Radiation Works!

This is how we feel.....

Because this is what's been happening around here.......

Yay! We are expecting a baby in June! We were a bit surprised, totally thrilled and a little nervous to find out that I am pregnant. I am 15 weeks at this point and have felt as sick as I have with my two other pregnancies....so I think that's a good sign for this little person. I have been a majorly unproductive human since right around Halloween, but thank heavens for a patient husband who has access to the hospital cafeteria. He gets much more nourishment there than he does at home. 

The baby is due right around when Todd wraps up his residency....so who knows what will be going on in our life. We may be living in a hotel and what cozier place to bring a new baby home to than the Holiday Inn, right? 

SO, that's the news. If I haven't called to tell you, it doesn't mean I don't love you. It means I'm really sick and I still love you. 

Our Girl Turned 4

Audrey girl turned 4 at the beginning of November. We love this girl - she is full of it. She started preschool this year and took a couple dance classes and has loved every single minute of all of it. She's super girly....loves everything, pink, glittery, princessy. She's a social butterfly and we love, love, love her! Here she is at the celebrations of each of her birthdays (we rarely celebrate on the exact date, but don't tell our kids).

Nelson Girls in NYC

A couple weeks ago, we had our 2nd Nelson girls trip to visit Rick and Chris on their mission in New York. I can't say enough about my love for these people. Love. All 8 girls were able to come for at least part of the trip....and it was awesome. I don't have the best pictures of the trip, but maybe when Erin (ahem) updates her blog I'll steal some of hers. When Todd looked at these pictures he commented on the amount of estrogen present....apparently he didn't think we were as funny as we thought we were. Maybe you just had to be there.....

We started out by going straight to Anthropologie. 

We went to see the play "War Horse" at the Lincoln Center....really good. 

Erin with her arm around an unknowing stranger on the subway. Way funnier in the moment.....

I'm willing to put this double chinned picture of me on here just to show one of the moments that I was laughing to the point of tears. 

The Flat Iron Building.

Shopping for ties for the boys in Central Park.

Riding bikes through the park. It was so pretty and so fun, but I'm not going to lie....I had to get off my bike and walk up some "hills". Who knew there were hills in Central Park? My triathlete sisters are always so patient with me.

Pres. Nelson is now a senior citizen. It's a great time to be 65 in NYC apparently.

Measuring our heads with Sarah's  iPhone cord - I won the biggest head (no doi!).

Listening to Chris tell us about her new "Jimmy Dean Diet" - she eats a sausage, egg and cheese croissant for breakfast, a normal lunch and half a PB&J for dinner. It works (if you have the Nelson metabolism)! That lady is one of a kind...love her.

Outside the mission home....everybody but Brooke and Sarah.

The President and the Missus...they're so cute.

THANK YOU, Nelsons for being the best in-laws ever.

The rest of Fall....

We have had one busy Fall. We have been traveling quite a bit and trying to squeeze in our favorite Fall-in-Michigan activities. Fall here is incredible- we love it. And we take the same pictures every year at the same places....we're all just a little bit older. Here are the kids at Jenny's in Dexter.

 Frolicking in the pumpkins.

We met the Dimonds at another cider mill one Saturday and it was NUTS....so packed with bodies. So we hid in the apple orchard and pretended to have serene surroundings.

Todd's going to love that I included this picture. He was going over the budget and I just happened to catch a snap shot of him when he was telling me we had $50 left for groceries in the month. Five-0h. Not a penny more. I love that face and I'm so lucky he'll do sign language for me. 

Todd went with a group on a surgical mission trip to Guatemala to do pediatric neurological surgeries for a week.

 This sweet little girl has a bubble coming out from her spine.

 Hiking a volcano.

While Todd was in Guatemala, the kids and I packed our buns in the car and drove 11 hours to visit the McMasters (Todd's sister Brooke and her family). That's true love.

We saw a lot of this on our drive:

Audrey, Kate, Sammie and Drew on the way to the church party.

