My BIG 7 year old!!!

Well, it was Jaden's 7th birthday yesterday. I can't believe he's that old already!!! We had a great time. Guy and I picked up Happy Meals (quite the treat for them!) and dropped them off at Guy's parent's home. We let Jaden pick anywhere he wanted to go and eat dinner, just the three of us. He was so excited to be with us by himself. Jaden picked Sizzler, he loves to go there and get the salad bar because that way he "doesn't have to wait for his food." When we got there, he didn't know who he wanted to sit by and asked if we all could fit on one side of the booth!!! After we were done eating we let our waitress know it was Jaden's b-day and a couple of the waitresses started singing him Happy Birthday and before long the whole restaurant was singing to him! It was pretty funny, Jaden thought it was cool.

After we picked up the other kids we went back home and opened his presents and had cake and ice-cream. When he opened the gift from my parents, he got so excited he had to sing and do a little dance as he jumped around saying "YES!!!". They had gotten him a SpongeBob game for the Wii that the kids got for Christmas.

I'll have to post some pictures after I get them onto the computer. Maybe I'll even post a video of his reaction to that present!

Anyway, I just can't believe my kids are growing up so fast! Today was Kaylee's last day in the nursery at church. I'm going to have three kids in primary! CRAZY!!!

Christmas is approaching......

.... and so is the end of the semester - which comes with projects and finals. It has been tiring ever since we got back from Seattle for Thanksgiving.... finally starting to ease up a bit. I've had paper after test after paper after test!!!! Anyway, I'll be glad when the semesters over (only to start a new one!!!).

I am getting so excited for Christmas! The kids are just going to be so much fun this year, they are at great ages... plus, their presents are going to be awesome! The kids went and saw Santa - three times! We went and saw him once and got the kids picture taken with him, then we saw him at our ward's Christmas Party, then we went and saw him in town... at night... in freezing weather... so they could see Mrs. Claus, too. It was fun, the kids had a good time, anyway. I'm not so sure we'll do it again next year!
This is a picture of the kids with the first Santa we saw: By the way, Jaden is now noticing that the Santas are not the same person.....


On a sad note, I found out a couple of days ago, that my grandpa is in the hospital with a progressive lung disease. They don't know exactly how long he'll live with it. It could range from days to months. I've always thought of my grandpa as invincible.... he is 93, though. He's a wonderful man, can't wait till he's out of the hospital to go visit!

Space Needle!!!

We are in Seattle visiting my family and took the kids to the Space Needle. It was a lot of fun. Jaden loved the ride up and how the cars looked like matchbox cars. After the Space Needle Guy and I took the kids to the Science Center and played there for a couple of hours. The kids just had a great time. It was a little chilly, but definitely worth it! Here are a few pictures of the kids at the Space Needle and the Science Center.
Here is a picture of the kids at the top of the Space Needle:

And looking up at the Space Needle:

Here is a picture of the kids "digging for dinosaur bones":

This is a picture of the kids in the butterfly exhibit. It was a lot of fun watching the butterflies flying all around. Austin had one land on his bum - he thought that was pretty funny! He also thinks he was a 'butterfly magnet'.

Austin - even after a careful inspection by the exhibit worker - had a stow away on his leg. We found it after we had left the butterflies and were out playing. Luckily, Austin was able to walk careful enough that we were able to get it back in.

Halloween Party page and blah, blah, blah!!!!

Here is a scrapbook page I did of the kids from the Halloween party Lexi had for the kids. It was a lot of fun!!!! She had a bunch of games for the kids with prizes for them. They all got a new halloween shirt from her as well. I still have more pictures from their little party to make at least one more page of, and I still have yet to do a page of them all dressed up on Halloween!!! I'll get there someday!


(Notice Kaylee's eyes! She kept trying to look up at the visor on her head - it was so funny! The picture just doesn't do it justice!)

We are planning on going back home to Kirkland for Thanksgiving. I'm so excited, it's been almost a year since we've been back. The kids can't wait to see Grandma and Papa (as Kaylee refers to Grandpa - she has the boys calling him that half the time as well!). Kaylee keeps going through her toys and telling me "Papa would like to see this..." She is just so matter-of-fact! Over the Thanksgiving break, I'm going to have quite a bit of homework to do. I have a big project due right afterwards as well as two tests! I just hope I can make myself do them while there. That's the tough part.

We are going to try and get everything ready to decorate for Christmas before we leave, so we can enjoy it when we get back! I'm excited to get all the Christmas stuff out, just not looking forward to the mess it makes.

Well, tomorrow is my crazy day at school. 9:00 in the morning until 10:00 at night with just a short break to pick up kids and get them fed before hurrying off to my night class - which is so boring and pointless most of the time!!!

Snow!!!!

