Nielsen Family

11 Months

2012-01-07T14:31:00.001-08:00

Charlotte is now 11 months old! She is cruising the furniture like crazy and climbs all the way to the top of the steps. She is getting better at using her sippy cup, and eats a large variety of foods now. She tries so hard to repeat things that we tell her. She consistently says "dada" for Isaac and me, "uh-oh", and recently "ow". She still doesn't have any teeth, but I think she is definitely finally teething. She has swollen bumps in her gums, and she's just more grumpy. Who knows when that first tooth will come through though?!! Maybe not for another 3 months! We'll have another birthday to celebrate next month! YAY!!! We love this baby girl so much!

10 Months

2011-12-08T07:45:00.000-08:00

Charlotte turned 10 months on December 4th. She is just getting more and more fun! The only really new thing that she is doing is pulling herself up to standing. Also, she said "bye bye" today, and waved her little hand. So cute! I can also put her hair in pig tails now, and I love how she looks in pig tails! We are still Swaddling her for naps and bed time, but she gets out of it and wakes up. I know I need to ween her off swaddling, but it's really hard to do when the girls share a room. I have tried several times, but she just won't go to sleep and keeps Sarah up. Any suggestions? We have tried just wrapping one arm, just wrapping her body, and giving her a stuffed animal to hold. It was easy to wean Sarah off swaddling because she didn't keep anyone up. Anywho, I can't believe I'm going to have a one year old in 2 months!!!
(P.S. I wrote this update on December 6th.)

9 Months!

2011-11-08T20:19:00.000-08:00

(I know this is posted late but I did write this post on November 8th I just haven't uploaded a picture until now! Also, the picture was taken on November 4th.)

Charlotte turned 9 months on November 4th. She is crawling around like crazy now and she LOVES being able to go almost anywhere she wants. She is a lot happier now that she can crawl. (She was a really good baby before, she just had her moments. Now there are rarely any "moments") She is also getting into more and more things. Some things that Charlotte does at 9 months:
-She claps whenever we clap our hands or say, "yay!"
-She can wave bye bye, sometimes with her whole arm, and sometimes with her little fingers opening and closing.
-She dances and LOVES music.
-She crawls all over and pulls herself up on her knees.
-She loves to blow raspberries.
-She says "mama" and "dada" and seems to say it for the right people, but who knows if she really knows what they mean.
-She still doesn't have any teeth.
-She likes most solid food now, and basically just wants to eat whatever we're eating. She gets mad if we don't give it to her.
-She doesn't like things taken away from her. She already throws mini tantrums.
-She is so fun, and is such a joy in our family!

Pumpkin patch 2011

2011-10-18T19:38:00.001-07:00

Going to the pumpkin patch to pick out pumpkins is one of our yearly traditions, and it's so fun! We have chili and cornbread at Ralph and Brooke's before we go, and then we go back and have hot chocolate and caramel apples! It's always so much fun!

You can't really tell how excited I truly am about going to the pumpkin patch in this picture, because you can only see the back of me:

VERY EXCITED!

Dress up!

2011-10-18T19:35:00.001-07:00

Sarah put her tutu on her head, and now she has long, beautiful, pink lion hair!!!

Charlotte is crawling!!!

2011-10-15T08:01:00.000-07:00

On 10/13/2011 Charlotte officially crawled for the first time! She was 8 months and 9 days old. Good job Charlotte!

8 months!

2011-10-09T21:08:00.001-07:00

What a beautiful sweet baby Charlotte is! on October 4th she turned 8 months! She is now rolling like crazy and gets on her knees from a sitting position and rocks. She is so close to crawling! She is using a lot more consonants in her jibberish, and she LOVES solid food now. We are having a hard time getting her to drink her milk though. She still doesn't have any teeth, but may be teething because she's a little more grumpy than usual, but in general is still a very happy baby.
I thought this picture was cute and funny, so I thought I'd throw it in here :)

"Crazy Hat"

2011-10-09T21:05:00.001-07:00

I saw this thing on pinterest that had ideas for Toddlers to keep them entertained. One idea was sticking pipe cleaners in a colander. Sarah had fun with that for a while, but then she decided it was a crazy hat. I didn't even think of that!

Guess who's 31?

2011-10-09T21:02:00.000-07:00

If you guessed Isaac, you would be correct!!! Happy Birthday to the best Dad and husband EVER! Love you!

7 Months!

2011-10-09T20:56:00.000-07:00

Here Charlotte is at 7 months. She didn't really reach any new milestones this month except for sitting up better, rolling more, and liking solid food a lot more. We love this girl!

Crawdadding

2011-10-09T15:28:00.001-07:00

We went craw dadding on Labor Day. We really like craw dadding because the craw dads taste so much better than trout. The best place to go is Strawberry reservoir. I think the record was 22 crawdads on one line!!! We caught over 200 this time.

We stopped at a fish hatchery on the way up there.

Here is Charlotte getting pinched by the craw dad. It didn't hurt TOO bad, just a little bit. I think. (Just kidding, it just looks like she's getting pinched, but it's not even close to her.)

After catching over 200 of them, it was time for the eating of the craw dads.

Peeling

and eating.

Uncle Tony let Sarah help reel in the only fish caught during the day. (We had just eaten, if you can't tell by Sarah's face.)