These two have a love/hate relationship....we caught a good moment right here.

Audrey was James' puppy as usual. Look how much she loves him...he's so patient.

We skyped with Todd while he was in Guatemala. I always get so amazed that we can see his face on our computer when he's so far away. That makes me sound like an old geezer, I know.

One day we were at the park and I noticed that Drew was missing. Can you spot him all the way across the park? He just hiked himself all the way over there and froze watching the tractors do their work. He tried to get the "worker guys" to wave at him for like 10 minutes. They finally responded and it made his hike across the park totally worth it.

 At the zoo.

The drive home was SO long. The kids were angels. Drew in his oh-so-comfortable sleep pose.

Audrey entertained herself by taking pictures with my phone. I died when I saw these. Ha! I'm thinking that's not a very slimming angle for her cute nostrils.

We had p.l.e.n.t.y. of opportunities to dress the kids up in their costumes this year.
The owl and lumberjack at the owl's preschool Halloween party.

The lumberjack and a pretty ladybug at our ward party.

And trick-or-treating downtown with Daddy.

Halloween night Todd was on call and I just didn't think I had it in me to go trick-or-treating. I told Audrey we could stay home and hand out candy to other kids and she was thrilled. She waited like this for like 45 minutes and we only got 3 groups of kids.... so when the Dimonds stopped by we dragged them out to t.o.t. with us for a little bit. It was just the right amount. Sayonara to Halloween!

 We babysat our friends' kids for the weekend last week. Todd leaves early for church so I had to get all 5 kids ready for church on my own. This is what the front room looked like after church. Drew came straight in, covered himself up, and fell asleep. Can you find him in all the destruction?

Early Fall Stuff

A little catch up on our latest activities.....

Todd's out of town, so no normal meals for a few days. For our second dinner tonight, we had flourless chocolate chip cookies. Holy goodness...they were good. And a chocolate cookie never looked so cute, right? Look at those eyes.

Over Labor Day weekend, we drove to Nauvoo to some of the Church historical sites. Without exaggeration, the Nauvoo temple is the most beautiful building I've ever been in. Wow. Every time I talk about it I start crying....which is weird because I never cry. Ha. 

We only spent Saturday in Nauvoo but it was such a great visit. Loved it. 

Joseph and Hyrum Smith - in front of the temple.

 Joseph and Hyrum again at Carthage.

Saturday night we drove to Iowa to visit our friends the Wards. Sara had a baby approx. 9 days before we crashed their house, and her cute sister Annie was there helping with the kids. Then the Nelson clan arrived....nothing like a house full of noisy visitors right after you have a baby! Thanks, Wards, for being such gracious hosts!

Todd caught this picture with his phone. I love it because they're actually smiling their elusive real smiles. They loved the carousel.

Preparing for 8.5 hours in the car. 

When we got back from our weekend trip, the weather in Ann Arbor was drastically colder. We pulled out all the kids' warm pj's. Drew's were a little big and reminded us of a special quote..."Chancho, when you are a man, sometimes you wear stretchy pants in your room. It's for fun."  Oh, Nacho. The radiation mask completed the outfit.

Audrey started preschool 3 afternoons a week. Not surprisingly, she LOVES it. Drew doesn't love it so much though. The whole time she's gone he asks, "Mama, where's Audy?" ....sad.

This one makes me laugh.

Last weekend we went to a Fall Festival in a little neighboring town. I adore small town America. 

Waiting for their train ride.

I love the "God Bless America" on the front of the train. The white thing on the top of the hood is a stereo and the conductor was blasting 80's music while he drove. 

Glitter glue mania in the craft tent.

 Our cute little student in the schoolhouse that was built in 1850.

And, for the second time this summer, we went to a demolition derby. It started raining like mad and we thought it was going to be cancelled - they cleared the bleachers in case of lightning. But, being the die hards we are, we waited it out and got to experience some awesome destruction.