The Nyberg Family Circus

Remember that place?

2011-11-22T09:11:00.000-05:00

Remember that place I wrote about where two other Mommies and I decided to take 9 children ages six and under for a "short" hike that ended up being 2 hours? Yeah, I decided I liked that experience so much that Brian and I took the kids and dog with us and did it again! Luckily we only hiked for about an hour instead of two and we had packed a picnic lunch to eat when we reached the tiny waterfall. This one went a lot better considering it was during Megan's nap time, the kids kept tripping on everything towards the end when they got tired and Zoey chewed through her leash within 5 SECONDS (literally) after we got her out of the car. Anyway, we had a great time, I'm so glad my kids are all finally old enough to do this kind of thing. Here are the few pictures that we took. Enjoy!

Being the spiritual man that he is, Brian loves the symbolism of him showing the way to our children and guiding them on their journey. :)

Stopping for a nice picnic lunch. It was quite an adventure trying to keep Zoey from snatching the kids' sandwiches. Peanut butter and honey sandwiches are her favorite!

Mommy trying to keep Zoey from snatching anymore food. :)

WARNING: SUPER long post

2011-11-19T11:03:00.001-05:00

Time to play fall catch up ! Okay, take a deep breath, here we go!

First things first. The kids all started school! Ben started Kindergarten, Jeffrey was Pre-K, and Megan is in a 1 day a week Mommy Co-op preschool group. Aren't they cute?

Here are some photos of some random fun we had.

We baked some cookies.

And did things like play "let's see if we can all fit into these plastic containers and pop up all at the same time while Daddy tries to take a picture of it."

One of the beautiful fall days we had we got together with our friends the Coons and the Tiptons to go for a "short" hike. Just the Mommies and 9 children which included a 9 month old, 3-three/almost three year olds, One 4 year old, two 5 year olds and one 6 year old (luckily we left the dogs). We THOUGHT we were taking a short cut to make the short hike a little shorter and 2 hours later we finally found our way back, lesson learned, and wonderful memories made. :) The kids were exausted, but it was nothing some suckers couldn't cure by the end of the trail. I started writing this thinking I had pictures of that trip, but it turns out I don't! haha! Oh well, I have some pictures of the park that we hiked at on another trip with the Coons' family, here ya go!

Meet Ben squared. Two tall blondie boys with the same name. Above are the two Coons girls Rachel and Lizzy. The first one of Rachel is probably one of the best pictures I'll ever be capable of taking and I was proud of it so I had to post it. :)

Fall in Ohio. ALMOST as pretty as fall in Tennessee. This was the best picture I could get while I was driving...yes...I was taking pictures while driving, and yes, shame on me. Pretty though isn't it?

In October Brian's work had a Resident's Retreat where they paid for all of the Residents and their families to go to a great place out here called Young's Dairy, where they have barrel rides, batting cages, slides, pumpkin picking, goat feeding, tractor climbing, driving ranges, and more! We were lucky enough to meet the Winkler's, some of our friends from Tennessee that happened to be doing an away rotation here in Dayton. The kids really have missed there son Noah and it was a lot of fun to get together.

This was a super tall slide that the boys went down no less than 15 times a piece.

Daddy at the driving range showing Mommy how it's done.

Mommy's pathetic (and blurry) attempt at a swing. I'm pretty sure I missed the ball entirely that time. Why can't it be a easy as it is on the Wii?

The kids feeding the HUGE goats!

Next was the Barrel Ride.

Jeffrey's favorite part was definitely the cow bell. :)

Ben and Megan having some good 'ole tracktor fun (these ones don't tip as easy as the ones on Cars)

Ben with his buddy Noah from Tennessee.

The whole family riding out to go pick our pumpkins.

I find it funny that something as simple as picking out a pumpkin can completely describe one's personality :)

We had a ward Halloween party at the church a couple of weeks later. Brian and I won the award for "Most Original" costumes.

Jeffrey and Ben had some fun with some other kids that went as Batman and Spider Man.

What's fall without playing in the leaves and trees?

Here's some pictures of a make-shift photo shoot I decided to have on the spur of the moment in our front yard.

Say no to crack Jeffrey!

Back in September we announced the newest member of our family, Zoey the puppy. It's been a wild ride with her, but we couldn't be more happy to have her around, she's a very sweet (and fiesty!) puppy. Needless to say, she fits right in. :) Here is her photo shoot.

But this is probably a more accurate picture of what her new life is like.....

I don't think I can complain about the kids sleeping in MY bed anymore!

Speaking of photo shoots with a million pictures, here is the Halloween photo shoot. I promise, Jeffrey will make this one worth while to scroll through. :)

And right about now everyone's thinking "Holy lots of pictures Batman!" Right? :)

Next is Pirate Megan, the prettiest pirate there ever was.

AND....she's outa there! In true pirate fasion.

Last, but most certainly no least!!!! Spiderman Jeffrey!

Told ya it'd be worth it. :)

And now....the 3 year old Birthday Post!

We woke her up in the morning to open her present, she was having a little trouble waiting for Daddy to get back from the store so we let her color on her pretty wrapping paper.

It's her party and she can cry if she wants to! First picture of her in her "present." Now any time she wants to wear this dress she asks to "wear her birthday."

That's more like it. :)

Ben got to help stuff the pinata.

We played Pin the Tail on the Donkey.

We broke the pinata. (the little girl in the second picture is Aurora, I've started baby-sitting her during the week and like Zoey, she sure fits in around here! :) )

FINALLY! Some cake! (Don't worry Auntie Frogg, her cake didn't end up like YOURS!

If you've made it this far in the post, you're much better friends to us than we are to you! Thanks for Stopping by! Jeffrey says thanks too!

Happy Birthday Princess Megan!!!!!

2011-11-05T09:47:00.000-04:00

She did it! Our little Princess turned 3!!!

A Transformation Is Happening

2011-10-29T18:55:00.000-04:00

......and it's about darn time!!! Less than a year ago Brian posted this video up from Christmas of last year and I about died when I realized that he posted it. Here I am a little less than a year later I find myself posting it again! It was me at my absolute heaviest weight I've ever been. It took me watching that video to realize how bad my weight had gotten. I was put on a medication in May of last year that caused me (with my help of course) to gain nearly 40 lbs over the course of just a few months. I was on it for a year and am now off of it and am finally able to shed some of that weight. At my heaviest I was about 158 lbs (maybe a little more, but I wasn't exactly a fan of weighing myself then). Gradually after that Christmas video was taken I started losing a pound here and there naturally without any much effort on my part. I lost about 10 lbs that way. I finally started really focusing on my diet at the end of September and have lost an additional 11 lbs making me now 137 lbs as of this morning. That's a 21 lb difference from less than a year ago and to celebrate I'm posting an "after" picture. I still would need to lose about 18 more pounds before I'd be at my ideal BMI, but for now I'm celebrating a half way mark. :)

And without further adieu, my before "video." (I didn't have a picture that really captured it as well)

This is me down probably about 5 lbs at Jeffrey's b-day party in May...............

AND.......TODAY!

Zoey Plays In The Water

2011-09-11T21:08:00.000-04:00

A New Addition To The Family!!!!!!

