Utah in July - Part 3

On Friday, July 3rd, we headed up to Provo to visit our favorite swimmer cousin, currently at BYU. Christian had a swim meet on Friday evening, but he spent the morning hanging out, playing XBox, and tennis, etc. Then we all went out to lunch at Panda Express.

After lunch, Chris needed to rest up for his meet, so Ally and Chase hung out at his place enjoying the cable tv they miss so desperately while Karai, Bryce, Tegan and I went up to campus. We drove by the "Love Shack" aka the Provo house. Then we headed up to the Wilkinson Center. We checked out the bowling alley, and a couple other spots before going into the Bookstore.

Once Christian left to go to his meet we decided to swing by Uncle Mike and Aunty Kelly's house for a visit since they were right by the location of the swim meet.

We arrived at their house in the midst of conflict. Apparently someone had used a blue ice pack without realizing that there was a hole in the pack. Blue ice gel was in the carpet all over the basement and all the way up the stairs so they were contacting carpet cleaning companies to come out as quickly as possible.

They talked us into coming back to visit after the swim meet to visit a little longer.

The swim meet was fun. The older boys were impressed by Christian's warm-up suit. He said he had to represent the hometown!! That is confidence in my book!

Christian's first event was the back stroke. This is his premier event. Unfortunately, I am not very good at photographing backstroke so it is mostly splashing.

Of course, he came in 1st place over all. We found it entertaining that Christian's time was not too much different than Ally's swimming time for the same race. I guess we should mention that Christian was swimming twice as far though.

His next other event for the meet was the Butterfly. It was fun to cheer for him in that race because he was in lane 1 in his heat, so we were right on the side of the pool cheering him on. Plus, it is a lot more fun to photograph.

The kept telling him he did great, finishing #1 (for his lane #). He really is quite an impressive swimmer. I am glad we had the chance to go and watch.

We love you Christian!!! You are the awesomest!!!!

First Kiss....

Okay, so this is a really old story but much tooooo good to pass up.



One day I went to pick Bryce up from Kindergarten as usual. It was no different than any other day. At least not to me.



That's when I got my big surprise ----

As I got out of the car Bryce ran up so excited. When he got to me he nearly whispered,"I got my first kiss today!"

WHAT!!!!!!

Did I hear that correctly? I had to asked Bryce what he had said. He told me again," I got my first kiss today!"

I think I made him a little nervous, because he was showing a little less excitement the second time around.


I tried to explain that he probably shouldn't be kissing anyone at school.

His reply was that he hadn't kissed anyone, but she kissed him. I tried to act calmly and asked who it was that had kissed him.

He told me it was Hallie Crandell.


I guess, when you have known each other your whole life these things might happen. I told him he shouldn't be kissing anybody at school, or letting them kiss him either.

It was pretty funny though.


mk

Mommy Make-Overs

One of the benefits of being in Kindergarten is that for Mother's Day you get to have your Mom come and do a "Make-Over" on her.

The class also does a program of songs they have prepared just for us moms.

Bryce wanted to "look good", so he decided to wear his suit coat--- ala Don Johnson.

They served us cookies and milk. They sang song to us.

They even used lotion to massage our hands.

They had blush and lipstick for us, and special clips for our hair.

Bryce could have quite a future. Here is the final product.

He wasn't very excited about me getting make-up on him when I gave him a kiss to say "Thank You"!!

He and his friend Hallie Crandell have known each other since before they were born. They don't know it yet, but we have already arranged their marriage for the year 2026.

It works out okay because Hallie's mom, Heather and I have been friends for around12 years.

All in all it was a fun day spent in the Kindergarten class. A special day for mommies!!!

Long time, No post.......

I have been struggling the past few months but, I need to fill you in on some fun things that I have missed out on. Hopefully you can enjoy some of these thing we enjoyed over the past few months.

My Other Blog

Just in case you get bored reading this blog, you can check out one of my other blogs. Just go to mk-originals.blogspot.com.

It just some of my photography and things that I like to make. Enjoy!!!




mk

Happy Birthday Karai!!!

Well, I will have to add pictures later (once we get home from our vacation) but, just wanted to say "Happy Birthday to Karai!!

Sunday Karai celebrated his fifteenth birthday in style. Okay ..... so, not really!!

