The Crazy Nelson Family

2012-01-02T11:29:00.001-08:00

Uh oh....

The Taylors

2011-12-08T08:27:00.001-08:00

Taylor likes to come into our bed early in the morning. I usually don't mind, but sometimes I just don't want her there. Although when she is laying next to me, she tells me she loves me and touches my face and gives me kisses. I guess I can't complain about that.

Well last night Paul told her to stay in her bed all night with her frog. She did. :-)

Choo Choo!!!

2011-11-19T12:07:00.001-08:00

The last Steam Engine built for Union Pacific was in Yuma this last week. I surprised my kids and took them to see it. Hunter has always loved trains and by default my girls like them as well. They had no idea where we were headed and were super excited once they saw the train!! I love to see the looks on their faces when they are happy.

iPhone 4s

2011-11-05T17:03:00.001-07:00

I got a new phone. I am loving it so far. I'm just trying out this app. Maybe it will help me post more on this blog.

This is Taylor and I on Casey Jr. on our last trip to Disneyland this October.

We're Back

2011-09-18T09:45:00.000-07:00

We're alive. And I've decided to return to blogging.

Watch Out Now!

Well Hello My old Friend......

2010-08-25T14:47:00.001-07:00

Well it's sure good to see you again!

Where have I been! I have neglected this sad little blog!
It's been a crazy, lazy, hot summer! And it's time to get back in a routine!

Here's what the Nelson's were up to since the last time I blogged!:

Paul went to Disneyland with us!!! We had a great time! And the girls loved having Daddy around! (me too!)

Riley and Taylor had their birthdays! Riley is now 6 and Taylor is 3!! My babies are getting big!!

I went and saw GLEE Live in Concert at Universal Studios with my sister Gabby and friend Angela. It was awesome. I sang, I danced. and we LAUGHED! "I don't think Amish people fly!"

Paul surprised me for my birthday at took me to Disneyland!! I have spent my last three birthdays at Disneyland, I hope to continue the tradition! We even stayed at the Grand Californian Hotel and it was Awesome! Gotta have a Monte Cristo Sandwich while at Disneyland. And I beat Paul at Toy Story Mania. He claims he had a faulty trigger...yeah right!

We had a nice evening with our friends and our kids got to ride horses and see cows and chickens. My picture of Hunter didn't turn out. Riley had a great time and keeps asking when we can go back!

Riley "graduated" from Kindergarten. It was a nice short and simple graduation. And she was super cute doing all of her songs and movements.

**As a side note - Paul was gone for the end of May and beginning of June. He was able to go to Mesquite and golf for three days. Then he helped Brent drive from Washington D.C. to Yuma and in the process had some of the best BBQ he's ever had in Nashville. Then he spent a week in Salinas for work (and also did a little golfing) and ending up with one more two day golfing trip to San Diego. Of course there are no pictures because he's a man and doesn't take any.

The New York Yankees were playing the Arizona Diamondbacks in Phoenix and we were able to get tickets and go see them play. It was really exciting to see Hunter get to watch players he's been watching for years on TV play live. The Yankees lost the game, but game back and beat the D-Backs in the next two nights.

Riley lost two teeth, which still have yet to come in!!

We had some fun cousin time!!! FRICKIN' FAMILY FUN TIME DANG IT!!!

I made some really big cookies, that have brownies in the middle. Yes, they were big. Yes, they were good. Yes, I ate more than one!

We went to Flagstaff with Paul's family and enjoyed a quick trip to cool weather. We didn't really enjoy the "quick" trip to the hot Grand Canyon, but it really is a sight to see. Maybe when I don't have small children we'll have to go back. There are NO RAILINGS people!!

I was lucky to get the chance to attend a 3 day music workshop in LA and had a great time singing a bunch of new music with a bunch of random music teachers. We also had a choreography day and I had FUN!! And I got to come home with all of this music...for FREEEEE!!!

We closed out our summer with our yearly trip to Carlsbad. WE LOVE IT THERE! I hate the beach, but love the relaxing, laid back attitude of Carlsbad. And of course, they have a Hot Dog On A Stick nearby! and that Never hurts!
Riley and Taylor got their end of summer/school starts haircuts. It was really sad to see all of Taylor's long curls drop to the floor, but she loves it and its easy to take care of!

Grandma and Grandpa's pool FINALLY got fixed! It was being repaired for most of the summer, but we got a good 4 days worth of swimming before school started. Riley has completely stopped using a life vest and swims really well on her own. Hunter is crazier than ever off the diving board, and I have to learn to calm down. Taylor will finally stick her head in the water, but only when she wants to. So hopefully next year's swimming lessons won't be such a pain like this summer's lessons were!

And the end of summer, beginning of the new school year. My 3rd grader and my 1st grader!!! And Taylor started pre-school 2 days a week!! Yipee for me!! And I cut down to only teaching one day of lessons!

I spent the last day reading Mockingjay. I liked it.

And Paul....well, I said good-bye to him this week. We won't be seeing much of him around here anymore. It's gonna be sad for us all. But hey that's what happens when you're a Produce Widow. Transplants start on Saturday and that's the beginning of the next 8 months!! It's a good thing he LOVES his job!!! We'll see him in April, and we'll pray for good weather and hope that the markets are good. So everyone....eat lots of Produce this winter!!! :-)

Glee Spoiler Alert

2010-04-22T17:04:00.000-07:00

I love Glee.

Many of you know that.

I don't care who knows it.

I. LOVE. GLEE.

I am a fan of Glee on Facebook. So on Monday when they posted this:

Attn: LA area GLEE Fans! We have a limited # of audience seats available for the season finale taping this WED, 4/21, in L.A. Be one of the first people (18 years or older) to email your 1st & last name/date of birth/email address to FBCPUBLICITYEVENTS@fox.com we'll hook you up w/ 2 tickets! If you're confirmed to rece...ive tickets you will receive an email reply from FOX w/ more info. Thanks & Good Luck!

I did just that. (even though I'm not technically an LA area fan) I figured it couldn't hurt and I never win anything anyways. I sent my email off and forgot about it.

Well on Tuesday afternoon, Edna was leaving my house and I was waiting for my next piano student to show up when my phone alerted me of a new email. Being the OCD person that I am, I opened up my email to find:

FINALE TAPING

WHAT: You and a guest are confirmed to be in the balcony audience during the filming of the spring finale performance of GLEE.
If you can not come, please respond to this ASAP.

DATE: TOMORROW, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21

TIME: APPROX 2:30 PM

AGE: 18 & OVER. Please bring ID; we will be checking age at the door

LOCATION: SABAN THEATER (8440 Wilshire Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA). Please look for signs labeled “INVITED AUDIENCE” when you arrive; you will be entering the theater off of Hamilton Drive.

PARKING: Parking NOT provided. If possible, please carpool or take public transportation – as parking is limited in the area. There is some metered parking. DO NOT PARK IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD BEHIND THE THEATER; all neighborhood streets are restricted “permit only” parking.

ATTIRE: No Shorts, No T-shirts or tank-tops, No Clothing with logos, No Bright Colors

IMPORTANT: Do NOT bring any cell phones, cameras, camera-phones, flip-cams, laptops, or recording devices of any kind. Any cameras or recording devices (including cell phones) will be confiscated at the door and returned to you when you leave at the end of the day.

NOTE: You will be asked to sign a photo release form before you enter the theater. We cannot guarantee that you will be on camera, but it is a possibility. Also note that we cannot guarantee which actors will be present during the time you are there.

I ran back outside to Edna who was still putting her girls in the car. And I told her what happened. We both started jumping and screaming like little girls! So we quickly made arrangements to go to LA the following day.

We left Yuma around 6:30am. We left with plenty of time to be able to get there eat and be on time and no rushing.

We got to the theatre and found a parking spot and had some lunch and went and got in line. We were only about 20 people back. This was about 1:00pm. Someone came by shortly there after to tell us that we would be let into the theatre around 2:30 - 3:00pm. That's a long time to wait. It was only a sign of things to come.

We were let into the theatre around 3:00, after our cell phones and cameras had been confiscated. Right as they were taking our phones away Sue Sylvester walked out of the theatre in a red track suit.

And then we waited and waited and waited. Did I mention we waited?!

We were given programs to the "2010 Midwest Regional Show Choir Championship." Here is what they looked like. Or some of it anyway...

Apparently Brittany has no last name and Tina is just C.

There was a high school choral group sitting behind us, and apparently they had connections with some guy named Dave, and Dave brought up the Vocal Contractor, Tim Davis, for Glee and he did a little Q&A with them, but we of course got to hear. I told him I wanted his job. He does the arrangments for Glee, all requests by creator Ryan Murphy. He told us that Vocal Adrenaline is comprised of session singers, and the actors on the show are all dancers that Lip Sync. His job is to make sure that the dancers are each assigned a part to lip sync and then he makes sure that they do it when taping. Session singers are singers that can sight sing on demand. He said that basically they come in to record. They go thru it once or twice. Then all of the women will sing the alto part, then soprano and so forth. He said that "Bohemian Rhapsody" took about 10 hours to record. It was really interesting to hear him talk about the Glee Cast - which he said NONE of them know how to read music, not even Lea Michelle. They record their parts and send them to the actors for them to learn by ear. He also said that sometimes they only get an hour to lay down their solos. He did say that Amber Riley (Mercedes) is really that good.

Next came Vocal Adrenaline. They were taping their song for Regionals which as you saw on the program was "Bohemian Rhapsody." First off...COOL costumes. Sure beats your everyday show choir cumberbund and bow tie (they were hot pink and black.) Secondly...the choreography was AWESOME! Speaking of Choreography, Zach Woodlee, was on set. He also did the choreography for Hairspray, which was also AWESOME!) I got chills several times with their routine. SO COOL! And also Jesse St. James (as you saw on the program) is back with Vocal Adrenaline. He was nice and waved to all of us as we WAITED! We, as the audience, were instructed to jump up at the end of the song and cheer like crazy...which we did. Vocal Adrenaline was on stage until about 7:00pm it was LONG! Just did the same thing over and over until they had used every camera and gotten every angle. They also filled in the bottom of the auditorium and everyone had glow sticks and we "rocked out" to Bohemian Rhapsody.

In the meantime between takes, we WAITED. BUT, while we waited, we got to meet:

*Matthew Morrison (Mr. Shuester) - who gave me a high five! He was litterally two feet away from me and only one foot away from Edna. She told him that she remembers him from "As the world turns" and he replied with "oh i'm sorry!" He forgot his glasses and Edna gave them back to the assitant person. She now wishes she'd have kept his glasses. Edna also pretended to grab his booty when he turned around! He was really nice. Super cute. yay!

*Amber Riley (Mercedes) - who by the way had an iPad and she says she loves it - I know that because I asked her!

*Kevin McHale (Artie) - who said he was jealous that he didn't get to dance for about two episodes, and then realized he was lucky he didn't have to do all the work!

*Ian Brennan - co-creator of Glee

*Jane Lynch (Sue Sylvester) - she gave me a high five. I asked her a question....she doesn't know if she will be doing any Christopher Guest movies, but that she loved working on those movies.

*Cory Monteith (Finn) - I touched him!

*Dianna Agron (Quinn) - She is very nice and apparently likes photography

*Heather Morris (Brittany) - is a dancer. She was a back up dancer for Beyonce.

*Jenna Ushkowitz (Tina C) - told us that she will be getting more solos and a story line.

*Chris Colfer (Kurt) - apparently he gets a boyfriend coming up!

*Naya Rivera (Santana)

*Dijon Talton (Matt Rutherford) - strictly a dancer

*Harry Shum Jr (Mike Chang) - strictly a dancer and apparently he is going to be doing some show coming up and helped direct some of it.

*Lea Michele (Rachel) - was the only one that was a little stuck-up. (true to character, I guess). She was all over Jonathan Groff, very awkward for us watching them, but I guess that's odd because supposedly Jonathan is gay (according to other sources). They did a Q&A together and I wonder if they even knew we were there.

*Jonathan Groff (Jesse St. James) - again he was a little strange, but is cute and acted his part very well on the tapings of Bohemian Rhapsody with Vocal Adrenaline.

They were all very kind and took questions from the Audience. It was fun to hear them talk and learn a little bit about them. *I'm sure you can google glee finale taping and read other people's account of the Q&A*

At about 8:30pm, we taped a couple of ending of "Regionals." We taped an ending with New Directions winning and a taping with them losing. We did a taping of cheering for the judges, which are Josh Groban, Olivia Newton-John, and Sue Sylvester.

By this time, Edna and I were concerned with time because we were still going to drive the 5 hours home! So we only got to watch "New Directions" do the walk thru of their performance of a medley of Journey songs, ending with "Don't Stop Believing" and we left at 9:15pm. I read on someone elses's blog that New Directions didn't even begin taping their part until well after 10:00pm.

We quickly got some Chipotle (yum!) and drove home. We made it safely at 2:30am.

