The Nelson Family

245 Days of Life!

2011-01-28T13:27:00.003-07:00

My baby girl is 8 months old today!! We love this little thang. She has a very different personality than Tay, so it's fun to see both of them. Here's some things about her...

*She LOVES food. But, now that I've given her 'big people food' she won't hardly touch the baby food. I guess I don't blame her. In fact, today for lunch she ate a whole bowl of Ramen. ha

*She can get pretty much anywhere she wants to go by doing this funny worm thing.

*She's super tough. When we got her shots I was watching her face and holding her, and the nurse started putting the band-aid on. I was really confused why she was putting it on before she even gave her the shot. But, she was actually already done and Ellie didn't seem to care one bit. That was awesome. Also, she gets beat up by Tay all the time. I mean, Tay plays with Ellie all the time, and sometimes it turns rough. ha. Tay grabs her by the stomach and rolls all over the floor with her. Sometimes Tay's on the bottom and sometimes Ellie is. She thinks it's funny. Whatever.

*Will NOT sleep anywhere but her bed and her room. Sometimes she'll sleep in another crib, but only if she's exhausted. She will not sleep at church, in the car, or pretty much anywhere else. But, she is generally happy to be awake. She will hardly make a peep all 3 hours of church, but she'll be sooo tired.

*She sleeps great in her bed. Still taking 3 naps (most of the time, if we're home for them). Sometimes sleeping through the night. This is about to end, though. I'm just not going in there anymore. Poor thing is just going to have to cry!:(

*Is generally a very happy baby, smiling at everyone. But, I'm pretty sure she's teething right now, which must be a very serious thing, because this girl is hard to crack these days.

*Is a HUGE mama's girl!! She follows me everywhere I go. Even if Eric's holding her and I walk out of the room she cries. This is a love/hate thing for me. It makes me feel good sometimes, and other times I can't get anything done unless I just let her cry. She even wants to sit on my lap and play with her toys, she does not want to play alone. Tay was definitely a daddy's girl, so this is fun for me!

*LOVES to be held. Tay always wanted down and to move around, but Ellie wants to be held and just watch.

*No teeth yet.

*Still nurses. She won't take formula, so we'll apparently be nursing until she's 1, which is just fine with me.

*Doesn't really love the car. Tends to get pretty fussy in there. I think this will change when we can turn her seat around and her and Tay can play together. At least here's to hoping:)

*LOVES, loves Tay. Every morning when I get her up she is looking around everywhere for Tay. They are soo cute together.

She has such a sweet temperment, we absolutely love her and could not ask for a better baby!!

An Excerpt...

2011-01-23T15:38:00.005-07:00

Here's a part of the letter I sent to Hannah this week. I thought it was a good recap of our week. I HAVE TO, HAVE TO post stinking Christmas stuff!!! I swear I'll do it soon. Oh well. This will do for now...

Getting back to normal life after being gone is hard for me, but especially TAY! She's been a total stinker this week. I seriously got all crazy thinking we were out of this terrible 2 thing, and then this week happened;). Also, we've been pretty busy and she hasn't napped, so I'm sure that's part of the problem, because we all know, no matter how much sleep she NEEDS, she will wake up before 7...everyday! Oh the joys. Here's a sampling of some things she's said this week...

*Mom, take these wrappers off--wrappers=crust on bread.

*These dinosaurs are fessional (professional). Hmmm, yep Tay, they sure are professional dinosaurs. They're good at their job

*She did this little giggle and said, "Mom, I'm laughing so hard right now". What?? No you're not. ha

*I said to her, "Tay, say 'yo'" and she said, "yoke"

*I told her my legs were sore from working out, and she put her pointer finger in the air and said, "I have a great idea! I'll help your legs. Let me just go get my blanket." Apparently her blanket heals all things. Thank goodness for that!

*And today on the way home from church in the car Ellie was squealing and Tay said to her, "No Ellie, no. You're not a cowboy".

This week I took her to Disney on Ice. It was awesome. But, one downside was all the people walking around selling stuff. She wanted EVERYTHING. Each time I told her no. One time she said back to me, "I can just look at it then?" Yes, break my heart a little more why don't ya. So then I bought her some cotton candy, and it was TEN DOLLARS!!! I was going to die. And later we got up to go to the bathroom and came back, and boom, cotton candy gone. GONE. At Disney on Ice, someone stole our $10 cotton candy. Oh well. Lesson learned, I should have never bought it in the first place. Tay loved it. She was waving at all the princesses. She said, "I never want to go home". Too bad she got tired at the end and got all crazy and hit me. That made me mad. But, overall, a good night with the Tayster.

The next day we went to the zoo with some friends. Super super nice out. Like way nice. It was so nice to walk around. Tay and Ellie were both really, really good. Which way surprised me because I yelled at Tay on the way over for being super naughty and whiny, and it was smack in the middle of Ellie's nap. But, it was awesome, and they were great;).

Saturday we tried to go to Chuck E Cheese, and it was the worst. It had to have been a fire code violation there were SOOO many people in there. RIDICULOUS. I used to think that place was fun...my opinion may have just changed. But then again, the only times I've taken the kids there is at like 10 AM, and we're the only ones in there. That's the best! And, it's clean. So, another lesson learned.

2010-10-31T16:08:00.005-06:00

Our Halloween was great!! I'm taking advantage of my last year of being able to pick Tay's costume. I have a feeling she'll want to be a princess for about 6 years straight! ha. We just went to our ward's trunk or treat. It was awesome to trick or treat at 70 degrees! Seriously. When we left the house I was afraid the girls would be sweating to death in their warm Utah halloween costumes. But, once the sun went down, it was perfect!! Seriously. Wish everyone could be here with us!

As you can see from the pictures below, Eric's mom made these costumes for Tay and Olivia (her cousin) 2 years ago. So, we decided to reuse them and have the girls match. It was perfect! This is Tay, Halloween 2008.

And Tay and Oliva, 2008.

Ellie, 2010

Tay, 2010

I took this picture of Ellie today and realized I have a super similar one of Tay. Look at the differences in their cheeks. Ellie still has good cheeks, but nothing like Tay's!! What do you notice that's different?? You can definitely tell they're sisters, though.

The Cabin

2010-08-21T22:33:00.004-06:00

Every year Eric's family does a trip up to the cabin in July. It is always an awesome time, and this year was no different! I had spent 2 1/2 weeks in Utah without Eric, and then he met us at the cabin. So, it was especially great to see him again! I was actually pretty nervous to go up there with a brand new baby. Also, packing kinda stressed me out, because I had to pack for Utah for a month and for a cabin trip, which require entirely different kinds of clothing. Needless to say, we had a lot of stuff!

Although the trip was wonderful, we did have our fair share of not so great things happen. When the kids and I first got there we went with part of the family in a four wheeler type thing down to the lake. Ellie got hungry there, so I decided to feed her there instead of driving all the way back to the cabin. So, I was feeding her, and Tay was just walking around the lake. While I was feeding Ellie, she decided to have this monster blowout. It was all over her and me. Luckily I had another diaper to change her into, but no clothes. No big deal. But, when I was changing her, Taylor fell and busted her lip open and was crying. Plus, she had had no nap and was a total mess. So, she wasn't really just crying, she was totally freaking out, and would not be calmed down. She's one of those kids that mostly just gets mad when she gets hurt, so she was doing a lot of yelling. Eric wasn't there yet, and I had been single-momin it for 2 1/2 weeks, so I was done! Anyway, I totally just started crying, and we went back to the cabin and put Tay down for a nap, changed Ellie, Eric got there, and everything turned out just fine. Now that I'm writing it, it doesn't seem like such a big deal. Oh man.

Another time we put Tay down for a nap. Everything seemed just fine, until Eric's mom brought Tay out COVERED in mascara! She had gotten into my makeup bag and gotten mascara, eyeliner and lipgloss on soo much stuff! She ruined about 20 pieces of clothing. It was all over her. Eric was also gone when this happened and I was nursing Ellie (go figure). So, I made Tay take a cold shower. She was totally screaming, because the water up there was actually cold! She's had to take some cold showers here, but the water is not too bad. Dang, I sound like a mean mom! Then, Kjersten (Eric's sister) took over Taylor because Ellie was screaming. So, I finished feeding Ellie, cried, and had most of the mess cleaned up. Then, Eric got back. Such is the life of a mom:).

Other than those 2 incidents, we were great! A few of the other kids got sick, my niece and nephew had to leave:(. We luckily were not infected! We had a blast. Played some Minute to Win It games, stayed up late playing card games, rode 4 wheelers, fished, ate tons of yummy food, and just hung out. There were lots of kids there this year, which made it really fun! Now for some pics...

Ellie's Baby Blessing

2010-08-21T22:24:00.004-06:00

On July 25th we blessed little miss Ellie Quinn Nelson. It was a beautiful blessing given by Eric in my parents ward in Utah. There were 6 people in the circle: Eric's dad and brother, my brother, my dad, Eric and the Bishop. It was so great to have all the family there. We actually took some family pictures after the blessing, which we totally forgot to do with Tay! Oops. Afterward, we all came back to my parents house and had crepes with strawberry and whipped cream filling, some with banana and nutella, and some just plain with syrup. We also had eggs and sausage. It was delicious! It's making my mouth water right now! Anyway, here are some pictures...

Ellie Quinn

2010-06-03T15:18:00.003-06:00

Wooohooo! Miss Ellie Quinn is here! We're so excited and grateful to have her in our lives. She is such a sweet and beautiful girl. She weighed 7lb 9oz and was 20in. long. She has a little bit of really, really dark hair. She looks very different than Tay did, which is so fun! She is a great baby! Very mellow. Tay is doing well adjusting to her. She is very concerned when she cries and tries to get everything she can for her. She'll put all her babies, all the binkies she can find, and any blankets she can reach around her to make her happier. I love it. She is going to be the best big sister. She hasn't even had an accident yet!! I can't even tell you how happy that makes me:)!!

Here's the story of Miss Ellie...

I went into the hospital at 6AM on Friday May 28th. I had to get antibiotics for the Group B Strep. I got the antibiotics until 10:30. Then they started the pitocin at the lowest level ever! It was ridiculous. It was totally the same. Nothing changed. I guess my Dr. was at another hospital and wouldn't be able to be there until after lunch, so they were just stretching it out. Dumb, dumb. Anyway, once they got ahold of the dr. and he said he was available, they came in and checked me, and broke my water. I was dialated to a 5. About 20 minutes later I got my epidural. It took about 20 minutes to get it all in, and then at least another 20 minutes until I felt anything from it. I was actually in a ton of pain. A lot of the family was in there with me. I was trying to talk and laugh, but I was hurting a lot. So, they left. I just started crying. The dumb epidural was NOT working!! So, I had Eric go out and get the nurse. She came in and checked me, and kinda freaked out. She said I was dialated to a 10 and the baby's head was right there! She said I needed to hold on because the dr. was like 15 minutes away. I had gone from a 5 to a 10 in about 45 minutes. It was totally intense. Then the dr. came...finally.:) I pushed 3 times and she was here! It was amazing to see her sweet face. I loved it!

I feel sooo blessed to have a healthy, wonderful baby. It's sooo crazy to be the mom of TWO children. Holy moly. We have some adjusting to do, but I'm excited to do it. My sister, Hannah, was here helping for a couple days. Then my mother-in-law came and brought Tay with her. She stayed for 3 days with me. It was SO, SO nice to have so much help. She left this morning, and it's been going really well. I know there will be ups and downs, but I'm excited to have our little family. I love them!:)

A Quick Update

2010-05-21T14:26:00.004-06:00

Check me out...doing ANOTHER post! I am awesome;). It has really gotten hot here lately. Like, in the 100s the past couple of days. So, we've spent some time in the water. If it were up to Tay, she would be naked all day. She has this fabulous habit of taking her swimming suit off as soon as it gets wet...no matter where we are! How fun is that!? Well, onto the pictures...

See, told ya. She loves having nothing on! I was inside making dinner and came out to find this little set up. She had used her bike to get on the swing, and set all her babies up by her. How sweet:).

Filing feet is a must here, especially wearing flip-flops all year round.:) Lucky for her, her feet are still so baby soft, I love them!

These pictures with the sunglasses on cracked me up. She was loving them. This is the one and only time she has wanted to wear them. We'll take what we can get.

So darling;)

We went to a little splash park with our friends. Tay actually loved it. We'll be headed back there, for sure. Walking out to the car. They were holding hands forever! I've been told that Eli is already betrothed to someone else, but Tay will not let that stop her. She's determined to win him over:).
And finally...a belly picture. You know, the ones I HATE taking! So awkward for me. Anyway, this is me at 38 weeks. 1 week from today I will be induced and finally get to see this little one!! Can't wait.

This pregnancy has been as smooth as can be. The beginning went super fast, especially since we didn't tell anyone until I was 17 weeks. Then, the last 2 months has been soooo long! Wow, I'm ready. I tested positive for Group B Strep, so they are inducing me 6 days early so I can get the antibiotics in and working before I have her. Tay's labor was total 4 hours, and the antibiotics need to be in there for 4 hours before I have Ellie, so they don't want me to go into labor on my own, because there might not be enough time to get the antibiotics in. Got it? I did not request to be induced early, I swear.;) But, it is really nice. Only 6 days, though. So, looks like yet ANOTHER May baby in this family. I DID NOT want a baby in May, for real. Let me just tell you what we have going on already in May:

-Tay's birthday (5th)
-Our anniversary (6th)
-Mother's Day
-My mom's birthday (11th)
-My dad's birthday (16th)
-My brother's birthday (20th)
-Eric's birthday (25th)
-Ellie's birthday (28th)

Awesome. Neither of my babies were due in May, but May it is. Sometimes I think the Lord just laughs at me...thinking I can be in charge of any of this! ha. Anyway, we're SUPER excited!! Can't wait to see her sweet and healthy face.

2010-05-09T20:48:00.009-06:00

Oh. My. Gosh. I HAVE to post more often. There are a bazillion pictures!! Sorry. We've been VERY busy around here. I also have to take more pictures with Eric and I...we have NONE! Enjoy Miss Taylor.

Loving mom's shoes.

We tried to move her to her big girl room. yeah, that lasted 1.5 nights. ha. She hated it, and I'm not ready to give up a good napper! Little miss Ellie will be sleeping in her bassinet for a few months. I'm sure she won't mind:).

Wow, so far behind! Yes, this is Easter. Right after her nap. We had a great Easter. Tay loved looking for the eggs. She ate the candy for weeks!
Just my cutie face.

