Journal Entry

This month is flying by!  I am happy to report that we are all feeling better!   Kevin and I celebrated Valentine's Day by going to Market Street for dinner and then to the movie This Is War.  We both enjoyed the movie and I got my chick flick fix in with my husband.  
Gabby is getting to so big!  She loves to put on costume jewelry just like her big sister!  She can say quite a bit now, "What's that?", "mom", "dada", "Q", "Lets go", "Buda Buda (Binky)" and I am still probably missing a few others!  She can also sign more, eat, drink, and finished.  She is starting to get a little bit of a temper, when we don't allow her to do something she will run away crying and throw herself down on the ground.  It's humorous for now!  
Ocianne is doing great.   She loves going to school at Challenger and she is now reading.  She is so smart and fun.  She is still extremely girly and loves to dress up and play dolls, barbies, and pet shops.  She went over to her new friend Alice's house the other day and played the entire day!  She came home and said, "That was the best day ever!" 
Dexton is getting so grown up!  He has made a new friend down the street named Trevor.  They have become best buddies.  They are in the same church class and have been getting into a little bit of trouble because they goof off too much.  Unfortunately, for them, Grandma's best friend Carol Sue is their primary teacher and so we get a weekly report after their walks on Monday mornings!  A funny story about Dexton this week.  We told Dexton that if he picked up the dog poo once a week we would pay him an allowance.  He wanted to earn some money for the book fair this week so on Saturday he went out and picked it all up.  Grandpa was the one who was going to pay him so he went out to inspect his job.  He found a few pieces that he missed and told him to pick those up and he would pay him.  Grandpa left him outside to finish up.  We were watching him struggle in the wind to get the poo into the bag from the sun room window.  I was watching him and feeling a little bad for him, I watched him stop and noticed he had to go to the bathroom.  He had one piece left and tried to compose himself to finish the job before coming inside.  He attempted again to get the poo into the bag when the realization he couldn't hold it in anymore hit him like a ton of bricks!  He dropped the bag and the shovel and peed right then and there in the middle of the lawn!  We were laughing so hard!  Grandpa tapped on the window while he was in mid stream to let him know we were all watching!  He looked away sheepishly and turned bright red, finished picking up the poo and came inside!  Hopefully one day he finds this as funny as we do!  We love him so much! He is just so sweet and kind.  He is a wonderful big brother!

Update

I have not been very good at keeping my blog up to date and I desperately want to compile my blog into a book.  I am not good at scrap booking or keeping a journal so the little bit I have done in this blog is quite amazing! I have been reading a new book called The Happiness Project, it's all about setting new goals and doing things to help you to feel happier.  Thus, my goal for the year is going to be to post one post from the past each week and blog about what is currently going on at least once a month.  I am realizing as I am trying to post about things from the past that I am struggling to remember all the details and this makes me sad!  You would think that a picture would help. 

 Anyways, this week has been a little cray.  We celebrated my Mother's 50th Birthday on Superbowl Sunday!  We had a big get together at her house that was a lot of fun.  My poor Grandma Barney isn't doing very well.  I had a conversation with her about moving into a semi-assisted living apartment and she is now convinced that I want to institutionalize her.  She was diagnosed with Alzheimer's about five years ago.  Over the last sixth months she has really gone down hill.  It breaks my heart.   

Monday morning Dexton woke up feeling sick.  Only he didn't communicate the fact he was sick to me, he just said he was tired.  So I took him to school late.  He had only been there an hour and he called saying he was sick.  Unfortunately,  by the time I got there he was in the nurses office and had thrown up in the garbage can.  I assumed he had the stomach flu and brought him home.  In the mean time, Ocianne had been sick with a cold for about a week. She had woke up that morning with a strange zity rash on he face all around her mouth and nose.  I assumed she was getting a sinus infection because her nose was disgusting but the rash had me concerned.  I took them to the doctor on Tuesday and found out that they both had Strep Throat.  This meant one more day at home until the antibiotics kicked in. 

