Orem Summerfest

This is late too, I know, but I wanted to post quickly about Orem Summerfest. We had such a good time! Jessie, Meriam and I planned on going to the Summerfest, but we were concerned about the rain. Well it cleared up and we decided to still brave it. We also decided to call Scott and Nicole and see if we could take their 3 oldest kids with us. They said yes so we went and picked up Cameron, Mason and Marren. We had so much fun! We went to the park and rode some rides. We then played some games and Jessie let ALL 3 KIDS win a goldfish...which was a nice surprise for their parents! :) After the park we got dinner and ate while watching the parade. Cameron LOVED the parade! He is such a little ladies-man and charmed all of the "princesses" on the floats. He even got some winks and kisses blown in his direction. :) The kids loved the parade and got a little wound-up waiting for the hour between parade and fireworks, but all-in-all it was a great night. And I love fireworks. I don't think it matters how old a person is...fireworks are just awesome! It was a great day of games, rides, parades, fireworks, friends, family and fish! I'm so glad the rain stopped and we were able to go! :)

Guatemala

My baby brother Russell and his cute wife Marie (who is originally from Guatemala) are moving to Guatemala on SUNDAY!! I am so excited for them, but so sad at the same time! Marie's whole family lives in Guatemala and they are excited to go spend time with them. Russell has only met her little brothers in person once and her parents only twice. It will be such a good experience for them. They are going to run an LDS orphanage...where they will live, have help with food and cleaning, and take care of the children. They are so ready to start a new chapter of their lives and now is a perfect time...they are young, they have no kids, and they have the means to do it. I am going to miss them so much! I can't believe that they are leaving in just 2 days!

PLEASE, even if you don't know them personally, keep them in your prayers! They can use all the prayers they can get for a safe trip and an easy transition to living in a new country!

Fathers Day

I know I am a little late with this, but things have been busy! I have the very best daddy ever and was so happy to spend Fathers Day with him. And not only was that Sunday Fathers Day, but it was also his birthday!! I love him so much. I don't think there are adequate words to describe how awesome he is! He is the smartest, most humble, funniest, most spiritual, strongest, hardest fighting, incredible, loving person that I know. I can turn to him for anything and know that he will be there for me without even thinking about it. I am in awe of what an incredible person he is. I watch how he treats my mom, me and my sister, my cousins, his neighbors, the girls he works with, and really all the women that he knows and I can't belive there is person who has so much respect for women. I see how cute he is with my mom and I know I want to find someone who will treat me exact same way. Jessie and I always say that when we get married our husbands are going to take "How to treat women" lessons from our dad! :) He really is the most amazing person that I know and I feel humbled and blessed to be his daughter and to be able to be part of his family forever. He really is incredible and he deserves a thousand days dedicated to the kind of father he is!
Here are just some pictures from Fathers Day at their house. My dad was thanking all the people on facebook for saying "Happy Birthday" to him! And my mom just couldn't resist giving him a birthday kiss! :)

And here is a slideshow I put together with some old and new pictures of my dad and family. Don't mind the church music in the background...I know it makes it seem a little like a funeral movie...but it was the ONLY music on my computer that would upload. Don't judge...it's the thought that counts! :)

Squaw Peak and Alpine Loop

One day Fuzz (Meriam) and I got really bored so we decided to go visit Jessie at school. Well that was fun (and we got our eyebrows waxed) but we eventually had to leave and we were still bored. So we decided to drive up to Squaw Peak. But that still wasn't interesting enough for us, and we weren't ready to go home, so we decided to drive the Alpine Loop. For those of you who don't know about the Alpine Loop, it is a drive from Provo Canyon up past Sundance Ski Resort and then out American Fork Canyon. It takes about an hour to drive. We had so much fun! We rocked Michael Buble and jammed while we drove through the mountains. It was the perfect thing to do to help us feel better. (We were having "girl days" and needed to feel better!) So we didn't take too many pictures, and they were all on my phone so they aren't the best quality, but here they are!
The view from Squaw Peak. WE LOVE SQUAW PEAK!! Ever since I lived in my apartment we have been fans. We would take groups of people...family, friends, roommates...and just go chill on the mountain. It really is an awesome view.

Meriam LOVED the trees on the Alpine Loop drive so she took some pictures of them. They were her favorite part! (Tree pictures above and below...)

Here is our duck!! We were driving away from Jessie's school and we saw this duck just chilling on the road. And then it just stood there and let us take pictures of it. We loved it!

And just another view from Squaw Peak. It was such a fun get-away-from-home-and-everyone-who-was-annoying-us afternoon! :)

Landscaping

We've been "landscaping" the front yard off and on this summer. Last fall the city took down our huge tree in the front yard and ever since we've kind of had a big hole in the front yard where it used to be. So we built a flower box over the hole and it looks awesome. We also dug out some grass under our front window and put a flower garden in there too. We also took red lava rock and put it in all of the front flower gardens to make them uniform. I think they look great and every time someone comes to our door they comment on it. Of course I have pictures of it all, but I'm having some blogger issues. The only pictures I could get uploaded right now are the pictures of our cute plants that flowered. We didn't know they had flowers so we were very excited!