We took Tay to Chuck E Cheese while we were visiting in Utah. She FRREAKED out when we first tried to put her on the rides. It took her a long time to warm up to it. But, then she loved it! She kept asking for more monies to put in the rides.

This picture speaks for itself...the night before the 1st big potty training day. All the essentials.

She has done SO, SO well. 7 accidents the first day:(, then only 1 the next. We haven't had more than 1 accident any single day since then, and most days she doesn't have any. It's officially been a week. I'm really proud of her! She will probably regress when the baby gets here, but that's ok. At least she knows the basics. I'm glad I decided to do it before the baby, because I don't think I would have the time or energy to devote to it for MONTHS after the baby is born. It was a full-time job! But worth it.

So, we almost can't go to the park anymore. It's super hot here already. But, some mornings we get ready early and head out to the park. She loves, loves, loves swinging. She also FINALLY will go down the slides by herself. This makes the park experience a little more enjoyable for me!
Happy birthday morning! She is too cute when she wakes up. Happy girl!

We went with her friend Eli to get some frozen yogurt on her birthday. It was super fun, and yummy!
Birthday strawberry shortcake with her cousins.

Blowing out her "candles". She grabbed the match right after this and burned a sad little blister on her finger.

My anniversary flowers. Happy 4 years to us:). We went and got Thai food, went to the mall, and got some cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory. It was awesome.

Our happy girl today. Just had to show that I got her hair in 1 pony. This is even after nap, which usually destroys her hair. It was SOOO cute when we went to church, and WAY easy to do. YAY.

Well, I wish I could say I'd be doing another post before the baby's born, but...that will probably not happen. I'm feeling great, and dialated to a 3. Down to weekly appointments, and a little over 3 weeks to go. Getting super excited to see this little one!

Growing: Tay and My Belly :)

2010-02-28T13:03:00.004-07:00

Hi! Eww, I have no idea why this is all underlined! How annoying is that?! Everything is going really well here. Tay is getting soo big. We've been staying pretty busy spending time with friends, playing at the park, working on projects, getting Tay's big girl room ready, and planting a garden. Tay is just my little buddy. We get to go everywhere together;). She is usually really great, she just pretty much hates shopping of any kind. So, that is frustrating sometimes. There's been a couple times where I've gotten up super early to go grocery shopping while Eric is still home just so I don't have to take her! ha. She's learning things really fast, and is the biggest chatter box ever! I swear, she'll talk your ear off.

Smelling the markers. Awesome. I'm pretty sure her daddy taught her that! ha
2nd haircut. She got it cut into a cute little A-line bob. I love it.

When we went to Vegas she was loving Paul Harber's cowboy boots!

So, her hair was in two messy pig tails on top, and this is how it came out after her nap! And, because I'm an awesome mom, we left them like that the rest of the day! We even went places looking like that!

Our garden. We put corn, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, onions, bell peppers, squash, cucumbers, cilantro, strawberries, and an aloe very plant! Fun, fun. I sure hope something grows on them!

Soo, I haven't posted ANYTHING on here about being pregnant. But, I am! ha. I'm going on 27 weeks this week. We are so excited for this new little girly to join in the fun!

Ok, I hate taking these pictures! I have been a total slacker too. This is the only pregnant picture I have of me with this one. This is 26 weeks. I feel great. I am seriously soo blessed in my pregnancies to feel wonderful. Only 3 months left! YAY! I'm so excited.

Annndddd, this is her name! I think it will be Ellie Mae, but we're still finalizing the middle name! Well, unless we really have a change of mind. This little thing I made will go above her crib. Fun, fun.

This is a video of Tay counting...hopefully it will work!

4 Posts a Year?!?

2010-01-11T21:08:00.004-07:00

So yeah, at this rate I'll be posting 4 times a year! I rock at this!:) Sometimes I just feel like I'm a terrible writer and I don't have anything interesting to write. But, I LOVE reading everyone's blogs, so I guess I need to contribute a little! ha

Here we go, finally getting to Christmas. Better late than never! We had a great trip to Utah to spend time with both families. We were completely spoiled. We had a blast!

This picture makes me sad. She was soo sick when we were up in Utah over Christmas. She threw up in bed sometime during the night. I got her up around 5 (she was crying) and she had dried puke in her hair and clothes. She was BURNING up. Her temp. got up at 104.3! Scary. She wouldn't do anything besides just lay on us. She did not want us to move either. It lasted 2 days, then she was better. Sad.

She was determined to do her own hair. Funny kid.

Opening her play dough. I don't really know about this present. I have to sit right by her and watch her every move when she's playing with this, or I find it all over the house and ground into the carpet. Lovely. But, she loves it and asks for it all the time.

Christmas morning.

Feeding her new baby from Saren. She LOVES that thing. She does this pretend cry thing along with the baby, and it's pretty funny.

Trying on her hat and gloves from her stocking. I guess we don't really need them down here, who knew!

So, I forgot my camera at my parents house when we went to Eric's parents house on Christmas. How sad. But, let me tell you this, we were totally spoiled! We had so much fun spending time with our families, a little cold weather, and some friends for Tay.

Just a cutie picture of my mom and Tay. Love it.

So, Tay is going through this awesome phase where she takes her diaper off at night, or whenever I'm not paying enough attention. It's pretty awesome. I've come to get her in the mornings multiple times to a naked bum and a peed bed! Luckily it has never been a poopy one! Anway, Kjersten gave me this idea to put her swimming suit over her jammies. Works like a charm. She cannot get it off. We put it on her every night. She actually loves it. If I don't get it out with her jammies, she will either ask for it, or just go and get it. Funny kid. Although she really wants to go swimming when she's in it. Soon enough.

Just a day at the park in January! I am really blown away that this can really be winter! Seriously, it is amazing. Not trying to rub it in, because you can rub it in my face in about 3 months! ha We have been loving it, and really trying to spend time outside!

So, HUGE project of the New Year!!! We painted the inside of our house!! I've been really, really wanting to do this since we moved in 7 months ago! Finally we just did it. Saren came down to AZ to hang out for a week, and (poor thing) we decided to take advantage of that! I did not want to pay a babysitter just so I could paint my house, and we really wanted Kjersten and Kevin to help, so Saren agreen to watch the kiddos...ALL DAY!! We could not have done it without everyone's help. It took the whole day. I started about 7, and we finished at 7 that night. We really didn't like the color after we had finished about 1/2 the house, but we just decided to keep going. But when we woke up the next morning, we started to really like it. Now, I love it! It makes such a huge difference. It was so fulfilling to paint over those dirty marks on the white walls that I just could not get off. It was awesome! THANK YOU to Saren, Kjersten, Kevin, and Eric (who cut-in ALL the paint on the ceiling!). Feels SOOO good to have that done!
"Helping" mama cook. But, isn't that the most adorable apron you have ever seen?!? Eric's mom made one for all the girls, and teeny matching ones for the little girls. I love them!

Just chillin in her baby stroller! I'm sure that thing is going to break with her in it! But, she loves it. She always wants me to push her around in it. Funny girl. Oh, and notice the swimming suit again. It's a nightly thing.

I just love these little curtain holders. They are so fun in this girly room!

When we painted the rest of the house we did Tay's room too. I LOVE how it turned out. It's my favorite room in the house! I still have a couple other things I want to do with it, like do her name over the crib, and a cute vinyl saying over the closet, but other than that, I think we're all done with that one! It's nice to feel like I have ONE room done just the way I want it! Now I get to move to another room! The problem is trying to do it cheap!!

Happy Fall!

2009-11-01T20:24:00.005-07:00

Fall is the best! I love it. I'm loving it even more down in Arizona. Seems like it didn't take us long to get acclimated to the warmer weather! ha. It actually doesn't even really feel like fall at 80-90 degrees, but we'll take it! We did take a quick trip up to Utah again. I swear every time I post we have gone to Utah...sweet. Anyway, it was super hot here, so we were excited for a little cooler weather, but got a little more than we bargained for. I think it snowed one day! ha. We had to buy Tay some warmer clothes! We surprised my family when we came up, so that was soo fun. Stopped in Cedar City to see Hannah and totally caught her off guard leaving work. Saren was super confused when she called the house and I answered, she thought she had just dialed the wrong number. We always love visiting our family.

Anyway, when we were there we took Tay to Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving point. It was super cold and windy so we didn't stay too long, but we still had fun.

This is Tay with her "cousin" Claire. Someday they will like playing together. They totally don't get it yet! They're sure cute, though.

And this is what happens when your 18 month old learns how to climb up the chair onto the computer desk while you're not paying attention. Stinker!

Eric's mom came out for a week and we got to do some fun things with her! We went to the Arizona State Fair. Fairs are always sooo funny to me. The people that come out to them...love people watching there! Tay LOVED the carousel. She went on it 5 times, I think.

The day Eric's mom left, my mom came! How fun. We got to carve pumpkins with Kjersten and her family. Tay loved the guts.

I love Eric's tongue in this picture. Total concentration.

I can NEVER get Tay to even look at me to take a picture, let alone smile. This picture is a rare one, so I had to post it! Pretty soon you'll see more than just those two teeth. Two new ones on the bottom and another one on top, making her now have 7 teeth! Sweet.

And finally we made it to Halloween. Tay was Dorothy. I had to take a gazillion pictures to even get a couple decent ones! I swear.

We went to our ward's trunk-or-treat. Tay had a great time. Eric took her around to the cars, and after the second car she wanted to do it all by herself. She would either hold her basket up for them, or set it on the ground so they would put their candy in it. She loved getting candy!

When we were leaving we put her in the car and were outside talking to Kjersten and Kevin. When we got back inside she had tried to chew through about every candy wrapper to get some chocolate! Silly girl. Also, the first thing she asked for when she woke up today was a sucker! Oh geez.

And this is the face of a happy girl! TWO suckers and drool all over her chin. Doesn't get much better than that! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

1st Haircut and Other Miscellaneous Things

2009-09-08T16:28:00.006-06:00

I had another GREAT trip up to Utah over my birthday in August. It was sooo fun to see my brother Curtis. We had a fabulous time. We were sad that Eric couldn't come with us.

While we were there we took a family picture...minus Eric:(

Saren and Tay playing at the park...cuties

Lovin those popsicles! Oh, I think I'm going to have one right now!:) Yummy

Hannah's new haircut. Love it.

All the kids went up to Park City. We rode the zipline and went shopping at the outlet mall.

Tay's first haircut. I forgot to take a before picture. But, let's just say it was looking a little like a mullet! Ha She actually did really well while Kjersten cut her hair.

All cleaned up.

Tay practically swimming on her own.;) Look at those lips!

Olivia doing a dive into the pool...she's pretty good at belly flopping!

Yeah...Eric decided to do her hair one day, don't ask!

My sweet, sweet 16 month old girl. She pretty much refuses to have pictures taken of her, so this is the best we can get! I'm hoping she gets out of that stage pretty quick!

Tay's new rain boots. Her and Olivia got matching ones. Found those cute things on just another too-hot-to-be-outside day spent at Target!

Just playing at the little fountain thing at an outdoor mall. Good times.

We painted our office area and kitchen island red. It was really stupid trying to take pictures of them...but here's what I got.

Good Ol Summer Days

2009-08-02T12:37:00.005-06:00

We have been having such a fun summer! I'll just show you through all the pictures.

Eric and Tay riding the four wheeler up at the cabin. We had sooo much fun there, and the weather was perfect! Tay loves, loves, loves being outside, so this was perfect for her!

Then we went up to visit the family in Utah since we were already up there at the cabin. We spent the week just hanging out with our friends and family. It was very relaxing!

We got to go to the Timpanogos Temple as a family. What a great experience!

Waiting in line to ride the go karts.

Then we brought Saren back home to AZ with us for the month. We has so, so much fun having her here. We totally miss her already. Thanks for all your help Sar. She did this crazy hair do on Tay. I was laughing so hard!

Giving kisses

We went camping, and Tay was soooo dirty. But, she was loving it!
We are having a blast this summer!

Happy Father's Day

2009-06-21T20:26:00.003-06:00

Happy father's day to all the fathers out there!

I have the best dad ever! He has sacrificed so much for our family. He always worked so hard. When I was in junior high, my dad decided to go back to graduate school to get his master's. We moved to Champaign, IL to the University of Illinois. My dad got two master's degrees in two years, a 4.0 GPA, with 5 kids and working 5 different jobs to get by! Can you believe it?! My dad is one of the smartest people I know. He always helped me with my homework and projects. When he was in graduate school, my parents would leave at 3 AM to do their early morning paper route. Then my dad would be gone the rest of the day working and going to school. I am so grateful for his determination. He has taught me to work hard for what I want and to persevere and finish things that I start. I love him with my whole heart. My heart aches for the things he has to endure now, but he does it with a good attitude and always puts on a happy face for us kids. I love you daddy!

I have been so blessed in my life. Not only do I have the best dad, I have a husband who is the greatest dad. I love watching him with Tay. She loves him so much!

Here are just some cute daddy/daughter pictures from when Tay was 3 weeks old.

A Plethora of Pictures

2009-06-16T16:37:00.012-06:00

I found my camera cord, and found TONS of pictures I forgot about. Ahhh...this is going to be another long post! Sorry.

We went to our ward's Gold and Green Ball. We had tons of fun, and Tay loved playing with the balloons until the older kids got there and started popping them...then she wanted nothing to do with them!Our neighbors in Utah would give us tons of veggies last summer from their garden. Unfortunately we just caught the beginning of it this year before we left. But, Tay loved it. This picture is a little blurry, but I love it. She has a carrot and a radish.

Her bored look.
Loves sunglasses when she can just put them on and rip them off a million times in a row. Hates them if I try and really make her wear them!For Eric's birthday we hiked to Timpanogos cave and went through the cave. It was on Memorial Day, so it was packed! We had a blast. The hike was great, and the cave was amazing! Anyone in Utah should go do it...it's up American Fork Canyon.One of our last nights at our house.:(Learning how to talk on the phone. If she's anything like I was, we better have unlimited minutes. Geez.Loving this, as you can see. It makes me feel better that she's not pushing my face away~!When we first got to our house to start moving stuff in, our AC wasn't working. It was 96 degrees in our house! So, all Tay wanted to do was drink daddy's lemonade.Our new house.The entry when you first walk in the front door.Front room. Don't really know why it's blurry. HmmmAlso part of front roomTay's roomWork out room by Tay's.Living room.AgainKitchen
I forgot to take pictures of the guest room and our master bedroom. Oh well, you get the idea. Really excited to paint and decorate some more. We love our new place!

