The Nixons

How we got The Elf on a shelf

2011-11-29T10:48:00.000-08:00

I love Christmas, I love the joy and happiness it brings, I love the peaceful spirit that surrounds us, I love the smells of the Holiday, I love everything about it. Growing up my parents ALWAYS made a HUGE deal out of Christmas! They created so many fun traditions for us that I am now able to use with my own little family along with creating some of our own. I want my kids to grow up remembering how magical the Christmas season is!
A new tradition for our family this year is The Elf on a shelf! I wanted to make this gift extra special and not just hand it to them like it was straight from the store, so I came up with this...
I left with the kids to go take some pictures of them and had Brandon put this out on the porch for them to see when we got home.

They were jumping with excitment when they saw it!

The letter from Santa makes it even more magical!

So the gift set came with the Elf and the book and I purchased the movie too.

For family home evening that night we opened the gifts, read the card, watched the movie and talked about how special this gift is and how lucky they are that Santa trusted our family enough to send his HEAD ELF FREDDY to stay with us and watch over them. After some yummy hot chocolate and warm cookies we got our jammies on and read the book. Bedtime was a breeze that night!

Happy Holidays from our family to yours!

~Fall Dance Recital~

2011-11-22T15:12:00.001-08:00

The girls performed in the Fall Dance Recital with The ConfiDance Club last night and they both were so cute and did so good! I feel pretty lucky to be their mom!

Diversity Means...

2011-11-22T14:28:00.000-08:00

The topic for Reflections this year was Diversity Means... I asked Averie what that meant to her and she said that it is something that is "the same" but looks different. Pretty smart answer coming from a 6 year old! So I told her to color a picture showing me what she meant by that. She came up with this, Houses!

And she won a metal for it! We are so proud of her!!!

Proud parents after the awards assembly!

It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year!

2011-11-20T20:42:00.000-08:00

Every year we wait until the Saturdat after Thanksgiving to put up our Christmas Tree but this year we just could not wait. So we put on our favorite Christmas tunes and decorated the whole house for Christmas!

Of course the tree is the BEST part!

Kaylie got her ears pierced!

2011-11-20T20:32:00.001-08:00

My little girls are growing up and there is nothing I can do about it!
Kaylie has been asking to get her ears pierced ever since Averie got hers done just over a year ago. I kept trying to convince her to wait until Kindergarten because that is how long Averie waited. But Kaylie insisted she was ready now.
On Saturday I decided it was time. I asked her if she was ready and she couldn't wait to get out the door. She was ecstatic!

Even though she was beyond excited she needed her sister to hold her hand.

She never shed a tear...

She smiled just like this the whole time...

My little princess is growing up.

Is there a Tooth Fairy for animals?

2011-11-17T11:53:00.000-08:00

Dex lost a tooth, Averie found it in the carpet and was so excited! She asked us it there is a Tooth Fairy for animals and so we said let's put his tooth under his doggie bed and we'll see. She thought that sounded like a great idea but DID NOT want the Tooth Fairy to take the tooth, she really want's to take it to show and tell next week.

So this is what she did...

And she was soooo happy to wake up and find this....!

To be a kid...

2011-11-14T21:45:00.001-08:00

My kids LOVE to play dress up, and it's even better when friends are over!

Sorry the pic's are not the best, the kids were bugged that I wanted to keep taking pictures of them.

Check YES or NO

2011-11-10T20:05:00.000-08:00

I opened the cupboard to find this today!

knowing it would be something fun I quickly opened it...

and of course I answered YES!

I really do have such an awesome husband! Of course we go through our up's and down's just like every couple but, in the end he ALWAYS makes sure that I feel loved, spoiled and like I am the only thing in the world that matters to him. He is the best!!!

P.S. There was not a "down" for him to do this, he was just feeling creative! ;-)

Landon is 2!!!

2011-11-10T19:46:00.001-08:00

On November 5th, 2009 at 8:18 am I gave birth to the sweetest, most handsome little boy I could ever ask for! He was PERFECT! It was a crisp, cool morning and I can remember it like it was yesterday. This little boy was ready to join our family, I have a fast (he came out on the 2nd push), relaxing, perfect delivery. The only heart breaking part of my whole experience was that Averie and Kaylie could not come to the Hospital to see me, because it was RSV season they were not allowing anyone under the age of 14 into Labor and Delivery or Mother/baby.

Here is my BIG boy now! He has brought so much joy into our lives. He is sweet, cuddly and funny. Not a single day goes bye that he doesn't make us laugh. We are so blessed to have his sweet spirit in our lives.

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY LANDON!

HALLOWEEN

2011-11-02T13:34:00.000-07:00

My handsome Dragon

My BEAUTIFUL mermaid

My sassy kitten

The loot!

Halloween was soooo much fun this year. The kids loved every thing about it. We started some new traditions that I'm looking forward to doing every year, and we also enjoyed many of our usual traditions. Landon was beyond cute he can even say (and it is clear as day) TRICK OR TREAT! We can't wait for next year!

Halloween Train Ride!

2011-10-27T08:42:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday we did our favorite Halloween tradition. The Stringtown Nightmare Express

It's close, it's FREE! And it's FUN! (Even for adults)

The kids LOVE it! The families that put the whole thing on are soooo nice!
The kids, (girl in pink coat, Averie's friend Madyson)

We are going on the train ride again tonight! And we can't wait for the Chirstmas Polar Express!

Celebrating Sweet Marriage

2011-10-27T07:59:00.000-07:00

On the weekend of October 23rd Brandon and I were lucky enough to be able to Celebrate our wedding anniversary together. My parents offered to take the kids for the weekend so that we could getaway. We decided to go to Park City, it was fabulous!

Friday morning we headed north. We spent the day SHOPPING! We hit every awesome store from Provo to Salt Lake. Toy Stores (I didn't know so many exsisted!), Comic Shops, Clothing Stores, Shoe Stores and the list goes on. It was fun and actually very relaxing!
We ate lunch at Jason's Deli. mmmmm sooooo good!

We checked into our hotel room in Park City Friday evening. We found an amazing deal for the Park City Peaks Hotel and Resort that included the room, dinner, massages and complimentary cider.

