Boys Will Be Boys

Since I have known rob he has participated in and loved every minute of flag football season. For the last 4 years he and his cubbies team mates have reigned supreme in their provo flag football league. These boys take this so seriously and revel in this accomplishment. We have fun tagging along, hanging with friends, bringing snacks, sitting in the rain, cheering through mega phones, and delighting in breakfast wednesdays win or lose.

We love it and we love watching our handsome Rob!

Congrats to the Cubbies and their 4 years of total domination!

August 2011

This summer has been super fun and obviously wore us out a little bit.

(See the flashlight? haha)

We had some fun trips to the zoo to see the dinosaur exibit.

Lovin our cousins...

Look at these cuties...

Oh Aunt Jacqueline you're so silly...

And Etta started school!!! I can't believe it!!! We decided to put her in preschool this year and after much research and consideration I decided Kids Village was the place for us...and we LOVE it!

She was so excited for her first day of school! (And a little nervous)

She's loving her teachers and new friends. She goes to music, art, cooking, and science. Then she has a general class everyday where she learns reading and other preschool basics.

Rob went to Argentina with the Youth National Team. It was such a cool experience. He spent a little over a month during the summer training the team before they went to Argentina for the World Championships at the end of August. They placed very well for the USA team and he had an awesome time...

As you can see in this picture. The man loves him some volleyball. Or maybe rather competition at a high level and working hard to accomplish something.

Then Rob started the school year along with the EMBA program and here we go again!

My one and only...Coach

For those of you who don't know this is Coach.

What you also may not know is that he is a wildly talented, freakishly athletic, endlessly patient, tirelessly hard working, infinitely loving, and an insane smarty pants.

Can you tell I kinda like this guy?

This year has been a tough busy year for Coach and the men of the BYU Men's Volleyball team.

The Cougars got a rocky start to there season by losing their previous coach. After that Rob was brought on as the interim head coach. Seeing that it was august already, Coach and the team didn't have much time to prepare for their quickly approaching season.

This resulted in the last year being a crazy trial by fire whirlwind of 70 hour work weeks, lots of sleepless nights, tons of team dinners, and rob trying to define the kind of coach he wants to be.

It was hard and I am so proud of Rob and the team for their efforts and success this past year finishing #2 in the country with 20-7 record only to be beat by the team who took it all the way to the national championship.

Coach went above and beyond the call of duty to make the BYU men's volleyball team the best they could be.

As many of you know he was up for the permanent head coaching position and did not get the job. Crazy right? How could they not want the guy I just described?

At first I was really upset...then I was pretty pissed off...then I was able to be rational and see that the Lord was just sending us down a different path. And that's OK.

So as of now Rob is the assistant to a wonderful head coach and an amazingly talented team at a university we're still proud to call home.

Coach also decided to go back to school. So a week later he took the GMAT and aced it, the little stinker.

All in all we have no idea where life is taking us now but we're excited for a new adventure...and we couldn't be more grateful for the experience we had this last year and the group of players, families, coaches, and volunteers we had the privilege to know better.

So I guess we'll keep you posted on our next move and in the mean time keep supporting the BYU MVB and my sweet hubby...Coach.

Love you babe...

Bipolar Me

I am so excited!

I am following Coach to California this weekend sans my tiny humans!

Is it bad that I'm this excited to ditch them with their Nana?

The whole thing about it is that I'm quite sure the second I leave them I'll feel pangs of regret at not packing them along and miss them horribly.

I just have to remind myself that I've done that many times before and I'm nooot quite ready to do it again yet.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder, right?

Maybe after missing me for a few days they won't sling food at me and pull my hair.

But then what would make me smile at the end of the day?

I am so bummed!

This weekend is The Bijou Market Handmade Event!

It's Fri & Sat 10-8/10-5pm in Provo and I'm missing it!

It is most assuredly going to have more adorable local crafty little nuggets than you can even wrap your head around.

