Oh, where to start! I haven't blogged for a very long time and we have done a lot lately. I think I will start with Cam's birthday. On June 25th he turned 2. We can't believe he is already that old. He is a really funny boy and makes us laugh everyday. For his birthday we just hung out all day and he had a couple of friends come over for a little while.
Lexi, Connor, Alan & Cam enjoying their yummy happy meals.
I'm not so sure about this face. He looks like he's go an evil plan!
Pretty sure Connor was done dealing with Lexi and was having an angry moment.
I have those moments sometimes!
Moment passed. All better!
Cam blowing out his candle. I made a Wiggle cake again. He had the same theme last year. He absolutely loves the Wiggles! It was so cute when he blew out the candle. He just spit on it over and over until it blew out.
Cam is so mad because I interrupted his bike playing so that he could eat some cake. We got him dirt bike, a truck that has a trailer with 2 bikes on it and the Reynold's family got him a motorcycle. He calls it his "Tippy bike" He calls Tiffany Tippy. He is so into bikes right now and it is so cute! We love him so much and we are so glad he is part of our family! Happy Birthday Cam Man!
Since we have 3 birthdays in June in our extended family we decided to just have one big birthday party to celebrate all 3. The birthdays were Moss (Christie's hubby) my dad and Cam.
We all got together over at Bonnie's and had dinner, played whiffle ball and had a water fight. Our family is getting so big that the kids got kicked out to the backyard. It's probably safer out there anyways so that they don't make a mess of Bonnie's house.
Some of the kids chasing Uncle Russ with water balloons. They eventually got him a couple of times. Russ and Timmy were the main ones that the kids went after. They are good sports to play with the kids all of the time.
Grandma and Cam staying dry.
A rousing game of whiffle ball.
Notice the two bobsy twins in the background. They are so in baseball mode.
After all of our activities it was cake time. Moss had a cherry pie, Cam had a motorcycle bike cake that I made and my dad had a pineapple upside down cake.
Cam "spitting" out his candle!We had a good party. Happy Birthday boys!
Thanks Bonnie and Aaron for letting us crash your house!
I found this picture on the camera and it's just hilarious it me. Lex decided to wear this outfit for her pajamas one night. I think the shirt is one that Alan wore when he was like 2. I don't think any part of this outfit belongs together!
Connor just chillin' in the pool. He looks so funny!
For our vacation this year we just went up north and hung out. We kept it really cheap, but it was a lot of fun. We went on vacation with my parents and all of my siblings. My parent's left on the 4th with Alan, Connor and Lexi. We went up the next day and stayed at my Grandma and Grandpa Nielsen's house. We don't make it up there as much as we should. While the kids were there my Grandpa taught Alan how to do Indexing. He has been doing it a lot since we got home. He really enjoys it.
On Monday morning we went to the Oquirrah Mountain Temple open house. It was really cool to take the kids there and be able to experience that with them. When Trimmy and Trini got married Connor was so mad that he couldn't go inside the St. George Temple, but this time he was able to go in and he was very excited to be there. I forgot to take my camera with me to the Temple so Timmy took a couple picture of us there but I haven't gotten them from him yet.
After the temple on Monday we went up to Liberty. Its is on the other side of Ogden. Aaron's family lives there. My parents and our little family stayed at a Trendwest condo and the rest of the family stayed at Aaron's families place. His family was out of town and they were kind enough to let us use their house.
On Tuesday we went to Pine View Resevoir. Russ and Aaron brought there boat and we had a good time. I really don't like going to the lake. They make me so nervous. I always hear of people drowning and all sorts of other things happening. We were safe though and all is good.
Here is Paul, Alan & Connor going for a tube ride. Connor was so nervous at first, but he liked it after awhile. It was really fun to watch them. They had a good time.
This is Nicole, Lexi & Bonnie enjoying their ride. Lexi had so much fun! She really liked to go fast and over the wake.
