The excuse

Lately Kenzi has been coming up with some great excuses when she does something shes not supposed to. Normally she refers to the old adage of blaming it on her younger brother but today she came up with a truly original one. After telling her "no, that she could not have a Popsicle for breakfast," a couple of minutes later I found her trying to sneak one into her room. When I asked her why she was disobeying me she replied, "I didn't understand you mom, you were speaking Spanish." What could I do but laugh at that one.

Tornado scare

Today Seths Company went into lock down because of the torrential rains and tornado warnings. It was kind of scary for me to be home alone. Luckily we just had a very bad storm in our area. I have never had to go over tornado safety procedures before and it has definitely been a new experience living here in Texas.

The Tennis Star

Kenzi started tennis lessons last week. I am so
excited for her to share in something I truly love to do. She is doing awesome so far and she looks forward to going to lessons, mostly because her friend Daniel is taking them also.

Happy Birthday Mckenzie!

My little girl is 5 years old today and will be starting kindergarten in a month! To celebrate her birthday we took her to Build a Bear where she selected a bear, picked an outfit and then proceeded to get it stuffed with just the right amount of fluff. I got to say whoever started that company had a great idea because the place is always packed! We had Kenzis actual birthday party on Sunday. It was a very relaxed party where we invited a couple of friends, had homemade pizza, and ice cream cake. Kenzis little boyfriend Daniel gave her a stuffed bunny which she named Gracie. She took it to bed last night and also informed me in her matter of fact voice that Daniel really loves her. A child's innocence is a wonderful and funny thing to observe. Hoping you have a fun and adventurous year, Happy birthday to my # 1 girl Mckenzie!

4th of July

The 4th of July is always a great time at the Nielsens. In the morning we had a community tennis tournament. It was fun even though I didn't win. At noon we had a big BBQ over at my grandmothers house with the Smiths, Manns, and Nielsens. Almost all the Nielsens were there except those on missions and some of the cousins. My kids favorite thing about the get together was the snow cone machine. Kade and Kenzi made themselves very colorful and sticky in their quest to make themselves sick from unlimited snow cones. We were treated by a very amazing rendition of God Bless America from Justin Smiths 2 year old son, (He definitely passed on those singing genes) after that we headed down to the family pool and as usual there were a number of kittens at my aunt and uncles. Kade had himself a ball throwing the poor little creatures into the pool, and tried to do it over and over again even after mommy scolded him. After swimming we made our way back to my parents house, rode the 4 wheeler then lite off fireworks. Overall it was a very fun and enjoyable 4th of July. (More pictures of our 4th on the Family Website)

Viewer Discretion Advised Dont try at Home

So yesterday I heard Kade crying from the other room and I had Seth go see what he was crying about. Upon arrival he saw Kade laying on the ground crying. He asked Kenzi what had happened and she said that Kade had fallen off the bunk bed. I came into access the damage and found a rope tied to the top of their bunk bed. Then to my horror Kenzi took hold of the rope and did a Tarzan leap off of the top bunk. She ended up burning her hands and when I asked her what she was doing she explained that she was playing "Wipeout". For those of you who haven't seen it, the show is an obstacle course game where pretty much the whole point is to watch people fall down or "wipeout"! Its pretty funny especially the commentary. Anyways, just a side note beware of what your children are watching because they get the most insane ideas!!

Cabin at Garden Valley

The 2nd week of our vacation we went up and stayed in a cabin in Garden Valley, Idaho. For those of you who have not been up there it is really beautiful. The ride up there was very nostalgic as I craned my head to see all the dangerous rapids my crazy adventurous grandpa Nielsen loved to take us Kayaking down. It brought back fun memories of our trips together and what an all around amazing guy he was. Our first night up there we attended Oklahoma at the starlight theatre. While the play was mediocre the majestic sight of bald eagles soaring above got me in quite the patriotic mood. What a wonderful country we live in! The rest of the time there was spent, playing tennis, cards, swimming, and karaoke. The latter I found out was not my thing. I have a new respect for those crazy people who try out for American Idol! It was fun and best of all I got some relaxation time in.

Roomate Fun

While up in Utah I got a chance to get together with 2 of my old roomates and catch up on their lives. Crystal was positivly glowing and newly married, and Carrie also looked amazing with one of the cutest little girls ever. We went out to an authentic Italian Restaraunt called Buca di Beppo in downtown Salt Lake. The food was great but the company even better. I hope that we can make it a yearly ritual. It was so good to get together, catch up, and enjoy each others company.

Ethington Family Reunion

The reunion went very well but as I said before we were in charge so we didn't get to mingle much. I did have a fun time going to the grocery store and shopping for over 70 people and while planning and executing the reunion Ive discovered that planning events is something that I would enjoy doing on a part time basis. The kids had lots of fun boating, eating, and hitting a pinata. During the marshmallow roast I swear Kenzi ate a whole bag or
marshmallows by herself !

The Family Talent & Story Show went off pretty well, it was enjoyable hearing stories about Seths grandparents whom I never got the opportunity to meet. For the Family Talent show Seth and I did a spin off of you might be a redneck. Here is our Ethington Family version we came up with.

You might be an Ethington if:

If you take a load to the dump and bring back more than you took
If your family buys pepto and Tums in the Bulk
If there is no such thing as an unusable leftover
If people ask you about “the accident” and you reply with “which one?”
If you’ve gutted and rebuilt your computer 5 times since you last changed your oil
If you have a 2 car garage but cant fit any cars in the garage
If its not a Junk drawer but a Junk Room.
If the mother of the groom was pregnant at your wedding
If it takes more than one car to get all your kids to Grandmas house.
If you have one kid in diapers and another on a mission
If you have to guess more than a couple of times the name of the child your disciplining
If your bathroom doubles as your office
If you’ve ever owned a station wagon
If your house has become a motel
If your best conversations happen in the bathroom
If there is a science in making mashed potatoes
If you can make money off of clipping coupons
If you pick up more strays than the number of kids you have
If when you move into a ward the primary doubles

(We will be posting more pictures on our regular family website in the next couple of days)

Sedona June 2008

What a beautiful Hippie Town. I have never seen so many new age attractions in my life! We arrived in Sedona on a Saturday and our first stop was to visit some ancient cliff dwellings. We were able to look up at them but not able to go inside so that was kind of disappointing. After the cliff dwellings we headed out for some grub at this great little mexican restaurant in Sedona. Kade slept through the meal while Kenzi cleaned her plate. This girl was born to live in the Southwest because she just loves tacos and burritos. Its a good thing too because I swear they have those at least twice a week at the school cafeteria. After our meal we stopped to take some pictures and then headed back to the hotel to catch some z's and go swimming. The next morning we headed out and traveled through oak creek canyon towards the Grand Canyon. We didn't get to see as much of the Grand Canyon as we liked but it was still awe inspiring. The only depressing part of the trip is through the Indian reservation. Their houses are little more than shacks and it definitely made me appreciate more what I have. We gassed up our car in Beaver, Utah where the kids enjoyed icecream cones while they rocked in the giant rocking chair in front of the station. After about 23 hours of driving we finally made it up to Seths families house on Sunday night.