What? It's Free!

We are dazzled and enticed by the word "FREE" at our house. We went to a FREE kids fair, we got FREE books. We got FREE tickets to fairy tale town and don't even think about offering us FREE food. We will take it every time, even if we are stuffed. Every time.

This morning we woke up with a plan, but the words FREE flashed across my computer screen and we were off. Off to the Zoo. The FREE day at the zoo. Of course we had to find some friends to share our new found FREE experience with!












Okay ! So, in the end the day wasn't completely FREE. Kim bought the girls purses with animals and I bought them suckers. BUT it was definitely fun. My favorite however, was when Emree and Sadie said goodbye to each other. The hugged of course and then Emree said, " I am so glad you could come with me today." It was totally priceless :).

Garbage Disposal

Warning: this is not for those with weak stomachs!

I eat lots of things I never would have thought of before... before I was a mother I mean. I laughed a little today when I thought of Jesse trying to eat everything and then I thought, look at what I am putting in my mouth. I am literally the garbage disposal of my kids left overs.

Just today I swallowed the following:

1. The last half of Emree's banana
2. a few spoonfuls of Jesse's blended banana
3. The last few bites of Emree's cereal
4. The gold fish Emree dropped on the floor at the mall
5. I split a Pretzel with Emree, but Jesse grabbed a bite and sucked on it until I caught him. I then ate it.
6. I finished Emree's sucker (Jesse licked some too).
7. I ate my own dinner, but did finish a little of Emree's- that she had licked the ketchup off of.
8. I ate the last bite of her popsicle

No wonder the first thing I like to do when they go to bed is have a little treat to myself.

Don't worry though... I didn't have any of Jesse's peach.







Or Emree's yogurt!

7 months and another trip to the Doctor...

It is not as fun to report your child's height, weight, and head circumference when they are always off the charts. Let's just say he is big people! Really big! He did so awesome with his shots and has been sleeping a lot better. He is taking a bottle and anything we will let him put in his mouth. We are in heaven :). Today he tried to eat the band aid off his leg, the wipe I used on his bottom, Emree's shoe, grass, otter pop, and a gold fish. The scary thing is not what he tries to eat, but what I find coming out the other end. Seriously! We love him though and we'll keep him!

Emree told everyone at the Doctor's Office that her daddy was going to school to be a doctor and today it wasn't her turn. She also found out that she has bones. Lots of bones. Except not in her eye balls. We learn something new every day!

Reality T.V.

Just when I thought it was all over and I would have to go back to normal boring shows. Just when you thought it was all over and you would be able to stop hearing about it. We were wrong. Oh so wrong. While nothing will ever compare to watching Caitlynn on SYTYCD, I am proud to say that I will be tuning in to Survivor this fall. September 15th to be exact. Why do I care? Why do you care? Well, I competed in the Miss Washington Scholarship pageant in 2006 as Miss Moses Lake. Elyse and I became instant pageant friends. She is pretty hilarious. The next year Elyse won Miss Washington and now she is going to be one of CBS's latest castaways. I am excited to watch and glad I don't have to vote.

SYTYCD... just to wrap it all up. Caitlynn was absolutely amazing. She finished in the top 3 girls on the show and said countless times that she couldn't have asked for a better experience. We got to go watch a live taping of the second to last week of the show. We saw one of her very best numbers live and got to giver her hugs and support. It was probably one of the most amazing and fun things I have ever gotten to do. I also got the chance to welcome her home with the rest of Moses Lake and Tyler and I will be cheering her on when they stop at Stockton on tour. Caitlynn said she wanted to go on the show to prove that even a little girl from Moses Lake could accomplish her dreams... My mom has always coached to her teams and her kids that your best is enough. Sometimes my mom had to push us because she knew our best was far more then we were actually giving, but how true it is. My best is enough, your best is enough. That is all that is asked of us. I can not wait to see where Caitlynn's next dream will take her.

Last thoughts... Dance taught me how to work hard. It taught me discipline, grace, team work, how to think outside the box, it taught me how to lead, follow, adapt, readjust, and fix problems. Dance taught me how to work together, toughen up, smile when I don't feel like it and even when I do. I choose to be a mom and not a dancer, but I take the lessons I learned from dance with me in everything I do. I guess I will always be a dancer even if I am not always dancing.

It did!

I love the Brad Paisly song, "It did!" It talks about how life just couldn't possibly get any better then it is right now and then IT DID. This last two weeks my life has really felt that way. A huge part of that is I got to go to Utah and Washington and be there for my sisters wedding and reception. She married an amazing guy, in the perfect place and everyone was there. Kenzie was married in the Salt Lake Temple for time and all eternity to Andrew Nielsen. Our family could not be any happier for the two of them. I love them both and wish them all the happiness this world has to offer.

It has been fun to watch them date, be engaged, and get married. It has reminded Ty and I of all the wonderful things we went through as a newly married couple. We have laughed over our first ruined meal together and putting together our apartment. I can hardly believe my little sister is married, but I at the same time it seems completely perfect. It only gets better from here on out. :)

Our whole little family went to Utah and got to be there for the wedding and then I left Emree with Tyler while Jesse and I headed to the reception. I wouldn't have missed it for the world. I am so glad I went.

A & M Nielsen... "Teaser" from Elevated Films on Vimeo.

Potty Time?

Last week my dryer broke. It broke on the worst of all possible days, although any day would be bad. It broke on the day that Emree decided to smear poop on the wall, the sheets, the blanket, the pillow, and everything she was wearing. She decided that this would be a great activity to repeat the following day. However, this has not occurred since! Yeah, yeah, yeah. I can promise you that I could not have handled any poop smearing in my life this week.

Artwork...

Monterey

Did I mention my cousin Liberty lives close to me. Okay, I know I keep talking about it, but I am pretty excited. This weekend we loaded up the car and headed about 3 and a half hours away to Monterey, Ca. But first we picked up the Woodlands in Concord. It was seriously so fun.

Our first stop was the bath tub, I mean the hot tub. It was only about 90 degrees, which was perfect and meant we could all get it. Even the little kids and the pregnant lady.



We spent the night playing Monopoly Deal and Labyrinth while the kids slept. However, Tyler had to take Jesse in the car and drive around at about 4 in the morning.

He still wouldn't fall asleep so Tyler went to Wal-Mart and bought us a few things (It was almost like we had Brian on the trip, minus the Orange Juice.Ty's family will know what I mean).

The next day we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

It was seriously a must see, especially with a two year old who knows "Finding Nemo" better then her ABCs. She found...
Nemo & Dori,


Turtles,

Sharks (Can you find it),

Jelly Fish,

and so much more.

She was as excited as she could be and loved every minute.



We took the 17 mile drive along the bay and saw many "preferred" views and stopped at the beach.


We finished the night by eating out at a really yummy restaurant via restaurants.com (if you haven't discovered what that is, you need to). With great conversation on the drive home the trip was a success. I don't think our kids even scared off Liberty and David. Or at least that's what they said. YEAH!