Uncle Russ trying to take his nieces and nephews on a boat ride. It didn't work very well until Timmy helped Russ get it started. Russ took the kids over to a tree that had a rope on it and the boys took turns jumping off of it. Alan talks about it all the time.
Cam was able to go on a boat ride with Paul and he had a lot of fun. He absolutely hates water, but he really liked the boat ride. After the ride he kept saying "Boat make a mess of the water". I think it's because the boat would disturb the calm water and so the water wouldn't look as calm anymore. He still says it all the time. He didn't know what a boat was before this trip. Now he spots them everywhere and just yells out "Mom boats"! He's so funny!
On Wednesday we went down to Salt Lake and did a few things. My parents and our little family went to Welfare Square. It was really cool to see all of the things that they do there. I have never doubted that the church put our fast offerings to good use, but it was neat to see exactly what good use they go to. The Elder that took us on our tour said that he wishes more people would come and see exactly what goes on there. He says fast offerings would go up immensely if people were more aware of the need and the good that the welfare system of the church does. What was amazing to me was to see the organization and how percise the church is. This is defintely a church of order and you can see that in everything that the chuch does. There was such a spirit of giving there and a realy concern for the people of our faith and even the people that aren't of our faith. Our church really does a lot for humanitarian needs that are here in the U.S and other countries. It was really cool for Alan and Connor to see why we fast and where our money goes to . I think it will help Alan for the times that he does fast when he really doesn't want to. He has now seen why we do it and who it is helping. I think it is so important for us to get out of our little bubble and have our eyes opended to what is going on in the world. There are so many people suffering right now and it feels so good to know that we are helping relieve other people sufferings. This is only one simple way to do that and I think it's important for our children to see that it is our responsibitly to help take care of our brothers and sister whether or not they are LDS. I encourage anyone to go to Welfare Square and feel the spirit there. It is an absolutely amazing place. It's is sure to affect you in one way or another.
So after Welfare Square we hooked up with other parts of the family and went to Temple Square. Again, I forgot my camera. I took picture on my dads and Timmy took some of our family. We had a good time there and it's a good place to take the kids. As they get older they understand alot more and start to ask questions. I love it when they do and I hope in some way they are starting to grasp the mission of the church and are gaining testimonies at the same time.
On Thursday we all went down to Hill Airforce Base. They boys of course loved it and Lexi and Madison wandered around finding stuff that was girly. They are so cute together. Neither one of them has a sister to play with so when they are together they are pretty much inseperable. I am glad that they have each other.
That's a pretty big wheel!
This is my nephew Brenden. He is so chunky! He is so cute though and really is a good boy! Good job Christie and Moss!
While we were outside looking around at all the planes there were fighter jets flying above and they were so LOUD! Lexi really didn't like them!
Christie was so excited to be here! She is a good poser!
The girls found the girlie stuff. They are so funny. They kept posing by things and having me take pictures. They thought it was pretty cool that women were able to fly some of the planes during the war.
This was one of their favorite planes.
On Tuesday and Thursday night we played volleyball. We really had a lot of fun. Even those that had never played an organized game of v-ball learned the gist of it and caught on quickly. I hadn't played v-ball since high school. I found myself doing things that I had been taught while playing on the high school team and it was fun. I did a couple of dives but no worries I didn't land on my stomach at all. Paul however, landed on his shoulder trying to do a pancake and messed up his peck muscle and has still not gone back to work. We are hoping tomorrow he will be able to go back! I was just worried about him hurting his ankle, but instead he went and jacke up his shoulder. When does the competiveness end?
Brayden and Cam wanted to go on a motorcycle ride. Cam wore that helmet upside down almost all night. I could not stop laughing at him!
On Friday we all headed home. My parents and our little family still had things to see so we eventually made our way home. First we went to This is the Place Heritage park. It ended up being a free day for everyone so that that was really cool. It saved us $30. there were so many people there though and it was pretty hot, but we still had fun.
Cam found a little lamb.
Connor and Lexi watching the blacksmith.
Our family in front of the Brigham Young Forrest home.
