Ten on USA Tuesday

Dave playing soldier in the desert 2004

I remember hearing (in my early college years) that I couldn't really appreciate American since I had never been outside of it. (From some uppity RM) Now, I don't necessarily agree with that philosophy, I think you can appreciate and love something without seeing other places, I mean I love my religion and I don't have to "try on" other religions to appreciate it, and for that matter, I don't think Dave would appreciate it if I "tried on" other husbands to find out if I really appreciated him. But I do think that when you live outside the US and when you or those you love serve in the military it does help to give a wonderful appreciation of America and the blessing of being an American, not better, just wonderful. So here is my list of 10...some are shallow some are deep...reasons why I LOVE my country.

1. Garbage disposals. Magical sounds, wonderful in the life of a busy mom who just wants to throw the cereal down the drain without having to bag it for recycling.

2. Drinking fountains with fresh water in them at parks. YUMMY! And glasses full of ice at restaurants.

3. Schools where the kids can learn about math, writing but also government. Schools where the pledge of alliegance is taught & said every day

4. People who give their lives for their country, through lives filled with service to their country, and some the ultimate sacrifice.

5. The ability to have dreams, and succeed at those dreams. America is a place where you can achieve anything through hard work and drive. Just look at all the people who have overcome their backgrounds, or started small and became huge because of their work, their efforts. Even a soccer mom from Alaska can run for VP! Just think what we all can do in our circle of influence.

6. Plush carpet-you just want to lay down with a blanket & take a nap in it!! (I told you some were shallow)

7. Variety...in stores, in food, in what sports you can play or what you want to be when you grow up. The choices here in America are unlimited.

8. The freedom to have your say on who you want to be your representatives for government, local, national. That is such a blessing, and you have only to look to the Book of Mormon to see what happens when we refuse to exercise our rights to choose our representatives, and give up our voice.

9. The sacrifices of those who went before us to found this country. Walking on those battlefields in the East is truly walking on holy ground and knowing of the way the Lord lead those men & women helps build our testimony of what a blessing it is to be here.

10.. Being able to express our beliefs freely, even if they differ from the masses or the ruling party. because of that freedom the gospel was able to be restored and flourish here, nowhere else could it have happened.

God Bless America.

HALLOWEEN HAPPENINGS

We had a fabulously fun halloween except for a minor injury that required a few shots & an incision. David stepped on a thorn while cleaning out the van and Dave had to slip into Dr. mode. It was so deep, and David isn't the easiest person when it comes to pain management so he got a few shots to ease the pain while Dave cut the thorn out. Poor kid was hobbling around all night long. He's still on the couch with an ice pack on his foot.

We do a halloween dinner every year...this year at the Creepy Cafe we were served:

Mini Mummies, Bloody Fingers (a family favorite) and...

Witch Doctor Stew to drink.

YUMMY!

The mummies were supposed to be hot dogs, but I couldn't find the ones I bought...I have a sinking feeling they are somewhere in the parking lot at Fred Meyers where Ben threw them out of the cart when I wasn't looking!!

Picture Time:

B B BYU...

GOOOOO COUGARS!!!!

Two Sweethearts!!

David was invited to a birthday party before trick or treating at our neighbors. He was so raring to go he didn't want to wait for pictures...this was taken as one of the other Clone Troopers at the party ran by with his glow stick...pretty cool effect huh!! I think it looks like a light saber. But of course clone troopers don't use light sabers, oh well!

Our little cowboy loves his ladies!

Trick-or-Treat!

I traded places with Dave after an house so Ben could get warm. I had the bucket of treats on the stairs. He reached through the railings to get the bucket to dump out & then grabbed a treat quickly before I discovered him! He's so smart.

BOO TO YOU!

ARE YOU READY FOR HALLOWEEN?

WE ARE!!


We've had a fun week preparing for a fun Halloween day today. Throw in 1/2 days at school, parent teacher conferences, dinner with the missionaries (that they didn't show up for), court of honor, school concert and everything else that goes into busy family life, and I've been running from sun up to sun down. But today should be fun. We have trick-or-treating and then a visit to Grandma's Haunted House party. The kids are buzzing with excitement.

