Christmas Dump

So, I have officially done a dump, There are lots of posts this time around. This and the two that follow are from the last week, post-accident. Curt is sore, but time will heal... I am just glad he gets a little more time to spend with all of us...

The Christmas Concert was fun and here are some pics, with Potato Soup Recipe to follow.

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Spicy Potato Soup

4 lbs. Potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 cans of Chicken Broth, low sodium

Boil the Potatoes in the broth until tender, DO NOT DRAIN!!!

8 oz of Pepper Jack Cheese, grated
(for not as spicy: 4 oz of Pepper Jack and 4 oz Monterey Jack)

Add to the potatoes and let melt.

1 can Cream of Celery
1 can Cream of Onion(I usually find at Walmart or Albertson's, hard to find, but worth the trouble)
1 c. sour cream
1 pint 1/2 and 1/2 (can use fat free)

Stir in until hot, Serve immediately. If you have leftovers and used just pepper jack, it will be very spicy the next day but is still good.

Kissing Kousins

Hayden and Tabitha were looking at the christmas tree when Tabbie got the urge... well, see for yourself!

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I didn't put them in order, he really likes girls. I just thought that the last two pictures were cute! And made you think something else!

What if...

Right before this video, the kids sang a song with Spanish in it. What happens if you don't speak Spanish and you are signing to a deaf person? Do you make words up?
I am really shocked at how well she does, I am glad she can understand what they are saying. I can't. OR DOES SHE?!?!?!?!?!

The Accident

So, you are wondering.. "Where's Shellee?"

Late Friday night, Curt was in a serious car crash near our home. It was a head-on collision was a Jeep Cherokee at a light by the new Walmart/Home Depot. The other people walked away, Curt didn't... He was transported to an ER Trauma Unit. When the accident happened, I was on my way home and I came upon this accident, I thought Curt was at home, so I didn't know he was involved. When I got home, he was gone and I thought maybe he had gone to the store. Aabout midnight he called and I didn' t pick it up in time, and got an incoherent voicemail. I tried calling him and his phone just rang. Finally at 12:15 he called and asked me where I was. I told him I was home and the kids were asleep. I asked him where he was and he told me he didn't know. Fortunately, a nurse heard what he said and told him he was in the hospital, then she took the phone from him and talked to me about what I needed to bring with me... Derek and Julie came to watch the kids and I got to Scottsdale Osborn about 1 a.m. He had a concussion and a lot of bruises and scrapes. When they pulled him out of the Avalon, they were all shocked to see that he hadn't broken any leg bones, but he was unconcious and would come to for only a few seconds at a time. He stayed that was until I got to the ER. Then, he kept answering questions over and over again. I didn't have any answers... He was admitted and watched for the night. He was released the next day about noon and we have been taking it easy. He has memory loss and is very sore and feels beat up. He should be fine.
After the hospital, we went to see his car. The officers say that if he wasn't wearing his seatbelt, he would be dead. I am grateful for whoever created them and proud that Curt is smart enough to wear his... Here are the pictures...

They had to use the jaws of life to rip off the side of the car to get him out...

From the back it doesn't look so bad. This is the view that I saw when we drove past it. The trunk was up so I didn't see the license plate and didn't know it was Curt.

I don't think this is repairable... I think we'll be a one car family for some time.

The other car. I am glad they were able to walk away. The accident is still under investigation and the police weren't able to give me any definate answers. So, I still don't know the whole story, and maybe I never will.

Name game

I thought this was fun, so I decided to share. Thanks Gena for the laugh.

1. Your Real Name.
Shellee Sue Porter Mellor

2. Your Gangsta Name. (first three letters of your real name, plus TizZLE)
SheTizzle

3. Your Detective Name. (favorite color and favorite animal)
Green Monkey

4. Your Soap Opera Name. (your middle name and the street you live on)
Sue May

5. Your Star Wars name. (first three letters of your last name, first two of your first name)
Melsh

6. Your Superhero name. (Your second favorite color and favorite drink)
Red Cocoa (hahaha I like this one).

7. Your Iraqui name. (2nd letter of your first name, 3rd letter of your last name, 1st letter of your middle name, 2nd letter of your mom's middle name, 3rd letter of your dad's middle name, 1st letter of a siblings first name, and last letter of your mom's middle name.)
Wow, that's a lot of work... Okay...
HLSARDY (Only an Iraqui can pronounce this!)

