The BIG Trip part 1

Our big trip this summer was a lot of driving. We went from Oregon to Idaho. Idaho to Utah. Utah to Colorado. Colorado to Utah. Utah to Idaho. Idaho back to Oregon. We were gone from a Sunday to the following Tuesday. That is the longest I think we have ever gone out of town. OK so Oregon to Idaho we went to stay with Lyle’s brother Lane for a night. So 6 hours in the car. There we played on the X-Box 360 with Uncle Lane and hung out with Kyeoung Lim and Aujin and Noah. We always love going there to spend time with them. Before we left Oregon we realized our dvd player for the car didn’t work. We looked for them in KFalls but they were more expensive than we thought they should be and then decided we would get one before we left Lane’s for Utah. We went to Lane’s Walmart and the one we had looked at was $40 more than our Wal-mart. We are cheap and weren’t going to spend that much more. We ended up buying one at the Kmart there. Got it into the car and couldn’t get it to work. Returned it and drove to a Target in Calwell, Idaho. We ended up paying the $40 more, but at least it was a brand we had heard of. So now we were about 2 hours behind our planned time of leaving. Oh the joys of traveling. J

So now we are off to Provo Utah, about 6 – 7 hours in the car and stayed with my sister in law Karen and the kids, Elise, Cameron, Kaitlin and Nora, as my brother Jaime was out of the country on duty with the Air National Guard for 2 months. We got to eat the yummy pizza Karen makes and visit with my brother Joshua and his wife Alicia and their kids Francesca, Leann, and Sophia. We haven’t gotten to see Josh and the kids for several years so that was a treat. We love being able to see Karen and the kids and she is always so gracious and makes us awesome yummy food when we stay.

Then the next day brought Colorado. Another 5 hours in the car. By now we were a little sick of the car. We go to Colorado to see our friends the Atkins that had just moved there from Klamath Falls. Lee Atkin is a dentist and bought a practice in Craig, Colorado. He is also the amazing dentist that helped us when Rylee rearranged her mouth on the playground. His wife Stacy is my awesome coupon friend. They have 8 kids. So we went there to see them and say goodbye really as they are so far away now. L We get there and get to see them and visit. Mind you they have only been there for like 2 days at that point and here comes 8 extra people to add to the mix for a night. Crazy right? But we were close enough we couldn’t let the chance to see them pass by. Lyle was a trooper to go that far just so I could go see Stacy, because I was definitely the driving force behind that side trip. He was glad to go. We miss them terribly. So we got to spend time with them. Go to the park and eat pizza and hang out. I go to get my baby fix as Mason was just over 1 at the time and my little lover, and Morgan only a few months old. I could go for some cuddle time with those two little ones bout now. L

So we have to say goodbye to them until who knows when the next day and it was extremely emotionally for me. Lots of tears on the way home. Luckily we don’t live in the dark ages so I can email, and talk to her often. Its not nearly the same, and we don’t get to talk 1-10 times a day like before but I am trying to adjust.

Camping

So we came home from Sacramento and then a couple of days later went camping with Lyle’s sister Leah and his brother Lane and his mom. We went jet skiing and camped for 2 nights. A week after that we went on our big trip for the summer. I will try to get some more pictures from Leah and Lane.

This is Alek and Rayah

Baseball Anyone?

This summer we got to see some baseball! Lyle, Jackson and Jacob went to see the Mariners play in Seattle with Uncle Andy and cousins Zac and Drew. They had a blast! They saw the Space Needle and also went to the Airplane Museum and saw some cool planes.

At the end of June Lyle and Jackson went to see the Dodgers play at Dodgers Stadium. There may or may not be pictures to come. They were on Lyle's phone and I don't know if we got those before it went kaput! I am going to have to be better about that!!

They got to go watch batting practice and were tight behind the Dodger's dugout! I wish they had taken a real camera! They saw Manny Ramirez super close up! It was a fun time for them to just be together!

