Kjelstrom Family Kandids

Children's Museum

2010-09-30T15:05:00.001-07:00

My kids LOVE the Denver Children's Museum. Its funny to watch Jeffrey especially because he is SO serious about his play there. He likes to be the chief fireman on the real fire truck they have and the head cashier at the pretend grocery store (yes, he likes to be in charge, he's my little leader!). We brought some friends along during spring break this year.

Sammy's 4th Birthday

2010-09-30T14:48:00.001-07:00

This is from April...I'm a little slow this year at posting!
Sammy got to have his first friend party this year. He was all giggles. We had about 20 four year olds in our house. It was chaos!! John wasn't home until half way through the party but luckily I have some great friends who volunteered to help out.

Sammy and I were so excited about a pinata! But it didn't turn out so great. It fell and then it was hard for those little kids to break it open. And then I didn't let them mad dash for the candy because I wanted everyone to have equal shares-in theory a good idea, in practice a terrible let down.

Easter 2010

2010-09-30T14:12:00.000-07:00

Jeffrey and Sammy were very excited this year to do an Easter egg hunt in our backyard. Trenton had no comment. Isabella came to celebrate as well and found her fill or eggs.

The day before Easter we got to ride in an old fire truck that a friend of a friend owns for his real estate business.

All About Boy #1

2010-02-06T19:26:00.001-08:00

I know he's only in Kindergarten but Jeffrey wanted to do Science Fair this year. Normally, I love science fair but I felt like it was too much for him. However, John stepped in and did the experiment with him. I helped with the poster. The project was "Who has the most air in their lungs". We measured lung capacity with a soda bottle, tube, and water. John, no surprise, won. Jeffrey was too scared to speak to the judge, but he got a medal anyways which he has been wearing to bed.

Jeff turned 6 last week, wow! He was super excited about his birthday. We opened some presents in the morning. We got him a new bike. Its a little too big and is hard for him to mount-but I'm hoping he grows before summer. (And just FYI, I got that bike for $30 from a black Friday sale-yea baby!) Later, we went to Chuck e Cheese. Jeffrey's buddy Nathan got to come along. Since we HATE the pizza there, we came home to eat and have cake.

John took Jeffrey to the rock climbing gym for "Dadurday". Its a new thing John has started with the boys. Right now Jeffrey and Sammy switch off, each Saturday John takes one of them for an outing. Jeffrey did well climbing. He got scared if he got too high but wants to do it again.

Random photos

2010-02-06T19:20:00.001-08:00

Most of these are from John's i-phone. The first one I think was taken while I was at women's conference at BYU.

Trenton-6months. He started army crawling before Christmas. He is fast now! Man he loves to move-he's going to be a handful as a toddler. Its right around the corner!

I'm guessing he's about 4 months in this photo.

Sammy took a self portrait-look at those green eyes!

Christmas-'09

2010-02-06T19:00:00.000-08:00

Pappy Earl, Grandma Janice, and Spencer were able to come to CO for Christmas this year. It was fun to have them and catch up.

Mornin' boys!

The grandparents helping to open all those darn toys-the manufacturers don't make it easy!

Sammy with the Swim to Me Puppy that Santa brought.

John and Spencer played with Sammy's new marble tracks most of the day.

Jeffrey and his Lego City Police Station-it took all day to build.

Patrick, John, Spencer, and I went skiing the day after Christmas. On our second run Spencer was practicing his stopping but took a bad fall instead, right on his shoulder. The ski patrol took him down to the clinic and X-Rays showed a bad clavicle break. I can't believe he is smiling in this picture, he's hurting, but he was a great patient. I didn't hear one moan.

Fall Soccer-'09

2010-02-06T18:52:00.000-08:00

Jeffrey played soccer for the first time this fall. He had fun with his teammates and his coach was great. Jeffrey is learning to be more aggressive, most of the time on the field he'd be pretending to take pictures of the other team or barely attempting to kick the ball. He had at least one good play per game-so its progress!

Halloween-'09

2010-02-06T18:32:00.000-08:00

Jeffrey, Trenton, Isabella and Sammy.

The candy after the ward Halloween party.

Smiling Trenton, Sleeping Sammy

2009-10-13T18:49:00.000-07:00

My brother Paul didn't think Trenton ever smiled but I just had a hard time catching him on camera. He is a smiley guy. He loves laughing with his brothers. His happiest moments are getting his diaper or clothes changed-he loves being nude.

Sammy is often found past out on the floor somewhere. If he's tired, he just lays down anywhere with his dog Scout, sucks his fingers, and smells his "dee-dee", then he's out!

For the Grandparents

2009-09-24T14:57:00.000-07:00

Back at the end of August Jeffrey asked me to take the training wheels off his bike and he figured out how to ride his two wheeler in 30 minutes!

Paul LeRoy Nelson 1917-2009

2009-09-18T19:35:00.000-07:00

My last living grandparent, Grandpa Nelson, died September 14th at the age of 92. I was able to fly to Yuma for his funeral last weekend. Funerals are funny things sometimes because its the one event that will bring the whole family together. People make special efforts to go to funerals. Grandpa's funeral was one of the best I've been to. That may sound insensitive but there were funny stories given, his best qualities exemplified, and a wonderful spirit. He was a great student and athlete. I always knew he was an outstanding track runner but I never knew he played quarterback in football, center in basketball, and I believe baseball. And he wasn't more than 5 foot 7 in tall (that's being generous). He was described as being loving, giving, humble, and a hard worker. Early in his life he worked at a hardware store and decided he didn't like retail. He and my Grandma ended up moving to Bard, CA (near Yuma) to run the Bard Store for 38 years. They worked 12 hours a day, 6 days a week.

Here's Paul and Audra-maybe a wedding picture.

They had three boys: David (my dad), Denny, and Jerry

My Gramps and me. My brothers and I have some fun memories in that Model T go cart. The first time I drove it, I ran it into a tree. We would play "tag" by driving around the orchards too fast throwing lemons and oranges at those running on the ground. My memories of Grandpa are seeing him flipping burgers (that he ground himself) at every family gathering, juicing oranges, cracking pecans, playing with his dogs, that blue jumpsuit he always wore and his quiet, relaxed, patient demeanor.

Hunter Nelson's blessing, the first great grandchild. Hunter turns 8 tomorrow. This is the "4 generations" picture with my dad, brother Paul, Hunter and Grandpa. He had 9 grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren at the time of his death.

My family at the funeral: me, Brent, Dave, Betty, Lindsey, Paul, and Mark. We haven't all been together for several years due to school and babies. My dad gave part of the eulogy and Paul talked about the grandchildren's memories at the funeral.
My dad told a story about the time when he was buying his first car from Bill Alexander in Yuma. Bill and my Grandpa were friends before Bill had a car dealorship. Bill would buy things on credit from the Bard Store. When my dad's car was ready, Bill called him up and told him to come sign the loan papers and pick up the car. Well, Grandpa was out of town and was suppose to be the co-signer on the loan but Bill told my Dad it would be OK that he could pick up the car and sign the papers when Grandpa got back. Then he said "If you can't trust Paul Nelson, you can't trust anybody".
I'll miss Grandpa just like I miss Grandma. They were a big part of my childhood and it almost feels like that part has died along with them. But what a happy reunion they must have had last Monday! Although we miss their company, I'm sure if we knew what it was like in the after life we may not mourn as much as we do when a loved one passes away.

Two Months and Growing

2009-08-20T20:54:00.001-07:00

Trenton had his two month check up two weeks ago. He was 10lb, 10oz and 23 inches long. He is smiling and almost laughing. His newest thing is staring at and chewing on his hands. He'll open and close his hands and grab at his clothes. He has great neck control and will sometimes get his knees up under him when he is on his stomach. Here are some photos from the last month and a half.

He's a Kindie!

2009-08-20T20:46:00.001-07:00

Jeffrey started kindergarten on August 7th. It seems like such an early start date! I remember starting school after Labor Day. They are on a modified traditional schedule where they get two weeks off in fall, two weeks at Christmas, and two weeks in the spring. He goes to school every morning. Jeffrey was very excited on the first day of school. He saw his teacher Mrs. DeWolf come out to get her class and he ran to the front of the line and didn't look back. I didn't even get a wave goodbye. I'm glad he is so confident and comfortable already. I love his teacher. She has everything very structured which fits Jeffrey's personality perfectly. Sammy has been a bit lonely without Jeffrey in the mornings. Hopefully he will adjust and learn to play on his own.

Big Bear Lake, California

2009-08-20T20:27:00.000-07:00

The last week of July we headed to southern California for a Kjelstrom family reunion. John's family met together at Big Bear Lake. We were only missing Jason who is faithfully serving his mission in Brazil. Thanks to Ryan and Melissa who saved up their time share points to get three condos for the families to stay in. Lots of fun was had swimming at the resort pool, playing at the park, visiting the alpine slide, riding in the boat, water skiing, jet skiing, and playing at the beach near the lake.

Isabella, Jeffrey, and Sammy

All the cousings: Isabella, Jeffrey, Sammy, Jacob, and Andrew

Jeffrey was really brave and went down this water slide all by himself!

The alpine slide was popular with the little kids and big kids a like. Sammy LOVED going fast, so did John and Patrick. The men had time trials. Patrick and Spencer went so fast during the trials, they crashed towards the end. Patrick had some huge nasty scrapes on his arm.

Grandma Moats ordered a folding rocking chair and shipped it to Melissa's house so she could rock the babies. Trenton was in heaven. He fell asleep in her arms every time.

Maroon Bells

2009-08-20T20:11:00.000-07:00

John's brother Spencer came out to stay with us again this summer, the third summer in a row. He was hear for almost 3 weeks in July. Spencer was my "manny", watching Jeffrey and Sammy so I could do errands or taking the boys to the park, library, swimming pool etc. He was a great help. One of the weekends he was here John took him backpacking near the famous Maroon Bells mountains.
Here they are in front of Maroon Lake with the Maroon Bells in the background.

Spencer taking a breather...must have been a hard hike.

