Salden Family Blog

Baseball

2010-05-09T21:26:00.000-07:00

With three boys playing baseball we find that we spend allot of time at the ball park. Here are some pictures of the boys. Darin is in charge of the snack shack this year so he is at the baseball field six evenings a week.

A beautiful Sunday

2010-05-09T21:23:00.000-07:00

We had stake conference in Santa Cruz and stopped at the beach on the way home for some pictures. It was a beautiful Sunday. Sundays are always the prettiest days,

Max was not really impressed with the beach. His brothers dropped him face first into the sand twice. He was so happy to get back into his seat and go to sleep.

Boys Birthday!

2010-05-09T21:17:00.000-07:00

We did not end up taking any pictures at Nate and Ben's Birthday party after all the pictures from the baptism and Blessing we just forgot to take pictures at the party. They had a combined party on Ben's birthday. They also got to blow out candles on Nate's Birthday here are a few pictures from Nate's Birthday. We had just got back from Baseball.

Baptism slide show

2010-04-30T13:49:00.000-07:00

Here is a slide show of Max's blessing and Ben's Baptism. It was a crazy weekend but now things are back to normal.

2010-04-28T11:24:00.000-07:00

This weekend was pretty crazy. Ben got baptised on Saterday April 24 and Maximus got blessed on Sunday April 25. The 24th was also Ben's 8th Birthday so we also had a birthday party. Nate's birthday is today he is turning 10. Nate and Ben shared there party.

Not Dead After All

2010-04-28T08:36:00.000-07:00

For anyone who once followed this blog. I am not dead after all just supper busy. It has been a year and a half since I last posted. Just as an update. Everyone is healthy and a year older. We have a new member of our family Maximus is four month old now. He was born on December 17, 2009. He is healthy and strong and no matter how much I HATE being pregnant he is worth all of the aches and pain I endured. I am in the middle of trying to revamp the blog with the hope that I will find time to use it again. Hopefully you will see a post from me again soon.

New Pictures

2008-10-08T21:34:00.000-07:00

I added pictures to some of my previous post. I hope that everyone is doing well.

A Saterday Adventure

2008-09-30T19:45:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we started our day with soccer ( a normal Saturday). After four hours at the park we headed home to have the boys change out of there soccer uniforms and into some normal clothing and then we were off to the California Air show in Salinas. We have gone before but this year the boys were old enough to enjoy the show. This year the air force Thunderbirds. It was a cool show. We had allot of fun. My camera is still having issues so I don't have any pictures to share right now. Ben lost a second front tooth so it looks like he has no teeth on the top of his mouth it is really cute. I will write later.

I am not Dead Really....

2008-09-20T22:18:00.000-07:00

This is for all the people wondering if I had actually died and someone had forgot to let them know about the funeral. I am not dead really... I am alive! I can't believe it has been almost two months since I last posted ( I have never gone this long with out posting). So lets see what has happened since the end of July LOTS Duh.

My hard drive died and I had to have it replaced No computer for a few days.

We went to Oregon to spend some time in Eugene with Jason and Eryn. It was fun I really wish they lived closer (I have pictures I will add later). Me and the boys also got to go see my brother Don in Portland for a few hours. LET me just say I love you Don. You are truly one of the most awesome people on the planet I am so glad your my little brother! When we got back from Oregon.

My parents celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary on August 9th. GO MOM and DAD! They celebrated it at The Farrell Family Reunion that I had been looking forward to for months but ended up only being able to be there for a few hours. LAME.. What can I say some times life throws a wrench in our vacation plans. It was nice to see my cousins even if it was only a few hours. I also have to give Bren a shout out for driving me home. Bren your pretty cool too. It was really great to spend some time really talking to you (Pat and Erik you know I love you also but I am pretty sure you will never read this).

This is a LESSON for all readers. If you have a car that has keys with a computer chip in it go to the dealer and spend the money to have an extra set of keys made then put them in a safe. I lost the keys before leaving for the family reunion. And ended up having to miss most of it. Having to admit that you are wrong, then have you car towed to the dealer to have new keys made for hundreds of dollars out of you pocket that you didn't want to spend on keys is no fun. Not to mention this type of action might just throw your hubby over the edge of sanity. We never found the original keys. I have a theory that I may have dropped them into the garbage when I took the garbage to the curb (anyone reading this and thinking curb what are you smoking Meg, Ok so I don't have a curb I meant when I took the garbage down the hill to the road). Don't tell Darin I never shared that scenario with him. Luckily he doesn't read the blog.