Wednesday Kevin called me from work and confessed he wasn't feeling well at all.  He was sure he had the Flu.  I suggested it was Strep since that is what was going around the house and called the doctor to get him started on an antibiotic.  Today is Thursday and he claims he his feeling worse.  Maybe he does have the Flu! Not fun!  To top it all off, I started feeling sick today. I started myself on an antibiotic and seem to be feeling a little better.  Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.  On the bright side, hopefully we are getting all of our sickness over at once!  Knock on wood!

Fall Drive

We went for a drive up American Fork Canyon to see the beautiful fall leaves one Sunday afternoon.  Unfortunately, we forgot the camera so we took this picture with the phone.  The leaves were so beautiful and I wish I had more pictures to show the beauty of them.  Dexton and Ocianne had a wonderful time looking at the leaves and Gabrielle had a great nap!

Western Days

Western Days take one!

            

            

Western Days take two!

As usual, Challenger held Western Day's for the kids at school.  Ocianne attends school three days a week and I got a little confused as to which day she was supposed to dress up!  Hence the take one and then take two!   When we arrived at school the first time and found that it was NOT Western Day's Ocianne just took her hat off and it wasn't that big of a deal that she had dressed up.  I don't think the kids noticed.  I told her she was lucky because she got to dress up twice!  She didn't seem to mind.  When it was finally Western Day's, she had a great time singing cute western songs and other activities. The school had a petting zoo come.  She was most impressed by the horse, which I found a little funny because she is around horses a lot in Scipio!  

Back To School

During the month of August we have been busy getting in our last few moments of summer fun!  We went to Lagoon as a family except for Gabby.  We left her home with Grandma Shauna.  Lagoon didn't start off too well for Dexton, as we were getting out of the car he burnt the back of his calf on the muffler of the car.  It made a pretty big mark on his leg.  We made a visit to the first aid center when we entered the park and they were able to help make it feel better so that we were able to enjoy the rest of the day.  Dexton is so brave he went on every ride he could with all the older boys.  He even went on the sky coaster with his cousin Colton!  I think I was more nervous watching him as his mother than he was to go on it.  Ocianne is a little more apprehensive. She was crying on the Tilt a Whirl!  She didn't like the rides that spun around.   She had a great time hanging out with her cousins Dawson and Jarron. Her favorite rides were driving the cars and bumper cars!  Dexton also won two stuffed animals, one for him and one for Oci, playing a game where you had to get the ball into a colored hole.  We had a great time!
Dexton started second grade this month.  I can't believe how old he is getting!  He is really growing up! As always he makes us laugh by the witty things he says.  He is trying to assert himself and be more like an adult all the time.  We really enjoy spending time with him!
Ocianne started her second year of preschool this year at Challenger.  She is four years old now going on 16! She is our little drama queen and we love her!  I wish she would slow down a little.  She loves to laugh and make Gabby laugh.  They already feed off each others laughter and I can't help but smile at my two giggly girls!
Gabby is now eight months old! It has flown by!  She can say "dadda" and "mama" now.  She started pulling herself up on the furniture this month and has mastered going up the stairs.  If she could just learn to go down now......unfortunately she isn't interested in that.  She has had a few falls down a couple of stairs here and there.  She is at such a fun age right now.  The kids and us are really enjoying her.  She is so sweet and loving we just love her!  I had left her crawling around the family room and heard her yelling, when I looked over her headband was down over her eyes!  She was still trying to find her way around.  I couldn't help but laugh!
Below is a before and after picture.

 Ocianne's First Day of Preschool

 Dexton's First Day of Second Grade

Gabbby Eight Months Old 

Hogle Zoo

We have been very busy this July, as we are every year.  We recently went to the zoo with the Neilson's.  It was just the moms, the kids and of course Grandma.  She is always a good sport and wants to come along so she can spend time with all of us.  I'm not so sure if I was Grandma that I would want to go to the zoo in the middle of July!  It was a very hot day but the kids didn't seem to mind.  The zoo was having a Jurassic theme and they had dinosaurs all around the zoo.  Dexton loved this!  He knew about all the dinosaurs and when I called them the wrong name he would correct me and tell me the differences between the one I thought it was and what it actually was.  Ocianne kept asking me if they were real because they looked and moved as if they were alive.  She walked all around the zoo and didn't complain much at all.  She is getting so grown up!  Gabrielle did great.  She loves being outside and was very pleasant she even took a short nap!

