It's a Wonderful Life

What a great weekend! Getting to do the parades and fireworks twice with the 4 th and Pioneer Day is great :) Everything I do right now has an added sense of poignancy , because as some of you may know, on Saturday we are leaving Rexburg . Erik's last day with Stock is Friday, so we figured since there aren't many jobs around here to be had, we might as well go visit family while we look for a job in CA. Hopefully we can find someone to rent this house, since we haven't had ANY bites on it. I'm so sad to leave our good friends, this neighborhood, and the little Rexburg things I love, but I know things will work out how they're suppose to. Anyway, we are still taking it day by day. Hopefully in a couple of weeks, we'll know more! At the splash park earlier this week. It was really chilly, because a thunderstorm was rolling in. Wyatt thought it was good fun to sit in it with his clothes on :) Maverick killed another rock chuck. This dog is such a stud. He is g...

This evening we were all hanging out in the backyard when I heard a really loud scream followed by silence (you know its bad when they can't even get sound out!). Jackson had knocked over a yellow jacket hive and got stung by several of them all over his hands. I've never even been stung by a bee, so I can't imagine how much it hurt him. Erik ran over and grabbed him from the sting-fest, and I put ice on it and googled what to do (ice and baking soda paste is what I surmised). Hearing him tearfully explain what happened was even sadder, although it is super cute that he still calls them life jackets. He feels much better now, and I hope the swelling goes down tonight-- so sad!!

http://www.youtube.com/mormonmessages I liked this video on the Mormon You Tube channel. I've been thinking a lot about pioneers with Pioneer Day coming up. I'm glad I can be reminded of those that sacrificed so much in leaving their comfortable circumstances to follow their faith. I look up to those today that completely change their lives after gaining a testimony and forge new paths for their children (like Erik's parents!) There is so much strength and courage I can learn from pioneers, definitely worth celebrating!

I am ceaselessly amazed by Jackson's independence (see many previous posts on this subject!). Yesterday, Erik and I played the "I thought you were watching him" game. I was trying to console a very very sick Wyatt (so sad!), rocking him for about 45 minutes in his room. This whole time I thought Jackson was with Erik. Erik however, was at the store thinking Jackson was with me. The result? Jackson totally unsupervised for 45 minutes! The funny thing is, nothing scary happened at all (huge blessing really). He was perfectly fine. He looked around in the kitchen for something to eat, decided on some popcorn and MADE IT HIMSELF. I didn't even know he knew how to use the microwave. When I found him, he was happily playing in the garage, tying things up with a long rope, and munching away on his popcorn. Seriously, where did this guy come from??

http://www.rodjonesrealestate.com/Real_Estate_in_Rexburg_Idaho_-_Rod_Jones_-_Real_Estate_Agent_-_Rexburg_listings/3D6C9F0D-9D62-777E-33710F7B6D63B23D.shtml #

So last night I was feeling really sorry for myself b/c the boys wouldn't take a nap and I was sooo tired. I finally decided that we should head to the park, and I'm so glad we did. There was this random party sponsored by our credit union here and it was so much fun! We even got a free dinner. I know other communities do stuff like this too, but Rexburg is sooo welcoming and friendly. I don't know what I'm going to do when we are not here anymore (which could be very soon!) Loving the bounce house I couldn't resist letting Wyatt finish my ice cream. I was so surprised Jackson wanted to do this, but he was adamant. It was a trout catch. He was definitely the youngest one in there, and unfortunately he didn't catch one. He did however, catch an itty -bitty goldfish :) brothers, brothers , there were never such devoted brothers The guy manning the golfing station was giving Jackson a few pointers.

Last weekend was our first Nyholm family reunion. We were all together for the first time since Erik's brother Paul left on his mission two years ago. It was so nice to see Paul after two years, we're so proud of him! It was great to hear about his time in Korea. I also liked hearing about Erik's parents and little brother Peter's adventures there when they picked him up (they also all went to China- lucky ducks). We stayed in a very big cabin in Heber, UT and just had a nice relaxing time. I forgot to take pictures at times, so here is just a random sampling of our fun time :) We took a train ride in Heber Valley, and I loved it! It was very relaxing and Jackson loved being on a real train. It was fun, because all of us were in our "reunion shirts." We were quite the sight let me tell you. I love seeing these kids play together. I hope they can continue to be good friends as they get older. Me and my babe (He looks a little confused right here!) Is...

Ah, the 4 th of July! To me this holiday is the pinnacle of everything that I love about summer: being out in the sunshine, hanging out with family and friends, and eating good food. It was a little bittersweet this time, because it was probably be our last in Rexburg , and I love how Rexburg celebrates it! We kicked off the weekend by making a "flag cake" Friday evening. I was super excited, because we were able to use the strawberries from our garden for the cake. I've discovered homegrown strawberries are soo much tastier than the kind in the grocery store, yum! Saturday morning was the 5K race. Like last month, it was a lot of fun, but I didn't quite have the same energy b/c Wyatt woke up EVERY hour the night before, yikes! I did a tiny better in my time which I was glad about. I'm amazed at the people that can run super fast. The guy that won first place here ran the 3.1 miles in just over 15 minutes!!! The boys were pretty patient and good while we...

Erik officially turned 30 on Tuesday- man, he's old! :) I do realize 30 is not that old, but it's sure fun teasing him. Earlier this week we were at the park, and Erik was trying to jump really far off the swings ( over Jackson might I add, much to Jackson's delight). Anyway, he kept saying that he used to be able to jump a lot further (kind of like his running time a few months ago!), and I said "well now you're 30, pretty soon you won't be able to jump at all!" I'm sure when it's my turn in a few years I'll get my share of teasing too. We were able to go out for his birthday, because we finally found a babysitter that Jackson really likes, and that was a lot of fun. In fact, Erik is a lot of fun period. He works hard, but he plays hard too and I love that about him. I love seeing how he has matured and taken on new responsibilities with such ease, yet has still maintained that joking, playful attitude. Happy Birthday Erik! Erik has been spe...