OH!

Where to begin?

Of the 34 years you’ve been alive you have spent seven of those years with me, your wife, Eliza J. Dawson. And I have endeavored to make your birthdays as wonderful as I could. (Remember when I tried to brow beat you into having a 30th birthday party – wasn’t that fun?!)

At least I am learning.

Slowly, but there is progress.

Now I just ask you what you want and give it to you — with only a small surprise thrown into the mix, like last year. (wink, wink)

Anyway,

I still remember when we were dating and you showed me your baby pictures.

That is when I knew I wanted to marry you.

Holy cow! Were you a little stunner.

WHAT would I have given to know you then?!

Seeing as you are a year older than me I can imagine that I watched you from heaven. I probably couldn’t help myself. You were so stink’n cute. I wonder if God let me be one of your guardian angels before I was sent to earth?

The other angels who kept a faithful vigil would see me swooning and wonder, “What is her deal?” and I would say, “One day that baby will grow up and be the man I marry. I’ll love him more than anyone in the whole world.” They would get it because you know, they’re angels and angels understand about love.

Anyway lets pull it back. Out of dream land and into reality.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

I know that I take your steadiness, your goodness, your kindness, your intelligence for granted every single day. So I am grateful for the chance to take stock and celebrate how much you mean to me and how grateful I am that you were born 34 years ago.

Would you mind if I briefly catalogued just a few of the reasons why I love you so?

I love how unflappable you are and I am grateful that despite my complete and utter flappability you somehow manage to just let it go. You even smile, a loving smile, when I go off on a tirade, have a spaz, or lose my mind. You let me be who I am without making me feeling like a total loser.  That is so kind of you, thanks.

I love to see you in action with our daughters.  You are not showy or flashy about the way you engage them – but with a gentle intensity you pay very close attention to what they are doing, and then you celebrate it. First by noticing how they are progressing and what they are doing, then you help stretch them further. You give them credit. You ask things of them that I don’t, then you show me, through your example that they are totally capable. They are so blessed to have you as a dad.

I love your brain. It is such a good one. Not only is it  packed with information, but I love how you take that information and break it down for me into bite sized pieces that I can understand. I love how your process all the information that you seem to endlessly cram into your brain. For example, I might read something about politics in the news paper that would outrage me. I would tell you about it and you would very calmly explain two or three other angles at which I could examine the story and come up with a very different conclusion.  You have an ability to do this with almost any subject in which you are well versed.

I love your sense of humor. I love your great big laugh. I can’t wait to share things with you in the hope that that great big laugh might come toppling out of you and fill my heart with delight.

I am grateful that you always look out for me – and find ways to help me. I know you have my best interest at heart. I feel so safe with you. I know that you would never ridicule me or knowingly hurt me. Remember the other night I came home and you had put Clara down successfully with a bottle and you could tell instantly that I was upset. You just held me then when you looked at me and saw that I had tears in my eyes you held me even tighter. You didn’t even understand why this would make me sad, all you knew was that I was sad and you were instantly on my side. Then you gave me the time to explain how wonderful and  hard it is for me to give Clara independence.

I feel like our marriage is made up of hundreds of moments like these. Moments of kindness and understanding.

I am so happy to be your wife. You are such a source of strength to me. I am grateful that you are honoring the commitments that you made to God and to me when we are married. If God were to come to me and ask me, “So, how is he doing?” I would give him the mushiest, gushiest report of the swell job that you are doing – as a husband, as a friend, as a provider, as a builder of his kingdom (he knows already, but if he were to ask, I would not hold back!)

I also love…your complete and utter dedication to the gospel, your enthusiasm for baseball, that you love to play basketball, the kindness you show to my family all the time, your generosity and that you support me in my efforts to be generous, your love of all things technological (and the ways you spend your effort helping me out in this department – whether it’s putting conference talks on my iPhone or helping me start a blog), and how you always make my birthday the most wonderful day of the year (I hope I do half as good a job).

I love you more than words can express.

Happy 34th birthday.

Last year on your birthday I gave you

a gift never to be topped

May this year be full of all that is good, and beautiful and true!

Love,

Lize

Parker Hudson Kelly was born to be awesome.

