Owen is 4! Michael has officially graduated from law school and passed the bar! And we are having a baby GIRL!!!!

                            

Owen the birthday boy…

What can I say, I love that boy so much and can’t believe how grown up he is. He is so in intuitive and bright. He is always thinking of others.  If I give him a treat he always make sure mason gets one too. One of my favorite things he was doing for a while was saving half eaten pieces of candy for when Michael got home. It was awesome and so adorable.  He would get out a cup put his have eaten sucker in and set it where it would be safe till dad got home. He loves yellow Laughfy Taffy.  So sometime we when we are getting gas for the car the boys got to pick out a treat.  I let Mason and Owen share one so the each got their very own half!  Without hesitation Owen broke his in half and said here mom did you get some? This is a normal thing for him to do on a day to day basis and I love seeing him grow and what a sweet and love hart he has.

Owen’s birthday party was a hit! We did a paw patrol theme.  Both boys love Paw Patrol and it is so funny because they can only watch it at grandma Nickell’s house because she has fancy TV.  It really is an adorable show.  They have all the songs mesmerized and most the episodes considering its new and there aren’t that many episodes yet.  So we have watched the same ones about a billion times!! Poor grandma Nickell probably has them mesmerized word for word as well… 

Because the show is so new I had to look all over town for Paw Patrol decoration. Everywhere I went them just kept saying they had just ordered Paw Patrol party supplies for the first time and were waiting for them to be shipped to them. Finally some nice worker at target found some in their system and got them out of the back so I would have all the stuff in time for the birthday party. I was able to get a few table cover some masks that looked like all the pups form the show, plates and tons of balloons with a very awesome birth day cake!

I really wanted to make this day special for him. Considering that this year he really understood that it was his birthday and had the opportunity to go to a few birthday parties for cousins and friends. So he was so excited because it was finally he’s turn.

It thought it would be fun to invite some of his friend from our ward and all his cousins that could make it. We decided that there might not be enough room in our two bedroom apartment so we used the church gym.  It was a good thing too. Because so many people we love came to celebrate with us.  We had planned a few games and grandma Nickell got him and awesome Ninja Turtle piata. The Nelson girls had made posters and colored and cut tons of paw prints that we taped all over the gym. We had pizza and cake and ice cream and let the kids run wild in the gym with all the balloons. It was so fun to see Owen so happy and so excited. I’m so gratefully to have such amazing friends and family to help me make life magical for my babies that I love so much!  We know it was for sure a huge success for Owen because it has been about three months since his birthday and he still asks me every day if he is turning five yet.

Baby girl!

Wow! We are so excited! When we first found out I think we or I was in a little bit of shocked… I’ve never cared weather it was a boy or girl.  I was just so used to being the mom of boys that I was a little caught of guard when we found out it was a girl. Owen has said he was going to have a sister since the very beginning. Anytime I would ask him what he thought we were having he would say girl.  I would very nicely, knowing our history of producing crazy little boys suggest that it might be a boy. He would very politely say no thanks mom. It was pretty funny.

We took the boys to the ultra sound. Which may or may not have been smart, but I wanted the boys to get to see that I wasn’t just making this up that we really were going to have a little baby. They were both so adorable and excited! Owen has already named her. Half the time she is penny like the girl on Bolt the other half she is violet from the Incredible’s. They include her in all our prayer and act as if she is already here. I know mason doesn’t quite understand what’s happening. But he for sure knows somethings different.  For a while he insisted that we call him the baby and would bring us blankets to wrap him up and snuggle him like a new baby haha.  It was really cute and so of course I would snuggle him.  Probably wasn’t helping the situation but how could I resist??? He seems to be fine now so I guess will see what happens when she arrives…

We are so excited and can’t wait to meet her in August. Let’s just hope we have a name for her… Girl names are hard!

Law School Is Officially Over!

Michael has not only graduated but already passed the bar and found a job! I am so proud of him.  He has worked so hard and sacrificed so much to reach this point. It has been an amazing experience for our whole family.  It hasn’t always been easy, but we have learned and grown so much as a family.  We have learned to trust more in our farther in heaven and relay on his guidance as we try to work our way through this life together. I know that these tools are something we will us for the rest of our lives. 

There are so many things I can say I enjoyed about our journey the past three years. And many I definitely am glad are over… But for now I’m going to stick to remembering all the good things. First off we went in to this having a very slim understanding of what it would be like.  It was just Mike and I with our little baby Owen and waiting for the day we would meet Mason for the first time.  Just two months into law school, right as mike was preparing for finals we got to meet our little Mason. As scared as I was to have our second little boy so far away from family it turned out perfect. 

When I came home from the hospital I felt as if we had gone from being the young couple with a little baby to being a family.  I feel as if it really set an amazing start to the beginning of Law school.

