long time no blog

and posting is the last thing i should be doing right now since we leave at 4 am to fly out to nebraska for a family reunion. except we don't actually get to fly to nebraska. we fly to colorado--the closest airport to the little town we're trying to get to in nebraska and then drive the rest of the way. the boys are super excited because it's cowboy country and truly they were born to live on a ranch. it will be a great trip i'm sure and a great excuse to see the whole nilsson crew again and a good amount of dyers (though some will be missed!).

today was the day that taco bell, a dr. pepper and finding nemo saved my life (or maybe it was my kids life). it's seriously the littlest things when you're a mom.

also today, i found jaden attempting to change asher's dirty diaper. clean diaper was in place, asher laying down on top of it, wipes open and ready and jaden mustering up the nerve to open the dirty one. i sat down and asked if he'd like my help to which he happily obliged. i handed him a wipe to help when he replied, "when the girl is doing the dishes, i'm going to offer to do them and she can change the baby." i asked if "the girl" meant his wife. affirmative. at least he's planning to share the work load. i also told him he may feel differently when he has a baby. because his dadddy had never changed a baby in his life and when jaden was born, i didn't change a diaper until he was 2 days old.

catch up:
we spent two weeks in bakersfield at the beginning of summer, which included a great getaway for micah and i to attend the wedding of two fabulous friends in los angeles and have a brief visit with the maughans. the boys did a sports camp together the week after we got home, which was the greatest decision ever (1-3, m-f: perfect). and today they finished their two-week swim school and not only do they look like little pros but they had a great time. beckam was SO excited for swim lessons to really learn how to swim, which is a huge change for him. he's usually very apprehensive about new situations but really seems to be maturing in that area. i'm sure it helps to have a big brother to keep up with.

last weekend we had a visit from the hill clan for 4th of july, which was a blast as usual. we met them in santa cruz and spent the day at the boardwalk. it was cousin heaven! ashlyn (14) was supposed to meet up w/ some friends but chose to stay w/ the family to hang out w/ her cousins--so sweet!!

so there's a quick recap on this familyofperpetualmotion. we'll be home a few days afer this trip before heading up to davis for some more summer fun. the jelly belly factory, sac zoo, rec pool, arboretum, farmers market, solano park and fun friends are all on the agenda!

they're engaged

he's 31 today

i had great intentions today to celebrate this fabulous man of mine. and i bought all (almost) the stuff we'd need for a birthday fit for a king. but here's how it actually went down.

7:30 i wake up and get ready for my 8am meeting, leave the house w/ everyone still in bed
10:15 return from meeting to find an empty house, homemade waffles w/ fresh fruit and not a trace of breakfast mess
10:25 boys return from playing at the park
10:30 put asher down for his nap and then visit with our very diligent and dedicated home teacher
11:15 wonder why the baby is still not asleep and just jabbering away, go in and sing some more songs
11:25 take a phone call and talk church business
11:45 head into kitchen to find the birthday boy happily adding the last ingredients to the thai chicken crock pot dinner. i got to put the lid on and start fixing lunch for the boys while he goes in and finally gets that baby to sleep
12:00 i finish getting ready for church while micah assembles his own chicken wrap (yummm)
12:45 i'm off to church w/ the big boys, micah hangs out for the next two hours while asher gets his nap in (i know we're bad mormons but honestly--why take an unnapped baby to 1pm church until 4 o'clock?)
4:30 return home to find a beautiful chocolate cake already baked and frosted. (strike 3 for me). so the boys and i at least get the table set all fancy w/ place mats, napkin rolls and henry weinhards before micah gets home from his after-church-responsibilities. jaden prepares a delicious salad, including fresh chopped cherries, tomatos, raisins and carrots all by himself hoping that his dad will say "yummmmm." beckam decorates the birthday boy's chair w/ beautiful artwork. we call grandma doris and wish her a happy birthday!!
5:30 micah gets home and we enjoy a fabulous dinner where we discuss why our daddy is so special which includes jaden's declaration that "he's the smartest dad because he chose the best wife in the world AND he always makes me first even when his friends are around." and i shared that i was grateful for him because he always makes all of us first all of the time! he's completely selfless and i know that even though today is his special day, he loved every minute of serving his family all day!! and he always makes me feel like the best girl in the world!
6:00 call britney to wish her a happy birthday, too! and then eat cake w/ chocolate brownie ice cream (oh, that micah bought himself at the store yesterday because i didn't even think of it while at the store earlier)

and why is jaden's face all red you wonder? because minutes before he looked like this:

scary. darth maul has nothing on him.
they got into the face paints.

happy birthday micah.
we LOVE you so!
and how lucky are you that the whole nation gets the day off tomorrow to celebrate!

