Hadley Jean Kelly

Today Miss Hadley Jean Kelly turns 1. As some of you may know already, her initials are the same as my dad's, HJK. She is the most precious little one I know. From her big dimples she got from her dad to her smiling personality. Here she is 1 year ago. Doesn't Melinda look awesome...especially after just having a baby.

First Halloween. Not feeling the whole ladybug thing. Love Melinda's dog, Belle, in the background.

I stole this photo montage from Melinda's birthday post.

Love the purple tutu pictures

And she's down...

My favorite picture of all

I have a lot of pictures because I don't get to see this girl as often since living in Oklahoma. It made my sad that she was the first niece/nephew that I was not there the day she was born. Hopefully when we move back I can make up for lost time. Here is one special moment that happened when we were all together. There is a picture of my dad holding Madison when she was a baby on Gwen and Ryan's island counter. While Melinda was holding Hadley talking by the counter, she was trying to grab the picture and smiling and laughing at the picture. I caught a photo of her. Made us all realize that Hap has probably paid her a few visits before.

Happy Birthday Hadley!

Well Helllooo

I have been seriously MIA for the last several months. I ended my intern year of residency on Labor and Delivery. There is not much time to do much else those two months. Now, I am on Gyn Oncology, which is even busier. It is a very rough/depressing/interesting month for multiple reasons. I get to do a lot of cool surgeries and learn to take care of really sick patients, so that has been a good part of it. All I have to say is, I am thankful for my health and my friends and families. You never know what life can bring, so cherish every day. Now onto less serious subjects: Here is a few things that have gone on the past several months... -Moved into our new house. We have a guest room set up now, so come visit! So far, we have had Vanessa and Chris, Brian's brother Garret, and Gail and Marty come visit the exciting city of OKC. Of course Brian had to have a purple door. Here is early in the springs after planting flowers. It pretty much looks like a jungle of flowers now.

-Got obsessed with antique shops. Bought this awesome old early 1900s scale. It goes with this old doctor's bag in our office. The scale still works. Brian was pretty pumped about this find. Eventually, we are going to put our diplomas up on the wall there too.

-Had a keg party at the house, called Seacat-A-Polooza (original, I know). I was told it was like a college party. Don't know if that is a good or bad thing. Either way, it was complete with an Ob/Gyn versus Anesthesia flip cup game. Anesthesia won this year...but we are coming back next. The night ended in true Kelly style, with me telling ghost stories using the flash light app on the iPhone. Now they all know I am weird officially.

-Brian and I did a Paint and Palette art class I bought a Groupon for. Here is the result. Brian concentrating extremely hard on his even lines.

Courtney vs. Brian. Whose is better?

-Joined a gym right by our house. It is a brand new Gold's gym complete with a pool, a cinema room to watch movies and work out in, and very tan, fit, buff, and stylish people...let's say I am none of those, so I feel very awkward. I have been only once and that experience was interesting enough. I ran in from work in my scrubs changed liked a mad women to make the 6:30 spinning class. I get out to the spinning studio just in time for the class to start and realize my shorts are on backwards. I have this awkward front pouch and by shorts are riding up in the back. I grin and bear it and get on the bike. Then my hair thing fell out somewhere along the way (found it later in my sports bra) and so I maneuver my headband to hold my massive mane up. I felt like Cousin It on a bike. It was a great workout, but I am not as young as I used to be. Still hurting after that. -Some really cool kids had some birthdays! Since I don't have a dog or kids, my nieces and nephews are the ones I like to brag on. Miss Madison turned 10 on May 7th! I can't believe she is in the double digits. I know a lot of you remember her in diapers with her K-state cheerleader outfit at the Pi Phi house.

-This kid turned 4 on August 1st! He is the funniest, most laid back kid I know. Ever since he was little. Cooper..time to take a nap. "ok!". Cooper..no more pacifier. "ok" threw it in the trash and never asked about it again. Cooper put this outfit on. "ok!"

He will do anything for a laugh. He got a drum set for his birthday. I do not know what Gwen and Ryan were thinking. But her looks pretty cool.

Here he is at his lemonade stand saying, "Get some Mother Fing lemonade bitches." Ok not really, but you can just imagine. He was able to stop most people with his dance moves though.

Oh how I miss the lake. Madison, Chloe, and Coop enjoying the Ozarks. Very jealous. Oh to be young and carefree again.

-Connor turned 13 and is now a teenager complete with braces. Oh, and he is now on Facebook and has an iPhone. Seriously?!? Definitely saw a post already from a girl, with a comment from his friend under it saying, "Yeah Connor, get some." Awkward. He is still my little nephew in my eyes that called me Nortney.

