Nielsen Family

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Camp Director

So, I am the new camp director for our ward. At first I didn't want to accept the calling, I even cried. The reasons for that is, we are already Webelos leaders, which is a one day a week commitment, not to mention planning activities. I work full time, I will be 7 months pregnant when camp is, and I have just been exhausted during this pregnancy. I told the bishop our situation and said if he still wanted me to be the camp director, I would do it. So, I am the camp director! We just had our pre-camp activity on Wednesday. It went pretty well. We did first aid certification, and then we had a Jeopardy game to test everyone's knowledge. It was actually quite fun! I think I'm a little too hard on myself sometimes, and I just want to do the very best I can, but I don't feel like I am sometimes. I was the camp director in another ward 2 years ago, and I felt like a failed. I did learn that I can only do the best I can, and I may feel like it wasn't as great a time as I had as a young woman at camp, but that's ok. I will just do my best, and hope the girls get something out of it!

Cheap-O me

Hey, remember when I used to be so cheap?? April, I'm sure you remember, since we've been best friends since 6th grade. But, I was thinking back on a few situations in my life where I was just appalled at how cheap I used to be. Here is an example... When I was in college, I was so CAREFUL with my money, that is because I didn't have any, or not much anyway. Anyway, there was a time our ward was having a Halloween party. All of my roommates: Steph, Katie, Ann, Jill, and Kim, wanted to dress up like 80's rock stars because we found this really ugly, cool shirt at DI for $2.00. I was so cheap, I told my roommates, " Sorry everyone, I don't have any money to do that with you guys." TWO dollars!! Anyway, I went as a pirate because I had a red and white striped shirt, and I stressed that I didn't want them to buy the shirt for me. They came a little later than me and well, they ended up buying it for me, I was a little annoyed because I didn't want them to have to pay two dollars for me, but they just assured me that they really wanted everyone to dress up the same for our party. That's just an example of how cheap I used to be. So, I'm so sorry to everyone in my past that I was overly cheap with. I appologize. I have now met my husband who is not cheap at all. I have learned a lot from him about enjoying our money, rather than being so stressed out all the time about money, that I can't even splurge on a two dollar shirt. I would still consider myself cheap, but not to the extreme that I used to be. I think Isaac and I balance eachother out in that area pretty well.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Baby Clothes

So my sister came to visit from Idaho last weekend and she brought me a bunch of her kids' baby clothes. They are all so cute! It makes me so excited to see our little girl in them. My mom is also really excited. She has also contributed to the cute baby clothes that I now possess. She says every time they get new stuff at Costco, she has to check them all out and buy the cute ones for us. Our baby has been moving a lot more lately and Isaac has been able to feel her move a few times. What's funny is that she'll be moving a lot, I'll put Isaac's hand to my stomach and she'll stop! Isaac either comforts her, or she's just a little shy. We can't wait to hold her, and try all her cute outfits on her!

Monday, May 5, 2008

5 Months pweganant

Here is a pregnant picture of me. I'm not a big fan of myself pregnant, but that's ok. I keep seeing all these skinny people and thinking, "man, I can't wait until after I have the baby and I can really focus on shedding the pounds." But, I am glad to be pregnant, even though I feel so fat.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Finances Stink!

So, after our car majorly broke down for the 4th time in the past 2 months, it caused me to reflect upon things. (it hasn't been the same car all 4 times, we had problems with my old car that we got rid of, the new car we got to replace it, and Isaac's car) I have been a little worried about our finances because of this baby in my belly, that will be coming out to live with us in August. We are a two income family right now, but we will be a one income family in a few months. Up until our car broke down again, I have been stressing out about how we're going to afford things. But I also know that having a baby right now is the right thing. Then our car broke down again. It wasn't a cheap fix, but the thing is, each time we have had to fix our cars, we have had enough savings so we don't have to go into debt over it. This made me realize that we are not that bad off, we have 2 cars to drive, and we have money for food and clothing and a nice house to live in that is CLEAN!!(refer to prev post). I realized that we are doing the right thing, I just need to trust in the Lord that everything will work out. And for the first time, I feel at ease about everything. I feel like everything is going to be OK, and that makes me happy! It's funny how life works, how a car breaking down de-stressed me, haha!

