Nilsson Nut Factory

Sanibel Island Fun

2009-05-21T14:09:00.001-07:00

Two weekends ago the Nilsson family all met on Sanibel Island, FL for a lovely wedding!! We had a great time! Thanks to Mom and Dad Swann for watching the kids. The weekend was perfect, warm water, warm sun, alligators and fabulous people.

How To Beat The Heat

2009-04-26T20:56:00.000-07:00

Remember last week when it was 95 degrees outside. Well, we don't, because we chose to go to the mountains and play in the last bits of snow left!!!! It was fabulous, shorts, t-shirts and snow. The kids loved it!!!! Their parents enjoyed it a lot too!!

EVAN TURNS 5

2009-04-26T20:44:00.001-07:00

Our sweet little Evan celebrated 5 years of life with a Star Wars Party. We sure do love little Evan and you couldn't find a sweeter boy if you tried!!! Yes those are homemade light sabers made out of pool noodles!! Quite the hit with kids both young and old as you can see!!

"Princess Raia Turns 3"

2009-03-30T15:55:00.000-07:00

My BABY turned 3 a few weeks ago. Here are a few of her photos. She loved her party, it was a "Purple Princess Party." She was very thankful for all of her gifts. We sure do love her and thank our lucky stars every day that she is ours.

Dad's Day

2009-01-26T13:57:00.000-08:00

In Church yesterday I taught a lesson to all 45 of the Primary Kids (that's a lot of kids for 2nd Ward) on the importance of families. I handed out a questionnaire to the kids that asked very general questions about themselves and their families. Like, How old Are You? How many brothers do you have? How many sisters? And a few more. One of the questions asked What is your favorite holiday? I would say that 98% of the kids answered Christmas. Probably because that was the holiday we just had, or maybe the present factor, who really knows. The point is.... I didn't really pay attention to that question because it didn't pertain to families and their differences very much. Bradon always makes his handouts into paper airplanes after church and I always throw them away by Sunday Evening. This Sunday I opened his airplane to read his answers. He answered them all correct, 7 years old, 1 brother, 2 sisters, and favorite food Pizza and Pancakes. The next answer was the most profound of them all. He had next to Favorite Holiday: Dad's Day!
Bradon has an amazing connection to his dad. One that I am sometimes a little jealous of. But yesterday I was humbled by it. His favorite holiday wasn't one that got him presents, or baskets full of chocolate, or dressing up and getting candy. It was simply the day that celebrates his favorite person in the whole wide world. His DAD!!

WOW- - It's Been A Long Time

2009-01-18T18:09:00.000-08:00

Sorry to all of you faithful friends that check my blog. . . . it's been forever!!! Here are a few of the Festivities that have happened since the first few weeks of November. Darron's Birthday, Morgan's School Program, and Decorating the house in Christmas cheer. All important events, and all should have been shared. Darron and I also took a trip to Florida for my little brother's wedding. Maybe next time when we decide to pack light, we won't forget the camera!!! Oops. Anyhow, enjoy the pictures and I will try to keep you more up to date. Oh and by the way, my husband was called to be the 2nd Counselor in our Bishopric. That is also big news, but no pictures for that either.
Morgan thought of this all on her own. She turned our living room into a carnival for dad. We had games and tickets and prizes. It was great.

I made Darron a Cheescake. It was tasty, very time consuming, but tasty!

Morgan was one of the main dancers in her school program. She ate up the attention. She did a great job too!!

I had the kids put up the nativities this year. Bradon did this one, I told him he did it wrong, and then realized he has it more right then the rest of us. All the people and animals were there to look at Jesus. I love 7 year-old logic.

Happy Vegetarian's Day

2008-11-11T20:22:00.000-08:00

Bradon runs home from school yesterday and bursts through the door:

"Mom, mom we don't have any school tomorrow!"

I reply as though I know nothing about the upcoming holiday,"Why do you get the day off??"

Bradon replies, " Well because mom, it's Vegetarians Day!"

So to all you non meat eaters Bradon celebrates with you.

