Catch Up!

This past Memorial Day weekend, Molly sporadically decided to fly out for a visit. . . so my unplanned three day weekend became very full, very quickly-- here is the recap!

Every year near the end of the school year I let my class earn the chance for an ice cream party. I end up surprising them and we make the ice cream instead (perfect timing when we are learning about how things change from liquid to solids!) I wasn't sure what to do this year (and even considered buying them icecream instead!) because I always need at least one helper for an extra set of hands. In Utah, it was easy to drag a friend out to help, but here was going to be more difficult. So when Molly randomly decided to visit, she flew in Thursday night and came to school with me all day Friday, got my helper afterall!

The kids loved having her there, and the school got a kick out of having an extra "Miss Kelly" running around the campus. She was also a great help and I walked out on Friday with NONE of my Friday tests to grade. . . Thanks Mol!


Bryan flew into town late Friday night, so we ate dinner (Cafe Rio- where else??), went to Nelson's Custard Place, and played one round of cards before we were all beat and decided to call it a night. At 7 am the next morning, the three of us took off to California!

(Notice me in the back seat? The only times I ever ride in the backseat of my own car and sleep on the floor of my own bedroom is when both Mol and Bryan are in town-- come visit me. . . I am a good hostess!)

We arrived a bit before noon that morning, just hours before our big family bbq! We ate lots of food, went swimming, and our new weekend game was invented on that very same day-- Butts Up! Ok ok. . . so it is really not a "New" game, but it was definitely rediscovered this weekend. Here are my sisters playing.... it was a rare occasion to get an actual action shot before Bonnie stopped us all to invent yet another new rule to our game!


Below is a fun picture I got of one of dad's famous "hot water blocks." He lays across the top of the rocks while the waterfall is on so the water builds up and builds up and builds up then finally he gets up real quick and a TON of water comes flying over to those waiting underneath. We used to do it when the spa was heated all warm, hence the term "hot" water block, but on nice summer days, it is fun just to do it with the cold water! If you look close enough, you will see that both Cayd and James are actually under the waterfall. . . hard to tell huh??

It was a fun day to get together and see all the family at once. :)

Then on Monday, it was Aubrey's 10th birthday! Whoa. . . is right!! She had a friend party on Friday night, so on Monday, Bon, Aubs, Molly, and I all went and got pedicures done together. Not always my favorite thing to get done. . . but I LOVE my toes when they are done!


Then she opened presents, we had cake and ice cream, and eventually it was time to hit the road! I got her some cute running outfits to get her psyched about all the "fun" I have ready for them when I go home for the summer to watch them once again.


She is getting so big so fast! Here is a picture of her last "finger" picture that Bonnie takes every year. Happy Birthday Aubrey!!

Ships, Cars, Trains, and Motorcycles

You know the school year is coming to an end when Field Day approaches, which is exactly what occurred this past Friday. From the very morning, up until almost lunch time, the whole school participated in 23 rotations from water balloon tosses, to bubble blowing contests, to an obstacle course for just the teachers. We ate lunch, went on a school wide treasure hunt (popsicles were the treasure!) and got to watch a slide show video The whole day was pirate themed-- very cute! The day ended with a little assembly which Miss Kelly's little class got to perform at. It was long, it was hot, and it was hectic, but it was a great day to help close the school year.






After school I hopped into my car and drove north to Cedar City to meet Randi for the evening. She had to go to a wedding down at Zion's Park on Friday and because of the timing, did not want to drive all the way home to Salt Lake after it. So being that I am not too far from Cedar City, I decided to meet her there for a little girl's night. We caught up on lives (So much has happened in the two weeks since our last visit), went in the pool and hot tub, bought a bunch of snacks, then stayed up til the wee hours in the morning playing the train game. The next morning we hit IHOP for a late breakfast before saying our good byes once again.


