Christmas Morning

Jill volunteered to work for their secretary who has a 6yo, so that is why is isn't in any pictures. We look at out Santa stuff, eat breakfast and then open presents.We are waiting on the stairs to see what Santa brought.

Adam & Austin checking out the train table. There was another picture that I contemplated posting instead of this one, Adam is standing staring at the train in disbelief that it is actually there.
Adam is watching for the train to come through the tunnel. He kept following it around the table and "helping" it and yelling "move Papa." We are working for asking for things instead of demanding that people do what you want, he is good at asking for actual items (chocolate please, please grapes) but actions are harder for him to grasp.
Austin on his John Deer ATV (Austin is playing on it as I post this). Adam is really enjoying it as well. It sings a song and has blinkers. It also has a few sayings like "let's work."
Mom getting breakfast ready while the rest of us enjoy watching the boys play with their new toys from Santa.
This is the only picture that we have with a present from someone besides Santa. The boys could have cared less about unwrapping presents. We had to call them in everytime it was their turn to open a present and then it right back to the Santa stuff. Adam did get pretty excited when he opened the present from Ga & Papa. Papa asked him what he got and he replied "a BOX!" (it was a red wagon). I hope next Christmas is just as fun as this was.

Christmas Eve

We reinacted the Nativity story and since Bryan & I were the only married sibling around we were nominated to be Mary & Joseph.Notice the belly (it is a bike helmet).

Austin didn't really like being baby Jesus.

Mom was the angel, Jill and Matt were Shepards. Matt had a few different roles: the Star, a sheep, and a shepard. (He has forbidden me from posting sheep pictures)

Adam was a shepard that didn't listen to the angel but followed the crowd to see baby Jesus (he also used his walking stick as a weapon).

Katie looks like an elf (that's why I posted this picture). Isn't she cute?

Austin abandoned his role and I had to wad up the swaggling clothes.

We started our Christmas Eve festivies with our Mexican Fiesta, which was delicious. Then the Nativity, then singing Christmas songs at the piano and my kids went to bed during the singing. We played Settlers of Zarahemla. All in all, we had a great Christmas Eve.

Photos of BRYAN for Dave (aka Garlic Boy)

He posed for this one, he loves to have his picture taken.

I like how Beebe posed even though she knew I was going to take it of just Bryan but since she was so excited about the camera (and we thought Conrad got his love of the camera from Tyler) I decided not to zoom in and get everybody. Oh, notice the DC and Sudoku.
Adam took this picture, which is why he is smiling. I will post all of Adam's photos later but I had to include this one in the post of Bryan for Dave.

If I thought that Bryan would ask someone at work to take his picture I would send the camera with him. And what would be even better is if he would put his head down on his desk and pretend to nap and have someone take it. Sorry Dave, I can only post what I have.

Austi & Papa

Austin loves his papa and Sundays are really tiring. I posted a picture previously of Austin falling asleep in the high chair so I thought I should post a Sunday picture of someone holding Austin sleeping. Papa was very willing to hold him and then Austi fell asleep within minutes if being held.

Get To Know Me (Holiday Style)

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot Hot Hot Hot chocolate (Polar Express anyone?)

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Not wrapped and not under tree, in family room with our stockings sitting next to gifts.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? I prefer white, but I have always wondered about the blue lights.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? no

5. When do you put your decorations up? This year we put them up the Monday after Thanksgiving for FHE, but last year when we were in Texas, it took me almost 2 weeks to get decorated and then we left for California.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert?) My mom’s cinnamon rolls that we have for breakfast on Christmas morning, oh our Mexican Fiesta on Christmas Eve is delicious too.

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child: We used to all sleep in the same room (Beebe's) and Jill slept in the closet one year and I slept next to her on the floor, we would stay up late and then get up early. My dad would make us wait for him to "shower" before we could look at our Santa stuff. My mom always passes out the gifts one at a time (I still really like that, it is organized and you can thank the person for the gift right when you open it).

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I don't know.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? No

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? At my parents' it is with some ornaments that have our names on them and red/gold balls and homemade ornaments that were gifts.

11. Snow! Love it or dread it? Dread it (too cold) which is why I prefer to live in warmer climates: Southern California and Texas.

12. Can you ice skate? maybe with practice

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? all gifts are my favorites

14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? being with family and the singing

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? I don't know, maybe... I don't know

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? taking turns opening presents and now Christmas Naps

17. What tops your tree? an angel (again at Mom's)

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? giving

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? Lullaby

20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum? I like those Bob's Sweet Stripes but those aren't really candy canes

Karin's Layers...Like an Onion

LAYER ONE:
Spell your name without vowels: Krn

LAYER TWO:
-- Name: Karin
-- Birth date: Sept 8
-- Nickname: Kari or Kitty or Sharon
-- Current Location: San Berdo CA
-- Eye Color: blue-green
- Righty or Lefty: righty

LAYER THREE:
-- The shoes you wore today: none yet
.-- Your perfect pizza: pepperoni, olive, bell pepper (prefer red) and pineapple

