Summer Fun

It has been quite a summer for our family! I was a little worried that we wouldn't be able to do much this summer with the new baby, but I was determined to make this a fun summer with the kids. Here are just a "few" of our adventures.

A trip to "Herriman Beach" was a big highlight. This is a new reservoir right here in little Herriman. The kids had a blast!

Uncle Jay hanging out on the rock
We went to American Fork Canyon to celebrate my nephew, Jared's, birthday. I love that canyon! It has many great memories for me. We had a great time.

Cayden loves his Uncle Jay. They are always chasing after each other and wrestling.

I just had to take this picture of Jar Bear's cute little bummy!

My cool little camper boy

My crew at the canyon. Rob stayed home with the 2 little ones.

Exploring Nature

Jules and Kyle

Jay and Jared with our "little" nephew Korbin. That kid is a CHUNK!

I took the kids to Thanksgiving Point Farm Country. Sadie was fascinated with all of the animals. Jaxson was a sweetie and slept the whole time.

The kids with the Llama. I was cracking up because as the kids were posing for this picture, the llama came over and started to try and eat Cayden's hat. It was hilarious!

Apparently this goat wanted OUT!

Ashlee, our little animal lover, befriended this cute little baby goat. It followed her all around.

My cute little blonde girls

Oh dear. I hope this isn't a sign of things to come!

The kids loves doing the pony rides.

Sadie had never been on a horse and I wasn't sure what she would think, but after it started, she just kept giggling and giggling.

My sis-in-law, Tiffany, came down with her kids for our "Week of Free Fun". We did a different "field trip" each day. On day one, we went to Wheeler Farm. The kids had a blast feeding the ducks, seeing the animals, having a picnic, going on a wagon ride, and wading in the stream. It made it extra special that Grandma came with us.

I had no part of planning these photos of the kids in the outhouse. They did the posing themselves. Kinda funny,

Sadie found a whole bunch of geese and they kept following her until she started running after them. It was hilarious to see her chase them. As you can see below, she took quite a tumble, but got right back up and was determined to catch that darn goose!

On day 2 of the week, we went to Kennecott Copper Mines to do a tour. I have lived here my whole life and have never done a tour of the mines. It was quite fascinating! The kids were amazed and thought it was all very cool. Afterwards, we had a picnic at Copperton Park.

On the evening of day 2, we headed to Herriman Beach. Grandpa, Grandma and Miki joined us. It was just a perfect evening. It wasn't crowded at all, the weather was nice, and the kids had a BLAST!

Rob got roped into building sand castles. I think he secretly loved it more than the kids.

The awesome finished product of the mote!

On day 3 of the week, we went to the Herriman splash park. The kids had a great time. Then we headed back to our home and just let the kids play. The girls had fun playing dress up and cheerleader and the boys went nuts with the light sabers.

It has been a great summer and we are sad to see it end. But we look forward to an even better summer next year!

Jaxson's Blessing Day

On Sunday, August 2, we blessed our sweet little Jaxson William. It was such a special day for our family. Rob gave Jaxson a beautiful blessing. We know that he is a special little guy and brings such a sweet spirit into our home. He looked so sweet in his white blessing outfit (beautifully made by my Aunt Gloria.) After the meeting, we had our families back to our house for a yummy luncheon and visiting. It was a wonderful day.

Grandpa and Grandma Neilson

"I've had it with all of these pictures! I want to EAT!"

Grandpa and Grandma Peacock

Uncle Jay - I share initial with him and Grandpa N - J.W.

Ashlee, McKell, Anna and Mary loved playing together. Gotta love that dress up box!

Andrew

James and Brooke

Jon and Juliann

Uncle James and Aunt Brooke took these beautiful pictures of me on my blessing day.

24th of July - Wyoming Style

My brother, Scott, and his family live in a small town in Wyoming called Mountain View. It is right outside of Lyman and near Ft Bridger. Their son, Ryan, was getting baptized over the 24th of July weekend so we headed to Wyoming. Rob stayed home with Sadie and Jaxson and the 3 older kids came with me. They do a big Pioneer Day celebration over the weekend of the 24th and we have wanted to go for a few years, but it never worked out. We are so happy that we were able to come this time.

We left on a Friday evening and made the 2 hour trip to Wyoming. My kids were SO excited! Scott and Tiff were so gracious and were great hosts! They let us stay in their trailer which worked out perfectly. The first night was a little interesting. I had just tucked the kids in bed and was walking with Scott back into the house when we heard some loud banging sounds and sirens. Scott is a Wyoming Highway Patrol officer so he immediately was curious as to what was going on. Before we knew it, we looked through the trees of their side yard and could see huge flames coming up! Soon there were a lot of sirens, a lot of smoke and flames, and crashing. Apparently, someone's huge shed was on fire. It was very close to Scott's house so it was a little scary. Scott jumped in his patrol car and off he went to help block off the streets. Fortunately, nobody was hurt. But all of the commotion meant that my kids were way too wired to sleep. It ended up being a late night. I didn't sleep great, which is ironic since I didn't have the baby with me, but oh well.
The next morning, we got up early and got the kids ready in their clothes for the parade. The girls were pioneers and Cayen was a modern day boy. My kids had never been in a parade before so they were very excited. Tiff and her mom did a few small floats pulled by horses and 4 wheelers. After I got my kids settled, I went and watched the parade with my parents and sister. It was so fun seeing them come down the street and throwing candy. They were thrilled and beaming with pride!