We learned very quickly to enjoy the little things and to be creative. And that I didn’t need to have a parade or but my kids the newest of everything for them to be happy.  They were just happy be with us and go to the park. Afternoons with the family are still some of my very favorite. The kids and I go on walk and to the park all the time. But for some reason when dad is with us it’s a party! 

I used to think that we were working towards goals so that we could raise our children in some magical house in the perfect situation.  And now I know that we are already doing that every day.

We might not have the perfected house or neighborhood and all the newest toys for our kids.  But our children know that they are loved and safe with us.  They know there farther in heaven and savior Jesus Christ as we talk about them often.  We do our best to give them all the love in the world. 

I used to think that Law School was some big journey for our family to overcome or work though.  I know now that life and find our way together is the real journey. As we work and continually progress together though this life I hope that we can always remember the end goal. And all the things that really matter in the end, I hope that as we continue on this journey together that our children will know the meaning of hard work sacrifice and loving life no matter the circumstances.  There have been a lot of hard days the past three years for both Michael and I. But learning how love life right where we are has made all of the difference.  I know that there will be many challenges and joys over the years.  I also know that by working hard and clinging to our little family that there will be many wonderful and amazing days ahead. 

I’m excited for life and all the new journeys ahead. I’m so glad that Michael and I get to share them with the beautiful children that have been given to us. I can’t wait to meet all of our children and see where life takes. We love you all so much!!! Onward and upward!

pictures coming soon.

Mason Turned Two!

Mason is the sweetest little two year old out there.  He’s so loving and snuggly. He loves loves animals and can’t get enough of Matt and Shannon’s dog.  It really is one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen. Fits (the dog) eats it up two.  He literally follows Mason around the house because he knows that he can lick him to death and Mason will just giggle. I feel like I have enough on my plate just being a mom of two.  And were not even done having kids yet! But seeing mason with that dog makes me want to go buy him a puppy yesterday... The good thing is he loves babies just as much. For example we were at story time the other day and there was a little baby in a car seat with he’s mom of course. Well mason followed that lady and her baby form story time to wiggle worms… Even as they moved around the room doing different activities he would find the baby and sit by him while occasionally trying to poke he’s eye out.  Luckily the mom was very understand and thought it was cute.  So I’m thinking if we have to choose between a dog or a baby… I think will see if he settles for a baby till he bigger and help with a dog. Oh and it would be nice to have a house…

Mason is defiantly our dog loving baby snuggling little guy.  But hears the twist… I can’t keep up with the kid!!! He has so much energy and is so rambunctious not to mention strong and very smart!  All of these things together just make me tired thinking about it. Thank goodness he’s so cute! The only problem with that is that he knows it… There are about two things I repeat all day long with that boy. One is no throwing. Sometimes he does this because he’s bored. Sometimes he throws because he wants to get Owen’s attention or he’s trying to make Owen laugh. Whatever the reason it not ok and it drives me crazy!!! I’ve tried the very angry mom approach, I’ve tried timeout and looking him strait in the eye and using my best mom voice when I tell him it not ok and you’re in big trouble!!! He always gets sad and ends up saying sowee mom…Ok mom. But I think he more made he has to sit in one spot for more than a half a second… I’ve learned with toddlers it’s all about the repeat and eventually they figure it out. So I just do my best to keep trying to get the point across in hope that one day it will stick.  We do the same thing with climbing. If there’s a way to climb it Mason can find it! My house is pretty baby proof. Seriously! There really isn’t much you could ruin.  On the other hand you could hurt yourself!!! I will leave the room for one second and when I come back mason will be sitting on top of his dresser swinging legs and smiling. I love the kid but seriously can we find some less dangerous hobbies?!?!

Our little Mason keeps me on my toes for sure.  But there is nothing better than being his mom. And if that mean that means running around till I’m closer to a zombie than a human then that’s what I’ll do!

Mason, I love you so much and I’m so glad heavenly father trusted me enough to be your mom.  You are a very special and strong little guy. You are always on the go, so excited about life and you keep us on our toes. You are the life of the party! Owen and you are inseparable and share such a special bond together. You really are the sweetest bothers. You are always looking out for one another.  Keep each other close and don’t ever lose that. Never forget how much we love both of you. Don’t ever forget how amazing and strong you are. We love you more than you will ever know and are so gratefully for the last two years we got to spend with you and those big brown eyes. I’m so glad we have the rest of forever to be together and can’t wait to watch grow. Happy Birthday to Our Sweet Little Mason!!!!

Happy Halloween!!!

So my boys might like Halloween more than Christmas.  Who new Halloween had so many different activities.  I think they were dressed up the entire week long! Then when Halloween was over they still wanted to where there ninja turtle bandana’s all the time!  Not gunna lie it was still pretty adorable even after Halloween had past.

