I don't know what to title this.

Do I really need to comment. Maybe not.

Sam's Bird

Well it's big enough to be a bird. Sam found it outside. Kept it for a day or two, and set it free. I think he had used it enough to scare any family member, neighbor, or friend who came by. It was fun to watch. Suzi or I would be talking to someone, and Sam would pop out of no where with the "Bird" in hand extended going "WANNA HOLD IT!" Screaming usually followed, as well as some sprinting back out our front door by some. Believe me I would have stopped Sam if I had seen him coming but he would come out of no where I tell you.

My Girls

5:20 pm. Just before dinner. I've been working in my office, and Suzi was at the store. Hannah & Georgia have been in the Kitchen.

Me: "Hey you two can't just get out the all of that stuff and make a milk shake whenever you want too. We are going to eat dinner shortly!" (The kitchen table is a mess) Hannah: "Well you are!" Georgia: "Yeah!" This must have been some kind of Jedi mind trick the two of them were trying to use on me, because I was not in the kitchen making a milk shake with them. I was in my office! I just told you that. (re-read the first sentence please). Needless to say, but I'll say it anyway, the Jedi mind trick failed to work on me. Me: "No I wasn't, what are talking about? Clean that mess up."

Then I proceeded to clean the mess up. Maybe, the mind trick worked to some degree, because I cleaned up the mess. It was actually the fear of Suzi. I was afraid that when she got home I would catch the wrath and not those two stinkers.

Patrick's Birthday In San Francisco

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

We had a great day in SF. I have some more pictures that I'll post later that I think are hilarious, but need commentary. So I won't publish them until I have time to write about them.

Georgia was on fire this trip. She carried the back pack at least half the day, and never ever fussed about being tired. We were in SF about 8 hours. She was a trooper. I think she was able to strike a pose, or make a face in 75% of the pictures she was in. She's a hoot.

As you can see we took the BART in for the fun of it. It certainly wasn't to save money. With 6 people it actually cost $50, and that's just BART in & out of the city. To ride around in the city Muni is the best bang for your dollar (buses & trains). We had a great day. Did a bunch of wandering around, shopping, and a bit of eating. Ate at Lori's for lunch, and Chipolte, for dinner.
Patrick is our big guy. 12 is a big age in "Mormondom." The beginning of manhood. That I'll blog about later. However in short, I couldn't be more proud of Puff. He is an outstanding representative of our family, our Faith, and what a young man should be. We love him here in the Kelly house.

Puppies!

Eveyone loves puppies! No we didn't get a puppy, but the Brink's did! They brought over Lucy to meet us, and of course she was a hit with the kids. It's a face that even Jana could love. Click on the photo to get a close up.

A's Game

Suzi & I caught an A's game last night, and had some fantastic seats thanks to a buddy (Roger) of mine.

Even better was the fact that after entering the bottom of the 9th with the score 1 Chicago 0 A's, is that the A's won 2-1. It made for a great finish. After going to the game it made me wonder why I don't do it more often. We had a blast.

Hannah's Egg Drop

Make photo slide shows at onetruemedia.com

Who doesn't love the egg drop? Kids stuffed their eggs in anything. No rules. Made for a good show. The kids cheered when eggs exploded, and at the cool egg carrying devices. Made for a fun afternoon at Vinewood elementary.

Kelly Kids

I often ask Suzi, "When you make children this beautiful, this smart, this great how do you stop at four?" Don't worry we've stopped at four, but I still think it's a fair question.

Loves to Cook

Two people love to cook in this house. Momma, and Georgia.

Summer?

No it's not summer, but that doesn't deter anyone in this house from swimming. Well at least not Georgia.

It's the beginning of swim season. Within a couple of days Georgia will have remembered how to swim, and will be back jumping off the diving board. Until then we (the parents) will be keeping a close eye on her.

Georgia's New Bruise

Georgia took a spill while I was out of town. She chipped one of her teeth in the back, and had to go see the dentist. She got it all fixed up, but you can see a little of the bruise left there on her chin.

Sunday

General conference is over, and it turned into a nice lazy Sunday.

I took a short trip around the house to see what people were doing, and these are the photos I came up with:















The girls are certainly up to no good. Hannah has climbed up the cabinets up stairs to get into something. Georgia was clearly working "look out", but didn't hear me coming. Busted! I didn't even ask what they were getting into, looked like they were having fun.















The boys have parked themselves in front of Fifa 06 on the play station. (That's a soccer game) They love that game, and I do too. You can play in just about any Soccer league in the world with any team.
















Suz is playing with her itunes. Trying to decide what album to buy next. She saw me with the camera, and it appears that she is either trying to hide from camera, or it's a new dance move.