Sarah is 3!!!

2011-10-09T15:21:00.000-07:00

Sarah turned 3 on September 3rd! Her Golden birthday! My favorite part of the whole day is when Sarah woke up in the morning and she saw all the streamers and exclaimed,"Oh it IS my party!" Oh man, it felt like Christmas morning! Love that girl! It was so nice that it landed on a Saturday because we could devote a whole day just to her without other things getting in the way. She opened presents in the morning, then we went to see Winnie the Pooh at the theater and let her pick out a special treat. Then in the evening we went to Veteran's Memorial Park in West Jordan and had grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and cousins come celebrate with us and eat cupcakes and ice cream. It was such a fun day! We love you Sarah!!!

Casino Night

2011-10-09T15:19:00.001-07:00

Isaac's family hosts a get together every month that one of us is in charge of. Ralph and Brooke hosted a casino night. It was fun to play some games that I've never played before! Thanks for all the fun Ralph and Brooke.

Orange was the winner and he won a customized painting by Brooke Nielsen herself, and a Cold Stone gift certificate. Guess what?? I won 2nd place! Only because I won the games that were purely luck. (Bingo and Roulette) We got a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory apple. So much fun!

The Hair story

2011-10-09T15:06:00.000-07:00

This is what a found on the couch after my morning walk. I asked Sarah what happened and she said her hair was in her face. So she cut it. These next two pictures may be a little graphic. You have been warned... Oh my poor Sarah's hair! It's probably no secret that I like finding and doing new hair-dos on Sarah, so I was rather sad. But, I have always wanted to try an A-line bob on Sarah because I think they're so cute on little girls. I have discussed it with Isaac but he was not convinced. Well now I'm forced to try a shorter cut and the truth is I LOVE it! So thanks for cutting your hair Sarah. I will never say that to your face because the damage could be so much worse. But someday when you read this, you will know how I truly feel about the "Hair incident". Loves!

Getting rewarded for cutting her hair, at Cookie cutters, with a balloon and sucker.
(This occurred on September 2nd, the day before her birthday.)

Sarah makes Charlotte laugh...

2011-10-09T15:03:00.001-07:00

Especially when she is feeding her little puffs. Sarah enjoys it too because she sneaks the little puffs into her own mouth also.

Chatting Away

2011-10-09T14:59:00.001-07:00

Sarah and Valencia were eating lunch in the back yard the other day and they were just chatting away with each other. We liked it so we snapped a few pictures.

6 Months!

2011-08-19T16:33:00.000-07:00

Charlotte turned 6 months on August 4th. She is so fun! At 6 months Charlotte...

- Still doesn't like to smile for the camera. She's just too interested in it.
-Sits up for pretty long periods, but she does eventually topple backward, but is getting better and better every day!
-Smiles all the time, but it stingy with her laughs. (Given most heartily to Floyd and Sarah.)
- Can Say mamamamamamama and says dadadadadadada and I've heard nananananana
-She rolls from front to back only.
-Started doing raspberries
-Hates most baby food and gags. The things she will tolerate are Sweet potatoes (her very favorite) pears, bananas, and prunes.
- Still has no teeth
- Loves Floyd
- Has enough hair to put a small pony tail on the top of her head.
- Sleeps 12 hours at night, and takes 2-two hour naps during the day.

We love having Charlotte in our family, and Isaac and I say all the time about Charlotte, "I can't stand the cuteness!!!"There's a little smile!

Despain Reunion 2011 (Bear Lake)

2011-07-14T09:01:00.001-07:00

Isaac is impersonating Charlotte. She always sticks her arms and legs straight out, and they're always off the ground.

We had a great time at our family reunion! We stayed at a house that was right by the beach. The first day we played ultimate Frisbee and played in the water. The water was really high this year (The lake has risen 11 feet) so there wasn't much of a sandy beach, but it was still fun. Isaac and I also got up for the first time on a wake board! Ben was so nice to provide his awesome boat for all of us, and Matt and Anna have some really fun 3 person wave runners. Snorkeling was also a really fun thing we did. It was a little more fun when you're going through all the weeds(since the lake was so high) and you weren't just looking at sand the whole time. I know lots of people saw really big fish! We were in charge of an activity one of the days, and we played simple lawn games. We did things such as: Who can stand on one leg the longest (Steve) Who can buzz their lips the longest (Ben?) The handkerchief game (Marion) Chimp race (Nathan), Bubble gum blowing contest (Sidney) Ha ha game (Amy?) It was a ton of fun! Then Amy and Steve's family's activity was tie dyeing shirts, and that was fun! We had a cook-off for one of our dinners and that was really yummy! We had a blast, and I'm glad that everyone was able to come!

