School has been in for 2 weeks now!!! Unfortunately, I have had a major cough for all of that time and haven't been able to do all I've wanted to. On the VERY positive side--my kitchen and living room have been painted. We have lived in our home for 10 years this October and have never painted our kitchen because we couldn't decide what colors. Well, as Chad puts it, we more than stepped out on a limb! Our kitchen is now painted earth tone (orange color), stone hearth (deep brown), and a tan brown color and I LOVE it! Because of the valted ceilings and how it connects to the living room, we had to paint it as well. (It desperately needed it too!) It is the same tannish color and a darker green. It looks fantastic as well. It was a HUGE undertaking and I'm not the best painter, but I tried. Luckily we had Chad's brother's help and his mom's too.

The kids seem to be enjoying school. They've started back into dancing and piano as well. Skyler is going to start learning the guitar next week. He can stay after school once a week and learn for free! (Wish the guitar was free too! Luckily for the time being we have one to borrow.) Keiera is loving her all day school, however, she is VERY tired all of the time. She can't settle down at night and sleep and so the mornings and right after school are often challenging. I'm enjoying the time I have and hoping to get feeling better and be able to accomplish more each day.

Jaydon has been playing football since August and LOVING it! He has his first home game tomorrow. I'm excited because I haven't been to see him yet as his games have been so far away (Clearfield and Syracuse) and I've been sick. We haven't taken all the kids as he has to be there one hour early and the games last about 2 hours! We'll all get to watch him tomorrow though.

Not much else going on in the Nielson home! Hope everyone else is getting back into the swing of things too!

It's official!!! School has begun and my kids go ALL day! It will be so nice not having to worry about kindergarten anymore. Everyone keeps asking me what I'm going to do now! I have plenty of projects that have been waiting to get finished. Plus, now I can bead more! The best thing is when I have to go to Logan, like today, I don't have to worry about getting back! I had plenty of time to do everything today.

Last week we went to Bear Lake. It was a bit cold at first--I put my jacket on! But by the end of the day, it was plenty warm. We went with some friends and had a great time relaxing. When we got ready to leave, our van wouldn't start! The battery had died. Our friends had all left, but there were plenty of people around. They got it going and we headed to get our Raspberry shakes! I stayed in the van so we didn't have to turn it off. The shakes were delicious.

Jaydon will play his first football game this Saturday and so our Saturdays will be booked for the next 7 weeks! He seems to be enjoying it and it helps him get his energy out! His team scrimmaged another team last night and lost, but Chad said Jaydon did well. He's not afraid to get in there and pound someone!

Well, the kids will be home soon (Skyler already is) and I have a few more things to get done before then! Maybe with all my time I'll stay better on top of the blog!

These last few weeks have really flown by! Seems crazy to think that school starts next week!!!!!!!! The kids are ready and so am I! We have lots to do, so I'm sure it will be here sooner than I'm really ready for. (But not soon enough with all the fighting at our house.)

We went camping last weekend for the Ward Campout we were in charge of. The weather scared a lot of people off! We always send a sign-up around and it was the most people planning to come and ended up being the fewest we've ever had! Guess it's time to find a new activities person :) It was cold in the morning and rained for a few hours--during breakfast too! Everyone packed up and headed out pretty quick. We were just glad for those who braved the weather and came.

This week we are planning to go to Bear Lake. Hopefully the weather will hold out for that. We always try to go at least once--it is one of our favorite family activities.

Jaydon has started football this last week! This is a new experience for us and is very time consuming. Last week he had practice every day from 5:30-7 p.m. I think that will be the same this week. (He missed last Friday for the camp out.) This week they get to wear their gear for full contact. The games start a week from Saturday and unfortunately require travel!!! Good thing Skyler isn't playing competitive soccer too! It will be fun to see how Jaydon does.

The girls will be starting dancing in a few weeks. We will be going to their dance open house in about 1 hour and get them all signed up. They are both so excited!!!! (Not really. They both love to dance, but really wish they had friends taking with them.) We let them off last year, but it's time to start again. It will add more to our already full schedules, but they need it.

We have taken most of the summer off from piano and that has been a good thing. We are thinking about putting Skyler in the program at USU and letting Keiera take his place with our current teacher. When we started, she only had her two nephews taking. Now she has a waiting list with 8!!!! So the only way to get Keiera going, is to let her take Skyler's place. She loves to "play" the piano and it would be nice for her to learn some songs.

I have been busy with everything! I have even been able to sell more watch bands! I am having a big open house (backyard) this weekend and we'll see if that goes well so I can buy some more supplies.

Well, I guess I have bored you all long enough and will get back to the laundry!

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!