The Nielsen Family

New Puppy

2010-01-16T11:59:00.000-08:00

Chris went down to Pheonix on Thursday to pick up our new puppy. The flight didn't get in until 8:20pm so they had to stay the night and come home Friday morning. Well he's here now and couldn't be cuter. He's so fat! When he's laying down for a nap you can just see rolls all over him. The kids LOVE it! We're still struggling on the name. It's kind of between Brown Boy, Brown Bear, and Mr. Bear. I like Mr. Bear, or Mr. Brown. Kansas calls him Brown Boy though so we'll see what ends up sticking. Give it about a year and if everything goes well we should be expecting puppies!! Too fun:)

Kansas....our little ballarina! Who Knew?!?

2009-06-06T18:33:00.000-07:00

We went to Kansas' ballet recital tonight and it was soooo cute! I can't believe I'm saying this, but my daughter actually was up dancing on stage! She looked good too. She wasn't as clumsy as I had imagined in my head. It was totally enjoyable, and the baby was pretty good too. I had to go nurse him towards the end, but once I found a nice quite spot in the back of the auditorium, I completely enjoyed the program. Little ballerinas really are the cutest thing! :)

He's Here!!

2009-06-05T12:06:00.000-07:00

So I went in early Monday morning to be induced....there I was right on time. In my bed by 8am waiting for Dr. Connelly to come and break my water. 9 o'clock rolls by...then 10...WHAT THE HECK! I'm here because in NEED to be induced, not to hang out in this nasty gown and wait! I finally ask then nurse, who was awesome by the the way, and she said she couldn't find him. ????? Ok. 11:30 rolls around and finally Dr. Connelly shows up. I guess he'd been in the OR all morning. That's what they told me anyway. So he breaks my water and then I'm left to wait for some painful contractions so I could get an epidural. To be honest I was going to lie and say they hurt right away, because I was so worried about going fast and not having enough time to get one. But...I waited. I didn't wait too long though. I had like 2 semi uncomfortable contractions and was like, screw it! Call the anesthesiologist!...I'm ready. Oh so this is the second time I send Chris out of the room. He doesn't do well you see, with any of this stuff. Getting an epidural isn't fun, but worth it. I got the epidural in and done at 1:30. I figured any time now I'd have the baby...I came in at a 4 almost a 5 for heaven's sake. This should not take long! I was wrong. 5 o'clock rolled around and I was so frustrated with nothing happening. The nurse, Shari, came in to check me and I asked if we could start some pitocin to get things moving. She told me Dr. Connelly said if I had progressed at all on my own he didn't want to start it. uhg! So she checked and said i was almost a 6. Crap! So I'm going to be here till midnight! She said she would go call him and see what he said. 5:20- Here came Shari with a bag of pitocin for my drip. Yah! I asked what time she got off. She said, 6:00. Oh dang. I really wanted her for my delivery nurse. So I got started on a low dose of pitocin. 5:40- Here comes Dr. Connelly and Shari into the room together. What the heck is he doing here? He checks me and says, "okay! time to have a baby!" WHAT! The team of nurses gets the room ready for delivery and Dr. Connelly is all ready and the show starts. 5:50- Start pushing(oh and the epidural worked great...i felt NOTHING). Time of birth 6:00. Shari got to be there with me, and everything went beautifully. Babies weight: 10lbs. 8oz. (same as Graham!). Babies length: 21 inches. Babies name: Calvin Edward Nielsen

What a CUTIE!!!

Tomorrow's the BIG Day!!

2009-05-31T20:38:00.000-07:00

Well I'm headed into the hospital tomorrow at 8 am to be induced. Third kid, third time to be induced! What's my deal?!? I thought I would of had this kid by now, but no such luck, so it looks like June 1st will be the day. I've had such denial about giving birth this time. I start to think about it and then quickly busy myself with something else. It's supposed to be a boy...note the blog background change:) I think that's part of the reason I'm so nervous. Graham, my first baby, was a really tough delivery and I didn't really walk away in one piece from that one. I keep linking boy with horrible delivery. I hope that's not the case tomorrow. I hope I can put pictures on here and tell you all everything went wonderfully....we'll see. Wish me luck and pray for me that this kid won't weigh as much as his older brother did!! (Oh and Graham weighed 10 1/2 pounds for those of you that didn't know)

