Living the Keeler Life

Family bike ride...well almost

2011-07-21T09:10:00.001-07:00

On Tuesday we attempted a family bike ride. I really wanted to get frozen yogurt/custard from Yogurt Beach so we decided to try to ride our bikes there. Matt got all the tires pumped up and we got everything from the balcony, through our apartment, down the stairs and set up on the grass... WHAT A HASSLE! We even got Eliza buckled in and Luke in the front pack and as I started to peddle NOTHING happened. I mean my bike didn't go anywhere. After a little examination I saw that my chain was off.

I yelled over to Matt because he had already started riding and he circled back to get me. Just as he did his peddle fell off. The metal actually broke! So needless to say we never made it past our front lawn. :(

I did end up taking Eliza for a little ride around the complex and she wasn't too sure about sitting in the carrier. We tried to focus on the doggies and birds and she ended up being a good sport.

Above is a pic of Luke and Liza hanging out right before we DROVE to Yogurt Beach :) (Sorry it's small it's from my phone.)

Aces

2011-07-16T21:16:00.000-07:00

Today we went to an Aces (semi pro baseball) game with some of our ward friends. It is an even that the Elders quorum has decided to do every year and it is quite fun. We love going to the game with all of our friend, eating lots of treats and playing in the kids zone... oh AND watching the game. lol.

Eliza LOVED eating the popcorn (shown on my lap in the pic above) This was also Luke's 1st time to an athletic even and he seemed to like it as much as a baby can. He got to meet another new friend, Grayson, that was born on the same day as Cooper (Cassie & Danny's little boy.) It is definitely a season of boys in our ward!

Eliza got to go in the bounce house over at the kids zone too. She was quite nervous but after a little coercion and finding some of our friends she went in. The person that was assisting with the bounce house allowed a bunch of littler kids to go in together so they wouldn't be trampled. After a few minutes Eliza was in LOVE. She would not stop bouncing... so much that she didn't want to get out when her time was up. All the kids except Eliza went up the inflatable stairs to ride down the slide. We had to ask the Bishop's daughter to go back in and help get Eliza out. Needless to say she didn't go down the slide, I just had to pull her out of the entrance. That girl definitely loves a good bounce house!

On our way back to our seats we looked for the Aces mascot (I cannot remember his name for the life of me.) I was said I didn't take my camera with me because he reaction was quite funny. After the initial shock of seeing a big red furry animal, Eliza gave (insert name of mascot here) a high five and just kept staring at him.

So even though we didn't watch the actual game that much, it was still totally worth the outing!

Casey's 22nd Birthday & Friends

2011-07-15T04:36:00.000-07:00

On July 11th Casey (my brother) turned 22 years old! It is crazy how time flies and just like yesterday I remember Kelsey and I pinning Casey on the floor and tickling him until he cried out for mom and dad! Ummm... we probably weren't the best sisters ever! lol.We celebrated by going to my parent's house for a bbq. I have to share our family recipe for Dill dip soon... it is HEAVENLY! It's probably the standard recipe for dill dip but I'll share it anyway :) Dill dip has been a staple in our family FOREVER and my grandma usually makes it. In the last 3 years my sister has requested dill dip at almost every family function and it has made it's permenante residence on the orderve table.

We all had such a fun time talking and hanging out but I think Sav and Eliza got a little bored until they decided to play in Grandma's lounge chair.

These two are such goofballs sometimes!

All Casey wanted for his birthday was a gift certificate to get Scuba certified... so that is what he got! It will be fun because my dad and Matt are both certified and love scuba diving. The only problem is that the only place to dive is Tahoe and it is WAY to cold!

Casey wanted my Grandma's specialty cake, German Chocolate Cake... I'm not sure if I can ever reveal this recipe as it is a true Hawley Gem and if you ever get to taste it, you will be in Heaven!

Casey LOVES his nieces and they love him.

This one with Eliza is precious!

After the festivities I took some pictures of Luke, Liza and their new-to-this-world friend Cooper Crosby. Here Cooper is 10 days old, Luke is one day shy of 8 weeks and Eliza is 21 1/2 months.

Luke's Blessing Day

2011-07-12T23:15:00.000-07:00

A blessing day is always such a big day full of fun times and loving people. On Sunday, July 10, 2011 we blessed Lucas Ivin.

We started out the day getting ready for church. Al and Linda, Kirt and the boys came over to get us for church. Noah and Jaxon just love Luke and Liza.

Matt did a wonderful job during the blessing. Matt is such a sensitive person when it comes to his children and he doesn't cry/shed tears very often except at a child's birth or blessing. I love that he is sensitive because it helps creates such a special bond. With that said, Matt didn't tear up at ALL but was slow and steady with his words. Luke was told that he would make a difference and be a great example. That his family loves and supports him, that one day he will serve a mission and bring the truth to many and that he may be blessed to be married in the temple to the one he loves. I am so excited to see this little boy of ours grow up!

During one of the talks my grandma (Luke's Great Grandma Hawley) was feeding Luke a bottle when all of a sudden he had a blow out... yep a full blow out all up his back in his white blessing outfit! I took him straight to the bathroom and my mom tried to clean up the outfit. The stain was only up the back so we put it back on and put a blanket around him... We HAD to take pics of him still!

After Sacrament was over my good friend Lisa took some pictures of our family and friends.

Top: Eliza, Matt, Luke and Kendall - Grandma & Grandpa Keeler - Great G & G Hawley
Middle: Great Aunt Trina, Great G&G Hawley - The whole gang - Grandma Hawley
Bottom: Aunt Kelsey & Cousin Savannah - Uncle Casey - Grandpa Hawley

We are so grateful to have such loving family and friends!

Matt had to have a "Circle of Life/Lion King" moment.

I can't believe that we have a second child all ready. Luke is such a sweetheart and I feel like he has always been in our family... I'm not sure Eliza feels the same though :)

After sacrament meeting we had a little luncheon at my parents house with delicious grilled chicken sandwiches, pasta salad, fruit and yummy Nutella Choco Brownie cups (recipe here).

Our good friends, the Crosbys came too!

What a handsome little man.

And then it was time for our fun weekend to end. Saying goodbye.

Virginia City

2011-07-12T22:00:00.000-07:00

Matt's parents and brother Kirt and his two boys, Jaxon & Noah came to visit us for Luke's blessing this past weekend. They arrived on Friday afternoon. That night we were able to get some Little Ceasar's pizza and go to the pool. Eliza just LOVED her cousins and would follow them everywhere and would do whatever they did.

On Saturday, we made a trip up to Virginia City. We packed a lunch and ate when we got there in the parking lot and then started off on our adventure. Our first stop was the Suicide Table. The table got it's name because a few people, three to be exact, took their own lives after loosing a lot of money gambling. Then we got an ice cream while we waited for the tractor/trolley ride around the city. I LOVE going on this tour because each time you learn something different. The boys loved the part where we saw two houses close together because the one neighbor despised the other and never wanted him to have a good view or any sunlight. We also saw that portrait of a lady with 3,000 silver dollars that made up her skirt and the border of the picture. Every time I go to VC this painted wall amazes me.

If you ever get a chance to go to Virginia City you should make a little trip. It is only about 30 minuets from Reno.

Small things

2011-07-04T00:38:00.000-07:00

With children it is all about the small things! Today during church I looked through the tiny peephole in the nursery door to check on Liza and she was twirling, just twirling all by herself. I could hear the faint music and the words "Clean up, clean up" being sung and there my sweet daughter was twirling and her hands in the air. Eliza might be a dancer and if she is then I will know that her love of music and movement started at a young age. Sometimes while in the car she will do her whining "uhh uhh" just so that I will turn the music up. Once it is loud enough she will put her hands in the air and wave them back and forth.

She is also way into "The Itsy Bitsy Spider." On our way out to the lake yesterday she must have been bored because as soon as we started singing and doing the movements there was no stopping. How adorable is it to see your almost 2 year old trying to touch her fingers together just right so the spider can go up the spout, then make her hands twinkle like the rain and then up in a big circle so the sun can come out, all just to meet back together so the spider can go up the spout again.

Today when we got home from church it was all about the shoes for Eliza. Her little flip flops came off and daddy's clunky church shoes went on. She was quite funny lookin but she LOVED it and kept saying "Daddy shoe, daddy shoe" (always with a little pause in between both words.)

It's the little moments that we forget but that make being a parent all worth it!

Last night...

2011-07-02T08:05:00.000-07:00

Luke let me sleep for 7 hours straight!!! From 12:15 to 7:15 am. Man I love as they get just a little older and life returns to normal and you get to play with your little one a little more during the day. Luke is 6 weeks and 4 days, that may just be a new record.

He was pretty tired from yesterday though. He welcomed his new friend, Cooper Daniel Crosby into the world (It was the first birth Luke has experienced besides his own!) Cassie texted me at 4 am, which was perfect because I was up feeding Luke, to tell me that she was being admitted and was 5 cms. I called my mom shortly after, who of course was her nurse, and asked how much time I had. My mom said at least a few hours so off to bed I went. Finally at 9:15 I got the call that Cassie was complete and to come in. Cassie did a wonderful job and Cooper was born at 11:02 am at 7 lbs 7.9 oz and 20 inches long. I was off on the time, weight, length guessing game (I guessed 9:53 am, 7 lbs 5 oz, and 19 3/4 inch) but that is okay.

Cooper is beautiful and healthy and Cassie is doing really well.

We didn't leave the hospital until 2 pm with my mom and we headed to Wendy's. I have to tell you it felt like my mom and I had each had a baby because we were STARVING! I had gotten barely any sleep and my mom had just worked 19 hours straight!

After lunch, Luke and I picked up Eliza and then went home for a nap. Which I never got a nap because I needed to make a salad for dinner with the Willinghams'. When Matt got home we were off to the Willinhams, where we had an excellent time with Susan, Jon, Lincoln and Lucy and ate some delicious steak! After the dinner party we were back at the hospital where we were all exhausted.

Needless to say we got home at 10:30 pm, Matt and Liza went to bed, I fed Luke and by 12:15 we were all sleeping. Uhhh what an eventful day, can you see why Luke was so sleepy :)

Summer is almost gone!

2010-09-17T23:07:00.000-07:00

Where has this summer gone? I feel like I did so much but I don't have much to show for it! And the summer went so fast, and I now realize that I have been planning Eliza's 1st birthday since she was 5 months old. That sad thing is that you would think that I would be totally ready for it, since I've been planning for the last 7 months now... but I'm not.