5 Months

2011-07-14T08:39:00.001-07:00

Not the best picture of Charlotte, she's not very good at smiling for the camera. Nevertheless, Charlotte turned 5 months on the 4th! She is such a smiley, happy baby. It takes a little bit of work to get her to laugh, but she smiles all the time! She is such a sweetheart, and I wish I could explain how much I love this little girl. I have enjoyed the baby stage a lot more this time around, just because with Sarah I was a new mom and I didn't know what I was doing. I'm just much more relaxed and focused on just enjoying this stage in her life. She is such a joy to have in our family!
-She rolls over from front to back
-When she is on her tummy she puts her bum in the air and stands on her feet for a few seconds
-She is enthralled with her hands and can pass toys from hand to hand
-She is still a tall, skinny baby
-She hates really loud noises
-She had a big wide smile
-Is not a big fan of baby food
-She doesn't cry very much
-When she is on her back on the floor she sticks her legs and arms straight out almost the whole time.
-She sleeps about 11 hours straight at night, and takes 3 naps during the day

4th of July 2011

2011-07-14T08:35:00.001-07:00

Here we are at the Murray parade! We went with Amy and Steve, Mom and Dad, and Jason and Amy's kids. I love the 4th. I'm so grateful for this Country, and the freedoms and opportunities we have here!
After the parade we got ready to go to Bear Lake for the Despain Reunion!

Reading

2011-07-14T08:32:00.001-07:00

Sarah always loved books, even as a little baby, and it looks like Charlotte is following in her footsteps. It was fun catching this special moment. I just love my family!

Fireflies!

2011-07-14T08:27:00.000-07:00

We had the annual firefly outing in Midway again this year. It was a lot of fun! There weren't a lot of people this year, but we had a great time. We didn't get close enough to catch any fireflies this year, but we did find this crazy bug in the grass. It looks like a larval stage of some sort of bug. We also saw this huge Great Horned Owl, and that was really cool. The Robins kept scaring it away though. I didn't get many pictures, but I wanted to just post what I did take.

Happy Father's Day!

2011-07-14T08:12:00.001-07:00

Sarah and Charlotte have the best Dad EVER! Sarah did a special project for her Dad, Papa, and Grandpa. She drew a picture of them and I transferred her picture to shirts. I've seen a few people transfer kid's drawings to shirts in blog land. We used freezer paper to transfer her drawing to the shirt, and then I painted them with fabric paint. I love freezer paper, because you can pretty much put anything on a shirt with it!

I love you Isaac, you are the best Dad I could ever have for my children! Sarah adores you, and I completely understand why! Also a special shout out to our Dads! Thank you for all you do, and have done for us!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!

Charlotte Rolled Over

2011-06-06T20:14:00.000-07:00

Charlotte is 4 months 2 days today, and she officially rolled over for the first time. She went from tummy to back all by herself. She tries really really hard to get from back to front, but hasn't quite done it yet. She turns on her side and presses her face to the ground but hasn't been able to get the rest of her body to follow.

Charlotte's Weekly

2011-06-03T07:57:00.001-07:00

17 Weeks
4 month stats:
25.5 inches (92%)
12.19 lbs (22%)
Head 15.6 inches (19%)

Charlotte's Weekly

2011-06-03T07:53:00.001-07:00

15 Weeks

Charlotte's Weekly

2011-06-03T07:00:00.000-07:00

14 Weeks

Easter 2011

2011-05-06T08:18:00.000-07:00

The Easter Bunny Came!

Rock 'em Sock 'em robot rings

The cutest little bunny wabbit!

Easter Best.

Ralph had to hold Sarah back the whole time the adults were hiding eggs.

Easter was so much fun this year! All the meetings in church you could feel the spirit so strong because they all focused so much on our Savior, and helped me remember what Easter is all about, ahh, so great!. Sarah was really excited to wear her new Easter dress and match her baby sister. We went over to Ralph and Brooke's house for a yummy Easter dinner, and an Easter Egg Hunt. Sarah had a really hard time waiting to go get the eggs.

Charlotte's Weekly

2011-05-06T08:16:00.001-07:00

13 weeks

Charlotte's Weekly

2011-05-06T08:10:00.001-07:00

12 Weeks

6 New Posts!

2011-04-23T08:58:00.000-07:00

Charlotte's Weekly

2011-04-23T08:56:00.000-07:00

11 Weeks

Dyeing Eggs

2011-04-23T08:52:00.001-07:00

This was the first time Sarah got to Dye eggs, and she loved it!

Easter Cupcakes

2011-04-23T08:41:00.000-07:00

This is as much of a cupcake Sarah will eat. I guess she's not a big fan of cake.

Sarah and I decorated cupcakes for Easter. She loved it, but she loves any excuse to play with sprinkles! We used regular cake mix but made it low fat, lower calorie because we didn't add any oil, and just used the egg whites. Honestly, I couldn't tell the difference! You just pour in the mix and disregard what it says on the box to add. Instead add:
* 1 3/4 cup water
* 2 Tbl flour
* 3 egg whites
I'm a big fan! I got the idea from MADE

Charlotte's Blessing Day

2011-04-23T08:29:00.001-07:00

Beautiful dress made by my Mother in law and I made her headband. The bracelet was given to us from Aunt Donna!

We had Charlotte's blessing day on 4/10/2011. It was a wonderful day! She was blessed by her Dad, and he did a great job. My Mother-in-Law made her beautiful dress. We are so grateful for all the family that was able to come and support us on Charlotte's special day!

Sarah's First Haircut

2011-04-23T08:23:00.000-07:00

We went to Cookie Cutters for Sarah's very first hair cut. Sarah got to sit in a pink car chair and watch Mickey house clubhouse. It was a fun experience, but I'll probably cut her hair from now on, we just wanted to make her first haircut a special one!