It was SUPER SUPER fun! It will be fun to see the end product. And if maybe, maybe, they show a shot of the balcony audience, Edna and I were in the front row off to the left (looking at the screen) right next to the aisle! So there is a CHANCE we might get to be on the Finale Episode!

Did I mention we waited around A LOT?

Did I mention I LOVE GLEE!!!!

Spring Break!

2010-04-12T12:21:00.000-07:00

Two weeks of Spring Break!

I had set a project list (in my head) of things that I wanted to get done during Spring Break. I should have written it down because my list kept changing! But I did do the following:

1. Paint and decorate Master Bedroom. In the 11 years that Paul and I have been married we have never had a completely decorated Bedroom. We even had our mattresses on the FLOOR for a year while I shopped for the bedroom furniture. Enough! So I went on a rampage! OK that's not true entirely. I found some bedding that I liked at West Elm. I originally had purchased the Sea Spray, but after getting it, I couldn't figure out how to make it work. So I went to West Elm with the intention of getting the cream color, only to find it wasn't in stock. The only one they had in stock was the light Amethyst color. I turned to Paul and asked if it was OK if we had a purple bedroom. He said yes. I told him I would paint the walls Gray so that it was not so feminine. I have to say that I am really happy with it! It's not all the way done. I also got some fabric to make 3 more throw pillows for the bed and I would like to add some artwork on another wall, and get towels for the bathroom. AND even more importantly.....I have made my bed and kept my room laundry free for TWO WEEKS! (the laundry-free is not that big of a deal, but the making of the bed IS!)

In case you're wondering = bedding from West Elm. Gray Sheets from Kohl's. Wall Color is Cathedral Stone from Lowe's. Chair, pillow on chair, and lamps from IKEA. White bolster pillow on bed and Round accent table from Target. Iron Scroll from Pottery Barn (circa three years ago). Curtains from Ross (circa 8 years ago!)

2. Potty Train Taylor. I did the math. I have been changing diapers since September 2001. It is now April 2010. That's a long dang time people! I got a one month break in April-May of 2007. And now...if all goes right....I. AM. DONE. The Taylors is potty trained! I just need to get her to go through the night and I am home free. It's really a weird sight to see her on the toilet because she is so tiny, but it's exciting. And it's super cute because SHE is so excited! "Guys...GUYS!!! I went pee pee in the Big Toilet!" Every time. EVERY TIME she goes that's what we get to hear. Her two older siblings were just as excited to help potty train Taylor because there were trips to Dairy Queen and Target involved and they know their mom is a sucker for buying them presents. Now if she would only give up her bottle (I know, don't judge me.)

I didn't clean the carpets, or finish the office (again), or straighten up the garage....blah blah blah. Hey that's what summer is for.

Now some random pics of the last month:

The kids had their "Track and Field Day." Hunter got a couple of Ribbons, but the most important one to him was that his Class got 1st in the Tug-of-War. Apparently that's a big deal.

Riley had a great time as well. It was really strange to see her with her class and be a big girl. I still think she's two! But she got 1st place in the 50 yard dash! All of those times she would just take off running in our cul-de-sac (on the sidewalk and always with adult supervision) paid off! She loves to run! And she also had a great time with the Tug-of-War!

Hunter is still doing Soccer. His "on the floor" stats are much better than his first game. I think I only counted 4 times on the floor on his last two games. He is getting better about playing with a purpose instead of just hitting it as far or as hard as he can in any direction.

We usually try to stay out of Hunter's way during the game, but in this picture Hunter is the goalie....but he still wanted to play every other position. So we'd finally had enough of him being outside the goalie box so Paul went over and kindly reminded him to stay in his spot and to pay attention to the ball!

Hunter has really enjoyed Scouts. I on the other hand still have no clue what is going on! I'm glad his Cub Leaders do! I still haven't sewn his patches on his shirt. I really should do that. But he has earned a few belt loops (again, no clue) and he has a great time at scouts.

Hunter got to do a two day golf camp. It brings much joy to Paul's heart that his only son LOVES golf. He would love to be able to go play everyday. And true to Nelson form, he takes it so seriously. I hope he keeps liking it. This past Saturday Paul and Hunter went and had a day together and it was so awesome to see them walking away from the house with their golf bags over their shoulders. I'm glad they can share that together!

The girls were just excited to roll down the hills! Remember doing that when you were younger? I got all dizzy and itchy just watching them!

Legally Blonde! Some friends of mine were unable to use their tickets to see Legally Blonde in San Diego and so they gave them to me. Linsey, Edna, and I went. I gotta tell you, I probably wouldn't have picked that musical...but it was HILARIOUS! I totally loved it! We laughed a lot and it was wonderful!!! Beauty and the Beast and West Side Story are coming this coming year and I am going to try and go see those two shows...anyone want to go?

Easter!

This was the day of the 7.2 earthquake. I gotta tell you...earthquakes and Easter shouldn't mix. It was a scary moment, and all week has been a bit unsettling with all of the aftershocks. My family got together for an egg hunt and dinner. We had a great time! And the kids ate lots of candy.....OK so did I!

Ree-Roos loves her daddy!All the grandchildren that live in Yuma. And what holiday or family get-together wouldn't be complete without someone crying???

Soccer Mom

2010-03-12T21:02:00.000-08:00

I never wanted to be one. I don't know why. I just didn't. Well this week I became one. I'm in mourning.

Hunter has begged us for about two years if he could play soccer. We've always told him no because most of the leagues play August - March. Well that is smack-dab in the middle of Produce Season, and I don't want to be a Soccer Mom, let alone a Single Soccer Mom. So Hunter has always played T-Ball or Baseball because that is a Spring Sport and Paul is more available to us and to help me.

Well in February Hunter brought home a "Soccer and Scouting" sign up form. The season was March - May. And he begged "PUH-LEEEAAASE can I play soccer?!?!!??" We said yes.

Now as a background on Hunter. He is a Nelson - thru and thru. Sports are what he is all about. If there is a ball involved, he loves it. Basketball, Baseball, Golf, Soccer....he loves them all. He's even taken up throwing a football around...something I barely tolerate. (He's just soooo little! He'll get eaten alive in high school football!) Well at recess this last year the sport to play has been Soccer. He's even learned some of the Soccer vocabulary in Spanish because of all the kids in his class!!! Well as with every sport he plays. He's INTENSE.

So we signed up Hunter for Soccer. Then proceeded the 20 questions.

"Mom, have we heard from my team?"

"Mom, do we know what time my first game is?"

"Mom, we need to go buy my cleats!"

"Mom, what color will my team be?"

AHHHHHH!!!! Everyday, there was some type of soccer question. I finally told him to stop and if he kept pestering me he wouldn't get to play soccer at all! (nice parenting, huh??!?!?)

We finally got some answers. Wednesday he had his first practice at 5:30. He was dressed to go at 3:30. He gets home from school at 3:05.

And today was his first game. He was supposed to be at the fields at 8:15. He got up at 6:15. We told him to go back to bed!! It was a little chaotic for the first game, but still fun. Hunter volunteered to be Goalie for the first half, which was hilarious to watch because he was so antsy watching all the action on the other side of the field. He was kicking an imaginary ball around the entire first half. But he did his job when he needed to. He saved the one goal that was attempted on him!

This is him as goalie.

He was NONSTOP during the second half. I don't know how he kept going and going!

He had some moves too! Here he is using his arm to not let the other play in. It was quite hilarious to see him play defensively. It must be some rough playground if that's how he plays at recess!

Getting ready for a kick!

At the end of the game....all red and sweaty...and HAPPY!!!

I need a volunteer Statistician. I am determined to count how many times Hunter is on the floor during a game. Slide tackle, trip, slide tackle - those are his moves. He's been watching to many Euros play soccer and so it's an automatic to the floor with this boy! Now I know why all his jeans get ruined during recess and why he has so many bruises on his legs! I'll let you know his Stats next week!

One game down! Eight more to go! Woohoo!!

Percy Jackson

2010-02-15T23:53:00.000-08:00

At the end of January, on our trip to Disneyland, I took Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief to read if I had some spare time. I managed to start and finish the book on my 3 day trip. Loved it. After we got home, the following week, my sister let me borrow books 2 - 5 of the Percy Jackson series. I finished the fifth book today. LOVED THEM.

What I realized was that I don't know JACK about Greek Mythology, except for what I learned in Disney's animated feature film "Hercules." So now I'd like to read something else on Greek Mythology.

I was excited to go see the movie this weekend. Of course the book is always better than the movie, but the movie was still good and entertaining. AND it has something that the book doesn't.....Logan Lerman. A VISUAL Percy Jackson.

I wonder how he must feel; joining the ranks of Daniel Radcliff = Harry Potter, Robert Pattison = Edward Cullen, Taylor Lautner = Jacob Black, Logan Lerman = Percy Jackson, Zac Efron = I don't care who he is as long as he's in the movie.

I'm not sure he understands!

Which brings me to my next thought: I either like "little" boys (mentioned above) or I like "older" men. I don't ever find myself attracted to the boys my age, or in their 30's. Why is that??? Are you 17, 18, 19, or 20 = Sign Me Up! Are you 45, 50, 60 = Sign Me Up! I mentioned my young crushes. My older crushes = Bob Costas, Harrison Ford, Brad Pitt, Matt Lauer, George Clooney, Pierce Brosnan, and the list goes on!

Anyways.....back to the books. If you haven't read them, I think you will enjoy them!

Oh I also read Hunger Games and Catching Fire and can't wait for the next book!!

Disneyland

2010-02-01T11:31:00.000-08:00

For the last 3 years, my family has gone to Disneyland. Who ever can make it, goes. We go at the end of January, midweek, and avoid the crowds. And did we EVER avoid the crowds!

First things first. In my previous post I mentioned the rain. Well the rain screwed up our plans. BIG TIME! We had originally planned to do Disneyland on Tuesday/Wednesday, but there was rain in the forecase on Tuesday, so we switched it to Wednesday/Thursday. Paul was greatly affected by the rain, and though he had planned to come along on this trip, he had to stay home and work.

But we still had a great time and can't wait to go it again! Hooray for Annual Passes!!!

I did a horrible job remembering to take pictures, but I did get some of the kids with the characters.

Hunter did a great job and rode the Matterhorn (only because I bribed him with some Legos.) Riley rode the roller coaster in Toon Town. Taylor was so happy to see all the characters. I'm glad my children love Disneyland as much as I love Disneyland.

Now...I just need to get Paul there!

Lesson from Hunter

2010-01-31T21:03:00.000-08:00

Paul asked Hunter to go with him to his car to get some lettuce.

Paul grabbed some iceberg lettuce and told Hunter that it was "head lettuce."

Hunter grabbed some romaine lettuce and told Paul that it was "turtle lettuce."

We had to laugh. We feed romaine lettuce to our turtles, so it only made sense to Hunter that romaine lettuce is "turtle lettuce."

Rain, Rain, Go Away

2010-01-30T23:05:00.000-08:00

Yes, we all know it rained in Yuma last week.

What is funny to Paul and I is that while the rest of Yuma looks forward to rain and enjoys it, the farming community DREADS it! Which in itself, is an oxymoron. You would think that farmers would be happy that there is rain for their crops. But No! We are fortunate to have the Colorado River to do the irrigating. All rain does is create muddy roads, ruins fields, and makes it hard to harvest. The only good thing about this rain is that they were done with planting. Rain is horrible for a freshly planted field.

And that is your Agriculture lesson for the month. Stay tuned for next month, when I discuss some other random produce farming tidbit!

Back to the rain. I just wanted to post the pictures I took of my backyard. First let me explain something about the pictures.

1. There is horrible drainage in Yuma.

2. My neighborgood has NO drainage. When the Builder created our subdivision, instead of spending money on drainage or creating retention basins (which is 'wasted' land, because there isn't a house on it, which equals no $$) they instead created Self-Retaining lots. So all of our houses sit up higher than the street, and up away from the water. Now in the 5 years that I have lived in my house, we have had rain, and our lots have retained water, as expected. We'd have a little puddle and that's it.

Well when you get an entire year's average of rain in one day, this is what happens when you have self-retaining lots.

Could there BE anymore water??!?!?

I'm Being Summoned

2010-01-24T21:17:00.000-08:00

I'm coming!!! See you Wednesday!

What the....

2010-01-11T11:14:00.000-08:00

I've been a slacker on my blog since August. Not because I haven't had time, not because I haven't had anything to say. I just haven't. I'm too busy reading other people's blogs, or on Facebook, or other ways that I ignore my kids. I mean cleaning the house!

Here is our year-end review.

September:

Grandpa Paul Nelson passed away in September. He was 94 years old. It was a sad but happy occasion. It was nice to have the whole family together and reminisce about Grandpa.

Many of those memories happened here at the Bard Store.

The Gray Family moved to California in September. Hunter and Dylan are just a few months apart and have always been the best of friends! They had a great time playing one last time together before they moved!