Dexton and Ocianne with the elephants (notice the baby)

Dexton and his favorite dinosaur T-Rex

Ocianne riding a wood horse

Gabby in her stroller            

Ashlyn holding Mckinly and Dexton holding Gabby

Fourth of July Weekend

 

Lake Powell July 04, 2011

We headed down to Lake Powell for the Fourth of July weekend.  This year went a lot better than the previous year.  We were able to find a pretty nice beach thanks to the high water level.  We were tucked back in a nice little cove and the kids were able to put on their life jackets and swim across the bay.  A large rock was poking up out of the bay and Oci and Dex claimed it as their island.  They spent hours over there with Grandma Shauna.  Kevin and Dexton decided to spice it up a bit by jumping off the front of Grandpas big boat.  They did it several times and then decided to persuade Ocianne to do the same.  She wouldn't have any part of it so Kevin decided to involve me.  He asked Oci, "If Mom jumps off, will you do it?" I tried not to have any part of it by saying I didn't want to get my hair wet, but the fact that Oci was willing to do it if I did got to me.  I finally gave in after a while.  Dex jumped, then I jumped.  Kevin then lowered Oci over the rails of the boat and dropped her down to me.  She didn't love it but she also didn't seem to mind it.  She jumped off three more times that afternoon.  Gabby did pretty good.  I brought a small blow up pool for her and filled it up with warm lake water and put it on the back of the boat.  She would sit and play in it for an hour at a time.  Gabby also decided that she wanted to start to learn to crawl on Grandpa's boat.  She pushed herself up on all fours and started rocking during our trip.  Grandpa's boat isn't the greatest place for crawling.  Since we have been home she has continued to try to crawl but she isn't in any hurry.  She takes a few crawls forward and then rolls or scoots the rest of the way to get to where she wants to go.  All in due time, which is fine with me!  My kids have a love for Lake Powell as I do.  I am so glad that I have been able to share this with them. 

Gabrielle and Dexton

                                                Gabrielle

Ocianne my dancing queen!

Gabby Five Months Old

 This picture is of Gabrielle's first feeding.  As you can see she didn't really like her rice cereal all that well!  She got more of it on her clothes than in her mouth.  All of my kids haven't liked rice cereal and I guess Gabby didn't want to break the mold.  She really liked all vegetables and sweet potatoes but didn't seem to care for fruit any more than she did the rice cereal.  After a few weeks I tried the rice cereal again with some fruit mixed in and she decided it wasn't so bad.  She now eats very well.  She eats a large bowl of cereal and fruit every morning and two jars of vegetables every evening.  It takes a lot of work to keep those legs looking good!  I love her little rolls!  At her four month check up the doctor mentioned that her head was looking a little flat and had me take her into a physical therapist to have it evaluated.  The physical therapist determined that she didn't need to wear a helmet but that I really need to work on getting her to sit and roll over.  She  also gave me a lot of other advise to help me keep her off her head.  My job got harder as the kids were still in school and I had a lot of running around to do.  I had to make sure I got her out of her car seat at every opportunity.  This meant that at the grocery store I had to put her in a baby carrier because she wasn't able to sit up in the cart.  All the hard work paid off because at her six month appointment the doctor said her head was rounding out.  Gabrielle has been such a blessing in our lives.  She has been a very sweet and easy going baby.  Her little personality is starting to show and it is so fun to watch her grow! 

Kentucky Derby

I mentioned that we were out of town for Dexton's actual birthday, the reason was because we went to the Kentucky Derby for Todd's 65th Birthday! Going there was on his bucket list and Debbie decided to try to surprise him with a trip there and invited all of us kids to come along.  I felt a little bad being gone over Dexton's birthday but because the Derby was only on May 7th, there wasn't  much I could do.  I explained it all to Dexton  and he was pretty good about it, he was only a little upset.

