A DAY IN MY LIFE...

The latest and greatest

2010-09-16T13:15:00.001-07:00

Well the latest anyway. My camera broke. Coen is my little destroyer and we now add my camera to the list of things he has ruined in his short life. I love him and want to squeeze him all day and sometimes I kiss and squeeze him so much that he hits me and screams, but that just makes me laugh and want to squeeze him more. It is a vicious cycle I tell ya. But its one I quite like for the time being and I really can’t get to mad when he breaks all my things. So I think tonight I am going to buy myself a new camera tonight and then I might grace this blog with a few pictures.
I have had strep like 15 times in the last year. not even kidding. Its to the point now that if Im not on antibiotics I have it. I have to get my tonsils out. I hear it is basically is the worst thing ever, but it is essential to my survival. and it sounds better than having strep for the rest of my life.
I havent posted much for the above mentioned reasons, but my Olivia started preschool and she is the cutest little thing on this planet. Honestly I love her more than words can say and seeing her with her backpack so excited for school makes me cry happy tears.
We went to the state fair already twice this year. We love the fair. we spend way too much money on rides and food, but it is totally worth it. Olivia and the "C" man think they are so rad going on the kiddy rides and we let them play those silly fair games where everyone is a winner. They walk away with their prize thats worth about 5 cents feeling like a million bucks and Matt and I smile at eachother because deep down we think we are the worlds greatest parents. that elated feeling doesnt last long, but it is definitely worth the two dollars. This year my favorite treat was the fried pickle. Olivia almost at two pounds of crawdads all by herself. Matt and I really couldnt believe it. When she finished eating the first pound she cried because she wanted more. Matt loved as always the annehiem fire roasted peppers and the C man liked anything and everythings he was able to shove in his face and down his little gullet.
Off to buy by camera now.
We are going to New York for the 5 year celebration of matrimonial bliss. More on that later.

2010-07-02T08:03:00.000-07:00

The last couple of weeks have been filled to the brim. I have not been bored. I have been tired and happy and scared and then tired again. Right now Olivia is in the bathroom playing in the sink and making a mess I am sure and I am letting her because Coen is napping and because she sounds super happy and because I want a little moment to myself. We were all super sick a week and a half ago. I have never ever been that sick and Olivia scared the bajeebers out of me. We were both in the ER. It was awful, but I am so greatful for having an amazing ER here in PC and not having to drive down to SLC. The staff was so wonderful. I should send them flowers for how great they were. My faith in healthcare has been restored.

Liv was at her worse Thursday night and I had been planning a girls weekend at a condo up here. I thought I might have to cancel the weekend that had been in the planning for months. But Matt would hear non of that. He stayed with my babies and let me play with the girls. It was a wonderful, much needed weekend and after I felt rejouvinated even though I got less sleep than when I had my babies. Girl time is good for the soul.
Matt and I have made a goal this year to really discover our surroundings. We finally took the kids up to The Canyons resort. We took the Gondola up and had lunch in the mountains and spent a couple hours hiking around. We saw a marmot and Olivia was fascinated with all the bugs and butterflies she got to see. It really is beautiful up here this time of year.

Saturday is a special day...

2010-06-12T22:42:00.000-07:00

My maiden name is Scottish. Some think it sounds oriental as in Nishimoto. But Nish comes from McNiesh. When my grandpa's grandpa came over from Scotland they shortened it, and trust me, we have all been mad about it since. because McNiesh really is so much cooler than Nish. So with that being said today we went to the Scottish festival and had a blast. It didn’t rain until the very end so we were lucky. I love bagpipes and kilts. On the way home the kids slept. Coen was so tired and he slept so deeply that his breathing was super loud and it made me laugh. He is already such a man. Oh, the other day I must have dropped a clove of garlic on the floor while cooking and he must have ate it because the whole next day he stunk to high heaven. His breath was just terrible all garlicky and such. good thing he just had stinky breath and didn't choke. I still can't believe he ate raw garlic. its pretty potent stuff. The great thing about it was that he was bit sick, and after he ate the garlic he cleared right up, but he stunk like a man and it was kind of yucky. Anyway I am rambling because it is late and I have been crying my eyes out over a silly movie. Matt always wants to watch a movie with me at night, but then he falls asleep within the first 30 min and I have to stay awake and finish the stupid thing and because I am way more emotional at night than in the morning if it is emotional at all I am a mess. Well this one was quite emotional and so I decided to write and get my mind on something else rather than give myself a headache from crying so hard. If anyone could see the sobbing mess I am they might loose all respect for me. Some do know of my sillyness and still love me so maybe all respect would not be lost.

No picture of the festival because I left the camera in the car.
Thinking of changing my blog.
Have lots to do before fathers day and Coen's birthday.
Must sleep now.
Writing didn’t solve the headache problem, hopefully Advil will.

I like summer

2010-06-04T22:04:00.000-07:00

Dinner was lovely. Marinated chicken and veggie kabobs, Grilled sweet potatoes, Watermellon and blackberry salad. After dinner we took a bike ride through the canyon and Olivia got out and explored. When we returned we ate popsicles outside and then played "the gingerbread man game" She runs around saying "run, run, as fast as you can; you cant catch me I'm the gingerbread man!" and I chase her and when I catch her I eat her with kisses and she laughes and laughes and then says, "Lets do it again! I'll be the gingerbread man and you be the lady" And thats how it went until I got so tired I had to rest. I love that little thing.

My little man ended the day with a fever. I think his top teeth are finally coming in. My babies are late teethers. Anyway I loved that he had a fever tonight because he just wanted me to hold him. That might sound strange, but I know nothing is seriously wrong with him and he let me just hold him and rock him for a whole hour until his meds kicked in. He looked at me and I at him and I kissed his sweet little nose and sang to him and he played with my hair. Then the hour was up and he was off my lap as quick as he could to go play with his sister and I kinda wished I would have waited to give him the tylenol. That hour was too short.

memorial day

2010-06-01T07:50:00.000-07:00

I will remember this memorial day forever I think. Matt and I ran a 5k up here in PC in honor of his oldest brother Ricky Who passed away from Cancer. We had a banner made and 5 of Rick's 8 kids were able to come. It was really nice running beside my husband. I love him. There was this one part of the coarse that was all uphill and Matt and I were starting to really feel it. We werent talking and we were just focusing in getting up the last uphill stretch when this giant, very tan, with long flowing locks and almost completely naked man comes gracefully and speedily bounding past us. We looked at him and then at eachother and just lost any bit of composer we might have had and just laughed til we almost cryed. I love my husband and I love moments like that with him.
Later we went to the park and spent a nice evening with my inlaws. Again we laughed and laughed and then Matt went to be with some of his friends and I went over to see my parents. A good friend of ours that I have known my whole life was over with two of my brothers. He told us he has cancer. He has started chemo but didn't tell anybody because he doesnt like being the bearer of bad news. I drove home in tears and by bedtime had a splitting headache.
This cancer stuff is changing me. When my friend told me of his cancer the words that softly came into my head were "And the same sociality which exists among us here will exist among us there" I hope and pray that my friend beats the cancer. I pray everyday that my dad will get a few more years of this life to enjoy. But the reality still is that everyone who is born will die. And this life is certainly not all there is. This reality is becoming more and more imbedded in my heart at the thought of loosing ones I love. I am begining to feel deep within my bones that this life really is just a part of what there will be and my job for right now is to be strong and give as much love as I can give. If I do loose the ones I love. It won't be forever.

Wrote this at night with really sleepy eyes

2010-05-24T22:35:00.000-07:00

Today we went to visit my dad at the hospital. We got in the elevator to go to the ninth floor. Coen was on Matt's shoulders and Liv was holding on tight to my hand. Before the elevator doors closed a man in his 50's got in with us. He was wearing a driving cap and jacket and seemed pleasant enough. He smiled at Matt and me and then at the kids and then He told us to enjoy them while they are little because it really doesn’t last very long. I got a horrible pit in my stomach. I get told this so often. I hate it. Not the part about nice people telling me to enjoy my babies. I think that part is cute enough. I just hate the fact that they are reminding me of something I already know. When I was little I wanted nothing more than to be a mom. I really didn't. Not an actress or singer or doctor or cheerleader. I played with dolls and I wanted to be a mom. That’s it! In college I went from major to major. Why? because nothing really grabbed me. sure there were subjects that I liked more than others, but nothing I loved. I used to feel really bad about it. I thought it made me an uninteresting and without ambition or “real dreams" (how terrible is that? I could write a whole other post on that subject) But I studied and served a mission and learned another language and traveled a good amount and married the one I really wanted to marry, but it was all in preparation for this, for them. I was 27 when I became a mom and let me tell you, when they placed her in my arms I felt heaven in my being. I know they are growing up. Right now as they sleep they are growing. Tomorrow I will kiss them good morning and they will be a little bigger than they were when I put them to bed tonight. I do enjoy it, but enjoying it doesn't change the fact that they were put here on this earth to grow and that’s just what they are going to do whether I like it or not. I do like it by the way. I love it.

2010-05-24T10:49:00.000-07:00

Our weekend was lovely. We went to the living traditions festival. Lots of different foods from the different countries was available which made for two very happy boys.Crafts and lots of room to run made for a very happy little girl.

Being with all my loves, happy and outside made for a very happy me.

Going to tackle this monday and all this snow. Not sure how, but I will... somehow

2010-05-20T22:38:00.000-07:00

I took my babies to the park where they fed the birds and played. Later we went to see my dad. He is doing better today. I took the kids in the back yard and my mom helped livs pick a great big bouquet of lilacs for me. They smelled so good. My mom told me about when her and my dad where first married and he came home with his arms full of lilacs for her because he knew she loved them. She then picked a big bouquet for him and put them in his room. It was a good day.