Think Quick

I have an annual tradition of draining the swimming pool, power washing it, and filling it back up. It's a messy job by the end of winter, because I don't put any chemicals in the pool during the winter.

I drain the pool with a pump, and the last 8 inches or so need to be sucked out with wet/dry shop vac because of the junk that is in the water. The last 8 inches are a dark green, grimy, living, gooey mess.

I have fallen into that mess multiple times while power washing the sides of the pool. It's gross. I either fall into it while running down into the base of the pool, and trying not to slip and fall into it. Or while standing in an awkward position while washing a foot slips and down I go into the mess. I pump the water down to the last 8 inches, but when I'm power washing the water builds up in the bottom of the pool to a good foot and a half of dark green freezing goop. When I fall my main concern is keeping my head above the water. I don't want anything in that water in my ears, or nose, or mouth, or eyes. It's big time gross.

The last couple of inches require some team work that involve Patrick, Sam, and I to work together to get the job done. I was ready to power vac out the last couple of inches. I was down in the green water with the end of the hose, Patrick was in the shallow end of the almost empty pool with the shop vac, and Sam was on the pool deck with all of the power cords.

I suck up the mess. Patrick keeps the vacuum from sliding down into the deep end of the pool where it's impossible to pull out full of water and muck, not to mention shop vacs run on electricity as most of you know, so he has to make sure that bad boy doesn't slide into the water with me. Sam is the emergency man. If anything is about to go wrong Sam is to unplug the vac from the orange power cord.

Everyone has had their job explained to them, and so I yell to Sam "Plug in the Shop Vac!" I bend over to begin sucking, but I quickly notice that the Vac isn't on.

I look up to Sam and see that he has thrown the the live orange cord in the air. Why is the live orange cord in the air? I now see that not only has Sam thrown the cord, but he has thrown it to me! Me, the one standing in the water at the bottom of the pool. I realize I'm not going to be able to run out of the water quick enough, I would surely slip and fall. I know this because of experience trying to escape the green water of the deep end of the pool. It takes a lot of effort and usually a few runs.

I also realize I'm not going to be able to catch the end of the cord. I wasn't even going to try. So what I do is jump out of the water at just about the same time as the cord enters the water. I land with both feet straddling the green water. In a position as close to the "splits" as I can do straddling the puddle I yell to Sam to unplug the cord from the wall, which he does quickly.

You know life is kind of crazy that way. One minute we are all working together as a family having a good time, the next someone is trying to kill someone.

I tried to discover a moral to the story. I think the lesson is to make sure that the guy who is in charge of the electricity understands his job perfectly before I go entering the water. As you can see the pool is full and clean, and no harm done. Maybe one or two new gray hairs.

Glad to be Home

Long flight home, but I was treated like a rock star upon arrival. I think I shot this picture on the way to Chicago.

Do I look like someone who has Hyperthyroidism?

NO. Maybe a little more like someone who has Hypothryrodism..................

I've just about had it. Tired of talking about negative feed back loops, and the Hypothalamic pituitary thyroid axis (of evil). Tire of Hypothalamus', pituitarys, and Thyroids. Glands and chemicals. Dosing, and contraindications. Indications, and warnings. Free, and bound T3 and T4. Signs and Symptoms, and end organ damage. Prevalence, and goiters. Treatments, and causes.

I just want to go home. 4th week in Chicago, and I think my brain is close to full. So, Thursday I fly home. Until then I guess it's more of the above, with some sales messages thrown in just for fun! It's really not that fun.

You know measuring TSH is the standard for discovering Thyroid issues. You confirm a diagnosis with a free T3 measurement. Good to know. Keep that one in your pocket for a dinner party. I'm sure that's a lady killer.

I'm not a very good sleeper.

Suzi told me that last night Georgia came into our bedroom and told Suzi that "When you're out of town Dad let's us sleep with him." (Which is true because I can't stand it when Suzi is gone, so everyone piles into our bed) Suzi said "Is that right? Well that's because Dad must be nicer than me." Georgia said "Yep, he is." After which Georgia was dismissed to bed.

It's not very often that I am the most loved around the house. Suzi is the most beloved by all in our home. I'm OK with that. I love that. I'll take second any day to her. However, it is nice to know that every now and then, on certain topics, on the second Tuesday of each month, when the stars all come into line, I sneak into first. I like that, and I know Suzi likes that too.

You know, we Dad's are irreplaceable. Not just because we are fun. For a million reasons. We are divine. Our roles are Divine. Irreplaceable.

Hannah Shea

Mom I don't want to be a back stage dancer.......... I want to be a front stage dancer.

