Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving Lance's brother Mike and his family came to visit for a little over a week. We all enjoyed visiting and getting to know each other better.

All the Kerestes Grandkids

Played Football in the Street



Drove Go Karts

 Rode Bumper Boats (and got wet)

Played Miniature Golf

All in all we had a blast and can't waite to get togather again soon.

Missing Teeth

The Tooth Fairy has been very busy at The Kerestes Korner.  Kaelyn has lost 4 teeth so far with a few more on the verge of coming out.  Cohen keeps checking his teeth to see if any are loose.  No such luck.  Jordan keeps telling everyone she talks to on the phone that  Kaelyn teeth fell out.  Kaelyn's 1st grade class sang "All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth"  it was quite fitting beings most of them were missing more than a few teeth.  Kaelyn is also using all the tooth fairy money on Christmas presents for others.  She is such a thoughtful little girl.

She's Here!!!!!!

That's Right!  Bria Amelia Kerestes was born October 22 2011.  She weighed 8lbs 3oz, 20 1/2 inches long, and has strawberry blond hair.  Carolyn was able to avoid a C-section altogether this time.  Mom and baby are doing well and recovering nicely.  Bria and Carolyn arrived home late Sunday night and are enjoying being home.  Kaelyn is a great help, in the hospital she didn't want to go home because that meant she had to stop rocking Bria and give her back to mommy.  Cohen enjoyed holding her as well but he felt most comfortable behind the camera taking pictures.  Jordan on the other had just wanted to kiss Bria and hold her.  Any time Carolyn gets up to do something Jordan puts out her hands and offers to hold her.  Carolyn had to put the bouncy seat on the dinning room table so Bria can get some sleep without getting touched constantly.  All in things are going well so far. 

I would like to thank all of you who kept us in your prayers and gave us so much encouragement during the pregnancy.  It really meant a lot to us.   

Prince Eric and Princess Charlene

As many of you know I am from a large family (8 kids 5 girls and 3 boys).  I am the 2nd child and have had the pleasure of watching the majority of them grow up.  There has been many experiences such as HS graduations, baby blessings, Baptisms and weddings to say the least.  In mid August I got a call from my youngest sister Charlene who is in  her 1st year of collage.  Charlene informed me that her and Eric have decided to get married Sept. 9th 2011.  I was shocked and excited all at once.  Being 32 weeks pregnant I wasn't sure if I would be able attend but I really wanted to!  I talked to Lance and my OB and was given the ok to go.  Lance and I decided that it would be best if I went ALONE!!! without Lance and the kids.  I made all the necessary plans for Lance and the kids and I was on my way (by plane).  I arrived on the Sept.6th and stayed for a week.  It was a wonderful trip. 

The wedding was beautiful and I love my new Brother-in-law Eric.  It was fun getting to know him.  I was able to take a few (ok a lot) pictures but I will not bore you with all of them.  So here is a sample:

A few of the grandkids!

The Bride's Maid's

Charlene and Eric

The wedding Party

Porter, Estyn and Vince

Cool Weather

My favorite season is fall.  Not sure if it because fall is the season that my birthday falls in or the idea that the weather gets cooler (yes even in Yuma the weather gets cooler) and the leaves change colors.  Now in Yuma the leaves don't change much but I am OK with that since we don't get  S N O W!  I love to open all the doors and windows turn on the fans and bask in the cool air.  The kids can go and play outside and I don't have to keep getting on the to shut the door to keep the A/C in.  Last night the kids played outside for about an hour with the dog and I was able to relax with my feet up.  Oh how I love fall!

One Year Older...Happy Birthday Kealyn Tate!

