Keller Family

Granite Dental

2012-01-24T15:37:00.000-08:00

December 16th we purchased a dental practice, formerly Erickson Family Dental here in Vancouver and now renamed Granite Dental. This has been such a busy time for both Dave & I, thrown in with holidays and everything else. But it is exciting and what we have been waiting for. This is Dave & Dr. Erickson the day we officially signed all the papers. Tom's last day of work. Tom was a pleasure to work with and we were so lucky to get the opportunity to buy this practice. He is happy, bought a retirement home in Palm Springs to golf and play in the sun.

Happy Birthday Benjamin

2012-01-02T15:51:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to my sweet boy, it is hard to believe that 4 years have gone by since you were born. But we LOVE your energy & humor.

(Ben on left with his cousins E & J Dyer)

Ben loves: kisses, halo 3, legos, his baby sister, jumping, swords & guns

I think it is hilarious that you have been singing happy birthday to me all day long when you are playing your video game, and that you think your party is at your 16 year old second cousin Hayden's house.

Birthday-topia

2011-07-17T23:01:00.001-07:00

Isabella age 7

Savannah age 10

It's been a busy 3 weeks, full details to come. My girls all had great birthdays and baby turned 1,

Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Seriously

2011-06-21T22:16:00.001-07:00

It has been way too long since I blogged so our family journal is way behind. I want to be better at keeping a record of our family happenings starting now! So in backwards order here is a small sampling of what we've been up to....

Teuscher family reunion 2011

We had a beautiful day at the beach with my moms family

David's cell cake for science, a fun and yummy project

Dave enjoyed body surfing in Lincoln City

This little visitor sat outside our window for 3 days

We hiked silver falls with the Dyers for Memorial Day

Dave was awarded the silver beaver

David ran track, 400 meter shot put and long jump

Bella and savannah played soccer

My dad turned 50 so we celebrated for a whole weekend

Bowling was the highlight for the kids

Emily started creeping around furniture

Grandpa Kurt turned 90 we had a wonderful family party

My lovely girls! Aren't they beautiful!

Happy birthday to me!

We celebrated in Hawaii

With Aaron & Hollie

And our little Wahini Emily

David turned 12 and was ordained a Deacon...am I really that old??

We had one snow day and we made the most of it!

Ben turned 4 he has had 3 surgeries in his short 4 years but thankfully his arm healed very well. All in all it has been a busy 10 months.

Halloween

2010-11-22T09:13:00.000-08:00

The spookiest time of year was the week of Ben's surgery.

So we carved pumpkins while he slept on the couch

And he carved his the next day

His costume ( and smile) lasted for about 20 minutes, no trick or treating for him this year by the time we got to the halloween party he was done for the evening.

Pumpkin Waffles, YUMMY!

E is for

2010-11-21T09:09:00.000-08:00

Sweet smelling, giggling, chubby cheeking, rolling over, kissing, goodness

Now a word from Our sponsors...

2010-11-21T08:20:00.000-08:00

This post should be titled, why I haven't updated in 3 months...so let's begin with a list of what has been going on in our lives:

1. Our roof leaked, like leaked leaked, like has been silently leaking for 6 years and finally went through the ceiling, like $6000 of damages thank heaven for homeowners insurance leaked. So we got the thrill of organizing the fixing of the roof.

2. After much prayer, fasting, and frustration Dave gave his 90 day notice at work. Not knowing what would happen or where he would work after the 90 days were up. Stress ensued.

3. Baby keeps growing & growing

4. Reading stories to 4th grade classes, band concerts, popcorn sale, back to school nights, homework & parent-teacher conferences all the fun of having 3 in school.

5. The month after giving his notice at work, Dave's boss pretty much stopped scheduling patients for him. He went from a full schedule to an empty schedule and since he is 100% paid on comission, and they would make him come in at 8 for a $30 procedure and then back at 4 for another $100 procedure and you can't feed a family of 7 on that he decided to take an extended staycation at home.

6. THE VERY NEXT DAY Ben tripped and broke his arm...and had to be rushed to the ER to have it x-rayed. They put a splint on it and told us the local ortho would call us if there was an urgent need but if not to come in on Friday for a cast.

7. After no phone call, and Dave going out of town for a dental conference we go in Friday for a cast only to have the ortho team tell us that Ben had to have emergency surgery the following Monday morning to have a metal pin put in his arm...mommy cries.

8. Surgery went well, I am so thankful for skilled surgeons. The most traumatic thing as a mother is to watch your baby be wheeled away and to be powerless to help or fix or comfort. Thank heaven for prayer and priesthood blessings. We now look forward to the pin removal surgery right before Christmas.

So if trouble comes in 3's I am ready for our fair share to be over this year. I am enjoying having Dave home, we haven't spent this much time together in a long time so it is fun. Plus he is a super big help with the kids while I finish up my math class.

Now for pictures: (in reverse order)

Ben sneaking ranch straight from the jar-I vomit in my mouth a little every time we catch him doing this!

Prime Halo Reach playing Seat must be shared with a friend!

Mom, I a baby today

Post Surgery...

The day before the break, catching frogs on the deck

Stinkin photogs won't leave me alone! (j/k)

Happy Birthday Grandma

Cheer Camp MVHS

Go Thunder!

First Day of School

2010-09-08T08:15:00.001-07:00

This was an epic start of the school year for our family. David went to middle school...which brings so many thoughts to me like...where did the time go...how did he grow up so fast...will he be okay in middle school...etc. But he did great, and I promise I only cried a little when the kids left, although the house was way too quiet! We started off the day with our tradition of giving the kids schultuttes a German tradition. They are filled with candy and school supplies. The kids love it and kept asking when they would get them. This year they got them the morning of the first day. Bella who can't remember the name and calls them tooters. The kids were all prepped for school, bags packed, fathers blessings given so the morning went very smoothly for us.

Isabella with her tooter

David, 6th grade...middle school

Live long and prosper

Mom quit taking pictures and let me go...

Savannah, sweet & quiet...4th grade Ms. Boyle

Isabella, our wild child...1st Grade Ms. DeVet

Ben wanted to go to school so badly, he was all ready. The minute the bus doors closed and he realized he wasn't getting on he burst into tears. He misses Bella so much when she is gone all day!

Making cookies for an afterschool treat

The resident chunk, aren't those cheeks to die for! The after school report was that the teachers are wonderful, David loves band & choir his electives this term and everyone was happy.

Grandpa

2010-08-25T08:26:00.001-07:00

10 days before Emily was born we lost my wonderful grandfather. I haven't blogged about it because my emotions were out of control and even though they are still pretty tender I wanted to share how much I love grandpa and how blessed I am by his life and example. I have always felt very close to my grandparents, and still miss my grandmother dearly even though she has been gone for over 2 years. To me they are examples of people who did their very best to love their family and live their faith. I am comforted knowing they are together again, and that their marriage is an eternal one. And I am thankful that I have their example to follow as I live my own life.

Love you grandpa!

Blessings

2010-08-17T10:36:00.001-07:00

Emily is such a blessing to us

We gathered most of our family together to bless her on August 1

The blanket was made by Dave when we had David and we've used it with all of our babies for their blessing

I bought the bonnet in Brugge Belgium in 2007 knowing we wanted to have more children. Ben got to use the booties I bought and Emily the bonnet.

Of course the girls want to get in on the picture action

This picture really makes me mad, David is making that face in all 7 of the pictures we took! What a stinker.

Dave's parents visiting us

While I recovered...

2010-08-04T09:06:00.000-07:00

And held baby for hours on end, Davehiked to the top of this ...

With this cutie pie

And these cuties (Emma & Maddie)

And uncle Rick & little Rick and Brian & Brayden. A group of 5 dads and their 11/12 year olds hiked to the summit of Mt. St. Helens together and had a wonderful time. We are so proud of these kids, they made it to the very top a feat that even some of the teachers quorum (14,15 year olds) in our ward could not do.

A view of the crater and lava bubble

One of the slopes they slid down (glisading) to make the climb down go faster. Dave SHREDDED his pants

Brayden made it back down!

I am so proud of my boys!
They were all tuckered out for the drive home!!

Emily

2010-07-27T09:03:00.000-07:00

Emily Keller
9 lbs 7 oz 23 inches long
July 14, 2010

9 months in production, much morning sickness, tiredness and laboring. And deliberating over her name. But she is finally here, our Emily girl. She looks just like Bella did...not quite as fat but just as long!

Olympic Peninsula

2010-06-14T09:14:00.000-07:00

For memorial day weekend we decided to take a trip to the Olympic peninsula and do some short hikes in the national forest. It was a rainy grey weekend, but we got lucky and didn't get soaked. We even had beautiful sunshine for our drive home and stop in Olympia. The Peninsula is very beautiful, and there was so much to do. We started at Rialto Beach

Then we headed to the Hall of Mosses to hike

Of course we had to stop in Forks and get our picture with "bella's" truck

The girls really wanted to buy a honk if you love vampires sticker...next time!

