Our Marriage Blessing Ceremony

Yesterday was a splendid day! As posted before, it took me a lot to get ready for this day but it wouldn't matter what I had to do, it was worth it. I have waited a little over 7 years for this day to come and a little over 1 in making it happen. Yesterday, October 11, 2008, Bradley and I had our marriage blessed in the Catholic Church. For most, this might seem like a simple thing but for me it was quite the process. I'll spare you with all the details but the good part is that I finally am back as a full parishioner in the Catholic church and I feel COMPLETE in every sense of the word. But, as you know, with wonderful "weddings" come even more-wonderful receptions!!! We outfitted our entire back yard with the whole shabam. Yes, we would have liked to been able to have the party a couple months ago when the weather was warmer than 57 degrees but hey, we had to wait until bonus time!! Anyway, we had it all! A large canopy covering 6 decorated tables, colorful Chinese lanterns, candles on the tables, a patio heater (definitely a necessity), a cooler of pop for the kids and another necessity, a large trough filled with beer and ice for the rest of the party-goers. It was potluck style with Bradley tending the barbecue and the rest of us catering with salads, bean dishes and finger foods. For dessert it was cheesecake with three topping choices for the adults and frosted cupcakes for the kids. We spent the entire afternoon and most of the evening outdoors, bundled up with many great friends and family members and Bradley even kept the party going after hours with his friends Shane and Chris and my brother Brad. I think he made it to bed around 1:00am. It was a wonderful day and even though it was mighty cold, we stayed warm with great love and wonderful support from all our guests!!! Here are a couple pictures from our blessing...

Bradley putting my ring on my finger

Me struggling to put his ring on

The perfect end to a perfect ceremony

Us with Father Tom

And, I'm Back with a Posting Marathon

WOW, I can't believe it's been three weeks since my last post! I guess time sure does fly by when your busy or in my case, EXTREMELY busy! Here's what I've been up to during my long absence...

September 22nd-28th

This week started with a coed softball game on the 22nd then again on the 24th and 25th. As well as the softball game on the 25th, I had to take Jordyn to soccer practice and a Josie-Girl Bowtique Open House Party the same night...it was non-stop running from one place to the next. On the 26th, I spent the day cleaning the house, packing our luggage for the weekend, preparing my PTA meeting, picking up pizza for said PTA meeting and attending the PTA meeting. On the 27th, Jordyn had her first soccer game which she only got to play 30 minutes of because then we were on the road to attend two weddings!That morning was outrageously crazy! I had to finish some packing that didn't get done, go shopping and buy some last minute outfit necessities, stop at Myklebust's and pick up two shirts for the ring bearer in one wedding because they sent him the wrong size, get the van packed, go to Jordyn's soccer game, come home and get her changed out of her soccer clothes, get gas in the car plus stop in Costco to pick something up for Kierra and finally get on the road. We arrived at the first wedding with about 20 minutes to spare before it started!

The entire day was spent driving the 20 minute drive between weddings but both were very BEAUTIFUL! This is a picture of Josh & Whitney Kaschmitter, the son of dear family friends.We were only able to make the reception of the second wedding but we ended up staying out until 1:00 that morning...it was nuts! Sunday was reserved for driving home, unpacking the van and RESTING!

September 29th-October 5th

The first part of this week was slow in comparison to the prior week but picked up again on the 1st. It was picture day for the kids so I ended up not going into work until after 11:00 so that I could stay home and get the kids dressed appropriately and Jordyn's hair done. Work ran a little late that day but nothing too serious. We ended the day with a softball game. On the 2nd Brad and I decided to head to Spokane for some much needed clothes shopping and to celebrate his upcoming birthday. We were only able to find someone to watch Jordyn since the schools were not in session those days all the daycares were full which meant we headed to Spokane with Jeylin and Kierra. Jordyn had soccer practice that day which was another reason she stayed behind. We left Lewiston around 10:00 that morning, a little later than I would have liked but I had to work so we couldn't leave until I was done. We got home from Spokane around 10:00 that night as well...it was an incredibly long day of "marathon" shopping as my friend Alaina puts it :) On the third, we had another softball game and on the 4th, after Jordyn's soccer game, we attended a birthday party for Alaina's son, Tristan. The 5th was spent recovering, AGAIN!