8. Your witness protection name. (parents middle names)
Kay Larry. (I think it would give it away if I did Larry Kay.)

9. Your Goth name. (black and the name of one of your pets.)
Black Jezebel

Hope you got a kick out of my names, I did.

Christmas Tag

WELCOME
to the Christmas edition of getting to know your friends.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper! Gift bags aren't as fun to tear up!

2. Real tree or artificial? Artificial with lights, but we always add extra for fun!

3. When do you put up the tree? December 1st, why put it up later only to have to take it down so soon.

4. When do you take the tree down? Whenever I get to it...

5. Do you like eggnog? Yes, It reminds me of bubble gum ice cream.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Miss Piggy doll from my sister, hence Miss Piggy at Halloween.

7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yep, a few of them, but want the Fisher Price Little People one.

8. Hardest person to buy for? My father in law and my mother.

9. Easiest person to buy for? My husband, just get him RC airplane parts

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Nothing.

11. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail, have to support my friends at the PO!

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Year without a Santa Claus! (Yeah! Heat Miser!)

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Usually Summer, but I'm done around Thanksgiving. Already finished this year.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Yes, 'nuf said.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Cocoa with Whipped Cream

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Both

17. Favorite Christmas song? Angels we have heard on High (lots of memories).

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? It depends on whose year it is. This year we'll be in Globe.

19.Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Even the ones that don't fly? I can name the eight in the Rudolph song (plus Rudolph and Olive).

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Angel.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Open sibling gift on Christmas Eve, save the rest of later, Augustus.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Snowbirds and pushy sales people.

23. What I love most about Christmas? Temple trip with kids to see the
lights and movies. Reading the nativity from the Scriptures, and don't
mean just Luke 2. Christmas Carol.

WISHING YOU ALL A WONDERFUL & JOYOUS HOLIDAY SEASON

"Christmas
is the strangest holiday there is! What other time of the year do we
decorate a dead tree with lights that may or may not catch fire, hang
up socks for someone to put stuff in (aren't they for wearing?) and
teach our children to wait up for some old fat guy to break into the
house, eat our cookies, drink our milk (which costs double what we pay
for gas per gallon right now) and bring delusional wild animals who
think they can fly?" I think I'll stick with the Nativity Story this
year.

Elfed My kids

So, I saw on a website to "elf" Someone, so here they are, Cole, Hayden, Kiley and Alyssa dancing to Jingle Bells!
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9627911234

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope you guys all had a great Thanksgiving!!
This year was spent with my side, the Porter Clan! I got to make a turkey and sweet potatoes and they turned out great! The pictures from Basketball were taken right before dinner. I have five siblings and all families were there except for my brother Dan in Washington State. Missed you Dan and Fam!

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Towards the end is my challenge to a few to keep their eyes open during a flash... I love Nate's! They all make me laugh. The end picture is Spencer, spinning the moon on his finger (he's really tall, but not THAT tall!)

Spencer and cousins!

If you have ever met my family, we are basketball people. The legacy continues with Spencer, the oldest grandchild (16 on Dec. 13th), down to Hayden, the youngest (#27 grandchild)! Everyone loves Spencer and he is great with other kids. He is twice their size and a blast to hang out with! Wait 'til you see how this ends...

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Are you tired?

When I get tired, I usually have weird contests with my kids. Curt was already asleep when we did this, so he couldn't stop this!
These are blackmail pictures for when my kids start to date. You know, "Do (this) or I will show your date THE picture!"

I had gotten only 4 hours of sleep the previous night and the lights in the house were off, so we tried to see if we could hold our eyes open when the camera flashed...

Don't say that I didn't warn you...

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Happy Birthday Cole!

It's my nephew Cole's 6th Birthday! Have a good one little man! Cole is my little sister, Jenny's oldest son. He is a riot and keeps me laughing!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HAYDEN!

Hayden turned 1 today! Grandma and Grandpa Mellor came down from Globe and stopped by to give Hayden his present. They gave him the cutest "Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer". Its nose lights up and it sings the Rudolph song. He loves it! He also really liked the gift bag it came in, (such a 1 year old thing). After Daddy came home, we had dinner and then we opened presents. He got a Elmo and Cookie Monster ball that giggles and shakes, alligator piano, and a rolling snail toy. He figured out that these are his toys. He loves them so much that if you try to take them, the tantrum starts. (Please don't laugh at my lightsaber noises, that's just what we do here.)