Sol Duc Falls

We played in the snow at the top of hurricane ridge

This is just one of the many animals we saw as we were driving. This is about 2 ft from our car.

Last we stopped in Olympia to see the capital and drive around to where Dave lived in Jr High and High School. Our month of may has been pretty eventful. Mr Destructive struck again, shattering the glass in the french doors of Dave's office. Well one of the french doors. So my life has consisted of lots of mess cleanup lately. Today is the last full day of school for the kids, and 5th grade graduation. I am looking forward to summer, the relaxing of schedules and having the kids around more often.

Long Time Gone...

2010-05-20T14:25:00.000-07:00

Did I do that???

But I promise to be back next week. We've been lost in a fog of vomiting, colds, projecting, painting and catching up on yucky algebra homework that I MUST have finished before the baby comes...or at least 3 tests down by then. I just can't seem to catch up before another little meltdown hits. But before I sign off, does anyone have a good remedy for getting horrible stains out of the carpet...I have tried everything including renting a steam cleaner and it still didn't come all the way out...want to know what happened:

Dave was fixing the insides of the upstairs kids toilet which has a nasty habit of running all night long...

I had finished painting Savannah's room and just turned on the shower and undressed when I hear ben come in and say mom....

I look down and notice his feet are covered in blue globs...

And then I go out and look at the trail of little blue footprints that go from the bathroom where Daddy is working all the way in circles to my room...

You see I use the blue toilet bleach to keep our toilets smelling fresh and Dave had put a big glob of it on a towel when he took the toilet apart...which ben then stepped in and trailed all over the upstairs.

6 hours of scrubbing and steaming later I still have a spot about 18 inches long I cannot get out. HELP!!

My baby is 11

2010-03-16T10:54:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful birthday for our 11 year old boy, he graduated from cub scouts to Boy Scouts complete with all new uniform...

We only throw birthday parties every other year now, and so the kids get to decide what we do, where we eat and their whole special day when it is not their party year. So David decided he wanted papa Murphy's pizza, and to stay home and play video games with his dad all day long. He is SO EASY!

This is what the littlest one did during the party

Looking through old baby albums

He was pretty easy to please

He doesn't like cake so he requested a donut cake

The worst part of his birthday...having to share with brother!

Favorites of my 11 year old boy

Food: Pizza

Cereal: Lucky Charms

Book: Diary of a Wimpy Kid

2010-03-02T09:24:00.000-08:00

We have had some beautiful days so the kids were outside coloring with chalk...but this one was upset...poor baby!

This one was using his body as a canvas

And this one had more chalk on her pants than the sidewalk because she kept sitting on the art

I HEART SPRING!

Poppin up for fun

2010-02-25T08:42:00.000-08:00

Dave brought home a retro treat for family night...dessert and an activity.

Jiffy Pop Popcorn

The kids were in Heaven

The kids were all mesmerized...They declared it the coolest treat ever!

If you're wondering about the beauty mark....she gave herself a hickie with a lick n stick dart. Crazy girl!

And speaking of Heaven, isn't our new niece perfect...

she makes me excited for our little bundle to appear

Updates

2010-02-06T09:06:00.000-08:00

January, February-too much time going by without blogging in our journal. I got a new camera for our anniversary so I am trying to figure it out and take some fun pictures. We did do a few fun things in January like...

celebrate our 14th anniversary at Skamania Lodge...site of our very short honeymoon. It was fun to get away for a few days and relax.

Our little man turned 2 and had a fun family birthday party

And we had one very sad snow day...sad because the snow was so small & melted before the day was over...boo hoo

but ben enjoyed sledding & the kids had fun playing in it even if it was for a short time.

peace

Holiday Wrap Up the end!

2009-12-31T10:45:00.000-08:00

Christmas eve, I hardly took any pictures but it was finally a very relaxing day. The kids were so excited. Especially to open their cousin gift at Grandma's and jammies at home.

Jammies modeling time, ben is in his normal position on his chair.

The girls are obsessed with the shaka sign and do it all the time!

You can't read the sign very well but it says, David's spot saved for Santa. He marked his territory this morning.

Ben did not want to wake up. The other kids were up at 5 but we made them wait until 6 and dragged him out of bed.

This is what Ben loves to do with his train table most. IT is the perfect jumping spot.

Holiday Wrap part 2

2009-12-30T10:47:00.000-08:00

The last week of school was so busy. We started off with grandma coming over to make cookie trees with her grandkids one afternoon. She came supplies in hand ringing jingle bells & wearing her santa hat.

Here is ben in one of the 3 outfits he will wear without tantrums. He is either 1/2 naked or wearing pajamas or wearing his nemo shirt & shorts he got in Hawaii. Lovely

My sisters, mom & I went out to visit a mansion covered in lights. We got 3 d glasses that made all the lights turn into either stars, snowman or santas. The santas were a little creepy.

Bella's class party, she loves her kindergarten class

Especially since Trent her cousin is in her class

Savannah's class did a Native American potluck. I guess we don't celebrate holidays with this teacher, it kind of bugs me but I went anyway. And Savannah wore a santa hat!

David's 5th grade did Christmas in Colonial Williamsburg which was fun because we visited Williamsburg at Christmas time when we lived in VA. David dressed up as a German immigrant to Williamsburg.

Holiday Wrap Up part 1

2009-12-29T08:21:00.000-08:00

I can't believe the holidays have come and gone without a single post from me. I guess between the business of the season and being sick I just couldn't fit one more thing in. But it was a fun time, we managed to fit in a trip to grandma Kellers for Thanksgiving, school concerts, parties and games, girls night out, caroling. A funeral for Uncle Steve and of course Christmas. Here are a few pictures of the fun.

The 3 little monkeys, they are always running & screaming when they are together. Tristyn, Melissa & Bella, and of course Skylar supervising the chaos.

David wanted a drumstick so bad.

We got family pictures taken with the whole Keller family which we hadn't done since Bella was 1 month old.

We added a new member to our family, the much beloved Kevin.

David played in his first band concert

We visited Santa at the PUD christmas party (that is my dad's work) with all the cousins. Dave & David went on a scout campout instead but we still had a good time. Until Ben had to sit on Santa's lap, he did not like that at all.

Our tree looks crooked but it is not, just the very top branch is crooked and too flimsy for the star. I was going to trim it down but I just got too tired.

Bella is waiting for her handsome prince to come give her a kiss. Someone come and kiss me she says.

Sorry for my blogging silence...

2009-12-12T07:15:00.000-08:00

But I've been pretty sick and pretty tired

sleeping on the couch while my littles bustle around me,

hovering over the toilet wishing I could die

But in the end it will be worth it....

Keller baby #5 is due in July!!

And they do turn out pretty cute so stay tuned!

Inspector Hector

2009-11-13T07:19:00.001-08:00

We love brushing our teeth! Especially now that we've discovered

Inspector Hector Plaque Detector!

You remember those little red pills the dentist made us chew to see all the plaque we were missing, well our kids do it every night with a rinse. It is so great, they fight over who gets to get inspected first. Then love to brush all the blue off in to the sink.

She is such a ham!!

Ben says, oooh I want some!

Boofest at the Graveyard Grill

2009-11-11T08:41:00.000-08:00

For our traditional Halloween dinner we made a trip to the graveyard grill.

Savannah made the signs and hung them

eyeball juice with floating eyeballs

Wrapped mummies (bratwurst)

moldy bones (the mold were peas on the side)

bloody fingers and graveyard dip

all ready for tricks or treats, mostly treats

It was the year of the fairy, 3 of my nieces were fairies

David was not feeling well but wanted to trick or treat anyway

Dave & I dressed up this year, happy hawaiians!

Pumpkins & Patches & Puddles Oh My

2009-11-09T23:15:00.000-08:00

How did fall just sneak up on me? One day I am lounging on the beach in beautiful weather and the next it is raining and halloween is already behind me. Forgive me if I have adopted a little of the island mentality and am a few weeks behind on posting pictures.

We started off the season with a pumpkin picking party at Grandma's Garden. Trust my mom to throw a party for all 14 of her grandkids on her own birthday. She is pretty giving! Then the floodgates opened and we spent Isabella's fall trip to the pumpkin patch in the pouring, driving, freezing rain!

Where my butt got so wet and my pants so muddy from the kids shoes that they are actually stained!

We did find a pretty cute pumpkin though!

We headed over to our old standby Joe's place (favorite farmstand ever) for some bigger pumpkins, Savannah wasn't satisfied with the size of the one she got from Grandma and Ben's was a little green gourd so we got 2 more and some delicious homemade apple cider

Carving is serious business!

