the season starts

Last night the Christmas season began in the most wonderful way it could! Dad and I invited Jerry and Irene Conroy over for a Christmas message. After visiting with them and catching up on all the changes they are about to embark on, dad explained the concept of FHE briefly and shared with them a short Christmas story. He then added his own witness of the importance of remembering Christ this season. We gave them a C/D of Mormon Tab. Christmas music and a B of M with our testimonies written in it. The Spirit was one of peace and friendship. They were very excited to recieve the book and acted as if they would surely read it. Irene made the comment that she had some misgivings about Mormons from living in New Zealand, but since spending time with our family and attending activities with us at church she has a brand new feeling for the Mormons. She loves the people she has met and the emphasis on family shown by the Kelley's. I was very proud of your father last night!

Merry Christmas. We can't wait to be together soon for this wonderful celebration.

Mom

Carson and Me

On Tuesday the 18th at 9:15 p.m. Leah called and said she thought her water broke. I thought there was no way on earth that I would see our little Carson's birth. But dad got online and found a flight out of LAX at 10:35. Again, when we got to LAX we met several obstacles to buying the ticket. I was sure it just wouldn't work out. Dad simply wouldn't take NO for an answer and he bullied me onto the plane. I had to leave my suitcase behind, but I was on my way! At the airport in Sacramento after midnight it was near impossible to rent a car, but after meeting several obstacles, I got one. I talked to Steve when I was leaving the airport and he said Leah was dilated to an 8. I was certain I wouldn't make it for the birth and said, "Call me on the road when he is born." It was a 45 minute drive to the hospital and when I got there it was difficult to find parking because of construction work being done. When I called Steve for help he said the baby wasn't here yet. I can't believe I made it to the greatest miracle of all, the birth of a child! Leah worked hard to push little Carson out. She and Becky had almost identical labor experiences. They both did a great job. Steve was at Leah's side strong and supportive at the hospital and throughout her post partum. One of the unanticipated joys of son-in-laws has been to observe them in their new roles of father and husband. I am most assured within myself that the Lord has sent my daughters the very best!

Leah caught on to nursing like a pro. Steve was the sweetest new daddy you could imagine. We are blessed beyond measure as a family.

Thank you for the priveledge of allowing me to be a small part of this miracle.

Love, Mom

Our precious new baby

I love the sad picture of little Carson's sad face after his birth. He looks like he's saying,"Why are you guys being so mean to me? I didn't do anything!" It just breaks my heart.

A day of adv

The Very first video

First pictures

First moments of life.

It is such a miracle to witness the birth of a child. This little Carson looks like a wise little soul!

Steve comforts Carson

Steve didn't know I was videoing this. It was so sweet to watch him comfort Carson. He was a little afraid to touch him at first.

Leah enjoys her new baby boy!

This was Carsons bath after his birth. This labor and delivery nurse was great. Carson was a little apprehensive!

cat hotel w/dad

Here's little Edna with her favorite playmate, Brian. She is so excited for Noelle, Oliver, Katherine and Jr. Bonner to come for a visit!!!

Dear Family

We learned this morning that my youngest sister, Kari, passed away after a very long battle with cancer. Who can forget almost 14 years ago when she was diagnosed with a brain tumor and given less than a year to live. Kelby was barely 3 and Kaylee was just 6 months old. Amazingly, Kari lived long enough to see her daughters come close to adulthood and also see her husband Ken join the Church and become a faithful member. It was a pretty amazing journey -- and Kari was a real fighter. In some ways, it's hard to believe she is really gone -- she has endured so much.
I really admire Kari's husband, Ken, for all that he has endured these past 14 years -- what an example of patience and perseverance. Friday night, Grandpa Kelley and my brother Kevin gave her a priesthood blessing, releasing her from this life and promising her that her mother would greet her on the other side of the veil. Just the next day she had a series of seizures and at 10:00AM this morning she finally stopped breathing. Aunt Debbie was at her bedside (Debbie is a "rock") and is with the family now.

The funeral is set for this Saturday in Phoenix -- Grandpa Kelley and I will probably be driving over on Thursday. The following Saturday (November 22nd), there will be a graveside service for Kari in Logan where she will be buried. Any of you Utah or Idaho family, it would really be nice if you could attend that service in Logan -- I'll let you know later the specifics.

Thanks for all your prayers and thoughts. We love all of you and at a time such as this, I cannot imagine what I would do if I lost any of you.

Love, Dad.

oliver's grandmas go to a political rally!

Dear Oliver,

Here are your grandmas' fighting for truth and right at a political rally in California for Prop. 8. This proposition is the most finacially funded proposition in U.S. history!!! Go Mormons!

corsage

I made Chelsea

s dress and it turnd out so cute on her. We had to add some fabric to make it modest on top though. She loved it!

Chelsea& Garrett homecomming 10/08

Here is the very beautiful, very glamorous Chelsea Kelley!
Garret picked her up and took her to Mayor's Park (the new park next to the church), where they had a picnic dinner with 4 other couples.

Okay, this is really scary. Above, left, is a spider web. See it if you look carefully. Two weeks ago I was watching T.V. and suddenly my eye went to this dark spot and sure enough, ( I know, I couldn't believe it!!!), a BLACK WIDOW SPIDER was there in the family room. Dad said he would take care of it. This morning, I was moving a picture in that spot and there he was again right out in open sight! So I got my camera and put it into the dark box he ran into and took this picture on the right. That black spot is the BLACK WIDOW!!! We promise to clean and spray the entire house before anyone comes for Christmas. Very disturbing. Mom

moms quilt in leah's guest room

Here is the quilt mom made leah. It looks great in her guest room. Steve and Leah took me out to lunch!