2010-05-19T09:35:00.000-07:00

I just got off the phone with my mom. the Cancer is now in my dad's scull. He is having such bad headaches they don't know what to do. My mom is scared. My dad is scared. We are all scared. I don't know if scared is the right word. Helpless, out of control, heartbroken, angry. I don't know which best describes this awful feeling. It is such an awful feeling. Cancer is such an awful thing. The pain of it all is overwhelming. trials bring growth, but does growth need to hurt so bad? I suppose it does. Well I don't like it and I won't pretend I do. It is awful to see my dad in pain. He is my dad and I love him so much. He is a great dad and a great grandpa. He plays the saxaphone and ran countless marathons. He waltzes with Olivia just like he used to dance with me. He is charming and strong and now he is crippled with pain. I wish so bad I could take it all away, but there is only one who can do that I suppose and I know he will in time. I know deep down that everyting will be made right in the end. There is purpose to this life and there is purpose to pain and there is purpose in pleading and begging and praying. I know all of this. Now if I can just live what I know. It will all be okay.

2010-05-18T21:53:00.000-07:00

It rained really hard today. We went to the movies and took the kids. The theatre was empty and the kids climbed up and down the stairs and I let them and it was fun. Matt ate his treats. That man loves his treats at the movies. I drove us home. I didnt know it would be raining that hard and I was so scared. He rubbed my neck, but I had to make him stop because he was pulling my hair and I couldnt relax. Olivia kept whining "mom I need something" over and over and over. I yelled that if she wasnt quiet I would spank her when we got home. She was quiet. Then I felt so bad for screaming. I said I was sorry when we got home and explained about the weather and wanting to get her home safe. She helped me make dinner and we gave eachother eskimo kisses and well as the butterfly ones. I went to the gym and read and ran and I saw a rainbow. I called matt about it and he showed it to her and she wanted to show it to me. She was sad she couldnt. When I got home little man was is bed and she was waiting for me to read her a story. I read three. But she needed to snuggle with daddy too. So that is where she is, in my spot. I think I will go join them.

2010-04-16T20:50:00.000-07:00

We went to Florida and it was a dream. I laughed till I cryed, laughed till I peed my pants and ran a mile in the pouring warm Florida rain. Oh and I swam with sharks. It was so much fun. Yay for fun. Everyone needs it. I needed it in a bad way and now that I had a good dose I feel much better.
My Olivia is three tomorrow. I am taking her all over to do her favorite things. Just me and her. I can't believe she is three. I hope and pray that I can always remember her at this age. She is bliss.
I took pictures but dont have my usb. go figure. maybe one day I will have it together, but not today.

2010-04-07T21:54:00.000-07:00

When I started this blog I did so for a journal. Typing is faster that writing. but then there was a certain social pressure that entered into my little online journal. everyone was so crafty and had such great pictures and everyone was blogging and reaching great blogging heights. It was all a little overwhelming so my blogging became starved and then nonexistent and now I havent written in my blog for quite some time, but sometimes while I lay in bed at the end of the day I think about the wonderfulness and sometimes rotteness that is my life and I want to document it. I want to write. I like to write. I am not always grammatically correct and I don't know how many pictures I will post. I am almost certain nobody reads this anymore anyway so that takes most of the pressure off to be funny, witty, clever and creative. but I do want to write and sometimes at night I feel horrible for not writing down my life.

Today was a good day. my most favorite part of today was Matt making me some tea for my sore throat. I have had a sore throat for almost two months and nobody knows what is wrong with me, but the tea felt so good going down. So as I was drinking my tea Matt was pulling Olivia around inside the new duvet I had just bought her. She was thrilled and he was laughing. At first I was a little mad that the comforter was getting all smashed inside and the duvet was getting stretched but then my whole self got warm and fuzzy with the image of these two loves of mine. How cute they both are. Her in her green and white summer dress and strawberry blonde curls and him in his classic shorts, white tee and shaved head looking quite handsome. oh how I love them. now hopefully I can go to sleep knowing I have recorded one of the gifts God gave me today.

Random people on the streets of New York

2009-11-19T23:09:00.000-08:00

Being asked what they are thankful for. So Great.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tuwid8_O8dk

Olivia's prayer

2009-11-15T22:03:00.000-08:00

"Dear Hevenie foder, bess jesus, bess saaa caus, bess rain eer can fy, bess all da tings. Amen" Olivia

Translation: Dear Heavenly Father, Bless Jesus, bless santa clause, bless the rein deer can fly, bless all the things. Amen

In case you couldn't tell this is what I am grateful for today.

A little history and why I am thankful

2009-11-13T21:51:00.000-08:00

First the bit of history... It was sometime in October and I was twelve. I was sitting with my dad in the car and we were on our way home from a daddy-daughter date that I made him take me on. I was excited because in a couple months I would be turning the big 13 and would officially be a teen. My dad's birthday was coming up even sooner than mine on the first of November and I asked him if he was excited for his birthday. The answer he gave me was honest, but somewhat depressing. He said, "honey, right now you are just beginning your life and you have so many milestones in front of you that are exciting." He went on to name such milestones 16, 18, graduation, college, marriage, babies etc.... Then he said, "after that and when you get to be my age life becomes routine, you have lots of responsibilities and your birthday really just becomes another day, you don't really have much to look forward to anymore." All I could think about for the rest of the ride home and quite a few years after was how I did not want to grow up. Growing up sounded like it sucked. I felt so bad for grown ups they all must be so unhappy. (note: my dad was the father of seven kids and a really sick wife at the time and life was beyond chaotic. He worked from 6am to midnight most days to provide for us. He is the most loyal, hard working, persevering man ever; and at the time he was trying to speak to me like the adult I was to become by giving me an honest answer as to why he wasn't jumping up and down for his birthday.) I understand all of this now, but at the time it really scared me and I was determined that I should really try to enjoy things now because the future stages of life would inevitably come and happiness would be gone forever.
Now fast forward five or so years. I was again really excited. This time it was about a boy and going to a dance and if I remember correctly there had been some intense boy drama earlier that had caused so many tears I was sure I would never recover and never be able to stop crying. So now I was in the living room and I was really excited and my mom was sitting on the couch smiling her most happy smile at me and she kept just smiling at me for a really long time and after a while the intense smiling got a little weird so I asked why she was smiling because I was sure she wanted to tell me. And what she said has stuck with me maybe more than anything else she has ever said. She first reminded me of how sad I had been with the boy drama and now how happy I was. She told me how each stage of life is so unique and that there are trials and joys that we only will get to experience in that stage and when that stage passes we go onto new trials and new joys that are unique only to that stage. She then elaborated on her stages of her life and the trials and joys she has experienced and she explained that her intense smiling was from the joy she felt watching me so happy and how when she was younger she never new the joy she would feel at age 50 watching her teenage daughter. She was simply enjoying the moment. If I can ever claim to have had an epiphany it was here. I realized so many things during that little chat with mom. I saw life for how I think it really is. There is not one phase of life superior to the others as I had believed after that convo in the car with dad. It is a series of experiences. Trials, so we can learn and grow. Joys, gifts from God that should always remind us of how much we are loved.
And so today it is this lesson my mom taught me for which I am thankful. what a blessing it has been to be able to enjoy life and the moments and not expect any time to be free of difficulties entirely. And what a comfort it is to know that trials do not last forever and sunshine always follows the rain. I really am thankful for my life and all the experiences I have had and for all the ones yet to come.

(btw she doesn't even remember telling me this and when I try to thank her for it she doesn't believe that she taught me such a brilliant lesson and then she asks me to repeat it so she can write it down. Ha! that's my mother)

Two reasons why this stage of life is RAD

More WAAAHOOO

2009-11-12T17:46:00.000-08:00

and so the list continues........
I am thankful for friends. I was able to talk to three of my good friends today and it really made me happy as it always does.
Dancing around the house with my silly husband and silly daughter and silly dog. thinking of it brings a huge smile to my face.
The beautiful weather in AZ. It rocks to run in and take walks in and go to the zoo in. Its basically perfect right now.
Olivia for saying "good job mommy" after I took a gigantor bite of her cookie. I thought she would get mad at me for eating it all, but instead she gives me positive reinforcement. What a rad little girl I have.
The chocolate chip cookie dough I ate tonight. It is basically my favorite treat ever.
The Good Books. I don't open them as often as I would like, but when I do I want to be better and kinder and less selfish and more giving. I really am thankful in general for people and things that remind me of the person I want to be and The Good Books always do just that.

WAAAAAHOOOOO.............FOR THANKSGIVING!

2009-11-11T07:21:00.000-08:00

Picture doesnt have much to do with this post, but its cute isnt it?

This year we are not celebrating thanksgiving the traditional way. We are going to Disneyland with my brother and his wife. Yay for Disneyland! We are all very excited. Well this being said I want to say that I really love thanksgiving. And not just because of the food, Don't get me wrong I love, love, love, stuffing my face with all the deliciousness that is thanksgiving, but I really love being thankful. During the month of November I tend to think about my blessings more and this makes me happy. Honestly, I went running tonight and I couldn't stop thinking about everything I was grateful for. It was amazing too because the more things I thought of the more energy I had and I just wanted to keep running and running. Being grateful is the best medicine, energy supplement, happy pill there is and that is why I love THANKSGIVING. It makes me really happy. Here are some of the things I was thinking about today.
My baby boy's fatness and his huge smile. Also he loves to grab my face and attack my chin and he makes this monster sound when he does it and it's about the cutest thing I have ever witnessed.

Mornings with my babies. So grateful I get to enjoy them for as long as I want when they wake up. They are both so sweet after a nice good sleep. Today we spent about an hour just snuggling in bed before getting up to get things done. It was so nice.

Cleaning with Olivia. I am not one that loves to clean, but I strongly believe in importance of a clean house. But now whenever I clean Olivia insists on helping and she gets really excited about all of it and it makes me really excited too and so now I like to clean because honestly it feels a little like playing house when I was little and that was like my favorite game of all time.

That I love to pray. I have ever since I can remember. I don't know what I would do without it. Life for me hasn't been easy and growing up things were kind of a mess. And even now life can throw things at me that really suck and make me cry. But prayer has always comforted me and mine have always been answered and I know it's real and its the best and I am so happy we have it because its amazing if you really think about it.

spotlight #3/ Matt and Deb

2009-10-26T11:03:00.000-07:00

Matt is Rad.