You can't see it well, but we got these really COOL looking pumpkins from Joe's place but they were impossible to carve, even with Dave's big hunting knife! So Savannah carved her pumpkin from grandma after all and Dave carved Isabella's grandma pumpkin for Ben since she got another at BI-Zi Farms.

Little chubby hands! He loves his punkin!

The Rest of Hawaii...photo overload!

2009-10-27T09:31:00.000-07:00

The lagoons at Ko'Olina were so beautiful, we spent every day snorkeling and swimming for hours.

This was a canoe from the 1800's, first used for fishing, then for drug running.

Our favorite lagoon, we got to swim with 4 sea turtles that live there, they were so tame, swimming right up to us and letting the kids feed them sea grass from their hands.

The Pali overlook, we thought bella would blow away it was so windy. Can you believe when we moved from NC these kids were 5 & 3 & 1 day old!! It was interesting to see how the dynamics changed, when we lived in NC David & Carynn were best friends now it was the boys & girls who play together, no mixing!

Bella is wiped out from bodysurfing at Bellows beach

We caught some "narly waves"

Lynn watched the kids so Dave and I could go snorkeling in Hanauma bay, it was such a beautiful morning and we had a wonderful time. I can't believe how BIG all the fish are that I always pictured very small. Our new favorite word....humuhumunukunukuapua'a or Trigger Fish. They are SO CUTE!

My little wahinis, with their "coco boobies" as we call them.

Visiting the Laie temple

The polynesian cultural center was really fun, I wish we had gone 2 days instead of just 1!

Watching the boat parade

The girls learning to hula like good wahinis!

The boys didn't want to learn to hula!

Look who we ran into...The Larsens! We had trouble connecting the whole week, busy schedules relaxing by the pool you know. But there they were chucking spears. I love running into friends, it is like getting a warm hug!

Spear Chucking!

Saying goodbye to the Lamberts. We had such a wonderful time visiting them. The kids all got along so well and for us it was like no time had gone by since North Carolina.

Ohana Sunsets

2009-10-21T10:49:00.000-07:00

We caught the sunset the next night, and it was beautiful!

Playing in a Banyan Tree next to Paradise Cove Luau

Looking fore tidepools

The Fellow

2009-10-14T22:15:00.001-07:00

Dave was made a Fellow of the American College of Dentists. An invitation only dental society. That was the whole reason we went to Hawaii, we didn't want to miss him being inducted in. Plus the conference was in HAWAII...need I say more. Anyway, Day 3 included lots of fun things but was topped off with this event at the Sheraton.

Shaka

The kids made it about 3/4 of the way through entertaining themselves with cars and games on my phone and then we had to excuse ourselves to wait outside.

We raced back to Ko'Olina, a 1 hour drive with Honolulu traffic (YUCKY) trying to catch the sunset over the water. We were 10 minutes too late. Bummer!

Hawaii, v 1.0

2009-10-13T17:31:00.000-07:00

It is going to take me lots of posts to get through all the pictures we took of our trip. And since I am still in laundry recovery and school recovery mode at home, please forgive the lateness. We had the most wonderful family vacation to Hawaii the end of Sept, beginning of October. Dave was going to the ADA conference and being inducted into a dental society so we decided to celebrate and take all the kid

s with us. We also have friends who live on Oahu so visiting them was an added bonus!

Thank Heaven for ipods! And kids getting older.
Bella the secret MJ fan, this is her singing Thriller. It sounds pretty much like this:

Thrilla, thrilla night a humma hum budu dada hmum aa

We stayed in a condo on the south side of the island at the beautiful Mariott Ko'Olina resort. It had 4 lagoons so we had to try them all. What a relaxing vacation. I think this was lagoon 2
Ben wasn't a huge fan of the water, or the sand. But he was content to sit on my lap.

Dave taught each of the kids to snorkel

And luckily we can find a Wendy's everywhere we go. Dave even tried the local special at McDonalds, spam and eggs. He said it was just as gross as he remembered it being from when he was a kid. My thought was, "well why did you buy it then??"

All tuckered out. (Yes her hands are in her pants What The??)

More Wedding Pictures...

2009-09-09T22:39:00.000-07:00

Because we just can't get enough of being together. Although Dave likes to say, we are going to be together forever, let's not cram it all in at once. (jokingly of course mom!)

These are from the reception held here in my parents backyard. We were lucky enough to have our good friends the Larsens come down from Puyallup to take all the wedding photos (which turned out so beautiful of course!)

As a side note, it is so fun to see good friends, whether you run into them randomly in the Salt Lake Airport or you plan a visit together. Whether your visit is a few minutes or a few hours, it is like getting the best hug and keeps you feeling good for days afterwards. I love hearing that my friends that I don't see anymore are doing well, that they are happy.

So back to the wonderful wedding...

Ben, Reilyn, James & Bella waiting to be directed where to go.

The Dyer grandkids with grandma & grandpa...don't the girls look like little white fairies in their dresses.

Dave & James

Our handsome RM Trav and little mis tab...he's single ladies...

The blushing bride & her brother

Adyson & Savannah BFF's

Little fairies waiting for the food to make it's appearance

My lovely mother

Miss Avery is always so cute, especially when she is sneaking into the pail of gummy worms grandma is using to bribe the kids to smile...hee hee

And she's not the only sneaky one in the family, miss gabby & miss bella

Ben was in heaven, free reign in grandma's backyard, plus a table full of food he can reach without anyone noticing. He came home with drips running down his shirt.

running girlies

This is my wonderful grandpa, who is in the hospital right now. It was so good to see him and visit with him.

Poor little David didn't feel good this weekend, he crashed inside on the couch.

First Day of School, First day of school....

2009-09-02T22:36:00.000-07:00

Wake up wake up wake up!

This is our mini version of the german first day of school tradition. I will probably spell it wrong, but they are these GIANT funnels full of school supplies & treats that you can buy at the stores for the kids and parents give to their kids in Germany. I think it is spelled schulle tutte?? (Kristin correct me if I'm way off). I've made them for the kids the last few years with a special pen or pencil and some treats in them. This goes along with our back to school dinner which I let the kids pick out (pizza big surprise) and then of course fathers blessings to start off the year.

So...of course of first day of school can't start off without a story & excitement. David & Savannah started today, but Isabella's kindergarten doesn't start until tomorrow. She did not want to be left out of the fun of getting her hair fixed and getting pictures taken in her new outfit. And she wanted to have her pictures taken with Savannah since their outfits kind of matched. (I swear I do not match them on purpose all the time, usually they CHOOSE to match-which of course I LOVE).

So here are the gorgous kiddos all ready and excited for the first day of school. This was about 30 minutes before the bus comes...

Now with shades to add some hollywood glam...she poses everyone herself too-little miss bossy bossy!

David on the other hand is not excited about being taken away from his last few minutes of freedom for lame pictures...

So then Isabella says to everyone, okay get your backpacks so we can pretend to walk to the bus so mom can take pictures of all of us walking to the bus. The kindergarteners aren't even taking the bus to school this week and we still had about 20 minutes to go at this point but it is all about the perfect picture...

Definitely not happy...

la la la, she's bossing them around telling them which way to walk to get the perfect shot...

And now we actually do walk to the bus

They don't even turn around to wave goodbye anymore...

So then she goes in the house and changes so she can save her first day of school outfit for her real first day of school which is tomorrow...

Afternoon snacks must be grandma van cookies, the most divine cookies in the world.

I have to say, I love the excitement of fall and knowing my kids are growing and learning and having fun. But I always feel like a piece of my heart is missing when I see them walk on the bus that first morning and spend the first quiet day of the school year at home with the littles.

2009-09-01T23:34:00.000-07:00

Double ear infection, prednizone, lots of tylenol & advil...and I am still such a good mom that I take my kids to the fair! Yep the fair is a long honored tradition at our house. When we visited we never missed and so far we haven't missed yet. One of the first things Dave did with my family was go to the fair.

But this summer our family mantra has been "we can't do that because we're saving our money for Hawaii". So the kids have had to make hard choices, burgerville or hawaii fun money, movies or hawaii fun money. This year they forfeited rides at the fair for fun in Hawaii. We're trying to teach them the value of money and that we can't do or pay for everything. But even with just visiting animals, peeking at the jausting and doing the free stuff they still had a fabulous time.

The girls made little purses at the sewing booth

I think David took this picture when we weren't paying attention

We LoVe the fair!!

Darling you look mah-va-lus...

2009-08-20T22:41:00.000-07:00

We had a whirlwind wedding week. And I think that is what threw my system into overload and caused me to get SO SO sick. I started feeling crummy on Tuesday....on Thursday Dave went to a funeral for his uncle in Aberdeen while I stayed home and got ready for our big trip.

