Our Favorite Aunt/Uncle Is.....

Linden and I both come from large families. I have nine siblings and Linden has eleven. That means that there are MANY Aunts and Uncles for our children to have in their lives. This is a great blessing. The boys really enjoy all of them. To date Anton, Zackary and Isabel have 30 Aunts and Uncles (this counts Bob, the soon to be uncle). There are more to come as I am sure more of our siblings will be getting married at some point. The boys truly enjoy playing with their Aunts and Uncles.

A couple of weeks ago we were down at Grandma Nielsen's house. Uncle Brad was also there. He gave something to Anton and Anton was asked who his favorite uncle was. He responded, "Uncle Alex." Considering that Uncle Brad was the only uncle present that was not quite the appropriate response to encourage Brad. Linden explained to Anton that he should say that Uncle Brad was his favorite uncle and asked him again. He gave the same response, "Uncle Alex." We explained to him that Uncle Brad was helping him and being nice to him right then. The third time he was asked he still gave the same response.

This last week we had Maria and Josh visiting us. Anton was having lots of fun playing with Uncle Josh. We asked him who his favorite uncle was and he responded, "Uncle Josh." Ha, ha, sorry Brad.

In all reality it really doesn't matter who the favorite Aunt/Uncle is. Anton and Zackary love playing with all of their uncles and aunts and it truly is whoever is there at the time. (Uncle Alex has had some good priming with Anton, asking him who his favorite is.) We are blessed to have such a great family to help and support us and to play with our wonderful children.

We got a few pictures while Maria and Josh were visiting. Here is Aunt Maria with Isabel.



Uncle Josh was giving shoulder rides to the boys and decided to try a double shoulder ride. Anton didn't like being in the middle very much.



I haven't forgotten about trying to get a picture of Isabel sitting. While she is doing better and better all the time, I never have the camera out at the right time. Here is one of my attempts. She is tipping over because she got distracted by her brothers. (Don't worry, no babies were harmed in the production of this post.)



Have a great week.

A Warm Fall

We have truly been enjoying great weather this past week. The high for the day most of this week has been in the 60's, about 10 degrees above the average for the beginning of November. That has made it easy for me to be motivated to keep running. I'll hope I can be motivated to run when it is snowing and colder. Notice I didn't say blowing. I don't enjoy running in the wind, so we will see how that goes.

We had a fun week. Anton and Zackary, aka Buzz and Woody enjoyed wearing their shirts from Aunt Brina this week.

Zackary was mad at me for some reason (I don't remember what), hence the scowl in this photo.



We also enjoyed playing in the leaves at Grandma's house. Grandma even joined in the fun and got buried in the leaves. Here she is popping up out of the leaves to surprise all of us.



Anton had fun getting buried in the leaves.



Zackary also enjoyed the leaves.



On Sunday while visiting Great Grandma she wanted us to get a picture of her and Oliver.



Of course we couldn't resist a photo op with the boys and Great Grandma, also. (Isabel was sleeping.)



The most exciting news is the new arrival of Leonora and Kevin's little baby, Katelynn. She came a bit early and will be in the NICU for a little while still, but is doing well. She looks so tiny!



What a precious, little bundle.

My New Niece!

She's here, about 6 weeks early, but doing well. She weighs 4lbs 6 oz, 17 in and will be in the NICU for a little while. Leonora is doing well, also.

Our Toy Story

As most of you know, Toy Story is a favorite around our household, so of course that was our theme for Halloween this year. Thanks to Aunt Misti we had costumes for the kids. Anton was Buzz Lightyear. Zackary was Woody. And little Isabel was Jesse. Aunt Misti gave Anton Buzz and Woody pajamas for his birthday back in March. Since then the boys wear them ALL the time (as evidenced by the numerous pictures of them in their pajamas on the blog). So, the big deal for them was the accessories that they got to have with the pajamas. A cowboy hat for Woody and a purple head cover for Anton (this didn't turn out very well, it looks more like a bonnet, but Anton liked it, oh well). Aunt Misti was also kind enough to make a wig and hat for Isabel. All I did was sew a little yellow fabric on a white onesie and put her in her jeans.

And the results are:



We took the kids trick or treating to Melaleuca again this year (on Friday). I am always amazed at the extent of the decorations. My favorite department this year was, of course, Toy Story! Marketing did an awesome job of creating the Wild West, but I loved all of the attention that the kids got from all of the other Toy Story characters in that department. We got LOTS of "Ooohhhh, how cute!" comments from everyone about Isabel in her wig and hat.

