I'm not 41, I'm just 21 with 20 years experience!

Today I found a quote by Andy Rooney that said, "The last birthday that's any good is 23."    He was so wrong!  This was my best birthday every!  I loved every minute of it!  I had most of my family there, and we had fun all day.  We missed you James and Trevor, but we ate extra portions of this fabulous fruit trifle just for you!  I also got to spend it with my nephew, John, who was born on my birthday, which was a very fun way to celebrate 15 years ago, and it just gets better.

My family gave me this great dual crockpot that we used the next day on New Years Eve to make Lil' Smokies and Rhea's cranberry sauerkraut meatballs (a delicious family favorite).  I also went with my family to see the new Narnia movie in 3-D, had dinner with all of the adult family at the Thai restaurant on Main Street in Pocatello, and celebrated with some great friends at lunch the next day.  

I have decided that aging isn't so bad, so I found some great quotes about getting older:
Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been.  ~Mark Twain

The aging process has you firmly in its grasp if you never get the urge to throw a snowball.  ~Doug Larson

A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams.  ~John Barrymore

Do not regret growing older.  It is a privilege denied to many.  ~Author Unknown

It's sad to grow old, but nice to ripen.  ~Brigitte Bardot

Men do not quit playing because they grow old; they grow old because they quit playing.  ~Oliver Wendell Holmes

I'm not 40, I'm eighteen with 22 years experience.  ~Author Unknown

Inside every older person is a younger person wondering what happened.  ~Jennifer Yane

I agree with that last quote, though.  I feel like I'm still 21, and I am often surprised to find that I am not that young anymore when I am forced to face facts with a child's birthday.  Surprise!  Whew!  That's rough!

Christmas Cards

I feel really bad for not sending out Christmas cards this year, but life got crazy and it just never happened.  Plus, I spent too much time thinking about the process and talked myself out of it.  It was like there was an angel-me on one shoulder and a devil-me on the other, but I'm still not sure which was which.  The conversation in my head went something like this:

We need to send our Christmas cards earlier this year, but I want to send a picture as fun as our Brady Bunch one in 2008 that Becky took, and I can't think of another fun pose.  I want it to be creative!

Creativity is overrated!  I'll just get a friend to come take a quick shot of us in front of the tree.

But I hate having family pictures taken.  I always blink, and Devin whines so much about it that you'd think his leg was being amputated.  I don't know if I'm up for that.

But this may be our last Christmas with everyone at home, and we need a new family picture anyway.

We'll take one the next time we go to Boise.  Devin doesn't leave until March, and Becky takes great family pictures!  And if we don't make it up there before he leaves, Becky can photoshop Devin's head in the picture.  She's really good at that.  No one will ever know!

Well, I still have to send out Christmas cards because I made a family address list to give to everyone at the Nielson family reunion, and I told them that I hoped to receive a few more Christmas cards this year.  I'll be a hypocrite if I don't send any!

So what!  I'm a hypocrite.

I was OK with that and decided two days before Christmas that I wasn't sending any cards. After all, I had only received a couple, so maybe no one was sending them this year.  Then on Christmas Eve, I got a mailbox full of them and felt incredibly guilty. I've come up with a plan, though.  We will be original and send out New Year's or Valentine's cards to everyone this year instead.  We won't be late, just avoiding the Christmas rush.  Maybe next year I'll send them out for Halloween!

Merry Christmas!

A Wonderful Surprise!

We spent Christmas Eve with my family and Christmas day with Del's, and we had a great time with both of our families.  After a delicious Christmas dinner and a fun time singing carols and exchanging gifts, Del's parents had a wonderful announcement.  They had received their mission call a few days earlier and saved it to open with us all.  It was exciting and a little teary as they read that they were called to serve for 18 months in the Cleveland, Ohio mission!  We will miss them immensely, but we are so excited to have them serve a mission.  Another big shock came when they read that they would report on January 17th, and they realized they only have 3 weeks to get ready!  It will be an exciting whirlwind at the Symons' home.