This photo of him sitting on a pink suit case with a water gun in his hands is CLASSIC Parker. The kid just reeks of awesomeness.

It is a pleasure to have this opportunity to celebrate him on his birthday and tell you a bit about my GIGANTIC little brother, Parker.

Born to our family on June 11th 16 years ago, the last of nine kids, he arrived on the large side. Tipping the scales at 9lbs 15oz he was already cooler than any of the rest of us. As you can see I was pretty excited when he joined our family.

I still remember sitting in Miss Lettera’s math class watching the clock. My mom was in labor and there I was doing stink’n stupid geometry. (Having had two children I would prefer to be in labor over doing geometry).  This was in the days before cell phones…we just had to wait, and wait, and wait until word came that our little brother had touched the ground and was officially one of our merry little band. When we knew he was with us, safe and sound, we did a  jig of happiness.

He was an awesome little kid. Fun, kind, and deep. He has always been a deep thinker and he also feels things in a very deep way. Recently he and my mom were talking together and discussing each member of our family, he summed up each one of us brilliantly in one sentence. I still think about that and am gobsmacked by it.

He also has a heart of gold.  When he was little my mom explained the plan of salvation to him – you know, the classic drawing. We later found this picture she’d drawn for him taped up on his closet wall, and in his little boy, scratchy handwriting he had written the phrase, “GOD’S RULES”. Parker cares about keeping those rules, and oh! how I love him for it.

The golden heart of that little boy still beats strong and true in his grown-up man body.

And I know I am his very proud, and rather bias older sister but all I gotta say is, “Hey, Zack Efron – you ain’t got nothing on my brotha!”

He is a handsome feller. Attention all you single ladies out there -just for your info,  he is as nice as he is handsome.

I hope he wont mind me mentioning that he still puts his head on his mom’s shoulder, he also puts his arm around his sisters when we are walking along together, he gives great hugs (not wimpy ones – like some of this other brothers who have had to endure some criticism on this subject) he loved to snuggle as a little guy – and he is still keeping it real in the snuggle department today.

Parker is funny. He really gets me laughing. He is also very, very creative. I wish I could show you some of his short films. They are awesome.

Parker has the same heroes for a long time. He dressed up as one of them on a Halloween many moons ago. Can you spot him in the crowd?

I’ll give you a clue.

He is still dressing up like this particular hero today. Here he is pictured this past Christmas.

All silliness aside, Parker has been through some pretty big challenges in the last few years. He has faced them courageously.  It has been a lonely, hard road – but he has kept his faith and kept going until he came out on the other side.

I love you, Parker.

Thank you for being such a great brother.

Thank you for being such a swell uncle to my little girls.

Thank you for being a great son to mom and dad.

Thank you for being  a good friend to all who are blessed to know you.

YOU ROCK!

(I started this post with one of my very favorite photos of Parker and I end it with another of my favorites. CLASSIC Parker! Long may he reign!)

May 17th – the most anticipated day since Charles and Dianna’s wedding – came! After weeks and weeks of asking and hoping for it to arrive, IT FINALLY DID!

And it came bright and early.

5:55 AM to be precise.

No sweat! Mom and Dad were ON IT! Much evening preparation had taken place the night before, involving building, wrapping, stirring, baking and so forth.

In case you’re curious breakfast was a symphony in pink!

Pink milk, muffins with pink frosting, and pink fruit (in the form of a strawberry) vanilla yogurt (white is also an approved color) with a pink candle on top

The little girl who loved to bring her mom and dad cold scrambled eggs on cookie sheet draped in a tea-towel grew up to be a mommy who couldn’t wait to bring her daughter a birthday breakfast in bed!

Who do you think was the most excited? (It’s a toss up, says I!)

Make that wish!

Don’t mind if I do

Only a few nibbles and sips took place before the pull of presents was so strong that it could no longer be RESISTED!

The Birthday Girl was not disappointed.

Her favorites?

After church we came home and got ready for Millie’s “Family Party” which, by all accounts, t’was tremendous!

The Bench family arrived, Jack carrying the gift and Drew holding these flowers behind his back (a tricky thing when you consider that they were about half his height). Drew always reminds me that chivalry is not dead.