We enjoyed our FAVORITE cupcake the vaNIElla from The SweetTooth Fairy

The resturant have an amazing view!

Cheers to us!

Brandon surprised me with these!!!

Best of all we were together! It was fun, it was relaxing and it was a nice reminder of how lucky we are to have eachother.

Happy Anniversary! And to many more to come...

Bring your parent to lunch!

2011-10-12T13:04:00.000-07:00

Not only was it CrAzY hair day today but it was also Bring your parent to lunch day! So I was able to go hang out and be with Averie for lunch. Averie is ALWAYS asking to take a home lunch and I ALWAYS make her just eat school lunch. Why? Well because it's cheap and I don't have to make it! Anyway I learned today that I will be sending more home lunches... I'm sorry but I am NOT a fan of school lunch!
After lunch Averie asked me to hang out with her for recess...

It was fun for me to see what she likes to play while she's at school. Her and her little friends are so cute! I LOVED spending time with my little Averie today.

It's CrAzY hair day!!!

2011-10-12T12:57:00.001-07:00

It was CrAzY hair day today at Amelia Earhart Elementry and Averie was estatic!

Averie with a couple of her friends outside before school.

Averie with her teacher Mrs. Anderson who does NOT have CrAzY hair, but who has super cute hair!

Fall is in the air!

2011-10-06T12:06:00.000-07:00

Yesterday finally felt like a "real" fall day. It made me so happy! The air was crisp and the sky was dark and it finally smelled like fall, you know the smell... wood stoves burning is my favorite!
I put flannel sheets on all of the beds and added an extra blanket between the sheet and comforters. Then I rotated all of the kids clothing making the "warm" clothes easily accessible in the closets and dressers. We also loaded up the snack drawer with hot chocolate packets! It was raining out and I was enjoying every minute of it.

Today we will be...
Carving pumpkins
Taking another family car ride up the beautiful Provo canyon to check out the changing leaves and...
watching charlie brown's halloween!

I am happy. I sure love fall!

Sweet San Antonio

2011-09-29T21:17:00.000-07:00

One of the BEST parts about being married to an Airline Pilot is having the opportunity to being able to take advantage of the free flights! Last Tuesday Brandon called me and said that he was flying into Salt Lake from Denver and after that he would be flying into San Antonio Texas for a 33 hour layover. So I decided to load up the kids and fly to Texas! It was really fun because Brandon recently started flying the SkyWest Jets instead of the SkyWest Brazilia (turbo prop).

We went to the Children's Museum, the kids were in Heaven! Favorite thing there... the Mini Market! The loved loading up the cute little shopping carts, being able to cash out and bag up the stuff! Then unloading it all and doing it all over again. It was pretty cute and there was so much fun stuff to do there. We could have spent all day there!

We saw the Alamo at night, it was BEAUTIFUL!

We toured the River Walk. It was incrediable! So many shops, so many resturants, and totally Beautiful! We shopped (super fun), we ate (best food ever!), and we rode the River Taxi.

There was so much to do there but so little time. We plan to go back again for a little getaway when Brandon isnt working, so that we can explore all of the many amazing things in Sweet San Antonio Texas!

Praying for the talent of...

2011-09-29T20:25:00.000-07:00

BLOGGING!

I love reading blogs, and there are so many talented bloggers out there! I wish that I had a natural knack for writing/blogging, but unfortunitly I do not. But I do enjoy it, it is a nice outlet and the end of the day and I think it is a great way to really notice how amazing life, family, daily events etc. really are. I want to blog more.

Here are some of my FAVORITE blogs:

www.nieniedialogues.blogspot.com
www.candadiantami.blogspot.com
www.rubowhappenings.blogspot.com
www.buzznbugs.blogspot.com
www.thedatingdivas.com
www.utahmccords.blogspot.com

I have many, many more favorite blogs, but here are a small few that I love. If I didn't list your blog, it doesn't mean that I don't read it or love it because I do, I love it too!

Kaylie turnes 4!!!

2011-05-26T23:03:00.001-07:00

On May 19th Kaylie turned 4! Happy Birthday to our sweet loving Kaylie Bug!!!

Kaylie's graduation

2011-05-26T22:51:00.001-07:00

Happy Graduation Day to Kaylie! Kaylie loves to color, practice writing her name and loves learning to sound out words in books. I am so proud of how much she loves to learn!

Averie's graduation

2011-05-26T15:53:00.000-07:00

Averie graduated kindergarten!!! I cannot believe she is growing up so fast. Averie loves school, she loves learning rymes and has mastered counting and writing her numbers to 100. She is also reading very well and is ready for 1st grade. I'm so proud of her she has learned and grown so much this past year!

Dance recitals

2011-05-26T15:37:00.000-07:00

Monday Averie had her first dance recital! I am so proud of her she did so well. Averie loves to dance and want to continue it. She really want to work up to being on the compitition teams and be able to travel all over. That evening Averie slipped backstage in her tap shoes and broke her little nose. I felt so bad for her! I can't believe it happened. It was so sad because she was just walking slowely because the floors were slippery and still she fell. Poor little thing has been in so much pain.

This is Kaylie and Averie with Miss Denna. We love her so much! She is an amazing teacher and truly cares about these little girls that she teaches and spends so much time with. (Can you see how swollen her little nose is in this pic?)

Tuesday was Kaylie's recital. She was so cute! She loves to dance and has so much fun doing it. When it came to preform in the recital she had alittle bit of stage fright but still went out on stage. By the time she got used to it on her 3rd dance she only had one to go and was so sad when it was over. But I am very proud of her and happy that she wants to continue dancing!

nothing better then....

2011-05-08T20:25:00.000-07:00

FRIENDS!

Saturday was a busy day for me! Averie had an end of the year pizza party with the girls from her kindergarten class. All of these girls played so good together and had so much fun

(note to self: 3 hours in way to long to have that many little girls running around you house!)

Beauty

2011-05-08T20:11:00.000-07:00

I truly love my calling as an activity days leader. I have so much fun with these girls they have such strong happy little spirits and I love spending time with them.
On Saturday we visited the beautiful Provo temple and took some fun pictures of the girls.

