iN GOD wE TrUsT!

My AWESOME friend Heather just sent me this email and I LOVE the message, so I thought I would share it with all of you. Enjoy!

You always hear the usual stories of pennies on the sidewalk being good luck, gifts from angels, etc. This is the first time I've ever heard this twist on the story. Gives you something to think about.

Several years ago, a friend of mine and her husband were invited to spend the weekend at the husband's employer's home. My friend, Arlene, was nervous about the weekend. The boss was very wealthy, with a fine home on the waterway, and cars costing more than her house.
The first day and evening went well, and Arlene was delighted to have this rare glimpse into how the very wealthy live. The husband's employer was quite generous as a host, and took them to the finest restaurants. Arlene knew she would never have the opportunity to indulge in this kind of extravagance again, so was enjoying herself immensely.

As the three of them were about to enter an exclusive restaurant that evening, the boss was walking slightly ahead of Arlene and her husband. He stopped suddenly, looking down on the pavement for a long, silent moment.

Arlene wondered if she was supposed to pass him. There was nothing on the ground except a single darkened penny that someone had dropped, and a few cigarette butts Still silent, the man reached down and picked up the penny.

He held it up and smiled, then put it in his pocket as if he had found a great treasure. How absurd! What need did this man have for a single penny? Why would he even take the time to stop and pick it up?

Throughout dinner, the entire scene nagged at her. Finally, she could stand it no longer. She casually mentioned that her daughter once had a coin collection, and asked if the penny he had found had been of some value.

A smile crept across the man's face as he reached into his pocket for the penny and held it out for her to see. She had seen many pennies before! What was the point of this?

"Look at it." He said. "Read what it says." She read the words " United States of America "
"No, not that; read further."
"One cent?" "No, keep reading."
"In God we Trust?" "Yes!" "And?"
"And if I trust in God, the name of God is holy, even on a coin. Whenever I find a coin I see that inscription. It is written on every single United States coin, but we never seem to notice it! God drops a message right in front of me telling me to trust Him? Who am I to pass it by? When I see a coin, I pray, I stop to see if my trust IS in God at that moment. I pick the coin up as a response to God; that I do trust in Him. For a short time, at least, I cherish it as if it were gold. I think it is God's way of starting a conversation with me. Lucky for me, God is patient and pennies are plentiful!

More Holiday Pictures!

Good news! Maya has piggy tails now! I know, they're a little pathetic, but a girl can dream, right? Besides, she's at that awkward stage where her hair pokes out like a scarecrow when she wears a headband, so I had to get creative.

I stayed up late the night before Thanksgiving to prepare all the yummy food that would be baked the next day. It was so nice to cook in a clean kitchen with no kiddos underfoot!

Jade made THE MOST AWESOME TURKEY ever! He brined it over night and then cooked it to perfection. It was still sooo juicy after a few days and a microwave. MMMMM!

Gabe, of course, wanted to try the drumstick...Any guesses on how far he got?

Christmas Cookies!

DISCLAIMER: All other holiday food, including the gingerbread men decorating the Christmas tree, were homemade from scratch. You know me... crafty, crafty, crafty!

And...Here we go again!

Like I said, here we go again...We're moving AGAIN! That was not a happy exclamation point...no, this awesome house with the huge back yard and t.v. loft and great kitchen and HUGE garage, was not meant to be our home. It is being auctioned on January 6th (call me, I'll give the the info so you can buy us a house). So now we're frantically looking for another place to live. So fun....I don't even know what else to say about it.

On a brighter note, if you want a good laugh just click on my friend Heather's blog and read about her first prenatal appointment...it's a doosey!

And here are some pics that I have been too busy to post until now:

Alright...Here's your update:

This is going to be a very long rant-style post. But, hey, you wanted an update, so here it is!

Setting: Nielson apartment in St. Goerge. Beautiful weather outside. Nielson family (meaning Dot) is preparing for the move to Dot's mom's house in West Jordan. The move is still two weeks away but there is plenty to do...

But wait, help is on the way...hmmm...or not....