Here are Eliza's cute "Birthday" pictures though:

Isn't she ADORABLE! She was quite cranky this day so I'm impressed that Eden got such good shots.

Wow a whole year... can you believe it?!?!?!

Great article... What is your personal finish line?

2010-06-29T09:42:00.001-07:00

What you don't see, when we all march into church on Sunday morning, is the chaos of the morning that happened just 10 minutes earlier.

What you don't see, when you look at my four little boys in their suits, is that the 7-year-old is wearing Dad's socks because we couldn't find his. And they go all the way up to his knees.

What you don't see, when I pull out the lovely quiet book I made a few years back, is that below it, in my church bag, are five baggies of smashed raisins because I haven't cleaned out the bag for months.

When you enter my house, with its shining entryway, you don't see the three loads of laundry dumped on my bed. Or the dirty pots I stashed in the oven. And you will never see the interior of my minivan, not until I find the time to vacuum it out.

When you admire the hand-sewn pajamas I made for all the kids, we don't talk about the three nights I got no sleep to make those.

If you look on my blog, you will see pictures of homemade chicken noodle soup with homemade noodles. You won't see my confession to popping in a frozen pizza THREE times last week for dinner.

Or the night we ate Cheerios for dinner, dry, because we were out of milk. There is a zoom on my camera for a reason. There is a delete button for a reason.

I don't think we're all playing a part. We naturally want to put our best selves forward, so that is what other people see. They don't see what's going on behind the scenes. I like to think that good parenting is like a duck on the water. What you see is the gentle, almost effortless gliding, not the furious paddling that happens underneath.

I keep a mental list of about ten people I want to stalk by camera, from morning to night, to see how they do it all. Are they up at 4 a.m.? Can they survive on three hours of sleep? Do they have a housekeeper? Because I drop balls just as fast as I can grab them. My intentions are of pure gold, but they come out as tinkling brass, at best.

I started a blog last fall. I dragged my feet into it for many reasons. One of the main reasons I hesitated was I didn't want to be another contributor to the cyberspace guiltosphere out there. Especially where mothers are concerned, do we need one more reason to feel guilty?

Because from the looks of things, other families are happier, their houses are cleaner, their marriages are better, their clothes are more stylish and their craftiness is even more crafty. Their lives are perfectly lovely, while my kids are running around screaming in their diapers.

My worst fears were confirmed last week when I got an e-mail from a friend who asked, "How do you do it all? Your column, your blog, all the things you do with your children? You're amazing!"

I looked around at my house, at the six bins of winter clothes waiting to be transported to the garage, at the sewing projects stacked against the wall, at the state of the toothpaste crusted to the sink ... I let things go, a lot of things.

A spanking-clean house is not a high priority for me. I'm a big believer in mud and its importance in a child's life. The time I take to write is time away from scrubbing that bathroom sink. I would rather read with my kids than shop at the mall, so I am certainly not up-to-date on the latest styles. I've been listening to the same music for 20 years because I can't seem to keep up with the latest music scene. And I require a lot of sleep.

We all have priorities. For some, it is keeping a spotless house, and they are good at it. For others, it is writing, or exercising, or serving others. And yes, there are some who seem to do it all, the Benjamin Franklins of the world. I tell myself I don't have to be them. And also, Benjamin Franklin was not much of a family man. Even he let things go.

What we don't see, when we look at each other on Sunday, or on blogs, or in our shiny kitchens, is that we all have different talents and unique situations. I tell my kids all the time: Life is not a race. The only person you are competing against is yourself.

What we forget to see, when admiring others, is our own personal finish line.

You can find the article here.

May 2010 Recap & Eliza at 8 Months

2010-05-27T08:54:00.000-07:00

Since I am a little behind I am going to do monthly recaps.... here it goes!

Eliza is quite a messy little girl when it comes to eating. At the beginning of May she was still sitting in her bumbo seat and would try to reach anything even kind of close to her and pull it to her mouth! She still LOVES technology and is now into textures. She will rub her fingers up and down anything! One of her favorite things is the texture of our bathroom door. I was able to capture some of her exploring one morning when I was getting ready. She has moved into #2 foods and she definitely is enjoying them. The berry mixtures are by far her favorite! She is also pushing herself backwards all over the place. She can't quite figure out her knees yet but she is close to crawling.

One day earlier this month my mom and I went to the mall to have a make up makeover done. We were both wanting to update our eye make up and it was hard to decide which makeup counter we wanted to go to. We ended up picking Bobby Brown because neither of us had ever tried it and it looked like their eye shadows were sold in bundles. The lady at the counter said that we would have to purchase a couple of items to have the makeup done, but she assured us that we would want MORE than a FEW. Of course we rolled our eyes and the makeover began. To our surprise we both looked like changed women and LOVED our new make up. I stuck to my guns and only purchased two things but my mom got a few more. They have this amazing lip gloss that I only put on 3 times a day and my lips are getting less chapped! Hooray... finally a solution!

I also had 3 new beehives coming into YWs that we got to make "Welcome to the Hive" signs for. And we also had our 3rd annual car wash fundraiser. The girls had a lot of fun and we made some good money for girls camp. Also, late in the month I was actually released as the 2nd Counselor over the Beehives and I was called to be the 1st Counselor over the Mia Maids. I am definitely excited but a little sad because I felt like I was just getting this organized and going with the Beehives. I will miss being their leader but am glad that I still get to be in YWs.

Eliza, Ellie and I have also started taking walks on the "nice" days. It is so fun to get out and see the neighborhood, and it's also very relaxing. Now if this weather would just shape up maybe I could make it more of a routine.

This past weekend my college roommate, Ashlee, got married in the SLC temple. My mom, Eliza and I flew to SLC and were able to stay with my sister & brother-in-law in American Fork. My in laws were also able to come up from St. George to visit with us. It was such a fun few days filled with wedding goodness, catching up with old friends, shopping, eating, and visiting! Man I love vacations! Ashlee made a gorgeous bride and I am so excited for her new adventure!

(If you think I look a little tired it's because I am but also because I didn't have my makeup on yet :)

I also wanted to do a little justification as to why I was a blogging SLACKER for the past few months.
#1. I have a baby
#2. I work part time (20 hrs and mostly from home which equates to 40 hours between managing a baby and trying to accomplish work.)
#3. YW leader
#4. Starting a business with my friend Ronnie. Our company name is Pocketful of Posies Designs and we make boutique style goodies for little girls. We specialize in bows, headbands, bow holders, nursing covers, tutus, diaper wipe cases and burp cloths (I'm sure there is more...) We are going to do a few craft shows this fall and are starting an Etsy business. I will let you know more details when they are finalized.

So I know the only person I am hurting by NOT blogging is myself (and my posterity of course) but I think those are 4 pretty good reasons! ha ha.

April 2010 Recap & Eliza at 7 Months

2010-04-26T15:55:00.000-07:00

Many things went on during the month of April. At the beginning of the month my brother, Casey, came home from Baghdad. Casey was home for Thanksgiving but we hadn't seen him since then. We all gathered at the airport to await his arrival, even the news was there. My dad had this awesome banner made (for free!) and Casey love it! Of course while Casey was home we had to eat a Pizza Plus, which is always delicious and go to Swensens for some yummy ice cream.

April also means EASTER! Eliza had a fantastic first Easter. We went over to my parent's house early Sunday morning and tried not to peek and see where all of the Easter eggs were hidden. Yes, the Easter Bunny still hides eggs for us adults! This year the competition was harsh. Last year Matt got all the eggs (like 50 of them) and the rest of us were blown out of the water by it. Hunts are suppossed to be FAIR! Well this year my sister and I fought till the death to get the most eggs. Kelsey got first, then myself, then Casey and Matt finished it up! Eliza and Savannah loved their Easter baskets and their new swim suits and towels (a tradition my Grandma Baglin started!). Later in the day we went to my Grandma Hawley's house to eat a delicious dinner and celebrate together. The girls were adorable in their matchy matchy Easter dresses!

Our ward also had their annual Elders Quorum Basketball Tournament. Matt's team got 2nd last year but wasn't as fortunate this year. I got some great pics of Matt & our friend David showing off their "exhausted" look! It was also our friend Ella's first birthday. She had a Hawaiian luau party and we loved dressing Eliza in a grass skirt, her Hawaiian shirt and a pretty Hawaiian hibiscus flower in her hair. Jenny (Ella's mom) did an AWESOME job and even had this cute slide show of Ella's first year which of course brought tears to my eyes. It is so crazy how fast they grow! I also helped throw a shower for my friend Susan who is having TWINS at the beginning of June. We had such a fun time and played "Nursery Rhyme Pictionary" and I made a diaper cake. It was also my Grandpa Baglin's 80th birthday so we had an great celebration at Louisiana Jazz Kitchen. I helped my grandpa's girlfriend set up for the big party and my mom ordered an awesome cake that was molded to look just like his flat bottom boat and ummm was it good! We also celebrated Kelsey's last softball games and Savannah's ability to crawl up and down the porch step.

I was also quite sick during April and had to go to the ER at 3:00 am. I ended up having a bad sinus infection and so much head pressure that I just stayed in bed for almost a week. I owe a big thank you to all my friends and family that helped out with Eliza (and taking care of me) during that week! At the end of my sick week, Eliza and I drove to Yuba City, CA for my college roommate's bridal shower. The pressure of going over the mountain was NOT music to my ears but we had a blast and I was very glad I could go.

Eliza can now sit up very well and loves playing with her toys and with Ellie. Eliza and Ellie play tug-of-war all the time and Eliza has decided that since Ellie can eat rawhide bones so can she. Eliza eats 1st foods pretty well but likes to make raspberries, which means that I am usually covered in food by the time lunch is over. Eliza is a little unsure of other kids right now and has started to have separation anxiety. Every time you turn your back and walk away from her she cries. I have to even sing or talk in the shower just so she doesn't bawl the entire time. She is still smiley and sleeps through the night. We have started more of a routine which is nice because I get a 2 hour break in the middle of the day now while she sleeps. I love that she can sit up and play with her toys by herself though, it's so nice to get things done around the house.

Matt's Side of the Argument

2010-04-07T21:43:00.000-07:00

Sneak Peek: Eliza's 6 Month Pictures

2010-03-31T23:03:00.000-07:00

How cute is she, right? Check out Eden Rose Photography here.

Keeping a Journal

2010-03-25T16:32:00.000-07:00

I found this neat video over at Lasting Memories.

Take a minute to watch it... it's really inspiring!