I'm talking clothes, decor, hair accessories, prints, paintings, jewelry, kiddo goodies and more.

Please go for me...

Daddy's Little Girl

Rob got Etta this little outriggers shirt in Hawaii and she loves it. Or maybe we just love it. Either way it is super cute.



Now, Etta is a very cautious little girl so I would've thought skateboarding and scooter rides would scare her to death but we've come to find out that she has some adventure in her after all. She is a little speed demon!

The whole time you could hear her around the block...weeeeeeeee, fast, fast, weeeeeeeee! Again, again!

What it comes down to is that anything with Dad is her favorite no matter how terrifying...she's a daddy's girl!

We love Volleyball!

So I've been loving taking tons of pictures of my little sweetheart since I got my camera. The challenge has been getting her to smile and to stay put. She loves to "see, see, see!" She turns around to see the picture the second she's gotten to the spot I've told her to stand.

On Yo Gabba Gabba there's a song where they "Hold stiiiiiillll..." so I've been saying this to her but unfortunately after that they..."wiggle wiggle wiggle go!" So the wiggling follows immediately after 2 seconds of holding still.

When you tell her to smile she automatically does this shoulder shrug head tilted cheeser face. This must be what I look like when I tell her to smile and say cheese or else I don't know where she got it. (Note Hugo's poor sad ears. She's literally loved him to pieces. He now has "hair.")

As a result candids are usually my best bet.

But sometimes I get a cute cheeser smile right at the camera.

So we've been loving Volleyball games. Not only because they're so fun, but because it means Robbie's in town and we get to see friends and family.

Margaret and Bob joined us for this match.

Along with my dad.

Everywhere we go Elizabeth sees Y's and has to point and scream "Y Y Y!" This is an inevitable result of everything Rob owns having a Y on it. So after every game she runs around on the gym floor and points out the Y's and has a ball running back and forth under the net with the other kids. She also has grown to love Cosmo...it certainly wasn't always that way...

Baby and Daddy, always the cutest pair...I couldn't love them more.

So although I love volleyball it's not the kind of place the doctors encourage me to take Liam...understandable. As a result I've got plenty of tickets to every game, so if you want in...

Burn 'em up, Move 'em out, Rawhide!

So as some of you may know I've had a difficult time losing my baby weight. Ive tried a few things and finally happened upon something that's been working for me. My friend Aubrey suggested a diet she had done some years ago. It's called The New Beverly Hills Diet, haha! And guess what, it works. Aside from my canker sores and raw mouth from all the pineapple I've been eating there's not a single down side. :) I've lost 12lbs so far and feel great although I'd like to lose about double that.

Now, what's strange is that as I've been on this diet I've actually renewed my love for cooking. This is strange because I can't even eat or try most of the stuff I've been cooking! For some reason I've been obsessed and pouring myself over recipes, trying and tweaking to Rob's delight. I plan for days all of the fun concoctions I want to create. Soy Glazed Salmon, Chicken Madiera, Sarah's amazing burgers, cookies, spicy Moo Goo Gai Pan, muffins, breads, Submarine pasta, etc. So I thought I post one of Rob's favorites up to now.

I made him a glazed salmon with soy sauce, fresh ginger, garlic, and brown sugar. Then I made a mango salsa. Topping it off with sesame rice, asparagus, and wonton strips. It was interesting and Rob said it was the best thing I've ever made him.

Me trying to get a good pic of it...this makes it look messy, I'm really not a photographer. :)

The patronizing "mmmmmm" Rob gave me when I asked him to show me how much he liked it.

Will you let me carry you? One day you'll walk alone...I cannot bear to miss one day from now until you've grown.

So we went to the doc on Monday to do a little checkin up on the babe. We are happy to report that she is all things healthy and wonderful. She took her poking and prodding like a champ.

She came out to be:

13 lbs 12 oz - 26th percentile

25 inches long - 65th percentile

16.5 inch head - 66th percentile

Let's see new things Etta's doing...

