Celebration of Life

Today was Keely's birthday. She is three. She had a wonderful day. She got a barbie. And loves it. We love her so much and are so happy she is in our family.

KEELY

She loves to smile. She hasn't stopepd smiling since she was four months old.

She knows her ABC and most of their sounds.

She loves to play with cousins and any kid that wants to.

She can swim all by herself.

She was named after the girl on "Phill of the Future"

She loves tv, especially Cauiou on PBS (maybe too much)

She give the best "tight" hugs.

She love to dress herself.

And she gives the best growl you have ever heard.

Happy Birthday Keely! We love you!

I have a three year old. What?

See. Loves her barbie right after she opened it.

Thanksgiving, 6 months, New addition

This is a little late for thanksgiving, but better late than never. Thanksgivng 2009 the Nelson's extended family got together for maybe the last time for Thanksgiving. It was so fun to have family come into town to get together. Shawn and I had 4 of his cousins stay with us, which was a lot of fun, because I love to host and make breakfast and cookies for people. The day after we all went to the zoo. We love the zoo! and it was such a beautiful day. Shawn had to work for half a day, but met up with us in the afternoon. Oh and I made my own Turkey, very first, just thought I would throw that in there. Here are some pictures of the zoo....Lydia was so good.

All of the 2nd and 1st cousins.Keely was being little Mermaid.


Lydia is 6 months old! Between looking for a house, moving, Shawn's school, Shawn changing jobs, Ginger's wedding, and life, I really don't know where all the time has gone. I really can't believe Christmas is only 2 weeks away... Anyway, Lydia is doing great. Her stats are 16.4 pounds, 26.5 in. She is around the 70% range. It feels so good to have a baby that is normal weight, and who actually looks forward to eating. I was so stressed with Keely's weight gain, it feels good not to fret anymore. She sleeps 10 hours at night, which is great. She loves loves to watch her sister, and if Keely is taking a nap, Lydia will look around for her. She likes her solids, and is sitting up by herself. Oh and she love her walker, she has been "walking" all over the house in that thing. We love her!

Yes we have a new addition to the family. He doesn't have a name yet though, but it's a puppy. Shawn got him free from a guy and he's so cute. This dog is really for Shawn though. He said he got it for Keely, but don't let him fool you, it's his baby. The dog looks kind of big in these pictures, but he doesn't really seem that big. He is just 8 weeks old.

At first Keely was timid around him, she really wanted to pet him, but just couldn't be brave enough. But as you can see from this picture she is pretty warmed up to him. When we asked her what we should name him, she said "Bird" Don't ask me where she got that from. Now she wants to call him "Boy" So I don't know, any suggestions would be great. We are no good at naming dogs around here.Anyway, that's all for now. Can't wait for Christmas. I love this time of year. :)

Halloween.

Halloween was a busy day for us. Not only was it a fun day for Keely to dress up and get candy, but we moved into our house! Yahoo!! We are so excited and relieved to be here. It is amazing how much more room we have, and the difference it makes in our everyday lives. Keely has her own backyard, the sellers left their swing set, and she calls it her "own park". It is so nice to leave the sliding door open so she can run in and out. A huge difference is that Keely and Lydia are in their own rooms again. I don't have to worry about them waking each other up when they go down for a nap. We are almost settled. i have to put the office together, and odds and ends, but other than that we are feeling pretty good. Now I need to get busy and paint. I will post pictures later.After we moved all our stuff in, Shawn went to help his other brother move. He has such a great family that help whenever they are called, and the Nelson's had some tired boys after that day was done. We are so grateful for such wonderful family who are willing to help at a moments notice. They are great! We love them!

When the sun was setting, it was time to get Keely's costume. I borrowed my sister Kim's costume that she used for her little girls dance recital. We went with Shawn's brother and his kids to his neighborhood to do the knocking. Keely had so much fun. She was so excited, almost hyper knocking on doors, saying "trick or treat" and then yelling "Thank you!" she didn't know which direction to run next. It was halarious. She got a pretty good load, and I am so glad that we took her to a good neighborhood that was really into it. It will definatly be a Halloween we remember. :)

Keely with her cousin Megan (she was Hermoine and she made a very good one)I am glad I dressed Lydia up. I was debating whether or not to, just because it doesn't really matter, and it was such a busy day, but finally I decided we would go with Shawn and Keely and enjoy the night air. She was so cute.

She is such a funny girl. Til next year!

.Homeowners.