LAYER FOUR:
-- Most missed memory: Texas Girls' Night Out or the numerous baby showers we had

LAYER FIVE
:-- Pepsi or Coke: diet coke...uh duh
-- McDonald's or Burger King: McDonalds fries but Burger King's other stuff
-- Chocolate or Vanilla: Chocolate.
-- Cappuccino or coffee: dietcoke

LAYER SIX:
-- Sing: in the car very loudly
-- Take a shower everyday: yes
-- Want to go to college: currently attending, but wish that by some miracle that I could be graduated
-- Like(d) high school: it was okay but I won't go back
-- Want to get married: done it
-- Get motion sickness: no, that would make my love of rollercoasters extremely ironic
-- Think you're a health freak: no
-- Get along with your parents: yes
-- Play an instrument: the piano, kind of

LAYER SEVEN:In the past month..
.-- Gone to the mall: yes,
-- Eaten an entire box of Oreos: no
-- Eaten Sushi: no, I don't like cooked fish so I don't think that I would like it raw
-- Gone skating: no
-- Made homemade cookies: yes, Bry, Dad & Jill's favorite, oatmeal chocolate chip (and Jon Shumate's fav too)

LAYER EIGHT:Ever...
-- Been called a tease: yes
-- Been beaten up: physically: no emotionally: yes

LAYER NINE:
-- Age you hope to be married: married at 20
-- Numbers of Children: I'm gonna say 4 (I'm half way there)

LAYER TEN:In the opposite sex..
-- Best eye color?: brown
-- Best hair color: brown
-- Short hair or long hair?: short
-- Height: doesn't matter but Bry is taller than me
(And if you didn't already know, every answer is Bryan)

LAYER ELEVEN:
-- Number of people I could trust with my life: I don't know. Maybe 40
-- Number of tattoos: 0
-- Number of piercings: I wear one earing in each ear but have 3 holes in each ear

Sleeping Babes

Adam and Austin started off in seperate beds, but then Adam somehow got into bed with Austin and they fell asleep this way. Adam can climb in and out of his bed all by himself but he still moves a lot in his sleep so he will remain in the bed for a little while longer. Almost every morning Adam climbs into bed with Austin and they play together for a little while. Those are Adam's "happy" mornings (unlike yesterday where Austin and I were ready to go downstairs and he wasn't; it took him 45 MINUTES to eat a muffin even with having the promise of going to the park!). Today was a happy morning and he ate his cereal within 10 minutes. What a difference it makes when it is YOUR decision to get up.

the baby gate

Austin and Conrad try to climb over the baby gate. In the last picture, Conrad is posing and saying "cheese." We love the baby gate because it keeps them downstairs (away from the toothbrushes).

Ga's Birthday Party

Even though Ga was in Roseville, we celebrated with a party. We had chicken lime tacos for dinner and a cake with candles. Adam had a great time blowing out the "fire." Austin really enjoyed Adam's cake and his own. Bryan, Dad & Matt celebrated too but the pictures aren't as cute (sorry Garlic Boy you'll have to wait a little longer for pictures of Bryan).

Can you tell that is a "51"?

Adam blowing out the "fire"

That is the biggest bite of cake. (you can see Matt's sleeve, proof that he celebrated too)

Austin dove right into his cake, then he moved on to Adam's after that bite.

Austin stealing Adam's cake, he ended up eating the rest of Adam's & then working on his own.

Beebe & Conrad were here for dinner but Conrad couldn't stay for cake. He got messy enough with his dinner and was already in pajamas.

happy birthday GA!

We hope your day is great with the Fardanesh Family and Katie.
Your presents will be waiting for you at home.
Here are a few photos from over the past year, I hope next year is just as wonderful.

Marcia & Walt on Ensign Peak August 2006

Adam & Marcia March 2006

Marcia, Carol (Gma Nielson), Karin, Marie (Gma J) & Austin
August 2006

My 10 Names

1.YOUR REAL NAME:Karin

2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME:(first three letters, then izzle)Karizzle

3. YOUR "FLY Guy/Girl" NAME:Kitty

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME:(fav color and fav animal)blue lion

5.YOUR 1950s NAME: Thelma Gail

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME:(the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name, first 3 letters of mom's maiden name):Brokanie

7. SUPERHERO NAME:(favorite color, favorite drink)the blue dietcoke

8. IRAQI NAME:(2nd letter of your first name, 3rd letter of your last name, any letter of your middle name, 2nd letter of your moms maiden name, 3rd letter of you dads middle name, 1st letter of a siblings first name, last letter of your moms middle):aoriajn

9. STRIPPER NAME:(the name of your favorite perfume/cologne)coco chanel mademoiselle

10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME:(mother & father's middle name) Nielson Travis

