UP THE GO!

One of the benefits of living in a big city is the great gym facilities. The gym that we belong too has a fantastic rock wall climbing area. Brent took the kids on Saturday while I was at church meetings.

The kids are perfectly able to get to the top on most of the climbs. There are some way tricky ones, though. Keep in mind that the automatic belay is set up specific for kids or unexperienced climbers.

 And yes, that is as high as it looks.

 Brian has only been able to climb since he turned 5 - facility guidelines. But he is catching on quickly.

 Seriously...is she not the cutest thing EVER!!

There are so many perks to living in a large city. The kids have access to opportunities that they otherwise wouldn't. Though I still feel I am an Idaho girl through and through, I am grateful for the experiences and friends the kids and I are receiving through our moving ventures.

SPRING CLEANING

I started the ever dreaded spring cleaning today. Oh man....I've had the list for over a week and have purposely piled papers on top of it. Well, today I just had to start. If I don't start, I'll never finish. So it was time.

Today I got this done...
Dust everything. Fans(ceiling), shelves, lights, decorations, clocks, etc. 
Wipe down all doorknobs, light switches and power outlets.
Walls downstairs - spot clean all areas necessary and prepare for paint touch-up(gonna make Brent do that part)
Baseboards downstairs - vacuum and wipe down all with a damp cloth.

Ugh.....so much more to do! I couldn't even begin to think I was going to be able to wash walls and baseboards upstairs. The kids have some major cleaning to do before I can do some ever more MAJOR cleaning up there.

And that's where THEY are right now...and I'm on the computer. Hmmmm. I've given myself 2 weeks to get my list of 23 bullet items finished. Two down today. Woo-woo! Well, two and a half. I'm gonna get super technical when I have a list of 23 bullets to finish.

Tomorrow my list is this:
Walls upstairs
Baseboards upstairs
Doors/doorframes
Dust and wipe all air vents

If I accomplish it then I get to go have lunch with my girlfriends! 

Love the reward system

MY NEW TOY

On Black Friday(or Thursday night) I got the greatest mini Ninja for like $30. I was so excited. We've used that Ninja about every other day since we pulled it out of the box. Thanks to it, our morning protein shake is nice and milk shakey...yum.

Well, our mini ninja went to visit ninja heaven. It died on us. A rubber part broke and it started blending black particles into our drinks. Not good and definitely NOT YUMMY.

So we got us a new toy yesterday. This time we got the REAL DEAL. And let me tell you, I'm ALL smiles!!!!

This heavenly devise will do SOOOO much!!! I can't wait!!! Thank you Costco for having it so readily available for me. Ninja started calling my name the moment I walked into that giant warehouse. Cost was not a factor(although as I'm typing this, I am experiencing a little buyers remorse), only the simple notion that from here on out I will be able to Food Process, Blend, Mix, and Juice whatever I please. Mostly, I'm just gonna make protein shakes and smoothies. But hey...when I'm ready to process, mix, and juice, I sure can!!!

 Look at all those attachments....

 Even a dough base for that time that I try yeast again....

 Now this....THIS is gonna be perfect in the hot, humid, Texan Summers! SNOW CONES!!! How totally fun is that! Five exclamation points in that one statement....wow!!! Oh, there are three more! One more! STOP!!!!!

Was this a need or a want....we don't need to hash that out right now. But I'm pretty sure by the blog post we can figure out which one it is. All I can say, and it comes straight from the mouth of my brother-in-law(you know which one you are)..."It's all I've ever wanted".

Until the next thing....

MARCUS'S VALENTINE

So I found out that some of Marcus's friends had written "Valentine's" to some of their favorite gals. I wondered if Marcus had. So I nonchalantly asked. And he immediately said "NO!!" But then once I mentioned that I knew that his best buddy had he changed his story a little.

Marcus: Oh yeah, I did...(smiles)
Me: Oh really...(very skeptical, but curious)

Marcus: Yeah, I wrote one to Ms. Nielson
Me: (ummmm....pause, pause....not quite what I had in mind) And why did you do that?
Marcus: Cuz she borrowed me(yes thats how he said it) some books.
Me: Oh...cute

subject dropped....and then he came home with this this week. I found it in his backback.

Is that not the sweetest note! How innocent and cute. And then I turned it over....

She was sweet enough to respond to his note. I'm sure teachers get "valentines" all the time and some of them respond and some don't. I thought this was so thoughtful and respectful.

So though it wasn't quite what I had in mind for a Valentine for Marcus, I thought it was cute.

LADY A!!!! And Daughtry

I had the time of my life the other night at the Lady Antebellum concert. I am a HUUUGE fan! HUUUUUUGE! I love all their music, their sound, everything. Brent fought thick and thin to get these tickets for me and then graciously handed them over to me and Sandi Clark.

