Thursday, January 9, 2020

8 1/2 years later



Wow!  It has been 8 1/2 years since I posted in my blog. This guy was born in my last post and now look at him.  He is a lefty only one in the family. He is currently in the 3rd grade and was baptized this past July.  He is very athletic and plays many sports , like soccer, baseball, basketball, and he runs track as well. He is a smart kids and likes to tease, a little too much sometimes. He is a wonderful addition to our family. 


This is Stockton. He was born just shy of 2 years after Coleman. We were so excited to have another little boy. That evened up the kids count, 3 boys and 3 girls. 
This guy is such a sweetheart.  He is so kind and so smart and so responsible he has been so fun to have in our family space space he also enjoys playing sports and doing things with his friends.  He has many friends and every girl that he is friends with wants him to be her boyfriend. He is currently in first grade and has just recently started learning Spanish like all the rest the kids.  They all do a Spanish immersion program in school.






I don’t know if Carter was living with us when I used to blog but when he started sixth grade he moved in with us and lived with us full-time. It was fun to have him around more and to be able to spend more time with his siblings. He always did great in school and had good grades this main he graduated from West Jordan high school. While in school he competed in debate and his senior year decided to compete in wrestling. This summer he earned his eagle. 
In July 2019 Carter joined the Marines. He had a three month Boot Camp in California where he had his graduation on October 18, Jordan‘s birthday. He then has been sent to South Carolina where he is doing more training. And will soon be heading off to Japan in March. This has been something he has wanted to do for a long time and has really enjoyed doing this even though it has been really tough.
We were lucky enough to have Carter home during Halloween and for Christmas and with his Limited time with us his mom and her family have joined us in both those family parties it’s been nice for us to be able to get along so well and do things together as an extended bonus family. We also had a few BBQ’s together and have gone out to dinner a few times together.  



 I am sure it may be hard to tell who the girls are since they have changed a lot in 8+ years. This is Alexis and she is now in the 8th grade. The is a great child. She does great in school and is very self motivated which is so nice when I have so many kids things to keep track of. She is also involved in sports, tumbling, soccer, softball and track and recently trying volleyball this fall. It is a lot of fun to watch the kids compete and be part of a team.  She is my wingman and I give help around the house and with the kids when I am not gone, the burden that falls in the oldest daughter. We can always count on her.


Taylor is now the middle child and lets everyone know it. She has a lot of spunk and sass.  She is the protector of all her siblings, if you mess with one of them you mess with her. She is strong and stands her ground. If there is something she believes in she sticks with it. She tried cello for a little bit a year ago, she did for about 18 months and was pretty good, especially since she never practiced at home, but she decided she didn’t want to do it anymore which was fine with me because I didn’t want to pay for it anymore either. Her newest thing is Girl Scouts, she has been asking to join for a while and I finally let her this month, so we will see how that goes. Like all the other kids she plays her fair share of sports, soccer, basketball, volleyball, softball and track. She is very aggressive which really comes in handy, when playing with the boys, soccer. And playing on teams a year older than her, basketball.  Her teachers say she really is picking up learning Spanish very well, but we are working on trying to help like math a little more these days. 


Obviously these pictures are not posted in any particular order. It was just how the computer put them in and I couldn’t adjust that. 
So after thinking we were done having kids and people already thinking our family was big with 6 kids we were blessed with our baby girl Reagan. When we told my grandma Helen Nielsen we were pregnant with Stockton she made the comment asking if we knew what caused it and if we knew there was a way to stop that. She couldn’t believe we were having 6 kids. So it was probably a good thing she had passed away before we found out we were having Reagan. Don’t get me wrong I totally love my grandma and wish she was still with us, but I didn’t want to be the one to cause her a heart attack when we told her we were having our 7th. 
Reagan is so much fun. She is my little shadow and sidekick, only because she is still gone with me during the day. She starts kindergarten next year and I think that will tougher for me than her. She is so smart and witty and a lot of fun to be around. She kills it out in the soccer field and she can’t wait til she is old enough to play basketball. This last summer she tried T-ball and also loved that. She sounds like she will follow in her siblings footsteps in playing all sorts of sports. 



This is Jordyn she is the same height if not taller than Alexis, and only in 6th grade. There have been a few times when her and Lex have been mistaken for twins. But they couldn’t be more different. Jordyn is know for giving the best hugs and she is very social. Sometimes she cares a little more about socializing than school, but we are working on that. She is always aware of the feelings of the people around her and kind to all those she meets. She also plays sports, basketball, volleyball, she has really excelled in shot put and she decided to try lacrosse a few years back and really liked it. 

Rusty worked for Wasatch Electric for 17 years and about 2 and a half years ago went to work for an electrical engineering firm, BNA Consulting. After being there for almost 2 years he realized that a desk job was not what he wanted to do so he was offered another position with a distributor for electronic controls, Lyle Williams, and is living it. He gets to sell, design and setup and trouble shoot electronic systems and is loving it. It has a little variety of everything. Plus he still does do some work on the side too. 


