Doing Something Right!

The other night Travis and I went to bed earlier than we normally do. Pretty much right after we put the kids to bed. Some days you just gotta get some sleep! I thought I heard a sound out in the living room, but it wasn't anything I felt needed investigating. Well, yesterday in church, Travis and I substitute taught Joseph's Primary class. We were talking about choosing the right and doing good things and Joseph tells us a little story. He said...

"After mommy and daddy went to bed, Spencer got sad because he couldn't find his Care Bear. (Bedtime Bear) I climbed out of my bed (he's in the top bunk) and looked a little bit for the bear for Spencer. Then I said a prayer by Spencer and asked Heavenly Father to help us find his Care Bear and to help Spencer to have good dreams and not be scared if he had to sleep by himself. Then I sneaked out of our room and looked outside on the deck to see if it was there. It wasn't. It was really dark in the living room, but the light on the stove made a blue light that helped me see. I couldn't find his care bear, so I went to bed. In the morning, Spencer said he didn't have any bad dreams and his care bear was in his bed!" (the bear was in his bed the whole time-I had given it to him earlier-it just got twisted in a blanket)

First of all, it is a tad scary that he got out of bed and wandered in the dark and we didn't have a clue, but it is a very good feeling that 1. he cares enough about his brother's well being enough to get out of bed and look for the toy. and 2. he thought to say a prayer and ask for Spencer to be comforted.

These children are the messiest, naughtiest boys I know some times, but times like that remind us that they are also sweet and loving and we are proud to be their parents!

It's Official!

Just a quick note here. Travis got official word from his boss that he passed through to the next level. He has already begun his training-has a schedule and everything! They have been hinting of where they want to put him once his training is over. They think he would do well as an O2. Don't have any idea what that stands for, but it is a tough Executive position and they told him they don't normally place newly promoted Execs in that position, but they are considering Travis for it. He would be in charge of HR, Freight, and Customer Service. All of it. It is a big job, but he would totally be awesome at it!

So CONGRATULATIONS! to my hero Travee!!!!! We love you!

New Name!

Today we were driving in West Seattle and Travis saw a home with a sign saying the Nelsonian. Now, if anyone knows Travis, you know that reading-especially newspapers-is his greatest passion. He saw that and joked,"Hey, that's what we could call our house some day. NO! That's a great name for our blog!" (It does sound kinda like a newspaper title-I believe one of the reasons he likes it so much) I agree that it is different and creative, so the address stays the same, but the title of our blog has changed! (o:

Harry Potter and My Little Motivators

Saturday morning at 7am Fred Meyer opened. My dear and wonderful husband was there, purchasing the final installment in the Harry Potter series. I have read and read and read. All I can say is that there is no better way to end such a spectacular series. End of comment!

This afternoon I decided to walk on the treadmill while I re-read parts of my Harry Potter book. (note book in picture) (I read so fast yesterday that I needed to go back to some parts) When I get done with the walking, the boys always want a turn walking. Today was no different so I let them have a go. Watching them be so excited to walk on this silly treadmill made me think about how sometimes it's such drudgery to me and I needed to change my attitude. These kids love to walk and be active. Why can't I be that way too? So, I took pictures of them, printed them and hung them on my wall. I want to be like them. Excited to do something that will only improve my health and make me feel better. I guess this is just another reason we've been instructed to be as little children! Pictures are below.

