What would we do without her?

She is amazing! She willingly shares her talents and abilities at the expense of her own time and sleep and continues to smile. Thank you sweet Sara!

The Gila Valley Temple is dedicated and beautiful

Philippians 4:7- And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Important Reminder

As I came home today after a sweet day with the little boys, being a little self absorbed with my list and realizing that a throw up smell was soaking my shirt, I received this reminder of what I really want to be like from one of my favorite ladies.
"I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with perfectly manicured fingernails.

I want to drive up in a stationwagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp.

I want to be there with grass stains on my shoes from mowing my neighbor's lawn.

I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbor's children.

I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone's garden.

I want to be there with the children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder.

I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived." ~Marjorie Pay Hinckley

Now I realize that "no unclean thing can enter into his kingdom..." (3 Nephi 27:19) but I think this is a pretty humbling reminder from a beautifully nearly perfect lady. I think I'll just keep this shirt on a while longer.

Mocking is for the birds

Mr. Mockingbird lives here. He is very protective of his home and is a little like one of our children who had the rest of the family convinced that he owned half the house. This guy doesn't really care who makes the mortgage payments, because he OWNS the yard and dive bombs anyone who threatens his domain in the Spring. Well, happily, Spring must be done, because I didn't get dive bombed today when I went out into the back yard. You'd think you would need a large and spacious building to do your mocking. Apparently not. It gives me one reason to like Summer.

getting a sister

Happiest news of the week, the boys get another sister. Who looks the most excited?

Look Up!

Paria's beauty was not shown in my last post. Please enjoy the scenery that we continually marvelled over for three days as we passed through it. Sometimes because we were looking down, our breath was taken away as we looked up.








Isn't it stunningly beautiful? And for a better play by play account, please read Alyson's blog at nielson6forever.blogspot.com or just click on Nielson's on this blog. Seriously, you'll feel like you went with us. Maybe you are the one carrying the poo bag. Just look up!

Every Day is Mother's Day

Mel got me an early Mother's Day gift. It was a new down filled sleeping bag. Then for an early Mother's Day expedition, we hiked and camped in Paria Canyon and I carried it for three days and used it for two nights.
We had heard that you had to pack everything out that you took in, so we shouldn't have been surprised by the human solid waste bags. We were happy to get rid of those. The entertainment was never ending and it seemed that the cold mud wasn't either.
Purifying water races are amusing, and thank you Jared for being the water boy. Kirk could scale any cliff. He's nearly a mountain goat.
Mel called this the rock scramble.
It was amazing that after setting our clothes out to dry, that Chris' pants could stand up by themselves and Jared's socks stood at attention but couldn't be cracked open.
Jared was a joy to have along. He owned the canyon or visa versa!I am so proud of Alyson for being such a wilderness woman and remaining beautiful through the entire backpacing adventure.I felt like every day is Mother's Day as Chris and Kirk helped me over and through every tight spot. Kevin carried my heavy pack (including the human solid waste bag) the last part of the last day. Mel, bless his heart, took care of me by packing my pack, setting up the tent every night, including putting out my air matress and sleeping bag, rolling it all up in the mornings and then cooking our meals. He took care of my every need. Kevin doing push-ups on a tire (who knows how it got there)was just part of the never ending entertainment - you would have had to been there.
I truly feel blessed to be a mother as I watch my children interact with their spouses and raise their own families. See what I mean, every day is Mother's Day.

April's Random Review

We love April! It is such a green and growing month. The last day of it part of our family took a day trip to the Gila Valley temple open house. We highly recommend it. It is a beautiful building inside and out. If you have ever wanted to know about what The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have going on in their temples, here's your chance to see. This temple seemed tiny to us, but it has amazing local artwork. We had a wonderful day. Here's a pictoral recap of our visit to "the valley" with a few random other April treats. Because when I upload the pictures a digital explanation of each photo appears instead of the picture, I have no idea which is where, so please excuse my captions if they have nothing to do with the pictures until I figure out which tabs or keys I pushed to make my post options so difficult. If anyone would care to help me out on this I'd thank you.


Okay, so this wasn't at the temple. Like I said there are a few random ones here. We've got a talented group who all love this pastime.


We all love Nami. She and Kev were the only ones to have food left for their next meal.
Oh and when they are together, Oakley and Brynn are a pair...
a cute pair.
Scamps!
Mel and Dona. Aren't they the cutest siblings?
I think this is what Kev wishes his yard looked like. He has an obsession with making his yard beautiful, and who sees it besides Bruce? That's okay Kev. I appreciate it.
Lots of old people like to go to the temple too.
Is this not the cutest thing a little boy can do?
Our little garden has a hard time competing with Dona's but we're not all bull.