Sealing trip--- SEALING DAY!!!

We were to be at the temple 8:00 am. We were a little late trying to get everyone put together. I worried about Ryah letting someone else get her dressed. I talked to her (and Kristina) about Kristina helping her get dressed in her pretty white dress. Apparently, she only threw a little fit. Our sealer was a very long time friend Lee Anderson. It was pretty impressive when we were sitting in the sealing room and all of our beautiful children dressed in pure white entered very reverently. It was neat to see their awe at the people, the room, the mirrors.
After being sealed the girls did very well greeting all their aunts and uncles, many of whom they hadn't met yet. Then we went outside and got pictures.


This is us with Bishop Anderson, our sealer.

With the Jones cousins. At least the ones that were there.
With the Nielson cousins-- some of them.

Exploring the temple grounds.
The girls (and all the kids, for that matter) had a lot of fun with their Uncles. Here is Uncle Sam...
And Uncle Wayne- showing them how to make snap dragons snap.

Elijah was the typical boy. Big ol bruise on his cheek, hair sticking up like Alfalfa, grass stains on his knees.

We then went to the park and had a nice luncheon. A lot of the food was left overs from the wedding dinner, still delicious! It was nice to just relax and chat with everyone. Too bad we missed Keith's sisters.

We drove to Bountiful after that and visited with Keith's family. All the kids loved being entertained by Uncle Steve. We had pizza to eat and enjoyed just chatting. Towards the end of the day the kids were soooooooo tired they were starting to act out. We amid fits of crying, pouting and yelling we put them to bed and with one exception they fell asleep quickly.

We can't complain, though. Through out the whole trip (and especially the sealing part) the kids were pretty well behaved. With the exception of this night there were no serious, long, or painful fits. Definately a "tender mercy" as this trip could have been a nightmare. Instead everyone had a very nice time and everyone was able to build relationships with cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents. And isn't that what life is all about? The relationships.

And I'll tell a lttle about the trip home to save you all from another post.

We got a late start driving home, didn't leave until 11:00, Utah time. We pretty much drove the whole time with only stops for gas and potty breaks. We didn't get home until 3:00 am our time. Keith drove most of the way, except for the couple of hours I drove while he slept off a head ache.

All in all a very successful trip!!!

Now to get ready for school.

Sealing trip- Day 2-- The Wedding

Day two went off with only a few hitches on our part. My niece's wedding was in the afternoon and was beautiful!!! I was to take pictures. So, I dutifully followed the couple around after they got out of the temple while my sister got all my kids dressed in their sunday clothes She couldn't find Elijah's clothes or Ryah's. Anastasia didn't have a sunday dress. And they couldn't find everyone's shoes. (Sorry, Mara). She was resourceful, found something for them all to wear, and brought them to the temple.
I got lots of pictures (and some of them are pretty good). Poor Keith waited at the temple in the hot car for me to be done. Something got lost in the communication process (could be that I was trying to take pictures and had 8 kids plus many other people clamoring for my attention) and I thought he had gone back to Grandma's house. So I rode to the church with my sister and couldn't figure out where he had gone. I tried calling him but of course he turned off his cell to go into the temple and hadn't turned it back on. Luckily, I've got a couple of very nice brothers who tracked them down for me.
Anyway, the wedding luncheon was super yummy and entertainment was beautiful dancing by the couple and others. So fun to watch!!
That night all the kids got to ride my brother's horses and had a blast!! I didn't get any pictures because my battery was being charged. I helped my sister re-hem the wedding dress and finished up some hand stitching on our white clothes. But everyone all got to bed late but had a super fun day playing with cousins. And only a couple fits by Ryah.

Since I don't really have permission all the pictures you get is tantalizing tidbits.

