Kindergarten

I've heard people say many a time that the older you get, the faster time goes. Late 20's is not old by any means, but I feel like life is literally flying by. Chandler started kindergarten today. I thought I would be all sorts of emotional, but really I was just excited for him, and I think he was excited too. He got to have his favorite breakfast of nutella & whipped topping in crepes, and we pulled out his new backpack. Before leaving, Marshall gave him a Father's blessing which was a great idea.


When he got to school, he played with some of the other kids on the playground before the bell rang. Once the bell rang, he lined up with all of the other kids in his class. I went to say goodbye and his reaction, "Mom, you can leave now. I'm fine, really."
I've always been one of those paranoid and overprotective moms. I don't see that changing anytime soon. I don't let my boys go outside without me, like to have them in my sight. Chan is almost 6 and still in a 5 point harness car seat. Better overprotective than under, right?

The time flew by, and before we knew it, it was time to go get him. He had a great day, and was excited to tell me all about it. I had to poke and prod a lot, but eventually learned what they talked about, the book they read, and that there is a girl that sits next to him with a "K" in her name. Ha ha. Here is a picture he drew today. Total heart melter.


And now I'm ready for time to stop. I want Chandler to stay little forever. I guess that one is out of my hands.

Random Thoughts About a New Semester

I still am not done blogging our Bear Lake trip, Marshall went up with the boys camping for a few days, and Chan starts school tomorrow, so I'm behind on a lot of blogging. However, I wanted to sit down and get out some of my thoughts on a new semester.
I quit my job about 3 weeks ago. Actually I went prn which means I can pick up if I want to. I am so enjoying not working graves and having my body in a regular rhythm. I am thankful for a good hubby who basically told me to quit when I saw my fall syllabus and almost had a nervous breakdown. I worked my last night on the 19th. Things definitely have a way of working themselves out. I'm making almost as much monthly with my Babes and Kids blog as I would be working at the hospital, so that income won't be missed too much.
This semester, I'm in my specials rotation with 1 general day a week. The first 6 weeks, I am up at Primary Childrens. It's been a good experience so far, but it's always hard when you are the newbie somewhere. I'm getting used to that a lot since this is the 5th hospital I've been to. I'm not getting to scan at all, it's mostly observing, but I'm hoping as I'm there longer that I'll get chances to scan. My one general day is with my preceptor I had my second semester and I'm excited to be back with her. I will also be going to breast care and inpatient at IMC this semester. I'm currently doing 32 hours of clinical a week, along with 1 day of classes. My classes are an ethics and vascular class which are 8 hours of coursework. Needless to say, it's staying pretty busy. I'm still loving ultrasound and know it was a good decision. There is a possibility that I could get hired on before I graduate which I am crossing my fingers on.
Since Chandler is starting kindergarten tomorrow, it's going to be a juggling act with the boys this year. I am in clinic and class 4 days a week, so on those days Marshall will take him to school, and then my friend that lives across the street will bring him home and he will be there for the afternoon. Rowan is back at the Eccles lab, where he and Chan were last Spring. He's loving it and jumped right back into being in preschool there. I love his teachers and know he is in good hands. The only bad thing - we're feeling the sickies already. Rowan woke up with a fever of 102 today, and I'm sure he picked it up Friday at school. Thankfully Marsh is staying home with them today so that I can go to my first day of lecture and clinical the second half of the day.
I'm feeling torn about Chandler starting school. His teacher is really awesome, and he did quite well in his kindergarten assessment. I'm just amazed that he's almost 6, and going to kindergarten. Where does the time go?
I got released from the Primary Presidency yesterday, it was bittersweet. I only served there for 20 months, but I think the Lord is mindful of how crazy my life is right now. I'm going to continue serving in Primary as the Teacher Coordinator though.
I'm still running a lot and am training for a half marathon October 8th. I set a goal time to finish in under 2 hours and 10 minutes, and I think I just might get there. I'm running faster than I was last summer and that's exciting! Marshall is signed up to run the dirty dash this next month with his work group. (It's a 10K mud run.) That will be fun to watch. :)
I guess I have to get back into the taking it one day at a time so that I don't feel overwhelmed. I've always been blessed with how much Marshall does around the house. He cooks, cleans, will do laundry, take care of the boys. It sure makes everything go smoother. His job has also been very flexible which has been a huge blessing.
I guess that's it for random ramblings....