After some 30 houses or so, 4 months of looking and waiting, Shawn and I closed on our first house yesterday!! We bought a short sale, and let me tell ya it wasa LONG process, but now its a done deal. We are so excited and can't wait to move in next weekend to be able to stay in one place for a very long time. Crazy, but this will be our 4th move in the 4 years we have been married. Kind of silly if you ask me, but now we can be in our new home for a long time! Here's a little info about our house: 4 beds, 2 1/2 bath, 2200 sq. feet, and the best thing it has is a garage and a back yard! Oh and can't forget the pantry. Anyway, since we are leaving the apartment life behind, I thought I would make a tribute.
1. I will surely miss the 100 yard walk from my car to the house. (especially lugging a 5 month old in her carseat)
2. Can't get over your lovely hard patio used for only a front yard.(we have no back patio)
3. I will miss taking the trash out to the dumpter 200 yards away. (After it has been sitting on the front patio for a day or so, because no one wants to take it to the dumpster yet)
4. I will miss you loud drinking neighbors.
5. I will miss the 50 stray cats who think that peeing and pooping on our cars is okay.
6. I will miss having to tell people exactly where our apartment is located when they come to visit (and when they still can't find it having to walk out to the parking lot to bring them into the house)
7. I will miss using the stroller to carry in the groceries.
8. I will miss sitting on the patio when Keely wants to go outside, and watch her every second for fear she will run into the parking lot (or worse someone will take her)
9. I will miss living in fear at night when Shawn is at school (apartment complex's make me feel unsafe with people so close around you.)
10. Last and not least, I will miss the sharing walls with the people next door. I don't want to know when they are closing cupboards, taking a shower, closing doors, vacumming, listening to music...

I know those of you who have lived in an apartment complex can relate to all those things. It's kind of comical. I hope you can hear the thick sarcasm in my voice, and I am not really complaining, because Shawn and I have been so blessed in the places we've lived that have accomodated our needs at the time. We are so grateful for our landlords for letting us stay here for such an awesome price that enabled us to save for a home purchase. It is just time to move on, because now are needs are for a house where Keely can run and play by herself, and where we can grow as a family. We are so excited to take this new step in our lives and hope it is all fine. I will post pictures soon when we get all moved in and settled.

Things to Come.

After conference on Sunday, I went to take a shower and I came out of the bathroom looking at these sweet girls......Shawn thought it would be funny to have Keely push Lydia around in her doll stroller, boy did they love it. I thought it was a good look of the things to come between these two girls. They already love playing together. I can't wait till Lydia is crawling and really interacting. There will be a lot of playing and a lot of laughter going on in the Nelson home for which I feel so blessed.
Also Keely has become quite the photographer. She is always wanting to take pictures of Lydia and I. Here is one that she really did a good job on.

.4 Months.

Lydia is now four months old, really weird. She had her doctors appointment last week, and she weighed in at 14 pounds even and 25 inches long. She is getting so big. We love her so much. She sleeps 10-11 hours at night (well except lately she has been waking up at 3, mabye a growth spurt?), she love, loves, loves to watch her sister play. The only thing is she isn't very fun to hold. She just isn't ever content sitting still. She has got to have some strong abs, because whenever she is lying down, she is doing crunches so she can see what is going on. She loves her jumper, (I am guessing because she can stand up), and she loves to be outside. She is going to be moving around as soon as she can. She just want to go go go. Anyway here are some pictures at 4 months.

80 Years Young

I can't believe my Maumau, Sydney Davis Barnett is 80 years old! She turned 80 on September 5th, Ginger's wedding day. My Aunt Donna put together a birthday party for her in Payson to celebrate the wonderful life my maumau has lived thus far. It was such a good day, seeing all of the cousins that we grew up and ran around with as kids. Almost everybody was able to make it and it was a good looking crowd. It's amazing to me when you look at the heritage that started with my Maumau and Papa just the two of them getting married, and now to look at the family that has developed. My papa died when I was about 4 years old. I think my maumau has been without him for almost 20 years now. Crazy, anyway, I wanted to take a minute and say what a wonderful, marvelous woman Sydney Barnett is. She has been a big part of my childhood, when I would go over almost every day to play at her house, and help with her flower garden, or make cookies. She was not born a member of the church and she married Henry Keith Barnett who was not a member, and they joined the church after they got married. Because of those two wonderful people, my mom became a member and made her one of the best woman I know. My maumau made all of her grand daughters wedding cakes, made many many dresses for us, and still whenever I go to Heber, she is still making cookies to bring over to my moms' house. She loves, loves to cook and sew, and I love hearing her stories of when she was growing up and the love she has for papa. I love her and I hope she knows what a special woman she is to all of her family! Here are some pictures of the day.