On September 19, Hunter turned 8 years old and was baptized! I can't believe that my baby Hunter is 8! It was nice to have family and friends there with us.

Later that night, Hunter and I participated in a Missoula Children's Theatre production of "Pinocchio" Hunter was a Toy Soldier and I accompanied on the piano.

And what month wouldn't be complete without a quick trip to Disneyland?!?!?! My sisters and I got together for our annual NTA sister weekend. We had a great time! Then I stuck around one more day and did the Disneyland Challenge with these guys!

October:

October was pretty uneventful, except of course for Halloween. Have I ever mentioned I hate Halloween. But I know it's about them...not me.

November:

The Pioneer Woman was in Phoenix promoting her cookbook. The stars aligned correctly and Edna and I were able to make the very quick, but fun, trip up to get her to sign my cookbook. I even asked her a question!! Edna had never heard of the Pioneer Woman, but as I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, I LOVE her! A few days later, as she posted her Recap of her PHX trip, I saw this:

Edna and I made it onto her website! She posted the picture again when she did her "Thankful" post for Thanksgiving!!! She's really nice and it was awesome to meet her!

I also got the chance to play in a "band." I played "keyboards." I always think of Ross from Friends and how he played Keyboards in college. Haha. We did all 80's music, which is why I dressed up that way. Paul now thinks that I should wear big hoop earrings with every outfit! We played at a party one weekend and then got to play a little bit at the Youth Dance the following weekend! I gotta tell you...it was fun having a bunch of kids singing "Don't Stop Believing" with me! Thanks GLEE for making that possible!

I'm ashamed to show the following pictures, but it has been a work in progress for me...5 years in progress. I always "clean" my office, but it never manages to stay clean. It's the room that I can just close the door on, or gets left for last, so mainly gets ignored. Well we were going to be hosting Thanksgiving at our house, so I set my deadline.

Before:

After:And I'm proud to say...IT'S STILL CLEAN!!!!

**my incentive to keep this room clean is that my dad changed the door out...it's now a french glass door! No more hiding!

What's sad is I have no pictures from Thanksgiving!

December:Riley and Hunter both lost teeth around the same time! Riley lost her first tooth and received her first visit from the Tooth Fairy.

Hunter started Scouts in September, and that has been a learning experience for me!! He earned his first badges and loves it! In December Hunter and I experienced our first Pine Wood Derby. And I must tell you...we're in trouble. Paul was all over the Internet trying to figure out how to make the best, fastest pinewood derby car. Let me just tell you now that Paul will be starting in June preparing for next year's Pinewood Derby!!!

Chris took our pictures for our Christmas Card. Considering the getting ready portion of these pictures was horrible...children crying, people yelling...everyone behaved themselves wonderfully and smiles beautifully. Taylor was especially hilarious!

I attended my friends Homemade Gift Exchange party and decided to take a Topiary like I had made at the beginning of the year, except I made it with Christmas Paper. I have to say I really liked how it turned out, except I think I would have painted the pot and stick green, or a different color. But as I thought of this, I thought it would be cool to have different Tops for different occasions and just swap them out as wanted...so then black would be a good base. Just a thought....

And in case you're wondering what Paul has been up to......

Back to School....

2009-08-19T08:32:00.000-07:00

Back to School...to prove to Daddy, I'm not a fool. (movie anyone?)

Last Monday was Hunter AND Riley's first day of School! The summer went by so fast, but they were both excited to go!

Hunter is in 2nd grade this year. He has a brand-new teacher to HLS, she comes from Texas and seems very nice. He has enjoyed her so far.

Riley started Kindergarten...and of course Kinder was switched to HALF DAY this year! I was all geared up to enjoy my whole day with just Taylor, but now I have 3 hour increments! Oh well!

Here's to a great one!

Girls Camp

2009-08-11T10:11:00.000-07:00

I went to Girls Camp at the end of June. It was awesome. We laughed. We cried. We looked like dorks. But it was awesome.

We were the Happy Heifers of Hill-Valley Farm. So we did a lot of cow stuff. We thought we were funny...most of the time!!!

I'm glad that I get that week each year to get to know the Young Women of our Stake better, but also the leaders that I work with.

Its been so long that I can't even remember a whole lot about camp!! I'll need to finish this post another day then!

Summer of George

2009-07-24T15:18:00.000-07:00

If you know Seinfeld then you know what the Summer of George is.

George, able to live off his severance package from the Yankees for a few months, declares it the “Summer of George!” and decides to spend three months watching TV and eating out of his chair-refridgerator.

Paul and I decided this would be our Summer of George, well the opposite of George Costanza's, but you get the idea. We would get healthy. Exercise. Tone. Lose.

So far I have done none of the above. I did manage to lose a little weight the week of Into the Woods, mainly because I didn't have time to eat. So I don't think that really helps!

Summer is winding down. Paul is already getting busy at work.

It may have to be the Fall of George.

uh oh....

Taylor the bee boos

2009-07-23T12:43:00.000-07:00

Taylor is growing up!!! I thought I'd share how she says her name. Oh and Phoebe Gum Gum is Edna's dog. And she will always answer "did you have fun?" with the same response! And if you ask her to smile she squints her face like that.

I love the Taylors!

Into the Woods

2009-07-23T09:53:00.001-07:00

Back in February I auditioned for "Into the Woods." I was offered a role, but decided to turn it down due to being so busy with Young Women's stuff and just life in general. Paul was still in season, I was giving piano lessons and getting ready for Youth Conference and Girls Camp. Not to mention that the production would be the weekend before I would leave for Girls Camp!!! Talk about crazy!! I was really really sad that I wouldn't be performing in "Into the Woods" because I had done it at Yuma High School "back in 1996" (ahhhhh) and have loved the music ever since!

So the day before Paul and I left for Cancun, I got a call from their director offering me a part!! They had had something come up and were in need of Cinderella's Stepmother. I said yes!!!! I was able to get the best of both worlds!!! (Sorry rest of the cast!) I didn't have to do rehearsals since FEBRUARY! I just had to put in TWO WEEKS of my time! The problem was still Girls Camp...so I tried to get myself in gear and not procrastinate so that I could get all of my stuff done.

It was a crazy two weeks! The week of the production I left my house at 4pm and didn't get home until Midnight!! But it was great fun! It was fun to put on a costume, wear a wig, and sing!! It was fun to make new friendships and strengthen old ones!

Thanks again Desert Pointe Proudctions for letting me be a part of your show!!!

I was exhausted on Saturday Night...but had to keep going cause I would be leaving for camp on MONDAY!!!!

CANCUN!!!!

2009-07-22T23:45:00.000-07:00

Paul and I were lucky enough to go down to Cancun for our BIG 10 Year Wedding Anniversary/Mother's Day/30th Birthday for me/33 Birthday for Paul/Father's Day this year! We had never been on a trip by ourselves and we had a blast!

We stayed at an all-inclusive resort called Secrets Maroma Beach and I tell you it was BEAUTIFUL!!! Paul and I are already wanting to go back there. The pictures on the website are true and exactly like it is! It was also nice and empty there because of the whole swine flu scare. So we were able to enjoy a nice quiet time at the beach and pool and restaurants. Nothing was crowded!!

The food was magnificent! The 24 hour room service was awesome. The view was great! The ocean was warm!!!! I actually walked right into the water! None of this tip-toeing in trying to catch your breath like in San Diego. The beaches were white!

BEAUTIFUL I SAY!

So I'll just post some pictures now!

View from our room!

View from the lobby!

Our Hotel was surrounded by jungle! Apparently there is a panther living in there!

Our Room!

The Beach!!!

Yes it was that empty!!!

We visited the ruins at Tulum

The Beach at Tulum

Home Sweet Home!

Plumerias!

We saw a ton of these!!! We went to Xel-Ha and did some snorkeling there. We saw some "dory" fish, tuna and a sting-ray! We haven't developed the film from our underwater camera yet...hey where is that underwwater camera?!?!?!?!

Shopping at Playa del Carmen. Basically a glorified Algodones. We weren't impressed only because we've already seen it all.

See those buildings surrounded by the clouds right in the middle of the picture..that's our resort!! See you next year Secrets Maroma Beach!

okay maybe not next year..but hopefully soon!!!

Three-Oh!

2009-07-22T23:15:00.001-07:00

I turned 30 on June 2. So did Edna. But this isn't her blog, so I'm not gonna talk about her. Just kidding!!!!

Edna and I decided that we were going to go to Disneyland for our 30th Birthday (you get in for free in 2009 on your birthday - fyi.) Our friend Stephenie is also a June 2nd baby so we invited her and her sister Ami to go along with us...you know just to break up the tadedness if necessary.

Well we had a blast!!! We left on Sunday after church and headed to Anaheim. We laughed a lot in the car and I coined the phrase "every dog and their cholo brother" on this trip. I guess you had to be there. But we used it alot and laughed every time. We also used "that's not my name" and "shush girl" thanks to edna. It's like every song we heard turned into those two meshed together!!!

We ate Krispy Kreme doughnuts!!! TWICE! As in bought 2 dozen doughnuts and ate them ALL!!! We watched the aquarium channel because we got up at 5am because of Edna's snoring. And then watched Cash Cab on the discovery channel! And then went back to sleep at 8am.

On Monday morning we were awoken by a knock at the door. The lady at the check-in desk knew we were celebrating our 30th birthday and sent us this! Wasn't that so nice!!!

We went shopping on monday and went to Ann Taylor FOUR times! It was awesome. We experienced a new store called H&M and that was fun! And then we had dinner at PF Changs.

On Tuesday we went to Disneyland! It was way fun and it wasn't too busy. I can't wait to go back!

Oh and being 30 was not fun for me. I am still adjusting to being 30. I used to say things like "my sophomore year of high school" and now since I'm 30 I've been saying "in 1995!" HOLY COW!! That's a long time ago!!!! But it still feels like yesterday. I guess you're only as old as you feel. I know..cheesy. What's funny is that just overnight I started to feel those weird aches and pains that I'd never felt before. Oh well!!!

Swimming

2009-07-22T22:34:00.000-07:00

The kiddos took swimming lessons...which I apparently did not take any pictures of! But we have been enjoying going swimming at Grandma's House! The only problem is that Taylor just wants to jump in and get out and jump back in.....kind of annoying!

don't be blinded by Paul's tan! Hey at least he's a real farmer with a real farmer tan!

Baseball and Hunter

2009-07-22T22:12:00.000-07:00

Hunter got to play Baseball this year instead of t-ball! He had a great time and is improving in his skillz. (that's right) I keep asking Paul what sport Hunter will end up wanting to play because he shows so much enthusiasm to a lot of them. He just needs to grow!

He also did basketball camp with the city and he enjoyed that tremendously! And that's him with the blue shirt and the green paper covering his face! That's the only picture I got! Way to go mom! He did Golf Camp as well for a week, but I don't have any pictures of that because Paul, who was there as his parent, chose to go play golf instead of watch his son play golf! Oh well! And Hunter's Swimming also has come a long way! It's a lot more fun to go swimming now that he is more confident in the water. And as I posted in a previous post, Hunter liked going out on the boat with the boys. Paul says he was timid at first but then jumped right in!!

And in case you didn't know....Hunter is obsessed with the gameshow "Wipeout." OBSESSED!

He will be starting 2nd Grade in a few weeks! I can't beleive that this summer is almost done!

Time to Catch Up!

2009-07-22T21:50:00.000-07:00

I've been lazy/busy/crazy/lazy and haven't posted in awhile. So I better catch up. If only I were really creative I could make up a poem or something to make my summary much more exciting....but I'm not...so I won't!

Here's my "Summer-y"....uhkkayy..

Baseball....
Swimming...
Birthdays....
Cancun.....
Girls Camp....
Cleaning.....

That's pretty much it!

Now I'll add pictures!

Summer

2009-07-22T15:44:00.001-07:00

....it's almost gone!

HP

2009-06-20T15:47:00.000-07:00

No, not Hewlett-Packard! HARRY POTTER!!

I took Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince with me to Cancun to read while sitting on the beach and I finished it yesterday! I am so ready for the movie!!
And if you're a trivia fanatic as well, Scholastic has a great Wizard's Challenge
if you want to try it out. They have the original Wizard's Challenge and also some new trivia games as well!!

LadyBug Bags!

2009-06-18T16:19:00.000-07:00

Check out these super cute bags!

Here's the Link!

Happy Birthday!

2009-05-25T00:53:00.001-07:00

Taylor and Riley had their birthdays in May.

Riley is 5! It is hard to beleive that she isn't 3 AND she will be starting Kindergarten.

Taylor is 2! WOW. She is such a cutie and is starting to talk lots.

We love them both very much!

and a quick shameless plug: Wow, The Treehouse Kids Club is such an awesome place to have a birthday party!!!! You should try it!

Happy Easter

2009-05-25T00:09:00.000-07:00

We try to take pictures every Easter. Here's what we got:

with Nana and Tata

everyone notice the cans...I am using them!