St. Patrick's Day

2011-04-23T08:11:00.001-07:00

Sarah said, "This is my lady crab." Get it? It has spots like a lady bug, so it's her "lady" crab.

This year Sarah had to step on all the footprints when she followed the trail. Last year she had to pick them all up.

3 new posts

2011-04-15T15:00:00.001-07:00

Black and White Dinner

2011-04-15T14:33:00.001-07:00

On February 26th we had a Black and White (with red accent) dinner that Isaac's parents put together for us. I love themed dinners, and they did a great job! We ate lots of black, white and red food, played games and read some stories about Isaac's ancestors. It was a lot of fun! Thank you Mom and Dad for all the hard work that you put into it!

Charlotte's Weekly

2011-04-15T14:30:00.001-07:00

Just for fun, here is a looks comparison of Charlotte and Sarah at 10 weeks. Sarah is on the left, and Charlotte on the right:

What do you think? Do they look alike at all?? They look very different to me in these pictures.

10 weeks

Charlotte's Weekly

2011-04-15T14:28:00.001-07:00

9 weeks

Charlotte's Weekly

2011-04-01T22:22:00.001-07:00

8 Weeks

Charlotte Loves Daddy!

2011-04-01T22:20:00.001-07:00

We love all the smiles and coos coming from this little girl lately!

Charlotte's Weekly

2011-04-01T22:16:00.001-07:00

7 Weeks

Sarah's Weekly

2011-03-19T09:53:00.001-07:00

132 weeks
(Back for a limited time. But, really she just wanted her picture taken also.)

Charlotte's Weekly

2011-03-19T09:49:00.000-07:00

6 Weeks

Charlotte's Weekly

2011-03-11T08:23:00.001-08:00

5 Weeks

Charlotte's Notable things...

2011-03-09T04:38:00.000-08:00

-On Sunday (3/7) Charlotte rolled over when I was changing her diaper. You should see this girl flail! She is a master flailer!! (Yes, I'm sure that's a real word.)

-Sunday night she slept from 11-7, a full 8 hours!! (She hasn't done it again, just her consistent 5.5-6 hour stretch at night.

-She absolutely HATES getting things pulled over her head and kind of freaks out, not by crying, but by arching her neck back and flailing like crazy.

-She had a rough week last week, the only thing that would make her happy is burping her constantly or sitting in the bouncer seat with the vibration thing on. I tried the gas drops, but they weren't working. She had a lot of signs of reflux, so I finally filled the prescription I got from the Dr. at her 2 weeks check-up, and it has been a night and day difference. My happy girl is back!

Charlotte's Weekly

2011-03-04T08:10:00.001-08:00

4 Weeks

Charlotte's Weekly

2011-02-25T08:22:00.000-08:00

3 weeks
(She didn't want to turn her head the other way very long, so I had to take it from the side.)

Charlotte's first bath

2011-02-25T08:12:00.000-08:00

Charlotte did great with her first bath! Her cord fell off when she was 1 week 5 days. She was fine as long as she was kept warm with the warm water. Getting dressed afterward was not so fun, but she never likes getting dressed, especially if you put clothes on over her head. So far that's the only thing she really doesn't like. and so far she is a really good baby, just like Sarah was.

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-18T07:06:00.001-08:00

Sarah has a dirty face, and red velvet batter on her shirt, I'm just acknowledging this :).

We had oven fries and Crockpot BBQ chicken. HERE is the recipe, if you want it. I recommend it!

Charlotte's Weekly

2011-02-18T06:59:00.001-08:00

2 weeks

Charlotte had her 2 week appointment yesterday.
Weight: 7 lbs 7 oz. (25th percentile)
Height: 21.5 inches (90th percentile)
Head 41 inches (41st percentile)

Charlotte's weekly

2011-02-11T08:44:00.001-08:00

1 week old

Charlotte's Weekly

2011-02-11T08:40:00.001-08:00

0 days old

Charlotte Elise Nielsen is here!

2011-02-10T15:27:00.001-08:00

She was born on 02/04/2011, and weighed 7.0 lbs and was 21.5" long. Happy Birthday Charlotte! We love you!

When Sarah came in I said, "Hey, who's this?"

She is saying, "That's my baby Charlotte!" Then she sang Happy Birthday to her.

Aunt Robin and baby Charlotte

Going home outfit

Daddy and his girls

11 new posts!

2011-01-24T16:31:00.001-08:00

Pregnancy Update!

2011-01-24T16:19:00.000-08:00

This picture is funny, because it looks like a blob is taking over my body! hehe, anyway, I don't have very long until we get to meet baby Charlotte! We are so excited. I will be getting induced on February 4th, which is 10 days early. My doctor wants to induce early because he doesn't want her to get too big, he doesn't think I can handle more than and 8 lb baby. I have progressed a little bit I am 60% effaced and 1+ dialated. Hopefully I can progress a little more before I get induced so labor won't be too crazy. We're so excited to meet the newest member of our family! The next time I post will probably be pictures of Charlotte! Yay!
Sarah wanted me to take her picture when I was trying to get one of my belly. She's excited to be a big sister. When we ask her if she's excited for the baby to come she says, "Yeah, I want to hold her!" Me too Sarah, me too.

