I guess I really should try to keep this up-dated! This past week has been Spring Break for our family. I have REALLY enjoyed not having to wake up. Before I tell about our Spring Break, I better back up a few weeks.

My parents returned home from their mission to Hawaii on Wednesday, March 24th. It was a VERY early morning for all of us as we went to the airport to see them arrive. Their flight was supposed to land at 7:31 a.m. ,but they were early--I'm sure because we weren't in any hurry to get their early. They landed before 7 a.m. We did make it into the airport before they got to the luggage area. All of the family (minus my oldest brother who had to work that day) were able to be there. We then made our way to a Village Inn for breakfast. I'm sure the employees were very glad to be seeing us leave! (All 32 of us!) The kids were thrilled to be able to miss the entire day of school--even though we were back to Cache Valley with plenty of the school day to go. My parents had their "homecoming" talks the following Sunday and so we were ALL back together again. It has been crazy having them home!

The week before Easter was filled with much of Chad's family as well. His brother Lynn and family and Taunya and family both came up during the week for their Spring Breaks. Lynn's family came Sat-Tue and Taunya's Wed-Sat. The kids sure enjoyed visiting with their cousins! We had several BIG dinners with all of us that live nearby as well.

Conference weekend was nice with Easter as well. The Easter Bunny always finds our house sometime on Saturday. Keiera was thrilled to wake up that morning and find candy all over the house! Skyler wasn't as excited as apparently he had stayed up until 2 a.m. playing computer games and watching t.v. We watched the first session of conference at our house and then headed to Logan in between sessions so I could buy some shoes at J.C. Penny :) and the kids could go to the Easter Hunt at Lee's Marketplace. Keiera scored a frozen pizza that she shared with Jaydon and Alex for dinner that night when Chad and Skyler were at the Priesthood session. We spent the afternoon at my parent's house and watched the second session with them before heading back home. Grandpa Jay made the kids eebleskeever's (???)! They were so excited and finished off every last one!

Now for Spring Break. My family had a two day Peterson Reunion!!! We all met at the Staybridge Hotel in West Valley and spent most of the time swimming! Almost all of us even tried the enclosed waterslide that is attached to the hotels. I had to talk myself through it the whole way down so I wouldn't panic. I love waterslides--but NOT enclosed ones. I guess it was good that I attempted it during the day when I could see rather than that night when it was dark inside! (My niece braved that once with a nice LOUD scream. But she did do it!) Wednesday before we met everyone, our family went to the Gateway Children's museum. Alex had gotten a free family pass from school--thank goodness! The kids enjoyed that for several hours. Even Alex and Skyler were good sports as it is geered for much younger kids--they found several things to entertain themselves. Thursday after swimming all morning, we had to leave. Some of us went to the Utah Natural History Museum. It was pretty cool--Skyler especially enjoyed the bug section as he found some big hand puppets to scare his cousin and Aunt with! After the museum, we eventually all made it back to my brother's house in Centerville for a BBQ. (My youngest sister and family had left VERY early that morning so her husband could get to work.) It was great catching up with everyone.

Now I'm spending my last Saturday relaxing before school and SOCCER start back up. We have all four kids playing and will have 6-8 games every week for the next several weeks!!!! We start Tuesday with three games!!! Hoping the weather is good--it will be enjoyable, yet CRAZY! We'll see if I up-date this again :)

Okay, maybe it's time I updated our family blog--but reading all of yours is so much more interesting! Our lives just keep getting crazier as the kids keep growing up! I can't believe Jaydon is going to be 10 in just over one week! And then a few months later we'll have a true teenager in the home with Skyler turning 13!

This year has been busy with Chad and the kids going skiing as often as possible and basketball games for Keiera, Jaydon, and Skyler almost every Saturday morning! (They didn't play last week, but had pictures and a fun shot contest. Keiera and Jaydon were both in the top five of their divisions and scored us some punch passes to the aquatic center! Thanks goes to Laura for encouraging me to have them participate!)

I continue to stay busy--how, I'm not always sure, but the time sure does fly! Maybe I'll do better at keeping everyone up-dated, although there really isn't much to tell :)

Wow! I thought I'd have more time when the kids were all in school, but it seems to be going faster and faster! Chad and I have been back from Hawaii for 2 weeks now! I hate that it goes so fast. It was a wonderful trip and a great opportunity to see my parents. We were also able to spend several days with my oldest brother, sister-in-law and one of my nieces. One of the most memorable things about the trips was finally being able to snorkel. I am terrified of the ocean, yet LOVE the ocean. (I must've seen Jaws one too many times!) I am a bit claustrophobic as well, but once I put my face in the water--it was so AMAZING! The first time I tried was with my brother's family. Chad, Laura, and Ashley had not problem. (Craig doesn't snorkel.) We were in a preserve area where you couldn't touch anything, including ALL of the coral reef. So I panicked and quit. The water was only to about my thighs, but because I couldn't stand up and I headed the wrong direction and couldn't get to any sandy area, I'd had enough. I was really glad that I tried again the next week with my dad and Chad. They were trying an area called Shark's Reef first. I just watched--I'm not sure if it was the name or the BIG waves that scared me off :) Anyway, that proved too rough for them and so we went to the tide pools right by. (No sharks allowed in there!) I almost couldn't do it because Chad told me he almost put his hand on a sea urchin! Not knowing what they were, but knowing what they could do, I panicked. I soon saw one (there were hundreds of them) and realized they weren't sitting on top of the corral waiting to get me, they were hidden in holes, I was okay. However, I still panicked when I got in thick areas of corral because there were tons of them. I was able to see quite a few cool fish. It was amazing to me that we could talk and understand each other under the water, but out of the water I couldn't understand anything! I've rambled enough, but it was an amazing experience.

We went on many hikes while there and also enjoyed the Polynesian Cultural Center. I would love to go back and visit again, but maybe in the colder months! I have a wonderful mother-in-law who happily took our kids for 10 days! Now we are home and catching up with life. Football is over and wrestling doesn't start for another week, so this has been a calmer week. I'm glad the kids enjoy sports so much, but it gets tiring. I will try to be better at posting--all though I notice I'm not the only one that needs to improve!!!!!!!!!!!

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!