That's right, we're royalty

These picture are for you mom and dad. For every one else out there in the blogging world these pictures have a story behind them, and if you ever want to hear it just ask any of my brothers or myself, we love to tell it, especially in front of our dad! It's one of his favorites! All I can say is that these crowns seemed to have gotten Logan out of getting a ticket. It was either that or that heavy can of change Logan offered up as a bribe!

Tagged

My Sister-in-law, Kim, tagged me awhile ago and I'm just getting around to it! Here goes Kim!

10 years ago... We were living in our little apartment in Mission Valley, Amanda was just a year old and we spent our days going on walks to get water, picking up the mail, doing laundry. Everything was a walk when you live in an apartment. I do remember at times not having anything to do, actually being bored. Just can't imagine that now.

5 things on my to do list
1.Make phone calls
2.Clean the bathrooms(I know, typically done BEFORE you have company, but I was out of town before they came, so it is getting done today, Sorry Dell and Vicki!)
3. Make phone calls
4. Do laundry-More softball games tonight and the uniforms are still in the laundry from Saturday's games.
5.Make more phone calls

Things not on my to do list(Not on the original tag)
1.Post on my blog, but I HATE making phone calls, so I'm putting it off for as long as possible!

5 snacks I enjoy(but try not to eat!)
1.Blue Diamond Smokehouse Almonds-If you keep up to date on my favorite things post you'd already know this!
2.Haagen-Daas Peanut butter Chocolate Ice cream-Should also be on the favorite things list, but didn't want to put another food for fear of looking like a pig!
3.Fruit snacks-I know very juvenile, so I don't buy them for the kids or I end up eating them!
4.String cheese
5.Girl Scout cookies, when they're in season

5 snacks that I ACTUALLY eat, but do not necessarily enjoy(Again, not on the original tag)
1.Fiber 1 cereal
2.Baby carrots
3.Plain, boring, nothing added to them, almonds
4.Dannon Light n' fit yogurt
5.Water

5 places I have lived
1.Poway, CA
2.San Diego, CA
3.Provo, UT
4.Orem, UT
5.Menomonie, WI

5 jobs I have had
1. Mom
2.Retail
3.Nanny
4.Subway
5.BYU cafeteria

5 things you don't know about me(I'm a pretty open book, this was tough!)
1.I've worn glasses or contacts since 2nd grade
2.I LOVE singing, but I am really terrible!
3.My favorite show right now is Gossip Girl. (I know it's terrible, but I can't NOT watch it!)
4.I wish I could dance, really well
5.I tried out and made a school basketball team, (Well, now that I think about it I don't think you had to try out and it was in 5th grade)

Now I tag Jamie and Denise. Oh yeah, you ladies don't have blogs, but you REALLY should!

Game Ball

Amanda recieved the game ball at her last game and was very excited! It is something that her coach gives out after each game to a player that did something noteworthy. To those out there that think I'm bragging, it's kind of like bragging about your kid getting "Student of the Month". You know that by the end of the year EVERY student gets it, it's just a matter of time. Same thing with the game ball, but still we're proud, it's her moment to shine! She got it for doing a great bunt. Apparently it's good to sometimes not hit the ball very far. If there had been game balls handed out in the co-ed league that Shaun and I played in shortly after we were married for not hitting the ball very far I would have gotten it every game. Shaun explained to me that bunting is actually INTENTIONAL, there is a method to it and, apparently Amanda is good at it. Way to go Amanda!

I can't believe she's 11!

That's right, Amanda turned 11 a couple of weeks ago. I had wanted to get a post out about her b-day , but with an unexpected trip to Wyoming it has gotten put off. She had a great "Chocolate Lover's" birthday party, complete with edible invites and edible thank you notes. We tried to do it up good this year since she kind of got jipped (is that a word?) last year . Madison was born two days after her birthday last year and so all the attention was on Mads. The picture above is all the girls at the party (except one that had already left) on Amanda's bed. Some how that has become a tradition. It started when Amanda was little and the girls thought it was cool to climb up on the top bunk and so we took a picture of them. They do it every year now at her party, but I don't know how much longer the bed is going to hold them! Something else that has become somewhat of a tradition is me going crazy trying to figure out what to have as a birthday cake every year for Amanda since she doesn't like cake! We've done sugar cookies, brownies, homemade oreos, and many other things, and this year we were stumped. Since the theme was chocolate the natural choice was browines and so we had settled on that, but I wanted to do something different. We surprised her by buying a small chocolate fountain and all the fixings to go with it. She was very excited! My favorite pictures from the party do not even include the birthday girl. It's the before and after of the chocolate fountain. I got it all set up while they were outside on a treasure hunt and then 12 girls hit it like a tornado! They enjoyed it, but what a mess! But that is what it is all about! At times Amanda still seems like my little girls (notice in the picture above she is protectivly holding her Santa Clause that she has had since she was 6 months old!) and at other times I have to think to myself "I don't remember the word teen being in eleven!" At times I worry about her, she is a mini me, and I did not always make the wisest choices growing up, but on the other hand she seems to be a better version of me, much stronger and wiser! Love you Meem and happy birthday!

Who knew funerals could be so fun?