Clean House

This is a tribute to my husband for having the stellar idea that he did. We have had a problem with keeping our house clean. We would go all week with a disaster for a house, and then on our day off that wasn't Sunday, we would clean all day. It would stress me out so much to leave for work and our house was a mess. It made me feel like I was failing, and made me think of all the other things I should be doing, goals I should be setting, until I was so overwhelmed I would get really down on myself. Anyway... on one of our days off, we were cleaning and Isaac said that he didn't want to clean anymore, and we should just start doing a little bit every day. So, that is what he started doing. He cleans for 15 minutes every day and stops when the time is up. I have jumped on the bandwagon also and have started doing this. At first there was so much to do, that it didn't seem like it would do much. But guess what? After a week and a half, our house is clean! It is so nice! And all it took was a dedicated 15 minutes every day. I hope we keep this up for the rest of our lives, because it's so easy and fulfilling! YES!!!!!!! Anyway, if you guys have problems with this, you should try it out because it is the best! Clean houses ROCK!!!

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

It's a GIRL!!!

We went the the doctor yesterday, and we found out that we are having a girl! We were both slightly more wanting a girl, so we're excited! They took a picture of her little feet, and she has my feet because I have a space between my big toe and my 2nd toe, and so did she! It was so cool to see those kind of things on the ultrasound. The doctor said everything looked good!

The fun things Sarah says

(9/1/13) I was making dinner the other day and Charlotte says, "I like Diarrheas!" I was laughing and thinking, "What?" She meant quesadillas.

(9/16/13) Charlotte, Sarah, and were walking Keira home from Kindergarten. The three girls ran ahead but soon got tired and came back to me. Sarah said huffing and puffing, "Whoa, I lost my breath!" Charlotte comes back huffing and puffing also and said, "I lost my body!"

(9/17/13) We went to the library for pre-school story time and the teacher asked all the kids, "What do birds use to build their nests?" Sarah was the only one talking and she said, "Sticks, and branches." The Teacher said, "Yes, and what else." Sarah raises her hand again and says, "Sticks, and branches, and other raw materials."

(4/18/13) A regular saying in our family is, "You get what you get, and you don't throw a fit." Well when Sarah's friend was over, Sarah went and got a fork out of the drawer for lunch. Sarah grabbed an orange fork and her friend said, "Sarah, no, get the white fork!" Then Sarah said, "You choose what you choose, and you don't throw a fuse!"

(4/18/13) Sarah was whipping her hair back and forth and she said, "That's what I do when I ROCK!"

(12/22/2012) This is how Charlotte counts, "One, two, three, four, six, seven, thirteen!

(12/14/2012) I was hugging Sarah and kissing her and I said, "You're so sweet, how did you get to be so sweet, " Sarah said, "Ummmmm, because I really like doing all the things on the earth."

(12/14/2012) Sarah, "When is lunch?" Me "In a few minutes." Sarah, "UUUHHH, a few minutes is three hours!"

(1/5/2012) When we were on a walk today, we had Floyd with us and I was explaining to Sarah why Floyd was sniffing around and it went like this: "Dogs let other dogs know where their territory is by marking it, and they mark it with their pee pee." Then Sarah said, and I use my poop!"

(12/21/2011) So Sarah got a "root deer" from our visiting teachers today. I opened it for her and as she was drinking it she said, "Mmmmmmm, it DOES taste like Rudolph."

(12/9/2011) Sarah said to me, "I'm not pretty enough." I said, "yes you are." She said again, "but I'm not pretty enough." I once again said, "yes you are, why do you say that?" Then she said, "Because I don't have any sparkles."

(12/2/2011) I once told her to say the prayer and she was pretending to be a cat that day, so she just started "meowing" her prayer. Then one time she was playing princess and it was time for her nap, but she kept getting out of bed so I said, "Sarah, if you get out of bed again, you'll go to time out, OK? say 'OK Mommy.'" Then she said, "OK Queen."

(10/17/2011) While we were eating lunch, Sarah said, "Mom, my tummy hurts." I said, "Well, maybe you need to go potty." Then she said, "Oh, I DO need to go potty." She then gets off her chair, and says as she's running to the bathroom, "The mystery has been solved!"

(9/15/2011) This morning we asked Sarah, "What instrument do you want to play?" She didn't answer so I said, " You could play the guitar, the piano, or maybe drums." Then she said, "No, I want to play the Xylophone." Oh, OK.

(8/27/2011) We have a saying in our family when we're about to say prayer at meal times. It is , "Fold your armies! and your navies!" and sometimes, "and your marine corps!" Then Sarah chimed in the other day, "and your blankies!"

(8/24/2011) So I told Sarah I was tired, and went to lay down on my bed. She followed me and put her favorite blanket on me. Then she said, "You can dream if you want." Then she sang me a song that she made up, "Dreaming is so good, dreaming is so great." Then she blew me about five kisses and kissed my forehead once, turned out the light, and shut the door.

(6/16/2011) Sarah was staring at the corner, and I said, "What are you doing Sarah?" She said, "Oh, I'm just thinking, thinking and contemplating." WHA???? ( I think her Grandpa taught her that word.)

