The friendship of brothers

A few weeks ago - ok, it was more like over a month ago - we were able to go an attend the baptism of Jonathan's big half-brother, Kien - and also spend some time with Kien and his mom's family. It's amazing how things work out and to find out later on in life that your family's could have crossed years before they actually did. Kien's mom is now married to a dear friend of mine from high school. I remember hearing stories about Kara's older brother, Lee - and then to find out that he is my son's half-brother's stepdad!!!! Did you follow all that?! Yeah - it's a little tangled web - but Kien was excited when he found out he was going to be having another little brother when I was pregnant - that Chanthy (Kien's mom) and I decided that neither of us had any problem allowing the boys to have a relationship. Brothers will be brothers - and these two are no exception... they have just as much fun when we get them together!

On the drive over to Caldwell, I couldn't help when we were at a stoplight to snap a couple of pictures of my handsome little man... who obviously thought I was trying to hand him the camera...





The after-baptism party at Chanthy's was full of children running crazy - or so it seemed! But it was a joy to have a house full of family and friends to help Kien celebrate the wonderful decision he made to be baptized!








Oh.... brotherly love!



These next couple of pictures show you exactly how busy both of these boys are... and trying to get them to both smile at the same time... well, ya know - there are just more important things to be doing!











Congrats Kien on a wonderful day and thanks for sharing it with us!

Wow - Time to update!

Yes - I know, it has been a really long time since I have updated here, so I'm make a quick post today and tonight, I will get all the pictures off of my camera and really go to town on a new post!

Here is Matt before he had to go help out with the Governor's Ball.... Isn't he quite handsome! :)



This winter/spring season has been a hard one for LJ. He got his with a really bad sinus infection that turned ugly - and so Matt and I have spoiled him a little extra - to include allowing a little Mickey TV time after his baths before bedtime... But seriously - isn't this the cutest thing ever!!!





What mother doesn't have to struggle at times to get their boys dressed?! This little man is not different - even when it's cold... He just really wanted to go start reading his "Dog" book that Grandma got him... He loves that thing!



Count your many blessings, name them one by one....

So my biggest and most wonderful blessing has been this beautiful child! From his birth, he has been a fantastic baby! He enjoys his sleep as much as possible (just like his momma!) and as he gets older, it still hasn't changed.... If we get involved in a TV show or something, and don't notice the time, here is what we typically get... LJ will grab a pillow and a blanket and start laying on the floor within our view, lay there for a few minutes... and then will move around to a new location until we ask him if he's ready for bed - which of course makes him jump up, start heading for the stairs, yelling 'C'mon - mon mommy/daddy' and then start singing a song I picked up from my friend Cindi, "nigh nigh LJ, nigh nigh LJ" - he's really cute singing it to himself as he walks upstairs!



And the aftermath once he gets to sleep... The kid can be a really HARD sleeper! I love it!





Over most drill weekends, LJ gets to spend the weekend with Grandma and Grandpa! I love the my mom sends me pictures throughout the weekend - and here is one from January, I think...



NOW - on to our 'other' toddlers.... Princess and Bear! These two English mastiff's are going to be enormous! I don't think it's really sunk in how big they really are going to get! They are completely inseparable and love to snuggle. They were litter mates that we got from some friends of mine that live near Idaho City. Here's a snap shot of the two goobers when they were about 5 months old....



And here they are a few days later when I took them into PetSmart for a little bath time and puppy groom (had a good coupon!) - and what did we meet when we came in.... a pair (brother and sister as well) of 3 year old brindle mastiff's!!! Look at the size of those guys! Oh dear - is all I have to say! But I am also so excited for the puppy-stage to be over and get in the lazy-big-dog stage that these two are in! I have seen them nearly every time I've got to the store!




There's my quick update for now. I will try my hardest to download the pictures tonight and then I can really get into an indepth update on how things have been going in our lives! Just know that we are all doing well - and excited for warmer weather so we can start going on family hikes!!!

The wonders of Family History

Before I spend time to catch up on the personal side of my blog... I've got to take a time out to say what a blessing family history is! My mom is amazing! She has taken to family history and geneology like a major addiction! And I love it! I love that she has such a strong desire to do as much as she can. And I really love when she calls to tell me how excited she is when she finds something new!!! That happened yesterday - and I just have to share with everyone.... She was emailed some photos - and these are ones she has never seen before. Actually, she has NEVER seen a picture of her grandfather - until these were emailed yesterday! So take a peek, and I will attach her comments as well so you all can read and learn a little more about my family!





