to me and said, "When I'm firty four, can I drive this car and have a wawet (wallet)?" I had to laugh. Are those the two things he envies the very most? My old car and my wallet with no money in it? I turned to him and said, "Of course. You can drive this car and get a wallet." He smiled and said, "Where do I get my wawet? Wal-Mart?" Why not? That's where we get everything else.

I love to count....

Cannon's new favorite thing is counting. All day long he asks, "What time is it?" Whatever number I say, he counts it out. It is really cute. I'm pretty freaking clever though. Lately, whenever I need him to get me something, I say, "I will count and see how fast you are." He LOVES it. I can get him to do anything and all I have to do it count. How sweet is that? I got to take total advantage of it because he'll wise up in probably 6 months and then I'm back to getting my own drinks, the phone, the remote. Darn!

Book Club Anyone???

I have tried on many different occasions to organize a book club, but I have not been very successful. Apparently, not a lot of people like to read anymore. I'm a HUGE fan of reading and am always interested in hearing what people have to say about books. So...this is an outreach program to all of you who are interested in joining my book club. I will officially nominate me as the President so you don't have to do any of the organizing (at least not the first time around). Give me a shout out if good ol' fashioned reading is your style.

Student of the Month

What can I say?? I'm very proud to announce that Kaid was selected as one of the Students of the Month in October. Robb and I were able to go to a breakfast for the students and their parents, and then Kaid and all of the other students were given awards. Kaid's teachers said a lot of great things about him. Probably the coolest benefit was Kaid was able to go to the front of the lunch line for the entire month....and he got to take a friend with him! I'm sure he had some friends appear during October that he didn't know he had in September. We're proud of you Kaid!!

Halloween 2008

Well....here are the boys in their Halloween costumes. I'm sorry it took so long to post them, and I'm sorry that I cannot figure out how to rotate my pictures. Will one of you blogging pros PLEASE call me and tell me how to do it so I don't waste another 2 hours at the computer. It would be much appreciated.

Kaiden really wanted to be Obama for Halloween this year. He wanted to paint his face black and wear an afro. I would prefer not to have my kid get his butt kicked on Halloween night, so I told him I would go buy him an Obama mask. Needless to say, the Obama masks were long gone. So were the McCain masks. However, there was an entire wall of Bush masks. They were practically giving them away. So, Bush he was, and I have to say, his costume was hilarious. I couldn't stop laughing. He didn't have a blue suit jacket, so he borrowed mine. If you look really close, that's a woman's Jones New York suit coat. It's a little tapered in the arms and waist, but it worked!

Coop was Batman, and his costume was scary. He went trick-or-treating with his friend Austin and had a great time.

Connor and Cannon went trick-or-treating together this year. Cannon's costume might look a little worn. That's because he has been wearing his costume almost everyday since September. Apparently I don't know much about superheros. Whenever Cannon would put on his costume, he would walk around the house with his fingers and his wrist like they are in the picture. I couldn't figure it out. I honestly thought he was trying to do the "rock on" sign but was way off. I didn't try to fix it because how does a mom say, "No, son. You don't do rock on like that.....you do it like this." So, I just let it be. It wasn't until Connor got into full costume and made the same gesture that I realized it's how Spiderman shoots his web. I guess if I'm a mother of 4 boys, I better study up on superheros!

Anyhoo...it was a great night. Grandma Joan came down and made Taco Soup and we took the boys trick-or-treating. Can I just say that I like Halloween much more as an adult. I don't have to do any of the work that I had to do as a kid, and I still get to eat just as much (okay...even more) candy than I did as a child. I love it, and my mom can't even take my bag and hide it. There are some perks to being the mommy!

Body Worlds....AMAZING

If you have ever wondered if there is a God, you need to visit the Body Worlds exhibit. Robb and I took our boys to The Leonardo in Salt Lake last night to see the Body Worlds exhibit. Basically, it is a CRAZY exhibit of people who have donated their bodies for display. It takes about two hours to go through the entire exhibit because there is an AMAZING amount of stuff to look at. It would take too long to explain everything, but some of my most favorite parts was the exhibit on the lungs. The have on display a set of lungs that had never smoked, and sitting right next to it, a set of lungs from a smoker. The non-smoker lungs were a gray color, and the smoker lungs were black and charred. It was so AMAZING! My boys (yes, I took all four of my boys. I was a little nervous about that, but they loved it. After they giggled and tee-hee'd over the boys and girls' privates, they thought it was really interesting) vowed they would never smoke after seeing those lungs. Sometimes I think it takes a real visual image to get the point across.