Snowmass Lake

Trenton's Blessing

2009-07-09T18:38:00.001-07:00

We blessed Trenton last Sunday, the 5th. My parents were able to make it as well as John's sister Katrina and her husband Patrick. Trenton is now 4 weeks old. At his 2 week visit he weighed 6lbs, 15oz, so I'm guessing he's about 8 to 9 lbs now.

More of Trenton

2009-06-15T13:27:00.000-07:00

Its been a week. Trenton is a great baby. We had some small bumps with nursing and the nights are still long but he is mostly happy and content. My mom stayed for a week. Now that she is gone my house is destined to become a disaster and Jeffrey and Sammy may feel slightly neglected. We'll see how I handle things alone!

Trenton's first bath at home, they never like it.

I know this isn't of Trenton, but this is what we are doing this summer besides having a new baby. Jeffrey is playing T-ball and enjoying it. He had his first game last Saturday. All the boys get a chance to bat, there are no outs so they all run around the bases. Jeffrey also got to play 1st base and 2nd base. When he played in the field he would pat the runners on the back and talk to them. He said he told them about his new fish he'd just gotten before the game.

Trenton Allan Kjelstrom-June 6, 2009

2009-06-08T18:16:00.000-07:00

Trenton has come, and early too-hurray!! He was born at 6:21am on June 6th weighing 5lbs, 10oz and 19in long. By far my smallest baby-he's a peanut. So far he has been so sweet and Jeffrey and Sammy are thrilled to have a new baby brother. OK, for documentation sake here is the labor story. I had some contractions Friday night around 9:30pm but they felt like braxton hicks so I didn't pay much attention. We went to bed and I slept fine until 1am when I woke up because of a contraction. This one radiated to my back so I knew it might be the real deal. I got up and they kept coming, 5 min apart. (I think labor and kids throwing up always happen in the middle of the night-why!?) At 2am we dropped the kids off at a neighbors house and headed downtown to St. Joseph's hospital. I was admitted easily. They had to give me fluids before I could get an epidural because I was dehydrated. But I did finally get the epidural. My nurse was watching the heart monitor very closely-and she didn't say anything but I knew something was bothering her because I could hear that Trenton's heart rate kept going down with each contraction. At one point the heart rate disappeared. So nurses and doctors ran into the room. They got a heart monitor on Trenton's head and the doctor was saying to notify anesthesia because we might have to do an emergency c-section. This was very frightening for John and I. But they got me on my side and Trenton's heart rate came back. About 30 minutes later I had some big contractions and his heart rate again dropped. The doctor checked me and I was at 10 cm. She said I had to get the baby out-and I did. I pushed him out in about 5 minutes. Good thing he was little! Turned out that the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck twice causing the drops in heart rate. We are so glad everything turned out fine and he's a healthy guy.

Ok, this is the funniest picture!! Welcome to the world Trenton!

My Brothers the Grads

2009-05-13T08:25:00.000-07:00

My two younger brothers Mark and Brent both graduated from grad schools last week. I'm very proud of them both. Mark earned his MBA from Rice University in Houston and Brent his JD from Texas Tech Law School in Lubbock.
Mark, Brooke, baby Courtney, Adam, Molli

Grandpa Dave, Nicole, Danielle, Brent, Grandma Betty

Sammy's 3rd

2009-05-02T17:31:00.000-07:00

April 25th was Sammy's 3rd birthday. He knew he was turning 3 and that we would have cake but he still didn't understand a few things. He stood outside my bedroom door screaming because he didn't get that he couldn't come in because I was wrapping his presents. If you said "Happy Birthday Sammy", he said "Happy Birthday Mommy!". We had a fun day. The morning started off with birthday hats-even his new stuffed dog Scout got a hat. In the afternoon Patrick, Katrina, and Isabella came over to have cake and open presents. Sammy helped me decorate the cake with sprinkles-he insisted on orange and blue. The cake was a bit crunchy from the mounds of sprinkles.

Sammy got a remote control car-here he is driving it on our new deck.

Classic Colorado Spring Storm

2009-04-18T15:18:00.000-07:00

John knocked the snow off our trees and the robins noticed.

Easter 2009

2009-04-13T12:22:00.000-07:00

The kids got to color Easter eggs this year for the first time. It went well, I was afraid of the mess, but it ended up I was the only one to have a spill. The boys decorated their eggs then Sammy ate one. Jeffrey cracked open one of his, didn't want to eat it, then was sad that he no longer had 4 eggs. Sunday morning we woke up to rain which continued all day. The kids ate most of their candy before church. I'm obviously not very strict about candy eating-why prolong it, just let them have it! I was going to hide some eggs outside but couldn't because of the rain. Then I decided not to do all together but my plan was foiled. They found the eggs I'd prepared this morning in my room so we had an after Easter egg hunt in the house today. Now they have even more candy, but don't worry I sneak a few for myself.

Tourney Time

2009-03-19T08:17:00.000-07:00

Its March Madness-woohoo!! We love this time of year. College hoops, bracket predictions, trash talk between friends and family, what could be better? I've picked North Carolina to win it all. They were my pick last year too and disappointed me but for some reason I'm going with them again. John helped Jeffrey fill out a bracket this year. He'll win the big $10,000 from ESPN if there are a lot of upsets. He's picked Moorhead State to beat Louisville, North Dakota State to get to the 3rd round, and the biggest picks were Siena to make it to the finals against Butler. (Siena because its the name of one of his favorite babysitters and Butler because it sounds like "butt"). Jeffrey predicts Butler to win it all-not going to happen-and if it does we definitely get the money. John got technical this year by creating an Excel spreadsheet to help him predict the outcomes. (he's an Excel nerd!). I just used shear gut instinct. Let it begin!

Script for the imaginary play "Doctor's Office"

2009-03-10T15:14:00.000-07:00

Play written by: Jeffrey

Characters/played by:
Doctor Jeffrey-Jeffrey
Nurse Jeffrey-Jeffrey
Patients- Me and Sammy

Act One:
Sammy and I pull up to the doctor's office building and park in the parking garage. Next we take the pantry elevator to the second floor. Sammy insists on pushing the buttons. I make the "ding" sound when we reach our destination. We step out of the pantry and climb the stairs to Doctor Jeffrey's office.

Nurse Jeffrey: Please take a seat in the waiting room
a minute later...
Nurse Jeffrey: Sammy! Sammy doesn't want to go so I volunteer
Nurse Jeffrey: Do you have your cards?

I pull out our insurance cards and hand them to the nurse. Nurse Jeffrey takes the cards to what the kids call "Spencer's room" (because John's brother Spencer slept there for a month last summer). He begins to type on the end table while looking at the cards.
Nurse Jeffrey: OK, everything looks good. Come to the room.
I go into the boy's room and sit on the bed.
Nurse Jeffrey: How are you feeling? I heard Sammy coughing, he'll need some medicine and five shots. I'll do your blood pressure last.
Me: What is your name?
Nurse Jeffrey: I'm nurse Jeffrey and I'm a boy, the doctor is Dr. Jeffrey and he's a boy. OK, I'll go get the doctor.

The nurse leaves closing the door behind him. Two minutes later Dr. Jeffrey comes in. He is dressed in scrubs and has a stethoscope and the charger to John's electric shaver draped around his neck.

Dr. Jeffrey: I'm Dr. Jeffrey. Sammy is sick so the nurse will give him five shots later. First I'll listen to your heart.
He puts the stethoscope in his ears and listens to my heart.
Dr. Jeffrey: (Very seriously) sounds good now I'll listen to your breathing. Good breathing. Now I'll look in your ears, both ears look good. Now I'll listen to your blood.

Jeffrey puts one end of the electric shaver charger in his ear and the other end on my thigh to listen to my blood.

Dr. Jeffrey: OK, the nurse will come back now. Will you get Sammy? He needs his shots.

The doctor leaves and the nurse comes back. I grab Sammy but he's not into this pretending to get shot stuff so that's out. The nurse takes my blood pressure. Then Sammy and I leave-we don't even have to pay a co-pay!

The End!

Manners??

2009-03-02T08:50:00.000-08:00

John thought I needed to record this-but its disgusting in my opinion-yesterday Jeffrey drank some caffeine free Pepsi for the first time. It gave him lots of gas and he kept burping extremely loud; however, he did say "excuse me" so I wasn't overly annoyed. He had one particularly loud and long burp that enabled him to burp a whole sentence. I have no idea what he actually said. John was impressed and seemed almost excited that his son had such talent! I suggested that maybe someday Jeffrey could learn to burp quietly, but John scoffed at me. I'm surrounded by gassy boys! I guess the best I can do is teach them to say excuse me. Maybe I am turning into my mother-whom we coined "Miss Manners" growing up because she grilled us on our eating habits.

Scottsdale

2009-02-26T10:08:00.000-08:00

For Christmas, John gave me a treasure chest full of little envelopes. One said take a class of your choosing, another was for a massage, another was for a night of shopping. One was for a trip to get out of the cold. It hasn't been too cold this year, but that doesn't mean we couldn't still take a trip. I decided on Scottsdale, AZ since I found a good deal on a resort there. The rate was good and they gave us $100 food credit per day. So we left the kids behind and enjoyed the sun for two days. First thing that I loved seeing was green grass, I didn't realize how much I'd missed green plants! I also loved wearing my sandals and the desert landscapes. John got to golf of course-that's what Scottsdale is all about. If you want to learn more about his experience there you can visit his golf blog. Unfortunately the only picture I took was of him golfing. I got to drive the golf cart and read a book. The next day we went to a preserve one hour from Phoenix to bird watch and hike. In the afternoon we checked out some beach cruiser bikes the resort offered and rode around the man made lakes in the area. It was a fun trip and so nice to get away for a bit.
--------------------------------------------------------
Random Photos:
I forgot to post these months ago, so for documentation sake here they are.
This is Jeffrey before his preschool's Christmas concert. They sang Little Drummer Boy, hence the drum.

This is Jeffrey and his friends Paige and Andrew on a preschool field trip to the Littleton Museum.

Another of Jeffrey trying out John's guitar. He's shown interest in musical instruments. I recently started taking violin lessons-because of John's Christmas gift-and he is very interested in the violin. He watched my starter DVD one day and then was so excited to point out the parts of the violin and could name the correct notes of the four stings.

