Nielsen Life

Race Ya!

2012-01-17T12:41:00.000-08:00

There are many decisions I have made in my life that have meant a lot to me at the moment but later, as I look back, I don't really know why. For example, I was determined to be done at BYU in two years. Now I realize, how dumb am I? Let's hurry past the fun part of life and go get a job. I don't really get it.

My goal to run a half marathon five months after Asher's birth also falls into that category of decisions. Can't really explain that one to ya. I think it mostly came down to - I really was sick of feeling pregnant... and then post pregnant. I wanted to feel like I did a year before when I was running regularly and in pretty good shape. So I just jumped right back on the bandwagon.

The half marathon was my way of staying motivated. And it definitely worked. Whenever I considered skipping a run or two, the looming 13 mile race got me out of bed. Our training was an eight week course. Saturdays were our long runs and the week was filled with shorter runs and speed work. Every Saturday, we ran one more mile than we had the week before. The longest run of the training was a 12 mile run two weeks before the race.

Well, two weeks before the race happened to be Christmas Eve. So not only did I have to run 12 miles, I had to run it without my running buddies with Jon instead (he's not too bad but I am very aware the whole time of how slow I am going) and in 20 degree weather instead of 50 degrees.

We took off down Peninsula towards the freeway and then followed a path up the lake and past State Park then down Mae Valley all the way to the golf course where we looped around and headed back. Right as we were nearing our turning around point, Jon was asking me something about whether I wanted to loop around or not. I thought he was talking about some loop by the golf course so I let him decide.

That run was probably my best on record for two reasons: 1) the air in Moses Lake is so much wetter I didn't feel thirsty at all and 2) it was cold whether I was walking or running and only running gave me the hope of getting home sooner, so I ran. We crossed the park again and down the lake and back over the freeway. I then began to turn towards my house when Jon stopped me.

"No, we gotta do the loop."

What?

Somehow he thought I had agreed to run PAST my house around the peninsula the long way. Who in their right mind would ever agree to that? I had a minor breakdown right there on the corner of Lakeshore and I-15, then sucked it up, kept moving and finally made it home.

After that experience, how hard could an extra mile be? I was getting totally geared up for race day. It will be warm and beautiful. I was so ready.

I now know it would have been intelligent of me to take a look at the elevation map. So you can get a better idea, I will let you look at it.

Just in case you are like me and can't really turn these things into a real visual, I will describe it to you. The race starts with a short but very steep climb straight uphill. Then you go up and down for awhile before going straight up. Then it will level a little, then go straight up again, and then lets do that one more time... no wait, let's make that one more time. Can you see the lack of flatness?

This race was hard. By about eight miles I was cursing racing and vowing to never step out in tennis shoes again as long as I live. But I kept moving and thanks to some very timely tracks on my borrowed iPod (thank you again Suzanne!) I finished.

Final Time: 2:34

Jon and the kids were waiting for me at the finish line.

Now that I have had some time to recover, I actually think I would like another try, this time without all of the up and down to see how I would do.

Runners really are as crazy as they look.

Christmas 2011

2012-01-15T15:05:00.000-08:00

We were pretty lucky this year. Not only did we get to fly home this year instead of drive (thank you Allegiant Air) but we got to spend 10 days in Moses Lake, including Christmas and New Years. I was in heaven. I love being home with my family, spending time with my siblings and being surrounded by willing babysitters. But, really ten days is a long time, especially when you bring three kids into the mix. So some of the participants in the group needed a little extra persuasion to make sure they enjoyed our long stay as much as I did.

We will start with Jon, who is the hardest sell of the group. Don't get me wrong, Jon loves my family. But, we are a little slow paced for him. He kept asking to go on a day trip somewhere to see more of Washington.... in December.

"Umm... Leavenworth?" I suggested.

"Is it fun? What would we do there?" he seemed intrigued.

"Uhh.. wander around Bavarian themed shops?"

He was less than enthused.

But, we have found the perfect formula to keeping Jon entertained in December in Moses Lake.

Step #1 - You keep him busy with projects, lots of projects. Solving the dance studio's sound problem, fixing my dad's sinking dock, installing motion sensor switches through the house... keep the list long and keep the worker bee happy.

Step #2 - You have some kind of death-defying adventure available and ready.

What better risky adventure than taking a hike across a (hopefully) frozen lake?

He found the frozen lake fascinating and distracting many times that week. In between that, several rounds of basketball and a few long runs, adventure time taken care of.

Step #3 - When all else fails, let him escape with Bryan to the mancave (aka basement) so they can have some uninterrupted "Save the World" time.

Step #4 - Get the perfect Christmas present..

not for Jon. No that won't bring that smile to his face. The perfect present must be for Brad.

Nothing makes him happier than a good gag gift, especially one that involves a fashion show.

And if he gets to use his "Aww I Wanted a Forever Lazy! for Christmas" face? Pure satisfaction.

Before you know it, your husband will be the one saying, "Time to go home already?!"

My mom loves having us there of course. But it has been a long old time since she regularly has little children around destroying her home. And she has collected some seriously nice Christmas decor over the years.

Luckily, I have also solved the formula for keeping her happy during our extended stay. Just let her dress my children!

Yeah, I know, its a big sacrifice on my part but I am nothing if not a team player.

My dad, like most men I know, is pretty easy to please. The formula is simple but proven.

First, you bring treats.

Second, you make dinner a few times while home. Sensing a theme here?

Third, supply only the cutest and smiliest of grandchildren.

Works every time.

Courtney, Kylie and Kendall are the easiest sells. Don't make them change any poopy diapers or clean up any other bodily fluids and they are good.

Next, my kids. Even though they love their grandparents and Grammy's house is like the funnest place ever, it is still a bit of an adjustment. No naps, lots of moms telling them what to (and what not to) do...

The first trick is making sure Santa has your new Christmas address.

Luckily, he was able to find us and bring Rhode's requested Toy Solder Drum.

Scarlet received a Bella Dancerella set which includes a full ballet barre, dance mat and ballet dance videos.

Secondly, let Grammy spoil them rotten.

Possible side effects, along with the possibility of your children turning into whiny, demanding, greedy little monsters (which thankfully didn't happen) there is a high probability you will get spoiled as well (which thankfully did happen).

Asher needed no convincing all trip. Constant attention, lots of new faces to smile at, tons of new toys to chew and drool on, and a cozy mom shoulder when the day is done.

Now that is the look of satisfaction.

Play your cards right and before you know it, ten days will have absolutely flown by, leaving you wondering how soon is too soon to do it all over again.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Christmas Clothes & Card

2012-01-09T19:48:00.000-08:00

I would have never thought as a child that I would ever be relieved that Christmas was over. I still love the Christmas season with all my heart but normalcy ain't half bad, ya know? My sewing machine has been put away and I will be ignoring it for a good month or so. By then we should be on better terms. Sometimes you just need a little time apart to appreciate one another yet again.

I made the Christmas pajamas this year, mostly because Scarlet was begging for a nightgown. I have searched high and low for a decent nightgown for her (at a decent price) and struck out everywhere. So, out comes the handy dandy sewing machine.

And when you are already making a full nightgown, two pairs of pajama bottoms are hardly a drop in the Christmas crafting bucket.

Adding footies on the bottom of Asher's pajama bottoms might have seemed unnecessary... but I kind of love them.

Love these guys too.

Speaking of love, I really loved their Christmas outfits this year.

They were all thrift store finds, even the boy's matching shirts (talk about a score!). I thought Scarlet's dress was just beautiful. She dug it too.

Jon literally took 100 pictures of this pose hoping Asher would look at the camera. Yeah, that would be a big no.

And finally, the Christmas Card. I think after this year we are just going to have to stop sending cards for a few years. The pressure to outdo himself has put Jon a little over the edge.

Literally.

My dad loves to show our card to his patients at the office. And more often than not, they will say, "Wow what an adventurous family!"

Then a moment of silence.

"Wait, that's not a real picture is it?"

Isn't it?

My Baby

2011-12-12T07:54:00.000-08:00

This is a post about Asher. My regularly ignored, underappreciated little guy. But before we talk about him, we are going to shove him into the corner one more time and talk about a big moment for my first baby.

I thought this moment would never happen.

My four year old not only shed not a single tear around Santa Claus but also sat on his lap and put in her Christmas request. It was amazing.

I prepped her for the moment while walking into the store the day before.

"Scarlet, remember that party we go to at the church that Santa Claus comes to?"

"Yeah..." she definitely seemed wary.

"Well that party is tomorrow. Do you think you are going to want to see Santa and tell him what you want for Christmas?"

"Oh yeah mom!" in full confidence. "Four year olds are not afraid of Santa. Kids are only afraid of Santa when they are 1 and 2 and 3. I am four mom."

Rhode was the wary one of the bunch this year but we still got him to talk to the guy in red. That kid will do anything for a candy cane.

My first picture of all my kids on Santa's lap since Scarlet was 9 months old. A good moment.

Okay, back to Asher. He is somehow already four months old. I know most mom's have this dilemma but it is always a little trippy when it feels equally like they were just born and they have been in your life forever.

Three months old was a rough age for this kid. He has some pretty strong food sensitivities that I was figuring out all month. While we sorted through the good and bad foods, he rewarded my efforts with 20-30 minute naps and not much longer stretches at night.

Thankfully four month old Asher is a dream baby.

Not such a dream that he would smile on command for my impromptu photo shoot this evening but pretty dreamy nonetheless. He is now a fantastic nap taker, a decent night sleeper and Mr. Happy and Content the rest of the time. Now I just have to not eat milk, chocolate, and eggs for the next long while and I get to keep this happy little dude.

Some babies are kind enough to only have a distaste for lactose, which gives moms a few more dairy options. Asher is not so kind. I am off all forms of dairy including butter and anything that even has milk on its ingredient list. I eat cereal with rice milk. If that isn't love I don't know what is.

He looks a lot like Scarlet as a baby... only more like Scarlet on Weight Watchers.

Asher at four months.

Scarlet at four months

And for comparison's sake, Rhode at four months.

Notice the lack of the Nielsen baby signature chub? At last check (last week) Asher is only a hair under 16 lbs. 50th percentile. Seriously. I have a baby who is of average weight. Thankfully he is 26" and in the 90th percentile for height... he is definitely ours.

He is still about as kind as a baby can be to his older siblings. They are loving in the most violent of ways and he just puts up with them.

I love that picture. His brother and sister get tons of smiles and giggles from this guy. He thinks they are hilarious. Even when they are on the verge of suffocating him. What a trooper.

He even has a few tricks. He loves opening and closing his hand and if you do the same action to him, he will do it right back at you. Nothing is more fun than saying, "Look my baby can wave!" and then pulling out this little number. It truly is about the little joys in life.

And as of tonight, he is also a boy aloft.

He can hold this for a good five minutes or so before getting bored and tumbling down. Maybe his slimmer size makes for easier balance. At least for a few minutes or so.

This guy is definitely a keeper.

I Love Shampoo

2011-12-04T20:35:00.000-08:00

Our favorite people in the entire city of Las Vegas are moving. It sucks. Big time.

I have made it very clear to my good friend that if she does not give me sufficient warning to their timely departure, consider her off my Christmas card list. She took my threat very seriously and has been breaking the news to me slowly for about six months now.

Sometime in October, we had the following conversation:

"Did your husband tell you that they are planning a weekend vacation for all of us to go on?"

"They are? Nope, haven't heard a word."

"Just talked to my husband, he said it was all your husband's idea and he knows nothing about it."

"Really? Mine says they were already deciding which weekend would work the best and talking about San Diego."

"Huh... so... should we make this happen?"

"Sure!"

And that is how, as a final hurrah, we decided to take a Nielsen and Stout family weekend trip to San Diego.

I did a lot of research before this trip to score the best prices and to fit in as much fun as possible. Thanks to a fantastic condo hook up from my dad, we had a great place to stay and four days to do with as we pleased.

We took off Thursday morning, the Stouts got out the door a few hours ahead of us. We headed straight to meet them at the Mormon Battalion museum. And, soon after we finally parked the car, we had one of the scariest moments of my mom life.

We were still a little lost and started heading down the sidewalk in the direction we thought was right. The kids were two bundles of energy, having just been released from a long car ride. The street running next to us was just two lanes of cruising cars with cars parked bumper to bumper on both sides.

Jon was walking ahead of me with the kids and I was on the phone with the Stouts when I realized we were headed the wrong way. I turned around to head in the correct direction. At that moment, I guess Rhode decided to come join me. Thinking I had him, Jon took Scarlet across the street to look at a map. Rhode did not make it all the way to me and instead decided to follow dad across the street.

In a moment that could have only been directed by a spiritual prompting, Jon happened to glance behind him only to see Rhode walk straight out between two parked cars with a car barreling straight towards him.

His yell was thankfully loud enough that the car driver slammed on her brakes and Jon was able to pull Rhode straight into the air and out of danger with inches to spare.

It was a combination of sounds that make your stomach drop straight to the ground. We pulled ourselves together and finished our way to the museum.

As we sat in the darkened room, watching the presentation, I was so grateful for a moment to let my heart stop racing and let my mind turn to my Heavenly Father and thank Him for saving my son.

Now onto much more pleasant moments. Shockingly, the Mormon Battalion museum is way more interesting that you would think. They have this interactive presentation, they let the kids try on all the batallion gear, and at the end they let the kids pan for gold and pump well water. Seriously, would totally suggest it to any families in the area. They even took our picture!

The sister missionary who took the picture laughed for like five minutes over Rhode's face. Rhode had a rough weekend. He doesn't do well without naps (yeah the kid still takes like 2-3 hour naps every day, it's awesome) and he got one all weekend. He was at a varying degree of cranky all weekend. But hey, I was just grateful he didn't spend the weekend in the hospital!

Our condo was awesome, we settled in immediately and my kids found the tv remote shortly after.

My kids have been exposed to so little live television in their life (they only watch movies at home and DVR at grammy's house) that they get very frustrated with commercials and not being able to choose which shows are on. Jon and I, on the other hand, totally enjoyed our few days of television. There are some very interesting reality shows on these days...

Friday was our first day of adventure and we planned on spending the whole day at LegoLand. But according to the weatherman, it was going to be a very rainy day. We decided to keep our plans but go prepared. We had ponchos, umbrellas, and towels to dry off wet seats. We pulled up to the parking lot with two cars full of very excited kids... only to find out they shut down all rides on rain days. The sky would have to be totally clear for them to start the rides again.

Total bummer.

So, what other thing to do in San Diego on a rainy day but head for the beach!

Yes, that is a whole bunch of sea lions right on the beach. It was really cool. And it was pouring.

I can't even believe how cold and wet we were. Asher was dry and warm though!

At this point in our friendship, after spending a ton of time together, our kids are thick as thieves.

Rhode and Charlie especially treat each other just like brother and sister. Although they also inform us frequently that they will be married someday. We are totally cool with this arrangement.

Charlie (2), Rhode (3), Blaze (4), Scarlet (4), Bennett (6)

The kids jumped into the hotel's hot tub as soon as we got back to thaw and we spent the rest of our rainy evening indoors.

Saturday was Sea World day and it was a beautiful day to be at a park.

We debated back and forth about Sea World. Some people really enjoyed it, others weren't as impressed. But we ended up getting a good deal so we went for it.

Had we gone to Lego Land the day before, our kids might not have been as impressed but since it was our trip highlight, they had a great time. We were there from the minute they opened to the minute they closed, saw everything there was to see and walked away tired but not exhausted. It was overall a big winner of a trip.

Favorite parts:

1 - Pretty much every time the kids started to get whiny, it was time to get our seats for the next show. So we got to sit, rest their legs and pull out the backpack of snacks and refreshments and they were ready to go.

2 - Rhode loved the whales and spent the entire day raving about his new favorite whale "Shampoo" (trumping his old favorite, baby Beluga)

All day he kept saying, "Mom, I just really want to give Shampoo a hug and a kiss. It would be fun to kiss Shampoo."

We spent every show in the splash zone on Jon's request. He sat us as close to the whale platform as he could get. I insisted we sit one row back from the one he requested, hoping it would save us from getting absolutely drenched.

Jon then trained Scarlet and Rhode to stand up every time Shamu jumped on the platform and turn to face the camera. Rhode was on the higher degree of his cranky scale, but Scarlet was a willing participant.

Sadly, the couple that sat in Jon's preferred row had the same idea and blocked our picture every time. I got his best "I told you so" look more than once.

But it didn't stop him from trying to get his perfect whale with kid shot.

