Aubrey's Baptism

 Aubrey got baptized this morning!  She was so nervous about it.  She "practiced" with Zac several times before we left this morning.  Earlier this week she had her baptism interview with the Bishop.  When she got home I asked her how it went.  She told me that he asked her why she wanted to be baptized.  I asked her what she said.  She told me, "so I can become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  And so I can hold the priesthood."  Zac and I both started laughing.  Zac chimes in, "So...you are one of THOSE."  I asked Aubrey what the Bishop did when she said that.  She said he started laughing like we did.

Yesterday I was catching up on the television show "Hell's Kitchen" when Aubrey walked into the room.  They have some colorful language on the show, most of it is beeped out.  Aubrey got frustrated that they were saying so many bad words.  She told me every time she hears someone say a bad word, she is going to replace it with the word "beautiful."  Then she showed me what she meant.  "Beautiful you!"  "Oh my beautiful!"  "Son of a Beautiful!"  I guess it does sound better.  I probably should have turned of the show.

 Last night I stopped at Walmart for some items and found these "floating" diamonds for your hair.  They worked so much better than the flower I had planned to put in her hair.

 Getting ready for the baptism.  Aubrey got a phone call as we were doing her hair from Grandpa and Nana in Romania!  She was so excited to talk to them.  I sure wish they were here for this...I was hopeful until they got their re-assigned mission call.  I'm glad they were able to talk to her ahead of time though.  We got to the church early (surprised?) and got ready in the jumpsuits.

 The mandatory pictures by the picture of Jesus.  I love this picture with Zac and the girls.  We were waiting for the other ward to finish and all the girls were climbing on Zac.  They want to be around him all the time.  They love their Dad!

 Eric had to give the youth speaker talked.  He did wonderful!  He was so nervous.  We found out he had to talk 2 days before her baptism.  I wrote him a talk and had him rehearse it over and over with me.  He couldn't pronounce some larger words (like Celestial) and would stumble over them while reading.  When it was his turn to speak, he jumped right up and did great!  I am so proud of him.  Right before he was suppose to go up he told me that he couldn't do it.  He felt sick and really didn't want to do it.

Aubrey was the first in her group of 3 to be baptized.  Lily ran after me and Aubrey as we headed to the font.  I stood at the top of the stairs as Aubrey went into the font.  I set Lily down for a moment to grab the towel and caught Lily almost down the first step...NAKED with 1/2 her diaper on!  She wanted a bath!  I'm glad the mirror didn't catch that little scene for everyone!

Aubrey said she felt happier as soon as she was out.  She asked Zac immediately if she could do it again.  Zac told her, "I hope you never have to do it again."  After she was confirmed (Zac gave a beautiful confirmation) we were in the car driving to eat, Aubrey was trying to figure out where the Holy Ghost "attached" itself to her.  She didn't have any pockets so He couldn't be in there, and her shoulder didn't feel heavy so He wasn't sitting on it.  I think we have a lot of clarifying to do with her.

Here is most of the group.  The Englebright's had to leave right after the confirmation.  Thank you to everyone who was able to make it for Aubrey's special day!

 We went to Emmett & Ethel's for lunch afterwards.  The kids were excited they got to sit at their own table.  I made them eat "real food" before we could order the ice cream.

 Aubrey has been talking about ordering a banana split all week.  Eric wanted one too, so I ordered one for each of them.  I had no idea they were so huge!

 We had a great time with great company!  Thanks again to everyone who came!

Aubrey's Baptism Pics

I just got back Aubrey's baptism pictures that we had taken.  I'm a little disappointed that none of them show the back of her hair, but she looks beautiful!  She is going to be baptized this Saturday morning.

70th Wedding Anniversary

I was able to go up to Idaho this weekend to celebrate my grandparents 70th wedding anniversary, my Grandma's 90th birthday and having 100 descendents!  (By the end of this year they will have 103!) I only had intentions of going up and back in the same day, so I brought Eric and Aubrey with me and left Lily and Jennifer with Zac at home.  When we got to their house in the morning, Grandpa showed Eric his WWII uniform and his purple heart, bronze star and other medals.  He even got out the Nazi flag that he used to cover his foxholes.  Eric soaked everything up that Grandpa told him.  I really wish I would have gotten a picture of it.  You could see the admiration in Eric's face.

My family is amazing!  All the decorations, food, program, etc was wonderful!  I found out this weekend that I am the 22nd descendent of my grandparents, Lily is the 80th.  Tammi put together a descendent book for them in the order of everyone.  Some of the great-grandkids sang "I am a Child of God."  Steve played/sang a beautiful song, and Grandpa gave some touching words. 

 I am so glad I was able to attend, it was a really busy weekend but I really wanted to go.  It was so much fun to see everyone and be a part of this celebration.

