St. Patrick's Day!

 

Happy St Patrick's Day !!!

Our family

has Irish roots.  This year I  made all the kids, grand kids and Roger dress like Leprechauns for a picture.  I thought they turned out so funny.  Usually, I order green bread and rolls from Provo Bakery and have green foods all day long to eat. This year, Roger brought home 2 dozen shamrock cookies from out beloved Provo Bakery.  My neighbor, Adrien Gibson had a St Patrick's party that I came too.

I will share those pictures too.  I missed not having my corn beef and cabbage with the Keene family but there is always next year.  My goal is to have a party next year and see what we come up with to celebrate.  Enjoy my Leprechauns!

This is my favorite leprechaun!

My favorite baby leprechaun!

 Dee hugging her favorite leprechaun, Landon!

Becca is our beautiful Leprechaun!

The Newlywed Leprechauns! XO

The Kooky Cooks with sleepy Ollie!

Joshua was home recovering from surgery on
St Patrick's day with Landon hidden by his hat.
Josh is the only one in the family with a real beard!

These are the Irish Grandmas; Donna and Allie

WE REALLY ARE IRISH!!!

This last picture is for my dad, Thomas James McLaughlin.  He was so proud of his Irish heritage.  I used his cane to hang up this fun Irish Flag. He had a beautiful bass voice and would sing Irish songs to me and my sister, Merredith.  His favorite was, "Oh Danny boy...."

Love you Dad

St Patrick's Day Party

My friend, Adrian Gibson, had a St Patrick's Party at her home and I went to celebrate everything Green.  In this picture,  Adrian is eating a "pot of gold" cupcake!  Yummy. 

Here are some goodies that were sweet and healthy too.
Adrian made the most delicious homemade sugar shamrock
cookies.  Double yum.

Ty Gibson was making a delicious Limeade for all to drink.

                                              The Taggert Family all showed up in Green.

Megan Jensen and her mom, Janice Lindley were eating
Adrian's yummy Shamrock cookies!

Mary and Dan Cole brought their little Leprachauns and had a fun time enjoying
all the St Patrick Day goodies.

Look at Dan's face, too much limeade!!!

Thanks to the Gibsons for letting us enjoy
all your goodies and good conversation.

HAPPY ST PATRICK'S DAY !!!!!!

Josh is a one-kidney bearded man!

As many of you know, Joshua, 27, had a terrible stomach pain on March 4th at my home during dinner.
The pain went away and returned the next day.  He had some tests which led to some more tests and by Tuesday, the 6th, they told him he had a tumor wrapped around his kidney and that they thought it was cancer.  We were in shock and he had his surgery on March 12th, the following Monday.  The results were shocking.  Josh's tumor (see picture) was three times the size of the kidney and was diagnosed stage 3 cancer! The kidney was functioning perfectly and the tumor had not yet metastasized so their was no need for chemo or radiation.  The doctor checked the nodes around the kidney area and found nothing.  He was told that he was lucky they caught it in time.

 So Josh has already healed from his staples from surgery, the pain of surgery and has returned to work since April 2nd.  He is a miracle to our family and has learned some great life lessons that will change the course of his life forever.  Now that it is over, we can see the benefits of trials in our lives.  We do not want them but they happen to everyone and are necessary for us to travel through.  We have a link you can read in detail of his ordeal.  We know many people who have had similar trials but sadder outcomes.  Josh is happy that his outcome was positive and he is better for it.  Click here to read the
full story of Joshua's trial with cancer.  Read all the posts in Dee's blog if you want more of an update.

This is a picture of Joshua's kidney (the dark area) and it was wrapped
around with the cancer tumor (the white area).  The bowl it is sitting in
is 8 inches across.  As you can see, they could not separate the tumor
from the kidney.  Josh had no signs of kidney cancer like blood in his urine etc.  He was feeling pain because it had grown so big that it was
probably hitting other organs and hurting him inside.  He will have
CT Scans every three months for a year and then less time between
CT Scans during the next five years.  What a sight!

This is Joshua,  days after his surgery walking around with his "tree" and his family; Roger (Dad), Dee (Wifey) and little Landon, 14 months.

So many people helped Joshua and his family.  Thank you for all the love and letters urging Joshua to feel peace and to be
strong.  To his wonderful mother-in-law, Donna Kowalski,
who flew in from Conn. to babysit Landon and help Dee for
three weeks.

For the many meals,  gifts, visits to the hospital and home.
Josh is very loved and we are so very grateful.
Thank you to all.

You can write Josh at bigknell@gmail.com

CUPCAKE WARS !