As the show went on, we were all done being thrown in front of the camera during every whale stunt, especially this guy.

He didn't love the camera stunts but he was totally enamored with the shows. I wonder what a sea life show looks like from a baby perspective.

Somehow after a full day in the splash zone we avoided any full drenchings. And believe me, some poor people walked away looking like they had gone for a swim. There was only one water casualty of the day.

His mood improved considerably when he found out the wettest kid of the show gets to pick out a treat from mom's candy stash.

The kids love the interactive exhibits

those poor sea stars...

and we really had just a great day.

Sunday, we crashed a Sacrament meeting and then spent another rainy day checking out tide pools. It turned into more of a water hike than a big tide pool adventure. But still a day that was totally enjoyed and we headed out Monday morning.

What will our world be like without the Stouts? I don't know but I am not looking forward to finding out.

Las Vegas Classy

2011-11-30T21:43:00.000-08:00

I spent about a week on a blog entry about our latest weekend getaway to San Diego. It was flawless... and it completely disappeared. There is nothing worse (blog related that is) than having to rewrite yourself. It never comes out the same the second time. So, it is going on the back burner. Let's skip forward to Thanksgiving.

I talked Brad, Courtney and Kylie into heading down, shopped and cooked for about a week straight, talked some friends out of their planned trip to the buffet into joining us (seriously, it took more effort than you would think...) and totally nailed a fantastic meal.

Highlights: Perfectly fresh out of the oven Charla rolls (mother in law recipe)

Seven... yes seven different pies

Our first brined turkey. Yum

Leftovers that literally fed my family for a week

And now back to the true reason for this post. On Friday, I hopped on my computer to see if there were any free show tickets available on my free locals site. And what happens to appear but a very promising show called "Santa's Magical Circus." This is the first family themed show I have seen ever on this site and there were several tickets available. What luck! I scored seven free tickets for the whole crew and we planned our evening around the event.

Looking back, there were several warning signs that should have made it clear what I had just gotten us into.

Top three things I should have noticed:

1- I should have looked more closely at the poster. At first glance, all I really noticed was Santa.

It is only now that I notice Santa's Circus seems to only include a fluffy dog, a rabbit and a mostly nude woman.

2 - It was free and there were A LOT of tickets available.... never a good sign

3 - In my mind, the show advertised as "fun for the whole family" when instead the catch phrase was "something for everyone." Most definitely not the same thing.

So here is how this goes. We take our seats in a small little theater above the V Theater in Planet Hollywood. It is quaint but we are still pretty excited. To start the show, a bunny suddenly appeared on the side of the stage. It made its way up a pile of boxes to a microphone where it then stood on its back legs and started "talking" into the microphone. It was quite adorable.

By far, really BY FAR the best animal trick in the whole show.

After that, an exceptionally large Santa came out to greet us, explaining that he was taking a break from the north pole to create his own Las Vegas show. He then introduced us to his elf, a not very friendly looking little person, and his two lovely ladies, Holly and Jolly. And that was the only Christmas-y moment of the evening. The only one. At Santa's Magical Circus.

And the acts continued from there. One of the first to greet us was an animal act. He had several fluffy puppies that could bark on command, climb into a basket when asked and stand still while wearing silly costumes. That was about it.

And really, what could make a lame animal act better than adding inappropriate humor in a family show? His best material came out with his parrot. First was the joke about the STD "Chirpies", the joke he claimed got him kicked off television for 15 years. Awkward...

But really nothing beats the joke about who between the two of them, them being the parrot and himself, had the bigger 'pecker.' The audience was silent, obviously because we didn't get it. So he clarified. The parrot definitely has the bigger pecker. Still silence. And since we all just seemed a little dim he clarified for us one more time. "Because I don't have a big pecker."

Seriously.

The next act was a comedian who, though not all that funny, was not that bad. His main act was performing his Guinness book of world records stunt, balancing 40 cigar boxes on his chin. An impressive feat, no question. Though I did find it strange when he clarified, "We have wrapped the cigar boxes like presents so we aren't encouraging smoking to the children."

Yeah, no better way to discourage smoking than wrapping them in pretty shiny paper.

Holly and Jolly were actually very cute girls and performed some decent "person disappears in a box" magic tricks. And their costumes were much more covering than the poster would have suggested. But I guess I just don't understand why, at Santa's Magical Family Themed Circus, their dance moves needed to include shimmies and stripper dips down the side of their magical boxes. I guess that was the "something for everyone" part? Classy.

The true winner of the evening is when this "woman" graced the stage.

Let me introduce you to Tiny Bubbles. Tiny Bubbles is an extremely overweight transvestite. Not really sure where she got her stage name. Cause her bubbles were not tiny and insanely visible in her plunging black velvet evening gown.

Wait, your family themed Christmas show did not have a busty cross dresser? Weird...

The true winner of the evening was Tiny Bubble's second appearance on stage. This time she left the evening gown behind and donned her version of this classic Cher costume

Picture this costume, now add 300 pounds.

That mental image not enough for you? Now let's bring back out our little person elf, this time donning a Sonny get up.

Not from our show but this is in fact Tiny Bubbles with a little person who looks much more interested in participating in the act than ours did.

Through their rendition of "I Got You Babe", Cher would frequently knock her small sidekick over with her oversized behind, quite the gag. But on her last "oops I didn't see you there" knock, she put a little too much force behind it. I am not exactly sure what happened but I think Sonny's hip must have been dislocated in the jolt. The man could not get off stage because he couldn't walk. He would take a few steps and tumble back to the stage. There was nothing to do but watch as this poor small man inched his way off the stage, cussing most of the way out.

You probably think I am making this stuff up. Nope!

The only semi-impressive act of the evening was the puppeteer. His first act actually had the audience laughing and I was pretty amused. But now, as I think about it, it was an interesting choice for family viewing. His puppet was named Rigor Mortis, the oldest stripper in the world. The puppet was actually a skeleton with pasties and panty bottoms. When the pasties started doing 360's as the skeleton shook its hips, well it just really rounded out the evening beautifully.

At the end of the show, the cast came out to take their bows. It took me until this moment to realize Tiny Bubbles was playing Santa. Hey, it was a lot to take in. They informed us Santa was going to be available for pictures in the lobby. I then wondered, do I really want my children sitting on the lap of a Santa who recently bared her cleavage and even less savory body parts just minutes before?

I have never been more proud of my kids for still being terrified of Santa. We gave Santa a wave and headed out. Not fast enough to avoid the producer asking us what we thought of the show.

"Great!" I bare faced lied as I scooted my children out of there as quickly as possible.

We all laughed ourselves to tears in the lobby recounting all we had seen. I fear that if we were to move, my kids will find normal Christmas shows lacking, "Yeah it was okay, but it really could have used a cross dresser."

I am ruining them.

PBR

2011-11-15T19:15:00.000-08:00

7:00 a.m Jon: "Ugh, I am so sick today"

9:00 a.m. Jon: "Supposed to meet with this guy today, but I am just too sick."

11:30 a.m. Jon "ZZZZZZ sooo sick ZZZZZZZ"

3:30 p.m. Jon "Do we have any soup or anything? I am so sick today"

5:30 p.m. Kacey "So I know you aren't feeling well today but we were just offered tickets to PBR (Professional Bull Riding) tonight. Are you interested?"

Jon: moaning immediately stops "Um, yes. We will most definitely be going to that."

We had awesome seats

Some awesome rodeo boots

and some awesome friends with us (too awesome to capture on film unfortunately) and had a truly awesome evening.

Asher even seemed to enjoy himself.

I am not sure I would categorize myself as a big bull riding fan but there is just something about it that was really entertaining! I couldn't help but think I could never be those guy's mother or wife... especially after a guy got totally trampled. I am glad the poor guy was unconscious when the bull stomped on his knee cap. I am also glad my kids were distracted with their bag of peanuts at that moment.

Highlights of the evening:

1 - A free outing with the family!

2 - Fantastic people watching, really some of the best in the world

3 - A great friend right behind me to share in all of the people watching glory

4 - Our friend's eight year old son, when offered an unshelled peanut proceeded to chomp down the entire thing whole. He was pretty embarrassed when his dad pointed out his error. But the people who should truly be embarrassed are his parents. Who hasn't taught their child how to shell a peanut! Take the poor child to a baseball game and make him an American for heavens sake! :)

5 - The Brazilian bull riders. Not only were they really good at the whole riding thing, they were usually sporting some fantastic gold or silver shiny fringe. Gotta love a little cowboy glam.

Regrets

1 - Did not have significant warning to a) pull together a great cowboy wardrobe for my family or b) properly poof and crimp Scarlet and my hair

Yee- haw!

Sticker Club

2011-11-13T15:59:00.000-08:00

Scarlet got her first chain mail the other day. It seemed harmless enough, even kind of fun. The letter instructed us to do the usual letter copying and passing along. You also had to send a book of stickers to the name on the letter. You then sent your letters off to six different friends. If all moms were as dedicated with their sticker clubbing as we were, Scarlet would receive 36 books of stickers. Fun right?

Six people seemed a little excessive to me. I thought three would be a little more reasonable, but I am nothing if not chain mail obedient.

After her first letter arrived she received the following instructions: no stickers on our house, on furniture, on our car, or on anything that seems like it might be fun. Stickers can go on your body, your clothes and on clearly designated paper.

It wasn't until the first two sticker books arrived in the mail that the thought came to me, uh, that is a lot of stickers. What the heck is she going to do with all of these stickers?

A very real thank you for all you sticker club parents who slacked off in your letter delivering, leaving Scarlet with only 4 stickers books total. I am pretty sure 36 would have been the death of us all.

Halloween 2011

2011-11-01T20:58:00.000-07:00

Sitting here in my computer chair stealing a moment of quiet to write this blog entry, I just feel the need to give a big sigh of relief.

Halloween is over.

(Sigh)

I really didn't mean to put that much effort in this year. My ideas were all very simple. Jon, on the other hand, just kept making things difficult. I think next year I will inform him of my Halloween plans right as we are headed out the door to trunk or treat. Yeah, I think that

might work.

Before our true Halloween fun started, we fit in a quick trip to the pumpkin patch.

We have visited this same pumpkin patch every year for the three years we have lived in this neighborhood. They have rides, a petting zoo, and, obviously, pumpkins for sale. I have never spent a cent there. We show up, take pictures, and leave. They must totally hate us.

On those same lines, you know who else probably hates it when they see my family coming, Pet Smart. Similar situation only way more visits. Maybe someday we'll buy a fish.

We also held our annual Halloween Sewing Club Party. It was another great success with delicious goodies, adorable costumes and rockin' games I didn't have to plan! Those are the best kind of games. And I only took one picture all day long, and it's of the only child there not in a costume.

And then it was Halloween. Our trunk or treat was on Saturday evening. I spent the entire day finishing costumes. The Entire Day. I wrapped up just in time to take pictures and head us off to dinner at the trunk or treat. Even though I was impressed with my timing, there was a part of me that realized much more important things that were completely ignored.

And now, the costumes.

Scarlet's costume was the basis for our theme this year.

I talked my mom into sending me the old Halloween costumes she has been storing. I have very fond memories of this costume.

I even placed in a Snow White look alike contest that year.

And what more does any princess need than a handsome prince at her side?

I put this one together mostly from fabric I had in the sewing closet already. My biggest purchase of the outfit was the feather. $1.70 for one feather seemed a little ridiculous, especially when the rest of the outfit had only cost me $1 total. But the feather totally makes the costume. Two bucks very well spent in my book.

All evening, Scarlet would say, "Rhode you are my prince, we should be holding hands!"

"Okay!" he would respond and skip happily by her side. Can they just not ever grow up?

And then there was my costume, the Evil Queen.

My original idea was to go as the queen post-transformation. I had the old lady look down and the costume was much less demanding. Jon called the old lady look "so last year" and insisted I step it up. My costume took way more work than the kids but it was pretty fun to play the villain.

And now... drum roll please... the real proof I spent way too much time on Halloween costumes...

I would like to introduce to you to...

The Seven Dwarfs

Sleepy

Happy

Bashful

Sneezy

Doc

Dopey

and Grumpy

And there you have it. The Seven Dwarfs

Who knew I had such a knack for nylon doll art? I have already started my etsy site for selling these babies. Its called crazy_weirdo_ugly_dollmakers_club.com. Who wouldn't want the chance to turn their old pantyhose into a freaky doll head that strongly resembles a potato? I think its really gonna catch on.

The Grumpy costume is another Earl classic though the hat was my own personal addition. I spent the evening looking at him and saying, "Oh Asher, why are you so cranky tonight?" Then I would realize he was just fine. It was those darn cranky eyebrows.

Here's the real kicker. The parking lot lights at our trunk or treat never actually turned on and nobody could see a thing. What are ya gonna do? So here's hoping at least my small blog world can enjoy my efforts, even if it just for a moment.

Happy Halloween!

Thrifty Crafting

2011-10-28T08:43:00.000-07:00

My sewing club creations have been few and far between lately. And lately all crafting time has been dedicated to Halloween. But here are a few of my latest projects.

I wanted to make some things for Asher before he was born but since I didn't know gender and wasn't willing to go neutral a lot of baby projects were put on hold. I did make one thing though that got its first use in the hospital, my very own baby swaddler.

His love for his swaddler didn't last long but it was loved. And he just looked so darn cozy.

After he made his appearance, I made him a baby blanket.

It has been a good one. Warm and cozy but not too warm for a Vegas baby.

And after having to wait through two sewing projects that were not for her (a rare occurrence) I turned my attention back to my deprived daughter. I have been looking for a nightgown for her off and on for a long time and couldn't find anything between crazy expensive and cheap and full of characters, if I could find any at all. Then I saw this tutorial on how to turn a pillowcase into a nightgown.

The lace on the bottom was from the original pillowcase and I added the lace on the sleeves. She loves it. It is worn almost every evening until I make her stick it in the wash. I have two more pillowcases that will soon meet a similar fate.

And last but not least, I was a little late on the "your daughter is starting school and will need a backpack" boat. So late in fact that all of the decent (and decently priced) ones were gone.

I wasn't sure this project would turn out but I absolutely love it. Luckily, so does she!

I made the shoulder bag out of some fabric I picked up at Savers and an old pair of my jeans. The arm strap is the waistband of the jeans. And the back pockets made for handy pencil pockets.

I tried my hand at applique and failed miserably. Luckily my friend Mindy is a pro. She added the gorgeous butterfly.

Now back to making these Halloween costumes... can I get a deadline extension on those?

Earl Girl Family Reunion

2011-10-26T16:43:00.000-07:00

For all of you out there that are not an Earl Girl cousin, I feel sympathy in my heart for you. Luckily, most of you will go your entire lives not realizing how much you have missed by not being related to us. For those of you who feel that gaping hole, grab yourself one of the Earl boy cousins left and join the party! The boys are decent and the party... well the party is priceless.

Asher and I headed up to Utah all by ourselves to enjoy the upcoming festivities. Infants are so not fun to drive with. They are either crying or sleeping. Both do not make the drive go by any faster. I have got to get this reunion on another schedule so I can ditch the babies...

The plan was to pick up Kristy at the airport and then get some work done that evening (Wednesday). Then Utah decided to dump rain on me through the entire drive. My windshield wipers (which hadn't been fired up in months) were absolutely useless so we crawled our way up to SLC to find Kristy sitting in the rain waiting for us. Seriously it was like a poor drowned kitten. That girl does not have enough mass to keep herself warm in normal conditions! We hurried her in and cranked up the seat heaters.

After a sketchy trip back to my sister in law's house, we decided to just call it a night. I got up first thing in the morning and purchased myself some new windshield wipers while getting snowed on. Yes snowed on. Crazy Utah.

Kristy is already on the short list of my favorite people in the universe (she earned the title many times over as my little servant girl during our youth) but she is now deserving of the aunt of the year title. She spent six hours in the car driving up and down and all around Utah entertaining my baby. I seriously owe her big time.

We got to meet up with Brad, Courtney and Kylie that evening to enjoy a little Noodles and Co. and dessert at The Chocolate. How do you resist a place called The Chocolate?

Friday evening we headed up to the reunion. The fun began immediately and did not end. We talked and talked and talked and ate and talked and talked and talked. It was late in the evening, hitting hours I haven't purposely stayed up until for years. I think I finally rolled into bed just a bit before 3 a.m. Asher decided to eat three different times in my remaining hours until promptly waking up at 7 a.m. We watched some silent TV to waste a little time before joining Angie and Kim in our solitary awakeness. (Side note - at the first Earl Girl reunion where Rhode joined me, I was also up long before the crowd and got to hang out with Kim, the only other one awake. Good memories)

Saturday was full of shopping and incredibly fun games. "What's Yours Like?" was exceptionally fun, especially when I insulted my cousin's husband and my sister's employment in one turn. Pretty sure they still love me...