Eclipse Movie

So while Lyle and Jackson were seeing the Dodgers game, I was with Stacy and Molly at the midnight showing on opening night of Eclipse. The 3rd in the Twilight saga. We had so much fun. Waited in line, ate at Applebees. Sat in line... It was a good movie and I got girl time so that is all that matters. :) We got to play games thanks to Julie and Christy again and win prizes. It was so fun!

Weddings and Mission calls 2010

In June got to participate in 2 very special things. Lyle’s niece Elle was sealed in the Sacramento California Temple. We are so excited for her. She married Jordan Tall. A returned missionary. He is a great guy. So she is now Elle Tall.  That same week her little brother Kyle had his missionary farewell and left for the MTC (Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah) He is in Tampa, Florida on his mission. We got to go to the temple with them. The whole week was very spiritual and amazing to be a part of. We are so proud of both of them. When Lyle and I got married we moved to Salem, Oregon. Elle and Kyle both lived in the same town and we got to babysit them sometimes. They were 4 and 3 years old. They have grown so much since then. It is amazing to see them grow and be a part of their lives. We are so proud of them.

Jackson 15th Birthday

Jackson is 15. Can you believe it. You will notice no mention or pics of a Driver’s Learner Permit. Our motto is, “Walk for Life or Drive for Eagle.” This is referring to Boy Scouts of America. He is a Life Scout. He has all of his Merit badges for his Eagle but has not done his project. We were trying to do this during the summer, but one thing after another happened and his first project idea didn’t work out. So he is now working on a new project. He has met with a fireman for prevention and fire plan ideas for the home. He will get them printed and then hand them out to target areas in town. He was working on his plan write up just tonight. We want this all done as soon as possible. We will see if he ever gets it done so he can drive.
I am missing a folder of pictures so if I ever find them there will be pictures added.

Graduations 2010

So this was my first year teaching preschool at Lil' Scholars Academy. I had 13 kids counting Rorie and 7 were boys. Sometimes I wondered if I would make it through the day but now it is over and I am so sad. I had a great group of kids and will miss them.



Jensen graduated from Kindergarten. They sang the song "What a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong and did some sign language. They also did a goodbye song. He was one of the soloists, which really meant he sang with about 6 other kids a certain part of the song. One little girl was so loud you couldn't really hear anyone else. When he was asked what he wanted to be when he grew up he said " a Bicycle Cop". They made life size paper cutout of himself and of course it was yellow and green, the Oregon Ducks colors!! Here is video of him singing some of his song. I am missing a folder of pictures so I cannot find graduation pics but this video is from them practicing graduation songs the day of graduation, during a field trip. He was pretty proud to be a soloist. There is also a pic of him with a cow from the field trip where they visited a dairy,

Rylee and Rayah's Birthdays and haircuts

So, Here are pictures of Rylee(now 9) and Rayah(now 11) blowing out birthday candles on the 7th of May for Rylee and the 18th for Rayah. You will notice the long length of their hair. They both wanted to donate hair. Rylee had 8 inches that will go to Pantene's Beautiful Lengths and Rayah had 10 that will go to Locks of Love for the 3rd time in her short life. Here is an after picture of them.



How can we not be super proud of them??? :)

Quote for my life it seems!

Cows, Constitution, & Commandments

My sister sent this to me today and I loved it and had to post it.

Think about this:
1. Cows
2. The Constitution
3. The Ten Commandments
--------------------------------------------------------------

COWS
Is it just me, or does anyone else find it amazing that during the
mad cow epidemic our government could track a single cow, born in Canada
almost three years ago, right to the stall where she slept in the state of
Washington? And, they tracked her calves to their stalls. But they are
unable to locate 11 million illegal aliens wandering around our country.
Maybe we should give each of them a cow.

--------------------------------------------------------------
THE CONSTITUTION
They keep talking about drafting a Constitution for Iraq ... Why
don't we just give them ours? It was written by a lot of really smart guys,
it has worked for over 200 years, and we're not using it anymore.

--------------------------------------------------------------

THE 10 COMMANDMENTS
The real reason that we can't have the Ten Commandments posted in a
government building is this --you cannot post 'Thou Shalt Not Steal' 'Thou
Shalt Not Commit Adultery' and 'Thou Shall Not Lie' in a building full of
politicians .... it creates a hostile work environment.