The exhibit also had a part dedicated solely to the exhibition of the fetus and its development. I have always had a reverance to the whole reproductive process, but I appreciate my body so much more today. There were vials with fetuses at each week in-vitro. At week four, the fetus just looks like a little mass of tissue, but by week 9, you can actually see stubs. I'm not going to get on my soapbox right now about abortion, but you cannot visit that exhibition and then tell me that a baby is not a baby until a certain point in-vitro. A fetus has a heart beat by the fourth week, and the central nervous system is already developing. I don't know about you, but that sounds like there's a lot of life going on at that point.

In one case, there was a placenta that carried twins. The placenta has so much circulation that there are vessels and veins throughout the entire things, and to see 2 umbilical cords. I paused for quite a while at that point and thought about my body and what it does and what it has done. I looked at my four children walking around and looking at everything and paused and gave thanks to my Heavenly Father for giving me my body with all of its capabilities. Carrying 8 pound twins to term was no easy task, but my body did that!! I grew two hearts, two lungs, two kidneys, four arms, four legs, and 20 fingers. No wonder I was always exhausted, but I grew two human beings that are healthy and strong and full of life....what an amazing thing I did.

I also paused and remembered when I was carrying Cannon and was 14 weeks along. At that point, a 14 week fetus is very much a baby. I was sitting at the table and felt a gush of warmth. I looked down and noticed I was bleeding very badly. I had miscarried before and knew that any blood wasn't good, but this was a lot and I knew that I had lost my baby. I went to the hospital devastated. As I rested on the table, the doctor came in and asked me what was wrong. With tears streaming down my cheeks, I said, "I lost my baby tonight." His reply was, "Well, with this bleeding, was there pain or contractions." I thought about it for a minute and realized that there were none of those. I told him, "No. There was not any pain, but there was an incredible amount of blood, so I'm sure I lost my baby." He said, "Let's do an ultrasound before we decide that." A cathetar and full bladder later, the ultra-sound tech revealed that my baby was still very much alive but that my placenta had torn. I didn't know what that meant. I could see my baby kicking (which I was thrilled to see), but a torn placenta can't be good, right? Well, little did I know that with a lot of rest and even more prayers, a placenta can heal and repair itself and not harm the baby. That's exactly what mine did, and Cannon was born healthy and white-headed. What a miracle. How smart is my body?

We live in a world that is always doubting the power and influence of God. Oh, but how clever is He.....? Just when you feel everywhere you turn, God is being removed from everything, I visit an exhibit where his power is being shouted from every bone, vein, tissue and hair. However, He doesn't do it in a loud and obnoxious way...His message is humble and quiet, but more powerful than words. It's a message that states, "I love you enough that I made your body be able to do all of these things. I love you enough that I made you to be like me." That's a message I will work harder to never forget.

So, when I feel like I have weight to lose or I'm frustrated because I woke up with a new zit, I will work harder to remember the gift I have been given, even if it's not always the way I want it to be. It's a gift much bigger than myself and 10 extra pounds, stretch marks and wrinkles only gives it character, right? I'm thankful for this gift....

Tagged...See I do know how to do these.

I've been TAGGED
Three names I go by
1. Brooke
2. Mrs. Kelly
3. Trout

Three restaurants I like (it's easier to say three I DON"T like)
1. Sizzler
2. Asian Buffet
3. Carl's Jr.

Three things I really want
1. My kids to be happy
2. To be successful in my job
3. To Choose the Right

Three pets you have/had
1. Maggie (I hated that stupid dog)
2. Max
3. Jack

Three things I did yesterday
1. Went shopping at the outlets in St. George
2. Drove 4.5 hours home
3. Ate half the chocolate chip batter that Kaid made.

Three things I ate yesterday
1. Mongolian Barbeque (however, we asked the owner what it's like to live in Mongolia and he told us he didn't know...he's from Vietnam)
2. Starbursts
3. The batter I already told you about....not a good day.

Three fears I have
1. Throwing up
2. Losing my family members
3. Bad Health

Three things I plan on doing tomorrow
1. Clean
2. Clean (my house is DESTROYED)
3. Work out

Three Holidays I love
1. Fourth of July LOVE IT!
2. Christmas
3. Thanksgiving

Beverages I like
1. Diet Pepsi
2. Fresca
3. Lime Rickey

Three people I TAG
1. Melissa
2. Stacie
3. Kamie

I'll figure this out....I promise.

