Phoenix

After the last conference session (I loved general conference) Quinn and I flew to Phoenix to be with Ella, Jack, Max and Nora Jayne. What an absolute joy it was to meet with these darling children at the airport! They were all so happy and excited which warmed my heart and made me so grateful for them. I was so excited to share my stay with sweet Quinn. How nice it was of her to come with me. Everyone loved the little gifts I brought with me and everyone was so happy and the home was so inviting! Kara had redecorated much of the down stairs and the guest bedroom and the main bath downstairs was so wonderful! We felt very much at home and so welcome and comfortable and safe there! On Family Home Evening Night we watched a DVD on Joseph Smith that was so fun and everyone discussed the DVD and I was so happy to see how Max and Jack and Ella understood the principle of courage being taught and also understood the testimony of Joseph Smith that he did see the Father and the Son in response to his earnest prayer. We had many adventures during the week going to Peter Piper Pizza, the mall, Toys R Us and Party Land. They all begged me for that one. The commercial was really great! I loved doing things with them and loved just hanging out with all of them. How I love these wonderful grandchildren! Nora looks like Arba did as a baby and they both looked like my Mother. Nora is pure Welsch blood (olive skin, dark eyes and dark hair and petite) She is a ball of energy and fun. She loved my cell phone. I bought her an Elmo cell phone, which she liked but mine (the real thing) was much better. It reminded me of Paul as a baby. He was exactly the same - no toys for him - only the real thing would do! She loves fun! She plays games with you and teases you. She loved to go on runs or walks with me which we did daily. It was a ritual. She would play with my cell phone and eat apples as I pushed her along the canal. It was a wonderful time together! She takes all her clothes off and runs around naked. She loves to eat apples and bananas. I asked her whom she looked like and she said "Daddy." She is adorable and you fall asleep exhausted from keeping her out of trouble but so in love with this darling baby girl. I love her with all my heart and all the time I was with her I kept saying in my heart. She is a miniature Mary Ellen (my mom). I felt so close to my mom while holding her and watching this ball of fire. My mother had so much energy and did right up to almost the time she died. I had a testimony that my mom loves Nora Jayne and is her guardian angel for sure. I sat and rocked her with her "cozy" , her favorite bit of comfort. I sang to her and asked her what her mission was in this life and talked to her about being a mother in Israel and a righteous woman in Zion. When I asked her if she loved her Heavenly Father, a wide smile lit up her face and I knew beyond a shadow of doubt that Nora knows God and loves him with all her heart! She was always quite serious during our little talks and showed wisdom beyond her years. She knew everything I was saying to her and I felt this child would live to see the 2nd coming of her Lord she loved so much! Max was 100% good for me. He was my buddy. He went for walks with me too and was very obedient. He loved picking up sticks and using them as swords. He loves all swords in fact. And loved visiting Party City(I think I called it Party Land but it was Party City). He loved all the Halloween stuff. He loved hearing stories about his Dad and about me when we were both young. He loves his Mom and Dad. He is loyal and he is smart. He loves the earth and life. He will be a great man of God - noble and unafraid! He will be a valiant soldier in the cause of right. He reminds me of Paul when Paul was little. I love him and miss him with all my heart. Jack was our number #1 helper! He knew where everything was and how to fix everything! He solved so many problems for me. He is so smart and so aware of everything! He is so handsome and reminded me of the McMillan men on my Dad’s side of the family. My grandfather, Peter, was so very handsome and so was everyone of his sons! I felt my Dad's presence around Jack and felt he had more than one guardian angel from the McMillan side watching over him. He loves swords too and I felt so impressed that he as a very noble soldier for Christ and his cause in the pre-existence. I felt the love that Christ personally has for Jack. I hope he will never forget that Grandmary had a witness of the spirit that Christ loves Jack for who he is. Ella bella- Ella May - Ella Elizabeth - my beautiful granddaughter was such a wonderful young lady. I have those nick names for her because I love her so much and could just stand in awe of her all day long! She loves loves loves loves gumballs! She is very helpful with Nora Jayne and will make a good Mom. She is so kind to everyone and every living thing. She loves animals. I had a witness given to me that she is going to be a beautiful and talented young woman. He is beautiful on the outside and beautiful on the inside. She reads very well. But animals are really top on her list. She especially loves dogs. I felt such a calm around Ella and felt that one of her gifts would be the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. I felt my Mom with her also and knew that Mom was also her guardian angel and that my mother loved her with all of her heart. In fact, the witness that my parents love these 4 sweet children was so strong with me all during the visit. I felt the veil was very thin. Ella is a valiant girl who loves Heavenly Father and his creations and God is counting on her to perform a good work upon the earth. He is expecting her to be one of the women who will stand for him and be an example to the rest of the women of the world in the latter days. In the latter days we are told that many women will flock to the church because of the example of righteous, articulate women who have their heads on straight. Ella will be on of these women - a leader and a mother in Zion. I felt that I at last was able to get to know these little ones who have been far away from us all of their lives. I felt a bond with them on this trip and hope it lasts throughout out all eternity. I love them and I love Quinn for going with me and being such a help for me so
I could just relax and enjoy them!