This year was so different for the last few years.  It was crazy how they both really understood what was going on.  Not to mention Owen had been talking about Halloween for the past two months and ask me every day in most curious voice (Mom, Whach you gunna be for Halloween?)  He was serious too! He really wanted to know.  Owen would ask people where ever went what they wanted to be for Halloween. Mason just walked around saying HAPPY HALLOWEEN with his biggest smile. With how excited they were it made me wonder what I had done the last year that was so great! I contribute most the excitement to preschool, library story time and Curious George.

Those two being so excited made everything so much fun! One of my favorite was making pumpkins as a family.  Owen was so excited because he remembers doing it the last year and had been asking Mike to please teach him how to knife for a really long time.  It was so funny would say it all the time.  My dad’s gunna teach me how to knife. It was so funny because we’d be a the store getting groceries and he be like mom we need a pumpkin so dad can teach me to knife!  I can only imagine what that would sound like if you didn’t know he was talking about a pumpkin…

After we made the pumpkins we put glow sticks inside and turning off the lights. Poor mason was not happy….He was so scared! Owen loved it which was crazy because he was scared of the scarecrow no noggin on Curious George. To this day both boys still talk about how they’re going to kick no noggin and get him away!!! Mason is so funny when he talks about it because he does lots of actions says lots of stuff very passionately with a no noggin added in here or there.  When it came down to ticker treating one kid was a little more serious than the other. Mason was just happy with getting one treat then stopping to eat it... But as soon as he needed more he was more than happy to jump out of the wagon and hunt for some more! Owen totally got it this year and wanted to keep up with the big kids and he did! Even when we were done he kept saying just 10 more houses mom ok! They were such trooper and it was to fun to see them get excited and really understand what we were doing. 

Christmas 2014!!!

I love love Christmas! I love the time of the year, the way it brings you closer to family and why we are really here on earth. I love remembering our savior and all that he did for us.  It is so amazing to be able to share that with our children now.  I know they’re still really young.  But when I talk to them about our savior I can feel they’re spirts recognizes the love Jesus Christ has for them.  It makes everything so much better!  I love watching them lean all of the Christmas songs I remember loving when I was little and sharing fun Christmas books and movies.  It really is amazing how much they remember for the year before!  I’m surprised at how quickly they caught on to so many Christmas traditions. Owen knew we needed to go see Santa and tell one thing we want for Christmas.  He also remembers lots of little things like the putting up the tree and stuff.  This year we tried to do lots of fun little thing with just our little family. One night we made ninja turtle ornaments. It was so simple but the kids thought it was the coolest thing in the world! We also mad our own tree out of tomato cages by turning them upside down and using zip ties to keep it from falling apart. Then we went to the dollar store and tons of tinsel to wrap around it with some light and a stare on top.  I think that was probably one of my favorite things we did.  We put up windows cling on stickers for another activity and built another tree with lots of snowman on our window.  One evening we bundle them up and took them to see the light and nativity at temple square. Our family Christmas activities weren’t extremely out of the ordinary. But they were so special because it was just our little family finding fun ways to celebrate Christmas.

Celebrating with all the cousins is always amazing and those boys love their cousins! First we went to my parent house for a couple nights before Christmas Eve. It was pretty much two days running around with fist full of cookies, popsicles, Christmas movies and popcorn for the kids.  Where were these children’s parents you ask…. We still don’t know Ha! No but seriously! Holidays are tricky like that.  There are treats everywhere everyone is so excited and the kids are crazy! Holidays and food are bad enough for adults that know they shouldn’t eat cookies for breakfast lunch and dinner. Put kid in the mix that are little in age… But big enough to reach everything!  Not to mention all the older kids and they’re just as bad!  I think Jacob and Isaac personally ate a gallon of ice cream by themselves…  I blame them from all the little people misbehaving and running around with fits full of candy! Haha it really was so much fun and all the kids had a blast at grandma and grandpa Nickell’s house. 

Of course we had a pageant that grandma Nickell was in charge of and everyone grandkid had a part that was equally as special as the next!!! Wink Wink Love you Mom! It was so much fun and so fun to see our boys actually be a part of the program now that they’re bigger.  They sang up on the house top and did all the actions, jingle bells and a few others.  Jacob played the precaution, Tonya and Aliza played the violin, Mariah and Bo sang us beautiful music and Isaac did his very own solo. Then opened up gammies form Grandma and Grandpa Nic and went in the other room with the other tree where we had about five Mary’s and a couple shepherds for the finally. By this time Mason and Max where over it and found a plate of cookie to eat…  But the show still went on of course! Owen decided he was not a shepherd and did ninja poses the entire time.  It was a pretty awesome ending to our trip to Logan!