It wouldn't have been a complete trip through Melaleuca without a stop at Uncle Brad's desk so he could give the boys more candy than I wanted them to have.



The boys were thrilled when we let them stay in their "costumes" all day.

Anton in his Buzz bonnet.



Zackary playing with a magnetic book.



They were a bit confused when it came to bedtime. We made them get out of their costumes/pajamas and put on other pajamas. I needed to get Buzz and Woody washed for the next day of trick or treating. On Saturday we went to Aunt Kathy, Grandma and Uncle Don, Grandma Nielsen, Uncle Andy, Aunt Lori and Uncle John, and Grandpa Butler and David. It wasn't that many stops but we left about 4:10 PM and got home at 8:40 PM. I think everyone enjoyed seeing the kids on Halloween and I know the boys had fun.

On Sunday it became official. Linden and I have now had three different bishops in four months time without moving once. In the Third Ward we got a new bishop towards the end of July. Hence the old one and the new one, Bishop Kiester and Bishop Kohler. Sunday night at the Stake meeting they organized a new ward, the Foundry Ward, which we are now a part of, which means a new bishop, Bishop Bolander. We are looking forward to being a part of a new ward and getting to know all of the people we will be going to church with now, some of which are coming with us from the Third Ward, others from Mountain View, Seventh, and (I think) Fifth Wards.

It was a nice meeting, I spent most of the time out in the hall with Isabel. She refused to let me sit down. Luckily, we left the boys at Grandpa and Grandma's so that at least one of us could know what was said in the meeting. I don't think they would have done very well sitting through a two-hour meeting after having been to three hours of church already. We will still be going to church at 1 PM. Which is really nice in some ways, but not so nice in other ways.

Our Discovery

From last week, for those who were wondering, Zackary was the top picture, Anton the middle and Isabel the bottom. Isabel is easier to tell apart than the boys, maybe because she is still a baby. Anton and Zackary I can tell apart from the hair and mouth. Zackary has darker hair and Anton has his papa's mouth.

Yesterday we had an announcement in our ward that left lots of people questioning where they will be in two weeks. Next Sunday our stake is having a special meeting during which they will be organizing a new ward and changing the boundaries of the other seven wards in the stake. (For those of you who don't know a ward is a geographical area in which the people living there meet together for church, a stake is the next step up, like a county and then a state, but not that big, more on the neighborhood/city level.) Who knows which ward we will be in, when we will have church and which building we will be attending. What a blessing to be able to participate in this great event, the creation of a new ward.

We had a great week, again. (Of course nothing is ever perfect, but I prefer to highlight the things that did go well.)

Isabel got a new shirt from Aunt Misti. Of course we had to get a picture of her in it to show it off. She is just so adorable and I love the fact that this shirt announces it. She is now seven months old. She still chooses not to roll over. However, she is getting more demanding. She wants to be sitting up or standing up so she can look around and see what is happening all the time sometimes, it seems. She is getting closer and closer to being able to sit up by herself. I have been hoping to get a picture of her sitting, but she only lasts a few seconds before she gets distracted by her brothers, a toy or something else and topples over. Maybe next week she will have mastered sitting enough that we can get a picture of her sitting for all to see.



Anton and Zackary could hear me get the camera out if they were two miles away. They can never resist getting their picture taken. Hopefully this lasts throughout their life. We will see. In the mean time, we always take their picture when we have the camera out. Hence, we got this photo of the three of them. It only took about five minutes and MANY, MANY, MANY tries to get the picture below. We still didn't get all three looking at the camera and smiling without any blurs from motion, something that I am getting used to now. In the meantime I have a PLETHORA of photos with the boys and all sorts of different fun expressions and lots of great memories.



Our week started out with the boys not wanting to wear their undershirts. It took a little convincing to get them to wear them. The second day it turned into a competition to see who could wear the most shirts. In the photo below it isn't completely apparent, but, Anton is wearing his undershirt and two other shirts and Zackary is wearing the required undershirt and three other shirts. I didn't need to worry about them getting cold that day.

After I got home from running one day I was doing a few situps and the boys decided to join me. Linden readily agreed to get a picture considering that he says I am never in the pictures on the blog. Please excuse my appearance and remember I did just finish a run.



Of course, when getting a picture of the boys and I, Linden couldn't resist a cute picture of Isabel who was wondering what all the fuss was about.



Friday afternoon we went to the Pumpkin Walk where the boys were able to enjoy lots of different scenes all incorporating pumpkins, a straw maze, and a some picture boards.

I thought this pumpkin totem pole was quite fun.