October 6th-Present Day

This week was CRAZY! I had so much to do because we were preparing for a party which I will tell you about in another post. Monday and Tuesday were spent painting Jeylin's room to try and get it ready for the party but it's still "in progress". Wednesday, we had playoff softball games which were the best out of three games and they didn't start until 7:45 that evening. We only had time to play two obviously since by city ordinance the park lights must be out by 11:00pm and we played until 10:30. It was freezing! By the time we were done playing my legs, toes, fingers, nose, ears and butt were completely numb. I got home and jumped straight into the tub and then remembered that I hadn't finished my fliers for the school to submit to parents, another wonderful part of being PTA president! I got right to work on those, wrapping up at around 1:00am and headed for bed only to be up at 5:00 for work. Thursday was a LONG day! I had a job interview and Jordyn had soccer practice again. We spent the rest of the week cleaning and preparing for our party on the 11th!

So as you can see, between softball games, soccer games and now, Bradley's starting football, PTA meetings and duties, trips to Spokane, home improvement projects, party planning, birthday parties, weddings, and job interviews, little time was left for blogging. I would like to say that since I'm now blogging that the rest of this month is looking promising, I must warn you that I might be away until November again. Upcoming for the remainder of October, my job office is moving to a new location all week long, Brad's 33rd birthday party on the 17th, Grangeville trip (to pick up the kids) on the 18th-19th, soccer practices every Thursday, soccer games every Saturday, another PTA meeting to be scheduled, scheduling of parent volunteers to work our Holy Family Bazaar (look for information to come), set-up for Bazaar on the 24th, Josie-Girl Bowtique Home Party in my home on the 25th (also more information to come), Holy Family Bazaar & Turkey dinner on the 26th, field trip to the pumpkin patch with Jeylin's pre-school class on the 29th, Holy Family Halloween party on the 30th and the ever-important Halloween on the 31st! Oh yeah and throw in the mix somewhere, early plannings of Kierra's 1st birthday party! Can you believe it?!?!?! She's grown so fast but I must say, I am really looking forward to November. Some time to rest, family visits and Thanksgiving day!! Well, until the next post!

A Genius on the Loose

Boy are we in trouble when she gets older....

This was the second time she did this. The first time I watched, she didn't knock the diaper bag over and she strategically pulled the puffs out of the jar rather than dumping them all over. What a way to welcome the world to a 10 month old Kierra.

September 17, 2008

Sleepy Girl #2

Friday night, Jordyn had a friend come over to stay. They had a great time playing, eating pizza and watching the new Little Mermaid movie. When it was time to go to sleep, the two girls decided they weren't tired and they wanted to stay up for a while. That was fine with me so I told them to stay in the room and play so Jeylin and Kierra wouldn't wake up. About 30 minutes or so later, Jordyn told me that Kristen wanted to go home because she missed her mommy. After calling her mom and getting her stuff ready, I took her home. After the 20 minutes it took to drop her off and chat with her mom, I came home to find this in my living room...

I guess she was more tired than she thought!!!

Sleepy Girl

In the past several weeks, Kierra has refused to eat baby food. She simply whines and fights the spoon or she spits any food that may make it in her mouth out immediately. Since I never had a kid refuse food, I called the doctor and he said that she is just a little more "mature" and is wanting more flavor. Okay then, I'll start cutting up our food and giving it to her. On Wednesday of last week (the 17th), I started this trend. For lunch that day, she had pears, turkey meat & bread pieces. The only problem, she doesn't want to feed herself, she'll sit there and wait for someone to feed it to her. In an effort to teach her to do it herself, I left her in the highchair with a tray full of food, and went on about my business. A little while later, when the whining had subsided, I came in to check on how much she had eaten and this is what I found...

She did end up eating some of her food but as you can see from above, it must have been just too darn exhausting =)

Josie-Girl Bowtique

Hello all!! I just wanted to let you all know that Becky Sager, a friend of ours, has recently started her own business. She specializes in creating custom, handmade boutique quality barrettes, hairbows and tutu's. Her new business is called, Josie-Girl Bowtique and you can view her blog here. Her story goes as follows...

Becky started making hairbows and barrettes for her daughter, Josie, after she accidentally swallowed a small barrette at 10 months old. She was hesitant to put barrettes back in her hair after her surgery but found it difficult to find styish and safe barrettes locally and so, Josie-Girl Bowtique was born.

