Saturday, May 02, 2009

Zac's a graduating man!

He did it! After 8 years of going to college Zac finally received his Bachelor's Degree. Zac's Dad was able to come down from Oregon to come with us. The kids have had a great time with Grandpa Nielson. Eric got his birthday present early from him...a Nintendo DS-I. Eric has been playing it nonstop...except for when Zac "helps him". President Monson spoke at Commencement. He and his wife received honorary doctorate degrees. When Sister Monson received her Degree, President Monson gave her a kiss, it was so tender!

The graduates were suppose to be at commencement an hour early to line up. We ended up getting their 1 1/2 hours early and had to wait in line outside. The kids were trying to get their energy out by running up and down the hill at the McKay Events Center. It was chaos trying to get a seat. We had to save 9 seats as well. I thought we would have some issues, but luckily nobody gave us any trouble. Me and the kids, Zac's Dad, Barb and friend, Dad, Diane and Devin were able to make it to the Graduation. It was great to have the support there for Zac. When I had my graduation, we walked at Commencement. Apparently they don't do that anymore. So after the 2 hour commencement, they excused us and the graduates. What?! We were not planning on attending the convocation, but I guess we need to now. It didn't start for 2 hours. So we ran over and had a celebration dinner Wallaby's. Zac's Aunt and Uncle were able to join us for the dinner. We ran back over for the convocation, and they were way behind. So we had to wait AGAIN outside in line for about 40 minutes before we got back into the McKay Events Center. It was even MORE chaotic! We got our seats, and were finally able to see Zac walk across the stage and get his diploma. Hurray! The kids were SO INCREDIBLY GOOD the entire day! They were quiet, Jennifer took naps during commencement and waiting for the convocation, I could not have asked for them to be better. Except Jennifer was obsessed with trying to grab the woman's hair sitting directly in front of us. I am really proud of Zac for sticking with it and earning his degree. Now hopefully onto Law School in the Fall. :) It will be really nice to have Zac here at home at nights at least for the summer.

I have had good intentions of updating the blog, I have uploaded pictures awhile ago, but never got around to posting. We have had bouts of sickness for the last 2 months. Jennifer has had RSV, then 2 weeks ago got bronchitis. As soon as she was finished with the antibiotics, she got 2 ear infections. Aubrey has an ear infection as well. Last week, I had Bobby call me during the day saying that Eric was crying in pain holding his left side. Nathan and Bobby kept on asking him if he fell, thinking he bruised a rib. Then he started saying that it was on his right side. So I took him to the doctor, and found out that he also had an ear infection. So she gave us antibiotics for that. She didn't think he had appendicitis, but to watch him. So I took him home, he fell asleep. 3 hours later when he woke up, he had a fever of 106. This is also AFTER giving him antibiotics. So I called the on-call doctor (since it is nighttime by now), and they told me to go to the E.R. We ran over, and after several blood tests, x-rays and urine tests, we found out that he has pnemonia in his entire left lung, and half way in his right lung. So they gave us a strong antibiotic to take care of it. THEN on Thursday, the daycare called and said that Aubrey fell on the playground and chipped her front tooth. It is definitely noticeable, we are still undecided if we are going to fix it or not. Since it's her baby teeth and she is going to lose it anyways...kind of a lot of money for something that's not permanent. It doesn't hurt her, it's not loose, and it's not sharp. Some of the pics below are of Aubrey and Jennifer's pictures that I ordered from daycare. Also, Jennifer is OBSESSED with sticking out her tongue.

I had a trial 2 weeks ago, and thought I had a trial next week. So I was in frantic mode getting ready, but on Monday I found out that the defendant decided to plea. Thank goodness! My big case that I worked on (and continuely work on) since January finally got unsealed. All the local news stations have info on it...search under "Mowen" and they articles should pull up. Basically I prepared seizure warrants for over 200 high end vehicles. He even has the original "General Lee" from the Dukes of Hazzard, a vehicle from Prince Charles, etc. Amazing vehicles. I am finally going to go on a tour of all these vehicles next week with the U.S. Marshal's. The defendant, Mowen, was committing a ponzi scheme. It's amazing how these criminals think they will never get caught.

