Parenting Gone Wrong

T-shirt seen on a 10 year old boy yesterday at the park:

"Hooter Girls think I'm sexy."

These parents should not be surprised or shocked if this boy either ends up in jail or a father at 16.

Takin' it to a New Level

My darling Olivia has taken tattling to a whole new level. While playing Webkinz this morning Mark was chagrined to learn his monkey Jack was sick and had to go to the doctor. He learned it was due to no sleep and only eating junk food (banana milkshakes). Olivia promptly arrived in front of my person and in a huffy manner told me, "Mark is not taking care of Jack. He is sick and had to go to the doctor. Mark is not a good Webkinz kid". She was dead, dead serious. I asked her if I should spank him for such a crime against humanity and she contemplated the idea.

Twin Falls Temple Interior

Excitement Abounds

This lovely valley we call home is all a flutter with excitement about the Twin Falls Temple. Ever since its announcement on October 2, 2004 this area and our surrounding neighbors have been anticipating its completion. It has been an area wide effort to be a part of the building and celebration of this magnificent temple. Every primary child wrote their names and favorite scripture on a rock that went into the foundation of the temple. This is 'their' temple they have been taught. New verses have been written for well known primary songs. The youth have been practicing dances and songs for months for a cultural celebration that will be held the weekend of its dedication. The Idaho Saints are ready for it to be dedicated and overflowing with marvelous work being accomplished.

We were blessed to see firsthand the beauty that is all ours today. There really is no other phrase to express how I felt today as I walked through the temple except for "My heart was full."The first part of the tour involved a short 10 min. video with testimonies from local members and Apostles. My heart filled with the Spirit as we listened to a teary Jeffrey R. Holland talk about how his heaven would not be heaven without his wife and children. I looked at each little head of my own children and understood what he was saying. The temple is beautiful, light and bright with pictures of Christ adorning the walls every few feet. It reminded me of 2nd Nephi 25:26, "And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins." Every so often Nate would look earnestly at one of the pictures and would say to me, "Jesus, Mommy". I would ask him who Jesus loved and he would confidently reply, "Nate".

One of my 2 favorite rooms was the 1st endowment room. There is a beyond description mural encompassing the room of the Twin Falls landscape with Shoshone Falls depicted and our very own mountains that I can see out my window everyday. I have often mentioned God's work in those very mountains and now they adorn the walls of the temple! My 2nd favorite room is the Celestial room. I have never seen a more gorgeous, breathtaking chandelier. Wow. This room is beauty at its simplest. I think I could spend hours and hours in this one room.
In short: I love this Gospel that we are a part of and for what we believe in and stand for. It was brought to our attention over and over today...Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, eternity, family, forever. "By their fruits ye shall know them".

Into the Annals of Sellick History

It's the end of an era here at the Burley Homestead. James will complete his last shift as an officer of the law tonight. Man am I going to miss that uniform! I will brag and brag and brag all I want about how good he looked to me in his uniform, gun belt, taser, flashlight, handcuffs and all. This picture just doesn't do it justice. He will stay on with the sheriff's department as a reserve officer. This will keep the little boy inside going strong. Once a cop, always a cop!

He starts his new job at the hospital here in Burley this Monday. It will be a good move and wonderful opportunity for us. All of that hard work has finally paid off! For the first time ever in our relationship he will have nights, weekends and holidays off. I can't wait to keep him busy with tons and tons of family time.

One chapter closed, another opened.

Episodes of Choice

Our family is fascinated with Michael Scott and "The Office". In our minds it is pure genius. Michael Scott makes us feel a range of emotions. For a 'pretend' group of people in 'pretend' situations, that is genius. Michael Scott is an unlikely hero who you feel embarrassed for, yet still grow to love. If you haven't caught The Office bug yet you're missing out. Go to your local video store and get watching. Here are the Hopkin's, Sellick's and Neider's can't miss episodes of "The Office" and why:

Season 2: The Dundies-Michael loves being the center of attention and with his highly inappropriate sense of humor, his emceeing makes for one great episode. Highlight Quote: "A lot of the people here don't get trophies very often, like Meridith or Kevin. I mean who's gonna give Kevin an award? Dunkin' Donuts?"