Our little Chew Boy

2009-03-16T10:11:00.000-07:00

Chris and I got home from the Mesa Sunday evening to find our little Chewy dead. He was on top of his dog house and jumped through the trellis fence behind his house and hung himself. It was so sad and tragic. Graham was the first one out of the truck to see his dog, and found him like that. I think that makes me feel the worst. I could not stop crying over it. I just really loved Chewy. He was my dog and He was so good. He acted just the way I wanted and never licked me or jumped on me. Maybe I'm an up tight dog owner, but I don't like to be licked and jumped on. We could let him off his lease all day and he would stay around the house. His only downfall was that he would not stop barking if Graham was outside. He LOVED Graham. He would listen to Graham better than anyone. I would have Graham go and hide and Chewy would always go look for him. Chewy only did that with Graham though. Poor Pog. He was so upset. I hope we can find us another dog as good as Chewy was. It makes me so sad to look out back and just see the one dog. Losing a pet is hard, but Chewy brought our family lots of happiness. We'll miss him so much.

I'm still here.....

2009-01-25T20:42:00.000-08:00

I know I haven't been posting lately. I think a lot of the earlier neglect was from not feeling well in the first trimester of pregnancy. I swear I have never been so sick! I feel Great now and I'm really enjoying being pregnant. Chris and I just found out last Wed. that it's a boy! We both seemed to know already, but just got it confirmed. I'm happy for Graham to have a brother!
On a more serious note; I've been really struggling this week because of Julie's Mom passing away so unexpectedly. It's been a very emotional week for me, and I don't think being pregnant is helping much. Two reasons this has been so tough: 1. It's Julie's mom and Julie and I are very close and it kills me to see her going through this. 2. I know the relationship Julie has with her mom mirrors mine with my own mother. I can't imagine how I would make it without my mom right there. The funeral services were on Sat. and were just wonderful. All the kids did such a great job. I know their Mom would be so happy to see them all come together like that and do such an amazing job for her. I haven't really seen Julie much, but she knows I Love her and will be here for her.
I hope I can keep up on my blogging. Julie actually posted about her mom, and it's very touching...it just kills me to read it though. I hope all you guys are doing well.

Trick-or-Treat!

2008-11-01T15:06:00.000-07:00

We had fun this year. Kansas got tired kinda fast, so we didn't stay out too long. The kids had lots of fun though. Chris and I had a fun evening after the kids went to bed. We stayed up and watched two movies back to back. It was a nice date!

The Halloween Tree

2008-10-27T16:54:00.000-07:00

I just had to stop today and take a few pictures of this incredible tree on my street. I think about taking pictures every year and then the next thing you know all the leaves have fallen off, so this time I made myself stop and capture the beauty. I don't really know why this tree captures my imagination, but it does!! Every time I drive by it I just think it's the neatest thing! I hope you all enjoy it too.

Simplify

2008-08-22T12:38:00.000-07:00

Do you ever take for granted some of the beautiful things around you? I know I do. This last weekend my family and I went down to the valley for my niece Makenna's baptism. It was so wonderful. I love baptisms, because it reminds you of some of the simple gospel truths. Sometimes I think we complicate things when it comes to the gospel, when in reality it is meant to be simple. There was a wonderful spirit at the baptism that stayed with us the rest of the weekend. We drove home through Globe, so we went through the Salt River Canyon. The Canyon is amazingly beautiful. We actually stopped in the bottom, which has rarely happened, and took some pictures. It was nice to take our time and appreciate the beauty of the Earth. I know many of you have been through the Canyon, but how many times have you slowed down enough to appreciate it? We are so busy in this fast paced world, and we need to make time for the simpler things in life.

Kansas Turns 3!!