Rain, Traffic and an Interview

Okay. I promised to write about the interview. It was a very stressful morning! The interview went great and it looks almost 100% sure that Travis is in. He's supposed to get the official feedback very soon, but they pretty much told him that he is in the training program effective immediately. That's the good news, but let me tell you the story leading up to the interveiw. We woke up very early Wednesday morning to the sound of rain. We live in Seattle-no big whoop, right? Apparently, people who live in Seattle forget very easily that it rains here and they all get really weird when they drive in the rain. Travis checked the traffic before we left (which was 1 1/2 hours before the interview was to start. The interview was a 40 minute drive away.) The freeways were a mess! So, we decided to take all of our little side roads that we know and snake our way up there. We did, after all, have more than twice the time that we needed to get there. Well, it took us 40 minutes to get out of the very town we live in! A typical drive to Seattle will take us about 20 minutes to drive, but it took us 1 hour and 40minutes! Once we knew we were going to be late, Travis called and told them. They were impressed that he called. It took us 2 hours to get there! We ended up getting onto the freeway in the end and after we got through the city the traffic got better, but it was the worst we have ever seen! We decided that moving out to a nice little podunk town in Kansas doesn't sound too bad.

Like I said, the interview seemed to go very well. They gave every indication that they intended to promote Travis after his training. This is good news. The training program is 12 weeks long. He will do his regular duties at his store and 4 hours of training per week. After the 12 weeks he will do some training in a different store for however long they feel he needs it. Then we just wait until an Executive position opens up for him.

We want to thank everyone who has supported us through all of this. We deeply appreciate the prayers and supportive comments from everyone. We know that we wouldn't have gotten this far without the Lord's help and we appreciate everyone putting in a good word for us. (o:

After the interview we headed over to Travis's parents house where she made us a lovely celebratory dinner. Travis passed out on the couch for an hour. I think between not sleeping much the night before (who has ever slept well before a big interview?) and that terrible traffic, the poor guy was exhausted. Needless to say it turned out to be a pretty great day!

Just checking in

Just stopping by to say hello. We have been busy helping Travis get ready for his interviews this Wednesday. Travis and I were asked to speak next month, so we've started our research on that, plus, it's just been hot here and so we have been doing all we can to just stay cool. We went for a drive to the beach in Seattle, we played in Grandmas yard, went to church...that kind of stuff.

We will keep you all posted on the outcome of Wednesdays interviews, but it looks promising. Travis has a new boss named Kelly. He is really nice and Travis already likes him. He's a hard worker so far and has a lot of great ideas that will help the store. Plus, he's supportive of his team and wants to see them succeed. Yahoo for new bosses!

The boys are healthy and happy. Connor now believes that throwing metal cars at peoples heads is great fun, so we've been working on teaching him that's not okay, but he's two and reasoning isn't his strong suit.

We hope you all have a super fabulous week and we'll be back to post all our happy news (positive thinking!!!) Thursday.

Backyard Wildlife

Yesterday we went to a presentation at the library called "Backyard Wildlife". It was very well done. There was a gal there from the States Wildlife Organization. She brought skins/furs from a bunch of different animals from our region and the kids got to touch them all. The picture below is Joseph holding the bobcat fur. They got to touch a skunk, beaver, racoon, black bear, coyote, and even a gigantic cougar-which there are a lot of up in this area. I took Connor because Travis had to work, but it was supposed to be ages 5 and up. He didn't make a birdfeeder, but he touched the furs and was very well behaved. The boys really enjoyed it and it was free! Hooray for the Public Library!!!
Some of the other animals she brought.

Here they are all making little birdfeeders with bread, egg whites, and bird seed.Here is the finished product.

They served a snack of cold Juicy Juice boxes and goldfish crackers at the end.

Jennings Memorial Park

Yesterday Travis had to go to a training meeting up at the Marysville Kohl's. It's about an hour drive from here. The meeting was only supposed to go 4 hours so we decided it would be fun if the boys and I tagged along. I got on the computer and found an incredible park called Jennings Memorial Park/Jennings Nature Park. It's 51 acres of pure fun! The nature park was something we didn't have time to do. There are trails to hike around, but we didn't get the chance. We did partake of the Memorial park. It was awesome! In Seattle it was really warm, but when we got up there it was cloudy and cool, so we had to break out the jackets. I took lots of pictures and am including them below. The kids were exhausted when we got home. We ended up only staying 3 hours because Travis had been misinformed about the times so we left an hour earlier than we thought. Poor Travis, sitting in a meeting while we were out having fun! Oh, and we had a picnic there too. One exciting thing about Daddy being at Kohl's was we got to explore a new Kohl's. It looks just like ours at home except that it is all on one level where as ours has an upstairs. The kids loved that too!