Season 2: The Injury-Michael burns his foot on a Foreman Grill. Who doesn't love bacon in the morning? Highlight: Dwight rushing off to get Michael, wrecking his car and then puking all over the hood due to a concussion.

Season 2: The Carpet-Disgusting premise, beautiful comedy. "Why would somebody ruin a perfectly good carpet? I don't know. Could be done out of hate, could be done out of love. It could be completely neutral. Maybe somebody hates the cleaning lady. And well she doesn't do a very good job obviously because my office still reeks like you would not believe. I hate her."

Season 3: Gay Witch Hunt-I have never felt more uncomfortable watching a t.v. show than when Michael goes in for a kiss with Oscar. He's trying to prove he's not a homophobe and the tears in his eyes and his statement, "There I did it" when he is done will go down in Office history.

Season 3: The Coup- Dwight's attempt to overthrow Michael results in one of the all time best Alpha Dog moments. Dwight bows himself at Michael's feet, groveling and begging for forgiveness. They then 'hug it out'. Love it.

Season 3: Grief Counseling- Gotta love Pam's boxer 'aunt' who asks her trainer to pull the plug after she is rendered completly paralyzed. Highlight quote by Dwight: "When my mother was pregnant with me, they did an ultrasound and found she was having twins, and they did another ultrasound a few weeks later, they discovered that I had resorbed the other fetus. Do I regret this? No. I believe his tissues made me stronger. I now have the strength of a grown man and a little baby."

Season 3: The Negotiation- Michael Scott in a woman's suit made by 'Miss'terious. PURE COMICAL genius. This is one of my Top 5 Office moments.

Season 3: Safety Training- Highlight quote by Michael, "I Braveheart". Michael in an attempt to prove that office work can be as dangerous as warehouse work ends up actually thinking he may 'jump'.

Family Time Neider Style

Can I just say I love being a part of the Neider family? Extended and immediate...I love the Neiderness of it all. When I first married James the one thing I didn't want to do was change my name. In Idaho, particularly southeast Idaho, the name Neider is like going to the bar 'Cheers', because everybody knows your name. It never failed when I introduced myself to someone for the first time. I would 9 out of 10 times hear, "Are you related to....?" Why yes I am! For the record, I have grown to love the name 'Sellick' especially since everyone thinks we're related to Tom Selleck. It's a good thing he's a Republican. Oh yeah, the family isn't all that bad either ; )

The Mark Neider family took Bear Lake over by storm this last weekend. The only one missing was Brant and we already have next year planned with the lovely knowledge that he will be with us. We spent too much time eating and not sleeping, but boy oh boy I wish I could go back. 4 days was not even close to being enough time to enjoy each other or our beautiful surroundings. We got a cabin on the Utah side of the lake. It had the most perfect view, a hot tub that will never be the same after the kids lived in it and a big screen t.v. to enjoy hours of "The Office" on. We certainly lived it up.

Thursday: Hawaiian Luau provided by the Hopkins family. Hot tub. Enjoy the view. Episode after episode of The Office. Bed way too late.

Friday: Beach party lunch with a HUGE sunshine pinata provided by Grammy and Gramps. Jet skiing. Titanic disaster dinner provided by the Ryan Neiders(my whole family died). Hot tub. Bunco by Whitney for the adults. Sooo fun! Birthday cake for Colleen. Episode after episode of The Office, "I Braveheart." Bed way too late.

Saturday: Picnic lunch in Cache forest provided by the Cole Neiders. Minnetonka Caves. Jet skiing. Hot tub. Pirate party provided by the Sellicks. Treasure hunt. Episode after episode of The Office. Bed way too late.

Sunday: Question: What are we going to do with all of this food? Visit to Bern, Idaho and Viking Ranch where we lived for a short while when we were 2, 5, 7 and 9 years old. Much smaller than we remembered. Lunch at Arctic Circle. Tearful goodbye. Bed on time.

Memories Light the Corners of My Mind

This assignment was on my cousin Jamie's blog. She's married to my cousin Mike, but once you're in you're in and you're a cousin. I liked the idea. So if you're in the mood please stroke my ego and leave some fun memories.