Then Hudson, Braxton and Porter arrived – Hudson was keen to get the presents opened and Millie was only too happy to oblige him

from Drew – his favorite thing in the universe, a painting book. Thanks, Drewby!

and black ballet slippers to match with her birthday tutu, thank you, Amanda!

a home-made card from the Rich brothers (aka a TREASURE!)

Hudson and his mommy must have been on the same wave length as me – as only a few days earlier Millie and I had picked out these SAME goggles for her. She was confused and wanted to keep the ones we’d already purchased. (Note to the mother: must work with your four year old child on party etiquette namely receiving gifts graciously!!)

Candles + Cake = TIME TO GET YOUR GRUB ON!

Then all children pictured above were banished the the basement bellow to watch a movie

But the party was just getting started…Millie’s UNCLE/AUNTS and cousin little John arrived!

Check out Millie’s reaction to their arrival

HOOORAAAYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After our wonderful friends said “adieu” our family stayed a little longer for some serious “cousin time” – it ROCKED!

John reminds me of George Emerson a top his tree in A Room w/ a View. TRUTH! LOVE!

BEAUTY! says Clara.  She loves that book too, John-o.

Khali must have got the memo, or perhaps just felt the cousin vibe b/c she called Millie to sing her, “happy birthday!” and followed it up with a video chat.  So we ended up having all the cousins together! We also got a call from both sets of Grandparents and a wonderful email from Granny complete with photos of cows they had seen that afternoon a video of a duck who refused to quack!

It was a “GLORIOUS day, Honeychurch!”

When it was all over, the girls in bed, the dishes washed, the house back in relative order– all was quiet. Jan and I flopped down on the sofa to enjoy our Sunday tradition of nachos for dinner. As we bowed our heads to pray Jan paused, and then proceed to pour his heart out in gratitude for the blessing of Millie, for the bounty of wonderful friends and cherished family, for all that is true and good in our lives.  (Those nachos didn’t know what had hit them!)

His prayer made my heart sing.

The perfect ending to a perfect day.

On Weds the 13th celebrations for Millie’s birthday commenced.

Each kid in her pre-school class is invited to bring a birthday treat to share with their class mates in honor of their special day.

I wanted to send Millie in with something other than cupcakes (because everyone does cupcakes) but Jan was out to town, I had three hours of sleep the night before and I was exhausted. Cup cakes it was.

Millie chose the sprinkles and put them on herself

We picked out a special dress for her to wear to school

Armed with her cupcakes she was ready to PAR-TY!!

At school she was issued the standard birthday crown.

I think she really thought she was royalty

She loved it and wore it all day long. Even in the park running around. At one point the wind blew it right off her head – but Jack and Drew ran after it and rescued it. What chivalry! Their gallant deeds made that cardboard crown all the more regal.

Millie also requested that whenever she was wearing it that I refer to her as “The Birthday Girl.”

Your wish is my command.

Bliss. It was bliss, my friends. The evening before I had been doubting that my husband would come through this year – I was a fool. Jan is the KING of providing me a birthday of bliss. He nails it every year. And this year was no exception.

A few highlights of the day…

I dressed myself and the girls in coordinating outfits. Which leads me to a confession – if Laura Ashely Mother & Child were still in full force I would be deeply tempted to purchase matchy matchy outfits for me and the girls. I KNOW it is SO LAME! But there it is! Luckily for people like me there is J. Crew and Crew Cuts – which Millie and I wore(me the Crew and she the Cuts) and Clara provided the “accent” in a floral number – she looked like a little Spode dish…as you can see.

Knowing of my deep need to be “matchy, matchy” with my daughters Jan provided this perfect gift:

Eat your heart out Maria Von-Trapp. Gretel was cute and all, but she didn’t have plastic princess shoes like Millie D. And yes, we are going to make culinary masterpieces together in the near future. I am thinking a little mac-n’-cheese might look good on our aprons.

Amanda brought us her famous cup cakes but with a new addition – peanut butter frosting. I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. Thank you so much, AJ!

Best of all though, and the thing that made me feel like an absolute love glutton was a website that Jan put together where every member of my family and some of my dearest friends wrote me love notes.