Doesn't he look so old and mature? Poor kid! He hopefully, will eventually catch up to these other 13 year olds. I am thinking his future plans as a professional basketball player are looking less promising.

Well that is it for now. I am heading to Cali with Lora to see Ash in a couple weeks. Hopefully we will have so good stories to share. I would count on her getting a post up from that trip way before me. Plus, she is way more entertaining. Miss you all!

So apparently we bought a house!

Brian and I just officially made our final offer on a house and it was accepted!

It all started about a month ago...I was watching HGTV House Hunters (my new addiction) and finally got the bug to want to look at houses. We live in a brand new apartment that I love right now. It is the perfect size, easy to clean, and I don't have to decorate much. Brian has always wanted to get a house because it is a "good investment" and all that jazz. I just am scared of owning a house with multiple rooms that I have to make look "cute". After watching House Hunters, I think I can manage and I want to try. Also, my ulterior motive is that I want a dog, so we need a backyard. Basically our apartment is a bachelor pad. All the wall hangings are sports pics of K-State, Royals, or Chiefs.

After looking at about 10-15 houses...some old and some new. Brian wanted a fixer up because he says he can pretty much do all construction and make a profit when we sell it. I wanted something we can just move into and not worry about flipping a 60's style kitchen. I was on call last weekend and Brian went with our realtor to look at several houses, then I got a text, "found one!" It is still in Edmond, so not closer to OU Medical Center, but it is brand new and really cool. It is a 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath, with an upstairs loft, all granite countertops, and it is a corner lot. It also has a cute covered porch. Here are some pics.

Just Kidding!

Here it is


It has an awesome upstairs loft thing with another bathroom. I am thinking it could be a the perfect place for all the sports pictures to be the man cave/study room/xbox playing area.



Kitchen/Living room





Well more to update later as we start this whole process. Umm I need all the decorating ideas I can get. Anyone want to come help me out over a weekend? Anyone?

Our unrealistic attitudes about death, through a doctor’s eyes

Someone posted this article and I thought it was really interesting. I am often conflicted by this as I would want to do EVERYTHING I could for a loved one to survive, but seeing all the suffering from treatments, codes, etc makes me question if this is always the right choice.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/our-unrealistic-views-of-death-through-a-doctors-eyes/2012/01/31/gIQAeaHpJR_story.html

Apparently I take a lot of food pictures

Brian and I just got back from our free cruise that we had won at the Oklahoma State Fair back in September. It was a blast! Brian had never gone on a cruise before, so it was my job to convince him to want to go on another. I think I did. The weather was actually kind of cold and cloudy...definitely not the Bahama weather I know and love. We stopped at Great Stirrup Cay, a Norwegian Cruise Line private island and then to Nassau or Paradise Island, Bahamas.

The first day we hung out by the pool, with the good ole bucket of beers then went to a lovely dinner of lobster and other goodness. We headed to bed early because let's face it...we were tired and are old, but we promised to stay up late the next night and power through.

We hung out on the private island all the next day and did some of our own hiking. The water was too chilly to venture into, so we said, "Hey might as well drink!" We got back on the ship and ended up making up a drinking game with some strangers in the hot tub, which I ever so graciously gave them my beer to take sips from. Very smart with that Norwalk virus all over the cruise ships. That night we were picked to participate in the Newlywed Game Show, which we ended up winning! Although I was embarrassed by some of the questions and couldn't stop laughing, we rocked it! We got a complimentary gift bag from Norwegian and a bottle of champagne. The game was televised on the ship, so we were like celebrities the rest of the time (I would say similar to Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie). We celebrated by going to an atrium bar and dancing with a reggae band. From the pictures, you can tell we had a lot of fun. aybe the celebratory bottle of red wine was a bad idea. The next morning we were feeling it. I honestly thought we wouldn't get out of bed to go onto Nassau, because were both we so sick. I thought I had the flu...turns out I am just old and cannot party like I used to. Ha!

On Nassau, we went to the famous Atlantis and took the required Atlantis picture. We then went back into town and walked around to find a local joint to eat at. I wanted to be like Anthony Bourdain. We found a place called Fish Fry and enjoyed some fried goodness of conch and fish. It was a fun day, minus the cold winds. That night we decided to try out the French bistro called Le Bistro (clever). It cost extra to go to, but I really wanted some escargot (snails) and I wanted Brian to try it. The picture of Brian trying the escargot is deceiving...he really like it. The meal was delicious. I got snails, mussels, soups, and lamb (best ever). That night we went and watched another game show and just walked around the boat. I could not manage to touch any more alcohol sadly, but it was still fun. Next day, we got off the boat in Miami and headed back to reality.

I could not figure out how to format my pictures so here they are without captions. As you can see I like to take a lot of food pictures. The food was so good, I think each meal deserved its own picture.