Nauvoo

I took a trip on Saturday to Nauvoo. I really wish I had the family with me. There is a ton to see. It was about a 5 hour drive from Chicago. Started early spent a couple of hours there, and got home late. I would love to post some of my own pictures however after driving three hours I remembered I took my camera battery out of my camera the night before to charge it. I had my camera, but no battery.

Tried to find a camera shop or a best buy, but there just doesn't seem to be any of those out there in the middle of Illinois. There wasn't much of anything out there in the middle of Illinois. It was beautifully empty.

I took the Freeway across Illinois, but I took the long way home coming back. Traveled small Highways from little town to little town. Every time I passed a barn I wanted to take a picture for Suzi. I saw thousands of barns. Suzi loves barns, and wants one herself. They have a ton of them out here.

http://www.beautifulnauvoo.com/
http://www.historicnauvoo.net/

Sam's a player.

Sam tried out, and was asked to play on Lodi's year round competition soccer team. Congratulations to Sammy J!

Georgia

G: Dad are you going to get me some candy before you come home? Me: You know I will. G: When are you coming home? Me: Not for Six days. That's a long time still Georgi. G: A long time! I want you to come sooner. My candy is going to be moldy.

Trapped in my hotel room

I caught something nasty as I headed out of town Sunday to come here to Chicago for training with Abbott. Monday I suffered through training classes, but as soon as they were over I went straight to bed. I haven't left bed since then. I feel trapped in my hotel room. I think I going to spend one more day in bed. I hate being sick on the road.

I haven't seen much of Chicago. I went down town when I was here last. I ate at a great Brazilian BBQ with a buddy of mine. Fortunately for me I don't know where many of those types of restaurants are near my home in California. I know of one in SF and that's it.

Abbott so far has been interesting. They are doing the best they can to make us feel welcome into the organization. I really enjoy my new bosses. Both seem to be good guys. Well liked by their people. We'll see how it goes. I'm expecting good things this year.

Georgia

Georgi: Dad chew with your mouth shut. Me: It is. G: No it's not, you just opened you mouth to talk. Me: Yeah so I stopped chewing. G: Dad, then don't talk with your mouth full. Me: It's not, if my mouth were full I couldn't talk. So it's mostly empty. G: Dad, it's sick! Don't talk with any food in you mouth. Me: O.... G: DON'T TALK!

Who needs a mother to teach manners when Georgia is around. She does this with everyone. To be fair, Sam as well.

My Flight

I got on the plane, and the pilot said we were going to be on the ground for a while. He told us they were having some mechanical problems. Of course I started thinking about the blog I had just posted regarding this very topic and thought, "why would he tell us all that?" It made me mad. I had already wasted two hours, and now he's going to tell me about why the plane might fall out of the sky. Don't tell me I'm over reacting.

If I were the pilot I would have said "one of the outside light bulbs needs to be replaced and they can't find one. Might take a minute." No harm done if you do it my way right. Doesn't make the guy sitting in 17c a little jumpy.

He said, "There is some material that is hanging from the plane. Need to get a mechanic to look at before we leave." I realized then, and now that they wouldn't have left the ground if the plane was unsafe. I'm just saying if you do it my way, 17c is doesn't have to put on his ipod and turn it up as loud as possible so he won't hear any further details.

The 20 something girl sitting two seats over says, "isn't that thing too loud?" Referring to my ipod. You know what I said? I said nothing. I couldn't hear her, I had my ipod on remember? Hello, you paying attention here. Keep up with me. I took off my head phones, and said "what was that?" She said "I said (that's how I knew what she said the first time wise guy) isn't that thing too loud, I can hear it all the way over here." I'm thinking, who is this person? She the ipod police? Was she sent here by Hannah, and Georgia to follow me around and tell me when my ipod is too loud since they can't? Can this person who I've never exchanged any conversation with not see that I have my head phones on? Isn't that a universal sign for "don't talk to me?" No she must see that I have my head phones on because she talking to me about that very fact. So it must be that she doesn't understand universal signs.

So I told her "well, yes it is turned up rather loud, but that's because I don't want to hear anything else." Can you believe I was that rude? I can't even believe I was that rude. Makes me laugh to think back to it. She's says "ooooh, huh, I have an ipod too!" She than began to tell me all about her ipod, and ask questions about mine. I determined that not only could she not read universal signs, but she also did not have the ability to understand subtle conversational hints. I can't blame her though, she's from Canton Ohio. People from Canton Ohio seem not to need to read universal signs, or subtle hints. They just tell you flat out what they are thinking. That's how I found out she was from Canton Ohio. It's also how I found out she has a baby girl who is two years old. I also found out she's in school full time, and that this late flight might make her miss her connection and she's going to miss her class in the morning if that happened. Her class was at ten. She's single. She was visiting a friend in Sacramento that she went to high school with, and I'm sure there are many other things I forget. I learned much of this with asking a question to prompt the information.