2008-08-20T07:26:00.000-07:00

Well it seems like just yesterday I was posting sister's 2nd birthday pictures. I can't believe another year has gone by! We had a really busy day yesterday. It started off with play group, which was a lot of fun, then sissy and I had to leave to Show Low to get her cake and groceries. I have to say I was really disappointed in the cake. It was pink and purple like I said, but I also said I wanted the sprinkles, and I told the lady, "make it look fun, it's for a 3 year old". Well I got the cake home and added some sprinkles and some bright ribbon on the sides and stuck a pony on it, and it did turn out pretty cute. Then sis had her first dance class, we'll see how long she lasts. She just stood there most of the the time. We got home and found Dad and filled some balloons with helium at the building. Then we went to Corky's for Dinner, per Kansas' request. We barely made back in time to have cake and ice cream. I told everyone to come over at 7 for cake and we all pulled in about the same time. I was tired, sister was thrilled. I know her favorite gift was a little baby doll that coos and says, "mama". She LOVES it, which is really funny, because last year when she got a baby she said, "I hate it!". Wow!! What a 180. I guess it's time for another baby. haha. I had to laugh when I looked at her pictures, she still has ketchup on her face from dinner. That just shows you all how rushed we really were :) .

Weekend Getaway

2008-08-05T16:24:00.001-07:00

Our family went and spent the weekend in Scottsdale at the Westin Kierland Resort. It was FABULOUS!!! I haven't had that much fun in a long time. It was so relaxing and totally fun. Chris and I didn't fight once and the kids were good. I couldn't have asked for more. The first picture is of some of us in front of the Resort. The second one is of the kids getting settled in for bed. Then Kansas trying out the whirlpool tub. My kids both just LOVE staying in hotels. They are so funny. Kansas will ask to go stay in a hotel randomly throughout the year. There's a picture of Graham and Ryder in a watermelon eating contest that they were holding down by the resort pool (Ryder won! Graham was the closest kid his age). The last one is just a happy family picture. We hung around the pool that day from 2-8pm. I still can't believe we stayed so long. We tried to take our kids to Outback for dinner, but both of them fell asleep before their food even got to the table. It was just a great all around little family getaway!!

I almost forgot! As most of you know I'm a Twilight fan, and it just so happened that while I was in the Valley the 4th and final book of the series was caming out. There was an event planned at the book store in Tempe that Stephanie Meyers is associated with. I bought a voucher over the phone and then went to the book store with All my sister-in-laws and mother-in-law and got my book at midnight. It was so wild. Julie actually has some video footage for those curious minds out there. It was so fun though and the best part is we showed up the the event in Edward's Silver Volvo! haha!! It was great. Carolyn and Lawson just recently got a silver Volvo and we were laughing our heads off when we realized. There were even people taking pictures by the car at the end of the thing! I will post pictures as soon as I get some from Rachel or Julie. I didn't have my camera! Dang it!

Our Chicken Coop

2008-07-28T14:10:00.001-07:00

Chris built this fabulous chicken coop for our chickens. I found the plans online and loved them. I ordered the plans and tahduh!! Chris is so very handy, I love it!!

Pioneer Days

2008-07-28T06:33:00.001-07:00

Here's a couple pics I got at the parade. I really thought I had more than this, but I don't. Darn it! The fire truck at the end is always a kid favorite!!

Butch and Julie came over last night for dinner and Kaitlyn was wearing her kitty Pj's, Kansas has the same pair and saw Kaitlyn's and ran and got hers to put on. Kansas calls them her kitty cats. They were so cute together we had to get some pictures.

Pioneer Days

2008-07-28T06:06:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was the Pioneer Days Celebration. We had a lot of fun, and I always think that I have taken more pictures then I actually have. Oh well. My kids were both so pumped up about the jr. Rodeo. They both wanted to do the Mutton' bustin'. Last year all the entries were filled within the first thirty minutes, so I hurried and got there nice and early. I signed Kansas up, but Graham had just exceeded the age limit and was in the calf riding category, so he said he wanted to do that. Graham was so excited he called my mom and everyone in Chris' family to tell them he was going to ride a calf at the rodeo. Sister was equally as excited. I was trying to prepare her for what it was she would be doing. She seemed to understand and was just too excited. Well Rodeo day came and they did the mutton' bustin' first and had already called Kansas' name, so we hurried over to the shoots, and got her in line. They called her name again and I lifted her over the fence to the men in the shoots and they loaded her on the sheep. That would be picture number one. She seemed okay, and I ran out in front to take pictures. Then I heard crying. Oh great! Please just do it. The gate opened and the sheep ran out, but no Kansas. I looked up and saw her clinging to the railing inside the shoot for dear life and the Mr. Hicks was tugging at her to get her to let go. HAHA! It was pretty funny that she was smart enough to get herself out of the situation.