I have incredible in-laws, and I am so happy they love me and accepted me right into their family 21 years ago.  I feel very blessed, and I am so proud of them.  I can't wait to see the amazing things they will do in Ohio!

The Stockings Were Hung...

 Well, the stockings weren't exactly hung.  They're always too heavy for that because we like to have lots of presents and goodies stuffed in them.  When I was little I liked the stuff in my stocking best, so I always try to fill them with fun stuff.  Our rule is that the kids are allowed to open everything in their stocking when they wake up, but they can't touch anything else until 8:00am!  And if they wake us up before that they lose a present.  That's the threat anyway--we've never had to enforce it, of course :). 

Emma was excited to see the Christmas dress I made for her American Girl doll, Samantha.  I was pretty impressed with it, too, especially considering that I made it in an hour and a half on Christmas Eve!  Talk about procrastinating!  Maybe I'll learn for next year. 

Other than that, her favorite gift was a pair of green sweats.  Oddly enough, she's been begging for sweats for months.  We heard big squeals when she unwrapped this gift!

 

Here's Maren's pride and joy, a Nikon Coolpix.  She has wanted a camera for a while, so we knew that would be her main gift, and she knew it, too, after she opened the memory card in her stocking!  She's already been having lots of fun taking candid photos of everyone, and I can tell that I'll be the subject of many bad, blackmail-worthy pictures in the future!

 

About a year ago, Chris adopted Grandma Nielson's acoustic guitar and has taught himself quite a bit.  He got some guitar software and some great pictures to decorate his new room around (when that new room gets finished).  He also loved his cool, new jacket and earphones.  An electric guitar is already on the Christmas wish list for next year, but I'm hoping it dies out.  I love the sound of an acoustic guitar, but I don't know about the noise of an electric one! 

 

Of course, most of Devin's Christmas was mission stuff, so here Devin is holding a super-cheap mp3 player.  He has a really nice Zune, but they aren't allowed to have an mp3 with video capabilities on their mission, so he had to downgrade!  It was pretty hard finding an mp3 player that didn't have video and wasn't a piece of junk!  We've all been laying claim to the Zune while he is gone, but he says he's going to hide it.  Probably a good idea.  His other mission stuff included a suit, 10 white shirts, ties, socks and other various items.  The one thing he was surprised by was a nice Kenwood car stereo we bought him.  His old one didn't have a display, so you could never tell what station you were on.  It also had a broken tape deck.  He can plug his mp3 player into his new one, so he was very happy.  It took Del and Devin a couple of hours installing it, but now they're having lots of fun with it. 

 

Del got lots of practical gifts, like Carharts and tools, but I did get him a new watch.  Here is a picture of him searching for the watch pin, which he lost while trying to take a link out.  Fortunately, we had a spare pin because we never could find the one he lost.  Other than that Del's favorite gift was probably a couple of seasons of the old Mission Impossible series.  They loved watching our other ones in Island Park in the evenings after a long day in construction, so I got him more couch potato supplies.

  

I don't think I've ever had any Christmas pictures with me in it before since I'm always the photographer (and I prefer it that way), but Maren took this picture of me with her new camera.  I love my new sweats and fuzzy scarf.  The splashy silver purse is great, too, and I've already got it loaded up.  Of course, Santa has an easy time with my presents, since they are just handed over to wrap. Del and I both prefer it that way, since this way I love it all and everything fits great!  

We had a terrific Christmas, and we hope you all did, too!

Some Holiday Magic

Once again we got to enjoy a fun evening, thanks to Emma's talented little self.  She loves to perform in plays, and this time she had a main role and several solo parts as Beverly in "Holiday Magic."  It was very fun, and she was so happy to have her grandparents come see the play.

These are some of her favorite performing pals.  Britlyn Vincent, on the left, has been her buddy since birth, since her mother, Kassie, and I are great friends.  Madison May (left of Emma) and Rebecca DeLoach (right) are friends she has made in CMT (Children's Music Theater) over the past year.  CMT has been a wonderful opportunity for Emma, and we have loved watching her grow more confident about performing.

