Jumpin' Jacks with cousins

Ryan, Jen, Shaye and Braxton came down for the afternoon. They came to my classroom and we played with the fire sound tube, some chimes and crystal goblets as we learned a bit about sound waves. It was lots of fun.
Later we went to Wendy's for dinner and then to Jumpin' Jacks, where Brittany, Haylee, Daycee, Ben and Cloee joined us, along with Jennica. We had a great time. It was so fun to catch-up with them and visit. Thanks for coming down!

President's Day with all the cousins at the Park

All the Cheesman's were in town this weekend. Berke, Shelly and the girls were down from SLC and Kyler, Hillary and Livy were down from Provo. Ryan was down from Enoch with Shaye and Braxton. Ashley is doing better after giving birth to new baby Zoe and Courtney is awesome for taking care of them and Hallie so well. Brittany, Pete and the kids all played and we were there too!
(If you are thinking - "man, Kelli is so dang short in that family", then I would say, "Yes, you are right". I was standing in a little gutter of the toy, but I really am very short in the tall Cheesman family, and I am reminded of it often. It will just be hilarious when all the kids pass me, because I am sure they will.)
This is such a fun toy! I love when gravity makes life even more enjoyable than usual. The toy is slanted so you have to push up, but then gravity pulls you down and you use the momentum to go back up. There were lots of fun toys that use gravity at this park!

We had a great time visiting everyone, it was a great weekend!

Valentine Balloon Orders

For Valentine's Day I twisted over 500 balloons in three days. This is just an example of a few of the orders I had. It was lots of fun! Can't wait until next year!

Kari's 6th Birthday Party!

Kari and her friend Emmi are one day apart so they both had their birthday parties on the same day. Kari went to Emmi's and made this cute cake at "Little Chef's", you can see her with her apron on and cute princess crown. An hour and a half later was Kari's party and it was raining cats and dogs so we moved it inside with 17 little girls.
Kari wanted a Princess/Heart Birthday Party. Our gift to her was to have the birthday party. All the girls got heart crowns and scepters at the beginning of the party.
We played "Pass the Poison Apple" (like Hot Potato with Princess Sing Along Song Music) and they loved it! We also played "Princess Bingo", and it ended up being a much bigger hit than I anticipated so we didn't have enough time to play "Pin the Heart on the Princess".
Thanks to Grandma Creta and Grandma Beth for all their help with 17 cute little Princesses because Kade and I would have really struggled all by ourselves. The older girls could play just fine on their own, but our littler girls needed lots of help.





The girls decorated goblets to use during our Royal Birthday Cake Feast.

Here is Kari's Birthday Cake. She requested it just like this. She wanted a heart shape cake on top with a princess tiara in it and little heart candies on the sides and heart suckers in the corners. It was chocolate cake, which is Kari's favorite and to get natural pink frosting I made a homemade Raspberry Buttercream Frosting with real raspberries. It was SOOOO yummy!

"Happy Birthday to K A R I !"


Kade and I dished up the cake and ice cream for the Royal Birthday Cake Feast.
If you are wondering what in the world I am wearing it is a red robe that goes to a dress I found at DI and absolutely loved so I can turn it into a Queen of Hearts Costume. The girls were dressing up and said I needed to dress up too, so I did a little bit.
Horay birthday girl!
The goblets turned out well and it was fun having the soda in it to look pretty.


Uncle Chad helped serve the drink.
Aunt Karla helped take pictures for a while.
After Kari opened presents we finished off the party with a "Royal Bubble Ball". We turned on a little bubble machine and the Princess Sing Along Songs again and the girls loved it! They danced and danced and danced!




It was a great party! Thanks to everyone who helped and all the girls who came - we had a great time and Kari had a great 6th Birthday Party!

A bit of pampering for the girls.

Just for fun we were by Evan's Hairstyling College and decided to see if they had any walk-in appointments. Kya and Kiera got their hair washed and trimmed, and Kari got hers chopped. All three girls are getting their hair washed in this picture.
Cute Kiera!
Kya loved all the attention!
Kari was in her social element with the attention of several of the hair students. Talk, talk, talk!

Truck Progress: painting the inside "before"

It is all ready to paint and rino-line the bottom. The new leather seat is here and I'll put that in after I install the head liner. It will look great!

Go PINE VIEW!!!

I teach at Pine View Middle School and many of my former students are on the basket ball team at the high school. Kade and I can get into the games for free with my Teacher ID and the kids are still young enough that they are free to get in so Friday night ball games are lots of fun and inexpensive! We got them some gym tea shirts and a friend gave us a pom-pom, paw and megaphone for the girls to use.
We love going to the games and cheering for our team! Kiera is super cute yelling "Go Pine View" through the megaphone all through the house and at the games. We love having fun together! GO PINE VIEW!!!!

Painters Half-Marathon

I've been training for the Half-Marathon, but only inside because I am a pansy for the cold and it has been quite cold. I have been smart about my training, making sure I am eating healthy and taking my vitamins, etc. and trying to get at least 6 hours of sleep. I love running in the Cardio Cinema at Gold's Gym because I can run for two hours while I watch a movie and just get lost in the movie and not think about me running. Also, it is dark and no one can watch me run!
So, the Half-Marathon was to be on Saturday and the Sunday night before I start feeling terrible. I go to bed early, thanks to Kade, and hope if I get some extra sleep I can feel great the next morning and continue some training for a few more days then take it easy Thursday and Friday before the race. Monday morning I feel horrible. I am out on the couch or in my bed all day. I have the body aches, sweats/chills, my throat hurts and my tonsils are like golf balls. I am sure I have strep throat again! This is just like what happened before the Triathlon in November. AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! I get a blessing Monday from Kade and my Father-in-law Brian and I am feeling optimistic. Tuesday morning I realize I need some medicine too if I'm going to get to run the race on Saturday. I go make my sub. notes for two days and head to see Dr. Stratford, my doctor.
Dr. Stratford confirmed that I had strep and the nurse gave me a big ol' "peanut butter" type shot in the bumb specific for strep. I am sure with the blessing I was treated properly and I will use good judgement to allow myself to get better so I went home and slept for the rest of the day. Wednesday I started feeling better. I felt good enough to carry out my big Activity Day activity that evening and went to bed early. My house is a disaster because I haven't cleaned in many days, but I don't care. Thursday I feel great I go to work. That evening I ran for half an hour and felt good. Friday I ran for fourty-five minutes and it felt great! I am set for the race the next day!
THE RACE: Things went well. It had rained for most of the week and it was suppose to continue to rain during the race, but I'm sure with the 2000 people running all our prayers were heard and the rain didn't come. It was cold, but it was a great race. I was coveting people's water because I trained with water, but didn't run the race with water. (I will run the next race with water.) I finished the race at 2 hours and 22 minutes. I am not unhappy with that. My brother Chad ran it also but we never saw each other except at the end. He came in twelve minutes before I did. After the race I froze. It was about thirty-eight degrees and I just froze up. It took me a good hour in a hot shower to warm up and then I felt great. I took a little nap later that day and did some stretching and felt wonderful! I will definitely run another half marathon, either the Hurricane Half or the Bryce Canyon Half. This will help me get ready for the St. George Marathon.