A Little Bummed

So, I am a little sad........... Trevin and I didn't get our date in this month. He even had it scheduled, planned and on the calendar. He is so cute, he wanted to go driving the golf cart to practice for when he is a Deacon and gets to take it to do fast offerings. Isn't that adorable!?

So, he had it on the calendar for Tuesday......cold and raining, moved to Wednesday........cold and he was gone to scouts for 2 hours.

I guess that will teach us something about procrastination. We need to schedule earlier in the month.

He and I did do a couple things together one on one this month, but nothing that was a planned "date". Maybe we can get on in the first part of April and another one later on in April to make up for the date we missed.

When is Spring going to be here?

Conference Weekend

I'm so excited for the weekend! It is Conference weekend and you know what that means!? Well in case you don't, it means scrapping with my sisters in law, eating some good food, and listening to some great talks! I'm so, so, so excited!

Indexing

I've finally been doing indexing again for the church. I am really hit and miss with it. It seems like when I get started on it, I do a lot and am really good about doing it daily. Then, I don't know if I get burned out or just busy, but I seem to go for long stretches without doing it. I have been pretty good the past couple weeks. I know it is an important work and I know I get blessings for doing it, so I need to keep up on it. It is a great feeling to know that I am helping get the names, dates and places ready for people to do their genealogy work. I need to make a conscious effort to do better.

Journaling

We had a great lesson given by Sister Caplin today about keeping our family histories and writing in our journals. The girls were very excited about it and participated a lot, so I hope they will remember that enthusiasm and write in their journals. It is so important.

I wrote in mine so well through high school and college and pretty much up until the day I got engaged. Then.......not so good. I did pretty well at journaling during my pregnancies with each of the boys and also journaled in their books for them up until they were each about 1 1/2 years old. Then I was just kind of hit and miss for a really long time.

About 7 years ago, Cameo Johnson came and talked to my activity day girls about writing in a journal. She lost her mother when she was very small and never knew her so she was determined if that ever happened to her, that her kids would have journals to look back on and be able to know their mother. That got me thinking and I did a little better at it then, but still nothing regular.

So, I guess blogging is an answer to my prayers. I have done pretty well with blogging and especially since our last Stake Conference when they talked about writing about what we are grateful for. I feel it has made me a better person and a better mom. I think I have been blessed and don't feel like I lose my temper or yell as much now. For some reason, thinking about and writing about what I am grateful for has made me more patient. Not that I never get mad, but I can definitely see a difference. I've only missed a couple days since then and hope to be able to keep it up!

March date with Travis

Travis and I had our date today. We did our regular Saturday stuff in the morning and then after lunch we went to the store to get a DVD and some snacks. He bought orange pop and Mike and Ikes for himself and Hot Tamales for me. We got The Blind Side and New Moon and since he was so kind and thinking I would like New Moon better since I was a girl, we watched it. I actually was disappointed in it. I thought it was pretty slow moving and thought I was going to fall asleep. But, I did have fun driving around and chatting with Travis. He is a great kid! Plus, I'm looking forward to watching Blind Side with all the boys tomorrow.

Doing Splits!

No, not me, I don't know that I could anymore if I tried although I was really good at it when I was on drill team. JK

Tonight the missionaries came for dinner. We had SWAT team chicken, fried rice, homemade bread and fruit salad. There are 3 missionaries together here for right now. Two are from California and one from Washington. One of them has 3 weeks left, one is brand new and the other has been out a year.

We had a nice visit and then they split up. Since Travis hasn't done his range driving yet, he doesn't have his license so his friend Devin from our ward came along to drive. They dropped Travis and Elder McAllister off in Payson as one part of the split, and then the other 3 of them went somewhere different. Travis and Elder McAllister were on foot.

Travis came home talking about how amazing the experience was. I was so glad! I knew it would go one way or the other and I'm so glad it was positive. They were gone for about 4 hours and tracted out quite a few people. He got teary eyed when he was telling me about a couple of them so I know he was feeling the Spirit.