Halloween Dinner Party

On Sunday night, October 29th, 2007 I hosted a Halloween Dinner Party for my beloved family. They were so darling! What a blessing to have these grandchildren who are here so willing to come and be with us. It is a treasure beyond measure!

Here is my Halloween menu:

• Frankenstein Roast ( found in my recipe book from Costco magazine)
• Ghost Pudding (stuffing from Rachel Rays magazine for Thanksgiving also found in my recipe book)
• Blood Suckers (cranberry sauce from Rachael Ray's magazine found in my book)
• Frightening Greens ( a salad)
• Nightmare Yams ( Yummy Yam casserole found in Beth 's Gourmet Treasure one of my favorite books)
• Witch Brew (found in Favorites Recipe Book)
• Trick or Treat Cookies
• Grave Yard Cake (with a scary boney foot and a scary eyeball sticking out of the grave)

Everyone loved the meal and loved talking to each other which is so wonderful to me. How I love to see my family love one another and consider each other best friends. I love all of the adults and all of the kids with all my heart! Romey and Titan and Crew adore Anna. They are so good to her. Finn and Andrew were so excited to see Romey, Crew, Titan, and Anna and also the adults. Finn was so anxious to help and I love him for being so excited and wanting the family to be together so much. Here are all the pictures we took. Words cannot explain how I adore these sweet grandchildren. I pray constantly for them and am so very proud of each of them. God bless them always. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for coming not only on this Sunday Celebration get together that I will alway treasure in my mind and heart but also thank you for coming to our family. How lucky did I get? God blessed me so much. This is where my treasure is. This is where my heart is - with these wonderful bright and beautiful grandchildren and my beloved husband and children and their wonderful spouses, whom I adore and my wonderful testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know God lives and that Jesus is the Christ. I know Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and that Gordon B. Hinckley is a prophet of God. I know that family is top on my list of priorities and that the principle, " families can be together forever " is a true principle and a most comforting principle. May we all stay true to the cause of Christ and to the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. May we all stay true to each other and to our family.

I love all of you. kisses and hugs forever. your have my heart forever - all of the Kelly Clan near and far.

Catching Up

So much has happened since the last blog, I don't know where to begin. All I know is that I am so grateful for all the wonderful family members we have. I stand in all of everyone and truely love to watch all of you shine! We had Dave and Ashley's flood, Sue and the children's accident, Colin jr. and the boys moving, out of town quests (not including the family), birthday parties, family pictures, family reunion, a few special traditions, a t.v. interview in our home, the boys trip to Jackson, the girls and children's frantic trip to Mid Way, church work, office work, and our own home's plumbing going crazy. We not only survived but are filled with such happy memories. I love all the pictures and the interview! Hope you enjoy them too. The best thing was having everyone together, especially our out of town kids we don't get to visit with as often. It was really all mana from heaven. I love all of you with all of my heart and thank each one of you for your support and for how much we learn from all of you. You really are the best, each and everyone of you! Thanks for being you! I can't thank all of you enough for your kindness, respect, and pure joy you give me!

El Paso

It is almost old news. But Finn and I went to stay with Jen in El Paso while Andrew went on a Boy Scout Trip with his Dad and Dave went to work for the Army out of town. Finn and Ryan had a great time. They are good buddies and enjoy a lot of the same things. Finn was able to get on the Swim Team that Ryan was on. They were in different age groups but they really enjoyed it. That was so nice of Jen to arrange for Finn to have this experience. I can’t believe how much Ryan has improved in swimming this year. It is really great! He has won several great ribbons this summer. Finn was so excited to get a ribbon also and that is all he talked about. He also loves Kate. Ryan was building a Fort with a sign “no girls allowed – that means Kate.” Finn said “Oh let’s let her in. After all she is good company and makes us laugh!” I thought that was a great tribute and compliment to Kate. She will always be welcome anywhere being good company and making people laugh. She follows in the foot steps of her beautiful Mom, whose gift is to put people at ease and make them laugh and be happy. I love Jen. She is an amazing girl. I loved just hanging out. We did a lot of exercising together. We would either take the kids along or take them to the Gym child care. Jen has lost all of her weight from the baby and looks so wonderful and fit! We also had a day where we went with her friend, Christina Smith and had massages and pedicures. Then we went to a place called Geo to eat and it was fantastic. Can you believe Allie was so good through all of that. We just took turns with her. The rest of the children were busy and happy with a good baby sitter. Ryan and Finn loved playing their DS Nintendo games together. They all got along so good and Jen and I had a wonderful time together. Finn said he missed Dave on his way home. Because Dave was gone so much of the time, he did not get to see him and he missed that. Dave is one of his favorite people.