The kids are both in baseball this Spring. Aubrey in T-Ball and Eric in Coach Pitch. Last week was Aubrey's first game. After she hit the ball the first time, she ran straight for 3rd base. We started yelling to run to first so she ran past 2nd then onto 1st. As soon as she hit the plate, she ran back around to 2nd, 3rd and home...passing the other teammates who are still standing on the bases. Apparently she is able to hit amazing homeruns in T-Ball. The second time up to bat, she ran straight for 2nd base this time, then as we were shouting, ran to the pitcher's mound, did a FULL circle around it, then finally ended up at 1st base. BUT she had the time of her life doing it. The games were canceled today because it is pouring rain. Too bad since Grandpa Nielson is still here from Oregon to watch them. I need to make a new resolution to update this more often...it just takes so long to upload pictures. :)










Sunday, March 22, 2009

Aubrey turns four!

So I finally took the plunge and registered to run the Chicago Marathon. I've been debating it back and forth since Lisa and Jordyn signed up, but I had some issues. One...my knee kills me when I run. I finally went to the doctor, and he gave me some wonderful anti-inflammatory pills to take before I run. They seem to work so far. I have played several games of basketball, run during lunch, and went skiing and my knee has been fine. Two...the money. To run the Chicago, I would have to get my flight and hotel...so this is at least a $500 weekend. Well, I was able to work this one out. This past week I hosted a meeting with work for people around the nation. Behind the scenes, I went around talking to everyone about our next meeting which is in October, and wouldn't Chicago be wonderful? While I was attempting to be a bird in everyone's ear, I was able to convince four other people from this group to run it also. So, everyone voted, and Chicago it is. I will be there the entire week prior to the race, and fly back home the Monday after the race. Perfect! Now work is paying for my flight and hotel. Third...I've been wanting to run the Provo 1/2 marathon in August again. I looked at my marathon training schedule, and the Saturday of the 1/2 marathon is when I am scheduled to run 14 miles. Perfect! Now I can get both in. I'm excited about it...but nervous. I'm hoping that my training outside on the hills and being in higher elevation will help out a lot during the marathon. I just need to convince somebody here in Utah to run it also, so I can train with them. I hate running alone. I'm okay at lunch to get 4-5 miles in, but on those long runs, it can get boring.

So all Aubrey has wanted for her birthday was to get her haircut. So I made an appointment with Cookie Cutters for Aubrey and her friend to have a "Girls day out". They were so cute! They got a manicure, shampoo, cut, style and pictures taken. Aubrey wanted her hair to look like Cinderella, so they gave her a messy bun. I was there forever waiting for the pictures to print, but their printer wasn't working. So they told me they would mail them to me. I received a call later in the afternoon and they said they were mailing the pictures to me. The pictures were so cute, they wanted to blow it up big and display it in the store. So I gave them the okay. I'm anxiously awaiting the pictures to see how they turned out.

Zac made the kids bunk beds yesterday also. Zac made the ladder today, but we had them sleep in them last night. I finally feel like they have room to play in their bedroom. It will be really nice once the ladder is finished. During the night when Eric had to use the bathroom, he would just scream until we got him. He was too scared to jump down. Actually, I'm grateful he's too scared to jump.I planted my garden this weekend also. Hurray! I absolutely love this time of year! Eric helped me plant the peas. I love having the fresh veggies around. So this year our garden is going to produce: peas, walla walla onions, tomatoes (4th of July and Celebrity), corn, anaheim peppers, jalapenos, green bell peppers, yellow bell peppers, red bell peppers, watermelon, pumpkins, zuchinni, and squash. I want to grow even more, but I would need a larger garden for that.

A couple weeks ago, Bobby was sewing like crazy and made the girls some summer dresses. They turned out great! Thanks again Bobby! Eric was the "mystery person" in Kindergarten this week. I was able to get out of work to go talk to his class. The class was so cute. After I tell them about Eric, they got to ask us questions. A sample of the questions were, "Eric, what is your favorite room in your house?" "Eric, what is your favorite shirt?" "Eric, what is your favorite haircut you've had?"The daycare ended up taking some pictures of the girls without informing the parents. I did end up buying two of the poses, which I will receive in 2 weeks. Meanwhile...enjoy the pictures of proofs that I didn't pick. :)

Sunday, February 08, 2009

6 months!