Jeffrey's 5th Birthday

2009-02-09T09:09:00.000-08:00

I'm a little late at posting but here's a few photos from Jeffrey's birthday party. Jeffrey has been talking about his birthday party for about a year so this was bigger than Christmas for him. He helped me plan the cake flavor, decorations, and he made up the "schedule" for the party. (A little type A personality I think). Most of my pictures came out blurry so you can't really tell that we had 12 kids in the house. John forgot he had a class that day and so missed the festivities, but my neighbor's daughter was able to help out. We played a pin the medal on the Power Ranger game, throw candy into a box, and a fishing for candy game. Jeffrey was pretty funny opening his presents-it was like a feeding frenzy. I tried to get him to slow down and thank his friends, and he did thank them but didn't slow down.

On another note, I have to announce that Sammy is now officially potty trained!! He was SOOOOOO much easier than Jeffrey-really it was night and day. He got into this "I want to do everything myself stage" so I thought, well you can go potty by yourself then. He's still in that "fun" stage. I admit I'm not very patient when I have to wait for him to try things out on his own. Shopping with him these days is a nightmare-but I just keep in mind that it will all pass...someday.

Boy...Again!

2009-02-02T07:17:00.001-08:00

We had our ultrasound last Thursday and its undeniably another baby boy. He looks healthy and beautiful according to the tech. I was a little disappointed it wasn't a girl but had prepared myself mentally for the boy. A month or so ago John and I had dreams on the same night about having another boy-they were different dreams but still the same night, that's saying something. In my dream, I was giving birth to him and I named him Trenton. I'd never even thought of that name before-but turns out we both like the name so we're sticking with it!

Christmas 08-Yuma, AZ

2009-01-02T15:31:00.000-08:00

We headed south this year for Christmas. It was fun to visit with my family. Everyone made it minus my brother Mark as his wife Brooke is expecting soon. We played outside on Grandma and Grandpa's new swing set and at Yuma's new park; which was very impressive, its a huge castle with slides to get down and tons of different ways to climb up and down. We had dinner with Great Grandpa Nelson and my sister Lindsey and Shawn who live with Grandpa now (they recently moved from Kansas back to Yuma). John flew in Christmas Eve as he had to stay in CO to work. He and my brothers Brent and Paul golfed the afternoon he got there-they walked onto a closed course and played 9 holes for free-isn't that a bit dishonest? Christmas Eve night we had Aunts, Uncles, and cousins over for dinner and a program. At the end of the night Santa showed up. Saturday we headed to San Diego to go to the zoo. The kids had lots of fun. It was pretty crowded so we waited in line for about 40 minutes to get on a tour bus. But I learned lots of interesting things like that pigs don't really sweat so you can't say "sweating like a pig" and our cell phones are made out of materials from the rain forest so recycle your cell phones!

"Pappy" got a new train to put around his Chrismas tree. This is Jeffrey, Sammy, Hunter, Riley, and Taylor (my brother Paul's kids) watching the train go around.

Christmas Eve:
The kids got to help Grandpa tell the Christmas story. From right: Hunter as Joseph, Riley as Mary, Danielle as the angel, and Jeffrey as a shepherd. We didn't have any wise men. Not pictured: Tanner as the littlest shepherd.

The disorganized nativity. Baby Jesus is in the shoe box.

Jeffrey singing and playing Jingle Bells while we waited for the big surprise-Santa!

Our kids were terrified of Santa but after a few cousins sat on his lap Sammy made the plunge. Jeffrey hid behind the couch and refused to surface.

Christmas Morning:
Jeffrey checking out his GeoAir from Santa.

Sammy with his new garbage truck.

Brent and Nicole. Brent came to town sporting a new goatte. Apparently once he wore his black rimmed glasses and facial hair on campus (Texas Tech) and was mistaken for a professor.

Danielle-Brent's daughter-enjoying the festivities. Oh and a nice shot of Brent's feet.

San Diego Zoo Trip-not many pics
Jeffrey, Sammy, and Danielle waiting for the Balboa train outside San Diego Zoo. Jeffrey kept saying "I can't wait to ride the train" while jumping up and down.

The "if your child is under 2 you have to ride AND pay" parents.

Thrilled to get front row seats.

The Turkey-less Thanksgiving

2008-11-29T14:16:00.000-08:00

We decided to NOT have turkey this year. John and I both don't like turkey. My brother Mark gave us the great idea to have prime rib instead. So we did it! We broke tradition and had prime rib and ham and all the other sides. My sister in law even made stuffing, she insisted we had to at least have stuffing. I got my camera out and took photos before the crowds arrived and then forgot all about my camera while they were here. But I promise we had 10 adults and 9 children in our house; the Bria family, Ridge family, Duris family, and Christenson family. We had tons of yummy food and fun was had by all. The evening was topped off by the Twilight movie for the women, Wii playing by the kids, and football watching by the men.

Numero Tres!!

2008-11-17T14:46:00.000-08:00

We're expecting number 3! I'll be 11 weeks on Thursday and the due date is June 11th. I've had my fill of nausea, uncontrollable hunger, irritability, fatigue. And I'm starting to bulge already which didn't happen so fast with the other two. For the past week I've felt pretty good, just tired. Yesterday I went to the doctor and saw "it" on the ultrasound. It moved around for us, wiggling its hands and feet. I'm hoping for a girl but will be happy with a boy-I know how to do boys. Jeffrey insists its a baby sister. So we'll see if John came through for him.

Times Have Changed

2008-11-05T15:30:00.000-08:00

Sammy has recently been "painting" on the computer. He has learned to use the mouse, clicking on the colors he wants, holding the button down a bit to paint. I took this picture the other day after thinking how amazing it is that a 2 year old is using a computer! I wonder what technologies will be available when he is my age? (you can also see he was eating Halloween candy. I am posting this pic knowing full well I'm also exposing my dirty desk-somehow I never get around to cleaning it!)

Halloween Night

2008-11-02T10:40:00.000-08:00

Halloween night a bunch of my neighbors gathered at one house for pizza before trick or treating. Here is my blurry shot of the neighborhood kids before the mad dash to get candy.

Halloween Parties

2008-10-29T15:43:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was so busy for us! Friday night John and I went to a costume party at the Andersen's house. It was lots of fun. John thought it was almost perfect because there was music and food upstairs for the women and pool and foos ball downstairs for the men. I went as a boring witch-although I did have a huge zit at the time and so colored it black. John was Captain Canada-a super hero he made up in college. We took the picture after the party so he's already taken off his red rimmed sunglasses, cape (which I made for him!!), and utility belt. Saturday we had our primary program practice and then a ward Halloween party. Sunday was the primary program-which went great but I'm glad its over, woo-hoo!!

Lipstick and Pinto Bean

2008-09-13T12:04:00.000-07:00

This week John was out of town in New Jersey-his favorite place!-but my mom got to come visit for a few days. That has been fun, we went to the Museum of Nature and Science. The kids were so excited to go to the "dinosaur" museum but they ended up being scared of all the life size skeletons. They did enjoy the kid's discovery zone. Someday I'd like to go back with John and explore all the displays.
So now for the stories behind the picture and title. About 3 weeks ago the boys were using pinto beans as cargo for their trains. Being the boys they are, they decided to stick some up their noses. I got one bean out of Sam and one out of Jeffrey. Then that night Jeff was complaining that there was another bean up his nose and that it hurt. He's a terrible patient though and wouldn't sit still long enough for John to check it out. We started to not believe it cause we couldn't see it and then he started denying it as we were trying to stick pliers up his nose. Well Wed. morning he sneezed then ran into the kitchen with a huge snotty bean in his hand, "Look mom! The bean came out!". He was so excited that it had come out, I wasn't as excited, more shocked. Are you kidding me?? A bean had really been stuck in his nose, for 3 weeks! Glad it came out before it sprouted!!
Thursday afternoon all was quiet in my house, too quiet, in fact I forgot about Sammy playing upstairs. When I finally went to check on him he had my lipstick and had smeared it all over his hair, face, arm, my new towel. It was pretty funny, although I did cringe over the clean up process.

Heritage Square

2008-09-05T15:41:00.000-07:00

On Labor Day we went to Heritage Square in Golden, CO. We went for two reasons, the train and the alpine slide. The kids LOVED the train, of course. There was lots of screaming and jumping and are waving. Then we started riding all the other kiddy rides and by the time we were done with them, our little kiddies were tired and cranky. So we didn't do the alpine slide much to my chagrin. Oh, well I think the kids still enjoyed it.

Been a While eh?!

2008-08-13T15:00:00.000-07:00

Summer has been flying by!! We've spent most of our time swimming, riding bikes, taking a trip to Kansas and OKC, and watching the grass grow then die then grow again. John and the teachers/priest group from church took a week long 50-mile backpack trip. That's the same week I went to KS and OK to visit my sister and college roomy Rachel. John and the young men survived and had a great trip. I'll post a pic or two of his trip. John put a ton of hours into planning and organizing that trip and we are glad that it went off so well and that its over. I did my second triathlon in July-this time with a road bike and it was so much faster! John's job changed this summer, he now has the title of "vice president". With his promotion has come long hours at the office that we hope will abate in a few months. He is also studying for his MAI test-equivalent to a CPA exam for accountants. So he is one busy guy. Jeffrey started preschool yesterday, its a Tues/Thurs class. He was so tired when he got home and actually had homework-which we have already argued about as he wants to do it Friday instead of before Thursday. (Is this a foreshadow of the next 14 years?)

4th of July '08

2008-07-09T19:57:00.000-07:00

John's 16 year old brother Spencer stayed with us for a month, he was my live-in babysitter-Oh, yea! It was nice! I missed him when he left. So anywho, John, Spence, and I went to the Rockies game July 3rd. This is the 3rd year we've done it, so John carefully selected our seats so that we would be in the sections that "had" to go down to the field for the post game fireworks show. It was fun-although the game was long, going extra innings. The field's grass was SOOOO nice-perfect.

July 4th we had an indoor BBQ-we need a new barbecue-here are Sammy, their new cousin Isabella, and Jeffrey waiting to be served.