I Have the Best Husband Ever!!

I know you all think you do but really I do!! This year for my birthday he decided it had been long enough since we had a night alone without the kids or anyone else. We needed some time away!!

So, he took us to Medford, well Central Point and we took the kids to my parents house. He told me we were all meeting up for dinner at Olive Garden and we were going to check in so we wouldn't have to wait forever for a table. Really, we went to the Marriot where he had reserved a room for the night. We checked in and then went to eat at Olive Garden. We went and did some shopping after. It was one of the best birthdays ever! We got some much needed R & R and got to spend some time just being a couple for a little while without having to worry about the kids and what kind of trouble they were digging up. Of course, a BIG thank you to my mom and dad for taking the kids. Love you guys!!

The room was awesome and had a big double size jetted tub. We now both want one for our bathroom. :) So much room to sprawl out and soak.

So now you know why I have the BEST husband ever! Thanks Honey!! XOXOXOXXXXX

Rylee's face

So I should have posted pictures of how much better Rylee looks before now, but better late than never!! It healed so well!! Thanks Lee! :)

The Twi-Off Challenge 2010

Ok so a while ago I posted about the midnight showing of New Moon. I talked about a party some gals we knew did in between the Twilight and New Moon movies. The party was awesome and so much fun. They did a great job. Anyway, Julie asked me to have a "Twi-Off" against Christy to see who knew more. Of course I am so competitive that once the challenge was thrown down I had to accept. I spent all of Christmas Break rereading the books, took quizzes online(got frusterated that on half the quizzes the answers they had were wrong). Bottom line,I studied. If I was gonna do it,I was gonna win.

Christy had said to some friends that she didn't really know much so I was not as worried as I could have been, and had I known, would have been.

I was totally nervous, which I know seems silly, but I was. Couldn't sit still, stomach in knots, shaky hands, sweaty palms.

Needless to stay, Christy studied, and for a bit I wasn't sure I would win. She put up some major competition. We both were in it for real. She came up with answers I didn't know, thats for sure. She was ahead for a good chunk and I wasn't sure I would catch her. Even Molly, who never thought anyone could even compete with me was worried. She took all of the pictures and video for me and cheered me on. Thanks Coach! :)

Eventually, I hit the zone and took off. Here are some of the pics. Let me mention... Christy and Julie LOVE Edward!! Christy had her whole side of the table set up and decorated. She handed all of her group "Team Christy" stickers even our waiter she had on her side!:)

Julie went all out. We had a game table buzzers, a list of rules. We had 25+ questions from each book, 10 questions from each movie and a 30 question "Power Round". Serious business!!

The whole thing was so fun, I wasn't going to post about it but then I decided this blog is supposed to be like a journal and it is something I want to remember. So.. here it is...

I was going to post video of it, but it was like 8 minutes long and after it trying to upload for 5 hours I decided nevermind!

There are more pics and you can read Julie's post about it here. She has some fun pictures.

Here's my pictures of it:

the competition room
Christy's cheer section
my side

Christy's side of the table and buzzer.(Her sparkly things and framed pics of "Edward" for good luck.

Christy's life size Edward cutout complete with his Team Christy shirt! :)

Overall, I think we decided that Christy and I should team up and take on another team. It was a super fun night. I am glad I did it even though I was nerve wracked. Christy made it so fun to do and Julie put so much work into it. Thanks Ladies!

And I know I have just comfirmed for many who wondered if I was nuts,that I am, but thats OK. Its not like its a surprise right! :) My husband thinks it too, but he still loves he and that is what matters. :) I will put on the bottom of the main blog Lyle's theme song for all things Twilight.

Easter 2010

Ok so the Easter Bunny comes to our house on Saturday, not Sunday. That way we are really celebrating and concentrating on two separate things on each of those days.
Last night we colored eggs. The kids loved it. I boiled 2 dozen eggs and they were still complaining that there weren't enough.
My grandma is staying with us this weekend so she got in on the fun.