Potty Training

2011-01-24T16:05:00.001-08:00

Sarah is potty trained! I am so happy about this! The first day we tried it I was kind of depressed, it's not that she did horribly, but I'm just really weird about change. I don't like it. I was thinking all day, "THIS is the very worst part of parenting so far." Sheesh, it seriously was not that bad. Anyway, for my own records I just want to record how we did it, so I remember for future children. The first day we sat her in front of the TV, on her toilet and gave her lots of juice and salty snacks so she would want to drink. When she went I made a big deal about it, and she got smarties. She got a toy for going #2. (It wasn't ALL day that she sat on the potty, she would still get up.) I got this idea from my friend Sabrina :). I had read potty training in a day, and it seemed a little too complicated for me, so I wanted to go a little simpler, but maybe take a little longer. The 2nd day she walked around naked, and had a couple of accidents, but I think that's when she really got the concept. She went naked one more day with no accidents, then we put underpants on her the next day, then pants. (All the while moving her potty closer and closer to the bathroom, until it was on the toilet). I had her dump her potty, and wash her hands afterward of course. She seems to have a really strong bladder because she can go 4-5 hours without needing to go. She still wears a pull-up at night, but she has woken up dry once so far. I'm not going to stress about night time though. I'm sure she'll get better and better and eventually not even need pull-ups at night any more! Anyway, here's hoping she doesn't digress once the baby comes!

Christmas Day

2011-01-24T15:35:00.001-08:00

Christmas so so fun this year! Sarah understood things a lot better and her excitement was just so contagious! We spent the night at Brooke and Ralph's house, and had Christmas morning at their house! We had a great time. Sarah has a "kiss" on her face, because Santa gives all the kids kisses in the middle of the night. It's a fun little tradition. Thanks Santa for being willing to put on lipstick just so our kids can see the kiss you gave them when they wake up!

Christmas Morning!

Nana and Papa came also!

Sarah and Gray have so much fun together!

This is Sarah's Rocking horse that she name "Giddy-up!"
Opening my Serger
Isaac got a bunch of gaming stuff, a cotton candy machine, and magnet balls, I got a serger, and Sarah got a whole bunch of different toys. We also visited my parents on Christmas, but I didn't bring my camera. I got all these pictures from Brooke, thanks Brooke! Merry Christmas to you all!

Christmas Eve

2011-01-24T15:10:00.000-08:00

We spent Christmas Eve with Isaac's siblings and parents at Ralph and Brooke's house. We had a lot of fun. We first played a bunch of games, and then near the evening we did a little program and acted out the Nativity, and then of course opened Christmas Jammies!

We wanted Sarah to sing "Silent Night" but she was being shy, so we all just sang it.

Sarah was Mary in the Nativity, and Fynn was Joseph, and Isaac was the Donkey

Hallelujah!
Sarah thought being an angel looked fun also!

Papa told a story.

Christmas Jammies!

Cookies for Santa!

Grandma Despain's 60th Birthday!

2011-01-24T14:35:00.000-08:00

We had a surprise party for my Mom's 60th birthday this year. The Grandkids performed the digital short "Boundin'" for her. If you don't know which PIXAR digital short that is, HERE is a link to it on youtube in German (They don't have the English one, but the music is the same :)) The adults played the music, narrated, did the sound effects etc. It turned out really awesome thanks to all the hard work my sister Amy put into it! All the kids also sang "How Can I Keep From Singing." and the Grandkids Sang, "Grandmother" from the primary song book. It was a lot of fun, and I think my Mom liked it! Happy 60th Mom! We love you!

Amy Played the Piano

Steve Narrated

Isaac played the guitar

Jason played the banjo

Bed recorded it and did sound effects

Matt also did sound effects

Tony played the harmonica

Sidney=Jackalope, Abby=Lamb, Nathan, Sam, Jacob-Gophers, Sarah and Cora=Owls, not pictured Ian=snake (he didn't want to wear the costume)

This is Abby's "shaved" costume.

This is her "furry" costume.

Cora

I made Sarah's owl costume, and obviously used it for her Halloween costume, but I added the feet and beak.
Oh, and my job was the cue the kids. It was a lot of fun!

Gardner Village Elves

2011-01-24T14:33:00.001-08:00

We went to see the elves at Gardner Village with Sarah's best friend Valencia! It was a lot of fun!

Gingerbread House

2011-01-24T14:31:00.001-08:00

We'll have to make gingerbread houses every year, because Sarah loved it! It may be just because she loves candy so much, but still...

Lights Downtown

2011-01-24T14:27:00.001-08:00

Riding Trax

We also saw my sister Robin sing in the Special Needs Institute Jubilation choir

We met my parents there

Sarah danced to the songs

Nana and Papa came with us!

Christmas Tree 2010

2011-01-24T14:26:00.001-08:00

Halloween

2011-01-24T14:24:00.001-08:00

Halloween was so super fun this year, Sarah absolutely LOVED it! The reactions we got from people when they saw Sarah's costume were so funny! I wish we had it all on film, they loved her feet the most. She did look pretty awesome walking around in those feet. She wanted to go in to every house. She thought if they opened the door, she should go inside. She got the hang of it by the end though. She wanted to go trick or treating for many days afterward.