There is something nice about seeing your family dressed up hunting for eggs.

we went out to grandpa's for one more hunt

10 years!

2009-05-24T23:03:00.000-07:00

Paul and I celebrated 10 years on April 23. It has been a great 10 years filled with highs, lows, happiness, sadness, children, compromises, and love....uhkaaayy. But seriously, I love my whose-band. He's a great husband and father and a great friend to me.

Here's some pictures I scanned in. Man we were young! and skinny. Well Paul still is...man I hate him. Just kidding. I really do love him, just not his pant size. Really, ericka, really?

Our Wedding Invitation

Our Announcement Picture

yay, we're married!

This is my family!

Paul's Family (Mark was on his mission)

The whole group!

One of my favorite pictures!

I like this picture a lot too!

Oh my dress!!!

Griscel, Stephanie, Lindsey, Ericka, Paul, Brent, Chad, Casey, Toby

I loved my cake too!

Ok that was fun!

I of course had a meeting that night, and then Paul had something, and then I had something, but we finally celebrated in May. We went to Phoenix and saw STOMP thanks to Dean and Linsey who gave us tickets for Christmas. It was awesome! So cool! And then went shopping for a bit and ate at The Cheesecake Factory! It was a good weekend, but of course didn't take any pictures!

My grandma's funeral

2009-05-24T22:22:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in my only post for April, my grandma passed away on April 3rd. Edna, Griscel and I were able to go down to San Luis and be with my mom during the funeral. It was definitely interesting to see how a funeral is done in Mexico with Catholic Traditions. It was nicely done, and very fast. The cemetary portion was also very different than here in the States. I took pictures of the site (which my mom's family thought was weird and partly disrepectful, but I didn't think so.) She was buried next to her husband who had passed away in 1970. My mom had never been to his grave, so it was nice to be there with her. A lot of things went through my mind as I watched my Grandma's mourners. I am grateful for her. She was a friend to many people. You forget that Grandma's can be friends, not just my grandma or a grandma. I am grateful for the knowledge that I have that we will see her again.

I will be respectful and not post the pictures of her in her coffin.....my cousins didn't know I took those pictures.....but she looked beautiful.

March

2009-05-24T21:24:00.000-07:00

March was a busy month for us.

Paul was still in produce season.

I was in Youth Conference Season... Three months of preparation for 3 days! But it was awesome and glad that is over! I do have to say that I loved the t-shirts for this year!

Hunter had his track meet again this year and did great! He was even ok when he didn't win everything. I was worried about that because one afternoon in the backyard, he was practicing his crab walk and he, of course, was trying to go to fast and kept falling. So Paul told him "slow and steady wins the race." Hunter's response was "no slow and steady LOSES!" that's nice!

Here is his enthusiasm during the relay race...which they got 1st in!

Hunter then did a little Golf Camp during spring break. He had a great time and enjoyed the chance to swing his clubs!

That was pretty much it! Sort of....

Hello..Anybody there?

2009-05-24T21:15:00.000-07:00

The last two months have been a little crazy. Acutally the last 3 months have been a little crazy. But I told myself that I was going to update my blog today! So here I am. We're all alive and well and looking forward to the summer....here goes!

My Nana

2009-04-03T22:30:00.000-07:00

My Nana passed away today.

(sorry Karla is missing and Griscel is hiding, but was the only good picture of us with her.)

This is her with my Mom and all of Great-Grandchildren. Kyle is the only one missing.

We will miss her!

I'm not crazy....right?

2009-03-04T11:55:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted in a bit. Mainly out of laziness and lack of topic.

This last week and half has been crazy! And I need to write this down for memories sake.

It all started at the end of February. Paul was going to be out of town to go visit his brother in Houston that was blessing his baby. Paul left at 5am. Riley woke up with pink eye. Great! Hunter woke up with the nastiest cough known to man. Great! Later that night I noticed I had a pain in my side that bothered me when I sat. Great! So Saturday Night I tackled all 3 kids and put eye drops in their eyes to avoid the spread of pink eye at the Nelson home!

Sunday morning we got up. I didn't plan on going to church because of the whole pink eye situation, which I'm sure all of the Primary appreciated. Taylor got up around 10:30am and was crying and pulling at her ear! GREAT! So after listening to her cry for 45 minutes I decided to head to the Urgent Care. So off we go, to the Urgent Care to wait. The wait wasn't too bad, and Hunter and Riley behaved themselves so well, all things considered. Taylor of course would be fine for a few minutes and then cry for another bit....and again.

So after getting diagnosed with an ear infection, we headed to Wal-Mart to get her prescription filled. It was 1:32 pm when I pulled up to the pharmacy. They close for a 30 minute lunch at 1:30! COME ON! So we walk around Wal-Mart. I figure I'm already there and I got the kids some popcorn chicken so they would be content to walk around for 30 minutes while we wait for the pharmacy to open. Well the pharmacist left 10 minutes late for lunch, so he opened at 2:10. I dropped off my prescription and was told 45 minutes. Ok great! So now we keep walking wal-mart. We walked the toy section, which was dumb on my part, and had to keep telling the kids, 'sorry we're not getting anything today.'

We paid for the few groceries I had gotten and went and put them in the car to kill time. I moved my car to the other side where the pharmacy is. I walked back in and was there right as my 45 minutes were up. "Sorry, it will be 10 more minutes!" WHAT!!! I sat on the bench with my 3 kids and nearly cried! Of course this would happen the weekend that Paul is out of town, Paul is never out of town! I am so grateful that I am not a single parent!!! Even though Paul has a busy season at work, I know that at the end of the day he will come home! And I am grateful for that!

**As a side note...Edna is out of town, Griscel is at church, and my mom is with her mom at the hospital, and Paul's parents are in Houston with him!**

So they finally called my name, we got Taylor's antibiotic, and went home. Ate a quick lunch and took a nap!!!! It is now 3:30pm

What a Sunday! Taylor was immediately better after one dosage! Gotta love medicine!

So Monday and Tuesday were back to normal. I tackled the kids just a few more days to keep putting eye drops so that the pink eye wouldn't spread and luckily it didn't!

All the while I notice that I still have that pain in my side, that has now reached my back.

On Wednesday I went and visited my grandma at the hospital. Edna went too. While there I mentioned to them that I had been having a pain in my side since Saturday. They immediately "overreacted" (something my family NEVER does) and told me to head to the Urgent Care to make sure it wasn't anything serious. (My dad had his appendix burst several years ago, and was told if he had waited one more day, he could have died.)

So Edna came to my house and watched my kids and I headed to the Urgent Care. Second time in 4 days! Come to find out I had a kidney infection! Which we thought was weird. So I started my antibiotics. The doctor told me that if I still had pain after two days on the antibiotic to head to the ER because it could be something worst that he couldn't see.

So on for the next two days it was 20 questions from my family about whether or not I was hurting. The pain had now spread to the other side of my back. So on Saturday morning Paul and I decided that I should go to the ER. GREAT!

As I was leaving for the ER, I decided to grab a book so that I would have something to read while I waited. I grabbed Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, book 7. BIG MISTAKE!!!!

I couldn't put it down and stayed up until 3am this morning finishing the book! I LOVE HARRY POTTER! and now, of course, I feel the need to read the ENTIRE series...again!

Ok but I'm sure you're wondering about my trip to the ER. The wait wasn't too bad, no matter what you read in the Letter's to the Editor. They did some bloodwork, CT scan of my abdomen, urine test....and

NOTHING! There was absolutely NOTHING wrong with me! My kidney's are working properly. No kidney infection showed. My appendix, gall bladder, and kidney's all looked normal in the CT Scan. So the doctor diagnosed me with back pain. WHATEVER!

I AM NOT CRAZY! I know I was having pain on my kidneys! But the good news is that the antibiotic did it's job because I no longer had an infection. So the weird thing is that I had that pain for a few more days. For all I know I still have the pain, but I did some exercises the other day and am completely sore, so I can't distinguish the differences in pain.

Ok....maybe I am crazy....

ok pues!

Pay it Forward

2009-02-27T09:49:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Linsey for passing along "Pay It Forward." I am now sharing the love with you!

Rules: Be one of the first three bloggers to leave a comment on this post, which entitles you to a handmade gift! (Make sure I have access to your blog)

Winners: You must post this challenge on your blog, meaning that you will Pay It Forward, creating a handmade gift for the first three bloggers who leave a comment on YOUR post about this giveaway!

The Gift: The gift you send can be from any price range and you have 365 days to make/ship your item. This means you should be willing to maintain your blog at least until you receive your gift and have shipped your gifts.

Remember: It’s the Spirit and the Thought That Count!When you receive your gift, feel free to blog about it, sharing appropriate Linky Love♥♥♥If you are not one of the Top Three to comment on this post, you can still play along. Please start your own 'Pay It Forward Chain', and encourage your blogging friends to do the same.

Now on to "PAY IT FORWARD!"

Thanks Linsey!!!

Confessions....and more

2009-02-09T14:23:00.000-08:00

My friend Linsey told me about this lady, The Pioneer Woman, and her blog and her Marlboro Man. I'm hooked. I'm addicted. I find myself turning Paul into my own Marlboro Man. If you have time, go check out her website www.thepioneerwoman.com and read the story Black Heels to Tractor Wheels about how she met the Marlboro Man. Read about her Lodge Remodel. Read about her Homeschooling tips. Read all kinds of stuff! It's way cool. I feel like she's my friend! I know, I'm weird!

Paul and I got to go see Lion King on Saturday in PHX. It was AWESOME! I cried about three times...and that was just in the first 15 minutes. The costuming, the dancing, the singing, the percussionists....all AWESOME! Next up WICKED? Anyone want to go? Let's do a big group deal!

And Taylor has officially learned how to say "NO" correctly. Right now it's still cute, but we'll see how much longer. But she also says Peekaboo, which is way cute, so then I just have her say that after and I smile.

And I will also be watching Confessions of a Shopaholic this weekend. Can't wait! With my big tub of popcorn! That's right, I said it!

Disneyland Withdrawals!!

2009-02-03T22:08:00.000-08:00

We had a great time!!!

It was wonderful to spend three great days at Disneyland. And as much as you think I'm crazy, I'm ready to go back! The kids were great! It was fun to have almost the whole family there, and I'm grateful my parents were there to help me out!

Steph - I missed you taking pictures! So I didn't do a very good job, but I did get a few!

And just a tip to you all: if you can, it's totally worth it to take your kids out of school and go at the end of January!!! Tuesday and Wednesday were so empty! The park wasn't even handing out fastpasses becuase there were no lines! It was awesome to run up Space Mountain and get on right away!

2009.....

2009-01-10T02:13:00.000-08:00

Well I hadn't posted in a month, and was chastised for it. So tonight I got in a blogging mood, and posted a ton of stuff!

Another thing I noticed was that I had some drafts saved and so when I deleted them, it turns out that I did NOT have 100 posts! So I did a premature "100th post" post. So I apologize for misleading you in my posting numbers. But now I have passed my 100th post, so if you're that weird about it, you can go back and read it!

I am ready for 2009. I went back and read my goals for 2008. Yeah....basically I have the same goals for 2009. Basically...just be better. At A LOT of different things. This Monday for FHE we are going to set our goals as a family. I have been thinking more about my goals this week as well, so maybe on Monday I will post a more definite list of goals.

Here's to a sublime 2009....uhkay!!!!

Happy Birthday Ryan and Reagan!

2009-01-10T01:53:00.000-08:00

Edna's girls had their Birthdays On December 20 and January 9!

This is a video of Ryan quoting "Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas" Absolutely hilarious. And if you don't get it...you need to netflix that movie! And then you will KNOW it's hilarious!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8dzWJtME3Q - check this out...just the first few seconds to compare Ryan to the actual character...which right now I of course can't remember his name!

Happy Birthday Girls!

Random

2009-01-10T01:44:00.001-08:00

I have rediscovered how good these are:

And how much my kids love these for breakfast:

And Chris reminded me that she looks like Steve from Blue's Clues:

Baby.....

2009-01-10T01:35:00.000-08:00

Linsey and Dean were over at our house this last week. Taylor loves to see the baby. Well they left behind a pacifier which Riley and Taylor found. Taylor immediately pointed to it and said "baby" and put it in her mouth. Of course when I wanted her to take it at 3 months old she wouldn't, but now at 20 months she wants to have it. I let her have it long enough for me to take this picture and then put it up. Although this last week she had an ear infection and wouldn't take her medicine, so I got the "baby" and let her suck on it while I put medicine in her mouth so she would swallow it! Most of me is annoyed by this, but a small, small part of me thinks its cute, mainly because it means she's still my little baby!