This past week, I was talking to my friend Michael and mentioned my trip I would be making up to Cedar City. He started talking about how he has been wanting to take his motorcycle up to Zion's Park to drive through, since he has never seen it. In all seven years of living in Utah and now almost one year in Las Vegas (which makes me even closer) I have never been to Zion's Park either. So we decided to meet up and go! He drove up Saturday while I was driving down and we met up at a little gas station outside of the park. It was my first time on a motorcycle, so it was a bit frightening at first (Michael claimed I could take pictures while we were moving at slower speeds but once beginning the ride I discovered that would NOT be possible for me so the only picture I got while we were both on the bike was taken while we were not moving)


This seemed like a nice kodak moment right at the park's sign. Unfortunately I was with a boy who failed to mention that I had MAJOR helmet hair going on. Where are the girl friends when you need em??



After driving through the park, we stopped and had lunch, then took the shuttle up through the park where you are not allowed to drive. I forced Michael to get off the shuttle for one stop with me, Weeping Rock. I randomly chose that stop while we were still on the bottom just cuz I liked the name. Lucky for Michael it was the shortest hike I could have chosen being only half a mile round trip! They claim the water falling out of Weeping Rock begins at a puddle on the top of the rock and by the time it actually is falling, is 1200 years old! We didn't buy really buy that story though. . . I mean- really??

Graduation!

After two long school years of after school classes, and two summers of going to school, Last July I earned my Master's Degree in Education from Southern Utah University. Because it is kind of a tiny little school, they only hold a graduation ceremony once a year, therefore, I finally "graduated" just this past Friday.

I drove up to Cedar City on Friday morning and met Randi who had come down from Salt Lake. We played around the city (which really didn't have a ton to do) until everyone arrived which included my Parents, Bonnie and her family, my Grandpa, and my Aunt Gail. Having everyone with different cars and coming and going from different directions made things tricky at times, but overall everything was great.

The "big" ceremony was early Saturday morning. President Monson spoke at that one. Unfortunately I read the signs wrong and when it said "no purses, bags, or camera bags," I assumed it meant no cameras, which wasn't the case at all. So we didn't get any pictures in there. The smaller ceremony just for education was a few hours after that. So we took some pictures and the whole clan headed to that one. Though dressing up, and walking on stage to get your diploma seems, and is in fact very exciting, the whole thing can also be a rather bore. Sitting through 400 names can be very slow and hard on the bum, but we all survived it. It was definitely a nice finish to a few years of hard work. :)












My parents invested a lot in my education and I feel so very lucky to have family that supported me through so many years of college. I feel really lucky to have been raised in a family that values education and that expected us to continue going to school beyond high school. I was really fortunate to stumble upon this little program and though at times I would admit it. . . I am glad I took the opportunity to complete this degree. . . there really is a good satisfaction from knowing that I was able to accomplish this goal, that I never really had planned on ever pursuing. So thank you once again for all family and friends that got to come, and for my parents that are willing to do anything to help me in any whatever way they can. Thanks everyone! :)

Girl Time!

I have been missing some of my favorite girls lately... so I decided to make a trip up to Utah this weekend to visit them. It was quick.. and I didn't get to spend nearly enough time with each of them. . . but it definitely got me the quality girl time that I needed!

I got in town Friday night a bit past ten. Jenae, Kellie, and I hung out at Kel's til the wee hours into the morning. Jenae's poor hubby Mike kept calling trying to get her home. I didn't feel bad though- he get's her all the time- I got her for just one night!


The next morning (or I guess later that morning) I met up with my pals Rachel and Becky for breakfast. Yum yum! Unfortunately I forgot to pull out my camera til after Becky left, and I am not computery enough to photoshop her in. . . so you just get a pic of me and Rach. . . definitely wasn't either of our "cuter" hair days, so we decided to take a hoodie picture. . . obviously I don't think it was much better!



Kellie lives in the basement of a little house. She graduated from BYU this weekend (YAY KELLIE!!) so she had tons of flowers on her table from several Kellie supporters. Her house has these cute little windows that open like little doors, and from the view from the living room, all you can see is the grass and a few flowers outside . . . like a meadow. . . haha it totally made me think that we were in a cute little tiny cottage. . and so the rest of the time I kept referring to Kel's house as her cute cottage. I made her pose in front of the "cottage" window.