Sealing trip- Day 1 Reunion, of sorts

The kids travelled well. Despite all the "Where are we going?" (from Ryah), and "How much longer to Utah?" (from the other girls), we made it with our sanity in tact.... mostly. Since we had never seen Gideon's headstone we decided to make the extra trip to Logan and show everyone. As a side note, the only reason we had seen Talita's is because we went there for Gideon's funeral.

Keith's brother who died of SIDS when he was 2 months old. He is buried between Gideon and Talita. Or should I say Gideon and Talita are buried on either side of Bryce.

After the cemetary, we ate KFC chicken (thanks Grandpa J), yummy blackberries from Natalie and Jeremy's patch and played with cousins in the park until dark. Then we drove to Manti. We didn't get there until 3:00 am (Hey, we didn't leave until 9, and then we had to stop at the store to get a white shirt for Elijah). Since I didn't want to traipse through Grandma Nielson's house trying to figure out which beds were empty we just threw our sleeping bags on the lawn.

Miriam's Birthday

I'm playing catch-up.
Miriam is 9 years old. She begged and pleaded that I do an indian cake. I caved in and made her this Pocahontas cake, (because I have to have a pattern and she couldn't find on suitable). You should have heard the cussing (g-rated, of course) that was happening. Now I remember why I don't do people, and have forbidden all the children to request any people. I also called upon Jonas and his knowlege of the color wheel and used a whole lot of experimentation to get the colors that you see.

She got a baby doll from Grandma Nielson and some money from Grandma J. From us she recieved a mini sewing machine and some fabric.

I'm just getting more and more behind. Now I need to take birthday pcitures of Anastasia, Alina, and Miriam. Maybe things will calm down after school starts.

It really happened this time!!!

Alina finally got baptized. We piggybacked on a convert baptism (actually 3). Keith left early with Alina and I was supposed to come later with everyone else. I was in the process of making zucchini bread for the youth fireside and it wasn't finished. So we were a little late, walked in just as they started. But Keith was able to make it special for Alina. She was very giddy (how she acts when she gets excited). She said she felt very warm and happy.
A member of our bishopric took this picture as I wasn't there.

Almost everyone.

Yeah!! For Alina!!

Anastasia kept saying she wanted to be baptized too. Only a year to go. Even Elijah wanted to be baptized and kept saying so (in no quiet voice). So the spirit was there pretty strong!

Wednesday we leave for Utah, the wedding and the SEALING!!! Wahoooooo!

From Anastasia

When I'm big like Mom and Dad I'm gonna buy a car and a horse and a sewing machine. But when I get money from my toof (she gets a dollar when she looses a tooth) I'm not gonna buy toys.

I didn't have the heart to tell her that she will have lost all her teeth before she gets to be an adult and won't get any more dollars. Nor did I have the courage to tell her that cars and horses and sewing machines are all toys.

Ignorance is bliss, isn't it.

It's a modern Wonderful Life

Looking back on this summer (as it really is almost over:( ) it seems like it has been kind of a rough one. We've had some rough times with the girls and with Keith being gone a good chunk of it, and no real breaks or big vacations to look forward to (other than the sealing one, of course), it has also seemed kind of monotonous. But, as never really fails, when I start thinking like that Heavenly Father sends my kids (my healing kids) to show me just how much fun we have had this summer:

Miriam has been really interested in indians, or to be more pc, Native Americans, lately. (Here great Grandfather would be proud! She has gotten the other girls into it as well. Though, I'm sure I don't know if they really know what an Indian is. Or maybe Miriam doesn't as well.... she asked me the other day how to make an Indian. What came after a little chuckle on my part was something like this: You have an Indian daddy and an Indian mommy and they make an Indian baby. "I know, I know but how do you make an Indian group?" Well, I guess you gather a bunch of people together. Indians are just people like you. How would you make a singers group?

Maybe I didn't understand what she was asking me fully but it was a pretty funny conversation. We have also had discussions about different kinds of indians and she has even looked up a lot about Pacific Northwest Indians on the computer.