It was a beautiful peaceful morning and spending it on temple grounds made it even better!

Averie lost a tooth!

2011-05-04T20:08:00.000-07:00

Averie lost her fist tooth on Tuesday evening! I think the whole thing was more traumatic for me than it was for her. I just cant believe she is growing up so fast and is old enough to start losing teeth!

The tooth fairy visited her last night and left a gold dollar.

we've been having...

2011-04-30T10:36:00.000-07:00

way to much fun with this iphone app!

If you have the iphone you need to download camwow! It is way fun to distort your faces in so many ways :-)

Hiking the Y

2011-04-20T20:00:00.000-07:00

I am hiking the Y with my cute little activity girls in a couple of weeks so I decided I better start practicing and it was a beautiful cool day to do it!

This is me half way up!

Wahoo we made it to the TOP!

My wonderful friend Aynn came with me! And we rocked this hike!

Rested and ready to head back down...

we had a ton of fun and I definatly need to hike it a few more times before I go up with the activity girls...

Its Friday and I'm in love

2011-04-18T12:22:00.001-07:00

This past friday I took a vacation... it wasn't anywhere tropical, awesome or warm but it was fabulous! And well needed.

I went to work with my man! Our first night was in Ceder City and our second in Cody Wy. (I told you it wasn't anywhere special) But it was great. I have been feeling alittle neglacted by Brandon lately because he works so much and when he is home he gives a lot of attention to the kids, which don't get me wrong, I think it is wonderful. But I missed him, I missed him a lot! While I was with him we laughed, and cought up with eachother and it was lovely.

We hung out with this funny guy. He made us laugh a ton!

And this was a well needed fun little vacation.

DaNcInG pRiNcEsSeS

2011-01-28T09:03:00.000-08:00

We put our little princesses in Dance. We felt like they were finally ready, and they totally are! They are having so much fun and look forward to going to dance each week. They are learning and catching on so fast and I am so proud of my little girls. Check out where they dance HERE. Denna is AMAZING!

Kaylie and the Bean Museum

2011-01-23T19:08:00.000-08:00

Preschool fieldtrips are the best!
This fieldtrip was at the Bean Museum and Kaylie LOVED it!!! She is such an animal lover so this was the perfect fieldtrip for her.

PS: I've really got to start using my real camera and stop using my phone to take pictures they don't turn out very clear! Sorry.

My beautiful daughters

2011-01-12T19:26:00.000-08:00

Christmas DAY

2011-01-03T21:14:00.000-08:00

Christmas day was absolutely perfect! It was so much fun watching the girls this year they were so happy and made the day so magical.

daddy getting toys out of the boxes

a blurry picture of Kaylie

These 3 PlayStation games were the highlight of Brandon's Christmas! He has been wanting these games and could hardly wait to play them.

Averie and her loot

Kaylie and her loot

These mobigo's were the best Christmas presents for ME! The girls are entertained with them for hours. I can get so much done and in peace and quiet. Plus I don't feel to guilty about them playing video games because they are very educational. Trust me, check them out!

We had an amazing Holiday Season and we hope that you all did as well.

Christmas EVE

2011-01-03T20:55:00.001-08:00

Christmas Eve was lovely as it is every year. We went to Goshen to enjoy our usual family Christmas Eve party at Grandma Kay's house where we eat, play games, get presents and enjoy time as a family. This year was really special because our whole family includig aunts, uncles, cousins all fo the above were there. It was so nice. Afterwards we went home and continued on with our Christmas Eve traditions.
We got the reindeer treats ready...

Poor Kaylie was so tired that I'm sure this was not fun for her.

Daddy and Averie sprinkled the food out in the yard for the reindeer.

We baked cookies and set out Santa's goodies, and headed off to bed.
...and then Santa came and visited our house!

and then... santa was CAUGHT!

It was 4 am and no luck in going back to sleep after this!

Heber Valley Railroad NORTH POLE EXPRESS!

2010-12-14T16:35:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday my parents and little brother went up to Heber with us to ride the HEBER VALLEY NORTH POLE EXPRESS

It was a ton of fun and the kids had a blast! I didn't get very many good pictures because I just had my phone and I was busy watching the kids enjoy it.

>
It was cute because they make it like "The Polar Express" The kids dressed up in PJ's, they served hot cocoa, we got our tickets punched and the waiters put on a show.

Afterwards we enjoyed dinner as a family at the California Pizza Kitchen! What an awesome night!!!

The drive home

2010-12-09T21:34:00.000-08:00

On Saturday I flew down to Fresno hopefully for the last time! And we were lucky enough to go on a date with and spend the night with our friends the Gallentine family. And then Sunday morning we started on our journey back to UTAH! Brandon was FINALLY transferred back to Salt Lake and so we got to move him home and bring his car back. WAHOOOO
It was a LONG drive but it was great spending some alone time with Brandon and being able to talk to each other without being interrupted by the kids.
we listened to alot of this....

And saw alot of this....

We also stopped in the Mojave desert to check out the Airplane graveyard and in Primm to shop the outlet malls. And we finally rolled in around midnight, but we made it home!!!

Family

2010-12-01T07:56:00.000-08:00

(Photo's taken by Laura Hinkley)
Love the photo's love Laura! There were so many amazing photo's I had such a hard time deciding which one's to show on my blog!

Beautiful

2010-11-14T14:15:00.001-08:00

As we were leaving the Salt Lake airport on Thursday the 11th we saw this...

It was gorgeous! Tons of people were pulling to the side of the road to snap some shots!

Happy Birthday LANDON!

2010-11-07T08:22:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that my baby is ONE! This year seemed to fly by. We feel very blessed to have Landon in our family, he is that happiest baby and brings so much joy to our lives. I look forward to continue watching our sweet little boy grow and change everyday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY LANDON!!! WE LOVE YOU!!!

Landon's cake from family party #1

Our Birthday BOY!

Landon's cake from family party #2 (made with love by NANA)

The decorations!

We are blessed to have both mine and Brandon's extended families close by and were able to celebrate with all of them! We love and appreciate everyone who is a part of our life.

