Fourth of July 2009

This year, as usual, we spent the 4th of July, a.k.a. Border Days, in my hometown of Grangeville, Idaho. Border Days in Grangeville is a very large 3 day celebration of America's Birthday. We are home to Idaho's Oldest Rodeo as well as the Largest Egg Toss around. Not sure if it is the largest in the Nation but probably pretty close. This year unfortunately, we weren't able to make all 3 days due to work but we still enjoyed our 2 days of fun!! Every morning kicks off at 9am with the Street Sports. These include foot races for people of all ages to the infamous Egg Toss. There is a parade and rodeo all 3 days as well. On the night of the 4th, there is a large fireworks display. This year was fantastic! Well, I hope you all enjoy the pictures and if there is ever a year when you're just not sure what to do over the 4th, why don't you try good ol' Grangeville, Idaho and be a part of the most wonderful celebration ever!!!

Jeylin running in the Street Races

(American Shirt with the sunglasses on)

Kierra running (with Daddy's help of course)

Bradley & my brother Brad running in the races

(the two goofballs in the white shirts)

Jeylin patiently waiting for the Egg Toss to begin

Jordyn & her sparkler

Jeylin & his sparkler

Miss Kierra & her 1st sparkler

My parents, Jordyn, Jeylin & Bradley waiting for the fireworks

And now with Kierra & myself

One beautiful spiral firework from the night's show

Probably the best firework picture I got the whole night

A Mundt Family Christmas 2008

The following story was written by my Mom to be put on my blog for all to share. I hope you enjoy her wonderful writing as much as we enjoyed our Christmas holiday...

Christmas 2008 found the Mundt family all together at the farm house. What a blessing it is to see my grandchildren playing and running through the house of their Great-Great Grandparents. Coincidentally it’s the same house their Great-Grandmother was born in! How pleased George and Elsie would be if they were alive today! I often wonder what Christmas’s past must have been like in this old house. Sometimes I come across old photos of George with his horse drawn sleigh, the beautiful silver sleigh bells (which we still have) hanging around the old brown mare’s neck. I imagine how deep the snow was and how they must have had the old wood stoves roaring. I can almost smell the pies cooking in Elsie’s old wood cook stove.

The following family were here: Dave, Brandy, Jaycee, Jake, Shaundee, Brandi, Bradley, Jordyn, Jeylin, Kierra, Brad, Papa Dave, Grandma Velda (aka Granny), Grandma Marge (aka Nana-Nana) and of course me. On Christmas Eve we put on our Sunday best and as is tradition for our family, went to Christmas Eve Mass at our church, Sts. Peter & Paul. As usual the church was decorated beyond compare! We entered the church to the sound of beautiful Christmas carols being sung by the choir. The only lights in the church were the candles, the Christmas trees and tons of Christmas lights! It’s so wonderful to watch the awe in the little one’s eyes as they sat so patiently and quietly waiting for the baby Jesus to be brought to the front and put in the manger! Father Brad asked if all the children would like to come to the front of the church and sit around him on the floor as he read them the Christmas story from scripture. He interacted so beautifully with the kids as he told the story in words they could understand. He asked them questions and of course Jordyn knew the answers!

After church we headed home to start the traditional Mundt feeding frenzy. Every year we have sliced meats, cheese, salads, chips, dips and other foods we only prepare on Christmas Eve. We eat and drink like kings, play games, watch A Christmas Carol and of course stay up way too late! Finally it’s time to get the little ones to bed. I read The Night Before Christmas, the kid’s hang the “Santa Key”, cookies and milk are left for Santa (this year we added carrots for the reindeer) and then it’s off to bed! (The Santa Key is a skeleton key tied with a red ribbon that is hung each Christmas Eve outside on the door latch so that Santa can get into the house!) This is when the work really begins for us adults as it’s at this time that the gifts from Santa are placed under the tree. Finally we adults get to bed only to be up before daylight on Christmas morning. It is an old German tradition to have a pickle ornament on the tree. The first little child to find the pickle gets a special gift (this year it was a $1 bill). Jordyn had cased out the tree in advance and of course found it first!

