Fashion Family

This is a record....3 posts in one day! This morning we all drove Todd to the hospital, and as we were headed out the door, Todd said, "Come on, Fashion Family." Only then did I notice how awesome the kids and I looked. I thought I'd post a pic of us so you can see how stylish we've become. I guess this pic is too far away to do us justice...Audrey and I both had on fancy, shiny shoes that really rounded out our outfits.

Nelson Girls NYC Trip

Todd's parents are mission presidents in NY, so most of the Nelson girls (and Jeff because he and Rachel live in New Jersey) met up for a weekend trip last month. A girl couldn't be blessed with more incredible in-laws than I am. Seriously. I love those guys.

We basically ate our way through the weekend - it was so great. True Nelson meal time is trough style...with everyone hovering around the food and fending for themselves.
Here we are inhaling doughnuts while we shopped in Chinatown. We honestly ate 2 dozen doughnuts in 67 seconds.

Here we are, at a late hour, eating cupcakes/pudding from Magnolia Bakery and leftover Italian food in the pitch black in a little park in the West Village. Mediterranean take-out at the mission home....I'm telling you, we ate A LOT.
One of the two times we ate like civilized ladies... Shopping with the President in Chinatown.

Drew came with me and he was an angel...not a word of complaint the whole weekend.
Riding the Subway with Aunt Lulu.
Giving Grandma a little love.
Kristen brought her baby Nels too and these two little guys just rode around in the stroller wearing their bear suits and, seriously, they were perfectly content (though they may not look thrilled here.)
Rick and Chris took us to see "South Pacific" at the Lincoln Center. I love going to plays.

It was SO much fun to hang out and spend time with these people that I adore. Thanks for the fun weekend, Nelsons! I look forward to many similar trips to the Big Apple in the next 3 years...

Halloween and Thanksgiving

Obviously, I'm way behind, but here's a little catch up post from Halloween and Thanksgiving. Halloween was so much fun this year...I think it's because we have a trick-or-treater now so the thrill of the candy hunt is back. I definitely had just as much (if not more) fun trick-or-treating as Audrey did. She was so cute though...she said "trick-or-treat" at every door. So cute.

The bumble bee and the tough ninja

This costume cracked us up...little chubby ninja.
The stinger...We trick-or-treated with the Jacksons. Audrey was in heaven - she adores Grace and Vivian.

The cute dad w/ the ninja in the Bjorn - all serious ninjas have a Bjorn.
We spent Thanksgiving at our house with the 4 of us....our first Thanksgiving with just our family and it was great! Although, it was my first attempt at solo T-giving dinner prep and I struggled...the turkey was undercooked, the rolls were completely flat, the stuffing was dry. The company was fantastic. And we didn't do the dishes until Saturday.

The fellas carving the bird.Yes, this is our living room. And yes, the walls are completely bare. I can't commit to wall decorations....someone please help me. The day after Thanksgiving we went to a Christmas tree farm in a neighboring town and cut down a tree. It was frrrrrreezing! However, the smell of the tree in our house makes up for the frostbite on our digits.
Then we came home and Todd, the pro tree lighter, lit up the tree and Audrey.

And Drew is still cute and chunky (he weighs much more than Audrey did at a year old).

Technological Meltdown and Some Cute Couples

Oh man. This past month I washed Todd's pants and his cell phone was in the pocket....and then within the hour my cell phone gave up the ghost. So, we were phoneless. Within the next couple days, our computer had a meltdown and our internet went out. We now have internet and new cell phones, but I feel like I haven't yet been able to climb out of the hole that was dug during the great meltdown. Our house is a HUGE mess, I have lagged in my communication with beloved friends and zero percent of our Christmas shopping has been accomplished.

Despite this craziness, we have two really happy events happening soon.

First, these cuties (Todd's brother Scotty and his fiance Mandy) are getting married on Dec. 19th. The last of the single Nelsons...sorry ladies.

And second, these cuties (my brother Micah and his lady Rachel-who happens to be Todd's cousin) just announced that they are getting married Dec. 29th!! Yay! The last of the single Christensens...another apology to the ladies.

As soon as I get my cameras, software, hardware, and wits pulled together, I will post pics of Halloween, Thanksgiving, the Nelson girls NYC trip, and our baby Audrey's 2nd birthday.

Oh, and one more thing:
WAHOO Cougars - We love when those guys win!

Fall '09

We've been trying to get the most out of Fall because we know what the Michigan winter holds. As a result, Audrey can spot a pumpkin from across town...."PUNKIN!!" We've made 3 or 4 trips, to pumpkin patches/cider mills/apple orchards so the pics are a little mixed together....try not to get confused.Pumpkin spotting

Grace, Audrey and Vivian getting ready to do some serious damage to the apple orchard.
My dear dear Larson friend came to visit us last week. This is the only picture we took and you can barely spot us amidst the pumpkins....this is even zoomed in. Nice. Love you, Lars.
Riding the apple wagon
Ok, I don't usually think these cheesy photo ops are funny, but this one cracks me up. Cute little farmer. Raspberry picking - Riley and Audrey with their berry picking jugs tied around their waists. Not a single berry made it into that milk jug. Drew's mane. He's so pudgy - I love it.
I made some REALLY good chocolate chip cookies thanks to mykitchencafe.blogspot.....Audrey had them for lunch because I'm a bad mother.
We made cupcakes last week (Funfetti, of course). 35% of the batter was Audrey's saliva.

I hope that these two will always be friends....she's still so cute with him. Love them.
This is the view from our computer room window right this minute. Oh, that Fall could last until Spring!

Seattle

Last month we went to visit my brother Seth and his family in Seattle. It was such a GREAT trip. Most of the thanks goes to pregnant Amy who did some serious planning, shuttling, and feeding. Seth gets a huge thanks too for taking me to Value Village (who knew I had a brother who loves thrift stores as much as I do??)

The first day we were there Seth did a half-ironman. Todd jumped in at the end and ran the half marathon with him (because he's a Nelson and he can do that sort of thing).

Drew slept most of the morning, but when I went to check on him he was wide awake just checking things out. We went to a Mariners game at Safeco Field. It was pouring rain, but the stadium has a retractable cover so we stayed dry (mostly dry).Audrey, Aunt Amy and Ellie

We went to the Space Needle. View from the bottom:

View from the top:Remember Audrey's tantrums? This one was monumental. Luckily Amy captured the action. Here's what Audrey looked like during the tantrum:

Here's what I looked like during the tantrum....totally pro-active.
18 seconds post tantrum.
We went to see "the locks" which are used to move boats from the water level of the lakes to the water level of Puget Sound, and vice versa. These aren't very good pics of the locks, but it's now recorded that we went there.

Cute Grandma JannyRach and Jaynie - I'm pretty sure you've never met a little girl with more spunk. She's hilarious.
This is the princess/fairy dance party set to Hannah Montana music. Sam was the DJ and the girls were in HEAVEN.

Apparently Todd and I passed on our lack of dance moves (sorry, Honey). She does a lot of spinning and raise the roof motions.

Taking a bow.

Blowing out the candles for Papa's birthday. I love that the cake is partly eaten already. I think I probably ate it. Amy is a great photographer and offered to take family pictures for us. I'm only posting a few because I'm going to TRY to send out Christmas cards and I don't want to ruin the huge surprise of our family pic.

Such a great trip. Thanks, guys!