After breakfast I tried to tidy myself up a little, then I drove to Salt Lake to see Randi's house and to visit her. We went on one of our traditional "Color Me Mine" trips and each made a cute little vase. Though the colors don't look like it now, my vase will match so perfectly in my bedroom for when I buy myself flowers-- which I have been doing frequently lately. :)



Randi and I then drove up to Midway for a bbq put on by Kellie in a fancy schmancy little condo. It was way fun, with lots of yummy food and fun games. Of course we once again stayed up way too late, and sadly, I forgot to pull out my camera. . . but it was a delightful evening with lots of fun friends.


The next morning I drove back down to Provo to be at my friend Brienne's baby's blessing. Ryan (Brienne's husband and Baby Owen's dad) did a great job. :) And the baby was so very cute. -- YAY BRIENNE AND RYAN!


After church, it was on to Brittney's house for a quick visit. Brittney, along with all the girls I visited, was a roommate of mine throughout my BYU days. While there, Britt's sister Shea showed up. Shea and I bonded back in the day so it was fun to see her again too. She mentioned how she was looking gross because she hadn't showered in days (she was visiting as well this weekend cuz Britt graduated BYU-- YAY BRITTNEY!!) and guess what-- I hadn't either! Though I should be embarrassed to admit this, the weekend was so jam packed and so busy, I was up way too late at nights and woke way too early in the mornings so at all the places I stayed, showering just never got put into the schedule! So Shea and I took a "smelly girls" picture-- it was then that I began feeling a bit bad for Brittney for having to hang out in her little house with the both of us. Hopefully it wasn't too bad though!



Though it was a cold, wet, rainy weekend up in Utah, it was still a fantastic one. I love and miss all my girl friends up there, it would have been absolutely PERFECT if Molly could have been there too. . . but I vow to myself and my friends, that I am going to drag Molly out here this summer so the two of us can go up together and see everyone just a little bit longer than I did this time. Thanks friends- for the great visit!!

Easter Fun!

I know that I already have two posts from last week, but it was sooo busy that I have one more event to share. . . Easter!

Mom and the kiddies were in Indiana with Molly for Easter, so that left Me, Bon, and Dad to fend for ourselves. We decided that having no mom was not going to stop us from having our traditional Easter feast-so Bon and I took on the challenge (substituting craisin sauce instead of raisin sauce, and adding corn on the cob as a side- yeah- dad let me loose in Costco- it was great!) While dinner was cooking we decided to take an Easter photo. . .



Cute enough. . . but we decided to spice it up a bit, so for our next photo, we each had to run inside to find a fun Easter "prop" to wear in the second photo. Bonnie and Dad got into it- I found them both in the attic digging through not only Easter boxes, but Halloween boxes as well!



This is how we all turned out. . . . obviously one prop was not enough for any of us, we found several which made it very hard to choose!



All in all, it was a great day and the food turned out most excellent! We had a few issues with two things, the craisin sauce, and the corn on the cob- guess that just goes to show we shouldn't branch off from tradition!

Our All Day Walk

So I think it all started back in January on our family cruise. . .there was a jogging deck on the boat and Bonnie randomly asked if she thought anyone would notice if she walked around and around all day long. "uh yeah- people would probably know you as the crazy walking girl!" She didn't do it- but that thought apparently never left her mind because when she picked me up from my most recent trip- she asked me if I had walked around the track all day long. Then she decided that on Saturday, the two of us would go walking all day long- I mean afterall, what else was she going to do with her kid free weekend?? But it got better than that. A few hours later while she was at work, I got a text that announced we would be walking to the beach on Saturday. . . . what was my response? "I am so in!"
So we drove the course in our car the night before, making sure there would be side walks along the way, and seeing how far it actually is to the beach. We also did a "trial walk" to see approximately how many miles we could walk in an hour, and then decided that we would set off at 6 am.