It was a quick trip, we flew out of Friday, the Derby was on Saturday, and we went to the Louisville Slugger factory on Sunday and then flew home! The Derby was an interesting experience that I only care to experience once in my life time.  First of all, the parking was hilarious! People would have you park on their lawns and in their driveways, they would double and even triple park the cars in their yards.  We parked on some guys lawn and he charged $50 a car, we had two cars! I guess that's one way to make some extra cash!  I was shocked at how dirty the stadium was and how trashy the people were.  It was like sitting in a filthy outdoor casino with a bunch of loud mouthed drunks!   Our seats were in the lower section, because we thought the closer to the track the better. Well the problem was, it was hard to see over the fence/wall around the track and we were on benches.  In order to watch the race we had to stand on the benches to see.  This all sounds fine, until you take into account the trashy men sitting behind us who were all drunk. The Mint Jubilee, the famous Derby drink, was served in a glass cup.  People would just throw their glass on the ground thus there was broken glass everywhere!  Much to my misfortune, the men behind us were not drinking Mint Jubilee's they were drinking Bloody Mary's.  It had been raining early that morning and it was a little chili out.  I had bought a new dress and a white trench coat to match before the trip.  When the sun started coming out at the track and it began to warm up, I decided to take off my coat.  Because the stadium was so dirty I decided to fold up my coat and stuff it into the bag that had our souvenir's in it and placed it under the bench thinking it would be safe.  It didn't take long for me to find a cup in the bag and the remains of a Bloody Mary all over my white coat!  I was so mad! It was as if they had purposely dumped it into the bag!  Well Channy and Nikki were helping me clean off my coat and we kept looking back at the men in disgust. One of the men spoke up asking what our problem was.  This opened up one big can of worms!  Nikki started getting into it with them, then Kevin and Darren jumped in.  Once they started insulting Kevin and Darren, Lacey jumped in.  Channy and I were just praying that a fight wouldn't break out!  Thank goodness Todd was walking around the stadium with Debbie or one might have!  Luckily, one of the drunks calmed things down and we all had a good laugh.  After that things were a little better until Nikki caught the dirty old man behind her trying to lift up her dress with the program!  Channy said she thought she had seen him trying to do it to mine before the fight!  WOW! What a crowd!  We ended up having a great time and even bet on a horse.  Unfortunately, none of the horses we bet on won the race!  It was definitely an interesting experience!
That night we went and ate at an old stake house that was literally in an old home.  The food was really expensive and just ok for the price we paid.  The atmosphere was really cool though!  The next morning we went and had breakfast at this crazy restaurant, which was really good!  Then we went and visited the Louisville Slugger Museum.  It was pretty interesting, we took a tour to see how they manufactured the bats.  Kevin ordered himself a personalized bat with his signature on it.  It was a fun trip and a trip to remember that's for sure!

The Kentucky Derby! 

Derby Parking

Breakfast at Lynn's

The "Bat" at Louisville Slugger Museum 

Kevin standing next to the statue Babe Ruth

Dexton's Seventh Birthday

Dexton was a little spoiled this year.  We made an exception to the birthday party rule which is, you only get to have a friend party on the even years.  We decided to invite all his friends from school so they could get to know him better.  His party was at Airborne, a place where they have trampolines throughout the building to jump on and do different tricks.  The boys had a great time!  They had pizza and Dexton had a Star Wars cake.  We were out of town on his actual birthday this year so he celebrated his birthday all week long!  We had a party for him at home before we left and then he spent the weekend and his actual birthday at Grandma and Grandpa Burk's house.  Grandma made sure he had a special day.  She took him to his favorite place, the Dinosaur Museum!  He got to pick out his own gift from the gift shop there, he chose a large python stuffed animal!  He was in heaven!

Friends at Airborne

Gifts From Mom and Dad

Easter 2011

Dexton and Ocianne Easter Morning

We went to St. George for Easter this year with the Neilson's.  We all stayed at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  All the kids got baskets from the Easter Bunny and had an Easter Egg hunt in the yard.  We hid eggs with candy in them around the front yard for the younger kids and hid some up on the hill across the street (Bryce Canyon) for the older kids. It was warm enough for the kids to play outside and we even went to the pool a time or two that weekend.  It's so nice to have a place to go to get out of the cold when we have the spring time itch!  

