Happy Birthday Keller!

Our Little Keller Turned 4 on Tuesday February 16!

He has had a very eventful year.....

He endured poking and pricking, visits to 9 doctors,
an MRI, a fine needle aspirator test, medication, anesthesia
and 2 hospital trips to Primary Childrens' to remove
highly inflamed lymph nodes from his face.
His facial nerves suffered extreme trauma and
His little smile is subsequently uniquely his own.
He started preschool where he is the only boy
with 4 wonderful (and emotional) little girls He taught himself to ride a bike, started Primary and
is learning how to draw wonderful pictures.

He is a great photographer and takes pictures of everything
and everyone (most of the photos that are of Mom
were taken by Keller.) He is kind, loving,
extremely thankful and tender-hearted.

We love you so much Keller! We are so lucky to have you in our family!

Simple Changes

After putting away all the Christmas decor I decided it was a good time for a change (January is a good time for changing things, making goals and becoming better).

So I took everything off of my cream walls and decided to spruce things up in the living room. (having a one-year old baby, I was confined to working during his one-hour nap, or in the evening)

After I had finished painting one wall, I realized the color was not going to work for me (the undertones were fighting with the decor in the room. So I decided to alter the undertones by adding an antique wash.

The tones were now going well with the decor, but it was altogether too dark, I knew I needed to lightening things up a bit or I would feel like I was living in a cave...so I started all over......


Once I had found a color that was more dramatic than the cream, didn't fight with the other tones in the room and wasn't too dark I got even more ambitious and started moving everything around. I drug a table from my front entry into the living room and took this wall-hanging from the master bedroom. By then the room was so altered that my previous decor looked out of place....SO......
I put everything back exactly how it had been previously with the exception of the lovely new paint color. What did I learn?


Change is good. But sometimes we get so excited about improving ourselves that we try to do a complete makeover on our lives not realizing that sometimes simple changes can be way more powerful. How many times do we set unrealistic goals and then become discouraged at the pain of those unrealized expectations? If we make one simple change in our lives at a time (like becoming a better friend, reading scriptures more earnestly, praying more sincerely, serving more often or loving more deeply), we can feel the joy and beauty of that change without feeling completely overwhelmed by the pressure of taking it all on at once. So my resolve is to make simple changes more often and let the joy of that simple change fuel me to do better in more and more areas.

Honoring Ivan and Judy Keller on their 40 years of marriage

On December 29, 1969 Ivan and Judy Keller were married in the Logan, Utah Temple. 40 years, 10 children and 24 grandchildren later, they are still an amazing team. We love you and honor you for all you have sacrificed for us over the years.

Congratulations from your posterity, may you have many more wonderful years together:

The John and Stacey Thompson family (Preston not pictured here)
Nathan Keller

The Robert and Alison Williams family

The Jon and Tanya Keller family (Will and Leo pictured below)

The Derek and Sara Jensen family

Adam and Brittani Keller

The Andrew and Kim Ning Family (baby Tyler not pictured)Becky Keller

Dave and Micahleen Keller

and Christina Keller (on the right) serving a mission in Ft. Lauderdale, FL

What We Love about Christmas

We hope you had a very merry Season!

Here are some reasons we love Christmas time:

making homemade gifts
(even if they are not perfect!)

my friend taught me how to make these gifts for Adam...so fun!

The music
(the Sacred as well as the fun Christmas music, hearing the choir singing so beautifully [especially when you are the director and you know they had heavenly help]).

we went to this concert this month...even though we didn't know any of his music, it was so fun-what a sweet little guy he is! Now we love his Christmas Album.

Hearing from family and Friends

Sending off care packages to missionaries
and other loved ones... (I actually only love this when it's done,
I always stress about getting it there on time etc....:)


Nativities

Making paper snowflakes

Seeing your kids turn their hearts to each other
(making or buying gifts for each other with their own money).
this is a "blanket" made by David for Adam


Decorating

see the link (above)to my decorating blog for the complete Christmas home tour:)

Bundling up the babies to go outside

Making Christmas cards and crafts

kits for the craft I was in charge of for Wesley's class party




Seeing the magic of the faces on Christmas morning,(hearing things like wow thanks Mom and Dad...I can't choose a favorite, they are all my favorite...)

The mayhem

Having opportunities to serve others and think about
and remember the Savior all month long He is the reason we celebrate.