Jade's mom came down from Idaho to work at the Huntsman senior games. She also brought her brother-in-law and Angela, Jade's little sister. So I thought I might have some help, but it turned out that what we really got were three more adult mouths to feed and less room in which to work around the house. What was I thinking! (to Larie, Shane, and Angel: you are always welcome, it just happened to be bad timing, but we love you!)

It turned out like this: Angela, in the event that her mother, Jade and I, and Lori and Shea, were all moving away and would not be able to come back down for a while, decided to plan a wedding on the fly. Meaning that the last two weeks of packing turned into a week and a half of wedding plans and photography and two days of packing (thanks, Shea, for coming over to kick my butt into gear on Thursday!) Oh, yeah, and I didn't even make a list for the move!!! (that's a very big deal in my list-governed world)

All of you who know me know that i am a little (just a little) uptight when there are lots of people around. Well, this was no exception. I was having bouts of hysteria broken up by little episodes of rainman-like chanting...

...Wednesday, October 15th was the wedding and it was the most romantinc civil ceremony i've ever witnessed! Congratulations Sam and Angela (now affectionately known as Samgela)! Thursday was pack-the-trailer-clean-the-house day. Just as we were hitching the trailer up to S & L's pickup, we got a call from my mom. She had "good news"... she'd sold her house and we had to be out in three weeks. And we weren't even in it yet!!!

So...more bawling...more hysterics...more frantic packing.

Friday was supposed to be hit-the-road day, but it turned into do everything at the last minute and hope we get out of town befor dark-day...and we did...barely. But not before buying a new tire for the borrowed box trailer. Okay, so we were finally on the road and things were looking good for a couple of days....

Then we went back to SG on Sunday to clean the apartment, which was a joke because we were exhausted from the previous two weeks. It took us three days (not that it was that bad, we were just in bad shape) instead of a day and a half. All the while we kept saying to ourselves, "the Lord will bless us for following His counsel. The Lord will bless us for following His counsel..." (and He has, I'll get to that later)

Jaden was sick when we got back up North, but it wasn't anything we couldn't handle. But then Gabe got sick...really sick...he had fevers and didn't eat so much as a booger for four days. It was awful. He just kept puking and laying there not moving. We were really worried, but then Jade fixed it. I won't tell you how, but this is what Gabe had to say about it: "Daddy gave me medicine in my bum and I'm not sick anymore!" So, there you go. He eventually got better and started to eat.

Meanwhile, Maya was suffering from another ear infection, complete with ruptured eardrum and oozing. We were also dealing with her seemingly incurable diaper rash. After two months and two courses of treatment, and with the ear getting worse and worse, I finally found a doctor up here. First I have to explain how bad things were for poor Maya. The rash was so bad that it had turned into puffy, red, bleeding, blisters. And it was spreading. Her face was also infected with what looked like yeast infection. Little red spots all over and around her eyes. She looked horrible! And the smell...well we couldn't figure out why she smelled so bad until I was holding her one day and realized it came from her ear! It was really BAD! Like something died in there, which I totally considered because of the smell.

So the Awesome Dr. Rasmus saved the day. She told us that maya definitely had a pseudomonas infection in her ear and a yeast infection...no, wait, let me look again (that's what she said)... a STAPH infection on her bum and her face! EEEEEWWW! And it was spreading to the rest of her body. It's an oportunistic infection, so anwhere she had the slightest open wound (even pierced ears) it was growing. And, to add insult to injury, her pseudomonas infection had passed to me and I had the worst UTI ever! I know, t.m.i., but, hey , its all part of the story. So, we were both on anti's and eventually getting better. Oh, yeah. That was on Friday. On Saturday, Jaden dislocated Maya's elbow and we had to go to the emergency room.

Then we moved again. I mean the whole house. Twice in a month. With three kids and no babysitter. Super fun...

Okay, things are really starting to look up for us now. The Lord has blessed us for following his counsel and we were able to find a house in the same neighborhood as my mom's house and the owner is charging the same rent as my mom (which is very little). So, now you know why we haven't returned any phone calls or emails for a while. It's been crazy and not a lot of fun, but we've definitely grown and grown closer. Oh, yeah, and Maya learned to walk! It's awesome to see her toddling around after the boys! She's so cute!

