It's a Wonderful Life

This weekend we went to Roy for our niece Iva's birthday. We all had a great time, but I realized with our Nyholm family reunions in 2 weeks, we will have driven to Utah and back every other weekend for the past two months! This time we took the van, so it was a much more comfortable trip. With my gas discounts I've been accumulating at Albertsons we were able to take the whole trip for less than $25, so it was more comfortable on our bank account as well! Why is it when kids get together, inevitably clothes come off and water gets turned on?? James and Erin slept in a tent in Kaitlin's backyard, since it was such a full house (nice idea Erin!), and all of the kids loved "helping" them set it up and playing in it afterwards :) We all went to the Roy Aquatic Center Saturday afternoon, and I must say, that place is the thing I miss most about Roy. It is the best swimming center for the whole family I've ever gone to, and it's very affordable. I have so ...

This may seem like a strange post, but I haven't been able to stop thinking about Michael Jackson's death since hearing about it yesterday. I realized that his music actually was a big part of my growing up. I loved listening and dancing to it. I can remember on our long drives to Utah, all of us stuffed into the car, listening to Bad or Billie Jean on my little tape playing Walkman and choreographing complete dances in my head. I remember literally crying to Heal the World or Man in the Mirror (I was quite the sensitive one), because I was so touched by the messages. I remember watching the video for Black or White over Thanksgiving at my Grandma's and being blown away! Each big song he had I loved. So even though for the past several years I was turned off by him personally, I can't deny what a genius he was. Hopefully, people will focus on that and not all of sordid tabloidy stuff that swirled around him.

I finally took Jackson to the dentist today. I was worried, but he did so so great. His teeth were just perfect. I'm glad I decided to take him to the pediatric dentist; the whole place was very kid friendly. Everything left me thinking of a couple of things. 1) Am I really old enough to have kids that need dental check ups? and 2) I'm very thankful Erik still has his job so we didn't have pay for the dental check up! I think Jackson was more interested in watching "Toy Story" than what the hygienist was doing Proud boy!

The other day, Jackson was happily watching Calliou in the family room. When I came back a few minutes later, I saw this: Still watching Calliou , but naked and eating a block of cheese. I couldn't help but laugh. Of course I was laughing on the inside, as not to encourage more nakedness cheese eating, although taking pictures doesn't help much. A couple of days ago, I decided I really need to write down some of things he says. Here are a couple: "When I become a man, I'm going to pick you up from the temple in my blue airplane" While I was trying to lay his blankie over him at night time, " No, I want it RUINED!" Meaning he wanted to cuddle with it in a ball. While watching the Today show over breakfast, Jackson: "Mom, can we go visit that girl?" Me: "You mean Meredith Vierra ?" Jackson: "Yeah, should we visit Meredith? Isn't that a good idea?" Since Wyatt is turning EIGHT MONTHS tomorrow, I decided to include my fa...

I finally ran my first 5K today. It was so much fun; I loved it. My goal was to run the whole thing, and happily I accomplished that. I was a little nervous because a) I decided not to listen to music during the race because it's frowned upon and I never ever workout without music and b) half of the race is a really steep incline up to the temple and that is HARD for me! I guess my competitive spirit kicked in a bit- that definitely helped. Anyway it was a great experience, and I'm excited for the one I'm doing on the 4 th of July which will thankfully, be a flat course :) It was so much fun seeing Erik, Jackson, and Wyatt just as I crested the top of the hill. There was really loud music playing in the park at the after-shin dig. When that song "Mercy" came on Jackson got really excited and said, "Mom it's our song!" That used to be a favorite around here. Picking up my medal for 1st place in my age group. Isn't that hilarious ?? The serious...

Last weekend we went down to Utah to see some family, and it was a lot of fun. Almost everyone in my family was there (we missed you Laurel!!!!) for Jacob's priesthood ordination. I've also been dying to see Kaitlin and Josh's Asher, so it was the perfect time. We stayed with Kaitlin on Friday night. On Saturday, Erik, Jackson, and Josh went to the air show at Hill Air Force Base, while I drove down to Provo with Wyatt to see my lovely fam ! Erik and Jackson came down that night. Hangin ' out in Kathryn's backyard. It felt weird to be with just Wyatt all day. Nice but weird. All the June birthdays on the couch while we sang "Happy Birthday." Can you see how embarrassed Jackson looks? He loves singing songs and dancing, but if he's in front of people he doesn't see on a daily basis, he gets so shy! The birthday boy whose birthday isn't until the 30 th . What a sweet Uncle! Wyatt loved taking his nap on Joseph :) It was a lot of fun to final...

Well, the inevitable has happened. Stock is completely pulling out of the area, leaving Erik minus his job. The fact that Erik has stuck around for so long, while the the company's walls were crumbling down in this economy, is really amazing. It's such a testament to what a great employee Erik is. I know that the right thing is going to happen for our family, but the "not knowing what it will be" situation is not my favorite! Hopefully, we won't end like this street urchin here: