Russ' last week at home...

 Russ with the kids camping at the Joint Base San Antonio Recreation Park at Canyon Lake.

 

The kids playing around near the campfire.

 Lizzie enjoys swinging with Dad.

 The boys dig in the sand.

 Lizzie playing on the beach of Canyon Lake.

 Lizzie watches Dad skip rocks and tries her hand at it.

 

Ethan building things in the sand.

 We went to Sea World on Thursday, Russ' last day with us.  Check out Lizzie's face--that is her idea of a smile when requested to do so.  She looks upset, though really she wasn't.  Who could be, when they know they'll get to ride around in a stroller from place to place and have no need of walking.  I assure you, the boys would have gladly traded her places.

 Here we are, about to leave Sea World.  Everybody good naturedly gives in to another picture request from Mom.

 On the way out of Sea World, you are obliged to walk through a gift store, and the kids couldn't resist playing with the swords.  Of course I declined to buy them any more swords, as they have an entire arsenal of them at home.

 Ethan and Matthew holding Shamu the killer whale!

 

 Ethan and I rode the Steel Eel together.  The first drop was more scary to me than it ever has been in the past, and I felt that feeling of helplessness as we neared the top and were without hesitation about to go over.  Ethan felt like he was lifting out of his seat.  I put my hand across his lap to assure him that he wouldn't fly away.   After surviving it the first time, Ethan insisted that we venture to do it again.  In fact, those were his first words at the end of ride, before we had fully come to a stop.  "Again!  Again!"

 

Here is Ethan exulting after his two rides on the Steel Eel.

 Lizzie gives Dad a big kiss as we waited by the play area for the boys to reappear.

 Russ and Lizzie playing together.

Here Russ is asking Lizzie to guess which Disney princess he is thinking of.  After a great many guesses, she finally hit upon Tiana (from The Princess and the Frog), and he let her escape.  Lizzie surely loves the attention paid to her by her daddy.  It's sad to think of her missing them for a whole year of her childhood.

 Here we are at the airport saying goodbye.  This is Friday morning, 16 March.

 Everyone wants lots of hugs.  Lizzie, as you may notice is eating her cinnamon toast with apparent unawareness of what is about to take place.  She doesn't fully realize what it means that Daddy is going away for a year.  I don't think Ethan fully understands either.

 Matthew knows what it means, though.  He is most needing of hugs. 

A kind lady stopped and offered to take our picture as we said our last goodbyes.  I did cry, after all.  Russ told me that since I was crying I might make him cry too.  His eyes were a bit red...  Luckily I got it together enough to be able to drive.  We left and I took them to Denny's for a late breakfast, and then to Pump It Up (an air bounce place) for a playgroup with some other kids in our ward.  I meant to take their minds off of Dad leaving, and it seemed to work.  They had fun.  I was the most upset of the bunch, though I didn't let them see it.

Now (late Saturday night) I have word from Russ that he has arrived safely in Kyrgyzstan and is exhausted from many long flights (San Antonio to Virginia to Germany to Kyrgyzstan).  He is sleeping and trying to readjust his schedule to being on the opposite side of the world.

I have used his absence as an opportunity to get some cleaning done.  I cleaned the bathrooms, the garage and the whole front yard, patio and driveway (getting rid of leaves).  Keeping busy helps me not to feel so lonely.

 This year's Blue and Gold Banquet had the theme "Safe on the Sea".  The fathers and sons are supposed to decorate a cake according to the theme.  Well, Russ couldn't get off work early enough to decorate with them, so mom was left to do it.  This is what we came up with, after much searching for ideas on the internet.  After we made Ethan's cake, "Safe on the Sea", we decided to make Matthew's cake very similar, only opposite--hence, "Unsafe on the Sea".  It's also a slight commentary on their personalities as well.  :))  Their cakes ended up taking FIRST PLACE!!  Unfortunately, they only had one first place ribbon, and two boys, neither of which would give it up for the other, so they ended up pinning the ribbon on me (Val) instead.  I just looked at an old blog from 2010 and Matthew's cake had also won first place that time as well.  It looked like cars on a Pinewood Derby track.  Russ did that one.

 There are a few sharks chasing a marlin and a sea turtle, and headed toward a boat with pirates in it.  There is also an octopus down in the corner.  The seaweed is actually licorace.  The rocks at the bottom are made of jellybeans, Jelly Bellys, and Nerds.  There are a few Swedish fish on there as well.

Ethan and Matthew preparing to serve up their own cakes....Everybody had a blast and way too much cake!  We still have too much cake left over but we're making it disappear.

Rodeo Day

 Lizzie got dressed up for rodeo day at preschool.

 Isn't she adorable?

 She borrowed her pink hat and boots from her friend, Talia.

This is Lizzie with her friends Talia and Cooper.

Russ goes TDY

 Ethan is wearing Russ' helmet.  Notice Russ' new Major's insignia.