(sorry to those of you w/ reader for the duplicate posts. )

happy mother's day.

mine was spent on sanibel island celebrating the marriage of my brother-in-law dan to the lovely sara kramer! it was such a beautiful and perfect beach wedding with lots of friends and family there to support them. when we arrived at the hotel the scene was reminiscent of our davis days looking like we'd landed at the bike barn. there were over 50 bikes lined up for every wedding guest each one personalized w/ a name tag. inside our rooms we had welcome bags including bios of each family member on both sides, sights to see on the island, a daily agenda, water bottles, sunblock, saltwater taffy and the beloved insect repellant! learning from my sister-in-law's 500-and-something no.see.um (the bugs are that tiny) bites, i bathed in that stuff every night and got away unscathed.



images taken from minna dyer here and here.

we put many miles on our bikes mostly at night alligator hunting. at night they can only be seen when light reflects off their eyes that glow like fire. it was crazy creepy cool. we only had two minor biking incidents. one was my father-in-law who indoed and flipped over his handle bars, sending me into complete hysterics for a good 20 min. (i seriously have a sick sense of humor. what is wrong with me?!) however, i was repaid for my cruelty the following day, when i duplicated his accident as my dress got caught in my break pads and sent me sailing. i wasn't laughing then but fortunately, my adrenaline was at its max since we were on a photo scavenger hunt racing against the other nilssons and two of our competitors were actually passing us at that very moment so i didn't even feel the cut on my leg. we also spent a day at sea exploring different islands and marine life. we saw lots of dolphins and a sting ray JUMP out of the water. apparently they do that!! micah took me out on my first brief sailing excursion. besides my fear of feeling like shark bait, it was exciting and scary for a second when micah fell overboard leaving me to man the sail.

this image from christy dyer.
both of my sweet mothers spent their mother's day taking care of my children. a mothers job really never does end. i hope i can give my daughter, oh wait! i don't have one!!! my sons and their wives a kidless getaway one day, too (just not all at the same time)! and then do all their laundry when they get home so they don't have to (thanks again mom!). i hope i can show my children how much i love them the way my mothers show me! we so greatly appreciated our time together and squeezed every second out of our kidless getaway!


darron, dan and micah



















i returned to a beautiful new set of dishes from my boys that they remembered i'd been wanting and the sweetest homemade cards! these made my heart happy:

HAPPY mother's DAY
to mom
love Jaden Nilsson

mom I Love You so much you are the brite side of my life. love Jaden Nilsson.

and a picture of me watering my garden filled w/ beautiful flowers, a ladybug and bee. and a picture of jaden saying, "your garden is pretty" with me saying, "thank you."

in six days all the nilssons (sans children) will be gathering in sanibel, florida to celebrate the marriage of dan to the lovely sarah. and because this family loves a competition, we have been playing sanibel trivia. everyday brian sends an email with sanibel trivia and the first one to respond with the correct answer gets a point. sometimes there are bonus questions or challenges. like a seventy two word blog post.

sadness

it was with sad, broken and heavy hearts that we buried our precious tiny tim tonight.
i hate it so much and it hurts my feelings so bad. he was a 6 month old desert tortoise and was such a fun little pet. micah and i were amazed at how much enjoyment a little turtle could bring. he was so cute and social. he woke up every morning w/ the rest of the family. we loved him!

we're guessing he got dehydrated yesterday in the heat wave. i put him out on the patio to bask in the sunshine. he is a desert tortoise after all. he had fresh water and food and was in his little habitat w/ shelter from the sun. sadly, i never checked on him again yesterday to replenish his food or water and today i found him lifeless. such a sad, sad day for our family. i cried a lot.

he did have a good life but he will be sorely missed! and it's going to take some work getting over the guilt i feel.

jaden is worried about how we'll find him in heaven. "it's going to be so crowded. there's going to be so many angels and how will we recognize him from all the other turtles." i like his heaven. and this was a good life (death being a part of life) experience for the boys.

and just in case you thought turtles were boring, please look at these tricks he could do:



















and can you see him in this picture nestled snugly under micah's leg?


sleeping in my hand.

















rest in peace tiny.

easter 2009

family pics = super challenging. wish i knew more about photo editing.