First, we had church and he was not feeling very well. Then, once we got home we were trying to get everything packed and ready for our drive to St. George, Utah.

He was stuck sitting in the front seat with his mother while she was driving. Again, he really didn't feel well at all!

Our big excitment was listening to "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" on CD, and stopping in Kingman for drinks and Taco Bell. We even got Karai a celebratory "pina colada" freeze. At least it helped his throat feel a little better.

Then it was a little adventure as we ended up on the wrong highway, but we still managed to make it to Grandpa and Grandma's house.

Karai did say it was probably the worst birthday he could remember ever, but hopefully that means that all the ones in the future will be just great!!

WE LOVE YOU KARAI!!!!

Bryce turns 6!!!!

Yes!! I am so slow in posting!!

It is hard to believe but our baby boy

-- Bryce --

is 6 years old.

Here he is at about 3 months old.

And then again at about 6 months old.

He is my little snuggler. He loves to give kisses and hugs. He is a sweetie!!

But, he is growing up and getting bigger and smarter everyday. It is hard to imagine that he is nearly finished with Kindergarten but, he has only 8 more days!!

On his birthday he had to go to school but he was able to take treats for his class ~~ cookies and juice boxes. Then after school he had fun playing with his friend across the street, TJ.

Tegan wasn't feeling well, but had to be included in the fun as well.

After playing all afternoon, and the kids coming home from school,

and Activity Days, etc..

we all headed to Chuck E. Cheese

for dinner and some fun.

Here Bryce is beating me at air hockey.

And here's the whole gang (minus dad who is taking the picture).

Say Chuck E.Cheese!!!

Once we had gone through all our tokens it was time to go home for cake and ice cream.

and presents!!! He got a new bike so he had to ry it out.

The older Boys were heart broken to miss mutual this week but I think they will make it through.

We love our Bryce-a-roni so much!! We hope you had a great day Bryce !!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

And Then There Were Two...

It doesn't seem possible that I could have not just one, but now 2 teenage sons. But alas, as of yesterday it is true. I officially have two teenage sons.

Yes, Chase is now officially 13, a teenager.

He is such a great kid.

He has a wonderful sense of humor that can be lost on kids his own age, but admired by the adults.

He is a fun personality to be around and loves to entertain.

He is working hard to do well in school, and has great grades to show for it.

He is a consciencious priesthood holder who takes his responsibilities seriously, and performs them to the best of his ability.

He has tons of friends because he is a great friend.

For his birthday on April 1st Robert took him to the Suns game vs. the Houston Rockets.

They had a great time and the only thing that bothered him was the fact that the scouts all went to the same game so it was less "exclusive" than he would have liked it to be. But, he had tons of fun and took tons of pictures. These are just a couple of the more than 100 pictures he took!!!

Since they got there early he got to try a couple of fun things while the teams "warmed up".

It was a great game and the Suns won!!! And they scored over 100 points so that means free tacos from Jack in the Box!!!!

Sunday April 5th, we had a Keil family dinner at Aunty Lana's house to celebrate birthdays for Chase, Charles and Rick (all the April birthdays) But I will have to post those pictures later.

And then last night we had his birthday dinner at..........

Golden Corral!!!! Yummy!!!!



It was fun to have Uncle Mike and Aunty Bev from California in town, and cousins Blake, Patrick and Logan join us for dinner as well.

Chase especially liked the "Princess" birthday card that they picked out for him. If you want to see if he will laugh, just ask him how the dam is coming and see if he keeps a straight face.

Hopefully, Bev will email me some of the pictures from dinner because I lost my mind momentarily and left my camera at home.

It was lots of fun, and hopefully Chase knows how much he is loved.

Hope you had a great birthday Chase!!!! WE LOVE YOU!!!

even if you are 13 now!

mk

A New Beginning......

Okay, here we are another month later.

It has been somewhat a long month but things are starting to ease up a bit.

Maybe that is just wishful thinking but either way, it works for me.

Over the past month some of the things we have enjoyed include, but are not limited too:

Daylight Savings - which in Arizona means only two things. Robert starts work earlier because the rest of the world "sprang forward" their flight times. And Tegan's shows on Disney channel are all an hour earlier. This is due to the fact that we switch from Mountain Time to Pacific Time.