Moving

2009-06-16T10:29:00.005-06:00

Hi! Well, life has been crazy around here lately. But, we are loving it! We moved to Tolleson, AZ (just outside of Phoenix) on June 3rd. The move went really, really well. Only a couple broken things and a little ding on our table, no big deal. Eric's dad drove the moving truck down for us, and left at 4 AM! Talk about a good dad! Thank you sooo much (I KNOW he will never read this, but thanks anyway!). Eric and I split the trip up and spent the night in Vegas with Tay, and then drove to Arizona the next day. Tay was really good in the car.

Once we got here I was REALLY excited to see the house. I had seen it once before, but I didn't remember it, because we saw seriously like 50 other homes. We were looking at homes that were in the upcoming auction, and we had no idea which one we would get, and what would be in our price range. Eric got the house at an auction for a killer deal. Anyway, I love the house!! It is a rambler, which is what I really wanted. It it about double the size of our other house. It has 4 bedrooms, and a really open floor plan. It is so fun to watch Tay. She loves all the open space. It's funny, because in our other house I would always know where she was, because basically I could see anywhere in the house. Here, I have to go find her sometimes. She'll be playing in a back bedroom, or shut herself in the bathroom (naughty!). It is really fun. I took a bunch of pictures of our new place, but of course I can't find the camera cord. So, when that is found, I will post all the pictures of our new place. We have lots of plans for it. We want to paint, do a backsplash, paint the cabinets, get the carpet cleaned, and a little decorating. But, all in good time! ha. We're not in a huge hurry, because we still love it the way it is.

In other news, our Utah house in UNDER CONTRACT!!! We got an offer in the day before we moved out! It was such an answer to our prayers. This is exactly the way the Lord works in my life. Things ALWAYS work out, but usually it happens right at the last second! I swear this is because I am such a planner, that the Lord is trying to show me who's in charge!! haha I love it. Thanks for all the prayers for our house. It is a really cute young couple with no kids. They are really nice. Hopefully all will go through, and it will close the end of this month! Exciting!

But, we really miss our families and friends in Utah. It definitely is not the same. Especially since I always have to watch Tay, no dropping her off at Grandma's house or with her aunts! Oh how I took that for granted! My one saving grace is that Eric's sister and brother are down here with their families! That is sooo nice. We love hanging out with them. Eric's sister just moved here, and lives only 10 minutes away, and they have a POOL!! It is awesome.

We also just barely got back from Vegas, where we went to Eric's cousin's wedding. It was a great sealing, and the reception was beautiful! Loved it, and loved seeing all our family. They are so much fun to be with.

Tay is doing well with the transition. She sleeps well in her new room. I love that her room is on the other side of the house, because now I can actually do things during her nap without waking her up. It is a beautiful thing! She "talks" ALL the time now. It is the cutest thing ever. She jabbers the entire day, I love it. She is saying more and more real words too. But, she is also getting pretty fiesty. She has learned the word no, and likes to tell me no multiple times a day. She also just learned how to open our doors, and can get into the pantry and bathrooms!! Ahhhh. Sure keeps me busy. She is so smart. She grabs my hand and takes me to whatever she wants, usually to the door so she can go outside. Also, she will get in her cupboard and bring me a sippy cup when she is thirsty. Such a good girl. We went swimming yesterday, and she loved it. She was so happy. She didn't even cry when her head went under the water a couple of times! ha, whoops!

This post is getting long. I'll post a few pictures of our last house all finished. Eric did such a good job with it.
I'll post pictures of the new house as soon as I find the cord!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

2009-05-10T16:29:00.006-06:00

From this a year ago...(those cheeks are AMAZING! haha)

To this! Wow.

Our baby girl is ONE! Ahhh! It's making my heart hurt thinking how fast she is already growing. Geez. She is one smart little girly. For a little journaling purposes, I'm going to make a list of things she does:

**Walk soo well. Is basically running. But, she is very cautious of stairs or any incline. We have a little incline in our house, and she is so careful going over it. Usually. When she is not, she almost always biffs it.

**Says more, hi, bye, hi dad, ball, dada, and mama.

**Signs more, all done, and dog.

**Does the animal sounds for dog, cat, bear, and pig. But, we jut got a new animal book from Seth and Jack, so we're hoping she'll catch on quickly.

**Points at everything and says, "What's that?" all slurred together with a lisp. I love it.

**LOVES everyone in her family. But, of all the people including her parents she could chose to go to, she will ALWAYS choose her Mimi (my mom). They have a special connection, and there's no denying it! It is so fun.

**Plays really well with other kids. Loves to roll the ball back and forth.

**Loves the swings, hates her stroller.

**Hates being in her car seat.

**Throws tantrums now, and just SCREAMS. Like deathly screams. Lovely.

**Has gotten a little crib time because of said tantrums.

**Has 4 teeth, two on top and two on the bottom.

**Does not like getting them brushed.

**Usually sleeps from 8:30-7 or 8am. But, has started waking up around 2am to scream those deathly screams which scare the crap out of me when I'm sound asleep. But, will usually go back to sleep pretty quickly.

**Still takes 2 naps, but is trying to transition to just one. I don't think I'm ready for that!

**Has become pretty clingy to me ever since she was sick. Wants to be held a lot. But, if she can see me, she will play really well by herself for a long time.

**Sings so cute in church with the hymns.

**LOVES playing with her two cousins Spencer and Olivia. Well, mostly just follows them around everywhere. (And I'm sure if she could tell you, she would say she wants some more cousins to play with. Wink, wink:))

Her stats and her Dr. appointment:
Weight: 19 lbs--18th percentile
Height:30.5--90th percentil
Head:32nd percentile

We love our precious girl. She is so cute, and is learning all the time. Happy birthday baby, I mean Miss, Tay. No baby anymore! We love you.

Say Cheese!

2009-04-13T21:00:00.006-06:00

OK, so much has happened! This blog is more like a bazillion pictures, so I'll just jump right in...
My sister-in-law Jackie and I went to the Celine Dion concert awhile back. It was awesome. We had pretty high seats, so we decided to try and get new ones. We moved down to the second row hoping no one would notice. We actually got to stay there during the whole opening act. It was awesome. But, we of course got kicked out right before Celine came out. Lame-o. What's up with people showing up an hour into a concert! It was wonderful, though. And, we rode the trax, which was my first time doing that. Fun, fun.

Then later that week me, Eric, Paul and Sue (my in-laws) went to see the comedian Brian Regan up in Logan. He was SO FUNNY!! I just love his stuff and could listen to him forever! So fun.

Tay makes this face to us all the time. She does it a lot when she's eating for some reason.:)

This picture makes me laugh so bad! It is Tay's first pony. I didn't do a very good job. But, how in the world do you get them to sit still?! She did leave it in ALL DAY, and never even tried to pull it out.
Then, Tay and I drove down to Arizona with Eric. She did really well on the drive. We broke it up into 2 days. I think I was more irritated driving that far than she was. That is why we FLEW home! WAY better. 11 hours compared to like a 1 hour 10 min flight! Seriously worth it. Anyway, while we were down there Tay and I took a trip to the Phoenix zoo. The zoo is huge, and so fun. The weather was perfect. This is Tay chillin in some sun glasses while we were there.

Took a break while looking for houses to swing. Oh how she loved that!

Went to the Mesa Temple Easter pageant. It was wonderful.

Tay is a full on walker now. She hardly ever crawls. It's so funny, because she holds her hands up like this when she walks like she used to when we were holding her hands.

I think her Aunt Saren did this to her. She was getting fussy, and this kept her entertained for a little bit.

We got to go to General Conference for the Saturday morning session. It felt so good to be there and to listen to the inspired messages and feel the spirit. It was good to not have Tay there so I could actually focus. Definitely uplifting.

Aunt Saren taking Tay for a ride. It was pretty funny.

Just being cute.Kjersten (my sis-in-law) and I just taking the kids out for a walk.

Oh, HAPPY EASTER! She looked so cute in her little dress. We had a great Easter being able to spend time with both families. We will definitely miss that when we move!!

Tay got some bubbles for Easter, and she loves them!

No official house down in Arizona yet. A few offers in, so we'll see what happens. We'll keep you posted.

More Tricks

2009-03-14T10:01:00.007-06:00

can't believe how big she is getting! She is picking up on things so fast. This is my favorite age so far!! I love all the stages, but it's just so fun to watch her learn!:) Love it.

Tay Learned a New Trick!

2009-03-09T21:08:00.003-06:00

Well Actually we learned a new way to bug a reaction out of her, ha, ha. But that's one of the perks of being a parent, right? Basically the trick goes like this; pinch her nose and watch her do a Charley Chaplin shiffel minus the mustache of course.

Not too much...

2009-03-02T10:22:00.002-07:00

Caution: This post may be a little boring due to the fact that my husband has my computer so I cannot put any pictures on. Lame-o.

Ok, now that you've been warned, I will continue with my awesomely boring post.

First off, I CANNOT believe it's March! Seriously, where did February go? Hmm...not that I'm sad or anything, but that was just crazy fast! Second, HAPPY BIRTHDAY OLIVIA (my niece who is turning 3, going on 30!)!! I tried to get all excited and tell her yesterday that her birthday was in ONE day, but then I was quickly hushed by her momma (something about they don't want her getting too excited about it, because she's not having a party till later...can't really remember why). So, I wanted to tell her happy birthday, but decided that this was the safest way, considering she probably won't be reading this!:)

Now, onto our family news. BIGGEST NEWS OF ALL: We are moving to the Phoenix area! Yeah, that's a big change. Eric's uncle has bought a number of properties down there that need to be fixed up and then rented out. So, off we go to a new adventure! We are excited about doing something new, and meeting new people, but we are sad to leave our families (most important), and our ward and friends. But, we hope to be up here often to visit, or have many visitors down there! How about we come up here in the summer, and you all come visit us in the winter. Plan? I get more and more excited about moving down there each time Eric leaves again to go work down there. It will just be nice to not be a single mom 1/2 of the time. We will leave as soon as we get a house down there.

NEXT BIGGEST NEWS: Tay is taking steps. Like lots of steps. Well, the highest so far is 8. Some days she's really into it, and other days she gets all nervous and makes funny sounds out of her throat. It is too cute. We don't have it on video yet, but when we do, I'll try and get it up here.

Also, Tay now has two bottom teath. It is adorable. And, her hair is coming in so super fast. It is so fun. Sometimes I put a cutie little clip in it, which will stay with lots of hairspray for about an hour! ha. She eats like crazy. She will chew anything up with those little baby teeth. It seems like her favorite thing so far is fetuchini alfredo, and ANY form of potato. Looks like she's taking after her mom. Or maybe she has no other choice, because I just feel her all the carbs I love to eat. Oh wait, she also LOVES cake and ice cream, but who doesn't?

She has turned into such a good sleeper. She is taking two naps for about 1.5 hours each, and sleeping about 12 hours at night. Ohhhh heaven! It is amazing. She is really cute when I put her down for naps and bed time, because she'll play in her bed for about 15 minutes before she goes to sleep, and she usually doesn't cry. What a doll face. I SO wish I had some pictures to put up, but that just means I need to do another post later.

I got to go to a couple of concerts this past week which were way fun. Last Sunday I went with my sis-in-law to the Celine Dion concert. She was awesome. We tried to get the best seats ever on the second row, but dumb guy showed up like an hour into the concert (before Celine had even come out), and we got kicked out. Dang. Then, Eric and I and Eric's parents all went to the Brian Reagan concert. He was sooo funny. It was a great night. I just love him, because he is a clean comedian. If you've never heard his stuff, you should check it out!

When Eric was home last week he started painting the outside of the house. It is going to look great!! It already looks like 100 times better, because it just looks so much cleaner! Love it. Thanks babe.

Well, Tay is awake from her nap, so I will stop here. I swear I'll get some pictures up when Eric gets back.

She's Getting Fiesty!

2009-01-28T21:43:00.004-07:00

This innocent-looking little girl

+
a hot bowl of soup

=

A mommy with some hot-nasty legs!! Gotta watch out for this one!:)

Tagged...

2009-01-27T17:04:00.002-07:00

1. What time did you get up this morning? 6:00
2. Have you brushed your hair yet today? Uh, yep
3. What is the name of the last song you listened to? Hmmm...I don't even know. Probably a song on one of Taylor's Baby Signing Time movies:)
4. Do you like to text? for sure
5. Facebook or My Space? Facebook, please.
6. Where is your favorite place to go? Cancun with my family, and the cabin with Eric's
7. Do you have a passport? YES
8. Are you in love? Definitely
9. Have you ever had a broken heart? Yeah, a little bit
10. When was the last time you "laughed your head off"? Last night
11. When was the last time you cried? 4 days ago
12. What is the best gift you have ever gotten? My husband
13. What was the best day of your life? When Tay was born, and my wedding!
14. What was the worst day of your life? The day my dad fell from the tree
15. Pepsi or Coke? Yuck, neither! Ha
16. Are you wearing socks? Oh, ALWAYS!
17. Did you like high school? Yes
18. Where is the last place you went out to eat? Original Pancake House
19. What is your biggest accomplishment in the past year? Being pregnant and having my first baby!
20. What is one random fact about you? I was homecoming queen. haha

2009-01-12T11:16:00.003-07:00

Wow, I'm a horrible blogger! We had a great Christmas! We did Christmas with my family first the Saturday before Christmas. It was so fun to spend time with everyone, and we had lots of good laughs. Then we went down to Vegas for the rest of everything. We had so much fun seeing everyone and celebrating. Also, it was close to 60 degrees there!! It was hard to leave the warm weather, but we came back on New Year's Eve. Everything was great!!! A huge thank you to everyone who helped make our Christmas season wonderful.

This post will mostly just be about pictures, as I have sooo many to choose from. Here we go...

To kick off the Christmas season, Eric and I got sooo lucky and got tickets from my friend Maria to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas performance! It was amazing. Plus, we had like 3rd row seats just to the right of the center section!!

I don't think she quite knew what to think of him...but she didn't cry. Maybe that will be next year!

E and I at my parents house for our Christmas party. Good times.

Taylor sure had fun ripping open her gifts!

She was so funny with this crown on. It was like she didn't even notice it was there. She didn't try to take it off or anything. Silly girl.

E and T playing a little peek-a-boo. Tay is at such a fun age!

T got this toy for Christmas from Eric's parents. She can't do it by herself yet, but I'm afraid that's not too far in the future!

