family fun

Can you tell I'm trying to catch up with my blog posts? We had visitors this past week - my brother and his family from Nashville. It was GREAT to have them here with us! Some highlights included camping, eating Rainbow Trout cooked over the fire, swimming in the creek!, going swimming with Tyler & Jenny, listening to Hunter read and play with Tyler, and just being together. I'm sorry I don't have more pictures of the week, but here are a couple. We love you guys!

Danny playing with Tyler. Sharing was not a priority! My wonderful parents - can I just say it's GREAT having them close to us! We're so lucky!

a REAL crash

Hunter had a MAJOR crash on his bike. He was down the street so I didn't see it. His friend rode back to us and said, "Hurry! Hunter's hurt and bleeding!" My kids are always falling and getting little scrapes... we tend to put band-aids on spots where they think it might bleed! So, I wasn't in a hurry. I figured it was a scrape. I rode calmly down to the corner (on my bike) and when I got there, I quickly realized that it was pretty bad! He had a PUDDLE of blood in front of him as he held his face. As I tried to figure out where the blood was coming from, I saw a dangling tooth... time to get the kid home and cleaned up! A neighbor quickly threw our bikes in the back of her pick-up and drove us back to our house (someone I hadn't met before!).

We quickly discovered a huge gash in his lip. And his tooth was cracking vertically. He got stitches that night in the ER - and he was very good despite seeing other people SCREAMING in the ER as the doctors worked on their head-wounds! We waited a couple of weeks to see if the tooth would bother him (half of it fell out the following morning). The tooth was hurting when biting into food, so I took him to the dentist yesterday. His nerve was exposed and becoming more inflamed daily - so the tooth got a little help out from Mr. Dentist and it was a cool tooth to see! I'm kinda sad that the tooth fairy took it away... it was very unique! *wink

It's tough to see, but he got stitches there on the right. Just a couple.

Here is a shot of the the tooth that the dentist pulled. It looks HUGE!

Here is the "resting place" that Hunter made for the Tooth Fairy. You know, she does get really tired and needs a soft spot to stop and rest during her busy night! (Our babysitter taught Hunter this one!)

Danny is 1!

"I really want those toys Mommy!"

"Can I breathe this stuff?"


"There's another one, and another one, and another one, and another one..."

"Hmmmmm, a big colorful box... I wonder what it tastes like."
A few things about Danny:
-if he gets bored with his toys in the family room, he'll make a bee-line for Maggie's dog food/water in the kitchen. When I see him coming, I'll put the food/water up on the counter. He'll stop his army crawl and scream at me for spoiling his fun! He has managed to get to the food/water a couple times.... ewwww. Dog food is NASTY!
-if he hears a group of people laughing - he joins in. Then his laugh is contagious as we all start to laugh harder and he of course, has to compete with even a louder laugh!
-he LOVES his big brothers.
-he LOVES baths and he LOVES swimming. I suppose that's why he loves Maggie's water bowl so much - it just looks like the perfect toy for him!
-he started to crawl the day after his birthday... he saw mommy holding another baby and he made a quick plunge to get me back!
-his smile is infectuous (did I spell that right?) he makes friends EVERYWHERE we go. who can help but to look him and just smile back? he's always smiling!

ps thanks Amber for the great idea of a box of tissues for a 1 year old... we enjoyed it as much as he did!

Lions, Tigers, and SNAKES!

I thought I could handle a snake until I felt one move from under my foot while weeding.... EWWWWWW! It freaked me out! Shayne has managed to find it and hold it several times. The boys love seeing it and holding it too. I didn't get a picture of the actual snake yet, but here is the evidence that it must be eating well and growing while helping us in the garden. It is just a gentle gardener snake and I realize it is good for my garden but, I still shake in my shoes while weeding.... My strawberry patch...


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Sign of the times...

my baby is growing up. Not only is he going to be in 1st grade and eat school lunch (occasionally), but he's now missing a little baby tooth. The tooth fairy treated him better than fair (more than I ever hoped for when I was little!). I'm secretly hoping that his front teeth will fall out in time for the Christmas classic, "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" - that would make shopping so much easier.

Traveling amongst the Southerners

I had the opportunity to go to Atlanta, GA and then to Charlotte, NC to visit family! I took Danny in my lap and left the older boys with Shayne. He had the help of his sisters and my mom while he worked and I couldn't have done it without them! It was a fabulous vacation and I can't believe how much I did over the week! Danny was a great traveler and made friends with EVERYONE everywhere we went. The Southerners were so friendly! Here are few of the highlights:

Visiting Lara and Greg in Atlanta
Riding in style to see Peachtree City. They have over 80 miles of paths for folks to run, bike, walk, or drive their "household" golf cart around!