Though by far my favorite game of the trip was backwards charades. Any game that inspires these moments... a definite winner.

Can you tell what we are acting out here?

Mistletoe! Get it? Our guesser did!

Asher was the smallest baby in attendance but luckily not the only one. Myles (9 months) and Qiana (3 years) also crashed the party. Sadly, Asher did win the "Most Demanding Party Crasher" award. I discovered he is not a fan of eating in loud situations. And, well our whole weekend was one big loud situation.

And here is the crew. Looking at these ladies always just bring a very big grin to my face.

Also love how stoked Asher is about the ceiling fan he spotted in the above picture.

The obligatory "model" shot. That's just how we roll.

Funny story. As you can see, Asher is mysteriously absent after the first picture. I had been holding him so much that weekend I didn't even think to set him down. Britney, in the most polite way, asked if he could hang elsewhere so our picture could actually just be me and not baby encumbered me.

Thank you Britney, sleep deprived Kacey was not there enough to come up with that very sound wisdom on her own!

And then we all had to go home, promising to do it again in a few years. Two years has never felt so long... I love these ladies!

Funny Baby

2011-10-25T16:19:00.001-07:00

Oh Asher. My little guy is three months old today. Three months into this thing and I still have not really figured out this guy. Some days I think he is the easiest baby of all time. Other days I am convinced there is not a more demanding child on the planet. But other than his most difficult moments, he is really the perfect third child. Chill enough to put up with our crazy schedules and kids messing with him all day long but demanding enough to make sure the two of us get some good one on one time every day.

He is starting to chub up a little, but is still lithe compared to his siblings. It doesn't help that his best baby friend, who is a month younger, is quickly kicking his butt in the baby rolls department.

Isn't this picture going to be priceless when they grow up, fall in love and get married? Mostly kidding...

He is not a spit up baby and he only poops every three days. He smiles and giggles regularly, which is so much fun. For some reason none of my babies can laugh without getting the hiccups. Every time without fail. Is that a Nielsen baby trait only?

Scarlet has not lost any of her initial enthusiasm for her little brother. At least a few times a week, Scarlet and Asher have a little alone time. He hangs out on his big sister's bed and they bond while mom gets some work done. A few weeks ago, Scarlet decided Asher was old enough to appreciate a little fancy time.

How can you not love a baby willing to put up with this much sister attention?

One of my favorite baby stages is when you can hand them something and they can entertain themselves for a few precious minutes. Asher is already that baby. His distraction of choice, towels or blankets. I throw one on top of him and he double fist grabs it and shoves it straight in between those gums. This rare blogging moment is brought to you now by a bed sheet which is getting a good drooling.

Well, one day in the car, Scarlet tied her former fabric bracelet leash (remember the St. George marathon kid strapping) to Asher's car set. He. Loves. It.

Having three kids is pretty entertaining. I can't make it through the store without at least one person (usually more like five people) saying, "Wow, looks like you've got your hands full!" I try to vary my generic comebacks just to keep from going crazy with the repetition. My favorite one I save for the older gentlemen.

"Oh, these aren't mine. I just picked them up on aisle 10. It's buy two get one free today!" I always get the best old man chuckle.

Dang, the blanket has reached its entertaining limit. Gotta go!

Picture This...

2011-10-02T12:27:00.000-07:00

This week has been full of adventures. Sadly our camera did not accompany us on even a single outing so I will do my best to paint very vivid mental pictures as to make it all much more exciting for you.

The scene for your first mental picture, Phoenix, Arizona. I think this might have been the first time in my entire history of living in Las Vegas that I have road tripped to somewhere hotter than Vegas. We left our high 90's to melt in their 106. Pretty pathetic escape on our part.

We hung out with our good friends the Whitmores and their fantastic new house. Their house, while nice from the outside, hides its true fantasticness in the backyard. It is enormous. It extends about twice the length of their house and includes a pool, a kids playhouse, a basketball half court, a garden, an underground trampoline and sidewalk patio while still being mainly dominated by lots of grass to run around on. My kids had the time of their lives and I was able to get all of my errands run. Jon even kept Asher for 3 1/2 hours without me there thanks to one pumped bottle and a significantly long nap. It. Was. Awesome. And a little bit lonely... but mostly awesome.

On Thursday, we headed out to the Phoenix Zoo. You would think someone who has lived in the heat as long as I have would know better than to plan an outing at 11 a.m. but obviously I am a tad slow witted. It was hot. The poor animals looked hot. Most of them had found a bit of shade in their enclosure, making them a tad bit harder to spot. But zoos are still really awesome. Favorites of the day included giraffes, rhinos, and the new orangutan exhibit.

Whenever I go to the zoo, I tend to ponder on one of my mom's "The Gospel According to Peggy" ideas. One of her theories is that the animals of the world may have easily come from the nursery of the pre moral world. "Look! Mine has a really long neck!" "Mine has spikes all over its body!" "Mine squirts really stinky spray out of its bum!" "Ewww!"

You can picture it can't ya? That always comes to mind at the zoo as you see some of God's most magnificent and crazy creations.

We would have loved to just spend the weekend with our fun friends but instead had to jet out that evening and pull into our home right before midnight. We had Friday to catch up on life a little bit before Jon and his friend A. J. hopped in the car at about 3 pm. to head up to St. George. It was MARATHON DAY!

Here was the plan for MARATHON DAY. Jon and his racing buddy were going to drive up that afternoon, enjoy a little pre-race festivities, and then catch a few zzz's in the truck before the run. (This whole plan would have been much different had we thought to get a hotel room much earlier. When we finally went to book one, there was one room left in town for a price we were not willing to pay.)

Since there was no hotel room, the kids and I didn't leave for the race until that morning. So instead, we hopped out of bed at about 5:30 a.m., loaded the three kids in the back of the car and made our way up to St. George. We parked right next to the temple where the kids got dressed for the day and we got into race mode. Here is your mental picture for this section. I had Rhode in a backpack leash that was hooked to my backpack. Scarlet had a more homemade velcro bracelet on that also attached to my backpack, the backpack was then hoisted on my back opposite of Asher who was riding in the sling in front. With all three children strapped to me leaving no room for losing anyone, we headed to find a race spot.

We pulled up a piece of driveway right on the last corner of the race and settled in to wait for day. We had a blanket, snacks, and signs ready to cheer him on. I kept an eye on the clock, knowing when he had finished last time and we cheered on the front runners while we waited.

I figured I still had about 20 minutes at least when Asher got hungry. I sat down to feed him and he was just about asleep when I see someone in the distance that just might be Jon. He was looking a little bald though so I didn't panic too much. But as he got closer, I remembered he had given himself a racer buzz cut just the day before and yes that was definitely him. Poor Asher got quite the jolt as I jumped up, threw the signs in the kids hands and started screaming like the crazy person I truly am. He gave us a big smile, ran over and gave us high 5's and finished the race.

He did a fantastic job. The guy didn't even look tired when he ran by us. He finished at 3:21:30, beating his last time by over 15 minutes. He was really proud of himself, as were we. He now has proof that in fact he is better than 90% of people out there. Well at least 91% of marathoners at that race on that day.

The next part involved fighting the crowds to meet up with him after the race. Scarlet chose that moment along with all moments to follow until we got to the car to be as ornery and whiny as is humanly possible. Rhode on the other hand was Mr. Pleasant and Agreeable all day long... explain that one to me.

I was very grateful for our leashes as we made it through thousands of people intact. The kids scored a popsicle and snow cone which improved their lives dramatically and we helped Jon ice down a little before hitting the road again. And one last time I strapped the children to the various parts of me and we made the final hike back to the car.

It was quite the day. By the time I threw the kids down for nap time and turned on Conference, I was done. No, I was overcooked. Can you guess what was the first talk I heard? Neil L. Anderson's talk on children. Oh the timing of life...

Anyway, we have had a lovely Sunday thus far with a few more catch up days before Asher and I head off on yet another adventure.

Now picture me napping... I am not but hopefully if everyone imagines it so the power of thought will turn it into a reality!

You're Sure It's Not the Terrible Threes...

2011-09-25T16:42:00.000-07:00

Rhode can be the sweetest, funniest, cutest, nicest boy alive, he really can. I have to remind myself of that these days...

He has just been a little bit trouble than usual. Sacrament meetings used to be completely bearable and are now almost impossible with me distracted by Asher and Rhode constantly having to be taken out into the hall. When friends are over and someone is crying, these days 90% of the time Rhode is at fault. And every small request is met with a devastatingly sad "I don't want to!" followed by the loss of control of all of his limbs.

Let me tell ya, it's tons of fun.

Of course, now that I think back, last year when I tried to blog about his birthday I was too enraged by his ravioli poking/food color disasters to focus on the good. He isn't nearly as destructive as he was then.... maybe there is hope for four year old Rhode!

All over-exaggerations aside, we had a fun little birthday get together. We celebrated his third birthday on the 13th with a small get together with friends. Our plan is to have family birthdays on odd years and friend birthdays on even years but since we don't actually have family in the area, we usually include our Las Vegas adopted family.

And for providing little on my end, Rhode got hooked up with some great birthday gear.

His favorite from mom and dad was this kid sized tent.

My kids are obsessed with tents. It is exhausting walking through Big 5 or any other outdoor themed store as they cannot help but make their way through every camp set up.

The tent is now set up in his room and has been his bed more often than not for the past week. We will call that one a $6 clearance winner.

My favorite of the day was his new super hero cape courtesy of our friends, the Warrens.

One side, Batman's super sidekick, Rhodeman.

The other side, Rhode's favorite super hero, Spiderman (he can sing the whole theme song even though he has never seen any kind of Spiderman show in his life)

Scarlet got hooked up with a cape of her own.

Supergirl...

And Super Ballerina Girl!

But the overall crowd favorite of the evening was from Grammy (Grandma Peggy's new name, just go with it)... shocker I know.

A 3 hole mini golf set.

As is Nielsen tradition, Rhode also got a bike. While Scarlet had to ditch the pacifier to score a bike, Rhode's habits to break were peeing in his underwear (as discussed previously) and sucking his thumb. Habits aren't completely gone, but significant strides have been made so we went with it. So far neither of our children are naturally inclined to bicycle riding greatness but there are definite signs of improvement. We might actually get to leave the 30 feet we practice on in front of our house someday!

My other son is much more cooperative... but doesn't sleep as well at night as Rhode does so we'll call it a draw there. Asher is officially two months old today. To commemorate, here is a video of his two best tricks.

Okay, they are his only tricks.

No, one of his tricks is not saying ma ma. But it sure gets him in a chatty mood!

Preschool

2011-09-18T16:23:00.000-07:00

Scarlet is now an official preschool going girl. It is oh so awesome. Finding her a school to go to was a process and a half. I am so glad it is all over... and I think I get about a month left before I have to start worrying about which kindergarten she will go to. But that's a worry for another day!

Scarlet says things that make me die of giggles inside (trying not to just outright laugh at her) so while I record her first week of school experiences, I will include some fantastic new Scarletisms.

Scarletism #100 After watching the movie Gnomeo and Juliet, my children have been obsessed with gnomes, particularly this gnome

They call him "the naked guy". Scarlet very regularly tells me her dreams are full of funny moments from this almost nude gnome. In particular, the morning of her first day of preschool Rhode was telling me about his dreams when Scarlet interrupted.

"Mom, guess what I dreamed about?" with a suspicious smile on her face.

"Did you dream about the gnome again?"

"Yeah, I had a dream about the naked guy. I always have dreams about naked guys!"

Hilarious and a little risque...

She is going to preschool at Paradise Park Recreation Center. She goes three days a week for two and a half hours. Her teacher's name is Mrs. Moscado.

She had a fantastic first week. She loves everything about school and is annoyed at those darn days in between when she is stuck at home with us.

The rules of preschool also threw us for a little loop. The biggest problem, no open toed shoes are allowed. When you have kids with what we politely refer to as "Flintstone feet" flip flops and sandals are a wonder to behold. But, thanks to a lot of shoe shopping and a lot of luck, one pair has been located. Now she is just limited to all black themed outfits until a similar brown pair can be obtained.

Scarletism #101 "Mom, my teacher taught me all about books! There is the front cover, the back cover and the thigh!"

"The thigh?"

"Yeah!" She then grabs a book to demonstrate. "The front cover, the back cover and the thigh!"

"You mean the spine?"

"Yep, that is what I meant. The thi-spine. Spine. Yeah... I think it was spine."

She gets to be in class with her two best girl pals, Jane and Ellie.

Scarletism #102 "I used to sit between the R and the S on the rug and now I sit between the U and the V," she informed me.

"Was that because you were talking to your friends?"

"Nope, Jane and Ellie were fighting over who got to sit by me. (sigh) I guess everybody just really wants to sit by me!"

Preschool has definitely not affected her brimming self esteem.

Rhode has no idea what to do without her. We get home from running errands and he stares at me. After awhile he gives up on me and starts asking when she will be home... which continues every five minutes until she finally arrives.

Shockingly, Asher has yet to notice her absence. As long as I am around, he seems to be coping without big sister just fine.

Scarletism #103 "Mom! In class today the teacher gave us a chocolate bar and we opened it and it was a solid!"

"It was?"

"Yes! And then we put it in the sun and, guess what? It melted and became a thiquid."

"A thick-quid?"

"Yeah!"

"Or a liquid?"

"Hmm, maybe liquid."

Tomorrow she gets to be the first kid in the class to be the "Star" which means she gets to bring something from show and tell. She is taking the picture of her kissing the dolphin in Mexico and has her whole speech to the class worked out. Oh to be a fly on the wall...

So far I love everything about Scarlet and preschool, except for all of those Scarletisms I am sure I am missing.

Let's Just Do Everything at Once!

2011-09-11T20:01:00.000-07:00

We had a fantastic Labor Day weekend. Crazy, busy, jam packed, but definitely fantastic. Our Labor Day weekend included:

1) visits from both sides of our family

2) Asher's blessing

and on a complete side note

3) Jon and my 6th anniversary.

The anniversary received exactly this much attention... by the way, our anniversary is today. Really? Awesome, still love you. Love you too.

The end.

Anniversary celebration, not really our thing. But blessing celebrations, totally got that one done and done well.

Our visitors arrived Friday night and Saturday morning. Our crew included the college kids

Brad and Kylie with extra special guest Breanna Haddican.

Representing Jon's family we have the Marshalls

Oh how we love the Marshalls. The boys in our group spent Saturday golfing and watching the BYU game. The rest of us planned on going out on the town with the remaining crew but instead Cara and I spent the whole morning chatting while our kids were happy just playing together. It was awesome.

Sunday morning, all 16 of us not only managed to get ready for church in our 2 1/2 bathrooms (some even scored a hot shower) but they were also kind enough to be ready 30 minutes early for a photo shoot.

My nieces and nephews are the cutest ever. If I didn't think so well of Cara and Ben's parenting I would totally steal Eden away from them. I thought Scarlet was helpful until I had an 11 year old baby enthusiast with me all weekend. I miss her...

I kind of love this attempt at a family picture. Doesn't it just capture the moment that is getting children to all look at the camera at the same time?

And the moment. Two of three children looking at the camera, I will call that a winner.

We ran out of time (and I kind of forgot) to take pictures of just Asher in his adorable little baby tux but we did get some mom and baby shots.

Rhode wore the same little outfit on his blessing day only he was a little older and a lot fatter. It was a serious "fat guy in a little coat" situation. The suit fit Asher much better.

The blessing was beautiful. I was so excited to have Brad there, it is the first time someone from my side of the family was able to be in the circle.

Sunday also included a delicious (if I may say so myself) meal with our guests and friends.

Our college visitors took off Sunday evening. Turns out they had better Labor day plans than hanging with us... or so they thought. Little did they know we were headed to the most magical place within 30 minute driving distance of Las Vegas.

HOOVER DAM!

How sad it is they missed out on this marvel of mankind making?

And, double feature, check out the new bridge.

Plus who would ever want to miss out on the chance to make some good "dam" jokes?!

Check out this dam picture with this dam adorable little girl?

That is one dam cute chubby baby with his cute sister!