(5/24/2011) I was picking out a shirt today and said to Sarah, "What shirt should I wear?" She said, " Oh, you need a red shirt.... because sometimes a shirt's gotta do what a shirt's gotta do!"

(5/16/2011) We were at a friend's house for FHE, and Sarah wet her pants. Isaac was in the bathroom helping her clean up. I came up and said, "Sarah that is naughty to pee in your pants, when you need to go you run up to the bathroom." Isaac said to Sarah. "Sarah, what did Mommy just say?" Sarah was sitting on the potty and playing with her toes and said, "She say.. Hello!"

(4/28/2011) Sarah had diarrhea a couple weeks ago, and as she was sitting on the potty she was kind of amazed that she just kept pooping, so she said, "I got poo poo all day long, I go poo poo all the way up to the ceiling!" and she pointed to the ceiling.

(4/28/2011) Sarah likes to make up songs, and does pretty well sometimes. One of her most common songs (but not quite so creative as some of her songs) goes a little like this..."and a one and a two and a three, all the day, all the day, all the day, all the day, all the day, all the day etc. etc."

(4/23/2011) I just wanted to record some things that Sarah says that we don't want to forget. When she is going to bed or to have a nap, she says just before we walk out, "For I wake up at morning." I'm sure that doesn't make much sense to all of you, but it's just something she says, and we love it. She also always randomly says, "I miss you sho much." and gives us a hug. It's her way of saying "I love you" She says "I love you" also but usually only after we say " I love you" to her. she says, "I miss you sho much" a lot more, and it isn't prompted when she says that.

(4/23/2011) Sarah loves to play outside and find "treasures". She gathered a bunch of these treasures and put them in her treasure box. They were mostly rocks and snail shells. She started to put a snail shell on each finger and said. "Look! Finger shells!" Get it? like Finger nails, but finger shells.

(3/9/2011) One of Sarah's new favorite phrases, "Watch... and learn."

(2/27/2011) Isaac- "Do you want to go flying?" (Lifts Sarah above his head) Sarah- "Wait, wait WAIT!!! I need my wings!" (starts to flap her arms.)

(2/25/2011) Sarah's stuffed Lambchops was hidden away inside a toy box. When I brought it out, she said, "Oh Lamb, I thought I'd never see you again!!"

(2/11/2011) Sarah had just gotten up from bed and was going potty naked because she had the footie pajamas on. She looks down and points to her nipples and says, "Baby can't eat mines!"

(2/10/2011) Sarah and Isaac were eating breakfast and Sarah turns to Isaac and says, "It's a whole wide world. Huh."

(1/25/2011) As we were painting this morning, Sarah looked over at my painting and said, "OOOOooh, that's Brilliant!"

(1/24/2011) Sarah says funny things when she is on the potty. Today she said, " I go pee pee and poo poo, all day long!" When she was going #2 the other day she was making the pushing noises and said, "For next week." Kind of random on that one, but very hilarious.

(1/24/2011)When Sarah was washing her hands after going potty this morning she was playing with the water instead of washing them, and taking a very long time. I said, "Sarah, you are driving me crazy!" Then when she woke up from her nap and went potty, she was again washing her hands, I was in the front room when I hear from the bathroom, "Mom, am I driving you crazy?"

(1/22/2011) We went to see Megamind in 3D and Sarah enjoyed it. When she first put on her glasses and saw the 3D words she said, very loud "Wow, they're coming out at us!"

(12/16/2010) She's been into saying her "days" but she gets it a little mixed up. For example she'll say things like," Will you dance with me..yesterday?" When she really means right now. She'll also just randomly say, "On Saturday" or "next week" at the end of any proposition.

(12/16/2010) It is no longer "That's Jesus Christ amen." when she sees a picture of Jesus because we corrected her a few times on that. But now she says, "That's Jesus Christ the Lord." We saw a picture of Jesus at Seagull Book and she said that over and over again loudly.

(12/11/2010) Sarah was eating breakfast (Life cereal). She really hates when she gets a hair stuck to her hand. She said, "a hair, a hair!!!" I told her to just let it go, or wipe it on her shirt because I didn't want to go get it off. Then later I hear a very quiet mumbling, "I'm fishing." I look up and her hands are over her bowl like she's fishing. She was using the hair she couldn't get off her hand to "fish" in her bowl. Gross, and hilarious.

(12/11/2010) Sarah has been learning her Christmas carols. She likes Rudolph a lot and she always says "Then one Froggy Christmas Eve." Instead of foggy. She even starts to sing that song when she's playing with her froggy stuffed animal or froggy watch.

