Check this out--it's VERY fun!

Okay, I am not knowledgable to the link thing, but this will be worth it. Simply click on the link under my friends and family links that says "Angie and Derek" and you will se a HILARIOUS video to lighten our political mood. It's great! Have a great day and go Palin/McCain--uh, I mean McCain/Palin--hee hee.

Happy Moments

"Recognize that the joy of motherhood comes in moments. There will be hard times, and frustrating times. But amid the challenges, there are shining moments of joy and satisfaction."
M. Russell Ballard, Quorum of the Twelve Apostlse of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

This was a super moment on Sunday. Angie and Sunny came inside and asked me if they cleaned up the kitchen, could they make some cookies??--ummm....YEAH! So, they did it ALL ALONE. They cleaned up beautifully, then they spent about half an hour looking through cook books and decided on the daring choice of snicker doodles. (Daring because the last time these we made, it was a bit of a disaster--I will not name names, but you know who you are out there!) Anyway, since Ella was snoozing and Logan was in the other room writing a story or something, Mom decided to TAKE A NAP while they mixed all the ingredients. Other than a slight miscalculation of flour, a little spill of ingredients, and some supervision with the oven, they were lone cooks--and the end result was delish!

Later that night...all the big kids decided to engage in a corn husking contest. I thought this was pretty funny. (For the record, Angie won.)
Love the bow, love the baby!
Logan very excited with his new Iron Man PJs--thanks Grandma and Grandpa Nielson!

What a beautiful moment! Here is Logan with my friend Kristen's baby Justin. She came for a visit a few weeks ago--we hadn't seen each other for at least 8 years. I don't have any pics of her because I lost my camera and haven't gotten her email yet with her pics--no pressure Kristen. :) It was a fun day to talk and laugh and enjoy family.
We had a great time with Brynlee and Raelyn spending the night last weekend so Trevor and Jenny could do some packing. What a cute PJ picture!
It was so nice to see my sister Becky last week! She just became a nurse! Yeah Becky--you have worked so hard and will do great things helping others!!
This is a moment that only dads can create--at least usually in our house that is the way it is. I was at the church cleaning out the cubscout closet--oh what joy and rapture--and Jack watched the kids all day. After they had finished chores he let them jump on the tramp with the hose attatched. Obviously it was a great moment!
Okay, now I will be singing Shania Twain's "From This Moment" all day long. Ha ha, and now you will too!

Ella's Temple Sealing

This temple has come to mean so much to us. We both got our endowments here (a time when you make a deeper committment as a follower of Christ), we were married here, we had Angie, Sunny, and Logan sealed to us here, and now we have had Ella sealed to use here. As we first walked into the temple I just felt such a wonderful Spirit there. We went over to the records office to make sure everything was scheduled correctly and we saw Bishop Crockett there. He is a man in our ward and he is a sealer at the temple, so we had asked him to perform the sealing for us. Right when I shook his hand I felt such an overwhelming testimony that this man was worthy to hold the priesthood and seal this baby to our family forever through Jesus Christ. It was very powerful, and it was real. I am so grateful for this beautiful blessing on the earth today!

Here we are right after the ceremony with our precious baby.
Grandma and Ella having some fun times
Grandma and Grandpa Neilson and Ella--don't you love the look on her face?
Our precious children--the older kids all were able to be there for the ceremony as well--the temple workers provided them all with white clothing and the girls even got to keep their beautiful white bows. Logan told us at first he was pretty scared, but when I saw him in the sealing room he just beamed up at me as if to say, "Mom, this isn't scary at all--it is awesome!!"

Beautiful Ella and Daddy outside the temple

Goofing around--Jacob and Trevor had a bunny ears face off that day.
Aunt Jennie can always get smiles from Ella!
Love it!
A few weeks ago at church I was gathering up all the kiddos and holding Ella and trying to get out to the car. As we are going past our home teacher he said to me, "And I can still remember when you didn't have any kids--Look at you now!" I jokingly said, "Yeah, be careful what you wish for huh?" but really, what more could we wish for? Don't get me wrong, out life is not a bed of roses, and motherhood is a daily learning experience for me, but wow are we blessed or what? When we first thought we couldn't have kids, it was such a heartache, and here we are with four beautiful children! We will always be so grateful to all those who have helped us in our adoption journey, and especially at this time Ella's beautiful birth family. It has truly been a miracle in our lives! Thanks everyone who came for supporting our family in this special day!

Whiting Reunion in Canero Springs

Here's the whole fam--even with our doggie Caspian--of course, I guess Hermione wasn't there , but that probably would have been horrible considering the number of dogs that came. Caspian had a great time running around with all the other dogs--and we were so happy that he stayed close by and always came when we called him--this was his first camping trip so I was bit worried to take him off the leash. These shirts were made by Kari--thanks so much!
Jacob and Bryant enjoying each other's company
The ones who started it all!
Look! Jack and I in a picture together! How exciting! Too bad we don't look a bit more excited about it ourselves.