I am so grateful for these wonderful missionaries who are great examples and who were able to help teach my son. He couldn't stop talking about how excited he was to go on his own mission. I can't believe how close it is. He is almost 17, so just a little over 2 years away. I can't be that old can I?

Guess what?

We have a sock monster at our house and I'm 110% sure he lives under Travis' bed! He is also known to steal shirts, towels and underwear.

Lots of Cooking

I don't know what the deal with Blogger is, or maybe it is user error, but I've typed this post 3 times and keep losing it.

Anyway.............

For YM activity for Travis tomorrow night, they are supposed to bring dates with them. I think he said they are playing volleyball at the church. He wasn't going to get a date, but then he came home today from school and he asked her out! He wanted to know if he and a couple of his friends from our ward and their dates could come right after school and hang out, have dinner and then go to their activity. I told him I had the stuff to make spaghetti and he thought that would be great. He also requested homemade bread, so I guess I will be busy tomorrow.

Then, on Thursday, we are having the missionaries for dinner before Travis goes on splits with them. Sean wants to have Doug's Swat Team Chicken and the boys want fried rice with it. I'll have to figure out a salad and rolls or something too. Should be fun even though I will be busy!

I'm grateful for the missionaries and the chance that Travis gets to go out with them. It will be a great experience for him in preparing him for his own mission.

Temple Cards

I was so excited! Yesterday at church, Sister Mortensen gave me back all the temple cards our ward has been working on over the past 2 years. There are only 16 more to do she said plus the sealings. It is so fun to have these done. I'm so grateful for the temple and the work that can be done there. I am also so so so grateful for my ward for helping get this work done for my family! They are amazing! I hope they are blessed beyond measure for this great act of service.

Grateful for my Amazing boys

So, one of the scrapbooking challenges in the forum I get all my challenges from is a song lyric challenge. The song this month is "In My Daughter's Eyes" By Martina McBride. Seeing as how I don't have any daughters, I was going to skip it this month. But as I read through the lyrics, I saw how amazing they were and thought, "I can surely change it to SON".

So, after seeing an amazing layout by a woman named Beth of her daughter, I shamelessly scraplifted it and made one for each of my boys. The journaling on each of them is different as I wanted to tribute each of them with why I think they specifically are amazing and wonderful boys. So, there you have it! I'm so grateful for the great and wonderful and amazing and talented sons I have!

They are all special and talented in their own ways. They are all unique, yet I love them all and wanted them to be able to look through their books and read that from their mom!

Tyrel's day

Tyrel announced to me that he wanted me to write about his day on my blog. I told him he should write about his day on his own blog, but he didn't think that was such a great plan. So, here I am writing about Tyrel's day.

Tyrel slept in really late this morning because he stayed up until 2:00 playing games with his dad on the computer. I finally had to wake him up to eat breakfast. He got his chores done very quickly because he wanted to hang out with his friend Keaton. Keaton came around 12:30 and they were going to go up to the golf course to get something to eat. They drove the cart up there but the restaurant isn't open yet so they came back home and ordered pizza's. They played video games for a while, checked Facebook, texted their friends (normal teenage boy things I guess). Later in the afternoon, they took the 4 wheelers over to the snake pit and messed around. They had a blast. They wanted to take the little Suzuki out, but couldn't get it started. I'm pretty sure the battery is dead. They put it on the charger and then went riding around some more on the other 4wheelers.

They came back and helped me make pizza for dinner (I did mention that they were teenage boys right? hence the pizza twice in one day). While the pizza's were cooking, they went riding the 4wheelers again. and then came back for dinner. Tyrel said he forgot how much fun the 4wheelers are. I'm hopeful we can work out some trips this summer on the 4wheelers.

Tyrel also planned that we go either 4 wheeler riding or hike up to big tree for our date next month. I'm excited for it!