Fall cuties!

2010-11-01T19:07:00.000-07:00

Kari and I wanted to get this kids out this afternoon so we headed up to Provo Canyon and decided to take some fun fall pic's of the kids!

I got soooo many cute pictures so here are quite a few of them. It was great to get the kids out in the fresh air for a while. We all had fun! Afterwards we ate at Tucano's, we are stuffed and ready for bed!

*FUN FACT: Between mine and Kari's kids we hit every age from 6-1. Rory-6, Averie-5, Liam-4, Kaylie-3, Autumn-2, Landon-1

Halloween breakfast tradition...

2010-10-31T10:55:00.000-07:00

My Halloween beauties!

2010-10-31T10:52:00.001-07:00

A Halloween treat!

2010-10-28T07:06:00.000-07:00

The girls told me that they really wanted to take something to school for their friends for Halloween. Averie said that she wanted it to be something special. (Not just a piece of candy she said) I knew I couldn't just get something for a few of the girls friends I had to do something for ALL of the kids! So I came up with this simple idea and stayed up last night making 40 of them!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween haunted train ride!

2010-10-26T20:13:00.000-07:00

We LOVE Halloween! And it's Halloween week so we've got to make it fun!
We went on a haunted train ride up in Lindon, it was fun for the kids they wanted to go on it over and over but it was snowing a cold. So I promised that I would take them another day this week before Halloween is over. Check it out here!

And we are super excited to go on THIS around Christmas time!

Snow and Sub Zero!

2010-10-26T19:58:00.000-07:00

Today it snowed for the first time in the valley. Kaylie yelled out "this is so magical!"

We decided to celebrate by going out for ice cream!

So Sick!

2010-10-12T17:54:00.001-07:00

I got up this morning feeling good. I walked Averie to school and we enjoyed the fresh fall cool morning air. I helped out at the school with some PTA stuff and on the way home... it hit me! I've felt so sick and have slept most of the day. I'm grateful that Brandon was home to take care of me and the kids when this "out of nowhere sickness" struck!

Celebrating Thanksgiving: Canadian Style!

2010-10-12T17:31:00.000-07:00

Happy Thanksgiving! Having friends from Canada means that of course we have to celebrate Thanksgiving in October like they do. Plus it's a fabulous reason to get together with our husbands and kids.
There is nothing like good friends and good food!

The girls first "friend" sleepover and...

2010-10-12T17:21:00.000-07:00

... I was happy/sad about it!

because it means that my babies are growing up!

school picture day

2010-10-09T14:04:00.001-07:00

Averie on her school picture day! Kindergarten

(Not sure why this picture turned out so yellow)

Fall Fun!

2010-10-09T13:54:00.001-07:00

Friends...

Bounce houses...

Motorcycle rides...

Flyin' home!

2010-10-07T14:47:00.000-07:00

As most of you know Brandon has been based in Fresno with SkyWest Airlines for the past 2 1/2 years and commuting (very stressful) back and forth. It's been really hard on our family but we've adjusted and made it work. He's had his "bid" in for the transfer to SLC from the day he started and.... IT WAS FINALLY ACCEPTED! SkyWest finally started hiring again and so they are able to move people around more. He will be based back in SLC starting December 1st!!!

We are so excited for our lives to become ALOT less complicated and less stressful. Also to have Brandon home more often and around for more things will be AWESOME!

coupons, coupons, coupons!!!

2010-09-28T08:09:00.000-07:00

I have really gotten into clipping and using coupons! I love how much money it saves me. It takes so much time to organize and get a list made but I've decided that it's totally worth it. The best is when you can double up on coupons and get stuff for free or pretty darn cheap! Last night I stayed up after the kids went to bed and it took me 1 1/2 hours to get everything clipped and organized!

cArLsBaD wEeKeNd!

2010-09-11T07:50:00.000-07:00

One of the perks of being married to a pilot is being able to go on his awesome "overnights"! Brandon was lucky enough to get a double overnight in Calrsbad CA last weekend so of course the kids and I were going to take advantage of it! I ended up leaving Landon with my parents so that... lets be honest, so that it was easier on ME! And the girls and I set out on our journey to meet Brandon in LA. There is not a direct flight from SLC to Carlsbad so we connected in LA which worked out perfect because Brandon was "flying" that flight from LA to Carlsbad. We made it on our flight and were so excited to start our relaxing weekend. CRAP! Somewhere between SLC and LA they lost our LUGGAGE! I have NEVER had that happen in all of my flying experiences!
This was the view from our SUITE (courtesy of SkyWest airlines)

This resort had 2 large swimming pools with a kids water park. Several HOT TUBS and tons of fun stuff for all ages to enjoy! Another really fun thing this resort had was in the lobby you could get all you can eat free popcorn, drinks, chocolates and more. There were free gift bags for kids and a balloon man who made balloon animals for the kids.

Of course we enjoyed to swimming areas!

We also went to the BEACH! It was awesome. The weather was perfect and the sand felt fabulous! We had so much fun and as you could imagine it was torture getting the kids to leave!

We also went to the OUTLET mall and had fun shopping around, listening to live bands and eating good food!
Visit the resort site here...

Averie gets her ears pierced!

2010-09-11T07:48:00.001-07:00

Averie has been asking for a while to get her ears pierced and I kept putting it off... maybe because it meant she's growing up??? But we finally gave in and she was so brave! She didn't cry and only yelled OUCH!!! once.

Before...

After...

Really?

2010-09-07T16:17:00.001-07:00

My babies are growing up!
Averie started Kindergarten of August 31st. She was up bright and early to get ready for school! She has been so excited to get back to school and make new friends she LOVES it so far!

This is her fabulous teacher Mrs. Gunn. She is amazing and so loving to our little ones....

And Kaylie started preschool on September 2nd. I can't believe my little girls are growing up so fast!

Kaylie was pretty nervous on the first day and didn't want to go but when it came time for me to pick her up she didn't want to leave. She had such a great time!

August!

2010-08-29T20:03:00.000-07:00

August has been a super busy month for us. With summer vacations, back to school shopping, birthdays and so much more. We did take a big trip to Disneyland over Averie's birthday and I hope that sometime soon I can find the time to blog about it!