So, I thought it was time that I update my blog, and I was getting a little tired of the background so I changed it. Unfortunately, it messed up all of the coloring and everything. Again, I spent about an hour trying to fix it and it didn't work. I thought about just going back to the original background, but then I would have to switch everything back the other way. HEADACHE! So, I'm leaving it the way it is, but I promise everything from here on out will be legible. I am also planning on putting some new pictures on tonight, so stay posted...that's if you care, of course.

Back to School

You know you have been successful as a parent when your kids are BEGGING to go back to school!

I have been trying to rotate Kaid's picture for the last 30 mintues, but I am not computer saavy....sorry. This is Kaid as he is heading out the door to his first day of JUNIOR HIGH!!

I can hardly believe it. I have to admit...it's a little frightening sending your oldest off to junior high, and for a lot of reasons.

• It means that Robb and I are getting DANG old, and I don't like that one bit.



• Kaiden has his cell phone attached to his hand at all times answering and sending texts at record speeds.



• In the morning, he comes down smelling like he bathed in Axe. I'm not sure what message he is trying to send to the ladies.



• And his voice has COMPLETELY changed. He sounds like a little man....SCARY!

This little guy is Cooper, or better know as Coop. Behind that sweet little face is a lot of feistyness. He's the spitting image of his father, and has a lot of his personality traits as well. He's starting 5th grade this year and can't wait to get back.

I can't say enough great things about my sweet Connor. He is actually as sweet as that face. Just to give you an idea of his sweetness....when we went school shopping, it was a challenge because i guess the big thing these days for boys' clothes is skulls. There are skulls on EVERYTHING. Connor refused to buy anything with a skull on it. It didn't matter how awesome the shirt was....if there was a skull on it, he put it right back. I finally asked him why he hated skulls so bad. He said, "Because they're punkish, and I'm not a punk." Freaking sweetest thing ever.

Bear Lake Brawl

Robb officially completed his last triathlon of the year. On Saturday, September 6, Robb, Matt and Zach raced in the BEAR LAKE BRAWL. It was so fun to watch, and Robb ended the season with a BANG! We finished 3rd overall and got to stand on the podium (which didn't exist) and received a trophy. We're still deciding what we want to do with the trophy. Robb said he's going to use it to protect his chips when he plays poker. It was a great way to end the season. All of the boys and myself and very proud of him. It is fun to yell to him as he passes us..."Hurry up. There are only 3 people ahead of you." Not many people can yell that to their hubby. Congrats Robby.

Robb and I celebrating his trophy. I had to have my hat on because my cowlicks were acting up and it looked like I had horns. However, in this picture, I look like the unabomber...and I'm not sure why Robb wanted to pimp his chest hair (or lack of), but we do look happy. YEAH!

Jack Johnson BABY!!

Last week Robb and I (we met Lex and SaDee there) went to Jack Johnson at the Usana Ampitheatre. It was AWESOME. We had a great time.

Vacation Jar

That HUGE jar of money is what the Kelly's call "The Vacation Jar". It was Robb's idea really. He told all of the kids that if they found loose change around the house and filled the jar, when it was to the top, he would take them to America First to change it in and divide the money four ways and the kids got to pick where they want to spend it. All the kids decided they wanted to go to Fat Cats....and they worked SO hard to fill the jar. They were searching under cushions, robbing ashtrays, cleaning out my wallet. After a couple of months, they had completely filled it. To add interest to the competition, Robb let the all the boys guess how much money was in the jar and whoever got the closest got an additional 20 bucks. Robb and I guessed as well. Needless to say, everyone was WAY off. Kaid said 300 bucks and Cooper and Connor were in the high 200's. I guess 72 bucks and I was the closest. The end result was 170 bucks. Last Saturday, we took all the boys to Fat Cats and gave them each 40 bucks to spend on the arcade. They LOVED it. They have already started saving up for our next adventure.

Art Show

Kaiden....

This picture is from last year after we hiked Timpanogas Cave, and Kaiden has changed a lot in a year, but I wanted to post this picture because it is so him...so happy.

Oh My!