Eliza is 5 Months Old

2010-03-24T22:18:00.000-07:00

(I know I'm behind... better late than never!)

Just a few things about Eliza at 5 months.

-She is STARTING to sit by herself.

-She still HATES tummy time.

-She is so so so smiley.

-Loves to look at herself in the mirror.

-Kicks her feet like a motor in the bath.

-She is starting to like her exesaucer more.

-Always has her hands in her mouth.

-Drools so much her bib is now a constant accessory.

-She tries to pet our doggy but Ellie isn't too sure about her.

-She doesn't like rice cereal too much but started with veggies and really likes green beans (just like her dad!)

-Eliza is still adorable and most of the time is a PERFECT baby! We couldn't ask for better, that's for sure!

Eliza's stats are as follows:

Weight:

Height:

Head Circumference:

Update!

2010-03-10T23:42:00.000-08:00

I've updated my photo blog so check it out:

http://mylife365daysofphotos.blogspot.com/

An update for this blog is just around the corner... we are going to St. George this weekend to visit Matt's fam, so I'll update when we get back!

Thanks for not giving up on us!

PS: Eliza is doing GREAT! She rolled over about 3 times and now refuses to do it, but she is sitting up and almost has it down without support. Can you believe she is almost 6 months old?!?! Where has the time gone?

some times...

2010-03-05T22:56:00.000-08:00

we are just too
busy living

that we run out of time
to blog!

A trip to Sacramento for Softball

2010-02-15T14:55:00.000-08:00

Eliza and I went on a quick trip with my mom and Savannah to watch my sister play in some softball games. I believe it was Eliza's first night away from her dad EVER but we had a lot of fun. Here are some quick pictures.

Hanging out at the ballpark.

Eliza is a very noisy sleeper and we were afraid that she was going to keep us awake all night in the hotel so we decided to set up her crib in the furthest corner from the beds. The funny thing is I didn't even hear her once!

Sorry about these last two but I just couldn't resist. On Saturday Matt and my dad drove up to watch the games with us. Eliza had a major blow out that went all over her outfit and the only thing we had to lay on the ground (that could get dirty) was newspaper. Matt wiped Eliza down with the wipes and wen he lifted her up so I could clean her back this was the view we got! The newspaper had actually transferred itself to her bum! It was quite hilarious.

We had a great trip though. It was a little hard nursing at the open and very public softball fields but we managed.

Eliza eats cereal!

2010-02-10T22:28:00.000-08:00

We were so excited for Eliza's first time eating rice cereal! I knew we could have started a little bit sooner but I wanted to wait for our pediatrician's go ahead. So at Eliza's 4 month appointment we got the approval I needed and we went shopping! Of course we needed spoons and bowls and cereal just to start. We didn't have our Bumbo tray or (what I call a...) "feeding bib" (you know the plastic ones that are really easy to wipe off and you don't have to wash in the washing machine after every use?!?!) but we tried it anyway. I let Matt be the first parental victim in the feeding game (Feb 4th), so I got to video tape. We have some great footage that I will have to put up sometime.

Eliza didn't really love the cereal and gave some pretty silly faces but it was a lot of fun. I'm sure it will take time but sooner than we know she will be eating Happy Meals without our help!

The RUMORS are....

2010-02-08T23:45:00.000-08:00

TRUE!!!

I (kendall) have pneumonia. Bronchial pneumonia that is.

It is quite a long story but I have been sick for about 4 weeks. It started with a runny nose, which I thought was just a cold, which turned into a cough. Which then gradually caused me to start wheezing (sp?) followed by coughing up lots of phlegm (I know you didn't NEED to know that).

Which....

equaled bronchitis. Which continued and my doctor couldn't get me in for an appointment. Which meant I had to go to Urgent Care. Which resulted in a rather short visit, which surprised me. Which included a breathing treatment, a chest x-ray and a steroid shot. Which also left me with three perscriptions and a $50 Urgent Care bill.

Now I have to feed my baby formula which has thrown her off of her schedule... and we all know how that feels!

The good news is I don't feel too terrible and am still able to work and take care of Eliza. The sad news is, Matt isn't giving me ANY breaks and I still have to keep the house clean!

4 Months: Too cute in her Panda outfit

2010-02-08T23:34:00.000-08:00

I just have to show these adorable pics of Eliza. She is killing me with her cuteness!

Isn't she getting so big so fast?? She is already 4 1/2 months!!!

Just a few things about Eliza at 4 months:

- She LOVES to stand up on her feet, she prefers it over sitting.

- She can move her toys from hand to hand and loves to suck on them.

- She sleeps between 10 and 12 hours a night withOUT waking up.

- She just started rice cereal and isn't too sure about it.

- Eliza is FINALLY sucking her thumb. (the better word would be chewing on it but for Kendall's purpose of passing on a LEGACY we say sucking :)

- She is the most smiley girl you will ever see.

- She can sit up nice and big in her bumbo and is trying to sit up on the ground.

- She is absolutely loved by all those that come in contact with her. (according to her parents)

Eliza's stats are as follows:

Weight: 14 lbs 12 oz (75%)

Height: 24 1/4 inch (50%)

Head Circumference: 41 inch (75%)

One Fun Activity

2010-01-31T22:41:00.000-08:00

So last week we had our young women's activity at my house. Our beehives are a lot a like but very different at the same time so we wanted to have a fun night of games and pizza to get to know one another. The biggest hit of the night was a game where I ended up becoming the 1st VICTIM!!! The game involved placing a penny on top of a tightly packed tower of flour. It's sort of like Jenga... every person takes a turn cutting away a portion of the flour with a knife without knocking it over. The person whose turn it happens to be when the tower falls gets to dig the penny out with their nose! (I had such a hard time explaining this game in words so I borrowed this explanation from my friend. Thanks Christy!)

Here are a few pics of our fun time:

Out of the three times we played this game 2 of the victims were leaders! 5 girls 3 leaders what are the odds?? What a fun night!

4 Months Already

2010-01-28T23:19:00.000-08:00

Happy 4 Month Birthday Eliza!!!

Eliza was officially 4 months old last Friday...can you believe it?? She smiles, drools a lot, holds her head up pretty well, pushes down on her feet and tries to stand and loves to look in the mirror. On Friday we had a date with Jenny Freeman and her two daughters. The girls watched a movie and then watched their mommies make hair bows. Jenny and I had such a great time chatting and making adorable heart bows for Valentine's Day. Eliza was quite a pill and wouldn't take a nap so we had to keep her entertained... but we still had a fantastic time.

The picture is of Kylie holding Miss Eliza.

A few random pictures from 2010 until now!

2010-01-25T23:55:00.001-08:00

December in a Nutshell!

2010-01-25T23:43:00.001-08:00

This year was Eliza's very first Christmas. On Christmas Eve we spent a wonderful dinner at my parent's house with my Grandpa Baglin & Shelia. We enjoyed opening gifts and watching Ellie with her Snuggie on :)

On Christmas morning we were all so tired that we barely wanted to open presents and get ready for the day. Eliza didn't enjoy sleeping in her bassinet so Matt & I split the night sleeping on the couch with her sleeping in the boppy (bad I know but it was the ONLY way!) After opening some fun gifts including exersaucers, clothes and toys we headed off to my Uncle Kelly's house for a Christmas breakfast and to open some more gifts. Eliza & Savannah got a lot of fun toys and they each got a GLOW WORM... remember those?!?! We went back home and got prepared for the entire family to come over for salmon and filet minion and stuffed mushrooms... DE-LICIOUS! After our tasty dinner a few of us went to see Sherlock Holmes...a good flick!

A few days later we celebrated Kelsey's 22nd birthday at a new pizza place called Grimaldis... it is modeled after the Grimaldis Pizza in New York under the Brooklyn Bridge (which I have actually been to). The pizza was pretty good but they didn't have RANCH and I didn't know if my family was going to SURVIVE! We had a very fun night.

Thank you to all of our family and friends who made this Christmas season enjoyable and full of love!

Create

2010-01-19T22:07:00.000-08:00

The Church has created this new site for Youth and you HAVE to check it out: Click HERE

And you HAVE to check out this awesome video about being CREATIVE: Click HERE

A 365 Day Challenge

2010-01-10T23:27:00.000-08:00

So I think I've been on "blogging vacation" and hopefully will get to it soon but.... I wanted to share with you one of my New Year's Resolutions if you will.

For the last year I have wanted to have one of those blogs where you take a picture every day and blog a bit about it and then at the end of the year make a book with all the pics. So I jumped in and did it and now I'm sharing the link with you!

http://mylife365daysofphotos.blogspot.com/

So if you'd like to, please stop on by and take a look... if you would rather pass then no hard feelings :)

I do hope though that you take a moment out of each day this year to think the small and simple things that make your life worthwhile!

Merry Christmas Love The Keelers

2009-12-23T16:37:00.000-08:00

Christmas Bows

2009-12-23T16:33:00.000-08:00

My friend Jenny and I got together to make some adorable Christmas bows for our girls to wear for our Ward Christmas party. Ella wore the snowman and Eliza wore the tree. Aren't they just so cute. It is so funny to watch them on the floor together. Ella tries to play with Eliza but Eliza is just not to the "playing" point yet! Ella is 8 months and Eliza is 3 months... soon to be best friends!

Eliza & Ella

Friends with cute bows that their mommies made.

Silly Ella

Little Eliza in her cute sweater.

Ella wanted Eliza's hair bow. Even when we switched sides... haha

Eliza's new favorite thing... insert hand here.

Weeks in review

2009-12-21T18:49:00.000-08:00

Isn't Eliza's mouth just adorable.

Eliza after she got her 2 month shots.

Matt & Eliza playing on the computer.

Eliza 10 weeks old.

What are they looking at?

I love this outfit.

Aren't these bunny slippers adorable?

Eliza & Daddy. Eliza 11 weeks.

I love this outfit too!

TOO CUTE!

Eliza's Blessing

2009-12-21T18:12:00.000-08:00

november 29, 2009 eliza was blessed. matt did a wonderful job. he had a little practice earlier this year when he blessed our niece savannah. i cried. matt cried. but what do you expect when it's your own child?

the gang

my family

our family

one of my besties, janelle. also our photographer.

eliza & mommy

eliza & daddy

such a cutie

matt's siblings & spouses except for paula & aaron

grandma & grandpa keeler & grandkids

the keeler fam

I am a Mother. That is Enough.

2009-12-17T13:12:00.000-08:00

Check out this AWESOME post about being a mother here.