And to all you Veterans I do hope that you had a great celebration also!!!!!

AAARRGGGHHH MATIE!!!

2008-11-04T09:36:00.000-08:00

This years edition of the Nilsson Halloween Extravaganza was a Pirate Theme. We had a great time, great weather, and of course great CANDY!!! I think we should have Halloween once a month, if not, at least once a quarter.

VOLKSLAUF 2008

2008-10-30T21:00:00.001-07:00

This Year we did the Volkslauf a little different. Darron and I ran together as a team instead of separate. In turn, I ran it significantly faster, and he significantly slower!!!! But the point being, we were together, dirty, and had a great time. The kids ran in the Junior Volkslauf after, it was great. Yes.....Even MORGAN!!!!

"PRETTY NAILS"

2008-10-04T19:43:00.000-07:00

This is what happens when you leave a two year old alone by herself for to long. This actually happened one afternoon in late August when River's End was so busy that I was just happy she wasn't being loud in the office while I was on the phone with customers. Luckily she had the sense enough to take it in the bathroom and not on the carpet.

Can Summer Really Be Over????

2008-08-19T19:13:00.000-07:00

The Nilsson house has started school again!! We blinked and completely missed summer. Granted, summer is ridiculously busy around here, but we are sad to have our children back in school. Morgan started the 5th grade. At Harris Elementary the 5th graders are the oldest kids on campus. What a fun year this should be for her. Bradon started 2nd grade. He is really excited about school, but more excited about selling his candy bars after school. My little Evan started preschool. He is going twice a week and had his first day today. He loved it, and can't wait to go back Thursday. So for now Raia and I are loving life and getting lots done, well, we will as soon as the darn river runs out of water......come on Labor Day!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY GIRL

2008-07-18T21:12:00.000-07:00

Morgan turned 10 years old on Wednesday, the only thing I can figure out is that maybe I was 12 when I had her since I feel about 22. In all seriousness....Morgan is an amazing young girl. She is a great sister, wonderful daughter, awesome singer, and fabulous friend. Morgan changed my life in so many ways, and I imagine in her lifetime she will have the same affect on lots of people. To the most beautiful, friendly and wonderful 10 year old I know...HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

"I CHOSE THEM"

2008-06-18T21:49:00.000-07:00

In Church on Sunday someone was relaying a story about a young mother struggling with one of her children. She was complaining and wondering why she was given such a difficult child to deal with. She was counseled by her bishop that she wasn't given this child....she "chose" this child. Sometimes it takes only small stories like this to remind me how much I love my children and that although being a mother is one of the most difficult roles in the world, , , I CHOSE THEM!!!!!

"THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU"

2008-04-29T15:04:00.000-07:00

To all of you that participated in my 30th Birthday Extravaganza, I thank you!!! To my wonderful husband who thought of the great idea, you are amazing in so many ways. To those of you who don't know, Darron found 30 people including friends, family, old roommates, college friends starting the 30th of March to SHOWER me with gifts. One a day to be exact, for 30 days, for my 30th birthday. A clever and very thoughtful idea!!!! I kept a list and wanted to share. So here it goes...

March 30th: Raia Nilsson-$30.00 I-Tunes Gift Card

March 31st: The Moore Family- Homemade Hot Fudge (oh so delicious) with Ice Cream

April 1st: The Biron Family- $25.00 I-Tunes Gift Card

April 2nd: Aimee Olson- Spa Pedicure

April 3rd: The Mulkay Family- $15.00 Tahoe Joe's Gift Card

April 4th: Nicole Ferra- Smelly Good Candle

April 5th: Myron Nilsson- $20.00 Target Gift Card

April 6th: The Dowd Family- Jake's Tex Mex Sheet Cake and Ice Cream

April 7th: The Sorensen Family- Various Lotions :)

April 8th: Adam & Pek Nilsson- $25.00 Barnes and Nobles Gift Card, and Flowers

April 9th: The Walker Family- Jon Walker Photo of my choice, $5.00 Mannings Yogurt