Berlioz The Aristocat

At the end of the school year, Connor told me he wanted to try out for the school play The Aristocats. I thought it was a great idea! I asked him for weeks if he needed to do anything to prepare for tryouts. He reassured me he had to do nothing. The day of tryouts came and I was at work. I got a frantic phone call from Connor. He has tryouts in an hour and he needed to have a song to sing in front of the judges for tryouts. I cruised home and got the High School Musical CD and met him at the school. When it was his turn, I went in with him and put the CD in. I thought for sure he would freeze or get too embarrassed to do it. But to my pleasant surprise, the music started and Connor started singing....and dancing....without any rehearsal!! It was awesome. He's a natural born talent. Needless to say, he got one of the lead roles and performed at the end of the school year. We are so proud of him!

Cooper and Cannon

My husband the Triathlete

I'm gonna brag my hubby up just a bit. I love this picture. It looks like it should be in a magazine. Notice the look on his face...he looks like he's gonna kill someone, or like he's gonna die himself. Robb and some of our closest friends trained all year long and participated in a handful of triathlons this year. Robb did awesome...usually placing in his division and doing well overall. It took a lot of work, and Robb slimmed down quite a bit (this picture doesn't look like it though), but it was so fun to watch him race. It even gave me motiviation to join him in a couple this year myself. He worked hard, and his hard work paid off. I'm not sure how many more he has left in him. I'm sure he'll continue till he's semi-close to Tyler. We'll have to see if that ever happens...wink, wink.

Nice Hat C-Dog

Honestly....how do you refuse a face like that??

A Picture of ME!

A couple of people have suggested that my blog is lacking a picture of me, so I searched my camera and quickly realized that I'm usually the one taking the picture. However, after scanning all the pictures, there was this one that one of my kids took of me with one of my most favorite.

Hawaiian Vacation

In May 2008, Robb and I went on a Hawaiian Cruise with our friend Matt and Heidi Yeates and Kim and Darren Scott. We had a great time and saw so many great things. We went snubaing (a mix of scuba and snorkel). Robb will say that I didn't really do it because I hovered at the top of the water, but I am proud of myself because I originally wasn't going to do it. I was too afraid of sharks. We did an awesome zipline through the jungles of Kauai, and Robb tried to surf. Except for my dialated eye from the seasick patch, the trip was a complete hit. And if any of you want to see Robb perform, ask him to sing "Turn the Page". He performed for us one night....karoke style. Hopefully this time he'll leave his clothes on. (You'll have to ask him about this....)


On our second day in Maui, we got up at 2:30 am and rode a bus up to the top of Haleakala Volacano to watch the sunrise. It was amazing. It was freezing cold and extremely early, but it was something I will never forget. We then rode mountain bikes down the mountain which was awesome (except for when Robb took a wrong turn and we had to ride our bikes about 2 miles straight up the mountain).



Robb, Matt, and Darren were able to swim some of the Ironman Triathlon swim course in Kona, Hawaii. Maybe next time we'll be back watching them do the real thing.

He didn't learn this from me...
I know this is slightly inappropriate, but it has to be told. Robb and I recently finished the Spudman Triathlon. After the race, we were getting our stuff together and when we looked up, Cannon had on Robb's swim cap. We thought it was a great picture moment, so Robb grabbed the camera and said to Cannon, "Okay, on the count of three, give a thumbs up." Robb said, "One...two...three...." and this is what Cannon did. I gasped, and turned around and saw Cooper and Connor running for their lives. I wonder who taught him that!

Hiking Adams Canyon
Okay...so on the 24th of July, Robb and I were trying to think of some cheap family fun, so we decided to take our kids to hike Adams Canyon. We weren't sure what the response would be, but initially they were excited. So, the entire drive there, Robb and I kept prepping the boys. We kept telling them that hikers don't whine. I just knew that we would get about 100 yards from our car and our boys would be done. I have to say..the initial hike up the hillside was brutal. I wasn't sure what I had gotten us into, but once we made it to the mouth of the canyon and there was shade, we did much better. I should've given my boys more credit because they did AWESOME. They were such troopers. I was so thrilled when we made it to the first waterfall. I was SO surprised when they wanted to continue and go all the way to the top. So, we did, and it was a blast! Cannon, our baby, is a natural born hiker. He didn't want any help. There were times he was on his hands and knees making his way to the top. At the end, we were sweaty and tired, but it was great. I'm already scalping for our next hike. I hope I have takers.

The Kelly Klan

I guess I better get with the times and start blogging. I LOVE reading everyone's blog, and if anyone is interested in the Kelly family...well....here it is. I'm just starting out with this, so I'll start by just posting our recent family pics.