Jennifer turned 6 months this weekend! Her stats are as follows: Weight: 19 lbs 5 oz - 95%; Length: 27" - 95%; and Head: 43 cm - 50%. They ended up giving her the flu shot along with her other 5 shots...poor girl. I needed to get her 6 month photo done, but because of the shots, my usual happy girl was a sad crying baby. I thought that because Kiddie Kandids now takes appointments, we would have a great experience...finally! But, good experiences there are not in my future. Their printer broke, so we were there for 2 1/2 hours. Jennifer was refusing to smile, which were the results from the shots. Usually you just glance her way and she goes nuts with smiles. She would not keep her hands down either. We finally moved her into her own room last night. She has been sharing the room with us in her crib. I moved Aubrey into Eric's room, and Jennifer into Aubrey's old room. Zac is building some bunk beds for Aubrey and Eric. She did really well last night...I think. Her room is far enough away, I don't know if I could hear her crying or not. I just know I didn't hear her last night. I need to get her sleeping through the night before I start going away for work. I am heading to Washington D.C. the first week of March...so she's got a couple weeks to get the hang of it.

Speaking of work...what a nightmare of a weekend/week! I worked 16 hours Friday night, 8 hours Saturday, 18 hours Monday night, and 19 hours Tuesday night! I would get home about 12:30-1am then be BACK at work by 6 am! Which is tiring, but THEN Jennifer would be waking up every 1 1/2 hours when I was home. I was literally going off of no sleep. I couldn't take any time off though until these seizure warrants were done. We had a huge take down with FBI where I got them over 300 seizure warrants. There were 6 more that needed to be done, but since we had already turned in our timesheets, I wasn't getting paid for any of this extra time, so I took Wed-Fri off instead. I'm not working for free! As much as I like my job, I love my family, so if I'm away from them, I better be getting compensated! Zac was great about it. I called him at 3 pm on Monday and told him that I could not get off work. So he was going to have to drive up to SLC, trade cars, pick up the girls from day care, and pick up Eric from Nathan's. I forgot to bring my cell phone to FBI, so I randomly called him at 5 pm to see what his status was. He had been waiting at my work for over 45 min! Oops! So I had him pick me up at FBI, take me back to the USAO, trade cars, then drive me back to FBI. Pretty much the same scenario happened on Tuesday as well, however, this time I remembered my cell phone. That's about all I can say about what I was doing. As soon as it hits the news I can tell more...but currently this case is Sealed.

So Dad ended up not getting married this weekend. Diane's best friend that has been living with her for over 20 years, found out that she has cancer throughout her organs...liver, stomach, etc., and that it is advanced, and is untreatable. She had breast cancer 2 years ago. SO...they didn't really want to celebrate a marriage during the middle of this news. So we are all put on stand by until they set a new date.

We won our basketball game on Thursday again. Yay! I totally jammed my pinky finger. It still is killing me! Zac had to work late, so I had all the kids at the beginning of the game. Zac came in about 10 minutes into the 1st half to get the kids and decided to stay and watch. He has never watched me play any sports. After the game, he goes, "I'm surprised! You had some good plays!" I can do more than dribble Zac! (Barely) I wish I would have played more growing up so that I could be better now :)

Sunday, February 01, 2009

Update

I know it's been a month since I last updated. Work has been absolutley crazy! I ended up working 13 hours on Friday, and had to come in all day Saturday. We have something big happening from Monday - Tuesday, so most likely those will be late nights as well.

Dad is for sure getting married on Saturday. As of today, they haven't received the sealing cancellation from Diane in the mail yet. They have a civil marriage planned on Saturday, however, if on Friday they get the cancellation in the mail, they will be sealed in the temple on Saturday. Either way, Saturday is the big day.

Nothing else is really going on...that I can talk about. :) Work has just been insane though. I'm sure you will hear about it eventually!