Trip to Arizona

The days have been so busy for me that I have neglected to post our wonderful trip to Paul and Kara’s home. They treated us like royalty and we enjoyed every minute of our time there. There is nothing better for me than spending time with grandchildren. I must admit, I have the most beautiful and talented and nicest of all grandchildren on the earth! How did I get so lucky? It all began with meeting my patient and good husband. Everything since then has been good! I hope that each child of ours knows there is a wonderful part of our hearts they fill and they alone can fill. Then with each spouse they married, we feel the same way! Each fills a wonderful part of our heart that no one else can fill. We are so blessed with wonderful children and daughters in law and son in law that mean so much to us. Truly nothing else means more to us. Then the icing on the cake is darling grandchildren we just look at and admire and love them all with all of our hearts! I felt my Mom and Dad’s presence as I spent time in Arizona. They love these grandchildren as I do and marvel at their wonderful posterity. Besides having fun just watching these precious children, and feeding cute Nora Jayne (who made such cute noises every time I fed her) I delighted in how good all of them really are. I had a time I will never forget with Ella, Jack, Max, and Nora Jayne. I was grateful that Lauren, Andrew and Finn could come. They were such excellent helpers and all of the cousins enjoyed themselves. Thank you Lauren especially for your help. Paul not only made sure that Lauren and I had a day shopping in Scottsdale without little ones, he also performed Botox on me. I am a whimp and complained a little of the needles so he stopped and used the rest of the dose on himself. Kara and I teased him a little about having Dr. Spock eyebrows for a few days but I really appreciated Paul doing this for me and wanting to make life better for me! I hope that I can truly express myself someday that I would shout it from the housetops how much I love you all – my five sons whom I adore and their wives and children, each being so precious to me and my beautiful daughter Jen, whom I consider a gift from heaven, and her great and wonderful husband and children. Thank you all and each one of you for being you and I hope that each of you know no one can replace your spot in my heart. I love you. I loved Elder Holland’s talk in the July Ensign 2007 pg 53 talking about This, the Greatest of All Dispensations. He talked about how God knows your name and He knows your need. As I read that, I thought of the great love I have for my family and somehow that thought that God knows your name hit me with such force. He lives, he does know our names and he does love us. This gospel is amazing and wonderful and I rejoice in it. On Friday, Dad and I took Andrew to the temple to do his first baptisms for the dead. What a choice and blessed experience that was. Our greatest treasure is you all!

The White Alligator

This last weekend, we took care of Romey, Crew, and Titan while Ryan and Sue spent a Birthday weekend away for a night. Of course, Andrew and Finn were with us. We had a dinner for the Missionaries. And even though, it was a little crazy, we managed to let all the children know how important we thought the Missionaries were and what a great privilege it is to serve the Lord. The Missionaries shared 1 Nephi chapter six with us and said their main purpose in life was to bring people to Christ. We loved their message and love all Missionaries and constantly pray for them. We have such a tender spot in our hearts for these young men and women who are willing to serve so faithfully. We loved the missions we have served and we loved our children serving missions and now we are looking forward, not only to serving more missions, but also having the great joy of seeing our grandchildren serve missions. How great will that be! We also went swimming, hung out in our Hot Tub, cleaned out our fish pond, named our new fish, ate a great dinner, and watched "Two Brothers". All slept very well. Then the next morning, I fixed a great breakfast of fresh juice (strawberries, pineapple, and apple - Finn's favorite), french toast and scrambled eggs. Fortified with energy we took on the Zoo! Wow, I have never seen so many people. We had to park miles away and walk. Everyone came to see the White Alligator on display. This was way worth the walk. What a great experience. The White Alligator was beautiful and one of my favorite experiences ever at the Zoo. We also caught the Bird Show and all of the children loved this also. My favorite besides the Eagle and the Hawks were the flock of white Doves. Of course, our last rite was the gift shop where we bought stuffed animals of the White Alligator and various little toys for each (except for Andrew who is very fugal and kept telling me -no they don't need that - no we should not spend the money). I love him! He is just like my wonderful husband Colin Sr. walking by me and keeping me in line and it all has come totally natural to him ( a carbon copy of his grandpa - how great is that?) Titan, grabbed a picture of he and his mom off my fridge and carried it around all day. He loves his Mom and was so cute about it. I will never forget that. I will never forget the night and the day. It doesn't get any better than this. My cup over flows with joy and with gratitude. God bless my grandchildren - those near and far. They are always in my prayers and all the good I try to do - I do for them! Wish I had pictures to post. I will get better at all this, I promise. My gratitude for Ashley helping me set this up and for darling Anna who laughed and gave us the raspberries as we were working on this. How fun she is and what a delight! Happy Birthday again to all the May Birthdays! It has been a fun month. Also a closing note. Paul and Kara, Ella, and Jack went to Chicago and Wisconsin these last few days and I talked to them once and they had a great time. How happy we are that Ella and Jack had this private date trip with their wonderful parents.! Also Jen and Dave and the children returned safely from West Point for Eric's graduation. One funny event was that at the Atlanta Air Port, Ryan ran ahead of them and boarded a train without them. Can you imagine their dismay and awe as the door shut and Ryan left them standing with their mouths open! All ended well and Ryan was the stoic brave little boy! How grateful we are for his safe return - bless the couple that helped him. He is a character and we miss all the grandchildren who are away, but look forward to some trips this summer to see those in Arizona and Texas. The Kelly Grandchildren Rock!