At the Highlands Ranch fireworks show, waiting for it to start. Its a fatal mistake in our house to lie on the floor with the boys around. Sammy has no problem body slamming said person.

Baby Spencer

The fireworks show was a bit weird. They had a small finale, but then kept shooting off these small, dinky fireworks, about every 2 seconds. So we were all waiting in anticipation for the REAL finale, but no such thing appeared. It just ended...so yea, weird.

But before you think I'm ungrateful or have missed the point of 4th of July, let me just say that we in the Kjelstrom family feel blessed to live in this great nation, and for the freedoms we unknowingly take for granted. We salute all those who in the past or present have fought for our country, and especially those who have died doing so.

Wetness

2008-07-03T06:34:00.000-07:00

Sometimes Sammy wakes up wet-pee wet-so I tell him "you're wet, we have to change your diaper". This morning I got back from swimming laps (I just throw my clothes over my swimsuit when I'm done and head home) Sammy felt my wet shirt and said "mommy wet!, change diaper?".

Portland/Vancouver

2008-06-29T20:03:00.001-07:00

This weekend I took a short trip by myself to Portland and Vancouver to be present at my cousin Afton's wedding. Wow! Portland is gorgeous-so green! I just love greeness. I spent time with my mom, Aunt Kathy, Macki and her husband Rusty. Rusty served his mission in Eugene and LOVES Oregon so he was our tour guide. In a few short hours we went to see some waterfalls, went to the Portland Saturday Market downtown, and visited a rose garden. My brother Brent and his wife Nicole met us at the market for lunch and then we saw them later that evening for the wedding. The wedding was a happy, fun occasion-Kathy, Macki, and I cut some serious rug at the reception-the good ol' electric slide.

The Multnomah Falls- about 600 feet of falling water, 30 miles up the Columbia River from Portland. Pictured from left is Aunt Kathy, my cousin Macki, mom, and me.

My Mum and Me

My brother Brent, his wife Nicole and myself chilling at the wedding reception. Nicole is eating and Brent just looks like that permanently. (Sorry guys, the other photo we took was blurry, this ones funnier anyways).

Mom and Aunt Kathy-almost twins

My First Tri

2008-06-08T19:29:00.000-07:00

Saturday I raced in my first triathlon. It was a sprint tri, 500 yard swim, 12 mile bike, 5K run. I loved it. I loved training for it because it was different everyday, not just running. I broke my personal goal by 4 minutes and I was happy to finish but then after I got my times back I kept thinking about how I can be faster-first on the list is not using a mountain bike among road racers, MBs are too slow on the road. Secondly I need to figure out how not to be nervous before the race (is that possible?) so I can breathe during the swim portion. I enjoyed swimming in training, but racing with 4 people in your lane, getting water in your mouth, having no breathing or stroke rhythm is NOT fun! I was so happy to get out of the pool and onto my bike. Well, I'm hooked and will probably do another one in July then wait it out till next summer.

Pura Vida!

2008-05-21T12:44:00.001-07:00

John and I recently took a trip to Costa Rica. It was AWESOME!! I could live in the rain forest-John says he needs the Rocky Mountains. Nevertheless, we've talked of someday visiting again. And P.S., a HUGE thanks mom and dad for staying with the kids!!

What we did:

We arrived at 5am-went to a hotel in San Jose and slept. Then did the waiting game for our shuttle to La Fortuna. We figured out quickly that a pick up time of 12:00 really means 12:30 in Costa Rica.

This is the Arenal Volcano. We watched lava flow down at night-here you can see the smoke from the lava.

Zip line through the trees.

Canyoning-We rapelled down 5 waterfalls and two cliff walls. This was for both of us a highlight of our trip. You couldn't beat the scenery or the adrenaline rush.

Cano Negro River Tour-it was like the Jungle Ride at Disneyland minus the cheesy guide and bad robotics. Our guide Hugo was awesome-he spotted birds like the green ibis in the very green trees near the river-which became a running joke afterwards as John for the rest of our trip would cry "green ibis!" whenever we were in the forest

This is what I looked like much of our trip-binoculars never far from my hands.

Our next stop-Manuel Antonio. First day we did some hiking and it was SOOO humid. We sweat (or is it sweated?) a ton, hence my karate kid look here.

Jet Ski Tour-we raced through the ocean and did some snorkeling. John didn't like the warm water so this wasn't his favorite-is he weird or what!

Surf Lessons-SOOOOO FUN!

What We Saw:

We identified about 75 different birds, 70 of those were all new to me so it was exciting if you like birds. We also saw lots of monkeys-howler monkeys that, yes, howl-especially when it rained it sounded like they were letting out a loud "NOOOO!", we saw white faced monkeys, and the endangered squirrel monkeys. We also saw a few sloths which were my favorite aside from the birds-we got to watch one slowly and methodically move from one tree to another. We saw a tree full of iguanas, some caymens, and a big lizard (can't remember the name) hanging out on the beach. There were also a TON of colorful crabs but I didn't get their picture. (Note: the bird pictures were pirated off the internet).
Red legged Honeycreeper

White Crowned Parrot

Blue Crowned Motmot

Keel-billed Toucan-not as big as it looks

Coati

Iguana

This is called a Great Potoo. As John and I were scanning my Birds of Costa Rica book, we came across this bird and thought we'd NEVER see it-you can see how camaflouged it is. Fortunately our guide on the Cano Negro tour was an avid birder and knew this Potoo hung out in this tree.

Caymen

White Faced Monkey

The beach-dwelling lizard

The view from our room in Manuel Antonio.

8 Years and 13 Kids Later (with 2 more on the way)

2008-05-06T19:25:00.000-07:00

1997-Sophmore Year BYU:

2008 BYU Women's Conference
From Left: Sarah, Rachel, Lois, Me, Goodwin

Happy Birthday Sammy!

2008-05-06T19:22:00.001-07:00

On April 25th Sammy turned 2! He doesn't like cake so we had brownies on his birthday, here we had muffins for his "family" party on the Sunday after the 25th.

Yuma Connection

2008-04-03T07:20:00.000-07:00

**Warning-this may only be interesting to members of the Nelson family. Yesterday I went to the dentist to have a cavity filled. And as a side note, I've had three cavities in my life, all after having kids. I've heard this is common cause your immune system is suppressed while your pregnant making you more susceptible to cavities. Anyways, there was a dental student there observing my dentist. I didn't get a good look at him because I was supine with my mouth open nor did I pay attention to his name because I was thinking about the drill headed for me. The dentist drilled a hole in my tooth, while he was doing this he and the student were talking about professors and my dentist explained that they went to the same school. So I asked, well sort of asked-the best I could with my mouth open, what school they went to-they said USC-Oh, I say I used to live in Irvine-they ask if I'm a Trojan fan-I say no, I'm a Wildcat fan I grew up in Yuma, AZ. So later after I was all done, the dental student asks hesitantly, Do you know the Nelson family, do you know Mark Nelson? And for the first time I looked at him and sort of recognized him. I say yes! Mark is my brother. So he says I was Mark's MTC companion. So I say yea! your name starts with a "D" right? Its Elder Dyle! Of course he doesn't go by that name anymore-its Dustin, or Dr. Dyle. Dustin and Mark were good pals and still keep in contact. Well, I didn't get to talk to him much longer cause I was being summoned to pay. But that is just crazy! I've had moments like that before-I call it the Yuma connection. I've been on airplanes and met complete strangers who know people I know from Yuma, and everywhere we've lived there's always been either someone I know from there or someone who knows someone from Yuma. The benefits of growing up in a semi-small town.

AH! Spring is in the air!

2008-03-26T09:39:00.000-07:00

Our front yard glacier has finally dissolved and its in the 70's today. Spring and summer in Colorado are my favorite seasons. We've been playing at the park almost everyday the last week (in between being sick). I was excited this morning to enter another post with my Easter pictures and of some I took yesterday in the backyard-but I started erasing pictures from my camera-something John says I never do, and I don't, so I wanted to finally do it. Well, I accidentally purged my new pictures before I got them on my computer. I am totally bummed out! So sorry but no pics which will probably make the post a bit boring to all of you. But for me its just a journal entry. Easter this year was pretty normal. John bought the candy and he got a lot!! So the kids have a year supply now. He also hid eggs the night before which Jeffrey thought was so cool. Later Easter morning, (we have 1pm church) I put in an animated New Testament video and told Jeffrey we were going to watch an Easter movie about Jesus-and tried to explain what Easter was really about. The movie started and he says "Mommy, where's the Easter bunny?". AHHH!! After church we had the usual ham dinner with John's sister Katrina and her husband. I tried out a new dessert-Flan-which I had had at Rodizio Grill a few months ago and thought it was divine!. Its an Argentine custard like dessert made with condensed and evaporated milk, eggs, vanilla, and caramel on top. Well, it was okay but nothing close to Rodizio Grill's take on it. Oh, well it was fun to try!
Yesterday Jeffrey and Sammy went outside with John and played baseball. Now John is a huge baseball fan and because baseball is the only sport Jeffrey has shown mild enthusiasm about he is ecstatic! Jeffrey actually has some natural talent and can hit the ball pretty good. John and Jeff went to a few Rockies games last year and although Jeff's favorite part was riding the light rail there and back, he has picked up on a few of the player's habits. For example, he wags the bat when he's waiting for the pitch then after he hits it and in his own words: "baseball players hit the ball, then they throw the bat and run"-and he THROWS the bat as hard as he can behind him and runs after the ball he just hit (no bases in our yard yet). He also asked me to put his tuke on (I call it a beanie but that's because according to John I grew up in Mexico, John served his mission in Canada so the kids call them tukes) so he wanted his took and gloves so he could look like a baseball player. Later that night John and I decided Jeffrey WILL play baseball, become a doctor (based solely on his Halloween costume choice and his extensive knowledge of the digestive system), and be an accomplished chelloist or pianist.

We Are the Champions, My Friend!