This is the main climber toy that they had. Off to the right was a huge red barn that had bathrooms and a kind of gym type place that they were doing summer kid camp stuff in. To the left was a barn and yard for the free petting zoo. (It was closed yesterday)
This is the train that was by the big climber toy. Notice in the background the red petting zoo barn and the old house was an old home from 1885 that you can visit on the weekends and see how people lived in the 1800's. (We peeked in the windows. )

This is the petting zoo area. There were calves, little pigs, and goats running around. The boys had fun just watching them.

This is one of the bridges. This led to the dinosaur playground. It was just past the little fishing pond. Connor was scared to death because he could see down through the slats. Spencer took good care of him.
This is by the WSU gardens. It was a fun little climber toy, but just not as good as the big one!
This was at the little Dino Park. We had to cross the big bridge and hike up a steep hill to get to it, but it had a beautiful view.

This purple dino scared them all. I told Joseph to ride it and he said the dinosaur looked like he didn't like kids sitting on him.

The Stegosaurus was their favorite.
There is a lovely spot there that we spent quite a bit of time walking through. It's a big garden area taken care of by WSU (Washington State University). There are several garden spots, each done differently. There was a scented plot where everything smelled wonderful (like lavendar), there was a Chinese garden, a butterfly garden... I should have taken notes on all the different types they had.

These bunnies were hanging out in one of the gardens. They let us get pretty darn close before they ran away.

This was in my favorite garden. The English Cottage garden. They had so many lovely flowers-lots of purple!
Hanging out in the gardens.
And here we are picnicing. There were several picnic areas, but they wanted to sit on the grass beside our car. If you look closely, you will see Joseph wiggling his tooth. It fell out shortly after this picture was taken.

Sneaky Mommy and Lemonade

Today I was a sneaky mom! The boys, as I have said in previous posts, don't do well in the heat. I have been very concerned that they get fluids into their bodies. (besides pink milk) They love lemonade so today I helped Joseph set up a lemonade stand in the living room. We made "kid dollars" and banana muffins and then Joseph sold his lemonade and muffins to his brothers. They have been drinking lemonade (and going to the bathroom) all afternoon. I am very happy because they are getting their fluids in and having a lot of fun playing together. (a big thanks to Uncle David and Aunt Stephanie for sending the Light Country Time~the boys aren't too fond of my Crystal Light) Below are a couple pictures of Joseph and his stand. Oh, and Joseph did all of the writing on the sign.

4th of July!

WARNING!!! Many, many pictures to follow! They are so fun-filled, though, we know you won't mind looking at them all! (o: I will put captions above each photo to explain what you are seeing. We went over to Travis's parents house (as usual) (o: and had a lovely bbq of hamburgers and hot dogs. We had a few fireworks, and just really enjoyed the day and each others company.
The weather was very hot for Seattle. One of the nicest 4th of July's we have had in a very long time. It got close to 90. Most people in the summer would say no big deal, but we Seattle folks just don't get along with heat. We are mild weather people. So, until the shade crept across the yard, we had to find ways to keep cool. The best way? Sprinklers!!!!Spencer was really bothered by the heat. More than his brothers. He preferred to just sit in the shade and eat lemonade Popsicles.

After a while, Spencer really didn't feel well. He had taken some decongestant earlier in the day, so we think that the medicine mixed with the heat made for a not so great time. He took a quick nap on the couch and quickly recovered though.
After the sprinklers, and while Spencer took a rest, we turned on Steve Martin's "Pink Panther" movie. This is one of the boys favorites and one of the very few non-educational films we let the boys watch. It was made for families and we have to say there are some pretty funny things and sayings that happen that really make the boys laugh. Here is Connor getting ready to watch the movie. His shirt was in the dryer. Notice his favorite blankey in the whole universe is with him. That thing was puffing dirt like Pigpen by the time we left.

