Our NEW Kitchen

The 3 colors of the kitchen are Behr paints: Retro Avocado, Cherry Tart, and Falling Snow



Here are a couple of pictures of our NEWLY PAINTED KITCHEN!  All this week has been SO busy with buying the curtains, rod, hooks, paint stuff, on Monday.  Tuesday was prep day.  Wednesday, March 16 was spent painting ALL DAY!  Luckily my sister, Shelley was able to help me most of the day- about 7 hours worth.  After she left, I ate a little bit of pizza (because I didn't have time to cook anything) and went back to painting.  I didn't get to bed until after midnight!  Once I start a project, I want to HURRY and get it done and I did that.  Thursday was spent putting up the rod, curtains, hooks and the other stuff.  It sure brings a little bit of flavor to our kitchen and dining room don't you think?  I LOVE IT!  If you don't like it, just keep it to yourself!  :)

Jacob's Lego Car

Can I just say that my oldest son, Jacob is one of the most self-motivating kids I know!  I think this is such a gift and if the world had more kids like him, it would be a MUCH better place!  He was reading in his LEGO Club magazine one day, and Jacob saw an article talking about an upcoming competition where you can enter the BUILD YOUR OWN LEGO CAR.  He did this on his own without any knowledge of it except when he was almost finished.  So here is a picture that I took and then we printed a picture out and sent it in a little while ago.  He probably won't win anything, but he wanted to create his own masterpiece and he did it with such enthusiasm!  We'll update this post IF he wins anything.  Just know that it's not important to us if he wins anything...we have the BEST prize already, and that is a special boy that we are glad to call our son!

 

Rachael's 10th Birthday Party

March 4, 2011 I took all the girls to the University of Utah Gymnastics meet against the Florida Gators.  It was nice that my cousin, Heather Woolley gave me free tickets because she works right near by.  Rachael invited Jayden Jeppson, Tori Anderson, Mikaela Groll, Savannah Otteson, and Rosie Schraedel (who couldn't make it).  While there at the meet, I bought 2 things of popcorn for each of them to share and they each got to pick out a box of treats and a V8 fruit juice to eat/drink while they were there.  A couple of the girls weren't sure if they would like it but came anyway...surprise... they had a BLAST!!!    After watching the meet, I took them to Dairy Queen for ice cream cones.  They started to get a little hyperactive and it was almost 10 o'clock so we left and we dropped them all off to their homes.  Rachael keeps telling me that that was the BEST party she's ever had and it was pretty much free except for gas to get there, $5 in goodies I brought, $5 for popcorn, and $10 for dairyqueen.  Total was around $20...you can't beat that for a fun-filled birthday party!  

Red Orchid Spa Massage...oooh la la...

Richard was such a sweet husband to take the day off from work.  He booked a COUPLES hour massage at Red Orchid Spa & Salon- he had a Deep Tissue Massage, and I had a Relaxation Massage which were SOOOO nice!  When the lady finished, my first thought was, "Has it been an hour already!"  I also thought, "Oh, I just don't want to move right now.  Can I just lay here for another hour and sleep!"  It was too relaxing that when driving home, I felt like not doing anything except perhaps to read and sleep the rest of the day!   Reality set in at that point, and I realized that my life has to go on as normal.  It was nice to push the PAUSE button for a moment in time though.  Thank you honey, for your WONDERFUL and MUCH NEEDED break...one of my most favorite birthday presents ever!  So, for all you men out there...if you want to totally impress and treat your wife special, I suggest a COUPLES massage!!!

http://www.redorchidspa.com/index.html

Aleah & Mom's Birthday!

Aleah LOVES playing with the boys lego's, so we bought her her very own PINK lego bin...she wanted to play with them the rest of the night!  She was DONE bouncing and playing in the Pirate' Cove!



Charise is displaying the home-made jewelry and cute hair band that her talented sister, Cheryl made for her...she is very creative as you see! 