The boys first day of school was the Wednesday after the Farrell family reunion and my school year started the next day. All in all trying to juggle work, the kids and life meant I have not had allot of time to blog. The begining of the school year school is usually the craziest time of year. We have only been in school for a month and some how I am already way behind. Don't feel Bad I do it to myself. Lets see what else happened....

I had my birthday I am officially 34. On my birthday I "got" to attend a mandatory all day teacher in service from hell! It was really a birthday wish come true. Luckily my friend Eryn was there being snarky and easing the lameness of the meeting.

Nick has started at a new daycare that he hates ( I literally called twenty different places and spoke to everyone I know will kids). Finding a new daycare person was a nightmare. Nick is crying every time I pick him up and then cries for hours (it is only seven days a month and five of those are half days) but it kills me a little every time I drop him off. We had several doctors appointments (We are all fine).

The boys started soccer (Nate, Ben and Jake are all playing) so we spend four hours every Saturday at the soccer field, if you are looking for me that is where I am. I am sure that we have had other adventures. Hum. The boys principle called twice this week which has never happened before (all I can say is BEN).

The boys took part in the ward talent show. I wish I had a picture, Jan (my father inlaw) had them do this wooden shoe dance it was hilarious. Me and Darin also went on a date to the fair. I had never gone. Ben lost one of his front teeth I think he will lose the other one tomorrow. I will try to add pictures to this post later. I miss placed the cord that connects to my camera and I need to recharge the battery.

Also I have a cool video on my phone that I will try to upload (later). It is of my in laws opening there mission calls to.. (they just got them today) well if you want to know you will just need to leave a comment. As a clue they are going some place really awesome. They are really excited! It is some place that we have visited as family. There mission includes two countries and part of a third country. IT has yummy pastries and allot of bikes. They are not leaving tell Feb of 2009. Which is really funny because they are renting there house out and had people move in a few weeks ago. They are now living in the basement area. I would say something about not counting your chickens until they hatch but I am sure you all understand. I hope everyone is doing well. Leslie I saw that you tagged me awhile back and I will try to respond on my other blog. I miss you too.

Outing

2008-07-27T17:46:00.000-07:00

This week we went to the aquarium with my friend Eryn and her kids. We had a good time. Here are some pictures of out day in Monterey.

Bowling

2008-07-17T10:41:00.000-07:00

My friend Eryn is very adventurous and loves to take her kids out on outings. I am usually not so adventurous. But Eryn convinced me to join her and her sons bowling and we had fun. NO broken toes, meltdowns or any other injuries. Her are some pictures of the boys bowling. It was the first time for all of them. One of the local bowling allies has kids bowl free every day of summer. The bowling ally was full of high school kids and it was kinda funny to watch all the interplay. I had not been bowling in years like more than a decade and it really took me back.
Last week I also took the boys to play at one of my college room mates houses. Liz has signed up her twin boys in Ocean Grove (the charter school I work for) and I have been assigned to work with them (as their E.S. Education Specialist or Facilitating Teacher). So I get to hang out with her once a month and get paid for it! I don't have any pictures of our kids playing together but it was fun! Here are the bowling pictures!

Your Only One Once!

2008-07-17T10:30:00.000-07:00

On July 15th Nick turned one! Here are some pictures from Nicolas's first birthday. We had cupcakes and he got our families traditional one gift on his birthday. The boys usually get most of their gifts at there birthday parties which usually don't fall on their birthdays. I was using two different camera's and it is obvious which one is better.

Nick is Almost One!

2008-07-14T12:55:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how quick my little Nick has grown. He will be one tomorrow. He will no-longer really be a baby. My baby Yes! But a baby No! This time last year he was kicking me and keeping me up all night poking my bladder. Now he is almost one! Here are some pictures of his last year. There seems to be a gap of a few months in the fall when I didn't take any pictures of him. Oops.. He is the fourth child after all what can I say! I will post some pictures from his birthday in a few days! His eye is looking much better and I am sooo glad!