Thursday afternoon Dave's mom came into town from the funeral so she could watch our kids and Thursday night

UNCLE TRAVIS CAME HOME FROM HIS MISSION to Geneva! Horray Horray Horray!

And I have no pictures because I was feeling sick and we were late and I forgot my camera and I'm lame...but then Friday morning bright and early we all got on a plane to Utah. It is the first time my brothers and sisters and I have gone on a vacation together no kids since right before I got married...14 years ago!

chubby cheesy smiles

Friday all day Dave & I played in Provo and visited Matt & Ashley in Ogden to see the cutest newest baby Lance He is so tiny, tinier than any of my babies ever were outside my body! But sweet as pie. And then Friday night we went to dinner to celebrate Scott & Clarissa's upcoming wedding. Yummy yummy Brazilian grill, I think Dave was the most excited of everyone for the delicious food. But again, I have no pictures because I am lame.

Saturday morning Dave got up really early to find me some medicine because I was dying and I wanted to be happy and vivacious for the wedding festivities. As a family (minus Scott & Clarissa) we went through a session at the Salt Lake temple which was wonderful. Then we raced over to try to have breakfast

And they don't serve breakfast buffets at the Joseph Smith building on Saturday mornings (What The??)

Here is patient, patient Dave. I can't say enough about how wonderful he was to me all weekend while I was sick & so patient with having to wait and be on other people's schedules.

Mom and our new RM Travis

Aren't they a handsome bunch of Dyer boys!

Here we are recreating the day we got engaged. We did not get engaged here, but took pictures on this spot that day.

Becca & Travis

I just thought this was such a funny picture!

How yous doin?

Grandma & Grandpa Teuscher

The Happy Couple

Sunday we got up and went to see Music & the Spoken Word which was so wonderful. They even played one of my favorite songs from my favorite movie...can you guess? The Sound of Music of course!
Here are Dave & Travis catching some shut eye at the Church History museum. We were all so tired by the end of the weekend.

Mom is Sick-PARTY TIME!!!

2009-08-17T22:50:00.000-07:00

I have had probably one of the worst cold/ear infection/flu viruses ever the last 11 days (starting from right before we went to Utah and still going strong). And this is what my kids do when mom is pretty much incapacitated with pain, and can't hear because her ears are plugged...

They take 57 pictures....these are just some of the gems...

THE END!

Cub Scouts, Cub Camp (and Craft Camp) Hooray!

2009-08-13T23:38:00.000-07:00

I am the webelos den leader, so I've had the privilige of being with a great group of boys once a week the whole summer. We've been working on being artists, learning about nature & geology, getting our bicycle and ultimate frisbee belt loops. And to culminate, going to Cub Camp and on a hike to the Ape Caves on Mt. St. Helens-which was AWESOME!

The girls and I also have a tradition that we do craft camp while David is at cub camp. Last year we did something every day, I was trying to make up for the fact that we were still currently homeless (we didn't move in for another few weeks) but this year has been a little bit crazy (just a little...)

The ape caves are a series of lava tubes formed thousands of years ago during one of mt. st. helens eruptions. You can only climb down into them in the summer because they are filled with water in the winter but it was a really fun hike for us to go on with the boys.

The lone girl...what a beauty...there was one smart boy who chose to "loose" his buddy and stuck to Savannah like glue the whole hike.

After hiking into the ape caves we stopped to see the petrified forest. What happened is the trees were covered with lava, but they burned slower than the lava hardened so after the lava hardned and the trees burned away what was left was the imprint of them trunks, fallen trees and roots in the lava. VERY COOL!

This is what Ben does while we are doing craft camp...

These are two very happy girls crafting beautiful jewelery boxes with paint, and mod podge, and glitter and pretty papers. Oh Heaven!

I'm Peanut Butter & You are Jelly...

2009-08-12T10:16:00.001-07:00

...and we're so happy on our little piece of bread!

Happy Birthday to my Sweetheart! You are the King, and yes you are still as young and handsome as the day we met.

PS I just downloaded 136 pictures from my camera...look for some fun posts coming up soon after my double ear infection starts feeling better!

PSS I am so thankful for hearing, after spending the last 5 days with 1/2 my hearing I am SO ready for that gift from Heavenly Father to return

Summer Summer Summertime

2009-07-23T00:45:00.000-07:00

Means an annual getaway for Dave to the AGD conference...and this year I got to tag along to Baltimore...

Sans Kids....

It was a fun trip, relaxing, uneventful. By day 3 I really missed my little ones at home, but I love going away just the two of us.

Here are a few pictures of the Inner Harbor area of baltimore where our hotel was

Aquarium

old sailing vessel

One thing Dave loves about this particular conference is visiting with all his old army buddies from his residency. We crashed the Army AGD constintuency party the first night to visit with friends and mentors

Dave & Chris

The next day I hiked 12 blocks to visit the art museum and saw the Washington monument. It was set up on a hill so that ships coming into harbor could see it as a landmark.

A close up of the monument, it was the first monument dedicated to George Washington

That night we went to a BBQ and Orioles game

Statue of Babe Ruth, he was born in Baltimore a few blocks from Camden Yards

We got to watch batting practice while we ate dinner

The last night we went to dinner with all the AGD residents from Ft. Bragg NC who had made it to the conference, we missed Joe & Kathy, Glenda, & Valerie.

Dave, David (lives in Alaska), Chris (lives in Hawaii) and Young (lives in Germany)

They are all the exotic ones now and we are the boring Stateside dwellers! The residency threw them together 18 hours a day 6 days a week for 2 years so they are all good friends & it was fun for me to sit back and watch them talk shop, reminisce about being tortured by their mentors and laugh as if no time had gone by.

Next year New Orleans...

Baptism Day

2009-07-20T07:46:00.000-07:00

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.

3 John 1:4

Savannah looked so beautiful on her special day and had lots of family and friends around to share their love with her as she decided to get baptized. She was baptized by her father and confirmed by her father, with her grandfathers, great grandpa Teuscher, and her uncles Rick, Jon, Doug, Aaron & Matt, and the Bishop assisting.

She was baptized with her friend Brooklyn.

The after feast!!

Happy LATE 4th of July

2009-07-19T07:36:00.000-07:00

I can't say enough how grateful I am to be an American. And for all the people who died and sacrificed and currently sacrifice for our country. God Bless America.

The 4th was spent in typical fashion with the kids waking up & begging for mom to make pancakes.

Tristyn was visiting us, and Dave & Matt were off on a bike ride so the kids got their wish.

Then they went off to see Ice Age 3 so Ben & I cleaned & cooked in prep for the BBQ and Baptism on Sunday

BBQ & Swimming at May's which I have no pictures of. Our 2 families have a wonderful friendship that has continued into the 2nd and 3rd generations. Bella was so happy to be with Gabby & Olivia again. She has been going through withdrawals since pre-school got over. Then after the party we all walk to Foltz's for the giant fireworks show.

Some very bad phone photos. David & Rick really wanted to get in on the action and light off fireworks this year, but the dad's said no. Brandon & Larry put on the most amazing fireworks show. It is seriously as good as a professional show. It is their favorite holiday in the whole year.

Happy Birthday America!

Sorry for the bad phone photos, my camera has been missing!

8 years old

2009-07-18T11:45:00.000-07:00

We had an eventful birthday week, culminating in Savannah's 8th birthday, 4th of July, Baptism weekend extravaganza...too many pictures for one post. So to begin we started off her birthday right with a trip to her fav restaurant...Olive Garden. Uncle Scott even made a surprise visit home from his busy school schedule in Rexburg, and Uncle Matt & Tristyn drove all the way from Utah to spend this weekend with our family so we had a fun group.

Savannah & Adyson, best cousins, best friends. I am so happy they are such good friends, they just giggle and laugh all day long.

Is it a purse or what?? A scripture tote!

We visited the Portland Temple before heading to Deseret Book for some new scriptures

Swimming & Birthday cake topped off a fun day!

We love our Savannah!

My favorite things about 8 year old Savannah

She still wants to give me hugs and be held....I hope she never outgrows it.

Her beautiful expressive eyes, even when they are rolling at me.

She is so quick thinking, super musician on the piano and beautiful artist

She is a great big sister to Isabella & Benjamin, and is very caring and protective of them.

She has a sweet strong testimony of our Savior and the Restored Gospel and has even borne her testimony in church on many occasions. She is so much braver than I ever was!

I love her laugh and happy smile!

Puppy Power

2009-07-17T23:45:00.000-07:00

We had a howling good time at Bella's 5th birthday party! Of course she isn't in this picture because she was too interested in the party gifts inside! But here are the other lovely puppies that joined us at the Keller Kennels!