Graham was a similar story, but not as involved. I got a picture of him on deck to go next. As soon as the calves were loaded and Graham saw how big they really were, he was NOT going to do it!! I so wish that I would have gotten one of his face. He was just frowning and teary eyed when I asked him if he would please just try it. All he did was shake his head NO!. What a waste of $20 bucks. That was the thought I had at the moment.

the next two pics are of Graham lined up for the greased pig race and the back of Chris helping Klint Heap get the pigs ready to be released. Can I just tell you all that those pigs were the least energetic piglets I've ever seen!!

We all had a wonderful time over the entire weekend, but those were my funny stories.

Graham's 7th Birthday

2008-06-29T15:46:00.000-07:00

Saturday was Graham's 7th birthday, and we had a lot of fun. His cousin Makenna came to visit from Mesa, so Graham had a fun filled weekend. Friday morning I took Graham and Makenna to breakfast at Iggy's (the new restaurant in town). Then they went swimming at the pool while I went to Activity Day girls. When I picked them up I took them to get snow cones then we went and rented some movies. While they watched the movies I made some french bread pizza. After dinner I dropped the kids off at the movie theater here in town, to watch Wall-E. While they were at the movies Chris and I ran to Show Low to get Graham some birthday gifts. We took sister with us and didn't get home until 11:30pm. While we were driving home I was telling Chris how fun I tried to make the day. I don't know if Graham appreciated it or not, or if he knew that I was trying to make things fun for him. Someday he might know. Saturday morning we took Graham, Makenna, and Kansas to the Family Fun Park in Show Low. That was really fun! The kids had a fun time playing the arcade games and then riding in the go-carts. After riding in the go-carts, Kansas said, "this is so cool!". That always make things worth it. We took the kids to McDonald's for lunch and then came home. Once I got here I had to start making his cake immediately. The cake took me 3 hrs. to make! That's ridiculous!! Well he loved the cake and loved his gifts. Graham's a good boy and Chris and I had fun putting his birthday together.

Oh Crap!

2008-06-26T11:22:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Kansas asked me if she could play with the bulls eye ball game, I said, "sure!", and got it down for her. I can't remember what I was doing when I heard Graham say, "you swallowed one!?". I jumped up and ran over to Kansas and started the 20 questions. I grilled her for awhile and was finally satisfied that she had indeed swallowed one, and only one. I called Chris and asked if I should call a doctor or something, but he reminded me that he'd swallowed money growing up, and I remembered that I had too, so we both thought we'd wait it "out" (if you know what I mean). Well, to my great relief, today the steely was discovered in her really stinky diaper that I had to rake through. Luckily there was only one other diaper before that one. I don't do well raking through poo. HAHA. The best part of all is that after I found it and wrapped the diaper up I saw Graham and said,
ME: "sister pooped out the steely!"
Graham: "where is it?"
ME: "In the diaper."
Graham:(in a whiny voice) "uh! I wanted that to go back in my game!!"
Me: "That's sick Graham! It was covered in poop!"
Graham: "I would have cleaned it off!"
Me: "NO! That's sick!"

Well I won the fight and the steely remained in the diaper and got thrown out. Graham is such a funny kid sometimes.

Family Vacation to Kansas

2008-06-08T10:53:00.001-07:00

We had so much fun on our annual trip this year. My parents have built a triplex on their property, so Chris and I got our own little house. It was so nice, oh,and FYI the triplex is almost completed and my parents will be opening it up as a bed and breakfast, or weekend get away. I'll keep eveyone posted on the progress. The kids had a blast. I would say I hardly saw Graham. He was fishing at the lake almost the whole time! Kansas had fun with the baby chickens, and with her cousin Hunter. They were so cute together. It was so good to see Ryan and Robert and their families. I was so sad the Russel couldn't make it this year. He's busy learning Korean. Chris and I had fun with Rex and Riley too. My parents had the best food while we were there. We didn't want to go. All of us cried when whe said goodbye. Even just posting this makes me sad. I need to get home more often than once a year. I makin my plans for October!

Riley's Big Day

2008-05-20T12:31:00.000-07:00

The field trip Riley put together for the 150 year commemoration, of a pre-civil war site, was on Mon. May 19th. The Kansas state Senator was there. Oh, and you might know him, because this year he ran for President for the Republican party along with Senator McCain and Gov. Romney. His name is Senator Brownback; that's the guy in the pictures below. Also Riley got a certificate from Jenny Chinn, who is the Executive Director of all the Kansas state historical sites. It was a big day for Riley. We are all thankful for his love of history! Way to go Riley!!