Monday night, February 28, 2011 was spent at the Classic Fun Center.  Our party included unlimited activities, a jumbo pizza, and soda all for only $25 for our family!  We brought our own ice-cream cake from Cold Stone Creamery and the party napkins, plates, candles, presents, etc.   

Luke enjoyed climbing ALL over in the Pirate's Cove area.



Qaiden climbs the ladder in the bouncy area.

Aleah is now 4 YEARS OLD today! 

She really wanted a picture in front of the cool PIRATE!

The 3 older kids wanted to play Laser Tag but had to wait in line for about 1/2 hour!  It was worth it to them, but Qaiden took off his socks in the dark room and we had to try to find them before the next group went in...silly Q!



Aleah got a big container with tons of different sand toys inside...she LOVES spending time in the sandbox at home and so this will be well used when it warms up!  I think we'll take them with us to Portland, Oregon for our family reunion this June! 

Aleah's Eye Surgery

Aleah looks THRILLED to be at the hospital...she HATES this place...can you tell?

Aleah is now changed and dressed in the hospital P.J's and Booties!  CUTE!!

She was asleep when I was called back to the Recovery Room where they told me she had stirred a little bit and the anesthesia was wearing off!

MaryAnn was helping Aleah warm up to her by giving her a doll that she got to color a face on!  She clung to that and it certainly helped her get through this trial of hers!   We'll make Thank You's for each of them and send them to Primary Children's this weekend...they deserve some appreciation!!! 

Eye Surgery is complete and Aleah gets a special ride to our car...COOL!

January 14, 2011
Aleah, as you may remember has what's classified as Hypotonia (low muscle tone) and I also believe she has what's called, Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) which means that her brain doesn't make the connection to form sounds like you and I.  With these problems, come a few more but which all relate to her low muscle tone throughout her whole body.  So, now you may understand why she had a problem with her muscle in her right eye.  They call it a palsy.  We have taken her to an eye doctor ever since my Uncle John (a retired Opthamologist now) said that she had the problem and would probably need surgery.  He referred us to Primary Children's in Salt Lake and we've been going there off and on for the past couple of years.  The doctor wanted to wait until she was older and more cooperative and when there was a greater success rate (which he specified would not be until she was at least 3 1/2 years old).  She will be 4 next month and so we asked him over the phone if he would be ok with scheduling the pre-op in preparation for surgery which he agreed to do.  So, we scheduled it at the end of last year.

Aleah was supposed to be at the hospital at 11:15 a.m. this morning but when I was making fruit cake, she snatched a gumdrop and ate it...you have to understand that she had to fast from midnight last night and was really hungry.  I called the doctor and they told me that since she ate, they had to bump the surgery time back.  So, then we weren't to be there till 1:30 p.m.  After the In-Processing was completed, MaryAnn (a family aid) and Chris Chen (the Anesthesiologist) took her back to the surgery room about 3:00 p.m.  Dr. Dries (Aleah's Doctor) came in the waiting room about 4:00 p.m to tell me that all went well during the surgery and I was able to go back to the recovery room at about 4:30 p.m.  We finally left about 5:25 p.m. and got home right at 6:00 p.m.  It was such a smooth and quick surgery...it was nice!  Not that we'd like to do it again or anything!

Now, there only seems to be some reddness on the white part of her eye and perhaps a little swelling. The patch that she put on her eye wasn't necessary but I asked her to put it on so she wouldn't rub her eye.  When she woke up, she was rubbing it and I had to keep telling her not to do that.  She was SOOOOOO thirsty after waking up as well...they refilled her sippy cup 3 times!   

She is fairly happy and doing well.  Thank you to all those that prayed for her and those that thought about us today!  We appreciate such kindness and love!  We know that Lord has blessed us with such a WONDERFUL and BEAUTIFUL daughter who constantly brings smiles to our faces...she is the happiest kid in the world and know that our Heavenly Father loves and took GREAT care of her through this ordeal.  We have so many blessings that we cannot even count them all!   

