Matthew again. Well, whatever happened to these things? I guess they have morphed into cool things and pictures updates. But seeing as it feels, to me at least, that I have fallen off the face of the earth, and because now I have some time, I think I'll write a weekly or tri-monthly as the case may be. So, what have I been up to? studying a lot for Boards, which I took last Tuesday. I think that they went ok, and this last week I was studying for finals which went well I guess. It feels good to be done with it all for a couple of weeks and I am looking forward to having time to do what I want for a change instead of coming home at 6 or so eating dinner, saying hi to the kids, and then studying till 10 or 11. However, all I seem to want to do is sleep, maybe I am catching up on a bit of shut eye. School is going well but I am not thinking about it for two weeks. And everyone is doing great here except little Dallin has a fever or something. Oh speaking of him, he is some kind of computer hacker, repairman extrodinaire, cause he is always finding keyboard shortcuts that I had no idea existed and for the life of me, cannot repeat. Also, yesterday he managed to remove the z key on my keyboard and try to eat it. Pretty impressive. Looking forward to seeing many of you soon, and wishing I could see all of you.

Hey, this is Matthew here and as the last post said, the whole fam is back here in Marin City, and it is good to have them back. Bethany brought back some of the cutest pictures of the kids pretty much ever so without further ado, here they are...<

This is just a test.

BEFORE
AFTER

I can't believe I did it, but I cut off Dallin's wild baby hair and now look how grown up he looks.

We had a fabulous and fun-filled thanksgiving weekend. When Matthew finished school on Wednesday we headed out to Brentwood. The big day provided quite a feast and filled us to the brim. Dallin won the big-dog contest falling asleep seconds after scarfing down some mashed potatoes and gravy. Evan nibbled and picked because he knew there were many desserts awaiting. It was fun to spend it with so many. We spend our days playing game after game of pool, smash brothers, spades, scrabble, mafia and Texas Hold em'. Evan was running wild the whole time having so much fun with his cousin Austin and his aunts, uncles and grandparents. Matthew tried to study some since he taking the boards next week, but he was in front of the TV the whole time watching the football games so who knows how effective it was. We didn't realize how much hard work it takes to have fun until we all passed out after church today. Evan, Dallin and I put up Christmas on Wednesday so that when we got home from Thanksgiving it would already be Christmas. Evan sure is excited about it this year. I'm sure hoping we see some snow when we go to Idaho next week. Can't wait!

Our modem broke and so we haven't had regular access to the internet. How do we function? Who knows. Nothing really new has been going on. Matthew fixed another one of my tooths. He is super busy studying around the clock for school and the boards. After Dec. 5 he might be a little more normal. He's still playing around with the idea of specializing and so he wants to do well. Evan thinks he is Lightning McQueen and races everywhere saying, "Checker flag here I come" or "Serpentine, serpentine" and other silly lines from the new movie. Dallin sits up and rolls about 2 miles a day for exercise. I just try and keep the house clean and wait on my 3 boys hand and foot. I was just called as 2nd Counselor in the Primary Presidency so that should be fun. Other then that, we're just doing what we always do. Having fun!

Dallin pulled this one off on his own. It's one of those Gerber veggie puffs. He was sitting there growling and grunting because he couldn't get it.


Evan is a budding photographer like his cousin Noah. He took this one of the family.

I had a fun experience today. I was Matthew's patient again and this time he got to actually fix a tooth. Before when I went in he just did an exam, but I got to watch him in action with the shots and the drills and the whole bit. I have to say that it was a very enjoyable experience. He did a great job and I didn't feel anything through out and now that I can finally feel my face again I'm not even sore. I'm just a proud wife and had to brag that he did such a good job. The instructors even said that his composite looked really good and you couldn't even tell that I had anything back there. He's always coming home and telling me he's no good and he shouldn't be a dentist. After my experience with him I think he's going to be a great dentist and would refer anyone to see him. I may be a little bias. It's not every day you get a kiss from your dentist when your lips are all numb.

Here's cute pics of my boys wrestling around. They are just the bestest of buds and we have so much fun together just being kids!

We had a great night of Halloween fun. Matthew got home pretty early (4:30) and I had the kids all dressed up and ready to go. We went to a outdoor mall and made the rounds there before meeting up with a bunch of our friends. We went to a place called Shady Lane where all the houses were totally decked out. These houses were amazing and obviously could afford to get really fancy. One of them was rumored to be Sean Penn's home, but when we asked they said that he lived in town and that their house was much nicer then their buddy Sean's. We got tons of yummy candy, and we're talking the good stuff, not just tootsie rolls. Evan was way in to it and was so fun to watch. He walk up to the house and flash his dazzling smile until they gave him candy and then when he came back to us he would say, "Okay, now the next house." It was a pretty cold night and I dressed him as warm as I could but his hands were ice and he didn't care one bit. Dallin, stayed awake the whole time too, just soaking it all in. It was a great Halloween!

