Christmas has begun

We estimated my favorite huge red tree to have 30,000 lights on it, (if any of you know the truth, please let us know!) Guessing which country the life sized nativities were from was a hoot, but the bubbles on the reflection pool were the highlight by far. Christmas on Temple Square will always be a favorite.

Family History

Great Grandpa Nelson


Ogden Cemetery

Sophia's Big Girl Hair Cut

Long and scraggly...

meet scissors...

and a lovely bob is born.

Dedication

To all of you who forgot to pray for me today, I dedicate the living room, dining room and kitchen covered with a large container of low-fat vanilla yogurt with thawed blackberries. To all of you who think it might just be easy to be a single mom of 4 kids I dedicate the upstairs bathroom, 3 towells, 2 small leather sandals and 2 of my children covered in Jennie's poo. And to all of you who think sharing a room is such a lovely idea for children, I dedicate the 2nd set of clean sheets now drenched in water along with a baby, her fresh PJ's, and a laughing 3 year old an hour past bedtime.

Hawiian Dance

Jennie is 18 months old

She loves nursery, talks a ton, is my little "helper", can say a whole prayer, drinks from a cup, runs when you say "ready, set go!", tries to jump, knows the words to "I am a Child of God" but doesn't sing them all, loves her Dad, and favors Dalton, can stand up to anyone, but mostly her sister, and says "No Way" or "Nope" instead of "No". She also says "What the Heck?" and "I love you" really well. At her check-up she had been eating cereal, and asked for water. I gave her some in one of the little cups from the room, she took a drink, and right when Dr. VanDenBerghe walked in, she held the cup up, revealed her backwash, and proclaimed "Some puke!". So generous!

Spring!

I haven't blogged in forever, and I'm a little crazy. The combination manifests itself in this photo of a mother goat eating the placenta that, just minutes ago sustained the life of her two kid goats. I'm pretty sure that these two kids were so new that the farmers who tend to these animals weren't even aware that they had been born. Joe was disgusted, Dalton was relieved when I told him that human mothers don't do this, Sophia and I were enthralled. She asked and I was able to explain that the mother needs the nutrients from the placenta to make the best milk for her kids and to help her recover from delivery. Sophia also noticed that the mother goat only took two breaks from chewing and only to lick her kids clean. I explained that, this is how animal mothers show their love, it's like when I kiss her goodnight. We enjoyed the little lambs, piglets, chicks, calf's, and kids that were everywhere. Many of the mother animals were still pregnant, and I think that going in a few weeks will be the peak of baby animal season. Later that evening when I put Sophia to bed, she licked me lovingly. This might have been my favorite FHE lesson/activity ever.

When I'm a single mom...

I'll blog,
figure out how to use my camera,
figure out how to put music onto my mp3 player,
organize my files,
clean under the bed,
read,
and until then, I'm spending every last second I can with Doug before his 10 week internship. I'm missing him before he's even gone.

General Conference

It's time again, and I'm always looking for ways to get my children as excited for Conference as I am. Deseret Book has this great booklet ready for printing. I didn't actually print the whole booklet, just the pages that I knew my kids would use. Enjoy!

No Excuses

So I've been sick all year pretty much, and I'm almost out of the thick of sick for good. The tonsils are healing, but the scabs haven't fallen off yet, (which is when the pain officially hits the fan). I'm not yet bored with baby food peaches, chocolate pudding, or Jell-o but I've cried twice from frustration at not being able to communicate what I meant to, through pencil, grunt or otherwise. I do like that Joseph has to read everything he wants to hear from me, and I like looking at my scribbles of half conversation at the end of the day. I love how generous my friends and neighbors have been. I know that even amid the excitedness of having Grant Morgan Nelson (my brother's firstborn) join our family, my family has been able to extend their love to me as well. I can't talk but a few short words, but If you have a story to tell me, or are dying to just gab away, right now, I'm your girl. I'm high most of the time too, so if I do end up commenting on whatever you've just blessed my ears with, forgive the sloppy, confusing reply.