Baseball Tryouts - at the Jr. High. The coach told Chase he was in the top 20 of players. Unfortunately, there are only 14 players on the team. So Chase has been working out with the track team. He has been in the first 2 track meets, but he was unsatisfied with his performance in both. He ran the 4oom and the 4x400m the first week and the 4x100m and the 400m races the second week. The downside is that his ankle doesn't seem to be healing very well.

It is still bothering him and we are fearing an Achielles Tendonosis problem so he will take this week off, and with Spring Break next week we hope the rest will help him get over his ankle troubles.

Tennis Lessons - both Chase and Ally seem to be enjoying their tennis lessons. I guess that is going well for now.

Volleyball Tryouts - Karai endured nearly 2 weeks of tryouts for the volleyball team before making it as a second string setter/ starting back row specialist. They have now played 3 matches winning the first 15-4, 15-3. The second match was a loss in the 3rd game 15-13. Today their 3rd match they won 15-9, 15-10.

Logan moved in - our nephew has moved into Karai's room and is now enrolled at Mesquite High School with him as well. The good news for us is he got into a zero hour class so we only have one start time for high school. And he can ride the bus home whether Karai has practice or not. So far things are going well. He probably gets sick of us pretty easily but, he goes home for a break on the weekends but still manages to go to church with us most of the time. We get to celebrate his and Ashley's 16th birthday the end of this week.

Soccer tournament season started - we have enjoyed 4 tournaments so far. And of those 4 tournaments they have placed 1st in both of the tournaments where all things are "equal". In one of the tournaments they played against U19 teams, and the other tournament was a club tournament and they were the only AYSO team. They finished 4th with one loss and 2 ties. They are a lot of fun to watch and they seem to have a fun time playing. It is so nice that his coach is so understanding about his not playing on Sundays so he can perform his priesthood responsibilities. And after this weekend we have a small break with no tournament the following weekend.

Everyone has been sick - gratefully I think we are all on the road to health once again, but it was a long couple of weeks. It started with Karai. He could only "afford" to be sick on a Thursday because they didn't have volleyball tryouts because of the basketball game and he didn't have soccer practice either. I knew he had to be pretty bad off when he stayed home sick the following Tuesday and asked if he could go to the Dr. After a chest x-ray they decided he didn't have pnuemonia and started him on antibiotics. That was the day Chase ended up home sick as well. They were both back at school the next day. That Thursday I was scheduled to work for the catering company and Bryce, Ally, and Tegan were all sick. Meanwhile, Karai was texting me about how his chest was burning all day long. By the time I was finishing up work around 5 pm, Robert had called asking how much longer I would be because they were all home dying. (Not that any man who is sick is filled with DRAMA). Friday was another day with Ally and Bryce home sick from school, and Karai had another trip to the Dr. to figure out what was causing him so many problems. With 2 new inhalers he managed to start feeling better. Robert was sick for a couple of days. I was sick for a day or so. Chase, Tegan, and Bryce were all sick for church on the following Sunday. The next week Bryce was sick one or 2 days again. But overall I think we are finally all feeling better. Knock on wood.

And since it is now nearly 2am I should probably go to bed as to avoid getting sick again. Not to mention I have work again tomorrow.

Good night for now.

mk

What's new with you?

I really am more well meaning and want to keep up better with updates etc, but then life has a tendency to take over time and energy.

A quick recap of the past little while and perhaps, an explaination of some of the lack of posting.

We have come to the end of High School soccer, and therefore the beginning of tournament soccer. Karai enjoyed the "best of both worlds" for his freshman year. He was able to practice with the Varsity team everyday, and play for the JV team. Better practice time and more game time. Now he is excited to play with his tournament team. They should be lots of fun to watch. And we don't have long to wait and find out. Their first tournament is Saturday.

He also plans on trying out for the volleyball team this week so we shall see how that goes. Isn't it a given? His name is Karai after all, and were it spelled in it's original form of Hungarian, Kiraly, even fewer people would know how to pronounce it. Who knows? Maybe one day he will meet Karch Kiraly.