She explains so eloquently exactly what I feel about being a mother.

Our Thanksgiving

2009-12-12T23:21:00.000-08:00

Well I am just a little behind but.....

We had our Thanksgiving dinner at our church this year. Almost all of Matt's family was in town for Eliza's blessing and all of my family came. There were about 30+ people and we had a good time. It was fun to experience each other's traditions.

Here is a picture of some of the Keeler girls.

These two cuties are the Hawley grandchildren. Don't you just love their turkey bows?!?!

My sister Kelsey & her daughter Savannah

All the girls with their turkey bows that I made!

Love the TURKEY BOWS!!

My brother Casey got to come home from Baghdad for Thanksgiving. It was the first time he was able to see his nieces. So cute!

I taped this sweet video with our new video camera about what my family is thankful for, hopefully I will be able to get it together and post it.... well maybe some day anyway :)

A love note for my Jeep <3

2009-12-10T22:56:00.000-08:00

Right before Thanksgiving I put my Jeep up for sale on Craigslist and my dad also parked it on the side of his shop up on Pumb and Lakeside. Matt and I were expecting to get $1,000 out of it and would be excited if we even got that much, but after my dad did some research we decided to list it for $1,800. Did you know on Craigslist you can't find a car for under $2,000! Crazy... there were 1989 vehicles for sale for $2,000 or more. Who would pay that?!?!?!

Well we got a few hits from Craigslist pretty quickly and one girl wanted to make payments... which really showed us how much people are hurting for money right now. Usually if someone wants to buy a car they at least have $1,500 in cash for one, but not in this economy. But two days after posting it and the day after my dad put the FOR SALE sign on it a guy walked into my dad shop and asked if there was anything wrong with the car. My dad said it needed new tires but that was it. They guy said he'd take it for $1,700. He didn't even test drive it... he just said he'd be back at 5 o'clock with cash and he'd take it!!!

We couldn't have asked for anything better! My dad called me right away and was ecstatic! He's always been a good salesman. Thanks dad!!

So later that night I said goodbye to Ruby. (that's my jeep's name.) I didn't shed tears but it was sad.

Here's Ruby for the last time!

Dear Ruby,

You have been an ABSOLUTELY AMAZING car! From the moment I laid eyes on you in Carson City I knew you had to be mine. Then again when my dad and grandpa arrived in Rexburg with you on the car trailer I knew we were meant to be together! You kept me safe year after year in the cold, icy, frozen weather. You made SPLENDID donuts in the snow. You still managed to look smokin' hott with a broken tail light. Your rear window proved to be very durable even when it fell out and landed on the street at the four way stop. Your seats folded down to make a great bed for watching movies at the drive ins. Your radio made for great "in car" concerts while driving to the mall in Idaho Falls and for making up songs driving back from SLC. You were the vehicle of choice when driving to my best friend's weddings and you always managed to fit all of my groceries... and roommates! Even though you broke down 18 miles out of Jackpot, Nevada (with a stranger riding in the backseat) and we had to call a tow truck, which led us to getting escorted out of a casino for loitering, and sleeping in the backseat for a few hours until we moved to a strange hotel while we waited for my dad and grandpa to drive for six hours to get us... you are still wonderful... and I love you... even with a dented door (compliments of Casey's foot) and a squeaking noise coming from the engine.

Now you have a new good home and are going to make someone else very happy. I will miss you and the fun times we had but I will always remember the memories we made together... Now be a good car and hopefully I'll see you around.

Love, Your old driver :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-26T09:37:00.000-08:00

Eliza is 2 Months Old

2009-11-24T23:13:00.000-08:00

On Sunday Eliza turned 2 months old and we can't believe how fast time is FLYING! Here are a few pictures of Miss Eliza:

She loves to:

- pull mom's hair

- smile, especially when dad talks to her

- eat

- lay in her Boppy with her alligator rattle on her arm. (The alligator's name is Walter Jr. Matt named him.)

- pull on her headband

- the newest thing though is to sleep for 5 or more hours during the night! Hooray!!!

A Welcome Shower For Eliza

2009-11-24T10:59:00.000-08:00

Before I had Eliza my co-workers were planning a little shower for me for Thursday, September 24th. Unknown to all of us, Eliza came on Tuesday, September 22nd so they weren't able to give me a shower. So last week Eliza and I went into work for a "Welcome to Earth" shower for Eliza. Here are a few pictures:

Eliza got some ADORABLE new clothes and can't wait to wear them!

Family Pictures

2009-11-21T21:39:00.001-08:00

We had our family pictures taken today. Here is a sneak peak!

The same photographer that took Eliza's newborn photos, did our family pictures. Check out her blog at www.photographybyeden.blogspot.com or click here.

Is this really who I married????

2009-11-15T03:05:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago Matt looked like this:

Then after Eliza's first week of church, Matt looked like this:
Soon it (the beard) grew to this:
He even went out in public when it looked like this:

But now it looks like this:

ha ha what a funny guy!

(don't worry he hasn't lost his way, and is now clean shaven)

Happy Veterans' Day!

2009-11-11T11:53:00.000-08:00

Today we would like to say thank you to all those who have served and are currently serving in our country's armed services. We are so grateful to you for keeping us safe and protecting our freedom. The USA would not be what it is today without you and your courage!

THANK YOU!

Thank you also to my brother Casey who is currently serving in the army and is stationed in Baghdad. He gets to come home this week for the next TWO weeks and we are so grateful to have him home for Thanksgiving. Here are a few pictures of Casey!

Your nieces are so excited to see you for the FIRST time!

Eliza: 7 Weeks

Savannah: 17 Weeks

Eliza's Blessing

2009-11-10T21:49:00.000-08:00

For anyone interested we are planning on blessing Eliza on Sunday, November 29th at the Neil Road Chapel at 1:00 pm. We would love for you to come if you can.

Our New Car

2009-11-07T06:47:00.001-08:00

Last night, Matt & I purchased our very first car together! It was quite a long journey of searching and test driving and talking to salesman and saying no, walking away and wondering if we did the right thing.... but we finally found it!

Luckily my dad knows some nice people in the business and he called up his friend at Lexus to see what they had. We picked out a few online and I went and met with a salesWOMAN who was the best salesperson I have ever met. She told me her honest opinion of the cars we were looking at and had done research to see what the ratings were. She was very knowledgeable and told me, "I wouldn't sell you a car that I wouldn't buy myself." Can you say "it's about time we find an honest salesperson!!!"

On Thursday night I took an 08 Toyota Highlander home and was pretty sold on it, but Matt wasn't. We went back on Friday and they let us take the 07 Ford Edge for the day. Later they called and said someone was about to purchase the Highlander so we decided on getting the Edge. We went back later last night and signed the papers and we are now a proud owner of a 07 Ford Edge... and I love it!

Just a short side note. The guy my dad knows at Lexus used to work at Winkle Pontiac GMC & Hummer, which was where I got my first job (of course my dad worked there at the time also, so he "got" me the job) At Winkle I was the filing clerk and was stuck in this little tiny room, smaller than most kitchens, with files stacked up the the ceiling. It was so boring so I roamed the dealership quite a bit... Jesse, my dad's friend, joked around with me a bit and made my filing job a bit more bearable, so I was grateful when I found out that he was who was helping us.
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Sugar Cookies with Great Grandma Hawley!

2009-11-04T09:35:00.000-08:00

Here I am back blogging again!! A few weeks before Halloween Eliza & I went over to my Grandma Hawley's house to help her make her infamous pumpkin sugar cookies. Eliza was quite good and spent most of the time sleeping in the swing while we enjoyed eating hot dogs, rolling dough, baking and frosting our cookies.

At first I made mine thinner than I was supposed to but they turned out alright, the next few batches were thick and DELICIOUS though! Here you can see our beautiful decorating skills :)

Lots and lots of cookies.
Eliza woke up just in time to eat some left over frosting and try a cookie :) Just kidding.
Great Grandma Hawley and Eliza's first baking experience. My grandma has the cutest picture of me helping her in the kitchen when I was younger and I wish I had a scanner to show you! Hopefully Eliza will get many more chances in the future to hone her baking skills!
Mommy & Eliza.
Great Grandpa Hawley didn't help make the cookies but he helped EAT them :) No, he hadn't even had one by the time I left... what was he thinking, those cookies go fast around this family! GGpa Hawley had a shingles vaccination before Eliza was born so he couldn't hold her at the hospital, but he is grateful that he can hold her now and so are we!

You know parents always say that the reason they have children is to have grandchildren. Well I think my grandparents had children so that they could have grandchildren so they could have great grandchildren :) Thanks Gram for letting us come over and help... hopefully we can do more baking, candy making or (cooking in general) real soon. Gram & Gramps your the best!

G & G Keeler Came to Visit

2009-11-04T09:30:00.000-08:00

A few weekends ago Matt's parents came to visit and to see Eliza for the first time (in person)! It was so much fun having them here, I just wish Matt didn't have to work so much! We didn't do anything amazing but on Saturday Linda and I went to my cousin's cheerleading competition while Matt & Al went to look at cars and eat at Arby's. On Saturday night we went to our Ward Harvest Part, where we won 1st place in the chili cook off. And on Sunday we went to my parents house for some tri-tip and the World Series.

Here are a few pics:

Ellie wanted to be lovey dovey with Grandma but she wasn't having it! Ellie sure enjoyed Grandpa though... thanks for Pinky! Grandma was so excited to hold Eliza while she was here, too bad Eliza slept almost the entire time :)

Here is Eliza after the Harvest Party... doesn't she look so ADORABLE!?!?!

Grandma holding Eliza while she is sleeping.

This is at my parents house after dinner and watching the game. Eliza is sleeping AGAIN!
I made my delicious brownie bites and dyed them orange to look a little like pumpkins. The chocolate topping was courtesy of Matt :)

Eliza is growing so fast

2009-10-30T21:17:00.000-07:00

I can't believe Eliza is already a month old!! Time is going by so fast and I am so glad that I have been able to spend EVERY day with her. Her little personality is unfolding each and every day and it is so fun to see her start to hold her head up and smile randomly.

Eliza at 4 weeks

Eliza at 1 month

Ward Harvest Party & Chili Cook-Off

2009-10-29T20:46:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday was our Ward Harvest party and they had a Chili Cook-Off! Of course we entered and were one of 6 to be judged. We entered our recipe for the delicious White Chicken Chili that my family makes. After the judging we were tied for first place with another family's chili but after a final test we were the WINNERS!!!

