I guess I will update our family while things have calmed down for a few minutes. We have been staying busy with many family activities the past two weeks. We went to a Worthington Family Reunion on the 17th of July. Just before arriving at the exit, our van lost all power. Luckily Chad was driving and was able to get us over to the side. His brother's family were behind us about 30 minutes and were able to come and tow us to a car care station. (They had to leave their camping trailor on the freeway to tow us!) A nice mechanic took time out of his already booked schedule to replace our alternator, which had gone out. Chad's parent's had been ahead of us and had two of our kids already. They took the other two as well and headed up to the camp. I went with Chad's brother's family back to get their trailor, get some lunch and drop it off to Chad. Much to our amazement, the van was finished and we all went up together. We had an enjoyable, but very HOT time.

Last week I, along with 2 other leaders and 2 dads, took all 12 of our Wolf's and Bear's to Day Camp at Camp Keisel just past Huntsville. I was very grateful that the van was already fixed! It was a beautiful area and the boys seemed to have a great time.

The kids had two of their cousins staying with Chad's parents all last week so the kids spent a lot of time between our house and Grandma's. We were able to have a fun time with them. My entire family (except my parents) met at the Logan Aquatic Center last weekend as well. I thought it would be packed as it was the 24th of July, but it was perfect. Best of all, none of my family got sunburned either! We all went to my oldest brother's house for pizza after.

The next day, we split up and I took the boys to Preston to a baptism and Chad took the girls to Huntington to a baptism. The boys were able to spend the afternoon with more cousins while I enjoyed shopping without them :) We then went to the Chamber's Family Reunion that evening. We got home about 10 minutes after Chad and the girls. It was a LONG day for all of us.

This week will be catching up on laundry, etc for me. Chad and Skyler will be leaving on Wed-Fri on a backpacking adventure. Sorry to say, but I am glad I'm not going! I'm going to spend my time BEADING! (If anyone is interested in an interchangeable watch band--visit my other blog Time2Bead.blogspot.com. Sometime in the near future I will have it completely finished!

Well, I guess it has been long enough! There should be lots to write about, but nothing stands out. The summer is FLYING by. That is a good/bad thing. I enjoy not having to wake up so early every morning, but the routine of a schedule would be nice. I am excited to have all of my kids in school ALL day this year! Maybe then I can get some projects finished--I have LOTS of things to do.

My beading business has become a bit overwhelming. I didn't realize how many people would want to come and use the beads I have bought--it has ended up taking up a LOT more time than I thought. I am excited to actually be able to sit down and create! I have finally organized everything--AGAIN--and hopefully for the last time. I have even sold some bands! I hope I can sell a LOT more so I can cover my costs of buying so many beads! For those who haven't seen the interchangeable watch bands--this is what my new hobby is. Alex has had fun making some for her as well. She has inspired some of my creations! Next week we are helping her friend's 4-H group make some.

Other than beading, I am still working in Scouts. However, I guess I will now be working with the Bear's instead of the Wolf's. I am a bit disappointed as I have put a lot of work into the Wolf program. I guess it's for the best. Now I can focus on Jaydon and getting him his Bear. It has been challenging trying to work on both programs. Tomorrow will probably be my last time with the Wolf's. We are going to the firestation in Logan. Should be fun! Then next week it's off to daycamp for both the Wolf's and the Bear's.

This weekend we will be going to a family reunion somewhere near Provo. We will be camping from Friday to Saturday. The following weekend we will be traveling back down to that area for a baptism and then heading straight back to another family reunion. We thought we had another baptism the following week, but that has been changed. The week after that though, is our Ward Camp that I am in charge of. This will be my third one. I didn't make it last year because Keiera broke her arm that week. She's already had her major accident for the summer, so we should be good.

Keiera had a bike accident a little over a week ago. She had to go visit the dentist that night and he pulled her top two teeth--thank goodness they were baby teeth! She went back for a follow-up visit yesterday and he had to lazer something off the inside of her mouth. She has been very brave, but she is still crazy and goes full speed ahead. (She got her bike back yesterday.)

Skyler has been to Scout Camp, been on 10, 15, and 25 mile bike rides and will be going backpacking for three days the last week of July! Good thing he enjoys the outdoors!

I think that's about it for our family! Hopefully I will make time to keep up on th blog in the future. It's easy to put it off!

I guess I should up-date the blog sooner rather than later! The first two weeks of summer flew by. I signed the kids up for the first session of swimming and we spent M-Th of both weeks swimming--mostly in the rain! We signed them up for the first session last year too and it rained! There were a few rainless mornings. They actually enjoyed swimming in the rain because it made the water seem warmer--it was just Chad or I that didn't enjoy standing in the rain watching them in the hot tub. They are all great swimmers and enjoyed lessons. Especially Keiera! She is quite the fish. We rode the bus as much as possible and that helped make the days go faster!

This week Skyler is gone to his first Scout Camp. Chad went with for a few days. He will be back tomorrow so he can get work in for the week. I haven't worried because Chad is there! I'm sure Skyler would've been just fine without him too! Chad and I will go back up on Friday for the Parent's Night. He went to Aspen Ridge near Preston, Idaho.

