The Keele Family

Nana, Papa, Nony, Britt, Christa, Em, and the Fam Christmas 1993

2012-01-24T20:55:00.000-08:00

Papa

2012-01-24T20:37:00.001-08:00

2011-03-11T09:32:00.000-08:00

First of all:
Happy Birthday Mom!!!
You are fabulous in every way.

Well, I've been absent from the blog for way too long, it's good to be back. Wow, sometimes life just seems to pass me by without any warning. Here's what I've been up to: For Christmas Darren signed me up for a photography class, which I have to say was the best gift he could have ever given me. (I won't tell you what I got him, because it's lame) I was definitely nervous, but excited. I felt like I was going back to college or something. Darren has always been good at pushing me to do things for myself that I love.
(Thanks babe) :)

Anyway, so I'm finally wrapping up my class and it was a challenge, but I learned a lot. The hardest part was not being allowed to do any post editing of the photos, but to learn to create a good composition straight out of the camera, but it was super fun! I still have SO much to learn, but here's a few of my favorites: (Oh, and I did crop the first one, but the others are not changed in any way).

Stratt helping out his little friend, Lauren:

My snow bunnies...
or should I say snow ninjas-
(I think that's more the "look" Quincy was going for)

brothers:

I love this one of Quincy outside enjoying
our teaser of Spring weather:

Stratt usually dresses himself with a little guidance from mom, but this day (since he had no school) I gave him full freedom of expression.
Polo + vest + sweats = awesomeness.

These next ones are just for fun, because it cracks me up to see Tucker be such a poser. And I didn't have time to mess with any special camera settings on these, because sometimes you just have to grab your camera and shoot in auto or you miss the great moment!

Fall Fishing

2010-10-10T05:14:00.000-07:00

We're almost halfway through October now, but since it was 83 degrees outside I wanted to see if there was any chance the fish were still biting. So, Quincy, Stratt and I headed out to the Cedar river for a little fishing adventure.

Every time I looked up one of the boys had a fish on the line! This was the first time Stratt had an actual hook that he was casting and reeling in on his own, which was a little scary (but more fun than scary). Up until now we only let Stratt cast with one of those fake little plastic fish that comes on kid poles to keep everyone safe, but he told us, "I hate this stupid blue fish - I never catch anything!" So, Stratt went "live" tonight and loved it. And I swear that with that little fishing pole he can cast a mile. It's incredible.

The boys kept me busy pulling bass off of hooks and untangling lines. We had a great time and caught about 15 fish!

We fished until dark and came home and enjoyed a fish fry with the family. The boys had a blast.

Stratt and Q from keelefam on Vimeo.

Stratt Frog from keelefam on Vimeo.

Stratt Fish from keelefam on Vimeo.

Spring/Summer Fun

2010-09-18T09:46:00.000-07:00

Most importantly, Darren's sister came home from her mission in Peru this spring! Yay! Welcome Home Christa!!

We are sad to see the warm weather go, but we definitely took full advantage.

We spent lots of time outdoors.

Stratt learned to ride a 2 wheel bike and hasn't stopped since.

My parents came to visit.

I went on a girls weekend trip with my sisters and my mom . . . it was so fun! Especially the part about waking up with no kids to take care of! Definitely a much needed break.

The boys did lots of fishin' . . .

. . . which meant eating lots of great fish!

The boys did lots of tree climbing . . .

and even enjoyed some time hanging out and reading in the trees! I think my neighbors must think we're crazy!

Quincy really enjoyed baseball this year! Much more exciting than T-ball, that's for sure!

Darren had NeoCon up in Chicago this summer, and so the kids and I decided to join him for the week and just go to some fun museums and the beach. We had a great time!

I'm glad my boys have Darren, because he lets them do all the fun naughty things, like throw sand at each other, while I'm not looking. I seriously have like 50 pictures of them just hucking sand at each other. I don't get it, but it's a good thing Darren understands boys.

Darren went to Scout Camp for a week with his Boy Scout troop. It was lots of craziness, I'm sure. Quincy can't wait until he gets to go to Scout Camp!

We went down to Nauvoo with our friends, Ted and Amber and their kids, and watched the Nauvoo Pageant for the first time. The boys really enjoyed it!

Thanks for coming Ted, Amber, Kara, and Dillon!

We finally painted the back of our house and stained our deck.

this is just getting started: (I hate it when Darren is up this high, but I hate doing it too, so I'm glad he's willing) :)

The boys worked on finishing the shed:

Even Tuck got in on the action:

I definitely prefer my boys clean:

At the end of the summer we took a 3,750 mile road trip to Gardnerville, NV to see Darren's family and then to Boise to see my family. My mom drove with me on the way out and then Darren drove back with me. It was crazy, but a fun adventure! (pics to come)

And by the end, we were exhausted! :)

Catch-up

2010-08-05T14:53:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I know its a little warm outside to be posting about snowy stuff, but I feel like I haven't had a chance to post about much of anything since Tucker was born. Thankfully Darren has posted some pics and videos in the meantime. Anyway, I'm going to do a quick catchup of all the stuff I missed.

As I was looking at these pics with the boys, they said, "I want it to snow again!!" It's weird how in the middle of the winter all we want is to be able to go outside in shorts and t-shirts and in the summer when we're dying of heat, all we want to do is roll around in the snow. All I can say is that I really do love living in a place where we have 4 seasons. I actually am looking forward to some crisp cool fall weather soon.

This Christmas for the first time, we had the boys pick out gifts at the dollar store for each other. They had so much fun picking them out and wrapping them. This is Quincy giving Stratt the biggest hug ever after he opened the package of erasers that Stratt picked out for him. It was so cute! Fun that they still get so much joy out of the littlest things.

While we were opening presents, the snow started to fall down outside. It was a beautiful white Christmas morning.

2010-08-05T14:45:00.000-07:00

This winter we had Quincy's first "friend" party for his 7th birthday. We made good use of all our snow and had a sledding party. :)

I made my first pinata. Thankfully it was snow themed, so that made it easy!

