I love my husband!

Well, it's been four years tomorrow that we've been married and I love my husband more than ever! He is the best! I can't believe how much patience he has with the kids and especially with me! I remember the first time I met him playing human foosball and how I know he thought my best friend Kelli and I were/are so crazy! It's crazy to think of all the places I could've bought my first house and I ended up being 1.5 miles away from him! I always get excited to think that we get to be together forever, especially with our crazy kids! I love the gospel for the truth and joy it brings to this world and our lives. I am so grateful we were able to be married in the temple for time and all eternity. I couldn't imagine a better (or hotter) man to spend all that time with-he is the BEST! I love my monsieur! Oh la la!


These are some of my favorite pictures of him/us...

We're getting there...

Today we officially paid off the rest of our school/Nick's car/basement debt. It's all gone! Now we just have the house and van to payoff. It's so nice to have it done with. Luckily all of it was 0%, so we never paid a dime of interest but we made about 5% in interest income on all of it. We decided to pay it off because the interest rates went so low and we were about done with the 0% deal. If we can stick to our budget then the van will be paid off in two years, luckily we don't pay any interest on that loan either. Then we'd just have our house left to pay off, but I think we'll end up moving long before that ship sails. My goal when I bought the house was to have enough in savings to be able (if I wanted) to pay off the house. We've lived here 5 years now and I don't know how that will play out.
We've decided that Nick is going to go back for his Masters and has officially applied at the U. We looked through all of his classes for the next 5 years and the only one that is taught at a good time is his first one. The others are basically in the middle of the day. Oh well, things always seem to work out for the best.
Yesterday Madelyn stood up by herself for the first time. It was really cute. She pulled herself up against the wall and then spread her legs out pretty wide and then let go of the wall. She was so proud of herself that she was standing there with nothing helping her. She lasted a few seconds and then fell on her bum but she was giggling a lot and clapping her hands. Good times.

Good news and bad news

Well the mudding is all done! A huge thanks to Jessie, the Black's neighbor, for doing a fabulous job at a fabulous price! We'll definitely be asking them to do the garage and rest of the basement when the time comes. Nick and I were so excited to prime and paint, but then the flu came to visit us AGAIN! And again it started with Andrew and then the rest of us got it. Nick and Madelyn didn't get it too bad, so again Nick was cleaning the whole house and keeping up on the nasty laundry while I slept and tried to get better. The only places Andrew has been are church and Grandma and Grandpa Nielson's. None of the Nielson's are sick, so I've come to the conclusion that it was probably from nursery at church. Nick missed work yesterday but went today even though he was feeling not so great. I'm missing work today but I don't want anyone to get sick because of me.
The week before last we got new clothes from Kelli in Oregon for Madelyn! Cuttest things ever! We put her in one of the dresses and took some pictures. She was loving it! Especially the shoes, yummy stuff! Oh and the last picture shows my childrens true personalities towards me!

We're on to the mud!

Nick has finished the sheetrock in the basement!!! It's looking so nice. Terry, Nick's dad, is coming over this week for a couple hours each day to do some mudding! He's so good to us.
Today I snapped my fingers at Madelyn to stop crawling to the bathroom (you know the three snaps) and she gave it back to me, waving her arm in the same motion I snapped at her. She's definitely got a 'tude. I was laughing really hard, so she started laughing and snorting, cute.
My best friend Kelli sent me two more boxes of clothing for Madelyn and one of the dresses fits her now. It was the cutest little dress I've ever seen! We took lots of pictures and need to post them on here. We also took some video of Andrew "helping" in the basement. The new word he learned Saturday was sawsall and today he learned what a sidekick is. When Nick got home from work Andrew told him "I'm a sidekick," and pulled his pants up really high, while tucking in his shirt. Can anyone say Steve Urkel? I guess how I explained it to him wasn't very clear...

Finishing the basement is fun to do, to do, to do, to do...

Yeah right! Actually it's kind of exciting working on the basement again. Last night Nick and I cleaned up the mess he (it was all Nick) made all winter long. It turns out that anytime I asked Nick to put something away in the basement through the winter, he would just put it (or throw it) down the stairs...So needless to say, it needed the cleaning/re-arranging big time! Today Nick put up more sheetrock and I threw away junk and swept like a mad woman. It's looking so good! We just have 2 more sheets to put up in a walk in closet and then a linen closet to do and then it's time for the mud! Nick's dad was gracious enough to come last summer and mud and tape the family room and one of the bedrooms. We just need one more coat on those rooms and two coats on the one room that didn't get anything and then it all needs texturing (which we are going to pay someone to do). Then Nick and I will paint everything. I think we're going to get a couple more bids for the job and then go for it. If anyone knows someone who does a good job mudding/texturing, please hook me up with their info!!! We've decided also that once all that is done, we will buy wood to finish framing the rest of the basement( 1 room/walk-in closet, cold storage, and a bathroom) with any money we have left over from our stimulus payment from Bush!
Anyway, more importantly the kids are growing like weeds and make us laugh so much everyday! Today was the first day Madelyn pulled herself up to stand all the way! She's pulled herself before up on Nick while he was laying down on the floor, but that wasn't a very big climb. So this time, I had just turned around to put her bottle down and her binkie was on the ottoman and she climbed up and got it, in that short amount of time. She was very proud of herself. I grabbed the camera and video taped it, but it was just her standing there.
A funny thing Andrew did...we had just come up from the basement and Andrew had just woke up from his nap and noticed how dirty Nick's pants were and said "Oh man, you have pee-pees!" I was in the bathroom down the hall and laughed so hard! He is so crazy! We love that little mister!

Sonja is making me blog

Hello everyone, this is Nick, and Sonja was just saying how I never write on this thing. Yesterday, Sonja's grandparents (hereafter known as Nana and Fa) called us while we were at my parents for dinner. They said their new home (down by the fitness center) was very hot, and that they didn't sleep at all on Saturday night. We told them we'd be over there by nine because they made it sound like it wasn't that bad. So, after dinner at my parents, we went down to Nana and Fa's and we checked out their thermostat. It said it was 90 in their home! I reprogrammed it and thought all was fine and good.
Then Sonja, being the brilliant, observant person she is, noticed that the air coming out of the vents wasn't cold at all. I checked into it and noticed that the breaker for the air conditioner was off! So, we turned it on, and voila, nice cold air was coming out of the vents.
We told Nana and Fa that next time they should tell us how bad the problem is! Needless to say, we felt pretty bad!

Updates...

Okay, I love it when people update their blogs so I guess I should do the same. Today we went to Nick's cousin's husband's graduation party (did you get all that?). It reminded me why I love this time of year. This same time last year I got my husband back from the University of Utah! I think he still wishes he was in school sometimes. Especially when he gets asked to do something around the house. Back then the only people he had to answer to were the professors and his beloved integrated circuits. Anyway, I think connecting with my old roomies and friends from school makes me want to finish and get my degree. I guess we'll see what Nick decides about getting his Masters degree...

oh I wanted to write in this blog in order to remember some of the funny things Andrew and Madelyn do. So I have to write Andrew's new answer to everything "yeah, yeah." Of course he says this like a gangsta. I don't know where he gets these things.