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!