My Baby Brothers

2008-05-14T08:19:00.000-07:00

I am so proud of my baby brothers! Reed reported to the MTC on April 30th and is to serve in the Richmond,Virginia Mission. He is the 5th Hinds boy to serve a mission. I'm thankful for the wonderful example he has set for Graham, Clayton and Issac. This picture was taken outside of the St. Louis, Missouri temple.

Riley has completed his eagle project, making him the 6th Eagle Scout in my family. Way to go MOM (and Riley)! Reed and Riley chose the same historical site for their Eagle projects. Now that Riley is finished he realized it is the 150 yr. anniversary of the battle site. He wrote a letter to the superintendent of the Pleasanton School district, and got permission to have a field trip to the site. This the article that should be in the local newspapers:

EAGLE PROJECT INSPIRES FIELD TRIP

Pleasanton - The sixth Eagle Scout for the Hinds family completes his Eagle Project at the Marias de Cygne Massacre site.
Riley Hinds, the youngest of five brothers and one sister, chose the site steeped with history and drama. Little did he realize that the project would end near the dawning of the 150 year commemoration of that fateful day on May 19.
A crew of about 15 workers spent many hours cutting down trees and clearing away vines from the historic walls that line the ravine where brave men gave their lives for a belief that all men were created equal.
Riley's older brother, Reed Hinds, chose the first stone wall, near the Hadsall home, to reclaim as his Eagle Project, making the Marias de Cygne Massacre site an area of focus for the Hinds boys for a few years now. With this intense effort cleaning this landmark came a reverential awe for the sacrifice that these men gave for freedom.
With the completion of Riley's project and the approaching 150 year Commemoration came a desire for him to have the high school students take advantage of one of the States most hallowed sites.
Riley feels that Linn Countians are indeed fortunate to have this historic site in their backyards to remind them of the significant struggle of freedom for the slaves.
Hinds approached Mr. Tim Conrad, Pleasanton school district superintendent, to see if he would allow a school field trip to the site on the exact day of the massacre. Mr. Conrad agreed to the field trip, but set planning of the event for Riley to submit for approval.
Hinds scheduled an appointment with Mr. Arnold Schofield, Marias de Cygne Massacre site administrator, to work out an educational field trip for the junior class of Pleasanton High.
As the plan stands for May 19, 2008, Senator Sam Brownback will be the keynote speaker along with other dignitaries to commemorate a pivotal event for Linn Countians, Kansans, and citizens of the United States.

Too Funny!

2008-05-07T19:50:00.000-07:00

Okay..this may be slightly inappropriate, but funny. Yesterday the Sparklett's man was delivering water at my house and Kansas was watching him from the front door. The man said, "you look just like your momma. Did you know that?". To this Kansas ran off and hid from him. Any way like 15 min. later she comes up to me with two little orange sized basketballs stuffed up her shirt! She's rubbing them and tells me, "look Mom I have boobs just like you! I look just like you!". I was laughing so hard, and I think the funniest part was that the boobs actually looked real! SCARY! Well after laughing about it we got this picture of her.

Kindergarten Spring Program

2008-04-25T15:31:00.000-07:00

It's the end of the school year and Graham's kindergarten class had their spring progarm. Graham's big solo was hickory-dickory-dock. It was cute, but for some reason my kid had a mad look on his face the entire time! He said later he was embarrassed. Oh great! Does that all start at this age? I got a picture of the very face I'm talking about. There is also one of him dancing with one of the little girls in his class(he did quit good I might add). Is that a sheepish grin I see??? :) Dad and I are both proud of him for doing his part!

T-BALL

2008-04-25T15:03:00.000-07:00

Okay..Graham's loving T-ball this year! He has really gotten so much better. I took this picture of him up to bat right before he PARKED it!! Well in T-ball parking it isn't the same as the big kids, but I'm still so proud of him! Chris has been working with Graham on his batting skills and he has got it down now! Thank goodness for Dad's to teach little boys their sporting skills. Kansas loves to go and watch her big brother play, but she's always sad at the end when he gets a treat and she doesn't.