2011-09-11T08:17:00.000-04:00

Meet our new baby.......................her name is Zoey! :)

AND....she LOVES water!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here are some details about her. We think she's a Golden/German Shepherd mix. Her previous owners got her from the pound about a month ago and LOVED her, but the mom had to go back to work and didn't want to leave the dog alone in the house all day. She's been fixed, has all of her shots (just needs one more heart-worm treatment), has been micro-chipped, and is potty trained! She's between 5 and 6 months old. After doggy sitting a couple of dogs for some friends we decided that we needed a dog with a little more energy that wouldn't lose interest in the kids and thought it would be nice to have a younger dog for that purpose. She's a very sweet mannered dog and still has a lot of puppy habbits that she will grow out of soon enough I'm sure. I didn't care how old she was, as long as she was house trained, and the previous owners did a great job of that, so Mommy is VERY happy. :) As you can see, she's VERY adorable and she likes to snuggle too. Whenever she hears one of the kids crying she immediately goes and sits by them. Unfortunately on our hour ride home from Lebanon where we got her from, Megan was crying because she was afraid of the puppy and she wouldn't leave her side. A little counter-intuitive, but Megan eventually adjusted and now loves the doggy. The kids keep calling her "Chase" because that's what our friend's dog is named. It doesn't help that she kind of looks like him too. I think we'll just be naming her Zoey Chase Nyberg. They're finally catching on to Zoey. When we went to pick her up, we just told the kids that some nice people invited us over to play with their dog, so they had no clue. We didn't want to get their hopes up if it didn't work out, or we didn't feel like she would be a right fit with our family. Of course our kids were misbehaving and the dog went crazy with three screaming children, but we felt like we got to see the dog at her absolute worst and it still wasn't bad, so at her best, she had to be REALLY good, and once we got her home and calmed down, she was GREAT. We absolutely love our little Zoey and now officially consider ourselves dog people. And of course, to top it off, we went and rented "Marley and Me" last night and bawled our eyes out. It's a good thing she's a puppy and we'll have MANY years with her before her "movie" ends. Well there ya have it. That's the end....or rather the beginning, of our adventure.

Update On Our Little Jeffrey

2011-08-22T17:54:00.001-04:00

Back in May we announced that our little Jeffrey had a diagnosis of either Asperger's Syndrome or High Functioning Autism and that the Doctor wanted to wait another year to see how his language came along before distinguishing between the two. Well, this morning I took Jeffrey to see a specialist down at the Dayton Children's Medical Center for a follow up/second opinion. I immediately liked the doctor, she was so nice and Jeffrey didn't even need time to warm up to her or the 4th year resident she had with her. The resident was able to play with Jeffrey while she and I talked and she was watching his behavior all at the same time. We discussed his history and whatever concerns I had. The first thing that came up was his speech delay. She told me that a speech delay automatically ruled out an Asperger's diagnosis. She also told me that when you walk in a room, you immediately know if a kid is "Autistic." Jeffrey was just too social and responsive for that diagnosis, however, she still believed him to be on the "autism spectrum," just listed as Pervasive Development Disorder (PDD) not otherwise specified. Pretty much meaning our little Jeffrey is just too original to be put into a more specific category. :) I am very happy with the diagnosis and feel that it is the right one. We were in there for 2 1/2 hours and I believe she had all of the tools and time she needed to make an accurate diagnosis. A main concern that I, as well as other parents have had about this diagnosis process is they feel the doctor doesn't spend enough time with the child for the full diagnosis and I felt a little like that with our doc in Tennessee, but I'm so happy to say that that isn't the case this time and we feel very fortunate. I recommend anyone get second opinions if they aren't entirely certain about the first one, especially in this ever growing field of study. Thanks to everyone who is so patient and loving with our little Jeffrey, he is one in a million. :)

p.s. the tooth-fairy visited our house for the first time ever last night!

The 'REAL' Heaton Family Reunion Post

2011-08-16T09:17:00.001-04:00

I started out my last post thinking I was going to put all of the reunion photos on it, but ended up putting other ones up instead, so alas, this is the "official" reunion post. I had to limit the photos to just the ones with my family in it (there were over a hundred total!), but I e-mailed all of the other photos taken with my camera to everyone else that was in them. Without further adeau (I am absolutely positive I spelled that wrong), pictures!!!

Janice and Sharice were in charge of games and crafts and on the FIRST day they made KAZOOS. The noise level in the house (6 beds 1 loft with 31 people in it!) got pretty up there. :) They were a hit and the kids loved them!

Jeffrey especially loved his.

Grandpa Heaton helping out with the Kazoos.

Ben with Uncle Jon. Out of all of my kids, I always thought I could see Jon in Ben the most (without his glasses on).

Megan and cousin Eli chilling on the couch with Aunt Jill.

Ben all dressed up for church in Show Low, Arizona. (Who me??) :)

Yayyyy!!! Daddy surprised everyone by showing up the second day!! Brian was able to get 5 days plus 2 weekends off of work last minute to fly out and meet us and then drove back with us across the country. Such a miracle!!!

Relaxing and just having a great time.

This is pretty typical of how we sit on the couch. Me with me legs up on Brian. :) And yes, I'm wearing Brian's socks (socks were required in the house and mine were dirty)

I have no idea what she's holding, but it sure looks like she's trying to hide it from everyone!

I almost didn't post this one because it was blurry, but then thought about how fitting it was considering all of the older boy cousins' vision probably was like this after playing on the Wii for hours and hours and hours.

Photos by Ben Nyberg. If you'd like to schedule an appointment let me know. ;) Ben snapped this one while we were walking to the pool.

I'm only now realizing that the only picture we got of my family at the pool was of me waving hi. Oh well. :)

After swimming, a few of us went outside to dry off instead of going straight into a chilly air conditioned locker room to do it.

Megan coloring on Grandma Heaton's pillow case that everyone drew their nice hand prints on.

Okay, so you really can't capture the reunion with just pictures of my family, so I selected a few of the other good ones that didn't just have us in them. :)

Mr. Regan's semi-drunk face. :)

Cassandra

Rebekah

Aunt Janice helping make all of the kids their own individual cups......and looking a little scary with the HUGE scissors! :P

Grandpa Heaton helping Kael put some stickers on his cup.

Cutie Pie Eden waiting for what else? Food of course!!

Cassandra playing with toys.

This is what the sippy cups looked like that all of the Grandkids got to make. Cute huh?

Dan busy in the play kitchen.

Cousin Jacob

Aunt Nicole

Cousin Eli

Aunt Jill and Cousin Eli

Cousin Sarah

Uncle Jake!

Smiley Uncle Jerris :)

Cousin Emma

I had to post this, this is my absolute FAVORITE picture of Uncle Derek! :)

Cousin Kael getting ready to go night night.

Grandpa Heaton getting to the pool with cousins Nater Tater and Ike.

Aunt Shannon with Cousin Cassandra waiting in line for the slide.

Cousin Kael getting excited for the slide!

Grandpa Heaton with Cousins Nathan and Isaac and Sarah waiting for the slide.

I don't know who had more fun on the slide, Grandpa, or the grandkids?