It was a sad occasion to head to Wyoming for Grams funeral, but in reality we all had a great time. The funeral itself was really good, and our family really had fun together. That's just how Grad and Gram would have wanted it. Here are some pictures of some of my favorite funny moments

Logan being "bucked" off a child seat in a Wyoming McDonalds. I think he might have beat Matt's record of 3 seconds.

Josh trying on a random hair piece we found. Reminiscent of his 6th grade school picture.

Logan playing with Grams chair, it not only reclines you, but stands you up. Most of us couldn't resist playing around in it!

Me with with all of my brothers, and my parents!

Me and ALL 13 of my Nicholls cousins, including all 4 of my brothers. We have never all been together and who knows if we ever will again. Despite the sad circumstances we had a blast. My face hurt by the time we left because I was laughing the whole time! I can't even type all the things the boys were saying when this picture was being taken, but trust me it was hilarious, if not somewhat inappropriate!

Happy Easter

Happy Easter! Connor refused to have his picture taken, except for one brief second he said he would if Shaun was in it with him. I had no time to wait for the girls or he might have changed his mind, so we have the girl picture and the boy picture.

We love you Gram

We all know how much Grad and Gram loved each other by the sweet tone they always used when speaking to each other, and the loving way that they gazed into each other's eyes...Ok, so we know that last part is not really true. Us Nicholls' are not big on mushy-gushy, huggy-kissy shows of affection, but we do know that they loved each other. It was apparent that Grad loved her by the way he commented after every meal, "Good meal, woman", even when it was those "tasteless little potatoe things" that she just knew he LOVED! And we know she loved him by the way she cared for him their entire married life, especially those last few years before he died. But, Gram had another man in her life, Big Joe Polka.

Every Saturday night she FAITHFULLY watched The Joe Polka Show. Gram had many talents, wood working, and painting to name a couple, but how many of you knew she loved to dance?! When she couldn't do it herself she loved watching others, especially "Big Joe". I'm not sure if Big Joe knows that one of his most loyal fans has gone on to the next life, but I do know that the other man in her life is very excited to be reunited with her once again. I can just hear him now, "It's good to see you, woman!"

"Say 'I love you Grandma"

We love you Gram, and we'll miss you!

Opening Day...sort of

Saturday the girls had their first softball game of the season. It was actually the second game, but Opening Day happened to be scheduled on Sunday this year. The league received a lot of complaints about this, (there are a lot of LDS families in this league because they have always in the past kept Sundays free) but they claimed that there were too many conflicts on the Saturday that the season was supposed to start and so they had no choice but to start on a Sunday. I believe that you always have a choice and something tells me that had this happened in Utah they would have figured out what the other choices were! So, unfortunately the girls had to miss their first games of the season. (Don't worry we turned that experience into a great FHE lesson!) They had a great time at their games! Both games happened to be scheduled at exactly the same time, but all of the girls softball diamonds are at the same park so I got to see some of both. Shaun is an assistant coach for Sam's team, so I mainly watched Amanda's game, when I wasn't pulling Connor out of other teams dugouts, making bathroom and snack shack runs , or digging discarded sunflower seed shells out of Madison's mouth. I'd forgotten how not fun Connor is at the softball field. He has no interest in watching unless one of his sisters is up to bat, and he just drives me CRAZY in between. This isn't Mads first softball season, but she spent the first part of last season in utero, and the second half in the Baby Bjorn!I'm going to keep their W-L record updated on my blog, so check it out every once and awhile! Go Blue Lightning and Blue Bombers!

Not as good of a mother as I thought.

I seem to be the type of mother that when my kids do something that I think is really great, like share when NONE of the other kids in nursery do, I pat myself on the back and tell myself that the reason they are doing that is because I am such a good mother and have taught them all the right things. Then when they are the ONLY kid in nursery biting ALL the other kids, I quickly exclaim, "I have no idea where they learned that!", and quickly put the blame on some outside source. I guess things like that happen to humble me. This week I had one of those such experiences. My daughters who are 10 and 8 have had, thus far, a spotless dental record, (a cheddar tooth doesn't count because they luckily out grow that!). No cavities, no fillings and no prospect of braces in the near future. Boy, I am a good mom! I made sure, (unlike all those other mom's out there with children with fillings) that my kids brushed and cared for their teeth regularly. Then came Connor. He had his first real dentist visit this week. A visit that consisted of more than counting and brushing his teeth. The dentist comes out to inform me the the kid has FIVE cavities, and one of them so bad that he needs to get a filling in it in the next couple of days! If our dentist had not been our former bishop, I wouldn't have believed him, I'm a good mom! Well, he was telling the truth and so Connor had his first fillings yesterday, and this is a picture of him shortly afterwards. He was not frowning because the fillings were so bad, he just HATES having his picture taken! He actually did really well. He still has no idea that a S-H-O-T was involved, our dentist was very discrete! So, I have been humbled yet again by one of my children. But, now that I think about it, I myself have never had a cavity and Shaun has a whole mouthful, so apparently Connor inherited his father's teeth and I really have nothing to do with Connor's now mouthful of fillings! Maybe I am as good of a mother as I thought! (And humble too!)

Just because

This is just because I really like this quote

"There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort"-Jane Austin