Screaming at extremely high pitched tones for fun

Rolling from one end of the room to the other

Sucking her thumb

Getting ticked at whoever is splashing her in the tub

No longer color blind

Eating solids...or should I say not eating

-Videos showcasing these new phenomena coming to a blog near you soon-

APES Baby!

So in our family we be lovin us some football. That's another reason why I love the fall so much. BYU football starting is one of those things that just puts a fun buzz in the air around Provo. In addition to that Robbie starts flag football. Maybe this is lame but I have such a blast watching him play. It's fun to watch him in his element of sports. Anyway, so here's baby and us at her first football game followed by some early winter nights watching daddy dominate! Oh and a pic from one of the worst games I've been to. Although my family was there (which is always fun) it was unbelievably hot, baby was surly, a woman threw up right next to us and it stunk, and as Rob reminded me, from five rows up and five rows down for some reason ours was the row of choice to travel through for at least 50 people. Hopefully it doesn't ruin baby on football forever... :)

Oh, PS above is one of the onesies I've made that hopefully might make up for my betrayel. :) Here's another...

My baby daddy...

Husband Tag:

1. What's his name? Robert Todd Neilson. Affectionately Robbie.
2. How many years have we been married? 2 years, 1 month, and days.
3. How long did you date? About a year and a half with a 3 month breather.
4. How old is he? 28 on October 25th. He's practically my grandpa.
5. Who eats more? Hmm, depends what it is. But he does have a talent for eating everything on the table and still looking hot as ever.
6. Who said "I Love You" first? Roberto. Though technically I think I wrote "love, Sarah" first.
7. Who is taller? With heels? Hmmm, for sure Robbie.
8. Who sings better? I'm gonna have to go ahead and say me...but he does have major potential, very Johnny Cash-esque.
9. Who is smarter? The neuroscience major or the chef? Tough one. Rob laughs when I say I had to take culinary math, yes, it's a real thing.
10. Who does the laundry? Neither of us usually. Either of us when we finally run out of clothes. I'm trying to improve upon my wifely duties in this area.
11. Who pays the bills? Whoever cleans out the junk drawer and finds them. Rob takes them out of the envelope, tears off the strip then leaves it on the counter for me to write a check.

12. Who mows the lawn? The HOA.
13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? When you're in bed I'm on the right, but at the last house we were opposite.
14. Who cooks dinner? Rob is master of all things omelets and steaks, otherwise, it's me.
15. Who drives? Me when I ask nicely...but usually Rob. I can't drive his car though, don't know how.
16. Who is more stubborn? I think neither of us are that stubborn and Rob said both of us are pretty stubborn. Who knows.
17. Who kissed who first? Rob made his move on the first date (a little scandalous, I know) and I was lovin it! Haha, and here we are happily ever after!
18. Who asked who out first? Hmmm, it was sort of a mutual lets hang out sort of thing.
19. Who proposed? Mr. Neilson.
20. Who has more friends? I may have more friends but he has better friends. Not to say my friends are no good but Rob's are closer.
21. Who is more sensitive? Rob, he's a big softy.
22. Who has more siblings? Same. I'm 4th of 2 boys 3 girls and he's 5th of 4 girls 1 lone boy!

23. Who wears the pants? We each have one leg in the pants, but I kinda like it better when he wears em...tells me what to do. :)
24. Is he handy around the house? Very, my sexy little handyman.
25. His hobbies or favorite activities. Golfing, Reading, Me, Golfing, Pretty much any sport, Baby, scavenging courses for golf balls, scavenging the web for golf clubs, scavenging the library for golf books, I could go on...you get it.
26. His best features and qualities. Rob has great legs. Strange I know, but I'm serious...check his calves next time you see him...hot. Pretty much there's not a feature on Rob I would change. His qualities...he's very analytical, very sympathetic and understanding, laid back and positive, he's a fun loving father, and a great teacher.

I tag everyone who's married.