This was just one of the many pumpkin scenes there. I haven't seen The Wizard of Oz for years. The monkeys always scared me. Maybe it is still worth seeing again.



Had to get a shot of my handsome husband and our little Isabel.



This was a fun picture to get. The boys were so busy looking at themselves being Ernie and Bert that is was impossible to get them to look at the camera. Grandma Butler got to be the Count while I tried to hold Isabel in place and stay where I needed to be at the same time. It worked and I didn't whack Isabel's head on the board, either, go me.



Linden had a great discovery on Saturday morning. I will let you see this picture and see if you have any guesses as to what it is.



Saturday morning Linden was out hauling wood, helping us to get ready for winter. He came to the door holding the discovery in the picture above. He told me he thought the boys might enjoy seeing it. I looked at him and looked at what he was holding and thought he was crazy. Why in the world would the boys want to see a wood chip. They have seen plenty of wood before, what is the big deal about this one. As these thoughts were running through my head I continued to study the piece of wood, wondering if Linden had lost it. After studying it for quite a while I finaly realized what the wood chip really was.


Don't scroll down until you have a guess as to what it is.












A butterfly. What a great disguise it has. Linden found out what kind of butterfly it is on the internet, we aren't 100% positive, but we are believe it is either a green comma or a satyr comma. (Named commas for the tiny silver/white comma shaped mark they have on the underside of their wings, the side that looks like bark/wood.) They hibernate over the winter. Here is the top side of the butterfly's wings. What an amazing little creature that our Heavenly Father has created.



Have a fabulous week, and make sure to watch out for little wood chips. Don't squish them.

Our First Primary Program (As Parents)

"I can be baptized." "I can be baptized." "I can be baptized." This was Anton's line for the primary program. It was four words long and he had it memorized from the day that he got his part about a month ago. And we have heard it over and over. We have also really enjoyed hearing him singing more and more songs from the program. Everything came together and we had a great Primary Program on Sunday. Over one hundred children were able to share their lines about what they had learned throughout the year.

Anton was really cute. He was quite excited about the program. He sang almost all of the songs, except when he got distracted by watching someone or something else. He was reverent and he did a great job of saying his part. He turned away from the microphone as he said the last word, so he got to go back to the microphone and say it again. We are grateful for Grandma Nielsen, Grandpa and Grandma Butler, Uncle Alex, Uncle John and Shaun all coming to support Anton.

How wonderful it is to have the Primary to help us teach our children about our Savior, Jesus Christ. Anton knows that his Savior Lives! As he continues to grow and learn he will come to know and understand even more.

On Sunday night for our family prayer Anton said the sweetest prayer. He was thanking Heavenly Father for "Zackary, ooops, I mean Thomas the Train." (Zackary was wearing his Thomas the Train pajamas.) He then continued, "and thank you for our sweet little flower, her name is Isabel, and thank you for Mom, her name is Rachel, and thank you for Linden, he is such a nice Daddy." (Isabel was wearing a dress with flowers on it.) How blessed we are to have three such wonderful little children.

This week I forgot to take pictures. So, I decided to have some fun. Below are three pictures. Each taken of one of our new little bundles of joy while we were still in the hospital with them. You get to guess which is which, if you so desire, by posting a comment.







Sunday when we were visiting Grandma we got this cute picture of Grandma with her great-granddaughter. Grandma was holding Isabel and said they both looked so cute it would make a great picture. I completely agreed. However, I didn't have my camera with me, so this was taken with the camera from the phone. How wonderful it is to have my Grandma still here with us. We love visiting her every Sunday before we go to church. One Sunday Grandma encouraged the boys to be loud in Sacrament meeting. Zackary completed with Grandma's wish. He screamed so loud that the ENTIRE chapel and gym could hear him. Another week Grandma encouraged the boys to take the comics with them to church. We had a hard time getting the boys to leave the comics in the car. We told Grandma about the screaming and the comics. She had a good laugh, as we all did. We love you Grandma.



I really did start this post on Monday, it just didn't get finished until Tuesday. Sorry. Have a great week.

This and That

We had another wonderful week!! It started off with the boys trying to wrap each other up in blankets as "presents." They would then unwrap themselves and be a variety of different toys. Linden decided to join in on the action. He let the boys wrap himself up and when unwrapped proclaimed he was a robot. Anton and Zackary found his "On" button and discovered they were in trouble because they didn't know where his "Off" button was. They discovered it quickly, though, amidst squeals and giggles. The rest of the day, they had fun with the on and off buttons on Papa.

