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.