Here's Ella getting all snug and ready for bed...

And here she is a little later--yeah--it worked!
Okay, this picture is hard to see, but Jack is up there in the tree--his crazy cousins made a zip line from one tree to another--you just had to basically jump out to do it--he did it, but he took his sweet time. Still, he's much braver than me!
Crazy kiddos in Grandpa's trailer!
Look--they must be related--they smile the same! They even both have cute cheeks. By the way, Ella looks all greasy because I had just applied sunblock.

Ella loved meeting her cousin Braden--they took turns lovingly attacking each other.

Angie and Tiffany decided that they could still be beautiful in the wilderness, so they did some facials.
See food Trevor??
Ready to camp Daddy!
Kari and I brought up some simple crafts for the kids to do.

Kari's parents let us use their quad--it was so nice of them--the kids had a great time and I did too! I had never ridden one before so that was fun. I felt like a motor cycle mamma riding off with my burly man or something.

Logan loved the helmets--a little too much though--we had to keep telling him to put them back or he wouldn't get another turn!
Aunt Tiff and Baby Ella enjoying some down time
Uh, didn't we take this same picture last year???? Yeah, getting all wet and muddy is soooo fun, until we have to wash off in the freezing stream! Yet, they still do it--I guess it must be worth it!
Love this pic--it shows how Ella is so on the move now--loving the exploration!

Welp, good job making it through all those--my sis-in-laws also posted from the same reunion on their sites if you are just dying to see more. It was a fun weekend and I am happy to say we had NO RAIN. Of course, the year I come totally prepared with rain boots and jackets and even waterproof pants for everyone, it doesn't rain! Still, I am okay with that. We made some good memories and got to know people better. Yeah for mountains, family, and nice weather!

Guess who's on the move??

Yep, she's a crawling--and she is one busy little gal! Since she finally transitioned from the "army crawl" to the real thing, she has been living it up!

One of her favorite places to crawl under--and this is her "frowny face," but she is actually playing with her new bottom teeth. :)
And just a few days ago, she started to do this--woah baby! She is a woman with a mission I tell ya--Is this exciting and fun? For sure. Is it a bit scary for Mom? For double sure! However, we really have enjoyed seeing this milestone happen, and Ella is so very pleased with herself you can't help but laugh when you watch her joy.
See what I mean?
Here's just a shot of the whole family at a recent ward luau potluck--sounds crazy, but the food was pretty good and we had a fire dancer to boot! Well, that's all for now.

Hike to Falls in Rocky Mountain National Park

The beginnings of this hike were not too promising because we took the WRONG TRAIL. We were with my cousin Rick and his family and all started going up this very NARROW trail that was VERY steep. ALso, we didn't hear any water. Finally it dawned on us that it was not right! I felt bad, but Rick and Fran were very positive about it they were like, well, at least we saw something pretty. So, we had to get one shot together...

So, unfortunately Rick and his family had to leave and catch their flight back to Calfornia, but we decided to still look for the right hike. We found it and started up the trail, baby and kiddos in tow.

Let's go Daddy!
Action shot
These were the lower falls, called Copeland Falls. Since it was a pretty short hike up to these, we decided to keep going and make it the higher ones. The weather was so nice and everywhere we looked there were more beautiful things to see. It was also fun to meet other hikers on the way, some from exotic places like New Jersey. Another couple came up to us and had very strong British accents. Jack was like, "So, where are you from?" I looked at him like, "Are you kidding me? Did you hear them talk??" Then, they said, in their lovely British voices, "Oh, we're from Texas."

SO pretty

Getting close with nature.
Dad's idea--what a mastermind photographer he is.
This bridge was great to play Poo Sticks on--of course Jack decided to use a LOG instead of a stick, which totally beat all of our sticks. But the theory didn't hold true the next time, when Angie tried the same thing. So, I have yet to learn the way to find a perfect Poo Stick.

Here we are when we finally made it to the bigger falls, or cascades. Most of the way we all cheerfully kept trecking along on this hike, but I must admit that toward the end there was one member of the fam (she will remain nameless, but her name starts with an S and ends with the center of the universe) who was having some trouble being, well, full of her namesake. Anyhow, we finally relented and told her that we would do a five minute break IF she promised not to complain anymore. That seemed to appease her and she kept her end of the deal. Now, before you start to think we are horrible slave driving parents, let me explain that this hike was barely 2 miles long. Yes, it was a bit uphill but it really wasn't too bad. AND, once we got to the top EVERYONE was happy we had done it. It was BEAUTIFUL, and the nice spray of water felt SO GOOD. The hike back was great, being all down hill.
Ella was amazed at it all......
And she obviously wore herself out with that little two mile trail.It was a great way to end our fun vacation, and we now officially want to live in the Rocky Mountain National Park, in the summer that is.