Ladies Tea Party

This has become a new Nebeker Girls tradition of having a Tea Party whenever we are altogether.  So, after our day of shopping on Monday after Christmas and catching some good sales, we went back to mothers home and made little cucumer and meat sandwhiches, sushi, chips and fruit.  We ALWAYS have to wear one of mom's hats...though I think she needs better and more wide selection!

Our Nebeker Boxing Day Recital

There is so much talent in the Nebeker Family and since Cheryl's son is taking lessons from his mom, he needed some motivation for his practicing. This Boxing Day Recital was thus created to encourage her kids to practice in order to perform it in front of all their cousins! It was a nice recital with representation from all the families!

 Chantel, Cheryl, Charise enjoy singing and playing the piano together!  This picture was taken a few days later.  We always used to sing and play together for hours!

Ashlynn plays the piano to start the Recital!

Charise sings "Wexford Carol" a capella to welcome everyone to the Recital



Chantel and Reed Wilkinson sing and play the guitar.



After the recital we enjoy just visiting and playing the guitar together.



Stevie (who HATED practicing the piano and after only a couple of years of lessons quit) actually played a hymn on the piano for us...WAY TO GO Steve!

 Jacob played "Deck the Halls". 

 Shelley and Paul Schneider perform a clarinet and harp duet...beautiful!

Cheryl with son, Payton perform a beautiful duet together.



Qaiden shows us one of his wrestling moves called the "arm-trap" he learned after his Little Vikes Wrestling Camp this fall...Payton was the guinea-pig!



Rachael performed, "Love Is Spoken Here" and "Fur Elise".



The Sanger kids entertain us with "Jingle Bells" complete with bells!



We sang and harmonized to the "Bamboo Song" after mom and dad sang the 1st verse.

Cool Playground!

Monday, December 27th

The men all went skiing today and so us ladies dropped the kids off at moms where she hired a babysitter to watch all the grandkids and then us girls went shopping for a few hours! It was nice to not have to shop with kids! We later went home and fixed our only little tea party for lunch! After this, we decided to take the kids outside for some fresh air and get them good and tired! I think it did the opposite effect because they all stayed up way too late that night while we all played games!

Mom's enjoying the cool teeter-totter with our little ones!

This playground is not far from my parents home in St. George and has the coolest equipment on their playground...I have never seen stuff like this but we spent quite a long time here.

cool swing- Jacob/Payton and Ashlynn/Rachael

Boys will be boys!

This was my favorite of the equipment...Qaiden tries it too!

Rachael on another cool aparatus...this was her favorite!

Rachael with cousin, Payton

Can we swing again before we go home?

New Year's Eve/Day!

We spent New Years Eve making homemade pizza, playing the Wii and playing games (Ticket to Ride, Hand and Foot, etc.)

I showed them how we do our pizzas at our home.  We had baquettes cut up and put a white bean paste or spaghetti sauce on top, cheese and then meat, veggies, etc.  Everyone enjoyed making their own creations!

Toasting in the NEW YEAR 2011!

It's our Nebeker tradition to go outside banging pots and pans when midnight strikes...so, 12:00 came and time to wake up those in the neighborhood...HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

African Christmas 2010

Boxing Day African lunch...made by Dad and Mom...we drove that morning down to Hurricane, and arrived just in time to eat this delicious meal!  Thanks mom and dad for a wonderful memory of our African Christmas!!!

Dad marinated the chicken in coconut milk and other seasonings and cooked the whole chickens over the grill...YUMMMMM

Mom explains how the African people eat...that green stuff looks kind of nasty, but it's called Matapa and is very yummy greens cooked in broth and served with crushed peanuts over rice.

Aleah and Qaiden enjoy their dinner at the kiddie table.

All the adults eat our African meal in the dining room.

Time to gather in the family room for my parents African presentation of their mission and giving us some African attire to put on!  We all got bags full of animal goodies/ puzzles, jewelry, coloring books, etc.  It was a fun-filled evening!

Grandma and Grandpa (holding Aleah) enjoy reminising on their experiences in Africa.

Richard and Luke wearing the traditional african shirt and pants.