I'll post pics of the kids and the new house and our crazy life tomorrow. I'm sure you're all blogged out after this anyway.

The Moral of the Story is.....

...pay attention to your child, even if you're on the phone, when he's yelling your name louder and louder.

Conversation:

Mom: (talking to Kristi on the phone) "How long is it?"
(ahem...I was talking about the trailer we're borrowing from them)

Jaden: (somewhere in the background) "Gabe!!! I will get it! I will get it!!!"

Gabe: (also in the background) "Mommy! I have a Hoween eyeinmyeeeeaaaaaarr!"
(I didn't quite get what he was saying because I was listening to Kristi)

Mom: "SHHHHH! I'm on the PHONE!" (not nice, I know....)

Gabe: (still in the background) "Mommy! I have a Hoween eyeinmyeeeeaaaaaarr!"

Mom: ignoring Gabe to the best of my ability

Gabe: "MOM!!! I HAVE A HOWEEN EYE IN MY EEEEAAARRR!"

Okay, Buddy, you got my attention... Translation: My big brother stuck a Halloween eye (googly eye) in my ear. Great. I'm sure the instacare ladies will be happy to take care of that for us...again.

Good news! Uncle Shea held the flashlight and pulled on the ear while I extracted the offending googly eye from Gabe's ear canal. All is well in the Nielson house....for now.

School Picture Time!

Doesn't my sweet little boy look handsome!

How NOT to keep the Sabath holy...

WARNING: DO NOT SCROLL DOWN IF YOU IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE GROSS PICTURES

It was turning out to be a really nice Sunday Afternoon. We'd made it to church before the end of sacrament meeting, we didn't starve to death before getting home, and everyone was in a pretty good mood. We get home from church and this is how the conversation goes:

Jaden: "Hey, Gabe, let's wrestle!"

Gabe: "Yeah! Wrestle!"

Mom: "It's okay with me if you wrestle, but run upstairs first and put your church clothes on Mommy's bed, okay?"

(to which there is no reply because as I was making my request, Jaden lunged at Gabe, who fell backward and whacked his head on the corner of the t.v. stand.)

Mom: (suffering from back pain and unable to leap to the rescue) "Jade! Grab him! That was a bad one!"

Jaden: "Dad, he's bleeding! Is he's brain falling out?!?!"

Mom: "Is it bad? Put pressure on it!"

(Gabe isn't crying at all, just letting Daddy drag him by the head into the bathroom)

Daddy: "Great! He's definitely going to need at least a couple of stitches! (grumble, grumble)"

Mommy: "Hon, this is awesome! Its our first big boy injury! Don't worry so much about it, we have two boys, so this is kinda supposed to happen, right? Before we go, can you get that blood out of the carpet please? I don't want it to stain."

Daddy: "(sounding a little queesy) I guess if I'm going to be a doctor, I'm going to have to get used to the sight of blood."

And this is the result of not listening to your mother who told you to go upstairs and change out of your church clothes (which, by the way, now have blood all over them):

So off we rush (and by rush, I mean clean the carpet, get Maya dressed, make a bottle, call Lori to see if #2 and #3 can stay with her, make sure the camera battery is charged, grab Jade's backpack so he can study if there's a long wait, then go) to Instacare to get stitches. Gabe still didn't cry, which gave me conflicting feelings of "what a brave boy!" and "if he's not crying and the bleeding has stopped, do we really need stitches just because we can see a little bit of bone?"

Jade was kind enough to hold the napkin on Gabe's head so that he didn't bleed all over the waiting room chairs.

So Doctor Sam (I don't know if that's really his name or if he was just teasing the nurse who's name is Sam) Come's in, pulls out the little surgical stapler thingy, and goes to town on Gabe's head. Gabe still didn't cry! He just stood there wincing a little while Dr. Sam clicked away.

Here is one of our favorite nurses, Sam, who happened to be on loan from Dr. Thompson's office. Sam took really great care of Gabers, and I think he was comforted to have someone he knows working on his owie.

