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.