2008-03-11T12:34:00.000-07:00

I'm sore, tired, a bit bruised, but it was worth it!! My South Suburban basketball team won the women's basketball tournament last night. We played two games-thankfully we were seeded first going in so the games weren't back to back. We started out the first game with only 4 of us, down 0-9, 5 mins into the game, then two more players showed up and we ended up winning by 15. The second game we won by 20. The season began with a loss, then a win by 3 points, then a win by 5, by the end of the season we were winning by 15-20 points. Last night I made 3, 3-pointers which is NOT my thing at all-so I gave myself a pat on the back. I should also mention that we were probably the oldest team, with the most children.

A Tantrum and the Kindness of a Stranger

2008-03-03T06:36:00.000-08:00

Last Friday I went to Target to get some swim diapers. We headed over to the baby section and Jeffrey saw some small milk carton boxes of fish crackers. So I let him get one. We got the diapers then I was looking at swim suits for Jeff-and he was out of the cart running around. Meanwhile, Sammy was begging for me to open the fishies so I did. That was my mistake (should have asked Jeffrey first). Jeffrey sees that Sammy is eating his crackers and goes absolutely crazy. So I'm like, I'm outta here. We go to quickly pay for the diapers, Jeffrey is still ranting, screaming, hitting me, trying to take the cart from me. I'm about to blow my top-have my own tantrum. We get in line behind a lady with two small well-behaved kids. I put the diapers up on the belt along with the disputed crackers. I'm still fighting with Jeff who is now on the floor screaming, kicking, trying to hit me. And I don't notice that the lady in front of me has paid for my stuff. I go up to the cashier ready to pay and she hands me the receipt and tells me that this lady paid for me. Well, the kind stranger was gone, almost to the opposite doors I was going, my kids are both crying, I'm tearing up, so I don't run after her, I just want to run and hide. But I was so grateful for her, she definitely didn't have to do that. I guess now I have to, as they say, "pay it forward". Hopefully when that happens my kids will be the well behaved ones?!

Jeffrey's reaction to his punishment and our conversations regarding this incident are pretty funny. I told him in the car, leaving Target, that he will have a time out when we get home and no movies or TV today. Later after lunch he says "Mommy can you watch TV?" and I say yes, "Mommy can Sammy watch TV", I say no, "Mommy can we still go swimming today?", yes, "Can I still play with my toys?",yes. Later that night after his football class he tells me "I can throw footballs but I can't throw fits". Ahhhh! Blessed understanding.

Another Decade Gone

2008-02-24T06:59:00.000-08:00

I'm 30 now-that's right, 30. That means I can command more respect. I'm feeling a little arrogant about being old-like I want to tell some young person-"how old are you?... yea well I'm 30 so listen up". I think I'll try that one on Jeffrey. I don't think I really act my age-or look it (except for my graying hair that I dye-oh and the eye doc told me I should wear reading glasses, plus the other day I noticed I have smile wrinkles around my eyes-great!). John surprised me with an I-Pod Nano-so now I really don't act my age cause I rock out around the house while I'm doing dishes, folding laundry. So on my birthday(I say "so" a lot-so what?), John made my favorite breakfast, french toast with strawberries and powdered sugar. Then he took the boys downtown for the Denver Home and Garden show and I went shopping. Then treated myself to Rubio's. Sat. night we had to go to stake conference so no parties. Sunday my sister in law and her hubby came over for dinner and cake. And I got the usual phone calls from the fam-so all and all a good time.

East Coast Times

2008-02-21T07:31:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned before, we recently took a trip to Fairfield, Pennsylvania (southeast corner near Gettysburg). John had business in Virginia, about an hour and a half from his family so the boys and I tagged along. It was a fun visit and the weather was nice. We went to a children's museum in Gettysburg one day. Its just a old house that an older couple has converted into a museum. The kids particuarly liked the bubble machine, train table, construction zone. Jeffrey painted some pictures. Another day we went to a train museum in near by Haggerstown, MD. There were a bunch of toy trains ran by train fanatics. They all tried to talk to me about their trains-the types, the engines, the cars etc-but it went way over my head. I thought I had a fair base knowledge of trains because of my boys interest but the visit to the museum blew that notion out of the water. The last day we were there we had a brunch with John's Grandma Brown and played games. Thank you Earl and Janice for letting us come visit!-oh and Spencer, you too-for getting us hooked on guitar hero.

This is a classic picture of Jeffrey, jumping up and down
waving his arms.

Jeffrey painting

The bubble machine...so fun

Sammy and Grandma Moats

Jeffrey watching the toy trains

The whole gang at the train museum

Roots Discovered

2008-02-14T10:35:00.000-08:00

I always get asked who my boys look like, because they certainly don't look like me or John. Jeffrey has all dark features while John and I have blue eyes and lighter hair. Sammy has the right coloring, but still doesn't look like us. On a recent trip to Pennsylvania to visit John's family we found a picture of John's great great uncle and great grandpa, James Long and John Harris Long. Do these two look familiar?

Sammy also looks like John's dad, except the mouth. Here's a picture of Allan Kjelstrom at 19 months.

Journal-y Thoughts

2008-02-02T21:05:00.000-08:00

I've had two items I've wanted to record lately. One is a few things Jeffrey has said recently. One day he told me, "Mommy", I say "yes", then its "Mommy" a few more times while he's working out his thoughts, "People have two slides in them, one for pee and one for poop". Very observant little boy. Today, my sister-in law Katrina was over and she's pregnant and had to keep going to the bathroom. We were all playing Go Fish, Jeffrey's new favorite game, and so I explained to Jeffrey that Katrina has a baby in her tummy, and when you have a baby in your tummy you have to pee all the time. So he thought about this and says "When I'm big, can I have a baby in my tummy?", I said no, just girls. Later in the day he says "Mommy, when Sammy and I were babies we were in your tummy then we dropped out and started crawling then walking and then we got big, big, big". I'm really afraid I'm going to have the birds and the bees talk with him way earlier then planned. I also noticed the other day that Jeffrey eats his M&M's just like me and my Dad. Growing up, I would seperate them into colors, then eat them so that all the colors had even numbers, then eat them color by color in some kind of order. Well, Jeffrey isn't that sophisticated yet, but he does eat all of one color first, then another, then another. Hmmmmm....is there some kind of M&M eating order gene?

So the other item I've been wanting to write about concerns a more serious topic. A few days ago our semi-liberal (because its no New York Times) paper, The Denver Post, printed an article on the 4th page of their main section titled "Mormon Women Seek Greater Role". I immediately start reading-and the author is saying that there was an uproar about Julie Beck's talk from last conference that said LDS women keep sacred covenants by keeping tidy homes and dressing daughters in nice clothes for church. That 250 women wrote an online rebuttal against Julie Beck's talk and that we're all anxiously awaiting the new prophet to see if women's roles will change. I'm exagerating a bit in my explanation but it was that bad. So I'm fuming-250 women? out of how many-5 million in the church? Did this guy read Julie Beck's talk? He didn't get the point AT ALL!! Why do they even feel like this is news? really-250 women?? Why publish this. And if you are going to do a report on it-at least do your research. So I wrote my own rebuttal online-I wish I knew if the author will ever read it. He's from the Associated Press. Click here to read the article

January Birthdays!

2008-02-01T13:26:00.000-08:00

John turned the big 30 on January 22nd. Of course he wouldn't let me throw him a party, so I made a nice dinner and we had cake at home.

Jeffrey turned 4 on January 30th. I had playgroup at my house that day and we had a party with the playgroup friends plus other friends-Nathan, Camden, Spencer, Andrew, Jocelyn, Paige, Brooklyn, Kate, and Alyssa. Jeffrey enjoyed his party very very much-especially opening the presents. I didn't want any of the parents to buy gifts for him cause I felt like my house has too many toys, but they ignored my request. And I'm happy they did because Jeffrey loved it!

My Escape from Winter

2008-01-21T13:53:00.000-08:00

I took Jeffrey and Sammy to visit my parents in Yuma, AZ Jan 9-16th. We flew all the way to Yuma International Airport-which is a thrill ride in itself for Jeffrey. He especially likes riding the "fast train" at the Denver airport and told my mom that we went to the "C station" (the C terminal). It was 70 degrees plus some the whole time we were there. So we played outside quite a bit. We played at a park one day, visited my Grandpa Nelson-who'll be 91 next month. Oh, and there's a story here-so my Grandpa lives in Bard, CA which is 20 min west of Yuma (Yuma is right on the Colorado River). Bard is rural farming area and so my Grandpa's house is surrounded by fields. There used to be lemon orchards that my brothers and I would play in growing up, but the trees got a disease and had to be destroyed. Now there are baby date palms growing. Anyways, that's just background info, so we're visiting Grandpa when I hear Sammy crying and I look out into the field and see he's lost his shoes. The field was muddy-and muddy fields can be like quick sand-so his shoes got stuck in the mud and his feet came out of them. Well, my mom went out to save him and was OK going out but coming back her shoes broke the top layer and she almost got stuck herself. It was funny at the time...ha ha. Also in Bard, we saw my Uncle Jerry's old Model-T truck that he decorates for Christmas. This year he had an electric train on the back-which was mesmerizing for my boys. So what else, we went on a boat ride on the mighty Colorado River. Jeffrey loved it, Sammy not so much. Sammy did try to drive the boat and didn't want my Dad to have his hands on the wheel. We played at my brother Paul and Ericka's house. Their son Hunter got a Wii for Christmas-and beat me at bowling. Then we took a short trip over to California to visit some old friends. First we drove up to Irvine to see my friend Hillary and her daughter Avery. We just played at the park for a couple of hours. Avery and Jeffrey were best buds when we lived there and poor Avery bawled when we had to leave. Then we went to San Diego and saw the Clarks. They took us to the San Diego Zoo the following day, then we ate ice cream and headed back to Yuma. On our way home we were surprised by John at the Phoenix airport-he'd had business in PHX and Tucson and met up with us for our flight home. Denver greeted us with 18 degree weather-brrrrrr!! It was a long, fun trip and its good to be home. Okay, I'm trying out a slide show for my pictures-hope it works!

