Welcomed Visit

We had three visitors come today, my sister in law Libby, her son Jack and the sunshine! Everyday is a good day when the sun shows up. We are so happy to have family in town. My brother's family is also here so I will post some of our fun outings when I have some.


Sam looking at Jack


Jack and Sam not getting close enough for the picture. They weren't too sure about hugging, well at least Jack wasn't sure about the hugging. She tried, but was shot down.


Me, Sam, Libby, Jack and Alexis

May Book Club Selection

My friends and I have a book club and we meet monthly. I thought I would share those books with you ladies out there also. We all have about 3-4 weeks to read this book and then hopefully we can chat about what we thought. May 15 I will post some of my thoughts and hopefully hear some of yours! Enjoy the read.

Moloka'i by Alan Brennert

Sweet Sara

Who could be sweeter than my little girl Sara Anne? Her favorite words to say are, "Oh Sure"! What a lucky mother I am to have her. She is a gift.



New Bike! Now that she is six I guess it is high time she learns how to ride a two wheeler. She has been petrified in the past.

Home at last

My sisters and mom before Sunday dinner. We don't get together nearly enough.



It sure is nice to be home. We had the best time while we were with family in Utah, but it is great to be in our own beds and going to sleep on time. The kids get along with all of their cousins so well and they all wish they could live closer together. My brother and his family should be moving to WA this summer so we are excited to have some Smith side around.



My dad and mom serve at the Missionary Training Center in Provo, UT so my dad took some of the kids there to see the second session of general conference on Sunday. Hannah took notes from Marshall's notes.

Utah!

Sorry to fool so many of you. We are not expecting a little one anytime soon...or later. We just drove in to Utah yesterday. A 13 hour trip with 2 adults and 5 kids in a minivan was a loud, crazy mess. I cleaned out the car this morning and it took a while. We are so happy to be here. Candice (my sis in law) has our kids and Marshall and I are taking a few days to ourselves here in SLC. Thanks Candice! I love this city.

Another one?

Alright, so I wanted to share our good news finally. I am 10 weeks pregnant with number 6. I am still in shock, but I did keep it a secret for longer than normal. We told the kids last night at FHE and they are excited, although we don't know where we will put this new bundle of joy. Our house is already over crowded. I am feeling great so that is good. Have a great day everyone.

Cooking with Mama

Emily and I spend almost every minute of every day together. Every one who knows her knows that she has the biggest personality and is so much fun to be around. Last week we spent an afternoon making enchiladas together. Her favorite part was grating the cheese. My kids like to play "cooking mama" on the wii so this was "cooking mama-for real."

Fly, Fly Away

Last week we took the kiddos to the museum of flight in Seattle. It is actually the Boeing museum and it was so much fun. The kids climbed in the cockpit of a few airplanes, we went into a space shuttle and saw the treadmill that all astronauts are required to walk at least 2 miles on a day while in space. The kids also went on a flight simulator ride and got to tour a retired Air Force One.

Happy Hunting

Saturday we had a big Easter Egg hunt at the local elementary school. My friend puts it on and every year it gets bigger and bigger. Tyler was out doing Scouting for Food so he officially "graduated" from the hunt this year. We actually got sun this year!!! That is huge for us. Samantha wore her cute bunny costume from Halloween that kept her nice and warm.





Isn't she the happiest kid you have ever seen?

Tacoma General

Lucky us, we don't have to move! My kids came home from school today screaming in delight. They love their school and our ward so this is just what they wanted.

We have such great friends in this area so we are so happy. Marshall has accomplished such a difficult task and I am thrilled for him.

Yahoo!!!

Today we found out that Marshall matched to a residency program. How happy we are! We have to wait three more days to find out where we are headed for the next few years. Marshall has worked so hard the last four years and I am so proud of him. Okay, so he interviewed with 9 different programs and we had to rank them in the order we liked them. I am going to make my prediction here that we will be moving to Michigan. Lets see if I am right.

Congratulations Dr. Marshall Nickel!

My Beach

Many of you know that I lived on a Caribbean island, St. Eustatius, for a year and a half. I took the kids down to this bay at least a few times a week. I didn't care that I had four kids (one newborn), and no car at the beginning. I was determined to enjoy the sun and cool off in the sea. We had great memories from our time there and I just love this beautiful view. Every night for a year and a half we had the most gorgeous sunset. Enjoy some pictures from my past.



Tyler and Hannah walking to the bus (really just a 15 passenger van that they crammed about 30 kids in) Hopefully you can see the huge cows they walked by to get to the end of our driveway. Most days I drove them to school.