So, a great big THANK YOU to Lori and Shea for helping out with the kiddos, Sam for being a familiar face, Jade for cleaning up the blood, and Dr. Whatever for being kind, funny, and putting Gabe at ease. THANKS!

Chris & Nick

These are some new pictures of my SUPER CUTE nephews, Chris and Nick. You can't really see Chris's face, but they're twins, so ya seen one, ya seen 'em all!

Happy Birthday Molly!

Our cute little neighbor girl is celebrating her first birthday TODAY! She is absolutely adorable and we just love her and her awesome family! So, happy birthday Wogger!

Baby Tag!

Thanks Necha! Glad to have you around! Anyone who knows me, knows that I have no problem at all talking about my pregnancies...So of course I took THIS challenge!

1- Where​ were you when you first​ found​ out you were pregn​ant?​
#1- In the bathroom at Terget in Bountiful. I was on my lunch break. Yeah, I'm not the "wait for morning pee" type.
#2- Gorgeous pink trailer in Cane Beds
#3- Bathroom at Bloomington Walmart...again, not a patient woman.

2- Who was with you?
#1- Nobody
#2- Nobody. I thought it was negative and then Jade got home and I checked it one more time before I told him...lo and behold, it was positive.
#3- Some lady wearing sneakers. I didn't tell her though...

3- How did you find out that you were pregn​ant? ​
#1- My pants quit fitting and I was STARVING all the time.
#2- My nose got fat...AGAIN
#3- Everyone else was pregnant, so I figured what the heck, I might as well take a test.

4- What was your first​ react​ion to findi​ng out you were pregn​ ant?
#1- Super excited! Tried for two years to get pregnant.
#2- Excited, but embarrassed, too because I thought they were really close together. I hadn't actually done the math yet:)
#3- Again, excited, but it was bittersweet because I knew this was probably the last one we would have, and I love being pregnant.

5- Your Husba​nds react​on?​ Jade was low key, as always, each time I told him. He was always happy, though.

6- Who was the first​ perso​ n you told?​
#1- One of the ladies with whom I worked at the fabric store. She guessed that there was something going on when I got back to work and could't quit grinning and would burst into random bouts of "the giggles".
#2- Jade
#3- Jade

7- Did you plan to get pregn​ant?​ Yes, No, Yes

8- Was every​body happy​ for you? Yes!

10- Did you go out and celeb​rate?​ Nope. Like I said, Jade's pretty low key. Oh, yeah, when I was pregnant with Jaden, my mom took me right out and bought me maternity clothes.

11- Did you want to find out the sex? Yes!! I didn't want to find out with Maya, but Jade doesn't like surprises, so we did anyway.

12- What was the sex? Both girls

13- Did anyon​e throw​ you a baby showe​r?​ Yeah, I had two with Jaden, and then three with Maya. I'm pretty spoiled!

14- If yes, who?
#1- My mom gave me a SURPRISE shower with Jaden. I had been at Lagoon all day and was exhauseted, puffy, and half dressed. I walked into the living room and there were twenty people waiting for me. How embarrasing! It was a blast, though. Momma Larie also gae me a shower in St. George.
#3- My mom, The Park Mommies, and My young womens (church group) presidency.

15- Did you get any outfi​ts at the baby showe​r that you just knew you weren​'​t going​ to put on your baby? Yeah, Jade's little sister, Daina, gave me a little yellow dress for Jaden. I don't know what that was about...

16- How much weigh​t did you gain?​
#1- 70 lbs
#2- 65 lbs
#3- 40 lbs... And I kept ten stinkin' lbs from each one!

17- Did you loose​ all of the weigh​t that you gaine​ d?​ Uh, NO

18- Did you get a lot of stret​ch marks​?​ Yeah, I think there are a lot of them, but I guess I'm not very objective...

19- What did you crave​ the most?​
#1- Macaroni and cheese, YUCK! I've always hated that stuff, so when I was craving it I put off eating it for a few months and then gave it a try...still YUCK! Oh, and that's when I was converted to fry sause. I practically drank it! And raisinettes, and Bic Macs, and chicken nuggets (you see where that 70 lbs came from)
#2- I can't remember...
#3- SPICY! It was the only food that didn't make me sick! The spicier the better!