Craft Project

2009-01-10T01:22:00.000-08:00

Before Linsey had her baby, she and I picked something we wanted to get done. She wanted to do a Car Seat Cover and I wanted to do a topiary tree. So I made her car seat cover and she made my topiary tree. We brought all of our supplies and got to work! Linsey punched all of the circles out and individually glued and tacked each circle onto that styrofoam ball with a brad. I know there are over 100 circles on there, but don't have an exact account. At a much later date, I painted the pot and the dowel black and added a ribbon. For the pot I used some floral styrofoam to hold the dowel in place with some glue and then used white and black river rock to hold it in place. I need to mix up the river rock a little more. And then tied a white ribbon around it. I feel like it needs something else, so any suggestions are welcome!

I was super happy with the paper! I used a damask, a circle, a black with gray pinstrip, and a flower paper for my project. I think it was a good mix and I love it! Thanks Linsey for your help! You'll have to check out her blog sometime for pictures of the car seat cover. I'm sure she'll be posting them.

Merry Christmas!

2009-01-10T00:02:00.000-08:00

Christmas was busy, crazy and fun! Just like all of our family activities. Paul's family was all here, and most of mine was in Yuma as well. Which makes ALL of our holidays quite hectic! So we started Christmas Eve at the Nelson's House. We did our own re-enactment of the Nativity Story, complete with Samuel the Lamanite (thanks to President Eyring, I'm sure there were a lot of families who were throwing aluminun foil rocks at their Samuels!) Riley was Mary and then Hunter played a dual role with Joseph. Our baby Jesus didn't have a manger, but he did have a shoe box! That works!

Taylor was just excited to jingle a jingle bell! She's a natural!

Then Santa took some time out of his busy schedule of delivering presents and stopped by. It took Hunter some time to want to get on Santa's Lap, but refused to tell him what he wanted. He just kept saying that we had mailed him a letter. Riley had a death grip on Grandma and wanted nothing to do with Santa AT ALL! And you can see how Taylor felt about it! She wasn't the only grandchild who felt this way!

After Santa left, we headed up to my mom's house and Santa was just leaving there. Poor Chris missed the whole thing because he had to run to the store.

Here is a picture of the grandkids, Taylor and Kyle are missing. Taylor didn't want to sit on anyone's lap, and Kyle wasn't in Yuma yet. We enjoyed some tamales! Yum! Then headed home! I of course was the one that woke up at 4am wanting to wake up the kids. Paul told me to go back to sleep. Then I got up at 6am and Paul told me to go back to sleep. Then at 7:30 he said I could go get them ! Yay! I was much more antsy then they were!

Here is what Santa brought the girls! Taylor sat in the car and just watched us open presents! She wouldn't get out! She loves it!

Hunter got all the things he asked for! Including his Nintendo DS and the Nerf Gun that shoots 3 darts per second and has a 25 dart ammo belt! (He recites the commercials for everything he wanted!) Riley got some more princess stuff and was happy!And this is what I got! I have been wanting a gemstone ring for some time now. I think they are just so cool! Paul totally surprised me and got me the one I wanted! Yay! I just have to get it sized now. Thanks Paul! Don't worry, Paul didn't do so bad himself!

Edna and Chris got us this picture of the temple that I have been wanting for over a year! I LOVE it so much. If you aren't familiar with his work, check it out! His name is John Raymond and I just love his work.

And to the rest of our families and friends that got us gifts....Thank you So much!

Christmas was fun! And I'm sad that it's all done. Riley literally cried when we took the tree down. And cried even more when we took the outside lights down. She wanted to know why Christmas had to be over. I wondered the same thing! Merry Christmas!

Project One down.....257 to go!

2009-01-09T23:35:00.000-08:00

I have been needing/wanting to for the last 10 years to organize my music. I have tons! My biggest problem is my loose music. I just had a STACK of loose music and any time I needed a song, I had to go through my huge stack and 3 magazine holders to find whatever I was looking for. So I went through and organized alphabetically all of my sheet music. I only stacked them by letter, not by title alphabetically. But that is a HUGE improvement. My ULTIMATE goal for my sheet music is to have it all indexed by title, genre, performer, author, and topic. I would love to include every song have even in all of my books! I know that's a huge task, but slowly but surely I will get it done! I filled 6 magazine holders with all of my music.

I also went through and cleaned out my living room and my family room. Down to every last drawer! That only created two more projects: 1. organize pictures 2. transfer all VHS and home videos to DVD! A project that has been on my list since last year, when Paul got me a portable DVD recorder!

I cleaned ALL of the carpets in the house as well. A project that was also 2 months overdue. So slowly but surely I am going through the house. I want to do my closet next, the kitchen (every drawer!) then the garage! But first I need to finish the office, which I have been "working on" for a week (that means I really worked on it for two days and then has sat there the rest of the week.) I'll post pictures of that project when I finish. It will be quite shocking!

But in the meantime...I start lessons again on Monday, so back to life and back to reality. I will have to put off my projects for Thursdays and Fridays. Mondays - Wednesdays will be dedicated to maintaining the regular stuff like the dishes and laundry! Ladi-freakin'-da! (does anyone else feel this way?)

**Note Why is it when I am working on a project, everything else gets neglected and then the house looks worse, and then Paul wonders if I get anything done! So then when I finally get the house clean, the project I was working on is messed up again! And the cyle continues!

Have Yourself a Crappy Little Christmas

2009-01-09T22:22:00.000-08:00

The Sunday before Christmas, after we got home from Church, we tried to take our family Picture. This is what we got:Hunter was mad because I asked him to tuck in his shirt. Riley didn't want to smile, as usual. Taylor was crying I'm sure because of all of the "loud discussing" that was going on between Hunter, Paul and I. Come on! Just Smile! It's Christmas, dang it!Riley and Taylor quickly caught on, and Hunter had a few more moments of meltdown, including that he didn't like his smile and that we were going to laugh at him. whatever! Taylor of course was a cutie!Riley chose this pose with her dress. She thought it was awesome! I also think it's awesome!

We wanted Taylor to sit next to Riley so we could get a sitting shot of them together. She was done. So on to the next crybaby.

Hunter had mostly stopped crying. And I got this picture of him. Notice how there are no ornaments on the bottom two feet of our tree? It's Taylor-proofed. Also, Paul and the kids decorated most of the tree....and I didn't even go back and redo it!!!! Can you beleive it?!?!?)

So that was our Sunday before Christmas. We promptly made them have quiet time! Merry Christmas!

Paul's Amaryllis

2009-01-09T22:13:00.000-08:00

Paul enjoys growing an amaryllis every Christmas Season. We have yet to time it perfectly so that it actually blooms close to Christmas. This year he wanted to plant two bulbs in the same pot, but the second bulb was a dud and had no flower. So he took it out and planted another bulb....also a dud! So that wasn't cool! But the one amaryllis that did bloom had 4 beautiful flowers and we enjoyed looking at it for the week that is was in bloom! Can't wait until next year...hopefully we'll get two good bulbs!

Christmas Gift Exchange

2009-01-09T14:51:00.000-08:00

At the beginning of December, I went to my friends Gift Exchange Party. We all had a great time! It was fun, and saw some great crafts! This is what I took:

It was a table setting. I took everything you see in the pictures. Down to the tissue paper in the placecare setting. It was fun and I hope the Lady that got my gift actually liked it!

This is what I got. The three trees on my table. I love them. I am actually going to leave them out all year, because they match my curtains and the rest of the stuff that is in my living room! Love them! Thanks Sabra for a great time! Can't wait for next year!

Christmas Cards

2008-12-09T22:15:00.001-08:00

I can't send a Christmas card to EVERYONE...so here it is!

*Christmas Card by Megan Holdsworth Photography

I did it!

2008-12-09T08:35:00.000-08:00

I ate chocolate on purpose! I couldn't take it anymore! I had a chocolate-dipped Strawberry Waffle Sundae from Dairy Queen! It was good, but way too rich. I didn't finish it, but it was GOOD!!!!

But other than that I have been really good! I ate ONE slice of pie at thanksgiving. I ate half a churro at disneyland, and part of an ice cream bar (it was WAY to rich) (Ay, que dulce!) And I drank some Coke on the way home to keep me awake...it WAS 1:30am!

And then the other night at a Party i did eat a few sweets! And then all the leftovers that I had are now gone too...so I'm gonna take it easy now until Christmas eve!

But I gotta tell you....it was good, but not the "gotta have it" feelings that I normally would have! My month went by fast and I just felt good. I hate to admit it, but I did! Maybe I'm finally liking this no sugar thing, because the scale is going down (as i mentioned in my 100th). It's not moving fast, but after not moving the first two week...I'm happy now! Now I just need to lay off the constant snacking. I may not eat breakfast or lunch, but all the other snacking makes up for it!

Hunter

2008-12-09T08:21:00.000-08:00

Hunter at his school Christmas program

Hunter: Nana can you make me an egg burrito? (He always asks nana for one of these)

Nana: Just a minute Hunter. (my dad ran to the store to get eggs. In the meantime, my mom is helping me sew something, so when my dad gets back with eggs I start to make eggs.)

Me: Hunter I'm gonna make you your egg burrito now!

Hunter: Do you even know how to make an egg burrito?

Me: YES!

Hunter: Ok...just making sure!

Another one he said a while back was this....

Nana: Hunter do you want a bean burrito?

Hunter: Yes, please. Nana do you know how to make a bean burrito?

Nana: Of Course Hunter!

Hunter: My mom just orders them from Chile Pepper!

Gotta love him!

My 100th

2008-12-07T16:11:00.000-08:00

Ok since this is my 100th post..I am dedicating this post to numbers.

Some numbers I like...Some numbers I don't like.

The scale is one of those love/hate relationships. Right now I'm starting to like it because it's been going down! (not as fast as I'd like) Maybe this no chocolate eating thing is FINALLY paying off!!

You know what else is going down....GAS!!!

I filled up by Suburban for $49.25!! Considering at one point I paid $125.00 I was SOOO excited!

I also love 104 and 129. Edna knows why. The other night we were heading home and it was 1:04! Edna called me to tell me!

Ok that's enough of numbers!

A few more videos of Fireworks

2008-12-05T07:49:00.000-08:00

Gabby....this is for you!

2008-12-03T12:53:00.000-08:00

I'm Thankful for...DISNEYLAND!

2008-12-02T07:32:00.000-08:00

I'm thankful for more things, but first our Disneyland Trip!

It was really really fun! We left on Tuesday, a little later than I wanted to, but that's normal right? And came home on Thursday at 2am, also a little later than I wanted to. It was great that Paul could come and also my parents. They were a huge help. It was nice to walk around and see all of the beautiful Christmas Decorations! AND it wasn't too busy! The Christmas Fireworks were AWESOME and at one point Hunter turned around and said "mom, why are you crying?" with a total 'you're a dork' look on his face! I told him it was so beautiful! (Lisa those tears were for you!!!) It rained on Tuesday night while we were there, so my hair was loverly. Why couldn't I have just had curly hair? or straight hair? not half/curly/half/straight/mostly frizzy hair??????? (like my fractions right there?)

We had a great time, ate a lot, walked a lot, sat a lot, and laughed and smiled a lot! Can't wait for our January trip! Any takers?

Now on to Thanksgiving!

It was good! Ok that's enough!

Back to Disneyland!

Ok Just kidding!

Thanksgiving was very nice. We slept in a little because we got home at 2am, so that I am thankful for! Paul deep-fried the turkey and it was DE-LISH! Chris brined it for us and it was gooooood! We went to the Nelson's for Dinner and enjoyed company of aunts/uncles/cousins we hadn't seen for a little bit. I am happy to say I didn't eat a lot, only because I stuffed my face with rolls BEFORE dinner started! But they were good rolls. AND of course being the wonderful mother that I am did NOT take pictures, even though the camera was there. Which is really to bad because it had been a while since we had ALL been in the same room together, well I'll try harder at Christmas!

And now it's Christmas time! yay! Oh and I'll post about Black Friday Shopping next....and my chocolate-free update!

Have I mentioned.....

2008-11-25T09:18:00.000-08:00

that I'm going to Disneyland!!! Yay! It's gonna be all decked out for Christmas! I can't wait! The only thing I'm sad about is it might rain, which means they won't do the fireworks show! So let's hope that they do.

The exciting thing about this trip is that.....drumroll, please.....PAUL IS COMING TOO!!!!

I'll post pictures when we get back!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Christmas Cans

2008-11-18T23:06:00.001-08:00

Last year my friend Tia made these Christmas Cans. I thought they were soooo cool! So this year Linsey and I decided to make our own Christmas cans. It only took me a week to finish them, but they are finally done! Actually the only reason it took me a week, was because I only had two nights when I could work on them. The first night we did all of the cans. And then tonight I did the names and ribbon. So I'm glad they are done! (Actually I need to add the tag and the key.) I plan on using mine as a special treat for my kiddos. For Christmas, their christmas PJ's will be in there. For the rest of the year I will use them when I feel like it! I hope it will turn into something like "Hey...my can is out...I wonder what's in it...." You get the picture! Check out Linsey's Blog to see pictures of hers. (she may not have posted it, but she will soon)

Riley Roos

2008-11-17T09:33:00.000-08:00

*Edit to my last post

Just so everyone doesn't think I always ignore Riley, I did take some pictures of her too! I didn't ignore her the whole time, just while I was trying to get Taylor to blow me a kiss!!!

