Thanksgiving

Since I didn't really want to make the 7 hour drive to St. George this year for Thanksgiving, (this close to my due date) my wonderful family made the trek north and we met in the middle in Provo at my sister Amanda's apartment. We just went down for the day but had lots of fun just hanging out and being together and eating YUMMY food! I don't have very many pictures from the afternoon because my camera battery died (which I was SO mad about) but here are a couple from our day.

We took Tyler to the duck pond, just south of BYU's campus, to feed the ducks and he was loving it! The ducks...not so much. (my camera died right after this little trip)











Most of the pictures are of Alena chasing after him like this because she was afraid he was going to run right into the pond (which he would have) or that the ducks were going to bite him (which they would have), she is definitely his protector!






A picture from last Thanksgiving just to show how much he's changed in a year!
2007


2008


We also took our family christmas picture since we were all together. This is our goofy one! (If you click on the pic to make it bigger you can tell even Tyler was trying to make the "kissy face"!)


Just a couple more random shots from the day:

Me and my two fav little boys (Nate & Tyler)


Tyler and Bobby NOT cooperating for pictures


My sister and her cute family


Us


The "real" us.


I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Addresses

Amidst all the chaos of the normal holiday excitement and craziness, getting ready for a baby and taking care of a toddler, I am attempting to get our Christmas cards out before Christmas this year. It would be oh so helpful if you could leave me with your address ASAP so that I can send you one. (yes, I'm assuming that everyone that reads this blog will want one because...hello, why would you not want a picture of my family plastered to your fridge?!) For those of you who would rather not leave your address in the comments of this blog please send it to my email: angelanelson1@hotmail.com or you can send it to me in a message on facebook. Even if you think I have your address send it to me again because I don't know what I did with my list from last year. Thanks. (and if you're on my email list you'll probably get this message too) Yea for Christmas!

Daddy and Tyler

I just realized I had a couple pictures that were taken over the last couple weeks that I never posted and I love them because they show how much Tyler and his daddy love each other! I seriously could watch the two of them interact all day. Tyler just eats up any and ALL attention he can get from his daddy and Bobby loves (and constantly rubs it in my face) that Tyler is definitely a daddy's boy! I can't wait to even out the playing field!

Reading The Jolly Postman


Tyler cracking up at Daddy's witch voice.


At the fountain in The Gateway in SLC. Daddy trying to keep Tyler from running in the water.


Giving in to his little boys adorable voice when he says, "PLEEEASE" and walking him through the fountain.


So I'm not so sure what the girl in the orange tank is thinking. I was thinking, "where is her mother?!" It was really cold that day!! Surprisingly they walked back and forth through the fountain and managed not to get wet!


Okay. That's all.

Thank You "Aunt" MaryBeth!

I love getting packages in the mail-especially if I'm not expecting one! Well today in the mail was a wonderful surprise from my friend MaryBeth. She makes these adorable headbands and I guess I left enough comments about them on her blog that she got sick of it and sent me one of my own! :) I am SO in love with it and am so excited because it's Kylie's very first-and only so far- hair accessory. I couldn't get the best picture of it because I'm not very good with my camera, but it is this beautiful, bold orange color that I never would have picked out on my own because I'm really intimidated by bright colors. But ever since I've known MaryBeth I've been jealous of her awesome sense of style and ability to pick out and wear fun colors, so I was excited that the headband had a little bit of MaryBeth flare to it! Thanks again "Aunt" MaryBeth, Kylie's going to look so cute wearing this!

Too early?

So I'm thinking he's not so much ready for the potty training.

Happy Birthday Bobby!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE birthdays! Bobby, not so much. His reaction to every birthday he's had since we've been together (5) has been the same, no matter how extravagant or basic the birthday was. Birthday's are just not a big deal to him and it drives me crazy because I love to celebrate. I mean any chance to eat unhealthy food and buy presents should be fun right?! For his first birthday (as a married couple) I went all out. I got him a 1 hour helicopter flight-where he got to fly the helicopter for an hour, a 1 hour massage at a really nice spa, then we went out to a nice dinner and then stayed the night at a bed and breakfast called Hines Mansion. His reaction to this amazing birthday (if I do say so myself) and his reaction to this years bday, where I made him a little banner thing and got him a case for his laptop, was exactly the same; "Thanks Babe, I had a great birthday." The End. Oh well, it's his birthday right? So anyway, for documentation purposes, here's what we did for the Bobsters birthday this year.

His birthday was yesterday, Sunday, which makes it even harder to do something "fun" and celebrate so we did a little bit to celebrate on Sat. While he was at work I threw together some decoration as a little surprise for when he came home from work.

Happy Birthday banner and "homemade" balloons.


Even though he doesn't love birthdays as much as I do, I still love him like crazy!
5 Reasons I STILL love you!

#1.You're HOT! Pretty self-explanatory :)


#2. You are the BEST father. No matter how busy, how stressed, how tired, or how frustrated he might be he always takes time to be with Tyler and is so patient with his tantrums. He would do anything in the world for this little guy and it makes my heart just melt watching the two of them together.


