Four Corners

Here's proof that we visited the Four Corners on our way back from New Mexico. Thanks to Grandma Welker for sending the pictures!

We did not spend too much time at the Four Corners Monument because the wind was blowing, it was freezing cold, and it was starting to sprinkle rain.

Here's some fun pictures though!

Chaco Canyon

We made it to and from New Mexico without a hitch! Phew! We are home now in Mendon safe and sound. We arrived home Saturday night at 10 p.m. It was a 10 hour drive home and I must say the girls were amazing in the car. Dave and I were sweating for a bit Saturday morning when his computer came up with the "cannot find the operating system error". How in the world were we going to survive 10 hours in the car with no movies! Thank goodness that prayers are answered because I was sure saying some that the computer would kick in and work!

On Friday, after our awesome Thanksgiving Day feast, we went and visited Chaco Canyon, which is an old Pueblo Indian ruin. What an incredible sight to see. I have to give thanks to Dan and Linda for the use of their camera for the pictures shown below. What is the one thing Michelle forgot to pack. Yep...the camera. It was left at home in Mendon in the cabinet.

The pictures below do not do the ruins justice. It really was incredible to see how they made their dwellings hundreds of years ago in the middle of the desert. I loved watching the awe Hannah was in. She has been learning a bit about the Indians in school and so she was completely amazed at where the lived and that we were walking where they walked. She was also impressed and the Pyroglyphics on the rocks. Thanks to Grandma Welker for giving her the book on Chaco Canyon. It is a treasure to her.

Here's a few of the fun sayings from the girls:

On our drive down on Wednesday, we stopped at the Hole in the Rock just outside of Moab for a sandwich. I got the girls out of the van to go to the restroom and Hannah looks at the huge rock mountain and asks, "Mom! Is that real or is it a painting?"

As we're walking in Chaco Canyon Hannah says, "I'm touching things that the Chaco Indians made. I will never wash my hands again!"

When we got to the visitor's center at Chaco Canyon, I once again took the girls to the restroom. One of the stalls in the restroom had a sign on it that said it was out of order. Ashley says, "I guess the Indians forgot to flush the toilet."

As we were walking along the trail, Ashley kept asking, "Where are the Indian footprints?" She REALLY wanted to find one.

Here's the pictures............

The next picture shows a couple of things. First is the cool dwellings in the background. Second is that Nicole could not make it to the bitter end. She crashed!


This is our nephew Jared. He is eight years old. One of the dwellings was open so you could walk through. He is showing how small the doors were that you walked through from room to room.

At one point inside the dwelling you could stand in one doorway and see through about five other doorways to the outside. All of us are standing inside the dwelling and this is Hannah and Ashley on the outside of the dwelling. It was cool to see how all of the doors lined up!

Fun times! I will post the pictures from the four corners when I get them from Grandma Welker. Note to self........DO NOT leave the camera home!

And We're Off...........

The Welkers are off to New Mexico for Thanksgiving. We are heading down with almost all of Dave's family to be with his mom and dad, who are serving a mission in New Mexico, for Thanksgiving.

The plan was to leave Mendon Tuesday night at 5 p.m. and head to American Fork to stay with Dave's sister Janee. Not too bad....we left Mendon at 6 p.m. We had to wait for Glade (brother) to get off work before heading out today for the rest of the drive to New Mexico. It is now 1:15 and I think we're on our way!

As I was leaving work in Monday and chatting with my good friend Jen she said she hoped our trip was uneventful and we didn't return with any "stories", which means major trauma. I totally agree. I'm praying for an uneventful and "storyless" drive to New Mexico.

Until later!

A Whirlwind of a Sunday

This past Sunday was on the the craziest Sundays I believe we have every had. I need to give a bit of preface before you'll understand the story of Sunday.

On Friday, my cell phone died. We do not have a home phone and my cell phone number is used as our "home" phone. I was completely lost all day on Friday without my phone. I knew I was heading to St. George the following week for a conference and I wanted/needed a new phone before my travels.

On Saturday, we took the girls to my Mom's around 5 o'clock and Dave and I headed to the Verizon store. Finally, Dave and I left the Verizon store at 7 o'clock frustrated that we waited 50 minutes for a salesman and then were bummed to find that we could only purchase two phones that did not require us to pay an additional $30 per month for Internet service.

First of all.....I do not want to spend an additional $30 per month to have Internet access on my phone. "Supposedly" the manufactures are starting to require this. I did not want to spend of $50 for a new phone. Of the two choices I had, one was for $79.99 after the mail-in rebate and the other was $129.99 after the mail-in rebate. AARRGGHHH!!