Uncle Jerris with Cousin Eli.

Grandma Heaton swimming at the pool.

The kids got to bring their "light sabers" to the pool to swim with.

Uncle Jake with Cousins Kael, Sarah, Rebekah, and I think that might be Jacob, not sure.

Aunt Janice helping Emma trace her hand for Grandma's pillow case.

Aunts Nicole, Shannon, and Jill put together the pinata for the kids.

All of the pretty houses Grandma helped the kids paint hanging in the wind to dry.

Aunt Nicole playing Mouse Trap with Cousins Emma, Jacob, and Rebekah.

FAMILY PICTURES!!!

The Boys! In order, youngest to oldest:

Jon, Jerris, Jake, Josh, and The Grandpaaaaaaa!

The Girls, Younest to Oldest:

Sharice, Shell (me), Shannon, and Grandma Heaton

The Nyberg Family Pic. (expect this in your Christmas card this year)

THE WHOLE GROUP!!! (all 31 of us!)

Heaton Family Reunion 2011

2011-08-16T08:00:00.001-04:00

Okay, so I got tired of looking at everyone's blogs not being updated for a few days and then remembered that I haven't even caught mine up from the rest of our trip! After visiting Grandma Osborne's house we went down to visit my parents that we hadn't seen in OVER 2 years, in Southern Utah and got to hang out with some of my h.s. friends. On our way there we stopped at Uncle Jon and Aunt Janice's to play and get our wiggles out (we hadn't seen them since Megan was 6 weeks old!). We only got a couple at the place my parents are staying and they were ones that Ben was randomly taken, so sorry for the off-centeredness and randomness of them. :) Here are those pictures:

Cute little Kaylee and Reagen playing with toys when we got to Uncle Jon's house.

Jeffrey, Kaylee, and Megan playing outside together in Cedar City.

Jon and Janice's collaborative garden they did with Grandpa Heaton this year. The lettuce was DELICIOUS!!

Dad "beating me" at Casino.

Ben took a picture with the camera and Jeffrey was taking pictures with my camera phone. I wouldn't have posted it, but the little smile on his face was just too cute not to.

Megan eating her fudge-cicle out on the swing set in Hildale.

Ben getting thoroughly saturated at the Splash Pad in Hurricane.

Megan enjoying the Popsicle that my friend Tiffany was smart enough to bring!

Ben with "Auntie Jocey's" boys having a good 'ole time.

Megan trying to be like one of the big kids and climbing up the slide.

Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of me with all of my gorgeous friends on my camera, so I'm going to have to wait until someone posts one on facebook I guess. :)

More from Grandma Osborne's house

2011-07-30T22:40:00.001-04:00

I should've added these weeks ago so they wouldn't get lost in the mess of pictures I have from the rest of our trip. Coulda Woulda Shoulda I guess. :)

Our second day at Grandma's we got the horse out for the kids to ride. Jeffrey LOVED it! He's a natural born horse jokey. Ben liked it, but not enough to let the horse do anything more than a slow walk, and Megan liked it just long enough to look out at Ben and Jeffrey and say that SHE was on the horse and not them, and then she was done and wanted down. Here's a few pictures of them riding Grandma's horse.

Such a natural! It shouldn't surprise me that Jeffrey gets along better with large animals than he does people I guess. :)

So focused.

Ben's all smiles on top of the horse.

Grandma led the horse in a circle with the rope.

Ben hanging on tight!

Ben made up a song about riding a horse while he went around the stable.

Little Missy and the big horsey.

This is where she was about to wave to the boys saying "Hi Ben! Hi Jeffrey! Look! I'm riding horsey!"

This is the beautiful lake we went up to see to get a break from the heat near the Utah/Colorado border.

Grandma let Jeffrey use that green device to throw Tessie's ball into the water......or course he threw it so hard he fell in!! Luckily we had some towels left in the car from our swimming trip the day before!

Tessie was pretty cold from fetching balls in the freezing water. Any time I threw it too far out she'd just whine by the water's edge....we had to leave a few balls behind.

Ben's dirty face.

I snapped these two photos on our way back down to the valley.

Having Fun At Grandma Osborne's

2011-07-07T12:53:00.001-04:00

It's been non-stop fun since we arrived at Grandma Osborne's house in Castle Valley, Utah. We got in at about 1am Utah time on Tuesday night and the kids were so excited to see Grandma that they stayed up for another hour after we got here! The next morning the kids got to go feed the horses with Grandma, then Grandma got out the ATV and took each of the kids for a ride. After that we headed to Grandma's work at the Red Cliff's Lodge and had some lunch. Moab just opened a new pool with lots of little kid wading areas and slides, so we went there to cool off for another couple of hours. We went and got icecream afterwards then came home and we had dinner and the kids got to play with the bubbles Grandma got them while Grandma was grilling the chicken. Bed time was shortly after dinner since the kids only had about 5 hours of sleep the night before with little to no naps. Today we're planning on riding the horses and the ATV again and then going down to the pond and playing this afternoon. Here are just a few pictures from yesterday's fun.

The kids walk the path to the barn with Grandma to feed the horses.

Grandma showing Ben how to feed the horse a carrot.

Ben was too afraid to feed the horse by himself so he was perfectly content holding Grandma's hand while she fed the horse instead.

Jeffrey was the first to get to ride with Grandma on the ATV.

Ben was next and got to go on a little longer ride since he was bigger.

Grandma and Ben waving bye-bye.

Jeffrey and Megan waiting patiently for their turn.

A nice shot of Grandma's house with Jeffrey and Megan on the steps.

Meggy's turn!

This little girl LOVES her Grandma!

Grandma and her girl.

Jeffrey blowing bubbles.

Ben blowing bubbles.

Blowing bubbles together.

Happy Birthday Sharice

2011-06-16T20:40:00.000-04:00

A Super Cake for a Super Woman!

What better way to enjoy it than in front driveway?

Brian shields the candles from getting blown out.

Kael and each of the kids take turns blowing out the candles

Ben kept telling everyone including the pizza delivery lady that it was his Aunty Frogg's birthday.

Make a wish!

Oh no! A cake fight has erupted!

What a mess! See video below.

They have "that look" in their eyes... more cake fighting is about to ensue.

Sisterly love.

Nice Meggy. She was kind of the one who started it by dipping both of her hands into the cake.

Don't give me that look. You were an instigator, Shelly.

Sharice is going to kill me for putting this up.... So, here it goes!

Ben was behind me and he was about to drop a big glob of cake on the camera while I was trying to take Sharice's picture. Funny huh?

Cake Fight

2011-06-16T20:28:00.001-04:00

Happy Birthday, Sharice. Now here's some cake in your face courtesy of big sister Shelly!

Having a blast with Aunt Sharice and Jeffrey gets his chin "blasted."