Somehow I got put in charge of T-Ball this year. It was a little stressful making teams and a schedule of games. I made a few mistakes with both, but I think I got all the kinks worked out. Now that the season has offically started things are great! The coaches are all doing such a great job! I wonder if I put Graham in Minors next year if I'll be off the hook for doing T-Ball again?? :)

My little Chef

2008-03-04T09:12:00.001-08:00

Every time I go to cook dinner Kansas is right there wanting to help me, so last night I let her help me with dinner. She LOVED it!! I think I'm going to sew her a little apron and make her a step stool so she can help me more.

2008-03-04T09:01:00.000-08:00

Carolyn had bought these dresses for the girls at Christmas time and they wore them on Christmas Sunday, but we never took any pictures of them, so we all got together this last Saturday and took pictures of the little cuties!

Valentine's Day!

2008-03-04T08:53:00.000-08:00

I planned a special dinner on Valentine's Day for just Chris and I. It was so much fun and delicious! I don't think I'll be doing anything like that anytime soon though. I was literally cooking ALL DAY!! I was exhusted when it was all said and done, but it was worth it for the surprise Chris got!!

Graham lost his first tooth!!

2008-03-04T08:48:00.000-08:00

2008-03-04T08:36:00.000-08:00

we met up with my brother Russell and his wife Vickie and their kids in Gallup, NM. They were moving out to Monetary, CA, and we got to meet them for lunch at Applebees.

We took some of these pictures in the empty lot next to Applebees and we were laughing because it was so incredible trashy! The sunset on the way home was amazing!!

Christmas morning!

2008-03-04T08:17:00.001-08:00

Hey Everyone!

2008-03-04T07:46:00.000-08:00

Okay, I know I haven't posted in a LONG time. I'll try to catch everyone up on what's been going on here. Where do I start??? I guess Christmas.

Here's the kids by our Christmas tree. Cuties!

This is at our ward's breakfast with Santa. Kansas was pretty scared, but she sat on his lap anyway.

Chris and his brothers decorate the wind mill tower every year, and this year they did an awsome job!! Unfortunatly it was vandelized and we turned it off before the holidays were over.

This is a picture of our annual Christmas Eve party. The kids performed the nativity scene and that's always my favorite part of Christmas! Kansas was supposed to be a sheep,and Graham was a wise man.

2007-12-05T10:40:00.000-08:00

I was walking by with a load of laundry, and was shocked to see that Kansas had built this track, and was playing away! She shocks me sometimes. I didn't know she was capable of building a train track. What a little cutie!

My Turkey Clog....Oops!!

2007-12-05T10:24:00.000-08:00

Well we had an eventful past few days. On Sat. I was trying to do some dishes and the sink started filling with water and would not go down! We first tried to use a snake to unclog anything that was clogging the pipe. That didn't work. Then Chris and Butch went under the house to check out the pipes. What they found wasn't good. There was two different breaks, one under each bathroom. What a nightmare!! Apparently the soup that I ground up in the disposal caused a, turkey wad to form and clog one side. I was in huge trouble! Both breaks already existed, my clog just forced everything to get fixed. Chris and Butch had to did up the entire sewer line from the house to the road, where it met the city's line. Well they got it all fixed, with a lot of help from good friend, Jeff Carpenter. Thanks Jeff!!! What would we do with out good friends. Well everything is fixed now Thank goodness! You never really appreciate things until you have to do without them. I am so grateful for indoor plumbing!!

Cardinals vs. Seahawks

2007-09-22T11:41:00.000-07:00

Chris and I just went to the Cardinals X Seahawks game last weekend! We went with His parents and Brothers and their wives. It was such a fun weekend!! My wonderful nephew, Kyle, watched my kids overnight at his house. THANKS again Kyle! Sat. night we went to dinner at the Macaroni Grill in Scottsdale, and that was delicious. Then after dinner we checked into the Resort we were staying at. I think it is called Scottsdale Plaza. WOW! It was so nice. You pull up to your room like you would to an apartment. The rooms were more like little condos. It was really fun! Any way fun room...moving on. The next morning Chris and I ate breakfast at "the Breakfast Club" by the Scottsdale mall. It was pretty good. Fun experience, but too much money for my liking. Then at 11am everyone loaded into two vehicles and we headed to the new arena dome in Glendale. It is HUGE! The guys got some awesome tickets and we were only like 5 rows back from the 50 yard line. That's the closest I've ever been in a game. So much more exciting!! You've got all the hecklers sitting up close and just die hard fans. The actual game was totally an on the edge of your set, nail biter. Those are the best kind! Cardinals won, by only 2 or 3 points, can't remember now. It was just so exciting. They pulled it out and won within the last 4 seconds of the game. I couldn't have asked for a better game. Thanks honey for thinking of the wives this time.