TO DO:

1. Add a comment on my blog. Leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

Signing Off

We're headed to fun in the sun for an extended weekend at Bear Lake-

Miss me!

In Need of Some Sugar

Why is Def Leppard's 'Pour Some Sugar On Me' not available on iTunes? It's breaking my inner 80's girl heart.

Me vs. The Swimsuit

Last year I had the icky pleasure (is that possible?) of going to Cherry Hill with Colleen and her family. I say icky because I HATE wearing a swimsuit and pleasure because it was with Colleen and her kids. Swimsuits and I have never been keen friends. This yuck fest began in high school when it seemed like the only activity the boys I dated wanted to do was swim. In the winter it was trips to Lava Hot Springs and in the summer it was water skiing and the Lava Hot Springs and Ross Park swimming pools. I understand that Pocatello is smaller and there was less to offer activity wise way back when I was a teenager, but certainly there was other things to do besides get me in a swimsuit. Oh those naughty teenage boys!

I digress-I grudgingly put on my tired 5 year old black swimsuit and headed to Cherry Hill with the gang. As I was prepping myself to uncover all that is glorious me I looked down and was staring straight at my skin through a very thread bare swimsuit. Through the winter as my tortured suit sat in my top drawer it had slowly disintegrated and it was only in the bright light of the sunshine that I could clearly see the poor state of my suit. I inspected the rest of the suit and in every area you don't want there to be disintegrated material there was, my favorite place being right down the middle portion of the bottoms. Colleen told me not to worry, it wasn't noticeable and we proceeded to frolic in the water. Can't you just picture Colleen and I frolicking? I'll flatter myself and pretend the looks I was getting was because I was rockin' a hot bod and not a see through suit. Upon arriving home the sorry excuse for a suit was promptly escorted to the garbage, which I knew would force me to buy a new suit.

One FULL year later I have finally found my dream suit. With my families Bear Lake Jubilee quickly approaching I knew it was time to bite the bullet, face my demons, stare danger right in the face and purchase a new suit. Colleen to the rescue! There is this wonderful little company out of Utah called Hapari Swimwear. They have the cutest and best suits ever. The tankini tops can be worn 3 ways and they have these fabulous tummy tuck bottoms that keep my 4 baby belly tucked away and my extra hip cushions in check. They are put together very well and with high quality fabric. Sooooo worth the money! I have never, ever felt comfortable in a swimsuit and for the 1st time in my life, while I know my body won't get me those Victoria Secret gigs, I feel OK in a suit. Plus-my sweet James seems to think I look good. Blinded by love I tell ya! I tried to get a pic to post off of the Hapari website, but couldn't. Check out the link to see their line of swimsuits. I got the 'Coco Bay V-neck' with brown tummy tuk bottoms. L O V E it!

3 Cheers for Hapari! Hip! Hip! Hooray!Hip! Hip! Hooray!Hip! Hip! Hooray!

Workin' Hard or Hardly Workin'?

How cute is this!?

Keeping My Heart Young

From the 1st time I heard Baby clumsily tell Johnny "I carried a watermelon" I was hooked on Dirty Dancing. I have loved this gem of a show for many years and will no doubt be having Dirty Dancing parties at the ol' folks home. Scandalous! My cousin Corena and I watched it multiple times a day the summer we were 13. This poster to the right adorned my door and the music sang me to sleep at night. I was obsessed. My aunt had one rule about watching it over and over and over. She said as long as our hands were busy we could watch away. I got a lot of cross stitching projects done that summer and all of the dialogue and dance steps memorized. I just watched it again for, I'm guessing, the millionth time yesterday. It's funny how 20 years later all of the same crushes and emotions return every time I watch it. As a youngin' I fantasized about going away for the summer and being swept off my feet by a Johnny type personality. He had to be able to dance, but would also have the ability to smash out the back window of a car if the situation deemed it necessary. My Johnny Castle crush still holds true today and I would still die for Baby's hair...