Happy Birthday!

Ginger's Big Day

On Saturday September 5th Ginger got married! It was such a beautiful day, although it rained when they came out the temple, thankfully it stopped so they could get some good pictures. My sister Kelli and I went up on Thursday morning so we could help my mom prepare. It was too funny, when we got to my mom's house, she had a list waiting for us (because she was at work); it reminded me of when we were little, and she assigned us a list of chorse. Anyway, Friday we set up for the reception. It was a long day working 9 hours to put the cultral hall together, but it turned out absolutly beautiful. Probably the best reception Heber has ever seen. :) We had some good help from generous people to help it go smoothly. My brother Ben is the best brother ever, he is such a good guy. He helped all day long climbing up and down the ladders. Whats so funny, is it only took 45 minutes to take down 9 hours worth of work. Go figure huh? Here's a little glimpes of what it looked like. It was beautiful. Didn't even feel like you were in the cultral hall.
Anyway, Ginger looked so beautiful as she always does, and her and Steve are so happy. I am so jealous of her, I was telling Shawn I want to get married again, and experience everything that a newly married couple goes through again. When everything is so new, those are memories to cherish. It would be fun to do it all over again.

Keely was beyond tired by the time the weekend was over. She hadn't had a nap for 3 days and she went to bed late every night. Her eyes were literally bloodshot. I felt so bad for her. But she had such a ball playing with her cousins. Her and Lydia were so cute in their dresses for the reception. My sister Kelli, Kim, my mom and I made 12 of these dresses, and they all looked so cute.

.Randomness.

I thought I would post some random pictures and things we have been up to lately. First off I wanted to post this picture of Keely, because I meant to post it a while ago. This picture represents Shawn when he was Mr. Mom. He got so good at doing Keely's hair, he even claims he can do it better than I can (which he is probably right). He really was such a big help when he was home all day when he lost his job. He took Keely swimming every day, cleaned the house, and kept us entertained. We sure do miss him being home all the time - Keely especially misses her daddy but we are more grateful and happy that he has a job. This picuture is one day when he did her hair. Pretty good huh?

Next, I learned to can peaches and I am pretty proud of myself. My sister Kelli told me the steps and did it myself. They are so pretty and they taste so wonderful. There is nothing like homeade canned peaches. I can't wait to make peach cobbler (even if Shawn doesn't like it - stinker!). Does anyone want to join me since I will be eating a whole pan myself?

On Saturday the 29th of August, Shawn took Keely with him to the lake with his dad. She loves to go and jump off the boat and do it over and over again. I haven't ever gone with her, but Shawn took the video camera for me so I could see her, and she is so funny. Someday we will own a boat and go to the lake as a family whenever we want and be lake bums. On Sunday, I came down with something. I had a fever all day - I can't remember the last time I had a fever, and how miserable they make you feel. Anyway Keely was getting pretty sick of me being sick, so she and Lydia spent a little time with me in bed..... I couldn't resist not taking a picture.

Keely loves to ready books to Lydia and Lydia loves it. She watches Keely all day long. She can't wait till she can play and move around with Keely. I am sure it won't be long. Lydia is already rolling over and she just wants to go all the time. Anyway, that's the end of my randomness.. Oh wait! I signed up for a lifetime fitness class at MCC, and I am way super excited to crack down and get my body back into shape!! I have never ever been so out of shape in my life, and felt so fat. I miss high school, when I would just go to practice after school everyday, whether it be volleyball, basketball, track, or just lifting weight. And that's just what life was about at the time. Man life was easy.

Ginger's getting Hitched!

This post is a little late, but I thought I would post about Ginger getting married. They have been engaged for a while, and their date is next week September 5th, holy cow, I can't believe it is already here. She got her endownments done last weekend, which was so neat. I love going to the temple when your brothers and sisters and parents are there at the same time. It just makes it so much more special.

