Halloween Day 2018.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

This afternoon I will be helping at Lottie's Halloween class party.

Jane and Claire are judging pigs in their FFA class after school,

but later this evening, we will all meet around our table for our traditional 

 Halloween feast. We'll also be pumpkin carving, donut eating, 

and trick-or-treating.

My older girls are not too cool to dress up (yay!) and have 

adorable costumes this year. (I'll IG them).

 They have agreed to take Lottie around the neighborhood, trick-or-treating

and I am ever so thankful!

My boys have plans to roam around with the neighborhood kids, and that

will leave Mr. Nielson and me at home alone which

 is a rare Halloween occasion.

I'll keep Angus from eating the innocent trick-or-treaters at our door.

 Every time the doorbell rings, he FREAKS OUT!

This night is going to be a long one.

Enjoy Halloween throughout the years:

(I will miss Justin Hackworth photographing my family this year).

I love her so much

Yesterday after the hustle and bustle of the daily morning routine, Angus and I

walked in the door from our morning run.

 The house was quiet.

I started doing the breakfast dishes and getting

 into my regular routine when the back door 

opened; it was Mr. Nielson, Claire, and Jane from early morning seminary.

They each had a Trader Joe's bag in their hands.

Usually, Mr. Nielson drops the girls off at school after seminary, but since

it was Claire's birthday. Mr. Nielson promised Claire a proper birthday breakfast.

He made French toast with whipped cream and strawberries.

The girls were late to school, but it was a memorable 

birthday morning for Claire- and worth a tardy.

After they left back to school, I began making Claire's birthday cake.

(I may or may not have listened to Christmas music while baking).

I wanted to make this cake similar to the cupcakes

 I made Claire when she turned 5.

I  finished cleaning up the house and zipped in the car to a few stores for

last-minute birthday prep for Claire.

I wanted the house ready for when she came home from school.

Presents wrapped: check.

House cleaned up: check.

Cake made: check, well, mostly. 

Jane and Lottie helped me finish the ghosts after school.

Flowers: check.

Since it was Claire's birthday, I promised I would pick up the girls 

from school so they didn't have to ride the bus.  

They hate riding the bus because it's crowded, and they

never get to sit by each other. It's also hot and kinda stinky,

 and they get home almost an hour after school gets out.

(We've GOT to get Claire's license already.)

Before Jane left for school, she prepared a timer 

on our Alexa to remind me to pick them up.

Sure enough, at 2:50, Alexa alerted me:

"Time to pick up Claire and Jane from school so they don't

have to ride the stinky butt."

I'm pretty sure she meant "the stinky bus."

Later in the evening, Mr. Nielson 

and I took Claire on a date for dinner.

We talked about life, school, college, boys, and plans.

I love her so much.

A 17th Birthday Change

My oldest child Claire turns seventeen today.

Yes you heard me I said SEVENTEEN!

Claire is the most sophisticated and obedient 17 year old I know, and

more refined than most 25 year old's I know.

She is such a wonderful soul with a giant future and potential ahead of her.

A few days ago I was in the car and I felt my Nana close.  

Sometimes in certain places I feel her very strongly and

I know it's Nana because I've felt her before.  

It was almost like she was sitting right next to me in the car as 

I drove around town doing errands.

It's a wonderful peaceful feeling.

Then I started feeling sad and a little regretful

 that I hadn't carried on Nana's name AURORA (my name too!)

 to any of my children.

I always wanted to name a daughter Aurora, and was

 planning on naming the child I miscarried Aurora if she was a girl.  

But alas that was not to be.

Then a thought came to my heart on the NC 15-501;

  on Claire's 17th birthday I would give her the option to

 change her middle name to AURORA-- if she wants, and I think she will want.

I've already obtained the paperwork for the legal name change process.

She's going to be so excited!

Before Claire was even born, and I even married, I just thought Elizabeth was

a gorgeous name and Claire Elizabeth had a darling sound to it.

When I met Christian I found out that he had a lovely sister named 

Elizabeth, and he had several Elizabeth's in his genealogy line.

So Elizabeth worked nicely and it's been a beautiful name!

But Aurora just seems to fit with Claire. 

Happy Birthday to my sweet beautiful

Claire Aurora Nielson!

Fall Tour Day 6

We made it home.

Early this morning we drove from Virginia to North Carolina.

 As you can tell in our amazing post-RV photo

we all look exhausted and ready for a proper shower and bed:

We had such a wonderful trip, we saw a lot of amazing

 historical places, and beautiful parts of America.  

My favorite parts of the trip was playing games in a parking lot

after dinner in the RV with The Little Nies.

And I'll never forget talking to Oliver somewhere between Delaware

and New York late into the night about everything going on in his life.

(And maybe that was the reason we went on

the trip in the first place).

It was fun to drive into Chapel Hill and see the leaves changing

 deeper in color!  Finally!!

Over the weekend and in between the 20 loads of laundry upstairs in my loft, 

I will be making plans for Claire's 17th birthday, 

and our traditional Halloween dinner.

It's really such a fun time of the year- my favorite.

Today Mr. Justin Hackworth (who is in town), 

will be taking family photographs.