I need a vacation!

I have been working the past couple of days on a kit that Heidi and I are doing for our Patriotic July kit called "National Treasures" It is to scrap vacation pictures of our country's historical sites. It has been fun and interesting while I have been doing the research and reading and looking at pictures for inspiration for the kit.

I'm so grateful to live in this country and hope that someday I can visit all these sites I have been researching. I'm especially touched by the war memorials. I loved the saying on the tomb of the unknown soldier. It says "Here rests in honored glory an American Soldier, known best to God." It just gives me chills every time I read it. I also have always loved the Iwo Jima statue too. It is my favorite!

new Family Search

For YW last night we had our ward Family History specialist come in and talk with the girls. I don't know that the girls necessarily really enjoyed it, but hopefully it struck a chord with some of them. I learned some new things and I'm kind of excited to log in and take a test drive. I'm going to try to have a look today some time.

I am grateful and think it is amazing that the church has been able to work with today's technology and bring us something so wonderful. It makes me realize how inspired technology is. Bad things come from it because there must be opposition in all things, but it truly brings us many amazing and great things also that can be used for good.

A Bright Sunshine-y Day

and I hope there are more to follow. Nothing much happened today. Kids went to school, I paid the bills and picked up the kitchen and finished the laundry. I had a YW presidency meeting in the afternoon. Sean had a few jobs to do today (another great reason for warmer weather). The boys came home and got right on their homework without being asked. Travis thinks he may have pulled a 4.0 this term, woo hoo! I made potato soup for dinner and then we watched American Idol. See, just a normal day.

I'm so grateful for my calling in Young Womens. I have so loved the girls I have had in my class, they are respectful, they participate, they are fun, and I count them among my friends. I've lost all my original girls over the past year, I will miss them, and have a new batch coming in over the past couple months and next couple months that I am excited to get to know better.

Date #3 with Tyrel

Tyrel had to stay after school today to finish up some work for end of term. I picked him up and he ran a couple of errands with me and then we had our date. First stop was Fast Gas where he bought us both drinks and a snack. Then we went home and played Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader. Tyrel was really nice and let Trevin join us for the 2nd game after he finished his homework because he could see that Trevin really wanted to play. Then Tyrel and I made dinner together. He did the main dish (portabello pork chops) and I made the vegetable and the salad. While it was cooking, I went outside to watch him on his Rip Stick for a little while.

We had fun laughing and talking together. I'm so grateful for these times I get to spend one on one with the boys. I'm glad that this is one goal that I'm keeping up with so far. I've really loved it and hope they have enjoyed it also. I'm also grateful (I know, I've said this before) that Tyrel knows how to cook. Travis was saying at dinner last night that one of his leaders told him it was a good idea for all boys to take a cooking class in school to prepare them for their missions. Tyrel did take foods this year and they both have it on their want list for school next year, but they do cook quite a bit at home, so hopefully they are prepared for their missions in that aspect already a little bit.

Court of Honor

Travis and Tyrel's Court of Honor was tonight. It ended up very nice and was a great tribute to them. The remarks and introductions were great! I am so proud of both of them.

Our Young Men's leader, Brent Johnson introduced Travis and Tyrel's Teachers Quorum advisor Frank Montague introduced him. Then they both told about their projects. Doug Howell, who was Scoutmaster for both of them spoke, and Sean and I both spoke.

President Newman gave some remarks and did the Eagle Charge. They also received an Eagle scarf from the Stake Young Men's presidency which Kevin Johnson presented to them. Then they gave the mother and father pins as well as their mentor pins. Tyrel gave his to Brother Howell and Travis gave his to Brother Peterson. The Bishop spoke for a minute then we wrapped it up with a closing song, prayer and treats. The boys wanted brownies, mint chocolate chip ice cream and Grandma Nielsen's hot fudge sauce.
All of Sean's siblings and their families made it (except the Davis family, we missed you). Both sets of grandparents were there and lots of their friends came also along with their past and present leaders. It was a great evening. I'm so grateful that they both achieved the honor of being an Eagle Scout.