Nick's Eye!

2008-07-07T15:36:00.000-07:00

My little Nick has a hurt eye. I can't even really write about it but I will try. On Wednesday at dinner I put Nick in his high chair so that he would not get in the way and would be safe. I also pushed his high chair up to the table so that he could see what I was doing. We were having spaghetti for dinner. I was pouring hot spaghetti sauce on to the noodles and the container that the spaghetti sauce was in slipped out of my hand and landed on the table. When the container landed on the table the sauce flew out of the container towards Nicolas (the container landed about two and a half feet from him). The sauce landed in the area around his right eye.
Luckily he closed his eye. He ended up with second degree burns from his cheek all the way up to his hair line. He also has some first degree burns on his ear lobe and chin. He was hysterical at first. OK so I was a little hysterical too. I rushed him to the shower and jumped in with both of us fully dressed to try and run cold water over the burned area (he didn't like this at all). I then got Aloe Vera and smeared it all over the affected area trying to pull out the heat. I also called the doctor. It is possible the doctor thought I was a little crazy since I called about five times that night.
It looked like the burn was not to bad and then the blisters started forming on his face. He had blisters all over the right side of his forehead, eyebrow, eyelid, under his eye and the right side of his nose. This is when I really started to freak out. My beautiful little baby hurt all because of me and some stupid spaghetti sauce!
The doctor said to stay put and bring him in first thing in the morning. Over night his eye swelled shut and some of the blisters started to ooze. The doctor said that he has second degree burns of a superficial thickness and that hopefully he will have no long term scaring. Right now it looks pretty impressive. At this point it is all scabbed over. He is being very good about not picking at the scabs (hopefully he keeps it up). The doctor also said that there is no damage to the retina or eye socket!
I am so worried that he will be disfigured for life (even though I know everything will be OK). I have no idea how people are able to live with themselves that accidental hurt any child. I sat up all night holding him and crying. I gained a new empathy for people who have accidentally severely injured their children. His injuries are really pretty minor. I have no idea how I would handle it if he was severely hurt. Nick has bin a good sport. I have bin putting Nick's medicine on in his sleep. He has bin so good about it. I know I would not be happy if someone was smearing stuff on my eye while I slept. Know that the swelling has gone down and the blisters have scabbed over he is starting to look more like his beautiful self only scabbed over. If you know of any miracle burn cures let me know!

My poor little guy!

It's Summer

2008-06-29T11:16:00.000-07:00

It has been forever since I posted. Here is a little abbreviation of everything that has happened our last month. The end of May was very busy for me. I needed to finish off my school year. The boys finished off the last few weeks of their school year. We also celebrated memorial day.

Jacob had his 4th birthday.

I can not believe Jake is 4.

He had a special spiderman pinata!

We also celebrated father's day! Darin had a quiet father's day.

We Spent a week in Bass Lake with my family.
The boys had fun in the pool and out on the lake.

Pat brought his boat so everyone could play.

We spent a day in Yosemite.

Me and Darin went to a concert for fathers day.
We also celebrated Darin's birthday!

Water Fight

2008-05-17T19:51:00.000-07:00

As many of you know I am out numbered with in my house hold. Five boys and little old me. Well four little boys and one over sized boy. When you have a home dominated by little boys some times the rules go out the window. I caught this picture a few minutes ago.

If you are wondering NO my children are NOT aloud to play with water guns in the house but sometimes you need to just embrace the madness. I am learning to embrace more each day. It has been hot recently and I guess the boys were trying to cool off. We have had a busy Saturday! The day started with a baseball game, WCP spring fling, washing the car(just an excuse to play with the hose) and hanging out with the boys. I called to let Darin know that the boys were having a water fight in the house and he said, "He he he".

Fire Station

2008-05-15T12:59:00.000-07:00

Jacob's preschool class took a field trip to the Watsonville Fire Station Number one. It was a walking field trip and today was in the high eighties so all the kids were dying. Here are some pictures of Jacob and his class. The pictures were taken with my cell phone so they are a little blurry.

Jacob with the hose.

Jacob's class at WCP.

