Spring Break

For spring break we went to Provo and Salt Lake for the weekend. Josh was in Las Vegas, with my Dad and Brother, so it was just me, the kids, my mom and my sister. We drove up Thursday evening. At Green River we stopped at Arby's to eat dinner. Sitting in the booth next to us were two men speeking Spanish to each other. I saw Brigham staring at them intently. Then he got up and walked to the edge of our bench so he could be next to them. He then said, "THAT IS NOT A WORD!" They were not paying any attention to him, luckily. He kept repeating that they were not saying real words. I had to laugh that my two year old thought it was his job to correct these men on the jibberish he thought they were speaking.
Once we arrived in Provo we stayed in a hotel in Provo. Of course the kids were completely WIRED when we arrived at the hotel, so we had bed jumping until about 11 0'clock when the kids finally crashed (Brigham was the last one.) On Friday we did some shopping then headed to BYU campus. We ate at the MOA cafe at the BYU art museum. When we told the kids we were going to have lunch at a place that served salads Brigham and Shae protested. They, of course wanted to eat at McDonalds. Rather than hear the complaining we picked up two kids meals which they ate in the car on our way. Bodell said that she loved salad and wanted to eat what Mom and I were eating. When we got to the MOA cafe we noticed they served Macaroni and cheese. Bodell ordered this. Brigham and Shae were SO jealous. Bodell loved devouring her mac and cheese in front of the drooling Brigham and Shae. My mom and I also loved our lunch. It was so good. I can't believe I never ate there when I was a student. I highly recommend it!

HERE WE ARE EATING AT THE MOA CAFE. YUM! YUM!


After the cafe we went downstairs to see some of the exhibits. They had an exhibit from the person that makes the I-Spy books and also and exhibit made from trash items. The kids thought they trash exhibit was amazing.

WOOPS-- I GUESS I WASN'T SUPPOSED TO TAKE THIS PICTURE IN THE MUSEUM.


After the museum we walked up the hill to the Bean Mueseum. The kids always love all the animals. When we first walked in Brigham looked a little alarmed. He asked me if the animals were dead or alive.


SHAE SHOW ME YOUR BEST LION LOOK.

BODELL TOOK A PICTURE WITH THE JAVELIN BECAUSE SHE HAD JUST WRITTEN A REPORT IN SCHOOL ABOUT THIS ANIMAL.

SHAE IS THE ONE THAT SUGGESTED THIS PICTURE--WHAT A SHOCKER!

After the meuseum we had to make the traditional trip to the BYU creamery for ice cream. And then we were off to Heather Bower's house. The kids were having a slumber party with their cousins while my mom, my sister, Andrew, and I went out for a girls night out (plus baby.) We did some shopping, ate out, and went to the movie Confessions of a shopaholic (LOVED IT!!) Thanks Heahter B. for taking the kids.

Andrew is 3 weeks

Ok, I promise I will not give a week by week dialogue of Andrew for the rest of his life, but for now...you are just going to have to bear with me. Andrew is now three weeks old. Not a whole lot has changed since the last update. He is a GREAT sleeper now. He is still VERY LOVED by his older siblings. He loves his baths, but hates to be dressed and undressed. We are anxiously awaiting that first smile!


Me and Andrew.


Shae and Andrew

AAAAaaaaaaaahhhh!

Just in case you haven't seen those dimples yet!

Hiking Somewhere

My sister Heather was in town for a few days. We were feeling a little spring fever and decided to take the kids for a hike. Because Shae had kindergarten we couldn't go very far. So, we drove down towards Cottonwood and pulled off on a random road and went for a quick hike. It felt great to be outside!

Brigham, Shae, and Isabel (Shae's friend) posing.


Look at the beautiful bouquet Shae and Isabel picked. I think Brigham thinks their bouquets are better than his sticks.

Heather and I posing while Shae took our picture.

Can you tell that Andrew enjoyed the hike?

What a cute little bundle!

Heather wanted to have Andrew. He nestled down in the snuggly made grunting noises the entire hike.

Isabel and Shae enjoying the walk. It was crazy hair day at school. Can you tell?

Stitches

Yesterday I was feeding Andrew when I heard a loud Thud in my bedroom followed by a loud cry. Bodell ran to see what had happened. She carried Brigham into me crying. When I looked at him there was blood running down his face and a nice gash around his eye. I guess he was trying to reach his balloon that was on the ceiling. He climbed on Josh's nighstand. Fell off and hit his eye on the way down. I immediately called Josh at the clinic and told him I thought we were going to need some stitches. At that point we had to run to take Bodell to piano. We ran into Nicole Ivans, Stephanie Ivans, Danelle Shumway and of course Callie Randall. They all got in the van to see Andrew. Then they saw Brigham. He looked pretty pathetic. I hadn't taken much time to clean him up because we were late. So there he is sitting with a swollen eye, blood still coming out, blood stains on his face and shirt and chocolate all over his face from some pumpkin bread he had eaten just before the accident. All I could do was laugh at the poor child. When Josh came home he stitched him up. I wanted to take pictures of the process, but it took both my arms AND my legs to restrain Brigham so that he wouldn't move while Josh was stitching him around his eye. Brigham was histerical!!! We finally got him sewn back up and now Brigham is quite proud of his stitches. He also has a nice little shiner to go with it.

Andrew is 1 week old!

Andrew is now 1 week old. He is still such a little bundle of joy! Right now about the only thing he does is SLEEP! The kids keep asking when he is going to wake up. He has his days and nights mixed up, so about the only time that he is awake is around midnight for a couple of hours. Saturday night I was changing his diaper. Josh and I were watching a tv program so I wasn't paying very close attention to what I was doing. I lifted Andrew's bum to place the new diaper underneath and he started peeing. It was a perfect rainbow that shot over a yard, over Andrew's head, and sprayed all over Josh. I thought it was hilarious! Josh didn't think it was quite as funny as I did.


Here are a few pictures with Andrew's eye's open. It is a rare moment.

What is he thinking here?

Bodell is a great helper and LOVES to hold Andrew.

Shae, where did you get that pose?

Announcing the Arrival....

Announcing the arrival of the newest family member:
ANDREW JENSEN NIELSON
6 lbs. 10 oz.
19 1/4 inches

Andrew was born yesterday. Delivery was nice and quick. It has been so fun to bring a new baby home. The kids have just giggled at every little squeek and move that he makes. They are all so proud of him!




What a cutie!

Can you tell that Brigham was bored with the hospital? Bodell and Shae were VERY EXCITED about the arrival of their new brother.

The whole family. WOW-- FOUR kids!

I always think newborns look so funny in their big carseats!

Picnic at Comb

We decided to take advantage of the beautiful spring weather in January on Saturday. We packed a lunch and headed for Comb. The kids had a great time climbing the trees and playing in the dirt. At one point we realized that we hadn't seen Brigham for a while. When we found him he had stripped down and was playing naked in the soft dirt. When he saw Josh coming he quickly jumped face forward in the dirt (still naked) and did a reverse snow angel. It was quite a funny site. Brigham could have stayed out there all day.

Brigham after the naked escapade.

Sydney posing in one of the many trees she climbed.

The rest of the kids, not quite as brave as Sydney.