 I loved watching Grandma and Grandpa cut the beautiful cake that Debie made.  Grandma was being a good sport and making some funny faces for pictures.  My camera was acting up and I always caught the tail end.  I love seeing her playful side.

At the party I found out that some of my cousins were going up to the cabin to play games and hang out.  I really didn't want to leave Idaho yet, I felt like we just got there.  So I surprised the kids and we went up to the Steve & Sharon's cabin.  The kids were thrilled when I told them that we could sleep there if the grocery store had toothbrushes.  They couldn't believe it.  We had so much fun!  I loved being able to socialize with my cousins and the kids had so much fun playing.  Steve & Sharon spoiled us and the Millburn's.  They are so kind.  I love my family! When we woke up this morning it was SNOWING at the cabin.  It was such a fun weekend and I am so glad that we came up.

Aubrey is 8!

Aubrey turned eight on March 21st.  She started the day off bringing cupcakes into school.  When she got home we let her open her presents.

Grandpa Nielson got Aubrey a Monster High bed set.  She was so excited!  When we made her bed she said, "Yes!  I am finally growing up!"

Aubrey also got her nice set of scriptures and a cute scripture bag.

Aubrey wanted strawberry shortcake this year.  We stuck 8 candles in her slice as opposed to the bread.  At least her spit will only be on her piece of cake.

Happy birthday Aubrey!  We love you so much!

Disney on Ice

This is Aubrey's "off" year for a party for her birthday.  On their "off" years, they get a date with Mom or Dad.  Aubrey wanted to go to Disney on Ice for her date, and she wanted Jennifer to come too.  It was featuring Tangled this year, and Jennifer LOVES Tangled.

We parked at my work and took trax for the last couple blocks.  The girls love riding the train, but I get motion sick, so I can only handle a couple blocks.

The girls got snow cones and Jennifer got a light-up lantern, and Aubrey got a frog from the Princess and the Frog.

It is so fun to see their faces light up when their favorite characters come onto the ice.  It was a great date!

Black out night

I took Aubrey and Jennifer to the "black out" match of the Ute Gymnastics.  We were heading out to pick up our friend's Katelyn and Karen. Lily is in her naked stage.  She tears off whatever clothes are on her with 30 minutes of putting them on.  She wanted in on the picture.  Jennifer is still in that awkward stage of making faces during pictures.

Aubrey wanted me to post a pic of her hair.  This is how I am doing her hair for her baptism, and I wanted to practice.

We got there in time for the Kids corner.  They gave out free tattoos and posters.

Jennifer loves watching gymnastics.  She cheers during the entire match.

Karen got all the girls some Ute pom poms.  They loved them!

It was way more crowded this night than the last time we went.  We had so much fun on our Mom/Daughter dates!

Arizona

Devin, Eric, Aubrey and I headed down to Arizona for President's Day weekend.  We stayed with Dad and Diane at the condo in St. George on our way down there.  The kids were so excited to see Grandpa and Nana while they were on their mission.  We had breakfast together before we hit the road to Justin and Lisa's.  We made a quick stop at the Hoover Dam.

Eric is obsessed with Minecraft lately.  As soon as we made it to Justin and Lisa's, we found out that they had Minecraft on the Xbox.  Eric was in heaven.

Once we got there Aubrey and Anna jumped into the pool.  Devin joined in.  The pool wasn't even heated up yet. 

The girls played a lot of Just Dance on the Xbox.

We all sat in the hot tub every night while we were there.  The last night we watched t.v. from the hot tub.  Justin has the surround sound outside too.

Aubrey and Anna spent every moment they could in the pool.  They even tried to get in at 6:30am.

Justin and Devin went to a field and flew Justin's RC airplane.  Later that night it got stuck in a tree.  When they came back with a ladder, somebody had stolen the plane.  Bummer.

We had the kids go to the park to play one afternoon.  It was beautiful weather!

We went out for Mongolian food for dinner. 

We hiked up to the top of the mountain on our last day. 

I asked the boys to pose by a catcus for me to take a picture.  Right when we were warning them about getting to close the the cactus, Andrew got poked.

The boys took some airsoft guns on the hike.

Some of the cactus were so tall!

We made it to the top.  It was pretty windy.

Justin and Devin got into the "Just Dance" action.  Justin also had a basketball game that was fun.

We stopped at stayed at Dad and Diane's again on our way back.  While we were there we celebrated Devin's birthday.

It was a wonderful trip!  The kids still talk about how much fun they had.  Justin and Lisa were amazing hosts, thank you for everything that you did!  I love Arizona, especially in February.  And thanks Dad and Diane for letting us stay with you.  The kids loved seeing you in St. George!