I wish he could stay a few extra days to photograph

 our Halloween evening as he has done for so many years!  

He's the best!

Halloween 2013

Spiritual Enlightenment: The Name of the Church;

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Fall Tour Day 5

Last night after the Little Nies were settled in the RV

 for bed and watching Harry Potter, 

Mr. Nielson and I closed the curtain that separates us from

them in a tiny "master bedroom area".

Then we snuggled up together and watched The Sixth Sense.

I closed my eyes probably 87% of the time.  I hate/love scary movies.

I love the idea of watching them, but when it comes down to it,

 I  hate watching them.

But it's Halloween, and I have to watch at least one scary movie.

This morning we packed everything up and started back for home.

The RV needs some major repairs done, and honestly we all miss Angus.

We stopped in Washington D.C. for lunch (at Cafe Rio again), 

and were stunned to see the gorgeous temple right off the freeway!

  When I say stunned, I mean it! We were speechless!  It's beautiful.

As we pulled into the visitors center there were

Christmas lights being put on all the trees for the 

annual light show in December.  

The temple is undergoing some major renovations,

 but we'd love to come back to the temple when it's open with the Little Nies.

We drove into downtown Washington D.C. and drove past the White House, 

(the boys were dying over the snipers on the roof!), Washington monument,

The Capitol, Lincoln Memorial, 

and President Trump arriving on the White House lawn.

The Little Nies faces were glued to the windows as we saw museums,

monuments, and national treasures! 

It was the quick way to do D.C.

We drove to Richmond, Virginia for dinner and will stay the night here.

In the morning we head back to the Harlow House.

We've decided what we're going to do on our next East Coast tour.

We just need more time! 

Maybe this summer when the Little Nies are out of school?

On the way home in the car I read about George and Martha Washington.

What a fabulous couple.  Martha's daughter (George's step-daughter)

 had TWENTY THREE children!  What a woman!

Also at dinner Jane set me up with my own "bitmoji'".

I don't even know what the big deal is about these guys.

I mean, I know they've been around for a while, I just haven't ever had one.

Until tonight at dinner.

Family time is the best.

Fall Tour Day 3 & 4

Our mission today was to see one of the oldest
 covered bridges in United States.

And we did!
In the small town of Kent, Connecticut is the Bull Bridge 

where brothers Issac and George built this beauty around 1760.

It's been said that General George Washington
 himself crossed this 109 foot bridge.

When we arrived to the bridge, we were shocked to see 

that it's still in working condition,
and we had to run for our lives a few times when
cars came whipping around the bend.

 In fact two UPS trucks flew in and out while we were visiting.

It's incredibly well-built and a little spooky inside too.

The wind picked up and it began to rain while we were 

there which made the experience all that more "Halloween-y".

We all loved it.

**  **  **  ** 
Earlier that day we explored the shores of the Hudson Bay
 and collected a few shells to take home, and remember our trip by.

The night before we walked main street in Sleepy Hollow where we
 had dinner and then dessert in a little sweet shop down the street,
(Ye Old Schnooker and Schnapps Shoppe?).

I asked the high school kid working what it's like

having the Headless Horseman as the school mascot,
(because I just can't imagine, it's too perfect!).

He said he didn't really think about it, but he thought the

 actual mascot who shows up to football games in a black cape
and rides a black horse is pretty cool.  

I'd have to agree.
Also, is it weird for me to want to see what the Headless Horsemen
cheerleading uniform looks like?
(Does it have a headless horseman on it?).

On the way home we told (mild) ghost stories and listened to Halloween songs.

(Great mix Claire!).

We saw the spooky graveyard where Washington Irving himself is buried.

Sadly we were a day behind in our plans (flat tire in Virginia, 

broken toilet in New York, and our shower busted in New Jersey).

After checking out the covered bridge we rushed home from

 Connecticut in the pouring rain (and traffic),

and didn't get to see the much anticipated Headless Horseman 

running around the park as we had planned. Lottie was heartbroken.

As we exited out of the city on the (new) bridge,
(I don't care what anyone says, 

I'm always going to call it the Tappan Zee Bridge),
we slowly looked behind us at the

 gorgeous Hudson Valley, and I promised Lottie
(and Jane--she was super sad too), 

that we'd be back next Halloween!  

If we can't get the toilet fixed
(it doesn't flush and that's kind of a BIG problem),

we might have to cut our Fall Tour adventure short--skipping out on 

Washington DC.  Boooo.  The Little Nies are pretty bummed.

We'll see tomorrow.

Today was glorious as we drove around New York.

The cozy little houses nestled among the colored leaves.

Smoke coming out of chimneys, and the lazy river near the road

was enough to send me into a autumn overload coma,

(I don't even know what that means, but it's something like that).

I couldn't have been more happy.

This is why RV travel is great.

We've been able to cover so much country and seen so many 

beautiful sites.  

Unfortunately, the toilet is kind of a deal breaker as we drive

with seven bodies.  I hope we can fix it tomorrow.

** ** ** ** ** 

Also: GIANT HUGE LOVES, HUGS, AND KISSES

 to my main main for dumping our waste and stuff everyday.  

These trips are easy-going because of you.  

I love you (and am so glad we brought the disposable gloves!).