Deciding what to do next.
We found East High School (where High School Musical was filmed). Lexi was so so excited! She really wanted to go insde. Maybe someday.
Well this day was actually our wedding anniversary. Paul and I have been married for 11 years. I really can't believe it has been that long. We have had some good and some rough years, but it has all been worth it. I can honestly say that I have a deeper and fuller love for Paul than on the day that I married him. He is my best friend and he still makes me laugh everyday. Even if he is a dork sometimes! Well I really do have some great parents! They took all four of our kids with them to my Grandparents house in Payson and Paul and I were able to stay in Salt Lake on Friday. We thought back and the last time that we had time away from all of the kids was 3 years ago when we were able to go to Sea World by ourselves. My parents take the 3 older ones here and there but we always still had Cam because he is still to young. So it was so cool to just have a night to ourselves. It helps you focus back on your relationship and recharge some batteries. We were able to get a hotel by Temple Square that was in our budget. For dinner we went to The Garden. It's on top of the Joseph Smith Memorial building. It was a very nice dinner and quite inexpensive. I would reccomend it to anyone. After that we stood in front of the temple and took a gomer picture of ourselves. We aren't very good at self portraits!
Told ya!
After our dinner we walked down to the Gateway and wandered around for a bit. We decided to see Transformers 2. It began at 9:40 and didn't get over until 12:15 a.m. We had to walk about 3 blocks to our hotel. We were a little bit nervous, but we made it.
Thanks again to Mom and Dad for taking the kids and letting us have some alone time. We so needed it! I am sure it will be a long time until we get to do it again.
On Saturday morning we headed down to Payson to meet with my parents. On they way down we found out that my Grandma was in the hospital. We stopped by and visited with her for about an hour. I really don't like to think about when either of them won't be with us anymore. I wish we could spend more time with them and that they lived closer. She is out of the hospital now and doing better.
After we picked up the kids and got the house cleaned up we went to the Scottish Festival. Paul being 100% Scottish was pretty excited to go to it. The kids were excited too. They are pretty proud of their heritage.
The first thing we saw and could hear were the drum and pipe bands. They sound so cool. I would have just loved to sit and watch them all day!
We even found some sausage rolls. They are so so yummy! If you have never tried one you really need to! Pauls mom makes them and they are so good. We don't get them enough though!
The kids had some chicken and fries. They wouldn't touch the fish n' chips so us and my parents took care of it.
We even found the cutest little puppies there. My mom wanted to buy one so bad, but she didn't. Cam loved this little fella!
So we finally headed home. We had a good time, but it is always good to get home!
Holy Cow I think that is the longest post ever! I really hope I never have to do that again! I need to stay up on this blogging better!
Alan let Cam help him blow out his candles. That's a good big brother!
Also on this day we had our ultrasound of the baby. This is a picture of our little persons foot. It's a cute foot! Saying Paul and I were nervous is an understatement! Once you have had one bad ultrasound it ruins the excitement of all future ones. We were more nervous than excited. We really just wanted to get it out the way and hopefully find that everything was okay. We explained to the technician that did our ultrasound our history and she was so good to tell us that the baby looked good and all the measurements were good. Since Cora had anencephaly( her brain didn't develop) we were very nervous about having another child with the same birth defect. We were told by our doctor that the chances of having an anencephalic baby is 1 in 1000 and once you have had one with that condition your odds raise to 1 in 100. This is why these things are so nerve racking to us! Needless to say we had nothing to worry about. Actually, the first image of the ultra sound was the baby's head and it is all there! We didn't find out if it's a boy or a girl. We want to be surprised. It just makes the whole experience more exciting for us! We really would like a girl, but I'm trying to convince myself that it will be a boy so that I am not to disappointed! Whether it's a boy or a girl we just really want a healthy baby to love and to raise. We are very excited and so are the kids. Lexi seems to be the most excited and of course she really wants a baby sister! She always says that she has too many brothers. And the poor thing is stuck in the middle of them!