She wanted me to take one of her in back of her umbrella

Taylor Boos

2008-11-16T21:04:00.000-08:00

Taylor has become a whole new person these last two months! She is actually quite fun and not as much HARD work! Her new thing is she blows kisses, which of course is adorable. The other thing she started doing is smiling, which is hilarious! I finally got a picture of her smile. I have yet to get her blowing a kiss (i'm working on it.)

I videotaped her as I was asking her to smile at me and to blow me a kiss. I just thought it was hilarious the face she gives me. As if I didn't know she was to busy trying to put on a shoe! I wonder who she gets that from. I also like the way I completely disregard Riley as she tries to talk to me!! Way to go MOM!

Kiss who?

2008-11-16T20:53:00.000-08:00

We were sitting in Sacrament meeting today and this is what Hunter asked me:

Hunter: Do you have to kiss Dad on the mouth?
Me: (stifled laugh) I can if I want to because we're married.
Hunter: So will I have to kiss a girl? (makes a fasce)
Me: You can kiss her when you're married (hunter keeps making face) but only after you serve a mission so that will be when you are older!
Hunter: OK

8 days...that's right!

2008-11-14T16:53:00.000-08:00

I have to say I'm pretty proud of myself (yeah yeah, I know we shouldn't be proud) because I have gone 8...yes 8 days without desserts, sodas, excessive sugars!

And for those of you who know me...know that's really really impressive!

So...here's to the next 8 days! BLAH!

Chocolate Free!

2008-11-11T22:27:00.000-08:00

Starting November 7, 2008 I will avoid Sugars and Sodas! I will allow myself November 26 & 27 to eat what I want, and also December 24 - 26!

So far.....5 great days filled with headaches from chocolate withdrawals.....

**Note: this is not for the rest of my life, it's just to try and create some new habits, and since I have NO self-control, I need to quit cold turkey and then slowly realize that I don't NEED chocolate/sugar/ice cream to survive and that it actually is a special occasion when we have sugar!

* I moved this into a post because I know someone wants to comment on this!

VOTE!!!

2008-11-04T06:54:00.001-08:00

Make sure you vote today! Especially yes on 102 or California yes on prop 8!!!!!

It probably wouldn't hurt to vote for McCain/Palin either......

I just pray our wonderful nation will be ok!

Halloween....whatever

2008-11-03T22:02:00.001-08:00

I hate Halloween. Ok hate is a strong word. I guess it was never huge in our family. Yes we would dress up and go trick-or-treating. We would hand out candy and also occasionally carve the pumpkin; although I think it was mainly because my parents wanted to roast the pumpkin seeds. But as far as the whole dressing up part....I was a witch for about 5 years and a watermelon the other 5 years. That's it! Edna was a clown and then a strawberry. So I just have a hard time with wanting to decorate and going all out for Halloween.

So this year I gave into my kids and we put up some "spiderwebs" in our doorway and some jack-o-lanterns, but no more.

One thing I have always enjoyed though is carving pumpkins, and yes I also roast the pumpkin seeds. For about 3 years we carve pumpkins and make all sorts of interesting things. I have carved Sleeping Beauty castle, lightning McQueen, The Incredibles Logo, a witch brewing, a wicked diva, cinderella, ariel, tinker bell, NY Yankee logo, and a montage of jack-o-lanterns. Edna and Chris also have joined us in this tradition and Chris has done an AWESOME job of doing some pretty good ones, including Napoleon Dynamite, Superman, and this year he did Carolanne and the TV from Poltergeist!!! It was cool!

The only reason I have these pictures is because Hunter took them!

This year we got to celebrate Halloween twice (all with a smile). On Wednesday we had our Trunk-Or-Treat at church. Paul is the Activity Chairman in our ward, so that automatically puts me on the committee as well. So we had to help with the set up and happenings that night...which means I took no pictures! way to go mom!

Then on Friday we went to Chris and Edna's and had a Driveway Tailgate party, a la mexican style, complete with movie projected on the garage! It was great! My kiddos had a blast doing a little bit of everything...trick-or-treating, eating healthy chips and soda and hot dogs, movie watching and more trick-or-treating followed by more healthy candy eating!

I did manage to get a few shots....

Here are Dean and Paul....they will be old men and still look like this!

The Taylor's as Cinderella!!!

This is what the driveway looked like!

Riley's Classic Face!

One Crazy Trick-or-Treating Night!!!

Glad it's over! And now I can focus on Christmas....oh wait...first Thanksgiving. That means DEEP FRIED TURKEY!!!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

2008-10-31T08:50:00.000-07:00

Brenda's Christmas Blog

My frienda Brenda started a Christmas Blog! I told her that I just want to go hang out with her and make all of this cute stuff! So, I figured since i enjoyed looking at her Blog EVERYDAY to see if she posted new ideas, I would share them with you too!!!!!

Have fun! and try not to want to "deck her later!"

!!!!

2008-10-30T15:30:00.001-07:00

I was looking over my posts and I realized that I use a lot of exclamation points.

Ok last one I promise!!!

2008-10-22T21:42:00.001-07:00

Ok another shameless plug for The Treehouse Kids Club.

You can have your birthday parties there!!! Check the website for more info or give Edna a call!

Weird Things? I'm not weird!

2008-10-22T21:02:00.000-07:00

HA HA HA HA HA!!!

Ok so Meredith tagged me to post 6 weird things about myself. So I'm finally getting around to doing it. But I'm really having a hard time coming up with things...... :-)

1. I can eat ice cream for breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner, before bedtime. It doesn't matter. I NEVER get tired of ice cream. And cereal too! LOVE IT!

2. I hate tomatoes, but like ketchup.

3. I hate wearing socks and shoes. (oposite of meredith! i love to be barefoot!, but my heels pay the price!) But I especially hate socks!!! yuck!

4. I love to stay in my pjs' all day! Of course my pjs are just workout pants (i don't really work out in them) and a t-shirt, but if I go out and come home and have nothing else going on for the day...I immediately change into my pjs! Some days I never change out of them! (Never fear...I do wash them, and have several different "outfits" that I use as said pjs!!!) A bad trait I have passed on to my kids! WE LOVE PJS and I love buying them pjs!

5. I don't like to do yardwork because I get dirt in my fingernails....gives me the heebidy bejeebidies! But I do love to clean my kids fingernails when they have been playing out in the dirt!

6. Ok I know this is wrong and I probably shouldn't be admitting this.....but I love a good ZIT! Especially a blackhead! Wait, before you judge me....growing up I had acne (yeah I know, I still have acne!) And instead of hiding in a closet it I embraced it! (yeah right! Two treatments of accutane and I still have issues!) But there is some gross, twisted, disturbed pleasure I get out of popping a good zit or a blackhead! I always tell Paul that it is wrong for one person to have so many blackheads!!!!! On my face, on my back, on my chest, on my Earlobes!!! I mean really!?!?!?!? Come on! Now I know the next time you see me you will all be searching for my blackheads....trust me they are there! But at least try not to to make is so obvious that you're looking! The only reason I find them is because I have a 16x magnifying mirror! And I do try to get rid of them with all kinds of stuff...Biore' strips, face scrubs.....but they keep coming back! So what the h***, I might as well have some fun!! Right!?!?!? or NO? One day I'll talk about how hairy I am....another thing that is weird but not fair!!!!

Ok enough of that!

I tag...Rupa, Stephenie S., Debbie, Amber, Kira, Linsey...and my sisters!

One More Treehouse Plug

2008-10-21T08:11:00.000-07:00

Check out the write-up in The Sun!

Let's Go Fly A Kite

2008-10-15T16:10:00.000-07:00

It was windy on Monday and Tuesday here. And on Monday Riley asked me if we could fly a kite. I, being the great mother that I am, responded "no." I was getting ready for lessons and I just couldn't. So on Tuesday it was still windy so I thought I better be nice and take advantage and go out and fly the kite that we've had since AUGUST!

It was nice and fun! We didn't last very long, only cause it was noon and the sun was in our eyes. But the kids had a great time! and I guess everyone says that that's what counts!

Riley was content to just play with the tail of the kite!

Fall Break...now I need a break!

2008-10-14T00:06:00.000-07:00

This last week Hunter, Riley, Taylor, and I and my parents went to Disneyland for two days! It was fun but busy! I tell you it's nice to go with help! Everyone did great and we can't wait to go back in November!

And I bought this way cute bag!!!

After that we went and stayed with Gabby's boys so that Gabby and Dan could go and have a good time and not wake up at 7:15!!! Hunter and Riley and Taylor had a great time playing with their cousins!!! It was fun, except for the whole waking up too early, which most of you know, I do not handle well!!! But I'm sure glad to be home now!!!!! Cause we have a dishwasher!! and no I'm not talking about Paul!!!

Treehouse Kids Club!

2008-09-26T15:33:00.001-07:00

I know Edna has posted about it on her blog, but just as a plug for her..... The Grand Open House is on Saturday September 27 from 10am - 6pm. With the actual Opening day of Tuesday September 30!!!

Everyone pass on the info!

Treehouse Kids Club - Check out the website!

If you come and register your kids TOMORROW (Saturday) the annual registration fee will be waived! AND you can enter to win some cool prizes! Go check it out!!! Z93 will also be there doing hot dogs and stuff and live radio stuff from 10am - 1pm. (I'm pretty sure that's the time)

AND if you are reading this on Friday before 5:00pm on KYMA they are doing a story on the Treehouse (I'm sure they will show a portion of the story at 10:00pm) AND they will be putting a link on their website KYMA with the story so everyone else can see it! (I'm sure Edna will be happy about that)!

Congrats Edna and Renelle!!!

Hunter Lost another Tooth!

2008-09-26T08:47:00.000-07:00

One of Hunter's top front teeth has been loose since about the end of July. He informed me then that it was getting loose. It has (of course) gotten more and more loose everyday. OF COURSE....duh! That's what happens to loose teeth.

So did I mention today is picture day at school? Did I mention Hunter lost his tooth YESTERDAY!?!?!?!?!? Paul and I were hoping it would stay on one more day, but No! It came out at school yesterday. Oh well!!

My dad told him he had 3 windows in his mouth because of his 3 missing teeth! Hunter thought he was cool!!!

Happy Birthday Hunter!

2008-09-21T00:11:00.001-07:00

Hunter turned 7 on Friday! I don't have any pictures because they are on Chris' camera. So I will get them from him and then add them to the post!

Chris and my Father-in-law were both very shocked to hear that Hunter was 7 and not 6!! Where has the time gone!?!??!?! Seven years ago I was telling the anesthesiologist how much I loved him for my epidural!!! Just a few hours later, Hunter was born!

We love him so much and are grateful for all of his energy and his smiles and his enthusiasm for learning!
Happy Birthday Hunter Nelson Pablo Jedi New York Yankees Jeter #2

John Deere...OH DEAR!!

2008-09-21T00:04:00.000-07:00

This was part of Paul's day at work. The tractors have cruise control and all this GPS crap in there, so the driver sets it on cruise and then hops off and helps with the planting or whatever else needs to be done. Then when it gets close to the end of the field, he hops back in and turns tje tractor around, resets the cruise and does this again. Again it's not like it's going 30MPH. So, the driver sets the cruise, hops off, gets to close to the end of the field, hops on and OH CRAP! the DOOR ESTA LOCKED! So the tractor kept going and going and going. And this is where it ended up! I actually don't know the end of the story....but I thought it was funny!

I LOVE MY GIRLS!

2008-09-05T09:17:00.000-07:00

Just some pictures of my girls! Cause I love them!

Labor Day

2008-09-05T09:05:00.000-07:00

This past weekend my ENTIRE family was together for the first time in my about 4 years. We had a blast! We ate, went bowling, ate, went swimming, ate, slept, ate.....well you get the picture! But it was way fun to have everyone here! The HORRIBLE thing is that we didn't get a picture! I can't believe it! Oh well....that just means we'll have to do it again! Sorry girls!

TV Time

2008-09-05T08:56:00.001-07:00

I got an iPod nano for my birthday. Well I made the "mistake" of downloading some TV shows for the kids onto it. It has worked wonderfully for Hunter especially at quiet time. I give him my iPod and he'll sit on his bed and watch whats on the iPod.

Well I finally got a little docking station so that I can listen to music at home. Well the kids figured out that they don't have to wear the earphones and watch their shows when it's on the docking station.

So the other day as I was doing stuff, Riley asked me if she could watch the backyardigans on the iPod. I said ok.

I asked her "Don't you want to sit on the couch

(where she drags all of her millions of stuff around all day are at)and watch TV on the bigger screen?"

She replied "No, I want to watch Backyardigans on the iPod."

But they sure do look cutie!!!