2011-06-13T22:53:00.000-04:00

Just thought I'd post a couple of pictures tonight, Sharice is posting quite a few on her blog so I haven't been wanting to duplicate. We are just having so much fun with cousins Kael and Eden and Auntie Frogg! Today the kids got to go dig in the garden with Brian and it reminded me of the olden days when 7 little red headed kids used to dig in Grandad's garden with all of our little shovels and hoes. Grandma Sapp, you'll really enjoy these pictures. :)

When Sharice got here, she was determined to potty train Megan because Megan loved sitting on the potty so much. She thought it would be easy, but she under estimated how much Megan likes to pretend to do things and how stubborn she is when she doesn't really want to do something. Anyway, when we're out in the yard or pool, the boys get to pee on this tree instead of going inside and getting the house all dirty.....well, Megan's not one to miss out on anything just because she's a girl.....fyi...she STILL didn't pee, she was just pretending again.

Our poor little Jeffrey has had a bit of a rough week. The poor little guy had a high fever for most of it with the highest being 105 DEGREES on Saturday! I've never seen a fever that high in person, I was grateful when the medicine worked to get it down so I didn't have to take him in. This was him just miserable and wrapped up in blankets because of his chills at the lunch table the other day.

Then this afternoon at the playground he fell off of the second step to the slide and his chin bit the dust in a pile of rocks. We didn't get away with not taking him in this time. They would've done stitches, but the wound was too jagged from the rocks for it, so they just glued and steri-stripped it. Pretty nasty huh?

Ben and Jeffrey both road their bikes without training wheels today!! Yay!.....I'll post a video tomorrow when I have a little more time for the download, but for now, I'll just end the post with a picture Sharice already put on her blog of how well we're getting along together. :)

Funny how no matter how much time has passed, you can still be ready to rip someone's hair out after a while. ;)

Bouncing in the pool

2011-06-11T16:48:00.000-04:00

Eden blows bubbles in the pool

2011-06-11T16:14:00.000-04:00

More pictures of the fun in Ohio.

2011-06-11T15:05:00.002-04:00

Cousins watching The Backyardigans. Note Eden in the doll stroller.

Jeffrey got sick! Poor thing has been running a high fever for a few days.

Jeffrey hides from the world and gets warm after some chills.

Eden wakes up from a nap.

Megan and Kael play together

Nice track!

Eden gets some computer time with her mommy.

The kids beat the heat inside during the afternoons.

Eden likes hanging out with the boys.

(This was the Mommies' idea. Poor thing!)

There is such a thing as too much inflation.

We're losing her!

More pool fun.

Uncle Brian and Eden. I think we're going to be friends for a long time.

Cuddle time.

Kael is irrepressible :)

Eden pushes Megan in the baby stroller.

Kael fixes a bike with some help from Uncle Brian.

Kael kept saying, "I work, I work". :)

Pictures from yesterday: Aunty Frogg arrives, kids play at the park

2011-06-07T23:12:00.001-04:00

Eden contemplates another plane ride while waiting to board in Denver.

Kael was a great sport.

Pictures of our families at Englewood Metro Park, Pattie's Shelter. A bunch of Englewood ward members came out for a big barbeque. It was a beautiful setting with many large trees like these, open fields, and a fun playground.

Megan and Kael explore in the trees

Eden is all smiles at the park. You would be too if you got to be pushed around everywhere.

Megan explores the tunnel that ran through the grassy hill.

Jeffrey was having a blast.

Kael and Ben going down the slide which is on top of the same grassy hill.

Eden being adorable.

Ditto.

The Nyberg and Bradley cousins pose on a big tree log.

They are so cute!

Look, a frog! Kael got to hold it.

Nothing like a frog to bring joy to a little boy's heart.

Fun in the Sun. Cousins stay cool in the pool.

2011-06-07T22:56:00.001-04:00

Kael wated no time getting into the pool. Uncle Brian got to watch all the kids while Shelly and Sharice went out grocery shopping and had them all in the pool first thing in the morning.

Ben basks in the sun poolside.

Megan hangs on for dear life.

Jeffrey was in and out of the pool all day. He is such a fish. Look at how his skin is already darkening this summer.

Litttle Miss Eden has quite an appetitie! It seemed like she was up at the table all day long. Here, she gets her hands on some blackberries.

Aunty Frogg takes a dip with the kids.

This is Eden's first swim suit.

Megan poses naturally in the pool with the new floaty toys. Despite the smile, she was really a tyrant in the water and wouldn't let anyone near her!

Eden discovers the coveted red car and massive cuteness ensues.

Ooh

Ahh

Cute!

Way cute!

What else can I say? This child is adorable and I'm going to just gobble her up.

Nice parallel parking, Eden.

Who me?

Kael in a moment of reflection.

Shelly and Jeffrey enjoy a cuddly moment.

Kael proudly perched atop the ladder.

Happy guy

Ben squints for the camera.

Raise your hand if you had fun today.

Hooray! Pictures were self-explanatory, but I thought I'd add commentary anyway. A good time was had by all. Cousins are friends for life!

Meet My New Best Friend

2011-06-04T21:52:00.000-04:00

His name is Pool.

Total coincidence that my "old" best friend is in the shot too. ;)

And this is someone who is even better friends with the new pool than I am!

Here's a pic of the kid's room in the new house. My goal is to take more of the house tomorrow and post them.

Here's a few of the kids having bubble time during what I hope is the morning since they're all still in the pajamas (Brian took these).

And here is a picture of our local homeless person.

Although she did look a bit better in that one than this latest one with her broken tooth. (Still have no idea how she did it)

Here is our new garage that Jeffrey loves to just hang out in any chance he gets.

Sometimes you don't get exactly what you want off of craigslist. Yes, it's missing a few pieces, and yes, still working on the refund......some people!!!

Auntie Frogg gets here in less than 48 hours!!! Woohoo!!!

I know right? I can't wait either!!! :P

Tales from Wales

2011-05-17T08:51:00.000-04:00

I got to visit my old mission trainer, Steven Taylor, in Wales! Met his lovely wife, Kate, and sister Susie and we all went out to dinner. Slow-roasted Welsh lamb never tasted so good! (oh don't give me any grief about eating a lamb; they've got plenty there--the hills were crawling with them).

Had the best time reminiscing about the mission and talking religion, economics, politics, medicine, etc... Well actually, I did a large amount of the talking since I was so keyed-up from being alone for a week. They must have thought I was manic! But had a wonderful time of it. Got to see some of the gorgeous countryside and another castle or two. One of my favorite parts of the trip was when Steven took me to Tesco's, the UK equivalent of Wal-Mart, and he showed me all the good food to try. Cheese, chocolate, custards and biscuits (cookies). Yum!

I stayed the night and drove back with Steven to London in the morning so he could catch his flight. This was definitely another high point in my trip!

Steven and I on a view overlooking the countryside.

Town of Caerphilly

Caerphilly Castle ruins

Derrick, are you jealous? :)

I'm in Wales!

Me with Steven and his wife, Kate.

At Cardiff Central Station.

Look! Signs in English and Welsh!

Updates from London

2011-05-13T20:07:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone. Blogger has been having some problems for the last few days, so I have a TON of photos to share and things to write. Here it goes:

May 13, 2011

Yesterday was awesome. I got to ride on the Evans and Evans bus tour
to Stonehenge, Salisbury, and Bath. It was well worth the money and
my guide, Kevin, was terrific. He was a very funny, energetic chap
with eyes that reminded me of Josh. He was also fluent in Japanese
and would alternate his explanations in Japanese for the benefit of a
few people in the front of the bus.