Good Food, Good Times, Great Company

My parents came and took us out to dinner tonight. We went to Tucano's. We were celebrating Trevin and Tyrel's birthdays, Travis and Tyrel's Eagle Scout awards, and Trevin's Arrow of Light Award! We had a great time and all ate way over our allowance of meat. It was so yummy though!

Thanks Dad and Mom for the special treat!

I still have it! Almost..........

Many years ago, when I was in 8th grade, I took hunter's safety with my friend Teresa. I thought the class was boring and I passed the written test, but it seems like I only got like 80 percent or something. Then we took the shooting test. I totally blew out the center of the target laying down, also got a perfect score kneeling, and only had 1 or 2 off the center of the bullseye standing up.

Trevin got a BB gun for his birthday, so after school today, since the weather was finally clear, we took the 4 wheelers and went shooting. After we had all warmed up, we decided to have a shooting contest. Tyrel and I tied the first round, so we had a shoot off, and tied again, then he beat me by 1 shot in the final round. Everyone was cheering for him because they couldn't let mom win, I was a girl and that would be humiliating to the male ego around here.

It was a fun family activity! I'm grateful for times like this when we all go do something together.

Trevin had his buddies over tonight to play night games, they had fun!

All my friends are at the hotel for scrapping weekend. I miss them! But we have company tonight, Trevin's late night going on for his birthday, and more company coming for the weekend, so it is good that I am home. I also have to teach Sunday so I need to get my lesson finished up and then I have to get shopping done and treats made for Travis and Tyrel's Court of Honor on Sunday.

Speed Scrap

We were the hostesses for the speed scrap tonight. It is so fun to chat with the other scrapbooking ladies while I scrap a couple times a week. I get to chat more when I'm the hostess because I'm just posting instructions and not scrapping along with them. I tried once to scrap and be hostess, didn't go so well. In fact, it really stressed me out! That is just too much going on at once.

I'm grateful that I finally learned how to digital scrap. I have been doing it for a year and a half now and I love it. It gives me something to do as I sit here waiting for loan stuff to come in and keeps me caught up better than with paper scrapping, and I am so much better at journaling now than I ever was before!

A Fire!? You've got to be kidding me!

The Mia Maids combined with the Teachers tonight for our YM/YW activity. We went bowling at BYU since every other place has leagues on the week nights and you have to go at like 4:00 to be able to bowl anywhere else. So, we get everyone hauled to Provo, got our shoes and balls and everyone's name typed into the computer. Then, after the first 2 or 3 people bowl, the fire alarm starts going off. We just ignored it at first, because it didn't really sound like a fire alarm, we thought someone made a bunch of strikes in a row or something and it was making a big deal out of it or something.

Anyway, the lady gets on the speaker and said it was a fire drill and we all needed to exit the building. After we got outside, they said that a fire had been reported in the building. We didn't see or smell any smoke or fire engines coming to put it out, but we ended up having to stand outside for 1/2 hour. Then we came in and they said, you can bowl till 8:30, but then they close for leagues to come in. Seriously?! We bowled fast and I think we all got 8 frames in before they just turned off the lights, computers and lanes. No mercy! They wouldn't even give us a partial refund or a free game for later.

Oh well, the kids seemed to have fun! I had fun.! Bowling is kind of fun even though I pretty much am not very good at it. I'm grateful for the fun ladies I work with in young women's. I got to ride over with Kristy and chat with her. It was fun to get to know her a little better.

Oh, and happy birthday Tyrel on the real day!