I made a couple pages of our way too early snow day this past September. I had so much fun with these ones. I made them using a couple of snow templates that I made. Templates are so fun to make and so easy to use. I've actually started up a blog to give some of my template freebies away! I've had 84 people download one and 63 another! It's crazy! I'm going to be giving away these snow templates sometime next week.... just in case you're interested! Go check out my blog here. Anyway, here are the scrapbook pages of my kids playing in the snow... and building their first snowman of the year (he was kinda small!!).

Interesting.....

I saw this on Jamie's blog. Check it out and see which way you think the dancer is spinning. I had a very hard time trying to make it change directions, but I finally did it. I saw the dancer spinning clockwise. (If you want to try to make your eyes see it the other direction, try concentrating on the shadow.) I guess I'm right brained!

On a side note, the other day when Kaylee woke up (I was still in bed) I here her say "uh,oh" in the bathroom. That is never a good sign. I get up and walk in to see her with her pajamas and underwear pulled down, standing facing the toilet, with her underwear and pajamas soaked and pee on the floor. How did that happen? She was trying to be like her older brothers - standing up to use the potty! I had to explain to her that only boys could stand, girls ALWAYS have to sit!!!!

Great Grandparents

I've been having a lot of fun doing some scrapbook pages of older pictures. This is one of my great grandparents Vern and Lucia Nelson.

Kaylee's 3rd Birthday

Kaylee's birthday was on September 30th. We had a princess party for her and she just had a great time. Tyra and Lexi, and Marydell and Blair came by for it. She just loved opeing up her presents!!!! She also couldn't wait to dig in to the cake. Here are some pages I did of her party!!!!

If only it were this easy!!!!

Austin's Look-A-Like

Interesting the difference between Kaylee and Austin - since they look so much alike!!!!

Kaylee's Look-A-Like

Not nearly as surprising as Jaden's!!!!

Jaden's Look-A-Like

I don't know we've always thought that Jaden was just a miniature Guy!

I've made a template, or two......

Kristy has been making templates lately and I thought that it looked fun, so I went ahead and created a couple. I had a lot of fun with them and can't wait to use them. I decided with how much I use templates, it would be a good idea to make my own. That way when I go to make a scrapbook page, I can look at all my templates to help me decide the layout I want to use. That's what takes me the longest when making pages!!!! Anyway, I was pretty excited about it. They aren't the best, but hopefully I'll be getting better. Here are some images of my first two - I have another one in the works that having a lot of fun with!

More Procrastinating...

Ive deen a few more scrapbook pages to keep myself from doing my history readings!!!! They have been a lot of fun though. I've mainly been doing the ones from our trip to Disneyland last March. These two are a couple of my favorites....
(Sorry Kristy, I know I post the same things over at LDS digi moms!!!)

Cinderella

I made these last couple of pages last night while Kristy's kids were over. It was nice because they kept my kids busy so I could actually do something without them bugging me every 5 seconds!!! However, I did these pages instead of doing my history readings - I know I'm going to end up regretting that!!!!

Snow White

I only wish I could think outside of the box a little more. My 'fellow digiscrappers' over at LDS digi moms are awesome and come up with the best ideas - I must steal their ideas!!!!

New Pages

I've been having a lot of fun doing my scrapbooking using templates lately. It's so nice because I don't have to spend time thinking of a layout - it's already done for me. All I have to do is choose my pictures and my papers and put it together. Of course, I like to add little embellishments here and there, but this make it so much easier and quicker. Especially now that I'm in school!!!

I DID IT!!!

I made it through my first week of school. Boy, are things going to get hectic. I am taking 3 history classes and 1 Education class. They are all going to involve A LOT of reading - especially the history classes. It has been kind of fun, though. I've enjoyed using my brain again! It's also been nice to have interaction with people that are older than 6!!!! I think I'm going to enjoy school, however, I'm going to be kept awfully busy. I guess that will help make the time go by faster. I'm disappointed that I won't be able to spend as much time doing my digital scrapbooking - it seems like it has been forever since I was able to sit down and spend time making pages. I am going to try to set aside one evening a week to do it, but we'll see if that actually happens!!
Anyway, wish me luck!

Monday is coming all too quick!!!!

Well, I did it. I finally got registered for school! I have mixed feeling about this, but definitely believe that the pros outway the cons. I am going to be taking 12 credits (the minimum amount to still qualify for financial aid) which, for me, comes to four 3-credit classes. I am taking 3 history classes and an education course. For those of you (if there are any out there still reading this blog!) who don't know, I am majoring in elementary education with my emphasis in history. I only have four semesters left... and this includes my last semester being student teaching. Luckily, Guy and I were able to schedule our classes pretty good between the two of us, so that one of us would be with the kids. There will only be 4 hours a week of overlap and Guy's mom will watch Kaylee and Austin during those times. A special thanks goes out to my friend Kristy who will let Jaden come over to her house after he gets of the bus for a couple of hours every Thursday. Don't know what we would do without you Kristy! Hopefully, she will finally take us up on our offer to watch her kids while she and her husband do something.... Even if it's just staring at each other in the face wondering what they should do!