Oh, and exactly 5 minutes after I took these pictures this HUGE wind storm came through and blew the cute pink flowers right off our plants. No worries though, they've grown back. (And don't mind our "Vote for Gary J Anderson" sign in the background. We put it near the house because of the wind so it just got in the pictures.) We still need to add some more colorful flowers into all the flower boxes, but I think they look good so far! And I promise, more pictures are coming! :)

Getting Behind!

I am getting so far behind in the blogging. I have so many posts to do but don't have the time (or energy) to do them. And I'm having so many issues getting blogger to upload my photos. I can get the first 5 uploaded, but after that I'm out of luck. I've had issues with it since the end of May. (If you have any suggestions I would really appreciate them!) So please don't stop reading my blog. I promise there will be new things to read about soon! Here is a list of posts to come:

*Fathers Day
*Landscaping
*Russ and Marie
*Squaw Peak/Alpine Loop
*Birthdays x3
*Orem Summerfest
*PG Strawberry Days parade/rodeo
*Lori's remodel pics
*Backstreet Boys
*My new calling

They all sound so exciting, right? I promise they'll be posted soon...but I don't promise pictures will be with them. =(

Oh and one more thing...I have finally (after almost 3 weeks) caught up on reading all of your blogs! =D I really have been such a slacker!! Sounds like you're all having a great summer so far!

Sleepy Puppy

Maycee is getting HUGE these days! She is still a puppy in age, but she is not such a little puppy anymore. And she is a wild child! I'm not even kidding how crazy and hyper she is. I have decided some days it's SO much easier to love her when she's sleeping! :) She is so cute and calm. So I took advantage of our nap time the other day and took some pictures of her!

I just really like squishing her face sometimes! :)

I was playing with her ears. I LOVE her ears! :P They are so soft and seriously so cute!

Babysitting adventures

I feel like I've been babysitting alot lately. But I LOVE it! :) I have had so much fun. And I love babysitting when it's warm outside because there is so much more to do! Just the past few weeks we've played on the playground, rode bikes, ran around for hours (or so it seems), played hide-and-go-seek and tag, played in the dirt and sandbox, gone on walks and done treasure hunts. I have to say, the treasure hunt required a little bit of work but was SO worth it! I was babysitting Scott's kids and the oldest 3 (ages 10, 9 and 5) were entertained for an hour! And Courtney just had fun chasing after the big kids. Rickey was hanging out at grandma's that day so I made him help me with the treasure hunt. We drew a map of the front and back yard and put 12 clues along the way. When they found the clue they had to bring it to Rickey and I then do whatever the clue told them to do...jumping jacks, sing a primary song, flex their muscles, etc. Then when we "passed them off" they would go back to where they found that clue and start looking for the next one. After they found ALL 12 clues (and finished lunch) they got a Popsicle as their treasure. It was kind of a silly game, but the kids loved it and I loved watching them have fun! :)
I know these are hard to see, but here is the map I drew. I know, I'm not an artist by any means, but it got the job done!

A few weeks ago Meriam was babysitting Amirah and they came over to play with me. I love Amirah, and I'm always happy to help watch her. So Meriam and I were talking and Amirah was playing in the toy closet. She was in the closet for a while then came out with a paper, a paint brush and play dough. We had no idea what she was doing, but we were intrigued so we watched her. She layed out her paper all nice and smooth, opened all the play dough containers, picked up the brush, and then "painted". She was so funny! I think the miniature play dough containers reminded her of little paint containers. In her mind they were the same thing. So she would "dip" her brush in the container, then she would take a little pinch of play dough and mush it down onto the paper, then she would rub her brush over what she just did. She was so thoughtful about what she was doing. And when she finished "painting" she was so excited to go show grandma what she had made. She also wanted to take pictures of it, so I did! (They are phone pictures so please ignore the poor quality.)

Here is the completed painting...

Here is her paint and paint brush. If you look in the upper right corner you can see her pushing the play dough down onto the paper. :)

Here she is telling us all about what she was doing. She would not listen if we told her it wasn't paint. She just didn't want to hear it because she knew what she was doing!

The "paint"...

Another picture of the finished project.

She kept looking over at me saying "Kayla, are you taking a picture?"

I have spent alot of time babysitting the past few weeks, but I wouldn't change it for a second! Even when the 1 year old I was babysitting sat there saying "momma, thank you and banana" for an hour. I felt like I was talking to a broken record, but I loved every second of it! :)

Memorial Day Family Reunion Pics

Over Memorial Day weekend we had a Nielsen family reunion. We had a great time seeing cousins and catching up. It's always a great time. And Uncle Frank has an amazing yard and tons of property. He has room for campers and tents. He has swings, merry-go-round, trampoline, basketball, tether ball, sandbox, toy train tracks and about a thousand other things. He's so good to let us use his property. He also has an awesome fire pit area and eating area. We had a great time.