August 12th. Happy 5th Birthday Averie!!! Our lucky little princess spent her special day in Disneyland.

August 25th. Happy 31st BIrthday Brandon!!! He was flying on his birthday but I made up for it the next day when he got home and we all celebrated!

Our little family

2010-08-09T14:55:00.000-07:00

The girls were not in the best of moods that day....

Broken!

2010-08-03T11:59:00.000-07:00

Sunday evening the girls went outside to play for a few minutes before it was time to get ready for bed, I went upstairs to put Landon down and next thing I know Kaylie was running up the stairs crying. I didn't think too much of it at first because those of you who know Kaylie know that she is very sensitive. I told her she was tired and it was time for bed. I was getting her pj's and noticed that she was trying to get on her bed and couldn't. Her little left arm was just hanging there and looked WAY bigger than her other arm. I softly touched it and she screamed out in agony. I knew it wasn't good. I called my parents who drove over asap and we headed to the ER.
This is Kaylie's good arm

And this is the broken one

The doctor took one look at it and right away said it's defiantly broken. And sent to to XRAY to be sure. This was Kaylie right before she got her xrays, she was pretty happy because the nurses were lovin on her and kept making her laugh.

After getting the XRAYS back the doctor decided to keep her over night and get her into surgery first thing in the morning. WHAT? SURGERY? Why can't you just put a cast on it and send us on our way? It just so happens that Kaylie broke her arm in one of the only spots that you have to do surgery for to fix. She had to get 2 pins placed in her arm too. GREAT! It's also in a nasty place. The cast has to go from her hand all the way to her shoulder. Poor little girl. We didn't get any sleep at all that night and we were up bright and early for surgery.
Kaylie before...

The surgery lasted about 45 mins. They doc came out and said that everything went super well and he was really please with the surgery. A few min's later Kaylie was headed back to her room for recovery.
Kaylie after...

She was traumatized after she woke up. She screamed, bawled and threw a HUGE fit! She even pulled out one of the cords that was hooked to her with her teeth. It was so crazy. The nurses said that it was normal for a kid her age to react like that. This is it is a HUGE deal for her and that she doesn't really have the words yet to tell us what is going on in her mind. After a good long nap and some lunch she was cleared to go home.
The girls rode out in style...

We're finally home and Kaylie seems to be doing pretty well as long as I keep her medicated. She's being super spoiled with watching movies and being waited on hand and foot and she's taking advantage of every minute of it.
Here she is talking to her Daddy telling him about it all...

The worst part of all of this is that we leave for Disneyland in 8 days. Wish us luck!!!

Santa Barbara!

2010-07-21T08:53:00.000-07:00

Brandon had another long layover in Santa Barbara and so of course we decided to take advantage of it and go! It is defiantly our very favorite place to go. It's so beautiful there and it's the perfect weather all year around. Also so many fun thing to do! I had planned on taking both of the girls and leaving Landon home with my parents, but the day before we left Averie had been playing outside ALL day long and was having so much fun she wouldn't come in and eat and drink so I think the ended up with head exhaustion. Poor girl! She was so sick and sad that she wouldn't be able to go to one of her favorite places. I was just going to stay with her but she insisted that "I take Kaylie and have a great time!" So that's what we did.
A flight attendant that Brandon knows lives in Santa Barbara on a sail boat and give rides on it to crew members. So we headed out and did that.

we saw seals and also some dauphins, it was awesome!

It was so beautiful out there and we had so much fun!

We finished out the night with a nice dinner and relaxing in the hot tub. We had a ton of fun and it's always nice to spend some extra time with Brandon. It was also fun to spend some quality time Kaylie.

Old house

2010-07-16T09:27:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, my Grandma's old house that was built in 1892, and they moved into in 1956 was torn down. It was a very emotional day for our family. My Dad and his siblings grew up in this house and all of us grandkids grew up visiting Grandma and Grandpa in this house. And now it's gone.
I wish that I had taken some pictures of the house before the doors and windows were taken out but I didn't. I know my Dad did so I will have to get them from him later.

Here is Averie and Cocoa watching it go down.

Here is my Dad and Kaylie

Landon just slept through all the noise and commotion.

I will miss seeing this house. I have alot of great memories there....

Swimming lessons!

2010-07-13T15:12:00.001-07:00

The girls started swimming lessons yesterday and were so excited that they were up at 8:00 ready with swimming suits on and all. Lesson's don't start until 11:00. They had a long wait!

Averie is a little fish and jumped right in and did everything the teacher told her to do. She was also the only one in the class who already knew how to float. She was pretty proud of that! Kaylie on the other hand was a completely different story! She only got in twice and then set on the side for the rest of the time. She kept saying that she doesn't like to get wet (that is totally a lie!) She loves water and pools so I don't really know what her problem was. Today her teacher got a girl to come in with Kaylie and be 1 on 1 with her. That totally worked! She stayed in the whole time and loved every minute of it. I think she might have just been scared of the teacher because it's a man? Anyways both girls did super great today and Averie is always the first in her class to try the new things they are doing. I don't know what I'm going to do when swimming lessons are over!

COCOA

2010-07-12T08:13:00.001-07:00

We got a puppy! I finally gave into the girls and got this sweet cute little Chug puppy. She was free so that helped my decision but we totally love her and she is already a part of our family.

Just hanging out

2010-07-04T09:03:00.001-07:00

at Papa Nixon's house!

saw this...

2010-07-02T06:08:00.001-07:00

... with some of my favorite girls in the whole world last night, it was pretty good.

Love these...

2010-06-29T13:45:00.000-07:00

Picnic's at the park!

good food,good friends,good times!

Chastina and her family also came, sorry I didn't take any pics of everyone all together!

I bought this today...

2010-06-28T22:29:00.000-07:00

it's a picnic basket, and I'm pretty excited about it!

Cotton Candy!

2010-06-22T21:49:00.001-07:00

When Brandon came home from work tonight he surprised the girls with cotton candy! Here they are enjoying it on the ride home.

Happy Fathers Day!