Gabrielle's First Easter

Ociannes Fourth Bithday

 Princess Ocianne's Thrown

The Guests of Honor

Ocianne wanted to have a princess party for her fourth birthday.  We turned the house into a castle with Kevin's creativity.  We created a red carpet and a thrown for her to sit on.  Her friends walked down the red carpet to present her with their gift.  She had a princess cake and a chocolate fountain for her guests.  We played games like pop the balloon at the ball while they danced around.  Each princess received a wand and made a crown while the princes received swords and also made their own crowns.  I believe it was a success!

Disneyland 2010

Grandma and Grandpa Neilson decided to give us all a trip to Disneyland for Christmas this year! It was instigated a little bit on my behalf, because Lacey would be blessing Mckinley in January and so why not do Disneyland too!  It didn't take long for me to realize that I would be taking a two week old baby with me! What was I thinking!  I had to go though, I didn't want Dexton and Ocianne to miss out on the trip.  I didn't get to spend much time at Disneyland because it was cold and rainy, which made it hard to go out with Gabrielle.  Kevin took the kids everyday and they had a great time despite the rain.  Grandpa decided to hire a guide for a few hours one day through Disneyland.  This allowed them to jump as an entire group to the front of the line on any ride they wanted!  I don't think Disneyland will ever be the same for them, Kevin said it ruined it for him, how can he be expected to wait in line ever again!  The trip is a little bit of a blur for me because Gabby didn't sleep very good in the hotel so I was extremely tired. I am glad that I went though so that I could be apart of some of it!  The kids had a great time!  Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for a wonderful trip!

Neilson Clan Disneyland 2010!

All the Cousin's!

Dexton had his face painted like a pirate! RRR!

Dexton, just hanging out.

 Ocianne, just saying "Hi!"  Trying to stay warm.

 Hanging out in the hotel.  Dexton thought me wearing the pirate hat was hilarious! 

 Waiting in line at It's a Small World.  Lacey and I with the babies!

 

Just waiting.

Riding It's a Small World.

  Dexton can't get enough Pirate! Eating at the Blue Bayou. 

Draper Days and Ute Stampede Rodeo

Every year around July 16th we have Draper Days and the Ute Stampede Rodeo.  This has been a tradition we have done with Grandma and Grandpa Neilson for about five years now.  We usually miss Draper Days because we head down to stay in Scipio to attend the Ute Stampede Rodeo in Nephi but this year we decided to go over to the Draper Days carnival for a few hours before driving down to Nephi.  The kids had a great time and wanted to buy everything in sight because the Draper Days carnival doesn't have much in the way of rides! LAME!  Dexton bought a Harry Potter Wand and Ocianne bought a red sequin purse and a red  matching necklace with dangle earnings.  They also got their faces painted.  Dex had a big black widow painted on his cheek and Oci had Minnie Mouse painted on hers.  After about an hour or two we piled in the car and headed down to Nephi.  The fun continued on!  Nephi knows how to put on a carnival and a rodeo!  The kids rode rides and ate hamburgers and cotton candy.  We then went into the arena and watched the rodeo.  It was great, as always.  We had amazing seats this year, they were actually in the bleacher section and covered so we weren't in the sun!  The best part was that our bums weren't rubbing up against the strangers legs behind us like in years past and the kids weren't wiping their sticky cotton candy hands on the ladies shirts in front of us!  We actually had room to breath!  Thanks Grandpa for finding us better seats than usual! We had a wonderful time!

Dex with his Black Widow

Ocianne with her Minnie Mouse

Dex is the third one from the left, then Jennaca, Jaylynn, and Kelli

Ocianne and Dawson (you can see her purse here!)

Dexton and Ocianne at the Ute Stampede Rodeo!