It was his birthday on October 22nd. We had fun. He is 35.

He thinks his wife is pretty and loves to squeeze and play with his babies.

His shoulder is really messed up and he needs surgery. booo to that!

He is a moring person and likes to wake up bright and early at 4:00am for work.

He loves to eat yummy things and really wants to go to Europe to have a food vacation.

His favorite article of clothing is a white t-shirt.

Deb is Rad too.

She gets to be a mommy. She really does love it.

She could spend hours playing with her babies.

She loves Matt.

She will be turning 30 in December and has some goals.

One of them is to run a marathon. She thinks this will be a difficult feat as she has crappy knees, but she has a plan and thinks it is not an impossible feat.

She has a bit of an addiction to sugar and has not decided to give it up yet.

Matt & Deb are in a state of limbo; Having a house in Park City, but wanting to live in AZ.

They are in the process of buying a rad house in Mesa and that makes them happy.

They wonder if their house in PC will ever sell and that makes them anxious.

They might have to go back to PC for matts surgery. BOOO to that. But maybe not :)

They recently celebrated 4 years of marriage and decided they are glad they took the plunge and still really love each other.

They think it will be nice when they know where they will end up, but are kinda having fun not knowing.

P.S October has been busy that is why this is so late.

Spotlight #2/Olivia

2009-09-30T12:55:00.000-07:00

Birthday:April 17th, 2007

Weight: 25.5 pds

Height:35 inches

Demeanor: Sweet, Independent, Curious.

Favorite food: Any and all friut and she would be way sad if she didn't have her hot milk.

Favorite pastime: Running with her dog and screaming high pitched squeals

Likes: Getting her feet tickled, Playing with Mom, Dad, Coen, Grandma, Grandpa, anyone that will play. She likes to draw pictures and sing her ABC's and count to ten and go on walks. She loves to help me mom cook and clean do the laundry. She really likes to do anything. I have never met a little person that enjoys life as much as this one.

Dislikes: Being left out of anything, Going to bed, Eating food of substance other than friut, milk or treats. Driving in the car for long periods of time.

Rad things she says: I so happy, I sad mom, c'mon cooey boy, "Dad, wadda doing, dad?" I wanna watch ps kids" it'l be so fun, iss elicious mom, moring mom, ov you mom, He oves me mom,

She says lots of things, but these are a few of the ones that really make me smile. hope you understand them

Olivia we love you so much. You changed our world when you came. Thank you for making life so much richer.

SPOTLIGHT/ COEN MATTHEW

2009-09-29T11:50:00.000-07:00

Since we have been out of the spotlight for sometime I thought the perfect way to bring us back in would be to do a spotlight on each of us starting with the newest member of our little fam.

COEN MATTHEW NELSONBirthday: June 16th, 2009

Height: 25 inches/ 75th percentile

Weight 17.4 pds /above the 95th percentile /CHUUUUUBBY

Demeanor/ Happy and wonderful and perfect

Favorite food: Milk a la natural

Favorite pastime: flirting and talking and smiling at his mama (This is his mama's favorite pastime as well)

Likes: being held an nuggling with anyone, eating, playing in his play mat, swinging, going on walks, taking naps, being naked, getting millions of kisses from his mama.

Dislikes: tummy time, really load noises, being hungry or tired.

We all just love this little man and feel so lucky to have him.

I really do love to blog

2009-09-28T22:15:00.000-07:00

Well maybe LOVE is too strong a word, but I do feel it is important to document my life and blogging is the best way for me to do that. So after some thought, I think I will continue my blog with a few changes that will help me do it a little more often. okay with that said these last few months have brought lots of really good changes. one of them being HIM

The other being this

They both have brought us huge amounts of this

I will write more later

DEB

PREGNANCY

2009-02-05T06:44:00.000-08:00

YOU LOOSE YOUR MIND

YOU LOOSE YOUR BODY

YOU LOOSE YOUR ENERGY

YOU LOOSE COMFORT

BUT YOU GET ALL THIS SO I SAY ITS WORTH IT.

I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE NEXT ONE!

2009-01-30T17:25:00.000-08:00

WE ARE GOING TO BE HAVING...........

am I really updating this thing?

2009-01-29T20:42:00.000-08:00

SO SORRY for my long absence. I have been tired. It never subsided after the first trimester as I thought it would. I have been much more tired with this one than I was with Olivia. Lots has been going on however, but I dont have the energy to do a big post, so I will give you a little list of whats been happening.

I cut my own hair. I was bored and now I think it looks stupid, but I dont care enough to have it done right. o'well

Olivia is getting into her terrible two stage and saying no to everything, unless it is somethings she really wants then she says "K" little stinker.

I had a wonderful birthday and christmas. 70 or so people sang happy birthday to me and it made me happy.

Matt's family was with us for Christmas that made me extra happy. I love them.

I finally got up the nerve to stick a tiny ponytail on Olivia's nearly hairless head and she loves it. she makes me stick her up to the mirror when I am done and then she kisses and kisses herself. she might be turning into a vain little thing, I'm not sure.

Matts parents are home from thier mission. We all love having them back. They live four houses down from us. I love them.

I got a flirty apron for christmas and I put it on when I don't feel like doing anything and I feel cute and want to clean and bake and be all suzy home maker. didnt say I do clean and bake it just makes me want to.

Matt is in two bands and thinks he is going to become a rock star. you think i'm kidding?

I learned how to make really good bread and I feel like my life is complete now.

We find out tomorrow if our new baby will be a boy or a girl. I will keep you posted on this one.

I need some good book recommendations. so if you have one please feel free to share.

I won't feel bad if nobody responds to this blog as I have been so terrible in updating it. I will actually be surprised if anyone still reads it.

love you all

The Great Debate

2008-12-02T13:10:00.000-08:00

Do I take Olivia to see Santa this year? There is no doubt in my mind she will end up looking just like the girl pictured above, if not worse. However, I do think crying pictures are really funny to look back on. Also if I took her this year she probably wouldn't remember it so the trauma factor wouldnt be as great, but then I think it is just plain mean and I would have guilt. Oh the Christmas dilemna. lets take a poll! What should Deb do?

FAMILY PICTURES

2008-12-01T07:13:00.000-08:00

JUST A FEW OF MY FAVORITES.

2008-11-13T11:16:00.000-08:00

I'm pregnant!!
There I said it. I was trying to do some super cute thing announcing that Olivia was going to be a big sister. I made these cute signs that I was going to have her hold, but she didnt want to hold the sighs, she wanted to rip them up and cry about her mother making her hold these stupid signs and telling her to smile. So instead of the cutsie wutsie announcement. you all get the not so cute reality version. we are once again prego and very happy about it might I add. I am sorry for my lack of blogging. I have been sick. very prego sick. I throw up and I am tired and I have headaches that never seem to end. So blogging has been put on hold. I am due in June. Yay for summer babies. I have always despised my birthday and am very careful about planning when I can get prego as to not cause my babies the same misfortune. In other news we got our family photos taken. they turned out nice I think. I will post some when I get the disc.

3 years ago today

2008-10-07T06:27:00.000-07:00

We were in Hawaii. I had forgotten to pack a dress to wear to the temple and I was running all over the mall in honolulu trying to find one. I got to my hair apt. about 2 hours late and when I got to the temple I noticed that all the grounds were torn up. But in the end all of that didnt matter because I got to marry my matt and so that day three years ago was the best day of my life. He helps me to be better in lots of ways and he really is my very best friend. I love you Matt. thank you for making this the best anniversary ever.

P.S. we share our anniversary with President Monson. They are celebrating their 60th today. neat huh?

Rain and Conference

2008-10-05T07:10:00.001-07:00

Probably two of my most favorite things. So today I will stay in my pajamas all day and I snuggle up with a blanket and eat way more food than I should and listen to the wonderful leaders that always make me want to be a little better. I hope you all enjoy this day today too.

my dream last night

2008-10-01T09:23:00.001-07:00

Reality: I finally booked a session to have our family pictures taken.
Dream: The day came to have them taken and instead of going to an orchard like we are planning. we went to this crappy studio in this ladies basement. she had some nasty old sheet up for the backdrop. And we sat on these cruddy old church chairs. Olivia wouldn't smile and the lady taking our picts didn't care if she was looking or not and the lighting was awful. I was so mad because the lady we are paying to do them isn't cheap, but she requires a deposit before and payment in full the day of, so I had already paid her and when we got the pictures back I just cried because they were so ugly and I had paid so much for her to take them.
I am glad it was just a dream hopefully the reality will be better.

P.S. this is what I have been up to the last couple of days

Olivia has been so sick. She wont keep anything down and she has a fever and is ornery and all she wants is to be held. So I'm tired and my house is messy, and as much as I hate that she's sick I like that I get to be the one to take care of her. She is however taking a nap right now and instead of cleaning my house I am blogging. Go figure.

WHY?

2008-09-29T07:48:00.000-07:00

Why is getting up so difficult? And why did I marry such an extreme morning person? I swear that man takes happy drugs in the morning. I think he’s taking something behind my back. He has to be, nobody is that happy in the morning. I just want to go back to bed please.

THROW UP TANTRUMS

2008-09-24T11:03:00.000-07:00

My Olivia has throw up tantrums. She cries so hard that she makes herself sick and she throws up. She has done this since she was a newborn. It doesn’t happen often or on a regular basis. She is generally a very easy and mild mannered little thing, but if something happens that makes her super upset her temper will flair and she will throw up. She just did this about 20 minutes ago. I put her down for her usual afternoon nap and for some reason today she didn’t want to take a nap at the exact moment. On a normal day she would go right to sleep with no problem and once in a while she will cry a bit, but then find her blankie, cuddle it, and be off to dream land, but not today. Today she started to cry, then the crying escalated to screaming and them the screaming to gagging and then… yup, throw up all over her bed and blankies and everything. We got it all cleaned up. I rocked her for a little less than a minute and she was asleep as if nothing ever happened. And so my mom got her wish; I have a daughter that is very much like me. Oh dear.