Then the kids all made a mini snow globe out of baby food jars.

The night before we went on vacation, we had a Scout Klondike Campout in our basement (Darren is the Scoutmaster at church). The weather was below zero, so they built the sled and camped in our basement and went sledding at our house instead. Of course my boys loved having the scouts around!

Florida

2010-08-05T14:40:00.000-07:00

This winter we took a family vacation to Florida. Of course we went there at the coldest it had been there in like 40 years! But it was still super fun. In the 70's my grandparents bought a condo on Fort Myers Beach on the Gulf of Mexico and went there to escape the winter months of Canada. I was able to visit there with my family a couple times growing up, but since they have passed away, they have gifted each of their children a couple of weeks of time there. So my mom and dad were nice enough to share their time with us and let the grandkids have their first Florida experience. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Because the first few days were the coldest, we knew we wouldn't be spending much time on the beach in our swimsuits. So after church we decided to head over to the Atlantic Ocean. That was fun until Stratt fell into the water fully clothed and almost froze to death!

Then we drove up the coast to Orlando that night for Disneyland Monday morning. Here we are in our cheap little hotel, but the boys all were so exhausted and slept great. :)

The boys had never been to Disneyland before, so they had no idea what to expect. Of course they loved it!

All Stratt wanted to do was see Mickey Mouse. I didn't even know he knew who Mickey Mouse was. We were eating lunch and I saw the parade passing by and raced Stratty out to see Mickey Mouse so we wouldn't have to go over to his house. Stratt waved and waved, so excited. I said, "Yay Stratt, you got to see Mickey Mouse." He looked at me with a sad face and said, "I didn't get to give him a hug." Long story short, we still had to wait in line forever at Mickey's house to meet him and give him a hug, but it was priceless. I still don't know how he knows who Mickey Mouse is! :)

I have to agree that Disneyland is definitely one of the happiest places on earth . . . even when it's cold outside. :)

Ft. Myers Beach, FL

2010-08-05T14:23:00.000-07:00

One of our favorite things was watching the Florida sunsets every night . . . breathtaking.

Playing shuffleboard at the condo with Grandpa.

Getting up early in the morning to go shelling on the sandbar.

Stratt wasn't nearly as impressed with shelling. In fact, he was freezing, so Grandpa rescued him and carried him across the water back to the hot tub.

Stratt happy in the hot tub with Grandpa Roger.

Waking up in the condo for breakfast with Grandma and Grandpa.

One of the days Darren just decided that he wanted to rent a Pontoon for a few hours. I wasn't crazy about the idea, but Darren being the stubborn man that he is, insisted. I am SO glad he did!!! It ended up being one of the coolest things we did. We saw so many dolphins and we just followed them around and watched them swim, it was amazing. I have never seen so many dolphins!

Captain of the pontoon :)

Stratty watching the dolphins.

This mama and baby dolphin came right up to the boat.

Darren doing some kayaking with the boys.

My mom and dad decided to join in the kayaking fun!

Quincy enjoying the sunset from above.

My cute parents.

On the beach watching the sunset.

Every night when it got dark, Darren and I would jump in the ocean, and then jump in this pool right on the beach, and then jump in the pool by the room, and then jump in the hot tub. It was so fun. We would start out freezing to death in the ocean and then finally get warm. It was so fun to have Grandparents around to help out with kids! Thanks Mom and Dad!

We woke up early to get to the airport and to enjoy one final sunrise . . . we were so sad to leave. Thanks mom and dad for such a fun and memorable trip!

Fishing with the boys

2010-06-04T15:21:00.000-07:00

This was a night of fishing with the boys. I think Stratt caught more than Quincy and me combined!

We had a great time.

And if it looks like the fish closest to Quincy is missing a tail it's not an optical illusion! I had to wrestle these away from a humongous snapping turtle that almost got away with our catch!!!

2010-06-02T20:16:00.000-07:00

2010-05-23T22:07:00.001-07:00

2010-05-23T22:03:00.001-07:00

Videographers

2010-02-20T08:57:00.001-08:00

Winter time in Iowa means more time inside and the last few weeks Melanie and I have discovered a few surprise videos that the boys have recorded of themselves in front of the computer. Unfortunately the microphone was turned off so what they are saying is kind of a mystery. Quincy did say that one of the videos had to do with him pretending to be Einstein or a mad scientist or something . . .

Here are a few:

Stradance from keelefam on Vimeo.

Boys 1 from keelefam on Vimeo.

Boys 2 from keelefam on Vimeo.

Boys 3 from keelefam on Vimeo.

Boys 4 from keelefam on Vimeo.

Whose kids are these?

2009-12-27T20:43:00.000-08:00

Silly Boys from keelefam on Vimeo.

Ben and Sunshine's First Dance

2009-11-27T19:12:00.000-08:00

This is the video of Ben and Sunshine's first dance. It starts out slow, but then they totally surprised all of us!

Wedding Weekend

2009-11-23T18:55:00.000-08:00

(the pic included in their wedding announcement, not our work) :)

We went to Palm Springs 2 weeks ago for my brother Ben's wedding. All my brothers and sisters were there with their families and we all had poolside rooms right next to each other. It was so fun to spend some time together since we all live in different states. We got in late Friday night and stayed up late visiting, but Quincy still woke up at 6:30 a.m. to go swimming and of course he easily convinced his Grandpa Roger to go with him (always willing to take the kids swimming). Eventually all the cousins joined him too.

We even got the happy groom to take a dip in the hot tub on the morning of his wedding.

Darren and Grandpa Roger with 8 of his 15 grandchildren.

Hanging out with the family by the pool on the morning of the wedding.

We got just enough sun to thaw us out before returning to Iowa. :)

Darren's family even made the trip down from Nevada and got there just in time to help get the boys dressed for the wedding. Darren's Dad and sister Emily were finally able to meet baby Tucker for the first time.

Emily held the baby . . .

