First Day of Fifth Grade

I can't believe I now have a 5th grader. How did this small, sweet newborn baby turn into such a BIG kid already? It's so bitter sweet to me. While I enjoy watching him learn and grown and experience new things in life, I also am saddened to think that in a short time, he won't need me anymore or want me around as much, when his friends will be more important than "mom". I know that this is all part of growing up but I wish I could enjoy the time more and that it wouldn't go so fast. On a lighter note, his teacher is Mrs. Graf which he is very excited about. She used to be in our ward and we have heard great things about her. He has quite a few friends in his class this year as well. Hopefully he will have a great year.

Fat Cats

Today I took Noah bowling at Fat Cats. They do a program over the summer where kids can bowl 2 free games during the day time Monday through Friday. We haven't gone once this whole summer so we decided to go today. It's a really fun place and they have really yummy bread sticks. I'm not a very good bowler but I like to go and try. Noah beat me the first game and I beat him the second game. It was a fun time and free. Well, it was free for Noah and I had to pay but still...it's a great deal. Wish we would have taken advantage of it more this but this summer has flown by.

Reunion With Marvin

Today, we went to Fairview, Utah. This is where my Aunt Gayle lives. She had all of her kids in town and invited us up for a little reunion. It was so fun to see everyone. I hadn't seen Marvin and his wife Tia in 7 years and I can't remember the last time I saw Marla and Maria. I also got to see my cousin Shelly and her kids which I haven't seen for a while either. It was so fun to reminisce and meet my cousins kids that I hadn't seen before. I can't believe how old we are all getting. We were pretty close to Gayles kids growing up. We lived in Sacramento for about 2 years from when I was 7 until about 9. Aunt Gayle and Glade lived about 45 mins. away and I remember going to their house almost every weekend and spending lots of time with them. I was telling Noah that everyone used to call me and Marvin "kissing cousins". We used to really like each other and have so much fun. I remember us telling each other that if we weren't cousins, we would get married. Pretty funny hu? My uncle Glade was there also with his wife Lola. I didn't get any pictures of him because they weren't there long but it was good to see him. He seems to be happy with his wife and he and Gayle get along great and are able to have reunions with all their kids at the same time. I wished we all lived closer and got to see each other more often. We were walking around taking tons of pictures. I wish all of the extended Nielsens could have been there and it really would have been a great reunion.

Gayle and her daughters Monica, Marla and Maria


Noah and Josh playing football
Gorgeous Siera

Marvin and Tia an their kids Macy and Avery

Gayle's son, Matthew

Ken and Mel playing croquet

Cute Vani


Shelly and Rick and their kids
Mom, Mark and Gayle
Harry and Gayle with Gayles kids
The "poly" husbands
Gayles kids: Marla, Monica, Matthew, Marvin and Maria
The Amasio fam

David and Marla and their kids
Me and Siera squinting into the sun
Our family minus Kelly and Tara

Me and Marvin...he was my bestest cousin growing up

Girls Camp

I haven't been to girls camp since I was in YW so it's been a super long time ago. I was called as the stake camp nurse. I wasn't sure what this calling would entail but basically it was to be up there to help with anyone that needed any kind of first aid. We had a great stake camp board. We all got a long really well. We were totally spoiled to have our own camp chef and we didn't eat normal camp food. We had some pretty yummy food and desserts. The theme this year was the Wizard of Oz and each ward had a color that went along with the yw values. Each ward performed skits that went along with the Wizard of Oz theme and the value they had. There were some pretty well thought up, clever skits. It really brought me back to the days when I went to girls camp. The stake also did a skit and I was one of the Munchkins. Each time we all congregated together in the amphitheater, they played this song and we all did a little dance and then they changed the words to the Miley Cyrus song Party in the USA to "It's a Beautiful Girls Camp Day". The weather wasn't too bad. It got pretty hot but on the days that we hiked, it was little overcast so it wasn't too bad. As a stake camp, we also did secret sisters and did little gifts/notes for each other each day we were at camp. My secret sister was on of the grandmas. She was so good to me. She came me a DC (diet coke) everyday. I also got Reeses, lotion, and dark chocolate. It was a great experience and I'm glad I got the chance to go. I didn't take my camera so I didn't get any pictures but I got a picture of the stake camp board. The stake yw presidency gave all of us a framed picture of the board.

Mill Hollow

Noah had a chance to go with his school to Mill Hollow. He has looked forward to it all summer. It is for students who do well in school. It was something I did as a kid too. It's such a fun experience. We had some issues with his Dad. (long story that I probably shouldn't post on here) but he had a great time. I gave him a disposable camera to take and told him to take some good pictures. He got a few good ones but a lot of them didn't turn out so well. The picture quality isn't that great. I was a little nervous letting him go and not have either of his parents with him but he did great. He's already talking about going next year.



Beautiful Uintah mountains. This is where they played volleyball.

This is his friend, Zach. They also shared the same bunk.

This was Noah's camp counselor. His name is "Doc".

This is the cabin he slept in.
The trading post that he was excited to buy things at.
This is the big building where they had all their meals.
Noah said there were a lot of teepees around.

Going on one of the hikes.