Once all the gifts were opened and the mess cleaned up it was time for me to start round two of the feeding frenzy. As usual our turkey is as big as a Buick and this year was no exception. He was dressed and stuffed, put in Great-Grandma Mundt’s roaster and in the oven by 8:00 a.m. Our home smells so good on Christmas Day!!! We had turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes, cranberries, a fresh vegetable assortment, pumpkin, berry and cherry pies. Of course we had tons of Christmas cookies, fudge and candies as well! The dining room table is set with my best Christmas table cloth, my china, crystal and Great-Grandma Mundt’s silver. We usually eat dinner around 2:00 p.m. After the table is cleared and all the dishes are done the games come out again and of course the boys head for the barn lot to shoot trap! Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas if the boys didn’t shoot up several hundred rounds of ammo.

This year we had a beautiful white Christmas so all the kids went up on the hill with the sleds and ATV’s. They built a big bonfire and had one heck of a time! When they finally froze out they headed back to the house for more food, hot cocoa and hot buttered rums!! After all of that the kids and Papa decided to go “drift busting” with the ATV’s as several of these country roads were drifted shut, well somewhere along the way Papa Dave decided that the old man was going to try to wrestle his boys (Dave & Brad) down. As fate would have it he got his lunch handed to him and his left earlobe nearly torn off! A trip to the E.R. and several stitches later, he was back in business. (By the way, this type of revelry is completely normal in our family!) You can’t buy memories like that.

I am truly blessed to be surrounded by my family and I thank God every day for them and for this old house. I pray that we share many, many more Christmas’s here on this old farm and I pray that long after I’m gone my children’s, children’s, children will have fond memories of Christmas here and of me.

And He Completely Redeems Himself...

Yesterday evening was the annual Costco Kids Christmas Party. For those of you who are not aware of what this is, I will give you a quick rundown. It is basically a party for all children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews of Costco employees, put on by our planning committee that is held during the month of December sometime...the only exception, last year when someone thought it would be cool to throw a Halloween party instead...guess I wasn't the only one who was bummed! Anywho, there are usually activities such as cookie decorating, ornament crafting and of course, pizza, dessert and a special visit from Santa. Each kid, if they cooperate, get their picture taken on Santa's lap and then they receive a goodie bag. Everyone also dresses up in their very best Christmas outfits.

This year, a magician was hired to entertain the kids during the last hour that the store was open. We all crammed inside the breakroom and watched the show. The guy was really good. I believe he is a local guy and his name is Christopher Smith. He kept everyone entertained and was hilarious. When the show finally ended and the announcement was made that pizza was being served out in the food court, all the kids and parents rushed out to get in line. A few kids stayed back to see if Mr. Magician Smith would perform a couple more tricks. That's when my son COMPLETELY redeemed himself for knocking over my Christmas tree. He walked up to the magician, reached out, shook his hand and said "Thank You!". I was in awe. I must let everyone know that not a single person told or asked him to do this...it was all his own idea. The coal is now being replaced in his stocking. It's nice to know that some things we are teaching him are sinking in!!! For all those interested, I will post pictures later on of this event.

Someday I'll Look Back And Laugh...

But today is definitely NOT that day!!! Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures to display my anger so you'll just have to make do with my exceptional story-telling abilities...

Yesterday afternoon, the kids and I put our Christmas tree up. Usually this is something I do solo but this year, I decided they were old enough to help. Miraculously, it was beautiful and perfect in every way. The kids decided on purple and white decorations this year since we have done red and gold the last several years (if you know me at all, you'll know that I have hundreds of color-themed ornaments). Anyway, we spent a good portion of the afternoon setting it up, decorating it, tweaking it to make it just perfect and then decorating the rest of the house. All of that lasted one beautiful night!!!