The kids in their floats ready for the parade

Scott rode on his horse along side the floats. I had to laugh a little as he rode around while talking on his cell phone.

After the parade, we had a lunch at the park and then headed to Ryan's baptism. My dad baptized him and Scott confirmed him. It was a really special day for Ryan and my kids were so happy they got to come. In typical Ashlee style, she said at the end, in a very loud voice, "Are we done YET!?"
After the baptism, we headed to Tiffany's parents' home for more fun and a yummy dinner. They have a ton of land and have 4 wheelers and horses. The kids were in HEAVEN! A highlight for me was watching my mom ride one of the horses. But the best part was when I put all 3 of my kids on the 4 wheeler and the four of us took off for a fun ride! It was a blast!! The kids also had fun being pulled around behind the 4 wheelers on a trailer.

After the dinner, we headed to the big Ranch Rodeo. My kids had never been to a rodeo, so it was a new experience. This is a different kind of rodeo and they do a lot of the old ranch style events including wild cow milking, hyde pull, goat milking, etc. My kids even participated in the chicken chase. They didn't catch any chickens, but sure had fun.
It was such a great weekend and we hated to come home. I have promised the kids that we would come again next year for another fun Pioneer Day celebration...Wyoming Style!

Jaxson's 1st bath at home

Jaxson does NOT like bath time. He hates to be naked and hates to be uncovered. He especially hates bath time. He doesn't mind getting his hair washed, but doesn't like being in the water at all. His first bath involved a lot of crying, splashing, and getting me wet! But there really is nothing like that clean baby smell after lots of baby lotion.

Tolerating getting his hair washed.

Here he is all nice and clean. What a cute boy!

Birthdays, Dress ups, and Big sisters

Just a few random pictures and thoughts over the past month. Sadie has gotten used to playing with the bigger kids now. I am going to miss their help when they go back to school. One day, I was feeding Jaxson and asked the kids to play with Sadie. A few minutes later, she came down looking like this. SO cute! gotta love dress up time!
I love seeing my older kids bond with their baby brother. Jaxson is very sweet and patient and loves nothing more than to be held and cuddled. I always have a willing volunteer when I ask for someone to help hold him. I had to capture this special moment of Ashlee and Jaxson. She loves him so much and was singing to him. I love that he is looking up at her and listening to every word.
I celebrated my birthday in July. The big 37! The night before my birthday, we went as a family to Texas Roadhouse. It was SO yummy and Rob even ordered Prime Rib for me - my favorite! On Sunday, my birthday, Rob made it a special day and pampered me a lot. I got a yummy breakfast, a nice nap, and then dinner at my mom's. That evening, I got a special birthday surprise when a big thunderstorm rolled in. We sat in my parent's backyard on the covered back porch and watched the storm come in. I explained the "lightning game" as I had played it as a child with my grandma. When the lightning strikes, you start counting until the thunder hits. That is how many miles away the lightning was. I just LOVE summer thunderstorms, especially at my parent's home. I was in heaven! To make it even better, the power got knocked out. I know that may sound silly, but as a child, I used to love it when we would have a big storm and then the power would go out. We would get out the flashlights, candles, and kerosene lanterns. It was a great birthday. Later in the week, my parents watched the kids (we took the baby) and Rob and I went on an actual date! We had dinner at Olive Garden. It was so nice to get away just us!

Neilson Family Reunion 2009 - Get out your KILTS!

This year, my brother, Jay did our family reunion. I get a lot of flack when it comes to my tendency to "overdo it" when it comes to things like birthday parties, etc. It must run in my family because Jay went ALL out on our reunion! He was determined to take us back to our Scottish heritage and he did a great job. On Friday night we met at my parents' home where he had magically and amazingly transformed their playground into Edinborough Castle (See above picture). It was AMAZING! We all picked out our family plaids and made our family signs for the opening ceremonies. Jay taught us all of the words, but I can't remember them. Basically, my dad did a welcome, we did a parade, we posted our family banners, and listened to Scottish music. After that, Jay surprised us again by having a real bagpiper come and play for us and explain the bagpipes. It was awesome! Following that, we learned more about our Scotish ancesters. Jay had some traditional Scottish games for the kids as well.
On Saturday morning, they all headed down to the Scottish festival in Payson. Our family didn't go, but Cayden went with my family and had a great time. We finished it off by going swimming at the Camp William's pool. It was a great reunion!

Jay, explaining some of the Scotish traditions

Our family ready to march in the parade

The offical family parade

Michelle's family

The Monsons (or the O'Blasts as they called themselves)

The Quists or as the Scottish call them - the McQuists

My brother Scott and his family. His middle name is Andrew so he felt that his family name should be the St Andrews. Trust me, this is about the only time he has ever been considered a saint!

Shawn's family - Scottish name? The McBallers.

Our fam - the McPeacocks

The bagpiper that came and played for us. She did a great job and had our Scottish hearts melting, especially when she did some of the traditional Scottish songs!

Listening to the bagpiper

Jay, helping McKell do the Saber toss

Cayden had a BLAST at the Scottish Festival! When he first got there, he saw this and HAD to try it out. I can't believe he did it!