. . . while Grammie sewed a hole in Darren's pants . . .

. . . and Poppie played football with the boys while I got myself ready.

(What would we do without help from family? I just wish we lived closer.)

Quincy getting ready for the wedding to start.

Quincy, cousin Colby, and Stratton

I loved watching Ben's face as he got a glimpse of Sunshine for the first time in her wedding dress.

She looked absolutely stunning!

His face is priceless as he watched his beautiful bride walk down the aisle. Definitely a man in love!

Sunshine's dad, who is a Stake President for the church in Arizona, performed the ceremony.

It's official! Husband and wife!

Darren with some of his roomies from BYU. My brother is actually how Darren and I met and started dating eventually. Yes, Darren married the little sister. :)

The couples

Me with my twin cousins, Allison and Marcie.

Dancing under the lights

We had such a great time. Stratt was absolutely exhausted and about to pass out with no nap and such a late night out. Thankfully Darren's parents were able to come pick Stratton and baby Tuck up from the wedding and took them back to the hotel so Darren and I could have some fun dancing and visiting with friends and family. We couldn't find Quincy at the end of the night, and Darren eventually found him passed out in some corner. He was so tired after all the dancing and playing with cousins! The dance was great, the food was great, and the company was great! It was the perfect wedding. Congratulations Ben and Sunshine!!!

TUCKER'S BABY BLESSING

We decided to do Tucker's baby blessing after the wedding late that night while both Grandpas, my brother Bryan, my brother in laws, Jon and Steve, and Darren's friends, Ted, Gilbert, Joe, and Ben A. were there. It was really special to have so many of the people that we love and care about there to take part in Tucker's blessing.

Poppie George, Grammie Judy, Tucker, Grandma Leslie, and Grandpa Roger

Thanks everyone for being there for this special event!

I love the look on Tuck's face in this picture with the boys. I think he is going to be full of mischief just like our other 2 boys. :) Quincy and Stratt were already passed out from all the wedding excitement.

On our flight home, we had a 3 hour layover in Las Vegas, so we were able to spend some time with Darren's other sister, Brittany, who lives there. She got to meet Tucker for the first time. We saw every person in my family and every person in Darren's family that weekend (except for Darren's sister Christa who is serving a mission in Peru).

We left Palm Springs at 1:00 p.m and arrived into Iowa at 1:00 in the morning and had to immediately drive to Michigan, because Darren had to be there Monday morning for work. He had a photo shoot there for the product that they've developed. I didn't want him to drive alone all night, so we all went. :) Monday we got caught up on sleep and swam in the hotel pool while Darren worked, and Tuesday I took the boys to a great children's museum. We had fun getting to spend some time with Darren at night. I drove back with the boys on Wednesday, with lots of stops to nurse the baby and take the boys potty. I'm not used to doing road trips alone. Darren came home late Friday night and we were happy to see him. It was a long week, but definitely memorable! :)

Thanks for the Help!!!

2009-11-19T21:30:00.000-08:00

Last month when the baby came we were SO lucky to have lots of great help! Thanks everyone!!! My friend Cinda took the boys over night when we had a false alarm and went to the hospital (you'd think I had never had a baby before or something). Thanks Cinda! Then my parents showed up just in time to help me with the final days. My dad entertained the boys with swinging outside and swimming at the Y.

We went to Quincy's soccer game.

Then on Sunday we listened to conference while my mom helped me sew some curtains for my room.

The baby came Monday morning and it was so nice to have my parents there to help with the boys while I was in the hospital, thanks mom and dad!!! Can't wait to see you again!

Then Judy showed up just in time as I was getting exhausted.

She was here for my birthday, so Darren and I even got to go on a date!

She even put up with being roomates with Stratt for the week (it's harder than you might think). :)

She helped with every possible project you can think of.

She is greatly missed! Thanks for all the help!!!

Trick or Treat

2009-11-19T21:08:00.001-08:00

We had a fun Halloween this year, especially with our new little pumpkin. The boys had a great time trick or treating and Stratt did his best to keep up with Quince.

2009-10-11T12:27:00.001-07:00

Some video of little Tuck

2009-10-06T20:55:00.001-07:00

Tuck from keelefam on Vimeo.

Comin' Home!

2009-10-06T20:52:00.000-07:00

Here we are getting ready to bring Tuck home.

Tucker!

2009-10-06T12:39:00.001-07:00

We have a new addition to the Keele family! Yesterday at 2pm Tucker Smith Madsen Keele was born here in Iowa (yes, he has two middle names). He weighed in at 7 lbs 6.5 oz, was 19.5 inches long, and we are very very happy to have him here.

Quincy's Dinosaur Portal

2009-10-04T13:12:00.001-07:00

Quincy's Dinosaur Portal

What we've been up to

2009-09-28T06:18:00.000-07:00

Darren was cleaning off his motorcycle this weekend and so Stratt pulled out his bike and decided to clean too. It was cute. He loves to do everything Dad does.

We went to a fun pumpkin festival with a spook ally and a jump house and a hayride and pumpkin patch and lots of good treats. The best part about it was everything was free except the treats and the pumpkins!

I told the boys they could pick any size pumpkin as long as they could carry it themselves. I'm a mean mom. I figure I'm carrying around enough extra weight these days already. In fact, the joke I heard many times while at the festival, "Are you trying to steal a pumpkin?" It was funny the first time. :) I was hoping the bumpy hayride would help me get this baby here faster, but no such luck.

Here's Stratt Struggling to carry his pumpkin.

I love this pic of the boys. It's hard to see Stratt's expression in the background, but it looks like he's thinking about something very interesting.

Fishing night with Daddy.

A recent huge belly shot . . . the baby is due any day!

My handsome church boys.

High School Homecoming football game with Dad.

I love it when my boys get along . . . it is a rare and beautiful thing.

Feeding the ducks at the park with Stratt.