I just cried! It was so wonderful! People were so generous (I still haven’t been able to read it all).

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!

P.S. THANK YOU!!

Is a handsome (don’t need to tell you that if you’re reading this post, you’ve got eyes and can see for yourself,  he’s one good looking cat), talented, funny, bright, kind, a true friend,a joy to be around and happens to be the best birthday present I ever got.

(me holding the best present I ever got)

He came to world on May 10th, 1981. On that same day, four years earlier, I joined the human race. Which is to say we share a birthday. And without a doubt he is a gift. To me, to my family, to all who know him, to the world at large.

Let me tell you just a little about him.

Ian is a love. He really LOVES people. When he was made a bishop the Stake President said to me with tears in his eye, “Ian has bishop love in his veins.”

And the person he loves the very most is his wife, Allison. He’s completely devoted to her. He is so deeply connected to Allison it sometimes is hard to separate them in my mind.

He is 100 % true, through and through, to her. He loves her so much. And she loves him right back. His love and devotion to her is one of the many things I love  about him.  You know those couples who just make you happy because they are so happy. Well, that is Ian and Allison. When you are with themyou can just feel their connectedness, their happiness, their love for each other, their enthusiasm. They are both so enthusiastic. They are like little kids! And you just want to be NEAR  them. They are so much fun.

He loves his nieces and nephews and boy do they love him! He is an off the charts, so cool you can hardly stand it uncle. He is just such a blast. He puts his whole heart into his relationships with the little people in his life. He gets down on the ground and rolls around with them, he listens to them, sings with them – he does it all!

Uncle Eno loves his little peeps and he is loved in return.

He loves baseball and is particularly devoted to a certain ball club.

He took Jan to his first Yankee game when we moved to the States five years ago. They now share the “Yankee bond” and have been to more games than I can count, including flying to other states to see their boys in action. People, we are talking devotion. True devotion. I remember one year for his birthday he went to a Yankee Red Sox game and I actually prayed that the Yanks would win so that Ian’s birthday would be a delightful one.

Ian is real, he is down to earth. He lets you know what is on his mind and in his heart. You don’t have to wonder with Ian.

He is a tender hearted fellow. He is not ashamed to show his emotions. He cries at movies and doesn’t feel the need to hide those salty wet things that fall from his eyes.

He loves the Lord and is devoted to His work. Ian knows how to serve. The man works hard to do what is right.

Ian is FUNNY. And when I say funny, I mean F – U- N- N – N – Y! Few people can get me laughing harder than Ian.

Ian is shiny.

What do I mean by this? I will tell you a story to illustrate: Ian, Cameron and I took a writing class together last year in NYC. The class was full of really wonderful people. They were a bunch of New Yorkers, but they weren’t super crusty & cynical (like New Yorkers can often be). This was a group of  kind people. But even amidst a crowed of top notch, good people my brothers stood out. Once I remember sitting across a table looking at all the faces of the people that I really loved in this class. When I looked at my brothers their countenances were shining. There was light coming off of them. (BTW, Ian is an excellent writer and is writing a swell screen play. He is a man of many talents).

I think Ian’s light is generated by his very good heart.

He is honest (ask him to tell you about the 47 inch TV at Sears story sometime).

He is kind.

He cares about the needs of others.

He is a good, good man.

And I love him.

Happy birhtday to us, my little Bro! I am so glad you were born!

Just to warn you – this post might get mushy. I can’t pretend to be neutral or indifferent about his man.

You see, he is my dad – and he also happens to be my hero.

I adore him right down to his socks.

And if you are lucky enough to know him you will know exactly why I am not going to hold back. If this post were a food, you’d think it was oat meal. So let the mushy times roll, says I.

When my dad was in high school he had a nick-name. They called him “Cuteness” because quite frankly, he was DARLING. I would have loved to have known him in those days. I think he would have been a blast to hang out with.

It takes a real man to carry off a nick-name like that and still have the respect of all his peers and teachers. Even though he wore the wrong  jeans, an absolute SIN in high school, my mom couldn’t help but fall in love with him. He had rosy cheeks. You heard me, ROSY cheeks! And I imagine that his goodness beamed out of his bright shiny face punctuated by those rosy cheeks.