The Truck

Angel Baby

2008-05-14T20:19:00.000-07:00

We have a family tradition of taking pictures of the boys as baby's wearing Anya's angles wings. We usually try to take the photos between three and five months. All of the other boys had their pictures taken before they could crawl. I had not got pictures of Nick with the wings yet and we did a little photo shoot with Nick before Anya went back to Boston. As you can see it turned out cute although it is much easier with a four month old.

Caught on the Pot

2008-05-13T09:49:00.000-07:00

Well caught "in" the pot in this case. Nick has recently learned about the kitchen cupboards and loves to play with the pots. He has also recently learned how to take off his diaper. He apparently doesn't like having a wet diaper and keeps taking it off. He is pretty sneaky. He has escaped from his diaper several times this week. Which supports Brenden's theory that Nick is a stealth baby. Brenden claims that Nick is so quiet and mellow that he is stealth like. That he is a baby spy because it is so easy to forget he is there. Nick was playing in the kitchen when he decided to take his diaper off and some how fell into a pot and got stuck. I couldn't pass it up and had to snap a couple pictures.

Nick is a little trouble maker (but I Love Him). In fact I call him trouble all the time. Below is a picture of one of his favorite types of trouble. He loves to destroy my keyboard. He also loves to crumple up my paperwork. TROUBLE!

Student of the Month

2008-05-10T21:27:00.000-07:00

This week we found out that Nate has been selected as student of the month for the month of May. Ben was student of the month in January. They were both very excited to be chosen as student of the month. When Ben came home with the note saying that he was selected as the student of the month in January. He was so excited that he was bouncing up in down. Nate was also very excited but he usually holds his exuberance inside more than Ben. Here are some pictures of the boys at there student of the month assemblies. Good Job Boys! We are very proud of you!

Jan's 70th Birthday

2008-05-10T21:23:00.000-07:00

Jan turned 70 on Sunday May 4th. We were so excieted to have the whole family in town for his birthday and Nate's baptism. For anyone who doesn't know Jan he is my father inlaw. We had a small gathering with family and some friends. Here are some pictures of Jan's Birthday. Happy 70th Jan!

Nate's Baptism

2008-05-04T13:07:00.000-07:00

Nathan just got baptised. Nathan was surrounded by our extended family on his special day. It was a quiet and peaceful baptism. I would like to thank everyone who came to the baptism and shared this special day with Nathan.

I would like to specially thank Donald & Ashley, Jason & Eryn and their families for making the drive all the way from Oregon. Malena and Mason for flying from Utah and Anya for making the flight from Boston. It would not have been the same with out you guys. Brenden thanks for coming and singing at Nate's baptism and sharing the day with us even though little Ellison was so sick. I love you guys! After the baptism we had the boys birthday party at the Salden's.

We also celebrated Jan's 70th birthday this weekend. It was great to have Darin's whole family together to support Nate, Ben and Jan. It was awesome to have all my siblings together too. It was also great to see all the friends who dropped by to visit with the Salden's and Farrell's this weekend.

The Hair Cut

2008-05-01T21:38:00.000-07:00

There is one thing no mom wants to find two days before any large family function involving photo's. A pile of hair on the kids bathroom floor and scissors on the sink. Not a good sign! Nate decided his bangs were to long. Did he ask for a hair cut? NO!He is now missing a two and a half inch triangle on the front left side of his head. I have tried to salvage his hair so he will NOT look like a complete skin head at his baptism but we might have to buzz his hair after his big day. If his hair would stay put it almost works, but his hair keeps moving and it is NOT good. What's a mom to do. I guess this is one way to learn about accountability as he enters the age of accountability. When he got home from school I asked if anyone mentioned his hair. He said that people kept starring at him all day and that a few people said nice hair. ( I am assuming they were being sarcastic). He said that it was ok.

Nate's Birthday

2008-04-29T20:48:00.000-07:00

Nate is 8! I can not believe Nate is eight, it doesn't seem like he could be that old yet. He and Ben had a baseball game. Nate tried to pitch for the first time in a game. When we got home from the game Nate got his birthday dinner nachos and chocolate cake. The boys will have there official birthday party on Saturday after Nate's Baptism. I will post photo's later. I accidentally bought trick candles. They were on sale and I just grabbed the cheapest candles. I thought they looked a little weird when I put them on the cake but we didn't realize they were trick candles until the cake relit. Some of the pictures were before the flash was on and some with flash.