Some Reflection

This has been a season of lasts for us.  It kind of sneaked up on me, and I wasn't really expecting it.  I first noticed it when I was asked to be in charge of Emma’s Halloween party. I was rolling out Playdough pumpkins and ghosts for 28 children to play Halloween Playdough Pictionary, just like I do every year, and I realized it was the last party I would plan as a room mother.  Emma will move up to Franklin next year and enter a world where Playdough, birthday cupcakes and room mothers are not quite as welcome as they were in elementary school.  Sniff…. 

After spending the past 14 years planning and attending book fairs, science exhibits, walkathons and art contests, it made me a little sad.  It's strange to be leaving a chunk of my life behind that used to take up so much of my time and energy.  I'll miss it all.  Well, except for being PTA president!  That is a load of work that I’m happy to have in my past!

Last week I noticed these changes even more when I attended Emma's Christmas program and realized that it was my last grade school concert. Every year I look forward to hearing one of my kids sing about "Dashing through the mashed potatoes and the candied yams." That's always been their favorite song at school-- "Christmastime is no time to diet!"  My favorite concert was the year Chris was in 3rd grade and he was chosen to sing a solo in "We Three Kings."  He looked so cute in his costume, and sounded perfect, especially when his voice cracked a little. I'm so glad our video camera was working that year!

Another last event is coming up soon, since it will probably be our last Christmas with all of us together for a while.  Devin will leave on his mission in March, and then by the time he gets home Chris will leave on his mission (and then who knows about Maren and Emma?!).  Maybe when they are all gone Del and I will start a new tradition---Christmas in Cancun!

Things are changing and the Symons family is growing up, whether I like it or not.  And really, I do like it!  I love the fun new things they are involved in as they get older.  Maren just finished up basketball season, and her team took 2nd place in the tournament.  Chris has been learning to play the guitar, and he's getting really good.  Emma had a lead role in her holiday play at the Children's Music Theater last week.  And Devin is learning great construction skills while he gets ready to leave for Tijuana.  This new phase with my kids so grown up is lots of fun!  It's just a little strange, that's all, when in my head they still seem like this:

 Sometimes I miss those little monkeys.  And I'll miss making Playdough pumpkins.

All Wrapped Up!

HO HO HO!

Here it is, December 5th, and I am completely finished with Christmas shopping and wrapping (even down to the stockings and Christmas candy)!  Wow!  I'm feeling impressed with myself!  I'm also feeling more than a little poor.  Kids are so much cheaper when they are younger.  Those dumb, coveted Zhu Zhu pets are only $6.99.  So much less painful than the Christmas lists of teens!

Adios Amigo!

 The moment we've been waiting for has arrived!  It actually arrived on Thursday, October 28 at 10:30am when I was home by myself and had no one to tell!  I was so excited to see the envelope from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that I took a picture of it so Devin could see how good it looked!  (Really, it looks like it's time to repaint our mailbox!) 

I was jumping around yelling, "It's here!" but the kids were at school, Del and Devin were in Island Park building a cabin, and Olive (dog) and Millie (cat) didn't care.  I called Devin on the phone, but he and Del were up on the roof, so we couldn't talk much.  When Emma came home from school I told her, and at first she was really excited.  Then it hit her, and she said, "That means he'll be leaving soon.  I'll really miss him, Mom."  I thought it was sweet, especially considering that he's usually a total pest and loves to pick on her!


We waited until this morning to have him open it, so we could have grandparents and siblings there, too.  We realized that he is the first of the Nielson great-grandchildren and Thompson great-grandchildren to serve a mission, which is very exciting! We have speculated about so many places that he could be called to, but none of us guessed it right (unless you count my Dad, who said he bet he was NOT going to Denmark, Korea, Iran or Afghanistan.  Yep, Dad, you were right!). 

You are hereby called to serve in the Mexico Tijuana Mission...