I've had the blogging blahs

2008-09-16T14:49:00.000-07:00

But, here are some picts of out most recent adventures. Also every time I get on the computer I am captivated by the story of Stephanie Nielson. She is a really amazing mom and wife that loved to blog about how much she loved being a mom and wife. She made being a women seem like the most wonderful job anyone could ever have. As I have been reading her blog I have realized how lucky I am to be a wife to my Matt and a mom to my Olivia. I Love them both so much and I am grateful for all the little moments that we get to spend together. Stephanie and her hubby were both in a small plane that crashed and she is burned over 80% of her body. If you haven't heard of her story already you can read about it here and here.

Park City's Main Street

We took the bus into town and spent the day eating at all the fun places that we have always wanted to eat and window shopping. It was a super great day even though these are the only picts I took. Olivia with a park city moose.

The Utah State Fair. She loved the rides
and the animals Matt riding a mechanical bull. After he got bucked off he tried to get me to do it. Do I honestly look like the type of girl that rides mechanical bulls a the state fair?
This is my silly brother Dan. He was the only adult doing this jumpy thing. Quite a crowd gathered to watch this big guy act like a kid. He even got an applause when he was done. Olivia was so taken up with the geese. she laughed and laughed when they would squawk at her. there were even a couple of them that would take the food out of our hands. she loved that.
We took a weekend trip to St. George. We biked alot and spent lots of time in the pool. I only took pictures of the pool though.

YAY IT'S OVER

2008-08-25T10:17:00.000-07:00

HERE'S HOW IT HELPED......
-It has forced me to rediscover the wonderful world of fruit. I have eaten so much fruit this past week and not only do they take away my sugar craving, but it makes me happy because Olivia is eating loving it and I seem to have more energy. Yay for fruit!
-Made me realize that I do have some self control. Yay for this one too because I really thought I had none.
-Made me appreciate meals. I was the queen of piecing on sugary stuff all throughout the day and then when meal time came around I was not hungry for the real food, but this last week I’ve really been enjoying my meals (except for a few days, see below) and its made me very happy.

Now I don’t want anyone to think this was any sort of diet. I actually ate more the first couple of days than I normally do to appease my terrible sugar cravings. And I certainly don’t plan on eating no sugar, which would be way too extreme for a person such as myself who dearly loves the sweets. But when you eat brownies for breakfast and ice cream for lunch and a bunch of miscellaneous junk in between, something drastic had to be done for my sake and the sake of my child. I think that this helped. But only time will tell….
Oh also one other thing that made this easier than expected is that I got an awesome case of mastitis so I was in extreme, unbelievable, horrific pain for about three days. Well at least it kept my mind off the sweets, as I had no desire for food. Yes, I was finally weaning Olivia and I get a breast infection. How perfect is that? Just my luck huh?

Day two

2008-08-19T10:35:00.000-07:00

Can not eating sugar after having consumed loads and loads of it on a daily basis give you a migraine? this detox things is proving harder than expected.I am seriously contemplating making myself one of these just to see if the sugar overload will take the edge off of this horrible headache. This is a brown cow (AKA chocolate heaven float style). they are soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo good.

No sugar!!!! well at least for a week

2008-08-17T16:25:00.000-07:00

Can it be done???? No sugar for one whole week? You may say that a week isn’t so long, but for someone like me it may very well feel like an eternity. You see I love sugar. I love all things sweet. I'm not so much a candy fiend as I am a brownie, ice cream, cookies, and yummy desserts fiend, but if I don’t have my favorites around I will gladly eat candy. Now back to the no sugar thing. I feel like my sugar intake has gotten out of control and I don’t want to pass my bad habit onto my baby. So I am going to do a week sugar detox. I am hoping that if I get it out of my system then maybe I wont crave it so much. I will start Monday morning. I am a bit nervous as I have never attempted such a feat before. wish me luck. I'll let you know how it goes.

Snails anyone?

2008-08-16T08:11:00.000-07:00

So last night Matt surprised me by taking me to this darling French restaurant called the Paris Bistro. It was voted best French cuisine in Utah. La calle came in second. Its on 15th South and 15th East if anyone is interested. It was wonderful and I loved it, but my favorite part was trying the snails. I was really nervous at first, as you can tell by the picture of them going into my mouth, but they were actually very yummy. I would recommend them to anyone. Everyone should try them at least once even if its just for the experience. Here are some picts. Enjoy.......

I also had duck, another first.

gone but back now

2008-08-03T14:17:00.001-07:00

So we have been in California visiting Matt's parents. Let me just tell you how wonderful it is to have in-laws that are serving a mission in the San Diego area. Its pretty wonderful. We always have such a wonderful time with them. I am really mad tho because I forgot my camera. But luckily my cute mother in law sent me a few that we took at the beach. Olivia didnt like the sand she hated that it got all over her feet. and then when she saw that it was all over her mom and dads feet she really didnt like that either. after that first day she got more used to it and we bought her a bucket and shovel and she really loved that. It was such a relaxing and enjoyable trip, when the time came to leave we were not ready, but hopefully we will get out there again in October. I also was able to see my cute friend brooke from my mission. It was so good to see her and her cute girls. Now that we are back we have to get serious about some projects around the house. I have been wanting to change the paint forever, but I can t make up my mind when it comes to paint. maybe I will put up some swatches and take a vote if I dont figure it out soon. Thank you Verne and Shirley for letting us stay. you are both so wonderful and we love you so, so, so much.

Where's daddy's hair?

2008-07-15T16:00:00.000-07:00

Last night Matt and I were laying on our bed with Olivia playing the point to the body part game. So we would ask Olivia “where’s your tummy?” and she would lift up her shirt to show us her tummy or we would ask “were are your feet?” and she would touch her toes. Then we asked “where is your hair ?“ and she put her hand on top of her head. Then we asked “where is mommy’s hair?” and she touched my pony tail, then we asked “where is daddy hair?” and she looked at Matt for a minute and thought long and hard about it and then resolutely touched Matt’s eyebrows. I though it was pretty funny.

my baby is a monkey/Little stinker

2008-07-11T11:26:00.001-07:00

EXHIBIT#1 : COTTON BALLS STREWN NOT ONLY ALL OVER THE BATHROOM BUT ALL OVER MY BEDROOM AS WELL. Thank you Olivia

EXHIBIT #2: DUMPING ALL OF THE CATS WATER OUT AND THROWING THIER FOOD ALL OVER THE PORCH. This task she took very seriously as you can tell by the serious look on her face. EXHIBIT #3 RUINING MAMAS EYESHADOW AND SMEARING IT ALL OVER THE FLOOR. She is serious about this one too. EXHIBIT #4: SCARING THE TARNATION OUT OF HER MOTHER.

keep in mind this was a reenactment and both Matt and myself were close by supervising, but the first time she did this I found her as she is in the 4th photo and it really did scare the tarnation out of me.

side note : not really sure what tarnation means or if it is spelled correctly. I think my grandparents use to use this term and it seemed appropriate

this can't be for real

2008-07-06T21:11:00.004-07:00

So last time we were on the plane I saw these advertised in the sky mall magazine. I thought I would look them up on the internet and maybe get a pair for Matt as a funny joke. ha ha ha. yeah thats when I came upon a web sight that not only sold these hideous things, but also had testimonials to go along with em. these are seriously the most horrific things ever made! I think if I am ever asked "what is your fear? my answer will be "men in footed PJ's. These people can not be for real. here are some testimonials from people who apparently love the footed pjs. who are these people? I am slowly loosing my faith in humanity

I bought my husband a green polar fleece set of jammies with the butt flap, and not only do they fit perfectly, but he LOVES them! I have a pair from last Christmas, we have a pair for our baby due any day, and now daddy has them too! Fast service, excellent product, I would recommend to anyone to purchase this product!

Lori, Pittsburgh, PA

I bought two of the fleece pjs for my boyfriend and I and we think we are so cool running around the house in them! We both feel like kids. I recently bought a pink one for my roommate and she never takes them off. Now I think I’ll just keep buying them for all my friend’s birthdays since they seem to be a hit.

Vannessa P.

My husband got us matching red pjs for Valentines Day. The polar fleece feels like a light, warm embrace and is so comfortable. These are replacing the sweat suits that we normally lounge around in at home. Thanks for making these for adults.

Kitty Tirio

I just received my dream-come-true, toddler-style footie pajamas for not-so-toddling 5’9”, 145 lb me, just as I’m celebrating my mid-life crisis. I love them! They are snuggly, soft and warm. I plan to buy them for all my friends and family this holiday season. I love my new jammies!

Marion Capriotti

Bought these for my 22 year old son. He asked for them. He loves them. He says they are soft and comfortable and very warm.

Mr. “ComputerGeek” Jantzen, Framingham, MA

bed head

2008-06-30T21:43:00.000-07:00

so her hair isnt this orange, but I had to tweak the picture a bit so you could get the full effect of how all over the place it was. In the original her hair is too light and it doesnt do it justice. BTW she was really mad at me for taking this picture. you can tell she is not very happy if you look close. Im so mean.

Thanks Selena

2008-06-30T21:37:00.001-07:00

She loves it!

picts of the trip

2008-06-22T18:18:00.000-07:00

feel that I could and should do better with taking pictures while on vacation, but I forget. I end up just being so involved with the fun of it that i forget and then the ones I do take end up being not that great, so it doesnt really enthuse me to take more. I am always so amazed with everyone elses blogs and all the cute pictures and layouts and I get kinda discouraged when it comes to mine, o'well here is what I got.
LAKE POWELL

not too sure about this toad

she loved, loved, loved playing in the rocks

DISNEYLAND
I was desperately trying to get her to look at the camera, but as you can see she couldnt take her eyes of pooh.

I was really trying to get her to have the whole disneyland experience. But she had had enough when I tried to make her wear the Minnie ears, she ripped those suckers off a second after I put them on
This was her favorite, go figure. throwing all the animals on the floor.
she loves to ring door bells. so she loved the fact that she could reach this one on her own.
I love this picture. she loved this car.

the two following pictures are of how Olivia looked on basically all the rides at disneyland. she wasnt ever scared, just very concerned I think.