2010-06-22T07:44:00.001-07:00

We were so sad that we couldn't spend Fathers Day with Brandon. He was flying that day. But we will celebrate with him as soon and he gets home today!
Happy Fathers Day babe, you are a fabulous Daddy to our kids and we appreciate all that you do for us. WE LOVE YOU!!!

Pure luck!

2010-06-15T07:22:00.000-07:00

I dropped Brandon off at work thinking that it would be 5 longs days until he would be home again with us. But to my surprise he called me about 1/2 hour after I dropped him off and told me that he was going to Denver for the night and they he was TDY'ed (sent somewhere to sit in a hotel "on call") to SLC for the next two days. HECK YES! That means the kids and I get to go stay at the hotel with him and get a mini vacation out of it! we stayed here... and it was AMAZING! Brandon had to just be within 2 hours of the airport incase he got called so we decided to do some fun things as a family while we waited. Fortunately he never got called the whole 2 days that we were there and we had a great time!

On Saturday the girls went to a friends birthday at Boondocks and had tons of fun! They wanted to take Brandon back to check it out. So we went and the first thing the girls wanted to do was the water bumper boats. And then we played and played for 2 1/2 hours. I didn't take my camera or phone in so I didn't get any pictures. I'm a little sad about it...

We ate dinner at the Mayan. It was yummy and the divers were awesome! Averie loved watching them but Kaylie was scared. I think because it's dark in there and they were diving from so high up.

We could see the State Capital from our Hotel window and the kids kept asking about it so Brandon took us on a drive up the hill to show the girls. When we got up there we decided to get out and "tour" around. It was such a nice beautiful day to do this. Across from the capital we found this trail that went down the side of the mountain so we walked down it and it lead to this beautiful park that was closed off to traffic but people were exercising, walking dogs, having picnics and so much more. It had a river running through it and some old statues.

Lunch at Hires BIG H! We love this fast food restaurant and there is not one around here so we had to go while we were in SLC!

THANKYOU SKYWEST AIRLINES!!!

Comfort Suites

2010-06-07T10:26:00.000-07:00

Sunday was a LONG day! I have totally be spoiled with being able to fly all the time because this drive was TORTURE for me! We got up early and left Sacramento by 8:00 am, the drive actually wasn't to bad it was just really long. Landon was pretty much done being in his carseat by the time we hit Reno. But Brandon and I sang to the radio, we talked, we laughed and we were able to catch up with each other. That part was really nice.
Brandon had a yearly training in SLC today and since he doesn't "live in" SLC SkyWest pays for a Hotel for him to stay in. So we had the girls brought up to us in SLC so that we could all join Brandon for the night.

We swam...

we ate pizza, we stayed up late watching movies. And then it was time for bed! Brandon and I were exhausted!

Plane ride/ Road trip

2010-06-07T10:04:00.000-07:00

We needed to drive Brandon's car back to Utah to get it's safety and emissions done for the year and to get it registered so I packed up the myself and all of the kids. I decided that a long drive like that just wouldn't be fun with all 3 kids so the girls were lucky enough to be able the spend the weekend with Grandma and Grandpa Kay! I wanted to take Landon because his Great Grandma Tiny had not yet seen him and I knew that we would be stopping to see them in Sacramento.
When we got our boarding passes Brandon called to see where we were going to sit, I told him and we found out that Brandon sat in the exact same seat that Landon was assigned just the night before. I thought that was pretty funny.

Brandon was called to do a test flight while Landon and I were on our way so when we got to Fresno Brandon handed us the car keys so we could bum around and wait for him to get done working, we went to Target :). Lucky for us it was just a test flight so he was only gone for 1/2 hour. When he got done we picked him up and started our drive to Sacramento!

We were so happy that Brandon's Grandma was finally able to see Landon! She loved him so much and he is just such an easy going happy baby that he just sat and smiled at her and everyone else the whole time.

We are always happy to see and spend time with Grandma and Grandpa Nixon!

The next day was our long day! The drive to Utah....

Winco freebies!

2010-06-04T09:12:00.000-07:00

Check your mail for a WinCo ad! I got one yesterday that included these coupons:

FREE 12 pk Shasta Soda, assorted varieties, limit 1
FREE Bar S Meat Franks, 12 oz, limit 1
FREE Wonder Hot Dog Buns, 8 ct, limit 1
FREE Calidad Tortilla Chips, 14 oz, limit 1

P.S. If you don't want to go all the way up to WinCo you can take your add to Walmart and they will match the coupons.

Circus anyone?

2010-06-03T18:01:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I feel like I'm running a circus!

My little clowns crack me up!

CrAwLiNg?

2010-06-03T07:37:00.001-07:00

Is he or isn't he?

well, not quite yet... but he's almost there!!!

Quick flight!

2010-05-31T10:03:00.000-07:00

Brandon had an overnight in St. George and asked if we wanted to come stay the night with him. So the girls and I headed up the the airport after church yesterday and met up with Brandon. He piloted our flight there and back and it was fun for the girls to know that it is their daddy who is flying the plane. We always have alot of fun spending extra time with Brandon and try to do it as often as we can. The girls got a special "shout out" over the speaker system from the captain and they were pretty excited about it!
The girls with Brandon in the cockpit

Landon loves to...

2010-05-29T21:27:00.000-07:00

...suck on his cute little foot!

Hiking the "Y"

2010-05-29T21:18:00.000-07:00

On Friday Brandon and I decided to take the kids and hike the "Y"! We packed a picnic lunch and headed up at about noon. We had alot of fun, Averie is an awesome little ball of fire! She literally ran all the way up! When we got to the top people kept commenting how cool it was that we made it up with 3 tiny kids. We loved getting out into the fresh air and looking at the beautiful view from the top.

Poor little Landon even got a good workout he was tired!

Happy Birthday Kaylie!

2010-05-29T21:09:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday to our sweet little Kaylie bug. She turned 3 on May 19th! I have tons of pictures because she had 2 family parties so I just decided to post this adorable picture of her. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY SWEET GIRL!!!

JAMIE!!!

2010-05-03T17:00:00.000-07:00

This one's for you...