When Devin read "Mexico Tijuana Mission" my first thought was, "They teach the gospel there?  I thought they just partied in Tijuana," but then we remembered that President Monson just announced the Tijuana temple a couple of weeks ago in conference!  It will be so exciting for him to serve where a temple is being built, since temples always offer a tremendous opportunity for missionary work.  He's really excited and will have plenty of time to get ready.  He'll report at the MTC on March 9th, so we'll probably have his farewell on March 6th.  He'll keep working with Del until then to earn money for his mission.

The Papers Are In!

We're now officially taking bets on the location of Devin's mission! (Just kidding! :)

For now Devin's location is Island Park to earn some more mission money. He's been working for Del and his Dad and brother, who have a construction business together. They're building a large addition onto a cabin. Since Devin just finished helping on the Extreme Makeover set, they tease him about knowing everything about construction and he teases them about being extremely slow! After all, the E.M. home was built in 4 1/2 days and it's already been over a week! Maybe he'll be sent to a mission where he'll have to teach people to build homes and church buildings and all of this experience will come in handy!

Del served a mission in South Carolina, my father served in New Zealand and my grandfather served in Australia. I think it would be wonderful if he went to any of those missions, but he is excited to go wherever the Lord chooses to send him, of course!

ABBAmania!

No matter how many years I have loved and listened to ABBA, they just never get old! The incredible harmony and fun lyrics are timeless, and I expect to be spinning around the kitchen to "Dancing Queen" for a good many years to come! I wish they had performed in concert somewhere near little Pocatello before they broke up. Seeing them perform live would have been the ultimate concert for me!

Well, ABBAmania may not have been the real thing, but it was still lots of fun for me and my girls. We went with 2 of my friends and their 3 daughters, and we had a great time! The artists who portrayed ABBA were good, and at times I felt like I was watching them in the 70's. Maren and Emma have learned to love their hits right along with me, and it was fun dancing to a group we all love.(I love their stylish outfits! Maybe Abba is the reason I have a boot addiction! I think I'm up to 12 pairs now, but I still need some knee-length white naplak, so if you see any please let me know!)

By the way, if anyone is wondering if my boys felt left out, let me assure you that they don't share our love of all things ABBA. They had a boys' night at the Winders' house, and they were much happier that way.

A few months ago, though, I took Devin and Chris to Sanang Tapas Restaurant (pricey but yummy) because they had a celtic band performing live and we love celtic music. I didn't want to pay a hundred dollars or more for dinner, so I ordered two appetizers to share while we listened to music. For $28 we each got one piece of crostini drizzled with balsamic vinegar and one mushroom with a scallop on top! It was beautiful and delicious, but shockingly expensive! Fortunately the music was excellent and free, and that is what we went for anyway, so we had a really fun time.

Devin's Exciting Temp Work

Pocatello just had an Extreme Makeover! It was the coolest thing ever and Devin got to be a part of it. Thanks to some connections to Rockwell Homes, the company chosen to build the home, Devin was hired to be a Production Assistant for the full week! He worked at least 10 hours a day and usually got home after midnight. Here's a picture we took of him one night; we missed him, so we went to see him at the site. He got to work with all of the crew, and he had a great time. He said Ty Pennington is just as crazy as he is on the show, but he wasn't there very often until it was time to film. Ed was there all of the time, though, and I saw him working on some really cool projects for the house. Most of the time, Devin just drove little cars around emptying garbage and delivering water, but it was a great experience and helped him earn money for his mission, so we felt very blessed. I think his favorite part was demolition, but he didn't get any pictures of it. He said he was always too busy to take pictures (except for a few during initial construction), but I volunteered one day, too, and took a few.

Here's the best picture I got of Ty Pennington. This is when they were filming the Move That Bus scene. In the other picture Ty and Ed are throwing a pillow to someone to carry in the house. I was standing facing the sun, though, so it's a crappy shot. The house is beautiful, and it's amazing that they can build a home like that in 4 1/2 days! It's in the middle of our historic university neighborhood, and they did a great job of making it fit in and stand out at the same time!

