Halloween

Halloween event #1 - The Pirate and the Snow Fairy (who is really just a little girl dressed in white: no wings or snowflakes)

Drew's "tall" ears were accentuated by this pirate get-up. I couldn't get over how cute he looked, but Todd and I had a discussion that night about how, in general, your kid in a costume is the cutest, funniest thing you've ever seen and to everyone else your kid is just another kid in a costume. Oh well, I love my kids in costumes.

Costumes the 2nd time around:  Audrey stuck to the "Snow Fairy" costume (although she had an adorable cowgirl costume all set to go) and Drew became the UPS guy. Notice his trick-or-treating bucket sitting next to him - it was a brown box with a rope attached, get it? Todd thought I just ran out of time and gave him a lame excuse for a trick-or-treating bucket.

Here's the UPS guy with his girlfriend Annie - Audrey is in the background hiding from the camera.

I'm looking forward to a non-Sunday Halloween next year so our kids will get lots more candy for me to eat!

Fall

A little catch up on our Fall activities:

My boys...

Audrey sleeping in my old bed with my old blankie. So cute, except she looks like she's dead.

Story time on the kitchen counter.

Labor Day BBQ at Independence Lake....it was raining and I was covered with a shower curtain.

I l.o.v.e. this picture. The kids were eating popsicles and watching out the window for Todd to come home from the hospital. I love that you can see him in the background. He said it was so cute to just see Drew's eyes peeking over the bottom of the window.

This is the new cool thing...sitting on the big potty with no Dora seat to help. Best thing ever.

So, I was doing the dishes, both my kids were trying to get into the sink to "help" me. I told them we could put on their swimsuits and play with the water outside, so I filled some bowls with warm water and took them out to the front porch. When I came out with another bowl Audrey was sitting in this bowl....it cracked me up.

Our neighbor, Willow, saw the Fall swim party and joined the fun. The craziness just kept escalating.

My sweet friend Tawnya came to visit a couple weeks ago with her adorable baby Rex. I don't have many pictures of us while she was here because we basically shopped the ENTIRE time.  It wasn't just run of the mill shopping either...it was Salvation Army, Value World, Garage Sale shopping. I spent approx. $15 all weekend, but she bought so much stuff she had to buy a new suitcase (for $1 at a garage sale) to drag it all home. It was 52 lbs, but the nice airport man let her through. So much fun. Thanks for coming to exotic Michigan, T. Love ya.

Cider mills in the Fall....Michigan tradition.

I think I took this same pic last year....I am a little obsessed with all the pumpkins.

And last, but not least, post-church nap yesterday. Love it.

Salt to Pang

My little brother Clay just put on a bike race called Salt to Saint (SLC to St. George). A couple weeks before the race he and Seth were going to do a test run of the course. The whole family, plus some Canadian cousins, ended up getting together very last minute to do the test run and it was quite the memorable trip. We rarely get time to just hang out with the grown ups now that there are 15 little Christensen/Nelson people to tend to, so this was pretty awesome. Micah owns a bus (he only needs a train and then he has all the basic transportation options covered) so we all piled on the bus mid-day Friday and headed out. Todd and Steph did the first leg of the bike ride, we drove about 15 miles and then stopped and switched riders. We kept going with that pattern until we got to Panguitch (around 8am Saturday morning) and then the race director made an executive decision to throw in the towel. We were too chatty at the transitions, and they ended up taking 30-45 minutes instead of 1-5 minutes. At that pace we would make it to St. George by Monday - ha. So, we gave each other high fives and headed back to Salt Lake. We had SO much fun just hanging out with the fam. Major thanks to Kim and Julie for watching the kids!

 Dad, Clay and Seth....triplets.

 Micah and a sweet old gas station.

 Todd riding through Zion's with his head out the top of the bus.

 Steph shcarfing down some fries (if you know her, you know this means she was REALLY hungry).

You know how every once in a while you have experiences that seem to give perfect clarity to what is important in life (and what's not at all important)? We have had quite a few of those experiences lately, and looking at these pictures reminds me how much I love these people and how important they are to me. I am one lucky girl.

Three Heart Hurters

First, Todd had a really scary (I am still occasionally crying about it) allergic reaction last week. We're  not positive what it was, but it involved me giving him a shot with an Epi-pen and both of us riding in an ambulance to the hospital. It was awful. Just for journaling sake, here's a pic of him when he was looking MUCH better. Hurts my heart.

Second and Third are a different kind of heart hurt (but they still make me cry). I just found these pictures and oh my! My babies...where did they go?

Sleeping Bear Dunes

I don't know how I missed this, but I never posted pics of our Memorial Day trip to Sleeping Bear Dunes in northern Michigan. We went with the Barbers, Thompsons and Wrights and it was SO much fun. We had some would-only-ever-happen-late-at-night conversation topics and we played some hilarious games of Catch Phrase. Good memories were definitely made.

Hiking the dunes.

Rolling down the dunes with Rebecca. I think I still have sand in my ears.

I'm such an artistic photographer. Can you spot the smiling baby?

Playing on the gorgeous beach. The sand is awesome and the water is freshwater!

Audrey and Jade...cuties.

I love this white barn against all the green. This doesn't do it justice.

Bear Lake

The week after Red Fish, Todd had to come back to Michigan to work, but I stayed with the kids and went to Bear Lake with my family. Oh so fun. 

We were planning on having a professional family picture taken, but we took a little drive and hike to Bloomington Lake and Grandma Janny made an executive decision to just take the shot there. We're all looking kind of.....natural, but it turned out pretty well for a snap shot of so many people! Love these guys.

More Bloomington Lake pics....wow, it was pretty.

Drew has continued to do his Mowgli / Man Cub crawl (he finally started walking this week!!)

The beaches at Bear Lake were covered in little shells....which aren't quite as edible as the Red Fish sand, so Drew settled for chewing on rocks.

Hanging out on the beach. Look at Jakey's cute bald head in the bottom corner :).

Boating....I could ride on the boat all day long.

This specific boat ride was to get Drew, Parker and Will to go to sleep. Parker was too tough to give in.

The kids and I made tie dye shirts....here are the totally sweet results (and more blonde kids).

Jayne, Hailey and Audrey - triple trouble.

Seth doing a sweet pose.

Sisters (looking ready for bed).

I REALLY missed my husband, but, oh how I love being with these people. Thanks, Mom and Dad, for the fun week!