We had our ward Halloween party and Evan had a blast. He scored lots of candy and won some prizes playing all the games. We was the cutest priate there, and there were quite a few. Matthew dressed as himself (mad scientist), I represented the 50's and Dallin slept the night away in his pumpkin pajamas. It was a great warm-up for Halloween on Tuesday. Evan's totally pumped and ready for more. He's been practicing his pirate growl, "Aaarrrgh Matie give me some candy!" Hope you enjoyed your extra hour of sleep.

Dallin is such a faker. He's always faking a coughing fit and he likes to fake cry as well. He's quite and actor. We got this fun bungee jump for him and Evan and I liked to stick him in it because he makes us laugh. Check him out.

I thought it was about time for me to figure out the whole video thing so family and friends can see the little guys in action. Here's a cute one of Dallin.

We had an enjoyable Saturday. Evan went to soccer with his dad and learned some mad foot skills while I cleaned the house. Then Mike, Heidi & Austin came over for a BBQ and some pumpkin carving. It was quite a mess, but tons of fun! Check out our lovely works of art!



If you'll notice Matthew's pumpkin is an accurate depiction of Van Gogh.



Dallin kind of liked the slimy guts of his little pumpkin.



Here they all are!



I just thought this was a cute picture of my sweet litte guy!

Sarah is so good about writing down the funny things her kids say and I've been trying to do the same.

Evan, who has been potty trained for a couple months now, was sitting on the floor playing with toys in his big boy undies. Matthew noticed he was "going to the movies" (picking at his little bum) and told him to stop because it was dirty down there and it would make him sick. Evan responded in a funny voice, "I was just looking for you." While we tried to stifle our laughs he continued with, "Ah, I was just kidding Daddy." He's such a little jokester!

We (Michael, Whitney and Unlce Josh came too) all went to Great America yesterday as the dental school was having its yearly picnic there. It eas a great deal at only 5 dollars a ticket (they were selling for 52 at the ticket window) and the ticket included lunch and icecream desserts. Evan liked the ice cream a lot.

It was a great day to be at the park because there were no lines for anything really. I think the longest we waited in line was 15 minutes for the bumper cars. which they totally ruined by putting a divider in the middle and forcing you to go all the same direction. even top gun only had a 5 minuite wait most of the day.
Evan liked the rollercoaster for kids that he went on after an initial scare. Uncle Josh liked it too.
Evan really liked the car ride that you drive under the grizzly rollercoaster too, but when the car started to hit the rails and jerk the wheel he would say, "no, stop it car." I guess he's been seeing a bit too much of Herbie lately. I think that his favorite ride was the baby bumper cars,
at first he was a bit upset that everyone was crashing into him, but he soon figured it out. He had a good time too because all of his friends were there with their families. He went trick or treating there too and the park was all decorated for halloween, it was fun. Bethany was a bit of a chicken when it came to drop zone and could only bring herself to go on it a few times. It was fun waving to Evan as we wnt up and u and finally seeing hime as a little ant sized person and then dropping and there he was all big again. He had a fun time watching us do that ride. Bethany seemed to have fun on most of the rides but it was hard to tell because she would come off of the more extreme ones with tears streaming down her face, but she did that too after the centrifuge ride, and I was sitting next to her and she was having a really good time crushing me.
We all had a good time and I felt like a kid again running between rides with Josh and Mike and Whitney, I guess old habits die hard.

So I waited the recommended 6 months before feeding Dallin the solid foods (minus the couple of icecream cones he has had) and boy is he ready. I can't shovel it in fast enough and he eats like he's been doing it for days. None of this confused tounge, spitting out bitter beer faces. Nope, he is 100% business. He thinks he can go from rice cereal to lasagna. I don't think so, but he's having fun being a big boy at the table now, and Evan loves feeding him. Oh, and he'll sit up if he's not too busy trying to caterpillar crawl to something he wants. He's definitely a grabby gus. There isn't nothing that doesn't "belong" in his hands and mouth. I love this stage!!!