Matt had to go up and tell about our chili and he tried to make a funny joke saying that we just dumped a few cans of chili from the store into a pot and brought it... no one really laughed but I thought it was funny. Here are some pics of us and our trophy!

Also, here is the recipe for the White Chicken Chili so you can make it your chili of choice :)

Ingredients:

One pound boneless, skinless chicken breast cubed (Or one rotisserie chicken torn into small pieces)

½ of a medium onion, finely chopped

1 ½ tsp garlic powder

1 Tbs vegetable oil

2 – 15.5 oz cans of Great Northern beans, drained

1 – 14 oz can chicken broth

1 – 7 oz can green chilies chopped

1 tsp salt 1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp dried oregano ½ tsp pepper

¼ tsp cayenne pepper

1 C sour cream ½ C whipping cream

Directions:

In a large pot sauté chicken, onion and garlic powder in vegetable oil, cook until chicken is no longer pink (or if using rotisserie chicken, cook until chicken is heated all the way through). Add beans broth, chilies and seasonings. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, simmer uncovered for approx. 30 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in sour cream and whipping cream. Serve immediately. Top with cheese, green onions, and sour cream.

2009-10-28T10:13:00.001-07:00

Check out my signature... I just found out how to do it! If you want directions go to the following page:
http://www.thecutestblogontheblock.com/blog-secrets/140-how-to-add-a-signature-to-your-blog-posts-updated.html

Eliza is 3 Weeks Old

2009-10-13T22:55:00.000-07:00

So today we tried out Eliza's Halloween PJ's and her new bow to celebrate her 3 weeks of life. Doesn't she look adorable!!

It is amazing how much personality she has and she is only 3 weeks old. She of course loves to sleep, eat and go to the bathroom, and she just adores her "awake" time from 9:3o pm to 12:30 pm EVERY night! She makes the cutest faces though and I love how she almost always falls asleep on my chest while I'm burping her.

Even though I can barely remember life when I got to sleep ALL the way through the night I am loving every moment I spend with her. She is definitely one of the biggest blessings Matt & I have ever received!

All of Eliza's Newborn Photos

2009-10-12T12:07:00.001-07:00

We got the CD with all of Eliza's newborn photos and we are so excited to share them with you!

Click HERE to see them.

Also, the pictures were taken by Eden Thome. You can see more of her work at www.photographybyeden.blogspot.com or by clicking HERE.

Eliza Goes to Church (for the first time)

2009-10-11T19:34:00.000-07:00

Today was Eliza's first time going to church. She looked so adorable and did really well. She fell asleep in the car on the way to church and almost slept through all of sacrament! At the end of sacrament meeting she needed to be changed and fed but slept through the rest of church. What a good baby!!!

Eliza with Daddy. Dad is trying to grow out his beard can you tell??

Eliza and mommy.

Eliza was quite hungry while we were taking these pics.

Isn't she just so cute!?!?!

Mini Eliza Update

2009-10-07T21:44:00.000-07:00

Sleepy Girl
Best Friends

Just a quick update on our little lady. She just had her two weeks apt with the Doctor and passed with flying colors. Enjoy the pics.

Eliza's Newborn Pics

2009-09-26T22:25:00.000-07:00

So I know we have so so much to post about and update you on but I just had to skip ahead to these pics!

Eliza had her newborn photo's taken today by Eden. She is truly amazing at what she does and is so so talented. Check out her work at www.photographybyeden.blogspot.com or by clicking HERE.

More Pics of Eliza

2009-09-24T18:21:00.000-07:00

Kendall and Eliza
She really likes to eat her fingers
She is a really good sleeper
Here she is being very happy
Heading home from the hospital for the first time.

Here she is... Eliza Christine

2009-09-23T11:42:00.000-07:00

Eliza was born on Tuesday, September 22, 2009 at 3:37 pm and weighed 6 pounds, 6 ounces and was 19 3/4 inches long. She is doing great and is adorable!

We will stay in the hospital until Thursday. If you would like to stop by, then we would love to have you! (Please call or text before you come :)

We're having our baby!

2009-09-22T14:51:00.000-07:00

We are at the hospital and are expected to have the baby at any moment now. Check back for updates and pictures!

Love,

Kendall, Matt, Ellie & Baby Girl Keeler

Today's Doctors Appointment

2009-09-16T20:14:00.000-07:00

So last week I went in for my 36 week appointment. The outcome was that I lost 1 lb, I was dilated to a 2, and 50% effaced. It was a very productive appointment and my doctor, Stacy Paul, told me I would be 7 to 10 days early.

So this week I was hoping that I had progressed a little more or at least stayed the same. Come to find out I had gained 1 lb, equalling a total of 8 lbs the entire pregnancy... I am dilated to a "good" 3 and am still 50% effaced.

Things are definitely looking good I thought, at least I'm not digressing and not just staying the same. Then when my doctor started telling me that she is going to be out of town the whole day Sunday things started to become more real! She was telling me that I could deliver ANY DAY NOW! WOW WOW WOW!!!

Then my mom mentioned that I am going to be 37 weeks tomorrow and Dr. Paul said, "Oh I have you down with a due date of Oct 3, not Oct 8... so you should be 38 weeks on Saturday and not 37 tomorrow!" WOW WOW WOW again!!

This whole time I've been thinking the 8th and she thinks the 3rd but now it could be ANYTIME! So hold on to your pants because we could be having a baby any day now.

Don't worry though, we will keep you updated!

Latest Ultrasound Pics of our Baby Girl - 32 Weeks

2009-09-13T10:20:00.001-07:00

At 32 weeks we were able to go in for another ultrasound to see what our little baby girl is going to look like! We were so excited because we weren't REALLY supposed to go for an ultrasound but since my mom knows the doctor that owns the imaging center we were able to go in for some 3D pics. Thanks mom! It really pays off to know someone "in the businesses"! ha ha. We even had our favorite ultrasound tech, Tiana, do the exam. She was able to show up all of the organs and even how the baby's little lungs were working so well already. Tiana was also able to get some amazing close up pics... finally she looks like a real human baby instead of a little alien! Only a few more weeks now until we get to see her in person.

Again, since pictures take so long to upload I have included a link to our Facebook album for more pics... Click here to see entire album!

A good profile view. Also it's important that the nasal bone looks good because it could be a sign of down syndrome if it's not the right size/shape.

She has some large feet for such a little girl :)

Good spine.

What a cutie with her scrunched up nose.
Here she has her eyes open and her tongue out... technology is so amazing!
An adorable little smile!

Quite a fun time!

2009-09-10T16:36:00.000-07:00

Doesn't it stink that it takes pictures so long to upload on to Blogger?? I think so! Because of that reason below is a link to my Facebook album capturing events of this summer.

Click here to see the album!

We have definitely had a fun summer. We started off with my birthday in May. Then we went on a week long trip to Utah over Memorial weekend to visit family. In June our niece Savannah Leigh Hawley-Nino was born and of course the Rodeo was in town! At the end of June our other niece Ariana Wright was born and we were able to make a trip to Texas for her blessing in July. On the 11th of July we celebrated my brother's birthday over Skype, and on the 24th we celebrated my mom's birthday at the park! Our dog threw in some sparks while eating our lamp cord (a few times even) and in August we went to Lake Lahonton to celebrate Matt's 33rd birthday. Also, in August my great friends and my mom and sis threw me a baby shower and later in the month we celebrated my Grandpa Hawley & my Dad's birthdays.

Along the way my pregnancy has been progressing nicely and I'm finally looking like I'm pregnant at 36 weeks.

Here are a few pics to highlight!

My 24th Birthday.
Visiting Alan & Annette's family in American Fork, UT.
With my grandma and aunt Trina at Fish Lake during the my family reunion. My dad was there too, he's the one taking the picture!
Matt with Noah, Dallin & Mia at Zions.
Me with our new niece, Savannah Leigh Hawley-Nino.
Family picture in Austin for Ariana's baby blessing.

Baby Ariana sleeping.

Matt & his brother-in-law Aaron at Six Flags Water Park in Dallas.
My mom's birthday party.
Ellie after she ate our lamp cord.... isn't she cute and so innocent looking.
Singing for Matt's 33rd birthday at Lake Lahonton... yes that is cheesecake!
At my baby shower.
My dad's birthday... getting ready to blow out the candles on my grandma's specialty, German Chocolate cake. Yumm Yummm good!

Summer is almost over

2009-08-18T16:38:00.001-07:00

I know we've been a little lame lately... I will get back to posting soon (hopefully!) We love you all and hope life is going well.

Ellies's Latest Victim

2009-08-13T21:42:00.000-07:00

We love our little dog Ellie more than we should but sometimes she can be a terror. She likes to chew random things. She has already chewed through my computer cord, lots of clothes, shoes and some of our furniture. When I got home today this is what I encountered.

That is right. She decided that our lamp cord would be a tasty treat.

Here she is acting all innocent. Don't let her looks fool you she is definitely not innocent.

Luckily enough back when dinosaurs roamed I obtained a merit badge in Electricity.(I think that is what they call the badge.) I think I did a pretty good job fixing it. It might now look pretty but it works.

Picture Update

2009-08-02T10:47:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago we went to Texas for the blessing of our niece Ariana. Here is a couple of pictures of our vacation.
Matt and Kendall and the rest of the Keeler Clan

Matt's Parents, his sister Shiree and her new baby Ariana
This is our new niece Ariana
Matt going down one of the slides at Six Flags Hurricane Harbor

Matt and Aaron at Six Flags

Matt with his niece Sierra

Kendall with Sierra

I've registered at Babies R Us

2009-07-31T20:25:00.001-07:00

Babies"R"Us - Baby Registry

Shared via AddThis

Short but sad post :)

2009-07-30T15:15:00.000-07:00

We are totally slacking! We have our new apartment to post about and our trip to Dallas... and of course the baby update but our computer is going into the Mac store for a day or so... so we'll post when we get it back. Stay tuned!

Just a good little fact to tie you over though. I went to the doctor yesterday and everything is going great but I gained 4 lbs in ONE month! Can you believe that??? I've only gained 9 lbs in the whole 7 months I've been prego and my doc says I'm on track so that is good.

Oh and I'm 30 weeks today! Yippee only 10 weeks left!

A short clip of our adventures at Six Flags Hurricane Cove in TX

2009-07-26T10:33:00.000-07:00

Kids say the cutest things...