I wish we had better pictures, but oh well. We also had Charlotte's first costume, she was a stick figure on my belly, but we don't have a picture of that.

Pumpkin Carving/Painting

2011-01-24T14:21:00.001-08:00

Family Pictures

2010-11-06T22:10:00.000-07:00

My sister was kind enough to take some family pictures with her amazing skills and awesome camera! She did an awesome job! I am having a hard time narrowing them down. She also took Sarah's 2 year old pictures. Anyway, here they are!:

Here is me pregnant. I figure I should post at least one pregnant photo this pregnancy. I am bigger now because this was taken about 4 weeks ago. So I was 22 weeks along.

This is probably the one we'll use for Christmas cards and to give to grandparents.

But this is a cute one too, so it's between these two.

7 new posts!

2010-10-27T17:04:00.001-07:00

First Snow 10/27/10

2010-10-27T16:55:00.000-07:00

We had some fun in the snow this morning. Sarah did not want to go inside. I'm pretty sure she is going to enjoy the winter! I'm already getting excited for Christmas. I really had to resist putting Christmas music on this morning.

We came in and warmed up to some hot chocolate. It was a fun "taste" of the upcoming Christmas season!

Pumpkin Patch 2010

2010-10-27T16:50:00.001-07:00

Real Cookie Decorating

2010-10-27T16:45:00.001-07:00

While Isaac was at a Jazz game, Sarah and I did some real cookie decorating! Sarah had a blast, especially with the sprinkles. (Isaac doesn't like sugar cookies, so that's why we did it when he wouldn't be home.)

Our masterpieces.

This is how I found Sarah at 7:30 a.m.

2010-10-27T16:42:00.001-07:00

Sarah has just transitioned to a toddler bed, and on her 2nd morning sleeping in one, this is how I found her:
She had pulled her garbage can across the room, got in, and somehow picked up that very large book to read it. She has got some SKILLLZZZ!

Barnyard Boo

2010-10-27T16:31:00.000-07:00

We went to barnyard boo at Thankgiving with some play group friends. It was fun, but it will probably not be a yearly tradition. It was just a little overpriced, and some things were kind of ridiculous, but still fun!

This part was definitely fun, they got to feed the animals some corn.

The pony ride was also fun. The horse Sarah was on bum-butted me as I was walking beside it, which was kind of funny.

So this is part of the "ridiculous" part of the experience. In the advertisement it said "cookie decorating". This is what they gave them. A pumpkin shaped sugar cookie with a glob of white frosting. It wasn't even orange frosting! We had a good laugh over it. I don't think Sarah really cared though. She got a cute pumpkin tattoo on her cheek too.

She also made a witch "mask". She placed the eyes, nose, wart, buckle, and drew the smile all by herself!

Cornbelly's

2010-10-27T16:13:00.000-07:00

How come no one has told me about this place before? We had so much fun! Sarah absolutely loved it! I was very impressed with all the things there were to do, and the things inside were not overpriced either! It was the same price as a regular corn maze and there was WAY more to do! We didn't even have time to go in the regular corn maze, so we just did the really short kid's one. We think this will have to be a yearly tradition!

Cow train

Tunnel. Now Sarah likes to find "tunnels" in our house. One of her favorites, which I of course don't like so much, is the space between the back of the toilet and the wall.

There was a really fun play area for little kids with trains to climb on.

a really big chair...

pumpkin princess playland

"The Creature" was a big blow up thing where you walk in it's mouth and can see all of his organs. This is his Uvula.

And his heart.

We played corn hole in this place. We got to play a whole game. Isaac won.

Sarah LOVED the corn pit and did not want to leave.

Spider web, another thing Sarah didn't want to leave.

The corn maze.

This is the front of the creature. We got this picture as we were leaving, so it's dark.

The Big 3-0 Mustache Party!

2010-10-27T15:32:00.000-07:00

Isaac turned 30 in September, and what better way to celebrate than to throw a mustache party, right?! I'm so glad so many people could come, because it was a blast! I was so impressed with everyone's creative mustaches!

Here is my handsome 30 year old husband, with is real mustache he grew just for the party. HOTT!!!

Sarah and cousin Lizzy!

Me. It reminds me of the King of Town's mustache, only black, not white.

Brooke and Ralph

Mom and Dad Nielsen(Mom's mustache is glitter eyelashes!)

Aunt Donna (If you can't tell, it's a glitter mustache.)

Orange and Desiray

Robindy Bobindy

Sidney

Anna and Matt

Josh

Mom and Dad Despain (I love how girly my Mom tried to make her mustache, and my Dad's came from something in the back yard.)

Missy, Cameron, Nolan and Kaiser

April and Tony

Jason, Amy and Cora

Pin the Mustache game (All the pictures in the room had mustaches too, you can see half of Matt's in the picture on the left.)

