Generations

I did a speed scrap tonight while all my boys were gone to Young Men's activities.  I love the layout I ended up with.

In this picture are my dad and his brother Ron being held by my great grandparents Gustav and Annkea Bebensee.  Also pictured are my great great grandparents Rolf Habben and Louisa Schnoor Habben.  Louisa was his 2nd wife.  His first wife (Annkea's mother) passed away when my great grandmother was just a very young girl.  Aunt Terri, correct me if I have any names wrong.  I believe this picture was taken sometime in 1946 or 1947.  I'm not sure of the location but my best guess would be Nebraska.

They're Home

Travis and Trevin made it back home today.  It was so nice that Travis was able to drive them down to Nephi and leave the car there when they left a few days ago.  That meant we didn't have to run down to Nephi to pick them up today.  They had fun bonding with their grandparents and each other.  Trevin had a cough the whole time and the cigarette smoke in the casino's didn't help him, but other than that they had fun. 

They had "the best Pizza ever" the first night.  They were able to do some baptisms at the temple.  They went to the Adventure Dome and to the "O" Show.

I spent the day scrapping some more old photos.  Here is what I have for your viewing pleasure today.

Richardson Family reunion at Windy Bills in 1995

Heidi and I riding with Uncle Craig to see the Elk at the top of the mountain.  A once in a lifetime experience that I actually got to do twice.  Once with Heidi and a few years later with Sean right before we got married.  Heidi got to ride Grandpa Richardson's horse Skeeter.

Travis and Tyrel riding ponies at Thanksgiving Point, I think it was when Trevin was a baby, so 1999ish

Date Night with Tyrel

Tyrel and I had a date tonight. We went and got Code Red fountain drinks and Flaming Hot Cheetos (for Tyrel, I think they are yucky) and then came home and watched Mission Impossible 2. Thanks for the fun date Tyrel, and thanks for driving!

Sharlynn came over this afternoon and we scrapbooked for a little while.  We did two speed scraps and I also got some more old pictures scrapped. 

These are from Tyrel and Trevin's Birthday party in 2003.  It was right after the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake, so we had a hockey party.  We got inflatable hockey sticks and they played hockey with a balloon in our basement.  They had a blast and all earned gold medals.  We made an Olympic Ring cake for their birthday cake. 

This picture was from around the same time period.  Travis came up the stairs with this "hockey goalie mask" he had made from paper.  It was ripped, and cut and stapled together.  I was glad he had a hockey stick in his hand or I probably wouldn't have been able to tell what it was.

Travis and Trevin should be home tomorrow.  I've missed them.

Scrapping some old stuff

So I've always said (maybe even bragged) that I was caught up on my scrapbooking.  That was true, to a point.  I've pretty much always stayed caught up on my boys books, which originally was all I ever thought about doing.  Then, about 5 years ago, Sean said to me one night, "What are you going to do when they grow up and leave and take their books with them?  You don't have a book for yourself."  So, I started then and have been working to stay caught up on current stuff for all of us and then when I have spare time, have been going back and scrapping those old pictures for myself.  This is a lot of work, but also, means I get really good books, because I am such a better scrapper now than I was.

My original intent was to scrap all of those pictures the old fashioned way since the pictures were already printed out and I have tons of paper scrapping supplies still left.  I did lots of them that way, but the last few weeks, I have been scanning in pictures here and there and doing them digitally because it is so much cleaner, simpler, and much better looking. 

Travis and Trevin have been gone all weekend.  Tyrel had his buddies over last night, so I got some scrapping done and thought I'd share a bit of what I've been doing over the past few weeks.

Here are a couple from Christmas, 2003 - aren't they such cuties?

Here are a few old Cub Scout photos I scrapbooked

These are from Sean's mission (all those photos are going to be a major project)

Lonely

Travis drove himself and Trevin down to Nephi today to meet up with Grandpa and Grandma Evers for Trevin's 12 year old trip.  They are going to Vegas and doing some family names at the temple and also going to the "O" Show.  I was supposed to be Trevin's "friend" for the trip, but Travis is the only one that didn't get to go to see the "O" Show for his trip and was feeling left out, so I let him go in my place.  It was so nice not having to take them down and drive back and then repeat the same thing when they get home.  It's really nice to have Travis be the "driver".

Trevin has missed the last couple days of school with a cough, so I hope he has fun and doesn't get sicker than he already is.  It seems quiet and lonely without everyone here. 

There is no school tomorrow, so Tyrel had a few friends up to play "Brawl", and then they all went to the movie, so it is really quiet around here tonight.  Sean and I are feeling like empty nesters.

Another Priesthood Holder

What a special day for our family.  Trevin is 12 now and was ordained a Deacon by his dad today during Priesthood.  Now, I have 4 handsome worthy Priesthood holders in my house.  I'm a lucky woman.  Travis was also set apart as the 2nd assistant in the Priest Quorum and Sean also was able to give Tyrel a blessing as he advanced to the office of a Priest in the Aaronic Priesthood.  What a great day for a mom!  I love that my boys have taken these steps.  I wanted to post their line of authority here, just so we have it someplace official.