Yes those are paw print cupcakes, and yes we do hire out our services for party planning (j/k)

The pictures are HORRIBLE. I left my camera at the beach and it hadn't been returned to me yet so these are all from my cell phone or my mom's camera which I borrowed after this.

Playing dog dog cat while we wait for our friends to come and get their faces painted

Pinata time!

Bella-isms

2009-07-16T23:45:00.001-07:00

I can't believe my sweet baby is 5. My heart says stop, stop growing, but I thrill with each new milestone, and try to savor every laugh, every joy & their individual personalities. Bella is her own sweet girl and sometimes the things she says just crack us up. This is one bella ism related to me by my aunt Kimberly who lives down the street. The girls stayed with them when we were in Baltimore recently:

Scene: Sunday morning, all the kids are getting ready for church. Hayden (14) and Dallin (11) are tying their ties while Bella gets her dress zipped up and hair fixed by aunt Kimberly.

Bella (to Hayden): *dramatic sigh* when I wear this dress, all the boys faint

Hayden: Bella, do you know what faint means?

Bella: Yeah, it's when their knees get weak and they fall down because I am so attractive

When I got home from my trip she related to me that Hayden fainted twice because she was so attractive and so did Andrew who is a little boy in her class. And that Andrew always faints when she wears her yellow dress. Then Kimberly told me the story of the morning conversation and how her boys laughed about it all day long!

Bella just has her own unique sense of self & style and I love that she knows how beautiful she is. If only we can keep her this self-confident all the way through high school! I love my 5 year old girl!

what...

beachwear, I know it's too cold to put my face in the water, but I look cool mom!

She got 2 outfits from her fav friends Olivia & Gabby so she decided to wear them both, you can't see it but she has dr seuss striped leggins underneath the dress. So cute, she even wore them on Sunday to her sisters baptism under her dress! Mom was so crazy she didn't even notice!

Birthdaytopia

2009-07-02T23:57:00.000-07:00

The girls, with another lovely birthday girl, gabby Gabby is 3 weeks older than Bella

My girls were born 3 years and 5 days apart...totally not planned...bella was 2 weeks late. So this week is always crazy, crazy but fun. We've had a puppy birthday party, a family birthday party. Some fun company come into town, mad cleaning of the house annd tomorrow is a birthday lunch for Savannah, then the 4th and then Sunday Savannah is getting baptized which means more company and fun. I am running on little sleep but happy to see my girlie girls so thrilled. I can relax next week when Dave & I take a trip to Baltimore. YEAH!

Here are some more pictures from June, Ben playing in the water fountain at the little league park. They had a little one for dogs that he really got into, head to toe soaked! Thanks cousin Jackson for helping him figure out how to turn it on...ha ha!

Dyers Having Fun in the Woods

2009-06-18T00:07:00.000-07:00

Memorial Day growing up always meant camping, usually somewhere in the Gifford Pinchot forest, and at least from the time I was 13 it was usually with the May family. Almost 20 years later when Memorial Day rolls around everyone asks...are we going to Beaver? So we headed up there, the Dyer clan minus Scott & Travis and the May clan. 5 campsites...18 adults, 22 kids...GOOD TIMES!

We visited the fish hatchery:

All the Dyer cousins

We swam in the Wind River

Two snails snuck into our campsite for some alone time

Ken & Barbie enjoyed their "quiet honeymoon" also

We met up with some friends from our ward who were camping about 5 miles away for another hike....so many kids it was craziness on the trail

But the two waterfalls we saw were beautiful!

Overall a fun filled weekend. Lots of good times around the campfire, smores, dutch oven, baseball games, bike riding & family fun times!

Springtime at the farm

2009-06-10T12:08:00.000-07:00

We had a delightful trip to Bi-Zi farms with Isabella's pre-school class this May. It is always fun to see the baby animals (the bunnies & chicks are the star of the show) and the kids get to take home a strawberry to plant.

Here we are looking at all the ducks & geese

Ben was especially fascinated with the animals, he calls them all dodgies

Mom, Hyrum, Becca & Laurieann on the hey ride to the strawberry fields

Ben, me & Bella

Isabella with her girlie friends from class, Kailey, Olivia, Bella, Gabriella. Missing are Kaitlyn & Annie (all her BFF"s that she will miss when she goes to Kindergarten this fall)

Pure Delight

Not quite as delighted

Father & Sons Campout

2009-06-06T08:29:00.000-07:00

In May our church holds a father & son's campout to commemorate the restoration of the priesthood. It is a much anticipated event in our house. It also heralds the beginning of warmer weather and summertime fun in our house. Dave & David went and had a great time.

Big boys, little boys, a campfire on a warm spring night what better evening can there be?

As you can see the fire was a constant source of entertainment for the little boys

While the big boys huddled around the food, making sure breakfast is cooked to perfection.

Da Vinci is Da Man!!

2009-06-06T08:20:00.000-07:00

We visited OMSI for a fabulous exhibit about Da Vinci, his inventions and a detailed look at the Mona Lisa. Which we all noticed is much smaller in real life than any of the versions they had at the exhibit. It was a fabulous exhibit and a wonderful afternoon. We love OMSI, the kids favorite room is the techology room with the ball shooters, earthquake house and watertables.

Mona Rick

Mona Savannah

Mona Isabella

Ben wouldn't leave the water tables

Mona David

Fun in the yard

2009-06-03T10:22:00.000-07:00

The last weekend in May we drove to Aberdeen WA to help clean up Dave's grandparents house & Yard. It was a Keller family work day with us, Dave's parents and sister Miriam's family all pitching in to help grandma & grandpa Sjoistrand.

Ben is enjoying the ride to grandma's house

David's favorite part was getting up on the roof with the men to help clean the shingles. He kept looking down and saying, "mom I'm up on the roof, mom where are you, I"m still up on the roof". He wanted to make sure we all knew how cool he was!

We found a bird nest in this tree that we were trimming

Ben was happy helping all day long, Isabella on the other hand disappeared inside to color & play with the dog.

Amazing Disappearing Keller Act

2009-06-01T09:00:00.000-07:00

We've been taken over by baseball, scouts, camping, end of the school year field trips & activities. No time for blogging. But I promise to be back with a new commitment to our family journal this week.

In the meantime here are a few of the things we've been doing in the crazy month of May:

We had a Keller family service day at great grandma & grandpa Sjoistrands house in Aberdeen

We've been to 300 baseball games, well maybe not that many but it feels like it

Ben had a minor surgery, and learned to say OW and point to his injuries

Isabella was jealous of all the attention Ben was getting so she cut her own hair. Not nearly as bad as the time David cut Savannah's hair...am I right Germany friends??

We visited OMSI for the Mona Lisa exhibit

Dave & David went to the Father & Sons

The littles & I visited BI-ZI farms to see all the baby animals

We went camping to Beaver with the Dyer & May clans

Where we found Barbie & Ken, and a pair of snails in compromising positions!!

And hiked to a beautiful waterfall with a group of about 50 people-mostly kids under 11!

Whew that was a busy month. Aren't you excited to hear more about it in detail?? Stay tuned!

We Love Seattle

2009-04-22T07:57:00.000-07:00

We made a quick trip up to Seattle last week. Dave had a class and board meeting in Bellevue so the kids got to skip a little school and spend time with the grandparents. It was definitely a long day, 5 am report to the car for a 3 hour drive, 8pm pick up dad again in our pj's for the long drive home. But with a few stops for bribary (McDonald's playland on the way up, Wendy's frosty on the way down) the kids were well behaved and we had a fun visit with the Seattle Kellers.

The kids have been wanting to visit the Aquarium since last summer and this was a much talked about event, especially for Isabella. She was so excited, she told all her friends and all her neighbors how much they would miss her on Friday because she would be at the aquarium in Seattle. We even had to call Gabby twice to talk about it.

Look Look
The touch tank
Savannah, Isabella, David, Melissa

Savannah

Isabella

Melissa

Big D

Isabella

Savannah

Melissa & Bella

look look

Can you tell my girls love to pose for pictures??

Ben really wants to go swimming...but the Sound is too cold!

A picnic on the waterfront

The beautiful olympic mountains

And a fun carousel ride end the fun day

More Easter Fun

2009-04-18T09:11:00.000-07:00

We made Egg cakes to frost for our family Easter Dinner at Grandma's
Coloring our eggs, everyone has their own technique

Some of the masterpieces

The Easter Bunny didn't hide the baskets very well this year so they were found long before mom crawled out of bed. Next year she'll be trickier for sure.

All bella wanted in her basket was littlest pet shops...thank heaven the Easter bunny read the dozens of sticky notes letters she posted on the tree in the front yard.

Chocolate Bunnies are so yummy!

Easter Weekend

2009-04-15T07:47:00.000-07:00

The kids all know they are supposed to pose for obligatory photos every Easter & Christmas. The girls love it, David cringes.