White Christmas Memories

2008-01-05T10:17:00.000-08:00

Christmas this year was so so fun. The weekend before Christmas, we took my parents to see the White Christmas musical downtown then ate at a cute little Italian cafe. Christmas Eve day we all went to The North Pole-which is actually in Colorado Springs. It has kiddy amusement rides and the most real Santa Claus I've ever seen. Jeffrey was excited beyond limits to see Santa, but as soon as we got into the cottage, Jeffrey didn't even make eye contact with him and so didn't sit on his lap. But we had fun riding the rides. Jeffrey tried out the Tilt-a-Whirl which is probably the fastest ride he's ever been on-but loved every second. That night Patrick and Katrina came over and we had appetizers and a special Christmas Eve family home evening by Grandma and Grandpa, complete with "Don't Eat Pete" and a Christmas lesson fit for a 3 year old.

Then the perfect Christmas for my parents who've never been out of Yuma for the holiday, it snowed! And it was my first white Christmas too. Mom and Dad took a walk around the neighborhood after the presents were all opened just to be in the snow.
And as a side note, Jeffrey was more enthusiastic this year than he's ever been about Christmas. Christmas morning he asked John "Is Santa still in our house", and when John answered "no", Jeffrey said "oh, good!". He knew if Santa was in the house he couldn't come down stairs to open presents. Then he jumped around and waved his arms shouting "Its Christmas!".

The North Pole-Jeffrey driving!

Dave and Betty-Grandma and Pappy-Mom and Dad

Don't Eat Pete-I think I won.

We played a throw the ball in a box game.

Jeffrey's gift from Santa-he played with this for 10 hours straight on Christmas day!

Sammy opening his favorite present-a new blanket! (So I can wash his blanket once in a while)
He was playing with the camera but as soon as John opened the bag and Sammy saw the blanket he gave out a little scream and started to suck his fingers.

2007 Re-cap

2007-12-19T20:21:00.000-08:00

We didn't include a letter in our Christmas cards this year but asked people to check out our blog, so I'm writing a little re-cap of 2007 for all of those who aren't regular readers (and if you are a regular to our blog the following will be a repeat and boring so I'd stop reading...now...no really...now).

John and I have been busy remodeling our home. We recently had new floors put in, the white walls are being painted, and much to our chagrin we decided to paint the trim as well. Last summer, John planted some new trees and bushes in the backyard and is looking forward to putting in a new deck next summer.

Enough about the house, it consumes us! Over the summer, we had the whole Kjelstrom clan in Colorado for a reunion. John put his brothers to work in the backyard the first day. We watched fireworks, ate lots of food, enjoyed a short trip to Breckenridge, oh and ate lots of food! A few weeks later we went down to Pagosa Springs, CO and met up with a few members of my family.

John is still (yea for still) working at National Valuation Consultants as a senior commercial real estate appraiser. He travels at least once a month all over the country (recently he got to spend almost 2 weeks in New Jersey-he was thrilled!). He took several appraisal classes this year in order to earn his MAI designation (Member of Appraisal Institute-highest designation for an appraiser)-only one more class and a grueling 2 day test left! He continues to golf when there isn't snow on the ground. At church, he works with the Teacher's quorum which he loves. He often relives his teenage years through the boys he works with.

Me-I go grocery shopping, do laundry, wipe noses and bums, plan meals and cook them, play trains, color, read books (children and adult) clean...and some other things I can't think of right now. No, really, seriously now, I do love being able to stay at home with my boys. The moments when they make me laugh or say something too cute completely counter the other times when we all act not so nice. I'm the secretary in primary at church. And Tuesdays I get to play volleyball-that's where I get out any frustrations I might have, I just hit the ball really hard! And I am enjoying the snow this year (that's because I made a promise not to complain).

Jeffrey still loves trains-I meant LOVES!!!! trains. He also enjoys watching movies, going to playgroup and nursery, playing play-do, and going to the zoo so we can ride the train. Oh, he also likes to see the lizards and snakes. He is a wonderful big brother who is most often kind to Sammy. He loves to come with me to get Sammy in the morning. Jeffrey had his first swim lessons this year. He had a hard time floating because he would get too excited-arms flapping, big smile-so he would sink since he was so stiff with excitement. But he was great at dunking his head under the water.

Sammy is growing and growing!! He is a curdle bug. He is like Linus, his blanket is never far and is usually being dragged behind him. If you are holding him with his blanket he will lay his head down on your shoulder, suck his fingers and sigh a bit. He is learning new words everyday. His favorite right now is "No". Dogs are his favorite animal. Sammy started exploring the world around him this year-particularly the toilet and things under the sink in my bathroom. He is also learning to hold his own against his big brother.

2007 has been a great year for us. We are loving Colorado and the friends we've made here. (Hopefully we can get some more family here someday). We wish you joy and peace this Christmas and the coming year.

Deck the Halls....

2007-12-09T19:43:00.000-08:00

I just needed to post something new cause I was tired of looking at myself. And just as an update, I am feeling much better about my hair, John likes it, and I'm no longer nauseous. John was out of town most of last week and will be leaving again on Tuesday morning till Friday night. Uggghhh! The only good thing is, I get lots done at night when I'm all alone-like almost all my Christmas gifts are wrapped, our Christmas cards are almost ready (key word there is "almost"). This week I think I'll bake-I've decided to try some new holiday recipes such as fudge and toffee and maybe caramel. (I LOVE CARAMEL!!)

So more 18 month blues....Sammy hates shopping. Which is really bad at this time of year when I have tons of errands to make. We went to Walmart last week for paper and caulk-that's it. And he started throwing a fit because I didn't let him out of the cart when he wanted. It was actually a little funny because he was crying and hitting the side of the cart showing me how mad he was. So then all these old people and some younger folks were saying "Oh, what's wrong, its okay little guy". And I was thinking-what the heck??!! Don't take pity on him, he's in the middle of a tantrum! And serious, my selfish thought was they should be taking pity on me!
I was not amused.

My parents are coming this year for Christmas, the 21st-26th. We are excited to see them. They have never been anywhere but Yuma for Christmas. I really hope it snows for them. Then two weeks after they leave, the boys and I are going to Yuma to visit them-its my escape from winter trip. We just got a ton of snow this weekend-and I didn't complain!! I'm very proud of myself.

The Cut

2007-12-05T17:50:00.000-08:00

Today I got a hair cut, a really short hair cut. Change doesn't come easy for me so right now I'm having some regret. I feel too masculine, like I need to be wearing high heels, a shirt with lace and flowers and fur and say things like "Oh my gosh, that is so cute!", to counter my hair cut. I think I'll go buy some girly barrettes tomorrow. John is out of town till Friday at midnight and I don't think he remembers that I was planning on the chop. I think the pictures I took of myself, in my yellowish bathroom make me look worse, but you get the idea. Okay, I'm feeling a little queasy now about this whole thing AND posting it on my blog. It'll grow out right! or I may end up liking it short, only time will tell.

Black Friday

2007-11-26T19:14:00.000-08:00

I've never braved the early morning rush of the day after Thanksgiving, but this year I did it. Thanksgiving morning I surfed through the ads and decided what I wanted and my plan of attack. I got up at 5am after only one hit of the snooze button and rushed off to Kohls. This year Kohls opened at 4am so by the time I got there the place was packed with lines all around the store. I started by getting a number at the jewelry counter then picked out a few clothes items. I was beginning to think about just leaving because I didn't see how standing in line for 45 minutes for a few items was worth it when my number was called! So I bought some jewelry-$100 diamond earrings for $20 (I hope they're real!)- and they rang up the rest of my stuff. (and I thought about WHO I could give the earrings too but in the end concluded that I would really be the happiest person to get them and so am keeping them for myself.) By the end of the day I hit about 6 stores, one store shy of my plan. I wanted to go to GameStop to buy some Wii's to sell on ebay-you can make about $150 profit-but I should have been standing in line before the store opened cause they only had 20. And that was how all the door busters were-it's just a gimmick-they advertise rock bottom prices on limited stock items just to get you in. But being an amateur I didn't realize this and so didn't get to any of the stores in time. I stood in line the longest at Toys-r-us for 4 toys (the line wound around the whole store). Everyone around me had huge baskets full of stuff, I couldn't believe it! It was worth it though because I got everything for a good price plus I got the second to last toy that Jeffrey has been dying to get (and told me again today "Mommy I really really want that fast train"). I'm not much of a shopper-not my favorite past time cause I don't like to spend money. But I enjoyed myself, mostly because I went alone-no kids, nobody to wait on, I just knew exactly what I wanted-got in and got out. Moral of the story-it was a good experience and I'll probably do it again.

Old and New Pictures

2007-11-17T18:01:00.000-08:00

We took Christmas pictures yesterday, here is one that didn't turn out too well.

Since Jeff is going into primary next year we decided he needed a tie, and he loves it.

First snow storm back in mid October. Jeffrey was SOOO excited along with John about the snow. Sammy didn't know what to think and didn't enjoy being outside too much. I had mixed feelings about the snow. I remember at church that day someone prayed that they were thankful for the snow and the moisture it would bring to the area. I was surprised by that comment because it never occurred to me that I should be thankful for the snow. And I decided that I'm not going to complain this winter about snow! Wish me luck.

Yes, Sammy has some goop in his nose.

The Denver Zoo and the reason we go to the zoo is for the train ride.

Firemen to the Rescue!!

2007-11-05T19:14:00.000-08:00

I wish I had taken a picture now, but I really didn't think about it at the time...
Saturday afternoon I was painting baseboards in the garage while the boys played in my car in the driveway. I let them have the keys because Jeffrey likes to listen to music while he pretends to drive. A neighbor boy came by and Jeffrey got out of the car to play with him leaving Sammy by himself. A few minutes later, Jeffrey and this boy come running over to me to say Sammy has locked the doors to the car. Well, John was on a campout and had the only other key to the car. I called to see if he was close to being home but he was in Vail, about 2 hours away. John, in a way, was freaking out asking what I was going to do. I didn't know, yet! I got out a wire hanger and proceeded to attempt the break in but I failed. Two of the neighbor dads tried the hanger but no luck. Several of us were knocking on the window, yelling at Sammy to "push the button". Sammy just smiled back and continued to play in the car. At first I didn't want to, it was my last option, but I decided to call the police. They routed me through to the fire department. About five minutes later we hear the sirens coming up the street (I don't think they had much to do). By this time, Sammy is crying and looking a bit scared. The big fire truck came plus a sheriff. They got Sammy out quickly and suggested I get a magnetic hide-a-key then left. I guess I'm just glad I got to see my tax dollars at work. And yes, I'm going shopping for a hide-a-key.