Backtrack to before I got on the tour bus: I rode the London
underground into Victoria station, and exited onto the very busy
platform. Within seconds, I realized with a sinking feeling that I
had just left my favorite fold – out sitting cane on the tram that was
now pulling away and gone forever. I spoke to an attendant about it,
though figuring it was probably a lost cause, but he told me there
might be a way to get it back by checking with an attendant at the
Baker Street's station, which I intend to do today.

But anyway, on to the tour. First of all, Stonehenge is older than
dirt. When the first wave of Romans invaded in 43 A.D., it was
already an ancient monument over 2000 years old. That fact alone
impressed upon my mind more than any other. But I was also quite
impressed with the immense size of the stones and the skill with which
they had been latched together. Truly, there's so little we know
about the ancient ones. Every time we think we've got them figured
out, they baffle us. At least as interesting to me were the burial
mounds scattered all over the plain around Stonehenge. I was
immediately reminded of the ancient mound builders who inhabited the
American continent and wondered if there might not be a connection.
I'll have to check on the dates.

Being at the monument finally drove home to me the fact that it was a
precise marker of the winter and summer solstice. I thought the audio
guide did a great job of painting a picture in my mind of the
procession that would've taken place across the plain, past the heel
stone, and by the bloody altar.

I also really loved the quality of pictures that Shelly's camera took.
I'm in love with it because it makes me look like a professional
every time I take a picture of something, and Stonehenge was no
exception.

We boarded the bus, and continued onward another 15 minutes to
Salisbury. On the way, I took in the beautiful, green English
countryside, with its rolling hills and idyllic farms and forests.
These bore a striking resemblance to the beauty I have become
accustomed to in East Tennessee. Perhaps the English and Irish
settled there because it reminded them of home.

Salisbury Cathedral was an impressive and imposing structure. Massive
in size and height, it dominated the landscape. Inside, I was amazed
by its high arched ceilings and the beautiful blue stained glass.
Unlike Westminster Abbey, I got to take pictures inside. Though it
wasn't as ornate as Westminster in my opinion, it still had many tombs
of interest with beautiful carved effigies. One notable one was of
Catherine Grey, sister to Lady Jane Grey the Protestant martyr-Queen
of nine days. After some wandering, I found my way to the chapter
house where the best preserved copy of the Magna Carta was kept, one
of only four remaining originals. What struck me about it was that it
mostly addressed the practical concerns of life, such as use of lands
and rivers, and a hodgepodge of different topics and grievances. But
in several choice lines and in the spirit of the charter generally, I
could see the foundation being laid for a constitutional system
consisting of equal rights before the law. They sure wrote small
though, and in Latin at that! I had to brush up on my Latin a bit
yesterday due to the many ancient monuments we visited.

With lunch in hand, we proceeded on to Bath. The town was bustling
and looked like an enormously fun and interesting place to spend a
day. Even the Roman baths alone could have consumed a whole
afternoon. I loved getting to see this amazing archaeological site
for myself, and reading the Latin inscriptions. History is simply
amazing. How did people do these things? I thought the tour did a
good job of explaining the layout of the ancient bathhouses, including
the Temple of Sulis Minerva. So much about the Temple on this trip,
but I haven't even reached the real thing yet! But it makes me very
grateful for the real thing, as I see time after time that the ancient
peoples have tried to emulate it and imitate it. Its ordinances are
holy and of benefit to all humanity.

There was so much to take in at the Roman baths that I had to skip
most of the audio commentaries and just keep walking through, reading
the signs as I went. It was interesting to see how worn down the
stone steps had become at the entrance to the bathhouse, as well as
the steps leading up to the Temple. Gave me the chills to feel that
close to history.

I had read the reviews ahead of time and knew that it would be hardest
to leave bath because there was so much to do and not really enough
time to do it. But thankfully, our bus driver was kind enough to
drive us by some more of the city, including the Georgian architecture
of the Circus. We passed the home where Jane Austen used to live, and
I snapped a picture for Shelly. On the way back to London, we also
passed through part of the Cotswolds and I took pictures of more
beautiful English countryside with the iconic piled up stone walls
dividing the fields.

All in all, a most excellent day.

Our tour guide, Kevin.

On the bus

English countryside

Stonehenge

The light from the summer solstice passes directly those two center columns

The "heel stone". It marks the position of the summer solstice in line with the picture above.

Sheep grazing nearby.

More pictures, just to be artistic.

Sweet.

Okay, are we impressed yet?

These photos are not flattering, but I share them anyway.

Me again.

Our tour bus on the Salisbury plain

Near Old Sarum, the original Salisbury settlement.

Salisbury Cathedral is even more immense than it looks in this picture.

Yeah, it's huge.

See?

A close-up of the high windows

Inside looking up at the high arched ceilings.

I couldn't take any pictures at Westminster so I splurged on this one.

Moses lifting up the brass serpent so that the children of Israel might be healed. This stained glass window was way up at the top; I had to zoom in to even see it.

Tomb of Lady Catherine Gray and Edward Seymour. You can Google them.

Outside the cathedral, near the Chapter House where the Magna Carta is kept (couldn't photograph that one)

Bad things happened here.

The fields are yellow with the blossoms of rapeseed, used for Canola oil.

View of Bath and Bath cathedral.

Former home of novelist Jane Austen, a resident of Bath.

Homes on a bridge

Me at the Roman baths with the cathedral behind me.

Example of Georgian architecture.

English countryside near the Cotswolds

Pretty, isn't it?

Hello Tennessee, er... I mean, England.

LASTLY, some pictures taken May 13th as I was visiting the Natural History Museum.

Diplodicus skeleton.

I am happy with my dinosaurs.

Giant ground sloth skeleton.

Dodo bird.

Is this the line for Noah's ark?

Replica of "Lucy"

Daddy being silly.

I'm in London!

2011-05-11T15:12:00.000-04:00

Woohoo! Thank you Shelly for letting me go do this. I'm having a blast and I finally have some pictures to prove it!

The kitchen of Ciara's lovely home in the Wimbeldon Park area.

Look! Cars on the left side of the road!

A random neighborhood in the area.

Sign for the London underground

Riding on the tube, District Line

Yay!

I'm getting good at taking pictures of myself thanks to Shelly's awesome camera that she loaned me.

Big Ben

The London Eye. Haven't gone on it yet, but will soon.

More Ben

Ben's close-up

Awesome!

Obligatory bus picture

Another London underground station.

Another one.

House of Parliament

Oops, didn't mean to get that one!

Cool.

Oh, yeah. Now we're talking!

London calling.

Another cool shot.

Part deux

North entrance of Westminster Abbey

Close up of facade

Close-up shot of gargoyles

More gargoyles

Oh good, something beautiful and not gruesome.

Nevermind.

"Whazzzuuuuuup!?"

Me + Westminster Abbey = Awesome.

Me as Photographer + Subject= Double Chin

Impressive.

Amen.

Waiting to catch the tram.

Tower of London.

Big Fortress.

Very Cool.

I walked around a real castle all afternoon and loved it!

Do these pictures not remind you of the Kirtland Temple?