On the 9th Kaelyn turned 7 years old.  Since I am due on the 24th of this month we decided to no do a big party.  We decided Kaelyn could invite one family over for dinner and desert.  She was also able to pick her favorite dinner and desert.  She picked Ice cream cake and Pizza.  We invited the Fonseca family who we have know for about 2 years.  They have 3 kids  two of which are twins and will be turning 5 this month.  They also have a 3 year old  so we had 6 kids hanging out at our house.  Lance's Parents, Regan (Lance's sister) and her boyfriend Matt came too.  Over all it was a nice relaxing day and Kaelyn had a great birthday.  Thanks to all that came and made her day great.   Happy Birthday Kaelyn!

Summer Catch up! Visit to WA!

Like most summers our family drives up to Wa to see the Lumpkins side of the family.  This summer was no different...at first.  We headed to Logan where my sister Mary lives to cut the drive in half.  Planed on staying there for a day or two.  Upon arrival we realized the car was having problems.  So our stay turned into 3 days.  We are glad Mary and John were so willing to let us stay with them for so long.  Thanks you two we love you so much.  

We made it to my parents house just in time for Porter's HS graduation.  It was great we visited with Grandma and Grandpa Jolley, my sister Dora and her family, my brother Estyn and his family, my sister Charlene, my brother Vince, and my sister Collette and her family.  Over all it was a great trip and the kids had fun getting to know their cousins. 
On the way home we stopped by and saw Mary and John again (we only stayed one night this time).  from there we drove to Vegas and visited with Bruce and Sally (Lance's Dad's cousins).  We stayed the night with them and spent most the day there too.   We arrived home tired and happy to be home.
Over all it was a great trip and we are looking forward to what next summer will bring us.

Potter and Kerestes Kids

Taken for a ride

Smores

The Family

Porter's Graduation

Sallie, Bruce and the Kids

Aunt Charlene and the kids

Time to stock up!

Strawberries went on sale so I decided to stock up.  I made some Jam and froze some too. 

 

22 containers of Strawberries,

All chopped and ready for jam.

7 jars of jam

 sliced strawberries all sealed and ready to be frozen.

So 22 16oz containers of strawberries = 7jars of jam and 8 1gal bags of sliced strawberries. I would say I had a sucessful day!

June Birthday's

In the month of June, Cohen (the 24th) turned 5, Lance (the 28th) tunred 33 and Jordan (the 30th) tunred 3.  So we had a combined party with food, frineds and lots and lots of fun take a look.

Kaelyn's New Skill

I Love To See The Temple

On our way up to Washington State this year we decided to take the trip slow and visit as many temples as we could on the way up. We visited:
1.) Las Vegas, NV temple
2.) St. George, UT temple
3.) Provo, UT temple
4.) Mount Timpanogos temple (in American Fork, UT)
5.) Draper, UT temple
6.) Oquirrh Mountian, UT temple
7.) Jordan River, UT temple
8.) Salt Lake City, UT temple
9.) Bountiful, UT temple
10.) Ogden, UT temple
11.) Logan, UT temple
12.) Boise, ID temple
13.) Columbia River temple (in Richland, WA)
14.) Spokane, WA temple
15.) Idaho Falls, ID temple
16.) Manti, UT temple

We are so blessed to have so many temples so close to us.

Hey Mom! The movie said my name!

So when Lance and I found out that our 2nd child would be a boy we knew immediately that we where going to name him Cohen. My mom had given Kaelyn a fun nick name so I was wondering what she would give Cohen.
Out family has a tendency to quote movies all the time. we may call each other up just to see if they know what movie we are quoting. It has been a lot of fun over the years. I have tried to share this love with my kids. The past few weeks we have gotten hold of some old movies my family quoted a lot and I have showed them to the kids and Lance. As many of you know me well I don't have a how do you say a quiet laugh. I find my self laughing all by myself at the movies. I get some interesting looks from Lance and the Kids but oh well.
So the other day I turned on the movie Cool Runnings (Love this movie) while I got a few things done around the house. The kids heard me laughing at random times so they decided to watch it with me. I had left the room to have Cohen chasing right behind me say with a big smile on his face..." Mom mom the movie said my name!" I stopped what i was doing and asked him "What did they say?" I knew exactly what he meant but I wanted to hear him say it. He replied "they said Webster Webster and Cohen! Mom that is what Grandma L calls me!"