The tradition at our house is that if it is your birthday, you get to lick the spoon... so, he got it and made a fun mess. Instead of having a cake though, we thought brownies would be less clean-up, considering we had to already clean him up once, from the spatula licking. Here is a group of pictures from the day, plus a great one of Aaron with a grin. We Love You Hayden!

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Did you hear that?

We came out of Target, got in the car and when the car turned on, the DVD player was running. We were quickly reminded that the movie that was playing was "Elf"... This was the exact scene that popped on. Curt thought that it was Alyssa and was slightly impressed, I thought it was Aaron and was ready to climb in the back and duct tape his mouth. After we realized that it was the movie, all of us broke out laughing.



P.S. For those of you who remember Karla Passey from the ward a long time ago, her link has been added to the Happy Chatter people. There are some pictures from her wedding to Manuel Bustamante. Yep, she just got married!

Alyssa's baptism

Last Saturday was Alyssa's baptism. She shared this special day with one of her best friends, Lilli Edholm. It was such a wonderful and spiritual event. I was grateful that my parents were home from their mission and that my dad was able to give a talk about the Holy Ghost. Alyssa looked so beautiful and clean in her white dress.

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Happy Boy!

We found Aaron's old Pooh Bear swing in the storage unit when we cleaned it out, hence the mess in the background. We never thought Hayden would get so happy about it!

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When all the Mellors get together.

The Trunk or Treat, I won for best costume.

We had a busy day, with a great ending! We played the Grim Grinning Ghosts from the Haunted Mansion from our trunk and passed out a lot of candy. The Johnson's won for best trunk and rightfully so. They did a great job! I won for best adult costume, which Hayden helped me with. The best kids costume went to the Corpse Bride, she was so cute.

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Schnepf Farms

We had a blast at Shnepf Farms! We went with Curt's sister Marisa and her family. Marisa's Husband, Jon, and their kids; Kelsey, Emily, Jacob and Brooke all had a great time. I think that Curt's and Jon's favorite things were the Lemonade and the Road Rally. I know that Aaron loved the slingshot and the big slide. Emily was picked to be a pig helper for the pig races. Hayden and Brooke seemed to survive the heat, it was 97 degrees. We all had a wonderful time!

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Myra's Halloween Party

The Johnson's had their Halloween Party last Friday night.
The games were fun, the weather was great and the food was wonderfully yummy.


I love it when mummies get to tie up their children for fun!
Brooke with TMNT Leo (Justin) and Human Torch (Tyler).

Here are the Currys, with their new pet lion Stanton.
Actually, they have had him for a year, so cute.

Tyler is so cute as this little bug, Lynnae did a great job making him mummified!

Here is Aaron getting his buddy Bill wrapped in toilet paper. How often do you get to TP a friend? Bill's name that I gave him for the night was "Nacho Peabrain".

What a cute Eeyore! Here is his mommy, Crystal the Fairy. Isn't Chandler cute?

The "Medival Lilli" in her wonderful costume

The goal was to be the first person out of toilet paper on your mummy,
but I think Rebecca gets the prize for the neatest wrapping job.

Poor Pirate David, he was an innocent by stander. It was a drive-by wrapping.

Well, it WAS neat! Beth looks awesome here standing by her real "mummy"
Ha Ha! Get it? "Mummy"?

Alyssa and her costume, she is Silver Fairy from Tinkerbell's Fairies.

Cute kids!

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More pictures of Alyssa's party

Here are the girls in Gena's Theater Room
Front row: Lilli, Alyssa and Lorelai
Back row: Sydney, Mikayla, Paij, and Tiffany
They are wearing the crowns they have made.

Alyssa wanted a Princess Barbie Cake. The girls had to guess how many dots were on it. Mikayla won with her guess of 100. There are 157.

This was just after Alyssa walked in the door. She had no clue that her
friends would be there!!!!!!

