The past 3 months...(in a nutshell)!

I've been such a blog slacker lately! Partly because I recently got a new camera and didn't know how to upload my photos to the computer.  Well I just figured it out and uploaded 577 pictures and needless to say I am a little overwhelmed! :)  But here goes.....the last 3 months....in a nutshell!  Then I vow not to get behind again!

Jack turned 3 at the end of May!  He celebrated his big day by having a party with family and friends at Gymboree!

 His favorite part is easily the parachute!

 Happy 3rd big guy!

Our family hiked up to Timpanogus Cave.  It was very cool!

 Hannah had her Spring recital for cheer!  She did an amazing job!

 I celebrated my 34th birthday!  Hannah bought me a necklace with her own money! What a sweetheart!

 Many days were spent chilling at home.  Playing in the backyard or with neighbors.

 Of course there's nothing wrong with just chilling with your siblings too!

We bought a pass of all passes this summer and the kids have loved going to Tracy Aviary!  Hannah and Nick both got picked for the bird show and got to hold and feed some very cute birds!

 Jack loved terrorizing the ducks!

We went on vacation to Island Park, Idaho.  The kids and I went to Yellowstone for the first time!  The Griffy's joined us for the day!  It was awesome!

 Of course the hot tub at the cabin was a hit too!

 Jack also potty trained this summer!  What a big boy! Watch out preschool, here he comes!

We went to visit the Banks in Huntsville and played at Pineview Reservoir!

 Hannah and I took a little girls trip to St. George with our friends Veeen and Sara and saw Aladdin at the Tuacahn!

 We had swimming lessons!  Hannah wants to do swim team next year!

 She's a great swimmer (just like her Dad) and learned to dive off the platform!

 Nick is also a little fish and gave up his life jacket this summer!

 Tricky! A knee dive!

 They don't offer lessons until you are 4 so Jack was a good sport and played in the kiddie pool!

We celebrated the 4th of July by doing fireworks in our driveway and then watching the fireworks in Sandy from the back of the van!

 We celebrated the 24th by going to a Bee's game and watching the fireworks there! We were so close, ash was falling on our heads!

 Nick turned 6!  We rented a big inflatable water slide and snow cone machine for the party and then it rained!  (The only day it rained in July!) He was a good sport though and we did the party at home instead. 

 Later that evening the sun did come out and we had a BBQ with the whole family in Grandma's backyard!

 We hiked to donut falls!  There were no donuts at the top! :)

We helped Papa a little in his garden.  Nick is growing his very own pumpkin!

 We bought a family pass to Hogle Zoo and rode the train and carousel!

 We went to the cabin with the whole family!  Nick caught his first fish!

 Hannah was joined at the hip with all her girl cousins!

 Jack was a stinker, as usual! :)

And probably one of my favorite pics of the summer... Nick played in the river in his undies! And was proud of it! :)

Keith turned 37! What an old man!

Oh my goodness!  We have 2 1/2 weeks left!  What else do you think we can pack in?  Hopefully more blogging!  Happy summer everyone!

It's a ........

GIRL! For those of you who didn't know yet, we are pregnant and expecting a baby girl approximately Nov. 6th!  We are very excited and will keep you all updated! :) Maybe this is why I've been such a blog slacker lately!  (It's really not but currently the best excuse I have!)

A Quick Kiddo Update!

Nick started taking Karate in January. He's already earned several stripes on his white belt and is working hard on earning his yellow belt. He has broken boards with his hand and won a few sparing matches. He loves it and smiles through every class!
Jack is a busy bee and so full of energy. He is constantly trying to keep up with the big kids. Here he is painting. It's a lot of work to keep him busy in the morning while Hannah and Nick are at school.

Hannah is such a little smarty pants and is loving 2nd grade. She was in the top of her class in spelling and participated in the 2nd grade Spelling Bee and did a great job! We are so proud of what an excellent student she is!

Way to go kiddos! Keep up the good work! We love you!

Hannah's Baptism

Yay for Hannah! She was baptized & confirmed on Sat. Feb. 4th! We are so proud of her!
She was baptized & confirmed by her father, Keith L Nigbur at the Buttercup chapel in Sandy.

Afterwards we had tons of friends and family over to our house for ice cream sundaes, Hannah's favorite!

Hannah Elizabeth Nigbur is named after both her grandmas and they both spoke at her baptism.

Grandpa was one of the witnesses and stood in her confirmation circle.

At the party we showed a little video of Hannah growing up that my friend Aubrey helped me make. Here's a shot of the kiddos watching it! Jack especially liked it!

We are a happy family!

Congrats Hannah! We couldn't be more proud of you and the great decisions you are making!

Good Morning Sunshine!

This post is dedicated to my dear friend Lori, who very sweetly noticed I had fallen off the blogging wagon. This was due to many reasons;

#1. I got a new camera and didn't know how to upload my pics to the computer. When Keith finally did I was too overwhelmed to try and make sense of it all!

