My Stars!

Maren and Emma just finished up a two week run of Disney's Jungle Book! This is the third musical they've been in with Sarah and Priscilla Hibbert, who love performing and keep talking them into joining them! I love it, though, because it's so fun to watch them, and I think it's really good for their confidence. Emma has decided that she wants to be in Broadway shows ever since she saw Wicked and realized that some people get paid to perform! Of course, they got nothing but satisfaction in a job well done for this show, as well as when they were in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Power in His Touch. Sorry girls!

Maren played the tail-end of Kaa the Snake. It was so fun how they slithered in on skateboards, head to foot! Very clever! She was a great snake tail and got to sing "Trust In Me" as well as lots of other songs.

Emma was a boppin' little Bumblebee! Those bees were so cute dancing around and singing! She had fun with that role, bobbing her antennae to the beat!

It was a fun group of kids and a fabulous director. They really had a good time! Now if they would only offer to pay them! Good luck with that, Emma!

Happy Anniversary, Baby!

It is incredibly hard to take a picture of yourself kissing someone! Whew! It took us a lot of tries! It was exhausting! :) Wow! I cannot believe that 20 years have flown by! It doesn't seem possible that we've already been married for 2 decades! How did that happen? When did we get so old?

So what big thing did we do to celebrate this momentous occasion? Well, when I bought tickets to Wicked almost a year ago, the plan was that we would spend the weekend in Salt Lake without the kids and have a fun weekend. Instead, we ended up taking the girls with us, so that kind of put a damper on a romantic celebration! We couldn't think of anything else we wanted to do that wouldn't cost a few hundred dollars more, so finally we settled on....

The World Famous Lava Hot Springs! We had a lot of fun! First, we ate at a Thai restaurant that some friends of ours have been bragging about. It was yummy! I couldn't pronounce anything we ate, (and the waiter/owner could barely pronounce it in English!), but it was delicious! After that, we went on a tour through Lava. Del's grandparents lived there, and he used to spend every summer there, so we had a lot to see and stories to tell. We also visited the cemetary so Del could "say hi" to his grandparents and great-grandparents. Funny thing to do on a date, huh! It is beautiful countryside, though.

Later, we soaked in the hot pools with a cute, wrinkly old couple, two large men in speedos with WAY too much hanging over the top and sides, and a tatooed mother and daughter finishing up a cross-country trip on their Harleys. Too bad I didn't have my camera in the pool! Obviously, we were sitting in the coolest pool where the old people are. The other ones were filled with beautiful young people in bikinis, and at age 39, I prefer not to sit anywhere near them!

And finally (don't I look surprised?) Del shocked and amazed me by being romantic! Two dozen perfectly beautiful red roses! 1 for each year plus 1 for each child! Isn't he sweet?

Here's to another 50 anniversaries!

Hurray for Maren!

Maren is the Hope of America! I knew she was sweet and brilliant, but now I have proof!

The Hope of America award is sponsored by the Kiwanas Club in Pocatello and honors 6th graders they feel are leaders in their schools. Each 6th grade teacher gets to choose 1 boy and 1 girl from their classroom. They have to have high grades, show integrity, and demonstrate teamwork with their classmates. Maren is definitely a good student (straight A's for 3 years!), and I'm always impressed that my shy little daughter will stand up for other students even though it scares her to death! She is a peacemaker and an all-around good kid! Congratulations, Maren! We're so proud of you!

Fun at Lagoon!

We had a really fun vacation a couple of weeks ago and school wasn't even out yet! Maren and Emma are in the Idaho State University Children's Chorus, and every year, they take a trip to Lagoon. This year we decided to take the whole family and make it a vacation! We also talked some friends who also have kids in the chorus into bringing their families, so our boys would have someone to hang out with (other than their boring parents!). It was a lot of fun!

Emma and Priscilla Hibbert were the perfect pals for going on rides together, and so were Maren and Sarah Hibbert, since they were a little braver! Much braver than I was! My kids keep teasing me because I only went on 5 rides, but I was perfectly content to watch them have a great time while I sat with the jackets and water bottles and talked to other chicken friends. I did try a few, though, and I LOVED Rattlesnake Rapids! That was great, even though we got soaked!

Del was NOT happy about getting all wet, and I was laughing so hard at his sopping wet face that I couldn't stop! Unlike what you may think, this picture shows me laughing and pointing at Del, NOT picking Sarah Hibbert's nose!

I got soaked, too, but just as we went under the waterfall, I bent over, so my back was sopping wet, but my front was pretty dry. Smart, huh, Del! Bet you wish you'd thought of that!

We never did get a picture of all of us together at the park, but here we are with the girls as we waited in the long line to get wet! It was worth it!
Devin and Chris spent the day with Tyler and Trent Winder and had lots of fun without us! We managed to get a picture of Devin, but there is no proof that Chris even came with us! The boys avoid cameras like all good Nielsons do, so you'll just have to imagine Chris' cute little face peering over Trent. Really, we brought him with us!

Devin had just been to Lagoon the day before with his class for an Engineering competition. Their school, Century, did really well! Their teams took 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place, and it was a regional competition! Devin rode the big roller coaster--Colossus--5 times that day and they all rode it 6 more times on Saturday! It was their favorite ride!


Michelle and Joe Winder are much braver than I am, so I didn't see them much except at lunch. They were off on the scary rides from the minute we got there! I spent most of the day with Farhana Hibbert, who is always great fun (and remembered to bring her camera! Thanks, Farhana!). What a fun day!

May 16th

Wicked!

After buying tickets 10 months earlier, seeing this screen directing us to our "One short day in the Emerald City" was sooooo exciting! We found out a couple of days before the show that a friend had two extra tickets, so we bought them and took the girls with us! They had really wanted to go ever since they found out that Becky and Dave were taking Katherine and Megan, so it worked out perfectly. Except for one tiny point: we had to let the girls sit down in our expensive seats so they could be by their cousins while Del and I took the cheaper balcony seats by our friends. Aren't we good parents?!




Here is a picture of the girls enjoying the nice seats right before the show. Del and I used little binoculars up in the balcony. The sacrifices we make for our kids! It was worth it, though. We could see fine, and it's an experience they'll never forget! The show was wonderful! Even better than I imagined! My only regret is that when I bought the tickets in August I didn't splurge and buy 6 tickets so the boys could have gone, too! They assured me that it would have been a waste of my money, but I know they would have secretly loved it!

Here we are after 3
hours of spectacular entertainment! You can't see it, but my toes are tapping, and I'm ready to break into singing and dancing around on the sidewalk. Luckily, Del was there to hold me back! There's something about hearing incredibly talented people sing that gives you the mistaken idea that you might be able to, too! Now that I'm home, of course, I do it all the time! Mostly in the shower, but my family occasionally gets to attend my concerts in the car, too! Lucky!

Becky and I both decided to wear ruby red slippers in honor of Oz, so here she is clicking her fashionable heels together. "There's no place like home..." Really, we were NOT ready to go home, yet! It was a great day, but way too short!

May 2nd

I'm Repenting!

I can't believe I haven't posted anything since February! We got to visit with my dad's family (Rhea & Dave, Shelly & Bob, and Cavelle & Keith! Fun!) last week and they commented that they're tired of seeing the same post about my new computer! Sorry! I hadn't realized that anyone ever looked at it (except Becky and Michelle--I love you both!). I've just been doing it as a journal for myself, and I'm a lazy journaler! I have been so incredibly busy, but we've had lots of fun, so I'm going to try to catch up on all of it. Hang on! Here we go...