Memorial Day

It's been a day. A great one! Aaron is in Idaho with Nathan since last Friday. We couldn't let them have all the fun, so we went hiking! Man alive, I love the mountains. And so do these kids!!!

 Look at those baby's legs! That girl has never missed a meal!

 

 Little Besties

Honest to goodness, the three dang cutest kids on earth!

So happy we did this today. So happy my sisters came too and that Nikki's husband Dave was our man to help us all. So happy for this family of mine. So happy to talk with my kids today about those we love who have passed on and what wonderful people they were and how lucky we are to call them family forever! So happy (and much more grateful than happy) for the brave men and women who have paid the ultimate price with their life so I could enjoy such a beautiful day with my beautiful family. Now, I just need my boys to come home and then I will feel complete again.

A Babe at 39

I'm pretty happy to be married to this guy.

Really, all I can say is, I lucked out! He's one in a million! I threw a little bash last minute (as usual) to have some family and close friends over for his favorite cheese cake. While we were sitting, chatting, I asked everyone to think of 3 words each to describe Aaron, to make up 39. Here's what we all came up with.

1-Fun
2-Hyper
3-Driven
4-Hard Worker
5-Reliable
6-Enthusiastic
7-Risk Taker
8-Committed
9-Devoted
10-Entertaining
11-Focused
12-Creative
13-Ambitious
14-Sweet to his wife (my dad said that):o)
15-Entrepeneur
16-Faithful
17-Good Man
18-Organized
19-Successful
20-Funny
21-Brave
22-Good Friend
23-Great Laugh
24-Friendly
25-Helpful
26-Fearless
27-Open Minded
28-Collector
29-Competitive
30-Honest
31-Thoughtful
32-Clean
33-Dependable
34-Kind
35-Movie Lover
36-Man of God
37-Romantic
38-Knowledgable
39-A great dad

He sure is all those things, and so much more! We sure do like him around here.

 This couple has been our friends from the start of our marriage. Love the Nielsons

Happy 39 years to the man of my dreams! The world is a better place because you're in it.

Nope!

Me: Joe, give that back
Joe: Nope
Me: Joe, are you poopy?
Joe: Nope
Me: Joe, lets go get dressed
Joe: Nope
Me: Joe, it's nap time
Joe: Nope
Me: Eat your food
Joe: Nope
Me: Joe, come here
Joe: Nope

Joe's favorite word: NOPE

Holland

She is 6 months old! Time is flying by. I hate that phrase because it's so very true! I cannot believe she's 6 months. Everything about her makes me happy. Her fat thighs, round head, ridiculous long eyelashes, beautiful blue eyes, her babbling, toothless smiles, even her constant waking in the night to nurse! (ok, that's a total lie. I could definitely due without that!)

My peanut
Weight: 15 lbs
Length: 25"

What I Love Today

Yard work

Fresh cut grass

Warm Spring Day

Eating oranges freshly picked and delivered from California! 

Taking pictures of my babes

My house

Listening to my little people play together - nicely

A clean home 

A sleeping baby 

Blue eyes

Beautiful Flowers

Wearing no makeup until someone shows up at my house unexpectedly. Then, I'm just embarrassed. 

General Conference

General Conference is inspiring. It is uplifting. It is humbling. It is powerful. It is spiritual. When I was a little girl, I dreaded conference weekend. It was hard to sit and listen to eight hours of talks. (Two sessions on Saturday and two on Sunday). And now, that time just flies by and I find myself wanting more!! Not only do I want more, I NEED more! I found myself really tuning into the following talks. 

Elder Rasband, who spoke on prayer and faith. Sister Reeves, who spoke on morality and purity. Elder Zwick, who spoke on communication and love. President Uchtdorf, spoke on gratitude. It was SUPERB!!! President Monson spoke on the importance of kindness, especially to those who do not believe as we do. I feel so blessed to hear from our church leaders every six months. I'm so grateful that my children are growing up listening, just as I did and tuning in to what the prophet has to say to us. I make it a little more enjoyable for them to watch and listen than it was for me when I was a child.

Fruit Loop necklaces

They also did conference packets where they listened for certain words, or could color pictures, and do cross word puzzles. 

Caught Joe folding his arms for the prayer. 

 Traditional Conference Scones!

Joe liked them too!

During the last session, Nathan and Joe were out back getting some wiggles out. I happened to look out to see Nathan being so sweet to his younger brother. Something about listening to good things, and then seeing your kids doing good things make me teary happy! 

Life is good!