Olivia with grandma Nelson
Dancing on the big boat
she loved the balloon uncle Don bought her

there were so many more cute picts that grandma nelson took that I will have to post later

Seriously !?!?!? This could only happen to me

2008-06-16T07:59:00.000-07:00

So we are back from our vacations and I feel like I need a vacation from my vacation. but this post is not about our vacation. This post is about my stupidity right before coming home on fathers day. I woke up sunday morning with a horrible headache, probably from dehydration since I drank almost no water while at Disneyland. so at 6:30 am I grabbed the advil that was sitting on our hotel night stand and popped four in my mouth followed by a big glass of water. I was sure this would do the trick and enable me to be the nice wife my hubby deserved on fathers day. after taking my water and Advil fix I packed a few things to get ready to go home and went down and got matt some not very good continental breakfast in bed. When I returned he was awake and asked me if I had needed to take sleep aid last night. I said no, why? and he says because the cap was off and he points to the bottle of "advil" I had just taken. All the blood rushed from my face. I turned absolutely white. I had just taken 4 sleep aids at 6:30 in the morning. I frantically ran into the bathroom and started ramming my toothbrush down my throat to induce vomiting, but that just made me cough and my eyes water. so I there I sat on the bathroom floor with my toothbrush in hand and four sleep aids in my belly. I was defeated. Yesterday was probably the worst day of my whole life. could barely keep my eyes open let alone walk. My nephew had to push me in a wheelchair at the airport. I wish now I would have taken a picture of how doped up I looked, but all I could think about was closing my eyes and laying down. I didnt care where I was, or where I was going, or who was watching me, I just wanted to sleep.
lesson learned: look at the label before popping 4 pills in your mouth. seriously you would think that would just be something known, not something that needed to be learned.

for the Disbelievers

2008-06-06T23:46:00.000-07:00

This is for everyone who cant believe how giant I was during my pregnancy. To really get the proportions take note of my little butt compared to my gigantor tummy and baby feeders! This picture was taken ten days before I delivered. Also take note how this so called maternity shirt doesnt even cover the tum

lake powell here we come

2008-06-06T23:30:00.000-07:00

so tomorrow at 7:00 am we are leaving for Powell. I am sooooo excited! We will be there until Thursday and then we are driving home and catching a plane to L.A. to go to disneyland and visit grandma and grandpa Nelson. I will update when we get back.

la boda de Hna Richardson

2008-05-29T08:13:00.000-07:00

so my cute companion hna. Richardson got married last weekend. we were lucky enough to be able to dirve to Colorado for the wedding. I was so happy that I was able to go. I havent seen bekah in about 4 years and it was so good to see her and catch up a bit. she seemed super happy and her cute hubby loves her so much. It was a really nice ceremony and I we loved seeing colorado. I love going new places even if it was a short trip. Here are some picts to recap.

Matt took this candid photo while we were catching up a bit

waiting outside the temple. I had been crying thus the reason for the swollen nose, puffy eyes and smudged mascara. I look hot. This is Hna Porter she was Bekah's comp right after me in one of the hardest areas. I was soooo glad she was there. we had such a great time talking about old mission stuff.
coming out of the temple. isnt this a great picture. Her hubby is in the airforce.
Hermana picture. Older companions on the right side, younger on the left. I only new hna porter. I am old. This is who I was greeted by when I got out of the temple and done with pictures. Matt had stayed with Olivia and played on the grass outside the temple while I attended the ceremony. When I finally came to meet them Olivia just came running to me with this great big smile. I love her and I love being a mama taking randon pictures on the grass. I would have liked this one better if Olivia was in it
one of my angel.
we went hiking and this is the only picture I took. so lame

Olivia loves her maggie moos ice cream. When I had to take it away from her she threw a major tantrum. unfortunately I didnt get that on camera.

A million years late

2008-05-15T08:52:00.000-07:00

So Olivia tagged me forever ago and I am just doing it.
here it is......taaa....daaaa.......
A-Attached or Single? attatched
B-Best Friend? My husband thank goodness.
C-Cake or Pie? I’d rather have a cookie. I am going to copy Olivia because I couldn’t agree more and she put it so perfectly.
D-Day of Choice? Sunday. I love spending the entire afternoon with my little family.
E-Essential Item? My little girls kisses. I have to have them everyday. I really don’t think I could live a day without them
F-Favorite Color? Red
G-Gummy bears or worms? Sour patch kids. Do those count? There gummy right? They kind of resemble a bear.
H-Hometown? Cottonwood heights, Utah. My parents brought me home from the hospital to that house and they still live there.
I-Favorite Indulgence? eating gooey, fresh out of the oven, chocolate chip cookies with ice cold winder dairy milk.
J-January or July? July all the way! I am so stinkin sick of winter.
K-Kids? One beautiful little monkey
L-Life isn't complete without? Peace the gospel brings me and the joy my family brings me.
M-Marriage date? October 7, 2005 yeah we totally share our anniversary with the prophet and it wasn’t even planned.
N-Number of brothers and sisters? 5 brothers 1 sister, all older
O-Oranges or apples? If I am in Mexico or south America its oranges, if I’m in Utah its apples.
P-Phobias or fears? Something bad happening to Matt or Olivia
Q-Quote? There is not one quote that I always love, but lately I have been thinking about the quote by sister Hinckley that I posted on mothers day.
R-Reason to smile? Everything I love is within my arms reach. The gospel, my baby and my Matt.
S-Season of choice? Summer, it’s the only season that gets above the single digits here in Park City
T-tag 3 people: here’s the thing, I’m not sure who has done this tag yet so I’m going to say anyone who hasn’t done it, but that probably means that nobody will do it.
U-Unknown facts about me? I’m a closet hermit. Meaning I try to keep it in the closet that I’m a hermit. I don’t go to enrichment. I know, its terrible. I like being home, but at the same time I don’t want to be a hermit because I really like having friends and who wants to be friends with a closet hermit? Not me!!! it’s a real problem. Just kidding I would be friends with a closet hermit especially if she was really trying hard to not be one anymore.
V-Vegetable? Squash and sugar snap peas
W-Worst habit? Not hanging up my stupid clothes
X-xray or ultrsound? - Up to date I have never had any scary or traumatizing ultrasound, But I have had my share of rotten x-rays. Like the time I broke my foot and rude, tattooed, and pierced from head to foot, x-ray technician guy told me he didn’t need to deal with something like this sooo early in the morning made me stand on my foot with no support while I was screaming in agony while I was pregnant while he took the x-ray. Yeah I’ll take an ultrasound any day.
Y-Your favorite food? Sushi, I love it. I was about to say that I didn’t have one and that there wasn’t a food that I always loved all the time and then I thought, wait a minute, I love sushi and if it weren’t so darn expensive I would eat it all the time.
Z-Zodiac sign? Capricorn.

Mothers day

2008-05-11T18:01:00.000-07:00

"I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully, tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails. I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp. I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbors children. I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone's garden. I want to be there with children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder. I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived. "
— Marjorie Pay Hinckley

The more I live the more I come to understand what I really want in life and today that vision became a little clearer. I had a wonderful mothers day. Matt was so cute to me and made me fill so loved and cherished and for some reason during church Olivia wouldn’t stop kissing me. Her kisses made me so happy I actually got tears. I love being a mama and I also love being a wife and above all I love being a woman. There was a time that I wasn’t proud to be a woman. I grew up with five older brothers and I was so much smaller than them and wasn’t as good at sports and things of that sort, so naturally I got the idea that women were the weaker sex. I am now aware however of how wrong that idea was. Women are full of strength and power to make a tremendous difference in this world. That strength and power increases, I believe with love and service. I hope I can live more selflessly in the future and give more love and service to those around me. It is what makes me truly happy.

In review

2008-04-25T09:33:00.003-07:00

I know its been over a month since my last post. I have been soo busy because I am so slow at getting things done. I hobble around like a 80 year old woman. I swear if I had known it was going to be like this after the surgery I would have thought twice about having it done. When Matt had his done a year ago he recovered a lot quicker than I am. I am doing a lot better though. I've been going to physical therapy and Im not hobbling around nearly as much as I used to, but im still much slower than I used to be. Other than my slowness we have been great. Olivia is walking like a little maniac. she had her first birthday. I cant believe how fast the last year has gone. I am really far behind on my blog so I thought I would do a quick review of what we've been up to. k here it goes.....
after we got back from Mexico Matt couldnt work very well because of his broken rib so we took another week off and visited his parents on their mission at camp Pendleton

Here are some picts of us at the pier (our favorite place to eat while visiting them). We also took Olivia to Disneyland for the first time. Matt has wanted to take her there since she was born. yeah she was like 2 months old when he first wanted to take her and I told him no because.... well isnt it obvious??? she was 2 months old. Well this time he was determined that she was old enough and he was right. she loved it! not as much as her dad but she did think it was neat and we all had a really good time.

about a week after my surgery, Matt thought I needed to get out of the house so he took me to this place by St. Georgethat has a million joshua trees to see the desert bloom. He grew up in Arizona and he loves the desert. We finally got out and were so sad to see that the joshua trees had all burned up. not all of them but most of them. He took Olivia on a little hike anyway while I camped out in the back of our 4runner with a book.

They brought me back a pretty boquet. since I couldnt go along.

Olivia loved being outside. this was right before she could walk on her own so he daddy had to go where ever she led him
When she got tired they sat down to read a book. I really like this picture.

Her 1st birthday cake

mmm... thats goooood
the sugar is rushing to my brain
that was really good mom. can we do this everyday? she loved opening her presents

her favorite was the bouncy balls

we went camping last weekend in the San Rafeal swell. its where they used to mine for uranium so there are tons of mines and lots of cool historical stuff. plus its really pretty. I highly suggest going during the spring before if gets too hot. she loved, loved, loved being outside, but she did not like the dirt. whenever she would fall down she would wait patiently with her arms held out for one of us to help her up so she wouldnt have to touch the dirt. I think she gets that from me. I love the outdoors, but when everything is covered in dirt I go crazy.
We think this was an office. its too small to be living quarters. its underground which was kinda neat.
Matt carrying Olivia. this pack is the best purchase we have made I think. Olivia loves it. and it makes carrying her super easy and light.
Matt took this picture of us while he was in the mine looking out at us. being inside the mines was a little creepy.

we had a really good time. although I hate sleeping in tents I love camping and Olivia couldnt have been happier. I swear she is the happiest little thing whenever we are away. she is just like her dad in that way.

