WEDDING PICS-

My little brother is married and I have a new sister-in-law. Tessa- like Nessa, but with a T :) So we have Nessa and Tessa and Page and Cage. Wow. On the Nicolaysen side we have Ezra, Eden, and Eva- we didn't plan that either :)Cagey marches to the beat of his own drum.The crew.They had to go back and do their entrance again- we all missed it.They made a mistake and put us Wagleys at the dessert table. We ate and ate and ate...and ate...oh and then Tessa and Page ate.Ezra with his Uncle Page and I have no idea why Jeebs stuck out his dang tongue.and they were off- now they're in Texas- wish I was there.

Health class... courtesy of the duck pond

I have pictures and more pictures of our trip to post, but first things first. Today- I got up at 9 and it felt like 7. I was tired and had a million things to do, but Tates needed to do school so I made her do some language arts on the computer just so we could mark it as a school day. Then the weather was so perfect- I had to go outside. It's days like today that make me mad at my roof- I don't want to come in and if I have to come in could I please peel back the roof so it wouldn't block me from getting my vitamin D? Anyway- had to get out so I forgot about it all and we went for a walk. We even took GOOD bread for the nasty ducks and annoying geese that have realized the ducks have a good thing going and have taken over the poor ducks' pond. We sat- we threw bread- we threw rocks and Ezra was so excited to see the crazy birds. I decided it was time to go and we headed for the kids' bikes and helmets. Just as we were leaving we noticed one of the ducks chasing another duck- pretty normal- they do that a lot. (We also saw one of the geese chasing another goose and I thought- ha, a wild goose chase hehehehe, but I digress) So, the duck chased the other duck, ha so cute- well then he chased the duck again into the water, but this time hopped on it's back for a ride and I naively said "ha, looks like he's going to surf on him." Then he started his little mating thing...and I realized OH- Tates said "maybe they're just playing." I just calmly said "he's just helping her make little ducks, let's go, and that is your health class for today." I don't think either one of my children understood- and that is OK with me!

Wedding DAy

After a quick trip to Idaho- saw the potato museum my big brother toured on his mission:) and a quick trip down to Logan- 2 pukes later and my little brother is married (Taylor puked all over herself in her bed last night and Kelton, my nephew, puked this morning before we left for the temple) I couldn't even talk after it was over and I got up to hug them. Page seems so happy and that makes me happy even though I feel like I'm giving up my last sibling. I missed Yang so much today- I wore the necklace ma brought me with a pendant I gave her- it says Alexandria. It was a good thing there was such a horrid smell at one point so we had something to think about to lighten the mood :) and no it wasn't any of us.

I was proud of Taylor- she wore a dress 2 days in a row and she made it! Not without some complaining, but it didn't kill her. Her hair getting fixed, however, may be a different story. I will post pics soon, when I am able to download them. And..............

yeah that's it.

Sub-zero

We had ice cream at subzero yesterday. Usually when we get ice cream I just let my kids and hubby get something and I watch them eat it- it's great fun. BUT, at sub zero you can choose your level of naughtiness. Do you want to be super naughty and go for the gusto? or do you want to feel good about your ever increasing bum (and try to stop the exponential growth) by going with half and half, soy or almond milk? I opted for almond milk sweetened with agave, with cherry flavoring and dark chocolate chips. It was GOOD and so cool- they freeze the ice cream using liquid nitrogen- the kids loved it and I think I might count it as a school day field trip for TATES :) hehehe okay maybe not, but MAYBE :)

HOping we don't crash...

Do you ever leave your house and think this could be on the lifetime movie special about how my day began so normal and then went horribly wrong? Yeah, no, okay- well I do, all the time. Because I am PSYCHO!! We are flying on a plane tomorrow to Utah. I hate flying. The first time I flew it was...to Utah with my older and much more experienced with flying sister (she flew to Texas from Utah to come get me so I could fly back with her). I remember it ALL! I was terrified...any noise the plane made I would immediately snap back "what was THAT?" Yang would calmly reassure me that it was this or that or the wheel fell off or whatever. Then SHE had the audacity to blurt out "What was that?" and my heart nearly jumped out of my chest. I immediately let her know that it was NOT okay for her to ask that- if something was going on she needed to calmly say "Something out of the ordinary is happening." We laughed and laughed the whole way- she was probably as nervous as I was. I love my sister- I can't wait to be with her in the temple.

Anyway, back to flying. Hate it! Hate it! and as we pull out of the driveway at 4:45 in the morning you can bet your sweet bippy that I will be thinking about the lifetime movie that starts out with the sweet young family of 5 packing up in the wee hours of the morning preparing to leave for the trip that will change their lives forever...

Baby kisses and the new do...