Tyler on the Atlantic Ocean side of the island. Too dangerous to swim in, but fun for collecting shells and wading in.



View from home





Our hot wheels. This car was so hard to drive with no power steering and being such a huge tank. It was a work out driving on the dirt roads around all of the pot holes. The main roads were paved, but our long driveway was dirt as well as the mile off road drive to the kids school.

What a way to live. I can't wait to go back and see it all again, just for a visit, though.

My favorites...

I am not very happy with the girls so far. Hopefully someone surprises me. So far these are my favorites. What about you all?

Your chariot awaits...

Emily (in yellow) invited three of her favorite girl friends with her to celebrate her 4th birthday on Saturday. We took them in their princess dresses to Burger King for breakfast. We decorated the inside of the car with streamers and balloons and the girls loved it. Of course Sara (front and center in pink) and Hannah came along. Hannah was my helper and took the girls all to the table to color an Easter activity page while I ordered the food. She loved being "in charge" for a bit. The girls loved being seen in public in their dresses and I loved that there was nothing to clean up!

Trip to Seattle

Well, I was driving in my car the other day with my soon to be 4 year old, Emily, and I mentioned the space needle. Emily asked, "What is the space needle?" I was surprised that she didn't know what it was so I made a promise to myself to take my kids up to see the sites in Seattle. We spent a few hours up there this last Saturday and had a great time. We ran around the needle, took the monorail to West Lake and then walked down to pike place. My kids danced to the music on the street and Tyler even parted with $1 for a guy who was playing his homemade drum set. After our monorail ride back to the needle we decided to go and eat some dinner at Ivars on the peir. The kids were in heaven and we all had a great time. I actually don't remember hearing any of the kids fighting the entire trip...even in the car ride up and back! That was a great start to our mid-winter break. The kids have all of this next week off and we are thinking of fun things to do. Any suggestions?

Daddy-Daughter Time

Marshall took three of our girls, and a friend, to a daddy-daughter dance that the rec department puts on every year. This is the first time my girls got to go and they LOVED every minute of it. The girls had a fashion show as they tried on the dresses that they wanted to wear. Sara learned the running man, and boy was I proud. She held out a string the next day and spun it around and said that is what dad did to her on the dance floor. What a fun tradition.

Tyler was invited to go roller skating and he didn't get back until quarter to midnight! His friend stayed the night, but they fell asleep quickly. How spoiled my kids are.

Anyone seen the sun lately?

Okay, so I know that I live in Washington at the moment, so I shouldn't be suprised when I saw the sun for only 30 seconds today. I took Emily and Samantha on a walk and we had to run home the last couple of blocks because it started to rain. I am anxious to see the sun and "lay out". If I could be anywhere right now it would have to be a white sand beach. Digging in the sand with the kids or snorkeling in between pina coladas sounds like heaven. Oh and a nanny would have to be brought along so Marshall and I could have quiet dinners together. Maybe in about 10 years. Where would you rather be?

Merry Day After Christmas

My kids opened one present each at my house and then we loaded up the car and spent the rest of the morning at Abby and Abba's (Grandma and Grandpa). They were up at 6:40 and I wasn't too happy since Tyler went in and woke up the girls. We had them wait in their room for 20 minutes while we slowly got out of bed. They were beyond excited as they squealed in the room. I could hear Tyler telling the girls that I was putting the final touches on Christmas. I told them not to get too excited since most of the gifts were at Abby's house. They all said it was the best day of their lives. I got the three girls skates and they only take them off to sleep!





My nephew, Elias, is the one in green. The rest of the mob is mine. What a party we gad.

10 years!

Tyler has been my buddy since he was born in Alabama while Marshall was working all day and going to night school. We have spent so many years having fun together and I can hardly believe that he turned 10 yesterday. He is such a great person to be around. He is always the life of the party and kind to everyone. I am a proud mom.

Grandma gave him this mini racer and he is having the time of his life (and so am I). It goes about 10 mph and he feels like that is fast. He is feeling the freedom. Tyler asked me if it feels like that to drive a car. I said far from it! His toy is much better!

Dressed in White

The Nickel family before the baptism. Hannah was so excited to wear sponge curlers to bed the night before. Her hair is so straight and she loved to have "princess hair" for the day.



Hannah felt like she was in heaven with all of the happy, positive things around her. Her grandpa happens to be our bishop so he was able to interview her for baptism and that was sweet. He said that she knew all of the answers, which pleased me! Tyler, her big brother, gave a short talk that was wonderful. He is such a great speaker and so comfortable in front of a crowd. Her grandma, Alexis, also spoke and shared a great testimony.

I am so proud of my sweet Hannah!