This was one of my favorite talks from conference last weekend and it was from one of my favorite speakers. Hope you had a happy Easter!

Trevin has advanced again in Scouts! He received his Bear and moved up into Webelos at the end of March. We are so proud of him and how hard he has worked to advance. One more year and he will be a Boy Scout! Our baby is growing up fast!

Pedicure Party - Girls Day Out

My family all came up this weekend. I always feel bad for Kaitlin, since she is the only girl cousin among all of the boys, so as she walked in on Friday, I had a thought that it might be fun to go to the beauty college to get pedicures on Saturday, just the girls. So, we scheduled appointments and Kaitlin, Heidi, Andrea and me all went and got our first pedicures (except for Andrea, she is much more cultured than the rest of us I guess). I loved the scrub part the best and I also did the parafin wax dip. My feet are so soft and cute now. We all couldn't quit looking at our toes all evening. It was a fun day.

The boys went to the movie while we were getting our pedicures and then we went back to my house, played Apples to Apples, and had a spaghetti dinner with ice cream for dessert. It was a fun weekend.

Tyrel is 14

We have had a busy birthday week at our house. Tyrel turned 14 on Tuesday and was ordained a Teacher today at church. We are so proud of him and the wonderful young man he is becoming.

14 things about Tyrel

1 - He honors his Priesthood

2 - He loves little kids and babies

3 - He is a wonderful athlete and we love watching him play basketball and soccer especially

4 - He loves to snuggle with mom and watch movies

5 - He likes to go for walks

6 - He is a good student, especially if he remembers to turn his homework in

7 - He likes hanging out with friends

8 - He works for us and he is a great little worker bee

9 - He is a Steelers fan - Bettis was his favorite player until he retired, now he loves Palomalu

10 - He is our best eater, there really isn't anything he doesn't like

11 - He loves popcorn

12 - He gives the best hugs

13 - He has lots of friends

14 - He is handy and likes to fix things

We love you Tyrel, Happy Birthday!

Turning 10 on March Ape

I can't believe my baby is 10 years old already. I can't believe how fast time goes. Trevin had his 10th birthday on March ape (that's what he used to say when he was little and people asked him when his birthday was). He and Tyrel wanted to get a Wii for their birthday as a combined present, so we went in on part of it and they all chipped in the rest. They have had fun with it. His birthday was on Sunday, so since we couldn't go out to eat for his birthday, he chose to have lasagne for his birthday. We also had chocolate bundt cake with chocolate glaze and ice cream. Grandpa and Grandma Nielsen came up for dessert and so did Todd, Haylee and their boys.

Here are 10 things about Trevin

1 - He sings and hums to himself when he doesn't think anyone is listening.

2 - He is a very good student (even though he forgets to turn in his homeowork)

3 - He picks good friends

4 - He is independent and can entertain himself

5 - He is perfectly happy to fix his own dinner and take care of things when we have YM/YW nights

6 - He has a strong testimony

7 - He obeys and respects us as his parents

8 - He likes to read and is an excellent speller but his favorite subject is Science

9 - He loves pizza and spaghetti (like most kids)

10 - He loves to play computer and video games

We love you Trevin. Happy birthday!

To Play? or To Hang Out?

That is the question....
At what age does playing with friends change to hanging out with friends? It seems like Travis and Tyrel played with their friends until they got into Middle School (6th grade) and then all of the sudden it was hanging out.

Well, I am headed out of the garage in the car with Travis the other day to take him over to the District Science Fair and I hadn't seen Trevin get off the bus yet. As we back out of the garage, in my rearview mirror, I see someone who looks incredibly a lot like my Trevin across the street with his friend at the neighbors ducking behind a snowbank that is only like 1 foot high now. Mind you, he has been told numerous times to come in right when he gets off the bus to let me know he is home and then when his homework is done, he can go play with friends.

So, as I get into the street (Travis and I are laughing at this point because Trevin is very obviously thinking he is hiding from me and he is incredibly still thinking I won't see him) I roll down my window and call his name and he still is holding very still but his friend is standing on the sidewalk looking back and forth between me and the hiding culprit. As I call his name a second time, he gets up and knows he has been caught. I say, "What are the rules about coming home from school and checking in with me before you play?" He innocently looks at me and says, "But I wasn't playing." I say, "Well then what were you doing over here at your friends house?" and his reply.................

"Oh, we were just hanging out."

I guess I need to have a new, more specific rule!

Kids........

He shoots, He scores!

We are almost through with basketball season this year and I haven't blogged about it once. Trevin and Tyrel both played this year and I was really sad that Travis decided not to play because he did a really great job last year now that he has finally had his coordination catch up to his body. Maybe we can talk him into it next year when he goes to the new high school. Trevin is so funny to watch because he gets so excited whenever he makes a basket. Someday, he will get coordinated hopefully, he is kind of like Travis was, his body is growing too fast to keep up in the coordination department. In fact, we had to buy him new shoes yesterday and he is now in a size 7 mens shoe. That is equivalent to a 9 in women's shoes which is my size and he is still only 9 years old. Tyrel's feet are as big as Sean's and Travis' wears the biggest size you can buy in a regular store. I hope his are done growing!

Tyrel has had a great year. They have lost a few games, but their team does pretty well. In their game yesterday he was the 2nd highest scorer, only 1 basket behind the high scorer. It was a fun game. It has been fun to see him improve this year. At the beginning of the year he had a tendency to slow up and shoot from too far out but now he is going all the way into the basket and he is making a lot more of his shots. His favorite place to play is up top in the guard position. They start the tournament next Saturday morning, so we shall see how they do.