I am still not use to the weather here. It's October and I want to see the leaves changing and falling on the ground and to pull out my sweaters and snuggle up in a blanket with a cup of hot chocolate. Instead we're having some of our warmest days of the summer. We spent this last weekend playing in a softball tournament for Matthew's school. It was pretty fun and besides Matthew's bum ankle from sliding into 2nd we're not feeling too sore. Evan had a blast seeing some of his old friends from the city. We had seen some of them early on in the week because we went in to Matthew's school for some visits. Matthew was my dentist one day and cleaned my teeth and prepared a dental plan for me. After those babies apparently I have some acid decay in my mouth from throwing up so much, so watch out Becky Ann & Bridgette. Evan went in the next day, but saw someone else in the Pedo office. He seems to have the Nielsen mouth that is very prone to cavities. You'd think I stuck chewy carmels in his mouth before he went to bed every night and had him gargle with soda. Oh well, it's a good thing his dad's a dentist. Matthew also started his first root canal this week. He says so far he hasn't messed it up. I'm sure his patient is grateful for that. He's doing well, and still makes plenty of time to play with us.

Conference weekend is always a great weekend. We drove out to Matthew's house to spend it with everyone there. Of course Evan had a blast playing with Austin and Uncle Josh. Emily took good care of little Dallin. The girls went out to icecream while the boys were at priesthood session. I wish I would have had my camera because Dallin attacked aunt Emi's mint icecream. So now we can add mint icecream to his list of foods which consists of 1 chocolate cookie (Grandpa Bishop), and more icecream from his Mom & Dad. Oh well, you only live once might as well eat all the icecream you can. When the boys all got home we had a big bonfire and roasted hotdogs and of course marshmallows. That's Evan's favorite thing to do now. He always wants to be roasting marshmallows so it was a special treat for him. Thanks for another fun weekend Nielsen family.

We have this great little Rec Center near by that offers scholarships for those with low income. Obviously we qualify as such. So Evan has the opportunity to participate in some fun classes. He just started a soccer class and so far he's a little unsure. It's a group of about 25 kids but each kid has about 3 adults looming around and it was a little intimidating for Evan but he still had fun.

He's the little boy in bright green.



He doesn't quite get it I guess.




There's our little super star!

We went and spent a day in San Francisco trying to experience it all. We had fun of course and got some great pictures at the Arboritum in Golden Gate Park. It was great for Evan because he was our little leader. The park is full of little trails all over and he led the way. we love the nature!

Here are just some darn cute pictures of Dallin. We call him Rudy because anytime he touches his nose or if it's the tiniest bit chilly his little nose is bright red. It's adorable! He is such a happy little guy but just recently is beginning to show signs of the rage. He is a major cuddle bug and oh so ticklish. He's always wet down to his belly button because of the drool but he gives the best kisses, as wet as they are. We've have to be careful which toys he plays with now because he gets pretty wild flinging them around. He'll hit himself in the face over and over trying to get the thing to his mouth and then gets real mad that "somebody" keeps hitting him. It's sad but pretty funny too. I'm looking forward to seeing how big he is at his next Dr's apt. with all his yummy rolls. We all adore the little guy!

Matthew finished his finals on Thursday so Friday we packed the car up and headed North a couple of hours to Ft. Bragg where we spent a few days camping at MacKerricher. Matthew and his family use to go their quite a bit when he was younger and he had a lot of memories to share. It was a beautiful place and Evan and Dallin had a blast! We had our friends Mick, Angie, Dane & Aubrey Friday night and Saturday. Friday we got settled in and hung out around camp. Saturday we went down to the ocean and walked around enjoying and exploring. We went back at low tide to explore the tide pools.
We found some starfish, sea anenomes galore, crabs, hermit crabs but didn't venture out far enough to find any abalones or mussels. Sunday we took a lovely stroll around the Lake where Evan took a nice spill off the boardwalk.
It was one of those slow motion falls. He turned around to look at me and Dallin, lost his footing and stumbled backwards toward the fence that took him out at the knees and flipped backwards falling about 3 feet into the jungle grass. Matthew fished him out pretty quickly but he was still pretty shooken up. We then went to Ten Mile River and spent all day on the beach. We hunted for treasures and Matthew and Evan found the only whole sand dollar on the entire beach I'm sure. The fog rolled in for a while which is always fun and mysterious. Evan I had to fight some seagulls that were attacking our food while Matthew and Dallin took a nap. We also dug ourselves a big Evan whole and played mits (catch). When the tide went out we walked across the river and explored the caves and tunnels on the otherside.
It was a very enjoyable and relaxing day. We took off early the next morning and wandered along the coast for a while on our way home. It was a wonderful camping trip but we were sure glad to get home to our warm shower and beds.