Earl Girl Family Reunion

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

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...

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...

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

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!

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

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.