My Accent

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The West Your accent is the lowest common denominator of American speech. Unless you're a SoCal surfer, no one thinks you have an accent. And really, you may not even be from the West at all, you could easily be from Florida or one of those big Southern cities like Dallas or Atlanta.
The Midland
Boston
North Central
The South
The Inland North
Philadelphia
The Northeast
What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes

I don't know why the graphics don't work but I don't know how accurate this is because I have never been to Boston but that was my 2nd highest place. Fun though.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GARLIC BOY

David:

Hard to believe that you hit the big 30. Karin and I decided to post some pictures of you when you were young and alive. But don't feel bad, you are probably the most macho snow-hunk and PC partner I have ever met and you have some cute little girls.

messy helper face

Adam loves to "help" with everything. But he especially loves to help make food. He helps Ga make sweet rolls and hot rolls, he gets to pour things in the mixer and turn it on and off. He helps me make cookies and brownies, these are some pictures after helping with brownies- he gets to have a beater when we are done.

Halloween at Disneyland

We went to Disneyland for Halloween. Ga, Papa, Beebe, Conrad, Brian Durr, Dennis Ray, Bryan, Adam, Austin, & I had a great time. The boys and I met Bryan there in the afternoon and everybody else came in the evening. Fantasy Land was EMPTY. We went on more rides that day than we have on our recent trips.Austin did NOT want to wear his head piece. But I had to get a picture of how cute he looked with it on. Doesn't he look ADORABLE?
Austin calmed down and they are eating late lunch/early dinner, we LOVE El Pollo Loco's dollar menu. We go to the one on Ball everytime we go to Disneyland.
When we pulled into the parking lot the night before, they gave us these blue little flashlights. The boys had such a great time with them, especially Adam on the way home: flashing blue light in my rear view mirror, a little startling at first (I thought I was being pulled over).

My pirate on Pirates of the Caribbean. He is too cute and he loves the ride, while Austin dislikes it completely.

Here are the 3 boys dressed up standing in line for Haunted Mansion, the longest line (maybe 15 minutes).

Austin is helping Conrad put the flashlight up his nose. What a cute little helper (also in line for Haunted Mansion).
We hope we can do this every Halloween but if we move, than I might just have to fly with the boys spend Halloween at Disneyland.

My Celebrity Look-Alikes

Thank you Katie! Do you see how many men I look like? Is anyone else scared for me? There were 2 other males that I looked like but my collage did not hold them all. When you do yours let me know...

TAG... You're It!

You can only answer with one word. No explanations.

Yourself: fuzzy
Your partner: where?
Your hair: crazy
Your Mother: busy
Your Father: funny
Your Favorite Item: DC
Your dream last night: weird
Your Favorite Drink: DC
Your Dream Car: Bigger
Your Dream Home: mine
The Room You Are In: family
Your Ex: who?
Your fear: alone
Where you Want to be in Ten Years? happy
Who you hung out with last night: family
What You're Not: black
Muffins: blueberry
One of Your Wish List Items: house
Time: fast
The Last Thing You Did: sudoku
What You Are Wearing: pajamas
Your favorite weather: fall
Your Favorite Book: many
Last thing you ate: PBJ
Your Life: hectic
Your mood: relaxed
Your Best Friends: away
What are you thinking about right now: sleep
Your car: 4Runner
What are you doing at the moment: blogging
Your summer: fast
Relationship status: eternal
What is on your tv: Just
What is the weather like: nice
When is the last time you laughed: today

I hope everybody does it.

Poor Austi

Sundays are NOT my favorite days. Austin doesn't get his nap , which makes him quite cranky. But they make for some cute photos. Just to give you an idea of how tired he was, there was a table full of people one of which was my bro-in-law that we will call T Monson, no-no Tyler M. He has the nickname of "Guy Smiley" because when he laughs he throws his head back with his mouth wide open. Austin fell asleep through laughing and loud talking (typical Sunday dinner at my parents' house) but then woke up at 11:00 and wanted to play for a few hours. No more falling sleeping before 6pm. EVER.

Hiding has been Banned

The boys have found a new hiding spot (which has been banned). It is behind a side table and next to the sofa. There is a lamp on the table and when the 3 (Adam, Austin & cousin Conrad) boys were back there together, the lamp fell on Adam's head. Adam still loves that table, he pretends it is a piano (even with a real one in the same room) sets up a book, plays and sings. They are so entertaining.

boys are FUN

I have too much fun with the boys. They are almost always willing to pose crazy for the camera. I have so many "fun" pictures of the boys, it was hard to only post these.Sitting on the kitchen floor is the designated drinking spot. It is hard when Conrad is over because he isn't quite old enough to do that (yet he sings the Clean Up song--that boy is too smart for us).
They were sticking their tongues out at each other but Austin laughs a lot at Adam so you can't really tell but that is what they were doing and I interrupted for the picture (of course).
The boys had donuts (and if you enlarge Adam's photo, you can see a sprinkle on his face). Adam was a big boy and picked out the sprinkle donuts for them. We love the donut store, "how many?" (that is what the donut store lady says about diet coke when we walk in).