I promise I'm not still having a rough week

2008-04-25T09:33:00.001-07:00

Rough Week

2008-03-24T13:14:00.000-07:00

This past week has been really hard. I had my ACL replaced on the 17th. I wasn’t too worried because Matt had his done last year and he didn't really have much pain and recovered relatively quickly. I thought I would be the same. boy was I wrong! the first day I was okay, loopy and on lots of drugs, but I was okay. each day after that the pain increased and by Thursday I thought I might shoot myself to get some relief, but I didn’t have to because by Friday it started getting better. On Saturday however our cute dog got really sick so Matt took her to the vet. they took her blood, but didn’t show that anything was wrong. They sent her home with no explanation as to what was wrong and said if she got worse to call. well she did, but we couldn’t get her our of her dog house to take her down. She weighs 80 pds. and Matt didn’t want to hurt her by trying drag her to the car. He said that as soon as she came out he would take her. but she never did. she passed away in her sleep last night. It has been so hard for Matt and for poor little Olivia. Girl is the first thing she says when she wakes up in the morning and the last thing she says before going to sleep. the other night we even caught her saying it in her sleep. she loved her girl. well hopefully next week will be better and my next post will be of a happier tone.

a bit about me

2008-03-14T11:55:00.000-07:00

Jen tagged me so hear we go.... the second tag of the day. hooraay I'm done!!!
Ten years ago I was ……getting ready to graduate high school. I was soooo afraid of what the future would hold. I’m not sure why I was like that back then, but I had really bad anxiety. I prayed all the time that I wouldn’t have a miserable life and that I would be able to make good decisions. My life is not what I envisioned it would be back then, I never imagined I would be married to Matt and staying at home with my baby, but I am so happy. I couldn’t have written a better story for me. I couldn’t have chosen a better husband and if I would have been left to my own wisdom and judgment who knows where I would be. I am glad I am right where I am. I can honestly say I have been guided the entire way.

5 things on my to do list today.
I have been tagged twice now so I have a lot of pressure to update my blog
Clean and detail my car. I will have to put this off until tomorrow because its yucky outside now. Its really gross because we just got back from driving to California.
Laundry (it never ends)
Go to home depot and pick out paint
Get registered for my surgery.

Snacks I enjoy
I love sugar snap peas, anything with sugar. I’m not a salty snack girl and I wish I was because I think it would be more healthy. Oh I also like cereal and I have started to love oranges lately.

3 bad habits
I bite my fingernails. I know it’s a horrible disgusting habit, I have tried and tried to stop. I didn’t really do it on my mission because I didn’t think it was a good thing for a representative of the church to do and I stopped while I was Prego because I didn’t want to be a bad example to my baby, but I am off the wagon again and I really don’t know what to do about it.
My closet is a mess. It always has been and I am afraid it always will be. Matt and I share the closet and he has his side all nice and organized with his shoes put away and all his clothes nicely hung. Then there is my side; the clothes are falling off the hangers and there is a giant pile that is all mixed in with my shoes. I can never decide what to where so I try on about 15 different things before I decide and then it is such a pain having to hang it all up again. Why cant I be like matt and just choose one shirt, put in on, and leave? I don’t know, but I have tried to decide while my clothes are still on the hangers and sure enough when I put it on I don’t like it and I have to try on something else. Its horrible.
I can eat sugar for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I love it. Cookies and chocolate are my downfalls. Chocolate chip cookies I really love. I have made a goal though that I am not going to buy treats on the weekdays, just on the weekends. I didn’t say I am not going to eat them on the weekdays, because that is too unrealistic for now. I just wont buy them which in turn will help me not eat them so often. We will see how it goes.

5 places I have lived
Salt Lake City, UT
Koosharem, UT
Cedar City, UT
Artigas, Rivera, Colonia, Salto, Uruguay
Rexburg, Idaho
Park City, UT

Jobs I have had
Grocery bagger, Kaps grocery store
Manager, Bed Bath & Beyond
Teachers Aid, SUU
Christmas elf, the mall (my cousin was a photographer and asked me to help)
Newborn Photographer, University of Utah Hospital
Receptionist, Dana orthodontics/ Westways dental
Mom (this one is the best so far)

Five things you don’t know about me
1.Both Matt and I are the youngest of seven children and both are families have 5 boys and 2 girls. Funny huh? Who knew it could work between two babies.
2. I have only had short hair two times my whole life. Once right after I graduated and again about a year after my mission. Also during my entire mission I never cut my hair. It was pretty gross when I got home as you can imagine.
3.Right now my house is being torn up. My fridge is in the front room. I have no dishwasher and I cant even step into my kitchen so we are having to eat our every night. I don’t really like the set up of my house so we are making a few changes. Also I hate the colors of my wall so those are changing too. I will post the new changes as soon and they are done I am a little worried as to how its all going to play out with what I will be going through next Monday. (see below)
4.I am having knee surgery this coming Monday the 17th . I tore both my ACL as well as my meniscus while skiing. I didn’t think I had injured it that bad, but I had an MRI done right before we went on vacation and they said its pretty ugly.
5. I am not one of those people that think “that will never happen to me” In fact I am just the opposite. Whenever I am in really happy with my life I am always afraid that something terrible is going to happen to take it all away. When I think about this logically I realize that even if I do have to go through some life altering tragedy I would be given the strength I needed to get through it and learn from it, but still deep down I cant shake it. Whenever I am enjoying a really wonderful moment I almost always remind myself to enjoy it because I don’t know what will happen tomorrow. I know its depressing.

People I admire
My Matt: He is so good to everyone. I wish I was more like him in that way. He never talks bad of anyone and he is always trying to help out the little guy or the person who needs it the most. He doesn’t like praise or recognition for doing what he thinks anyone would do, even though most don’t. He tells me I am the perfect woman even though I am so very, very far from perfect. He is the hardest worker, most loving husband, and doting papa I know and if he knew I was writing this about him he would kill me.
My mom and dad: I put them together and not separate because that is what I admire them for. They have stuck together through thick and thin and trust me they have had more thick than thin. I always look at them and all they have gone through together and I am reminded that that marriage truly is for better or worse. I think many believe it is should just be for the better part, but they are witnesses and examples to me that when we go through the worse part together we come out stronger and love more deeply.
My girl friends. I have been blessed to have wonderful girls in my life. Growing up I was surrounded by boys. But I am so so so grateful for the friends roommates and companions that have been placed in my path and inspired me. I really do admire you all. I love the world of blog. I love reading your thoughts and your little words of wisdom and seeing pictures of everyone’s babies. I admire the really great women that I get to call my friends. Both near and far.
I tag olivia, Liz, and Staci

Olivia

2008-03-14T08:13:00.000-07:00

Liz tagged me to write a blog about my sweet little Olivia... I of course am happy to do so.

Olivia Nish Nelson. Olivia's first name was inspired by my wonderful roommate Olivia. I have always loved the name and then when I got to know Olivia Oldham I loved it even more. . As her middle name Matt wanted to put Nish. My Dad has no boy grandchildren to carry on his last name. I was unsure about it at first, but I am really glad we did. My maiden name although Im not to fond that it rymns with with fish is unique and I am glad she will get to carry that part of me with her.
Olivia has a lot of favorites. She loves the dog. She has since I can remember. When she was really really little I remember her noticing Girl. She never was one of those babies that is mesmerized by faces or people. But if she was ever upset I would ask her “wheres girl?” and when we found her Olivia would cheer right up. Now she can say her name. she still doesn’t say mama, but she can say girl. Its really cute.
She loves her daddy. There is no sweeter sound than listening to those two play. Its no wonder she loves him so much the way he dotes on her. She loves her blankie. I got lucky because she actually has two blankies. So I get to rotate them. She never sucked her thumb or used a pacifier, but she sure loves to snuggle her blankie. She has to have it now or she cant fall asleep. If she is getting tired I will go get it for her and she will immediately get exited and hug it as hard as she can. I like the way she fell alseep in this one.
She loves loves other kids, but I am afraid they don’t love her as much as she loves them. She wants to kiss them and hug them and play with their eyes and ears and explore all that they are, but most little kids don’t like it so much. I feel really bad for her sometimes. Maybe its time to get her a sibling (ha im kidding, no new sibling any time soon )
She has just started learning how to be cute when I get stern with her for doing something she isn’t suppose to do. If she gets caught and I say her name sternly followed by a stern “no” she smiles, holds her arms out to me and opens her mouth as if she wants to give me a kiss. Its really adorable, but also very hard to stay strong in the midst of such cuteness.

She loves, loves, loves to put stuff in her mouth. Her greatest joy is my greatest trial. Her two most favorite things are girls dog food and my earplugs(matt snores and I have to sleep with them) Its really gross.

She is an explorer. She loves to be in new places that she can crawl around and find herself new things. In that way she is most like matt. His mom says that is what he was like. My mom says I did nothing of the sort. All I wanted to do was eat all day long. (Hmm not much has changed) she loves to find stuff on the floor. She examines it and tastes it and then she shows us her discovery. But don’t think she is handing it to you to take, she just wants you to look at it, if you try to take her new discovery she will scream bloody murder. We are still working on that.

We love our little monkey so much we love being her parents. she has brought us joy we never knew existed. Thank you Olivia for all you do for our little family. We love you to the moon and back.
I tag Jenn and Natalie

Finally

2008-03-10T21:53:00.000-07:00

I know it has been forever since my last entry. We got home from mexico on the 29th, but Matt broke his rib while we were there so instead of him going back to work he decided to take another week off to let it heal and so we headed off to California to visit his parents on their mission. I probably could have updated sooner, but I took about a million pictures and I hate having to choose which ones to post. well here it goes...

this is the view from inside our hotel room looking out onto the patio and of course the beautiful ocean. isn't it heaven? I spent hours in that hammock. And below is the view from our patio of the ocean. This resort had its own private beach so it was super secluded.