That young boy who played the accordion, was the editor of the high school year book, the star of the play, beloved by all (especially an equally DARLING girl named Khali Johnson) grew up to marry said darling girl, Khali Johnson, and in time became my dad. Something that I thank Heavenly Father for on a regular basis.

Let me tell you a little about this wonder, my father, L. Kevin Kelly.

His first name should be Sunshine because the man is always positive. He always sees the best in every situation and always sees the best in people. He is positive at his very core. This makes him quite a pleasant fellow to be around.

He is a worker. The man is constantly in motion. He works like a maniac. He is driven and yet the miracle of it all is that he is calm. We used to joke that the only way you could tell he was mad was because his eyelids would start to flutter. No yelling or carrying on – just a slight fluttering of the eyelids. Since he’s become a professor at the BY he has gotten a little, just a little mind you, cranky. I blame the students.  He loves them but they can drive him a little nuts.

He is devoted to the Lord. And he knows how to pray. Sometimes his evening prayers last for hours and he isn’t even a bishop anymore! He is a tremendously humble and devoted servant of the Lord. When he prays he gets answers – I think it is because he is trustworthy. And you know how I mentioned that he is a worker – he loves to work for the Lord. And he doesn’t complain, ever, about what has do for the Him.

He is talented and smart – but here is the kicker NO EGO. My dad really doesn’t have one. He doesn’t care about Kevin Kelly getting noticed or getting praise, he just wants to do his best. If his best gets chucked on the ground and stomped all over he just shrugs his shoulders and carrys on working. No harm done to his ego, because he ain’t got one.

He is a talker. And he will tell you all about it (whatever it may be) and he wont leave out any details. Somehow he’ll cram every last detail into the story he is telling you.

He loves to help people. He loves connecting people together. Need a job in advertising? Call my dad. He will use whatever connection he has to help you find one. He is always looking for ways to further the good of other people – help them to get ahead in their careers etc. If he has any power he uses it for the benefit of helping those around him.

He is a wonderful singer. Whenever we go to visit my parents in UT  I always want to sit next to my dad at church so that we can sing together. He happens to think I have a swell voice and because of that I think I sing more beautifully when I am next to him. He brings out the best in me. He is also a wonderful composer. And has composed a few awesome dittys on that there accordion. He doesn’t just look good holding it. He can actually play that sucker! Which leads me to another cool thing about my dad – he makes the best of whatever situation he is in. He wishes he could play the piano, but doesn’t let that stop him from composing songs on his accordion. He finds a way. He just burrows and burrows until he makes his way to the top. Where the sun is shinning and the future is bright.

He wants the best for others. He really does. He doesn’t have a jelous or unkind bone in his entire body.

He is FUN! So much fun! He is the best person in the world to travel with because he hardly gets stressed and just enjoys everything. He can also read a map like nobody’s business. (This makes him highly suspicious of my GPS, but that is okay. I can let him off the hook for that.) He is also a wonderful dancer. As a teenager he was always the one I wanted to dance with at the stake dance. Luckily for me he was busy serving the Lord at those stake dances so I got quite a few dances in.

He is also a little nuts. He dances in the living room, runs in the rain, does a mean inpersonation of river dance…you get the picture.

He is the kind of person I CRAVE. I just want to be near him. I want to talk to him and get his perspective.I want to laugh with him. Hear about his projects. I trust him so much and I trust that he has my best interest at heart.

I love you, dad.

Thank you for loving mom. For loving all us kids (including the kids that married your kids and then had kids of their own a.k.a your grandkids). Thank you for providing for all of us and sending us on adventures and missions and to boarding school and for paying for our weddings, our college educations, our socks, underwear and pop-tarts.

Thank you for showing me how to be a kind and loving person by being one yourself. Thank you for your testimony. Thank you for your good heart. Thank you for everything!!!

I have so much happiness in my life and I feel that it is because you chose happiness by choosing to love us and serve us and lead by example. Just like Dicken’s description of the Brothers Cheerible (did I spell that right Allan?) you are surrounded by happiness of your own making.

Happy Birthday to the most wonderful dad in all the land.