(11/12/2010) The other day I measured Sarah's waist for a skirt I was making for her. Today she brought a long piece of material over to me, stretched it across my back and said, "Hmmm, 99!" Hopefully that isn't the correct measurement.

(11/12/10)I was showing wedding pictures to Sarah and said, "Daddy and I got married in the temple so we could be together with you forever." Sarah said, "Ohhh thank you!" " I need a hug."

(10/19/10) Isaac was playing the original Super Mario Bros. and at the end of the level Mario goes into the castle. Sarah then says, "Oh, he's going to the temple!"

(10/18/10) Sarah was playing with her play food. She had a fake brownie and said, " I made a birthday cake, I made a birthday cake for me. Birthday cake, lost in space." I'm not sure where she got that, probably a Dora episode.

(10/17/10) Yesterday morning as we were getting ready for church I said to Isaac, " The swamp cooler wouldn't turn on." Sarah said, "It needs batteries Mommy. Need batteries to fix it."

(10/12/10) We have a magnet advent calendar for Halloween and Sarah was putting up one where the magnet had fallen off the back of it. She said, "It's not working, Mom. It's not working all day!"

(10/5/10)Today we were at Sarah's Nana and Papa's house. I pointed to the wall that had a picture of President Monson on it and asked her who it was, she said, " That's Conference!" I guess she was paying attention during conference a little more than I thought!

(10/5/10) It used to be that whenever we'd point to a picture of Jesus and ask Sarah who it was, she'd say, "Jesus". A few weeks ago she started to change it to, "Jesus Christ." Well, just recently she has started to say, "That's Jesus Christ...Amen."

(10/3/10) Sarah always says, "Help! Help!" When she is done eating her food and she wants to get down from her high chair. It's funny, because it sounds like she's in a dangerous situation and she really needs help. Anyway, we were eating dinner at my parent's house and she did the typical, "Help, help." routine when she wanted down. I said to Isaac, "Sweetie, can you help her get down?" And Sarah said, "Help me, Sweetie!"

(9/1/10) Sarah and I were sitting on the front lawn and I was texting Isaac at the time. Sarah was behind me looking at stuff. I hear this distant, "A bird, see? See, a bird!" She said that a few more times but I didn't really register it, until she plops a big maggot infested bird on my lap, YUCK!!! I freaked out a little bit.

(8/31/10) I was giving Sarah a spider hug (You hug her and tickle her sides like your fingers are spiders) Then she said, "Um, fish hug?" So I gave her a hug that resembled a fish, Then she said, "Um, turtle hug?" So I tried that one. Then she said, "Um, fire sock hug?" and then, "Zipper hug?"

(8/31/10) Sarah picked up her toy stethoscope and started talking into the end of it. This is how our conversation went Sarah"Hello, Mommy, HELLLLOOOO" Me"Hello Sarah" Silence for a while. Me"What do you want?" Sarah, "Um, snack." Me "Oh, well we just had breakfast" Sarah "The end" and puts down the stethoscope.

Today (8/23/10) Sarah picked up my scriptures and started pretend reading them. I said, "Sarah, do you know what those are?" and she said, "A story?" and I said, "Yeah they're called Scriptures." and they talk about Jesus." and Sarah said, "Chocolate Jesus" I guess the part where I said "Talk about" was a little slurred and sounded like "Chocolate". I guess I'll enunciate a little more clearly in the future :).

First off, Sarah has an Uncle named Orange. Anyway, she is just learning how to say prayers and she has been getting pretty good at them. She usually starts with Heavenly Father and says she’s thankful for this day, and then names all the names she can think of. Well, the other day her prayer went like this: “Heavenly Father, this day, Grandma, Grandpa, Nana, Papa, Mommy, Daddy, Ralph, Orange, Yellow, Blue, Pink Purple etc. I guess she got a little distracted when she said Uncle Orange’s name.

We were in my parents camping trailer and there was a bowl of fruit sitting next to the chair that Isaac was sitting in. Robin was sitting across from him and she had a banana in her hand, so Isaac picks up a banana from the bowl says, “Hello, Robin, I’m calling you from my banana.” Then Sarah goes over to the fruit bowl and picks up an orange, puts it to her ear and Says, “Hello.”

Sarah found a mole on her aunt Anna’s neck and said, “nipple” and Anna said, “Nope that’s definitely not my nipple.”

Whenever Sarah sees ice cream, or a picture of ice cream she calls it, “Ice cream man!”

I made Green chili for dinner the other night and Sarah was eating it and said, “Thank you Mommy, I love it! I love it Mommy!” I was feeling pretty great about that, and thought she just really liked my meal, but then the other day I gave her a dirty diaper to throw away and she said, “Thank you!, I love it mommy, I love it, thank you!”