Hardcore

31 degrees.
Wind.
Snow.
Fog.



My car thermostat said 31 degrees, the wind was blowing and a light snow was falling. I thought, "this is what separates Valley parents from the city folk." To us.............this is totally acceptable conditions for our five year old's to be outside chasing after a soccer ball. What doesn't break them...........makes them stronger. We start using this mode of thinking very sooon after our kids leave the womb. (ha!ha!)

My Favorite sounds.

1. The sound of the wind blowing through the large cottonwood trees at the little red house. The red house was our first home. We didn't have air conditioning, thus on the sultry, warm summer nights we would open the bathroom window (practically the only window that could open in the 130yr old house) and the front door to let the breeze in. I loved falling to sleep to the sound of the cottonwood leaves and branches being stirred by the wind.


2. Chad's voice in the morning................he always wakes up happy!

3. The sounds of the ocean; waves crashing, birds chirping, the sound of the water receding from the sand, plastic shovels digging, kids building castles, the random laughter when a wave sneaks up and gets an unsuspecting "beach walker" drenched, etc.

4. The pitter patter of my children's feet running across the floor. In all the houses we have lived we have always had wood floor. I can be in a totally separate room, and tell you which child is coming towards me just by the sound of the rhythm of his feet walking, skipping, running or shuffling across the wood.

5. My late Grandpa Hunter's laugh. He had a very distinct laugh that was like a chuckle, sometimes, if I listen, I can still hear it when something that he would've gotten a kick out of happens.


6. The sounds of a chickadee bird. This is Chad's favorite bird chirp, and every time I hear one it reminds me of the summer before we got married.

7. The silence that comes after a giant, socked in, snow storm. I love the moment when it has just finished dropping it's last snowflake; there is no wind, no sound, it is just still.


8. The sound of my children's breathing just after they have fallen asleep.


9. The sound of a horse chewing on a carrot or alfalfa. I love the sound of their teeth grinding against each other. The chewing (and the smell of horse sweat), can instantly take me back to being little girl and watching my dad brush down the horses.

10. The sounds of the old Patio/ Wolf Creek pool. Can't you just hear the commotion of kids splashing, running and playing, and the wind blowing gently through those big trees that were west of the old warm pool. That melody was all I needed to lull me into an afternoon catnap on my towel after a few hours of swimming.


11. The blow of a whistle at the start of a competitive soccer game. I always loved those first moments when butterflies filled your stomach.


12. The sound of a campfire crackling. Preferably in Moab or Jackson.


13. The sound of crickets at night! I love this sound because it indicates it is summer.....(I am a summer girl at heart).


14. The sound of the closing prayer at church........(ha!ha!)

15. The sound of sparklers on the fourth of July............(my favorite day of the whole year).


16. Any song by Jack Johnson. Chad and I scalped tickets, years ago, before he was big time. He was opening for somebody else, but we were really there just for him. He played barefoot and the setting was against the hillside at Deer Valley....................to this day it is still one of my favorite concerts!

17. The sound of a summer rainstorm.

18. The background music you hear when you walk down mainstreet USA in Disneyland.

19. The Primary song a Child's Prayer.

20. The sound of eating corn on the cob.

Bike Race

I love Carve's and Tay's expressions in this one.........................

I love the moon boots and shorts combo in this one.........................................

What's not to love in this one.....................

And I love the dirty face, legs and Jazz tatoo in this one.



These pictures are from a family friendly bike race (on my bird-day) we had up and down my parents' driveway.

How blogging has changed my life:

1. "Laundry..............What laundry? I don't see any laundry?"
2. "You kids are hungry? How can you be hungry it is only nine o'clock at night."
3. "Sorry, I can't help right now, I am working on my family history/ (waiting for my pictures to upload)."
4. "Typing is really good exercise........so is squinting at the screen.......if you can do both at the same time, it means you have really good hand/eye coordination."
5. "What did you do today Kelli?" "Well let's see.................hmmmmm...............it was a busy day, I stalked about twenty people online and..... boy......... am I exhausted!"

How has blogging changed your life?

It was a lovely spring walk.................



That turned into a baptism by immersion..................




A cleansing................



A rebirth.............



An awakening of the spirit.



I believe!!!!

It started as a dare to immerse your body in the figid waters of the spring run off. Bets were made and pride was on the line. Chad said he would buy me a lamborghini if I would put my head under the water for three seconds. I had the common sense to choose warmth (also that Chad doesn't have the money to buy it). My posterity on the other hand......................... baptised themselves to become the first members of the Church of Chad.

