Trip to the Emergency Room

Last Thursday, October 27th was a horrible day! Trevor and Tyler found a vice in the garage (if you don't know what that is, I didn't either- it's a big, heavy metal block). Trevor dropped it on his toes. OWWW! He came into the house crying and trailing blood. It looked pretty gory. We hurried to Urgent Care, where they put on a steri-strip (also known as a piece of tape) and sent us to the Emergency Room. There, they stitched him up- 3 stitches on the middle toe, and one on the toe next to it just to "tack it on." (It was hanging off on the end.)  He ended up getting two x-rays, several shots, and a couple of doses of painkillers. Poor guy! It was an all-day ordeal- 8am- 4pm. Tyler was a trooper since he waited for him to get fixed up that entire time with hardly any complaining. We were so happy to finally get home! Trevor took a while to forgive me for putting him through that and only wanted his daddy for the next couple of days.

Family Fun

The other day the kids and I went up to Oak Glen after school. The old schoolhouse was open, so we got to visit the museum and then play at the playground for a while. We found a little path and explored a little, and then made a final stop for apple cider and apple slice samples.

Last Friday night we took a trip out to Bogart Park as a family for some "cheater camping." We went for a late afternoon hike. The weather was perfect and the views were great. Kyle could have kept going forever, but eventually we had to head back to our campsite. James and Kyle built us a fire.

We told stories and sang campfire songs, looked at the stars and ate treats. 

Then, in true cheater-camping style, we went home and slept in our beds. I love cheater camping.

Our big 2 year old

Our little Trevor loves bananas, so to celebrate him turning two, we had a "banana day."  Banana muffins for breakfast, bananas for snacks, and a coconut-banana cream pie for his birthday dessert.

The Lego Mini-Build

Kyle is really into Legos right now. He loves to build all kinds of things. So when we heard there was a free mini build at the mall, he was so excited he could hardly stand it. The mall was out in Ontario, which wouldn't have been so bad, but since there was an accident on the way, it took us almost two hours to get there!! Then, once we got there, we waited in a long line to finally build their little vampire lego-men. We played games in line, and ended up having a lot of fun. A friend and I traded kids, so she had the little boys and I had her 7 year old.

 Here are the kids waiting in line. We played the game where you turn a squiggle into a drawing while we waited.

 Finally inside the Lego Store! Those are the cute vampires they built.

Pumpkin Patch!

Earlier this month we went to the Live Oak Pumpkin Patch. We had a great time. The kids rode a bunch of rides, and we all got to see the animals. 

Disneyland!

 Our family trip to Disneyland! They had just decorated for Halloween. Even the Haunted Mansion was different, with Nightmare before Christmas decorations. 

 On Splash Mountain, the ride was stopped, and we all had to get off and walk through the ride. It was fun to have a different view of the ride!

We spent some time in the petting zoo. 

The weather was great, the lines weren't too long, the kids were good-- a perfect Disneyland day!

School begins!

School started early this year: August 16th!

Kyle is in the first grade. His teacher is Miss Bridgman. He is liking his class a lot, and his table has gotten the most table points for the first three weeks of school!

 Here's Karissa. She is in third grade with Mrs. Johnson. Her closest friends weren't in her class this year, but she is still able to play with them at recess.

 Karissa and Kyle also have recess together this year, and they even hang out at school sometimes. Now that Karissa's in third grade, she can pick up Kyle from his class and they can walk out together to meet me. One day as they were walking out, I saw them holding hands the whole way. I'm so glad they are such good friends.

 After school on the third day of school, through a team effort on the part of all the kids, Karissa got her fingers caught in the immersion (soup) blender! She screamed like her fingers had been chopped off! It looked pretty bad, but luckily didn't even need stitches, and she got to wear these cool bandages to school the next day.

Tyler and Trevor get a little bored on the walk to and from school sometimes. I've started bringing my "secret weapon"- the top part of the leash. I velcro him in to the seat so he can't climb out! On this day, the boys were really good because we found a leaf bug (on Tyler's head in this pic) that entertained them the whole way.

