School shopping

We are done with the dreaded school shopping. Actually, it wasn't so bad this year, except for the expense of it all. I ended up taking the kids one at a time this year and we made it a date for shopping and lunch. It was fun to spend some one on one time with each of them. Trevin is easiest because he isn't really that picky yet. We were done in about 45 minutes and had an early lunch at Burger King two weeks ago after his registration. He got Mrs. Turner for 4th grade, which is who we all wanted him to get. She is the best! Then, while Tyrel was at scout camp last week, Travis and I went and got them both registered, had lunch at Wendy's and then went shopping. It seemed to go better this year than last because it took us 2 malls and roughly 12 stores last year to find him the shoes he wanted which were actually back at store #6. This year, we went there first and found the shoes he wanted and we got it all done at one mall. Travis has guitar, weight training, and Seminary along with his regular classes this year. Tyrel is back from scout camp, so he and I went to lunch at Brick Oven and then to the mall today. We got his shoes, socks, and pants, but he wants a Steeler's hoodie, and we couldn't find one in his size, so we are bidding on one with EBay and hope we win it, if not, he will have to settle for a BYU hoodie or something. Anyway, I am glad we are done. Tyrel has weight training, 3 D design, and is a teacher assistant for Mr. Christensen along with his regular classes this year. Travis and Tyrel are pretty pleased with their schedules for Jr. High and everyone is ready for school to get going.

Jaron's Blessing

We got to go up on Sunday and be with my brother Brett and his wife Andrea for their new little baby blessing. Jaron was so cute! He is very bright eyed. I got to hold him for a long time and avoid helping set up for the dinner. He and I were just chillin. Jaron's great grandmother made his blessing clothes and he looked so cute in them. The food was great also! Can you believe I actually remembered to bring my camera? This is the fourth baby blessing for us this year (3 in Sean's family and one for my family) and the first time I remembered my camera. Sorry to all of you Nielsen's that didn't get your baby blogged. Maybe I can catch them for their first birthday. All of the new nephews and niece are so cute.

17 Wonderful Years

Today is our 17th wedding anniversary! I can't believe it has been that long. In ways it seems like we have always been together and in other ways it seems like just yesterday. We were married on August 2, 1991 in the Salt Lake Temple and it has been a wonderful 17 years together. Some of you will laugh at the word art on the layout. It says, "He asked, she said yes." Although Sean always says that I asked him, the real story is I did bring up the subject, but he really did the asking. Here is a list of our 17 favorite memories as a couple (not in any particular order):

1 - The births of each of our three wonderful boys

2- The cruise to Alaska for our 10th anniversary

3 - Staying at Daniel's Summit Lodge and riding the 4-wheelers in the mountains around Strawberry Reservoir and picking wild raspberries for one of our anniversaries.

4 - Fishing at Windy Bills for our honeymoon and then going back again for our 1st anniversary. Meeker, Colorado. We also had a great time riding horses and chasing elk with uncle Craig.

5 - Taking the 4-wheelers up to Red Lake in Payson canyon for one of our anniversaries.

6 - Our weekly Friday afternoon lunch date.

7 - Our trip to Orlando and riding all of the roller coasters and thrill rides at Islands of Adventure.

8 - Teaching the 8 year old Primary class and the 15 year old sunday school class as team teachers.

9 - Dancing, we met country dancing and most of our dates were to the Palace or the dances with the Western Dance Club. We still love dancing together.

10 - Sitting in the hot tub in the evenings and talking.

11 - Going bow hunting the first year we were married and actually getting a deer.

12 - Our trip to San Francisco twice, the first time just the two of us and the 2nd time with Diane and LaMarr.

13 - Fixing up the old house together and moving into our other two homes

14 - 4-wheeling at the Devil's Racetrack at San Rafael with the Barton's

15 - Buying tickets for all of the Nielsen's and going to Grandma Nielsen's 80th birthday in California

16 - Going to St. George camping and 4 wheeling twice, first time with the Barton's and 2nd time with Jen, Todd and Haylee, and Jason and Carolyn.