Hey look, there's one of those guards who's not supposed to move.

Don't make fun of the hat, pal.

Mike, I found a relative of yours portraying a figure from English history.

The live performances were fun.

Another great icon.

Our fun and exciting week!

2011-05-07T14:02:00.001-04:00

We've had quite the week this week! Lots of happenings. Brian's mom came and hung out for the week leading up to graduation and his two brothers and his dad came a few days later. We then had a birthday party for Jeffrey's 4th birthday the morning of graduation at the church with lots of friends to come and play and help, he was one happy little boy with his spiderman themed party. We had to change some of the plans last minute. It was supposed to be at the park, but it threatened rain, so we moved it to the church (which ended up making it a lot easier!). We had hired a clown to make balloon animals and face paint, but unfortunately he recently suffered a heart attack a couple of weeks ago. He was still planning on making it but ended up in the hospital again the night before. He's a trooper! He was so sweet, he ended up blowing up the balloons and making the balloon animals and swords in his hospital bed for us still!!! (I'm sure the nurses and doctors LOVED that). We substituted a piñata for the clown and all was good. I even got a turn to take a wack at it when the kids failed to break it and succeeded in decapitating spiderman (see picture below). After the party, all of our friends chipped in to help get us cleaned up in time to head over to the graduation.

The graduation went well, I think it was just the right length. Some of our friends set up a baby-sitter at the auditorium so we didn't have to worry about the kids, that was really nice. Unfortunately while the ceremony was going on, I kept getting texts from the sitter because Jeffrey had gone both number 1 and number 2 in his undies and socks and shoes. I felt bad for her, but sooo glad that I didn't have him with us when he did it or I would've had to miss part of the ceremony! It was a really special event, Brian's dad was even able to "hood" him during it because he is a doctor, so it was neat to see them both dressed up in the school's regalia. Everyone is gone now and is hopefully arriving safe, I don't know if I've ever seen Brian glowing with this much happiness before, it was truly a wonderful time for him and can't thank everyone who came enough for being there for him as well as those that were here in spirit. And without further a-do, pictures!

Grandma Osborne having a conversation with Meggy at the table.

Ben having fun with Grandma

Uncle Jeff arrives late Wednesday night

Brian and little Jeffrey check out the male black widow the found in the kitchen with one of the magnifying glasses that Grandma bought the boys.

Pretty gross huh?

This is it looking through the magnifying glass.

Uncle D.J. got here Thurday afternoon.

Brian and I "schooling" Uncle Jeff and Ben at tennis on the Wii. :)

Brothers!

We all piled into the van to go eat at Cheddars on Thursday night.

Mamma bear and her boy cubs. :)

Uncle Jeff stuffs the piñata with candy.

Jeffrey practicing his swing with the bat we used for the piñata.

Grandma doing Meggy's hair for the party.

Jeffrey checking out his Spiderman cake at the party.

Hurray! Grandpa Nyberg arrives! He was only able to make it the one day, but he made it to both the party and the graduation and we were so happy he could!

Uncle D.J. wearing Jeffrey's birthday balloon hat.

All of the kids lined up to hit the piñata.

Ben taking a swing.

Megan's turn.

Daddy helped Jeffrey take a big swing.

Mommy's turn.

After Mommy's turn.

Mommy's prize!

Grandma serves cake at the end of the party.

Uncle Jeff walks with Megan to the graduation.

Me seeing Brian all decked out for the first time in his regalia.

The Quillen College of Medicine's 2011 graduating class.

Brian being "hooded" by his father. (we're supposed to get a professional photo of this thank goodness because I didn't have a very good angle!)

And then there were two! Doctors Nyberg and Nyberg.

Brian's new stethoscope his dad got him with his name engraved on it.

Brian's mom putting on his new watch for him.

Our pathetic attempt at a family photo.

Brian with his parents and brothers.

Brian with his Dad and Mom.

All of us together.

Grandpa kissing Jeffrey good-bye.

THE END

PRESENTING DR. BRIAN NYBERG

2011-05-07T12:39:00.000-04:00

Hurray! He did it!

Update

2011-04-28T14:56:00.000-04:00

As an update to the story of our friends Tim and Kim and their experience last night, I'd like to refer you to Kim's blog where she shares her incredible story. http://www.timnkim.blogspot.com. Thank you Kim for sharing this with us!

Weather

2011-04-28T09:45:00.001-04:00

Many of you out west have been concerned about all of the weather out here in the South and I thought I would post an update on us to let everyone know we are alive and well! We were advised to take cover starting at about 9:30pm last night, the sirens were going off at ETSU. All of the warnings didn't officially end until 1am. Luckily we are in a bottom floor apartment that is partially underground. The kid's room is 90% underground with no windows, so luckily we had a safe place for them to sleep. Many others had to take cover in their bathrooms with their little children or go to a friend or family member's house with a basement. It doesn't sound like Johnson City was hit. Unfortunately the same cannot be said about others in our region. 15 people were killed in multiple tornadoes last night within an hour and 20 minute radius around us. Our friends Tim and Kim Brooks had an incredible experience last night driving home from Portsmouth, Virginia. They had missed a tornado by a minute on the interstate that hit a truck stop flipping over cars and tractor trailers and a little boy was missing from a near by home. Thankfully Tim (a fellow med student) was able to help out the many that were injured, we are so glad they are safe! (I had to share the story Kim, it's too incredible!) We are praying and ask for prayers for all of the people that lost their homes and family members and that are injured from this week's storms. Count your blessings and hug your loved ones today. Here is a link to our local news station's coverage of the storms. http://www2.tricities.com/news/2011/apr/28/15-killed-tri-cities-region-storms-ar-1002461/

-Shelly-

Dear Family and Friends

2011-04-26T18:40:00.000-04:00

Unfortunately Brian will no be graduating next week because he will be dead. Cause of death: Wife killed him after he posted an incriminating video of her without her knowledge to her blog. In honor of his death I have posted a similar incriminating video of him to remember him by.

Happy Birthday Shelly!

2011-04-26T12:42:00.003-04:00

Shelly gets down to a new Wii game: Just Dance for Kids. The song? Happy Birthday.

I thought you'd all appreciate the video. Just know that Shelly will kill me dead for posting it. Enjoy!

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T10:51:00.000-04:00

Mmmm. Chocholate rabbits...

Tornado

2011-04-10T17:31:00.004-04:00

Yesterday was quite an interesting day here in Johnson City! It was so nice and warm, in the 80's, just beautiful. We were wanting to take a trip to Ashville, NC (only about an hour and 10 minutes away) to walk the kids around and just take in all of the down town festivities, so we checked the weather to see if it would rain on us. It showed possibility of showers and pretty small at the top of the screen it said "Tornado Watch." They listed a whole bunch of counties and this isn't the first time they've done it this year, so we decided to go on our little trip. So we went, stayed a couple of hours, the weather was wonderful, the kids had a good time climbing rocks and feeding pigeons at the park. When we finally did decide to drive home, we realized how big the storm was as we were driving back into it. There were a lot of very suspicious clouds, including this one:

I'm not sure if it was a funnel cloud or not, but it sure looks like one. We didn't ever see it touch ground or anything. We got home and the sun was coming out and it was still warm and pleasant, so we ordered McDonald's for the kids and Brian and I picked up our take-out from the Stir Fry Cafe. Once we got back to our apartment, we put the kids to bed and watched the first two hours of Gone With The Wind on netflix, then went to bed. This morning when I woke up and checked facebook, I learned that there had been a tornado touch down only about 5 or 6 minutes away from us down by the medical school and VA grounds and that people around town had been without power for around 8 hours, multiple people had power lines down in their neighborhoods. How ours didn't go out, I have no clue. It was out at the house we used to live in though. People have told me that they heard a siren come from ETSU with a voice telling them to take cover. I've borrowed some pictures from other people of the path of destruction it left behind. It's kind of eerie how our night was so different from the nights of others just 5 minutes away.