All the pretty princesses

Lilli, Tiffany, Sydney is in front of Mikayla, Paij, Alyssa and Lorelai

What a party

We had Alyssa's 8th Birthday party at my friend, Gena's home. Alyssa was completely surprised and we had so much fun. Her birthday was the 10th and she wanted a party that night. I told her that she would have to wait a few weeks until we could find a good time to have it. She pretty much planned the party herself. I would ask her what she wanted and what she wanted to eat. She told me that she wanted to have a "barbie" cake and eat meatball subs.
I had Curtis bring her to Gena's to drop something off, she didn't know that the something was her. We invited Lilli, Tiffany, Mikayla and my nieces, Sydney and Paij. They were all dressed up as princesses and made tiaras for themselves and a frame with a group picture inside to take home. What fun we had. We also watched some of the Barbie: Island Princess. A quick apology to all the parents on getting your daughters home after 10pm. I'm surprised they let me bring them home, some of them wanted to stay the night!!!!!!!!

HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY CURTIS, DEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YEP, IT'S CURT'S BIRTHDAY! He is 37! Why is it that we don't feel our age?

Why I love my Curtis...

• He's Cute.
• He can make me laugh at the weirdest moments.
• He likes likes me and my strange sense of humor.
• Have you seen his big blue eyes?
• For special occasions, he buys me a Godiva Dark Chocolate Raspberry Bar! (and sometimes dark chocolate truffles).
  
• When he bends over to brush his teeth, water drips from his nose. Can your spouse do that?
• He makes Hayden, Aaron and Alyssa laugh.
• He loves his family.
• He eats jalapenos to try to win his wife a date night. (Ward Party)
• He NEVER leaves the seat up.
• He likes to vacuum...
  
• He indulges my cravings and lets me have my way...
  
• He has been there for all of my surgeries and was always one of the first people I saw when I woke up.
  
• He keeps me humble. He reminds me of my flaws and that I need to be patient with others and their flaws. (especially his!)
  
• I love the way that he rubs my neck and back when I have a headache. I don't think I have had a headache for longer than an hour since we got married...
• He mostly stays on his side of the bed at night, he knows I like my space.
• He is unquestionably there when it really matters.
• He puts up with my temper tantrums.
• He tries to make me a better person.
• He eats leftovers.
• He plays piano in his sleep. (when he is asleep, his fingers move as though he is playing piano).
  
• He brings Hayden to me in the morning, so I don't have to get up YET.
• I am a priority to him, and he will even NOT fly his airplanes when I really need him.
• He got a raise big enough that I could quit my job to be "a mom".
  
• He loves green grass as flowers as much as I do.
• He likes my cooking and always tells ours friends how good my food is.
• He proposed after we watched a "Beavis and Butthead" marathon.
  
• He loves seafood, steak and ribs as much as I do. He is my "food twin"!!!
  

AND THE NUMBER ONE REASON?

because he loves me too...

When do we sleep?

I feel that after that last few weeks I have had, I Need an answer!!!!!!!!!!!

I have dedicated myself to losing my baby weight and at the same time getting to know the neighborhood kids. So, on Friday, I snagged my kids and the neighbor's and we headed off to the park. I have such fun with them whenever I walk with them. We have been taking walks around the Sienna apartments so the kids could look for stray golf balls that were shot from the course across the street. Then, we head over to Riverview park for an hour to swing, run around and feed the ducks. This has been a weekly event and I know that all of them look forward to it. (I have pictures, but I need to figure how that works.) I have such fun the Eriacho and Slim children, they always make me laugh and are such good friends with Aaron and Alyssa. Junior(5) and Anthony (3) love Hayden and are "Goofy" around him to get him to laugh. Anthony has many nicknames from us: "Peanut", "Peanut the Potty-mouth", and "Peanut the Killer". We all have been working with him to not use wrong words... I have told him that he is welcome to come with us if he dosn't use bad words. Everytime he sees me, he tells me "no bad words, can we go?"

That night, we went to ARBY'S for our free Combos! It saved our little family $27.00. The funny part was that Alyssa always wants the Chicken fingers, but we don't let her beause it is too expensive. So, she got them! When she got back into the car she told me that it was the best meal that she has ever eaten (Blow to my ego), until she remembered that she loves my cooking and added quickly, "at Arby's". I had a good laugh over that one. Definately a good weekly tradition, and Hayden loves curly fries!

I am so happy that my parents are coming home! I wasn't happy about changing all my plans this last weekend to go clean their home, but for them, it is worth it... I finally got into their home about 10 am and my first thought was, "so, this is what a house looks like after people have been gone for 6 months". So I spent a few hours cleaning with Andrew, Rich and Lindsey and throwing things out... Man! Is mom gonna be mad! I guess Dad is doing better and I am glad. I think that having more family around him will help him quite a bit. He remembers more, but I guess he is still having problems with his sight. I am just grateful that the stoke didn't damage him more physically than that...