As we're driving around town running our other errands, I called Traci to see if her provided made her sign up for Internet service when she upgraded her phone a few weeks ago. One of the phones Verizon was telling me needed Internet services was one that Traci upgraded too. Long story short.....Traci did not have to sign up for Internet service and she told us to check out the phones at Walmart. I did not know that you could upgrade your cell phone at Walmart for TONS cheaper!

Here we are at Walmart purchasing a new phone for $28.88 compared to the $129.99 at Verizon. After going through all of the hassles because we are on the Friends and Family plan and Dave is not authorized on the account, we were ready to purchase. Dave had to call Customer Service who then had to call his sister Erin so he could be authorized. Then, Dave had to call Erin to get her SSN, Birth date, Driver's License Number and Expiration. My goodness! They might as well asked for a blood sample too!

We're at the check out. We're ready to activate the phone and pay. The sales guy at Walmart calles Verizon customer service, which Dave talked to them 5 minutes prior and guess what? They are now closed. Yep, no cell phone purchase for Dave and Michelle. We left Walmart empty handed too. Are you kidding me?!?!? We finally were back to pick up the girls at 8:30 and according to "our" plan, we wanted to be home much before this watching a movie and eating popcorn.

On Friday night at 10 p.m., I checked for messages on my broken phone by using Dave's phone. There were two messages from the Executive Secretary for the Stake President for Dave. He wanted Dave to call him back so he could set up an appointment for Dave Sunday morning.

I passed the message on to Dave and told him that he'd have to give him a call sometime on Saturday. Dave's comment was something to the effect of, "I'm sure they want me to be stake athletic director or something. It can't be anything too major and would I be terrible if I didn't want to do it?"

Well, the craziness of Saturday came and went and around 9:30 p.m. I reminded Dave that he hadn't called the executive secretary back. Oh well. It can't be that important. I'm sure they'll call back and set something up for next Sunday. That was that and off to bed we went.

Ashley gave the scripture in primary opening exercises on Sunday and both Dave and I went in to help and support her. After her scripture, Dave rode with another guy in the ward to take a baby home to his Dad for a nap and to check up on him and do a little home teaching. They guy had had another surgery on his arm. Now that Mendon has four wards, we are no longer to hold Sunday school in the chapel.

So being late to Sunday school is not fun trying to find a seat in the Relief Society room that is packed like sardines. Instead of fighting my way in and making a grand entrance because I was late, I went and sat on the couch in the foyer. Dave returned from his "home teaching" and sat with me. The next ward coming in needed additional chairs set up for a farewell so Dave was off helping when the Bishop approached me on the couch. He asked how Dave was handling the new calling. What? I had to explain that our phone was broken and Dave hadn't chatted with the Stake President yet. Dave returns and again the Bishop asks, "You didn't chat with the Stake President? Well, he's here setting the others apart I can see if he has time to chat with you." What? Setting the others apart? This can't be a major calling remember? They only asked to chat with Dave. Don't they ask to meet with both of you when it's something big?

Dave went off with the Bishop to find the Stake President and I went off to Relief Society. For some reason I chose to sit on the back row this day. I gave the opening prayer and said I would read a part of the lesson. As I'm sitting here, the next thing I know, I'm getting a tap on my shoulder. It's Dave saying, "Come with me." I walk out and ask what's going on. He says to come and be with him while he's set apart for his new calling. I ask what it is. He says Elders Quorum President and I laughed. He said, "Just kidding. It's Second Counselor in the Elder's Quorum Presidency."

Let the whirlwind begin. We're off to the room and get to the door as they're setting apart the President. Then it's time to set apart the First Counselor. Then Dave and then the Secretary. After that, the Stake Presidency says to have the exiting Presidency give their testimony and then in incoming Presidency is to give their testimony. Now if you know Dave and I, you know this is not something we do easily. We really like to keep quiet in our chairs and keep to ourselves. Especially because we are both such sympathy criers.

Dave did an awesome job with his testimony. Yes, he was already doing the sympathy crying before he even went to the front of the room but that's alright. He has such a big heart and I do have to say the spirit was EXTREMELY strong in the room.

This Sunday we chose to drive the golf cart to church. It's probably one of the last times this year we could do it. It was a nice sunny morning. As we're driving home, Dave takes a breath and says, "That is so not what I thought was going to happen today."