These fancy cupcakes were made by Elissa, a finalist in the reality show called "Cupcake Wars". Elissa makes these fresh wonderful cupcakes and actually sells them at the Rocky Mountain Pharmacy

on Canyon Road in Provo.  She keeps them on the counter in these large glass cake covered

platters. She has many flavors and also sells them at a boutique in American Fork.  I had

Marissa, Melissa and myself taste these four yummy cupcakes and try to

describe their yumminess to you.  Enjoy!

LAUGHTER BURNS CALORIES !

This was the first attempt to make a commercial about

"Laughter burns calories #1"  This was candid and my

head was cut in half in most of the scenes.  My cell

was wedged into a pillow and we were just being silly. 

 

We rehearsed one time and it was just as silly.

So, tell us which "commercial" was your favorite!

 #1 or #2 

Hi Everyone,  Yes, I have finally started posting again!  I have not posted for four years and have changed my background colors and tried to update my blog.  I hope I contribute more in the future.  I have lots more pictures I want to post and need to get photo shop to show them in a fun way.  Lets go...

2012 Family Newletter

This Knell family photo was taken after Christmas, while everyone was here for New Years.  I wanted to write my newsletter on my blog so you could get the latest information on our children.

Bottom row left is Marissa, Brandon and Oliver Cook.  Brandon graduates from BYU in April 2012 with his MAcc (Accounting).  He has already been been hired with Price Waterhouse Coopers, PWC,  in San Jose, CA and they leave in September, 2012, to live and work where I grew up, in the Silicon Valley.  Marissa loves being a Mom and wants to continue her education.  Oliver is four months and darling.  He's 18 lbs and basically the same size as his cousin Jane Walters who is six months.  They have been married for two years and manage a 48 unit apartment in Provo, UT.  They hope to be Apt managers in CA before they buy a home.  We will be visiting San Jose many times in the near future!

Becca, 19,  is home from Utah State in Logan, UT.  She loved her stay there but she has some health problems and needs to get better.  She just started full time as a customer rep for doTERRA, (Its really spelled that way!) essential oils.  We hope this company may have some products that will help Becca with some of her health problems.  She will be back in college next fall and will study Nutrition.  She loves running and will be in her second half marathon this June.  She also loves her dog, Koda, a Mini Aussie.  He is two years old, large and not like our Poms at all.  Roger loves him.

Next is the Walters family.  Jacob is graduating in May 2012 with an MBA.  He works for Disney World in Orlando, FL and works in the Internal Communications Technology department. They have two little girls; Brooklyn, 3 and Jane, 6 months.  They are beautiful, active and keep their mom very busy.  The Walters recently bought a beautiful home in Central Florida.  They now have five bedrooms and a pool.  Cassie occasionally freelances with her graphic design talents and loves being a full-time mom. We visit the girls on iChat  and visit Florida when we can.  We miss them!

Top row left is Joshua, Dee and Landon Knell.  Josh is the director of custom development for a company called Enspark in Orem.  He was accepted to the University of Utah, Masters Program in Instructional Design and Educational Technology.   Dee runs a volunteer program for the state of Utah in protecting abused and neglected children.  She just gave her notice and will be a full time mom again in March. She's thrilled.  Landon is almost 14 months and is so much fun.  Grandma loves to babysit him two days a week, while Dee works.  They live in Pleasant Grove.

Allie and Roger experienced their first Empty Nester occurrence during the fall of 2011.  Ben and Becca were gone from the home and the house felt very empty and a little creepy.  We even dressed up as "Empty Nesters" for Halloween because it felt so foreign to us.  Becca's home again and life is better.  We are easing into this new season of our life and already enjoying the freedom it has given us.  The greatest blessing for us is having four Grandchildren.  These little ones are amazing and we love being their Grandparents.  Getting older is no fun at all and we feel it all over our bodies and minds!  Allie has lost over 50 lbs this past year and plans to lose more.  Roger is thinking about it.  :)  Roger runs his architectural firm in Provo and has been bishop of our local ward in Orem for six years. We love watching our children grow up and having happy families.  We are so blessed.

Our last little family is Ben and Melissa Knell.  They were married August 12th in the SLC temple.
They are in marital bliss, enjoying being newlyweds.  Ben attends UVU in Orem and studies Communication.  He is now a part-owner of a successful pest control company called Ecosmart.  Ben and Melissa will leave in May for Dallas, Texas, to open new offices there.  Melissa graduated from her beauty salon apprenticeship and will be licensed in March 2012.  She is an excellent hairdresser.  She will work at her salon in Lindon until they leave for TX. They live in Orem.

We love our growing family and grateful for all they do for us, their aging parents.  :)
Happy Valentines Day!
Allie and Roger