Okay, not my best dam jokes (I had some killer ones that day, had Eden and Hawkins rolling with laughter) but seriously, aren't those some great baby cheeks? My kids are obsessed with little baby Barrett. They keep asking me when Asher will be as fun as their six month old cousin.

"In 5 months," I tell them.

They keep eyeing Asher doubtfully...

The Babes

2011-09-01T14:49:00.000-07:00

My kids did a little hat modeling recently to show off a friend's new line of crocheted beanies. The hats are adorable... I am so hoping it cools down enough this winter that they get the chance to wear them. After being forced to sport them for "just five minutes" of picture snapping, each one was red cheeked and dripping sweat.

And, with their latest looks, why not include their latest happenings.

Scarlet has discovered the world of Fancy Nancy. We have been getting the books from the library and she adores them (and now she knows what the word adore means). I like them just about as much as she does. They are actually very fun to read. And I have really enjoyed the vocab lessons. I just glow with pride when my four year old tells me, "Mother, that dinner was delectable! That means yummy, mom."

About a week ago, Scarlet was getting ready for the day and we had the following conversation:

Scarlet - "Mom, I have a great idea. I think I am going to wear my sparkly shirt with my purple skirt. Don't you think that is going to look adorable?"

Mom - "Yup, that will look great."

Scarlet - "And wouldn't it look even more great if I put on my jewelry?"

Mom - "Yes, it probably would"

Scarlet - "And then wouldn't I just look beautiful if I did my hair like Fancy Nancy?"

Mom - "How does Fancy Nancy do her hair?"

Scarlet - after a minute of pondering, "I had better go get the book, mom."

Rhode is the cutest little stinker. His new theory on life is "I want it!"

For example, this morning I came downstairs to find him munching on a few pieces of candy haphazardly left within his reach.

"Rhode, we don't have candy for breakfast!"

"But mom, I wanted it," and kept on munching.

He is also turning into the silent torturer. In our family, we refer to this person as "the Courtney". If there is someone screaming bloody murder or swinging furiously after what seemed like a harmless encounter, Rhode can almost always be found nearby looking as innocent as possible. Now normally, the screamer/hitter is the one who gets punished. But after experiencing "the Courtney" firsthand growing up, I am very aware of the kind of button pushing, poking, name calling, annoying behavior that is going on behind the scenes.

And, last on his stinker list, Rhode has been very good about being independently potty trained lately but he still has a very bad habit of starting to pee in his underwear when he doesn't want to stop what he is doing to find a bathroom. When I find wet underwear sitting in the bathroom, he gets a time out (in theory to take away the time he saved by not going to the bathroom right away) and a warning that boys who pee in their pants don't get big boy bikes for their birthday.

Well he has found a solution to that problem.

"Rhode, are your underwear dry?" Mischievous smile... "my pants are dry!" he adds with a hint of sarcasm.

Since he dresses himself it took me a few days to realize, yeah he has been going commando all week. What better way to avoid wet underwear than not wearing any at all? In his defense, his shorts have been perfectly dry all week.

Oh Asher, I love this boy. He gave me his first wide awake, full faced grin two days ago and I just fell in love with him even more. Dad has earned a couple grins as well but they are still few and far between.

He is generally a very happy and content little guy. We had a few rough days and I think I may have to lay off a few foods... sadly I believe chocolate might be a no for this guy. Tragic.

His aunt Courtney came to meet him last weekend and we had a great time. Having an extra pair of hands around is so very much appreciated!

Aren't those hats so darn cute? I am a big fan of the models as well but I am completely biased.

He's Got the Look

2011-08-28T18:17:00.001-07:00

I have developed a bad habit of referring to Asher as Rhode... not as often as Jon does but still more than a mother should. And I didn't really understand why until I started going through old baby pictures. It's official. I make one kind of baby.

So now I have developed a fun new game that is sweeping the nation!

Name That Nielsen Baby!

Don't let the anticipation overwhelm you. The answers are in the comment section.

How did you do? I admit, I actually had to go back and check the picture labels to make sure I had the right ones.

I am a one hit baby making wonder... at least the mold is a good one!

Two's Company, Three's a Crowd

2011-08-07T13:54:00.000-07:00

"Mom, why does the baby need you to help him all the time?"

Our newest Nielsen came out a lot smaller and less self-sufficient than my kids were expecting. He doesn't want any of the toys they got ready for his arrival, they aren't allowed to share their food with him, he poops frequently, and, worst of all, he cries in the car sometimes and makes it really hard for Scarlet to hear herself sing.

But other than the fact that he is a little smaller than they prefer, they absolutely love him.

Scarlet is the best little mom ever. She is a baby holding pro and is only ever soft and gentle with him. There have been many moments in the past two weeks where I have needed "5 minutes" to finish something up before giving Asher the attention he is so desperately needing. Scarlet is always willing to sit with her baby brother, offer him the pacifier and just keep him entertained.

Rhode also loves his new little brother, but is a tad bit less helpful. He asks to hold the baby all day long... and then wants to give him back about 2 second later.

"He's heavy, mom. You can take him."

Seven and a half pounds, Rhode. We might need to start some early weight training.

Asher is a great little guy. He is sweet and very, very patient. Poor third children. I think of all the time and attention I had for Scarlet and just hope my poor little guy doesn't feel too deprived. Scarlet got to eat and sleep whenever she darn well pleased. Asher, on the other hand, gets to fit everything around a much fuller schedule.

Nap times get interrupted all the time for errand running, noisy siblings, and the occasional Sunday morning photo shoot.

Other than a little sleep deprivation, he doesn't make me feel too bad about my neglect. Instead, he is usually very cooperative. His best trait thus far, other than his soft adorableness, he loves his sling. I have been all over town with this little guy already and he just sleeps away as we shop.

*** Other great thing about the sling: When you have your baby all slinged up, Walmart strangers are much less likely to come poking at your newborn. Where car seats welcome all kinds of crazies to touch your small child, slings detract even the most socially awkward of people from germing up your baby. People just graciously admire your tiny bundle from a comfort zone distance. ***

Asher likes to be wide awake at about 7 every morning and then spends the next two hours or so just being awake and generally happy. I can lay him just about anywhere and he will look around, wave his little fists, and just sit contentedly.

Even if the people around him aren't being nearly entertaining enough.

I usually stick him in his sibling's beds as I get them dressed and ready for the day. Asher usually just hangs out with their many bedtime buddies until its his turn.

The kid loves to eat. LOVES to eat. Nursing distracts him from any and all of lifes difficulties. I have to be careful with collared baby outfits and blankets getting too close to his lips. It just takes the lightest touch to remind this guy that he is, in fact, not eating right at that moment.

Asher and I took another week off from church today to get a little more meat on those skinny little legs. But, we fit in a little pre-church family photo shoot. I dressed and primped Scarlet and Rhode as fast as I could and Asher made it through two hours, watching our Sunday preparations. He fell asleep literally as Jon picked up the camera and we headed outside.

Now we just need to get a little more chub on this guy so he can sleep a little longer and we have got ourselves the full baby package!

The New Guy

2011-07-28T10:55:00.000-07:00

Jon isn't all that big on contributing to our family blog, which I am definitely not complaining about. But, I loved when he blogged about Rhode the night after he was born. I loved having his perspective on the whole experience.

I have been very patiently waiting for Jon to blog about our latest news but his time is up. Sorry dude.

So, instead of getting the cleaned up, outsider, "no pain involved" husband perspective, you are stuck with me and all my gory details. Or you can skip to the end and tell me how good looking my baby is. Totally up to you.

For whatever insane reason, I was convinced this child was coming early. I have been waiting in anxious anticipation for a week, shocked every night I went to bed without a single contraction. At my last doctor's appointment, I was already dilated to a 4. I was really hoping not to have to induce but I scheduled one for the next week anyway, hoping and praying I wouldn't have to use it.

My mom got into town Sunday evening at about 7:30 and we grabbed her from the airport and had a few hours to hang. This was the first time she had actually seen me so far along pregnant. For my other two kids she met us at the hospital with a baby already waiting for her to hold. We chatted, made plans for the next morning (I was scheduled to go in at 8:30 a.m.) and chatted some more. It was right around 10 p.m. that I felt my first contractions. I was so excited. I waited a while to make sure I wasn't just making things up and they kept coming. Yahoo! And ow...

Jon and my mom went to bed and I sat in my little rocking chair, reading a book and timing my contractions. I did a little Googleing on Jon's phone because I couldn't quite remember exactly when I was supposed to go to the hospital. I really did not want to go in too early but I was already at a 4 so how early could I possibly go? One site I found mentioned that with your third child, you shouldn't wait too long to go to the hospital because babies tend to come faster. They recommended going when your contractions were 8 to 10 minutes apart and I was already at about 4 minutes so I decided to go for it. I woke Jon up a little after midnight, he hopped in the shower and I had a bowl of cereal, packed a little, said goodbye to my mom and we were out the door a little after 1 a.m.

I went to Southern Hills Hospital this time which was about 15 minutes away. The hospital was a ghost town. We seriously ran into one person (a receptionist) all the way up to the maternity ward. There we found three nurses and a very, very quiet hospital floor.

"Wow, seems pretty quiet around here," Jon mentioned. Now even I know you don't go around cursing the fates in a maternity ward. All three nurses gave him a well deserved glare for inevitably changing the course of their evening.

I was gowned, strapped in, and checked, only to discover my last two and a half hours of labor had only gained me a 5 status. Enough to stick around but I was really hoping for a little more. So, they pincushioned me until they finally got an IV in, drew some blood that had to be checked before Mr. Happy Epidural could come in (they did the same with Scarlet, I don't know what that is about) and let me be.

It is about 2 a.m. at this point and suddenly, I am in some serious hurt. Contractions are strong and they are just not stopping. I would have three in a row before I would finally get like a minute break and then they would start again. I have a few friends who are all about the natural birth, even home birth and at that moment I thought they were the craziest people in the history of the world. I was just counting down the minutes until someone was willing to jab a large needle into my spine.

In the back of my mind, I remember thinking this seems like a lot of pain just to get to a 6 or a 7. I was nauseated and miserable, trying to look a little tougher than I felt. I must've faked it really well because no one seemed concerned with my progress.

At 3 a.m. the nurse brought in my favorite guy at the hospital. She asked me to sit on the edge of the bed right in the middle of a very painful contraction, I waited for the worst of it to subside and then just sat up in the middle of it, knowing the blessed moment of relief was here. She then asked me to scoot back a little, and that is when my birth story took a turn for the sitcom side.

Jon confessed too soon after the whole ordeal that this one was much more exciting than the others, almost meeting his craziest of expectations. Now I can almost agree with him, but at the moment he chose to mention it, he is lucky I didn't have the energy to sock him right in the nose.

And now back to the story. As I scooted back, my water broke everywhere. Like seriously, Jon and the nurse had to jump back to get out of the way. And then immediately afterwards there was pressure, lots and lots of pressure. The nurse laid me back down on the bed and checked to confirm that yes, I was having the baby right then. I was devastated as my last and only hope packed up his things and headed right back out my hospital room door.

"Seriously, no epidural?" I asked a little more desperately than I meant to.

"Sorry, it will not come even close to kicking in on time," the nurse informed me.

Then it started to get really crazy in there. There were about five nurses rushing around the room trying to get things ready. One was in the lobby desperately trying to get my doctor to hurry up and get here. Some were rushing to get all of the newborn baby stuff ready and then there was my nurse who was trying her hardest to get me to stop pushing.

I finally understand what people are talking about when they say, "they kept telling me not to push but there was nothing I could do about it." I did all I could to not push, I breathed every time she told me to but there was absolutely nothing I could do about it. After one particularly large contraction, I asked if what I thought was happening was actually happening.

"Yes," the nurse informed me, "that is definitely your baby's head." One contraction later, she gave up her fruitless effort to get me to stop pushing and, with one push, there was a baby lying at the foot of my bed. No doctor, no legs in stirrups, no one even really caught him. I had a brand new son laying at the foot of my bed.

It was amazing.

They cut the cord and laid him on my chest with all his new gooeyness. He was screaming like a banshee but I just admired his perfectness, his head of hair and his teeny littleness.

It took the doctor another good 10-15 minutes to get there. He then delivered my placenta and stitched me up (I tore through my old episiotomy and a few other places, not as bad as Scarlet but not super pleasant either). Finally, I was put back together, my baby was cleaned up and I got the chance to hold him again and nurse him for the first time.

Asher Wayne Nielsen was born at 3:15 a.m. (yes 15 minutes after my epidural walked out the door). He was 7 lbs. 2 oz. and 20 inches long. He is just so so tiny. He has a little head that is still just perfectly shaped (didn't spend too much time in the birthing canal I guess). Jon and I have known we wanted an Asher since we were finding names for Scarlet. One of Jon's favorite books is "My Name is Asher Lev" and one of mine is "The Giver". It is hard to say a name fits a newborn, but so far his is sticking nicely.

He definitely looks like my babies. Grey eyes, wide cheeks, small lips and a pointy little chin. He is an awesome nurser, not an awesome napper yet but we are getting there.

The kids came to visit a little later that morning and they were very excited. It helped that they had spent the morning getting spoiled by their grandma so they were pretty stoked on life anyway, but they were really excited to meet their little brother.

They were much more impressed with the hospital food than I was.

We had a few other visitors through the day but, after awhile, I sent Jon home to get some work done (remember my half-remodeled kitchen?) and Asher and I just got to hang.

I don't know if this is just how labor and delivery goes now or if it was just this hospital but it was so awesome to be left alone! I would go hours without someone coming in the room to take my blood pressure for the millionth time or berate me on how much I am letting my baby sleep (seriously, all three of my kids have nursed once and then crashed for eight hours before wanting to eat again. This is the first hospital that wasn't bugging me the whole time to wake them up.)

No one came in to wake me up in the middle of the night for even more tests. They were not overly concerned with my lack of updating the diaper/nursing chart. And they were all really pleasant! I had a great experience. The food was definitely better at St. Rose but I had enough visitors bringing me the good stuff to make that not matter so much.

Wednesday morning, with very little fanfare and no "feed your baby, clean your baby, don't drop your baby" classes, Jon picked us up and we headed home. We have been lounging and enjoying our new little one ever since.

Now that I have been able to step away from the experience a little, I have definitely gained some perspective on my unplanned natural birth. Yes, it helps that it all happened very quickly, but its not like I knew it was all going to be over in an hour and a half at the time. If you had asked me last week if I had any desire at all to go through a natural birth, I would have laughed. Loud. Other than maybe proving I could do it, I couldn't even have given you a good reason why anyone should. My perspective has definitely changed

Benefits of a Natural Birth:

Recovery is much nicer (no catheter, IV comes out quickly, no post-epidural shakes, I could walk around almost immediately afterward)

All of the things that hurt post-delivery don't seem nearly as bad (uterus contractions, nursing, healing all came with some pain perspective)

There is no question as to what to do when your doctor says to push (I was so numb with Scarlet I had no idea what needed pushing to get her out of me)

The difference of emotion of that last push and then having your baby there is pretty incredible.

Asher didn't seem to act any differently from my other two newborns so I didn't notice a difference for him. But I can definitely say, I enjoyed the experience. I am not sure I have completely pulled away from the epidural train but it is at least nice to appreciate both sides of the story.

And there, my little Asher man, is your first story. Welcome home.

Nesting

2011-07-23T20:10:00.000-07:00

Isn't it amazing how much of what we think childbirth will be like stems from television/movies? Was anyone else totally shocked to hear that only like 10% of women actually have their water break to start labor? And, those that do, it is not the water balloon gushing in the middle of the department store right at the end of a very heated argument? Plus, who would have thought you would be in labor for hours at home before it was "time". People in non-reality world know its time within like 5 minutes of starting contractions.

Jon was very, very disappointed with the unexcitement that is a non-television, epidural-laden birth. He confessed very openly that the lack of screaming, nurses running in each and every direction and the fact that not a single person slipped on any thing (bodily fluid or otherwise) in this chaotic moment, was jarring his reality big time.

But, when it comes to our third trimester nesting, Jon and I may have even gone above and beyond the levels of the most overdramatic of sitcom births.

I am pretty sure your average nesting pregnant couple spends their days decorating a nursery their baby probably won't sleep in for a significant amount of their first year of life. They may do some extra shopping to make sure they have every baby item Target makes before the arrival of their new one. A few of the real go-getters may even get some good Spring cleaning done to make room for their new arrival and make sure their child comes home to the most sanitary environment possible. Which they will then puke, pee, and poop on.

Well, not us.