We discovered that we have a true Russet in the family this week. Our darling little Isabel REFUSES to eat anything besides potatoes. We started giving her rice cereal over a month ago. She did really well at eating that for the first few weeks. After that she did not want anything more to do with rice cereal. Next we tried carrots. They worked for one feeding. Squash was next on the list. She opened her mouth ONCE. One night for dinner we were having mashed potatoes. I gave her some. She gobbled all of them up and wanted more. The next day at lunch we gave her a few more of the leftover potatoes. She was one happy baby. That night at dinner I got some squash ready for her to eat. She saw the spoon coming and opened WIDE with a smile on her face. She closed her mouth and had the most disgusted and disappointed look on her face I have ever seen. She looked completely broken hearted. I quickly got out her potatoes and gave her some and got the BIGGEST SMILE. Hence we have a true RUSSET in the family. (She also takes after her Papa and Grandpa, potatoes being one of their favorite foods.)

Our darling little COUGAR,who eats Russets for dinner.



I've had a few different things keeping me busy this week. First off, I have the privilege of teaching the Gospel Doctrine class. I thoroughly enjoy studying each lesson. I learn so much. It has been so wonderful. All year long I have been looking forward to Isaiah. We are finally there. I am enjoying the challenge. Surely, there are those that know more and could share more as they teach Isaiah. I am working hard at learning and gaining a better understanding of Isaiah. It is wonderful. I love the imagery, symbolism, and poetry of Isaiah. What an amazing prophet. I encourage all of you to truly study Isaiah and feel of the great message he shares with us.

Next up, PLUMS!! I went down to my Uncle Andy's and picked a box full of plums. They kept me busy making jam and drying plums. I finally got them all done. During the time that I was doing plums my hands looked like I hadn't washed them for a few weeks. The wonderful purple skin had stained my hands. And now, a week later my hands FINALLY look clean, again. We also have lots of yummy plum jam.

I have continued running. I am now running two miles and doing much better on the hills. It has been a long process. This last week I got a workout in everyday except Sunday. It feels great to be getting back in shape and feeling the soreness from working on toning my muscles. I still have a long ways to go. With winter coming I just hope that I don't wimp out and quit. I have never liked running in cold, windy weather. Linden is also doing quite well with his running and workouts, better than I am, actually. He runs about 3 1/2 miles a day and then does sit-ups, push-ups, and lifting weights. Maybe one day I will start following his example.

About a month ago Mom and I started a new project. It is now finished. We got a baby quilt all made to send to Jimmy and Lin as they welcome their first baby into their home. It was a fun project to do together. I think it turned out quite well, also. I made Mom do the flowers. I stuck to the straight seams. And here is a picture of the finished project.



One of the best things about being a parent is the built in entertainment that we get from Anton, Zackary and Isabel. This week Zackary was particularly entertaining. One day he was playing with the little toy computer we have. He was pushing the different letter buttons and then repeating the name of the letter, the sound and word that started with that letter. He was quite proud of himself and knew that he was getting them correct. He would dance around as he said the letter, sound and word, acting out each, such as lion, dance, queen, etc. It was so fun to watch. My favorite one though was K, kuh, KISS!! He would make the biggest kissing sound with a HUGE grin on his face. It was adorable. The most adorable part was that he is pretty good at gettting the sound MOSTLY correct. He just makes the K sound a little like a P. Anton picked up on this and was repeating kiss with a P at the beginning, over and over. We had to explain to Anton that this wasn't an appropriate word to be saying. Children truly are WONDERFUL!! I am so blessed to be a mother.

Sunday morning we had some mini-Tom Cruises running around. Saturday night we had gone to a wedding reception and then to visit Jen, Steve and Sadie. We had a great time. However, the boys were in their Sunday pants. Needless to say they didn't stay clean. We ended up throwing them in the washer and then having to get them dry Sunday morning so they would have something to wear to church. (I know, I shouldn't do laundry on Sunday.) In the meantime the boys got their shirts and socks on and were enjoying running around the house as such.

Anton refused to let me get a picture of him on Sunday. (He was quite grumpy from being up to late the night before. Another thing I shouldn't have done, keep the kids up late.) However, Zackary was quite willing to pose for the camera.



After being gone visiting Mt. Rushmore, the Iowa Butlers and the Colorado Butlers Grandpa and Grandma finally got home. Anton and Zackary really missed visiting Grandpa and Grandma. So, we joined them for dinner and FHE tonight. Grandpa also missed Anton and Zackary and Isabel so much that he took us out to ice cream after FHE. We are glad to have them back home after being gone for a week and a half.



Until next week.