This morning we got to dig in to our baskets and hunt for eggs in the house because guess what?? There is snow outside!! It snowed most of yesterday and last night and is snowing right now. It's only APRIL!!! :)


We are looking forward to General conference tomorrow and celebrating the real reason for Easter. Craig and Molly and the kids will come for dinner with us.

Whats up?

So Rylee got her stitches out yesterday. Out of the 11 there were only 5 or 6 left to take out, but everything looks really good. Since she is only 8 we are hoping the gums will fill in on their own in the next couple of years. There is only a little spot or two that we are concerned about. It is AMAZING how different her mouth looks after just 9 days. She has healed so well. She is looking forward to eating a bit more normal things.
Her front teeth could still darken, it isn't something you can tell right now so we will just have to wait and see, but we feel so blessed that all is healing so well. We again, can't thank our friend, Lee enough for all his help!! Love him!

Other updates for us...

Tennis has started and Lyle is gone til 6 or so each night for practice. Matches start next week.

Rylee and Rayah are signed up for Volleyball and are very excited about it. This is our first time playing that sport so it should be interesting.

Jackson is learning that keeping up in your classes requires effort. He started filling out Eagle project paperwork this weekend.

I have so many coupons it is ridiculous, but I got $140 dollars worth of food for just under $25 last week so it is worth it. I am not the most organized person in the world so the filing of all the coupons so I can find them again is a constant chore for me. I don't know what I am going to do when my friend Stacy moves since we are constantly checking to make sure the other has seen the latest coupon for this or that.

Jacob is planning a Court of Honor for his Communications merit badge.

Rorie and Jensen are doing well.

I think that is it for this time!

Rylee and the Zipper day 3

Well, yesterday Rylee felt good enough that she kept trying to play basketball. Grandma and Grandpa Phair came over from Medford to see her and Uncle Nic and Uncle Craig and Aunt Molly live in town and came to see her. Lots of calls and emails from friends and family. She loved seeing and hearing people were thinking about her.

She got bored having to sit and lay and rest yesterday. She was swollen, but good. Today, she is more sore and swollen. She is starting to bruise a bit under her right eye. Her lip looks better though. She was trying to get a cold before this happened and now it seems to have hit. She is coughing a bit and from banging her nose up she is still stuffy (she sounds like she has her nose plugged when she talks to you) but now she keeps sneezing, which makes everything hurt. She is already sick of soft foods and she will be eating those for awhile yet to come. She is in good spirits over all, but it is a lot harder as her parents to see her hurt.

Plus, I think we have de-thawed enough that the worry over how her mouth will heal and if she will need surgeries and grafts have set in. Although we are trying not to think about that yet. She is just such a beautiful girl and of course we don't want anything to disfigure her. Lyle is going to give her a blessing today. We should have done it yesterday when all of the family was here but didn't think about it until they had all gone. She is a special little girl and she is just handling this so well.

I am so glad she isn't a whiner by nature. She is just so tough and laid back about it all. We are so grateful she didn't get hurt worse.

Rylee and the Zipper

So interesting day today. Went to work, came home. I was home for 15 minutes and the phone rings. The kids Elementary school Secretary says
" Mrs. Nielson, Rylee has had an accident on the playground at recess. She put her tooth through her lip and her nose is gushing blood."
I, of course, rush to the school where her nose is definitely gushing and her top lip is huge and she looks totally macabre. She is saying she needs to puke and gets pale and sweaty and starts to not be able to keep herself upright. We lay her down and the nurse shows me Rylee's top gums. It looks to us like she has a big gash in them clear across the front top 4 teeth. The nurse tells me how worried she is that maybe the nerves have been killed and those 4 teeth will darken or that they might be loose and I should get her into a dentist.

