Our visit to the falls

This last Monday night we went down to the river for the first time since we've been here. It was a gorgious night that was perfect for walking. Parker had so much fun! Madisyn liked it too of course, but Parker loved running from rock to rock, and from one duck to the next. A man that was there with some bread gave some to Parker for him to feed the ducks too.

Feeding the ducks

Parker giving Maddie a kiss-so sweet!

Maddie having fun in the stroller

Daddy and Parker exploring on some of the rocks

Our family in front of the Idaho Falls

Now and Then

Ben and I were married in the Idaho Falls Temple 3 1/2 years ago. It's crazy to think of how much has changed in just those 3 1/2 short years, and man did we both look so young! Can you believe parents let me teach their kids when I looked like a 16 or 18 year old?! We had our engagement pictures taken down by the falls, and we had our family's picture taken there when Parker was just a baby. So I decided to show a timeline of pictures taken in almost the same spot on the falls.

11/2004: Engagement picture (Ben 26 and Nic 24)

7/2006: Ben (28), Parker (5 1/2 mo), and Nic (25)

6/2008: Ben (30), Parker (28 mo), Madisyn (8 mo), and Nic(27)

One more picture of our family in 2006

And our family now

Family Reunion

About a week and a half ago, we had a big Haroldsen Reunion here in Idaho Falls. We were celebrating not only Father's Day on the 15th, but my Grandpa's 80th birthday, my parents' anniversary, and my brother's anniversary. We haven't had a Haroldsen reunion in a long time, so it was great to have one. My Grandpa has 7 kids (plus their spouses), 44 grandkids, and 18 great grandkids (4 more on the way) on just his side of the family (his wife, Elaine, has an even bigger family!). Most of us were able to be there (some in and out at various times), and we all had lots of fun out at Grandpa's house.

During the reunion, we had a big birthday party for Grandpa, a big cookout one night, a big potluck another night, crafts and games, and a trip to the nuclear sight where Grandpa helped make history. We also had a Talent Show for Grandpa and I was amazed by how much talent my family had!! We got some of the grandkids to go up and sing the ABC Song, and then Parker decided he wanted to sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" too. It was very cute and I was surprised by how bold Parker was. He usually shys away from crowds, but I guess he wanted to do it because he saw everyone else doing it. In the picture is Emily (Jen's almost 4-yr-old), Sydney (Jess' 4-yr-old), Parker, Mikey (Jen's 4-yr-old), Riley (Lisa's 4-yr-old), Lisa, and Austin (her 1-yr-old).


It was so great to have the reunion because all of my immediate family came out for it. All of us sisters were able to be together last summer with our kids, but none of our husbands and Joe and Mary weren't there. So Mom and Dad got to have all 5 of their kids, all the spouses, and all 9 grandkids (two more coming soon) together. One of the nights of the reunion, we were able to have everyone over for dinner to celebrate some birthdays. Even though we have a three bedroom apartment, it was quite the scene to fit 12 adults and 9 kids all into our house for dinner. But the kids had a lot of fun playing together, and it was great. We also went and got a family picture of all of us, which was quite adventuresome as well. The 4 four-year-olds (Sydney, Riley, Mikey, & Emily) and Madisyn did quite well, but the 2 two-year-olds (Parker and Natalie, especially Parker!) and the 2 one-year-olds (Austin & Lincoln) were quite the challenge. The pictures haven't come back yet, but I have a snap shot or two that Dad took while we were there.

After the pictures were taken, we let all of the kids (besides Madisyn) have suckers. Everyone is there except Lincoln (13mo). In the picture: Austin (14 mo), Madisyn (8mo), Parker (26mo), Natalie (25mo), Michael (4), Sydney (4), Emily (almost 4), & Riley (4)

Sydney, Parker, & Riley waiting for the professional pictures to be taken

Richie, my sister Lisa, Riley, and Austin outside the photo studio

I was really glad that although Jen and her family and Lisa & her family couldn't stay very long, Mom & Dad and Jess and her family got to stay for a whole week after the reunion. Jess, Renn, Syd, & Lincoln even got to stay at our house for a few of the days. So the kids got to play a lot, and Syd and Parker especially had a lot of fun together.

Sydney in her ballerina outfit dancing


Madisyn and Lincoln playing together


Uncle Joe and Madisyn

BYUI Visit

We've been here for two weeks now, so we thought it was about time to go visit the old college town, Rexburg. We went up on Saturday and walked around campus with the kids, and went to the new temple there as well. Then we visited Mill Hollow for old time's sake (a frozen yogurt shop we used to go to all the time), and headed home. For all us alumni of Ricks/BYUI, I'll tell you we were amazed by how much has changed and is changing! The last time we were there at school was 4 years ago. They had had the Hinckley building for about a year, and the rebuilt Spori building for about a year as well. Now they have a whole new addition to the Snow building, beautiful landscaping all around the Spori, a new children's center (for Children's Ed classes) by the Clark, new computer lab where the Testing Center used to be, and the New Thomas E. Ricks building. Then they are adding an addition onto the Manwaring Center, and building something huge where the old practice fields used to be. It was crazy how much construction work there was!

Our family outside the Spori

Maddie and Parker in the gardens

Parker, Ben, and Maddie in the gardens

In the gardens, Hinckley building in the back

The new Rexburg Temple

Hmm, what does printer ink taste like?

After church last week, we got home, I got Maddie's dress off, and had Ben watch Madisyn while I got Parker some lunch. Course he was trying to fix our printer so maybe I shouldn't have asked him to watch her. Well, she got a hold of a picture that we had printed, and went to town with it. When I came in after fixing lunch, she had blue printer ink all over her face, tongue, hands, onesie (thank heavens I had already taken off her pretty dress!), and tights. I thought for sure she would be stained for days, but it surprisingly came right off. I don't know if you can see the blue very well in the pictures, but here's a few.

Our new home

We've finally gotten settled in (for the most part) with almost everything unpacked. I took pictures of our house, but left out our room. We've tackled all the other rooms first, so ours still has some boxes in it (but hopefully not for long!).

Living room

Office & dining room

Kitchen

Parker's room (all you can see is half of it)

Madisyn's room (again, half of it)

Like I said before, the kids are adjusted and loving it here. Although we miss our family back in Portland, we are really glad we have some family here too. In our unpacking, we found our old ukelele that we got in Hawaii on our honeymoon. Parker picked it up right away and started trying to make music. So Ben got out his guitar, and they started "jammin" together. It was cute. Here's some picture and video of it.

Parker with the ukelele

Ben and Parker playing together

Just a cute picture of the kids playing together.

Our moving experience

Well, the move went good and we're finally mostly settled. We got here last Saturday and unloaded the truck, and we've been unpacking since. Thank heavens our new place has a garage. We have so much stuff out there that I don't know what we'd do without having it! The kids have adjusted well. However, about 2 days after we got here, we were in the apartment doing stuff and Parker said, "I wanna go home. Let's go home Mommy." I told him that this is our new home and he said, "Oh. Okay." So I think he understands now. But he still asks to go to his cousin Porter's house every once in a while. We just got the Internet hooked up, so I'm putting some pictures of the moving truck and stuff.

Parker inside the truck before we started loading.

Heather, Maddie, Parker, & Grandma Lewis

Ben, Maddie, Parker, & I in the back of our truck after it was loaded.


Parker helping Daddy "drive" the truck.

Cousin Cole holding Maddie before we left.