We're finally a 2 car family!!! We've had 1 car for 8 1/2 years and bought and sold several motorcycles and scooters along the way to get us by (but not so great in the rain and snow of Iowa). With the baby coming we finally made the step to getting a bigger second car. It has been really nice.

Pumpkin Patch

2009-09-26T19:37:00.000-07:00

Here's Mel and the boys on our trip to the pumpkin patch today. Melanie is due any day so I have orders to keep my phone on loud wherever I go.

Labor Day Break

2009-09-26T18:23:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty sure I have the best husband ever. Labor Day weekend Darren took the boys on a little road trip back to Notre Dame to visit some friends and left me home all alone to catch my breath before this baby comes. It was such a nice break. I cleaned my house and it actually stayed clean . . . imagine that. I got a ton of stuff done, but of course made time for movies and ice cream too. It was great to have some quiet time, but good to see my boys again. Thanks Darren for helping me keep my sanity. :)

Quincy's First Day of First Grade

2009-09-11T11:36:00.001-07:00

I can't believe Quincy is a first grader!!! He looks so old to me in this picture with his shirt all tucked in and his belt (he loves to do that). He was sad to see the summer end, and Stratt misses his big brother during the day, but Quincy loves school! Thanks Grammie and Poppie for his new school supplies!

I found these pictures of Quince when he started his first year in preschool when we were at Notre Dame. It makes me sad that he's so old now. :( Time really flies!

While Quincy was at school, Stratt spent the week hauling around a "pack-pack" full of notebooks and markers and toys and played "school." I love at the end of the day watching Stratt run down the driveway to give Quincy big hugs when he gets off the bus!

Family Reunion

2009-09-11T10:34:00.000-07:00

This August we had a fun family reunion. Unfortunately Darren was the only person who couldn't make it. We missed him, but the boys had a great time with cousins. My sister lives in Utah, and so my mom and dad rented 2 townhomes up in Park City to accommodate all the families, it was really fun to all be together. Thanks Mom and Dad (and Debi) for making it all possible - we had a great time!!!

My Dad with Stratty and Ethan throwing rocks in the creek by my sister Debi's house.

Bowling with Grandpa and cousins

I love Stratt's tiny bowling shoes.

Stratt was very serious about his bowling. Any time he hit any of the pins he would jump up and down and shout, "I won!!! I scort (scored)!!!"

At the dinosaur museum

My cute mom helping the kids.

My dad was such a good sport, he took the kids swimming several times a day. They loved it!

And the kids loved hearing Grandpa Roger tell silly stories every night.

We went to the park and my mom had airplanes for the kids to fly.

The cousins and uncles played a game of soccer while the moms watched.

We ate lots of good food and treats (thanks to my mom and Debi's preparation).

And we even got all 14 grandkids to stand still for 2 seconds to take a picture.

But the highlight of the trip was meeting my brother Ben's fiance, Sunshine. She's great and we all love her!

It was definitely a successful reunion and fun to be with my family!

He's on his way . . .

2009-08-19T11:53:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had one of those 3-D/4-D ultrasounds at our doctor's office, it was so cool! It was fun to see our baby's face even before we get to meet him. Darren thinks he looks just like Stratt did. He definitely has the same Keele nose as our other babies. I am 34 weeks now and thankfully this last half of my pregnancy has been really great. I just keep getting bigger and bigger and we keep getting more and more excited! The other day Quincy said, "Mom, do you think there still might be a teeny tiny, little chance that it still might be a girl?" I said, "No Quince, I'm pretty sure it's a boy." And he said, "We just have too many boys in this family." I think he's finally getting used to the idea of another boy, both he and Stratt are very excited. I can't wait to see them with their new baby brother! :)

Birthday Boy

2009-08-19T11:30:00.000-07:00

Darren had his golden birthday this year, he turned 31 on the 31st of July. Now that only happens once in a lifetime!!! We got him a new longboard for his birthday, because we ran over our other one with the car. And his sister's sent him a cheescake from the Cheesecake Factory. Mmmmm, thanks Britt and Em!! It was a fun day! Happy 31 babe!!! Thanks for being so great! We love you!!!!

Iowa Fun

2009-08-19T11:00:00.000-07:00

After our New York trip, Darren's family came home with us for a few days. They pretty much transformed our house, weeding and cleaning and filling our fridge with great food. Thanks for everything guys!!!

Fishing with Poppie

Notice Quincy has a handful of wildflowers. My boys are always gathering wildflowers and dandelions and clovers for me wherever they go. It makes me crazy because I have dead flowers laying around all over my house. BUT it is also very sweet. :) I love my boys!

Watching the fireflies.

Getting new summer haircuts. The only way I could convince Quincy to get his hair cut was by telling him that Stratt would be able to run faster than him if he didn't cut his hair too. Of course Quincy made them race around the house right after to make sure he was still the faster big brother.

Roasting marshmallows on the patio.

We were all chatting on the deck and Darren's sister caught this little unfortunate golf incident on video. Quincy was just trying to give some helpful tips. :)

We all thought Stratt had hit Quincy on purpose (which wouldn't be out of the ordinary), but Quincy was crying and screaming and saying, "It wasn't his fault!!! It was an accident!!" It's nice to see he will stick up for his little brother through anything. :) Thankfully no one lost any teeth, but Q did have 2 silver metal marks on his 2 front teeth where it hit. Ouch!

New York Adventure

2009-07-29T16:53:00.000-07:00

We just got back from a fun Keele family adventure to New York. We packed in a ton of stuff and had a great time! Thanks Grammie and Poppie for making it all possible!

Niagra Falls

Hill Cumorah Pageant (A reenactment of stories from the Book of Mormon and the Savior's visit to the Americas)- Palmyra, New York

Darren's sister played Nephi's wife . . . it was awesome! Even the boys loved every minute of it.

The Sacred Grove in Palmyra, New York where Joseph Smith prayed and saw God the Father and Jesus Christ. It was a really neat place, absolutely beautiful and peaceful (even with my little Stratty marching about).