Joe's place to get pumpkins for the kids. It's a small pumpkin patch and farm that we LOVE.
The kids had fun picking a mini-pumpkin for Benjamin.
We ran into my aunt Allison & her brood picking out pumpkins. My cousin Grant is over 6 feet tall at 13, crazy tall.
Here's ben & I, he is chillin in his puj sling. LOVE IT! I bought pumpkin butter at the farm stand and it is delicious. My kids don't like it, more for me I say!!

Carving pumpkins for family night. Dave carved Ben's and helped Savannah.
I carved Bella's and helped David. All the kids scooped their own guts out. YUMMY!

Ben loves the taste of pumpkin.

He just can't get enough...

He's the only one of the kids that is a true conisseur of fine food...especially fine milk!

L-R David's, Bella's, Ben's (MIke Wizowski from Monsters Inc.) Savannah's.

HAPPY HAUNTING EVERYONE!

Weekend Fun & Tags

We had a fun quick trip to visit the larsens our super awesome friends who just moved back from Germany. It was really wonderful to be in their home, to laugh and talk as if no time had passed at all. That to me is the beauty of good friends, they are your friends forever. And this family is really more family than friend to us.

One quick story. Little David who is a little bit of a nut, was bored after a while so he started watching transformers while we were visiting, making pizzas for dinner. He has seen it before but...

There is one scene where the mom asks Shia Lebouf's character if he is in his bedroom *m-word ing* So David turns around and says...

"dad, what's master making?" At which we all crack up, James & Kailey were about to die trying not to laugh. And I think they were watching how we old pros handle these types of questions for when Shark Bait (or Kedric as everyone not part of the Keller family calls him) asks them the same thing.

Dave smoothly answered: what is a master
LD: Someone who is good at something
D: So what is master making?
LD: Oh, it's making someone who is good at something

Aren't we awesome parents. We just weren't ready to field that question, not without help from our best friend A Parents Guide put out by the church. It actually is a very good resource for when your kids ask "the difficult questions" And seriously, we like to have a more one-on-one and spiritual environment when we talk about the big s word or "photography" as we call it in our family (our kids used to mispronounce pornography and call it photography).

So I was tagged by my good friend Lynn, another army buddy (GO ARMY) who is blessed to be stationed with her husband in Hawaii (tough life!-J/K after NC they toughed it out in Waco while we were vacationing in a European paradise so they have TOTALLY earned this duty station).

So in order to avoid inevitable tagee guilt, I am going to get right on this tag!

8 Favorite TV Shows:
1. Psych
2. Burn Notice
3. Bones
4. House
5. Gilmore Girls (I know it's cancelled but I still love it, especially on DVD like a really long movie)
6. Fringe
7. Big Bang Theory
8. 90210 (I just can't get enough dillon & Kelly)

8 Favorite Restaurants
1. Hole in the wall Donor shops (you know you are salivating right now Germany buddies)
2. Red Robin-they have the CUTEST servers (hee hee)
3. Olive Garden
4. Los Hermanos or really Any Mexican!
5. Panera Bread
6. Chipotle
7. This little Italian Restaurant in Garmish overlooking the Zugspitze, we ate their every year!
8. BURGERVILLE (YUMMY YUMMY YUMMY)

8 Things I did Yesterday
1. Laughed & Giggled
2. Admired a friends new abode
3. Got lost when Vicki our GPS died on the way home
4. Drove 6 hours
5. Went to Toys R Us
6. Got our family pictures taken
7. Ate WAY too much pizza & YUMMY salsa
8. Drank Dr. Pepper (I haven't had a DP for probably 5 years!)

8 Things I love about Fall
1. The holidays are right around the corner
2. Apple Cider at Starbucks
3. Chill in the air which means sweaters
4. Beautiful leaves everywhere
5. Walks on sunny days
6. Pumpkin Patches
7. Trick or treating at REAL HOUSES (which they don't do in Germany)
8. Dressing up my kids & figuring out cute costumes

8 Things on my wishlist
1. Good Health, Long life
2. Dave to find a good dental practice to buy
3. To enjoy every moment of my kids growing up
4. A calling in church (I don't have one yet and I am starting to get sad about it)
5. Not to worry about money anymore, whether we have money or not, just not to worry about it
6. A fun trip with my husband (Italy, England, Scotland)
7. To take my mom & sisters on a Christmas Market Tour
8. Take the kids to Hawaii (Can you tell I love to travel?)

