Kelly Times Two

Last night my family gave in to my coercion. They all agreed to do the Rockin' R triathlon with me in Gruene (pronounced like my favorite color), Texas! It's in four weeks and one day from now. I'm so excited that they're going to give it a shot. I ran 2.3 miles today and 2.6 miles yesterday. The run distance on this triathlon is just 3.3, so it's doable. The bike is 13.5 miles and the swim is 400 meters. Now the question is do I try to redeem myself from the awful stats I had last year by shaving off at least a half hour of my pathetic finish time or do I play mamabear to my cubs if they're needing some encouragement?

After a long process of international adoption, this precious little Ethiopian baby was officially placed in the arms of her new mommy, my niece Aubrey, the end of February. Aubrey, 30, is a single parent and has been blessed beyond words with this beautiful little angel, to add joy in her life. Kelly and I took a quick road trip to Oklahoma, leaving on Saturday night after Lindsey left for prom, to be there for the baby blessing of Marren on Sunday and an open house that afternoon. Marren is now eight months old and has such a loving disposition. Aubrey is a great mother and adores her little girl to pieces. Who wouldn't? My sister, Julie, gets a little Marren snuggling time in. She's popular with all of us, so we had to take turns. My sister, Valerie, now gets a little love from Marren. Here's my sister, Tracy, who is Marren's grandma, with her daughter, Aubrey, Marren's mom. Tracy prepared a nice feast for the Sunday afternoon open house. The bright and ch...

Check out this cheery, colorful layered cake that I saw on Facebook today! I am a sucker for interesting looking food and these bright colors are amazing. Jennie, you should make one like this sometime. The six layers are dramatic in and of itself, then add the purple, turquoise, green, yellow, orange, and dark pink, and VOILA...happiness! Thanks for posting it, Julie.

On Saturday night, my daughter and 21 of her friends came to our house for an elegant outdoor dinner that I hosted, before they all went to their annual formal church dance, nicknamed Mormon Prom. For the appetizer course, I found these two awesome recipes pictured above online and will definitely be making them again. Beef Tenderloin Mini Sandwiches with Mustard Horseradish Sauce Rhodes Frozen Dinner Rolls 1 beef tenderloin (about 1.5 lbs) 2/3 cup sour cream 1/4 cup dijon mustard 2 tablespoons minces fresh taragon 2 tablespoons prepared horseradish 1/4 cup (approximately) capers Step One. To prepare the rolls, spray a non-stick cookie sheet or baking pan with non-stick cooking spray, and place frozen dough on pan to thaw. Lightly spray the top of the rolls after they've been evenly arranged a few inches apart. On my large pan, I can put 24 rolls on it at a time. Cover with plastic wrap. After the rolls have thawed and slightly began to rise, when they're no more than about 2-...

Christopher and his friends, Matthew and Steven, are checking out their treats from the Easter egg hunt. Yvette and Sam's family (Steven and Matthew's parents) joined us for Easter lunch on Sunday, in between the televised semiannual General Conference of our church. It was kind of odd not putting on Sunday clothes on Easter, but since we watched it on cable tv, we stayed casual. The boys thought it would look better on the table if the bunnies were kissing. Kelly and his peeps wishing you a happy Easter, from him and the blue chicks. Our "older kids Easter egg" hunt was thrilling for the four since they didn't have to worry about giving little ones a head start, and essentially dominating the take. We hid about ten dozen eggs for the four of them. Kelly made it tricky to get to some of them. The hunt... We also had Christopher's Sunday school teacher and her husband over for Easter. They are moving at the end of the week and we will miss them. Sharilynn ...

Lindsey went to a choir girlfriend's house last night for a sleepover, then out to breakfast to celebrate another friend's birthday. While she was doing that, I went to Home Depot and bought some plants, tomatoes, cilantro, parsley, oregano, basil, strawberries, and a Japanese shrub. Lindsey has always loved gardening, so I told her I had a few things for her to plant. She got right to it and did an excellent job. She's always so helpful any time I want anything planted. She's a soccer sweetheart for the high school men's soccer team, and has personally committed to cheer for and bring treats to #11, Matt, who is one of the best players on the team. We joined Lindsey today and went to one of his games for a thrilling round in the playoffs, which they won! It was a close game! They were tied, then went into overtime, but couldn't break the tie, so then they went into the five players on each team at the goal thing, and I cannot remember what that is called. Bu...