what goes up must (not) come down

Remember how Molly and I were so excited for Dad to bring the bucket truck home so we could take the Christmas lights down?

Molly wanted me to go first. . . because we already knew I was a natural right??

So I climb in and expertly steer myself up to the upper left corner of the house and as I am reaching to take down the first of the lights, I bump. . . something?

Power goes off. . . and dad can't get it back on!

The pictures tell most of the story. . .

I sit around waiting in the bucket a while-

After Dad gets tired of one too many fireman jokes- he pulls out the ladder

Down comes Shawna!

Without even one ride in the bucket, Molly now gets stuck taking down some of the lights the old fashioned way- dad's make shift pole and hook (boo!)

Dad climbs into the bucket-

Dad climbs out of the bucket-

Dad fixes bucket!

And up Shawna goes again!

I held no hard feelings towards ole bucket. . . he did his job. . . eventually!

Molly however lost all trust. . . and never dared climbed on inside-

Maybe next year Molly!

Christmas at the Kellys

Christmas at the Kelly's was great as always. Molly, Bryan, and Brooklyn got to be here this year, which was perfect. Bonnie, Cayden, Aubrey, and Puppy (Lil' Wolf) all spent the night as well as Doogle and I. It was a packed house! We tried to remember our Christmas Eve "traditions" as well as start some new ones. We had our spa time and gingerbread house building. The kids had a visit from the Pajama Fairy. And we ended the evening watching Dad's traditional Christmas eve night movie "Rudy."

(Not a Christmas movie-- not really sure how that got started so many moons ago!)

Christmas morning we opened presents and drank hot cocoa all before we went to church. .

Scott and his family came for a visit after church as well.

Good ole Santy Claus was generous to everyone.

It was a happy day.

lights galore

This year I decorated TWO houses for Christmas. Mom and Dad's house was definitely a bit funner. I got to try out the bucket truck for the first time! I was a natural "driver." Though my house took a bit longer. . . it would have probably taken even longer if I had actually waited for the bucket truck to be driven up from California as dad had so kindly offered.

They both turned out fantastic though and definitely put both Kelly households into the festive spirit!

I'm officially a "Lousy Bowler"

One day, back in August, I decided that I wanted to join a bowling league. So I did some texting and got some friends together and . . .

Team INCREDIBOWLS was born!

The first words that popped into my head on day one of league bowling were "white trash." It was nothing like my beloved BYU bowling league memories. I was ashamed that I had suckered three friends into committing to this with me. The first team we bowled against were pretty much scary looking and I honestly wondered how these people could even afford the $20 weekly fee besides all that beer they were guzzling. But they ended up being super friendly and helpful in how the league ran (obviously they were not newcomers like us). And by the end of the evening, I was getting a little more excited to go back the following week (though not completely).

As it turns out, the first team we played against were definitely the weirdest. . . believe it or not, several of the other teams actually seem somewhat normal. Or at least- not too scary.

We actually joined a 4-man team league but due to unfortunate circumstances (like Shawna being mean), one of our team members quit just a few weeks into the league. Of course, it was annoying, but we have hardly had any problems finding someone each week to step in for the night. As this 13 week session comes to a close, and the January session nears, I do find myself getting a bit nervous though. Afterall, we have had some excellent and most helpful substitutes over the past few weeks, but I am not sure that any of them are yet quite dedicated enough to commit the next 13 Tuesdays of their lives to the Redrock Bowling Alley.

The rest of my team are definitely in it for the long haul though. Its an unspoken vibe that I get (or maybe its because BJ went and bought a pair of his own bowling shoes and Holly has told me that a bowling ball has made it onto her Christmas list).

For Thanksgiving this year, we started a new tradition. . .

Pie contest!!

The contestants:

Bonnie and Aubs went all out. . . homemade crust, new pear pie recipe. . . the works

Shawna had it a little easier. One of my sweet students (ok- lets be honest- one of my sweet parents) gave me a pie in a box: Homemade apple pie filling, the crumb mixture for the top, and the caramel sauce to drizzle on top of that. All I had to do was provide the delicious nilla wafer crumb pie crust and pop the whole thing in the oven!

Last minute entry- Cayden. After a silly orange/honeycomb pie failure, we booked it to Vons to grab a premade oreo crumb crust, filled it with some kind of ice cream that was chilling in the freezer, and covered the whole thing in the instant freeze chocolate. A ten minute pie for sure.

And Mom. . . she went to Costco...

Cayden got all into it. Immediately after dinner he got to work making ballots and a ballot box. Though he did refuse to put mom on the ballot. Something about store bought pies not being allowed.

Then a couple hours (and quite some nagging from Cayden) later, our stomachs had finally settled just enough to dig in to our very own "sample" plates.

It was a tough decision...

They were all so good!

(no worries- mom still got a write-in vote)

And the winner was declared. . .

But what does it really matter WHO won? It was the fun of the contest right?

Though I must say, I almost wept when my pie was gone. It was meant to be the winner.

I forsee this tradition living on in the future Kelly Thanksgivings. . .

What I was doing on. . .

11/11/11

1. Flew out to Indiana!

2. Bonded with Brooklyn

3. Shopped with Molly

4. Took a few naps

5. Mikki comes to visit from Chicago!

6. Photo shoot by the clock at exactly 11:11!

7. Touristed around Indianapolis

8. Drank some delicious Frozen hot chocolates

9. Bowling and Chilis!

10. Said goodbye and went home :(

11. yahoo. . . first class!

Groupon hits again!

I went mini golfing in a parking lot. Kind of weird, but it worked I guess.

The website claimed to be the only outdoor mini golf course in the city. So I pull up to the shopping center on a blistery cold and dark evening not really sure what to expect. And there it was, right there in the parking lot, a fenced in area where they somehow shoved together 18 little green putting holes. It was no Boomers. We had fun though.
I tried to get a picture of the set up. I was basically standing in front of the store. You walked out into the parking lot and there it was!

The boys (BJ and Ammon) doing some putting. Weird that I didn't notice that night, but they are totally matching. Funny.

And with Holly too.

I think we made it through the whole course in like an hour. Good thing. It was cold! My hands were numb. That's probably why I lost. :) Just kidding. I got 3rd. It would be embarrassing to lose to Ammon- he was terrible!