Anyway, it's going to be crazy for these next few months... oh, wait, I guess I mean couple of years! It will be worth it though. I'll be able to get a job when I finish to help get us through the next couple of years as Guy finishes his schooling. By then, maybe I'll want to continue to work - just to give us that little extra income. I'd still be home with the kids most of time. By then all will be in school.

I am scared though. It's going to be tough to be away from the kids, but it'll probably do me some good (and I am looking forward to using my brain again). It's also going to be tough keeping up on all the housework, that's already hard enough.

But, I CAN do it... I am woman, hear me roar!!!!!! (he,he,he! I know... I'm a dork)

Jaden's first day of school....

and Austin's first day home without him! Jaden went to the first grade yesterday and LOVED it! He thinks he is so big and independent now. When he came home I, of course, asked him how school was and what he did. He, however, was much more interested in cartoons. When I finally did get him to talk with me, he informed me that his favorite part of the day was lunch. He loved going to the cafeteria and getting his corndogs. Apparently, the school makes better corn dogs that I do!!! He told me that they read a couple of stories and painted their hands and few other things. I asked him what else they did because he was at school for quite a while. He said "mostly recess, they have 3 long recesses in first grade". I was glad to hear that histwo favorite things were lunch and recess!!! I just hope some learning will come into play as well.

As for Austin - at 9:00 he started asking "When is Jaden going to be home?" and didn't quit until 3:00 when Jaden finally made it back.

Ooops! Forgot these ones!

   

More garden pics

     

Been busy working on these, but had a lot of fun with them!

New Van!!!!

I am so very excited, we got a new van the other day. Our previous one had ended up costing way too much in repairs. We had a $2ooo bill for some work and then it needed a new engine which cost over $1000. Even after all that it still didn't seem to be running the best. It made a terrible high pitch whine whenever we hit 30 mph and then we had the air conditioning go. We didn't want to put more money into it so we decided to clean it up and park it on the side of the road with a For Sale sign. It sold the very next day! We were able to get slightly more than we owed on it. Then we found the perfect vehicle... only it was a few thousand more than what we could afford. Luckily, we are friends with one of the managers at a local dealership who was able to give us a deal we could not turn down! He lowered the price to our price range and gave us the van below the low value in the NADA and Kelley Blue Book. We wouldn't have been able to get this good of a deal from a private party!!!! We love our van and owe a lot to our friend! The best part of it is, knowing we have a reliable vehicle that we don't worry about breaking down every time we get in it.
It's crazy how some things just fall in place!!! We had tried to sell our van earlier with ads in the paper and everything, but we couldn't do it. Then all this falls in to place as soon as it sells. Wonderful!

Rexburg Gardens

Here is a scrapbook page I did of Kaylee at the Rexburg Gardens. We had such a fun time and took some real cute pics.

 

Swim Lessons

I put the boys into swim lessons this week here at the local swimming pool. They are just loving it!!! I had to put them in level two since level one was full, but we figured they would do okay because of their ages. We were a little iffy on whether or not Austin would be okay, but they both seem to be doing great! It's amazing how they will try new things with their instructors when they won't with their parents. I'll have to take some pictures of them tomorrow and post them.

We are having Lexi, their cousin, come stay with us tomorrow and Thursday night. The kids are SO excited!!! They just can't wait. Lexi, actually it was her mom, offered to give us a night out with free babysitting, so it will be great.

Anyway, I'll post some pics of the kids tomorrow!

Watermelon... Mmmmm!!!

These pictures were taken a couple of years back while we were visiting Guy's brother Daryl and his lovely family - Kerry, Soma, and Fela.

The Kids' Top 10 Favorite Things

For our ward's digital scrapbooking group, we were given the challenge of completing a Top 10 Layout. I did one for Jaden and had such a fun time doing it I thought I would do one for Austin and Kaylee as well.

Stabbing

I just got an email from my mom telling me that there was a stabbing just a block away from her home (where I grew up) behind my old elementary school. I was shocked. They live in a very nice upper middle class neighborhood in Kirkland, WA. It's about 1/2 hour away from Seattle. I guess there were two 17 year old boys who tried to stab a man to death so that they could have his iPod. Can you believe the disregard these two boys had for a human life? It's just terrible. If you want to check out the news footage, here's the link:
http://www.komotv.com/news/8810672.html

Anyway, check it out.