Update

2007-11-02T14:26:00.001-07:00

Don't fret another second! I found my camera and will post new and interesting pictures soon. The camera was in the pocket of my snow jacket because I took pictures of the kids in our first snow storm two weeks ago. So it was neither Sammy or the carpet guys-my hypothesis was very wrong.

**If you are confused please read under "18 month Blues"

Halloween!!

2007-10-31T20:13:00.000-07:00

What a busy day! We started out with playgroup then ran home for a quick lunch then off to a kiddy halloween party at Kristen Andersen's house. Jeffrey and Sam played hard and ate tons of sugar. By the time we got home it was 4pm and Sammy was ready to crash. So I let him take a late nap. Jeff and I went over to a neighbor's house for pizza then a huge group of us took off to trick or treat. (Sammy was still sleeping so he didn't join in). Jeffrey was very enthusiastic to begin with, running to each house and yelling "trick or treat" (which actually sounds likes "trunk or treat"). After a street he started to say he wanted to go home. By the time we got home I found out why-he had a little accident. But we got plenty of candy. Sammy woke up at 7pm and I put his costume on for some pics and to go to the Jones' house next door. For the rest of the night Jeffrey enjoyed handing out candy to the trick or treaters, each time he'd say "they said thank you mom and I said welcome". John brought home his camera from work so I could take pictures tonight. (BTW-you can see our new floors in the first picture of Sammy).

18 month Blues

2007-10-30T18:23:00.000-07:00

My little boy (Sammy) has turned the ripe old age of 18 months. And oh my goodness has he changed! He'll still snuggle with me and its fun to hear him repeat words I say. But then there's the other side. To put it positively he has become very interested in everything around him. He must touch it, taste it and stick it in the toilet. I still love him, I just get frustrated with his explorations. And Jeffrey is happy to help. He's also learned to say "No"-granted I probably say that word more than any other-but he doesn't just say no, he pronounces it and prolongs it like a high whined NOOOOOO. he does go to nursery-hooray!! I swear 18 months is the hardest age for me. Hence, i am not planning on having another child at the moment.

Today I lost my keys. I got up early to go work out (yes, I'm buff now) so I had them between 6am and 7am. By 10:15am I was in a panic cause I had to go to the Music Makers class I started and am in charge of. But no keys. My neighbor graciously gave us a ride. After Music Makers I proceeded to comb the house in a calmer manner than previously and found them sitting right inside the sub woofer speaker we have sitting next to our TV. Can you guess who hid them?-yes my sweet Sammy. He's hidden other objects in the past and I have found them in odd places.

Speaking of which...I've misplaced my camera and tomorrow is Halloween. A parents worst nightmare-no camera to take pictures of their little ones in cute costumes. So here is my theory with the camera 1. Sammy hid it or 2. the carpet installers stole it. (cause it can't be ME who lost the camera, it must be someone else). Oh, and if didn't guess we have all new floors in our house-the whole house excluding the unfinished basement. I LOVE IT!!! No more nasty crusty grey carpet under my table. We now have cherry laminate wood on most of the main floor and carpet everywhere else. Plus new tile in the upstairs bathrooms.

Anyways, please don't think I hate my kids. I'm just venting a bit. I know my life is peaches and cream compared to millions of other moms around the world. Sometimes I think "how does Heavenly Father do it". Cause I can't keep my patience with just two kids!

Tagged??!!

2007-10-26T20:54:00.000-07:00

I have been tagged by my lovely friend Rachel Lyons. I've been trying to think of interesting things to say about myself that you don't already know. Some of you don't know that I like to bird watch or that my dad is a date farmer or that my nickname was Scrap but mostly everyone already knows those tidbits. Oh! I have to explain the rules: list 6 interesting things about yourself then tag 6 other people and leave comments on their blogs so they know they've been tagged.

1. My junior year of college I went to Cape Town, South Africa for a summer. I know you all know that but I'm always asked what I did there and so that's the interesting part. Sooooo it was through BYU's anthropology department (I was a zoology major). It wasn't really a study abroad because I didn't study at a university there. I volunteered at a maternity hospital and did an after school program at a library in the township I lived in. My host family was awesome! It was such a great experience-forced me out of my comfort zone and created a desire to learn more about other cultures. yada yada I could go on forever....

2. I despise buying things that AREN'T on sale. I literally get a high from shopping around for the best bargains and using coupons to get rock bottom prices. Some may call me cheap. Sometimes when I'm going to purchase something big I do lots of research online then look around for good prices but end up becoming indecisive-it drives John up the wall. John just wants to go into a store, get the item and leave. Not me, I like to look at lots of stores and then think about it for awhile-but then I can't make a decision, and I worry about making the "right" choice, cause I'll only feel good about buying if I know its a good deal.

3. Okay, I'm going to explain the "Scrap" nickname. My freshman year of high school I played on the varsity basketball team. One of the older players decided I was a scrappy player and thus gave me the name. So it stuck and I was called that by my teammates plus other friends. Then in college, someone found out about it and started calling me Scrap. Pretty soon everyone called me that including my bishop. I was assigned to give a talk one Sunday and they introduced me as Scrap during sacrament meeting. My old roomies still call me Scrap and have a hard time calling me by my real name. It only wore off once all my friends got married and I had all new roommates my senior year. That's when I met John so he has always called me Steph not Scrap.

4. Before I die I'd like to visit Costa Rica (awesome bird watching), New Zealand/Australia, Sweden (John's family ancestry), and the British Isles (my family ancestry).

5. After my kids are all in school I plan on getting a nursing degree. Then I want to go on short humanitarian trips to Africa or South America as a nurse. I love the medical field!! But I do have to get over my little fainting problem. I faint when I get drawn and have seen some minor surgeries in which I got woosy.

6. I was a minority in my high school. Yuma, AZ is about 15 minutes from the Mexican border and so is heavily populated by people from that country or of that ancestry. But that also means Yuma has magnificent Mexican food....oh I'm craving some right now as I write. Another interesting fact about Yuma, the population doubles in the winter from the snow birds (old people from the north). And its also in the Guinesis Book of World Records for the most consecutive days over 90 degrees. One last fact, while Yuma High School was being built classes were held in the old Yuma Territorial Prison and so their mascot became the Criminals. (note: I didn't go to Yuma High so please don't call me a criminal).

***I tag Candice Brobice, Rachel "Goodwin" Williams, Katrina Bria, Melissa Ballantyne, Tami Nelson, and Shannon Dickman

World Series Baby!!!

2007-10-16T15:42:00.000-07:00

Our Colorado Rockies just did what no team has done before in the history of baseball, swept both the division and league championship series. And yes, they did play the Arizona Diamondbacks whom I have been a fan of in the past (like 2001 when we lived in Tuscon and they beat the Yankees in the world series). But they are no longer the team I knew, with their new colors and players. So I have done what all Denverites must do eventually, and I am rooting for the home team. John went to the first game in the national league championship series while he was in Phoenix for business. He got a ticket at face value the day before the game. The playoff games here have been sold out for weeks and being sold for twice their value. People are a little crazy in Colorado about their sports teams, but it makes it all the more fun.

Can't wait for Halloween

2007-09-27T19:38:00.001-07:00

We got this costume about 2 weeks ago at Costco and Jeffrey wears it constantly. He is very excited about Halloween and getting candy. He sleeps in his scrubs almost every night. And I think he looks really good in those scrubs (I'm already having proud parent dreams of my baby going to medical school)

Like Brother like Brother

2007-09-27T19:26:00.001-07:00

Sammy likes to do whatever his big brother does. But at the same time Jeffrey likes to act like Sammy-mostly with baby talk. I caught them playing trains together one morning, and of course its the day I accidentally dressed them a like. Oh, and I keep forgetting to mention that Sammy is walking now (has been for a month). It was such a huge event when Jeffrey walked but with Sammy it was more like "finally!". I know that sounds harsh but I guess its the reality of being the second born.

Yummy Recipe!!

2007-09-25T13:46:00.000-07:00

I got this recipe from Food Network's Everyday Italian. Its called Garlic and Citrus Chicken and its YUMMY!! We all loved it including the kids. Its very simple just takes a bit of time since its a whole roasted chicken. Click here to get the recipe. Try it....love it.

Goodbye Summer

2007-09-20T18:11:00.000-07:00

On this the last day of summer (to which I bid a heartfelt adieu and a safe return), I am lamenting the loss of my dear friends, my black Reef flip-flops. Companions for nearly 6 years, they were worn almost everyday warm enough for them to be worn. Yes they were dirty, stinky, some said ugly, but by George they were comfortable! And that's what matters most to me-comfort.

If you have been overly saddened by the previous event please read the last post to brighten your mood.

The Peaing Story

2007-09-19T15:26:00.000-07:00

Monday morning I went out front to get Jeffrey so we could go to playgroup and there he is with his pants down to his ankles, peaing on our front bush. When he saw me he smiled real big like he was proud of himself. Then says "Mommy, bushes are good for peaing on just like toilets!"

He's done it a few times more, each time I remind him that we have a bathroom just inside. Today Sammy was in front with Jeff, and I saw him walk up to the bush, lift up his shirt, then try to push his pants down just like his big brother does when he relieves himself. Sammy has done this same maneuver in front of the toilet so I'm hoping he will be interested in potty training early.

Oh Rise and Shout the Cougars are out!!

2007-09-01T18:00:00.000-07:00

BYU and Arizona football played today and BYU won 20-3!! For anyone not aware of the history, John graduated from UofA and I graduated from BYU. Looks like Arizona will have another bad team. I'll be cheering for them again come basketball season.

2007-08-28T14:45:00.000-07:00

Here's a shout out of thanks to the few blessed souls who have commented on my blog. I know some of you don't know how to leave comments so I will tell you: at the bottom of each post there is a "comments". If you click on it you can then leave a message in the comments box. You don't have to have a google account, but you can sign up for one if you want to under the comment box. So try it!