It's probably a good thing it turned out this way. If Dave had a few days to think about this new calling he may have very well said no. Being caught off guard and totally caught up in the whirlwind was probably the best way to go.

Dave will do great in this calling. He was taught in his younger years the concept of serving other. This is something he likes to do and he does it very well. I know he will be great!

When we got home from church, we took some random pictures of the girls:


This is the skirt Hannah made in her sewing class.......

Wait a minute! Stay here!

Now give us a funny face.......

Happy Halloween

This year for Halloween we had at our household Cat Woman, Tinkerbell, and a Fairy Princess.

I was thinking that with Halloween on Saturday this year would work out great. No crazyness of having trick-or-treating on a week night. Boy was I surprised! This year turned out to be nothing but mass craziness! I had at LEAST one child dressed in their costume from Wednesday through all day Saturday!

Both Hannah and Ashley had a Halloween party for TaVaci on Wednesday, which entailed both of them needing their costumes.

Ashley had a Halloween party for preschool on Thursday so she needed to be in costume.

Hannah had a Halloween party on Friday in her school class so she needed to go in costume.

Hannah, Ashley, and Nicole went trick-or-treating with daycare on Friday afternoon to the Nursing home so all three needed to be in their costumes.

Saturday afternoon brought us getting in costumes and heading in to Logan for trick-or-treating at Lee's Marketplace, Grandma Nana's, Grandma Peterson's, and some of the other houses in Grandma Peterson's neighborhood.

Saturday night after returning home from Logan, Dave dressed up in his Sheriff's costume (he patroled Mendon) and we headed to Wellsville to trick-or-treat at one of the Vice Principal's houses. She gives great treats! Glow in the dark wands! The girls LOVE going there.

We then headed back to Mendon and loaded on the golf cart for trick-or-treating around our neighborhood. We trick-or-treat up and down our road and then head to the Bishop's house, which isn't too far from us, for roasting hot dogs. After the hot dogs and hot chocolate, we headed in the golf cart to another friend's house for fresh scones and honey and a little more hot chocolate all while chatting with everyone around a camp fire. Now this is what I call a great way to celebrate Halloween. We had so much fun trick-or-treating with the girls and hanging out with friends and neighbors.

The girls LOVE trick-or-treating with the golf cart. Dave rigs it so we have a red swirly light on top. We call it "trick-or-treating in style".

Painting Pumpkins

The Tuesday before Halloween I became brave while Dave was a Young Men's and broke out the paints and we painted our pumpkins. Grandma Nana had a family party the Saturday before and the girls got a taste of carving the pumpkins. Okay, Dave and I actually carved the pumpkins for Hannah and Ashley but that's besides the point. Where I was tackling this project on my own, it was much easier to paint than to carve.

This year I was very impressed with Hannah's artistic ability. She actually painted a face on her pumpkin all by herself. Many details came along with the face even down to the eyebrows. My favorite.....the pink hair!

Ashley, well, she's our little "Picaso" and just loves to paint. She actually did get a little face mixed in with all of the other colors. She could have painted for hours and hours and was very upset when it was time to put the paints away.

Nicole was mostly into the water, mixing and mess. Sometimes she would get her hands mistaken for the pumpkin until someone noticed that she was painting herself and we had to redirect her to the pumpkin.

Projects are always alot of work for the parent and would be much easier if skipped but it's always fun to see the smiles on their faces. It makes it worth it!

Happy Birthday Nicole!

On Saturday, October 17, Nicole turned two! We were up camping in Mantua on her "official" birthday so we waited and celebrated on Sunday at Grandma Peterson's with dinner, presents, and cake & ice cream!

Nicole's cake was pink inside (strawberry) and frosted with whipped cream cheese frosting. YUMMY! It was decorated with sprinkles and Piglet....thanks to Hannah and Ashley.

It took her awhile to catch on to opening presents but she finally got the hang of it. You will see in one of the pictures below that she is waving and saying "Hi Dad!" to Dave as he is filming her with the video camera. What a hoot! I am so glad we were able to catch this on camera.

Nicole got some new tubby toys, a baby doll, a stroller, and a cute new Sunday dress for her presents. She seems to love them all! Especially the stroller, which she has tried to ride in!

I guess with each child your memory starts to fade. My memory of having Nicole is starting to fade. It also was a very interesting time in our lives and things were pretty much a whirlwind.