As for me, I have been babysitting out of my house for friends and family since Alexis was about 4 months old. It has been a wonderful job for me to be able to be with my kids and bring in some income. And about 4 years ago my brother Paul came to me and asked me if I wanted to help him draft some of his side jobs he had because he was getting more work than he could keep up with on his own. I was a little nervous because I hadn’t done that kind on work for 10 years but I was so excited to get back into it. And I am still living it. I get to work out of my home and the hours are supper flexible that I am able to keep up with my mom duties and my boss is so chill, as long as get my stuff done when he needs it all is good. This was possibly going to be my last year babysitting too, until I found out the little boy I watch, Max was going to have a little brother. At first his mom was going to quite, but she has decided to teach for one more year. So Reagan and max will go to kindergarten next year, but I will get to play with a new little baby during the day for at least one more year. Reagan and Max are like brother and sister so I think that will be weird for her to not see him, but at least we will still be in-touch a little longer this way. 

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

yes i am still out here



I know you have all been dying to hear what is going on in my life and not hearing anything for 4 months had been killing you so I thought I would write a little something while I am at my mom's downloading some pictures since i don't have a real computer with internet access.

I had my ultra sound in February, I think. And if you didn't already know, we are having a boy. That took me sometime to get use to the idea of having a boy. Now we are working on getting the nursery ready for him and trying to buy clothes since we have nothing for a baby boy. Rusty has started to plan the bedroom in the basement that he is going to start to build for Carters so the baby can move out of Taylor's room and into carter's when he turns one. And no we do mot have a name picked out. That is a really hard one.

Taylor is getting so big. First she started climbing out of her crib in January so we moved her to the toddler bed. Then lately she figured out how to open doors, that is horrible when it comes to getting her to take a nap. I put a knob cover on her room door, but she still manages to open her door when she really wants out. She is so mischevious and climbs on everything. If she wants something she will figure out a way to get it.


Jordyn is growing fast and has such a fun loving personality. Sometimes too loving. The other day as we were walking into a store she went up to a man that kind of looked homeless and said hi and gave him a hug. She will talk to anyone, especially if they have a dog. She says some of the funniest things. She does need to work on being softer with people and respect peoples personal bubbles. I was going to sign her up for soccer this spring, because she has so much energy to burn, but I totally missed sign ups. I'm really sad a did that.


Alexis loves everything she gets into. She was excited to play soccer again, but I guess that will have to wait til fall. She loves school and does great in it. She can spell her name, knows all her ABC's and sounds and loves to draw and write letters for people. And loves all the new friends that she gets to play with in the neighborhood.



Carter played Jr. Jazz to the first time this spring and really enjoys playing football. Rusty put the basketball hoop up for him to get to play in the front yard. And he is doing really well in school.
In January we went on a long awaited family trip. Rusty was so in need of a vacation after all the many many hours he put in working and working on the house at the same time. It was a lot of fun and the girls were so excited to meet all the princesses and fairies.

We have loved being in our new house. Some days it is still hard to believe it is ours. And we have currently started working on our yard. I'm excited, but i think Rusty is dreading it.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

House 12-1-2010

We finally signed on our house. Yippy! Now they tell me it will take 3 business days to fund. So we will officially own our house on Monday. But I think Rusty is planning on sleeping there on friday night, but we will see. I have a list of a few things that need to me finished and done before we can sleep there. I know he thought he was done working on the house, but not yet. he has to finish caulking our tubs so we can bathe, and he needs to change the cord on our dryer so it can have power so I can do laundry and he needs to put our dinning room table back together, put up curtains in the bedrooms and most important move Taylor's bed. She will not sleep anywhere in our house. She wants her bed. I have tried a few times to get her to nap at the new place and she refuses. Sometimes she can be very difficult. So once these things are complete we can officially move in. It is so hard to believe this house is ours. it is so awesome. And I know we couldn't have done it with my sister-in-law encouraging us to move and with out the help of Heavenly Father and blessing us and our family. I feel truly truly blessed.

Monday, November 29, 2010

House 11-29-2010

We were able to start moving things into the house on Friday. It is so unreal to think I am lucky enough to live in such a great house. I am so grateful, I can't wait! We are hopefully going to be able to close tomorrow or Wednesday at the latest. So we will be able to actually live in our house probably by Thursday. It is all so exciting, I can hardly believe this is really happening. On a sad note. We were not able to get our 4% rate we had originally locked, instead we have to settle for 4.25%, which don't get me wrong is still great, but it would have been nice to have had since we are financing more than we had originally planned. But it is all good. Three more days and counting. :)

Thursday, November 18, 2010

House 11-18-2010

I AM OFFICIALLY STRESSED OUT RIGHT NOW. My house is not finished and my lock expired on Saturday. It is now thursday and I know we got an extension on our lock, but I do not know how long it was so I have no idea when this new one will expire. It is costing us money everyday the house is not finished that we had to extend our lock and now I just found out we may not be able to extend it again. And the rates are .375% higher than when we locked. Who knows how much more a month that is going to cost me on my mortgage if we have to have the higher rate. I am so frustrated. The house should have and could have been finished a week if not more ago. But no. There were days when the house sat untouched and nothing was done to it for days at a time. And now it is really costing me.
And on top of that I was just barely told I have to have my $3050 bond purchased with the bank before we get our occupancy on the house. Why did no one tell me this weeks ago?!