I was trying to take pictures of my hair for my momma and Ezra attacked me with some sweet baby kisses (or eating my face, whatever). This baby is the super sweetness, lovey lovey everything!! I hate putting him to bed because I just want to kiss on him!! I am loving my new haircut too-which is huge in my world. I wish the color were brighter, but oh well- I need a tan too- so. badly.
Look at the short, chippy layers- love it! I hardly have to try at all to fix my hair- now if only I lived in Mesa- my hair would fix itself :)

(notice the drool on my sleeve from Ezra's attack and Taylor was attacking me on the other side)

a funny thing Tates said today : "mommy, you should have worn that shirt for St Patrick's Day"
"oh yeah, but I had that other one I wanted to wear" Tates "yeah, but this one makes you look like a mom." Me "the other one didn't make me look like a mom?" Tates "No, it made you look like a teenager."

Happy St. Patty's Day

We wore green, I made Irish soda bread, canned (gross) corned beef hash, and diet root beer to chug. I didn't make the root beer- we just had it to have our annual root beer drinking contest. I beat Jeebs! never want to do it again- soda pop is not supposed to go down that fast. I'm wondering if anybody reads my blog...HELLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO...anyway- my hands are getting so gross- fingernails are all different lengths and my skin is so dry and old looking. I'm gonna be 31 in 2 months!! 31!!! I am not that old!! I still really feel like I should be going to high school and living at home. But no, I am old- I have lived in 3 different states, lived in 5 different dwelling places, pushed 3 children from my loins, and said goodbye to my sister. Crazy- it is so...so.......so....... surreal. I remember thinking as a little girl what my husband would be like and what he was doing at certain times in my life- I can't believe I met him and we're married...with 3 children!

Cod Liver Oil

I found a brand of orange flavored cod liver oil at Harris Teeter. I am taking a teaspoon a day. It is disgusting- when it first hits your tongue you think "hm, not so bad" and then it coats your throat and you think "I'm gonna hurl." So then you grab anything you can stuff down your throat to cut the oily grossness and get the a$$ taste out of your mouth and off your lips. It's supposed to be really good for you though and I need all the help I can get right now. I have a jacked up thyroid, pancreas and teeth that like to get cavities. Oh man, why does fish have to taste like a dumpster?

Does your closet look like this?

after you get dressed on Sunday mornings? This is a small pile. (Ezra also had something to do with this)

Curse you Daylight SAVINGS TIME!!

Actually I usually enjoy daylight savings time, but why oh why does it have to be on Sunday morning? This morning was a doozy. I am being paid back for every scream, every whine, and every extra Z I stole in the mornings. As I tried to get a shower and get everybody ready- Cagey slept. I kept saying "Get up CAgey- if you want to eat breakfast you have to get up NOW!" Nothing. I heard a sigh at one point and thought he was on his way, nope, nothing, nada. I was so behind I had to just keep going. I thought Jeebs would be home soon enough and he could deal with him, but Jeebs got back from his meetings around 8:40! Cagey was still in BED!! We have to be at church at 9 people. So- while I had Ezra in his crib (because he can not be trusted anywhere else) I was trying to fix Taylor's hair, yell for Cagey to get up, get my own hair fixed, he just screamed- tears, snot the whole nine yards. Jeebs gets home and is trying to get Cagey out of bed- and Cagey is screaming- tears, snot, and still not getting out of bed...threats of no breakfast, nothing, threats of no ps3 playing, nothing until his daddy reached THURSDAY!! He didn't get out of bed until his playstation privileges were revoked through Wednesday! oh man that kid hates going to church :)Saturday night I let them all try on (or rather made them try on) the cupcake toppers for our birthday song in closing exercises. Cagey says "I don't want to go to church tomorrow." Taylor- "Don't you want to live with Heavenly Father again?" Cagey "No." Excellent.

ps Cagey is playing the #*(^@ playstation in this pic- see the focus?

The Vet

Taylor likes to play vet with Percy. She got a little doctor/vet set to play with and has tortured, I mean given Percy the best of care :) This was my receipt for his 'appointment'. Then Tates asked me if Percy was warm-blooded. I said yeah he is and explained a little bit about warm blooded and cold blooded- I had no idea why she wanted to know and then I saw this. Interesting I thought. But, THEN I saw her little not tablet that came with her vet set. There is an example of what kind of information to get from the patient on it like- name, weight, and blood type!! hahahahahaa- ahhh good times.

Cagey

If we had to leave our house forever and only take the important things that would fit in our car- this is all Cagey would choose to bring. Our FHE's are giving us clearer pictures inside Cagey's brain. That's a cement truck that I just happened to grab out of the toy bin for Ezra to play with on Monday and that is a little pan that was probably on the floor next to it:)

Welcome Welcome Sabbath Morning

Now we rest from every care! I take that hymn too literally, I think. Sunday is my day "off" from all my weight cares :) I don't think about getting in a workout and I eat all the chocolate and bread I want. I will pay for today for a while. I had about 10 pounds of chocolate and at least 6 pieces of bread- yes 6, don't judge me- you don't EVEN KNOW ME!! (4 were parts of sandwiches, I'm just sayin')

It was however a great Sabbath. We have a new goal of reading 2 chapters of the Book of Mormon on Sundays. Today we got one long one in Alma in and we all piled on the couch. Jeebs tried to read as I was leaning against him trying to steal his body heat- Cagey was laying on top of me and Taylor was next to me and leaning on Cagey- can you picture it? Oh well- it was a pile- Ezra was taking a nap (a very short nap I might add) and just as we all got comfortable and Cagey stopped fidgeting with the blanket, Ezra woke up and Jeebs got done reading. I felt like Max in Where the Wild Things Are, all of us laying in one big pile- I just wish it could have lasted a bit longer- I know my kids aren't going to want to lay in one big pile with us for much longer :( Now if we can just get rid of TV on Sundays...baby steps right?