North Arm trail; Eden, Utah

Fame has struck again, just like it did in 1999 at the SLC airport when a reporter for Channel 5 news stood right in front of us to deliver the holiday travel report. Just as the newscaster was starting her segment (we were traveling on thanksgiving day) my dad called Chad to tell him we were were on TV. Chad immediately turned into a robotic version of himself. When the reporter turned to us and asked us a question, we looked a little tense. Chad hung up from my Dad on live TV (without even saying goodbye). I on the other hand was really wishing I would've put on a little mascara and combed my hair that morning. I thought she said something to us in another language, but when we watched the footage we found out that she said, "So far how is your morning going here at the airport?" It was a pressure situation, and the stakes were high, the only answer we could think of was "slow." National television (well here in utah) and all we could think of was slow? We blew it, not only for ourselves and our families but, we let a lot of holiday travelers down that day at the airport. We chalked it up as a growing experience and how that paid off last night!

(here we are before the game)


Here is their little command center.




We were in the background for the ESPN sport caster's commentary of the Jazz and Suns game. During the game, you could see my neck, chin and lower lip really good and Chad's chin got some great air time!

(***a simulated version of what my chin looked like on TV)

The post game show could have easily been called the Chad and Kelli show. While the sports casters were dumping on the Jazz, I was in the background telling Chad to just act natural, and stay calm. We acted like we were chatting with one another........real cool like. I even turned my head and looked off into the distance a few times to make it look like I didn't know I was on TV. I pondered if I should lean over and kiss Chad, (you know like they do in the kiss me cam), but i decided it might look like a little staged, so instead I flicked my hair a little and winked into the camera, like the women do in those great hair commercials. I have a feeling a reality show might be in the works. We owe it all to experience!

**John Stockton walked right by us at the end of the game and Chad said (real casually), "we needed you out there tonight, John." He said back to Chad, "I doubt I would've been any help." Here is a picture of Johnny boy and his wife. (Get a load of that shirt!).

Fashion Forward

A true friend, knows your faults and loves you anyway.



I believe the swim trunks were retrieved from the D.I pile. The boot is Zach's and the rest is 100% Tanner.

Thanks Lukey for looking past the clashing camoflauge, the swimsuit and the one boot one tennis shoe combo. You have passed the test for being a true and loyal friend!

* (If anyone is wondering Nanner gets his high end fashion sense from his father)

Kids: they dance before they learn there is anything that isn't music. ~William Stafford

From Past to Present

This picture turned up on facebook a few days ago.


It is of my sixth grade class. Aren't we a styling, good looking bunch? Everyone left funny comments about our clothes, hair and good times together. Amazing the power of a picture! My favorite comment was left by Craig Smith, he said, " I can't remember the names of people from a week ago but, I can name everybody in this picture." He is sooo right! Seventeen years later and I can tell you who broke their leg, who was good at dodge ball, who sat on the heater after eating lunch and how bad I felt when I hid Amy Walker's pencil box. I can also tell you who was good at sneaking over to Leon's Market w/out getting caught (For the record, the one time I snuck over there I got caught, and was suspended from recess for a whole week), who was good at jump rope, who liked to play four square and that Michelle Melle could type the faster than anyone in our grade, even though she had mono for half of the year. I can smell the mildewy, humid air of the hallways, hear the sound of the playground at recess and the chatter of students as they wait for food in the lunch line. I am struck by how I treasure those common experiences we all shared at school. At the time I took it all for granted! If I could go back I would live it up to the fullest (especially the part where I have realized that adults REALLY don't know anything.......ha!ha!) There are people in this picture I haven't thought about for years, but when I saw their faces I felt a bond with them that only a valley childhood can bring. There is so much potential sitting in this picture and what a gift it was to get to grow up with such a fun, crazy and wild bunch of kids! I would love to know every one's story, where their road of life has taken them and how different the world is........for them now, compared to how it looked, to each of us, on the day this picture was taken.

*I am sitting on the front row, second from the right.
.....

Dear Spring,

Here is the thing, You and me go back a long ways, we have always been friends. I have the best memories of you and me together; Spring soccer, the end of the school year, running outside along the road and trails (after being couped up on the treadmill for the winter), eating artichokes, Easter egg hunts, the smell after a spring rainstorm, the crocuses and tulips......etc. Is that why you are mad, because I forgot to plant tulips last fall? Is this what this is all about? Well whatever the reason, please come back, it has been too long since we have seen each other, and we both know it takes a long time to grow an old friend.....and my friend it has been far too long since we have seen each other. I don't mind Snow..............we are friends. We like each other................but, just between me and you............snow has always come across a little cold.............................he is not nearly as warm and friendly as yourself. And never once in all the time that we have known each other has Snow ever brought me flowers.

YOU HAVE A SPIDER ON YOUR HEAD....................................................................April fools!!!

YOUR HAIR IS ON FIRE........................................................April fools!

******These have been some of the classic April fools jokes played by the bros. Chad got the boys good this morning when he brought them a doughnut bag from the Valley Market. Nanner loves doughnuts more than life. He was over the moon at the sight of the bag. Then, he was madder than a pit bull, when he looked in the bag and found oranges instead of doughnuts. I wished we had the boys faces on video when they discovered that they had been fooled. BUT, like a good Dad the doughnuts showed up eventually....................................right after Nanner apologized to Chad for calling him an idiot.