Dave is teaching himself piano while we take pictures outside. The day was grey & blustery, but the rains stopped for a few minutes so we could get some pictures.

Of course I took way too many of the littlest little...he is too cute with his roly poly arms & legs

look mom look

Isabella insisted on posing herself this way in almost every photo...she is so stubborn
Savannah likes to look down so she is looking at you with her eyes and her glasses are on her nose. She is very self conscious about her glasses, but I think she is beautiful.

My cheesy boy, showing off the coveted alien goo he got from the Easter Bunny. If only the Easter bunny knew that this would be so popular, she would have bought four of them. They were at the 1$ spot at target!
Lovey lovies

Brother loves
Happy Easter!

FHE & Fondue

2009-04-09T15:14:00.001-07:00

Lots going on the last few weeks. A reprieve from baseball over spring vacation, spring vacation rainy day fun. Etc., Etc. Now we are back in the routine of school, sports, cubs, play dates, baseball, piano & etc. On the go-with things to do every single day. The weather has been wonderful so we have been working to get our yard in shape. But Mondays we always reserve for some fun family time.

My girls absolutely love to cook. So a few months ago I bough them this awesome cookbook KIDS IN THE KITCHEN and they love to look through the simple fun recipes and pick something out for dinner or dessert. Savannah was on treats for FHE so she chose to make fondue, a very simple version. YUMM-O

We also watched the other side of heaven which we had recorded and the kids loved it. Of course I cried at the end. What a great movie!

Ben's FHE enjoyment far exceeded anyone else's!

Off to cub scouts, baseball game & dinner on the go. I heart springtime.

Ben loves to drag his toys around, not really into pushing, just dragging them with him.

Isabella enjoying some game time while the bigs are at school.

Toad in the Hole

2009-04-02T09:08:00.000-07:00

Some dear family friends are on vacation so grandma is looking after their chickens. We had fun yesterday visiting Brother Verne's chickens and collecting some eggs for ourselves. There were 9 large eggs, some brown some white.

Peeking into the nest

The kids LOVED the chickens and were fascinated by the process. Lots of questions were asked & answered. Here are 2 of my favorites:

Why don't these eggs turn into baby chicks? (because there isn't a rooster in the henhouse).

Do the eggs come out of the chickens butts? (why yes, yes they do)

Ben absolutely loved the chickens, saying "look look" and then babbling excitedly.

His first word besides mama, dada & more (which sounds a lot like ma ma because he says more more more) was look. Now he can say ball & some also. It was a blustery rainy cold day (kind of lame for spring vacation) thus the cute yellow slicker that he his fast growing out of.

I asked the kids what they wanted to do with the eggs, they said they wanted Toad in the Hole for breakfast. YUMMY!

And our favorite thing to do with the hole....

Nutella Toast

Baby loves nutella!

Shake it shake it

2009-03-23T23:21:00.000-07:00

Does the fact that my children love to get up on tables and dance or swing around poles say something about my mothering skills??

What's UP??

2009-03-23T22:51:00.000-07:00

What have we been up to lately?

taking care of little babies who aren't feeling so good...isn't he delightful??
and taking care of bigger babies who also aren't feeling so good. We have had a bout of stomach flu that lasts and lasts make its rounds through the kids, not the throw up kind...but still no fun. It's finally made it's way to me YUCK YUCK.

Bella is expressing her independant fashion taste lately. My mom picking her up from pre school commented, "she looks like a bag lady". Sometimes it's just easier to let her wear what she wants and freeze than fight her on it, she is soooo stubborn. Her new favorite outfits are the one below, accentuated with a large bright yellow scarf of mine that she wears like a pashmina and her ballet tights, leotard and skirt that she insists is appropriate pre-school attire if you just add the skirt below and a cute sweater to the ensamble. She truly wears this skirt at least 3 x a week. She is almost as bad as David who tries to sneak to school in the same holey sweats every day.

My lovely birthday cake, that my sweet husband...otherwise known as my BFF (BEST FRIEND FOREVER for those who didn't go to my junior high and aren't familiar with our lingo). He had Tuesday off which was my birthday and he is really good at making a fuss over me, always cooking& taking care of me. He baked these cupcakes earlier in the day, frosted them and put the candles in and left them in the oven until the party. Then forgot they were in the oven when he went to pre-heat it to make lasagne (another favorite treat of mine). I was disappointed because German chocolate cake is my absolute fave! I settled for a 7 lb chocolate cake from costco...YUMMY!

Would you like some blue wax with your pecan frosting??

David had his pinewood derby on my birthday so that got to be my pre-party. He loves building the car, but was tortured when I made him sand it and paint it 3 times. But he and his dad have gotten pretty good at making cars, this is the 2nd time he has come in first. Not as cool a car as last year's spongebob square pants car because I did the designing of the body and he painted it himself...but it still won. Well, technically he came in 2nd but that is because they let an 11 year old race so David will get to be the one to represent the pack at the district competition.

The siblings enjoyed movies while the older boys raced.

Here is David reigning in his enthusiasm!

Baseball season is upon us...wet, rainy baseball season. We were all bundled up to watch David's first game, except for bella who was wearing her outfit above, a light jacket, and mary jane shoes with no socks...I am mother of the year!

We love our cupcakes. This was our FHE treat for tonight...

The girls are really into the sprinkles, more so than the eating the actual cupcakes. Isabella said it felt like she was spreading fairy dust on her cupcake-just like tinkerbell.

Old Rachel would have eaten all the leftovers...

New rachel still has the stomach flu

THE END!

MY BFF

2009-03-16T22:28:00.000-07:00

Engagement Pictures 1995

In a previous post, I mis-labeled my sweet sister as my BFF. I was informed that the word BEST indicates the numero uno, the top, the biggest kahuna of all kahunas and therefore the term BEST friend should really only be used to denote the person who is truly my world and that would of course be my husband Dave.

When I think of best friends, I usually put that into the girl category and husbands are in another category and so that is where I made the mistake. Of course my best GIRL friends are my sisters & mom. But if we are talking any relationship, then the best friend in my life would always be Dave. There is no comparison, he is my favorite. And since tomorrow is Tuesday I will share with you 10 reasons why Dave is my best friend, and always will be of course.

Portland Temple Atrium, Jan 5, 1996

Just so I am perfectly clear, these are in no particular order.

1. He always makes me laugh...even when I really don't want to laugh, he is still there trying to crack jokes and make me laugh. I always know when it is time for an epidural because he is no longer funny, in fact that is when his joking makes me mad. But then the anesthesiologist comes and then I can laugh again.

2. He knows all my inside jokes, can finish my sentences, and makes fun of the same things, or laughs at the same things I do. We have been sharing our life since 1995 and that makes for a lot of inside jokes.

The day we got engaged, Oct 2, 1995

3. He loves me in spite of and sometimes, I think, because of all my neurosis. Enough said!

4. He goes to museums and plays with me even though he'd rather be home watching a game or reading a book. In fact, we went to at leats one museum usually more than one in every city in Europe we visited, now that is LOVE!

5. He is a good father to our children, what more can a mother ask for.

At our reception, lovely winter theme. I LOVED my dress & flowers but mostly the man I was standing next too!

6. He will stay up late at night when I want to talk. He makes a big fuss like he hates it, but I know inside he secretly loves it. Now for those who know Dave, he loves to go to bed really early and get up really early, so you know what a sacrifice this is.

7. He has the most beautiful blue eyes, now I know this isn't really a "friend" quality and I am only supposed to be listing "friend" qualities, but this is my list and I can do what I want.

8. He helps me with my math. I don't need to go into more detail than that do I?? Most of you know I am bad at math!

9. He pushes me to be better and loves me regardless of all my weaknesses.

10. He knows when I need love and freely gives it.

I love you dearest, you are my best friend forever!

This is my favorite of our wedding pictures, the photographer was standing on the other side of the reflection pool, we were goofing around between shots, my dad took this from behind.

When the cat's away...

2009-03-09T22:26:00.000-07:00

The Mice Make Cupcakes!

Savannah showing off her artistic skill

Yes, that is food coloring we just decorated our cupcakes with instead of gel...how could you tell?
Gabriella & Hyrum so cute

OH YUMMY!

We have a fantastic babysitter, my cousin Talia...and she is wonderful not just because she lives down the street and I don't have to pick her up...but because she really plays with the kids. When she comes for longer than an hour she always bakes something, and leaves me the leftovers YUMMY! Thankfully she took these great photos to show their handiwork with the food coloring gel pens.