So apparently now the "valley girl" has gone from Debbie Moyes to me to Sandi...haha. Gotta love it!

 Lady A sounded so great! I mean, they were spot on! Hillary Scott sounded fantastic but Charles Kelley...he didn't miss a single note. The stage was small and it continually spun so no one in the stadium had the rear view for more than a minute or two(maybe it didn't spin that fast).

 And though it looks like we are in a nose bleed section, we actually had really really good seats; pretty much down the center of the stage up one balcony. It was great. The sad part...NO ONE was up and dancing.

 The rodeo was before the concert - we saw some great buckin' bronco and bull riding. Other than that we pretty much missed it cuz we were busy have other A-MAZ-ING fun earlier that evening at the "Our office is finally open" party with the Roundy's.

 Ahhh...good times! I had no idea how BIG the San Antonio Rodeo and Stock Show is. The talent that came in to perform was amazing. Had I known sooner I probably would have been there every other night...Miranda Lambert, Lady Antebellum, Trace Adkins, Allen Jackson, Daughtry, Joan Jett, and the list goes super on and on.

We did get a chance to go to the rodeo and Daughtry concert with Dale and Jonna Capener on Saturday night. We each took out oldest two and left the younger ones home with a sitter. The kids loved it. We had a great time. And then when the concert started...well, you'll see the pics to see the fun Marcus and Kyle were having....

 That's right...they were showing us their MOOOOVES! And yes...we were at the absolute TOP of the stadium. But it was still great fun, a little crazy high in stiletto heels, but so much fun. Thanks Dale and Jonna.

Now I know for next year...check out the concert line up early and grab all the tickets I can for the awesome talent that comes in. The kids loved the rodeo so definitely at least one night for them and maybe put their name in the lottery for the muttin-bustin'. Pretty sure I spelled that wrong.

BRENT Turns Another year Older

We celebrated Brent's Birthday yet another year at Disneyland. I think that might be 3 years now that we have been to the Magical Kingdom over his birthday. Though I chose not to travel with his gifts, we did get him a couple of "mock" gifts while we were there, enjoyed our favorite disneyland dessert-Dole Pineapple Whip, and of course had the time of our lives at the park.

His "Oscar" says Best Dad and I got him some knock off cologne in Hollywood as a joke until we got home to the real stuff.

 Brent's always so clever with his gifts so I tried this year to put a little more effort into my planning. January's are always so busy and stressful for him so this year I decided to put together gifts for his HEALTH....

 For his Mental Health I got him a gift card to the Lifetime Spa. I thought he could maybe venture out and try a nice relaxing massage. Or if he doesn't want to do that he can enjoy a nice haircut-they massage the scalp and really take care of the men with their haircuts.

 For his Physical Health I got him so new workout clothes and a gift card to his favorite store, Dick's, so he could get some new shoes or more exercise stuff.

 For his Worldy Health I got him some new shoes and a gift card to go shopping for either a new shirt, shorts, or something he can feel and look good in going out.

 And his favorite dessert is German Chocolate Cake...STORE BOUGHT! I even offered to make it but he said, kind of sheepishly, "you know my favorite is from the store". I didn't argue OR get my feelings hurt. :) Knowing the rest of us don't particularly like the dessert he found a big German Chocolate Cupcake, and we make cookie brownies for the rest of us.

Happy Birthday Brent!

DISNEYLAND cont x2...

And then there were the Rigby's....

Like I said before, we had a fun-filled and packed Disneyland vacation. On our third day at the park we met up with my parents and brother, Thayne, and his wife and family. It was the start of their trip so we were pretty content to do what they wanted to do. Again, some great memories made, lots of fun and laughs.
 Madelyn immediately connected to grandma's side and stayed there for the next two days. I love that mom has such a great relationship with ALL her grandkids.

 Checking out California Screamin'. I think it stands as my favorite! Brent, Marcus and Madelyn LOOOOVE it too!

 The carousal I do NOT love. I definitely could do without the spinning motion.

 And here I was, worried my dad was going to have a heart attack on the rides...he's got his hat on backwards, and his thrill-seeking self on full blast! And that's how he was the whole time. It was great fun!

 Tower of Terror...I'm tellin' ya, it's a fav!!!

 Friday night we ended the vacation swimming with my brother's kids. The kids had a blast, mom fell asleep, and Angel and I chit chatted a bit.

All in all a Major success. It was soooo fun to meet up with both the Ruchti's and the Rigby's. (It's kind of weird to refer to my family as "the Rigby's" but it worked for the post.) 

Same open offer stands for my family.....DISNEYLAND FEBRUARY 2014