Sick

2008-04-27T12:22:00.001-07:00

We have all come down with a cold. I thought that flue season was over and started looking forward to just dealing with the normal spring allergies and asthma. And the flu came back to visit our house one more time before summer. I hope it doesn't come again. We are spending a quiet Sunday at home. Infecting everyone at church seemed wrong. I have heard that this cold usually last seven days. I hope that's correct. We will see. We had this same cold three times this winter already. It is a bad cold that starts with a stomach flue and morphs into a respiratory cold. It sucks.

Ben's Birthday

2008-04-26T15:05:00.000-07:00

Ben's 6! Ben celebrated his sixth birthday on Thursday. We usually have a small birthday dinner with the imitate family on the boys birthday. Then we have a larger combined birthday party for Nate and Ben later in the week. The boys always get to pick there birthday dinner. This year Ben picked Macaroni and Cheese, Pot stickers, Ravioli, watermelon, orange soda, Hot Cheetos's and white cake. And this is why you only let five year olds pick dinner once a year. Here are some pictures from his birthday gathering. Nick discovered cake! I think he likes it!

The Aquarium

2008-04-18T23:57:00.000-07:00

Ben's Class took a trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Me and the boys met them at the aquarium and hung out for awhile. Nick was really excited about the splash zone tunnel and infant zone. In the tunnel area he was fascinated by the eel and the clown fish. He kept banging on the glass and yelling at the NEMO clown fish. I kept picturing the star fish in Nemo and the girl hitting the glass while the fish says don't hit the glass. The boys had lots of fun. I had to remember to just keep on swimming.

A Sunday Walk

2008-04-13T17:10:00.000-07:00

Ben has been studying the ocean to prepare for his aquarium trip coming up on Wednesday. Nick, me and Jake are planning on joining him. The splash zone is open again and we are looking forward to seeing how they have made it more fun for kids. Ben has been asking for days if we could go to the beach and look for sea shells. I had promised it would happen this weekend. It didn't happen yesterday so we stopped for a Sunday stroll on the beach to look for sea shells. The beach was really crowded because it is has been in the nineties. These are the pictures:

Just Playing

2008-04-13T09:09:00.000-07:00

I caught these pictures of the boys playing. Nick was very enthralled by the tent. This week has been good. It was made up of baseball, work, school, helping take care of mom, taxes and yard work. All in all an average week. Nick's eyes are starting to change. If you look at the pictures closely his eyes are a deep hazelly green right now. They will probably turn brown in a month or so): They were a deep blue for the first nine months. Darin was hoping Nick's eyes would stay deep blue. He was sad when Nick's eyes started to change. All of the boys have had beautiful deep blue eyes. Today after coming home from costco when we were about to unload the groceries we had a watermelon escape from the car. It rolled all the way down the hill (about a hundred feet) caught air and exploded. The boys were so excited they ran all the way down the hill to see the remains of the watermelon.

Baseball, Baseball, Baseball!

2008-04-07T20:59:00.000-07:00

I finally took pictures of the boys playing baseball. I have missed most of their games to stay home and help with mom. The boys are playing on the Rivercats Farm team for North County Little League. Luckily they seem to get a little better every year. They are on the same team this year and I am so glad they only have three games a week. Here are the pictures:

Spring is in the Air

2008-04-07T14:03:00.000-07:00

Easter was so early this year that it didn't quite feel like spring yet, but now the flowers are starting to bloom and pollen is everywear. It is finally starting to feel like spring. Of course it is never really spring in our family until the boys birthdays. We are all doing well. The boys enjoy popping in and out of grandma Nita's room on a regular basis. She is able to do a little more each day and we are enjoying having her in our home. Although my dad misses her terribly. Nate and Ben started baseball and have played four games.
I survived spring brake with all the boys home I am not sure how I will make it through a whole summer with everyone home without going crazy. The boys are all wonderful but anytime you get four boys under the age of eight together it can get pretty crazy. I have some pictures of Nick on the swing for the first time that I am planning on adding to this post when I get them off my phone.