I Love Curt's Job. I have more fun at the Family events that they throw. On Saturday afternoon was the party at McCormick Stillman Railroad park. We were able to ride the train, eat food, and hang out with some of the people Curt works with. The Chairman for the Commitee let us in on some of the upcoming events. I can't wait for the Christmas Party.

Conference was wonderful. The kids actually listened and we were surprised at how anxious they were about some of the goals that we need to work on. They followed along with the last Conference Ensign to see who could spot the speaker first. They liked talks about families and kept saying, "we do that". I feel better knowing that they understand some of the principles of the Gospel that I teach, but I always thought they weren't listening.

Karla, Happy Wedding Day. Send me pictures so I can post them and share them with people we love! (Yep, like I said before, I'm gonna figure it out!)

Arby's Fun Night and Babysitting

or should I say morning???

About the Arby's thing... WE DID IT!!! I definately think that the kids will remember this memory.
Curt and I decided to try for the free combos for a year thing at Arby's. So, Curt got up at 3AM!! and headed out the door. I couldn't sleep for some reason and so I called Curt to see how quick the line was forming. He told me that he was #14. We talked it over to see if it was worth me coming down to get a card for the year. SO, I woke the kids up (not recommended) and asked them if they would like to go wait at Arby's with mom and dad. The overwhelming reply was YES! Hayden didn't want to go back to sleep, and we piled in the car and went. I ended up being #17. (Still under #25). We backed the car up to the sidewalk and the kids had fun staying in the van watching movies, getting out and watching the stars and playing with Hayden. Hayden took a 2 hour nap in the middle of the wait, so he wasn't too sleep deprived. Number 25 showed up at 4:00 and it was a really grouchy woman that tried to pick a fight with a group of guys who were ahead of her.
At approx. 7:15, the idea hit me that maybe the kids should get combo cards too. We weren't sure if there was an age limit, but we could always try. So that left the angry lady out of luck. She was convinced that we should all let her ahead of us for some reason. Didn't happen...
We got inside and the manager handed the kids a pen to sign their own free combo cards!!! This is great. No more paying for kids meals at Arby's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Was it worth it? Duh, I think so...

We went home and took naps (all except Curtis, who went to work).

Later on in the day, I went to go babysit Jenny's three kids. Man, they are a fun group! I took my kids with me so Curt could get some sleep when he got home and we had a great time!

Wyatt is getting so big, well, not big, maybe I should say old. He is a little mimic. I would tell him "Down, Down" and he would repeat it back. I still couldn't get him to smile at me and laugh and I had tried all of my usual stunts. Finally, after many attempts, I changed his diaper to get him ready for bed and noticed that he had dirty feet, so I took a wipe and washed his feet. HE STARTED TO LAUGH! I can't believe it, he was laughing? It was the sweetest noise you could ever hear!
He and Hayden get along so well! when Hayden would be crawling, Wy would start crawling too. When Wy was walking, Hayden would sit and watch to try to figure out what he was doing.

Aaron and Cole are best buddies. Aaron played Legos with Cole for most of the evening. Alyssa and Kiley played House. They were so cute. I didn't know that Alyssa was dating. He's imaginary, so it's okay I guess.

We all got home at 8:30 and crashed. What a great ending to another adventure...
The

I'm Thinking Arby's!

Hey ya'll.
Wow what a day so far.

I was up bright and early and headed out the door to Arby's. Yep, at 6 a.m.! I had heard a little rumor of a year's worth of free meals at Arbys. So, I loaded up Hayden and climbed into the van and headed over to the new Riverview Mall.
Just as I am driving up, I am counting heads... 1,2,...25. Oh, stink!!!! I then see my buddies, Em and Stacie. Well, they have just arrived and have been finding out what time the last people got there. They arrived at 5:30 a.m. There are even people sleeping in bags by the front door!
Forget this! I am going home, not to go to sleep, but to try to get the kids up for school.
I am still wondering, if I go back tomorrow at 4 a.m., will I still be too late, or should I make it 3? I know that Curt loves Arby's and it would be a great birthday present for him! His B'day is on the 9th... (He'll be 37! What an old dude he is!)
So, I get home and my wonderful Husband has the kids up and partially ready for school! What a guy! It makes my life easier when he does that.