Nana1 - top left is my Aunt Toots (Martha Anne Nichols Andrews Flaherty)
my mom's oldest sister; top right is my Aunt Ella (Ella Viola Nichols
Ireland Bardari) my mom's 2nd oldest sister; middle is my Nana and my
grandpa (Martha Anne Ireland Nichols and Horace Edward Nichols) I've never
seen a picture of my grandfather until today; bottom left is my Uncle
Buddy (Richard Winfield Nichols) my mom's oldest brother.





Nana2 - left is my Aunt Ella and Uncle Buddy; top middle is my Uncle
Junior (Horace Edward Nichols, Jr.) as a baby and my mom - don't know who
the boy is yet); bottom middle are my grandparents again, don't know who
the boy is in the background; right is my grandfather holding Uncle
Junior.




Nana3 - left is my Aunt Helen (the tallest one) who was my grandfather's
daughter from his first marriage, my Aunt Toots is standing on the side
and my Aunt Ella is in front of Aunt Helen; middle is my mom with her
Shirley Temple doll (she LOVED that doll) and my Nana; right is my Nana
holding Uncle Junior. My uncle Buddy died a few years ago and so did Aunt Helen. Both
grandparents are dead. My grandfather died 6 months before I was born.
Everyone else is still here.

It's been a while....

I do realize (especially after my blog-stalkers have commented about it) that I have not posted anything in a while. And as you may realize - life has been a little busy - as most of you know!

Quick recap:

29 October - LJ walked me down the isle so that I may be married to one of the world's best men, Matt! And let me just point out that there is only one other day (besides Jonathan's birth) that will come close in comparison to how happy that day made me feel. That day will be when Matt and I will have the joyous opportunity to be sealed for time and all eternity as a family!








2 November - I took a previous planned (and much needed for both of us!) birthday vacation with my dear friend Becky to LA... Our only plan once getting there.... was that we HAD NO PLAN! It worked out for our benefit, as we got in a lot of walking, and when we finally made out way to the beach...... it was GAME TIME BABY!!!





5 November - Though I did not want to leave the beautiful 80 degree weather, I boarded the plane and went to a military course near Salt Lake City, Utah for 2 weeks. And with all silly things, a silver lining will mostly likely be found! My silver lining came from a friend whom I will hold dear for the remainder of life. She became such a strength to me and together we had some good laughs!








After I completed that course, I was met at the airport by my wonderful husband and excited little boy! It was a load off my shoulders to see them both - all mother's know what I'm talking about - you miss them terribly when you are separated (even though separations are needed!).



Thanksgiving up in Northern Idaho with Tera's family! (and mom and dad too!)





Life has continued to stay busy with bursting into the holiday season as well! There is so much love in my life, and I am eternally grateful for the numerous blessings that I have been given and the amazing family and friends that have been placed in my life.

And that pretty much catches you up!!! But I'm not done.... :)

This morning, I had the amazing opportunity to return to the temple and go through an early morning session with a dear friend. And to her, my extreme appreciation and adoration!

There comes a point in life (maybe even several points in life) that we are asked to do something outside of the "plan" we choose for ourselves. And if any of you are like me... you will more than likely fight these feelings, or bring to surface the justifications that have a bit of reason as to why it wouldn't be a good idea. But as I sat in that wonderful building, I realized just who's 'justifications' were actually coming to surface. (And yes Cindi, you all ready made those comments to me - again I bring up the stubborn factor in me!) So even though the point at hand in my life scares the ever-living-snot right out of me, I will put my faith back in my Father, for He knows more than I can begin to comprehend.

Wonderful month of October!

I have always been a fan of Halloween... And starting this year - I will be given even MORE reason to love October. Not only were some very special people in my life born in this month, my birthday as well, and ole' hallows eve all occur in October!!!! Well - I get to add one of the most amazing treasures to my life as well. I get the absolute and amazing privilege of marrying a dedicated, honorable, strong, assertive, loving man!



Our initial thought was to get married on my birthday, but in light of recent events, it will likely be taking place on the 29th instead. With the change in date, Matt's son (stationed in Washington) will be able to attend and show his love and support for his father. I couldn't be more happy to watch Matt's face talk about how excited he was that his son was going to make sure he attended! As he put it into words.... "It's awesome, from a father's standpoint, to watch his son become more of a young adult instead of a knucklehead teen." (I love it how Matt says 'knucklehead'!)

Jonathan, of course, will be the most handsome little man anyone has ever seen! Yup - that's right!!! Momma's gonna go all out of the kid!!!