Open House

2008-09-05T08:29:00.000-07:00

Last Friday we had the chance to go to Hunter's 1st Grade Open House. It was nice to meet his teacher Miss Preston, who by the way graduated from Cibola in 1998! She is really nice and turns out Paul knows her older brother!

But back to Hunter......He had a good time showing us around his classroom. And messing around with his friends. Miss Preston told us that Hunter is smart and such a good boy in class and that she never has to worry about him. She also said that when she has children she hopes they are all like Hunter!

Ok PAUSE!!!

Who are you talking about?!?!! His Kindergarten Teacher would say the same things about this mystery child that only exists between 8:20 and 3:05. Now I guess I should give Hunter some credit. He is a WONDERFUL boy! We love him whole bunches! He's silly and crazy, just like me, and is a huge help to me all the time. His sisters love him and they get along great (well...there are always some moments, but who doesn't have those!) BUT.....he throws fits and cries about silly things and get angry (just like his dad) when he doesn't win. Just normal 6 year old boy stuff.

So again I asked his teacher...."So you're telling me he never ____________?"

fill in the blank with

a. cries

b. throws a fit

c. gets mad

d. all of the above

She nicely responds that " no he never does!" So I guess I'm just grateful that he knows how to behave at school. Did I mention that she also said that even last year when she was having a bad morning she would find Hunter at lunch and talk to him because he would always have a story or say something that would make her smile! WHAT!?!!!?

Well we left (not before looking at the turtles. The School has two desert tortoises) And Paul and I decided that we should give Hunter a little more credit and not act so surprised when his teachers tell us how wonderful he is in class. We're grateful that he knows when to behave and when its ok to throw a fit if needed. Hey...even I need to throw a fit if needed....and anytime I throw a fit IT'S NEEDED!!!!

Hunter and two of his buddies. Notice how short he is!!! Now the blond hair boy has tall parents so you know.....but sorry Hunter! We're short!

His Hot-Air balloon

And this is what Riley will look like on her first day of School! Can't wait!

Homemakin' Mama!

2008-08-27T09:25:00.000-07:00

Remember when I made those really "nice looking" chocolate chip cookies. Well I decided to be a part of the "Redeem Team" and try again and go for the gold! Ok that was way lame and the Olympics are over...so even lamer! (is that a word)

My friend Amber sent me her recipe of Chocolate Chip Cookies - which I guess is famous in Idaho - and I made those!

Now in defense of my sister's chocolate chip cookie recipe....I'm sure they would have come out fine if I had indeed added the baking soda AND the right amount of flour!!!

So apparently making Chocolate Chip Cookies on Thursday wasn't enough to satisfy my sweet tooth, because on Monday I made more stuff. My friend Ami on her Christmas plates had made these delicious peanut butter corn flake deals! I LOVE THEM! I've made them several times since then and I decided I needed more! This is one of those treats where you go....peanut butter - good! corn flakes - good!

This is one of those recipes that is really really simple, but just takes a little time. Kind of like Rice Krispy Treats...until I figured out I could used the microwave!!!! But it's the same idea.

Here is the recipe:

1 c sugar

1 c light Karo Syrup

1 c peanut butter

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp salt

6 c corn flakes - I like to use about 8 cups because then they aren't soooo gooey.

So you bring to a slow boil everything but the Corn flakes, making sure that the Peanut Butter is all dissolved (i know that's not the right word - but I didn't think melted was either) and there is a very smooth consistency. But be careful....a slow boil and burnt peanut butter happen very fast! Once you really start to smell the peanuts, take it off the burner. Then in your separate bowl where your corn flakes are, pour the peanut butter mixture over corn flakes. Stir well to get an even coating over all corn flakes.

Now you have two options. As you can see I opted for the small bunches. It makes it go way farther but is a little time consuming. Or you can go the Rice krispy treat method and spread it evenly into a pan or a cookie sheet and then cut later. I only spread it into a cookie sheet when I'm not sharing and I just pull off how ever much i want to eat!!!! LOL! But they are really good and if it's the holidays you can tell your kids that it's Reindeer Food or something cheesy like that!

And last but not least...considering I still have Chocolate chip cookies and Reindeer Food (uhkkay) left in my house....not to mention some Cookie dough in the fridge...and I won't even begin to tell you how much ice cream I have in my house.....This is what I came home from Wal-Mart last night with......Really, ericka? really!!!?!??!

California Marriage Amendment

2008-08-25T08:28:00.001-07:00

I know I dont' live in California, but my sister does. And I'm sure each of you know someone who lives there as well. I figure if we could do our part, even in a small way, it would help!

Go to Gabby's blog and read about it. It's a little long, but well worth it!

http://danandgabby.blogspot.com/2008/08/california-marriage-amendment.html

Thanks!

Pop-u-ler! Lar!

2008-08-18T21:27:00.000-07:00

While we were on vacation last week, Betty, Brooke, and I met up with Gabby in LA at the Pantages theatre to watch Wicked! IT WAS AWESOME! I don't know why I hadn't seen it yet, but it was awesome. The music, the singers, the orchestra, the lighting, the set, the story - ALL AWESOME! So now I go around and randomly sing out "No one mourns the wicked" and "Popular" and "loathing...."
It was wonderful and would love to go see it again. If you haven't seen it, try and go! It's worth it! (By the way...I made a face when Betty took the picture)

I also got to see the stars on the sidewalk. I had never seen that before, so that was cool. Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber's is directly in front of the theatre! pretty cool!

Roses are......

2008-08-16T23:23:00.000-07:00

$2.50!!!!

That's right! I got these roses at Wal-Mart for $2.50. They were on clearance!!! Paul likes having fresh flowers in the house, so every once in a while I buy a bouquet of flowers at Wal-Mart. Well they had a whole bunch of different types of bouquets of flowers on clearance for $2.50 and $5.00. SO I bought two. And they were really pretty and lasted a long time!!!! So when Valentine's comes around roses cost $60 a dozen.....I'll remember my pretty pretty pink and hot pink roses from Wal-Mart that I got for $2.50!!!

Carlsbad Vacation

2008-08-16T21:06:00.000-07:00

My family, along with Paul's parents and Mark and Brooke and their two kids went to Carlsbad for a quick vacation. It was so nice to just sit and do NOTHING! We got up (a little earlier than I normally like) and just got ready and headed to the beach. Then we would go back to our room, take a nap, eat outside, and go for a walk and then go to bed! It was so nice to just sit and relax and not be hot and sweaty!

I didn't take a whole lot of pictures because I forget to do that, but here are a few that I did take.

The kids playing in the sand with Grandpa watching.

Riley running towards me....

Guess which one is which? And those farmer tan's are hideous!!! LOL!

Grandma brought a little craft for them to do!

So now we're back home and we're already planning to go back! We love to stay at this place called Ocean Palms Beach Resort. It's wonderful! It's directly across the street from the beach. This year we split a two bedroom suite with Mark and Brooke and it was worth every penny!!! The website is http://www.opbr.com/ in case you're ever interested in going to Carlsbad!!!!

Bag Ladies!

2008-08-13T11:30:00.000-07:00

This past Friday night, my sisters and I and Linsey got together to make these tote bags! It was way fun. We started at 9:15 and didn't finish until 5am!!! But we had a great time and a blast! You should read Linsey's post at http://fararside.blogspot.com/ about her bag...it made me laugh. But here are a few pictures and then the results.

We turned my family room into a sewing room. Here is Edna cutting her fabric.

Here is my mom double checking Edna and Gabby's cuts. Linsey's laughing at them.

Here is Griscel waiting for further details.... You can see we even had a dry erase board propped up on my TV so that we could see what pieces we needed to cut.

Linsey sewing!!!! Edna watching so attentively!

My mom helping us all out! And Gabby trying hard not to mess up!

This is Linsey's bag! I loved it so much, I went out and got the exact fabric to make this bag again! Well actually, my mom made it for me!

This is Edna's bag! SO CUTE!!!

This is Griscel's bag. I also got the more of the same fabric to make this bag too. Actually I had picked out this fabric already, but Griscel didn't have time to go to the store to get her fabric so I let her have mine....then I got really jealous that her bag came out so cute with the fabric I picked out (well Linsey and I picked out) that I went and got more! I know...I'm so dumb! But it's a good kind of jealous.....right?!?!?!!?

This is Gabby's bag! SO SO SO CUTE! I am really into damask right now so I LOVE IT!

This is my bag. I like it a lot...but I don't know what it is about it that makes me think twice......

This is also my bag that my mom made for me. I had bought three sets of fabric and I couldn't make up my mind which I wanted to make first. Well I did the pink one first and Griscel made the blue one. So later my mom did the last of the fabrics. I also really really like this one!

There are still 2 bags missing from this post. My mom's - which will be SUPER SUPER CUTE...because it's a damask with some red accents! I can't wait to see it. And Karla's bag which is brown and very retro-ish. That one's done, but I don't have pictures of it yet. It's a funny story because Gabby and I both thought that Karla would really like this fabric. Well once I bought it and we were looking at it, we wondered if she would really actually like it. So I sent her pictures of Griscel's bag, Linsey's bag and the modern fabric to see which one she would like....and.....she picked the fabric that we had originally intended for her!!!!! CRAZY!!!

So I'll get pictures of the last bags and post them later!!!

My Grandma!

2008-08-13T10:56:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday we went and visited my Nana! I hadn't seen her in like 2 or 3 years. So we went and introduced her to her grandchildren, some of whom she had never met. It was nice to see her and she hasn't aged ONE BIT! She is 86 years old.

Target Trauma

2008-08-05T15:28:00.000-07:00

I feel the need to post about this strictly for memory purposes. It was one of those events that leaves you feeling "Really? Really? I mean, REALLY?!!"

Last Thursday I went to Target, my absolute favorite store in the whole wide world, to do Hunter's school shopping. As I mentioned in my previous post, I love uniforms. I walked in, got 6 t-shirts in different solid colors for $3.99 each, 3 shorts for $7.99 and even a pair of easy-to-put-on tennis shoes for $12.00! Can't go wrong there! And I was done in 30 minutes and that even included trying on the shorts and one of the shirts to make sure we got the right size.

So I'm sure you're thinking "where's the trauma?" Oh...I'll tell you where's the trauma! (is it just me or does the word trauma looked spelled wrong because I've used it three times now....ro-ads......movie trivia)

Ok back to my story.

We left the house about 11:15. Got to target fine. Hunter had a hair appointment at 1:30 so I had plenty of time to kill and I knew they were going to get a late lunch so I decided to buy them popcorn and Icee's because then I can enjoy Target for a good while.

We get our snacks and head to the boys department. Meanwhile Hunter and Riley are both sitting in the back of the cart and they are doing quite well considering they are so close. Taylor is in the front of the cart with me sipping at the Icee. She thinks it's DELICIOUS! Can't get enough. Well...she gets enough. Goes down the wrong tube, brain freeze, I don't know, something happened. So she starts to cough. Then she spits up a bit. As I'm reaching down to get my package of wipes (that are unopened by the way) She starts to throw up - in my direction. Ahhh. Ok so she throws up a bit, I still can't get my wipes opened, she looks up at me and smiles. And then she starts again. All over herself, all over the cart, all over me, and eventually down into my purse. And I still can't get my wipes opened. This lady standing right next to us doesn't even look over. I was actually shocked at that. I didn't expect help or anything, but you think the sounds of a child throwing up and me going "gosh dang it" and "oh crap" as I'm trying to "catch" and open wipes would have caught her attention, but it didn't!

Ok so I finally get the wipes opened and Taylor stopped throwing up. Relief. Well Taylor is passed the age where I carry an extra set of clothes for her, so I went and got her a little dress and Riley informs me "I need a cute outfit too!" So I get her a dress too. I figure Hunter's getting clothes, what the heck! So I get their dresses, pay for them and head to the family restroom. But that's right, someones in there! So I wait......and wait.......and wait......and wait.......and FINALLY this man and his son come out. I don't know what they were doing in there but it was forever....like 15 minutes!!!!! Very Questionable! All the while Taylor is laughing and my kids are eating popcorn wondering why we are standing by the front door. Also during the above mentioned waiting, this lady came up to me and said "I just want to tell you that my friend and I were watching you. I have two kids and am thinking about having another one and it was just nice to see how calm you are, your hair is done and you're dressed and how well-behaved your kids are and it makes me feel as if I could have one more child." I told her thank you very much and told her that my baby just threw up so I was waiting to change her clothes. So she laughed. (on the hair is done comment, as a mother I know sometimes that is just my goal for the day...shower, hair, make-up, change clothes. that's a whole other post.)