By this time I was pretty tired not gunna lie… But it wasn’t even Christmas yet! So we woke up the next day and drove back to salt lake where we went straight to Grandma Lou’s house for Christmas Eve dinner with my parents and a few of Lou’s friends. Of course Michael invited a stranger into his mother’s home out of the goodness of his hart mind you. He was actually a really nice man who had only been in our ward for a bit and didn’t have family close.  He did how ever have some very interesting theories.  All though…  I don’t think anything will ever top the year Micheal invited another very nice young man to Christmas dinner and he love to play the piano, sing and was in the middle of writing a musical about the holocaust.  But don’t worry it was going to be the funny version…  Bless his soul he was adorable! 

Finally it was Christmas morning! We were so blessed with a big Christmas again and for all of the love our family gave us. Our kids are going to be seriously confused when we do have money and they’re Christmases are not nearly as cool! I really was taken back by all the love everyone showed us. It really meant so much to me that other people would go out of the way to make Christmas special for our boys. I love those boys so much and always want to give them everything that I ever think might put a smile on their little faces. Of course you can’t/shouldn’t always do that. But the fact that other’s would want to bring my boys some happiness on Christmas morning meant so much to me. 

Grandma and Grandpa Nic got to our house and about 7; 30am. Normally my kids are up or close to up by then.  But not this morning! They slept till 9; 30am… That is usually a good thing! But my poor parents just had to sit and wait till they woke up… I felt bad but we all agreed it might not be a good idea to wake them up since they had been living on cookies and staying up late for the last 3 days in a row…

Finally they woke up and realized it was Christmas morning. I think half the time I’m more excited to see them excited than anything they ever do or get.  But it’s just so fun to see them happy and see how magical Christmas can be with them.  By far there favorite toy with what the both asked Santa for this year.  Heatwave and Chase the Police bot from The Recuse Bots show. You’d think it would be the two big scooters we got them or maybe the ginormous Lego table Uncle Matt and Shannon got them… But nope it was the littlest thing on my list to get them.  Goodness to think I was so stressed that I wasn’t going to make Christmas magical enough was clearly not important.  Don’t get me wrong they loved everything they got! And we use all of them all the time. The car slide that Grandma and Grandpa Nic got them they played with for hours and hours.  And Owen loved loved building the Lego table with Mike.  All of it was so amazing we are so grateful for everyone’s love.

Don’t worry the love didn’t stop there!!! We went back to Grandma Luo’s house celebrate with all of our other cousins.  Where Owen and Mason both got Sleds from Aunt Ami and Aunt Arika! Not to mention the fact that Grandma Lou made everyone in the whole family a blanket!  Yep that’s right she made 45 blankets!!! That’s a lot of work money time and love right there! Thanks Grandma Lou!

So that was our Christmas. We are so lucky to have such crazy Christmas’s with all these crazy people we love!

Picking out a Christmas tree for Grandmas house.

It was so fun to watch the boys see how cool it is to decorate the Christmas tree! Of course Mason shatter most the ornaments before Christmas day... But grandma still loved him so I guess all is well,

Grumpiest Santa ever. I tried to find a pic that made him look happy but this was the best I could find. Sorry boys...We love you!!!

  

Showing of their cute hats our sweet neighbor made us!

Anderson family Christmas pageant!

Cutest wise man every!

Owen was clearly too wounded at this point...

But in the end everyone made it on stage!

Then to Grandma Anderson's for presents! This year Grandma Anderson spent a good portion of the year making everyone in the entire family a blanket! Yep that's right everyone! I'm not even going to add it all up but it had to around fifty.  She amazing and always makes Christmas so special for everyone.

Making cooking for play group!

Owens first school recital! It was so adorable and he sang every word!

Temple lights!

It was freezing! Got to keep them bundled up!

Nickell family Christmas retreat! 

The first thirty seconds of the trip they sat quietly and watched a show.

And then the really party began...

Popciles for every meal plus kisses and no one get made at you! Mason was in heaven!!!

Of course we had a pageant and everyone got a chance to perform. Everyone was adorable and i was surprised at how much they all participated.

All of our sweet Mary's and couple of to cool Joe's in the back.

Owen was ready to take center stage. He wouldn't let me move him... 

Eventually he settled for the side lines but still insisted that he was a ninja even though we were singing silent night and reading scriptures. Isaac clearly sided with the three year old on the matter... Love those boys!

Our very own too cool Santa!  

Don't worry there's more! Present  from grandma and grandpa!

After everyone put on the Christmas pj's it was time for hot chocolate and a story form grandma.  I'm seriously never going to be able to top Christmas with all the cousins and Grand parents making everything so much fun, Good thing we get to keep them with us forever!

We are so lucky to have family that loves us so much.  Our kids had an amazing Christmas and they couldn't have had a more fun.  

Yay Santa came!

Mason showing off his sucker. (Mason's favorite Christmas present!) 

Love having Grandma and Grandpa over to share Christmas morning with us!