I've been keeping myself busy with my new hobby of beading interchangeable watch bands! It is quite addicting and sometimes frustrating when you drop the cord and all the beads go everywhere! It's fun to create different designs.

Not much else is happening at the Nielson's house! We did celebrate Chad's Birthday, Father's Day, the longest day of the year, and the first day of summer this past Sunday! What a day for Chad!

I guess it's been a bit longer than I thought! I was trying to follow the example of my brother :) We are now officially done with soccer for the season--I think! Alex still has two games that could be made up, but it doesn't look like it's going to happen. She played a make-up game last Saturday and she scored her first goal ever, in fact she scored two!!! Now all of the kids have scored at least two goals this season. I even got a little in-door soccer in myself and may start playing outdoor once a week!

School is almost officially over as well--the middle two kids have about 40 minutes left! Keiera graduated from kindergarten on Tuesday!!!! WOW! I can't believe how old I am--I mean the kids are! I am so excited for next year--I'll get ALL day to accomplish something. Hopefully the summer doesn't get too boring for the kids. I've got them signed up for swim lessons starting next week--so much for sleeping in! (Those of us who had to get up by 6 a.m. will be able to sleep in though!) We will be riding the bus as much as possible and will have to catch it by 8:30 a.m.

Not much else is going on at our house!

Here we are into another week. Looking back at the calendar it looks like in addition to SOCCER, last week was full of scouts, dentist appointments, and eye dr. appointments. Luckily all of those appointments were for regular check-ups and much to Jaydon and Keiera's disappointment, they don't need glasses!!!! In fact the Dr. said that Keiera's eyes are perfect, which is rare for a 5 year old! She is just sure that they're not though. I'm sure she'll have the privilege of wearing glasses sooner than not.

Today Alex ran in her first Wellsville Mile. (All the Cache County 4th and 5th graders on the South of the Valley get to do this.) She did fantastic! She qualified for the 3rd heat which is the fastest group of girls and she ran it in 9:05. It was extremely hot this morning and she fought through it and ran her best.

Keiera and Jaydon both had soccer games tonight. Jaydon's team tied 1-1 and Keiera's won. Jaydon's team played on the smallest field yet this season and they struggled. They are used to more room and had a hard time not being on top of each other. Skyler is done for the season and Alex has a make-up game tomorrow--she will be missing and a regular scheduled game Thursday. She still possibly has 1-2 make-up games. Jaydon is now done and Keiera has a regular scheduled game Thursday and her last make-up game next Tuesday. I don't know what we'll do with soccer over and school! Oh--I know. We'll start right into swimming lessons!!!!!!

It seems that each week is the same for us--SOCCER, SOCCER, and more SOCCER!!!! Good thing we enjoy it for the most part. Keiera played last Wednesday and everything was going well until the downpour! We were wetter from that 10-15 minutes downpour than we were the previous Saturday in all of the rainy games! It came with a vengence! The poor little kids started crying and looking for parents and hence, the game ended about 15 minutes early. The games following that were just fine! The weather for the rest of the games that week was great.

We also had a pinewood derby last week. Jaydon worked hard on his car--with his dad's help--and the hard work paid off. He won first place! A few of us leaders also brought cars and mine also won :) It was a car I helped make a few years ago when we had a Ward pinewood derby. My car also beat Jaydon's!

Mother's Day was nice--after church that is! Chad and I had to speak! We learned at church that we weren't the first options, several people had said no! We tried to come up with an excuse, but none were to be found. This was Chad's third time speaking on Mother's Day.

I can't think of anything else that might be worth telling so I guess I'll end for another week.

Another week come and gone. Last week I was able to go to BYU's Women's Conference for the 8th year in a row! What a great husband I have. This year we had an even larger group go. We had 13 on Thursday and 16 on Friday! It was an amazing conference as always. I was going to try so hard to come home and be better from the things I learned. However, Saturday morning came with several grumpy kids. They had gone to a late night the night before and now didn't want to wake up for their early soccer games.

We finally made it to the first game, Jaydon's, just before it was to start. Alex stayed home, but Keiera was determined to come with me. It was POURING!!! I kept her pretty dry with the umbrella, but her feet were wet. We left Jaydon before half time in order to get Alex and Keiera to their games. Chad had to work, so I had to coach Keiera's team. Alex wasn't excited about playing in the rain, but I guess she didn't have to because the other team forfeited. I was surprised that 9/10 on Keiera's team showed up. They were all soaked by the end of the game, but had a great time playing hard. This was the first game I have seen of Keiera. All of the kids enjoy soccer! After her game I came home and changed clothes and warmed up for a bit before heading to Skyler's game. The other kids didn't come this time. Skyler wanted to play goalie and did a great job--he was freezing! The second half he played forward and did great. The other team weren't the best of sports and that was sad to see. All of the kids won their games for the day and I had a lot of WET clothes to wash. It was raining even harder and blowing hard during Skyler's game. Keiera looked like she had just gotten out of the shower after her game!

It has been a beautiful, rainy Spring weekend. I love all of the rain because I LOVE how GREEN everything is! ALL of the yards are on equal grounds for a few months :)