I did get to use my head phones to watch the movie. Night at the Museum. Good movie. Thinking back it amazes me all the interesting things I've learned from people I've sat next to on flights. I think there is a sign some place on me that says "talk to me." Which quite honestly I am grateful for, because the sign could say a lot of other things.

Chicago

Going to go spend the month in Chicago for work. Leaving today, flight delayed for 2 hours. Home on the 14th, back out on the 18th, home again on the 30th.

The kids, and Suzi hate it. Me too of course, but it's a necessary evil. Glad to have a good job. It will give me some time to write on the blog, and Suzi and the kids can read about what's going on with me out in Chicago. Hopefully I'll have sometime to visit Navoo.

I had a salad here at the airport. I had a chocolate milk with it too! Crazy.

Going back to why the flight is delayed. Don't you wonder why at times that happens. I'm not sure if I want to know? "Yeah we can't keep this plane from falling out of the sky, soon as we get that fixed we'll have you all up and going!" Yeah I'm happy with not knowing.

Hey Suzi, the meetings are business casual. Good thing I packed those two suits, and all those ties. Should have read that one email a little more carefully.

Salad

Listen if you're going to eat a salad, if you must it eat salad, if you find nothing else seems to be attractive on the menu and you feel compelled to eat a salad, forced to eat a salad even, will you please use a salad dressing that is NOT fat free. Really, it's just as pathetic as the guy who orders 4 burritos, 2 tacos, a chimmicanga, a taco salad, and the diet soda. It really is.

If you're saying to me, "Sean I'm trying to save my calories," or "Sean I don't want to waste my calories on salad dressing", or "I'm trying count every calorie." Isn't that the reason you're eating the salad to begin with? Isn't it? You've already saved the calories by eating the rabbit food instead of the other tasty options!

Now put some salad dressing on it that doesn't taste like crap. Yes it does taste like crap. I don't want to hear "fat free dressing is an acquired taste, eat it long enough and you'll like it." Any food (or drink) that pummels your taste buds into submission before it becomes tolerant should have been spit out when first tasted. That's why you have taste buds, it's to tell you "mmm that's good eat more of that," or "not good spit it out." If you've spent enough time around babies you know I'm right.

Mormon Gallup Poll

http://www.galluppoll.com/content/default.aspx?ci=26758&pg=1

I've heard these statistics quoted all over the place, but hadn't seen the results in total. I really didn't look at the methodology though.

I find it interesting, and funny. One thing I think pointing out is, well let me have you guess.

Guess which group had the strongest unfavorable opinion of Mormons when asked "All in all would you say you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of the Mormon religion?"
Let me give you a hint. The responses were broken down by region, political party, ideology, church attendance, and religion. Here's the hint: The group came out of the ideology section, and not the religion section.

Answer: Liberals. And it wasn't even close. 61% Oh, those liberals just are not as tolerant as they think they are now are they.

Guess which group had the most favorable opinion when asked the question. I'll give you another hint: It came out of the religion group this time.

Answer: Catholics 56% Here my simple insight to this statistic. You know how many times I've been asked after people count my kids, "So are you Catholic or Mormon."

I think it's fascinating.

Castle Airforce Base

Sam and I had some time in between games on Saturday so we headed over the the Castle Air force Base Museum. They had everything! Old, New, Big, Small, Attach, Cargo, Fighter, and Tanker. My favorites: The B52, F14, and SR71. They had some foreign planes as well. Sam is standing behind a plane from the UK below. He's acting like he's being blown away if you look closely. Look closer. Closer. Click on the picture. Anyhow, we had a great time. Everyone of the Kelly kids is a blast to hang out with. I love it.

Sammy J took this picture.

Sam sometimes thinks that showing his teeth is considered smiling. He makes me laugh. He wants to be a pilot when he grows up. Likes the Air force Academy.

Basketball in the Rain

Patrick believes this is photographic proof that "Sam shoves me in the back every time that I shoot." I think the picture is inconclusive regarding that issue. What the picture does show is that no matter the weather they are up to play some ball in the Heilbrun's driveway.

Zocalo

The first meeting spot of the new Abbott Santa Rosa Lipid Sales force. I lucked out, seems to be a great group of people.

Sacramento

Lodi

This rainbow sent everyone running in the house outside to see it.

Love the Rain

Lucky # 7