Kansas' 2nd Birthday!!

2007-09-05T14:06:00.000-07:00

Well sister turned 2, and we had a small celebration. I just put the pictures in slide, because it's so much easier. My favorite one is of her and Chris and she's bawling her head off. We started to sing "Happy Birthday", and she did not like that. She freaked out. It was so funny. She was really into her party. She loved opening gifts and was so excited about her cake. The best was her reaction to the spring horse. She came around the corner into the living room, and had two little toys that she just got in her hands, and when she saw that spring horse she threw both toys to the ground and went running to get on!! Kids are so fun.

Twilight Prom

2007-09-05T08:49:00.000-07:00

Okay, Rachel and Julie will not leave me alone, so I guess I will post something. Sometimes I wonder why I blog.
Well as none of you probably know, my good friend Monica Patterson, Sis-in-law, Julie and I hosted a "Prom".
We all read the book "Twilight" and "New Moon", by Stephenie Meyer, and loved them. I found out that Stephenie was holding a prom in Tempe to read the first chapter of her third novel, "Eclipse". Well I wanted to go, so I called the book store the author works with to order tickets. SOLD OUT!! In fact, the guy kinda laughed at me, and said the tickets sold out in the first 4 hours. BUMMER! Well I talked with Monica and Julie and we decided we should have our own, and that's just what we did. We had a real prom. No boys allowed,prom. Only our prom was so much better than the one I remember in High School. The prom was catered by Kay Hauser, and the food was to die for. We had her do an Italian food theme, since the third book ends in Italy. Then for dessert, Lorien Barnes made the most delicious wedding style sheet cake, with fluffy pink icing and a strawberry jam layer in the middle. YUM! That was supposed to be like Bella's Birthday cake in the beginning of the second book. SuAnne Collins read the first chapter of the third book, and did a wonderful job. Monica, Julie and I painstakingly decorated the Elementary School gymnasium, and it looked awesome! We had a great turn out of 47 ladies. Everyone looked so pretty. It was so fun to see everyone in formals! Monica downloaded a bunch of music on her ipod and I hooked it up to 4 giant speakers, and we danced at the end. Yep, we all danced. It really was a fun time. I think without the husbands there we all felt like we could really be silly. It was truly a fun filled evening. Well have to do something like this again. Everyone seemed to really enjoy it. Here are some of the pictures.

This is our vampire teeth group picture that we took near the end of the night.

Here are a few group pictures of everone eating and having a good time!

4th Of July

2007-07-07T22:44:00.000-07:00

Okay, so we went camping over the 4th of July, out at the Atarque Ranch. If not for my wonderful husband, we would not have any photos. He is so good to remember to take pictures!

2007-07-07T22:19:00.000-07:00

Finally I'm posting! I know I'm bad. Here's pictures from my trip home to beautiful, green Kansas.

Newest Little Addition

2007-05-09T11:09:00.000-07:00

We are finally getting a pet. My son is so thrilled. I was looking online all day at puppies for sale. I guess I finally rubbed off on Chris, because he saw one and said, "okay, Lets do it!". Yeah!! So we found the perfect one for our family and here she is...

We haven't named her yet, but we're leaning towards, "Sugar." I can't believe how excited Chris is! He has always been so against having a dog. Now he is almost as excited as I am. Is't she SO CUTE!

2007-05-09T10:47:00.000-07:00

Well I've been after Chris to get a hair cut. Be careful what you wish for! Okay if you can't tell from the picture, It's a "flat-top" hair cut. We laughed and laughed, especially when he went in the bathroom and cut his chin hair off(what is that part called?). Then he added the sunglasses and he looked like Hank, on the movie, "Me, Myself and Irene", or one of the cops on the movie, "Super Troopers." Chris is always good at making me laugh. Well he ended up cutting the mustache off, and he really does look quit nice.