Here's a link to a news report about it.

These are pictures from my friend Tiffany's house. Their shed USED to be attached to the house. You can go to her BLOG for her account of the tornado.

These next pictures are of the VA Grounds where the medical school is located. Pictures are courtesy Kim Brookes. You can view her blog HERE for her details.

Trees literally broken in half near the medical school parking lot.

This building behind the fallen down trees was where Brian's White Coat ceremony was held his first year of medical school.

Click on this picture to enlarge it and look at the roof on the building in the background.

All Dressed Up For The "Senior Gala"

2011-04-08T10:16:00.000-04:00

One of these days we'll get another camera instead of using our crummy cell phone camera's. Until then, this will have to do. Brian's medical school class had one last formal celebration before graduation. It was called the "Senior Gala." It was a lot of fun to get dressed up for a nice evening out. They had yummy catered food and drinks, and handed out awards to each of the classmates. Brian won the "most likely to be eating an Oreo cookie while interviewing a patient" award. :) Evidently he is ALWAYS eating! It's amazing he's still so skinny despite all of his efforts to add calories throughout the day.

Our New House (for the next year, possibly 4 years)

2011-04-04T20:54:00.001-04:00

Brian went up to Dayton last Saturday and looked at a bunch of rental properties and this is the one we ended up with. It's got just the right amount of space and we are in an EXCELLENT school district, which was number one priority of course. We're so excited to get to our new home. Our official move date will be the last week of May, when the kids get out of school.

***Update*** For a limited time only you can view additional photos and details about the house HERE.

Our Day At Warrior's Path State Park

2011-04-04T20:46:00.001-04:00

Today was an absolutely gorgeous day in the 80's, so what is a family to do with such weather? Go to the beach of course! Well, the beach off of a lake anyway. :) We thought for sure we were going to get rained out with the storm that was blowing in, but we were able to stay about an hour and a half without a single drop. Just lots of thunder and a little bit of wind. We made sand castles, threw rocks in the water, flew a kite, lost a bowl in the lake, and dipped our toes in freezing lake water. Lots and lots of fun with pictures to tell!

Playing in the sand.

The boys throwing big rocks into the water.

Daddy's sand "heart."

Megan testing the waters.

Eh. It's a lot warmer on land.

Mommy dipping her feet into the freezing water.

Daddy's "sand volcano."

Mommy's sand castle (with a nice courtyard), I think the kids liked it best because it was the last one they destroyed. :)

The thunderstorm that was fast approaching.

Megan and Daddy on the long walk back to the car. Super fun day. :)

Some Random Pictures of Megan and the Boys From My Phone

2011-04-04T20:27:00.001-04:00

All snuggled up playing pbskids on the computer.

Singing in the rain.

Megan and Jeffrey trying to be twins.

Jeffrey getting ready to fly a kite.

All of the kids licking the bowl of what was quite possibly the worst home made yellow cake in the history of all man kind.

More singing in the rain.

Jeffrey

2011-03-31T11:21:00.000-04:00

Today I (Brian) went with Jeffrey to his appointment with the clinical child psychologist, Dr Kauffman. He has over 20 years of experience with children on the "autistic spectrum". He has given Jeffrey a diagnosis of high-functioning autism v. Asperger's. Asperger's is the least-severe form of autism; high-functioning autism is the next down the line. If your child had to have a form of autism, you'd want them to have Asperger's because these kids don't have problems with speaking while those with autism do. He can't tell right now which one Jeffrey has because Jeffrey doesn't voluntarily speak much for him. The next year of development will tell...

For those of you like me who have only recently come to understand what it means to be autistic, I will give a very simple explanation. Kids with autism have difficulty regulating their brains the way we do. This results in problems with how they behave and how they process sensory and language information from the world around them.

The two main things with their behaviors are 1) inattention and hyperactivity, and 2) obsessions/compulsions. For Jeffrey, inattention means he often seems "spaced-out" like he's not listening or paying attention, and it is difficult to keep him on task. His obsessions/compulsions are seen when he spends hours spinning the wheels of his trains or opening and shutting doors.

The problems with processing sensory information mean that they often feel "overloaded" by all the lights, sounds, and actions around them. While you and I can walk into a grocery store and "tune out" the various other sounds and happenings around us in order to focus on the task at hand, the child with autism experiences all of these things as an overwhelming barrage of information. Often, when Jeffrey is overstimulated, he will spin around in circles, flap his hands (Ben does this too), or bang his head on things. It's just his way of saying, "I need to chill right now".

Anyway, to wrap it up, we are getting official confirmation for things we have known for a long time now. It feels sad on the one hand to have that sense of finality about it, but hopeful on the other because an official diagnosis opens the door to better understanding by all who love Jeffrey. We will be able to get great support for him in Ohio; there is a special Academy specializing in meeting the special needs of these children that Jeffrey will be eligible starting in kindergarten. Until then, we will be able to have him enrolled in a Pre-K program with these services as well.

So that's our story. Please feel free to call or write us; we'd love to talk about it. It's a time when we feel the need to draw close to our family members and help them understand. We love you all.

Sincerely,

Brian.

Just To Make Things A Little More Clear

2011-03-17T17:16:00.000-04:00

We are headed to Wright State University which is in Dayton, Ohio. For those curious as to how we ranked the programs I'll give you the top 4. 1. University of Utah. 2. Wright State University. 3. Medical University of South Carolina. 4. Duke University. We put Utah at the top of our list knowing it was a long shot just as an overall impression we feel they got of us, but put it at the top because if we did get it, we would be near family and it would be really nice to surprise them with it. That being said, Wright State was actually our favorite program and we're very happy with how things turned out. Sorry to everyone we wouldn't give our list to, we just didn't want all the Utah people to get let down. Also, a few people may still think that Brian is going into OB/GYN. He is not. Brian has discovered a love/passion for the field of psychiatry, and is doing his psychiatry residency in Ohio. Hope that clears up some common questions about our process, feel free to ask more if this isn't clear enough! And thanks for entertaining our fun with all of the voting!

AND THE WINNER IS..................................

2011-03-17T12:57:00.001-04:00

OOPS! Forgot to delete the others! WRIGHT STATE! Dayton, OH!