April 10th: Amy Judd- Family Photo Album

April 11th: Dave Nilsson- Ceramic Knife (the coolest knife I've ever used)

April 12th: Micah & Cheryl Nilsson- Sago Palm, Smith's Pecan Pie, Date with Morgan

April 13th: Dan & Sarah Nilsson- Norman Love Gourmet Chocolates

April 14th: Lindsay Dugan- 2 Spa Pedicures

April 15th: Natalie Dadey- Leather Wallet

April 16th: Bradon Nilsson- Reef Flip Flops and A New Key Ring

April 17th: Michelle Nixon- Super Fantastic Carrot Cake Cupcakes

April 18th: The Maughan Family- Kitchen Fun (stuff you want to buy for yourself but don't)

April 19th: Evan Nilsson- Black Fancy Shirt and Flip Flops

April 20th: Ben and Stephanie- Fishing Rod and Reel and all the gear to go with it

April 21st: Kevin and Beth Swann- Card with Whoopee Cushion (hours of fun) $20.00

April 22nd: Darin and Wendy Swann- Edible Arrangement (see photo)

April 23rd: Kip Nilsson- 2 cleaning ladies for 3 hours to clean my house (AWESOME)

April 24th: Morgan Swann- Meat Thermometer (I really wanted one of these), pot holders

April 25th: Cara Swann- Scrapbook of the last 30 years(made me cry) Chocolate Malted Crunch

April 26th: Holly Griffiths- Earrings and Necklace

April 27th: My Mom & Dad- Homemade Jam, The most gorgeous Quilt (see photo)

April 28th: My WONDERFUL husband- Microwave and Non-stick Pots and Pans(I REALLY wanted these)He's learned that I love practical Gifts!!!

WOW......I am comletely spoiled and loved. Thank You again to everybody. It's somewhat overwhelming. I've had a great month. I love you Darron, you are the best.

"Mom, I Got To Go Pee"

2008-04-24T19:32:00.000-07:00

Those words are music to my ears. We have officially potty-trained our last child. I think Huggies will be sad to loose a loyal customer of 10 years!!! She is so cute in panties, and she knows it. "Good Job" Raia. You're AWESOME!!!

The've Had Birthdays Shout Hooray!!

2008-04-22T16:09:00.000-07:00

My babies are now 2 and 4. I'm not sure I really believe it myself, but it seems to be true. Raia turned 2 on March the 16th. And Evan turned 4 on April 16th. A girl at work asked me what I would do without a baby in the house. In my opinion they are both still babies and will be until they are 12 and 14. So Happy Birthday to the most beautiful and sweet 2 and 4 year olds in the world. I love you both!!!!

Easter Green

2008-04-11T20:30:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the late entry, but here are the Easter Pics. I love holidays in which you can dress your kids up and make them look alike. We spent the Easter weekend in Irvine with all the cousins on the Nilsson side. It was a blast. And if that picture of Evan and Raia doesn't make you want to melt there is something wrong with you. I sure do love these kids!!!!

Is It Summer???

2008-03-25T19:31:00.000-07:00

You've got to love Bakersfield, swimming mid-March!!!

You Be The Judge

2008-03-12T20:40:00.000-07:00

Does all of this go against the
Child Labor Acts
or is it just Ingenious Parenting????

You Be The Judge!!

Welcome to the Family

2008-03-04T14:00:00.000-08:00

There was an addition to the Nilsson Family made yesterday.
Like all Nilsson girls she is beautiful and unafordable..........yet IRRESISTIBLE!!!

"Raia Rocks"

2008-02-21T14:51:00.000-08:00

So Raia discovered the rock wall not to long ago and decided she should get a turn like all the other kids. I hesitated putting a harness on her and told her to take it to Daddy. I assumed that dad wouldn't let her go. I was wrong!!! The harness tightened up right around her and the following display of pictures tells the whole story.

At first she didn't quite understand what she was supposed to do.......
Do I just hang here and look cute???
Or do I just plain look cute??
Maybe if Dad just shows me what to do I could get the hang of it. . . .