We really wanted to make sure this baby knew we were excited to have them join our family. So, in the this week before my official due date (Monday) we got our Nielsen nesting on.

We started with laying sod in the backyard.

Sod is awesome. It is so instantly, flawlessly beautiful. And what newborn doesn't appreciate coming home to a fantastically manicured lawn?

We also got all of the carpets shampooed.

Good luck finding a random tidbit of something to shove in your mouth off this floor, baby. It is spotless... for the moment.

And, really, what mother would bring a newborn child into a kitchen with a ridiculously fluorescent lowered ceiling, awful "grandma" off white cabinets, cheap fake wood floor that is popping at every seam and a counter top we have been desperate to rid ourselves of since the minute we bought this house?

Not us!

Yeah... it's way better to bring the baby home to a half remodeled kitchen with few working appliances. I microwaved lunch and mixed smoothies in the laundry room yesterday. Add an infant and that just equals more fun than one mom should be having alone!

So, when our baby comes out 20 lbs. and already crawling/walking, we are going to be sooo ready.

p.s. you may think my involvement in any of these activities would have had the power to throw me into labor, seeing as doctor says I am already at 4 cm. but you would be sadly mistaken.

4th of July 2011

2011-07-14T08:55:00.000-07:00

Gotta love a good 4th of July bash. Most of our usual Vegas crowd actually had plans for the holiday that were supposedly better than barbequeing at my house. I am still a little doubtful on that front... but we made due with the leftovers who had nowhere better to go.

We started the evening with a little slip n' sliding action.

Our grass is non-existent at the moment (a fact that will be changed shortly, yippee!) so the kids also got a little 4th of July science experiment. What do water and dirt make?

Mud! Glorious, glorious mud.

And the outdoor shower proved its usefulness yet again.

Mud time was followed by dress up time. Poor Rhode was the only boy in attendance (one year olds don't really count yet). But if there is one thing this kid is good at, it's going with the flow.

I swear he does own boy dress up clothes.

Jon got called away on a work emergency and for a minute there, I thought the barbequeing would be left to me and the belly, which makes everything that much more difficult... and warm... and uncomfortable.

Thank you Dale for stepping up to the BBQ plate for me!

You want to know what is delicious? Grilled corn. Wow.

Add some hot dogs, sausages, all the fixins', side salads, fruit...

and, of course, dessert...

maybe a little excessive for the three families in attendance. But who ever complained about too much good food?

Not us!

Not only did Dale tackle the food cooking for the evening, he was also the supplier of our fireworks entertainment.

And, by the way, he totally rocked it.

Now there really is something to say about not living in the best part of town on a holiday like the 4th of July. Sure, there are houses with more cars parked in front of them than their driveway, curb and grassless lawn can hold. The tennis shoes that sporadically appear on the telephone poles aren't really the classiest accessory. And the frequent graffiti including the recent six foot male genitalia is not my favorite thing in the world. But man, can my block throw a fireworks show.

We were setting off some of the biggest fireworks I had ever seen set off in front of a house and they were nothing compared to the ones going off down the street and across the block at the exact same time. For most of our neighbors the sparks started flying Friday evening and continued every night until the big day.

It was incredible! We all pulled up a bit of sidewalk and enjoyed.

The kids spent most of their time going through hundreds of poppers...
and even more sparklers.
It was a party to remember. And to end the evening, our husbands proved to us once again that even though they are married, have jobs and children and all those other responsible sounding things, they are still 12 years old.

Luckily, no husbands were harmed in the making of this video.

Checking in with #3

2011-07-03T18:33:00.000-07:00

I am rounding the corner of 37 weeks and now officially counting down the days until Nielsen #3 joins our family. We have had a running schedule of things that were going to happen before the baby came to keep the kids from asking every 5 seconds or so. Unfortunately, the last item on the list was the 4th of July. Once those fireworks go off, my kids will just be staring at my stomach daily, waiting for something to happen.

Scarlet loves to pray for our newest sibling. She is really hoping for a sister, but is usually pragmatic about the situation. Her requests above usually go, "Heavenly Father, please bless that our baby is a sister... or a brother."

Yes, please let this baby be a girl or a boy. Don't really care which one but one or the other would be preferable. Rhode is still voting for puppy though.

I was really excited to keep this baby's gender a surprise but part of me thought I would just know the gender without really knowing. I have done this pregnancy thing twice before, both were pretty distinct, I figured it would feel like one or the other and the mystery would be solved.

Well, instead I have had a pregnancy filled with a few old symptoms from each previous pregnancy along with a few new ones I can attach to this child alone. So, here is a little rundown of how things have been going. The symptoms that point to girl or boy are labeled. My "Switzerland" symptoms, aka. the ones that just can't seem to pick a side, are not.

Boy - I am carrying really low, much lower than I did with either child. Fun strangers in the store love to tell me that means this is a boy.

Maybe because of my low carrying, this baby somehow manages to miss all of the 'target kick zones' my other two loved to nail. No kicking my ribs, lungs, bladder, etc. But to add to its strangeness, this baby has found a love for whacking my pelvic bones. It feels just as awesome as you think it would...

Girl - So far, the Nielsen grandkids have kept a very steady pattern when it comes to child bearing. Everyone with more than one child has had a girl, a boy, then a girl. I have kept the tradition for the first two...

Heartburn... oh the heartburn. Not a problem with my last two but this one has been pretty bad. Right before bed, I usually have to pop a couple of Tums and sit up for a few extra minutes to let everything settle down and, if I am lucky, I can make it until the morning.

Girl - My ankle swelling with Scarlet was legendary. Calf to toe was one giant water balloon. It was horrifying. Rhode... not one minute of puffy feet. This pregnancy has not been nearly in the Scarlet zone but I definitely have some feet puff going on.

Boy - I have stayed smaller this pregnancy,

bigger than Rhode

but significantly smaller than Scarlet.

Girl - Scarlet was a constant mover, especially when there were any loud sounds around, like in the movie theater. Rhode only moved when I poked and prodded him enough to bug him. He was happy to just chill in there all day long. This baby won't move for a very long time and then do some major dancing to make up for lost time. Baby especially does not like to share my lap space. Any kids near the belly get a good kicking from their baby sibling.

Boy - No dark line on my tummy. Super awesome.

Still no stretch marks... extra super awesome.

Girl - My cravings have been more similar to Scarlet's pregnancy than Rhodes. Rhode I actually wanted healthy stuff like fruits and vegetables. Scarlet, I wanted candy. This child seems to want baked goods. Mmmm, cookies. And, my oddest craving thus far, I have been seriously wanting some Coke. Yeah, like straight Coca-Cola. I have given up caffeine cold turkey for all of my pregnancies and I don't like straight cola ever. I have always been more of a diet pepsi girl. But sheesh, when I see someone buying a coke at the store or see a fountain drink full... it has been a hard one to resist. So weird..

Had to take off my wedding ring a week or so ago. First time I have ever been without it. There was something about not being able to take it off for a couple of days that made me very nervous. I kept on having dreams about them having to saw it off my marshmallow hands. It has found a safe home until post baby.

Girl - Coming up with two names has been probably the hardest part. If it is a boy, we are pretty sure what his name will be (sorry I am not an early name revealer). But we have really struggled with girl names. Our "for sure" name has changed 5 different times. I keep telling Jon if we don't pick a girl name for sure, it will definitely be a girl by default just to make things confusing.

Scarlet, who is sure this is her new baby sister, has decided the best name would be Charlotte. It hasn't made the list yet as that would be about as confusing as is possible, but at least it is a real name!

My baby even changes genders in my dreams. My subconscious is really messing with me. Last night, it was a chubby baby boy but a month ago, it was definitely a girl.

So, what do you think? Can you see why I am so confused? Either way, we are all ready to meet our newest Nielsen.

Let the countdown begin!

Always use the word "Strip" with caution

2011-07-01T07:00:00.000-07:00

Jon is in the Stake Young Mens but occasionally he gets a chance to help out at the ward level as well. When he heard our ward's young men would be making a movie, he was a moth drawn to the flame. Jon has an interesting habit of turning simple mutual church movies into full scale photoshopped productions.

The boys picked the theme "Helaman and the Stripling Warriors". They filmed for about 45 minutes and then Jon and his computer went to work. The boys loved the final product. They felt like movie stars. So, Jon threw it on youtube with the title "Stripling Trailer" for them so they could watch it again.

This all took place a month or so ago.

But then, a few days ago, I see in my email that his video is suddenly getting comments. Not nice comments by the way. I went to check it out and the video was up to 1,600 views! I know that is not a ton in youtube world but that is quite a few people from the 12 mutual boys who originally got the file.

We couldn't figure out why it was spreading so fast. But then we saw its two biggest referrals were from videos called "Stripland Trailer" and "Stripperland Video".

At last count it was over 3,000 views and rising by a few hundred a day. Welcome to 15 minutes of D level internet fame Tropicana Young Mens Program!

Stories

2011-06-30T07:14:00.000-07:00

Jon and I were quickly dropping off a Redbox at 7-11 with the kids in the backseat when a guy pulled up next to us.

"Hey, you guys want some designer perfume and cologne?" he asked.

Since neither Jon nor I had ever purchased either of those items ever, we decided it was not a necessary 7-11 parking lot expenditure.

"No, that's not really our thing. Thanks," Jon commented while getting in the car.

"What about some samples?" he continued.

"Really," Jon countered, "we're good, thanks." He then shut the door of the car.

The guy threw his car in reverse and hit the gas while shouting, "What a douche!" and driving off.

I froze for a minute, then tried to act casual, hoping my children hadn't been paying too much attention.

It only took about 10 second before Scarlet asked, "Dad, are you really a juice?"

"A what?"

"A juice."

Rhode then chimed in, "Dad's a juice, dad's a juice!" as we sped down the road. The catchy tune later turned into all of the kinds of juice their dad really was. "Dad's an orange juice, dad's an apple juice!" and so on.

The song got old but it was SO MUCH better than the alternative.

"Your daughter had a rough time in Singing time today," my friend shared. (She recently got called to Primary, I LOVE having a spy in there!)

"She did?! She loves singing time?"

"Yeah, it got pretty heated there for a minute. She was arguing with Sis. Hilton and was almost in tears!"

Seriously?

About what?

Well, poor Sis. Hilton requested all of the primary children stand up and sing "If You're Happy and You Know It." My know-it-all sunbeam insisted that was definitely not a primary song and not only would she not be singing it but nobody else should be either. That was a song that was not allowed in church.

Sheesh.

We had a good chat about who was in charge of Singing time and who was definitely NOT EVER in charge of singing time.

Scarlet has decided to refer to me as "mother". Everything she requests of me is now said in a sickly sweet, oozing with politeness tone, "Mother, can you please help me reach that snack?"

It mostly makes me laugh but when she does it in public I definitely get some strange looks. As her own father put it, "Now instead of just sounding bossy, she sounds really pretentious." If she upgrades daddy to "father", we might need to intervene... for her sake.

We got to spend Memorial day weekend up at a friend's cabin in Kolob with two other families. I was going to do a whole blog post on the weekend but I have yet to procure any pictures from the weekend and with my pregnant brain I can't actually remember anything we did. I am pretty sure we had fun...

But my kids now frequently ask if we can go back to Uncle Alan's cabin. Yeah, they don't have an Uncle Alan, their friends Blaze and Bennett do. They also don't have an Aunt Nini or a Grandma Nona or a Papa (that lives in Las Vegas). I am starting to think we need to attend less family gatherings at the Stouts. We have plenty of our own extended family to keep track of (I still don't know what my kids should call my cousins kids) and my kids are starting to get very confused.

Dance Recital #2

2011-06-26T18:05:00.000-07:00

Oh dance, such a large part of my life. It is almost too much trying to start the whole dance experience over again with Scarlet. I am afraid of studios, knowing too much about the whole process and being destined to be a horribly annoying parent with too many unwanted opinions about everything. The rec center seemed a safe alternative this year, my expectations would be low along with the price (it is easier to complain less when the price is right).

It turned out pretty well. Scarlet attended Miss Lori's class once a week for the entire school year. For their final semester, the classes ordered costumes and had their final recital at an outdoor theater so it felt a little more real. They took class pictures in their frilly pink outfits and we prepared for the final day.

I was definitely underwhelmed with Scarlet's dance. I love watching dance and I think my daughter is so fantastic I could watch her do just about anything and even I was a tad bit bored by the choreography. But, I just stacked that one under 'things I am being too picky about' and moved on.

There was also a little concern on my part as to how Scarlet was going to perform. She had rough go at the winter recital and had never actually tried a full on stage before. But, pre-show she didn't seem nervous. I was feeling pretty good about things after she hammed up her dance recital photo shoot.

Rhode was really feeling left out during most of the afternoon. Scarlet got to wear curlers, makeup, hairbows... Rhode is still convinced boys get the short end of the stick when it comes to allowed accessories. He really tried to get me to let him go dressed like this.

He was vetoed without too much drama though.

Sadly, the final recital was my last straw. There is only so much bad dance one person can stand. It was long and then somehow longer. I found myself dozing off... at my daughters dance recital! So not like me. Even pregnant me.

But anyway, Scarlet performed like a pro. No fear, eyes on the teacher, and even got a move or two going in the right direction.

It has been a great year for Scarlet. She has come into her own, discovered how brave she really is, and just goes after things. It has been so fun to watch.

But, needless to say, I am officially stepping away from rec center dance. We will be trying out a few studios this summer and then picking one for the fall. Let the tongue biting and comment swallowing begin!

And the final performances:

The Bloomin' Desert

2011-06-26T15:57:00.000-07:00

With our recently landscaped front yard and our brand new garden beds, not to mention our decaying pile of compost growing ever ready in the back yard, we decided it was time to get a little Nielsen gardening action going on.

We were doubtful of any success. It is really hot here. Like really. But, what the heck?

Our first season of plants included two cherry tomato plants, two pear tomato plants, & zucchini, corn, cantaloupe, and cilantro seeds. Our other bed was filled with strawberry plants and some basil.

My only true goal of the garden was that my children would be able to go outside, pick something straight off the branch and munch it down. It just seemed like something that would be more readily denied them in our inhospitable surroundings.

We were incredibly proud of our first little sproutlings.

And then we just kept watering it. We traveled here and there, watered some more, and before we knew it...
things actually grew! The above picture was taken a few weeks ago when we picked our first home grown produce.
So awesome.

And I am not even that big of a zucchini fan.

And then the tomato plants decided the cages we purchased for them were ridiculously too small.

We are right in the middle of some serious tomato love. The kids go out a pick a cereal bowl worth every day. We stick them in the fridge and enjoy them for a snack or a dinner once they are cool and crisp.

We have even enjoyed a handful or two from our strawberry plants.

At our last play date, one of our friends finally noticed the crop, dashed over to the strawberries, grabbed one and shoved it in his mouth. My children were horrified. His mom apologized profusely, assuming my kids were upset because he had taken something of theres. Luckily, turns out my kids aren't that selfish, they are just garden snobs.

"It was still pink mom!" they both wailed to me. "It wasn't even ready yet. He didn't even eat it when it was really good!"

The plants have been so overwhelmingly large, the cilantro had no chance of survival. It was overshadowed almost immediately so we only got about one good serving of that. Our corn is tall and has a few ears on it but we are all a little doubtful anything edible will come from it. But we have picked about 8 zucchinis and there is an acorn squash just about ready to go (didn't plant those by the way, that is a compost pop up). We also have a full grown tomato growing out of the strawberries randomly. It kind of looks like the peach from James and the Giant Peach. One big tomato on a plant that keeps tilting slowly over from the weight of the thing.

Maybe Las Vegas isn't THAT bad.

Reasons to Regret Your Mother Keeping a Blog...

2011-05-23T23:15:00.000-07:00

Rhode loves to ask questions. Our very repeated conversation goes like this:

Mom, what is -insert random item- ?

I then answer

Mom, I lub -insert random item-! - stated very very enthusiastically.

Turns out he loves many things he is not actually able to identify by himself. But, well, this one is my absolute favorite. Sorry future Rhode, had to be written.

Rhode: Mom, what is this? (pointing to his chest while changing into clothes in the morning)

Mom: Well, that is your nipple.

Rhode: Mom, I lub mipples!

Mom: You do?

Rhode: Yes! Look I have two mipples!

Mom: Yes, you do have two.

Rhode: Mom, what I do with mipples? I pinch them? (he then demonstrates how this, in theory, would go)

Mom: No you don't need to pinch them. They are just... there.

Rhode: Oh... but I lub mipples mom.

