Potty Training the Nellsters

Nellie is more than old enough to be potty trained. Out of pure laziness and all of our running arounds through the summer it has not happened. Until now, we are off and running with the potty training regiment. It is so fun...

I made a grocery list and Rich marked off the diapers as being bought. It was his way of saying potty train her already.

So far the tally for the day is 1.5 pee pee accidents and 2 poo accidents vs. 5 successful pee pee's. Given the fact I have loaded her up on a lot of salty foods and all the drinks she wants.
Not bad for our first day. Oh and one of the pee pee accidents was in the car seat...AWESOME!
Yes, pictured above is her potty smack dab in the middle of the family room. She has to see her Dora while doing her deeds.

to be continued...

The Happenings of Summer {Picture Overload}

I always stress over the upcoming Summer wondering what am I going to do to entertain the kids on the long Summer days. Summer hits and we are bombarded with fun and entertainment to the point that we are wiped out from staying up until 11 p.m. almost nightly. We have had so much fun so far...

Here are some pics of all the going ons (some events are missing pics)

We attended the annual slip-n-slide at Patrice's House. She buys $200 of plastic turns on a couple hoses and it is endless hysterical entertainment for all. Her hill is perfect for this, we sled in the winter too!

"No Fear Nellie" loved it
Rileigh on the Turtle
Aunt Nicole taking a turn with the kids
We then attended the Annual Cousin Reunion. The venue always changes, this year we went to Nephi Canyon. Camping with grass and a swimming pool are the extra bonus if you ask me.

Tony decided he would be the manicurist and painted all the little girls nails, so patriotic! Rileigh got a combo of too much sun and chlorine, don't ya think?

Nellie getting a drop of a drink (My favorite photo, luv it!!!)
Playing Bocce Ball. Cousin Carsyn brought glow-in-the-dark Bocce Balls for night time Bocce. Super cool and we were the cool kids in camp! Nice one Rich and Dad.
Grandma Red and Grandma Darlene cheering on Bocce Ball

A quick getaway for a Mtn. Bike Ride for Mom and Dad, love riding with this guy!
A Day at Lagoon for the Whitemyer's. Logan was just tall enough to ride everything when last year he could not. Pays to eat your veggies son!
Rileigh would not ride near as much as she dared to last year. She hung with the Nellsters!

Grandma Thatcher took us all down to Thanksgiving Point. We saw the 3D Dinosaur IMAX Movie, it was hilarious having Nellie and Kayci on my lap during the scary parts!

It was Thanksgiving Points Birthday with a Pirate Theme so there was a lot of fun to be had by all.

Face painting
Logan had to wait in line for the Boy Artist
We made hats, boats, telescopes and went on a scavenger hunt!
Another Mom and Dad getaway to see Uncle Matt play in local Ogden, UT at a Coffee Bar. He did fabulous, I love to just sit and watch him play.
A pretty tough hike for the kids up Adams Canyon, they did awesome and it was well worth the hike to the beautiful falls. I grew up hiking this canyon so it was so fun to take my kids to the very top. Rich carried Nellie the whole way, such a trooper.

The Ogden Horse Parade in Downtown Ogden, kids love the candy!
A Swim Day at Grandma Darlene's with the cousins
A neighborhood walk here and there

Rileigh was invited to freshen up on her mad sewing skills. She made capri jammy pants. So from the beggings of Logan I sat and taught him to make a pair for himself. He was one proud boy.



We BBQ'd at Grandma and Grandpa Whitemyer's over the 24th of July weekend. Rich and his Dad had a brisket cook off. My parents got invited for the show down. It was so fun to sit by the river, lounge on their deck and eat good food and chat.

We have had a great summer so far and look forward to a few more planned events before the teachers start cracking the whip on these out of control kids!

Jesse and Eryn's Wedding - AKA The Quickest trip to Cali and back EVER

The much anticipated wedding weekend has come and gone. It was all that was expected and then some. Rich's friend Jesse, a Groomsmen from our wedding asked Rich and the girls to be in his wedding. So nice and such a fun opportunity. So we have planned this trip for a long time.

The three Whitemyer children are great travelers and did very well on the four day weekend. It was the biggest kid, won't say his name but it starts with the letter "R," who had a hard time being stuck in the car, good gracious I wanted to stick him in the back seat in time out about an hour into the drive.

I will say the drive has to be some of the most dull stretch of land across the United States, I am sure of it. Then you add wind and it makes it fun for all. From Ogden to Reno was so boring. We stayed Thursday night at the Peppermill in Reno and that was really fun. It was all about the pool for the kids. It did have me wishing I would have left them home and made it just a get away for Rich and I. But we could not leave the kids in Reno we had to take them the rest of the way.