Here is Taylor just splashing away in the water. It was a cold, snowy day (what day isn't, I swear!), and I was trying to think of something fun to do. At first she was really nervous, then she started going crazy!! By then end both of us needed to change our clothes. We sure had a lot of fun, though!

Here she is just chillin in her bath. She LOVES bathtime. Sometimes if she's really fussy I just stick her in the bath, and she's all good.

I am having soo much fun with Tay these days. She is a crawling machine. When I am walking around the house doing things, she tries to follow me everywhere. Except usually she just makes it to the kitchen, then has to turn back around to follow me again. It's soo cute. One day I was in the computer room and she didn't see where I went, she crawled into the laundry room looking for me, then into the bathroom, then finally found me. It was too cute! Also, she can pull herself up onto most things and stand up now! She is too cute!!I just love being a mom, and she is the best baby ever, except her crazy crying at naps and bedtime...but we're working on that:).

2008-12-15T17:05:00.003-07:00

Here is Tay working on her crawling. Notice in the video how she totally goes around her toy and straight for the Christmas tree!

But For Now...

2008-12-04T15:25:00.003-07:00

Someday Taylor will be able to crawl and walk and get around all by herself…but for now I love how she reaches her arms up for me to pick her up.

Someday she will be able to tell me what she needs…but for now I love her cute little babbling, and guess work to figure out what it is.

Someday she will got to bed all by herself…but for now I love cuddling with her and holding my sweet baby.

Someday I won’t be changing a billion diapers a day…but for now I love that time when I get her full attention.

Someday she will be aware that my singing voice isn’t that great…but for now I love unabashedly singing to her, and her loving it.

Someday she won’t want me with her while she watches a movie…but for now I love holding her and her laughing after I laugh at something while we watch Baby Einstein.

Someday she will be able to cleanly feed herself…but for now I love working on my patience everyday as she grabs her food and sticks her hand all over the mess on her face.

Someday she will actually call me mama on purpose…but for now I love the times when she accidentally says it, and I get so excited.

Someday she will have teeth to eat normal food…but for now I love her precious gummy smile.

Someday she will stop nursing and taking a bottle…but for now I love holding her while she eats.

Someday she will have other people and friends that she will want to play with…but for now I love being her favorite playmate (aside from Eric).

Someday she will have cute hair…but for now I love her bald head, and hairline resemblance with my dad.

Someday she will sleep all night and actually want to sleep in…but for now I love the early mornings with just her and I, when everything else is quiet and we cuddle in bed.

Basically all I really want to say is that I LOVE little miss Taylor right where she’s at now. We have a ton of fun together, and I love being with her. I am excited for her to learn and grow, but at the same time I don’t want her to grow up too fast. I love you Tay!

Can't Decide

2008-11-20T15:10:00.003-07:00

So, I keep going back and forth as to who Taylor looks the most like. Sometimes I think she really looks like Eric, then sometimes I think it's me. Maybe she's just a perfect mix. Tell me what you think...

Eric at 4 months (such a chunker!:))
Me at 3 months (my mom's gonna love this...also, look at all of my dad's hair!)
Taylor at 6 months

Now here are just a couple of fun pictures of Tay:

She definitely loves her prunes! Gotta love those diapers after the prunes!
One night I had enrichment and Eric had scouts, so Eric took her with him. So, she missed her usual evening nap, and was so exhausted by the time she got home! I love this picture!

So...who do you think she looks most like?!?

Fall Fun

2008-11-02T19:04:00.004-07:00

Oh, I just love the fall! The only part that I don't like is that it eventually leads to winter, which I think is just about here:(. Oh well. I swear I'll just be holed up in my house, because I'm too nervous to take Tay out anywhere because I DO NOT want her getting sick! But, I'm kinda excited about that for a little while, I like just hanging out at home with just her and I. It's very relaxing for me, and we can be on our little routine, and I can get lots done around here. But, I think I need a hobby or something, because there's only so much cleaning you can do in a 1200 sq. ft house! I love to read, but I don't feel like I'm accomplishing anything when I do that. I'm not very crafty, but maybe that's something I can work on. Any suggestions of things to do during the winter and we're inside a lot?? Also, I've started buying Christmas presents, and that has been way fun. I do love Christmas, especially if I can spread the buying for Christmas out so that I'm not stressing in December. So fun!

Tay is doing so well. She is sitting up on her own very well, and wants to crawl so bad. She has the movement down, but she can't quite get her feet to have enough grip to push her forward. I'm excited for her to crawl, but also a little hesitant. She can scoot backwards, though. This week I think she has started some more serious teething. I could be totally wrong, but she has been SO whiny, and that is really not like her.

Anyway, we have really been enjoying the awesome weather we've had the past couple weeks. We've spent a lot of time outside on the swing, sitting in the grass playing with leaves, reading books outside, and taking walks. It's been SO nice.

Here are some cute fall pictures of Tay out in the leaves (which we have a TON of in our yard!)

YUM!

Doesn't she look so tiny??

Reading stories

For Halloween Eric's mom made Tay THE CUTEST poodle skirt. It is adorable. The little dog on it is so dang cute. Tay and Olivia were matchy-matchy. They were too cute. Except for Olivia had the funniest pink glasses...I couldn't stop laughing every time I saw her!
We could not get them to look at the camera for very long. This is about the best shot I got! Ha...at least you can see their cute outfits!

Taylor has been making the funniest face. She gets her whole body tense, and makes what we call the monster face. She will not do it for Eric, though. It is really funny. Here's a funny picture of her doing it...

We've been having a ton of fun with her, she is a doll. Eric has been working hard on things on the house. He found a house that is doing slate for their roof, and asked if he could use the discarded broken pieces. So, he picked a bunch up, and has been laying it down on our porch. It will look so cool when it's done. I'll post pictures later.

I need to write about Eric and I going to Disneyland, but that will have to be another post...this one is already too long. Props to you if you read it all!

Tag, I'm It...

2008-10-24T11:36:00.002-06:00

This one is all about the hubby. Lauren tagged me for this…

1. Where did you meet your husband? It was all really weird. We met at a Nelson Thanksgiving dinner in Las Vegas at Cal and Jeanette’s house. I had no where to go for Thanksgiving, so I went with my freshman roommate’s sister Sarah and her husband Bryce. Bryce is Eric’s cousin. So we hung out a little bit there, but nothing came of that. Then 3 months later Eric moved up to Provo from Vegas and we ran into each other at Provo Towne Center Mall. We exchanged numbers, and then it was all history.

2. How long did you date before you married? We dated for a year and 3 months. We also had a summer break in there where we just talked FOREVER, while Eric would pace around for hours on the phone. I think he never got more exercise then he did that summer!:)
3. How long have you been married? 2 ½ years
4. What does he do that surprises you? He is more creative and artistic than almost anyone I know. He ALWAYS says things that surprise me because they are totally random. Also, he is forever making up conversations in his head, and I can see his reactions to those conversations on his face, or he’ll move his hands like he was talking, but it’s all in his head! Ha So funny.
5. What is his favorite feature? He has the prettiest blue eyes. They’re like sky blue. I’ve never seen anyone with such a pretty color of blue.
6. What is his favorite quality? I love how humble and honest he is. He has so much integrity, and just tells the truth, even if it’s a hard thing to do. He always apologizes so quickly. Sometimes it makes me mad, because I am a brat and just want to be mad for a little bit. But, it’s hard to be mad for long when he apologizes so fast!
7. Does he have a nickname for you? I guess just babe
8. What is his favorite food? What, why don’t I really know this. He loves steak, anything grilled. I dunno, he is awesome and always says he loves whatever I make for dinner. He’s very easy to please.

9. What is his favorite sport? He isn’t really into sports that much. I guess the one he really likes to watch is boxing, or volleyball. He likes to golf. But, I’d be more likely to be sitting down watching sports than he would…which I actually love about him.
10. When & where was your first kiss? Well, we had been dating off and on from January till April when I went home from school for the summer. Then we spent the whole summer on the phone. We had even said I love you already! Ha. Then he got off work early the day I drove back to Utah from Missouri to surprise me at my apartment. Well, my roommate were a little scary to me at the beginning, so I refused to go into my apartment. Meanwhile Eric had been waiting there for 4 hours for me to come home. He didn’t want to call because it would ruin the surprise. Finally one of my roommate came and told me they wanted to have a roommate meeting. When I went up there he was on the couch. He came and gave me a big hug and our very first kiss in the kitchen of my apartment!
11. What is your favorite thing to do as a couple? Hmm..we love going on walks together. Watching Tivo’d shows, or going on roadtrips.
12. Do you have any children? One…baby Tay, who is almost 6 months.
13. Does he have any hidden talents? He has WAY more style than me with decorating and things like that. He can write the best calligraphy, and do scrapbook stuff like a fool. So funny. He can sing a mad baseline.
14. How old is he? Ahh…31!
15. Who said I love you first? He did on the phone in July when I was home over the summer.
16. What is his favorite music? He is on this classical kick right nowJ
17. What do you admire most about him? He works so hard. He’s a great business person. He is so kind to everyone, and never judges anyone. He doesn’t talk bad about anyone. He’s so creative and can fix just about anything!
18. What is his favorite color? Blue
19. Will he read this? If I tell him to
20. Who do you tag? Carolyn, Kjersten, Veronica, Maria

ANOTHER ONE…tagged by Ashley

8 SHOWS I LIKE TO WATCH…
1. The Office
2. The Biggest Loser
3. The Hills
4. The Price Is Right :)
5. E True Hollywood Stories
6. Any gameshow
7. Sienfeld
8. Extreme Home Makeover

8 RESTAURANTS I LIKE TO EAT AT…
1. Olive Garden
2. Café Rio
3. Costco (can that count?!)
4. Goodwood
5. Teppanyaki
6. PF Changs
7. Chilis
8. In-and-Out

8 THINGS THAT HAPPENED TODAY…
1. Woke up with Tay at 4:30
2. Woke back up at 7
3. Took a shower and got ready
4. Made chicken salad for dinner
5. Cleaned house
6. Grocery shopping
7. Made a pie
8. Went to a ward activity

8 THINGS I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO…
1. Finishing my book
2. Talking to my family
3. Seth getting a job
4. Hanging out with Eric
5. Buying a lamp for our living room
6. Working out
7. Friends and family having babies
8. Hanging out with my friends next week

8 THINGS ON MY WISH LIST…
1. A house with storage and a garage (not for a while though)
2. Kitchen cabinet doors :)
3. Finished doors
4. A lamp for our living room
5. To sell the dumpster company
6. To have an awesomely successful auction
7. Mixing bowls
8. A year’s supply of food storage

8 PEOPLE I TAG…
1. Saren
2. Jackie
3. Stacey Liu
4. Allison
5. Becky
6. Lo-Lo
7. Lydia
8. Erica

Talking Tay

2008-10-14T14:37:00.003-06:00

I just love her sweet little voice...hope you enjoy.

Bottles, Bums, and Birthday's

2008-10-09T14:01:00.002-06:00

My baby girl turned 5 months on Saturday. She is the best baby. Her cute little personality has started to come out a lot more...I love it!
This is her with her daddy on her 5 month birthday. Oh, such a cute smile. Everything about her is growing so much...except her hair! Oh well, maybe some day.

Oh how I just love her cute nakie bum! Seriously, before I put her in the bath I sometimes have to take her into the mirror just so I can look at her cute dimply bum! She had just gotten out of the bath and wanted to roll around.

Look how big!! I can't believe she can hold her own bottle!

This is what Eric does EVERY time while he is taking off her dirty diaper. It never fails to crack me up!

Not really much other news. Eric is still going crazy with post-auction stuff. Oh, and we just got his truck back today! His transmission went out twice in 2 months!! This is why I do not ever trust car repair places. How could a BRAND NEW transmission go out one month later?? Hmmm...seems a little fishy to me. Thank goodness for warranty's!

A Taylor Update...Surprised, Anyone?!?

2008-09-28T17:19:00.006-06:00

We took Tay for her 4 month appointment (almost a month late!) this last week. She was such a trooper. She only cried after her 4 SHOTS for like 2 minutes, we were so proud of her. But, this time she got a lovely fever for 2 days and was sick and lethargic:(. Poor baby. But, she's doing much better now. Here are some new things about her:

**She weighed in at 14 lbs 11 oz.--56th percentile
**She's 25 in. long--76th percentile
**She LOVES her hands. She will just sit and stare at them for like 5 minutes. Turning them one way, and then the other.
**She can grab her toys in front of her.
**She can take her binky out in about .2 seconds, but can very rarely get it back in. This is the reason we still wrap her up really tight at night, so she can't get her arms out and pull that thing out!
**She LOVES her rice cereal. She makes cute noises while she's eating it.
**She can sit up for about 30 seconds all on her own.
**She sleeps about 7-8 hours at night, then gets fed, then back down for another 3. Usually 11 hours total.
**She takes usually 3 naps a day for about 1-2 hours each.
**She sleeps with two pillows on either side of her and jams her face into them. It is her weird comfort thing. I'm sure that scares some of you, but I've gotten past that now. She seriously loves it!
**She will sit and play by herself without complaining for like 15 minutes.
**Usually when she wakes up she will make a little noise so we know she's awake, and then just wait for a minute without saying anything. If we don't come right then, she'll do it again. Usually she doesn't cry when she's waking up.

We are loving her at every age. Here are some pictures and videos.

How she loves to sleep...so weird!
Playing with her doll.
She chews on EVERYTHING!
All dressed up for church.
So, I just have been doing a little decorating. I'm not that great at decorating, however I was very excited about this. A lady in our ward welded that pumpkin...cool, huh!?

Just a cute video of Tay getting all excited to eat her rice cereal. I tried to post a couple other really cute videos, but it was taking my whole life to upload, so maybe it'll have to be another post!

Alrighty, that's all for now!!

Our Little Poop Head

2008-09-14T21:23:00.002-06:00

OK, I need a little consolation. I was THE WORST mom the other day. Eric and I were driving up to Tai Pan (which is like 20 minutes away). We heard Taylor make a spit up sound in the back seat, then she got all fussy. So, I reached back without looking to grab her binky. When I grabbed it, my hand got all wet. I just figured it was spit up, and wiped my hand off. I stuck the binky in her mouth, and she promptly spit it out. I did it again, and she spit it out. Finally, I stuck it in her mouth and held it in. We got to Tai Pan and Eric got her out. He asked me if I had been feeding her sweet potatoes or something. Of course I hadn't given her anything like that yet, so why was he asking me that?!? Because there was orangy stuff all over her face. What could it possibly be?? Yes, yes it was...POOP!! Sad, sad day. She had a total blowout diaper, and it was all over her car seat. So, I made her eat a poopy binky!! I felt TERRIBLE! Then, when we got home, I got Taylor out, and the whole time the base to her car seat had been unbuckled. Who knows for how long!! AHHH.