Olivia Just loved the hotel room. I was a little scared she would have a hard time being away from home, but she could have cared less. In fact I'm pretty sure she likes vacations just as much as we do. I have never seen a baby that loves to be in new places as much as she does. she really liked being in her crib that the hotel provided. silly little thing. our monkey sure loved the fresh ocean air. it was quite a change from her usual routine of staying inside all day due to the wonderful Park City snow. I especially love her face in this one.

she liked the pool more than the ocean, but by the time we were getting ready to leave she started really liking the waves and putting the sand in her mouth. at first it scared her. we bought her this silly tube thing for the pool and she of course hated it. all she wanted was to be on her daddys shoulders.

This is were Olivia and I watched Matt as he played in the Ocean. It was a great little shaded area and I am proud to say none of us got sunburned.

The sunsets were amazing. this again was taken from our balcony.
its pretty pathetic that this is the only picture we had taken together. and we dont have one of all three of us. I know its terrible, but I had such a problem asking people to take our picture. I don't know why normally I am not that big of a sissy.
me drinking my very first coconut. it was okay. I wouldnt drink it all the time, but it was worth the experience and the picture.
the waiters would come to the beach and show us the seafood they had just caught and then we picked what we wanted and then they cooked it up for us. the finished product is below. I have to say I almost couldnt eat the lobster having seen it before it was cooked.

Matt and Olivia. they were basically together like this the entire time. He is such a good papa
This island is were we went to snorkel. we got there in the morning while the water was still fairly cool and I went out first while matt stayed with olivia. I hadnt been out for more than a couple minutes when I started feeling needle pricks all over. it scared me so bad that I came in and noticed that others were complaining of the same thing. yes we all got stung by jelly fish. When I told matt do you think he cared? oh no, he suited right up and hopped in the jelly fish infested waters. As the day went on and the waters warmed up the jelly fish left and I was able to go out once again and enjoy jelly fish free snorkeling. I love to snorkel. it is so relaxing and quite and peaceful down there. beautiful Ixtapa

this is a stingray jumping out of the water. there were a bunch of them, but I was only able to get this one in the picture. I had no idea stingrays jumped out of the water. did you? can you believe all the crocodiles? I almost peed my pants when I saw this. This area is fenced off, but still it scared me a bit to see all those crocodiles within only about 20 feet of me.

Our last walk on our beach. We were really sad to go.

I will post picts of Mexico City tomorrow. Its 1:00 am

Ixtapa, Mexico

2008-02-18T20:28:00.000-08:00

well we are heading off to Ixtapa in the morning. I am a little nervous seeing as it is the first time we have traveled out of the country with Olivia. We are staying two days in Mexico City and the other eight will be spent at a resort in Ixtapa. I am mostly worried about the plane ride. its a little over four hours. pray for us. and those sitting by us. seriously what are we thinking? well I will update this when we return.

valentines day

2008-02-15T12:40:00.001-08:00

For valentines day I was going to write a cute thing for matt about how wonderful he is and all that, but after what I went through yesterday I think Im going to write about this instead. I will write about cute stuff later maybe. So this morning I woke up to my cute husband standing over me holding a present and a card and wishing me a happy Valentines day. He bought me the entire Jane Austen collection. It was so thoughtful and he did it all by himself. I felt really bad because I hadn’t gotten him anything yet. I knew what I was going to get him, its just that the baby has been sick so I hadn’t been able to get out to get it. Anyway shortly after Matt left for work I was surprised with flowers which were beautiful, but they added to my already heavy guilt for my lack of thoughtfulness on this very romantic day. So needless to say I hurried and packed up the baby and got in the car to go get his present. I had been planning to get him another Charles Dickens novel since his favorite book is A Tale of Two Cities. So im driving down the canyon and Olivia starts screaming. I cant understand what is wrong with her and I figure she is just mad about being in the car. But she wouldn’t stop crying, I kept trying to hand her back stuff to distract her, but she wanted nothing to do with it. Finally after what seemed like an eternity we get to the book store. I get out of the car and open the back door to get her out and I see that she is covered, I am not kidding, from her head to her toes with what seemed like gallons of vomit. I don’t know how I didn’t smell it or hear it, all I know is that she was saturated. So there I am with a few baby wipes and nothing else frantically trying to clean her up. Of course its not really working because the vomit is soaked through her clothes. I have no Idea what I am going to do. I have to get matt his book, but its freezing outside and my baby is all wet and stinks really bad with vomit. My only two options are drive home without the gift or wrap her in her coat that fortunately I didn’t put on her in the car because she doesn’t fit in the car seat with it on. After sitting in the parking lot for about 20 minutes I decided I couldn’t leave empty handed so I wrapped my vomit saturated baby in her coat and went in to get my book. It wasn’t so bad because there weren’t many people in the store, but just as we are getting up to the register she has a major blow out in her pants. I paid for the book and hurry upstairs to the restrooms, but in the restroom there is no place to change her. I was basically freaking out at this point and I felt like swearing, but I didn’t, I really wanted to go scream at someone for not putting a stupid changer in the bathroom. Since there is no where else to put her I through her up on the sink. I pulled down her soaking wet pants and find that the poop is honestly all the way up to her neck. I again am frantically trying to clean her up the best I can and I notice I have no more wipes. that’s right because I used them all trying to clean up her vomit. So then I start wetting paper towels, but everyone knows how great that works. It was awful. Poor little thing.
other than this terribly tramatizing experience we had a wonderful valentines day. I really feel like I was blessed with the sweetest, most wonderful husband in all this world. I am so glad he is my valentine.

great friends

2008-02-07T11:20:00.000-08:00

I am so greatful to have great girlfriends. My friend heather came to visit me last weekend. well she got here thursday night. Matt didnt have to work so he spent Friday with the baby while me and heather went to Salt Lake to the viewing of President Hinckley and then to IKEA. It was a wonderful day. words cant describe the spirit that was in the room with him. I am so glad we went. IKEA on the other hand was not that great. I really like IKEA, but after standing for almost three hours to see the prophet it was very hard walking the entire IKEA store. plus my knee got hurt skiing (that is another story) so I was glad when we finally headed home. For dinner our friend Jenn made invited us over. It was really good. All three of us were roommates in college. I have seen Heather a few times since, but I hadnt seen Jenn in seven years. It didnt matter. We had a really great time. we talked and laughed and our kids played together. Olivia Just loved Jenns boys. she couldnt leave them alone

The next day we decided to go to main street here in Park City. It was really cold, but we had a good time just being together. I really am greatful for girlfriends. Thanks Jenn and Hea for being so wonderful.

Finding Olivia

2008-01-31T18:00:00.000-08:00

I went downstairs to do some laundry the other day and when I came back I couldn't find my baby. I looked and looked, I couldn't see her or hear her or anything. When I went back into her room for the third time I saw this...

after calling her name a few times she finally poked her head out
silly girl!

GLOBAL WARMING ??? I DONT BUY IT

2008-01-30T11:25:00.000-08:00

hope everyone understands that I'm all for conserving the environment. I think God gave us a beautiful world and we should all do our part to keep it clean and beautiful so that all can enjoy it. I also believe we should conserve energy and water and do more to keep pollutants out of the air. but all this talk of global warming. I look out my window and I say its nonsense! Last fall I listened to soooo many people talk about so many places that are experiencing global warming and to be honest I started to believe them. I even tried telling Matt that it was true. He was smarter than me and didn’t believe any of it. During Sundance the temperature highs were in the single digits and the lows were in the double digit negatives and nobody was complaining about global warming then. Instead they were complaining about how cold it was. there was even rumor of Sundance suing the High School that hosted the premiers because the foyer was too cold. And I recently read an article complaining about how much snow we have been getting. when last year they were complaining about the lack of. I don’t know about you but it seems to me that people in this day and age just like to complain. the quality of life in this country is better than it ever has been and it seems the better it gets the more there is to gripe about. my driveway
my neighbor
the snow piling on my roof

TOGETHER FOREVER

2008-01-28T12:37:00.000-08:00

I will miss President Hinckley. He was a true example of Christ. I am happy he is with his sweet wife who he loved and missed so much.

update

2008-01-23T08:05:00.000-08:00

I have been trying to update my blog regularly, but its been hard since matt got me the entire Harry Potter Collection as well as the entire twilight series for my birthday. I had never wanted to read harry potter, but then I got the first book at a white elephant party and I of course loved it. Matt saw me reading it and bought me the all of them. so thats what i've been doing this last month. Anyway I thought I should give an update of whats been going on the last little while.

first matts parents got thier mission call. This is like thier 8th mission together. They are going to be serving the Marines agian at camp Pendelton in San Diego. Matt's dad was a Marine so of course he is very happy about being able to work with them again. I say again because this is the second time they have been called to this mission. Matt is really exited because we will be able to visist them. and Matt just loooooves the ocean.

Next, we got released from the spanish branch. we had been serving as language missionaries for about a year and a half. I enjoyed being able to speak the language, but I felt so bad for Matt because he doesnt speak spanish and although he knows a little it was very hard for him to sit throught three hours of church not being able to understand much of whats going on. We will miss the branch, but we are really exited to be going back to our home ward. we have a really great ward.

Last, I am going to be doing the mud run this year. I am very exited about it. I have wanted to do it forever and my cute friend from my mission that lives in San Diego is doing it so I decided this would be the perfect opportunity. THANKS BROOKE!! anyway it takes place on the 14th of June which is good because I need some time to train as I'm not in the best shape of my life. It should be great fun and I am really exited.

all by self

2008-01-15T07:27:00.000-08:00

Olivia has to do everything "all by self" as grandpa Nelson would say. The other day I was trying to feed her some cereal and she would not let. so finally I gave her the spoon. I went to grab the phone and this is what I came back to.

christmas update a million years late

2008-01-09T07:46:00.000-08:00

my mom and dad dancing to "thier" song. they were engaged during christmas and then married a year later on december 21st. so cute
we were lucky to spend christmas eve with both our families. Olivia is sure a lucky girl.
Olivias eyes were wide with exitement all christmas morning.
as you can see we all had a wonderful christmas

she loves her new rocking horse.

as well as her new whistle.