New York City

Toys R Us

Times Square

John's Pizza (We thought we never would find a pizza place that would even compare to our beloved Chicago Giordano's Pizza . . . but I have to say, it was amazing!)

Gelato, mmmm!

On the subway.

A rainy day on the boat headed to the Statue of Liberty and also Ellis Island. We were able to look up some ancestors that may have come there as immigrants to Ellis Island, which was really neat.

The boys got little Statue of Liberty pens from the gift shop and at home Stratt said, "This is the Statue of Liberty and the ice cream" (talking about her torch).

Thanks to Darren's parents, we were able to go to 2 Broadway shows, Mary Poppins and The Lion King. They were both fantastic!!!! We had such a good time! Quincy told me, "Mom, I think I like plays even better than movies."

Hanging out in New York City.

Window shopping

The boys and their Aunties (minus Christa who is in Peru, of course).

The Lion King

"So Pretty"

2009-07-14T11:32:00.000-07:00

We don't say that much at our house with all boys, but today Stratt found my nailpolish while I was on the phone (for like 5 minutes). I actually think he did a pretty good job. I mean, he only ruined one bath mat, which is minimal destruction for his standards. And at least he didn't choose to use the bright red. This is what happens when I'm not watching Stratt like a hawk. In fact, when my Visiting Teachers came over the other evening, Stratt pulled down some curtains and broke the curtain rod and then I found him in the bathroom naked in the sink with water running, overflowing onto the floor, handsoap spilled out, and toothbrush in hand, big grin on his face. I wish I had a picture of that one. He really is a sweetheart, sometimes he just makes me crazy. :) Keeps me on my toes!

Going for a Ride

2009-07-13T07:28:00.000-07:00

Darren just got home from Scout Camp this weekend (he's the scoutmaster at church) and so we decided to take a quick little day trip with the boys. We went to Dubuque, Iowa and rode on a super steep little railway car to see a view of the town and the Mississippi River. It was built in 1882. The boys, of course, loved it. At first it was just going to be Quincy and Darren, because I am totally afraid of heights and had no desire (or maybe I'm just totally afraid of little old rickety cable cars built over 100 years ago). But then Darren called me from the top and said he and Quincy weren't coming down until I came up. It's probably a good thing I decided to take Stratt up though, because he was down at the bottom telling everyone, "My dad and I are going to ride that train, not mom though, she's too scared. Yep, my Dad's taking me on that train." Little did he know, Darren was long gone. :) Of course the whole way up I was planning on how I would jump with Stratton to safety, just in case the cables pulling us up broke, but I did try to enjoy it a little bit. It's a good thing I have Darren around, or I would never take any risks. My boys are definitely more like Darren. :)

I can never keep shoes on Stratt, he always looks like a little orphan child. But actually, this trip I made it out the door with socks for him, but forgot the shoes. I think it's my pregnant brain. Thankfully we weren't too far from home . . . and he loved it. I'm telling ya, Mother of the Year.

Backyard Berries

2009-07-05T19:00:00.000-07:00

Stratt and Quincy love going out and picking black raspberries. At least I have finally got them trained to not pick the red ones until they turn black.

8 Years and Counting

2009-06-16T12:39:00.000-07:00

Thanks for loving me for 8 great years!

A few weeks ago I came across this video that our friend, Grant, made for us several years ago of our engagement in Paris. Darren was there on a study abroad and I got to go visit him at the end. We hadn't seen each other for 4 months, so it's pretty cheesy to watch and nauseating at times, but fun memories! :)

I love you Darren! Happy Anniversary!

Just the boys

2009-06-04T18:52:00.000-07:00

I've been on my own for a few days, because Darren has been out of town, so when he got home from work today he packed the boys up for a fishing outing to spend a little time with them.

Here they are eating a quick dinner off of one plate:

Putting on the bug spray:

Waiting Patiently:

My cute boys:

Thanks Darren for being the best dad and husband ever, and giving me a peaceful evening alone. :) I love my boys!

Motorcycle Man

2009-06-04T18:49:00.000-07:00

I especially love the Superman boots :)

No Treasure

2009-05-29T08:56:00.000-07:00

Last month when we were digging up some land to make our garden, Darren hit something metal in the ground. It kept going deeper and deeper until he finally dug out this old smashed washing machine. What in the world?! Too bad it wasn't some cash someone had stashed away, that would've been nice, but I was just relieved that it wasn't a dead body or something.

Stratt helping me burn weeds

He looks pretty pleased with himself.

Yummy

2009-05-29T08:42:00.001-07:00

The house was getting crazy last weekend, so we made the boys pitch in and help clean it up. They worked so hard, so for a reward we had "treat cereal" for dinner. Yes, for dinner. I got these on sale and have been saving them for a special occassion, but a clean house seemed like as good a time as any. I always just get plain boring cereal with low sugar and no artificial colors, so the boys were in heaven. It was definitely fun! But I have to say we all felt a little sick that night. :)

Foxes - no hounds

2009-05-24T23:30:00.001-07:00

Squirrels, cardinals, rabbits - these are the most common things we see in our backyard. We even have the occasional group of deer wandering around in the back.

But every now and then we see something unexpected. Last year it was a huge snapping turtle in our driveway. Last week Melanie was surprised when she looked out the window and saw four foxes running around!

Here they are. The video is kind of long - you can see them best toward the end:

Foxes from keelefam on Vimeo.

My Boys + one

2009-05-22T07:32:00.001-07:00

So don't you think these boys need another brother?

Well, they're getting one...

IT'S A BOY!

We are so excited to have another little boy come to our family, I guess I'm just meant to be a mom of all boys. :) Thank goodness I absolutely love my boys! I'm 21 weeks along now (due October 3rd) and have the hot summer ahead of me, but thankfully I've been feeling fabulous lately! We're excited to meet this new little guy!