SOOO, as I said earlier, I need some consolation!!:( Any of you have any stories like that? Either ones you've done, you've heard about, or that your parents did to you?? Seriously, I NEED to know!

Here's a picture Eric snapped before we got her all cleaned up! (If you enlarge it you can see it better)

A wedding and a blessing

2008-08-16T09:53:00.008-06:00

First of all, HAPPY WEDDING to Ryan and Lauren!! I'm totally retarded, and I can't get any pictures of them to load on here, I can only get a couple of the reception to load. Maybe later I'll get smart and learn how to get them on!! But for now, you'll just have to believe me, they were absolutely STUNNING!! So beautiful! It was a perfect wedding. The reception was great. We had a fabulous time in Arizona. Congratulation to you both. WE LOVE YOU!!

Taylor did awesome on the flight over there and back. She slept both ways. But, when isn't she good?! She does have impeccable timing though. She had a total blowout diaper (we're talking new clothes and everything) RIGHT as they called us to board the plane BOTH times!! This is a picture of her before we got on the airplane...
While we were there we took Tay swimming for the first time, and she loved it! Here's a couple pics of that...

We also had her blessing. It was a great day, she looked so cute, and Eric gave a great blessing. He said he was getting a little frustrated up there because the boy holding the microphone for him was closing his eyes, and kept lifting the mic and hitting Eric in the mouth! Ha! But, we had tons of our family there, and it was awesome. Thank you to everyone who came! Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures that day!! It makes me really sad. But, Eric and I had to teach right after that, so we had to hurry and get to our class, so I totally forgot. But, here's a picture of her on another day in her dress. Maybe we'll just fake it on Sunday and put her in dress and take a picture with all of us!:(
A little Aunt Jemima baby. So sweet.

She's been getting pretty good with her hands. It is too cute!

Our yard!! YAY!

2008-08-16T09:34:00.005-06:00

Eric has been working so hard on our yard, so I thought I'd post some before and after pictures. I absolutely love the yard. Also, one day he surprised me and set this beautiful swing up in the yard, I LOVE it!! Thanks babe!

Lovely, eh?

After Eric brought in dirt, grated it, and seeded. A LOT of work! He is awesome!

Doesn't it look great?? This is just two weeks after he put the seed down!

My swing that I love!!

Smiles, Tears, and a Thumb Sucker??

2008-07-28T14:28:00.004-06:00

I cannot believe Taylor is almost 3 months!! It’s a weird thing though, because as much as I can’t believe she’s 3 months old, it also feels like we’ve had her for WAY longer than that! She is growing so quickly. It makes me sad and excited all at the same time. I am trying really hard not to keep looking forward to things that are coming up for her (belly laughing, sitting up, eating solid food, etc), but to really enjoy where she’s at right now. I thought I LOVED the newborn stage, and I did, but I absolutely love where she’s at right now. She is the sweetest baby I could have ever hoped for. She has such a mellow personality. She is so smiley and talkative. She basically lets Eric and I do whatever we want to do, and she just is so happy to come along for the ride. For example, the other day we went to dinner and she was so good. Then, we went to the driving range (which I was horrible at—but am excited to learn) and she just sat in her stroller and didn’t make a peep the whole entire time. It was so fun. We have gone down to Vegas twice now and she has been an angel the whole time. We have only had to stop once each way to feed her. Anyway, here are just some little fun fact about her…mostly so I don’t forget!

*At her two month appointment she weighed 11 ½ pounds—the 53^rd percentile. She has gained almost 3 pounds since she was born.

*She was 23 ½ inches long—the 76^th percentile. She has grown 4 ½ inches since she was born.

*Her head was in the 37^th percentile.

*She smiles all the time. But, sometimes I will be trying to get her to smile for like 5 minutes, and she won’t, then she’ll catch a glimpse of the ceiling fan out of the corner of her eye and will give the biggest smile. I think sometimes she just gets a little tired of me!

*She does a cute little laugh. Not a full out laugh yet, but it’s still sooo precious.

*SHE ROLLED OVER. Yes, on Saturday she did her first roll, and has done it everyday since. So, now we are being better about putting her in her crib for nap time. This is a good and a bad thing. I am so excited that she did it, but then I have to be much more careful where I put her.

*She doesn’t mind being in her car seat at all. She usually falls asleep pretty fast in the car. This makes it nice for me, because I get nervous driving very far with just her and I. We did have one bad experience already which involved crying so hard she wasn’t breathing, and me nursing her on the side of the highway!! Oh so fun!

*She USUALLY sleeps through the night. But, she hasn’t totally mastered that, last night was evidence of that. She went to bed at 11, was up at 1, then 3:30, then 5, then 7:30! What the?!?! So really, I should be taking a nap now! Usually she sleeps from like 11-5, or 11-6. Not too bad.

*She takes pretty good naps during the day. We’re not on a schedule yet, because we’ve just been gone too much. Lately she’s just been napping on the go. But, she’s really easy going, so this doesn’t seem to bother her too much.

*She’s getting really good with her hands. Well, sort of good. She can pull her binky out with no problem, but she cannot seem to get it back in, unless she rolls on top of it, which she did this morning. I will be ecstatic when she figures out how to get that back in. She has started grabbing at my hair. She is really fascinated with her face, though. She pushes her cheeks in with both hands, it is so cute. She has also found her ears, and loves to grab and them and pull them. The first day she did this I thought for sure she had an ear infection. I called my mom and the doctor to see if they thought she did. Turns out she just found her ears!

*She sucks on her hands a lot. Only once did she ever suck her thumb. (See pic below)

*She spits up like crazy! (See picture below)

*She loves Eric. I swear she gets tired of seeing me. When he comes home she is all talky-talky to him. I love it!

*She loves to watch TV. Her and Eric will just sit and watch together…she definitely gets this from him—I’m not a big TV watcher.

*She loves when I read her stories. She gets really excited and really stares at the pictures.

*When she gets excited she pumps her arms and legs up and down really fast. Or, she looks like she is riding a bike.

*She LOVES her bath. The other day Eric gave her like a 20 minute bath, and she would have stayed in there much longer if we would let her. I’m excited to take her swimming, we’ll see if she likes it.

I love my little girl sooo much. She is such a great baby, and a huge blessing to Eric and I.

Baby Tay trying soo hard to hold those cheeks up! Yeah, I think she's not quite ready for this chair yet, but it was a good try!

Soo sweet. This is the one and only time she has found her thumb. It was precious.

This is her lovely spit up. Gotta love it.

Yes, it was tough to get a picture with her and I. This was right before she had to go get all her shots at the doctors. Poor thing.

I loved this picture. All so sleepy.

Taylor and Claire holding hands. I can't believe how much bigger Claire is than Taylor. They grow sooo fast!:(

Just a goofy picture of Spencer and baby Tay.

Great Grandma. This was at Grandma's 80th birthday party. I'm sure Taylor loves her, even though she's making a funny face!
So sweet. We appreciated this sleeping pose, her holding the bink and all.

**Also, funny/sad story about her 2 month doctor's appointment. I asked Sue (Eric's mom) to go with me to get her shots for some support, I just knew I would be a bawling mess. Well, Sue held her binky in while they gave the shots (5 of them!!), and I stood off to the side not watching. They handed her to me as soon as they put the band-aids on. She was soo sad, and was bawling like a champ. Anyway, I did alright. I was oh so sad for her, but no tears. But, Sue on the other had was a little bit of a crying mess. So much for the support!!:)

CUTIE HEAD!

2008-07-22T15:29:00.002-06:00

Guess Who!

2008-07-09T21:49:00.005-06:00

Alright, this is my Miss Mun's (or Nun's) pre-school class. Can anyone guess who all the people are?

P.S. Don't worry about the 2 bottom left girls, I ain't got a clue, but you win automatically if you can guess who they are. Good Luck!

Baby Eeevil

2008-07-07T22:37:00.002-06:00

Mom has no idea I'm going to hold the world hostage for... ONE MILLION DOLLARS!

Is Your Baby This Smart?

2008-06-29T20:59:00.004-06:00

Not to be too proud of our little genius, but Taylor is only 2 months old tomorrow and yet, she has learned seemingly spontaneously to follow my instructions word for word, first time out of the shoot, without any practice whatsoever. Notice how she doesn't even have to concentrate on what I'm saying, it's like she's not even listening to me, but with the expertize for which one searches in vain save in the Darold Treffert School For Savants, she follows my every command with hair splitting exactitude. "Hmm... what shall we do tomorrow baby Tay? Perhaps I'll teach you to drive the family car!

Random

2008-06-14T09:55:00.006-06:00

First and foremost, Taylor slept for 7 HOURS LAST NIGHT!!! Then, woke up, ate, and slept for two more! That's right, I am one lucky mama. She is such a good baby, and I love her so much. She seems like she is getting SO big. The other day I visited my two friends' kids. One is 4 pounds, and the other is 6 1/2. Ever since then Taylor has seemed like a giant! Oh yeah, Taylor totally did the cutest giggle on Wednesday. She did it once for my dad, then again for Eric that night. But, she hasn't done it since. Also, she is becoming a champ at smiling, I just love it. Anyway, here are some random pictures that I love.

Oli holding baby Tay. She was so cute when she was holding her. She kept talking to her in the squeaky high pitched baby talk. She was saying, "Oh she so cute, I wuv hu", it was precious!

Taylor's cute swirly cowlick on the back of her head.

This was precious. We went to a friends house for a birthday party, and I was hanging out, chatting with the girls. We walked back into the livingroom to see what our hubby's were doing, and this is how we found them. Each holding their little baby! These babies were born May 5th, 10th, and 15th!! Check out the hair on the middle one...SOO CUTE!! I just love dads with their babies.
Taylor laying on my dad. She slept there for quite awhile!

Here we have smarty pants Nelson. I think this picture is hilarious! We put my sister Hannah's glasses on her, and basically she hated it...but I was cracking up. I'm such a mean mom!

Practicing her cute smile...I just LOVE IT!

She thinks Papa is just so funny!

My brother Curtis holding her.

Aunt Saren. She would sit and do this all day, every day if she could!

I also wanted to say HAPPY (early) FATHERS DAY to all you fathers. I have the best dad in the whole wide world. He is so easy to talk to, and has the best advice. He is never critical of me, and always shows me how much he loves me. I LOVE HIM! Also, Eric is the greatest dad. I'm sure if Taylor could talk she would agree. Anyway, happy fathers day!

Quick Question...

2008-06-07T13:24:00.002-06:00

Ok, so in July my aunt, uncle and their three boys are coming into town. They will be spending 3-4 days here with us. But, they are flying in and out of Vegas, and will be spending a day there. We were going to look up some things to do while they were down in Vegas, but then I thought...I need to do a new blog anyway, so I'll ask them! So, what would you recommend doing in Vegas in one day?? What is the best kid stuff to do there? Their boys are ages 9, 6, and 3 (I think...somewhere around there). Also, if you have any suggestions about stuff in Utah county for kids, I would love to hear them.

A few things we've thought of in Utah county:
7 peaks waterpark
Thanksgiving Point petting zoo, Imax, and dinosaur museum
A "hike" and picnic in Provo Canyon (since they NEVER see the mountains in Missouri!)
Maybe a trip to Park City for the Alpine slides

I would love any ideas!

Also, we are blessing Taylor the last Sunday in June (the 28th). We will bless her in our old ward so my dad will be able to make it. Sacrament is at 9 (I know, early...sorry!). Let me know if you want directions. You're all welcome!!

Happy, Happy Birthday Eric Dear

2008-05-25T14:10:00.002-06:00

HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the best husband in the whole wide world! I don’t know how I got so lucky to get you. You are the love of my life!!! Today is your 31^st birthday (whoa), so I will write 31 reasons why I love you…

You are the best daddy in the whole wide world (see cute picture below!)
You burp and change dirty diapers at all hours of the night
You are patient with me
You’re hot
You know how to fix everything
You work SO hard
You let me be independent
You like me for me, even when I’m hard to get along with
You’re very Christ like
You make me want to be a better person
You never judge anyone
You never talk bad about anybody
You are so funny, you make me laugh everyday
You love my family
You will do the cleaning, or laundry, or anything around the house
You are very smart
You are a great business man
You have whacky but good ideas
You are random
You’re never critical of me
You’re always the first to apologize (usually within like 30 seconds)
You’re very humble
You’re creative
You eat and act like you like any dinner I make, even if it’s sick
You always tell me how grateful you are for me
You honor your priesthood
You have a strong testimony and love the gospel
You listen to me and let me be a big bawl face whenever I need to
You support my decisions
You’re protective of us
YOU ARE THE BEST HUSBAND IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD

I love you so much! You are the best example to me. Someday I want to be like you. Happy birthday!!! LOVE YOU!

Little Taylor Talks Out Of Her Head Somewhere

2008-05-22T11:53:00.004-06:00

This funny little girl likes to grunt, squeak, growl, and make crazy sonar pings out of her forehead. I guess she did just recently come out of being underwater for like 9 months... soooo yah. What, ya don't believe babies can talk to dolphins?

Our Cinco de Mayo Baby!!

2008-05-11T18:53:00.004-06:00

Well, I am so excited to write this post about my new favorite person! A big fat welcome to Taylor Layne Nelson. My delivery was awesome. They called me at 10:40 on Monday (the 5th) to see if I could come in to be induced at 11! I was ecstatic!! So, Eric and I rushed over there. They did all their questioning and finally got me started at 12:30.

They gave me pitocin and broke my water at the same time. Soon after the contractions started coming really strong. I was trying to wait to get my epidural, but like an hour into that and I wanted it. The epidural went well. He ran into my nerve a couple of times, which feels like when you hit your funny bone. Other than that, the epidural was not bad at all. In fact, it was awesome!! As soon as the medicine hit me, the contractions stopped hurting, and I was warm and comfy. My family and Eric's family came over to hang out with us. We just hung around and chatted for awhile. Then the nurse came in to check on me about 4. She checked me and said that I needed to push. WHAT?!? Was I ready for this? That's when I got nervous. But, after about 30-40 minutes of pushing she was here!

She was born at 4:43, and weighed 8lbs 3oz and was 19 in. long. She cried for a little bit, then was totally mellow the rest of the time. She was wide awake for everyone to see her. She is a great baby, very very calm. We just looked at baby pictures of Eric, and decided that she mostly looks like him.