I'm also very excited to be able to complete my life as almost 2 1/2 years ago it felt as if it had fallen apart. For those friends who never found out the background - let me do a quick version. When I returned from Afghanistan, I met Russ and we were married in December of '07. However, for reasons only our Heavenly Father knows... he decided to leave our marriage in June '08 - leaving me 2 months pregnant. He has made the decision to not be any part of Jonathan's life and has only taken the opportunity twice to see this beautiful boy (and that was only because Jonathan and I went to Kien's (Jonathan 1/2 brother from Russ' first marriage) soccer and basketball season end games!) BUT ANYHOW!!!!! I gave birth to an amazingly beautiful baby boy. I had the strong support of my family. My mother was able to be in the operating room with me when they took Jonathan out via C-Section after I started having complications during labor. My oldest sister stayed with me and the baby our first night in the hospital. Both my little sister and my oldest sister (and all their kids) were able to come and stay with me the entire month of January, so about 3-4 weeks before I had Baby J! I'm so grateful for them and their husbands for sharing their precious families with me!

Matt and I started seeing each other when Jonathan was about 5 months old. But Matt left for a few months to complete some military schools and such back in Pennsylvania and Georgia. When he got home in December, we continued to see one another. Let me back up just a tad.... I first met Matt when I came back off of Maternity Leave. He had been hired as a Temp Tech in my office on Gowen Field while I was gone. And we became good friends as we worked with each other daily. It wasn't until (like I said earlier) Jonathan was around 5 months old, that we actually started seeing one another. Now back to after he returned from schools..... Matt has been amazing in helping here and there with Jonathan and me as well! He was home in time to help celebrate the 1st Birthday!!! Matt even got the birthday cake!!!





Matt was schedule to deploy back to Iraq, but due to some medical reasons (no worries, he'll be just fine!) he stayed home!!! Which leads us to getting married!!!! YAHOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

Here's our little family! - (we'll update a little family picture when we add Matt's two kids!)

Wow - where has the time gone!

It seems that time continues to fly by regardless if I am ready for it or not. There has been a lot going on in the last month - so let me try to catch everyone up!

My brother has been shipped down to Camp Shelby, Mississippi for a few months before heading over to Iraq. I've been there John - just keep pushing through each day - and you'll be back home before you know it! We love you!!!

Over the past month, I've been busy with coaching volleyball at Mnt. View High School (so far we are 5~win and 1~loss!) and that leaves me with very little time with LJ. So on the weekends, we like to be range things from flat out lazy to hiking! I snuck into his room during naptime and caught a little peek of my beautiful boy.... Oh how I love him!



When he woke up, however, I was a little surprised to find something new..... For whatever reason he had... he was rearranging his shirt.....



Who does this?! And how did he get his arm out of it like this?! :) Or maybe he just had a VERY active dream!!!!




LJ is growing up and learning new things... One of his favorite things is to get a bit messy while eating yogurt all by himself! It's so adorable, I just have to let him get a little dirty as he enjoys this new learned task!



A few weeks ago, Matt, LJ and I were able to go out to dinner with part of his family to celebrate Matt's son, Stephen, getting back from his tour in Iraq. We went out to eat at Texas Roadhouse... And well..... who doesn't LOVE their rolls!!! LJ obviously thoroughly enjoyed too many!!!



I have been living in the Boise area for quite a few years now... but I have never taken the time to go and hike Table Rock! So last weekend before the BSU vs Wyoming game - the boys and I headed out to go and take care of that! It was a gorgeous afternoon and we had a blast! LJ even did a bit of hiking of his own... it was really cute - but I wasn't able to get pictures of it because he was adamant about holding onto both Matt and I's hand :) - which was fine with us. But I did snag a few pictures when Matt threw him up on his shoulders for some steep parts before putting him back in the backpack!






Here the boys are after I cooled LJ off with a little water on the head.... which of course he completely enjoyed!



Here is a quick picture when we all made it to the top!!!!




Now.... you are more than happy to exit my blog, as this next part is going to be me just venting!

Let me start with this picture.........



This was the view of the front doors of my office building. Our customers were warned, HOWEVER, we were forced to continue working is some EXTREMELY hazardous conditions. The only thing between us workers and the construction guys above us were the cardboard ceiling fillers since the entire roof was tore off and they were shoveling off everything right above our heads! We had the dirt and such falling through onto our heads, we could see the sunlight and sky through our light fixtures even!!! What if they had dropped a hammer?! It could've killed one of us!!! We voiced our concerns about this within minutes of starting the workday - but we were told to just deal with it. My anxiety level went off the charts - and it was going on ALL DAY LONG!!! That's 9 hours of working in an extremely hazardous environment!!! Even after volleyball and a little workout jogging over and back from LJ's daycare, I was still on my nerves end. I was exhausted by the time I put LJ down for bed... I think I may have made it to 8:30! Poor Matt just let me go to bed early! He's such a wonderful man - I am completely in love with him!!!!

But so far today, there isn't too much going on above our heads. I will admit that I've still got a bit of the shakes after working all day yesterday. Gotta love our government at times!!!