Might have been an interesting word to teach him, but I would still rather him going around talking about his mipples than his lower extremity, which he claims is getting too big for his underwear.

Two year olds are fun.

Taking Over

2011-05-19T19:58:00.000-07:00

I have had a very easy pregnancy so far with little room for complaint. But today was one of those rare days when I just felt pretty crappy. It hit right around dinner time. I had awful indigestion plus I felt really nauseated. Making dinner just really wasn't in the cards, which usually wouldn't be a problem, except Jon had to walk out the door right at the same moment I had finally laid my large self on the couch.

At the time, I thought my only chance for help had just walked out the door. But thankfully, a fantastic helper was ready to step up and take her place as woman of the house.

"What would you like for dinner, mom? I'm gonna make it," Scarlet informed me.

"Umm, what do you know how to make?"

"Well, I like to make soup. Do you like egg soup or bean soup with carrots or red soup?" she listed off.

I think I can identify bean soup with carrots and red soup is tomato soup... but egg soup? I got nothing.

I thanked her for her willingness to help, but since we lacked the ingredients for all of her carefully planned meals, I had to veto. I suggested maybe they just have cereal tonight for dinner.

"Cereal? Okay.... (she paused to consider). I know! Mom would you like me to make you cereal or pancakes?" she asked.

"You know how to make pancakes?"

She then explained to me how you get the gredients out of the cupboard, get them in a bowl and stir them up, and then you just turn them into pancakes! Her firm look of capability never even wavered from her face.

Though it would have been quite amusing to watch the attempt, I saved myself the kitchen cleanup and went with cereal.

She took over from there. By the time I made it over to the dining room table, all of our cereal choices were set out on the table along with bowls, spoons, and milk. She had helped Rhode find a seat and pushed him close to the table and was in the process of pouring him a bowl of Fruit Loops.

Rhode was not nearly as appreciative of the service. "No sissy, I want the cimmamim cwunch!"

"Sorry Rhode, you have already chosen. You have to stick with your choice. You can pick the other cereal tomorrow," she informed him.

Yes, this is exactly what I tell my children if they decide post-milk pour that they would rather have a different flavor.

I sat down and poured myself a bowl of Frosted Mini Wheats and tried to get comfortable in my chair, when Scarlet appeared beside me and poured my milk for me. Her milk and Rhode's were already poured without a drop lost.

She then directed Rhode to offer our prayer and we enjoyed our meal. I decided to help myself to a second bowl and Scarlet was there moments later to refresh my milk. After dinner, she wiped down the table and helped me clear the dishes so that I could 'sit down and rest my tummy' as quickly as possible.

"Mom, did you like the dinner I made for you?" she asked.

Did I like it? Did I enjoy a moment of being taken care of while feeling down? Have I loved every time she has chosen to pick something up for me or grab something upstairs for me so 'I can rest your tummy'? Am I more proud every day as I realize chores around my house have actually become easier with her help?

Yes, most definitely yes.

The Office - Nielsen Version

2011-05-15T17:34:00.000-07:00

As some know, Jon left his position at a good construction company after feeling like he had reached his growing potential and ventured out on his own. We saved for a little over a year and then made the big plunge into self employment. There have been some high moments and some low moments but it has definitely been a year to remember.

One of the best high moments has been having him home. After several years of having a 'travel for work husband' and then a 'lengthy commute husband', or there was 'work for three days without sleeping zombie husband' followed by my least favorite, 'works a whole lot of overtime hours without any financial benefit just to get the work done husband', having access to him was an entirely new experience.

It meant we have had a lot of freedom. No vacation days to worry about, no schedule to work around but our own, we liked to call it our early retirement.

Even though the traditional workweek ended, the work didn't. Jon is officially in business for himself and enjoying it for the most part. He describes himself as a "contractor" but is deliberately vague on what that means sometimes. He owns a licensed building contracting company, but he takes advantage of his new freedom through projects doing what he likes best, "Doing Everything." He is somewhat a man of action, and whenever somebody needs something done...well apparently he will make it happen. He told me there were some limits to what he would do, those being 1) that he wouldn't do anything illegal or 2) anything in the sex trade. Not sure if I should be relieved or concerned that those options had to be clarified...

It has also meant we have been very involved with each other's companies. Jon is the best free contractor a girl could ask for and is the only reason I have had any success with my business venture as a dance competition event organizer (also the only reason I haven't already been carted away by the IRS). I pretend I am just as useful to his cause but so far I have occasionally answered the phone and picked up office supplies at Walmart. We balance each other so well.

Sharing an office space has been a challenge, mostly for him. Turns out he is not impressed in general with my computer filing system. He has revamped most of my stuff for me but was absolutely appalled the other day by my messy desktop. It won't be a shocker to most that my desk is messy, but this was my computer desktop. I am not one to care about which files end up there, and it was getting a tad bit full. In fact, there was only room for about three more icons before the screen was full. I knew it was driving Jon crazy, but I was very curious to see what my desktop would do with files after I filled those three spaces.

Well after today I may never know. I hopped onto my computer to find my desktop down to about four folders. They are aptly named:

Stuff that might be useful

Program links that you should have already deleted

Things that JW is sure are just trash and should be deleted now

Recycle Bin (I think he somehow found a way to bold and highlight this one, hoping I would find it more frequently)

While our new lifestyle has brought many great and wonderful changes (for the first time lifestyle is even a consideration), running his own business also comes with a new set of challenges. Jon does a large variety of work that normal employees never have to consider. Some of it doesn’t really sound fun to me. I guess he gets what he deserves when he tells people he can do anything.

Among all of the craziness, I am pretty sure the low of all low moments when running his own business blew up in his face....

literally.

Here is his "Don't worry, I got this handled" pose he took on right before scrubbing his face with a scouring pad for two hours. Face is ink free, the hands... not so much.

Cruisin' With Children

2011-05-09T21:35:00.000-07:00

For those of you who missed the "whole cruise story" with daily blow-by-blow account, and happen to care for whatever reason, you can check that out here.

But I had to take a moment for my more personal vacation experiences, namely what is was like to be the only family member bringing along next generationers. No matter how much help you are promised, every mom knows a vacation with kids is just not going to be all that relaxing. Sporting a quickly growing midsection did not add any fun to the matter, but heck it was still a cruise!

I had two main goals of the trip:

1) Leave Las Vegas with two and a half children, come back to Las Vegas with two and a half children.

Full success! No one lost overboard, no one eaten during our sea lion adventure, and no one intentionally left anywhere for being incredibly irritating (a few close ones there though...)

2) No sunburns.

Shockingly, another success! Minus Jon (who doesn't really count. His skin looks red for like an hour and then he is just tan, it's super unfair) the rest of us, especially the very pale me, made it through the entire week without a single sunburn. My brothers and sisters did not fare nearly as well and I was incredibly proud of my achievement. This seriously might be the first sunny vacation I have gone on that was not proceeded by several days of skin peeling. Yeah, don't miss that.

In a lot of ways, the trip went more smoothly than I had anticipated... but not in every way. In an attempt to end on a positive note, let's start with the glass half empty version.

This version is titled... my son, Rhode.

I shouldn't blame the kid. He is two. He still likes very long naps. Nobody his age should be forced to sit at a restaurant for dinner at 8:15 every evening (seriously, 8:15. Did someone have it out for me or what?) Plus, both of my kids just had life a little more rough because we had to share a small sleeping space with them, including sharing a bed with roller Rhode. Now, I love my kids but I definitely cherish those few quiet hours between them going to bed and me going to bed, everyone in their own spaces. A whole week of losing that break was rough. But even with those excuses...

Dinner was the hardest time of the day. We even fit in a good sized nap every day but it was just too late for him. He spent most evenings here...

right smack dab on my shrinking lap. After a few nights, I commandeered the table in the back corner. Whenever he had had enough, I just sent him to the corner to lay down and take a little rest. It actually worked most of the time!

Rhode is a pretty good eater and did a decent job of it at meals... but even after letting him order whatever he wanted he usually just decided he wanted to eat whatever I got. He also was incredibly disappointed with every meal that didn't end with ice cream. Breakfast usually had some rough exits.

His lowest moment was our last day on ship when I dropped Scarlet and him off to Camp Carnival for an hour. He had been there at the same time for an hour the day before and had a fantastic time. This time... not so much. Supposedly he cried for almost an hour straight. Jon was just hanging in the room but we had changed rooms the first day so the people in charge kept calling Brads room. Brad went to help but they wouldn't let him check Rhode out... it was a mess. By the time I finally got to him, he was pretty miserable.

I asked Scarlet later what was making him so sad. She couldn't really put her finger on it but felt like it started somewhere around hat making time when his kept falling off his head and really hit its climax when "Freddy" the Carnival mascot paid a visit.

"I don't yike Fweddy," Rhode added in his most serious tone.

Sheesh.

Thankfully, Rhode did a little bit better on our off shore outings. Of course, for a kid who can run around my house all day, he sure can't walk very far without whining about it. And with the myriad of gullible aunts and uncles, my not very light two year old spent a lot of time being carried.

Notice the frowns? Turns out he still is not a big fan of the ocean. Not even in the safety of mother's arms would he venture even close to the water's edge.

But, the boy from day one of his little life has always like his lounging time. Whether it was chilling on a beach chair...

or enjoying a towel time with grandma.

Heck, he could even get his digging done without leaving his comfy location.

Even while adventuring in Mexico, when the kid is tired, he is tired. But with some well placed beach towels, we made it work no matter the location.

At the taco place in Cabo

or on the boat to Lover's beach. His eyes finally closed all the way seconds after this picture.

He even fit in a rest on the grassy area at the water park in Puerto Vallarta. Sadly that meant both of us missed out on the dolphin adventure. Supposedly, dolphins can tell if a person is pregnant. Don't know if that meant Dori the dolphin was going to be more or less friendly with me... but it would have been interesting to find out!

And, he didn't miss Pepe!

Now onto the glass half full... aka Scarlet.

Scarlet was a dream child. She was happy, super chatty, had whatever dinner table she was seated with usually rolling with hysterics as she came up with all the crazy things that four year olds say. She loved being with her extended family and thought everything we did was so so so exciting.

I think my favorite part was watching her order dinner every evening.

She insisted on having every item on the menu read to her so she could make her decisions. She got the shrimp cocktail almost every evening and then varied between the pasta dishes, the mahi mahi, and the "steak with A sauce (A-1)". She frequently ordered by herself, especially at dessert. "I want the chocolate melting cake and orange ice cream," was her request every evening. It was hilarious.

It was impossible to escape the live music being blasted around the ship. Scarlet was alway up for busting a move, even entertaining the aunts with a chair dance or two.

My second favorite moments with her were watching her discover the ocean. She really hasn't been a big beach fan up until now. But suddenly, it was like she was born a beach baby. She would pull whatever aunt would follow her down to the shore and hop right in. When I finally saw how brave she was being, the life jacket was secured immediately. She would get straight knocked down by a huge wave and come up just laughing and giggling. I would have to force her to take a break for more sunscreen and a swig or two of water. Then she would trade aunts and head straight back down to the shore.

Though I was very impressed, no one was more thrilled by her newfound water love than her "beach bum at heart" dad.

She was incredibly helpful with her little brother. Helper, discipliner, body guard, sunscreen applier...

She even handled the street vendors with panache. After finding the pink necklace of her heart's desire, she negotiated a half price reduction from the first quoted price. After all, she was running low on birthday money. She has loved her purchase.

Probably one of Scarlet's more frustrating moments, other than a few excited nights when she wasn't entirely sure she was ready for bed, was because of these little creations.

She would race back to our room every evening to see which towel creation had magically appeared in our absence. It was adorable, until she started to get attached to them. Like really attached. She wanted them to sleep in her bed with her, or at the very least be set aside nicely as to keep them safe from her brother's rough handling.

By the way, you can't move a towel animal and have it stay a towel animal no matter how hard you try. This led to probably her only true fits of the trip. It really got to the point where I would race ahead of the group, destroy the towel animal, and claim we just didn't get one those last few nights.

There was one day where my cup was overflowing with happiness and that was our day at the water park in Puerto Vallarta. My kids had a fantastic time and it was so fun to watch.

They had the best kid section. It was huge, but the water never got more than 1-2 feet deep. They played there nonstop.

Grandma took over supervising duties for awhile and, since the water slides weren't really an option for me, I took full advantage of my free time.

And after grandma was fed up with the kiddie pool, she talked Scarlet into taking a little more risk...

And really, no matter how crazy a day goes, how can you not cherish a moment like this?

Even after it all, it was definitely a week I will always remember. And yes, they are young but I think this trip will stick with them too. Thank goodness for a well document blog entry to keep the memories alive!

What am I forgetting?

2011-04-18T05:25:00.000-07:00

Kacey's Checklist

1. Stop feeling tired and generally nauseated Check

Thanks to this

and this

my normal night sickness was almost enjoyable. Almost.

2. Find a doctor/hospital and a due date

Done and done. Thanks to years of frequent insurance changes, each of my Vegas babies gets their own doctor/hospital. Who knows, maybe it will make them feel really special?

Due: July 25

3. Finally get around to reading Jenny McCarthy's "Belly Laughs", recommended highly.

Not a great choice for the easily offended but very, very funny and very honest. I even figured out my "cold/allergies" that had been going on for like 3 months not so much a disease, a runny nose is a symptom too. Who knew?

4. Pull out the old box of maternity clothes

Mmmm elastic waistband.

5. Get an ultrasound

No pictures (the machine was kind of busted that day, lame right?) but 10 fingers, 10 toes, and a very skillful ultrasound tech who steered clear of any "money shots" for my general viewing pleasure. Who doesn't like a surprise? As Scarlet puts it, "I want another sister (she of course being the first sister) but Heavenly Father is beciding if we get a brother or a sister."

6. Sort through clothes, lots and lots of clothes.

After years of lending, resorting, exchanging and the like, all of my kid clothing bins were in complete disarray. But, after a few days of my children asking me to stop making messes in their rooms, we have

I had a fantastic time with this project. The memories, the reminiscings, the wondering of how life keeps going so fast...

7. Tell the kids

We informed the kids and the nearby party guests at Scarlet's birthday. Her last present of the evening was a box with a little baby girl and baby boy outfit.

It was not nearly as exciting as her previous gifts so she seemed very uninterested at first. But after all of the birthday fun wore down, Scarlet and Rhode have been very excited. Very excited and very impatient. We now have a timeline of events we work through:

"First, it will be Bennett's birthday, then we will go on our cruise, then it will be dad's birthday, and then summertime, and then the fourth of July, and THEN it will be time for the baby to come."

Rhode then asks, "And then the baby gonna pop out, right?"

"Right." Close enough.

8. Inform your Sunday School kids

I figured it was time when I walked into the room, wrote a few things on the board, looked around for a prayer volunteer and couldn't come up with 75% of the names of my class members. They frequently have to forgive me for my frequent forgetful moments.

It took me six months to complete the first half of the list. And that is when I realized I had left out two pretty important steps.

9. Tell my mom (and other family members)

and

10. Tell everyone else

Oops!

Scarlet took care of #9 on the phone with Grandma Peggy and Aunt Kristy yesterday and today, I can finally check off #10.

So here it goes: I am pregnant!

Phew, done and done.

Now what am I forgetting? Oh! Um, Grandma and Grandpa Nielsen in South Africa, if you read this blog before we get a chance to Skype, surprise!

You get what you ask for... sometimes

2011-04-08T14:27:00.001-07:00

I ask my son for a piece of toilet paper so I can, in a very lady like way, blow all of the snot out of my schnoz.

I get this...

and on his second try, this...

and on his third and final try, this.

Editors Note: Only about five trees were killed in the capturing of this moment.

I ask for a pair of shoes to walk out the door with on a very average t shirt and capri jeans kind of outing.

I get these...

"See mom? They aren't just for your costume (think 80's party) they look pretty!"

Scarlet pouted about my final choice of flip flops for the rest of the outing.

I ask for some shoes to fit my son whose feet will not squeeze into a single pair of his shoes.

I get... cowboy boots!

"Thank you mom! Now I get to be a bad guy!"

Hold up.

"A bad guy? Rhode, cowboys can be good guys too!"

With his bad guy face on, "No mom, in these boots, I am a bad guy."

Definitely not what I asked for.

That's when I had almost given up hope and started actually doing things for myself...

until...

I asked Jon if there was something we (ahem, he) could do to make our front courtyard a little more appealing.

I get...