 Matthew takes his turn with the helmet.  Russ left the next day to go TDY to Ohio for some training for 3 weeks.  Then he'll be back for a month before he deploys for a year.

Little Lizzie in her BDUs with Dad.  Aren't they cute?

Kid's Birthdays in 2011

Well, since I haven't blogged since last May (other than the wedding blog), I sort of missed out on the kid's birthdays.  So here is a quick run-down.  In June we celebrated Matthew's 10th birthday with a pool party.  He invited a bunch of his friends, and it was a lot of fun.

 I did not make this Transformers cake--it came from the store.

 Matthew polishes off a big piece of birthday cake.

Matthew is the one wearing the goggles.  They had a blast splashing and warring in the pool.

Next, in September, we had a fantastic princess party for Lizzie, who turned 4.  We had six other little girls come over in their princess dresses.  It was a hoot!  They were all so cute in their princess gowns.  We did some crafts, like princess photo frames, and played a few princess games, such as musical chairs, complete with princess music.  Then before they went home we loaded them up with a bagful of princess stuff.  Stuff like blowers, beaded necklaces, bracelets, etc.  I bet their moms were thrilled about that.

 Lizzie the morning of her party, holding her balloons.

You would not believe how long it took me to make this cake.  The towers and windows come from a kit.  The towers kept falling over and messing up the cake, and then I'd have to reset them.  But, it turned out nicely for an amateur I think (as long as you don't look too closely).

The girls coloring their princess pictures while waiting for the party to begin.

 Lizzie is dressed as the Princess Tiana, and she is holding a picture of Tiana that she colored

 Charly, Lizzie S., Talia, Lizzie B., Sari, Ruby, Emma

Princesses!

 Lizzie and Talia, holding the movie and Barbie Talia gave her.

 Lizzie and Ruby, holding the dolls Ruby gave her.

Lizzie tries out her new princess bicycle

All in all it was one heck of a party!  I think they all had fun.

 

Then in October, Ethan turned 8 and he chose to have a small party and get a big present.  So he had one friend over, also named Ethan, and he got the Nintendo DS that he's been wanting so badly. 

 Matthew, Ethan and Ethan check out one of the new Nintendo DS games he got for his birthday.

 Ethan F., Ethan B., Matthew and Lizzie

 I made the Jack-o-Lantern cake!

That's it for the birthday run-down for 2011.

Deanna & Steve's Wedding

 On December 30, 2011, my younger sister, Deanna Nielsen, celebrated her marriage to Steve Dickson here at my home in San Antonio, Texas.   We got up early and went to my friend Diana Hoelscher's house, where she and her sister, Linna Rowell, fixed our hair.  As you'll see from the pictures, Deanna looks just like a princess, so they did a good job don't you think?  Russ and Steve set out to get the wedding flowers and cake for later on.  We all met up for lunch at Maggianos restaurant over by the Rim.  The food was delectable.  After lunch, I took all the parents and the bride and groom out to the Japanese Tea Gardens in downtown San Antonio.  It was a beautiful December day, with clear skies and temperatures in the 70's.  In that beautiful and popular setting, we took lots of pictures.  Then we hurried home for the ring ceremony which took place on our new patio.  Bishop Kent Gottfredson said some nice words for the ceremony and then Steve and Deanna exchanged rings and kissed.  After the formal stuff was out of the way, Steve and Deanna celebrated with the kids by jumping on the trampoline!   They cut the cake and everyone enjoyed eating and talking, with a lot of Dance Revolution competition going on after awhile.  It was altogether a great day and a lot of fun.  My parents, along with brother Seth and his wife Sarah, drove all the way out from South Carolina to attend.  Steve's parents flew out from Utah to be with us.  We had a great time with everybody here, and enjoyed laughing at each other's hilarious dance moves.  Little Ethan was the star of the show, as he really got into all that booty shaking.  Well, on to the pictures...

My sister, Deanna, and her fiance, Steve, came out to San Antonio to get married, much to my delight

Deanna looked gorgeous in her dress--people were stopping to stare at her and even photograph her themselves

We took these pictures at the Japanese Tea Gardens in downtown San Antonio.

The happy couple. 

Steve with his parents, Steve and Carmen Dickson

Deanna with her parents, Kriss and Peggy Nielsen

Deanna and Valancy (the sister & photographer)

Steve and Deanna with my kids, Matthew, Ethan and Lizzie (shivering)

The cake had white swirls and curly-ques on the sides, with purple satin ribbon and purple flowers on it.  Simple and beautiful.

Sarah & Seth Nielsen, Steve & Deanna Dickson, Russ & Val Bastian

Deanna and Steve celebrate by jumping on the trampoline

You don't see a bride do THAT everyday

Deanna really wanted velociraptors on the top of her wedding cake, so when we were done with the other pictures, we put these guys up there.  Hilarious!