I encourage all of you to check out her site and see what amazing creations she has and please note that she creates customized designs as well. Please pass this on as well to everyone you know as I believe her products are outstanding because she knows first-hand what is needed to make a barrette safe for our precious little girls!!!

A New Business Venture

Hello everyone!! As most of you know, I recently went back to work for my old company, Star West Satellite. It has been really nice to be back with some of the people I worked with before and to have somewhere I NEED to be every day. While working there, I found an opportunity for myself that I couldn't pass up so I thought I'd let you all know about it.

You will notice at the bottom of this page, there is now a flash banner for subscribing to DISH Network services (DNS)...here is my new business venture. For every person who signs up for DNS using my link and entering my Affiliate ID/Promo Code 30135, I will receive a paycheck. If any of you out there would like to become affiliates yourselves, you may sign up under my ID# and I'll receive a bonus of $10.00 for every sale that you make.

So, if any of you out there are looking into DNS or know of someone who is, please direct them to this site or use this phone number 1-800-393-3132 and make sure you tell them to use the code, 30135. Let me know if everything works out for you all!

Thanks for helping me out!!!

Money Well-Spent

This year, for his 4th birthday, Jeylin received a brand new bike!!! It was green, his most favorite color, and he just thought it was awesome. Our little man is a bike-riding fiend. We might not have a lot of space in the back but he utilizes it well. Everything gets pushed up against the house and he rides an infinite number of circles on our small patio...honestly, I'm quite surprised there isn't a rut dug in the shape of a large oval.

So as the story goes today, Bradley decides he wants to take Jeylin on a Father-Son outing. This included riding their bikes from our house to Asotin, eating lunch at the Asotin market which I was told consisted of pizza pockets and green (go-figure) Tiger Woods Gatorade, then riding the bikes back home. Asotin is about 5 1/5 miles from our house so it was a good 11 mile trip and quite astonishing for a four year old to complete.

They left at about noon and at 2:20 when I was getting Kierra ready to go pick Jordyn up from school, the phone rang. It was Bradley calling to tell me that they got all the way out to Asotin and made it all the way back to one of the Swallows Nest parking lots (the farthest one from our house) and then, this happened...

Bradley said he was ahead of Jeylin trying to keep pace when he heard a grinding noise behind him. He turned around to find Jeylin falling over and off his bike. I guess at this point Jeylin got angry and let out a huge "Ugh!!" at least until he looked at his bike and noticed that one of his training wheels had fallen off. Which, according to Bradley, threw Jeylin into complete hysterics...he so loves his training wheels. This then prompted the phone call for Mom to come to the rescue in the van. We loaded up the bike & Jeylin, headed off to pick up Jordyn and left Bradley to finish his ride home. On the way to get Jordyn, the following conversation occurred...

"There was a bug and I ran over it and then I crashed and then my training wheel fell off!"

"So," I asked, "was it the bug's fault that your training wheel fell off?"

To which Jeylin answered, "Yes it was!"

Anyway, I figured I'd let you all see how the money that was spent on his bike was very much well-spent! Hopefully the next set of training wheels will last longer than 6 months and don't end up looking like this...

Jordyn's Memo

Jordyn would like everyone to know that her school has decided to offer QSP's Magazine Program as a fundraiser this fall. Proceeds from our fundraiser will be used to support our school and since 40% of every item is retained by the school as profit, every order counts!

You can order new magazine subscriptions or renuew existing subscriptions or purchase music or book items. QSP offers over 650 popular magazines titles at savings of up to 90% as well as hundreds of CDs and books.

Don't forget, magazines make great gifts too! Think of that wedding gift you need and send the bride-to-be a yearly subscription to Taste of Home magazine or give the sport lover in your life, ESPN the Magazine!!

To participate, please log on to QSP. COM, click "Just Shopping" and enter our school's online code 425001530. For every subscription Jordyn earns, she will receive a special prize so please help her & her classmates by supporting our school.

Thank you!!!
Jordyn Nielson & Holy Family School

2008 Family Pictures

Hello all!! Three weeks ago, a good friend of ours, Michelle Wolf updated our family album with her wonderful picture-taking abilities. After her busy summer, I was wonderfully overjoyed that she was able to fit us in. Here are a few (I say that because she took 279 pictures!!!) of her works of art. We had a little bit of trouble keeping Jeylin occupied & cooperative and yes, the same for Kierra but, given the circumstances, I think they look great...so, enjoy!