Sod, gravel, two garden beds with their own drip system, and a whole lot of loveliness.

Aaaahhhhh....

Just to see if my luck was changing, I ask if someone could keep me entertained while the men scampered away to Priesthood session last weekend.

I get... cookies. Lots and lots of cookies. And fantastic company.

The company.

And the cookies...

Honey Crisps

Red Hot Cinnamon Bark

Rolo Cookies

Ten Cup Cookies

Almond Joy Cookies (my favorite of the night)

Lemon Biscotti Cookies

Homemade Graham Cracker S'more Cookies (by me)

Cinnadoodle Cookies (also by me, and my second favorite)

Since it has worked thus far, anyone up for cleaning my bathrooms?

No Rhode, put your hand down. Anyone? Anyone?

Recent Discoveries

2011-03-24T16:19:00.000-07:00

I have recently discovered that even in my mature late twenties, I still occasionally have the sense of humor of a 10 year old boy.

My children love Capn' Crunch cereal and all they had ever had was the non-berry kind (it's always on sale). They call them Captain Squares. A few days ago, a box of Oops All Berries was on sale and my kids were thrilled. They kept asking me when they could go to bed so it would be morning and they could have their new cereal. They refer lovingly to their new favorite bowl of sugar as Captain Balls. Seriously, it has been a week now and I still giggle every time I hear, "Mom, I want Captain Balls for breakfast," or "Mom, these Captain Balls are so delicious! Thank you for buying us balls!"

I have recently discovered my daughter embracing her role as oldest girl more and more, while also sharing some of her newly Sunbeam knowledge with her friends.

While settling an argument with a few close buddies one day (I believe someone wanted the door shut to their play area which is not allowed), we heard Scarlet's voice come screaming out of the hallway. "Guys! We are NOT allowed to shut the door! Blaze, do you even know Heavenly Father? Do you guys know Joseph Smith? Do you guys even know Jesus?" Still not really sure the connection between all of the thoughts but we were dying just a little bit from the other end of the house. I then remembered the time I slapped a boy across the face in 4th grade for taking the Lord's name in vain... yup, pretty sure she is mine.

I have recently discovered that the new Costco hot dogs are not nearly as delicious as their predecessors. What I have not discovered is another quick outing lunch for my family that costs $1.50 and occasionally includes a freshly dipped ice cream bar for the same deliciously low price.

I have recently discovered the answer to a mystery every mom of little boys has wondered. You know how little boys tend to have the most beautiful long eyelashes? And you know how you occasionally wonder what those long, luscious lashes would look like with a little mascara? Well, it turns out, they look really good, disturbingly good actually. Before you think I am forcefully turning my my son into a cross dresser, let me explain.

It all started the other day when Rhode spent a little too much time upstairs being quiet. All mothers know what that means. The "bad choice" item happened to be my makeup bag. He didn't go for the blush or the lipstick as I would have guessed. He went for the mascara. I walked into find this.

The best part: while one eye was incredibly smeared, the other eye was applied beautifully. Hilarious and disturbing all at the same time...

I did my best to rub it off with some baby wipes but he had black tinted eyelashes with a slightly black line under his eye for the rest of the day. Jon, without know about the previous experience, commented on how awesome Rhode's eyes were looking all of a sudden.

I also recently discovered that with very little encouragement from me and only slightly more encouragement from relatives, my kids have become BYU fans. Their alum parents haven't mentioned a word about needing to support the blue and white today, but somehow my kids got the message anyway.

Just a Few Tidbits

2011-03-13T12:37:00.000-07:00

Nothing all that new here. Just a few memories that are in desperate need of being recorded.

- Rhode now loves to answer the phone. He is very perturbed at me if I get to the house phone before he does. He will pick up the receiver, hold it to his ear in silence while the person on the other line hears me shouting from the distance, "Rhode, say hi!", which he will rarely do. He usually waits for the person to start talking to him. He then will utter his only phone conversation sentence, "Do you want me to sing you a song?" Whether the person answers in the affirmative or not, they are usually presented with whatever tune is in his heart at the moment. It varies from the ABC's to twinkle twinkle little star to Poker Face (don't judge me). But lately he has added a new favorite to his turntable.

- Scarlet is sick and has been off and on for about two weeks. Fever, coughing, runny nose and lots of clogginess which, in Scarlet's case, always leads to throwing up. Fun times. She wakes up in a constant state of absolute misery, feeling the weight of the world on her sinuses and burning with radiating heat. But, once the ibuprofin kicks in, she is instantly back to her old kicks and begging to leave the house.

She was devastated when I wouldn't let her go to church today. I was a bit devastated myself. Today was going to be her first opportunity to give a talk in church. We have been practicing, she even gave her talk to her uncle Brad (who was in town for the weekend) and we were all set. But with extra sickness and a round of antibiotics began, it just wasn't going to happen.

- When she gets sick like this, Scarlet very frequently gets so clogged up she has trouble breathing and usually vomits. It is a lot of fun. So, as last night was exceptionally bad, I crashed on a mat on her floor to make sure all was well. Beyond a few requests for nose blowings and drinks of water, she did well. But about halfway through the night, I woke up to find myself drenched from the waist down. What? In my half dazed state I was so not capable of coming up with a good solution to the problem. Obviously I had not wet the bed but maybe Scarlet came down on my tiny mat, peed, and then went back in her bed? It was all not making sense. Then I noticed the bottom of my sheet had made its way into the tub of her humidifier. You know how water tends to travel up fabric? Well it did quite rapidly and efficiently in my case. All of my bedding was soaked. But even with the realization, the best I could do was throw my top blanket underneath me and wrap up like a burrito, just centimeters from the wetness.

For so many reasons, I really hope she gets better quickly.

- Because of my germy house, we had to skip out on brunch yesterday at a friend's house. Yes, you heard me right, brunch. How fun is that? It was heartbreaking for me to have to cancel that morning, not only was Scarlet still feverish but she had gone back to bed at 9:00 that morning, but Suzanne had a better idea. Instead, she cooked up some fantastic food and brought it to us. Scarlet (now post medicine kick in) Rhode and I gorged ourselves on blueberry pancakes and the fixings. It was a million degrees of deliciousness. Not to brag, but I really have the best friends ever. The likeliness that any of us will be in the same place we are now in the next 1 - 5 years is incredibly slim, but I am going to try to enjoy this time as much as possible because there really are few better groups of women in the world than the ones I get to associate with weekly if not daily.

- Scarlet and I read chapter books together before she goes down for a nap. It is a lot of fun. I am going to start listing the titles that we have read on the side bar because finding a book can be kind of difficult. It is best if the chapters aren't too long, if there are the occasional pictures to look at, and if the story line is one a four year old can actually grasp. So the ones listed are my successes. But I am running low on options, any suggestions?

- Speaking of successes, about once a week we get a chance to watch a movie as a family. We try to mix it up and not just watch cartoons. A few weeks ago we got "The Secretariat". Jon was very doubtful but the kids loved it. I made popcorn during the slow middle but once the races were going regularly, my kids were enthralled. We have also watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (the old one) after Scarlet and I read the book and that was a big hit. It has also inspired Rhode's new song of choice. But our best movie night to date was this weekend when we all watched "Swiss Family Robinson." I had never seen it before and it was fantastic. I was into it as much as the kids. The amount of wild animals and all the crazy stunts they do (this must have been made pre "no animals were harmed in the making of this film" days) are just so fun. I was only going to let them watch half of it because of the late hour but we enjoyed ourselves so much we couldn't turn it off.

And now, as my children are asleep and I have a few hours until dinner needs to be started, I think I will join them in a short nap. It is amazing how unrestful a thin, wet mat can be.

Four

2011-03-06T15:26:00.000-08:00

I began my initial planning for Scarlet's upcoming birthday celebration in January. I toyed around with a few ideas, did a little present shopping, put some thought into how large/small of a shindig we were going to throw together.

I didn't actually get around to thinking about it again until March 1st. Her birthday is the 3rd. Sometimes I really mess myself up when I try to be ahead of the game. But four year olds are still very forgiving when it comes to birthday planning. Not as forgiving as one year olds... but still.

Her birthday just happened to fall on our favorite day of the week, Sewing club day! I think my children do not actually know the word "Thursday", it is universally identified by sewing club. In fact, Scarlet kept asking if her birthday was going to be on "a Tuesday or a Sewing Club day?" Her eventual enrollment in preschool might be opening her up to an entire world of "mom, that is not what that is really called"-isms.

So, we did a combo effort. We threw together some party hats and treats that we shared with our usual sewing club crowd. I think I did make them sing the birthday song at one point to make it a little more official. But really, her "birthday party" consisted of kids running around with pointed paper hats in the backyard while the moms got to get their usual amount of chat and sewing on. It was pretty fantastic.

During nap time, my actual work began. We had invited some friends to return that evening for dinner, cake and presents. I had from 1:30 to 5:00 to get a cake made, dinner made, and house cleaned and decorated (using the term decorated very loosely).

I just had to have one more attempt at a fondant cake. I had to have a win. It had little to do with Scarlet's request for a crown cake and a lot to do with my need to finally succeed with my marshmallow enemy. It was a long and arduous fight, hours into the battle a winner was not yet clear. But in the end, I emerged victorious. Though the battle scars left their toll...

This was my kitchen a hour and a half out without a stitch of dinner in the works as of yet.

But, with the help of a very important, adrenalin filled second wind, I got it all done. Our feast (which somehow took place on that very table minus all the white) included homemade macaroni and cheese, corn, stuffed mushrooms (on Scarlet's insistence) and chicken drumsticks (thankfully provided by Suzanne). Friends came, friends ate, friends enjoyed or at least pretended to a satisfactory level.

We weren't exactly working with a free evening schedule, so presents had to ensue quickly after eating. Scarlet has some fantastic friends and family who know her very very well.

Ellie Seguin got her a tinkerbell hair and makeup accessory case. This morning, as I put on my makeup for church, Scarlet ran into her bedroom, brought back her new set and we spent the morning putting on our makeup together. It would really be the perfect gift if Rhode wasn't abnormally attached to the glittery hair dryer. It has caused more than one scream battle between the two.

Blaze, Bennett and Charlie Stout along with Grandma and Grandpa Nielsen got Scarlet the thing she asked for the most, birthday money. She is so excited for the next time she spots an
"I have to have this!" item in the store and have a different answer to the question, "Do you have any money to buy that?" So far, we have only ventured to the grocery story where she almost convinced herself the $4 bottle of Naked Juice was worth spending every last dollar she had at the time. This money spending process might be a long one.

Jane Warren brought one of the favorite presents of the evening, an Ariel Barbie. This (along with the Barbie she received from me) is the first Barbie she has owned and she was beyond excited. Ariel or Rapunzel have accompanied us on every errand mom would allow.

*** Side Story ***

The evening ended with a trip to the Young Mens Stake Basketball Tournament. Scarlet insisted on bringing Ariel along. I had an immediate, vivid flashback to my six year old birthday party where I received a Barbie myself. I insisted we take it with us to the pizza place where we would be celebrating the rest of my big day. In the excitement that followed, Barbie got left behind and no amount of calls to the lost and found part of the store brought her back. I was devastated for my loss all over again and spent the game watching Ariel like a hawk, making sure her owner wasn't nearly as careless as her owner's mother. Scarlet needed no assistance though and Ariel is still safe after a week of outdoor travels. Maybe we do improve with the rising generation.

*** Side Story Over***

From Grandma Peggy and Grandma Dave, Scarlet received her first doll house for her My Little Pony collection. She also got the latest Dora episode on DVD which I have already memorized. It is truly a fascinating tale of the adventures and successes one can have while dressed as a ballerina. Look out Oscars.

The My Little Pony house has been a big hit. We set it up and sat down together with ponies in hand. I generally assumed the pretending would just... happen. Not so much. We had to have a few practice rounds involving, "Okay now I will be the mommy and you pretend to be the baby pony" and vise versa. But success has been achieved and she is a pony pretending pro. I am so proud.

From mom and dad, she received a Rapunzel Barbie and some extra My Little Pony playmates for her new house.

The cake was finally revealed, candles were lit, songs were sung.

See? Not too bad right? I added three rhinestones to the crown points which were inedible but pretty. Cake and ice cream were devoured and the party was generally concluded.

Scarlet is four. She is incredibly proud of the fact, as are we. She is still incredibly tall, clever, funny, a killer dancer, and a bossy little perfectionist, which I absolutely love about her. Happy birthday my beautiful little girl. We absolutely and completely love you.

The Nielsen Bed & Breakfast

2011-02-27T13:47:00.000-08:00

Las Vegas, being the popular tourist destination it is, along with its handy distance between California and Utah, means we usually have a fair share of house guests stopping by. I love it. It is totally awesome to regularly see friends, cousins, friends of friends and cousins, and enjoying "touristy Vegas" every now and again. My favorite part is talking my siblings into taking their three day college weekends to come see me. It works just often enough to be great.

But the funny part about our guests is they always tend to come in waves. We will have no one for months and months and then suddenly we will be barraged. The frequency has increased a bit since Sam and Kyle moved away. I would like to think we were dividing the Vegas visitors pretty equally, but I am pretty sure I was very regularly the second choice to the Miller residence. It's high school all over again... but hey, she's gone now and look who has the most popular Earl bed and breakfast now!

Just kidding Sam.

Though my favorite thing is when I get a message on my phone or email from a cousin I don't regularly hear from, looking for a place to crash. They always feel the need to apologize for the lack of contact and somehow squeezing in their actual request in between paragraphs of apologies for asking anything of me in the first place. Generous, but incredibly unnecessary. We are family, people! That is what we do! I would expect the same hospitality for my family if any of you lived anywhere interesting.

Just kidding cousins.

Anyway, February was one of those house waves. Our first guest were these lovely people:

The Jason Earl's were taking a little drive break on their way to California for the week. I love the cousin visits. We always have a million things to talk about, even if we haven't seen each other for long periods of time.

Pros of their visit: I had a fantastic time chatting with KaeLynn and I am in love with Brooklyn and her suddenly young woman adorableness. They somehow fit eight people (mom and dad Morrison came too) in my house without inconveniencing us in the slightest. And Scarlet now has a new girl crush known as Eliza. She has decided Eliza is the greatest creature that has ever walked the planet and was devastated when she left the next day. She now tries to convince me daily that Eliza might live kind of far away but she still would definitely want to come over for a playdate if only we asked nicely.

Cons of their visit: They left very quickly.

The next evening, our longest house guest visitor to date arrived.

Alysha spent a good two weeks with us while she did some kind of pilot-y thing. I don't really understand when she starts using airplane words so I just smile and nod.

Pros of her visit: It was like having a sister or awesome college roommate again. We just chatted and chatted, usually staying up way too late, never running out of things to talk about. My kids adored her. It took them probably an entire week to learn her name but even when she was referred to as "mom's friend" she was a very popular visitor.

*** side story *** I have referred previously to my children's love of beans of all shapes and forms. Obviously, Alysha is not as well versed on my blog as she is on her pilot stuff. She sat down at the kitchen table with a bowl full of edamame, a dish my children lovingly refer to as "squeezer beans". Scarlet spotted the snack and was immediately at Alysha's side, politely asking for a bean. Alysha gave her a funny look and said, "Do you know what these are? I don't know if you will like them."

"Oh, liking them is not the problem here," I warned her. "She knows exactly what those are and she will eat your whole bowl there if you let her."

Alysha was mystified. The only way she could satiate her curiosity was to let my two children go to town on her snack, just to prove how right I was. In case you were wondering, I was really right. My children's eating habits continued to impress Alysha all visit long.

*** side story over ***

Other pros: Alysha made me feel like a domestic superstar, asking me about my cooking, my parental methods, my grocery shopping habits. Seriously, my cousin-the pilot-made my life seem really cool. Plus I am always a fan of another adult around to cook for. There is nothing like a good house guest to make you feel appreciated in your culinary skills.

She even talked Brandon into coming up for a way too short visit. Alysha and I have a lot in common and it turns out our husbands do as well. But Brandon ditched out on us shortly after arrival. That part is not a pro, that is a con.

Other Cons of her visit: I still have no idea what 75% of her pilot words mean and I only slightly grasp what she was doing in Vegas in the first place. Plus, I got so used to having her around, I had a tad bit of Alysha withdrawls at her departure. Boo.

The day after Alysha arrived, these two lovely people also made an appearance.

Do you know how few picture of just the two of you are located on your blog?

Gotta love irresistible hotel deals. My dad and mom got to spend a few nights at the Wynn Encore resort. It was seriously cool.