Tyrel is 15 (almost)

Sean was home today so we went and picked up Tyrel for lunch for his birthday. I got the time wrong though so he ended up having to miss a class, but we took him anyway. He wanted to go to the "sauce place". It was fun to visit with him. It isn't his birthday officially until tomorrow, but, he didn't want to have to go on collaboration day since they have a shortened lunch timeframe that day, although I guess it wouldn't have mattered since I messed up the time anyway.

For dinner, he wanted to have guacamole bacon burgers and homemade fries. I should have taken a picture of Tyrel's. He wanted it to be a double burger, so it was huge, I can't believe he could get his mouth around it to take a bite. Luckily he and Trevin have the same favorite cake, and since we had lots left over, I didn't have to make two cakes. Much better for my waistline too.

Happy birthday Tyrel! We love you so much! Hope your day was great even though the "day" isn't until tomorrow.


This is Tyrel with his new/old phone that Sean gave him for his Birthday. This is his 3rd phone in just over a year, he is pretty tough on them I think. It is old because it is Sean's old phone. He upgraded a couple of months ago. We told Tyrel he wouldn't get anything for his birthday because we spent too much money on him for Christmas, so he was surprised to get something.

Trevin from Heaven is Eleven!

When Trevin was little his grandma Nielsen used to always call him Trevin from Heaven. He wrote a poem in school when he was seven that said something about Trevin from Heaven was Seven and some other stuff, so when I started writing this post I realized Eleven rhymed also.

I can't believe my baby is that old! I surprised him and picked him up from school and took him to lunch for his birthday and then we went to the store so he could pick out treats for his class. He picked Cosmic Brownies, they are his favorite snack!

He wanted lasagne for dinner, so we had lasagne, corn, cheesy bread, fruit salad and then we had BTS cake for dessert. It was all yummy! After family night we let him open his present. We got him a BB gun. Grandpa and Grandma Nielsen and Savannah came up for cake and gave him BBs and targets for his gun. Traci gave him a book.

Happy birthday to my baby! Hope your day was great. We love you.

Priesthood

We had a great lesson in YW today about showing our appreciation for the Priesthood. At the end, Nikki gave all the girls a Thank You card to fill out to give to their father, or brother, or grandfather, or someone who they wanted to thank for the blessings of the priesthood.

I didn't take one, but I wanted to show my thanks here.

I think I always took it for granted when I was growing up, but my dad was always there to give me blessings when I was sick, at the beginning of the school year, or just when I was going through a rough time.

I remember going away to college and feeling like something was missing in my life. It took me a month or so to figure out that it was because we didn't have the Priesthood in our home (apartment full of girls) anymore. I think that was my favorite part of coming home on the weekends was to feel that presence again.

I'm so grateful for it in my life and the blessings I have recieved through Priesthood blessings to me and my family, the ordinances I am able to participate in because of the Priesthood, and also my Patriarchal blessing that was given with Priesthood authority. I'm so grateful to have that in my home all the time.

I'm grateful my father and father in law, my husband, my brothers and brothers in law, and now my boys have that Priesthood authority and honor it.

Peace and Quiet

We got up this morning, had a big yummy breakfast, started on chores and then Sean took the boys to help him with a tree pruning job he had lined up. They were gone from around 11:00 to 5:00 although they came home to have lunch for a half hour.

I got so much done when I didn't have to follow up to see if everyone else had their chores done. I can get through things pretty quickly when I'm not hounding others.

They all came home sore, tired, and hungry but were excited to be able to earn a little money.

I'm grateful that Sean took them and gave them the opportunity to learn how to work hard.

Travis' Friends

Travis has been telling me since he started high school how much I would love his friends. I kept telling him he needed to bring them around so I could meet them. Well, he finally took me up on it and invited all of them to come the same day. I picked him and 4 others (Darren, Daniel, Dakota, Michael) up from school. Then an hour or so later, in came Tyler, Robert, Brendan, and Mariner. Plus Tyrel and Travis, that makes 10 teenage boys. Devin and Dayan were going to come later too, but they didn't end up coming.