We have also come to the end of the Jr. High Cross Country season. Chase did amazing. Somehow he injured his ankle 1/2 way through the season but he still managed to finish in the top 5 runners for his school every week. The last meet was for all the Jr Highs (7 total), and was true "cross country". Up hills... down hills....long straights. He did so well!!! He placed third for his school and 17th over all!!!! Apparently we named him well too. With all those competitors "chasing" after him, I think he would be great as a cross country runner, but he is glad that it is over and hopes next year to make the basketball team so that he doesn't have to run. After only one cross country season myself, I can't say that I blame him.

This week he plans on trying out for the baseball team, but just in case that doesn't work out, he also signed up for track. He is also starting tennis lessons in a couple of weeks, and is looking forward to that.

Ally is still taking piano lessons, and played the postlude for Primary today. She is also starting tennis lessons, and though it would be more time effective if they were both in the same class, for the sake of dinner conversation and sanity they are in different classes.

Bryce is loving school and doing well. His big excitment is gearing up for his 1st T-Ball season. He can't wait to play. He stays busy shooting hoops with the neighbor, Timothy, almost every single day. They get along great together.

Tegan is as busy as ever and her biggest news is that she has brought out of retirement the best preschool teacher ever to give birth to her.

Yes, it is true. I will be teaching preschool again in the fall. I am looking forward to it, though my Preschool room needs a lot of organization after 2 years of being the "toy room". Hopefully that will take less than the 6 months until we start. I already have 1 full class and am considering doing a second class if there is enough interest. I guess we will wait and see.

As for me, life is the same excitement as always. Pick-ups, drop-offs, games, practices, lessons, meets, scouts, activity days, ward choir, etc, etc.

My big excitment is seeing my Mommy and Daddy next week as they work their way home from their one year mission for the LDS Church in New Hampshire. I am so excited to see them!!!

Okay, so for the excuses for not posting.......

1)I am lazy, and get busy doing other things

2)one week runs into the next and before I know it, a month is gone

3)the elementary school year book is due in less than a month and I have only completed 7 out of 68 pages.

4)I have started another blog --- not by choice, but rather to keep family and friends up to date on the health and progress of our neice, Ashley, who was diagnosed last week ....after 5 days in the hospital .... with AML -- Acute Myelogenous Leukemia.



She was diagnosed on Wednesday morning, February 4. I met with Arlene and the oncologist Thursday afternoon, February 5. I met with Arlene and the nutritionist Friday afternoon, February 6 -- and then waited with Ashley until her surgery which kept getting pushed back until finally, at 8:40pm, they took her down. They started her chemotherapy on Saturday evening, February 7. Today, I got to give her a haircut so that it wouldn't be in the way so much when she is sick.

For more updates on her you can visit HERE.


That is our current life in a nutshell.



Unless you add that her 15 yr old twin brother may be coming to live with us so that he can go to school. Or the visit from her older brothers and sister from California (short but sweet) this weekend.



Other than that, we got nothing.



I sure love my life though. I have so much to be thankful for, and soooo many blessings. I am grateful for the knowledge of a loving Heavenly Father who will never leave us alone.



And love to all of you as well.











mk





If you want to read last week's institute lesson it is here. I loved it!!!



Or for this week's lesson click here.

Same 'ol, same 'ol....

It seems it has been quite a while since I posted anything. I like to think that it is because I am so busy doing so many things, but in actuallity I am sure it is because each week seems like a repeat of the last.

Sunday we go to church, come home, have lunch, watch some "church" movies, hang out, etc, etc.... then we have family night, treats, prayers, and go to bed.

Monday back to school, cross country practice, piano lessons, soccer practice....

Tuesday Institute, park day, chorus, cross country practice, high school soccer games, and women's volleyball.....

Wednesday practice (cross country), practice (soccer), practice (piano), and scouts/mutual....

Thursday Activity Days (every other), cross country meet, soccer practice (unless there is a game), piano practice,.......

Friday a little break- park day, no cross country, soccer game (or practice)...

Saturday many varied things to do or go to.....


Add to that in the past 2 weeks working a couple days catering, taking photos 3 or 4 days (one of which was a wedding), editing all those photos, getting started on the elementary school yearbook, laundry, laundry and more laundry, hosting book group, mini-golfing and go-cart riding with the kids, and who knows what else, .... It all starts to run together.

Time seems to be slipping by as each day comes and goes and I am not sure where all the time is going.

Even now, the time for sleep is slipping away.

goodnight,

mk


Enjoy the Institute reading for today's class here.