Here's a picture of our friends Joe and Michelle Winder: Joe is the brother of one of the main guys at Rockwell Homes of Idaho Falls and the reason Devin was hired. Rockwell is a great company. They paid for the building costs and offered to pay for the family's property taxes for 20 years. Last year they did their own version of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. They built a home for a needy family in two weeks. They are very generous. They pay for many missionaries to go out every year.
The family chosen is a terrific family we know from our stake. Her name is Jane Marshall and she is a single mother with 9 children. She found out that she had breast cancer a couple of years ago and while she was recovering they had a house fire that left it uninhabitable. They have been living in a tiny apartment in back and in tents pitched in the backyard for a while and have used the insurance from the home to pay bills and live on, so they basically had nothing. The oldest son dropped out of high school to help earn money. The kids are very smart and musically gifted; Sophie played in the ISU Symphony last year as its youngest member. ISU gave 8 of the children full ride scholarships (the oldest is married), which was very exciting. They are a terrific family, and I'm so thrilled for them!

At the unveiling everyone was surprised to see Kylie Minogue, who looked and sounded fabulous. I only saw her on the news because I didn't want to fight the crowds, but Devin got a few pictures. She sang "Can't Get You Out Of My Head" repeatedly while they got footage for the show. My friend, Michelle, asked me if I knew who she was, and I told her of course I did! I had her album back in 1988 when I graduated. Do you remember her remake of "Locomotion"? It's kind of obnoxious, but they still play it! I can't believe she's that old and still around! That's ancient! :)
Devin and I had a great time! Del signed up to volunteer, too, but there was a computer glitch that deleted the names of all of the people who had signed up online, so they never scheduled him. He wasn't too sad, though, since he's pretty busy with his own makeover projects.

It was so fun having this project in Pocatello, even though they blocked off the streets and the park for a while. After it was over, Michelle asked one of the security guards who travels with Extreme Makeover if he was going to be happy to go home. He said he wasn't and he wished he could stay. He said that the people in Pocatello were so nice and he really loved this community. He has been keeping in touch with the Winders by phone. I think he's probably lonely traveling from place to place. Jane Marshall said that some of the show's crew members told her that this is their favorite place that they've worked because of the people. They were blown away at the number of volunteers they had sign up. They had asked for about 2,500 and got about 3 times as many as they needed. That was really nice to hear. On a lighter note, Gene Dutton, a friend of ours, asked a guy on their crew what he liked best about Pocatello. The man told him he was amazed that the women in Pocatello are so beautiful! I thought that was funny! It's the good, clean living! And the fact that everyone who went to look at the house got all dressed up, hoping to be on camera!

The show will air during the new season, probably the end of October or first of November. When you watch it, look for Devin!

More Girl Time

We like having Girls' Night at our house, so when Devin and Del went to Island Park this week to work on a cabin, that left Chris WAY outnumbered. Being the bright boy he is, he stayed downstairs and let us enjoy our girl time. We invited Madeline Heder over to play with us and we were glad we did! She had lots of creative ideas for new hairstyles for Maren and Emma for school. Don't my girls look like they're having a great time getting makeovers?!Madeline even let us do some mini-makeovers on her. Here she is with an updo
and with some "big, fancy hair" (and some really cute tights!).We had a great time watching "Annie, Get Your Gun" (at Madeline's request) and singing along with the songs we knew. We especially loved singing, "No you can't, Yes I can, No you can't, Yes I can" over and over and over! Buttery popcorn and yummy chocolate-covered raisins (plump Costco ones...mmmm) added the finishing touch. What would a Girls' Night be without chocolate? Madeline looks like she overdosed on chocolate raisins but it was probably just past her bedtime!
For the record, we really did invite Chris to our party, but about the time he saw that styling hair and watching musicals were involved, he decided he had important things to do.