Busy Weekend and another scrapbook page

Let's see.. I think I'll start with Thursday night. Guy and I went to Jackson Hole, WY to go to Bar J Chuckawagon. It's a dinner theater where they begin with feeding you dinner and then put on a western comedy show. It was a lot of fun! The best part was being able to eat my dinner... warm and without interruption. It was so nice not having to cut anybody's meat or cleaning up spills! It was a great break from the kids (about 9 hours worth), but I was ready to see them when we got home. They had gone over to their cousin Lexi's house. They had a blast! They couldn't stop talking about all that they had done. Lexi had set up the little pool and sprinkler for them when they got there. They played all sorts of games - Kaylee was able to play Barbies with Lexi while the boys played with the GameCube. They did crafts ate popsicles and did all sorts of fun things. She was such a great babysitter!

Friday morning I got the kids ready and took off for Preston to visit with my grandparents and go to the Nelson reunion. It was a lot of fun and there were plenty of kids there for Jaden, Austin, and Kaylee to play with. Guy came down Saturday morning to pick up a dresser my Grandma was giving me and we played for a bit and then drove home.

A fun weekend with a lot of driving!!!

Oh yeah, here's my scrapbook page I did today.

I have some Good News and some Bad News

Let's start with the good news. I have officially been released as my ward's nursery teacher!!!! I have been in there for over a year and have been having a real hard time being happy about it. I was able to go to Sunday School as well as Relief Society... and let me tell you what a relief that was. It was so nice! I didn't come home screaming at my kids because of the frustrations with nursery. Before, I just never had a break from kids (my kids). For a while I had both Austin and Kaylee in nursery and now just Kaylee - but I never got a break and I was starting to wear thin. Anyway, it has been a very good day at church!

Now for the bad news.... I gave Jaden and Austin a haircut last night - that's not the bad news - their haircuts turned out great. Kaylee wanted one as well, but I told her she didn't need one, just the boys. Well, I guess she really thought she did need one because this morning she got hold of some scissors and decided to give herself one! I was so upset - it takes her hair a long time to grow. I will include a picture. It's not a lot of cutting, but it's in a very bad location and cut right to her scalp!

The good side....


And the bad....

Here's a couple more...

Here are two more pages that I made of when Grandma and Grandpa came up. We took a fun trip to Mesa Falls and Grandpa had to walk up and down all... those... stairs.

Camping Pages

Here are some pages from our camping trip over Memorial Day Weekend.

Rachel's New Baby

Rachel just had her baby not quite two days ago! I'm just so excited for her - she's now got her little girl she's been wanting. They named her Rozlyn (I think that's how they are spelling it, but don't quote me on that) and I think her middle name is Mary - once again don't quote me! Anyway, I went over to visit her today and that little girl is just SO adorable and tiny. I couldn't believe how tiny she is. She is just perfect and healthy and Rachel seems to be doing great. It sounds like it was an easy delivery (no pushing was involved!). I'm so jealous. Well, I guess that's about it. Kaylee just thought that Baby Rozlyn was so cute and now keeps talking about her - even though I would only let Kaylee look at her from a little bit of a distance. I'll have to take a picture of her and post it (if Rachel is okay with that.)

Fishing Disaster - or so the kids think

This evening was so wonderful and cool that Guy and I had the great idea to take the kids fishing at the local fishing pond. The kids were super excited. They've only been fishing twice before and both times they each caught a fish. They absolutely loved that! Well, today, they were not quite as lucky. There were no catches, not even a nibble or two. They went away very disappointed. Guy and I tried to convince them that fishing is still fun even if you don't catch anything and that we had just been very lucky the past couple of times. They wouldn't buy that and just complained that we hadn't done anything fun today. Aaaaaaaaagh! I don't know what to do with those kids sometimes. We have offered to take them back fishing tomorrow evening, but they didn't seem all that excited anymore. Hopefully, we'll catch something this next time!

Yard Sale and More Scrapbook Pages!!!

Let's see.... here are the other scrapbook pages that I have done - all today!


Well, it has been a very busy (and HOT!!!) weekend. We got together with a couple of friends and had a very successful yard sale. I couldn't believe how packed my yard was with all the stuff! It was great though, the kids went through all of their toys and picked out (with Guy's and my urging and guidance) several to sell. They really did do a great job! They were promised that if their toys sold, we would let them have the money to go and pick out a better one. So yesterday, after the garage sale was over, we took them to WalMart to pick out their toy. It felt like Christmas to them. Never before have they been able to just go and pick out a toy with very few restrictions. Jaden picked out a radar gun - so he could find out how fast he can ride his bike! - and a big coloring poster. Austin picked out - with much enthusiasm - a marble game and a little robot. Of course, we couldn't leave Kaylee out, so she got a snap 'n style doll. Unfortunately, it was late when we got home and Kaylee and Jaden had fallen asleep and weren't able to play with their new toys - they were disappointed. Austin's enthusiasm kept him awake and was able to get out his marbles to play for half of an hour. How could we say no to those adorable and excited eyes - we are such pushovers!