Jake and Misty Nicoll

On July 26, 2008 Dallas' brother Jake Nicoll married Misty Peterson. We went up to Afton, WY where the wedding was held outdoors in this beautiful spot (complete with stream, arched wooden bridge, and (drum roll please) a port-a-potty that was cleverly hidden!) It was a really sweet and beautiful event. We are so happy that Jake and Misty found each other (thanks Jenn and Missy!). They are a match made in heaven, truly. I am so mad at myself because I didn't get a good picture of the two of them together. (So, family, if you have one, PLEASE e-mail it to me!) The ceremony was performed by Jake's bishop. He did a great job, making it personal and sweet (this was inspite of the fact that Will and Miles woke up right when it started and were bawling. Sorry about that). After the ceremony we had a nice picnic dinner outside. We had fried chicken, chips, pop, all kinds of salads that you can even imagine, and cheesecake. It was seriously one of the most fun weddings we have ever been to. Thank you Jake and Misty for letting us share that special day with you!

Grandpa Kaiserman, Jake Nicoll, and Grandma Kaiserman

I have the most beautiful sisters-in-law! This is Kallie and Abby.Beau, Jordan and Liesel
Jake and Misty!

Will and James blowing wedding bubbles.

"New life makes losing life easier to understand." John Mayer

I found out today that one of my friends (known to the theater group at SUU as Amy Webb) lost her husband on Wednesday. His name was Shawn Sivertsen and he is one of the kindest, goofiest, gentlest, most wonderful people I have ever had the privilege to rub shoulders with. My heart breaks for Amy, and for their family. He died after a long battle with cancer, in which he fought to the very end. I can only ask that you keep the Sivertsen and Boulter families in your prayers at this time.

After finding this out I looked at the pictures of my beautiful new niece, TeAnna. She is so perfect, with limitless potential in front of her. There really is a plan to everything, and I am so thankful that we have the ups and downs that balance each other out. I am also thankful that we have the Lord to be there for us when we feel like there are more downs than ups.

A Few of My Favorite Things

Go See Batman: The Dark Knight NOW! Heath Ledger is brilliant in it. (Maggie Gyllenhaal is another story...) It's a great film, but pretty scary for little kids. I want to see it again!

Will loves the great outdoors. We spent some time at Upper Provo River Falls and Mirror Lake in the Uintahs last weekend. It was gorgeous! We were all so happy to be outside. Will is so darn cute. I can hardly stand it.

I met my sweet friend Kalie at Robintino's in Bountiful. Dallas came with me and he just laughed at how Kalie and I talk to eachother. (We're almost giddy when we get together!) I haven't seen her since Will was only 4 weeks old, but it was like I see her every day.

I finally got to meet my new niece TeAnna! She is so beautiful. I couldn't get a good picture of her (she really wanted to eat). She is the sweetest thing I have ever seen.

Dallas and I met my cousin Laura and her husband Tyler for the John Mayer Concert at USANA. Seriously. I LOVE HIM. My husband, too, but I was speaking of John Mayer!
If you double click on the picture and zoom in, you can see old Johnny boy in the center in a white T-shirt. I almost peed when he played "Stitched Up" and "Free Fallin". I'll have to wait for the next concert for him to play my very favorite song, "Slow Dancing In A Burning Room." He was amazing! Plus I got to run into some cute friends Nicole Booth, and Katie Duke.

Serenity NOW!