The Luckiest Mom Ever

2009-05-21T12:00:00.000-07:00

I have a school boy now, which means this year I got my first made-at-school Mother's Day present! Quincy made me this cute button bracelet, and a flower pin with his picture in it to wear on my dress! I love it! And best of all, he wrote me a mother's day card to go with it:

"MoM i Love you becos
you are so nise to me
even wen you yel at me
you are stil a good mom
Love. Quincy"

Yes, my boys are very patient and forgiving of me as I figure out this mom thing. :)
Thanks Darren, Quincy, and Stratton for making me the luckiest mom in the world!

Lately

2009-05-21T11:07:00.000-07:00

Playing in the backyard and getting muddy

Getting cozy in the sun after a bath. Stratt's favorite thing to say after a bath or before he goes to bed is, "Mom, will you make me cozy?" I love this little bench, Quincy and Darren made it out of some scrap wood.

Stratty swingin' with Mom

Quincy had a great soccer season this year and scored lots of goals! Great job Quince!!!

Pinewood Derby . . . lots of fun!

Stratt being cozy with Daddy

Stratty is officially potty trained, yay!!! It was a lot of work, but we did it!

And now that Stratt is a big boy, he insists on doing everything himself, including make his own sandwiches. Peanut Butter Jelly time!

Yay For Parents!!!

2009-05-01T14:28:00.000-07:00

My mom and dad came to visit last month and we had a great time. I've been super sick and pregnant the last few months (for those of you who don't know yet . . . my little announcement) and they totally eased my pain. My mom did all my laundry and ironing and helped me get some much needed sewing projects done, including some fabulous curtains/shades for the boys windows (since Stratty decided to shred the other ones). :) And my Dad played with the boys and took them to the park and to the YMCA to swim everyday. They loved it! Poor Quincy had to go to school most of the time, but I let him take a day off and we even ate lunch with him at school one day. My dad picked him up from school early one of the days and they didn't come back for awhile so my mom and I started to wonder. Then they pulled into the driveway with big smiles on their faces and a bag full of goodies. They had been on an adventure to the park and to the store, and Quincy told me, "Grandpa Roger said, Kids need treats." I remember my dad saying the same thing to me when I was little. :) I feel so lucky to have such amazing parents!! Thanks for coming and for all your help and for taking care of us!!! Can't wait to see you again!

*I also have the greatest in-laws in the world, and I posted some photos of my mother-in-law's trip from November in the post below.

Grammie Judy- Thanks for coming!

2009-05-01T14:20:00.000-07:00

Darren's mom, Judy, came to visit in November and helped out SO much!!! I feel so blessed to have such amazing in-laws and a mother-in-law who is also a great friend. We had lots of fun and got all the projects done I could have never finished myself. We painted and decorated and shopped and cooked and cleaned. She got all our rooms decked out and made everything look amazing. I just wish my house looked that great everyday. :) I always call Judy the "Boy Scout" because she leaves everything neater than she found it wherever she goes . . . and she definitely left us with some huge improvements. Thanks for coming and for all your help!!! We can't wait to see Grammie, Poppie, Britt, and Em in July!!!

Judy out in the dark pulling weeds out of the driveway with a flashlight on her head :)

Chicken Legs

2009-04-03T20:18:00.001-07:00

Quincy insists on wearing these short shorts, and he has these super white chicken legs. We love our Quincy (and his sense of style). :)

Luchastratto

2009-04-03T20:14:00.000-07:00

Best St. Patrick's Day Ever

2009-03-30T09:11:00.000-07:00

St. Patty's Day was 79 degrees for us, so we decided to go spend some time at the park. We were enjoying the beautiful weather (Q was on Spring Break) and Darren was planning on meeting us for lunch. He surprised us and pulled up on the motorcycle with his shorts and tennis bag on. One of his meetings got changed to the morning, so he had taken the rest of the afternoon off! He was able to play with the boys at the park and then we got some subway sandwiches and went to the tennis courts and had a little picnic lunch and played tennis as a family. We all got sunburned, but it was fun to feel the warmth of the sun again. We came home and got the motorbike out and rode around the house on it and the boys played soccer. It was a very good day, one that we'll remember for a long time. Thanks Darren!

"Hey Dad, watch me climb!"

"Are you still watchin'?"

(Darren runs off to play with Quincy)

"Yay, I did it Dad! Did you see me?!"

"Where'd he go?"

"Huh?"

Goin' Fishin'

2009-03-30T08:55:00.000-07:00

Here's a little fishing adventure we took as a family a few weeks ago. Thankfully we have a little pond only 2 miles from our house, so we didn't have to go far. The boys loved it and I'm sure we'll have to do more of this as it gets warmer.

Angel Baby

2009-03-14T10:01:00.001-07:00

Stratty takin' a little nap.

Happy Meals

2009-03-14T09:32:00.001-07:00

The Faker

2009-03-14T09:27:00.001-07:00

We have a little actor in our Stratty man. Either that or he's just really, really lazy. He wallows on the ground and says, "I caaaant get up . . . Help meeeeeee." Then if we ignore him (as we usually do) he finally pulls himself up to his feet, when it's clear that he's got plenty of energy. Here's the sequence below . . .

Outside

2009-03-14T09:18:00.000-07:00

Got warm enough the other day for the boys to play outside for a while. 70 degrees next week!!!!!!!

Quincy

2009-03-14T09:05:00.000-07:00

Here's a scraggly haired Q-ball.

Piano Man

2009-03-10T20:24:00.000-07:00

Darren has been the master blogger lately, so I decided I better get my act together. Well, we finally found the perfect piano. Darren called into a little radio show here in our town called, "Buy, Sell, and Trade" and they put him right on the air and he said we were looking to buy a piano. So a few minutes later we got a call from a lady selling their piano. We are so excited. And best of all, it's old and has lots of chipped keys, so we barely noticed that Stratt has already chipped about 20 more keys . . . okay we noticed and we were really mad, but that's why you get a super old piano with a 2 year old in the house, right? It has been so fun to have a piano around and it still sounds really great even though it hasn't been tuned for 8 years! Quincy is loving learning to play and finally can play Yankee Doodle, his new favorite song. He enjoys teaching Stratt some piano skills too.