Las Vegas Vacation

Right when school got out, we went on a family vacation to Las Vegas. We had a great time swimming, hiking (or attempting to hike in over 100 degree weather), playing in the Lazy River, touring M&M's world and lots more. The last day we went to Pahrump to visit the Jensen family. It's always so much fun to see them!
It was a great trip and we had such a good time together!

Memorial Day Hike

        
      On Memorial Day, my family came out to spend the day with us. My parents had been to this great place in Palm Springs, and they took us there. Even though it's in the desert, right by this little stream, it stayed nice and cool. It was a beautiful place and we had a great time there.

 When we got to the water, Trevor wanted to get wet. We stripped him down to save his clothes. The water was freezing, but he was loving it.

Mormon Helping Hands and Sparky gets a new home

On Saturday for Mormon Helping Hands, our stake went to Stewart Park and painted the fence surrounding the park. We used blue paint (if you couldn't tell!) and Karissa and Kyle did a lot of painting. Tyler did a little and still managed to get all that on his shirt! James needed to finish a 12 page paper, so he stayed home, and I was worried that Trevor would be a handful, but luckily he only got a drop or two of paint on him.

Meet the newest member of the Neilson family- Sparky the Hamster! The kids have been saving up their allowance to buy a hamster. They needed about $50 total (after the cage), so at $1 each per week, minus 10 cents for tithing and 10 cents for savings... it was going to be a while!
But, one day last week on freecycle someone listed a hamster, cage, ball and food-- all for free! So, we drove out there and picked up our new pet Sparky. He is really a cute little guy! Karissa and Kyle used their money to buy bedding and more food.
Sparky is named after James' pet hamster from his childhood. The Sparky stories really hit home with Kyle, and he told James "When I get a hamster, I'm gonna name him Sparky too."

Karissa's Field Trip- Living Desert

Tyler, Trevor and I went with Karissa's school to Living Desert. It's a great zoo out in Palm Desert. Luckily the weather was not too hot. We had a good time together. Some of the highlights were the animal show and the butterfly pavillion.

The Day we met an Apostle

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the quorum of the twelve came for our Stake Conference last weekend. He spoke to the priesthood leadership last night, then at the adult session, and again Sunday. We loved hearing from him and feel so blessed that he was here. He stayed after the meeting to shake hands and meet the members. We waited in line to shake his hand. Karissa said, "We had to wait in line a long time but it was worth it." I agree! The Spirit was so strong and we are so blessed to be members of a church led by prophets and apostles!

Our little climber!

Hawaii Trip

James and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary with a long-awaited trip to Hawaii. The kids stayed with my parents, and even though we missed them, it was SO NICE to have 4 days alone together in Hawaii!
We stayed in Waikiki, here's the view from our hotel:

We spent a day at the Polynesian Cultural Center. I loved seeing all the performances and learning about the different islands. It was also awesome to see the students and hear how the PCC allows them to pay for school. James helped out in the New Zealand welcome dance:

The sister missionaries took us on a tour to see the Laie Hawaii temple and BYU-Hawaii:

We went back the next day to do a session at the temple. We also swam on the North Shore later that day, and watched them setting up for a big surf competition.

Overlooking Hanauma Bay:

We snorkeled in the Bay and saw so many cool kinds of fish. We also went on a hike up Koko head, and old train track up the side of a mountain.

This was the perfect trip! We had a great time and loved being together!

December

Bass Pro Shop- Santa's workshop

Trevor climbing on the boat at Bass Pro Shop

Tammy's Christmas party. It was a Khoury's restaurant in Long Beach. It was great to see family we haven't seen in a long time.

Ruby's- Christmas Eve lunch

Me at Ruby's

Dessert. I love that Tyler is imitating Karissa here.

Christmas eve bowling- our Neilson family tradition. The kids had bumpers and sometimes used the ramp... Tyler was the winner (with a little help from mom and dad).

Christmas Eve Jammies