They have made a TeePee. They tried their hand at weaving. They are true Indians in the making.
But today was the best! Miriam wanted a basket (had to be a basket, not a bag or a box-- had to be a basket, because that is what Indians use) to take out gathering berries. Of course I didn't want my basket to be all black and purple when they were through so she lined it with some rags. So, she isn't doing laundry here she is doing her best imitation of being a Gatherer.

Kristina had this idea, (my kids LOVE to have their picture taken and I rarely can take only one) and Miriam got in on it too.

And yes, those are blueberries from our blueberry patch. They actually found it under all those weeds. There are also pounds and pounds of blackberries if you can get past the thorns.
I think more went into Anastasia's mouth than the basket. :)

All three of them did a good job of getting past those thorns.

Then they came in with this rock and I must say they really do look like a mortar and pestle.
Then they each wanted a cup of popcorn to grind up. Anastasia is the only one who stuck with it, but it was still pretty coarse when she was done.

Oh and Ryah came down dressed like this and said "I a princess." I said "you have to say, YEEEEE HAAAH!" She looked at me like I had 3 eyeballs and said "why?" I said because that is what people who wear those clothes say. Slowly comprehension dawned on her face and she said "like Elmo movie?" I guess there is an Elmo movie that is a cowboy. Then she went around and said that she was Princess Elmo.

Oh, and I LOVE how she says some words: spleeping for sleeping, and plass for pass.

Yes, I have a good life!!

Have a happy birthday, baby.

I know I'm late on this but....

After MUCH anticipation Alina finally turned 8. For a couple days she had been insisting that she wanted a Cookie Monster cake. So here it is. It was a rush job, too. One of these days I would like to get a minute and a couple of brain cells to rub together to not have everything be a rush job. She loved it, so I guess that is all that matters.


This is actually the second picture I took of her with her cake. The first one (below) is usually how she looks--she doesn't like her glasses much. (I need to do a post on the girls and their new glasses--- see comment on brain cells and minutes)

She got a bike earlier from Dad and I and on her birthday she opened a baby doll from Grandma Nielson and a Cinderella Barbie from Grandma J. She loves them both and they both go into the carrying case that you can half see in the picture. Sorry, Grandma J. I haven't gotten a picture of her with the Barbie, yet. Hopefully, I can get that soon.


As a side note-- she did not get baptized on August 1st as planned. She woke up and nothing went right. She got her white dress dirty, she couldn't find her sunday shoes, or a second pair of clean underwear (hey if it was it the wash it was cleaned, check your bedroom floor). Then it was her glasses that were lost. She finally just layed down in bed and said she wasn't going to be baptized. She (well all 4 of them, really) hasn't learned how to regulate her feelings with any consistency, yet. And I should have been prepared and set all that out the night before. I've got lots of excuses: Keith coming home from Israel after being gone 5 of the last 7 weeks, trying to keep garden produce from spoiling, and the general day to day care and maintenance of 8 children, a garden, some pets and a house. And Alina usually is the most easy going. But if I would have been smart and focussing on the baptism and it's importance I would have dropped all that (well, except Keith :) ) and planned ahead.

Anyway, she still insists that she wants to be baptized and, for now we are still planning on being sealed as a family on the 22nd. We'll have to see if we can piggyback onto a baptism from the missionaries.

Oh, and because of said braincells... and husband... or lack thereof, I haven't set up the lighting equipment and taken birthday pictures of either Alina or Anastasia. Maybe if I wait a couple weeks I can get Elijah as well. :)

Sweet Rewards

Forgot to add, this is what we did for Family Night as a reward for all their hard work. It was a tad bit windy so it was kinda cold. But we had fun anyway.
This was the first time that Ryah released her vice-like grip on me and ventured out on her own. She was so pleased with herself. We didn't' get a very good picture of her grin, though. I REALLY need to find the time to write a post about her swimming and attachment issues. But I'm off to do pickles.