2009 Christmas Card

Merry Christmas! We decided not to write a letter this year, but I hope to update this blog soon with some of the year's events.

Our biggest and most suprising news of the year is that S. Nicholson number 7 (child #5) is coming in early July.  We thought we were done, but apparently not. :)

We hope you have all had a wonderful year and that the upcoming one will be even better! God bless!

Today is Simon's Birthday!

Simon turned four today. We have had an exciting birthday week, starting on Tuesday with a trip to the zoo and a party with the grandparents. Then on Friday, Simon got to spend a couple hours with his daycare friends as they had a party for him there as well.

Unfortunately, he was sick today, and so it seemed that it would not be a very happy birthday after all.

But then after church, one of his primary teachers came to see him. When she came to the door with his gift, she said, "I want to see him. I'm not afraid of the flu." :)

She had a birthday hat for him and a bag of toys. He was delighted.

Meanwhile, Scott spent the afternoon on his feet (after a long night of having Simon in our bed with us, feverish and coughing) to make cinnamon rolls for a big family birthday party at Scott's parents. Since Simon was sick, it was not a good idea to take him to the party and risk getting other people sick, and Scott decided that would not be much fun for Simon on his birthday to be at home while everyone else was at his birthday party.

That meant we now had no plans for dinner, and since Scott was tired from baking and Simon would not let me put him down, we asked Simon what he wanted for his birthday dinner and ordered pizza hut.

While we waited for the pizza to arrive, we took a plate full of cinnamon rolls to Simon's daycare provider, Nadege, because today is also her birthday (and we had 54 cinnamon rolls to get rid of, since we were no longer taking them to the party).


Simon also decided that he wanted to give Nadege his new birthday hat.

The pizza was a hit. Sam offered Simon the pepperoni that he had picked off of his pizza, and Simon said, "No, Sam, they are part of the whole thing."


I was so excited that he actually ate dinner, because he refused breakfast and lunch! But he was right, pizza was the right choice!

Soon after dinner, we decided to watch the new DVD movie that Simon got for his birthday, Bolt. Our friends David and Jessica came a few minutes into it, and joined us for the movie and then some exciting games on the Wii.

The best part was that since he had not seen Jessie and David for a week, he clung onto them and gave Mom a break!


Simon lit up during the games and was running around with the kids, having a wonderful time.

It turned out to be an awesome birthday, despite the illness. We are so happy that we have so many awesome friends that we can call family.

One last photo of Simon, happy, but tired and ready to go to bed and snuggle with his new pet snake from the zoo.


Happy Birthday, Simon!

Photoshopped Easter

Instead of going to bed like I should, I decided to play with the photos I took today (actually, now it is yesterday) of the kids. I laughed out loud and made Scott laugh too when I told him I shrunk the kids. Maybe I will post that one at the end. Anyway, after some more playing, I ended up with these, which I think turned out kind of nice.







Here is the funny one.

Amazing Easter Cake

Scott always has the assignment of bringing dessert to family parties. Today he chose to go all out with a carrot cake. See the results below. I don't even like carrot cake, but I decided to try it and it was seriously awesome!



The frosting on the side is textured like a basket.



The nest is made of spun sugar, filled with Cadbury mini eggs.

Egg Dying (or nintendo, your choice)

Friday night we dyed eggs. Scott always really enjoys dying eggs and trying new things (along with some of the old things he learned from his mom). This year he read an idea (on the internet, of course) of putting a bit of vegetable oil in the cup with the dye. When the egg hits the water, spots on the shell get oil on them and those areas will not dye. The result is pretty cool.

Sam, amazingly, did not want to dye eggs, because he preferred to use the time playing Nintendo. (He finally did one egg when we told him there was only one left.)

Our friend Dallin was over, so he had fun coloring eggs with us as well. We were all so excited when he got a call from Hale Theater (during the egg dying) letting him know that he had been cast in the part of Barnaby in Hello Dolly this Summer (the musical in WALL-E). It was so awesome to share that moment with him. Dallin was literally crying, and the rest of us were jumping up and down. He immediately called his mom to let her know (she lives in Arizona. We wish Dallin wasn't spending Easter by himself today while we are with extended family. Love ya, friend!)

Anyway, here are how the eggs turned out.

The rainbow ones are my favorite. Scott's rainbow egg turned out better than mine, of course. The egg on the left was dipped in 3 different dyes containing oil, the oil wiped off really good in between each dunking. I really like the way it looks.

YW Conference

Three mothers and 4 daughters from our ward carpooled to the YW session of conference last Saturday. We had a lot of fun. President Monson's talk on courage was awesome.

Spring Soccer?

I looked out the window this morning and hoped the soccer coach would call, but assumed he wouldn't. So we prepared the treats and bundled ourselves up for an adventure.



Here is Sam, already cold 5 minutes after arriving at the field, so he is wearing the zip-out lining of my coat while dad grabs his coat from home.



I think the kids are a little warmer while running around. Fortunately, not too many of them fell while running, and they didn't even complain very much. We had 7 kids show up and the other team only had 4, so some of our team played on their team. Our best player (who is in our ward), played for them during the first half, and for us during the second half. I think he made all the goals. :)


Ah! Hot chocolate for half-time treat. Good idea, mom. :)

Needless to say, Mom, Dad, and Sam were all pretty frozen by the time we were done!