Keep the mustache afloat

Famous Mustache guessing game

We had such a good time! First we played "Pin the mustache on Burt Reynolds" and Nathan won that one. Then we played "Keep the mustache a-float" Where you start with a black feather on your upper lip and blow it into the air. Whoever kept it up the longest won. I believe it was Cameron that won that one. We also had the floor covered with red and black balloons and everyone needed to get one and pop it. If they got the picture of Isaac, then they got the prize. I believe Brooke won that one. In each of the balloons was a picture of a famous person with a mustache and we used those pictures to have a mustache guessing game and whoever guessed the most, won that game. I think Ralph won that one. We also had a "Vote for the best mustache contest" and Nolan won that! Happy Birthday to the best husband and Dad in the whole wide world!!!

It's a....

2010-09-21T15:47:00.000-07:00

Girl! Looks like Sarah was right, and she's going to have a baby sister! When we whispered it to her, she had a big grin on her face! We are going to name her Charlotte, and I'm so excited to start working on a bunch of projects I have stacked up to do if our baby turned out to be a girl. Namely This project, This project, and a quilt. YAY!!!! We are so grateful that everything looked great on the ultrasound also!

11 new posts!

2010-09-13T15:05:00.000-07:00

Craft Night

2010-09-13T14:57:00.000-07:00

We did a craft night with my friend Steph and April on Saturday. We had so much fun! We watched Hocus Pocus and worked on our own crafts but mostly talked and laughed.

Oh yeah, and I cut my hair, and I love it. I was nervous to do it, but I'm glad I did!

We took a couple pictures like this and my eyes kept partially closing, so I was trying to keep them open.

This is the cute rug April painted.

These are the owls I was doing. I was going to do an applique for a shirt for Sarah, but now I'm going to make some owls that match my Christmas tree and hang them on it (purple gold and red) I'll post my finished owls eventually. I'll probably still do an applique also.

These are the cute letters Steph was working on.

The Classic Race 2010

2010-09-13T14:51:00.000-07:00

Me and my sisters in law ran The Classic in Layton on 9/11. It was a lot of fun! We did it last year also. It is by far my favorite race I've done. The terrain is really nice, but they also give out really nice shirts, and goodie bags, and they have a lot of vendor booths at the end with a ton of free stuff, oh, and the food they have at the end is really good too.

You can see my baby bump in this one.

Fruits of our Garden

2010-09-13T14:44:00.001-07:00

It's been a good first garden year.

We have had so many cucumbers we can't keep up with them!!!

New corn is my favorite. We also got a whole bunch of tomatoes that I'm going to have to can some salsa because there are WAY too many. They weighed our tomato cages down with the weight of the tomatoes, so they fell over. We also have green onions carrots, and cabbage. I'm also excited to decorate for fall with my corn stalks!

This zucchini isn't from our garden, it's from my parents, but it's a funny picture. , got 2 zucchinis from the kitchen, She brought the chair over, gave one to my mom, and sat down with the other on her lap.

Sarah is two!!!

2010-09-13T14:22:00.001-07:00

My sweet 2 year old the morning of her birthday!

Daddy finally came home so she could open presents!

She said, "It's Backpack!"

Sarah's first potty! I'm so looking forward to potty training!

She was so excited about her slide!

She blew out the candles all by herself!

Sarah had a fun birthday, and was so excited to open presents this year. She even sneaked one early... whoops! She is such a good girl and hasn't really reached a "Terrible twos" stage yet. Hopefully it never comes... We do have to use time outs on her, but not very often. She is very tall for her age and is still in the 99th percentile. She loves to learn and is a very smart girl! She talks like crazy, counts up to 13, sings her ABCs, sings I am a Child of God (She calls it "He has sent me here.") and many other songs, and even makes up her own songs. She also loves to dance, and knows her colors and shapes. Her favorite food is cheese and fruit. Her favorite TV show is Wonderpets and her favorite color is pink (that's what she told me) We love having her in our family!

Crawdad Fishing

2010-09-13T14:09:00.000-07:00

We went to Rockport for FHE at the end of August to catch craw dads! It was a lot of fun, even though we only caught two (both caught by Tony and April)

Preparing the bait

A hot man fishing.

Not having much success.

Tony and April caught one! YAY!!!

Bear Lake 2010

2010-09-13T14:06:00.001-07:00

Girl's Camp 2010 Treasure Island

2010-09-13T13:48:00.000-07:00

Camp was so fun this year! A really nice guy from our ward let us use his cabin and it worked out perfectly! Our theme was : Treasure Island "All that Glitters is not Gold" The first day we played Minute to Win it games and the girls had so much fun! Each team made up their team name and a cheer. We had the "Purple Pirate People", the "AAAAARrrrrrnges (sounds like oranges) and "The Pink Panthers". First place got 3 jewels, 2nd got 2 jewels, and 3rd got 1 jewel to use in the bartering booth. The girls could also earn jewels by doing acts of service throughout the day.

Figuring out a name and a cheer.

The "AAARRrrrnges" doing their cheer.

The Purple Pirate People

Candy Elevator

Elephant March

Bartering Booth

We watched Muppet Treasure Island one night and had this for our treat!

Zoo

2010-09-13T13:45:00.001-07:00

We went to the zoo when Isaac was done with his Summer semester. We had fun, and Sarah loved it!

I asked Sarah what her favorite part was, and she said "Giraffes."

4th of July 2010

2010-09-13T13:35:00.000-07:00

At the Murray Parade

Sarah and Grandpa. (The lady in the background was taking pictures of Sarah for about 15 minutes, she was from the Deseret News.)