****Update: The baby's full name is TeAnna Lee Wilson. Cute!!!

Yesterday was one of the most insane days ever. It started out with my brother James finally getting my butt out of bed at 8:00 AM by calling me and telling me that he and Kaydee were in the hospital. She was dilated to a 2+. With that I got up to start my morning routine. Then Dallas called me at 10:05 AM to tell me that someone wanted to come see our house at 10:45 AM. I was still getting ready, Will was in his high chair eating french toast for breakfast, Lindsey had just dropped McKenzie off and she was sobbing, and I had a sink full of dishes. Dallas came home to help me get the house read fast. I put Will's breakfast in the fridge, put all the dishes in a garbage sack in my Jeep to hide (I know, right?), and buckled the kids in the car so I could clean up the toys they had pulled out in my panic, and Dallas vacuumed our house (for like the 10th time in two days. Showing your house leaves you in a state of panic, I swear it does). We were off just in time.
I went to Grandma Kaiserman's to kill the time. When I get to her house I find her in the back yard- She had her sunglasses on with a kleenex hanging from them to cover her nose, she was wearing a tank top with the sleeves rolled up, and her capris rolled up and her legs were propped up on another chair. She was suntanning! When I found her we both just busted up- it's not often you find your 70 year old Grandmother in that way. We gabbed for a bit, and when I thought we had wasted enough time I went back to my house.
The people were still there. So, I parked up the street a bit and waited for them to leave. Luckily the kids were content with each other in the back of the car. When we finally could go back at 11:20 AM, I unloaded the kids and the dishes and went straight to the sink to wash. The kids played outside on Will's rideable toys. I didn't hear them for a minute so I went to check on them. Sure enough- They were playing in the sand on the side of the house and had dumped it all over themselves. And when I say that, I MEAN it. They both needed baths big time!!! I finished the dishes and stripped them down to go in the bath. There was dirt literally covering every inch of my bathroom. Then I hear Scooter barking like crazy. I go to the door and our real estate agent, Landon Bonner, was standing there with some guy to measure our lot. Landon informed me that the person that was just there was going to put in an offer (imagine my surprise when we weren't even expecting people to really look at our house that much). I told them they could do whatever they wanted to and I went back to the kids. I still can't believe the dirt- I had to clean my bathtub and sweep and mop my bathroom to get rid of all of it. I washed the kids' hair multiple times, and I didn't even come close to getting all the dirt out of their hair- especially McKenzie.
That's when Dallas came home. I realized it was 12:30 PM and I was supposed to be ready to go with Grandma K. to SLC for Misty's shower at 1:00 PM. I still had to feed Will and I hadn't cleaned the bathroom yet. Luckily Grandma showed up a little late and I was able to eat a piece of bread and string cheese for lunch. Healthy, I know. It kept me from passing out.
From that point everything was slightly less hectic. We ran some errands and I got updates about Kaydee in the hospital. I talked to Dallas at about 4:00 PM and the offer came in on our house- it was a full price offer less the closing costs of the buyer. We were so excited! The market in Heber has pretty much died, so we feel so blessed that someone was interested. We accepted, and if all goes well we will close and have to move by August 27th. (Where, I don't know! Someplace in Heber. We won't move to Logan until next spring).
Soon after I heard that Kaydee had little baby TeAnna Wilson around 4:38 PM. She was 7 lbs 8 oz. and 20.5 inches long. (I have only seen pictures so far, but she looks really cute- more like James than we had thought! She had lighter coloring. I'll post a picture from my sister Cami who took the kids to see her).
Then at 6:30 PM we were at Nancy's for Misty's shower. Everything went smoothly until we went to leave. We couldn't find Grandma's keys anywhere. Of course! She luckily had a spare key in her purse and we made it home just before 11:30 PM. Long day, I think yes.


Click here to go on a virtual tour of our house! I know a lot of you have never been to it or seen it (or if you have it was in the "under construction" phase). It is so cute and I can't even say how much we will miss it. We will be working on it until the day we move out, I am sure, but we are so grateful for it. We have learned so much! Or you can click here to see it listed.

Happy 70th Birthday, Grandma Kaiserman!

Last weekend we went to Afton to spend time with our Kaiserman extended family to celebrate Grandma Carolyn's 70th birthday. It was a riot! From water balloon volleyball to rocket launching and hiking, we covered it all. Some of my favorite moments were:

• Great Aunt Linda saying, "Don't they call those mullets nowadays?" in reference to Uncle Brad's goatee.
• When we were eating dinner on the deck and the cat came up with a gigantic mouse in its mouth to join us.
• Aaron and Brad nailing Grandma K. on the shoulder with a water balloon.
• Playing "Add On" on the trampoline with Sierra, Jordan, Kallie and Austin.

We can't wait for the next reunion. Thank you Kristie and Jenn for all of your hard work and for making this happen.

Perspective

There is a blog that I read faithfully. I am not typically someone that would read some random person's blog, but I feel connected to this person (as I'm sure all of her readers do). Her name is Angie. She is probably the most incredible woman I have ever had the privilege to know. I really feel that way- like she is an old friend. I know one day I will meet her. Whenever I am having a bad day, I read, and it seems like my world shifts back into perspective. Today this is what I read:

"I have spent a lot of time crying in the last few days, and I would love to ask for your prayers. I know that this season (and many more to come) will have peaks and valleys. It's just that when you are in the valley, you feel like you won't ever come out. I think one of Satan's greatest schemes is making us feel hopeless because we don't have the strength to climb again. He doesn't want us to believe that God is our rescuer, that He can carry us. He wants us to feel like God doesn't see us, doesn't know how weak we are. He wants us to believe that our Father has left us, cold and without comfort. No flowers, no blanket, no parent. Just the night sky and the sound of silence. I know it isn't true, but I want to say it because I'm sure there are others who feel this way, and I want you to know that I understand."

