What's in a Name?

Tonight while eating dinner with my girls, Ireland looked up at me with her big blue eyes. I couldn't help myself, I exclaimed, "Hello Gorgeous!" Liesel overheard and piped in enthusiastically, "Hi Gorgeous!" Not wanting Liesel to feel left out I addressed her next, "Hello Beautiful!" She smiled and responded, "Hi" there was a brief pause, "DANIKA."

And that was my laugh of the day.

Frenemies

When we first arrived in Utah I would say Liesel and her cousin Paisley had a love-hate relationship. That eventually blossomed into pretty much just a hate-hate relationship. Poor Paisley is the youngest daughter and suddenly found herself in competition with someone not only younger, but a guest. My sister Reagan repeatedly told her Liesel could do whatever she wanted... including poop on her bed. Reagan has some unconventional parenting techniques I'm eager to try out. Anyway, in spite of Reagan's threats, Paisley would lock Liesel out of rooms, take toys and yell at her. Liesel developed some coping tactics of her own that culminated in a confrontation during family dinner. Paisley wanted to go outside and Liesel was apparently not in a giving mood as she held the door closed. I'm told Liesel reached her hand waaaay back and b!#@$-slapped Paisley... hard. I didn't know whether to apologize to Reagan or have bumper stickers made, "My kid can b!#@$-slap your honors student." There's a video of my interrogation on the matter, but it is too large to include on the blog.

Not that Paisley is any wimp. She body checked Liesel the next day when Liesel wasn't looking. I have to say I was impressed. One bonus of these two not getting along is they were too busy irritating each other to bother their sisters. It was kind of a nice break for both Reagan and I. As my mother always says, "You'll be friends another day." At least I hope so!

Home Base

Here's a group of my most favorite people in the world... my siblings. Sadly Logan was not at Frogurt that night and Lisa was my only in-law who could make it. However, this is a good representative of the people who don't let me get away with anything, who will call me on my crap, who ground me, inspire me, believe in me, would walk through fire for me and who love me no matter what. I'm so very grateful for each and every individual pictured here. We had such a blast just talking and laughing together. Good times, noodle salad.

Memo to Me, Memo to Me

Don't leave the camera where Reagan can get it...

Ballet Lessons

Ireland had a major blowout on the way to the outlet mall in Park City. It was the perfect excuse to frequent the Gymboree for a fresh outfit! They had these ballet onesies that I couldn't resist. When Whitney saw her in it, she decided to pass along some of her wisdom:

We Are Family

While we were in Utah my sister Katrina thought we'd take the opportunity to get cousin photos. All the Nielsen cousins were together minus Hunter and Harley. We're still looking to see if we can Photoshop them in. I think the photographers did an amazing job getting all the kids looking in the same direction and smiling. Liesel went into a fit of tears for unknown reasons. I'm posting some individual shots of the girls we didn't end up getting prints of. It was really tough deciding between so many good photos. Ireland always looks so concerned when Liesel holds her. Kind of like she's thinking, "Haven't we already determined this is a BAD idea?" They looked adorable though and I'm glad we could use the watermelon outfits again.

Afterwards we celebrated Jack and Benjamin's birthday at a gymnasium. By gymnasium I mean a place where gymnastics is taught. It was bar none the BEST children's birthday party I've ever attended! The kids were able to jump, flip and tumble into foam pits. There were trampolines and climbing walls. The idea was to exhaust the kids so after photos and the party they'd nap all afternoon. Somehow the adults got into it too. Reagan decided to take a running jump into one of the foam pits using a springboard. That was seriously one of the funniest things I've ever seen in my life because when she hit the springboard it somehow threw her backwards rather than propelling her forward. Katrina agreed to hold Ireland while I dusted off some old cheerleading jumps on the tramps. I haven't even attempted those in years and I laughed myself sick trying them again. Too bad my camera battery died. If anyone out there has any video or photos, please, please, PLEASE pass them along!

At one point I noticed Liesel had braved a foam pit and I decided to jump in and join her. Bad move. More like no move. I am not a light toddler! I am a woman who recently had a baby. I could feel my pregnancy weight sinking me deeper and deeper into the foam. I tried moving the foam pieces directly around me but that just sunk me further. My nephew Eli noticed and ran over to where I was. "Need some help?" he cheerfully asked from the edge. "Yeah, I'm kind of stuck." He somersaulted in the pit. "You just have to get on top of it and crawl!" he said as he did just that. I didn't want to tell him I couldn't roll over on my stomach so crawling was a remote possibility. I managed to do it but couldn't get on top of it all like he advised. "Use your knees!" I was like a fish on dry land as I ever so slowly flopped myself over to the edge. When I got out I was completely sweating and everyone else was wondering why I took so long. Still the best birthday party I've ever been to. The girls had a blast, the cousins bonded and the adults were greatly entertained by it all. What a brilliant idea!

Peach Days

The girls and I went to Brigham City to visit some dear friends and celebrate Peach Days. My home ward bishop who later became our stake president, and is now again bishop is from Brigham City. He often talked about their peaches... usually on fast Sunday. He'd describe how you could take just one bite and the juices would drip down your chin. Visions of a bowl of fresh cut peaches and sweet cream danced in my head while my stomach rumbled on those Sundays. I of course have forgotten the spiritual message that went along with these stories. I was thrilled to experience these legendary peaches first hand.

Liesel went on her first carnival rides. She enjoyed the cars which just went around in a circle. Then she didn't enjoy them so much... not sure why. Then she cried to go on them again. We did the slides which looked innocent enough. It was midway down that I realized my extra weight was making us go faster. By the last bump we were airborn and I'm sure Liesel was wondering why I forced her onto something she wasn't so sure about in the first place.

Not only did I score some peach cobbler, but one booth sold fried Twinkies and I just had to try it. I had a fried Oreo at a street fair in NYC and looooved it. They dip it in batter, fry it and then put powdered sugar on top. I'm salivating remembering it. The Twinkie came with some jam too. I'm still regretting that Twinkie but I'm glad I tried it. I've heard fried Snickers are supposed to be amazing and someone told me about fried cheesecake. If I come across them, I'll definitely have a taste but I'll pass on the fried Twinkie.

Powder Fresh

I was alone with my girls at Reagan's house when I realized it was awfully quiet. "Liesel?" "Uh, I okay!" I thought that was an odd response so I tried again. "Liesel?" "I okay Mom!" This clearly required investigation. When I went into the living room I was met with this scene: