People keep asking me who I think that Persephanie looks like, and I usually say Malana, here is why...

Malana:

Persephanie:

Some differences, but you can definitely tell that they are sisters!

Help me decide!

I need an opinion!  I took these pictures of Persephanie in the BEAUTIFUL blessing dress that her Grandma Karen made for her. Isn't she talented?  I just can't decide which one I like the best, help me out and tell me which one you like.

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Pioneer Day!

Until the 24th of July our summer hadn't been complete, we had played at a water park, savored homemade root beer, scratched itchy bug bites, oohed and awed over fireworks, roasted ewwy -gooey marshmallows, cringed at sunburns, and enjoyed family get together, but we hadn't been to a parade!  The St. Anthony parade is a great one to go to, good floats and lots of the important stuff ... CANDY!!  (sorry to any of you sitting next to us, Malana may have got a little aggressive she feels about candy the way I feel about chocolate!- we're working on it... on both of our accounts!)

Ahhhh..... SUMMER!

Nield Reunion!

We had a great time at our Nield family reunion this year!  Thanks Benj and Tracy!  It was supposed to be in Bear Lake for the entire time but we had some cabin issues at the last minute, so it got split up a bit.  We started out with a BBQ at my parents house on Friday, and then on Saturday we did the kids treasure hunt at Benj's as well as our traditional adult GPS hunt, and as always it was a hit!  That night we got ready for some family pictures, seven of the eight siblings and their family was there, and my oldest nephew leaves on his mission soon, so my mom wanted a big family photo, I am excited to see how they turned out.  Although I am pretty positive our individual family didn't turn out the kids just weren't cooperating. 

On Sunday everyone came to our house for church and Persephanie's blessing (pictures of that to come soon!)  After the luncheon we headed to the cabin in Bear Lake.  It is always so fun for the cousins to be together in one place and this year Malana was old enough that we saw hear at meal times and that was about    it, she was in seventh heaven.  We also had a fun time relaxing with some adult conversation.  On Monday we hung out at the cabin and played games and a few went to the pool, the boys minus Travis (he decided to come with the girls instead!) went golfing.  The girls (and Travis :)) went to The play Juanito Bandito at the local play theater, we had a great time that may or may not have involved some references to Travis being a polygamist to make the people next to us squirm, and there could have been some spontaneous prancing through the sprinklers, but you didn't hear it from me!

(photo courtesy of http://www.picklevilleplayhouse.com/)

The next day we went to Bear Lake where we had fun playing in the water and sand.  And other than the rogue gusts of winds that took out our shelters the weather was perfect!  That night we played more games, did more talking, and had all around reunion type fun!  Thanks again Benj and Tracy (she even planned it eight months pregnant!)!

a couple of side notes:

 1. Our room was right outside where all of the kids were sleeping in like eight bunk beds, each night when we went down to bed you could see sixteen different screens light up, from Nintendo DS to I-pods, they were being "quiet" but they were all texting and playing games with each other - it was hillarious and it reminded me and made me miss Hurst reunions.  To be that carefree, where the reunion is only about cousins, staying up late, playing night games, and exploring a new place, so glad my kids get to experience that like I did! -oh to be a kid again!  

2.  The last night we were there Travis had gone home early because he had to work, so I was there alone with the kids.  The adults where all sitting around talking when Tracy came up and said, "I was exploring the cabin, and I didn't know that your room had it's own bathroom, but it is probably a good thing because have you been in it lately?"  To which I responded "no", then she told me that it looked like Malana had had an accident, and I may want to check it out.  I went downstairs and our bathroom smelled terrible!  Her swimsuit was hanging over the sink with poop in it, there was poop all over the sink, in the toilet there was more poop, and toilet paper hanging over the edge -DISGUSTING!!!!  my thoughts went like this:

1. holy s@#t - literally

2. What is wrong with my kid!

3.Poor eight month pregnant Tracy had to be the one to find it

4. How in the heck am I going to clean this up!

I cleaned it all up and got Malana to bed, the next morning she woke up puking and to be honest I was relived, because it explained the poop, she had caught the flu bug that my brothers kids had, and had diarrhea the night before, she was just trying to clean it out herself so that I didn't get mad at her poor thing!  And Amy  it gave me a new appreciation for you, she had two sick kids secluded to the loft where the nearest bathroom was a flight of stairs down and through all of the people - you are a trooper!