20- Did you crave​ anyth​ing crazy​?​ Yeah, most of it was crazy at the time I was craving it. I thought I was going to starve to death when I couldn't get a big mac at seven in the morning!

21- Who or what got on your nerve​s the most?​ Jade. That poor guy couldn't seem to do anything right, and then I would start balling and tell him how sorry I was. (he was actually awesome...it was all me!!)

22- Were you marri​ed at the time? Yep. Happily ever after!

23- Did you have any compl​icati​ons durin​g your pregn​ancy?​
#1- Nope
#2- Not during the pregnancy, but my uterus inverted when I delivered Gabe and I went into shock so fast that they couldn't give me any pain medication ( I didn't have an epidural). I kept kicking poor Dr. Thompson because he wouldn't "just leave me alone and let me rest" (said in a crazy, maniacal voice while being held down by the nurses)
#3- Nope. Business as usuall

24- Where​ were you when you went into labor​?​ I was always at home (chugging the castor oil and blue cohosh).

25- Did your water​ break​?​ Nope. And I was so geared up for that part, too! What a disappointment...

26- Who drove​ you to the hospi​tal? ​ Jade

Where is # 27?

28- Did you go early​ or late?​ Early all three times. Only a couple of days, though.

29- Who was in the room with you when you gave birth​?​
#1- Jade, my mom, Momma Larie, and my sister Lizz.
#2- Jade and Momma Larie. And Apryl was there part of the time.
#3- Jade, Momma Larie, and Lori

30- Was it video​ taped​?​ The first one was, but the other two weren't.

31- Did you have any drugs​ for the pain?​ Yes, no, yes.

32- Did you go Natur​al or have a c-​secti​on?​ Natural

33- What was your first​ react​ion after​ givin​g birth​?​
#1- I was still pretty chill from the narcotic, so I just closed my eyes and chilled some more. I figured someone else could handle it from here, right :)
#2- It was a little crazy....I can't remember much after that whole fiasco!
#3- Is it really a girl?!?! Finally!

34- How big was the baby?​​
#1- 7 lbs. 11 oz.
#2- 7 lbs. 12 oz.
#3- 8 lbs. 3 oz.

35- Did your Husba​nd cry? I think he cried with Jaden, then he cried when he realized there was something wrong after Gabe was born. I don't remember with Maya.

36- What did you name the baby?​
#1- Jaden Noah
#2- Cage Somethingorother which got changed to Gabriel Ragains the next day
#3- Maya Elizabeth

37- Did the baby have any compl​icati​ons? ​ No, No, and Jaundice with Maya

38- How old is the baby today​?​ Jaden is 5, Gabe is 3, and Maya is almost ten months.

39- When is the next one comin​g?​ I don't know the answer to that one. Probably a mid-life-crisis baby in a few years.

41-​If you could​,​ would​ you do it all over again​?​ Heck yeah! I'm pretty good at having babies. Its all that stuff that comes after that I need help with!

Alright, you know who you are. I tag YOU! I want every juicy detail from all my mommy friends!

LeApIn LiZaRdS!

Boys will be BOYS! Jaden, Gabe, and a neighbor boy found a LIZARD
and decided to pick it up and PLAY with it...

Taking a CLOSER LOOK...

and a KISS for good luck...

And some great childhood MEMORIES!

iN a pIcKle!

Maya was brave enough to try a pickle the other day...
Obviously she enjoyed it, right?

Q-T-EEES!

We recently went to an open house for one of Jade's sisters that got married (in Vegas, the little hussie!). It was the perfect opportunity to take some family picture..... But you know what they say about the best laid plans!! So instead, we got pictures of the Cameron kiddos and the Nielson kiddos, which turned out pretty darn cute, if you ask me. Let me know if you want the name of the photograper because she's really really good! :)

This is my AWESOME father-in-law, John, and Jade's little sister, Daina

Kaeli, Jaden, Maya, Abbi, Gabe, and Jacob

The Cameron cuties: Kaeli (3), Jacob (4 1/2 mos.), and Abbi (19 mos.)