2007-05-02T12:38:00.000-07:00

Graham just had his kindergarten program yesterday, and I was so proud of him for singing his solo. He is so shy in front of a group I didn't think he would do it. Here's the clip for all of my family to enjoy!!

2007-05-02T12:35:00.000-07:00

2007-05-02T08:12:00.000-07:00

More arrow head finds. Baby girl crashed out on the way home, and that is so rare. She doesn't fall asleep any where except her crip, so she was pretty worn out.

Graham and kansas Easher morning.
The kids are ready for Easter Sunday. So CUTE!!!

Marissa and I tried for like 45min. to get that kite in the air. We finally got it though.

Pog and Rainey Jamming out to the song, " I wear my sunglasses at night." That was funny!

K, the picinic was so fun! We all found something! Everyone was so happy. I wish it could always go like that.

2007-05-02T07:54:00.000-07:00

Okay, this is my real daughter! I know I like everyone to see the cute little prissy girl on the blog, but it's high time you got to see the real Kansas! This is at our Easter picnic that we do every year. This picture was not taken at the end of the picnic, no, it was taken in the first 5 mins. out of the truck. Why won't she stay cute? She just wants to roll in the dirt, lick the dirt, eat the dirt. Oh well, here's Kansas revealed.

Spring Pictures

2007-04-03T15:05:00.000-07:00

2007-03-30T09:24:00.000-07:00

She is getting so big. I hope to have some pictures of Graham soon.

2007-03-13T11:19:00.000-07:00

My Mom got Kansas this Easter dress. I took her to the school today for Spring Pictures. She wasn't really cooperative, so I took her to Julie's for a few more pictures. Here they are. Kansas was kind of a grouch through the whole process, but we got some decent ones!

2007-03-07T12:15:00.000-08:00

The kids and I went on a walk down to the City Park yesterday. Aunt Julie met us there, and took some pictures. The kids had so much fun. I think we're going again this afternoon. It's so nice outside today!

2007-03-07T12:11:00.000-08:00

Not so sure about little cousin, Kaitlyn.

2007-03-07T12:05:00.000-08:00

Kansas Loves feeling big and walking pixie. I guess she feels like she has control over something smaller than she is.

The Nielsens

2007-03-02T11:24:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! Well here we go. I've been sucked into this, by Julie. I can't deal with the peer pressure!! I'm wondering how long I'll last.

This is our little family. Graham, who will be 6 in June is enjoying his kindergarten class. Kansas is 18 mos. old and is with me all day. I sure love that little girl! Then there's Chris and I.

Chris and I have been busy lately with spring cleaning. We are getting all geared up to start working on the house we are buying. Actually, we already did start doing some work. Chris and I ripped up all the carpet in the 3 bedrooms. Then we had to get all the nail boards up. I think I hit my thumb about 7 times with the hammer. OUCH!!! Chris, Butch and Steve(a guy that works for them) were just down there yesterday taking out closets. They got a lot done. We're still in the throws of coming up with a design for it all, but I know it will feel like home when were done.

We had some snow up here this year! One day the streets were all covered and we decided to take Graham tubing for the first time. We headed down to the building, where we found Budge at work, and got a couple of tubes. Chris tied them on to the back of the Avalanche. Graham was scared to go at first, but I talked him into it. So we got on and Chris took it nice and slow. The way the tubes were tied on made the front end drag in the snow, so the faster Chris went the more snow sprayed us in the face. Well Chris just thought it was so funny, so he decided to go fast. I was so mad when he pulled into the drive-way. I asked him if he had seen my hand signals to slow down, and also if he noticed Graham was BAWLING! He laughed and said he did, but the faster he went the snow sprayed us in the face and pretty soon he looked back and Graham's face was one big snowball. I guess he just got the biggest kick out of that. Graham and I didn't so much.

Kansas is the busiest little baby I know. We have a lot of fun together during the day. She loves books. She also loves to watch Dora and Wonder Pets. Those are her favorite right now. She lets me play with her hair all the time. She's so good to just sit there and let me have fun. She loves when the bus gets here, because that means Poggy is home! She gives him kisses and a hug. When Chris gets home, she says, "Daddy!" and runs to him and jumps in his arms. She is such a flirt with her Dad. She's got him wrapped around her little finger and he doesn't mind one little bit. She is also starting to talk a lot more. It always shocks me when she does talk.

We love these kids!!