The Search

2008-03-29T22:35:00.000-07:00

The Search for Easter eggs was on. Easter was a beautiful spring day here on the Central Coast. The boys went on an Easter Egg hunt at Oma and Opa's house. Then we had a nice quiet Easter at home with my parents, Pat, Barb and the boys.

I Can Do It All By Myself

2008-03-20T15:32:00.000-07:00

Nick is sure that he can eat all by himself and he doesn't want help from anyone. He is so excited about using a fork. I took these pictures at dinner.

Nick and the Boys

2008-03-20T11:22:00.000-07:00

These are a variety of photo's that we have taken recently. I have been taking allot of photo's of Nick because I realized a few weeks ago that I had not taken any pictures of him since Christmas and every day he is doing something new. One of his favorite things is spending time with Daddy or his brothers.

MOM Update

2008-03-16T08:58:00.000-07:00

My mom fell down and fractured and or broke both knee caps. I created a web page to give information about how she is doing. If you want to check on her progress go to
http://nitafarrell.blogspot.com/ . She is currently at Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital if anyone would like to send her some support. I will give more info later. This is the most recent picture I have of my mom. She is standing with my fathers little sister's Lori, Terri and my uncle Rick.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

2008-03-15T21:32:00.000-07:00

Here is a holiday card for everyone to enjoy! http://www.yahoo.americangreetings.com/ecards/view.pd?i=303878250&m=1899&rr=y&source=yahoo999

Sleep Walking

2008-03-12T18:06:00.001-07:00

Our children are notorious for falling asleep in weird places. Nick is no different. He fell asleep while walking around in his walker. Is it sleep walking if you can not "walk" yet? We have pictures of all of our children asleep in odd positions. I guess you really can sleep while standing up.

Here is a picture of Nicolas and Olivia . Nick had not seen Olivia for awhile and he thought she was very interesting. He kept crawling over and trying to touch her hand and face. It was pretty cute. Although he did make her cry a little so that was sad. Olivia is just three weeks younger than than Nick.

Nick thought she was even more interesting than the cat and that is saying something. I don't blame him she is a beautiful little angel.

How many colors do you know?

2008-03-09T23:14:00.000-07:00

I am hoping to post some pictures that I took of Nick tomorrow. We have had a good week. The boys started baseball this week. I am so glad Nate and Ben are on the same team this year! Yes only two games and two practices a week! I am really dreading when all the boys are old enough that they will be playing at the same time (eight different games a week+ four to eight practices a week). I thought I would post this quiz. Just to update my page a little. I should have done this with the boys I probably would have done better with there help. Good Luck! I would suggest not trying to take it after 11:00 PM.

24

Stairs

2008-03-05T14:31:00.001-08:00

The Stairs

2008-03-05T14:13:00.001-08:00

I am trying to learn a little about all my posting options. I will figure it all out eventually. Above is a little Remix of Nick climbing the stairs yesterday. I also have the link listed here:
http://s260.photobucket.com/albums/ii24/darinmeg/?action=view&current=e121aa13.pbr

Our Little Family

2008-03-03T07:47:00.000-08:00

Two thousand and seven was a wonderful year for our family. On July 15 little Nicolas Matais joined our family. He is a perfect little baby. Nathan is a precocious seven and a half year old. who loves to read. Benjamin is a dramatic five and a half year old who loves to build things. Jacob is a tenacious three year old who is always trying to out do his brothers in everything. Here is a little video of them saying hello!

A Little About the Salden's

2008-03-01T10:32:00.000-08:00

Welcome to our blog. One of my New years resolutions was to get a blog started. It's the first weekend of March and I thought well I better get started. I thought I would give a little back ground on the members of the Salden family.

Our family is made up of five boys and one girl me. I include my husband Darin as one of the BOYS because he is one. Me and Darin have four sons.

Nathan who is 7.

Benjamin who is 5.

Jacob who is 3.

Nicolas who is 7 months.

The boys days are filled with mayhem and mystery as they are always trying to see what they can get away with. I am embarrassed to say that they get away with allot. I tend to be a push over when it comes to my boys. Not to mention that mom is pretty busy with work and life.