**************************************

Soccer practice was on Thursday, and it appeared to be a beautiful day if you looked to the East.


...but then look West a bit....

...and a bit more...


The wind was insane! But the storm didn't actually arrive until after we got home, thank goodness!

School Talent Show

Sam decided to sing a short song for the school talent show (It was on March 19th). He has a lot of confidence and did a great job. Maybe I will learn how to post video, and post that instead sometime soon. Meanwhile, here is a cute photo after the show.




The song he sang is titled "Tiny Tim"

I have a little turtle
His name is Tiny Tim.
I put him in the bathtub
To see if he could swim.
He drank up all the water,
He ate a bar of soap,
And now he's sick in bed
With a bubble in his throat.
[hiccup]

Fun at the Mayan

A week after Scott's birthday, the kids decided we should celebrate further by going to the Mayan as part of our Family night activities. We had to wait for about a half hour, but the children didn't seem to mind.


Simon in the mouth of a giant concrete serpent.


...with Sam and Spencer up top.


Now Simon wants to go up top. Hold on tight, Sierra!
(I think Mom and Simon were both a bit scared for this one. :)

Pay it Forward

My sister-in-law Jodi is very artsy-crafty and a perfectionist at that, so I had to do this just to get a handmade gift from her!

So, here's how it works: the first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive, at some point during the year, a handmade gift from me. What it will be and when it will arrive is a total surprise! The catch is that you must participate as well. Before you leave your comment, write up a pay it forward post on your blog to keep the fun going (or copy paste it like I did). Then come back, let me know you're going to play, and sit back and anticipate the arrival of your gift! Come and play!! :)

I love Spring!

In the snatches of spring we have had this year, I have enjoyed watching the different flowers begin to bloom. They have been snowed on several times, but then the snow melts and the flowers are still as beautiful as ever!

These are crocus that were blooming in our yard on March 8th.

Winter Wonderland

I hate driving to school in the snow, and that has happened a lot this year. But on March 5, my drive was all in awe of the beauty that the snow creates. I guess I risked my life to capture the beauty, because this shot was taken through the windshield while I was driving. Isn't it gorgeous?

Blue and Gold Banquet

Here is Sam, showing off his very first belt loop (for art) which he received at the blue and gold banquet. Good thing he is putting Spencer's scout belt to good use, because Spencer never did wear it for more than 5 mintes.

Spirit Week

The week after craziness at KHS, when one of my students shot another student (that I didn't know), was craziness due to spirit week!

I am one of those crazy teachers that actually dresses up with the kids. I think the reason that I teach high school is so that I can re-live those good old days again and again and again!

Anyway, here are a few of my spirited costumes that I remembered to take photos of:

Super Hero Day

Can you believe that the shirt belongs to Spencer? The shorts of course are Scott's, and Sierra suggested the sparkly headband. We couldn't find a suitable cape, but real heros don't wear capes, now, do they.

Rockstar Day

Hooray for kids and toy guitars when I am trying to show some school spirit!

Paradise Day

Aloha! I about froze to death in this outfit, honestly.

Other days not pictured:

• Pajama day, with my cool math jammies covered in dice and my comfy slippers
• Sports day, for which I didn't try very hard, and just ended up wearing my Utah State Aggies t-shirt from 15 years ago. (Go Aggies!)
• School Colors day, with my green KHS long-sleeved t-shirt.

Now, why the students don't seem to take me seriously during spirit week, I will never know.

:)

BFF Cousins

Maddie & Simon


A picture speaks a million words.

Draper Temple Openhouse

Martin Luther King Jr. Day was the perfect day for a tour of the temple. Since we had 10 reservations, Grandma and Grandpa I. and Uncle Roger, Aunt Kim and Jeremy came with us.



Sierra and Spencer were really impressed. Sierra thought it was a great spiritual experience. Spencer says he is really excited to turn 12 so that he can do baptisms for the dead.

Such good kids they are!

Before the tour, we saw a video presentation at a church while we waited for the bus. Elder Holland made a few comments in the video. He spoke of eternal marriage and how heaven cannot be heaven without his wife there with him because he loves her so much. I'm sure that most people feel that way about their spouses. I can't imagine a God that will not let everyone have this desire of their hearts if they are doing their best to heed the spirit and follow God's plan for them. It is a comfort to me to feel that regardless of circumstances that might not allow for a couple to be sealed in the temple in this life, that it can most likely be taken care of in the next through work for the dead.

New Years Sledding

On New Years Eve we had a big party and even had some friends come from CA. One of our friends had custody of his twin 10-year-olds for the holidays, so they came too. They became instant friends with Sierra and Spencer. Being from CA, they had never seen snow before, so on New Years Day we went sledding at a nearby golf course.



Sam and Scott stayed home entertaining another friend with a game or two of scrabble. Sam loves all of our friends because there is a never-ending supply of people to play games with.



Here are the BFF girls.



And the boys.



Ready, set, go!




Simon and I went down a hill once together. I expected him to be scared, but he loved it. Soon, though, the cold got to him (and to the twin's dad not acclimated to the temperature) so the two of them went back to the car to warm up.

Finally, I pried the other kids off the sledding hill and we went home, but the kids still wouldn't come inside. Brrrrr.





Saying goodbye to friends that you've only known for 18 hours shouldn't be as hard as it was, but the kids are looking forward to probably seeing each other again this summer. And the next time we head to San Diego we will have friends to hang out with there.