So on Saturday Dave was working all day at a scouting event and my BIL Douglas was working all day at work so my sis & I decided to have a girls afternoon and go together to our cousins' wedding. We left the bigs at home with Talia and took just the babies. I am so glad we went. We got to spend a few hours with my grandpa, who I love and don't see often enough, and I got to spend 5 hours in the car laughing & talking with my BFF. We visited grandma Raquel's grave which has the most beautiful headstone on it. Plus we got to see Keith and his beautiful bride and spend time with our Dyer relations who are really a fun group to be with. To see pictures more fabulous than I could ever take of the blushing bride & groom visit my cousin Kjrsten's blog. It was so fun to see everyone, or most everyone. I really am blessed with a wonderful family and I am so thankful for them .

To steal a quote from Kjrsten too...here are some Dick Dyer origionals:

Laurieann Lacher, Rebecca Dyer Lacher, Dick Dyer, Rachel Dyer Keller, Benjamin Richard Keller (who is named after grandpa & great grandpa)

Rick Dyer Jr., Dick Dyer, Laurie Dyer

6th picture for Kathi

2009-03-04T00:12:00.000-08:00

Here is another tag from Kathi who I love. 6th picture, 6th folder. But actually the 6th picture was semi-pornographic so I couldn't show it. It was from when Savannah had this really wierd mole so we took a picture and sent it to our friend who is a dermatologist and lives in San Antonio so he could advise us on what to do. So this is actually the 7th picture. This would be spring of 2007, we were living in a tiny apartment in Landstuhl Germany. Isabella was obsessed with singing along to the keyboard. This whole folder was really random.

And here is the 3rd picture...the before the shirt is off photo...note that her pants and shirt are on backwards...hee hee!

And here are some more lovely pictures from our little photo folder. I think Dave took these pictures to share when he was giving a lecture-he's so crazy!

And while I am blogging, do you know what I love about blogs...they connect us with the people we care about, or would have lost touch with when the army sends you from here to kingdom come. But it also shows you that the world is a really small place. I just found out that my friend from Germany is also friends with my friend who lives in Hawaii-a non military connection I never would have made. I also found out today that an old friend from North Carolina lives about 35 minutes from me now, but without blogs I never would have known that. Isn't it wonderful!

10 Years Old

2009-03-02T11:14:00.000-08:00

My baby boy is in the double digits and I have officially been a mother for a decade. It is hard to believe how fast time has flown and the little bundle that I used to rock and smell his hair is now old enough to stay home by himself and figure out a good argument to get his bed time extended. David is a joy to be around, he is full of fun, quick wit, energy and plays a mean game of HALO. We all love him so much.

Of course he requested pizza for his birthday dinner & an alien cake with flying saucer. Even though he had pizza for hot lunch at school and pizza at his birthday party the next day. He could eat pizza every day for a year and not be sick of it.

Birthday party at the bowling alley

COSMIC BOWL

I made an army cake for his birthday, the guys were capturing the covenant flag.

Happy Heart Day

2009-02-15T18:49:00.000-08:00

We love love
We celebrated by going to lunch as a family since we LOVE each other the very most

Isabella dressed in her finest displaying her Lovely gift from daddy which she insisted on wearing all day long

We practiced our best manners, the girls were escorted by the boys, doors were opened, chairs pulled out

It was a lovely lovely afternoon of love...

Isn't this face one to fall in love with

My valentine present from Dave, chocolate covered cinnamin bears from the BYU bookstore and an I heart BYU t-shirt. LOVE LOVE LOVE

We ended our valentine date by watching Dave play his last indoor soccer game...hot husband running up and downt he soccer field...yummy!

Giant wads of chewing gum from the vending machines, not so yummy

Friday the 13th

2009-02-15T18:39:00.000-08:00

Is not scary around these parts, in fact it is a reason to celebrate. My sister was born on Friday the 13th, not too many years ago. And I was so excited, that I had a new sister instead of just brothers. We are six years apart and so when we were younger she liked to follow me around. Which was fun sometimes, and other times (like when I wanted to be ALONE-said with a dramatic teenager attitude) it wasn't so fun. But we are and always will be best friends. I admire her so much for all she does. Her patience, mad sewing skills, kindness and her creativity. I wish I could be more like her. Happy Birthday little sister. I'm glad you still like to follow me around!

T Tag

2009-02-12T08:38:00.000-08:00

Here are 10 things I love that start with the letter T

1. Ties-which to me are symbolic of the men in my life my husband, my father, my brothers & son. When exercising their priesthood they always wear a tie. David is learning to tie his own grown up boy tie right now and it is so cute. I am thankful for the men in my life.

2. Tissues-because I am a very sensitive person who cries a lot. I am stingy with tissues though, my kids can wipe their noses with toilet paper.

3. Toilet paper...because you know why.

4. Tithing-we pay 10% tithing to the church and receive 100% in blessings. And I am thankful for the blessing of paying tithing.

5. Teuschers-my mothers maiden name. I am thankful for her and her family and the heritage of faith I get from them. I LOVE THEM!

6. Treats. chocolate treats, baked treats, I love treats

7. Tenderness-my husband has a hard exterior but a sensitive inside. I love that side of him.

8. Treasures. We have a tradition that on every trip our kids get to pick a treasure to bring home, and I pick one too. I love to see my little treasures and remember the fun times we have had together.

9. Tiny ones-okay so that is a stretch but I do love my kids, they are my best treasures.

10. Testimony. The core of who I am is based on my testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ and I am so grateful for it.

Thanks Marie for this fun tag.

Photo Tag

2009-02-12T08:21:00.000-08:00

4th folder, 4th picture tag...you get the drift

This is overlooking the city of Nurnberg from the castle. Don'tyou love the red roofs? That is one of my favorite things about germany, all the red roofed homes. Judging from Bella's coat it was February or March of 2006.

We had gone to Nurnburg with our friend Frank Horsefall (who is in the cute German hat next to Dave). He was a good friend Dave met through the Boy Scout Council that lived in Bern and would come stay with us when they had meetings in Wuerzburg. He was always so sweet to our kids when he came to visit. Letting them climb on him and holding someone's hand. He had never been to Nurnberg so we had to take him and show him the city. I love that city, the towers, the market square with fresh flowers. I think on this trip we went to the museum of the guy who painted rabbits...I can't think of his name and my Rick Steves books are in the basement, awaiting my next European adventure (hint hint Dave).

Isabella was always so good in her pack, she pretty much lived in it. We moved to Germany when she was 2 months old and so travelling and hiking in her pack was pretty much all she knew. Dave would keep earplugs in his pocket though because for those who know bella, she is pretty loud. She would pull on his ears to tell him which way to turn and shout at the rest of us when we weren't doing what she wanted. She's not bossy at all! ha ha!

I tag Rebecca, Jody, Kjrsten, Marie

What I'm Up To

2009-02-12T07:59:00.001-08:00

There are so many things keeping me busy and inspiring me right now such as...

my new phone, isn't it cute. How on earth did I ever live without mobile email, web (facebook) & calenders. And it's pink!
New piano music, I've wanted to learn this song since it was played at my grandmother's funeral last year. It is so absolutely beautiful. I can just hear pavarati's rich tenor voice singing while I accompany him (in my imagination of course).

My new lovely piano. It's been 15 years since I had a piano in my home (that is when I moved out) and every time I pass it, I am compelled to sit down and play. After going to the music store on Monday I keep thinking of more music I want to go buy.

Sweet red baby cheeks, colds have been spreading through our home...keeping babies up coughing in the night & their cheeks very kissable.

January is the season for crafts...we had to make snowflakes to go with our own little dusting of snow the other day. Can you hear bella whining?? She is mad that David won't share his toys, thus the pretty expression on her face.

We are planning some new valentine traditions this year after being inspired from a friend. And of course getting all the kids valentines ready for their parties today. Tune in for more details.

On a Sunday afternoon

2009-02-07T08:45:00.000-08:00

You can find us watching family favorite movies such as The Sound of Music. I love it because we all sing & dance along with those awesome von trapps.

High on a hill was a lonely goat heard...lae oh di lae oh di la hee hoo!

I've always wanted to be part of a singing family that bursts into song at every opportunity...

We sing so much that we sing the baby right to sleep

And of course we have to put on our bakers outfits to bake cookies, we are hungry from all the singing

Crafts are a sunday afternoon must if you are a Keller girl, love notes for our favorite friends THE END

Cutest Hats Ever

2009-02-04T10:07:00.001-08:00

See my sidebar...but seriously my sister is so crazy creative. I wish I had 1/2 of her creative juices. We saw some hats at a bazaar for way expensive so she decided to make some herself, made them, cuted them up so they are cuter than the ones we saw which were kind of old ladyish, she makes them green (recycled), for adults & kids and even made some delicious ones for boys. Plus she uses my boy as a model-how much cuter can you get. Check them out. I love mine!!