Block This

2009-02-07T12:51:00.000-08:00

I think this is the last time Quincy asks Melanie to "block" anything...

Block This from keelefam on Vimeo.

59 Degrees on the Mississippi!!!!

2009-02-07T12:08:00.000-08:00

You know it's sad when you get all excited for 40 degree weather - that's practically a tropical heat wave based on our current sub zero conditions. Imagine our joy when it was 59 blissful degrees of warmth today! We were practically ready to take out the slip and slide in the back.

Anyway, we enjoyed a nice "spring" day in early February. Here are some pics.

Our budding photographer

2009-02-07T12:05:00.000-08:00

Every now and then we find that our camera has been temporarily hijacked by a puny photo sleuth. Here's a look at the Keeles from 2 feet high.

Wildcat Den

2009-01-20T18:09:00.000-08:00

There is this incredible place about 15 miles from our house called Wildcat Den. It is a wilderness area filled with cliffs, caves, and in the winter very large frozen waterfalls.

This seemed like a nice, picturesque moment with Quincy playing in some water falling on his head.

Then I took a few steps back and asked Quincy to carefully but quickly GET THE HECK OUT FROM UNDER THE 500 pound sheet of ice ready to fall on his HEAD!

Here are some more pictures from Wildcat Den and some less life-threatening situations.

Quincy's latest artistic contribution to the world

2009-01-19T18:30:00.001-08:00

This is Quincy's most recent creation. I love the scene on the top left. The other day Quincy told me that this is how he would deal with two robbers if he were ever put into such a situation. I have since framed this and taken it to work to ward off any would-be burglars.

The boys

2009-01-19T18:11:00.000-08:00

Just a couple pictures of the boys.

Regarding the picture of Q, our good friend Bryan Smith said, "That picture of Quincy just says everything about why our kids get along so well." Yup - a little sweet, a little silly, and a lot of crazy! Never a dull moment!

A night of sledding

2009-01-19T18:05:00.001-08:00

The other night the boys wouldn't go to bed so we decided to try to wear them out. It was about 9pm when we strapped on our winter clothes and ventured out to the backyard into the snowy night. We had a ton of fun sledding, making snow angels, and just enjoying the evening. After about an hour, a few snowballs in kids faces, much crying, and eventually complete meltdowns from exhaustion, the boys were ready to come in. They were practically out before their heads hit their pillows!

Rollerblader

2009-01-19T18:03:00.001-08:00

Mel says that during the past few days Quincy has spent more time rolling than walking.

A little acrobatic bed kung-fu fighting

2009-01-19T17:39:00.000-08:00

My favorite is Quincy's crossed forearm move a few down below.

He believes that this is quite deadly . . .

Strattostanza?

2009-01-19T17:34:00.000-08:00

Any coincidence that Stratton's grandpa's name is George?

More Skating

2008-12-22T07:56:00.001-08:00

Well, Quincy announced to us that he is addicted to ice skating. He said that he loves ice skating so much that that's all he wants to do. And truly, it seems like that is all that he does now. Luckily with -28 degree temperatures (ok, really only -2, but the weather channel said that it felt like -28 with windchill) we don't have to find a pond. He can skate his little heart out right at home. He doesn't even need to go out into the road - he can skate on the driveway, the grass, the gravel, the dirt - everything is covered with a layer of ice that doesn't seem to be going anywhere anytime soon. It is cooooooooooold!

A happy skating day for Q-man.

Skating down the grass hill - yeah, he fell

Fell here too!

And he was looking so graceful : )

I think he found some bunny tracks, or maybe our friendly mice!

Giving the street a try

Definitely a different look than in the spring/summer

After a long day of skating

Mel and Quince getting Stratt bundled up

2008-12-20T07:17:00.000-08:00

Skating on Snow from keelefam on Vimeo.

Last week we had an ice storm so Quincy took advantage by strapping on the skates and venturing out into the dark, cold night. You'll notice that he's not just ice skating on the driveway, but on the grass and pretty much anywhere. Because about an inch of ice fell it turned our entire yard into one large ice rink! And Stratton didn't want to miss out on the fun so he decided to bring the scooter out for a ride.

Note: You can watch the video above in a little better quality if you click on the HD button on the top right of the video once it is playing.

Sweatered Mom Mel

2008-12-20T07:06:00.000-08:00

Special thanks to Nony and Grammie Judy for sweatering Melanie. I guess this makes it official . . . Melanie is a mom. But a very cute one, no?

The Boys

2008-12-15T00:05:00.000-08:00

Here are a few pictures of the boys in the Iowa winter.

Tree

2008-12-14T23:49:00.000-08:00

We finally got our tree up . . .

Yes, he is playing a guitar ornament and yes, that is a pick.

The Tree

2008-12-14T22:45:00.000-08:00

We made a video for Nony with some of this video in it. When we were watching it the other morning Quincy said, "Well Mom, I guess I have my costume on don't I . . . sorry 'bout that."

Well, it wouldn't have been the same without Mr. Incredible helping set up the tree. I mean, how else could we have ever gotten that star up?

2008-10-14T19:18:00.000-07:00

Quincy's soccer season has finally ended, but it was a lot of fun. Darren coached the team with his boss from work. They had a good time. Darren told Quincy before the game, "Now Quincy, I want you to go out there and I want you to score the first goal, okay." And I couldn't believe it, but he actually did it! (If only I could get him to listen to me like that). As Quincy ran back down the field he yelled, "Hey Dad, I did what you told me to do!" It was pretty exciting. He has played really well and, most importantly, had a ton of fun, so we're excited for next season.

Last night our friends were taking a family photo, so we decided to join in. You can't tell from the photos, but the boys pants were already dirty before we even got started. It's pretty much impossible to get those two to sit still for anything, but I'm glad we did it!