Cute Cora

Sparklers!

On the way to watch fireworks!

We met up with Isaac's family to watch fireworks at Murray Park. I love the 4th of July, but I think it was Extra fun this year! I think it's because Sarah is more able to understand what's going on, and it's so fun!

Bryce Canyon 2010

2010-09-13T13:31:00.000-07:00

Isaac's Mom's family has a reunion every other year, and this year it was in Bryce Canyon. Some of us camped, and some of us stayed in cabins, and enjoyed the beauty of Bryce Canyon.

This is the Place State Park June 2010

2010-09-13T13:13:00.001-07:00

In June, we went to This is the Place State Park on a free day. It was a lot of fun, and we met up with Sarah's Cousins and Grandma and Grandpa. We want to go back in October for the Halloween things they do (They have a headless horseman that rides around) and also at Christmas when they do the Candlelit Christmas.

On the train.

Sarah and Aunt Robin

Heber C. Kimball home ( I loved this house, especially the wrap-around porch!)

Best Buddies!

This was the little barn that burned down a few days after we visited. They had most of the baby animals in it to keep them warm, it was so sad!

I was trying to pet this pig when he was in the stall and my phone fell out of my backpack into the stall, so the worker went and got it and also picked up the pig so we could pet it better.

Horsie ride!

Petting zoo

After visiting the petting zoo, I noticed one of Sarah's flower clips was missing, but I had no idea where she would have lost it, so I went back to my pictures and figured it out! In this one it is about to fall out.

You can see that it fell out in this one.

Anyway, I went back to the sheep pen and I looked for a while and finally found it! (It blended right in with the straw.

Free Icecream! It was such a fun day!

New Column on the right

2010-08-23T12:17:00.001-07:00

I'll now be keeping track of all the funny things Sarah says and does. Check it out on the right! I wish I had started earlier, because I've missed a lot of things, and can't remember them. New blog posts are coming also, There will be a lot!!!

Here Comes 2!

2010-07-20T17:46:00.000-07:00

Baby #2 is on his/her way! I'm 10 weeks along. We just had our first ultrasound today, and everything looks great so far! I am due in Feb. Yay! My brother asked Sarah if the baby was going to be a boy or a girl and Sarah said, "Sister!" So, we'll see if her intuition is correct!

I've been slacking, So 10 posts are up!

2010-06-10T15:16:00.001-07:00

Firefly Outing in Midway, UT

2010-06-10T15:05:00.001-07:00

Every year, my parents rent out a Chalet in Midway, UT and invite people to come and experience fireflies in Utah. We look forward to it every year!

Hammock

Willow whistles. My Dad made them for all the kids.

Osprey nest

Fireflies! Every time we'd see one we'd say, "There's one!" and Sarah started doing it too! It was so cute. She'd point, "Gasp!" and say, "there's one!"

Close up of a Midway firefly

We also caught nightcrawlers, and this is Sarah saying, "Ooooooooooo"

Tyler also ate one. Gross.

Oakcrest and Mill Hollow Camping with April and Tony

2010-06-10T14:48:00.000-07:00

We went to Oakcrest Friends and Family night with April and Tony, and then went camping with them afterward. It was a lot of fun!!!!

In front of Tree Hut at Oakcrest

Our camp site

Ash cakes, Yummy.

Floyd was sad because he had to lay by us because the river we were by was really high.

The trees were really pretty all around us. We were right by the river also, so it was very pleasant to sleep next to.

On our hike to Nobletts.

This is our sweet double hammock we got with our REI dividend.

Cute Sarah.

Thanks for bringing the Ashcakes, and sharing your Gatorade and Water with us April and Tony!!!

Hair Putty

2010-06-10T14:43:00.000-07:00

Sarah was supposed to be watching Blue's Clues while I showered, but when I came upstairs, I found her doing something else:

I guess she figured she needed more!

Maple Grove with the Nielsens on Memorial Day Weekend

2010-06-10T14:30:00.001-07:00

This waterfall went through our camp

"a clue, a clue." Uncle Ralph took the kids on a treasure hunt and this post was one of the clues.

Finding the treasure

All the kids with their treasures.

Rope swing

Climbing

Spring water

Natalie and Zoey putting make-up on me.

DIRT!

More Wheeler Farm

2010-06-10T14:27:00.000-07:00

We went to Wheeler farm with Sarah's play group also. Really fun once again!

Liberty Park Fun

2010-06-10T14:21:00.001-07:00

We always have fun with Jenica and Valencia. Sarah and Valencia get along so well, so it's really fun to get together. Sarah always calls Valencia on her play phone. She also likes to say, "Valencia, home" a lot because I always have to tell her that Valencia is at home when Sarah asks for her.

Chasing geese

Feeding the goslings (they ate from our hands.)

Jenica, Valencia, and Sarah.

Maple Grove Camping May 21st and 22nd

2010-06-10T14:06:00.001-07:00

Hiking

Wild turkey feathers.

Fun Rope swings

Pretty ferns that Sarah liked to lay in

Fresh water spring. The water was SO yummy!

Sarah said, "I thirsty" after she drank from the spring.

Pine nuts we found

Isaac put turkey feathers in her hair and when she saw herself in the mirror she said, "wabbit, wabbit!"