I took TONS of pictures (and stole some pictures from my cousins facebook page) so please hang in there. Actually, I have so many pictures that they won't all fit in one post. Apparently blogger is struggling with uploading pictures tonight (or I'm struggling) so I'll have to try to finish posting the rest of the pictures tomorrow. So there will be 2 or 3 posts that are picture-overload. Don't feel like you have to look at them unless you want to. And don't be annoyed if I don't put a caption with every picture...at least not tonight! :)

Meriam riding the kids bicycle thing.

Taylor had her birthday over the weekend and she was nice enough to share her polka-dot birthday cake.

Maycee (our dog) and Laycee (our cousins dog) chased each other all day on Sunday. They had so much fun together and tired each other out! It was perfect...and so cute! :)

My cousin Mandi, her new baby Lily and my aunt Sandy (Mandi's mother-in-law). Mandi and Trevor blessed baby Lily out at Uncle Franks house over the weekend while the whole family was there. They came all the way from California so the family could be a part of it.

Cute cousin Gracie. (Mandi and Trevor's daughter.)

Gracie again enjoying the sandbox with the other cousins.

Mirra (Cristal and Jacob's daughter) playing on the toys.

Aunt Sandy and Kaitlyn (Shane and Lisa's daughter).

Cousin Linda with my super cute dad and his super cute Eeyore blanket! :)

Jacob and Mason chilling on the swing.

Uncle Oliver.

My cousins Trevor, Shane and Matthew.

Uncle Frank (the one who let us use his house).

Teresa and Duane cooking up dinner. Some of the little cousins playing on the merry-go-round.

Mirra again playing with the cousins.

Hazel (Wade and Shelane's daughter) smiling for the camera.

Cute little Mason (Cristal and Jacob's son) and his blankie that he held all weekend.

My cousin Shane.

Douglas being a good sport and letting us throw tennis balls at him for him "catch"! :)

Meriam with leaves in her hair and bee's by her eyes. She was singing the bumble bee song when I took this picture.

Meriam and her friend Augustina practicing for the skit we talked them into doing at the fireside. (Other skit participants: Selea and Jessie. I have some awesome videos of the girls and their skits, but I took an oath that the videos wouldn't show up on facebook or my blog and since I'm scared of being beaten by the above mentioned people if I break that oath, those videos will remain with me and seen only on a need-to-see-basis...aka only me, the girls and the moms will ever see them! :P) Meriam found a friend (Augustina) to play on the kiddie bikes with her.

Another shot of Douglas getting hit with...ahem...trying to catch...the tennis balls. There are 2 tennis balls tied together with a rope and you use them to play a game with PVC pipes. However we got bored with the original game and decided to throw them at each other. I was "it" first and got hit several times before Doug volunteered to be "it" for a turn. Then we talked Meriam into being "it". So much more fun throwing them at each other than it is to throw them at pipes! :P

Remembering...

I know I already posted about Memorial Day yesterday. But I didn't take the time to post about visiting my sister at her grave. I try to make time a few times a month (at least once a month) to go up to her grave and visit. I love the feeling I get when I'm there. It's so peaceful and I find some much joy in taking time to spend with her. It's funny how much you can miss someone you've never even met. Shelby died in January of 1982 and I was born in July of 1983. We knew each other in heaven but I never had the joy of knowing her in this life. But not knowing her doesn't make me love her any less. I think often of what our lives would be like if she were here. I wonder the things she could have taught me. I wonder if she would have taught me how to be a better older sister than I am. I wonder if we would be best friends like I am with Jessie. I think alot about how things would be. But I know that Heavenly Father took her back for a reason. And I know that she watches over our family and is our angel in heaven.

I actually went up to her grave twice this weekend. I went on Friday and spent several minutes and then had to go home. Then when I had a little time on Monday I went back up. I was so happy my parents had stopped by already and put flowers on her grave. I love seeing flowers on her grave! I remember when we were little and would cut lilacs from our front yard on Sunday afternoons and holidays and decorate her grave. It's something that will always be with me! While I was there (both days) I took several pictures. So here they are!

(These are all cell phone pictures, so some of them aren't very good quality.)

I can't tell you the feeling of pride I get when I see flags marking the graves of those who gave their lives serving our country. It brings tears to my eyes.

This is a memorial at the Orem City Cemetery. I have never really looked at it before but I really liked it.

The flags representing what Memorial Day stands for.

Shelby's grave. If you look closely it looks like the stone is marbled around her name. When they first laid the headstone it wasn't like this. I love it though. I think it gives it character and makes it special!

Some of the graves around Shelby. This was taken Friday. By Sunday there were so many flowers and decorations the whole cemetery was full.

This is one of the flowers in the bouquet on Shelby's grave. I pulled one off (hope my parents don't mind) and brought it home with me. I just wanted to keep it with me that afternoon.

Shelby's grave after it was decorated. I love the flowers that my parents chose.

More of the flags marking the graves of lost soldier's.

I'm grateful that there is a day especially made to remember those we've loved and lost. And I'm grateful that I have someone to remember. Even though not knowing her and having her here with us is hard, I love remembering her. And even more than remembering her, I love knowing that someday I will get to be with her again. And that my whole family can be back together forever!