Leah's shower

Leah's quilts and her shower. Lots of fun and a great show of kindness.

Dear Family -- As long promised, we started sitework on the Gould lot about 3 weeks ago, and just starting pouring the first retaining wall (along the driveway) leading to the hammerhead. We will initially finish the driveway and hammerhead so we have a good flat area to park, bring deliveries and haul dirt from. Going across the ravine we are building what looks like the Great Wall of China -- it will be about 20 feet tall, although the bottom 5 feet will be buried. I'm finding that thanks to California's seismic code, retaining walls are a little like ice bergs -- they're bigger below ground than above ground -- huge footings and an unbelievable amount of steel (overkill). Anyway, I thought you would enjoy seeing these photos. We will probably be grading and building site walls through the end of November and hopefully pouring foundations and starting the houses by the time you are here for Christmas. In some respects, the site work will be almost more interesting than constructing the homes, in terms of looking at some interesting changes.

One of the reasons the retaining wall is so big is that the Sycamore trees were misplaced on the grading plan -- actually ended up being 28 feet farther uphill than they were supposed to be, so we had to shift the position of the wall and work around the trees. In the end run, it may actually work out better because the trees are now much more prominent than before (you actually swing around them when coming into the drive).

One interesting thing, when grading we hit the source of the spring, and even though its the dryest time of the year -- we have a pretty good water source -- it's running about a gallon per minute. I am going to build a sump basin to catch the spring and site run-off and we'll pump it up the hill into a holding tank that we'll put about 40 feet above the house -- I suspect we'll be able to use the natural spring to water the entire yard rather than using city water -- probably save us $150 per month. I'll be having it tested to see if it is drinkable or fit to put into the pool. Talk about being self-sufficient. -- Dad.

"THE BRIDGE TO NOWHERE!"

Hey Family - Let me tell you about my adventure last Saturday. I decided to hike up to the "Bridge to Nowhere," which turned out to be quite the hike. Up at the end of San Gabriel Canyon through the canyon narrows -- it is a fairly challenging hike which is 13 miles round trip. I joined a couple of college kids going up (thankfully, they were better prepared than I was). It took us about 5 hours to reach the bridge (after taking a couple of wrong turns!) and about 3-1/2 hours to hike back. Even though it is only 6-1/2 miles up there, there is a lot of up and down, climbing over boulders and fording the stream a half dozen times, so the going can be a little slow. The bridge is absolutely gorgeous -- built in 1936, it cross the deepest part of the gorge. Built by the WPA during the Great Depression, the highway leading to the bridge washed away in a big flood before they could complete the tunnel from the bridge to Angeles Crest Highway -- so they abandoned the bridge and never dug the tunnel -- it just ends in the side of the mountain. Anyway, here are a couple of photos.

Chelsea's 18th B-Day

I made this sign and brought Chelsea this balloon and flowers as well as a tuna subway sandwich at school for her b-day. We went to Star Cafe for her b-day dinner.

baby boy Bonner's room

Here is the front and back of a pillow I made for leah's chair in the baby's room. I had scraps and it came together so fast and easy. I'm getting so excited for another grandchild!!!
The "C" of the ABC blocks is already at Leahs house.

What a week on Wall Street

Life is sure interesting isn't it? Never boring.
On Monday, after six years of trying to get this house started, Brian pulled his permits to start grading. He has worked so hard and long to see this day. Of course on Tues. and throughout the week Wall Street and our economy started to fall apart at the seams. It seems dad and I were just not meant to be financially comfortable.
Once again I am challenged to pull away from the material trappings of this world and put my trust in my God and His eternal plan for me.
All any girl ever wants is a nice comfortable home furnished and decorated to reflect her personality and to bless her family. It's that innate nesting instinct to create a place of refuge from the world for her family. But don't I really have everything I really ever wanted? The Lord has given me a wonderful, loving husband who has always loved me and accepted me for who I am. My seven beautiful children have brought me so much love and happiness that "my cup truly runneth over."
But most importantly I have been given the gift of His love and a powerful testimony of His plan of Salvation. It is that gift that I treasure above the things of this world. I treasure my time in His scriptures daily. They feed me all the hope, strength, and love that I need. I pray that I can get to the point where absolutely nothing can rob me of my trust in Him and His love for me.

He did it!!!

Dad did it! He is now permitted and can start grading the property. Let's hope it ends up being a financial homerun for the kelley family. The economy is sure scary right now!

Prop 8

Dad and I are working hard to keep familirs safe and strong in Calif.

baby boy bonner

I finished the other two blocks for baby boy bonner!

This is the cabin and burial site for Galen Clark, one of the earlier caretakes of Yosemite Valley. As a young man, he came to Yosemite in the 1840's from the East Coast, where he had contracted tuberculosis and given 6 months to live. Figuring that the dry mountain air would be good for his condition, he moved to Yosemite Valley built a small cabin and decided to pick out a proper grave. He planted four Sequoia trees at each corner of the grave site, watering them every day to help them get rooted before he died. . . . the only problem, he ended up living in Yosemite Valley another 53 years, passing away at the age of 94. During most of that time, he was the only park ranger for the Valley.