Pros of their visit: My children have finally realized how fantastic my parents really are. They have gotten past the "I'm going to act shy for a day or two and then remember that I love you right before you leave" phase and get straight to the loving. Plus I got to see inside a room at the Wynn. Like that was going to happen in any other situation. And all the usual benefits that come with parent visits, going out to dinner, enjoying their company, etc.

Cons of their visit: Scarlet & Rhode could not understand why Grandma and Papa were not with us constantly, as they kept ditching us for their sweet hotel hook up. They also were miffed when they were not allowed to stay in the hotel after visiting. Not that I blame them, I was a tad miffed myself.

Right at the tail end of Alysha's visit, Kylie and some roommates joined us for President's Day weekend. Another visit successfully achieved.

Pros of their visit: Kylie has a fantastic group of roommates and the two that joined her were just a ton of fun. My kids instantly loved all three of them (maybe a little overly loved) but had those three college girls hysterically giggling most of the day. Another benefit, college students are almost universally grateful for all home cooked food. There is no one that will make you feel more impressive in the kitchen than kids who have had to feed themselves top ramen and cereal for the past 5 months.

Cons of their visit: They spent most of their time hitting the town and hanging out with other BYU visitors and enjoying their vacation and not nearly enough time entertaining my children and me. I have almost forgiven them...

Once our onslaught of guests headed back to their home, our family hit the road to be house guests ourselves. Gotta share the love, right?

So, planning a trip to Vegas? Need a quick stopover on your way out of town? Are you someone I like? Then, come on down! The accommodations are the most affordable in town, the cereal is plentiful, and the company is downright fantastic, if I do say so myself.

My Funny Valentine

2011-02-20T15:15:00.001-08:00

Let's rewind and take a trip back, back to January 2005, the month Jon and I met. I was the membership committee co-chair in our singles ward. That meant I was in charge of making sure all new people were at the ward they were supposed to be, that their picture was taken and that the records guys had the new people names. We had 15-20 new people a week... it was kind of a time consuming calling. But, that is where I met Jon.

Jon was new, my membership committee person was very impressed, I was uninterested. But after chatting a few times and hanging out in the same group once or twice, I was slightly more interested. That and I realized he was actually taller than me.

So, skip forward to our FHE Valentines day activity. Jon shows up with his boy posse, each clutching handfuls of different elementary school supplies, colored paper, markers, scissors, glue, crayons, etc. They all grabbed a table and got to work. I stopped by to check out the construction scene a few times but was quickly shooed away. Finally, Jon handed me the most strange looking valentine I had ever seen.

I scanned it in my computer for the first time today and it has definitely lost some of its original luster six years later. In its glory days, its was a full television screen with a large circular sheet of paper that ran through the television set. Keep in mind at the time I was working for Channel 8 news, thus the running theme.

To prevent any illegibility (and to correct the terrible spelling) translation:

"The Beginning: Turn to Channel 8 News"

"Breaking News Flash: 'Today someone has stopped traffic at the Spaghetti Bowl (a common traffic site problem in Vegas)'"

"Looking closer, apparently it's a man with a sign"

"It says K.C. is... huh... there it is folks.. and the front..."

"Truly it must be a desperate man folks."

Pretty cute huh? I would think most girls would be generally impressed with this creation. And, don't get me wrong, I was impressed. But, what you don't see is he made three other creative valentines for other girls. Yes, as he points out, mine was the coolest, and supposedly "Will you be mine?" would have said "will you go out with me?" if one certain girl hadn't been leering to prevent any such announcements (those are his words) but still, quantity definitely devalues a bit.

But anyway, it definitely wasn't the end as Jon and I started dating shortly after. I have kept this one token of our dating time and love how much it reminds me of our first meetings together and to see how far we have come.

And that is the last valentine I have ever received from my husband. Seriously.

But, Jon and I aren't big holiday people. Even the big ones, gifts aren't really our thing. And if I were responsible for creating a return valentine to all of the crazy, creative stuff he could come up with... yeah it would not be impressive on my end.

But my creative valentine man has returned. For our Valentine's FHE, Jon insisted we all make a Valentine for another member of our family. Rhode had Scarlet, Scarlet had me, I had Jon, and Jon had Rhode. Rhode, Scarlet, and I were done in a very timely manner. Jon took more than his allotted time, but we were patient and enjoyed our exchange. Here is what he had created.

To explain a little, Rhode is a tad bit obsessed with ghosts and the difference between real/pretend. I thought this was too adorable.

Rhode was also impressed but occasionally he would look at the front of the card and his lips would start to tremble as he would say, "Mom, that ghost is scaring me!"

I would reply, "No Rhode! It's a happy ghost! Look at his smile!"

To which Rhode would instantly smile, remembering how much he liked it.

That happened about five different times.

Scarlet was happy with the entire activity until she received her Valentine from Rhode. He isn't so big with the crayons yet and her card consisted of three red lines. To say she was disappointed is an understatement.

So Jon grabbed the last piece of paper and got back to work.

She was much more impressed with dad's handiwork.

I might have let him off the hook for future homemade Valentine creations, but the new generation might be a little more demanding of his skills. Dad has been pretty popular since the card publications.

But, don't worry, I gave them Valentine candy so I am still the favorite.

Who Doesn't Like a Win Every Now and Then?

2011-02-16T18:46:00.001-08:00

Ok, so I know its a tad bit ridiculous and, honestly I don't even remember what the prize for winning is anymore, but I am in the running for a blog contest and I think you all should vote for me. Not because I have the best entry, but because you like me better than all of the strangers who also entered.

Seriously.

http://www.craftaholicsanonymous.net/2011/02/you-know-youre-craftaholic-when-come.html

Vote number 37!

If I win, I will briefly post the picture of Jon in adult footed penguin pajamas (don't tell him this). Worth it people, really really worth it.

You said it when you were three, so it counts

2011-02-13T15:07:00.000-08:00

Scarlet loves to talk about her future. She dreams and fantasizes of all of the amazing things that will be as soon as she is "4 then 5 then 6 then 7 then 8 then...." you get the point.

But the part that really makes me laugh is, the life she dreams about is the life she sees me living on a daily basis. Not that my life isn't great, quite the opposite actually, but some of the life moments she is looking forward to are definitely not nearly as glamorous as I must make them look.

First and foremost, she is ready to be a mom. Like now, if she had her way.

Specifically:

- She wants 5 babies... or 26 depending on the day

- The baby names change frequently, but they usually go a little like this, "I am going to name the girl baby Try-nah and the boy baby Kah-lay. Are those good names mom?"

"Sure Scarlet, you can name your babies whatever you want. (And so far none of them have been anything resembling an actual existing name) What are you going to name the other three?"

That is when, no matter what name she started out with, she then starts rhyming.

"Umm, I think Bah-lay, Dah-lay, and Mah-lay and Hah-lay..." until she runs out of consonants. Can you imagine trying to call all of those kids to the dinner table? And I thought five girls with the same first initial got confusing...

She now realizes that we do expect her to have a husband before all of this baby action and she immediately nomiated Rhode. Though I was truly flattered she liked her brother enough to nominate him, we steered her clear of the incest route. Since dad (her second choice) was already claimed, she was perplexed.

"Mom, who is left to marry?"

"Well, Scarlet, someday when you are bigger you will meet a boy who isn't in your family that you can marry."

"Like Bennett and Blaze? (The current best guy buds)"

"Yes, a friend like them when you are older."

"Hmmm, I pick Bennett. He will want to marry me."

Or now, I guess. Sorry Blaze, you did have a fighting chance and you are the same age... but you are shorter than her. Now that the groom has been chosen, the bride has been fervently planning the big day:

- So far, she would like to be married in the Salt Lake Temple like her mom and dad

or the Excalibur, both "castles", one just more regularly visible to the bride-to-be.

- She would like a bouquet of pink roses just like the picture of flowers on the tag of her new church dress. She asked me to hold onto the tag so I didn't forget which ones to get.

- At first, she insisted on wearing my wedding dress and was overjoyed when I gave her permission to wear the gown on her special day. But lately, after viewing my mad sewing skills (I recently made a very skilled sock monkey) she has deemed me ready for the most important job of all, making her a wedding dress. I accepted and she insisted we begin immediately. After a long chat about her height now and her height when she would be marrying age, we agreed to hold off on the wedding dress sewing until she was six.

And after entering the world of wedded bliss, she is even more excited for the events to follow:

"Mom, when I am big, can I cook dinner for you?"

Um, yes. Definitely yes.

"Mom, when I am big, can I do your 'mom' cleaning jobs?"

Scarlet you don't even have to wait to get married to enjoy that priviledge.

"Mom, will I be able to use the laundry machine when I am big like you?"

Mom is counting down the days...

"Mom, can I take care of you when I am bigger and you are little like me?"

Not so sure about my shrinking.. but I am in either way.

Who knew I made 'mom' seems so desirable?

My little mini-mom is already on the fast track to developing her mom traits. She loves to help out in the kitchen, she helps her brother do everything from pouring a glass of milk to getting in his pjs at night. She loves to inform her friends in her most matronly tone when they are making a bad choice and Rhode now has two women watching his every move. Poor kid.

But I can't help but hope (even if I have a long way to go) that her desires won't change too much as she gets older. Hopefully with these requests now in writing, she will be held to those well planned choices for a few decades or so. Can I make her sign this or something?

Who Wore It Best?

2011-02-09T09:01:00.000-08:00

One outfit, two good looking men.

Now it's time for your to decide. Who wore it best?

Our first contender...

Our second contender...

Our wardrobe contributor credit goes to Kristy, who brought this handsome attire all the way back from Ireland. Sadly, due to its ambiguous, in-between size, we weren't really sure who the gift was meant for. Thus, now you get to decide.

The winner of the "Who Wore it Best" award gets to choose where we all attend a celebratory dinner. One will likely choose Korean food, the other McDonalds. I will leave it up to you to decipher which choice belongs to which model.

But before you decide, here is one more view to consider.

Vote now. Their fates are in your hands.

p.s. Jon has only allowed me to post these pictures for a limited number of days so enjoy them for their short engagement...

So awesome. So free.

2011-02-03T14:38:00.000-08:00

It was just a great week. Not this last week, this last week was fine. I am just a little behind. But, the week I am referencing was a few weeks ago. And again, it was seriously great. One of those weeks when I felt "connected". People who are "connected" get hooked up with free stuff all the time. They know people in high places. They can work the system. I don't get to claim the title very often but after all of the "hooked up" fun I was able to enjoy, I can officially say I am friends with the right people.

One of those fantastic friends hooked us up with free tickets to Disney on Ice for the Thursday night performance. We had begged this friend for tickets for months. She occasionally has a few extra (being the one who is actually "connected") but our hopes were looking grim for the ice spectacular. Days before, we got the good word. Five tickets (between two families) were ours. We uninvited our husbands, convinced Rhode that it would be super fun to pretend he was about four months younger for an evening (he was mostly advised just to keep his cute mouth shut) and prepared ourselves for the accolades we were sure to receive from our insanely grateful children.

I didn't tell Scarlet about our evening until dinner time that day. She doesn't do well with things that will be happening in the future. The less anticipation time, the better for everyone. She seemed intrigued by the idea of seeing her favorite princesses but really could not understand why she would not be doing any of the ice skating. At one point, she considered not really wanting to attend if we would only be "sitting there." Yeah, she almost lost her ticket right there.

I forgave her for her ignorance and lack of mom-praising eventually. We got there in plenty of time to find our seats... our seriously awesome seats. There was the ice rink, a few rows of chairs set up eye level and then five rows up from those, yeah that was us.

The pre-show wait was the only downside of the evening. The amount of merchandise/treats circulating was insane. I did not see a single toy that cost less than $20 or food item under $10. And, of course, the kids were ravenous with 'I wants' Knowing the price of the tickets I didn't pay for, I couldn't help but do a few math calculations for the families sitting around me with multiple children, each gripping a treat or spinning, lighting device. My very cheap soul shudders at the thought...

I got one chance for a "by the ice" photo, thanks for this Rhode.

Then, the show began, a previously restless Rhode went from cranky to fascinated. I am not sure Scarlet let her eyes tear away from the stage once. And, to be honest, as all of those Disney characters I have known and loved for so long came skating out on stage, I got a little wide eyed myself. It was a tad bit magical.

And the fantastic week didn't end there. While casually checking my email one day, I happened to take a peek at my "Free Vegas Shows for Locals" list I get and, to my absolute happiness, my eyes caught the words Miss America.

Free Miss America tickets were just a phone call away. I almost fainted from all of the excitement.

I immediately grabbed my phone and started the calling process. I have scored free tickets to random things several times in the past. It usually takes about 10-20 minutes of straight calling to get through to the free ticket lady. This time, it took me an hour. An hour! But I just could not give up. Finally, after doing a whole lot of activities while redialing (making lunch, sending emails, calling insurance people) I finally got through (and hung up on the insurance person in the process). Not only did I get through, I scored four spots. I say spots instead of tickets because we were actually going as seat fillers. Which meant anything from getting stuck in some seat or sitting in one of the front row seats for much more important people who don't show up.

In this case, the person to know was me! I invited three friends who would truly appreciate the experience to its maximum potential and we planned our evening of awesomeness. We all agreed to dress up as fancy as we could (which is only so much considering our budgets/age/state of life) but I think we all looked pretty fantastic. Then, we were all going to meet at Planet Hollywood and enjoy the sweet life.

And that is when it got a little crazy. We got out the door later than usual sorting kids and dads and babysitters and arrived to a completely packed parking garage. After circling for 20 minutes there was seriously not one open spot. It was five until 5:00 at that point (the point when our tickets need to be picked up) so they sent me running while they kept trying. As is the case whenever trying to find your way through a Las Vegas casino, everything is insanely far away. But I hopped into line right in front of four girls whose dresses were about three sizes too small just in time. Seconds later, the usher told the too little fabric squeezed girls they were the end of the line. Phew!

I requested my four tickets and they asked where the rest of my group was. I realized the real answer (circling the parking lot in a fury or not here yet) was not the answer they were looking for. "They're in the bathroom" somehow came out of my mouth. Sheesh I have already admitting to lying twice in this one blog post. Hey, I guess admitting is the first step!

They supplied me with the four wrist bracelets and sent me into another line. A parking spot had been secured by then but my group was lost in the labyrinth that is Planet Hollywood. Even longer story made slightly shorter, with some fancy line stalling and hallway hiding, we were all able to meet up and get set with our lovely wrist bands. Unfortunately, because of our misunderstanding of the whole process, we were the last of a long line of seat fillers. We would not be filling in for front row B-celebs. Instead we got decent seats second row on the balcony.

Even after all that running look how happy we are!

It was a fantastic evening. There were high moments (an insanely good piano number and one of the most original ventriloquist talents I have ever seen) some low moments (a very sad pointe number and a host who felt the need to fill all commercial breaks with sports trivia) but we enjoyed every second.

I am still in shock that the winner was a 17 year old girl from small town Nebraska who was homeschooled her whole life. She was just amazing all evening and has officially made the list of people I want to have lunch with. She just must be fascinatingly intelligent.

After the show, we grabbed a quick bite to eat (thought we would have time before the show but that obviously did not happen) rehashing all of our favorite moments, and then called it a night.

So, so awesome.

I can truly say I fully appreciated my brief "connected" status. May we all keep our friends close and the ones who hook us up with free stuff closer.

The Christmas Card 2010

2011-01-20T07:30:00.001-08:00

The writing part says:

The Nielsen family was in need of a makeover, so we all tried a little bit of a

Different Look for 2010.

Jon decided to ditch the bristly, mountain man look for the first time in… a very long time. With his new Stake YM calling, he is frequently found clean shaven these days. The kids finally have started recognizing him again.

Kacey decided it was time to get back into shape and spent too much of this year out of her warm, cozy bed running and hiking. She is pretty sure she would have seen impressive results… if she could stop rewarding herself with chocolate and ice cream.

Scarlet (3) managed to fit in eight haircuts this year, four of them by her own hand. Her looks have included very short, spiky layers and all kinds of different bangs. Luckily, she has assured me that even the worst of cuts can be fixed by the “doctor, you know mom, the one that has the fun cape and the cookies and fixes hair!”

Rhode (2) is no longer looking like our baby. He is suddenly big and handsome. He loves to get his hair done in the morning but constantly insists on “church hair, no fikey! (spiky)”. His dad thinks he looks like a nerd with his missionary ‘do, but Rhode loves it.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Love, the Nielsens