As I read this I began to cry, and my little Will was sitting so impatiently on my lap trying to reach the computer buttons. He turned around and looked at my face and said "mess". In that moment I just grabbed him and didn't want to let go. He just let me hold him for a few minutes. I feel like I can do anything with him. My perspective is back.

Changes

We have listed our house. About a month ago Dallas and I made the tentative decision to move to Logan to finish our education at Utah State. Dallas wants to be a Civil Engineer, and they have a great program up there (and they don't have an engineering program at UVU at all yet). I have been really excited about the move, but the reality is finally hitting me.

I am so sad to sell our house. I absolutely love it. We have worked so hard for it, we have learned so much from it, and it actually feels like a part of the family. I'm going to hate to leave it behind. I just hope whoever moves in loves it like we do, and treats it well. (I make it sound like a family pet or something). The market is slow, so we aren't expecting to sell it fast. We probably won't actually make the move to Logan until next spring (the EARLIEST would be December).

With the move comes changes in occupation, a new ward, new neighbors, new house, new life really. I'm going to miss living so close to Grandma and Grandpa Kaiserman, and I will miss some of our new friends (especially Lindsey and McKenzie!). I have felt so overwhelmed and find myself crying sometimes because it's the only way I know how to deal with it. It's silly because I really do think it will be wonderful! All the same, change is just hard sometimes.

I Left My Heart In New York City

I have been back from my trip for about 36 hours now, and I already miss the city. I can't wait to go back again one day. Here is my New York City Top Ten (in no particular order):

1. The Lion King.... and Wicked. They were both my favorite. I can't believe the talent on those stages. I was blown away by the costuming and set for the Lion King, and Elpheba was incredible in Wicked. We also saw Young Frankenstein and Xanadu.

2. The Atlantic Ocean. I fell in love with the ocean on a trip to Seattle as a kid. I couldn't wait to put my toes in the Atlantic. There's just a feeling there that you can't explain. It's so vast and reaching, and I am so small.

3. The Manhattan Temple. A big group of us went to do baptisms. My Mom took a family name that one of the girls, Chelsea, was able to be baptised and confirmed for. The spirit was so strong, and it was one of the highlights of our trip. I'm so glad we took the time out to go.

4. Radio City Music Hall. Our tour guide was wonderfully entertaining! It is awesome to be in such an important theater. We even got to meet a real Rockette and have our picture taken with her. It's such a beautiful building- absolutely everything in there was designed by artists, and it shows.

5. The Statue of Liberty. She is so beautiful. She really does represent all that we stand for in America. I loved being in the middle of all that history.

6. The food. Talk about good dining! I never had a bad meal. I especially loved the cheesecake from Junior's, the red velvet cupcake from Dean & Deluca, and the sugar free treats from Babycakes. I don't think I've ever eaten so much in my entire life!

7. Central Park. My Mom and I rented some bikes and rode around the entire park. What was it that made it so interesting? It poured BUCKETS on us! We tried to escape it for a minute, but we only had an hour on the bikes, so we just ended up riding through. I literally ruined my shoes and my underwear, but it was worth it.

8. The Top of the Rock. We visited Rockefeller Center and went to the top for the view. It was stunning! The city is so huge, and it was nice to actually be able to see the tops of the buildings. The architecture in that city is so incredible.

9. Helping dreams come true. My friend Andra's little girl, RyLeigh, was on the trip with us. She went to the American Girl store to maybe buy a doll, but they were all too expensive. I paid for half of a doll so that she could get one. The look in her eyes was priceless.

10. Being with my Mommy. I was so glad that she could come with me and we could have this experience together. Even though I'm pretty sure I drove her nuts, I think she still loves me after the trip ended.
A few things I won't miss about the city:
1. The smells. There was a point in China Town that it smelled like fish, bleach and sewer. Gag.
2. Being exhausted because of the time change.
3. Feeling claustrophobic because of all of the people at times (china town, and Friday night in Times Square).
4. How expensive all of the food is!
5. The humidity. I never felt clean and it made me angry.
I missed Dallas and Will like crazy! It is good to be home to peace and quiet, and it is even better to be with them. Thanks again to everyone that helped me get to New York!