Yeah, that's me more than half way up the wall.
Whatever you do, just don't make me come in for dinner!!!!!

She loved every minute of it, and nearly every day she says, "Climb...wall...high" "Yes Raia you did "climb, wall, high!"

Every Girls Dream

2008-02-01T14:43:00.000-08:00

Raia has really taken up cooking.
It is her favorite thing to do.
Most of the time she just wants to taste everything.
So I decided to let her do what EVERY girl wants to do while making brownies.

Just One of the BOYS

2008-01-29T20:04:00.001-08:00

It sure is fun to have girls as the bread of our little family sandwich, and the boys as the meat. The only downside I have found is that sometimes the bread on the bottom of the sandwich gets a little saturated with the meats flavor!!!! I don't know, you can be the judge of that.

I do think she was the winner of that push-up contest!!

Photo Shoot

2008-01-29T19:43:00.000-08:00

These are my beautiful children on the day of our Christmas Photo Shoot. I had forgotten about these pictures because of the busy December we had. It was fun to find them again. Some days I wonder how I got so lucky to be their Mother!!!!!

Trip of a Lifetime

2008-01-10T15:27:00.000-08:00

Darron and I had the opportunity to attend his brother Adam's wedding in Sri Lanka a few weeks ago. Sri Lanka is a large island off the coast of India. Yeah, that's on the other side of the world. It was truly a trip of a lifetime. We saw, heard and smelled things that we will probably never see, hear or smell again. We had the best time. We are so grateful to all who made it possible. Most importantly to my parents who took our 4 children for 9 days and became their parents. This is a challenge in itself but at Christmas time......we love you mom and dad. We took lots of pictures, but I will include mostly those with people in them. Congrats Adam and Pek, and thank you for making this a memory never to forget.
This was our layover in Bangkok, Thailand. We went to a snake farm, bought tailored suits, and ate food off of the street. We stuck out like sore thumbs, as I am taller than nearly every person, male or female. It was kind of fun to be obvious tourists.

The wedding photos on our end are very sparse for 3 good reasons. Reason #1: We didn't take our good camera, and this one doesn't work great indoors. Reason #2: We were in the wedding party so carrying around our camera wasn't a great option. Reason #3: Darron had the stomach flu and was pretty miserable. So what you do see is me in a Saree (which was really fun to wear), Adam and Pek in their "homecoming outfits" (a Buddhist tradition after the wedding, which they combined with the wedding), and Darron in his short appearance at the reception.

After a couple days of relaxation in the most beautiful hotel (not pictured...oops) we set out on a tour of the island. This was one of our stops. An elephant orphanage. It was very cool to see those large animals up close and personal.

This was one of the Buddhist temples that we saw on our trip. This particular temple was inside caves that were naturally made inside this large rock hill. This was a really interesting place. We had to take our shoes off out of respect. For those of you that know me well, that was REALLY hard for me. But I survived and it was a great place. It was also our first of many monkey sightings.

This is Christmas Day...Can you tell???? This was an ancient archaeological ruin (right up Darron's alley) that the Sri Lankans believe will some day be named the 8th Wonder of the World. I wouldn't be able to tell you first hand, as I was layed up in bed all morning with that nasty stomach flu, but I hear it was awesome. There were lots of stairs involved, monkeys, monitor lizards, and breathtaking views.
This was the last stop for us, a very large, very beautiful botanical garden. We were the ONLY white people in the entire place. We had our picture taken by a small girl, it was very entertaining. We saw large fruit bats here also, Darron was in heaven.

Overall, it was extremely amazing. Darron's brother Dan took 3 times the photos we did and for more visit his blog savannahofsanibel.blogspot.com. We are so grateful for the opportunity we had to do this trip. We had so much fun and experienced so much. Thanks to Dave for being such a great travel companion, Thanks to Ambien for being such a great Sleeping Pill, and Thanks to Darron for being my newlywed on a second Honeymoon.