And for those of you who just don't comment because you are either out of time or lazy or maybe you don't like my blog (then I ask you why are you reading it?); well I take pity on you and if I were to die tomorrow you may feel guilty that you didn't leave your words. J/K, J/K its okay I'm not mad really.....

Jeffrey's New Hobby

2007-08-26T20:40:00.000-07:00

The latest victims of Jeffrey's habit of picking things. The one on the left is a library book!!! ARGGGGGGHHH!!!

Pagosa Springs, CO Trip Aug 9-12, 2007

2007-08-17T16:10:00.001-07:00

Here is Jeff at the Piedra River. He learned the joys of throwing rocks into the river. So the whole time we were there if there was water a rock had to be thrown.

We hiked to Piedra Falls (in the background). It was a short one mile hike perfect for the kids. John is sporting his new camping hat

This is everyone who came to Pagosa Springs. (We are missing half of my family) From left to right is my niece Danielle, my brother Brent, his wife Nicole, my Dad Dave, Jeffrey, my mom Betty, John, Steph, and a crying uphappy Sammy.

Playing in Grandpa's truck. We drove up to Purgatory Resort near Durango to ride the alpine slide but just as we got there it rained and they closed the slide.

Rafting on the Animas River in Durango. I'm in the front with John and my parents are sitting in the back. August is NOT the best time to raft. This was one of a few thrill rapids for the trip.

First Tie

2007-08-17T16:08:00.000-07:00

Jeff wanted to wear Daddy's tie. I tried to tie it but it didn't turn out. So this is after John saved me. He needs a clip on!

Hiking Devil's Head in Rampart Range

2007-08-17T15:59:00.000-07:00

We went camping for the first time with the kids then the next day hiked to Devil's Head where there is a fire lookout tower that you can climb up. There is a man at the top who works there and has been doing it for 23 summers. He packs in his food once a week and gets water from snow melt. And he is real tired of people asking him the same questions over and over. The picture above is of John's sister Katrina, her husband Patrick, John, John's brother Spencer and Reno the dog. The kids are on the backs of Patrick and John but you can't see them, and I'm taking the picture so you don't get to see me (sorry).

Sammy fell asleep and this is him just waking up.

At the top of the tower, Patrick and Spencer.

Jeffrey-isms

2007-07-30T19:36:00.000-07:00

In the past few days Jeffrey has said the following:

"Hot dogs are good and yummy and not yucky"

"Food makes poop and poop is in my tummy and bottom"

"I like to poop"

Jeffrey also has this weird habit of picking at things. He can't seem to stop himself from picking all the paper off his crayons-he doesn't color with them, just takes the paper off of them. And its like a drug, if there is a crayon near with paper on it, he has to pick it! He does this with books too or anything that is peeling.

Kjelstrom Family Reunion, July 2-9 2007

2007-07-17T17:54:00.001-07:00

The Kjelstrom gang. The reunion was at our house. When we were all together, there were 16 people at our house. It was a bit cramped at times, but fun to have everyone. There was a lot of food, playing of the Wii, and Settlers. I think we all had fun seeing each other again.

Jeffrey and Jacob

Here we are waiting for the July 4th Highlands Ranch fireworks show. (I know its not a great pic) Jeffrey and his cousin Jacob were the most excited of all of us.

John had a project for the some the family to help with, planting trees and shrubs in our backyard. Earlier in the year John cut down some trees and here he is with Earl using a stump grinder to get rid of the old stumps. You can see Jason, John's brother, taking a break in the background.

2007-07-02T20:12:00.000-07:00

The boys were "helping" me clean out my car on Saturday. It was Sammy's first time in the driver's seat. He was enthralled with all the buttons and levers.

Okay, I have another Jeffrey story. Last week while giving him a bath, we got him undressed and I said "okay, jump in". So he gets up on the edge of the tub and jumps in. I looked at him surprisingly and said something like "not that way". And he said "mommy, I jumped in!" Sometimes I forget how literally kids understand things.

So, we got a new computer. Its so nice and much faster than the old laptop I was using. John and I are setting up an office in our loft. We started with scraping the ceilings and painting the walls. Then John installed some pretty cool tract lighting. We bought a new desk and of course the computer. Next John plans to build some built-in bookcases. I'll post a picture of the finished project.

Potty training candy in nose

2007-07-02T20:07:00.000-07:00

I actually took this about a month ago but forgot to post it. Jeffrey got candy while he was potty training and figured out he could stick it up his nose. (is that just a male instinct?) And the potty training is going great - now. We had ups and downs, but I wasn't going back to diapers and hung in there. Now he does very well.

Sunday morning I found him in Sammy's room hiding behind the glider with an opened bag of Starburst. He had climbed up onto the desk to get the scissors, which are up high, to use to open the bag. I was just glad there were not missing fingers.

Recent photos

2007-05-30T12:45:00.000-07:00

Just recently took some new photos. Jeffrey of course is by his trains and Sammy is trying to sit in my lap. I took a "personal vacation" over the memorial weekend to CA. It was very rejuvenating! Now I'm back to real life.

Painted Plaques

2007-05-30T12:43:00.000-07:00

Here are the plaques I painted with my mom for Sammy's room.

Fox in Yard

2007-05-05T15:21:00.000-07:00

Another Colorado wildlife encounter! I saw this fox in our backyard this week. At first I thought it was a coyote because that's what I'm used to seeing being a desert rat. Jeffrey was excited to see it, wanted to go outside and get closer. But I decided to keep my distance since it was already scared from seeing us behind the door.

Sammy Turns 1!

2007-05-05T13:21:00.000-07:00

Hawk in Yard

2007-04-21T19:07:00.000-07:00

Today a juvenile Red-Tailed Hawk flew into our neighbor's tree with a squirrel in its mouth. You can see the tail of the squirrel hanging over a branch on the right side of the picture. The hawk seemed very comfortable with humans as we were really close and took multiple pictures. In all of my time as an amatuer bird-watcher I've never seen a raptor so at ease with humans. It ate some of the squirrel, cleaned its feathers, then flew away leaving the carcus in the tree. I assume it came back for it because its now gone.

Tarantula

2007-04-21T18:59:00.000-07:00

Here I am holding a tarantula at the Butterfly Pavilion. We used to see these big fuzzy spiders after a good rain storm in Tucson.

Brent Nelson Fam at Butterfly Pavilion

2007-04-21T16:57:00.000-07:00

In March, Brent came to visit from Lubbock, TX where he is in his first year of law school. He commented on my bio from the blog, and because it was pretty funny, I am posting a picture of him. Here was his comment: "Steph, I read your bio and thought I should let you know that making up history is not going to fly. You didn't live in Irvine, you survived. You didn't live in Utah, you coped. And, I won't acknowledge you live in Highlands Ranch until you get a place in Castle Pines and buy me a golf membership. "

Me and the Boys

2007-04-19T19:30:00.000-07:00

My mom took this pic while she was visiting during Easter. We painted some cute animal plaques for Sammy's room while she was here, something I wouldn't have done otherwise.

Sammy

2007-04-19T16:01:00.000-07:00

Samuel Owen Kjelstrom! He'll be one next week! Wow! Sammy is a calm, cuddly little guy. He hasn't learned to fend for himself yet against Jeffrey, but something tells me he's going to be bigger than his older brother. Sammy smiles lots too, likes to sit in your lap and read books or sing songs. He loves to eat! Favorites right now are cheese and bananas. Bath time is always an exciting time of day for him and Jeffrey. We love our Sam!

The little man of the house.

2007-04-19T15:44:00.000-07:00

This is our Jeffrey! He's 3 as of Jan. 30th. He loves life! He has SOOO much energy and smiles and laughs a whole lot. Trains are about his favorite thing in the world. Its very easy to tell when he's excited because he grins super big then waves his arms up and down because he just can't contain himself. Jeffrey will often belt out primary songs or the "ABC" song. He also likes to sit on his little brother, read books with mommy, find grasshoppers or ladybugs in the yard, ride in the bike trailer, and of course watch lots of TV-mostly Go, Diego, Go and Blues Clues. Oh, and his new found love is Play-doh.

Baby cousins of 2006

2007-04-19T15:33:00.000-07:00

Sammy, Adam and Danielle at Lindsey's wedding. Danielle is the oldest and ring leader of the group.

Our Family Photo-May 2006

2007-04-19T15:27:00.000-07:00

This was the day of Sammy's blessing in Tucson, AZ. The day before, my sister Lindsey was married and so my whole family was together. We decided to invade my Uncle and Aunt's ward in Tucson (thanks Tom and Kathi!) to bless Sammy and my brother Mark's son Adam who are one week apart.

Intro

2007-04-18T19:22:00.000-07:00

Here it is! Our first ever blog...so hip. A friend did this and I liked the idea, thought it would be a good way to keep in touch with all the family that isn't in Colorado, which is just about all of them. (So glad to have Katrina and Patrick near by!)

So the way I've seen most people do this is to introduce themselves to the world. John and I (Steph) have been married for 6 years. We have moved A LOT. After we got married we lived in Midvale, UT where I worked for Myriad Genetics while John commuted to UVSC. John finished his associate's degree so we decided on University of Arizona for his bachelors. We moved to Tucson in 8/01 and lived there almost 3 years. Many significant things happened there. I worked for Arizona Clinical Research Center doing clinical research in an oncology clinic-LOVED that job. John got his first job at an appraisal firm working for Steve Cole-a gurue of appraisal. So he got top notch training in his future career. We bought our first house in Tucson. Jeffrey was born Jan. 30, 2004, then John graduated in Finance in May of that same year. Then in July of 2004 we headed off to Irvine, CA where John worked for PriceWaterhouseCoopers in their golf valuation group. That was a great resume building job for him. Irvine was fun-Jeffrey and I enjoyed an annual pass to Disneyland where we hung out about once a week. But Southern Calif. is expensive plus John's group was being dissolved so after some thought and temple going we decided to move to Denver. Now we live in Highlands Ranch, John has a great job here doing commercial real estate appraisal. On April 25. 2006 we welcomed our second son Samuel or "Sammy".
There's a short history of our marriage-probably more than you wanted to know! So why'd you read it then? Okay, I know all you really want is some pics so I'll post some now...