Why I love Dirty Dancing:
*"Nobody puts Baby in a corner."
*Black pants + Black t-shirt=Dreamy
*Baby and Johnny balancing on the log and in the water to learn the lift.
*Johnny and Baby's playful lip sync to 'Love is Strange'.
*Johnny's dance space.
*Johnny and Baby dancing for the 1st time. L-O-V-E Baby's awkward clap at the end of the dance.
*Johnny sneaking a peek as Baby changes her clothes in the back of his car after their dance at the Shelldrake.
*Baby's retro clothing.
*Last dance scene, the lift, the kiss, the dance kids and especially the moment Johnny lip syncs to Baby the phrase "I owe it all to you."
*Bedroom eyes...
*Baby's thumb point dance when she messes up the lift during their dance at the Shelldrake.
*Baby's voice cracking as she tells Johnny "I'm scared of everything. I'm scared of what I saw, I'm scared of what I did, of who I am, and most of all I'm scared of walking out of this room and never feeling the rest of my whole life the way I feel when I'm with you."

I truly could go on and on, but I will spare you, the reading masses. Anyone up for a Dirty Dancing party? I'll bring the movie.

One Would Think

One would think there are certain things you should never have to tell someone in a 'teaching' moment. There are some things that most certainly should be innate, especially by the time you are a full grown adult with children.

For instance:

When enjoying a night out with the family at the movies, while you and the other 20 people in the theater are chowing down on popcorn and laughing yourselves silly while Steve Carell delivers another comedy smack down, don't remove your sandals and prop your bare pig toed feet on the seat in front of you, next to the the handsome man and his wife.

I still haven't come to a conclusion why the handsome man and his wife didn't get up and move.

Top 10 Things I Will Be Doing Next Week:

10: Shampooing 3 bags of popsicles out of the carpet.
9: Scrubbing the ring of scum out of the bathtub.
8: Spraying for ants looking for food left by two 8 year olds, two 6 year olds, two 3 year olds and two one year olds.
7: Getting my kids to bed at a decent time.
6: Searching under5 beds for toys and stray popsicle sticks and food.
5: Hands and knees scrubbing the kitchen floor to remove such tasty food items like applesauce, yogurt, pizza sauce, syrup and yes, more popsicles.
4: Pouring bleach from one end of the bathroom to the other.
3: Restocking the shelves, fridge and freezer with more snacks, milk and popsicles.
2: Hiring my sister to come and take me through some relaxation and meditation yoga.
1: Disappearing with James for the evening and rewarding ourselves that all 8 kids are still alive.

Just Keep Swimming

My mantra for many, many years has been "Just Keep Swimming". I have loved that line ever since Dory our good fish friend from 'Finding Nemo' said it with such ease as she helped Marlin search for Nemo. Through the various oceans James and I have swum I always keep that at the front of my mind...just keep swimming.

48 hrs., 6 more meals, 48 more plates, 15 diapers, 16 baths and an unknown amount of fights to go.

Just Keep Swimming!

TOO Much Fun

Tess allowed herself to get carried away with some good tunes last night.

Killer Kodiaks

Olivia's baseball team, 'Kodiak', took 1st place in their division last night. She is thrilled with her trophy and her team's win. As she ran around the bases with her team and cruised by us she yelled, "I won!" When the girls first started they really had no clue what they were doing and it was great to see them begin to figure things out, although Olivia did ask her coach last week, "Are we home or guest?" After her coach told her we were guest she asked, "Why do we always have the higher numbers?" We've had some loud laughs about that. She's been playing games for 8 weeks now and hadn't figured out they were working for 'points'













(or 'runs' in baseball lingo) and that the point was to win. I also found it interesting how at the beginning of the season I approached it with a blase type attitude and by the game last night I really wanted them to win. Am I a sports parent in the making? Let's hope I can keep it in control. I would love it if one of our kids decided on baseball as their 'thing'. There was nothing more fun than to watch my brother Cole's changeup head for home and then drop suddenly. The batter would swing through the air with great gusto, only to hear the ball smack the catcher's mitt. The batter's face was always one of deep confusion. Even better was seeing the sly smile that would come across Cole's face. Never one for many words, his face usually showed it all.













And not to leave Mark out. Here is a pic with his trophy. They love those trophies! While we were ready for the season to be over-we can't wait until next year.