If you are confused about this post, please refer to the last post's comments.

Riding Thunder!

2010-05-01T09:32:00.000-07:00

Averie got this rocking horse for her first birthday from my cousin Carrie, and it has become her BEST friend! Averie doesn't just rock back and forth on it but she gallops around on it and it is so dang funny and cute! Thunder has been through alot with Averie. She has cut it's mane and tale, she has colored on it, she has put bandaids ALL over it and so much more. Averie is very protective of Thunder! No one else is allowed to sit on or let alone ride Thunder but HER!
The other day I told Averie that she had to watch Landon for a few minutes while I did the dishes really quick. A few minutes later I hear Landon and Averie laughing so I went to see what was going on... Averie was galloping around on Thunder with Landon in tow. His head was flopping back and forth and he was bouncing around but was totally LOVING it!!!

I was so surprised that Averie put Landon on Thunder with her. I told her how nice that was of her and she said... "I'm just sharing the LOVE"

Things like this make all of the hard times with the kids all worth it! This made my day!!!

SaNtA bArBaRa

2010-04-28T06:38:00.001-07:00

The very weekend after we got home from Washington the girls and I jumped right back on a plane and headed to Santa Barbara to stay with Brandon for the night. My parents who are fabulous offered to keep Landon for the weekend knowing that I couldn't take all 3 kids alone. Santa Barbara is so beautiful and green that we couldn't help but take the opportunity to go stay with him. Plus any extra time that we can see Brandon is worth it!

I didn't really take many pictures at all, I was busy making sure I had my eye on the girls at all times, It's big and busy there and I made them hold my hands everywhere we went. But we had alot of fun and it was nice and relaxing. Just what we needed!!!

Washington

2010-04-28T06:20:00.001-07:00

Landon's first fight! (5 months old) I was really nervous flying with all 3 kids. Usually Brandon and I each take charge of one girl and it works out great but now one of us (ME) has to be in charge of 2 kids. However I had nothing to worry about. All of the kids did great! The girls love to fly and get tons of attention from the flight attendants so they were no problem. And Landon is such a good, happy baby that he just looked around with a HUGE smile on his face talking and laughing. The hardest part of course was getting to and from the plane. Which was surprisingly not that bad. Although I could never take all 3 kids alone at the point!

On April 9th we packed up and flew out to Washington. Brandon's cousin's Andrew and Mike were flying in the next morning from New York to stay at Katie's for a week. We haven't seen them in what it seems like forever so we figured this was a good time, because we were double lucky to be able to see both of them plus Katie! It was an awesome weekend because we got there Friday, Andrew and Mike got there Saturday, and on Sunday Delaine, Whitney and Justin came. PaRtY!!!
Katie's awesome Sunday dinner!

We LOVE visiting Katie because she is so loving and a great host. Katie always treats us like we are her own kids and welcomes us with open arms.
Katie with her boys! We are missing Nate though (Andrew and Mike's brother) he lives in Florida and couldn't come but it would have been really great if we could have got him there too.

Kindergarten already?

2010-04-25T16:19:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe that Averie is going to start Kindergarten this year! I got her registered, she went with me and was so very excited! The next day I took her to the pediatrition to get all of her new shots to be able to start kindergarten. I love Utah Valley Pediatrics... they tried so hard to make it a fun experiance for Averie. They took her to different stations for each part of her checkup. She cried at the beginning of each station because she didn't know what was going to happen, but the nurses were so great at making sure to explain everything that was going on. At the end of her checkup they gave her a bag full of goodies and a t-shirt and she was happy as can be!

This makes me smile...

2010-04-06T09:31:00.001-07:00

I love this picture of Kaylie dancing, it makes me smile!

There is nothing better then pure innocence and happiness in a child!

Easter

2010-04-05T20:50:00.000-07:00

We were lucky enough to have Brandon's sister Brisa and her husband Greg and their two kids Caden and Brielle stay with us for the week. They were here visiting for Brandon's mom's wedding. While they were here we were able to do alot of fun things with them. For Easter we decorated eggs and had an easter egg hunt that the kids really enjoyed. It was cold outside, I wish it could have been sunny and beautiful! Maybe next year?

Bridal Shower

2010-03-29T07:58:00.000-07:00

I thought that I had just saved this post, but I guess I published it without finishing it... I started and then got busy with the kids, so now I'm back to finish!

On Saturday I was lucky enough to host a Bridal Shower for my mother-in-law Diana. I had alot of fun coming up with a theme and planning and putting it together.

This is Diana and Fernando the groom. Fern showed up and surprised her with these beautiful roses!

We had so much fun watching her open her presents and we had some good laughs too...

We played the game where I asked them each questions about each other and if they got the question wrong, they had to eat a piece of gum. I bet you can guess how they did...

A few people had already left by the time we decided to gather for a group picture, but we still got a good shot! These are her very entertaining friends!

And this my friends, is my dessert tables! (sorry the pictures would not turn the right way!)

The shower went great! We had a lot of fun. I'm soooo happy for Diana, Fernando is the most perfect man for her and I wish them an eternity of happiness.

Is it Spring yet?

2010-03-19T06:54:00.000-07:00

We have been loving these past few days of beautiful sun. It has been so wonderful to be able to spend so much time outside. We have gone to park after park and have had picnic lunches, it has been so fabulous! ahhhh fresh spring air. Is it going to last??? Everytime we get a taste of spring, winter makes a come back.

We are very excited, for the months of March and April Brandon received a "line" which means that instead of sitting on reserve he actually has a schedule for the whole month. And it is a dang good schedule too. This also means more days off!!! It is soooo nice knowing what to plan for. We are keeping our fingers crossed that this luck keeps up.

We have so much going the next couple of weeks so I hope this means I will blog more often about what's going on in our lives.

Papa Nixon came to town!

2010-03-02T12:06:00.000-08:00

Papa Nixon flew in from California this week to spend a few days with us. We really enjoyed spending time with him, and are so glad that he came!

