Happy Late Birthdays!

21st-Jonah's Birthday

Happy Birthday Jonah! We can't wait to hear about how fun your birthday was!

22nd-Brock and Kristi

Happy Birthday Brock! This year Brock turns 12. This coming Sunday he will be getting the Aaronic Priesthood!

Happy Birthday Kristi! Kristi turned 43 this year. Hope your birthday was wonderful. Maybe you should post something about your new toy!

We love you all and hope your birthdays were full of fun!

Mark Your Calendars!

FR 2010 is now set for July 22-25! Activities and fun will start on the 22. So everyone will want to be there by then! You all should have also received an email from Dad about the FR 2010 fund. Please start sending your family's contribution as soon as you can! Thanks to everyone for how well this is coming together so far! We're very excited. You should be too!

Mindy's Triumph

My answer: I actually made dinner today. When Dylan has a baseball game (which he did tonight) that's a triumph! For those of you who don't know, I'm going back to school this fall. I'll be taking prerequisites for the dental hygiene program. I met with my advisor here at U of I last week, and found out that I probably won't have to take any English credits because of my high ACT English score from 16 years ago! So I guess my most recent triumph really happened a long time ago, but I'm thrilled about it anyway.

Question of the Week...

What is your most recent triumph?

Baptisms, Ella Lauritzen and Melissa Parkinson

Grandma and I had the great privilege of traveling to the east coast and participating in the baptism and confirmation ordinances for two of our cherished grandchildren. Needless to say, we are proud of them and of their choice to serve their Father in Heaven in the manner that He has defined.

The attached pictures are just a few of the several that we took while there. Grandma and Ella sang "A Child's Prayer" for her baptism service.

At Ella's baptism, Heidi and her children were there as well as most of the Duncan family (Amanda's parents and siblings). The Duncan family were most gracious hosts and fed us way too well.

At Melissa's baptism, Matt's family, Amy's family, Melissa's Parkinson grandparents and her aunt Crystal and her husband were there. There were 23 people eating Heidi out of house and home and 12 of them were our grandchildren.

So, you can see that it was a great family time. We enjoyed very much the opportunity to see where our children and grandchildren are living and to see how well they are doing in the things that matter.

We truly have been blessed.


-Dad

Mom Catching Up -A Lot!

I thought I'd better catch up on the blog. I don't remember my first makeup but the first time I remember was a time when I sang in the 4th celebration called Panorama- now called something else. I sang Summertime from Porgy and Bess. I had to be black so this guy who I really had a crush on was putting it on my legs. AHHH!!!!!!!! Fun times.

I've always loved reading. My first favorite set was an orange bound set of biographies about famous people. I have found a few at garage sales. There were about 400 I think. I was probably 2nd or 3rd grade. Next was Nancy Drew. I don't remember Trixie Belden being around then. I read lots and lots of others that I loved. Now I read lots of different things. I loved Harry Potter series but I don't usually like fantasy. I love mysteries, Charles Martin books, victorian romance(Dauphne Du Marier, Victoria Holt,) Just everything. I loved the Donna Green stories, LDS author. Mary Higgins Clark, so on.

We had a great trip back east. It was fun to see where Matt and Amanda and kids live. They have grown up so much. It's so beautiful out there. I don't know why the people are so grumpy and unfriendly. Not at Amanda's but at the gas stations, stores, airport. I do remember that now from when we moved back west. It was a beautiful drive back up to Heidi's . I rode with Matt. He came with us. We left later and got there quite late. We went to Knobles, a fun little amusement that had a carosel museum. Went to a dutch market on the way home. I sure wish we had something like that here. It was not as good as the one in Maryland but they had black cocoa, and it really was. We drove around a very old town and went to the charming library. It is so neat with carved wood and pillars, old stairs. Loved it. Amanda came with the kids on Friday. The kids had a ball playing together. Amy was there from Tuesday on. I havent seen her kids for a while either. It was just a fun time. To have everyone together. I admit my bed felt awfully good when we got home.

How about you all vote! There have only been 6 votes for the FR 2010 poll to the left. If I'm not mistaken, there are more than 6 people that need to vote. Please do so quickly!

Heidi's Books

I never read as a child. I really thought it was the most boring thing a person could do. I did pick up a Trixie Beldon book once in a while, but that was rare. Even in school I faked all my book reports and did very well with it. I never read the Odyssey, but managed to get 100% on the oral report. I even did a report on the Iliad as extra credit and never read it. Now that I'm older and wiser, it's hard to keep me from reading. I am a huge fan of Charles Martin, like Amy. His books are soooo refreshingly clean and inspiring. I love it! I also love classics like Rebecca, The Scarlet Pimpernel and The Count of Monte Cristo, and David Copperfield is on my list of favorites. Books are great!

Happy Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary to April and Dan! Today is their 1st Anniversary with many more to come! Congratulations you guys!

Happy Birthday.

Yesterday was Aaron's 29th birthday! Happy Birthday Aaron! (If you would like to read more about his birthday check out our blog Blair Family.

Happy Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary to Heidi and Jason! Congratulations! We hope you had a wonderful anniversary!

Happy Birthday Rachel

Happy Birthday Rachel! Yesterday was Rachel's birthday. We hope your day was full of fun! we love you!