Everything's been going really well. We just LOVE her. Her cheeks are so my favorite. Anyway, you're all welcome to visit sometime.

A Blast From The Past!

2008-04-25T22:10:00.002-06:00

Any of you crackas remember this sweet movie?

Almost brings tears to my eyes.

TONS to catch up on!!!

2008-04-19T21:12:00.005-06:00

WOW...it's been forever! I think I say that every time I post a new one! Ha ha. We have been sooo busy, I swear. Busy, but great! Eric has been working his guts out on our house and with the auction. Lots of days he would work on things for the auction all day, then work on the house till one in the morning. He basically rocks my world! Thank you, thank you, thank you baby!! Also, a big thanks to EVERYONE that has helped out on our house, we couldn't have done it without you!!

We moved out of our apartment at the very end of March, and moved in with Paul and Sue while we finished our house. Another HUGE THANK YOU to Paul and Sue for letting us stay here and cooking food, and entertaining us, and everything else!! It's been really fun to be here, but we are also so excited to be in our own beautiful little place. The house is about 90% finished, and 25% unpacked!! I have a lot of work to do. The master bedroom is all set up (no pics yet...sorry), the baby's room is finished, and the bathroom is almost done!! We need to get a dryer vent put in before we move the washer and dryer in, and we need to get the kitchen countertops on and the kitchen cabinets finished. Other than that, the inside should be good to go! The outside is another story, and we won't even go there. Although we did go drive around Daybreak today looking for exterior colors!! I can't wait to do all of that, but I'll just plan on having that done maybe next year. No big deal. Our house just looks like total trash on the outside...but maybe that will stop any contemplating burglars.:)

I have been feeling great. The doc said on Friday that I was dialated to a 4 and like 95% effaced. But, she also said that I could stay like that for awhile, and to not get too excited. I've been having tons of contractions, just not regular, and not painful. The only thing that hurts is my back, but I will NOT complain, I have had the best pregnancy ever!! She is due in a week and a half!! So, I'm sure next time we update it may be a baby update!!! YAY!!:) I am sooo excited. You are all welcome to come visit and see our little place all finished (hopefully), and cook dinner!:) j/k

Here are a few pictures...

This is a GREAT pic of me at 38 weeks! ha No more pictures, I'm all done! It's like doubling by the day!! I'm serious.
Here is the bathroom in our house before we started working on it, lovely?

Here is a picture afterwards. I actually hate this picture because I should have opened the curtain to show all the cool tile work that Eric and Sue did...it looks hot! I'll put more pics up sometime, then you can see the tiles! Also, sometime later we're going to find a cool curtain and rugs and towels to go in here. But for now, it's gonna have to be boring, but usable!!
A few pictures up in the bathroom, making it a little more homey.
This is the toilet, which is still a work in progress. You see, we put the toilet bowl up high (old school style, and creating more space style), with a sweet pull chain and marble (total Eric style!!) and Eric made this rad shelf. Anyway, eventually we're going to tile the shelves, and put mosaic's around the pipes. When it's all done it will look really awesome! What a creative husband and mother-in-law I have!! It's actually really cool.

This is the baby's room before, it was the hell room! Seriously.
The baby's room now....my FAVORITE room ever!! Look at all that cute furniture that so many generous people gave to us. I love, love, love it! THANK YOU TO EVERYONE who got these for us, and to those who also helped set it all up!!! That was quite the process.
Sweet glider that I am so excited to use at 4 in the AM! Actually, I totally love it. Also, the cute lamp that Susan got us. Ok, that's enough for now, I have much more to post. I have had TWO of the greatest baby showers EVER!! A HUGE thank you to my sister in law Jackie, my awesome mom, KJ, and Sue for putting on the best baby showers in the whole wide world. Maybe sometime I'll post pics of that, but for now my computer is about to die and I don't want to go up and get the cord!! But, they were soo fun, and it was great to see everyone!

Alright, be expecting a baby post sometime soon, we are almost ready to go!!

New hair and a lovely prego pic...

2008-03-05T08:22:00.005-07:00

Alright, I know everyone says don't cut your hair when you're pregnant, but I HAD to do it. My hair was getting long and stringy. Also, it would only look cute for like 10 minutes then end up in a pony tail looking sick! I have never had this short of hair in my whole life, but I actually really like it. It's awesome, because when I wash, dry, and do it, it takes like 15 minutes. If no hair washing is necessary, then done and done in 5!! What a beautiful thing!! Anyway, just needed to mix it up a bit.

Everything else is going great. Just workin and counting down the weeks till I can quit and just stay home with this little girl--6 more Mondays of work!! YES! Here are some pics of the hair and belly. PS...I HATE taking these hair shots, so they all look gay!! But, here they are anyway.

World's Strongest Bite!

2008-02-24T12:44:00.011-07:00

Who has the strongest bite in the world?

Is it a Great White Shark?

NOPE!
Is it a raging lion?

NOPE!

Perhaps it's a ferocious alligator?
NOPE!

Then who could it be?
AUNT SHAUNA!!!
That's right; 4 times stronger than the average human!

To the un-observing person that may seem like a freek abnormality, but consider for a moment all the cool things you can do with such a strong bite!

You Can...

Pull a train with your teeth!

Or...

Carry 18 wooden dinner chairs with your mouth!

Or...

Bite off Holyfield's ear!

And finally most importantly...

Open a bottle of Coca-Cola with your bare teeth!

Shauna, we're glad to have such cool skills in the family!

A Successful Auction Despite All Odds.

2008-02-23T20:40:00.002-07:00

The above picture is really a slave auction but it gets you in the spirit. So this week EricNelsonAuctioneering had their auction in Bull Head City, AZ and it was crazy, fun, and successful all at the same time. My Uncle Eric has been getting his auction business cranked up for the massive amount of foreclosures that are hitting the market right now. Ry and I have been working with him on getting it going up here in Utah.

The auction in AZ was wild but turned out ok. Here's the story. Basically to make a long story short Chad and I drove down to get things set up a couple days before auction day and started out by staking 100 signs around the city directing people to the Casino where the auction would be held. The next morning we went to take pics of the signs for the website but where in the dang heck were all the signs? We drove out to the highway to find about 20 of them all bent up in a pile and 4 at the city building, but all the others were just gone. Turns out there's a disgruntled individual that didn't want the auction to happen so he's be stirring up trouble for a while. Later on auction day (3 hours before registration) the guy got the Nevada Real Estate Board to make us change the auction location because of a loose interpretation of the law which said only so many properties from another state can be sold in Nevada (the auction properties were on the other side of the river and state line from the Casino).

We had to call everyone registered for the auction immediately to tell them it would be moved to the model home. Some people were a little ticked, but they all came anyways. But if that wasn't enough, the guy then called the fire department on us for having too many cars on the street and too many people in the model home and the people had to clear out twice during the auction to move cars!

But notwithstanding all this malarkey, the people came literally running back to the auction so they wouldn't miss out and everything was sold. We had a lot of laughs at Paul Harber who was getting stressed out and left a couple of times to relax, ha, ha. It was a great time though, just goes to show you when Big E puts on an auction, nothing can stop it from being a success!

25 weeks

2008-01-16T20:35:00.000-07:00

Just a little picture update.
Every thing is going really well. I went in for an appointment at 24 weeks, and I was measuring exactly right on...24 cm-Sweet! I feel really great. She is kicking like crazy, and we love it. Why does my stomach totally come to a point?! Maybe she's going to be a cone head! Anyway, that's all for now.

Doesn't This Just Make You Wana Collect Marbles?

2008-01-12T18:06:00.000-07:00

Baby Bedding!

2008-01-06T15:17:00.000-07:00

Alright, so I changed my mind on the colors for the baby room. It was a lot harder to find red and black things, and it seemed like they were a lot more expensive. So, I thought since pink and brown is so in right now there had to be a large variety with better prices. I was right, there was a TON to choose from. I ended up getting mine off Ebay for a great deal! Anyway, here is it...

I got it in the mail the other day and I LOVE it! The middle is silk, and the outside is this fake mink stuff that is sooo soft. But don't worry, it's all machine washable!!

A Rare Sight

2007-12-23T11:33:00.000-07:00

Hello my friends. I just had to share with you a glimpse that I was fortunate to have of one of those extremely rare occurances in nature of which only a select few have the luck, if you want to call it that, of being privy to. Much like seeing the Snow Leopard making a kill in the wild, or chancing upon a baby pigeon, or having the rare, inestimable luck of swimming at a public pool at the very same time that a black man is also swimming there, or the even less frequent privilege of having an intelligent conversation with a Democrat; I was fortunate to stumble upon a 7-11 which was temporarily CLOSED due to a power outage. Wow.

PROOF

2007-12-18T19:26:00.001-07:00

Ok, here's proof that, yes I do in fact have a belly! Also, here's to let you know we actually do have a real Christmas tree without beer cans all over it (although that tree was pretty special!)

Now, no laughing at my awesome face in that picture!

Here's our wonderful Christmas tree that takes up 3/4ths of our living room--SWEET!

Also, I have to warn you...I DID just buy some of those tall boots to either tuck/roll my jeans up! Laugh away, but there's no beating $15!!

IT'S A GIRL!!!

2007-12-16T18:41:00.001-07:00

Yes, it's official, WE'RE HAVING A GIRL! YEAH! We are so excited. On Friday we went to have our 20 week ultrasound (can you believe we waited that long?!?!) to figure this all out. According to my sister Saren, we were going to go have our ultrasound to figure out if she would be an aunt or an uncle!! Haha. She did later realize that she would always be the aunt, even if it was a boy:). She's so funny.

Yeah, for most of the beginning of my pregnancy we thought it might be a boy. Mostly, I think I'm just used to having the boys come first--that's how it was in my fam, and in Eric's. But, then like 2 days before the ultrasound Eric and I were sitting on the couch and I said to him, "I think it's a girl", and he totally agreed. So, my motherly instincts kicked in just in time! Phew! Now for the hard part--PICKING A NAME! Seriously, what is up with that. I think girl names are WAY harder to pick from, anyone agree? Eric says we might just go with Hillary C. Nelson...what do you think?? AHHHHH!! But, I'm warning you now, her head of hair (or lack there of) will never live up to Claire's cute curly hair, or Derek and Dillon!

Eric thinks her profile looks like me...can you tell that early?? I doubt it. But we are hoping she comes out a mellow little thing like Eric, and totally right brained, cuz we know her mamma didn't get any of that!

Ok, one thing I could use a little help on is her room! We really want to buy an unfinished crib and changing table (I know they sell them at Ikea) so we/Sue (hopefully!!) can help us stain them black. Then, I want the main color of the room to be red--well, like splashes of red...like red pillows, a red blanket over the rocking chair, then with black and white and red pictures in the room. So, if any of you see any cute bedding, or pictures, or unfinished cribs, or ANYTHING you think would look so cute in there, let me know! Just post on here and tell me where I can look. You guys are awesome!

Ok, I think that's all, I'll have to put some pics of myself up here...I've definitely got a belly goin on!

Don't Judge A Tree By It's Cover

2007-12-01T16:42:00.000-07:00

Wow looking at all your Christmas tree pictures has got me thinkin that maybe I should strip mine down and start all over. Oh now I see the difference, I just need to add some lights! Cool, thanks for the great ideas everyone! Let us know if there's anything else we should add to make our tree bring in the Christmas spirit more.

Here how it's lookin so far...

Can I Blame it on Being Pregnant?!?

2007-11-19T09:02:00.000-07:00

I don't know what the heck is going on with me, but I'm hoping it can all be blamed on this whole pregnancy thing! Ok, so a couple weeks ago I had like the most awkward week ever! First, I went and got a flu shot. That wasn't too bad, but my arm was a little sore. When I got home I decided to go running around the neighborhood. The sidewalk where I was running was a little uneven, and some leaves were covering it, but that is still no excuse. I totally wiped out! I didn't want to look at it, because you know when you look at it, all the sudden it hurts way more! I took a look at it when I got home, and there were two big gashes in my knee and blood running down my leg. I also got it pretty bad on one of my hands! I would've taken a picture, but we don't really have a working camera right now. It was pretty cool looking. But geez, I never noticed how much you bend and move your knee, I swear it was hurting ALL day long. No big deal, it's all better now.

Then, after that I was putting away the dishes, and dropped and broke TWO bowls! Yeah, I couldn't just stop with one, I had to get two of them!! Then, I was cutting apples for dinner and totally sliced my finger with the knife! Dang, that sure was a bad day!

Not too many stories since then, except for I went to dinner at Mimi's Cafe with my mom and sisters and I was cutting that really hard bread there, and I don't know exactly what happened, but yes, I did stab myself with the BREAD and my finger was totally bleeding!! How funny.

Other than that, I have nothing exciting to report. I feel great, and am sooo excited for Thanksgiving break. We get to find out what we're having on December 14th, and I can't wait!! Hope to see a lot of you over Thanksgiving, and everyone travel safely!

iPod Question for ya'll

2007-11-18T16:18:00.000-07:00

Hey people,
I was just trying to load some movies on my iPod and Lyd helped me find the software that does all that and stuff (PS Thanks!) and I was wondering if anyone knows how to delete the movies from your computer without having the iPod delete it from itself the next time you sink the iPod with iTunes. It's like it looks to see if the file is still on the computer and if it doesn't find it then it just says, "sorry dude, ya can't have this on your iPod anymore." I think it must be some setting or something that I need to change. If anyone knows about that stuff, shoot me a note.
Thanks, Eric

We're Cool Too!

2007-10-22T20:06:00.001-06:00

I guess to be cool you gotta have a picture of Jack Skellington on your blog so here he is!

Viva Mexico!

2007-10-08T21:17:00.001-06:00

We are the Hermanos Macho Nachos. (Ry in Pink, Eric in Green/Red)
We got back from Guanajuato Mexico last week and had a rad time hanging out with our aunts Carleen and Aleda and staying at their awesome Haciendas, show offs! Their houses are way cool, gotta get one some day; complete with stone arches, hand crafted iron gates, old wood doors, barrel vaulted brick ceilings, scorpions, etc., all enclosed in a 12 foot stone wall and courtyard just for the heck of it.
We really wanted to go see some sweet authentic Mexican Lucha Libre, but we missed it by one day dangit.
Bet you all wish you could have gone to Mexico too but you didn't, and we did but you guys weren't there, but we were, and you all stayed in the US, but we went to Mexico. Watch me get diareah for saying that, oh crap, I just did. Bet you all wish you had diareah like me but you don't, but I do and you guys only get to take a normal crap but I get to burn every hour while you all get to do what ever you want without thinking about running to the bathroom really soon, but I get to check my email and try to wait an extra second to finish reading it then crap my pants when I try to get up, but you guys don't get to do that kinda stuff like me couz I went to Mexico and drank an authentic limonada made with bacteria water. Frick!
I didn't really want to write all this I just wanted to post the picture of the Nacho Macho. Layta Skatas.