Ezra says Yay!!

Ezra started saying "Yay!" He likes to clap his hands and say it with his crinkly little smile. I love it!

We watched the stupidest movie last night- the best part was when the goat started talking because he was possessed by an evil spirit. I laughed out loud. At least it was free.

Cagey was so stinkin' hyper yesterday- we went to Pier1 and Target for 'date' night and he was bouncing off the walls!! I don't know what his deal was. It was nice to see him doing something other than putting on his pitiful saddy face and whining, but dang! Then today he was back to his pitiful saddy, whining self. I think I prefer the spazoid Cagey.

I was looking for pastel colored candy corn at Target last night. I looked through all the Easter candy and didn't have any luck. There was a girl working back near the Easter candy- stocking CANDY and I said "do you know if y'all have candy corn in Easter colors?" She looked at me like I was stupid and said "If we have any it'll be with the Easter candy." I wanted to say "SERIOUSLY??, IT'LL BE WITH THE EASTER CANDY? wow, I thought it'd be with the cleaning supplies. I just thought maybe while you were STOCKING CANDY you might have noticed some *#&*(# CANDY CORN IN EASTER COLORS!!!" Seriously, am I wrong to think that maybe a person that WORKS at TARGET and STOCKS the CANDY might be able to point it out to someone who is just scanning the candy aisle and might have MISSED it? I mean, heaven forbid you walk your BIG BUM (she did have a big bum too, she needed to lay off the candy) the 10 ft from where you're pretending to straighten the regular candy to the EASTER CANDY and help me scan the aisle in case I am just missing it. OH- it irritated me. Happily- Harris Teeter, my favorite grocery store EVER (except that it is ridiculously expensive), had the candy I needed.

Dear Yang,

I miss you. I wish I could talk to you and tell you all the cute and funny things my kids are doing. Mamma is planning a bbq for Page and Tessa- she needs you. I wish you were here to go shopping with me- we had similar tastes- well, we had style and Mamma doesn't :) I can't wait to go to Page's wedding and be in the temple with everybody. I know you'll be there too!! I wish you could know Cagey and Ezra- they are such sweet, cute little boys. I know you are not far away. Jeebs gave me a blessing when I was having such a hard time being pregnant with Ezra and said you were aware of me and I KNOW that was true. I know you're happy doing whatever it is you're doing because you were always happy- but I hope you know how much we miss you. We pray every night for it. I keep playing "I Stand All Amazed", the arrangement you played for someone on your mission, and I think about you playing it and me singing. It was the last thing we ever played and sang together. Isn't it wonderful to KNOW families are forever because of Christ?

Love,
Nessa

I love Jeebs and even MORE motivation :)

There's a pattern here, can you see it?
Before we were married I made Jeebs' life miserable- really I don't know why he married me. You think I'm joking? I'm not. He's sitting in my apartment lacing the laces on my brand new vans so that I can just slip them on and off. One time when we were engaged I complained that I didn't have anything to hold my hair back or my scrunchies were getting all stretched out- he left for a little while and came back with the biggest package of scrunchies you have ever seen, among other things I had mentioned I needed. Wow. He did that kind of stuff all the time. I love him- and I know Glen is throwing up in his mouth a little, but that's okay, cuz I love my brother too hehehehe. Not in the southern, redneck I LOVE my brother way, I just love him cuz he's an awesome brother- and Page too- I have GREAT brothers.I had to post this picture to make myself feel better and it's one of the ONLY pictures I have when Jeebs and I were just dating. This is in Texas- ya wanna know why I love this picture? You see that shirt I'm wearing? It is a size MEDIUM slim fit t-shirt from american eagle. A MEDIUM - I had a normal size chest- now I couldn't even fit one boozie in there. LOvElY.

My boys and new motivation

Cagey- in the midst of whining about something :) argh.

Taylor took this pic and I love it.

Ezra chewing on Taylor's nunchucks. I don't know what that black gunk is on his nose. I just typed gunk and it didn't underline it. Gunk is a word- who knew? probably all of you out there. [Update: I just googled gunk: any filthy, sticky or greasy matter] At least I know there is no such thing as a snozberry.
Last, but certainly not least, just when you start feeling a little bit good about yourself- your cute little daughter snaps this picture of you. oh the grossness. Compliments please commence!! "no, Vanessa it's a bad angle- you don't really look like that!" "You look way thinner than that in person!" "The camera adds ten pounds!" hhahaaa no really- this is my new motivation..