Labor Day Fun

Sunday night I realized that we have been really lame this summer. Other than our Nielson family reunion, which was lots of fun, we have been a boring family and haven't played much this summer. To remedy this lameness, we decided to go to Bear Lake for Labor Day since the kids have never been there. We planned to play in the water and do lots of sightseeing. At least that's what I told the kids my goal was. Really, though, I have been craving a Mushroom Burger and tater tots at Merlin's Restaurant ever since I had one for the first time when I went there a few weeks ago for work. Mmmmm. It was heavenly, and I've wanted another one for weeks, so I talked Del into spending the day driving around the lake just so I could enjoy that juicy, savory burger again. My mouth is watering just typing these words.We stopped on the way to Bear Lake for a tour of the Paris Tabernacle, which is a beautiful old building built by the early LDS people who settled the area. The ceiling inside the Tabernacle was designed by a shipbuilder who wanted it to look like the hull of a ship.Next we went to the lake. I had just had a 3 hour tour of it by the head of the BLM in the Bear Lake/Montpelier area, so it was fun to be able to tell them a little bit about it. The lake is so much bluer than it looks in pictures. It's called the "Caribbean of the Rockies" because the water is bright turquoise (because of limestone runoff) and the sand is so soft. I learned that the Idaho side is best for families because it's shallow and there is a long shoreline.
This picture shows Emma wading in the water. She is about 50 feet from the shore and it's only just past her knees. This makes it nice for little kids.....or for walking on water like Maren did. There are fun little sandbars all over in the water.
There is a spot near the border where people like to scuba dive because it's so deep, and on the Utah side there is a marina where you can rent sailboats, which look beautiful on the bright blue water.
After we played in the lake it was time for dinner. I told everyone that they should all try the Mushroom Burger because it was so divine, and then when I ordered the girl said, "I'm sorry, but we ran out of mushrooms earlier today." I nearly cried! I said, "I drove all the way from Pocatello just for your Mushroom Burger," but still no mushrooms magically appeared, so I ordered a Pastrami Burger. If I had never had the Mushroom Burger I would have thought it was the juiciest, best burger I've ever had, but unfortunately I knew there was one that was even better. Oh well, now I'll have to go back again! We did try the famous raspberry milkshakes there and they were yummy! The chocolate covered fresh raspberries are so good, too. I had those on my last trip and I've been making them at home ever since. Mmmm.Our last stop was Soda Springs to see the nation's only man-made geyser. It goes off every hour on the hour and we came racing up to the parking lot just as it started bubbling. It's a pretty impressive little sight and we got to see a rainbow through it, which seemed to top off our fun day.

Overall, I decided that we should definitely have a family reunion here in a few years. There are places to camp for $20 a night or very expensive cabins to rent. There are parks that can be reserved, but they fill up a year in advance in the first 10 minutes the phone lines are open. We should go on a Thursday and Friday, though, if possible because te BLM guy showed me a picture taken the Saturday before I was there. There were 800 vehicles on the Idaho beach. I was there on a weekday and there were about 25-40 cars. He said that is how it usually is, so if we want some space we should pick a weekday. A fun spot for a future reunion!

My Starlets

I have always loved the musical, Annie, so when my girls' performing group picked it for their summer show, I was very excited! We pulled the movie off the shelf and had lots of fun singing, "You're never fully dressed without a smile" and "The sun will come out tomorrow." The boys were completely sick of the singing by the time the performances started in July, but Maren and Emma had a great time.

Maren played the role of Annette, the maid, and Emma was Tessie, the orphan.

Maren liked the fun raincoats they wore in the song "NYC". Emma's favorite scene was the one where she got to sing "You're never fully dressed..." on top of the dresser.
The cast did a wonderful job and the singing was amazing! It was a very professional performance considering how young most of the cast is. It was fun watching the littlest kids play policeman and President Roosevelt. They were great!
The girls also had fun walking in the 24th of July parade to advertise for their performing group. Sarah and Priscilla Hibbert are on the ends. Daddy Warbucks in the back was played by my friend Erin McIntosh Hillier's oldest son. He had to shave his shoulder length hair for the show, and all of the girls assured me that he looks much better bald!

Overall, it was a fabulous opportunity for my little orphans!