We had a late start (6:45 am), jogged at the beginning (maybe the first 4 miles?) and goofed around the rest of the time stopping for random fun pictures, and yes, a yummy 7-11 donut as well. It was fun, and definitely hard on the legs- but was all worth it that glorious moment when we actually saw the beach! That moment was cut short however, when we discovered that we had walked to a beach with cliffs and rocks, and with no real easy way down (our goal was to actually touch the water). We did not come all this way though to not touch the dang water, so we climbed down (I half crawled) down the hill and did get to touch the beach to complete our 18 mile journey by 11:15 in the morning. Didn't take as long as we thought, and were definitely not inspired to walk all the way home, so we got picked up. So even though it was a fun, sporadic day. . . we didn't really walk all day... not even close. . . next time I guess we will have to choose a further destination!

Spring Break!

Earlier this year, a group of three girls from church that all happen to be teachers as well, invited me to go on a trip with them over spring break. Destination was cruising Mexico-- I think they were kind of surprised at how quickly I jumped aboard the opportunity to go. Afterall, I didn't know them very well-- but it kind of worked perfectly because no other occupation really gets a week long spring break all at the same time. So this past week, spring break arrived and I found myself on board yet another cruise (feels like I was just blogging about the last!) So here goes my brief overview of my latest adventure:



From left to right: Shawna (ME!), Holly, DonnaLyn, and Christine drove down to California Friday afternoon. The three girls went to Sea World on Saturday, but I stayed back. Mom and the kids were going to be leaving for Indiana while I was gone- so I wanted to hang out with them that day instead. Cayd and Aubs ran in the JR Carlsbad mile and half mile and did fantastic! Cayden had a soccer game later, and we ended the day at Souplantation-- one of my favorites! (Definitely not dad's though-- sorry pops!) On Sunday mom drove us to San Diego where we boarded our home away from home for the next four days.

On Monday we docked in Catalina Island, not Mexico of course- but still a very fun, cute little city. We had planned a trip to go kayaking that day, but while waiting for that adventure to start, we came across a booth selling para sailing trips. So we decided to do both!



The rest of the kayaking pictures are still on the waterproof camera I chose to buy instead. I couldn't bare the thought of losing my brand new camera to the ocean by tipping the kayak (or the thought of telling mom and dad I lost the second one!). Kayaking is something I have always wanted to do, and is definitely something I wouldn't mind doing again.




We then got to do our para sailing adventure. We went up in partners, me with Holly and then the other two girls after us. I will admit that I was a bit scared at first (I am kind of wimpy at times), but it was not scary at all. You kind of just went up- then down. But another thing that I was glad to try.

We did a little shopping, and then headed back to the boat. I am not a shopper when it comes to souveniers, but I came across an item that I couldn't pass up- nail polish that changes in the sun!! The top photo is my nail polish inside and the bottom- in the sun. Same bottle- no joke!




That night was our elegant night at dinner. We all dressed up fancy schmancy, got a few pictures taken, and ate lots of yummy food! DonnaLyn's birthday had been the day before, so the waiters brought her a special birthday dessert and sang for her. Afterwards, one of them asked her to dance. It was pretty silly-- as you can see, they were way different in height!





The next day we were making our second stop- Ensenada. We took a bus ride around the city, then got to attend a typical Mexican fiesta. There was food, dancing, a roping man, and then at the end- a pinata! Lucky for us, we had a birthday girl in the group- so we got to see her attempt to break it open.



Then our last day was our "sea day." Just a day to do the fun, random events on the ship. Holly and I walked a mile to earn money for cancer, Christine entered the ping pong tournament, we all played a bit of mini golf, and I was still able to squeeze in a bit of time to soak in a few rays by the pool.





On Thursday, we woke up and we (being me) downed a final few cartons of chocolate milk before they threw us out onto the streets and back to real life. :( It was a fun adventure while it lasted!




My final highlights:
Because I am a Kelly, much of the trip definitely revolved around food. I always become quite addicted to diet cherry coke whenever we go on a trip like this, meaning that this trip was no exception. I was also pleased to discover that they offered the delicious warm chocolate melting cake every night at dinner! I think I got it three times! On the last night they gave me two things of ice cream to go with it because I was the only one of the group NOT to order TWO desserts! Ha ha!