Quincidinho

2008-09-22T18:31:00.000-07:00

Summer Rundown

2008-09-21T20:46:00.000-07:00

Well, since I didn't really write much this summer, I decided to do a quick summary of what we've been up to. First of all, we ended our 2 year stay at Notre Dame with Darren's graduation from the MBA program. Darren's parents and 3 cute sisters came, and his aunt, grandma, and my brother, Ben. Thanks guys for coming!! Great job Darren!!! I'm so proud of you! There were days when it seemed impossible and it felt like it would never end, but now looking back it went by so quick. We made so many great friends and learned so much and now we really miss it and our friends. We'll always have a special place in our heart for Notre Dame! :)

Our friend, Bryan Smith, made a frame for Darren's diploma as a surprise graduation gift. It's really cool. He's made frames for the Conference Center in Salt Lake and the Nauvoo temple, etc. Anyway, it's amazing. Thanks Bryan!

After graduation we took a quick drive up to Chicago with Ben to see some sites and drop him off at the airport there. And of course we went to Giordano's. When we lived in Chicago for Darren's internship last summer, we tried plenty of Chicago pizza and Giordano's is by far our favorite place. Poor Ben was freezing the whole trip, he's gotten too used to the California sunshine. Thanks for coming so far Ben! Thankfully we only live a few hours from Chicago now, so hopefully we'll still be able to make some fun weekend trips.

We closed on our house right before graduation and then Darren's company packed up all our stuff and moved us out to Iowa. The first thing we did when we got here was start a garden. It was a LOT of work, but fun. Darren bought an old rototiller that was broken and fixed it! I was amazed. Despite the fact that we don't need to water anything in the Midwest, Stratt wouldn't leave the hose alone. I guess it's the novelty of playing with all the things we've never had. They are loving having a yard and lots of space.

We also made sure to have lots of time for just hanging out at relaxing too. Or as Stratt would say, "We're just belaxin' Mom."

Well, I've never seen so much rain in my life as I did this summer in Iowa! The ground was so saturated that anytime it would rain (which was like every day) there was nowhere for the water to go. Our basement flooded a few times, but thankfully it is unfinished, so there wasn't any huge damage like a lot of other people had. We feel really lucky. Part of downtown on the river, down by where Darren works, a few streets were flooded for awhile. We met Darren for lunch at a park by the river one day and then went down there again the next day and it was all under water, it was crazy. We also had a really big storm where huge trees were uprooted all through town. One really big tree in our backyard broke in half, another fell on our trampoline and smashed it. Their were trees all over the place, it was crazy and was a lot of work to clean up.

We have so many little creatures in our neighborhood: bunnies, frogs, snails, fireflies, spiders, etc. It's a little boy's paradise. But the least of the animals I thought we would see is a snapping turtle. But sure enough, we had one show up on our driveway this summer! It was actually pretty scary, those things are mean. Quince and I pestered it with our toy singing turtle and then when Darren got home from work, we took it down to the river.

We had a fun birthday summer. We celebrated Stratt's 2nd birthday and Darren's 30th birthday. It was a big year.

Darren cut the boys hair this summer, but before we chopped it all, we tried out a little Ben Franklin look for Stratt. What do you think? Pretty nasty.

We've been working hard trying to get the house painted and trying to keep the boys out of the paint. Finally after Stratt had already ruined several outfits from messing with the paint, we put them down by the shed and let them have at it. They had a great time and ended with a big paint fight that left them covered from head to toe (wish I had a picture).

The boys spent lots of time this summer getting really dirty and taking lots of baths. They also had a great time cooling off in the pool. I love this shot of Quincy in the pool reading the Michael Phelps Sports Illustrated (Grandpa Roger brought it for him when they came to visit). Quincy loved every minute of watching the Olympics. When we were getting the pool ready, I asked him what he was doing with the magazine. He told me he was just going to relax and get some sun. I guess I've told him that one too many times when he wants me to get wet in the pool. He kept yelling at Stratty to quit splashing, but nothing stops Stratt. It was pretty funny.

It was a really busy and fun summer and by the end of it we were all exhausted and ready for school to start (especially mom).

It was hard to see Quincy all grown up and going to kindergarten for his first day of school, but I think Stratt took it harder than anybody. He misses his big brother during the day.

I can't believe we have a kid in kindergarten! It's so weird! We must be gettin' old.

I got a call from the principal the 2nd week of school saying that Quincy had gotten in a fist fight at school. I had flashes of my Mom and the hours she spent at Silver Sage Elementary having visits with the principal about my brothers and their snowball fights and planning wars at recess. I couldn't believe this was happening to me, he is only in kindergarten. I have a vivid memory when I was probably in 1st grade of watching my older brother get issued a pink slip at recess (the worst possible punishment that can happen) and being horrified as he defiantly ripped it to shreds and threw it in the trash. I couldn't believe it. Anyway, the principal said that Quincy told her that he saw some kids fighting and decided to "join in and throw some punches." So that's exactly what he did. She told me that usually kids get suspended for fist fighting at school, but thankfully she showed mercy on my sweet little kindergartner and he just missed some recesses instead. Wow, he is such a boy. But I love him. We've had some nice long chats since then about fighting, so hopefully this won't happen again.

Moto Q

2008-05-11T13:58:00.000-07:00

Well, we have always loved scooters and motorcycles. Since we are heading to Iowa we figured that we could make best use of all the wide open terrain if we added one more motorbike to the family. No, it's not Quincy's, it's the family's - right? Right. He told us the other day that he is addicted to motorcycles. Should we be worried?
-DK

2008-05-03T14:38:00.000-07:00

We're Moving!!!

2008-05-03T13:36:00.000-07:00

This is the house we found in Iowa - we're so excited! The first time we walked through it, we knew it was where we wanted to live. We love the neighborhood and especially the yard and the boys loved the tree swing and tiny little stream running through the back (about 3 inches deep). We've never lived in more than 500 square feet, so this'll be a big step up for us. The garage is bigger than our apartment here at Notre Dame!

-MK