2007-10-03T17:59:00.000-06:00

Well hello everyone! Let’s see, where did I last leave off? Oh yes, I was 5 weeks on the prego side. Since my last post I have felt really great. Only a few days where I haven’t been too excited about how I feel, a little stomach pain and a lovely head cold. For this very reason I started getting nervous, thinking that maybe I was making this whole pregnant thing up. I thought, how embarrassing is this going to be when I go to my first doctor’s appointment, and the lady’s all…And you’re here because? So, I got to my appointment, and told the lady that I had this weird fear that I wasn’t really pregnant. The doctor said that that wasn’t a weird fear because she has to tell at least one girl A DAY that they aren’t pregnant! What?! Anyway, so she said just to make me feel better she would do an ultrasound so we could SEE the baby! I was sooo excited. So, Eric and I got to see our little peanut head (we call it this because it looks just like a peanut). You can see the head and feet/tail! I so wish we had a scanner so I could show it to you guys! It’s little heart was beating like a million times a minute. It was awesome. I couldn’t stop laughing for some reason, and it kept shaking the ultrasound thing all over da place. Anyway, then I got to have a lovely pap smear and lots of blood work—oh so fun! So, I am currently 10 ½ weeks along (that ½ is really important to me!).

For some strange reason people keep finding it necessary every time they ask me how I’m doing and I say great, they think they need to tell me, “Oh just wait, it gets way worse. I was great during my first trimester too, then it turned out awful!” Seriously, is that necessary? Why would you tell me that…can’t you just let me have a great pregnancy?! Huh, huh?! My gosh, it drives me nuts. Or the people who are like…Oh man, you have a LONG way ahead of you! I swear, if I were complaining about it then you could say that to me, but I don’t say anything to them, and they have to say that to me. So dumb. Anyway, enough of that.

I am finally starting to get into the routine of my job. It has taken me a long time to adjust…at least it feels like it to me. It’s weird going from being in school all the time where you can kind of choose if you want to go, or when you want to do what to something where it’s hours upon hours of the same thing, and you HAVE to go no matter what. Also, it’s been hard for me because I know that as soon as I have my baby I’m not working anymore for who knows how long (hopefully A LONG time!), so it just seems so temporary to me that I haven’t been putting my heart into it. But, I do love most of the kids. I have some pretty annoying ones too, but the little kids are so dang cute. Also, every other week I switch off and work in the preschool doing speech lessons and centers, and that is so fun. It’s a completely autistic preschool in the morning (which is very challenging—all nonverbal!), and then the afternoon class is all kids that have some sort of disability, usually pretty severe. So, it proves for some interesting days in there…but they are sooo cute!

So, as some of you know a couple weeks ago I spent a lame week by myself while Eric was with his fam in Mexico! Blasted job…yet another reason I’m excited to not work for a long time. It was a long week, but it really wasn’t horrible, I spent tons of time hanging out with my family, then had two girls nights that weekend. Still though, I so wish I could’ve been with all of them!

Anyway, enough for now. I’ll see some of you in Vegas for Chelsea’s wedding, and those of you who I don’t see, we seriously need to have a girls night—that’s you too Mandy and Alli!! No excuses!! Just kiddin, we should come to you, especially when it starts to get all sick and cold here!

Hurray We're Prego!!!

2007-08-30T21:42:00.000-06:00

What?!? So, I thought I'd jump on the baby bandwagon! Here I am, and now Claire will have a sweet 2nd cousin (??) to play with! I know, I am SO worse than Veronica at keeping secrets...because I'm only 5 weeks along! I totally thought I was 6, then nope, someone can't count! Anyway, our little thang is due May 2nd! We were going to wait for a lot longer to tell people, but the whole problem was that Saren was over at our house when I took the pregnancy test (almost as a joke!), and I was freaking out. So, she was like, "What, what's going on?". So, of course I had to tell her. Then, once she knew, I knew it wouldn't stay a secret for very long. So instead of everyone finding out from her, we decided we should just open our big fat mouths and tell everyone!! Whatever, it's so fun!

I feel awesome. I feel like I have more energy than I've had in a long time. What is that about?! Probably just so freakin excited. I really hope I don't feel sick; but my mom was only sick with one of hers, so hopefully I have her genes!! I really wanted to be married for 2 years before we had a baby, but it's ONE WEEK before our two year anniversary--that can totally count, right?!?! I'm counting it anyway.

My mom, who I was most nervous about tellin, was the MOST excited of all (except for maybe Saren)!! She is so happy. I haven't seen her this happy in so long. So, that is awesome news.

Other than that, my job is going great. We start actually doing therapy after Labor Day. That will be way better than all the paperwork that I've been having to do. But, then I have to do lesson plans and homework and all that crap. Not really sure what's going to happen at the end of the year when I have the baby, because school doesn't get out until May 29...but looks like they're just going to have to be ok without me (which I'm sure won't be a problem!!).

I am really excited/nervous to be a freaking mom, I can't believe it. Eric is really excited, but I think he's a little bit in denial too!:) Anyone wanna place some bets on the gender??

Here's us being retarted on the camera as we talk about it.

New Flip Finished!

2007-08-06T21:25:00.001-06:00

Sweet! We're finally finished with the American Fork Flip (except for some finishing touches) and I just listed it today so we'll see how it goes. It stared out looking pretty ghetto, but after a lot of work and kicking the painter's butt a few times it's looking like something I'd move into. What am I talking about, I'd move into anything called a house!

Anyways like all the other houses we've done we always want to move into it when we're done, but gotta build up the cash first, one of these days! Sorry I don't have any before pictures, but here are the after ones.

Here's the cute little porch where the cute little mexicans can sit and drink their Tecate con Limon.

Elegant baby.
Here's half of the kitchen cabinets, the rest are on the other wall. The tile is all laid "on point" or on the "diagonal". It's a pain in the butt when you get to where it meets the walls because there's twice as many cuts and they're all triangles (add's another 10% to the square footage of tile you need to buy), but it sure looks cool when it's done!

I'll post some before pictures real soon for the house we just closed on today (also in AF). It's a lot smaller but we'll probably make the same amount or more than on this one because we're getting it for such a good deal. You definately make the money when you buy it not when you sell it.

I crack up watching these people on "Flip This House" because half of them have no clue what they're doing. How they can justify spending 800 grand to make 50 blows my mind! I also crack up how they always say they're making X amount in profit when in actuality they forget the 7-8% in real estate fees that come right off the top and another 35-40% in short term capital gains tax that goes to you silent 50/50 partner Uncle Sam; in other words they really make only half of whatever they say the real profit is.

One LONG overdue post!

2007-07-17T11:20:00.001-06:00

Oh my gosh, you are all SO right! It’s official, we’re the worst bloggers yet. I feel totally guilty every time I get on here for not having posted anything in…drum roll….72 DAYS! One thing that I feel bad about is that I feel that an entry without pictures is totally unacceptable. The problem with that is that my camera is a gonner, Eric’s no longer takes anything but blurry pictures (he’s had it since his mission—11 YEARS!!), and we just never take any picture pictures with our video camera. Oh, I actually do have one on there of KJ and I with our dirt faces from the cabin that make us look like devils with really bad uni-brows!! I’ll have to have Eric show me how to get that picture off of there so I can post in on here. That is why I am asking for a camera from Eric for my birthday. Any suggestions? Something pretty nice with a big LCD screen on the back, but not too expensive? Let me know.

Seriously though, life has been pretty crazy around here. So, as most of you know I stayed back home in Missouri for two weeks to help my family pack. Boy, that was a lot of work. I was SO not looking forward to coming back here to move from our apartment into our Mile High house. But, surprise surprise, when I got back Eric and his family had moved everything into our house and it was almost all set up already! That was my cute husband’s anniversary present to me—how awesome is that! Too bad it got ruined when only a week later Provo City (JERKS!) told us we had to move back out because the property was deemed a dangerous property, and until all the repairs were completed we could not move back in!!! So, we moved yet again. Poor Eric.

So, these repairs that we have to do on this house are anywhere from $60K-$100K. SICK. So, we decided the best option was to re-list the house. We can still make a pretty good profit on it because we took so much risk out of the house by buying it and having a group of engineers come out and tell us what was going on. They let us know that no, the house was not sliding off the mountain! Phew! So, we’re trying to resell it right now. We’ve had two offers in and accepted that have fallen through, and now it’s under contract again for the third time. They want to close on August 9^th, and so far everything seems to be in order. You never know though! But, what a happy day that would be!!:)

Now, onto the Payson house that Eric and Ryan did. It is finally closing…TOMORROW!!! Eric is in signing the closing docs as I write this!! YEAH! I am so excited to get that one done and closed. It wasn’t necessarily the best money making venture they’ve done, but they definitely have learned a lot. Apparently the Payson market isn’t as great as we had hoped. Oh well, live and learn, and onto the next one!

Speaking of the next one, the American Fork house that Eric has been working on is almost done! This one should be a great one. He’s been working really hard on it for about two months now. I have actually mowed the lawn over there twice! You should be proud of me…it’s actually a pretty big lawn. The first time I mowed it, I mowed it from like 2-4 in the afternoon. I’m an idiot! It was like 100 degrees outside! Then this time I got this huge blister. Whatever, I actually kinda like it, it looks really good when you’re done. That house has gone pretty smoothly, except we have the CRAZY painter. He is so funny looking…kinda tall, really really skinny, longer hair, all tanned like sick, old leather, and a serious chain smoker. He just didn’t show up for like 2 WEEKS! He’s good at what he does when he actually does something. Anyway, for some strange reason he tried to paint part of the outside of the house this bright Kelly green. It was the sickest thing I have ever seen. I have no idea what would possess him to think that that looked good! Apparently he was chain smokin’ something more than a lil tobacco. We nixed that, and went for something more traditional and safe—white. Sorry KJ, I know you said chocolate brown, but we just wanted to be safe!

As for everything else…my family is out here and doing well. Yes, we spent yet another day MOVING them in. I swear our whole month of May and June were consumed with moving. They live in a cute little place about two blocks from Eric and I. My brother Curtis brought my dad out here on the 4^th of July. My dad has to stay in a nursing home for two months, because unless he does that to qualify for a home health care nurse, Utah has a 12 YEAR WAITING LIST!! You did read that right, 12 YEARS! Unbelievable. Anyway, he’s doing pretty well there. We did have a scare last week when his blood pressure suddenly dropped to like 60/40, when it should be around 120/80! They rushed him to the emergency room and hooked him up to some serious oxygen. The doctors in the ER were asking my mom what his end of his life plan was…meaning, did he have a living will and want to be hooked up to a resuscitator, or did he not want to be resuscitated! I guess you can only sustain life at that low of blood pressure for a short time, like minutes!! Anyway, they don’t really know what caused it, they think he might have gotten the flu…who knows. He then spent last week in the hospital, but is back at the nursing home now.

My dad got to come home and check out his apartment for the first time on Sunday. Eric and my brother Seth carried him into the car, and then into the house. He stayed and had dinner and got to stay for like 4 ½ hours! He loved it, first time at his home here in Utah!!

Most of you know this, but I did get that job working for the Nebo School district (Springville, Spanish Fork). I am a Communication Disorder Specialist. I have training the second week in August. They did have me assigned to an elementary school in Springville, but now they’ve asked me if I would do Mapleton Junior High. I think I would enjoy that, you work more with social issues as opposed to articulation problems. We’ll see what happens. I also have applied to be either the Springville High or Spanish Fork High School assistant volleyball coach. I think I would just love that. They haven’t called me for an interview or anything yet, so who knows what will happen with that. I think that would be awesome though. It would keep me so busy!

Oh and yes…my tomato plants. I planted like 8 (I think) tomato plants in Paul and Sue’s backyard. They are growing like crazy thanks to Paul who actually does all the work for them. I think they’re about ready for all the tomatoes on there to turn red. If anyone wants some tomatoes, feel free to grab some from Paul and Sue’s. We’ve had a few, and they are AWESOME! Also, Paul planted some corn back there, and it’s growing so fast too.

Alright, this is long enough for one post! Sorry, it’s actually WAY too long for one post. I am so dang sorry it’s taken me forever to get anything up here! I'll post some pictures soon.

Happy 1st Anniversary Baby!

2007-05-06T22:41:00.000-06:00

Well it’s officially been one year from the day we were sealed for time and all eternity! Wow I can’t believe it flew by so fast. Everyone says the first year is the hardest one; if that’s true then we got a lot of great years ahead, because I think this was the best year of my life so far.

The thing I love most about our relationship is the wonderful friendship that we’ve cultivated. It grows naturally and unobstructed like true friendships do. All the cute little playful things we do together, the inside jokes personalized for just the two of us, and all the other little light hearted things we constantly do together enrich every day, making our marriage as fun as it is fulfilling. Because our love is genuine and independent of external influences, these loving gestures are just as consistent when we’re all alone as when we’re with others. This is the kind of friendship I always hoped for in marriage and am thrilled to say is ours!

I’m also grateful for your inspiring response to the devastating accident your dad had this year. As a husband I worried that I wouldn’t know how to respond and comfort you like you needed and that this might consequently cause bad feelings to come between us; like I’ve heard so many people say happens during a family crisis. But you seemed to perceive my feelings of inadequacy and with loving understanding you didn’t require of me that which I didn’t well know how to give. You let my best feeble efforts be good enough and I’m so grateful for that kind of patience and understanding. It makes me feel like a good husband which is every husband’s greatest concern.

I’m also grateful for your support of my chosen career in a self employed capacity which is so different from what you’re accustomed to. It takes a lot of faith on the part of a wife to give her husband that kind of freedom. If that wasn’t enough, you even act excited about it all.

Daily I love to sit back and watch you interact with others and when I consider your beautiful smile, naturally cheery temperament, hot body, etc, etc. I often think to myself, “Wow, I’m married to that woman.”

Thank you so much for being the woman of my dreams and showing me more and more with each new thing how truly lucky I am.

Love you forever baby! Happy 1st Anniversary!