Today, we arrived home around 4:00 in the afternoon, plugged the tree in and started to get ready for our evening. I had to make a phone call to my dear friend Anne and decided to step into Jordyn's room to do so...it was a little quieter. No more than a minute later, Jordyn came running in saying, "Um Mom, something happened..." As I looked out through the bedroom door, I noticed my otherwise beautiful living room corner was empty. Stepping into the living room, I realized why....my tree was knocked over on the floor!!!! I have never in my life been so incredibly mad at my children. My friend quickly made her departure from our phone conversation.

It turns out that Jeylin, being the ever-hyper kid that he is, thought that running and jumping on the couch were good things to do....especially since being told to never do that again. The two were bickering about who knocked the tree over but I finally got the truth out...Jeylin had actually kicked it over! I was fuming and both kids were sent to their rooms until I had a substantial amount of time to "cool down".

We, or rather THEY, were lucky though; none of my ornaments broke! That might be due in part to the fact that we no longer have hardwood floors in our living room. Another lucky part, the tree did not fall into Daddy's brand new TV and probably the most lucky aspect of all, it did not fall on Kierra!!!

As I stood the tree up, I realized that not only had it fallen over, it had rolled and so, the ornaments were strewn everywhere as well as glitter and hooks. I set it back up, bagged up all the ornaments that were on the floor and decided to leave it until Bradley came home. Once again, if you know me at all, you'll realize that there was no way I was going to leave my tree looking like that for 3 hours!!! I took all the decorations off, straightened the light strands and redecorated. It took me an hour and I still don't think it looks as perfect as it did but I guess I'll have to live with it.

One final warning to my children this evening...."Don't even so much as BREATHE on my tree or you will both be sent to your rooms!!!" Well, I hope everyone got quite the chuckle...I know Anne and my mother did....but, I guess it will just take me a little bit longer to look back and laugh. Sure wish I would have snapped some pictures though! Here is oneof my "second" finished product...sorry but the camera really doesn't do it any justice at all. I'll try to post better ones later.

Halloween 2008

Witches, goblins, ghosts and more...

Left us with candy galore!!!

This was Kierra's first Halloween and we had a blast!!! Not only that wonderful milestone but also, Jordyn did not dress up as a princess this year, talk about drastic changes in the Nielson household!

Our Halloween started on Thursday the 30th with the Halloween Bash at the kids' school. This is done every year and it is fantabulous!!! The gym is open for a two hour block and it offers so very much. Kids of all ages as well as parents and this year, grandparents (wink, wink) dress up and celebrate. You buy tickets at the door at a wonderful 5 for $1.00 price (proceeds went to the youth group) and scattered all over the gym are games for the kids to play. You receive prizes for participation and even better prizes if you succeed at the game's purpose. There is also a cake walk. Father Tom is a very talented man. He once worked in a flower shop with I believe a family member and he learned to make gorgeous gift baskets, flower arrangements and somewhere along the line, picked up baking and decorating cakes and such. I guess when you plan to live your life in celibacy, you have to know how to feed yourself and why not go all out. Anyway, there is a cake walk at this Halloween Bash and Father Tom makes all the cakes for the prizes. The first year we went he had a cupcake walk and there were over 100 fanciful decorated cupcakes to give out...they were amazing. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of that.

After about an hour into the party, Trunk-or-Treat starts in the parking lot. Parents pull their vehicles into the parking lot, decorate them up (there is a contest) and then distribute goodies to the "trunk-or-treaters". It really is nice not having to trudge door-to-door on an incredibly packed street. This year, they had a costume contest and Little Miss Kierra won her age group...when you see the pictures, you'll see why. My mom and I dressed up this year when we took the kids. She was St. Rita (fitting since she is named Rita) and I dressed up as a witch or according to some, dressed down...either way, it was fun!!

Halloween night, Brad and I took the kids to downtown Clarkston to go to the area businesses and scavenge for candy. They block off all of 6th Street and you just have a great time going from one place to the next in search of the mother load. We were about 3/4 of the way done and it started down pouring but that left us with a beautiful rainbow to enjoy! We decided we had had enough and spent the rest of the night seeing my Aunt and Brad's parents. All in all, it was a very fun holiday. So, without much further ado, I give to you our crazy bunch...