Anyway, Ginger is marrying a great guy named Steve Bell. We are so excited for them. I love weddings, I can't wait till next week, when I can chow down on wedding cake and interact with my family. Here's a picture of the cute couple. We are so happy for you Ginger! :)

A Name and a Blessing

This post is a little late, but oh well. So much has been going on, that I really haven't had time to post. We blessed our Lydia Gene on August 2nd, and it was such a beautiful day. I really felt the spirit, and feel so blessed to have such a wonderful family. It was so good to see everyone that came to share our joy with us. My dad always bears his testimony at his grandchildren's blessings. I look forward to those days, because I love to hear my dad's firm nonwavering testimony. We did lunch at Shawn's parents house again like we did with Keely's because our house is too small. Thanks again Jennifer for letting us do it at your house. It was wonderful.

I made Lydia's dress, and I have to say, I have more practice to do. I made a whole dress the dress before this one and it didn't work at all. So I had to get more fabric and start all over again. It took me forever to get the final result. I was happy with it, but there are still some things that I can learn and get better, which I intend to.

Here are some pictures of Lydia's day....

Four generation picture with Shawn's grandparents.

Lydia was done taking pictures.
My parents. I love my Dad's smile in this picture.

.Our Many Blessings.

When I look back on my life, all I can see is how much the Lord has blessed me and my family. I have been blessed with goodly parents, they are the most honest, wonderful people I know. All throughout my life I have been blessed. I think about people in these third world contries and pause to think "why has the Lord blessed me and continues to bless me when all these people suffer?"
Well the reason I bring this up, is because the Lord continues to bless me with abundance. About three weeks ago Shawn lost his job with Allstate. His boss couldn't afford him anymore. Shawn was the last salesman to go at that agency. It was kind of a suprise, and a bit of a trial, but we tried to stay optimistic, we knew that they Lord would help Shawn get a job.
We have some offers on some houses and are already approved for a loan, so you can imagine our heartache when we realized that a house wouldn't be coming soon (becuase you can't get approved for a loan without a job :) ) Well last Tuesday, Shawn put in an application for an Allstate in Scottsdale, and he got the job that same day!! I will be able to quit my job here soon becuase of his new job. I am so excited! Losing Shawn's job was definatly a blessing in disguise. I have to admit, I was getting discouraged there for a while, and I am sure Shawn was too. I love Shawn and am thankful that is he so willing to go to work to support our family, so I can stay home with the girls.
And now things are moving forward with a couple short sales that we put offers in. So hopefully things will start happening with a house soon. I am so thankful for my Heavenly Father for being mindful of us and in our time of need. Again, I look at all the people who have lost their jobs, and wonder why it was so easy for Shawn to get a job. I guess the best thing we can do is be mindful of others, and find ways to give service.

Williams Family Reunion 2009

My family always goes camping at the end of July up by Heber. Shawn and I always look forward to it. We always have such a good time, and Keely loves to play non stop with her cousins. The weather is always nice, and it is just fun to camp period. We got a kids sleeping bag for Keely and she loved it. She slept on the ground with us in her own bag, it was so cute. I wish I got a picture of her, but I didn't think about it. I wasn't pregnant this year, but I did have a newborn (I have been pregnant twice out of the 4 times we have gone. Having a newborn was a little bit hard, but not too bad. Lydia did really well. This is what she did pretty much the whole time....

My mom reading books to Keely and Cossette.My mom brought 3 swings for the kids to play on and Keely loved it. It really was a great idea.We camped near Legacy Lodge, and we were able to go swim in the pond they have there. I have always wanted to do the rope swing that Shawn is doing in this picture, and I finally got to do it. It wasn't all that great. Kind of a let down, but now I can say I did it. After we went swimming. We didn't have any swimsuits so I went in that red shirt and a pair of kaki shorts (ya I was styling) and Keely had a shirt and panties on. It was fun. Keely with her life jacket.Sitting with Addie out in the woods.

Till next year!

2 Months

I can't believe that Lydia is 10 weeks old. I thought I would do a little post about her so far. It really feels like we just left the hospital and brought her home. She is getting big and gaining weight really well. I took her to her 2 month check up and she weighs in at 11 lbs 12 ounces. She is a good baby, she just gets grumpy when she is tired, so I have to let her cry herself to sleep. She started sleeping 7-8 hours a night the past couple of days which has been so nice. Here are a few pictures of her.

I finally got her smile on cameraEating dinner with us.I love how cute sleeping babies look. This is what we did for many days. She is sitting in front of the window to get some sunlight. She had Jaundice for about 8 weeks. Something in my milk was giving her jaundice. I formula fed her for 2 days, it went away and then it came back when I stopped. They call it breast milk jaundice. Really weird. But now it is finally gone, and she isn't looking yellow anymore.