Beautiful sunset over a lake near Lara's home.

Lara, Greg, and Danny

Visiting the CNN building in downtown Atlanta.

Smith Plantation Home in Roswell. This was my favorite tour. Lots of old furniture, good stories, and an amazing home.

Martin Luther King's Grandmother's home in Atlanta. He grew up here till he was about 12 years old. Very beautiful home and a great tour about his life as a child. I especially enjoyed the stories about him trying to get out piano lessons.

This telegraph system in the firehouse down the street from MLK's childhood home was still in use until 1985! That BEFUDDLES me!

Visiting Grandma and Grandpa Nelson in Charlotte, NC

Grandma and Grandpa in front of their office where they serve as Church Employment Missionaries (they offer services to help people find jobs!)

This is a beautiful Magnolia tree. The blossoms are AMAZING right now... just a few blooms decorate each tree EVERYWHERE. This is my FAVORITE tree!

Here are a few of those amazing blossoms. They are bigger than Danny's head!

Grandma smothering Danny with a couple of those "thousand kisses" saved up for him


Happy to be together!

The "lot" of us!

COMING HOME
Hunter told me on the phone that "EVERYTHING is different when you're gone, mommy." Yes, I'm sure it was! Shayne had the house spotless and he finished the HUGE project of doing our backsplash. Isn't he AMAZING!?!?!

10 YEARS and Counting on more...

Tomorrow we celebrate our 10th anniversary! I can't believe it has been 10 years. All the details leading up to our marriage seem like yesterday.... then again, it was ages ago! Today I'd like to share our story. No one has to read this - but it's fun for me to go down memory lane!

Our Story

My roommate was dating Micah our freshman year. When she went home (out of state) for the summer, Micah and I hung out a lot. He was "safe" (I knew he was crazy for my roommate) and we also worked together on staff for the AF Marching Band. That summer was filled with parades, practices, and just hanging out. It was a GREAT summer. When he went to visit his girlfriend over the July 4th holiday, I ended up hanging out with his "little brother" Amos. I didn't even know Amos, but he immediately treated me like he had known me for years and I felt like I had two brothers to hang out with. It was at the end of the summer when Amos asked if it was ok for his best friend, "Shayne," to hang out with us too. Sure, why not? So, I don't remember meeting Shayne the first time. It was if we had always hung out together. When school started in the fall, I spent a lot of time just hanging out with Amos and Shayne - my two buddies. They were both preparing to serve LDS missions and I had no intentions to be romantic with either of them!

Halloween 1995

A couple weeks before Shayne left on his mission (Feb 14th), things started to change. I kept thinking that it was Satan was doing everything he could to make it hard for Shayne to leave on his mission. Why else would our feelings suddenly change right before he left? I was becoming "addicted" to Shayne. He was easy to talk to and I loved to be with him. We were best of friends and I knew that things would probably be very different after his mission. It was only days before he left that he held my hand and it was a defining moment in our lives. (sounds silly, I know, but true) That week I wrote in my journal:
"I know I'll probably be married when Shayne gets home from his mission. But, if I am, I must have married Superman because I can't imagine anything better than this."



I was able to see Shayne off (back in the days when you could go to the terminals!) and it was not an "I'll wait for you" farewell. We just told each other how grateful we were for our friendship. We wrote weekly and we both knew there were no promises. (PS I still hadn't kissed him!)
I dated PLENTY during the next year but, no one came close making me feel the way I did with Shayne. We wrote and wrote and 1 year later I, too, decided to serve an LDS mission. Seeing Amos and Shayne serving their missions definitely had an influence on my decision. My religious beliefs defined the person I was and the way I wanted to live my life. I knew I had a special message to share and it was an amazing experience to talk about the gospel of Jesus Christ 24/7 for the next year and half!

After our missions, we started to date again. It was picture perfect! He was the first (and only) boy I kissed. I'm not sure why I waited until I was 22, but it was worth the wait! We were married a year after I got home from my mission.
10 years later, here we are with 3 kids, a dog, and our love that has GROWN beyond measure. Shayne, you are my Eternal Sweetheart and I'm so grateful for our wonderful lives together! I'm so lucky to be married to my best friend!

Danny waves bye

I love the way he sticks his arm straight out... so cute!