E

The Day After

2007-05-06T16:52:00.000-06:00

Well Bree and I just got back... scratch that, I just got back from Navoo where we went to see Seth (Bree's older brother) get married in the Navoo temple. It was a lot of fun even though it rained the whole time. I can't believe all the detail they put into that temple it's so cool. Even in the locker room they used walnut colored wood for the lockers and the locker doors all had old fashoned latches like those used back in the day. If you haven't been there ya gotta check it out.

Anyways, here's a picture of Seth on the plane ride back to Utah the day after he got married. He's lookin pretty tired, maybe he just had a long night or somethin.

A Lot of Sweet Stuff...

2007-04-30T18:59:00.000-06:00

Ok, I'm the worst at posting...but I've been having way too much fun to sit down and look at these boring blogs! Just kiddin, I totally blog stalk, and I love love love to read everyone else's, I've just been too lazy to write anything.

First things first, biggest news EVER! Some of you know this, but some of you don't....drum roll....my sweet family is MOVING TO UTAH!!!! That's right, for good. My sisters and mom are flying out June 5th. My dad will be going back into the rehab place that we love in Missouri while my mom looks for a house and a job. Speaking of that, if any of you know of any job openings around here, let me know. Then, once they find a place and get somewhat settled then I think the plan is to have my bro Curtis fly out here with my dad (Curt's not moving out here, he'll be staying in MO to go to school). How fun is that?!?! I am really excited to have them out here, and be able to feel like I can physically contribute more to help em out.

Next, I got to go to Disneyland FOR THE FIRST TIME!! And shame on me for not going before. I loved every second of it. It was a total girly trip which was so fun. I hate to say it, but California Adventure rides were sweeter. But, you're right, the atmosphere at DL was WAY better. I think my favorite ride was the rollercoaster at CA, then Tower of Terror, and the Indiana Jones ride. Oh so fun. I'm sure you've all seen pics on Lydia's blog, so I won't post any. Oh, and those of you going this week...HAVE SOO MUCH FUN!

Now, onto some more sweet things, I GRADUATED!! Took all my finals (which were freakin easy this time--which is a first!), and aced my classes. I graduated in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology (say that 5 times fast--without getting a speech impediment:) ). Now what you may ask?? GREAT question. Someone tell me! I'm applying for some jobs in the school systems, and some jobs through BYU (I'm a little hesitant to post it, because chances are I won't get any, but who cares!). If nothing pans out, secretary for Got Crap it is!!:) Seriously, if nothing works out I may think the Lord is trying to tell me something, I dunno! Anyway, Cheney did a great job speaking, in fact, all the speakers were excellent. President Hinckley, Elder Scott, and Elder Bednar were there as well. Thursday's comencement was sooo good. I'm really glad I went, even though we got there at 1, and it didn't start till 4!!! It was a long day. Friday's graduation where I actually walked was pretty good too, although I didn't enjoy it as much as Thursday's. But, it was so fun to see all my buddies again! So, here are a couple pictures, one of me (obviously), and the other of a Cheney protestor (so gay). THANK YOU everyone who were able to come, and THANK YOU to those of you who I know would have been there if you could (KJ and Sue:) ).

Another cool thing...Eric's parents got us a 2 night stay and the Grand America in Salt Lake. It was soo beautiful. We just relaxed. Slept in, went to lunch, went shopping, watched TV, worked on my Sunday School lesson, went to dinner, and watched a movie--fabulous!! I'll put a pic of that too.

What else....Eric and I are leaving Wednesday for Nauvoo for my brother's wedding--how cool is that?!?! I'll update you on that when I get back. Oh yes, and another cool thing I have to brag about...I ran 3 miles on the treadmill the other day in 28 minutes! I was so dang proud of myself--but I remembered that I HATE running. Why did I do it?? Just to say I did.

That's it for now--have a great week all'yall.

America's Next Top "Lame Show"

2007-04-22T20:13:00.000-06:00

So I’m watching the show

America

’s Next Top Model the other day; what a freekin joke! I bet you anything this all started with some producer guy who told his friend, “Man models are so lame, they’ll do anything just to get the job no matter how stupid, and what’s even worse, they’ll be totally serious!” BAM … new show!

The whole point of the show I think is to make these girls look as stupid as they can, then slam em down when they don’t pull it off (if such a thing can realistically be pulled off). Take for example the “Drowned Rat” photo shoot. “I’m sorry Cassandra, I just don’t know what to tell you! When you were trying to portray that drowning rat I just… (breathing in through teeth) didn’t feel it. I didn’t believe you were actually drowning in the sewer… I’m sorry, you won’t be America’s Next Top Model. (sad music) Take your things and leave please.” (Somber music, girl exits while sobbing).

I guarantee Tyra Banks is busting up laughing as the girls are going all out on these retarded shoots. I think the comments from the girls are just as ridiculous. “Well Brittany, you’ve just finished your “Birthing Rhino” shoot…” “Uh huh.” “And Brittney I have to be honest…. (long pause with tense music) … You Nailed It!!!!” (girl screams for joy) “So how did you do it?” “Well I was just thinking to myself if I was a rhinoceros in labor, like how would I feel, or more importantly… how would I look? So I just acted like it was real and I guess I pulled it off! Yeeee! Sorry, ha, ha. I’m just soooo happy!”

Gay! Gay! Gay!

One thing I have to admit though, this Jaslene girl knocked the “Laser Beam” shoot right out of the park! Is she a girl or is she a green lasar? I can’t tell! Dang she’s good! Pffft.

The World's Greatest Fraud "Copernicus the Liar"

2007-03-29T21:30:00.000-06:00

There once was a guy who everyone thought was smart, his name was Copernicus. For those who don't know who I'm talking about perhaps this will refresh your memory.

Remember now?

Lookin a little fishy there Coperno, got some lies cookin behind those shifty eyes?

Anyway, he had a lot of fanciful theorys and wore fanciful tights. His lies about the universe sounded really good but were nothing more than a little fuzzy puffy ball with perfume smells and little litter things. Something about the Earth revolving around a big ball of fire that he so conveniently called the sun. Yackity Shmackity blah blah blah... looked something like this;

His daughter thought it looked better like this;

I agree.

"Oooh the center has to be HOT the center has to be HOT and I run around with wimpy tights like a skinny little fairy boy!" -Copernicus-

That's only because back in his day he'd never experienced one of these guys;

"Brain Freeze!"

This guy will stimulate your mind to a whole new reality and mental awareness. You can literally feel your brain thinking about the coldness; hurts like hell frozen over! Where's the heat now Copernicus? Maybe it wasn't his fault he never had the opportunity, because for a thousand years or so the Polish lost the recipe for ice. This was known as the dark ages and consequently everyone was mad as heck. Check it out;

"Cut this cursed warm brain out PLEASE"! -Knight-

We are more fortunate thank goodness. So the next time you enjoy a "Brain Freeze" few in the world's history have ever enjoyed; ponder the truth that I have come to know and join with me as I say;

The Truth. The End.

A lil update...

2007-03-23T16:57:00.000-06:00

Well, here they are, a little before and after haircut fun. Now that I look at these, I think I like the long hair better...but, I think we always want what we don't have.

Ok, sorry about the depressing picture with my dad, but it's the first long-hair picture that I saw. But, since he's up there, I'll give you a little update. He was in this awesome rehab facility, but for some lame $$ reason they only keep patients for 30 days, then they send them home for 30 days before they can reapply to come back into the rehab place. So, he had to leave Rusk Rehab the middle of this month. But, he can't come home yet, because he still needs like 16 hours of nursing care, plus our house isn't handicap equipped, so he couldn't even get around. So lucky him, he's at a nursing home:(. But, last Monday he did get to come home for 3 hours...the first time home since October!

He's been learning how to get himself around on his powered wheelchair. They basically strap his arm to the chair, and he kinda flings his wrist till he can get himself to where he wants to go. When I went home in February he was getting pretty good at it. I have a little video clip of him wheelin in his wheelchair that I'll put on here soon. Anyway, his attitude is great...he's just sooo dang bored.

My mom is working really hard, and trying to keep up with everything. She is doing really well though.

As for me...I have one fat paper and two tests left before I graduate!! One month and 2 days. I am so excited. After that, then what?? I think I'll just get pregnant!!:) Just kidding, kind of. No, I'll probably look for a full-time job to stay busy. If you hear of anything, let me know. Oh, and I HATE taxes!!! That's it for now!

Making of The New (old) Dump Truck "Oscar the Grouch"

2007-03-22T20:09:00.000-06:00

Well... we finally got our new dump truck done which should save us a butt "load" on dumpster fees (approx $750+ per house). Ry and I decided to paint the truck in a cool black with hot lime green trim/racing stripes in honor of Oscar the Grouch; since the truck's main job is to haul trash! P.S. Let us know if any of you see a cool metal Oscar mineature we can weld on as a hood ornament. Here is a timeline of our progress so you can enjoy the bloody, sweaty journey with us.

Making of the Box.

Ry grinding.

Still grinding.

Ry welding, and my sweet comments.

Box almost complete.

Box on the truck. Yep we lifted the whole frame on the truck ourselves, actually we flipped the truck upside down on top of the box, then welded it, then flipped it back over on the wheels. Did I mention that we carved the box frame from a single block of steel?

On the next blog you'll actually be able to see the truck painted and in action! Also stay tuned to Ry's blog for a cool clip of him grinding his face off with a high speed wire brush that turned his face into hangiburger until we welded his chin back on. Blood, sweat, and tears baby... but could you give less for such a sexy piece of machinery?

A bumb broke in da House!

2007-03-06T21:28:00.000-07:00

Don't you hate it when you put a house on the market and some bumb kicks the door in and turns the heat up to 80 degrees and camps out in your house, peeing in your toilet or tub or whatever? Yah... me too.

This video is a little shot of what the sucker did to our door... freek'n hoser. It wouldn't have taken too long to fix except my tools were 40 miles away; it looks sweet now though! It looked sweeter before I had to fix it.

Don't worry though cuz I boobie trapped the door so the next time Chester Copperpot opens it he'll get a pound of dog crap chucked on his face with an automatic clay pigeon slinger. Hold on a second my phone's ringing....

#@%?! It was a realtor who just tried to show the house! His fault for not calling first... crazy poop face.

This Fire Station Sucks!

2007-02-28T14:06:00.000-07:00

So I'm driving around looking at some properties in Draper and I come up on this firestation that's missing like half of the roof. Turns out it burned down! The secretary said the firefighters were getting sick of always having to answer questions from news reporters at the scene of fires and in a last effort attempt to secure some peace and quiet they came back from a routein run and tortched the place.
To their utter dismay a bunch of news teams swarmed in and they spent the next couple hours answering questions. The thought process that led these firefighters to do the unthinkable seems to stem from a new air born japanese subway virus that makes the brain rationalize in opposites! They suspect this is what let Brittney Spears to shave her head in a desperate effort to turn the paparazzi's attention away from herself.

A little nervous...

2007-02-28T07:47:00.000-07:00

Ok, so tomorrow's the big freakin day! I'm choppin all my hair off!! Well, not all, but I was thinkin somethin shoulder length...what do you guys think?? Got any fun suggestions??? I'm also gonna do some highlights. Tell me, tell me, what do you think?

Master Bedroom Mahem

2007-02-26T21:53:00.000-07:00

Well I thought I'd give you all a little taste of what I do all day. Not really; but this is a little glimps from the shower's view of our new mater bedroom as I reek havoc on the ceiling couz I swore that cocroach ran in that little hole in the ceiling. "Look at all these roaches, surrounding me every day, I just need some time, some time to get away." Anyone know who sang that?

Sometimes when working gets monotonous you just gota bust out the camera and screw around.

Bree's Quote of the Week

2007-02-26T21:36:00.000-07:00

"I have to take lots of naps because I worked so hard in the pre-mortal life."

Nelson/Christensen Quote Trivia

2007-02-25T20:24:00.001-07:00

Who said this: Ha, ha! You ate that like you thought it was a booga!

Eric & Ry Flip That House

2007-02-25T18:32:00.000-07:00

Y'all have heard of the new house flipping craze eh, well Ry and I just flipped a house in Payson, UT and we're just waiting to get it sold. It was a real cool house that strangly used to be the home of a prominent phisician who used the basement as his hospital. We found all kinds of wierd turn of the century surgical equipment that faired more like midevil torture devices. So we cast Satan out and began the remodle. We probably did a little more to the house than we needed, but it was a good learning curve, a fun project, and turned out great. This is a clip of Ry Dog spraying some of the new trim in the lower torture dungeon where the screams of the dead can still be heard pleading for novicane to be shot into their miserable corpses with large rusty steel syringes. The guy with the paint roller is really Hanible Lector, which we didn't find out until he signed his check! No wonder he kept licking the floor where we found all the human fluids. Huh...wierd.

Cat Kill'n Christmas Eve

2007-02-25T12:38:00.000-07:00

Check out little Spencer Man and I as we rain down hellfire on Milly Girl and take away 4 of her 8 misley little lives; Bah ha ha ha ha! But this cat is way too cool under fire; how many battles has this masochist seen!? "Hello, my names Milly Kitty, this video reminds me of Nam when I used to eat Friskie Bullets for breakfast!"

The Heavenly Slurpee

2007-02-25T12:07:00.000-07:00

All of this slurpee talk got me thinking about how famous people probably are addicted to slurpees just like us common folk. Then I remembered that song from "Amy Grant's Christmas" entitled "Breath of Heaven (slurpee)" What was it she said about the Heavenly Slurpee...

The New and Upcoming Blogtacular!

2007-02-23T17:56:00.000-07:00

So the totally wierd thing about this whole blogg stuff is that you can go like a year without talking to a member of your family and probably know more about them than if you talked to them all the time! So I'm going to try out a new experiment, no one can call anyone else until like the 4th of July. And we'll plan a picnic or something in St. George and see if everyone brought the stuff they were supposed to and the only way we could have known what to bring is by doing the blog. We can even see if it works like if we wanted kjersten to not only bring the green chilis, but to bring the "diced Ortega green chilis in the 8 oz. can" we could post it on the blog and see if that's what she really brings to the picnic! How crazy! If she really did bring it...wait a second, is she reading this or you, who am I talking to? I'll have to figure this out, but until then... if (she/you)really did bring it then (we'd/you'd/she'd) be on to something!

Just playin. My wife will probably erase this before anyone else can read it, but I'm just seeing how this works. I think we'll have some cool home made movies coming up here in the next day or so, so stay tuned to www.hotnelsonfamily.blogspot.com