So I call the dentist we have been going to and they are, of course, closed because it is Friday. ( I needed my Brother in law Jeff's Emergency dental clinic right about then)I try to call the open door clinic who is supposed to take everyone and they say they can't see us to call the emergency number for our dentist. OK, so remember that I just said EMERGENCY number. I call and after having to push about 10 numbers to get connected to a person it says they are closed for lunch. BECAUSE NO ONE WOULD DARE HAVE AN EMERGENCY BETWEEN 12 and 1!!!!
So I frantically call my friend Stacy, who's husband is a dentist to see if he will be coming home for lunch, and if he can just take a look at it and tell me if her teeth are going to die. She says he isn't coming home and she will call him. In the mean time I just head to her house so she can tell me if I am freaking out over nothing! (I needed reassurance!)
She sees it talks to her husband and sends me to his office. Remember at this point I think it is just a cut on her gums...
So I go and he squeezes us in. It is probably good it is him because Rylee knows him pretty well and we all love him. He gets her in the chair and I should mention, she is still bleeding a ton.
He cleans her up a bit, stitches her lip up as she has torn her "Frenulum??" the part that connects your lip to your gums. So hers is no longer connected. 4 or 5 stitches in her lip. Then he looks at her gums. He literally pulls them down out of the top of her mouth. When it is all cleaned up you can see she has no gums around those top front 4 teeth. He pulls them down and stitches and loops the suture around her teeth to hold it down. It is still not quite together between her 2 front teeth but will hopefully heal. (If it doesn't heal all together or has major scarring then we will have to wait til she is a bit older and a periodontist would take grafts from the back roof of her mouth and sraft it to her front gums. I am sure that wouln't be pleasant or cheap, so we hope it heals well.) While he is stitching her nose and gums are all bleading everywhere. She has 11 sutures in total and it took an hour and a half probably. He told her not to smile or brush her teeth so she doesn't mess it up. He said it was probably the worst dental trauma he has had to deal with.

It was horrific, I watched him do it all and Rylee squeezed my hand. The numbing was really the worst for her, but she was a trooper. Lee (Stacy's husband) was INCREDIBLE!! On top of that, he wouldn't charge me, and he and Stacy brought Rylee flowers and treats tonight to make sure he and Rylee were still friends. We owe them big time. Gonna have to find out his favorite desserts and keep him well stocked! We love them and hope they stay in K-Falls for awhile longer.

The picture is not of when it was fresh because I didn't think about it until it was mostly stitched but I would have had to let go of her hand to take it and all I had was my phone which is what this was taken with at the regular doctor's office after to make sure she was okay everywhere else. Tonight it actually looks a lot better. Rylee's nose is swollen, we are lucky she didn't break it. It will probably all be bruised and nasty tomorrow.

Oh and how Rylee did all of this... There is a toy on the playground they call the zipper. It has a handle you hang from and it slides back and forth like a mini zip line. She jumped for the handle and missed and landed with her mouth and nose on the wood casing around it..... We discussed not playing on that toy anymore and it was all her idea!!






Yes, as you can tell from how I wrote I am still a little worked up abouth the whole thing! :) But hey, I updated my blog again and it hasn't even been a week!

Coupons! Coupons! Coupons!

I know, I know, I never post, unless its about Twilight stuff, but I promise this is nothing Twilight!


My friend Stacy got me into couponing, and as she has more kids than me, I figured I should listen. So this is the deal I got today!! SO excited!!

So it is a picture from my phone camera because I couldn't find batteries for my regular camera. Let me tell you all that is on that table:

10 Betty Crocker cake mixes

10 Betty Crocker brownie mixes

4 boxes of GoGurts

1 box Yoplait dessert type yogurt

2 Boxes Red Baron pizza

2 boxes Capri Suns 1 24ct Kraft Singles Cheese

2 boxes Cinnamon Toast Crunch

1 gallon of milk

2 Arm&Hammer Laundry Detergent

Regular and sale price for all of this from my receipt:

Before the Safeway card 97.48

With the Safeway card 75.25

With my coupons 24.57 (76% savings $75.90)

Can you believe that!!!! Needless to say I wish I would have figure this out a VERY long time ago, but I guess better late than never!! Now not that I would ever pay that much for all of this I am such a bargain hunter. But still, just the sale prices were good, but the coupons saved me so much $$$$$$$!

I know I am a spaz, but I was excited so all of you get to hear about it! :)