Of course, as soon as a tiny bit of shade hit the yard, Travis was out in it doing what he loves best.
The boys love smoke balls because they aren't loud, they make pretty colored smoke, and Daddy runs with them and they get to chase him. Here are a couple of pictures of the boys chasing Daddy and the smoke. This is a funny one! Travis's parents were sitting innocently watching, when Travis tossed a smoke ball behind them. The smoke pretty much surrounded them.
Joseph took his earphones off for this picture. (see bottom picture for closeup of that)

The Counting Game!!!! The boys are all very sensitive to loud noises-especially Joseph (he gets migraines). We only got fireworks that didn't make a lot of noise. That meant Roman candles, ground blossoms, bees and Morning Glory's. The Roman candles were their favorites. We had 5 ball ones and 10 ball ones. The kids liked the ones with 10 balls. (Travis would insert naughty joke here if he could) We made it into a bit of a counting game for them. Travis would light them and the kids would count each ball as it fired out. They thought that was great fun.FIRE!!!! The next to last bee that we launched whizzed up and into the trees behind us. That darn tree instantly caught fire! It looks green on the outside, but it was dry and dead inside. Travis grabbed the hose (that we had at the ready just in case something like this were to happen) and doused the flames. Shook Joseph up pretty badly. He is so sensitive and felt very badly that the tree got damaged by fire. Travis joked that we had our very own burning bush!
This is just a cute one of Connor watching Whiskers the cat eat his dinner.

And finally, here we are roasting marshmallows to make gooey smores. Note the earphones Joseph is wearing. He didn't like all the noise from the fireworks in the neighborhood, so he got them out and wore them around for a couple of hours. Funny kid!

All in all we had a wonderful time.

Getting Dirty

This weekend we also went over to Grandma and Grandpa Nelson's house to hang out and enjoy their big backyard. They always play in this tiny little patch of dirt by the house. The other day Travis decided he was tired of all the fighting ("You're in my way~I can't see the dirt!") So he got out the rake and cleaned up a little part of the hill by the fence. The rest is dusty, dirty history. They played in the dirt for several hours, only stopping for a brief cupcake brake. They had so much fun and were so filthy. As soon as we walked in our door Travis had the bath water running. I won't even try to describe the condition of the water in my washing machine! But, as we watched them play and get so dirty we couldn't help but be happy too. Our little boys were acting like little boys. They were healthy and happy and that's all that mattered.

So, here are a couple of pictures of my boys and their exciting weekend adventure! I only wish you could see just how dirty Joseph was. The lighting was good enough to hide most of the dirt on his face. (o: Oh, and Spencer is showing us his little owie that needed a band-aid.

Relay For Life

We've been very busy the past few days. I'll probably post a separate post later about our other days, but I wanted to post the pictures from the National Cancer Society's Relay for Life night. We went representing the Kohl's company. There weren't very many people from Kohl's, but it was our first and I am positive next years will be much more involved. It was a great experience for the boys to participate in. Cancer hasn't been really prominent in either of our families, which we are just fine with. BUT~it only takes one to be too much. Travis's sister passed away 10 years ago of Brain Cancer. We wear the American Brain Tumor Association bracelets in honor of her. Plus, I had my dear friend, Shauna Jones little boy Spencer on my mind. Spencer, who is just 5 years old, has bravely fought and won the fight against Rhabdomyosarcoma. (Shauna, correct me if I got that wrong-I did it from memory)

Anyway, it was great for the boys to cheer on the survivors and to walk in memory of the Aunt Kim they never got to meet. The only real negative was about 1 1/2 hours into it the skies opened up and soaked us to the bones. We ended up leaving a bit early because we didn't want the kids to get sick. (which they did anyway) So, here are a couple of pictures from our evening. There are tons more, I only selected a few. Oh, and the rainbow was on our way to the event. We looked at it as a good sign.