That was fun Lynn, thx

Tag & guilt...

Sorry it took me so long Deon, I am trying to catch up...

I always feel such incredible tagee guilt like the tagger will think I don't like them if I don't reply...I have facebook guilt like that too...I'm so afraid of hurting people's feelings if I don't let them be my friends! My mom always told me I needed to be friendly and nice to everyone and saying, no I don't want to be your friend just really goes against my nature. I had to un-friend someone, someone who I really should have said no to in the first place...and it was SO HARD, even harder was hitting ignore when this person tried to friend me again!!

Okay that was a really long tangent. ANYHOO-

I have to reply with one word answers to the questions posted in Deon's tag.

BTW-Deon is my awesome friend from NC. Thanks to the Army for moving us every year and a half and helping us to meet such wunderbar people like Manny & Deon and many many others...GO ARMY!

1. Where is your cell phone? KITCHEN

2. Where is your significant other? SLEEPING

3. Your hair color? FAKE

4. Your mother? LOVING

5. Your father? STRONG

6. Your favorite thing? FAMILY

7. Your dream last night? DEAD (as in I sleep like the dead, no dreams at all)

8. Your dream/goal? GRADUATE

9. The room you're in? OFFICE

10. Your hobby? CRAFTING

11. Your fear? LONLINESS

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? FAMILY

13. Where were you last night? BED

14. What you're not? PRETENTIOUS

15. One of your wish lish items? ITALY

16. Where you grew up? WASHINGTON

17. The last thing you did? IRONED

18. What are you wearing? SLIPPERS (and other things too...)

19. Your TV? OFF

20. Your pet? BUSTER (who is imaginary still)

21. Your computer? YUCK

22. Your mood? RELAXED

23. Missing someone? TRAVIS

24. Your car? DENTED =(

25. Something you're not wearing? EARINGS

26. Favorite Store? GAP

27. Your summer? BUSY

28. Love someone? DAVE

29. Your favorite color? BLUE

30. When is the last time you laughed? TODAY

31. Last time you cried? FRIDAY

And you're supposed to tag 7 people but since I would hate for anyone to feel as guilty as I do I tag no one...do it if you want...it's really fun!

We're Off

Back on Monday with more in our exciting lives...I know you can't wait. In the meantime we are off to see the Larsen Clan for a much anticipated reunion with our old friends. And as a bonus, Kailey is doing a family photo shoot. We are so lucky to have great friends-I know all my Wuerzburg peeps are jealous. Just wish you all could be there too!

Just to give you something to do over the weekend, another blogger to stalk...my friend JEN wrote an awesome post about why blogging is important to her, and I have to say I agree 100%. Check it out.

Also check out how to be cute...everyday! Loving it!

Mid-Morning Madness

Here we go again-another glimpse into the day-to-day life of the Kellers...

Once the older kids & dad are off the fun begins...

I make a sweep of the house with Benj on my hip to make sure lights are off & baby gates up...nope & nope

Then it is off to the computer for some surfing, checking of emails and if it's friday...my favorite thing of all...updating the budget woohoo

Morning nap for the benjer, today he got spoiled, mommy didn't even make him get dressed & he got to sleep in my arms while I surfed the internet...lucky boy

Here's the little giggler finally making himself presentable for the day...I know Dave wishes he could stay home & change diapers all day long-who wouldn't love to be around this sweetheart!

Checking on the boo. That's one of bella's nicknames...booboo...she told her new primary teacher her name was Isabella, when asked what her last name was she replied Booboo. She insists on having her feet touching the entertainment center. I guess it helps her see the show better. She gets to either watch morning cartoons or play computer games when the kids are gone in the mornings.

It must've been a good episode of Diego today

Off for our morning jog...Bella is not feelin it today. Note ben's toothbrush which he loves to carry around-everywhere-what a good boy

Ben insists on helping mommy get ready.

Wednesday & Friday this week were errand days, Wednesday we went to the mall...today we grocery shopped, Bella is happy to ride the rides even without quarters.

Note the missing sock & chub hanging out, my kinda boy. I love the chubs! See you in the afternoon....