Me 'n my homegirl, Lori

Handsome Fellas: Gabe (3), Jacob, and Jaden (5)

Gabe sweeping Kaeli off her feet!

Who Are You?

Okay, so I was looking at all the sweet comments that my dear friends and family have left on our blog, and I found a cute one from someone who must be a long lost friend of mine. But I can't figure out WHO YOU ARE!!! I know my brain isn't running on all cylinders lately, so don't take it personally that I can't quite place you. Plus, when I clicked on your blog title, it's set to private, so I can't get in... Anyway, Damian & #39's mom and/or dad, would you please write me back and tell me who you are? I would love to hear from you!

FiRsT dAy oF ScHoOl!

Can you believe it? Jaden started kindergarten! This was his first day of school, so of course I had to record the day... He loves his teacher, Miss Ellett, and he's excited to have Tatum and Cooper in his class!

All the kiddos waiting in Miss Ellet's line

Cooper and Tatum

TaGgEd!

RANDOM FACTS:
When I feel anxiety I open the door to my linen closet and just stand there take a deep breath, and enjoy the calmness of the organization, and it grounds me.

You probably already know this, but Jade and I only knew each other for four days when we got engaged.

When I was seventeen my sister was dyeing her hair and she told me to smell it because it "smells soooo yummy!!" I did, and now I can't smell anything unless it is really strong. And most of the time stuff doesn't smell like what it really is. Like how bananas smell like vomit. Oh, and I can't taste things very well, either.

Jade and I have been married longer than anyone in my family (except my gram), and I am SUPER proud of that! This includes my parents SIX marriages!

CURRENT OBSESSION:
I LOVE digital scrapbooking! It is so much easier for me than traditional scrapbooking, and its cheaper, too! Plus, I don't have to worry about leaving a mess of papers and stuff that the kiddos can get into.

GOALS:
#1 Find a daily routine that works for me and STICK WITH IT!
#2 Get Jade through medical school
#3 Lose 20 lbs.
#4 Build up food storage and emergency fund

MY FEARS:
That I won't ever learn to keep my mouth shut and that I will alienate people with my moronic sense of humor and gossip.

That Jade and my friends will realize how uncool I really am and stop loving me (wow, that was deep...)

MY JOYS:
I LOVE my husband! He brings me joy every minute that we are together. I am so happily married it's ridiculous! My children bring me joy, and my friends bring me joy. Lori, Heather, Dana, Stacy, Stacey, Kay, Melissa, Becca, Tiffany, Natalie, Mighty Meg, Mandi, Sam, Ashlee, Holly, Sina, Elizabeth, Apryl, Kristi and the rest of you girlfriends that take care of me and keep me going, you bring me joy! Photography and good books. The first time I get under the sheets with freshly shaved legs brings me joy. Cleaning music and guitar hero. THANKSGIVING...mmmm...that definitely brings me joy! Game night with the Whytes brings me joy. The thrill of learning something new brings me joy.

Finally Updated!

Well, I finally updated my blog! Actually, most of these pics are at least a month old, so there are plenty more that need to go up. But I was his with a crazy bout of insomnia tonight and haven't slept at all, so I spent the time working on my blog. They might be out of order, but it doesn't make much difference anyway. Enjoy!

P.S. - Don't call today because I'll be in bed asleep. If you could manage it, can someone please come over around noon to feed the kids? It'd be real helpful!

Who Are Your Parents?

I know deep down that these cute kids are perfectly functional human beings, but looking at these pictures makes me question myself. They grow out of the toe sucking stage, right?

And once again, the Nielson boys without their clothes on.

Ah, how far we've come...

Didn't boys used to huddle together looking at bugs through a magnifying glass? This is Jaden, Gabe, and Jackson watching a cartoon on a 2 1/2 inch screen. I guess you know what kind of house my boys are growing up in!

Bros Before Hos!

I know, its a little irreverent, but that's what these pics make me think of... I am enjoying my children while they are still little, but can't you just see them as teenagers talking about girls and basketball? I can't tell which I'm more excited for, kindergarten or high school!

BaBy bLuEs

I just love that my baby girl has blue eyes just like mine! Isn't she adorable!