Before and After

Marshall and the boys are up in Idaho camping. I had to work 2 days, and I couldn't get it off. So I've had lots of time to play around in photoshop the last few days. I figured out how to make eyes pop a bit more, airbrush and more. I took the chocolate cookie out from under his mouth and brushed up some of the owies on his face. Granted, you can't always get rid of stuff like that, because that's what makes them a kid. ;) It's been so much fun. Just wanted to share a before and after picture of Chan, love how it turned out!

Before....

After

Minnetonka Cave

The second full day that we were at Bear Lake, we went to the Minnetonka Cave. Pretty amazing experience. Since I'm not going to explain it right, here is what the cave is all about from their website:

Minnetonka Cave is a fascinating 9-room cave of stalactites, stalagmites and banded travertine that was originally found by grouse hunters.Enjoy a guided 90-minute, half-mile walk into this beautiful cave. Be prepared for the 400 steps up and down in the cave and bring a jacket, since the cave is cool at about 40 degrees year round.

Since they only start tours on the hour, we had to wait for the next tour. The kids stayed busy trying to feed the chipmunks. I didn't actually get any of them in the pictures, but they would come right up to the kids and eat out of their hands. The first time that one took a cracker from Chandler, you would have thought he won the lottery, it was so cute.

Chandler with Uncle Jason in front of the cave

This is my niece Bianca. She is so so funny. I told her to smile, and she crosses her eyes, sticks out her hands, and starts making monster noises.

These are the steps you see when you first walk into the cave. It was definitely chilly at 40 degrees, and there were a TON of stairs. 444 in and 444 out to be exact.

One of the stalagmites. It's funny how they look like people and things. They all had names.

Overall, it was a really great experience. Marsh and I had to carry Rowan during portions, but the boys did great. It was a very cool cave, I would recommend it to anyone visiting the Bear Lake area.

Nielson Family Reunion 2011 - Bear Lake

This year was our 2nd annual Nielson family reunion. If you remember, last year we rented a house on the Oregon coast. This year, we spent 4 days in Bear Lake. We rented a beautiful lodge very close to Bear Lake. We spent the days boating, eating, hiking, going to the Minnetonka caves, going for Raspberry shakes, playing bocce, crafting, watching movies and more. It was such a fabulous vacation and so nice to see my siblings and parents. I had over 250 pictures after I'd gone through and deleted over 100, so I'm going to share some of my favorites from each day. And since a 4 day vacation post would get quite long, I'm going to break it up by day. So here is some from Sunday night when we got there, and Monday. I realized I didn't have a lot of Chan on this day, but I think it's because he spent a lot of time on the boat while I was on the beach taking pictures.

My dad's reaction in this picture is funny. It was really a lot darker, we were out by the fire roasting marshmallows.

My beautiful sister who lives in Oregon - I hadn't seen her and her girls for a year. Isn't she pretty?

Rowan totally rocking my sunglasses

We tried to get a picture of Marshall and I, but the f-stop was set really low on my camera, so instead it's focused in on Rowan, who appears to be thinking. :)

The tube of terror! Fun stuff! Lia, Avry, Me Cheryl (My sister & Sister in laws)

Geoff and Cheryl spent all of this time making my nephew Kaden into a merman. Ha!

The first of 2 days that Rowan napped on the beach. Notice anything out of the ordinary?

He got buried in the sand and fell asleep about 5 minutes later. He stayed like this for over an hour!

I call this picture "sand toy"

My niece Maeli

Pretty shot of Bear Lake from the beach

Marshall

Stay tuned for Tuesday pictures....