It is always the same going to the hospital and being so nervous as to what's to come. We did not know if Nicole was a boy or a girl. I remember being in the OR getting prepped for my spinal and the OR nurse was telling me that she has three girls. She was giving me the stats that after two girls your chances go up by 75% that you'll have another girl and then your chances go up again from there. Yea, yea, yea....whatever. I know she was trying to do small talk to keep me calm but it wasn't working.

I do remember the spinal scaring me this go round. All of a sudden I got a zing down my left leg. It really scared me and it was difficult to make myself hold still. With Ashley, they let Dave be in the OR with me when I got my spinal, which was very calming. With Nicole, it was me, the OR nurse and the anesthesiologist. Not very calming because it's an awfully cold room!

I was nervous after having Nicole because like with Hannah my body started to hemorrhage. It was nothing like the experience with Hannah but scary non-the-less. It's a very scary feeling when you move and feel the gush that you're not suppose to feel and then the nurse panics because she knows you've hemorrhaged before. It was touch and go for awhile and I was administered some meds to try and get the bleeding under control. My body temperature was also very low, which surprisingly makes you extremely hot and I also got the itches all over my face from the spinal, which is a side effect. Why can't I have a normal delivery?!? Anyway, long story short, my body eventually took control and healed itself. By the next morning things were under control and I was no longer dizzy, hot or itchy and was able to get out of bed.

The other thing that stands out in my mind with Nicole is having to take her over and over and over again to have her heel pricked to check her beliruben for jaundice. I remember the alien she looked like when we had to put her on the belly bed lights to get her counts down. She sure make the room glow. Dave would sleep with his night mask on to drown out the light.

Through all of this and much, much more.....I wouldn't change her for the world. She is hilarious and bring TONS of joy to our family!

We love you Nicole! Happy Birthday!

Our First Camping Weekend in the Trailer

Last weekend was our first official camping trip with the trailer. On Friday, I had my Enrichment Night activity (Fabulous Friday) and Dave had been chatting with his friends and decided to take the girls and go camping. Dave, Hannah and Ashley left Friday evening and headed to Mantua to meet up with the rest of the group for a fun weekend! Nicole was going to go with them on Friday but she ended up with a little cold so we decided to have her sleep over Friday night with Grandma Peterson and then she was only out in the "cold" for one night. It was decided that Nicole and I would head up Saturday afternoon/evening to join everyone for dinner and another night of camping.

Saturday night after much playing all day with friends and enjoying the outdoors, it was time to get the girls settled down for bed. Ashley actually asked to go to bed. She is such a funny girl. She knows when she's tired and ready for bed. So, Dave and I took them inside and got them ready for bed and set up to enjoy "Shark Tales" on Dave's computer to "wind down" for bed.

Aren't the cute all cuddled up on the fold down table ready for the movie?

Before Dave and I headed outside so the girls could enjoy the movie, Ashley asked to be put in her bunk. She wasn't going to make it through any of the movie. She was READY for bed. After about an hour enjoying the adults around the campfire, it was time for us to go inside for bed. This is how we found Hannah and Nicole when we came in.

I love taking pictures of sleeping kids. They look so peaceful AND they aren't fighting and picking on each other. So, I had to take a picture of Hannah and Ashley in their bunk beds and Nicole asleep on the fold down table.

We survived the night! We were very nice and toasty warm in the trailer. I love camping in style! Nothing better! I can't believe we have waited so long! And the best part.......it has a potty!

Here's Hannah and Ashley the next morning waiting patiently for breakfast.

After breakfast, we decided to take the girls on a walk. Some of the others in the group had gone for a four-wheeler ride so it was a perfect time for us to be together as a family. We found some fun spots to take pictures of the girls.

Nicole was not too fond of being left behind.......

She made it!

Here's Ashley and Taylor Benson. Two peas in a pod. These two get along so well! Even though Taylor is six and Ashley is four they are the best of friends.

The downfall to this camp trip was the wasps. They were atrocious! I have never seen so many wasps in one spot. AWFUL! Three of the five of us got stung. As I was chatting with Dave on the phone earlier in the day, he got stung. Then Hannah got stung early Sunday morning. I thought we were good to go but as we were packing up and about 10 minutes before we pulled out, I saw a wasp climbing up Nicole's sleeve. In the attempt to get it out, it stung her. A very tired child and a bee sting do not mix well. It was very traumatic to her. She eventually fell asleep in my arms and stayed asleep through the car ride home. Before she fell asleep though any time a wasp came near she FREAKED! I can't say I blame her. If I never see a wasp again, it will be too soon.

Here's Hannah showing off her bee sting.

All in all it was a fun time making memories with family and friends! We can't wait to do it again!