2009-07-24T10:06:00.000-07:00

HOW DO YOU DECIDE WHO TO MARRY? (written by kids)

You got to find somebody who likes the same stuff. Like, if you like sports, she should like it that you like sports, and she should keep the chips and dip coming.-- Alan, age 10
No person really decides before they grow up who they're going to marry. God decides it all way before, and you get to find out later who you're stuck with...-- Kristen, age 10

WHAT IS THE RIGHT AGE TO GET MARRIED?

Twenty-three is the best age because you know the person FOREVER by then.-- Camille, age 10

HOW CAN A STRANGER TELL IF TWO PEOPLE ARE MARRIED?

You might have to guess, based on whether they seem to be yelling at the same kids.-- Derrick, age 8

WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR MOM AND DAD HAVE IN COMMON?

Both don't want any more kids..-- Lori, age 8

WHAT DO MOST PEOPLE DO ON A DATE?

Dates are for having fun, and people should use them to get to know each other. Even boys have something to say if you listen long enough....-- Lynnette, age 8 (isn't she a treasure?)
On the first date, they just tell each other lies and that usually gets them interested enough to go for a second date.-- Martin, age 10 (isn't he ready for the world of dating?)

WHAT WOULD YOU DO ON A FIRST DATE THAT WAS TURNING SOUR?

I'd run home and play dead. The next day I would call all the newspapers and make sure they wrote about me in all the dead columns.-- Craig, age 9

WHEN IS IT OKAY TO KISS SOMEONE?

When they're rich.-- Pam, age 7
The law says you have to be eighteen, so I wouldn't want to mess with that.-- Curt, age 7
The rule goes like this: If you kiss someone, then you should marry them and have kids with them.... It's the right thing to do.-- Howard, age 8

IS IT BETTER TO BE SINGLE OR MARRIED?

It's better for girls to be single but not for boys. Boys need someone to clean up after them.-- Anita, age 9 (bless you child)

HOW WOULD THE WORLD BE DIFFERENT IF PEOPLE DIDN'T GET MARRIED?

There sure would be a lot of kids to explain, wouldn't there?-- Kelvin, age 8 (I like this kid)

And the #1 Favorite is ...
HOW WOULD YOU MAKE A MARRIAGE WORK?

Tell your wife that she looks pretty, even if she looks like a truck.-- Ricky, age 10 (He'll be married forever)

Prego at 28 Weeks

2009-07-16T21:06:00.001-07:00

Barely getting any bigger :)

How Cute!

2009-07-16T21:00:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago my sister came over and we worked on designing a baby announcement for her new baby girl. When Matt got home he offered to hold little Savannah and she ended up falling asleep... how cute huh?!?!

Ellie Swimming

2009-07-12T12:33:00.000-07:00

Just thought I would share this funny video of Ellie Swimming

Prego at 26 1/2 Weeks

2009-07-05T19:56:00.000-07:00

Here's me at 26 1/2 weeks!!

These are my new prego capris, I think that they are pretty cute :)

I have a little bit of elephantitis (sp?) on my left foot! It usually swells up in the summer but is way worse now that I am pregnant. This is today from wearing high heels for 3 hrs at church.

Our New Niece: Savannah Leigh Hawley-Nino

2009-06-23T17:25:00.000-07:00

My sister, Kelsey, had a new baby girl on June 12, 2009 at 7:14 am at Renown Hospital. She weighed 7.1 lbs and was 19 1/2 inches long (I think.) She is absolutely adorable and is such a good baby.

This is a little collage of her newborn photos taken by Eden Thome. You can check out her site at www.photographybyeden.blogspot.com

1 Year Anniversary

2009-06-21T10:45:00.000-07:00

Today is our one year anniversary. It is amazing how fast time flies. In one year we went from being single to married, having a dog, and expecting a baby. I love my wife more today than i did even yesterday. It is amazing how that works. Happy anniversary baby.

matt

24 Weeks...Finally!

2009-06-18T19:29:00.000-07:00

Today I am officially 24 weeks along in my pregnancy! HOORAH... YIPPEE! It seems like it has taken forever to get to this point but now I only have 16 weeks left.

I am also starting to get out of that "fat" stage. You know the one where YOU know you are prego but NO ONE else does and so they think you are starting "to put on a little bit of weight." Yep that's it. You almost start second guessing that you are actually pregnant, except that little "tadpole" won't stop moving around!

24 weeks is kind of a magical number because it’s the beginning of the “safe zone for viability.” I know that doesn’t guarantee anything but it sure makes me feel better about a successful pregnancy.

Also, on Tuesday night Matt was able to feel the baby move for the first time! Yippee!

Memorial Week Trip to Utah!

2009-06-04T17:17:00.000-07:00

Since Memorial weekend is a 3 day weekend Matt & I decided to take a few more days off of work and make a trip to Utah for my family reunion and to see Matt's parents and siblings.

Our trip started off on Wednesday night before Memorial weekend. When Matt got off of work we headed to my parents house to drop off Ellie and half way there I remembered that we had forgotten our church clothes. Of course we drove all the way back doubling the time it should have taken us to get to my parents house. When we dropped Ellie off she didn't even seem sad so we went quickly on our way. We drove to Elko that night and stayed in a pretty shady motel. The next morning we headed to Wendover to meet Matt's brother, Alan, and his wife, Annette & their son Logan to go scuba diving. They had fun diving in the murky water while Logi and I sat in the sun on the beach (it wasn't really a beach more like dirt covered with old carpet and plywood but we still had fun).

After scuba diving we all headed back to American Fork to spend the rest of the day and Friday with Alan's family. Here are a few pics of us with our cute niece and nephews.

We attended the Mt. Timpanogos Temple

Us with Ethan, Jaydan, Logan, & Ashlan

On Friday night we drove down to Richfield, UT for my family reunion. It is always fun to see great aunts and uncles and second cousins. Richfield is such a small place but there still seems like there is quite a bit to do. Saturday morning the ladies go to the dairy to get breakfast and then go shopping while the men go golfing. And then we meet up for the family reunion at a local restaurant about 1 ish. Although I don't know about 1/2 of the people at the reunion it is cool to hear stories about my great grandmother's siblings and families. After the reunion my dad, grandma, aunt Trina, Matt & I drove up to Fish Lake. My dad always raves about Fish Lake and how we just have to go there, so I'm glad we made the trip finally. It was really beautiful up at the lake but also, very cold and rainy.

Fish Lake

Fish Lake Lodge. Matt, Kendall, Trina & Grandma Hawley

Us & my dad

On Sunday we were able to go to church and then headed out to the cemeteries to put flowers on the graves of my ancestors. The first stop was the Richfield cemetery and a lot of the last names were familiar to Matt so he decided to call his parents to ask if he had any relatives in Richfield. Come to find out his great great great grandpa Keeler is buried there with his wife that was not Matt's great great great grandma and then one of his grandpa Barlow's grandmas is buried there too with her mom. Very confusing I know! And I hope we got that right, it's so hard to remember when there are so many "greats" in there :) Then we drove out to the Annabella cemetery. My great uncle Herb and aunt Connie actually purchased some land in Annabella and are going to be living there by the end of this year.

Richfield Cemetery

My family at the Annebella Cemetery

Annabella Cemetery

After visiting the cemeteries we went to Big Rock Candy Mountain with my dad, grandma and aunt. It definitely wasn't like I thought it was going to be but they still had the same rock candy as when I was younger. Here are some pics:

Big Rock Candy Mountain

Trina, Dad & Grandma... it was a little windy :)

I thought this sign at Big Rock Candy Mountain was funny, especially

since we were heading to St. George.

After our visit to Big Rock Candy Mountain Matt & I headed to St. George to spend a few days with Matt's parents and Kirt's family. We were able to go down to Enterprise to visit Matt's grandparents and some relatives that were in town and then on Tuesday we went to Zions. Zions was very beautiful and a little warm :) Kirt and his kids, Dallin, Noah and Mia and Matt's mom came with us.

Noah, Dallin, Mia & Matt at Zions

Matt's mom & Mia

If we would have kept going on the trail we would of had to trek through this water.

Mia striking a pose.

Noah, Dallin, Kirt & Mia walked through the water to get on top of this big rock.

On Tuesday night we were able to go to Texas Roadhouse with Matt's cousin Mitch and his wife Kim. It was so good to see them and to eat great food together.

On Wednesday we made the long trip home. I drove 1/2 of the way and did an AMAZING job... especially since I hadn't driven during the entire trip except once when I was shopping in American Fork. We are so glad that we were able to go on such a fabulous trip to visit family. Too bad we can't go on vacations like that every week!

Thank you to all who were so kind to let us stay with you! We really enjoyed getting to see you!

My Birthday!!!

2009-06-04T16:54:00.000-07:00

Can you believe it?!?! I turned 24 on May 1st... I am getting older so fast. I feel just like yesterday I was graduating from high school so how did I just celebrate my 24th b-day??? It has been 6 years since high school and I'm glad I don't have to go through college and do all of that homework all over again.

My coworkers did decorate my beautiful cubicle though. I kept the garb up for a week and felt like a princess...
Anyway, for my birthday we had a barbecue at my parents house and then an ice cream cake from Ben & Jerry's. I was a little disappointed because I didn't get to have the peanut butter ice cream in my cake due to the peanut outbreak/scare. I know I hadn't heard about it either until I went to order my cake!

Besides that it was a wonderful birthday. I got a lot of great things including a bunch of maternity clothes (that I'm still to small for but wear anyway because they are so cute) and a pink blankey from my aunt for our little baby girl.

Thank you to everyone who came and for all of the birthday wishes... Hope you enjoy the pics.

So bad at blogging

2009-06-04T16:52:00.000-07:00

I have been a horrible blogger lately... but don't worry I still check it everyday to see if anyone else has updated and then I get disappointed if no one has, and still I don't update.