Primary Parade

In July the kids had a primary parade.  It was really cute.  The kids all came to the church with their bikes, scooters, roller skates or whatever they had to ride around the church parking lot with.  We however broke all the rules and brought the power wheels Jeep.  Because we had been out of town for much of the month of July we were unaware that they had banned anything that was motorized.  Yes, we were a little embarrassed but we sure as heck were not going to squish it and the kids back into the car to trade it for something else.  We had barley been able to get it to the church as it was.  We were trying to fly low under the radar but of course there were a few people here and there who couldn't resist teasing us about breaking the rules.  One person, however, went a little too far.  They thought they were out of hearing distance and made a rude comment regarding our mistake.  It was hard not to take offense, but we did our best to not let it ruin the fun.  The kids had a wonderful time decorating the Jeep.  Dexton drove it around while Ocianne waved like a true princess!  She already has the wave down for when she is crowned royalty and standing on a float in a real parade one day! It was so cute!  We couldn't help but laugh and comment about her prince driving her around and her smiling and loving every minute of it.  It was if she "knew" everyone was there to see her! It was adorable!  Too bad we didn't quite catch the wave in the picture.

Dexton and Ocianne

 

 

 

 

Forth of July Weekend

Just before the Forth of July holiday I had a little scare.  I started bleeding a little.  I was afraid that I might be loosing my baby girl.  My doctor had me come in for an ultra sound to make sure everything was okay.  Thank goodness all was well.  To my surprise the doctor said we could go on our family vacation to Lake Powell, as planned, and not to worry.   We headed down to Powell for some fun with Grandma and Grandpa.  Grandpa said we could take the "Big" boat to the beach, which is a treat these days.  Ever since he has gotten his slip and ski boat he rarely lets us camp on the beach.  What fun is Lake Powell without the beach!  Well, we found a great beach for the kids and were having a great time.  On day two, we were all lounging about and my Dad was cleaning the boat, a common occurrence.  None of us were paying any attention to the weather.  The wind was slowly picking up and this is usually a sign to batten down the hatches and secure the anchors. Well, by the time we realized how bad the wind was, we were in trouble.  We had backed the big boat up to the beach the wind had pushed us further back.  The props were hitting the beach and one of the side anchors was coming loose.  In hindsight my Dad made a tragic decision, to pull the front anchor and have Kevin pull the big boat out from the shore using the ski boat.  Keep in mind, the only able bodies were my Dad, Mom, Kevin, and well Me!  I threw the kids down into the cabin of the big boat and frantically told them to put on their life jackets on and not to come out no matter what!  Kevin jumped into the ski boat and tied a rope to the back of the boat.  My Mother held the end of the rope and climbed onto the bow of the big boat securing the rope to the railing.  As Kevin headed out into the middle of the Lake the rope began to tighten.  He was being bounced around by the waves and having a hard time controlling the ski boat. My Dad started the engines of the big boat and let the front anchor loose!  This is when all heck broke loose.  Kevin couldn't get the ski boat to pull the big boat away from the shore.  Every time he floored it he was yanked sideways along the shore line.  In a matter of seconds the big boat turned sideways as well and was parallel to the shore! My Dad jumped out to try to push the boat off the shore and I couldn't help myself from joining him.  He yelled at me to stop and get back on the boat, but I was stubborn and wouldn't.  My Dad and I couldn't get the boat to budge, the wind was too strong. Kevin kept trying over and over again to pull the boat out.  He was frantically working to  keeping the rope out of the prop and making sure he didn't hit the beach himself.  He was having a difficult time. After what seemed to be a long time, and feeling like getting the big boat off the shore was hopeless, we stopped and thought things through.   I convinced my Dad to let me onto the ski boat to help Kevin with the rope.  After a couple of tries we got the big boat straightened out and away from the shore.  My Dad was pretty upset by the whole situation.  He felt horrible that I had done so much to help and was worried I had put the baby in jeopardy.  At the time, I thought I was making all the right decisions.  Looking back I shouldn't have tried to help push the boat away from the shore.  Luckily I didn't hurt the baby and we made it back safely to the slip.  We decided to spend our last two nights in the slip and only venture out to the beach during the day with the ski boat.  We found out the hard way that we just didn't have enough capable adults to manage the two boats in a storm!  We ended up having a wonderful time and all ended well!

Ocianne on the ski boat!

Ocianne being a diva in the cabin of Grandpa's boat.