So I finally get to the bathroom, I wipe Taylor completely down, change her clothes and put on her new dress, and then changed Riley as well. Then i proceed to clean out my purse. Luckily I didn't have my nice coach diaper bag with me that day cause I would have flipped, but it was just my vinyl mickey mouse bag. So I proceed to take out everything and wipe it clean of Red Icee Vomit! And the ONE TIME, THE ONE TIME I actually have cash in my purse....that's right! The extra diapers also got a little throw up on them! Crap! Ok whatever. So Finally I get all cleaned up and we head out to get Hunter's clothes. It's 12:40. I have 30 minutes to get out and make it across town to Hunter's haircut appointment. Blasted!

So we quickly get his shirts and shorts and head to the dressing room to try them on! As we are getting there I notice Taylor smelling questionable. So I change her with a diaper that was wiped off on the front, not the inside. She is contently drinking her bottle so I leave her there and continue on with Hunter. Oh, did I mention it was diarrhea. yeah, that's right. So I'm on Hunter's last pair of shorts and I HEAR Taylor going at it again. So I stand her up and her brand new dress that she has worn for thirty minutes is tucked in her newly changed, newly-diarrhead diaper. That's Right! Come on! So I pull out her dress and wipe that down too. So we head out, me holding Taylor cause I couldn't stand to let her sit in that crap. I get a package of diapers and some baby powder and head to pay. I paid and then went out to the car and I changed my poor baby girl in the back of the suburban. We then went to Hunter's hair appointment where everything went smoothly! Yay!!! Needless to say, we all got Happy Meals on the way home and then took a nap!

Here's the little crazy herself!

This is Riley in her green dress from Target and a cinnamon moustache.
She wanted a picture too.

First Day of School

2008-08-05T12:55:00.001-07:00

Hunter is a big time first grader! Let's hope for no fights this year! And of course he wanted to wear his orange shirt for the first day of school.

Also I LOVE UNIFROMS FOR SCHOOL! I know it's easy to say because Hunter is a boy. But solid colors, jeans or khakis! I love it!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

2008-08-05T11:36:00.000-07:00

Did you guys ever learn that song about chocolate chip cookies in elementary school?

Chorus:

Chocolate chip cookies, you gotta have more
You can bake 'em in the oven, or buy 'em at the store
But whatever you do, have 'em ready at my door
And I'll love ya till I die.

They're made out of sugar and butter and flour
You put 'em in the oven about a quarter hour,
But the thing that gives them their magic power
Is the chocolate chips inside.

You can't eat one, you can't eat two
Once you start chewing, there's nothing to do
But clean your plate, and eat the crumbs too
Then go and find some more.

Now when I die, I don't want wings
A golden halo or a harp that sings
Give me a book, a fire, and someone that brings me
Chocolate chip cookies all day.

Well, on Sunday Paul was feeling like chocolate chip cookies, only I didn't have brown sugar. So on Monday I went grocery shopping and bought some brown sugar to make some cookies. My sister Gabby, who I've mentioned before thinks she has the best of everything, emailed me her chocolate chip cookie recipe. So as my parents get to my house for dinner, I started to make cookies. Then I somehow managed to aquire 2 wonderful helpers while making them. I also somehow managed to miss one of the steps: add 1 cup flour and 1 tsp baking soda. Needless to say...this is what I got:

I then made the next batch which is strictly for eating, not baking, and I remembered to add the baking soda and more flour. The dough is wonderful! My parents said even my flat cookies tasted good, but I know they were just being nice. My kids called them "pancake cookies." So moral of the story is: pay attention when you're baking, especially with "helpers" and read the recipe very carefully!!!!! twice!!!! (isn't that how Santa does it?)

So I'm going to make more cookies today, before my helpers eat all the chocolate chips so that I can get my baking self-esteem back and know that I CAN MAKE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES!!!!

P.S. I told paul I was going to bake the "eating batch" and he gave me the evil eye. I was not to bake it. He also called me this morning to remind me that we are going to the beach next week and that I shouldn't eat the cookie dough because next week when I was complaining about how "fat" I was he would tell me "it's cause you ate all the cookie dough!" Gotta love him! Edward would never say that! LOL!!!!

One more side note. Here is the recipe and you can see why I could have easily forgotten that one step. And I have had gabby's cookies and they are good.

(Also this is exactly how she sent it to me)

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies EVAH!!!!!

Cream:
2 sticks softened butter
2 eggs
1 tsp. salt (I never use salt but you can)
1 tsp. vanilla (I always put a little bit more)
3/4 cup each of brown and white sugar

Add and mix:
1 cup flour
1 tsp. baking soda

Add and mix:
1 cup of flour

Add and mix:
3/4 cup flour
Chocolate chips

Bake at 350 until barely brown on top. (Usually 9 minutes)

Serve on a red heart shaped plate for your husband while you massage his feet....uhhhkaaayyyy

I finished!

2008-08-03T22:06:00.000-07:00

Breaking Dawn....I finished it. It actually took me longer than normal. As in i took me ALL of Saturday instead of half of Saturday. I had to stop because people (my children) kept bothering me. Then we had to clean the garage for some odd reason. Then those same 'people' wanted to go to Grandma's and swim. I mean really!?!!!? Do they not know that I was busy!

So I'm satisfied. I thought it was well written. And I think we should have a "book club" type gathering an discuss how much we loved the books and especially this book, but also discuss how much we hate our husbands because they aren't Edward! Ok hate is a strong word, but how about how much we wish our husbands were Edward.

Girls Camp

2008-07-29T11:41:00.000-07:00

So I think I am finally caught up on my sleep from girls camp. I averaged about 4 hours of sleep, so by the time I got home I was exhausted! We had a great time, a lot of laughs, and crazy nights!

Here are some pictures of my crazy week!

These are the Stake Leaders

Mary, Ericka, Stacie, Kelly, Sonnet, Patty, Mona.

We wore those stinking camos a lot...and the boots were our signature. A ward even stole Mary's and hung them from the Flagpole. Pretty funny!

I don't even know what to say about how awesome Tom Lemmon is! He is absolutely wonderful! He sure does put up with a lot from us! This was our lip Sync. We did "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" and as you can see we wore our boots and anything else we could find! but it was FUN!!
Now these were our pets for about 20 minutes. Not cool!!!! A Spider, a scorpion and a beetle. I did a lot of yelling...A LOT!!! Mary let them go, even though I voted for spraying Raid in the baggie.

Girls Camp Here We Come!

2008-07-21T03:13:00.000-07:00

So it 3:30 on Monday Morning. And I am almost done with my Girls Camp Stuff. I will be gone until Saturday Afternoon! So wish me luck. I hope there won't be any major problems! And I just want my kiddos to be safe here at home!

I'll see you in a week!

Riley Roo

2008-07-21T02:32:00.000-07:00

As Hunter was taking his Basketball Camp these last two weeks, Riley was taking "Tiny Tumblers." She absolutely had a great time. But Riley was so HORRIBLE to drop off! She would be so excited all day and then all morning until we would turn the corner and see the class. Then she'd freak out and not want to go. I fought her every single day to go in! But of course once she was in, she'd forget all about the fact that she hadn't wanted to go in in the first place! Argghhh! Oh well! So here are a few videos of her at "ginastics" as she called it!

Hunter's got some skills

2008-07-16T21:25:00.000-07:00

Hunter has been doing a little Basketball camp this week and last week. All the teachers really like him because he's serious and actually knows what he's talking about. I'm not by any means trying to be one of those parents that thinks their child is a sports prodigy, but considering his age, he does have some athleticism. So this video was from today. He is Green #4.

His "coach" told me that yesterday he was calling "offensive charge" on some of the boys and thought it was funny that he would even know the term. He also told me that Hunter is the only one in his age group that can correctly do a layup. So the only thing we need for him now is to GROW TALL!!! Yeah.....ok! Hunter also plays referee and calls all the traveling and fouls. It's really quite funny because the other boys are quite oblivious to the fact that they are running HOLDING a ball. Hunter just needs to work on his double dribbles. He doesn't bounce the ball with two hands, but he will stop and then dribble again. So it's been a fun two weeks. He's had a great time! Oh and since it's basketball camp, he can't wear "real clothes" as he puts it. He can only wear his basketball shorts and his basketball shirts and shoes.

Kira's Baby Shower

2008-07-15T01:28:00.000-07:00

My friend Kira is having a baby at the end of August or beginning of September. So I had a baby shower for her here at my house. I was really excited to do this Baby Shower because I wanted it to be "FABULOUS." So I decided to go with a damask and hot pink theme! It was way fun!!!! So here are some pics. But first off I just want to tell Kira thanks for being my friend! You always make me laugh and smile! I appreciate EVERYTHING you have done for me and for my kids! WE LOVE YOU!!!!

oh and also a quick thank you to Edna for her "non-help" (inside joke) and for Linsey's help and input too!!!

Riley Roo

2008-07-15T01:18:00.000-07:00

Riley went to her friend Naomi's birthday party a couple of weekends ago. She had a great time, of course because she got the same present the birthday girl did! (Note to self: do not take your 4 year old with you to buy a present as she will also want it!) Anyways back to my story...it was a swimming party, but I wasn't going to let Riley go swimming for many reasons. So we were going to go to the first part of the party and then leave when they went swimming. Well we were a little late and by the time we got there all of the impatient family and friends had gotten in the pool!!!! So luckily my daughter is shy and didn't want to go swimming, but she did just want to step in the pool. She didn't want to get her shorts wet, so she took them off. But then realized that her underwear were still getting a little wet.....so this was her solution....hope you can tell from the picture:

Did I mention she likes Drumsticks?

2008-07-15T01:03:00.000-07:00

I know that in a previous post I've mentioned that Taylor likes drumsticks. She loves herself some ice cream. So tonight we let her have one, and next thing I know this is what she looks like!!!! She was quickly put in the bath and bathed.....real good!

The pictures isn't so good because she wanted to grab my phone, but you get the idea...

Here's another thing she likes to do...I wonder who she gets it from?!!?!

Little Einsteins

2008-06-29T14:55:00.000-07:00

Today we were sitting around and Paul was wearing one of his shirts from Barcelona. Riley asked Paul where he had gotten his shirt. And he answered "on my mission." Riley then says "oh, like Little Einsteins?" We laughed!!!

What's wrong with this picture?

2008-06-24T15:31:00.001-07:00

I'll tell you what's wrong with it. It's almost empty. And you know why it's almost empty? I'll tell you why. Because I eat them like sunflower seeds. I put a few in my mouth. Get all the sugar chewy sweetness, spit it out, and then put a few more. My kids have had a few as well but not nearly as many as I have...not even close.

And you know who I learned this very classy habit from.....MY MOM!!!!! She always has a bucket of gumballs at her house and my kids know that when they go to Nana's house she'll give them gumballs. So I told her that I'd buy her a bucket because my kids are always taking from her. And she laughs and proceeds to tell me that SHE eats them all. That's right. She sits down WITH the bucket when she watches some TV, puts one at a time in her mouth until it loses it's flavor, then adds another one. She says she'll have like 50 in her mouth at one time. Then when she can't chew it anymore, she throws it away and starts over!!!!!

Ok but here's how sad this really is! I opened that bucket on June 15. That's right people. 10 days. Now in my defense (yeah whatever) I took a sandwich baggy FULL of gumballs to Disneyland and my sisters also ate some with me....but yeah 10 days. CRAZY!!!!

Just FYI - I finished the bucket today at 10:00pm. Just five hours later after I posted this.

The Crazy Nelson Family

Pinterest

The Taylors

Choo Choo!!!

iPhone 4s

We're Back

Well Hello My old Friend......

Glee *Spoiler Alert*

Spring Break!

Soccer Mom

Percy Jackson

Disneyland

Lesson from Hunter

Rain, Rain, Go Away

I'm Being Summoned

What the....

Back to School....

Girls Camp

Summer of George

Taylor the bee boos

Into the Woods

CANCUN!!!!

Three-Oh!

Swimming

Baseball and Hunter

Time to Catch Up!

Summer

HP

LadyBug Bags!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Easter

10 years!

My grandma's funeral

March

Hello..Anybody there?

My Nana

I'm not crazy....right?

Pay it Forward

Confessions....and more

Disneyland Withdrawals!!

2009.....

Happy Birthday Ryan and Reagan!

Random

Baby.....

Craft Project

Merry Christmas!

Project One down.....257 to go!

Have Yourself a Crappy Little Christmas

Paul's Amaryllis

Christmas Gift Exchange

Christmas Cards

I did it!

Hunter

My 100th

A few more videos of Fireworks

Gabby....this is for you!

I'm Thankful for...DISNEYLAND!

Have I mentioned.....

Christmas Cans

Riley Roos

Taylor Boos

Kiss who?

8 days...that's right!

Chocolate Free!

VOTE!!!

Halloween....whatever

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

!!!!

Ok last one I promise!!!

Weird Things? I'm not weird!

One More Treehouse Plug

Let's Go Fly A Kite

Fall Break...now I need a break!

Treehouse Kids Club!

Hunter Lost another Tooth!

Happy Birthday Hunter!

John Deere...OH DEAR!!

I LOVE MY GIRLS!

Labor Day

TV Time

Glee Spoiler Alert