Travis Sean, Tyrel Earl, and Trevin Robert were all ordained by their father
Sean LaMarr Nielsen
who was ordained by his father
LaMarr Simons Nielsen
who was ordained by his father
Clifford Earl Nielsen
who was ordained by
Richard A Lyman
who was ordained by
Joseph F Smith
who was ordained by
Brigham Young
who was ordained by
Joseph Smith

All of the above ordinations (other than my boys) were to the office of Elder in the Melchezidek Priesthood, but before I know it, they will be getting ordained to that office too.  This year for Travis.  Man, time flies.

Sweet 16

Birthday #2 for our family this week.  We had Tyrel's birthday dinner last night.  He wanted brats and chinese ramen chicken salad for this birthday.  He told me to make lots of salad because it is his favorite and I'm afraid he is going to be eating it for a week because there is LOTS!  Again, we had to eat in shifts because of all the stuff going on.  It gets kinda crazy when you have a house full of teenagers with schedules going all over the place.  We did go to Tucano's with Grandpa and Grandma Evers tonight though, so we got to celebrate all together. 

Sixteen is such an important age.  He gets his driver's license (as soon as he finishes range and road), he gets to start dating, and he gets to be a Priest in the Aaronic Priesthood.  I know he has set good standards when it comes to dating and he has made wise choices so far in his life, we just pray he continues to do so.  I'm sure he will, he is a good kid.  He is a very good driver and I don't really ever get nervous when I drive with him.  He makes good choices and pays attention to the laws and does a really good job.  Sean will ordain him to the office of a Priest on Sunday along with ordaining Trevin to be a Deacon.  What an exciting day for us.

Our Baby is 12

I can't believe it!  I still don't know how I got old enough to have a 12 year old, and he is my youngest!  Time has flown.  Trevin turned 12 today.  He wanted spaghetti for his birthday dinner, so I made it for him.  We had his cake (BTS cake) on Sunday when we celebrated all the Nielsen family March Birthday's at Grandpa and Grandma Nielsen's house.  Unfortunately, his birthday fell on a Tuesday, so with the Young Men's schedule, we had to eat in shifts instead of all together, but it was yummy and he loved it.  He will be ordained as a Deacon this Sunday by his dad.  He is very excited to be able to pass the Sacrament and do baptisms when he goes on his 12 year old trip with his Grandpa and Grandma Evers next week.  Travis gets to go as Trevin's "friend" beating out mom for that coveted spot because he didn't get to see any Vegas shows on his 12 year old trip.  They are both super excited to get to spend some time with their grandparents and go to the "O" Show.  I hope they take lots of pictures.

More great Sunday lessons

I've really enjoyed the lessons the past few weeks at church.  Probably because they have been focused on the life of the Savior.

Our lessons in Sunday School and in Relief Society both were kind of the same.  They were about the burdens we have.  Some burdens we can see like physical handicaps, illnesses, financial burdens.  But EVERYONE has some kind of burden, we just may not be able to see what it is.  I love the ward I am in and that everyone is so willing to help us bear our burdens and help out where needed.  I was handed a slip of paper to read in Relief Society and I didn't read through it before I was called on.  I got choked up in the middle once I realized who was being talked about in it.  This is the quote I was asked to read as we were talking about enjoying the life we have to live and the trials that we have and others have.

"One such person lived in a country occupied by the Romans.  She was from humble beginnings and probably wondered about her future.  Her espoused husband couldn't fine a decent place for her to give birth to her son, and later, because people wanted to kill her baby, the young family had to flee to another country.  It seems like such a difficult way to start out in ife, yet Mary went forward and helped raise the Savior of the world."

I also wrote down this quote that was on the board.  "Your future is not determined by the conditions around you.  It is determined by your faith, your choices, and your efforts."

So true.

Friday Dates

Sean and I have a standing lunch date every Friday afternoon.  We usually end up at the same place (at least if I'm choosing), but occasionally branch out and try someplace new.  I didn't think we were going this week since he had joined us yesterday for our lunch at our scrapbook gathering at Jaxies in Spanish Fork, but he surprised me and called and had me meet him for lunch again.  I was glad to oblige.

He has had a busy week this week and I hope it stays this way.  It is so nice for him to be busy with work.  Now that Spring is rolling around, we are hoping he stays really busy so we can pay off some debt and get our heads above water again.

We went to the temple tonight.  It was our ward temple night, but we went and did some sealings instead.  I forgot that I had hurt my knee when I tripped over a curb and fell down earlier this week, so that wasn't good, but I managed to make it through.  It was fun to have two dates with him in one day.

Layout #2 from Photography 101

Here is the 2nd layout I did from the photos I took at our little class we had on Saturday.