Olivia's first tooth

2007-12-16T20:31:00.000-08:00

its finally here. after months of drooling and fussing, it finally broke through. but she refuses to let anyone look at it. that is why I was forced to post this picture and not one of her. but I will keep trying.

Merry Christmas

2007-12-09T21:18:00.001-08:00

what keeps me busy

2007-12-08T12:35:00.000-08:00

Ripping up magazines is a favorite pastime

she is always finding new places to explore.this is my favorite. look at her hands. she got into the fire place and she was soooo mad when we took her away from the wonderful discovery she had made. also take note of her little fat rolls. such a little stinker

This is for liz

2007-11-30T19:59:00.000-08:00

She inspired me to put Olivia in the sink when I get ready and it works like a charm. She loves it. Thank you liz. your always full of great ideas!

Growing up

2007-11-16T09:56:00.000-08:00

I saw this picture and thought how much she is changing from when she was a newborn. she will be seven months tomorrow. I really cant believe it. she is crawling like a maniac. in the picture of her wearing my hat she was chasing me (I really think she just wanted the camera) she has gotten so fast with her crawling. I cant leave her for a second or she is in the dog's dish or trying to crawl out the dog door. and now she is learning how to pull herself up to the ottoman to eat my pinecones and the fireplace. I cant believe how fast she grows.

The Month of GRATITUDE

2007-11-13T08:13:00.000-08:00

November might just be my favorite month. I love it because I am reminded to be thankful for all my many blessings. I have been trying each day to think of a couple things that I am truely grateful for that day, little things that make me smile or things I take for granted. It has been rather easy and I've come to realize how very blessed I am.

Medicine- We have all been sick this last week and although we don’t take it very often I was so grateful to have it. .I couldn’t have been a pioneer.
Being sick- it helps me be grateful for when we are not all sick.
My In-laws they live four houses down and they are so wonderful. They make us dinner when we are sick and even when we are not sick. Its really nice.
My dad- especially his hugs. Hs birthday was yesterday
Books- I love to read. Sometimes I feel guilty for reading too much, but it is one of the great loves of my life.
My windows- we have lots of windows in my front room. They let in lots of sunlight and have a beautiful view of the mountains. I love looking out them everyday.
Being a girl- I love being a girl and everything that comes with it. (well almost everything) I grew up with five older brothers and I always wanted to be a boy, but I love my girlfriends and I love being a mama and I love blogging and I just love all the things that women are. Yeah for being a girl.
Pajamas. I am grateful for snuggly pajamas that make me feel cute and comfy.
Eyelashes- I was thinking the other day about what I would look like with no eyelashes and all the stuff they protect my eyes from. I’m really glad I have them.
Matt- he really is the sweetest guy I know. Today he left me a love note in my cell phone. He really is so wonderful and he makes me smile every single day.
My baby girls smile- words cant express my gratitude for this one.
The diaper champ- no stinky diaper smell -who wouldn’t be grateful for this one
Amusement park rides- I love them. I love them. I love them.
Carmeled apples. The really good gourmet kind. Soooo stinking good.
My computer- it allows me to do so many things.
Great memories- I have had so many. I am grateful for the quite times I get to reflect on them. They bring a smile to my face and joy to my heart.
Winder dairy milk- we get it delivered and I think it tastes so good. Its especially good with freshly baked chocolate chip cookies (my all-time favorite treat)
Fresh sheets- crisp, cool, comforting. They are the best.
Hot chocolate when its cold outside. They are perfect together
Sunday drives with my Matt. it’s the greatest time to talk
Being a mom. I cant believe she is all mine. It really is the greatest thing ever.
My giant king size bed that Matt just surprised me with. I had been wanting one forever and the other day he called me up and had me meet him at the mattress store to pick out the one I wanted.
My home. I didn’t get to pick it out and I was a little sad about that, but everyday I live here I love it more and more.
Pictures. I was looking through old pictures the other day of old college roommates and old mission pictures and I am just so grateful I have them.
Lazy Sunday afternoons- taking naps, playing with Olivia and tickle fights with Matt.
Scriptures there is always the most amazing spirit that reading them brings

halloween

2007-11-07T16:08:00.000-08:00

I love halloween. I wish I would have taken more pictures, but I forgot. At least I got this one of my brother Dave dressed up as Nacho Libre and his wife dressed up as Encarnacion. My favorite part of halloween was watching him open the door of the trick or treaters. their faces were priceless. Olivia dressed up as a kitty cat. I was a witch and Matt just wore a long gray wig which is a big change from his shaved head. We had a good time, I think next year we'll get a little more crazy. Matt won our pumpkin carving contest mine didnt turn out so hot so I didnt take a picture.

Nelson family reunion

2007-11-06T09:58:00.000-08:00

The arizona temple was wonderful. A little hot but wonderful. we look a little funny in this picture Im not sure we were quite ready. I had never seen a cactus garden before, but I thought it was super neat.

We went to Arizona on the 26th of October for the nelson family reunion. It was acutually a reunion for Matts dad's(verne) siblings. Matt comes from an incredible line of people. I really love his family. It was neat to meet Matt's Uncles and see his Aunt Clara again. Matt's dad is the youngest in the white shirt. it was a really nice reunion. Matt's dad recited to "the race which always makes me cry. He knows the entire thing by heart and I always get emotional when I hear him.

Olivia was so good sharing her books with her cousins. actually these are her second cousins thier parents are her first cousins. believe it or not I am a great aunt. Matts parents have 15 great grandchildren which means Matt and I have 15 great nieces and nephews. crazy huh? Our sister in law Marie is expecting a little girl at the end of december so she will at least have one cousin on her dads side close to her age. we are exited about that.

This was Olivias best friend in Arizona. Ellie took such good care of her. This is actually Olivias closest cousin on Matt's side and they sure loved playing together. She even got to have her very first tea party.

Matt's birthday

2007-11-06T07:27:00.000-08:00

I am a little behind on my blog, but these last few weeks have been busy, busy. Matt's birthday was on the 22nd. We had a birthday dinner for him and it was really nice getting together with everyone. All he wanted for his birthday for me to make him a Lucious lemon poke cake. I had never made it before, but it was really easy and everyone loved it.

My two favorite olivias are eating cake together. I love this picture. Olivia made matt this adorable dvd of the baby and him for his birthday present. It was set to a darling song and we all just love it. Matt watches it before he goes to work sometimes and when the baby is cranky I put it on for her and it just cheers her right up. here is a picture of her watching it.

2007-10-20T21:36:00.000-07:00

What can I say.......... she is her fathers daughter

San Diego

2007-09-29T10:46:00.000-07:00

We just got back from a wonderful trip to San Diego. We stayed in this little hotel right on the pacific coast highway. It was so beautiful. I should have taked more pictures, but I always forget. We spent most of our time at the beach and eating at the yummy restaraunts. most of which were just small family owned joints with amazing food. Our favorite was the moonlight cafe that had the most incredible sweet potato fries, Mmmmm.... Olivia sat in a highchair for the first time here and I gave her a little sweet potato out of the middle of the fry which she loved. the beach has a playground and Olivia tried out the swing for the very first time. she wasnt very sure if she liked it at first but after a while she thought it was pretty cool. we went to the wild life park and it was incredible, but after only taking two pictures my camera ran our of batteries. I was so sad. there was a three week old baby african elephant that we couldnt stop watiching. Olivia loved these little gofer things. they would come up right next to the glass and Olivia wanted to touch them so bad. when she wasnt able to touch them she would screem really loud. It made us laugh. We also went to this cool little pier right in down town San Diego. It had all these really neat little shops and places for ice cream and carmeled apples. I had both. what can I say I love my treats

After our fun ended in cali we drove to las vegas and I was able to have dinner with one of my old college roommates while Matt stayed with the baby. We had a great time catching up.

Vacations

2007-09-27T20:48:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Matt, Olivia has already been on three vacations and we are looking forward to our fourth. I think my husband is part fish. he gets cabin fever if he is away from the water for too long. Her first vacation was to California when she was two months old. The trip was really a present we gave to matt for being so good to us when we were in the hospital. We were there for five days and he never left our side. there was no extra bed in our room so he slept each night on a lazyboy. he took such good care of Olivia since I was unable to change her diapers and pick her up right after the c-section.

The next trip was to Arizona to meet her uncles and aunts from Matt's side of the family. This was her first airplane ride as well. I Forgot to take pictures because I was so nervouse about her ears. I had this crazy idea that if she wasnt constantly sucking on something her eardrums would break. she wouldn't eat and she has never liked the pacifier so needless to say I was a wreck. but inspite of her not sucking her ears were fine. We had a wonderful time visiting with family and friends, but I think Olivia's favorite part was swimming in Uncle Dan's pool with her daddy.

The most recent trip we took was to lake powell. We rented a house boat with Matt's brothes and thier wives a two other couples. Matt was able to surf and fish and spend some quality time with his brothers and I was able to relax and enjoy beautiful scenery and tranquility of lake powell. my favorite part of the trip was getting up early enough to see the sun rise with my baby and a good book.

Olivia

2007-09-26T18:25:00.000-07:00

This is our Olivia. I feel so bad because shortly after she was born our computer broke and then few weeks ago we got it fixed and then it broke again so finally we got a new one. So anyway now that I am officially a "blogger" I hope I can keep better updates on us and the special events in our lives. she is five months old now and I really can't believe how fast the time has gone. Her little personality becomes more defined everyday. She is such a strong willed little thing, but she is also very sweet and cuddly. she loves to laugh and to be outside and she absolutely loves our dog Girl (yes the dogs name is Girl) if ever she is grumpy I just call for the dog and Olivia will immediatly start smiling and babbeling. Its pretty stinking cute. We just love being parents. Its better than we ever imagined. My favorite moments are in the morning right when she wakes up. Her morning smiles melt my heart.