Mysterious Ways

2009-02-04T09:37:00.000-08:00

I've been wanting to post about this for a while, but keep forgetting. This is our family journal and this is an important event, so the story is long. But I found this photo on my phone so thought I would post about it today.

Track back 4 1/2 years. Dave is a dental officer stationed with a combat support hospital in Iraq. We had been in Germany 4 weeks when he deployed so rather than spend the holidays in Germany I flew home with the kids. Right around Christmas they had what is called a mass casualty in Mosul so all the wounded were sent to the hospital. Dave was assigned to triage the wounded, who would get care, who was too far gone, etc. He triaged a soldier who was badly burned and hurt who said he was LDS and would like a priesthood blessing.

In our church the men hold priesthood and are able to administer blessings of healing when asked or needed. It is a wonderful, thing to receive a priesthood blessing especially in a time of need.

Of course Dave administered a blessing to him, and then went on with his duties as triage officer. This was a really difficult event for my husband, he doesn't talk about it much. I was at home in Vancouver with my family. He was able to get a short phone call off to me to assure me he was fine before they cut off the phone lines and also before I heard about it on the news-it was about 5 in the morning when he woke me up with a phone call. Literally minutes later my dad saw details about the bombing on the news. He then sent a detailed email regarding his feelings, the smell of his hands and how he had administered to this man who he didn't know. We knew how blessed we were because many families never got a phone call to reassure them that their loved ones weren't injured for a week. Or worse were getting phone calls saying they were injured.

My brother Rick was the Elders Quorum president in his ward, and a lady in his ward had a sister living with her while her husband was deployed. She received a phone call like that Your husband has been injured, he's badly burned we don't know anything else. End of phone call, and it would be weeks before she heard anything else from the military. Rick mentioned this to me, and I noticed the connection-Dave had given a blessing to a burn victim, so quickly emailed Dave and asked if he remembered the soldier's last name and it was her husband. Dave emailed her, reassuring her that her husband would be okay, he was injured but would heal, etc. I knew the Lord was working through us at that time.

Fast forward 4 years, we are sitting at our ward Christmas party next to a family who is visiting their mom who is in our ward. We had met before, she knew my brother Rick, all those small mormon connections that you figure out when you first meet people. They live in Tacoma and her husband is in the army stationed at Ft. Lewis. So our husbands start doing the introductions...where have you been stationed, what is your MOS (your job in the military) etc. Her husband is enlisted and as a rule enlisted soldiers do not have much respect for medical soldiers -they aren't real army- but he askes politely if Dave ever served a combat tour which he replies yes. Can you see where this is going??

They figure out that they both served in Mosul at the same time but at different bases. Dave says he was the assitant branch leader for the Mosul branch and the man says, I was injured in the DFAC bombing and I have always wondered who gave me a blessing, that it was such a comfort and asks if Dave would know who it was. Dave says it was him and the man jumps up and rushes around the table to give him a big hug. Meanwhile, his wife starts crying, saying she has also always wondered because of the letter she received and what a comfort it was for her in that time of need in their life.

Again we see the Lord working through us, for us. What a wonderful thing to meet these people, to know you have this small connection. And we were both so thankful that we were there, doing what is right able to bless the lives of others in small ways and feeling blessed ourselves.

And look they even match!

Girls Night

2009-02-04T09:22:00.000-08:00

On Saturday at a baby shower my grandmother announced that she had just finished reading Twilight. I was so surprised, I knew my grandma was cool but, I didn't realize she was TWILIGHT cool. Anyhoo, my mom suggested going to see the movie before it leaves theaters for those who hadn't seen it. So we had a girls night last night. So it was my mom, grandma, me & 3 of my aunts. None of us had seen the movie before. Also, my SIL Marzee and her mom, Marzee is a little obsessed with Twilight, she's seen the movie 4 times and even visited the set when they were filming and she was giddy waiting for it to start. Marva has seen the movie before to but was game for a girls night and enjoying it again. It was so fun & funny, I wish I had been able to take pictures during the movie-my family is so awesome. My mom jumping out of her seat & screaming when Edward grabs bella & jumps out the window, my grandma enthralled at all the love scenes. And of course my awesome aunties enjoying truly a teen romance movie. Total FUN! Plus I loved sitting by Marzee because she knows everything about the movie and pointed out a lot of things I would have missed, or back stories. LOVED IT!

I know these are blurry I was playing with my new toy, my blackberry (I know I am way spoiled, actually it was buy one get one free & we were buying one for Dave so I got a free one-yeah). So L-R is Kimberly, Cindy, Allison (aunts), Grandma T, Mom, Marva

Here's a blurry shot of marzee & marva, they weren't liking my super bright flash

The Routine

2009-01-27T08:05:00.000-08:00

Every morning, I take Ben up to the bathroom with me, get out some toys for him, turn on and off the tub faucet and distract him a little bit and then hop in the shower. A few minutes later, he realizes I have left his field of sight and comes wailing to the shower door, banging and banging his fist on it until I get out. This is alternated with going into the closet and tantruming ont he floor their and going into my bedroom and throwing a tantrum on the floor there. Well, Friday we began the routine, and the wailing started at the shower door and then there was silence. And so of course I peeked out of the shower and this is what I found.

I love long showers!

Christmas Outfits

2009-01-27T07:53:00.000-08:00

I always get the kids matching sunday clothes for Christmas and Easter. Dave thinks it's gay...too many scars from having to match his twin brother all the time (not that they don't love each other, just he got tired of being matchy all the time). But I can still get him to give in for holidays. I never took a picture because our Christmas church service was cancelled. And the next Sunday I forgot to get the camera out.

These picture didn't turn out quite like I'd hoped. I have to say that I really hate 11:00 church I would much rather have 1 or 9. 11 is just right in the middle of everything. Lunch, naps, basically the whole day!

Belated Ten

2009-01-21T08:02:00.000-08:00

I just couldn't get it together last night to do a 10 on Tuesday so here is a belated 10....things I really want to do and need to MAKE TIME for even though there is...piles of laundry, ironing, busy errands, pack meetings & 1 billion other things that are demanding attention. This year I'd like to focus on the little things that make life important rather than the little things that take away our focus from what is important.

1. Read stories to my babies-all 4 of them. Every night!

2. Spend 20 minutes reading & pondering the scriptures with few distractions. I can't guarantee no distractions because I am not a wake up early before the kids kind of person so this is the best I can do.

3. Get out & enjoy nature with the family more. Strangely in this beautiful place we live in, we really haven't made time to go for walks or go hiking.

4. Cuddle up with a good book, just for me. Okay, this I have been doing, but I want to keep dong it! Good reads lately: The green rider series-although I forgot until after I got into it that this lady only updates her series every five years so now I am irritated because I have to wait 5 more years for closure!!

6. Exercise every day...I just got way off track over the holidays.

7. Enjoy one on one time with the kids, more frequently. Really listen to what they are saying.

8. Date night EVERY WEEK! Sometimes we count things as dates that aren't really dates, so we need to be better about planning & executing good dates.

9. Try not to yell so much, sometimes it feels like I have to yell just to be heard over the noise of the family, and I hate it. So I really want to not yell so much.

10. Do my visiting teaching. I am not one with a testimony of visiting teaching. I have only been assigned visiting teachers that actually came twice in the last 15 years since I came into relief society. And with my history of moves that means I was have probably been visit taught a total of 15 times. So it is difficult for me to feel like I want to go out when I have never developed a testimony of their importance. But I know in my head I need to so I am determined to be better this year.

ps. bella has mastered her bike without being too scared & ben is walking-pictures to follow

Late Christmas Party

2009-01-16T09:48:00.000-08:00

Due to the ARCTIC BLAST of 2008 our Keller Christmas get-together had to be postponed. We ended up going to Seattle for a quick weekend on the 3 of January. Lots of visiting, food & fun. It is the first time all Dave's family had been together since 2006 when we came from Germany for a visit. My favorite part was getting the best massage from Sarah who is a Massage Therapist. I just wish she lived in Vancouver...I would be her best client ever! The kids love playing with their cousins, David & Jackson are cout from the same cloth and Isabella loves her little girlie friends Melissa & Tristyn. All the kids love the doggies, even little ben. Thanks for hosting Grandma & Grandpa!

Miriam, Melissa, Sarah, Savannah, Isabella

Uncle Terry, Cade, Great Grandpa Kurt, Great Grandma Marge

Tristyn, Ashley, Holly, Cade

Jackson & David

Grandpa, Isaac, Aiden, Grandma

Girlie Girls

Skylor, Maia, Ashley, Tristyn, Bella, Savannah

Ben playing with his new farm toy

The bigs watching movies

The new crop of little ones

Maia & Isaac

& Benjamin

Keller men are NEVER serious!

Dave, Aaron, Matt

Dave & Aaron are twins BTW