Nico's Penny Passport

I forgot to tell everyone about this. While we were at Dinosaur Valley, each of the kids got a souvenir. Nico decided to get a penny passport book. This picture is not of his, but is courtesy of google :) Everyone has seen those smashed penny machines around. Well this is a book to keep them all in. I'd never seen one before. Anyway, Nico is very sad that he only has one penny in his book and we have been searching for places around here to get some and cant really find any . He went on and on in the car on the way home about how cool it would be if he had pennies from all over the place. I figured that since our family is all over the place we might could make this happen :) If you see a machine anywhere on your travels and you have 51 cents, Nico would be the happiest boy on the planet to get squished pennies from all over the country (especially if you mailed it to him. He also loves getting letters) Im especially talking to you guys overseas :) He's having a little difficult time with all his siblings being gone and having to move in July and I think this would help keep his mind of the negative. If you do decide to do this, contact me or my mom and we'll give you the address if you dont have it. :)

Teresa

Teresa's Books

Sorry I haven't been participating much. Im down in Texas enjoying the sun and the pool and trying my best to stay outdoors. :)

My favorite books as a kid were Goosebumps and the Encyclopedia. I loved reading them both (not just referencing- reading). I was a bit of a nerd. :) Those are the only ones I can really remember liking alot when I was younger.

In grade school I remember reading moms anatomy and disease textbooks and being completely fascinated.

Since teenagerhood, I have accumilated a few books that I enjoy reading over and over- The Count of Monte Cristo, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Deception Point, and my favorite- The Dark Tower Series. I don't read often, but when I do it's usually one of these books.

.....and the Winner is....

The week of July 24th 2010. Now would there is a poll as to which time of the week. Please vote!

Catch Up

Once again, I had to catch up with a ton of posts. I haven't been doing much but working lately. If you want to see all I have been doing you can go here

Nickell Photography Blog...

and I am not finished. I am only getting started. It's my busy season for sure. April and May were the worst, luckily for the next couple months it won't be as bad and I can actually get caught up!!

Happy Birthday!

Once again, I missed a few birthdays. I have been so busy. Here is a birthday post for:

June 1st

Happy Birthday Zack, hope your birthday was lots of fun! We sure love you and wish you lived closer!

Happy Birthday to April! I need a new picture of you, but we still hope you had a fun birthday!

June 3rd

Happy Birthday to Tricia, her birthday was yesterday. Hope you had a fun birthday!

We love you all and we are glad you are in our family. Sorry we missed your birthday!

France Update

Hey everyone,

Tara doesn't have a lot of time, and making a blog apparently takes her too much time. She has asked me to tell you all that she posts pictures and whatever she can on facebook because it uploads her pictures faster than blogging. If you have a facebook account and she's already your friend, you can just go look. If you have one and she's not your friend, add her and if you don't have a facebook account use someone elses (like I do) and you can see her hundreds of pictures. She even got a very blurry one of herself with the Mona Lisa.

She is staying in Annecy now, in a house with an older gentleman. That's her host family. Just this one guy. She was pretty nervous at first, especially since he speaks no english. Now she says she can talk to him but she doesn't always get what he's saying. Today she sent me a recipe tha she really liked. It is a salad made with tomatoes, corn, eggs, crab, tuna or chicken (she couldn't figure out which) and some kind of oil, I think. I'm pretty amazed that she couldn't figure out fish or chicken. That seems pretty easy to act out. She tested today to see what classes she is in, and she's in the #8 (of 10) class. I guess her french is better than I thought. Anyway, that's the update so far. Here she is at the lake in Annecy.

Lori's Books

I have been an avid reader forever. Now that my old-lady eyesight has kicked in it's not so much fun 'cause I have to get all "prepared" and everything and I can't just fall asleep reading, I gotta take off the specs first. Agh!!!
Anyway, my favorite series as a little girl was Little House on the Prarie. I read the entire series several times. I can still remember once when it was 100+ degrees outside and I was reading about the blizzard "Pa" got caught in between the house and the barn and was shivering cold just from being into the book so much. Weird how the mind works.
Now, as a teenager, I went nuts over the Harlequin romance novels. I must have read (and Kristi will attest to the fact that many were re-enacted in front of a mirror) more than 100 of those. That's where I fell in love with the idea of touring the Greek islands. Sounds SO beautiful!
Lately, the best book I've read is "The Shack". Not exactly Mormon literature, but definitely a spiritual experience worth the read!

Amy's Books

I hated to read when I was growing up. I don't remember reading any series, except Laura Ingalls Wilder. I did actually make it all the way through Gone With The Wind in High School.

Now I love to read! As soon as I finished school I went to the library and checked out 5 books and I am loving being able to read for pleasure again. I think my favorite author now has to be Charles Martin. He's a great storyteller and clean at the same time. There are books that I love but not for the author, like The Thirteenth Tale, Pope Joan, both Hosseini (sp?) books, and I really liked Angels and Demons but I didn't like any of his other books. I really don't like it when an author gets too caught up in being artistic and fresh rather than just telling a great story. There are so many books I would still like to read but they may have to wait until I graduate!

Tara's Paris Adventure Part 1

Tara finally called me from France and I told her I would write a little post about her adventure. She is having a great time, seeing all the sites while she's in Paris this week, and her feet are very sore! She has visited the Champs de Elysees, Arch de Triumph, Sacre Coeur (where a frenchman kissed her hand) and attended Mass at Notre Dame. Yesterday she went to the Louvre and saw the Mona Lisa and was somewhat impressed, but what she really liked were the greek sculptures. The Cupid and Psyche pieces were the best there and she says she recognized most of the personalities in the paintings now that she has taken her greek history classes. She said the Louvre is a maze and she's sure they didn't even see half of it, and they didn't even get to the gardens. She also went to the Eiffel Tower which is beautiful. She was very impressed by it, and loves how the blinking lights make it look sparkly all night. Today she went to Versaille but it was too cold for her to wear her new silver dress and that made her sad. That seriously is all she said about Versailles. Silly girl! That's it so far - more later.