17 - Taking the Nielsen family to Lake Powell and teaching them to play watermelon basketball.

s'Mores the Nielsen Way

Monday for Family Night treats, we had S'Mores the Nielsen way. It has taken us years to perfect our technique. We didn't like the traditional way because the marshmallows squish out the sides and you end up with just unmelted Hershey's bar and dry graham crackers. My cousin's family taught us to make the with Fudge Striped cookies, and that was better. Then we had a friend show us how to make them with the marshmallows squished between two Deluxe Graham cookies. This was good, but you still ended up with chocolate all over your fingers and the marshmallows squished out the sides. So, Sean decided one time to roast his marshmallow (slow roasted so it gets big and brown) and then push the Deluxe Graham cookie up the middle. It is perfect! You hold on to the end of the cookie and eat it all at once. The hot marshmallow melts the chocolate and it is just perfect (according to us anyway!) We also like them with Grasshopper cookies in place of the deluxe grahams.

So sad

I just have to say that I am really bummed that Will got voted off "So You Think You Can Dance" last night. He was my favorite guy. It should have been Mark that got the boot. That's all I have to say.

Grandpa's Birthday

We were so excited to get to go to the new Payson Swimming Pool for Grandpa LaMarr's birthday party. All of the family including the cousins came to play. Trevin loved the Lazy River and Travis and Tyrel loved the slides. I loved all of it and especially that the bottom of the pool is kind of padded and squishy. Sean didn't come because his arm is still recovering but after all of the water fun, everyone came up to our house for a dutch oven cookoff. There was tons of good food and we had a lot of fun. Sean made Hawaiian Chicken and it was so yummy!!! We also had ribs, cheesy potatoes, melons, green salad, corn on the cob (yum), baked beans, and peach cobler and ice cream for dessert. It was fun to get to see everyone and be able to just visit out on the deck all evening.

Here is the recipe for the chicken for those of you who requested it

HAWAIIAN CHICKEN

Boneless/Skinless chicken thighs with salt, pepper, and paprika sprinkled on them

Mr. Yoshida's Teriyaki sauce

Chunked pineapple (drained)

Sear the chicken on the grill and put a layer in the bottom of dutch oven. Top layer with 1/2 can of pineapple. Drizzle with 1/4 of the bottle of teriyaki sauce. Keep repeating layers. We got four layers in the dutch oven. Put lid on dutch oven. Put coals on top and bottom of dutch oven. Let cook with coals for at least 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

In other news, Sean started his new job today with Plaza Home Mortgage and that's about all the news we have since the last entry.

Steadfast and Immovable, Abounding in Good Works

The YM/YW theme for 2008 was also our theme for Youth Conference . We started on Thursday by heading up to Welfare Square for a tour and a treat from them of cheese and chocolate milk. We then toured the Humanitarian center. I thought both places were very interesting. I am amazed how much the church gives to other countries, people, and other churches in need. We had lunch in the park and then watched the Joseph Smith movie. It was amazing! You should go see it if you haven't already. We then went back to the park for a short talk by Justin Haskell regarding the church Perpetual Education fund about the Best Buddy program he is involved with. He even brought his Buddy along. We then headed up to Heber for a Pizza dinner and relay races relating to people from the scriptures that were Steadfast and Immovable. We talked about Daniel and his friends in the Bible that refused to eat the kings food but ate vegetables and fruits and water instead and had a relay with dipping a carrot in a cup of water (way funny). Also had relays related to Ammon rescuing the sheep (running with a pillow between the knees and under each arm with a sword in hand, the pillows were the sheep) and the four sons of Mosiah in the Book of Mormon (4 people tied together kind of like a 3 legged race except it was 5 legged). Then we headed to Strawberry Reservoir where the girls stayed in Haskell's cabin and the boys set up tents in the campground. On Saturday morning we had breakfast and did a service project for the Forest Service chopping weeds that were too close to campsites for them to spray. After that we all went to the cabin where the Smith's from our ward came and talked about the school they run in Mexico 9 months a year with their own funds and funds donated by our ward. Ann Johnson then talked about her brief stay in Panama and Ghana where she took hygeine kits and taught them about good health. She had us bead bracelets (called Weenies) while she talked. She had learned about them in Panama. Then we had lunch and headed to the boats and the beach.
After all the fun we could stand in the cold water, the Badders' from our ward came up to make us dinner (tri-tip, corn on the cob, brownies, watermelon). Then we all headed over to the amphi-theater for a fire and testimony meeting. It was great and spiritual. On Saturday we had breakfast, broke camp, had a presentation where each of the kids were given some money to use how they wanted, but hopefully after the weekend, they will use it to serve others. Then we broke out the super soakers that Sean and I had brought along and gave one to everyone so they could all be sopping wet for the ride home. It was a fun weekend and I'm glad I could be there with Sean, Travis and Tyrel.