#2. I finished my scrapbooks for 2011. In the afternoon when Jack is napping and Nick is being babysat by the TV I was so tunnel vision for finishing those scrapbooks I couldn't even process blogging!

#3 Is blogging become passe? Seriously of all the people I have listed on my blog only 2 do it regularly. I don't want to be unfashionable! :)

But no more excuses! I'll get caught up! I promise Lori! I'm glad you missed me! We always miss you!

It's All About Hannah!

It's been a big month for Miss Hannah Banana! She has been taking cheer and tumbling this year and had her big performance recently! Here is the video of her mini-cheer team!

She did such a great job that her teacher wanted to move her up to Jr. Cheer which is 3rd-5th graders! Way to go Hannah!

For months Hannah has been telling us that all she wanted for her birthday was to get her ears pierced! She was so excited to have it done and was really brave too!
On Jan. 15th our baby girl turned 8! I really don't know how this happened! I had my 8th birthday at the Lion House downtown and wanted to start a little tradition so that's where Hannah had her party! She invited her brother and 8 friends. They wore their best party duds and had a great time going on a tour, playing pioneer games, pulling taffy, having a little lunch, eating cake and ice cream and opening presents!

At the end of the party you get to chose a stuffed lion or a doll. Many moons ago my siblings talked me into the stuffed lion and I always regretted it! Luckily Hannah did not make the same mistake! Hannah is now preparing for her baptism which will happen on Feb. 4th. We couldn't be more proud of our daughter! Happy Birthday Hannah! We love you!

Santa Encounters

We had a lot of fun chances to see good Old Saint Nick this year! The first was at our ward Christmas party where we saw a reindeer, an elf and Father Christmas! I didn't get a picture but Keith kissed the reindeer on the mouth!

We wrote Santa some letters with our wish lists and sent them off to the North Pole. A few days later he wrote us back and the kids got official certificates for being on the "nice" list. Way to go guys!

Jack did make the nice list (barely) but was napping when the mail came.
We also took the kids to the Utah Symphony to see Here Come Santa Claus. It was fun. They play familiar Christmas music and the kids get to sing along and ring bells.

The line to sit on Santa's lap was really long and we were so disappointed we didn't get to see him. But we hadn't been home more than 10 minutes when the doorbell rang and standing on our front porch was Santa himself with candy canes and oranges for the kids. They were ecstatic!

Merry Christmas!

Sinterklaas-A New Tradition!

This year we started a new tradition in the Nigbur house. My mom was born in Holland and we have a rich dutch heritage that is very fun & dear to me. Growing up we often celebrated Sinterklaas. On Dec. 5th Sinterklaas (or the dutch Santa Claus) would visit and fill up your wooden shoes with yummy dutch cookies & candies. He rides a white horse and has little black elves named Zwarte Piets, who if you're bad put you in their bag and take you to Spain! So last night at around 7:30 the doorbell rang and this was waiting for us on the front porch!
Wow! That was so nice of Sinterklaas to come all the way from Holland on his white horse & bring us these goodies! And we were so lucky to have escaped the dreaded Spain bag too! (Although I would love to visit Spain, so maybe next year I'll be a little more naughty!)

The kids LOVED it! They immediately ate about 10 pieces of chocolate & cookies and emptied their little containers to put other treasures in. So fun!

*Now I wish I could take credit for this creativity but I can't! Our adorable neighbors the Boogards did this for us. I need to remember & erase this * before our blog gets made into a yearly book! :) My kids are convinced that it is from the true Sinterklaas but really that sweet family gets all the credit! I told Anissa I've been meaning to do Sinterklaas for years (just like my dutiful sister does annually) but have never gotten around to it! Well now it's officially a new tradition thanks to them!

Happy Sinterklaas everyone! I'm off to eat more chocolate!

Getting into the Spirit!

Jack's getting excited for Christmas! Can you tell?!? Ho Ho Ho!
I must be also because I bought my first Christmas gift the other day (for myself!) Happy pre-holidays everyone! :)

Happy Halloween!

We had such a great Halloween this year! The kids were so excited about all the parties, candy & costumes. Here we are all dressed up for a family party. Our kids told us we were lame because we weren't dressing up! So Keith & I pulled these outfits together that afternoon. Not bad for a 50's girl and Harry Potter!

We carved & painted pumpkins last weekend! It's so much work & mess to carve so we just did one. Hannah picked a heart eye, Nick chose a circle eye, Jack chose a diamond nose & we compromised between a scary & happy mouth! What teamwork!

Jack was a cowboy, Nick was a skeleton & Hannah was an angel. Jack was terrified of Nick's costume and didn't want to wear his hat most of the time but he was a major trooper when it came to trick or treating! He lugged his pumpkin all around the neighborhood & ward trunk or treat. He wouldn't let anyone carry him or his pumpkin. What a hard worker! And he was so polite, always thanking people for all that free candy! :)

We got way too much candy & we couldn't have asked for better weather. Today it's rainy and cold but last night we didn't even need jackets! It was a very fun & fabulous Halloween!