In the movie if you haven't see it or it has been a while: Jr.'s Dad is tired of him chasing a silly dream of being an Olympic runner and tells him he is sending him to Miami, Fl for a job he got him at a Law Firm called Webster Webster and Cohen.

Cohen is now catching on to the Love I have for this movie. Not just for this one scene but for the movie it self!
Now when we watch it Cohen says here comes the very best part of the movie. It is nice to know Cohen and I share the same love for something even if it is a silly movie!

Jordan Assumes

So I normally do Laundry on the weekends because it is cheaper on my wallet. But there are weekends I don’t get around to it because I am so preoccupied with something else. So instead I try to get a few loads done before 9 am. One particular morning I got up and took the sheets off my bed and proceed to the laundry room so I could start a load or two. Jordan is an early riser so she was up and fallowed me. I could tell she was a little confused at why we were doing laundry so early. I asked her if she wanted to help and she perked right up. As I was putting the sheets in, she looked up at me and said…”Daddy Peed?” I laughed and said no Daddy didn’t pee the bed. It is really sad when your kids think the only reason you wash the sheets is if someone peed the bed. I am just glad she blamed it on Lance and not me!

Jordan Loves Her Daddy!

We have found that all are kids are so very different in every form of the word. Jordan (Red) is the most interesting at this age. Lance asks her is she loves him and most of the time all she will do is scowl and turn away from him. Other time she will say no and other time she will tell me as he is driving away to work that she loves her Daddy. Lance and I have tried many times to get her to say it to his face. Over the past 3 years we have learned that her actions speak louder than words. I have mentioned to Lance a few times when Jordan is not in ear shot that she does love him even thought she doesn’t say it. Here are a few ways of how she shows her love for her Daddy:

Adventures of the Kerestes and Linn Families

We have been so blessed to find such wonderful friends here in Yuma. The Linn's are no exception. We decided as a family we would head to San Diego for 2 days of fun. We went to Balboa Park and The Mormon Battalion. We all had loads of fun.

Silly Faces

All 8 kids together and somewhat smiling

Going for a wagon ride

Getting into character

Panning for gold

It's Another Girl!!!!!

That's right we are blessed with another girl. Her name is Bella and she is already 4 months old. Her birthday is Jan. 8 2011. She is such a joy and the kids love having her around. We have had he only a week and surprisingly I love her like one of my own. Thanks to Bella I have been up by 5:30am every morning she will not let me go back to sleep. I can tell you one thing I am not as tired during the day because Bella keeps me on my toes. Even thought is has been only a week I have been thinking that our family would not have been complete without her. Welcome to the Family Bella

Aunt Edna

My Dad only has one sister Edna who is 7 years older than him. She and her husband Bill have lived in California in the same house for as long as I can remember and long before that. Since Lance and I have lived in Yuma we realized that they were only 3 hours away so we tried to visit them often. It has been so fun to get to know them better and for them to get to know my kids as well. For the past 3 years Aunt Edna has been ill and in the Hospital a few times. I had the opportunity to go and visit her on one occasion when she was in the hospital. I was 9 months pregnant with Jordan and feeling quite LARGE! I rode over with my dad who along with my mom had flown in from Wa the day before. When I entered her room I was taken back at home much she looked like my grandmother who had passed way when I was 9. As I told her this she smiled and told me how taken back she was that I looked so much like my mother. It was a great experience to be with her and hold her hand while she laid there in her hospital bed. Within 2 days of going to see her she was released from the hospital and sent home with an Oxygen tank. We were all pleased to see she was getting better. Three Years passed and I got a phone call from my dad saying she had a heart attack and had passed away. My parents drove down and stayed with us and we drove up to my uncle’s place and visited with Family and went to the funeral. It was hard to see my uncle and cousins so sad. I knew in my heart she was in a better place and wasn't in any pain. I loved her dearly and will miss her.

The Rodeo