Random List

2011-03-14T14:36:00.000-04:00

Okay, for those of you who are just DYING to know what our top picks are......well....you're not going to find out. :P BUT, I did decide to list all of the places that Brian interviewed at to help with the guessing. Now before you try to psychoanalyze our list and try to figure out which ones were our top 3, keep in mind, I went to random.org to mix up the list, so it is, therefore, truly random. ALSO keep in mind, that our minds changed on a DAILY basis for the last 3 weeks or so before we submitted that list. With that said, go ahead and vote on our poll that I just put up on our page. :) Happy guessing!!!!

WE MATCHED!

2011-03-14T12:10:00.000-04:00

We just found out that we did in fact get accepted into a residency program today, so no scrambling or waiting until the next year for us, yay! We will be finding out where we are moving on Thursday. Any guesses?????

Our visit to Philadelphia, continued

2011-02-26T18:31:00.000-05:00

Kids on swings at the park.

Ben and Jake sing "You've Got a Friend in Me" karaoke on the Wii. Aren't they a pair?

Our visit to Philadelphia

2011-02-26T18:21:00.001-05:00

We are currently at Jake and Nicole's house in Chester Creek, PA. The kids are having a BLAST with their cousins. Today they played around the house, battled in 4 player mode on the Wii, and went to the park together. Tomorrow, Bubba is being baptized and we'll get to attend church together before heading home on Monday. Wish you were here!

Kids playing around in the park.

Uncle Jake takes the kids down into the "dungeon" (basement).

Ben having a good time at the park.

Jeffrey too.

Pushing kids on the swings at the park

Ben climbs the ropes with his older cousin, Jake (Bubba). They are the two oldest boy cousins in the whole family!

Megan looking pretty with her hair done.

2011-02-20T12:28:00.000-05:00

I have very few pictures of Megan where her hair isn't a crazy rats nest, so I thought I'd post some pictures of her with her cute piggy tails....yes, she pulled them out within 5 minutes. :)

The Nyberg family catches the Flu!

2011-02-12T11:03:00.000-05:00

Well, all of us but Daddy have caught a flu-like illness. Ben had to come home from his class Valentine's day party yesterday because of a fever. Everyone else is coughing, febrile, and miserable. Well, Megan doesn't have a fever (maybe because she got her flu shot this year) so she's smiling. Daddy is working round the clock to keep everyone comfortable. We miss you, but we're glad you aren't here to catch it!

Jeffrey, Megan, Ben, and Mommy snuggle up on the couch together.

Megan doubles up on sippy cups of apple juice

My 3 little sickos.

A picture is worth a thousand words

2011-02-03T21:26:00.001-05:00

Has this ever happened to you?

Catching up with old photos: Thanksgiving

2011-02-03T21:19:00.000-05:00

This is a big photo dump: me with Dad, Ciara, Grandma and Grandpa Nyberg and all siblings.
Shelly with kids in Philadelphia visiting, Jake, Nicole and kids.

Jeff drives the Jag. Grandpa in the passenger seat. DJ and I are in the back. Thug style.

Thanksgiving spread; Dad at head of the table. Me, Jeff, DJ, Grandpa, Grandma on left side. Sofia, David, Mathilde, and Ciara on right side.

Gucci by Jeff.

DJ and his designated driver

The kiddos. Cute

Me and my bros

Yikes.

Ben's Birthday- 5 years old

2011-01-30T22:31:00.001-05:00

Thank you so much everyone for the happy birthday wishes.

Ben is excited to get a razor scooter from Grandpa Nyberg

Ben and Jeffrey contemplate the Thomas the Train cake

Looks yummy (too yummy, actually. We went through it quickly)

Our friends and neighbors, the Gemars, come over for birthday cake.

This was the best part of the day. Our whole family went to Ben's school and dropped off these cupcakes for his class. He was thrilled. So thrilled, in fact, that he pulled a funny move that you'll have to see to appreciate:

Watch Ben's class sing him happy birthday. His teacher, Ms Amy, lets him blow out the big class candle, and then he cuts a move. :)

Some photos from Charleston

2011-01-30T22:23:00.002-05:00

Regardless of where we end up for residency, I really enjoyed touring through Charleston last week. So much so that I had to bring Shelly back with me for a "second look" this past weekend. We went to a little reception where I got to meet some more residents, and we spent the next day visiting places we might live. Please feel free to live vicariously through these pictures.

Folly Beach

Stranded starfish. I threw this one back.

"I'll never let go Jack. I'll never let go"

I love the cobblestone streets

Houses on the Battery

Saint Philip's Episcopal Church. Love walking by here and seeing the old graveyard.

Yes, that date says 1681. These tombstones were old.

On our return visit, I had the to-die-for recipe: Shrimp and Grits. SO good. Also, tried fried green tomatoes for the first time and some of Shelly's bean cake. All this at the Hominy Grill.

A return trip to Folly Beach.

Christmas morning III

2010-12-25T17:14:00.002-05:00

Christmas morning II

2010-12-25T17:03:00.000-05:00

Christmas morning I

2010-12-25T16:51:00.000-05:00

Enjoy! We sure did.

Christmas Eve videos

2010-12-25T16:41:00.000-05:00

So, we had 3 pairs of pajamas for the kids to open on Christmas Eve. But Jeffrey was envious of Ben's Thomas the Train jammies and made a big stink about it. Being the indulgent and linguine-spined parent that I am, I went out to Wal-Mart just before they closed on Christmas Eve to find him another pair of Thomas pajamas. But they were all out! Instead, I found dragon pajamas with webbing under the arms. These were a big hit with the boys, until Megan wanted them and I had only bought two. So around and around we went!

Merry Christmas

2010-12-24T07:28:00.000-05:00

Ben gets his turn on the bungee trampoline. He got to sit on Santa's lap later that evening and tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas. The other two kids didn't last so long, as you can probably tell. But it was all worth it. :)

A child's laughter at Christmas time

2010-12-24T06:36:00.000-05:00

We went to the mall on the night before Christmas eve. All of the kids got to jump super-high on the bungee cord trampoline. This is a video of Megan and Jeffrey going on it at the same time. See if you can hear Megan laughing; it's that pure, contagious laughter of a child that everyone loves.

We hope your Christmas is merry and bright. I wish we had the time to send you all individual letters or emails, but please know that we love and appreciate each of you. Our family is so blessed for having you in our lives.

With love and Happy New Year wishes,

Brian.

Daddy visits Elder and Sister Heaton (Gma and the Gpa)

2010-10-23T14:12:00.000-04:00

I shot a quick video with Grandma and "the Grandpa" Heaton at their mission apartment in Oakland, CA. It was too big to email to Shelly, so I just posted it instead. Love you family! Miss you.

MEGAN'S NEW "DO"

2010-09-08T12:58:00.000-04:00

After unsuccessfully trying to make Megan's hair pretty with bows and ponies, I decided she needed a new "do." So we chopped off the mullett and this is how it turned out. It's been brought to my attention that she looks like a "blonde Shell." I didn't see it until Grandma and Sharice pointed that out! It's so nice to see the similarities your children share with you. :)

Yes, Ben is holding a vacuum cleaner

2010-07-27T18:12:00.000-04:00

Ben sneaks up on his unsuspecting brother while vacuuming out the van. Also, please note Jeffrey's incredible tan line. Video of this encounter soon to follow!