Landon's hospital visit

2010-02-08T11:01:00.000-08:00

On Saturday January 30th Landon was admitted to the Utah Valley Hospital for RSV. He started coughing on the Thursday before and by Saturday he was running a fever and not eating very well. I called the Doctor to ask if there was anything that I could give Landon, because at this point he was getting miserable. The doctor heard Landon coughing while I was talking to him and told me to bring him in right away and that he wanted to check him out for RSV. So I called Diana(my mother in law) and asked if she could come and stay with the girls while I took Landon in. We waited for an hour and a half before getting back to see the Doctor. It was soooo busy there. The waiting room was so full that people were having to stand. Oh my... so many things were going through my head. Why were all of these kids here? Is Landon going to catch something really bad from being stuck in this room for so long? Stuff like that. So we finally made it back to see the Doctor and he listened to Landon and sent us right over to the hospital. Dang it! What was I going to do? Brandon was out of town working, the kids are home with Nana and I have to deal with all of this on my own. I went to the hospital and got Landon all checked in then went home to make arragnments for the kids. We were so lucky to have family around to help and to have such amazing friends that are right there ready and willing to help as well. Brandon flew in that night and came straight to the hospital to see Landon. I was so relieved to have him home. Sadly he had to go right back the next day. But he was able to fly back and forth all 5 days that Landon was in the hospital to see him and be with us as much as he could. It was hard going back and forth but totally worth it!
Here are some pictures from Landon's hospital stay...

Does anybody know why...

2010-02-05T07:53:00.000-08:00

I can't upload any pictures onto here???

How do you do it???

2010-01-25T12:36:00.000-08:00

WOW so much has happened over the last couple of months and I can never find the time to blog about it! I can hardly even find the time to read other people's blog posts. Between laundry, dishes, changing diapers, wiping bums, washing hands, wiping noses, picking up toys, running errands, playing taxi driver to my little social butterfly's, and the list goes on.... I can never find the time to blog! How do all of you find the time to blog?

I love to blog and I take sooo many pictures, so I'm going to make it a goal to sit down and blog atleast once a week, I hope!

Wish me luck!

Family Pictures

2009-12-17T23:40:00.000-08:00

Denae took our family pictures today and they turned out so cute! I have so many favorites it was hard to choose just a couple to show off so I put alot on.

Our family

This "pucker up" pose was our pose of choice for that moment!

Thanks again Denae! You did a great job.

Check Denae out here.

More pictures of Landon

2009-12-14T15:09:00.000-08:00

My friend Denae came over to take some pictures of Landon today and I think that they turned out soooo cute! Thankyou Denae!

Check Denae's website out here...

Can this be true?

2009-12-08T13:15:00.000-08:00

Kaylie decided out of the blue that she wants to be potty trained. I've tried a couple of times to potty train her before and she has had little or no interest. But all of the sudden she keeps telling me she wants to be a big girl and she has gone 2 full days without accidents. HOORAY!!! (I should knock on wood) Hopefully this keeps up! I will be soooo happy only having to buy diapers for one child instead of two :)

Landon's newborn pictures

2009-11-16T14:31:00.000-08:00

My friend Cassi took Landon's newborn pictures and they turned out so cute! There are so many cute ones so I chose just a few of my favorites to show all of you.I know he's crying, but it is just so cute!
He looks like he's thinking "It's sooo bright in here!"

Thankyou Cassi!

If you would like Cassi to take your pictures check her out here.

Freebies and good deals

2009-11-14T15:06:00.000-08:00

Check out this website that was featured on Good Things Utah last week.

www.freebies2deals.com

Wecome baby Landon!

2009-11-10T16:09:00.001-08:00

He's finally here!

Landon Jet Nixon

Born: November 5th at 8:18 am

Weight: 6 lbs 3 oz

Length: 18 1/2 inches

My labor and delivery went really well, I got to the hospital and was dialated to a 5 and they started my epidural right away. When it was finally time to push I only had to push 4 times and he was out! The doctor said that my first 3 pushes were to simply turn his head. Dang it! If he were to have been face down I may have only had to push once.

Being at the Hospital was really hard for me because the girls were not allowed in. Because of the cold/flu season no one 14 yrs old or younger were allowed into the Hospital, not even in the waiting room. I really missed the girls and felt bad that they were not able to hold their new baby brother.

My mom and dad brought the girls to the hospital and Brandon went outside and found the window to my room so that the girls could look in and see us.

Landon is such a sweet baby, he is so calm and good natured

I LOVE this picture of Landon!

YAWWWNNN!!!

We cannot get enough of our little boy! We feel so blessed to have him as a part of our family.

Our little princesses

2009-10-23T22:16:00.001-07:00

As we were getting ready this morning I couldn't help but take pictures of our beautiful little girls, they just looked so cute!

My little artist!

2009-10-20T16:44:00.000-07:00

Kaylie loves to color! The problem is though that she loves to color on walls, toys, furniture and herself. Luckily for me she has only colored on those things at Grandma and Grandpa's house not mine! Don't worry I ALWAYS clean it up.

Question?

2009-10-16T15:58:00.001-07:00

Just about every day for the last month or so Averie asks me this question... "When will Landon be born?" Everyday I tell her the same thing that is that he can't be born until he finishes growing in my tummy etc. Finally today after being asked this question at least 15 times today I decided that I needed to make something visual for her. So we made a countdown chain. Hopefully this will help her understand more.

24 days!!!

Italian friends

2009-10-05T16:40:00.001-07:00

Last night the girls and I had the opportunity to meet an Italian family that Brandon served on his mission. These were some of the nicest people I have ever met and I'm glad that they were able to come and visit us while they are here in the states.

Last flight...

2009-10-05T16:30:00.001-07:00

A couple of Sunday's ago we flew to Idaho to attend our cousin Porters mission report and were lucky enough to have the WHOLE plane to our selves. How funny that we were the only one's on the flight, maybe because it was an early flight? I don't know. All of the rest of the flights to Twin Falls that day were completely booked. But we had a blast! We played around taking pictures and recording video's and were totally spoiled by the flight attendant. This was my last flight before the baby is born, I technically wasn't supposed to fly at this point but only by a few days so I went anyway.

We had a great time visiting with family and seeing Porter! I'm glad that we were able to go.