So here is another mega post and then hopefully I'll try to keep up! No promises though :)

Grandpa Baglin's 79th Birthday

2009-04-25T22:58:00.000-07:00

Last week was my Grandpa Baglin's 79th birthday. Can you believe that, 79 years old? And he still looks and acts as young as he did 15 years ago (that's as far back as I can really remember him.) So tonight we took him and Shelia to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. My grandpa loves steak and had never been to Texas Roadhouse so we thought we would give it a try. Most of us ordered the beloved sirloin steak (it is soo delicious!) and we had a good time chatting. I told my grandpa that we were going to get him an iPod for his birthday but then we decided not it. He said "Thank goodness, I don't need any of that technology crap!" He is pretty funny. My family got him a computer and the internet 2 Christmas' ago and he still can't figure it out! He did have a good computer moment the other day though and had to tell us a story. He told us that he got a letter in the mail saying that he could get $25,000 by calling a number. So of course he called the number and found out that he only had 31 hours left to redeem his prize but it would cost him $59. So he jumped on the internet and looked up the company name... to his surprise it was a SCAM. (We all knew that it was a scam as soon as he said he could get $25,000 by just calling a number.) It was pretty funny to see how excited he was about his increasing internet knowledge :)

Grandpa & Shelia

Me & Matt

Marcus & Kelsey

Dad & Mom

Because it was Grandpa's birthday we had to secretly tell the waitress, you know to get the free dessert! I also know that at Texas Roadhouse if it is your birthday then they bring out this mounted horse saddle and the birthday boy/girl has to sit on it while the waitress yells out their name and age and everyone in the restaurant gives a big "YEEE-HAA"! So after we ate our main course a few lady waitresses came out with the mounted saddle and man was it hilarious to see my grandpa mount that saddle BACKWARDS.. yes that is right, he got on backwards. We were all laughing hysterically as we yelled "turn around, turn around." Finally he got the hint after the waitress showed him how to sit on it properly. (She told him it was okay to sit side saddle even.) To finish it off it was so great to see the gigantic grin on my grandpa's face as we all yelled out "YeeHaa"!

Happy Birthday Henry!!

Our VERY FIRST baby purchases

2009-04-25T22:44:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I went to Old Navy (ON) with my mom & sister and we all know how dangerous ON can be if you actually find stuff that you like. If you are me or are like me, you only find stuff to buy at ON once every 4 months or so... well that changes if you are having a BABY! They have some of the cutest baby clothes EVER. A few months ago I went to a shower for my friend Lisa and I got her the cutest little sweat outfit from there. Guess what?!?!?! When I went to ON a few weeks ago that same outfit was... ON SALE! So I bought the little sweatshirt and my mom bought the pants and two onesies for our sweet little baby-to-be.

Check it out:

When I was taking these pics Ellie seemed starved for attention, so I took this cute little pic of her.

A week after my mom & I bought the Old Navy outfit Matt & I went to Kohls. We went to look for a spring/summer sign to hang by our front door so we walked straight back to the decor section. After about 5 seconds of looking, Matt was nowhere to be found. Then all of a sudden he showed up with this frame! He was so excited he said that we HAD to get it. He explained that it was hand stitched and on sale from $24.99 to $4.99. Then he told me that we could put a picture of us so that our baby could look at it while in her crib and know that we love her.

How could you say no to that explanation? ha ha. I have to say it was very cute to see Matt so excited.

Reno Aces Game

2009-04-25T22:31:00.000-07:00

Here in Reno a stadium was built for the RENO ACES. The Aces are a AAA farm team for the the Arizona Diamondbacks. Their first game was April 17th and we were able to go the next night to watch them play the Salt Lake Bees. It was definitely a fun time and we are excited to go to another game pretty soon. Here are a few pics of the beautiful stadium and us of course!

The stadium entrance.

Our seats for the night, thanks to Web Charles' baseball team.

It was pretty chilly outside and Matt & I were so tired from the busy day that we left after the 5th inning. (I just said because of the busy day, but it's really just because we are OLD!)

Kelsey's BABY Shower

2009-04-25T21:56:00.001-07:00

On April 18th, my mom, aunt Trina, and I hosted KELSEY'S BABY SHOWER! There was great people, delicious food, wonderful gifts, mouth-watering cake, and of course lots and lots of baby gifts. The following are a few pics of the AMAZING event:

Yummy! We had enchiladas, 7 layer bean dip, California rolls and a variety of other things.

From left to right: Cousin Andy, Great Aunt Sylvia, Great Aunt Louise, Grandma Hawley, & Aunt Trina

From left to right: Molly, Kelsey, Crystal, Crystal's mom, Mishawn, Shelia

From left to right: Kate's mom, Kate, Debbie, Colleen, Colleen, Julie, Heidi, Mallory

Check out this SWEET cake... Mallory Grover made it. You can check out her creations at: http://kmgroverfamily.blogspot.com/

Kelsey also wanted to play 100 hundred different games but we made her narrow it down a bit. One game we played was guess what candy bar is in the diaper. This game is hilarious to watch because people are sticking their nose in what looks like a poopy diaper (as seen above:) We also played how many M&M's are in the baby bottle, present bingo, and each person wrote advice for Kels.

Here are just a few gifts that the mom & dad -to-be received!

Saying Goodbye to Casey!

2009-04-25T21:37:00.000-07:00

My brother Casey is in the ARMY and left for Baghdad about a month ago.

We never thought he would actually leave though... and this is a funny story :)

He came home for Christmas for about 2 weeks and then went back to Ft. Lewis in WA state. He told us that he would be back for 60 days (or so, I can't really remember) before he got deployed. A few months later he was home and only got to stay for a few days. We had a family party and said our goodbyes and all teared up a bit because we weren't going to see him for a whole year!

To our surprise, a few weeks later he arrived in Reno... So then we all went back to the airport again to say our final goodbyes. Matt & I teased Casey and told him that this was the last time we were going to the airport to say goodbye, even if he did come back again (which we didn't think he would of course.) But then a few weeks later, I received a text that he was coming back AGAIN! Jokes on us I guess because after the weekend was over, we of course headed back to the airport! My parents even got to fly to Boise to meet Casey 2 weeks later... I guess he just MISSED US SOOO MUCH that he KEPT COMING BACK! ha ha..

Casey is now in Baghdadg and we miss him a lot but he seems to be doing well!

It's a GIRL... well we're 85% sure!

2009-03-31T17:23:00.001-07:00

That's right... a GIRL! The ultrasound tech said she is 85% sure that we are having a girl! I am only 12 1/2 weeks so it is still a little early to tell what she/he is for sure. It was so cool though to do an ultrasound and see a little baby. Our last ultrasound just showed a little peanut and this one we were able to see a real baby, well a baby that looks like a human baby! Matt, my mom came with to me to see a specialist, Dr. Cantrell, for some special but now-a-day typical testing for down syndrome and other things on Monday. I really liked this visit because I didn't have to "go to the bathroom" in a little cup like the other ones. I just laid back and enjoyed the ultrasound show! They show the ultrasound up on a flat screen TV and it was just like being at the movies. The tech explained what we are looking at and made sure everything is like it should be. Then she pointed out some cool things like the brain, the stomach, the umbilical cord, the two arms and two legs. Then came the moment of truth... could she tell the sex of the baby??? My mom says that she has never seen or heard of anyone that was able to tell the sex at 12 weeks, so I didn't really get my hopes up but I definitely wanted the tech to try. So she had to push the baby around a little bit because she had her legs crossed Indian style and then the umbilical cord was right in between here legs. After a little bit of jumbling though we were able to see the HAMBURGER! That's right, girls have hamburgers and boys have hot dogs! After seeing the hamburger the tech said she was 85% sure that it was a girl.

It's pretty crazy the technology that we have now! After doing the regular ultrasounds, she did a few 3 dimensional ones... they are pretty cool too! You could see our little girl stretching her legs out and having a good time moving around in there.

It is so amazing that I have this 3 inch little baby in me... I can't feel anything and I'm not any bigger. Sometimes one wonders if it's all real, but then we have an ultrasound or hear the heartbeat and we believe!

No Desire...

2009-03-26T16:54:00.001-07:00

So lately I haven't had any desire to blog... Just yesterday the following convo went on between Matt & myself:

Matt: Have you updated our blog?

Kendall: No

Matt: Has anyone else updated their blog?

Kendall: No

Matt: Oh

Kendall: Why don't you update our blog?

Matt: Umm that's ok.

I don't think that Matt should be ALLOWED to ask if I'VE updated the blog, when he has only ever written one post (which of course I had to correct after).

Men... they want things to happen but won't do anything about it!!

PS: I was hoping this might inspire Matt, but then I rethought my hope and decided that there isn't a chance!

2009-03-17T12:50:00.000-07:00

Please share this message!

2009-03-14T10:07:00.000-07:00

http://ldsmediatalk.com/2009/03/12/church-video-on-purpose-of-temples/

HBO's Big Love Series - The Church's Response

2009-03-14T09:15:00.000-07:00

Click here to read.

OuR NeW AdDiTiOn: A bAbY!!

2009-03-06T17:39:00.000-08:00

That's right Matt & I are going to be having a baby on October 8, 2009! Crazy I know, I mean we have only been married for 8 1/2 months and we are already going to have a baby. Well with Matt's age, what can you expect (ha ha, I always tease him about that!)

We are so excited and are trying to find a way to put our ultrasound pic up on our blog... so stay tuned!

What's the big deal about music on blogs??

2009-02-28T14:44:00.000-08:00

Having music on your blog used to be one of the biggest things since New Kids On The Block... then all of a sudden someone deemed blog music annoying. Now almost no one has music on their blog. Of course trying to follow the trends, when I created my new blog I didn't add a music player and I totally agreed with how ANNOYING music was on people's blogs.

I think I felt this way because some people have music that you just don't want to listen to. Some people have the Mo Tab (Mormon Tabernacle Choir) and that can be annoying if you're not in the mood. Some people have crazy loud "annoying" music that can be annoying if you're not in the mood.

My question is...

Why should blog owners care what mood YOU are in???

Now you may find that this is a conclusion that I all of a sudden jumped to! But I assure you it is NOT! See I've been trying to design some new blog headers and then trying to match them with coordinating background paper, to do this I have used my old blog: www.kendall-lifeaftercollege.blogspot.com and as I've been viewing my changes my old music player plays it's old familiar tunes that I put on there about a year and a half ago. It brought back so many memories and I actually try to have that page up while I'm blog hopping and stalking peeps on Facebook. It has brought so much JOY (yes, I just used a word that is seen as having eternal meaning, unlike fun or happy, to explain my blog music.)

Now just because I have made this mind blowing breakthrough doesn't mean that I am going to add music to my blog, but I might. And if for some reason you aren't in the MOOD for my music choice than hopefully you have memorized where the mute button is on your computer :)

I applaud all those that have decided to keep music players or to put music players on their blogs, despite the trend! You are my heros (lol)!

he's just not that into you

2009-02-23T21:30:00.000-08:00

Matt & I saw this movie tonight and I had heard some poor reviews from peers, so I didn't expect much, but to my surprise.... I LOVED IT!