We drove up over Lake Tahoe on our way to Chico. That was honestly the best part of the drive. I loved, loved, loved that part of the drive it was so beautiful. It looked like home to me. The ski resort at the very top was still open and operating. Crazy, June in California and they are skiing.

In the picture below we got a five minute pass to park and take a pic at Lake Tahoe. It was awsome, I was the screaming Mom at her kids on the beach just to get a picture. Rich wanted to throw me in the water and leave me at this point. Nellie did throw herself in the water soon here after. I promise their is a ski resort in the background, so cool.
Someday I will go to Lake Tahoe in the summer and veg out and someday I will go to Lake Tahoe in the winter and ski...someday!

Once at our destination on Friday in Chico we checked in and once again swam at the pool. That night was the rehearsal dinner at a friend of the Brides family. It was a super nice place and kid friendly, extra bonus. They rehearsed like three times and called it good. Then the Bride and Groom, Eryn and Jesse passed out presents for the wedding party. Nellie and Rileigh were asked to be flower girls and they were given shiny silver jewelry boxes. Rich, a Groomsmen, got a goblet class with his name sketched in the glass.

The day of the wedding we swam, again, then got all five of us ready for the Wedding Ceremony. Pictures were originally scheduled for before the wedding and then once we were all at the location the camerawoman decided it was too sunny and to take pictures after the ceremony. Agh a little annoyed and it was way too hot to deal with that fiasco. So off Nellie's dress came and to the In - N - Out take out window we went. Shakes all around to cool off and pass the time by. It was perfect.

The ceremony and reception location were so beautiful and again pretty kid friendly (a lot of people brought their kids, so that helped the kid situation a lot). We met up with an old friend of Rich's, Josh and his wife and kids. They were fun to visit with and hang out with at the wedding and rehearsal.

The Groom's side of the wedding line, photo brought to you by Logan Whitemyer


Rileigh and Jesse, the flower girls who both performed exceptionally at the Ceremony. Unlike the Nellsters, her Dad carried her.


The Whitemyer's minus Me, ah shucks too cute.
The Three Freckles being as cute as they know how.
Rich cuttn' the rug with Nellie - too cute once again!
I did not get to visit with the new Bride much, Brides are too busy to visit. So one day I hope to get to know her better. Maybe we can meet at Lake Tahoe preferably in the summer and veg out together minus the kids, that would be sweet.

Once it was all said and done we were wiped. Rich took the kids to swim again after the wedding and Nellie went to bed. I packed up our stuff and by morning we were in the car on the way home by 7:30 a.m. With one stop at the Fruit stand for some peaches and cherries for the ride home. We were back home in Utah by 7:30 p.m. Sunday night. Like I said, The Quickest trip to Cali EVER.

Yogurt Making 101 - Stupid Easy

So when I had the Directv I was totally addicted to Sudio 5 and I have been DVR'n segments for years now...forward to today. We have no Directv and I now I do not even know what I am missing from all those fabulous Studio 5 segments. But one of the last things I wanted to make off the show was Yogurt in a Crock Pot. I had mentioned it to the significant other and he kept pushing the issue and bought the Yogurt start at the store to begin the experiment.

WARNING: Start early in the morn because the last step is at hour 12.5! I started at 9 a.m. and it was in the fridge by 10:30. Steps people not slaving away cooking allllll day.

This is the link the recipe:

http://everydayfoodstorage.net/?s=yogurt

This is the link to the Studio 5 segment if you would like to watch it, I totally recommend doing this,watching the segment I mean:

http://studio5.ksl.com/index.php?nid=71&sid=15280740

We were pretty impressed with the results, especially for the first time batch. Then I took it to the next level and made cream cheese, low fat cream cheese, I must add. I want to make our fav with the cream cheese, Mango Cheesecake. That recipe calls for three bricks of cream cheese.

It makes you feel so good to eat homemade and then to add the homemade jam...Now I am one proud Momma.

Father's Day 2011

Father's Day was pretty low key this year. The kids made a poster to hang on the garage and then it got rained out. Luckily we were able to drag good ole Dad out to see it before it got too wet.

The poster described our Dad: Hiker, Worker, Biker, Baker, Cook, Friend, Dad, Brother, Uncle, Son, Snowboarder, Disc Golfer, Skier, Gardener, Creater, Brother-in-law, Awesome, and Artist.

The kids made ties at church for their Dad!

I made him a card!
Nellie made him a paper weight out of rocks and salt dough, it said "Dad Roxs" Get it? It was so cute.

Then his REAL Father's Day present came in the mail 4 days later....
A hammock, the thing weighs a pound and is fun for the whole family!

We love you Rich and are so blessed to have you as a Dad and Husband. We so appreciate all that you do for us and what a hard worker you are. You are the funnest - silliest Dad a Family could ever ask for.