*Late last night, my dad called to tell me that my sweet Grandma passed away. She was a month shy of her 101st birthday! I'll have to write a post all about her. She was remarkable! Although normally death brings feelings of great sadness, I couldn't be very sad. I just keep thinking of her tremendous reunion with her beloved Preston and her parents and siblings. She was the last to go of her family and has been without grandpa for 40 years. I am the lucky one to have called her Grandma!

Hospital Stay

I've learned recently, that I have really taken health for granted. I LOVE learning about health and diet, and really enjoy teaching my children the importance of eating well and the benefits that come when we don't indulge in too much sugar! (That said, we still have a ways to improve). It's no secret that I will look to natural methods when we are sick, before I grab for over the counter drugs.

Holland started to get sick a week and a half ago. Joe had been sick and he just LOVES to kiss and hug her. I tried hard to stop it from happening, but there were a couple of times he snuck it in. I started to apply the essential oils and nursing her more regularly, but she consistently had a fever and wasn't showing any signs of getting better. I asked Aaron to give her a blessing and decided I would take her into see the doctor the following morning if there was no improvement through the night. He called our Home Teacher to assist him in the blessing. Our home teacher happens to also be a Physicians Assistant, and offered to check her ears and do a small checkup on her stats. After the blessing, our friend checked Holland. Her ears were good (I thought for sure she had an ear infection and that's why she was getting the fever), but when he checked her oxygen level, it registered at 87. NOT GOOD! He said I needed to take her to the instacare right away. It was 8:30 already, so I got her in the car and we went. I was only in there for 10 minutes and they said I needed to take her to the ER right away. What? Really? I could tell she was sick, but I had NO IDEA it was so bad.

Long story short, little Miss has RSV.  Two days in the hospital proved that I am truly thankful for hospitals. (Secretly, I hate them, but they sure have their place and I am beyond thankful we were there). Oxygen and suction treatments have been my best friend this past week. For Holland, not so much!

Two days ago, Holland got the go ahead to only have oxygen at night. Phew! because I don't think she could handle that in her nose all day long, for one more day! Between that in her nose, and her monitor going off in the night when she dipped below 88, I think we are both done with this! Good riddance! Well, good riddance as soon as we are totally done with it.

No Time to Write

Too much has taken place since I last blogged. Bummer! I hate when I let too much time pass. It's so hard to catch up.  Quick version

Valentines Day

As you can see, no complaints for Valentines Day!

My Birthday seems to only get better as I get older! Who would have guessed? Aaron sent me to Ikea for the day to buy new dishes, bathroom stuff, dish towels, etc. It's been a long time needed! Then, he took me to the ritzy "Roof" restaurant. It did not disappoint!

Seriously, I'm spoiled by him. Bummer this picture isn't better. Quite the view eh? I ate until I was sick since I likely won't be back to eat there...maybe ever! I thank Heavenly Father every day for my life. 35 years has been pretty darn good to me!

Grandpa

My dad is a pretty great man. He's simple in so many ways. He's not a man of the world, and has never sought for worldly riches. He worked hard to provide for his very large family and has served faithfully in the church all of his life. One of my greatest memories is the time he took to make us a hot breakfast every morning before school growing up. He'd wake us up at 5:45 to read from the scriptures, pray as a family, then we'd eat together before all of us went our separate ways for the day. I look back on that time and think of the safety he provided for us kids by doing this each day. I felt so safe at home and knew that my parents loved and trusted in God.

My dad is also just fun. Like, crazy fun. He used to call my mom on his way home from work on a Friday and say "I'm on my way home, why don't we pack up and take the kids camping!" He would do this all the time and I can say now that my love of camping and being in the mountains is because my dad made it a big part of my childhood. He used to whip up the yummiest dutch oven dinners, tell us crazy/hilarious bedtime stories, and could roast smores' better than anyone I know; even still to this day.

There's a few things in life that dad enjoys. Working, whether it be projects around the house, making his famous denim quilts, yard work, gardening, or building something, he's always doing something. He also always looks forward to having us all together. As crazy as it is when we are all together, and the volume can be deafening sometimes, I know he loves it.

The last thing I know that dad loves, almost goes without saying. Dad loves his BYU cougars! I think it's fair to say that he's a die hard! Mom is a good sport and goes to most of the games with him, but Nathan had the special treat of going to his first cougars basketball game with Grandpa. He was given pretty much everything he wanted. Hotdog, drinks, popcorn, candy. You name it, he got it.

Thanks dad, for being such a great man and for loving us all so much! We sure do love you.