There was so much truth in this movie... these situations happen in real life and 7 out of 10 girls assume and act way too desperate in relationships! I know I definitely had my moments :)

I don't know if many of you have read "The Rules: Time-Tested Secrets for Capturing the Heart of Mr. Right," but if you're SINGLE you so should! If you aren't really a book reader, then you can check out my friend, Heidi's, blog for the shortened version, just click here.

This book along with the movie suggest real rules to finding Mr. Right. Here are just a few to get you hooked and wanting to learn more :)

1. Be a "Creature" unlike any other

2. Don't talk to a man first (and don't ask him to dance)

3. Don't stare at men or talk too much

4. Don't meet him halfway or go dutch on a date

5. Don't call him & rarely return his calls

6. Always end phone calls and dates first

7. Don't accept a Saturday night date after Wednesday

8. Fill up your time before the date

9. How to act on dates 1, 2, & 3. End the date first especially if you like him.

10. Hot to act on dates 4 through commitment time

11. Always end the date first

And many, many more...

Keeler Kitchen: Wacky Recipe Wednesday

2009-02-18T21:35:00.000-08:00

Creamed Chicken & Biscuits

Ingredients:

1/2 large onion

1 1/2 tsp butter

4 cups chopped cooked chicken

1 (10 3/4 oz) can cream of chicken soup

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup chopped pimiento

1 cup shredded mild cheddar cheese, divided

6 frozen biscuits, thawed

1. Preheat oven to 350* F. Grease the bottom and sides of an 11 x 7 inch baking pan (I used a 9 x 13).

2. Chop the onion. Head butter in a small nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until melted. Stir in onion. Saute until tender.

3. Combine onion, chicken, soup, milk, sour cream and pimiento in a medium bowl and mix well. Spoon mixture into prepared backing dish. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven.

4. Sprinkle baked layer with 3/4 cup of the cheddar. Arrange biscuits in single layer over top. Sprinkle with remaining cheddar.

5. Bake until biscuits are golden brown and the sauce is bubbly, about 20 minutes longer. Serve immediately.

2009-02-14T07:48:00.000-08:00

Custom Headers

2009-02-10T22:45:00.000-08:00

So I have wanted one of those custom header things FOREVER and I have always thought that they are way cool and made a blog so much more personal. Well, I guess you have notice that I've FINALLY found out how to make a header for my own blog (And I think it's pretty cool)

But who cares what I think about CUSTOM HEADERS, what DO YOU THINK????

Do you like my latest one (V-Day)? Do you wanna know how to make one? Do you want ME to make you one??

If you have any questions please let me know because I searched for months trying to find out how to make one for myself and now I just can't stop designing them. They are just so much fun...

Keeler Kitchen: Wacky Recipe Wednesday

2009-02-04T17:49:00.000-08:00

Sopapilla Cheesecake
(There are multiple ways to spell sopapilla, just so you know that I didn't spell it wrong)

2 cans Pillsbury crescent rolls (don't use off brand or reduced fat)

2 8 oz packages cream cheese, softened

1 1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla

Spray bottom of 9 x 13 pan with Pam. Place one can crescent rolls in bottom, spreading so it will fit, and pinching the seams together. Mix cream cheese 1 cup sugar and vanilla together. Spread over crescent rolls.

Take second can of crescent rolls and place on top of cream cheese mixture, spreading so it will fit, and pinching the seams together.

Then in a saucepan mix 1 stick butter, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon brown sugar packed, and 1 tsp vanilla. Bring to boil, then drizzle over the top.

Bake at 375 for 22-25 mins.

Best if served warm. Can warm up in microwave. Enjoy!

Back Blog: Matt & Kendall's 1st Christmas

2009-01-31T22:39:00.000-08:00

So I know Christmas was over a month ago but I never posted pics! So here you are: Matt & Kendall's 1st Christmas

Oh how sweet :)

Our new addition, Ellie in her cute dress.

Kelsey & Casey along with the dogs, Riley & Paco

Casey, Kelsey, Kylie, Me and Matt

Grandpa Baglin, Shelia, Kylie, Annon and Annon's bf

My parents

The following two were probably the funniest moments of the night!

What is he doing exactly? Show off those shorts Matt :)

And Casey must have gotten something pretty sexy from Victory Secret- j/k

Ooooh the boots I wanted that my mom said were sold out!

Grandpa was so happy with his gifts

Christmas Morning (Beware, we don't look very pretty in the morning :)

Little Ellie was sooo tired.

My new paper cutter - Thanks Mom & Dad Keeler

A carpet cleaner for when Ellie doesn't make it all the way to her potty pad.

I love this pic of me and my grandma...

My grandpa being silly, I guess he is always a gift to grandma

Me, Treen and Kels

Matt & Ellie were sooo sleepy

But then again so was grandpa and the other dogs.

To see more Christmas pics click here.

In my free time

2009-01-28T22:42:00.000-08:00

I hope you like my new creation designed with Photoshop Elements!! I am taking a two day class next month so hopefully I will learn a bunch of new things and get some new digi paper too.

Megan's Baby Shower (In October)

2009-01-28T21:27:00.000-08:00

One of my best friends, Megan, had a baby back in October and we decided to throw her a baby shower while she was in Reno before Christmas. Here are some pics from the event.

It was so much fun to gather with family and friends and to have a BabyBottle Drinking Contest, play a "Famous Mothers" game, eat amazing food and open gifts!

Janelle & Heidi slurping down the apple juice in these bottles!

Julie Marchant playing along also :)

This is the adorable cake that Isabelle's Bakery made.

All of the delicious deserts, we had amazing soups too.

Of course water and Shirley Temples.

Ronnie & her baby Evelyn, and Heidi holding Meg's new baby, Natalya

Meg & her cutie pie. And Meg opening gifts.

All of us girls were able to make it to the shower. From left to right, Me, Ronnie, Meg, Sara, Heidi and Janelle.

My First Attempt at Photoshop Elements!!

2009-01-24T23:35:00.000-08:00

So tonight I decided to play around on Photoshop Elements that my WONDERFUL husband got me for Christmas. I have been doing a little online research about how to do different projects so I decided to follow a tutorial and create a BEAUTIFUL layout, and I thought I'd share it with YOU!

Enjoy! More creations to come!

The Rest of St. George Trip

2009-01-15T22:14:00.000-08:00

On the Sunday after Thanksgiving we celebrated Grandpa's birthday! It was fun to see a lot of the cousins and to eat delicious desserts.

Matt's grandparents and us.

Matt with his Grandpa and Grandma Barlow.

On Tuesday before we went home we were able to go through a session at the St. George Temple. It was really neat to go to a big temple. Matt and I were by far the youngest in the session and I was surprised that only 13 people needed to use the elevator :) Also, during the session the lady in front of me started to fall over, so I had to help steady her... that doesn't happen very often!

It was a lot of fun being about to spend time in St. George and see family. Matt & I love it there and can't wait to go back. Thanks Mom and Dad for letting us stay with you and taking care of us :)

Back Blog: Thanksgiving in St. George

2009-01-15T22:13:00.000-08:00

Over Thanksgiving weekend we flew to St. George for a 2nd Thanksgiving dinner and to spend time with Matt's parents, Alan & Annette's family and Kirt & Amberly's family. We had a blast eating, watching Wall-e like 3 times, hiking Red Cliffs, and spending time in Enterprise.

Here are some pics of our hike at Red Cliffs:

Ashlan and the beautiful fall leaves.

Dallin and Ashlan up on top of the cliffs.

Matt & Ashy

Dallin, Mia, Jaxon, Ethan, Logan, Jaydan (Ashlan and Noah are missing)

All the kids wanted to sit by Matt on this giant rock

All of us, except Dad he was in charge of getting the pizza :)

Some of the older kids kept hiking and climbed over this rock wall.

Jaxon climbing back down.

Mom and I watched the kids climb and held the dog.

Mia and Logan followed me around most of the weekend... they are so adorable.

Dad bought the pizza and each kid ate 3 pieces, it was CRAZY!

Yumm Yumm.

Keeler Kitchen: Wacky Recipe Wednesday

2009-01-15T21:23:00.000-08:00

This one we just tried tonight and it was really good!

Chili from Betty Crocker

Ingredients:

1 Lb lean ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 Cup)
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 can (14 1/2 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can (8 ounce) tomato sauce
1 Tbs chili powder
3/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 can (15 or 16 oz) kidney or pinto beans, rinsed and drained, if desired.

Instructions:
1. Cook beef, onion and garlic in 3-quart saucepan over medium heat 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until beef is brown; drain.
2. Stir in remaining ingredients except beans. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
3. Stir in beans. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer uncovered about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until desired thickness.

Keeler Kitchen: Wacky Recipe Wednesday

2009-01-07T10:30:00.000-08:00

Tuxedo Brownie Cups

Per Lisa's Request:

Ingredients:

1 Package (19 to 21 ounces) fudge brownie mix (plus ingredients to make cake-like brownies)

2 Squares (1 ounce each) white chocolate for baking (or white choco chips work too)

2 Tbs milk

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened

1/4 C powdered sugar

1 C Thawed, frozen whipped topping (or half the container)

1 pint small strawberries, sliced

Orange zest, mint leaves and melted semi-sweet chocolate for baking (optional)

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 325* F. Spray cups of mini-muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray for baking. Prepare brownie mix according to package directions for cake-like brownies. Using small scoop, place 1 level scoop of batter in each cup, filling cups 2/3 full. Bake 14 minutes or until edges are set. Do not over-bake.

2. Remove pan to cooling rack. Immediately press tops of brownies with mini-tart shaper to make indentations. Cool in pan 15 minutes. Loosen edges and gently remove brownies from pan. Cool completely. Wash pan, spray with cooking spray and repeat baking with remaining batter.

3. Microwave white chocolate and milk in bowl, uncovered, on HIGH 1 minute: stir until smooth. Cool slightly in bowl, combine cream cheese and powdered sugar; mix well. Gradually stir in white chocolate mixture until smooth. Fold in whipped topping.

4. Fill Easy Accent Decorator fitted with closed star tip with cream cheese mixture. Pipe cream cheese mixture into cooled brownie cups, slice strawberries; arrange on tops of brownie cups. Garnish with orange zest and mint leaves or drizzle with melted semi-sweet chocolate, if desired. Place in airtight container and refrigerate 1 to 3 hours before serving (this doesn't have to be done).

Hint: I tried making the brownies in the Pampered Chef mini-muffin pan and in the Martha Stewart one and for some reason the Martha Stewart pan did not work. Please let me know if you try these in a different pan and can get the brownies to set up. You may just need to cook the brownies for longer than stated above.