I must say they were really loud! All of them know how to play either the guitar or drums, so the instruments were pretty much going non stop all afternoon and evening. Plus some were playing games, some were playing pool, some were playing video games, and some were having noodle fights.

I made homemade pizzas. I made 6 of them. Sean said that wouldn't be enough, but I think we could have made it on 5. We had almost a whole pizza left over. Some of the boys came up to help off and on. I made the dough and rolled it out, some poked holes with a fork in the crust, some chopped up peppers, onions and mushrooms, some grated cheese, one opened up the pizza sauce, and Mariner and Travis put all 6 of the pizza's together. I must say Mariner was most helpful and polite! Love when friends are like that!

I'm grateful my boys know how to pick good friends and pick friends that are good influences on them and use that good influence to impact the lives of others. I hope they continue to pick good friends because I think it makes a big difference in how they turn out in the end.

Travis told me when they all left that they all thought I was a cool mom because I fed them all homemade pizza. I just hope he doesn't think it is a regular event. Two or three at a time is one thing, but that many at once kinda gets a little crazy and loud.

Paper Scrapping

We had an all day crop at my house today with some of my old paper scrapping group. I figured I could get this one last one in since I do have some old pictures that still need paper scrapped. We did 7 different 2 page layouts. Each of us brought one with all the supplies for it. We set up in the basement and just passed the examples around the circle and scrapped. Everyone brought breads or muffins for breakfast, I made juice. Then we brought salads and soups and rolls for lunch. Then around 4:00 we ate carrot cake, chocolate cake, and ice cream. It was a fun day and we all got a lot done but were all pretty burned out by the end of the day.

The Tale of Two Shoes

Once upon a time there was a little boy named Trevin. Trevin sometimes put his things away, but most of the time he did not. One day, Trevin was getting ready for school and could not find his shoes. He searched high and low, upstairs and downstairs, everywhere he could think of. Mom searched high and low, upstairs and downstairs, everywhere she could think of. Dad searched in a couple obvious spots, but no one could find the missing shoes.

Mom had Trevin retrace his steps since he had last worn them, but still, couldn't find the missing shoes. This was a Monday morning and the last time he remembered wearing them was to Steven's house on Friday night.

So, after much searching and thinking and pondering, mom sent him to school with his soccer cleats on (it was either that or his church shoes). Trevin was a very sad little boy.

When he came home, mom said he couldn't play until he found his shoes. In a last ditch effort, Trevin looked on the shoe shelf in his closet. To his astonishment, guess what was there? Right where they were supposed to be. How could it be? But it was, the two missing shoes.

Who would have thought they would be where they belong?
Not I, said Trevin
Not I, said the Mom
Not I, said the Dad

Trevin now was a very happy little boy!

Family Home Evening

Travis had the lesson tonight and did such a great job! He warned us during dinner that we were each going to relate a story about a Book of Mormon character so to be thinking about it. I was thinking he was just taking the easy way out of preparing a lesson but when we got to his portion of family night he first talked about what a hero was and asked us all a few questions to get us talking and sharing. Then he had us go around and tell who our Book of Mormon HERO was and why. But, after each one of us shared our example, he re-iterated the reasons that person was a hero and brought out more examples of things they had done. It was so good! He shared his testimony at the end and I was so impressed with the great job he had done.

He was telling me how much he loved his seminary teacher the other day. He thinks he is the coolest guy ever! He has said that about all of his seminary teachers. He thought brother Patterson was the BEST, then he got brother Campbell and thought he was the BEST, then this term he got brother Wells, who he now thinks is the BEST. He is worried that whoever he gets next year won't compare to these three. It is fun to see him come home saying Seminary is the best class of the day. He loved when he had it first period because he thought it was such a great way to start the day.

I'm grateful for teachers that are such a great example to him and teach him in a way that he can relay it back to us and have his testimony strengthened.