#3. You constantly "clean" up after me without complaint. How many husbands would clean up their wife's puke, pee, and poo (yes people there has been a time...or two...where he has had do that) over and over and over without soon after filing for divorce, or in the least complaining about their unfortunate situation. He usually can be found cleaning up after me while laughing. It's a really good thing I married someone with a sense of humor. Really good thing.


#4. You always make me laugh. I spend a good majority of my day laughing because of how seriously goofy Bobby is. He is always the guy cracking the jokes (most of the time sticking his foot in his mouth) and I've learned not to take life so seriously because of him. I think I use to take offense to things pretty easily but being married to Bobby has completely changed that! We tease each other all the time and I love that we can have such a fun and open relationship! It makes life interesting to say the least.


#5. You love me unconditionally (which I don't always make easy to do). This is mostly in reference to #3 because seriously, how could someone find me beautiful after everything they've seen me do and go through. I don't know, but somehow he does. And I know it's hard to believe (ha ha) but sometimes I can be just a little bit whiny and just a little bit on the crazy side and just a little bit frustrating, but somehow he sees past all that and we make it work.

Later that night he said he was craving some hot wings so we went to Wingers for his bday dinner and then came home and watched Ironman (ironically the same movie we watched in the theaters for my bday). I didn't see him much on Sun., but that night his family was all together in Missouri for an early Thanksgiving dinner and they called him on speakerphone and sang Happy Birthday to him. Then they all sang Happy Birthday to me because Bobby didn't do anything for me for my bday (ha ha, aren't they great!) . We made taco salad for dinner and I made some homemade choc. chip cookies (super big deal for me) but they were only homemade because we didn't have any of the slice and bake kind left and he really wanted some cookies. Of course I burned them (did you even wonder that something wouldn't go wrong?!) Somehow the oven got turned up to 500. I SWEAR I put it on 375. SWEAR! But when I went to take them out of the oven it was on 500. I told Bobby he was sabbatoging me on purpose-because he really would do something like that just to get a laugh, but he promised he didn't and then said my big belly probably turned the nob when I was leaning against the stove. Rude! :) So Bobby cooked another batch (because I was so frustrated that I couldn't even make the man some cookies for his bday) and they of course turned out perfectly and were delicious. I just gotta love him.

I'm so glad I found my perfect fit. Life is amazing and better because I have you in it. I love you, Happy Birthday.

Pacifier Free!

Yep, that's right, no more pacifier for my baby! It's been over a week now, but I didn't want to post anything sooner because I was afraid if I said it (or wrote it) outloud that I would jinx us, but it is definitely official! I would have preferred to get rid of it when he was about 18 months old, but that's right when we moved and I wanted him to be able to have something consistent that would comfort him amidst all the chaos, but we also wanted to be sure that he was rid of it for good by the time the baby came so that that wouldn't be one more thing I'd have to deal with. So now was actually the perfect time and he was ready (which I think is really important), so it worked out great. I actually think it was harder for me than it was for Tyler. I guess I sort of see it like another phase or milestone that he has passed which just serves to remind me; he's growing up. Tear.

He's only had it for naps and bedtime for about the last 2 months and for the last month we didn't even give it to him at bedtime, we'd just hide it in his crib and let him have it if he found it (which he always managed to do). I realized that, for Tyler, it wouldn't work to slowly take it away-like try not to give it to him, but if he really cried go ahead and let him have it-because that wouldn't do the trick. It had to be all or nothing so we picked a date and decided that as of that day he would no longer have a pacifier. Cold Turkey. On Oct. 26 we decided that November 1st would be the day (no reason in particular, just decided that would be a good day to make the move and it gave me a week to prepare...emotionally, we didn't tell Tyler or anything). So on Nov. 1st I laid him down for his nap, he asked for his "pa-fier", I told him it had to go bye-bye to see his mommy (that's where we tell him anything is that he wants to have that we don't want him to have), he just shrugged his shoulders and laid down. I walked out of the room and that was the end of it. Forever. He whined for a minute or 2 and I was holding my breath the whole time wondering if I would be strong enough not to give in if he started to cry, but thankfully I didn't need to find out. He's never asked for it since and besides that first nap without it, hasn't cried or whined either.

The only downside I've seen from this is it does take him longer to fall asleep (almost 30 min. sometimes) but hopefully as time goes by and he gets used to falling asleep without it, it won't take as long. He also wakes up 1 or 2 times during the night, but we just ignore him and he falls back asleep within a couple minuets. So overall, I'm ecstatic about how it all turned out because I know it could have been so much worse! And we had a whole list of "creative" ways to get rid of it if the cold turkey thing didn't work but I'm glad we didn't have to use them. However I do have an eensy weensy confession; I still have his pacifier hidden in a drawer. I just can't throw it away. I don't have it because I think he might really need it at some point, I'm keeping it because I just can't bring myself to throw it away. Why am I more attached to it than he is?! Ah, oh well, at least this transition is over!!! Next...potty training! (not any time soon though :))

Fall into Fall

I figured I'd better post these pictures now since fall is pretty much over for us (it's snowing today). I can't believe it was just last week that I took these and now the trees are almost completely bare!

We had just got back from picking Bobby up from work and before we could grab him, Tyler had taken off running into the leaves. He had played in them quite a bit all week, but I hadn't taken any pictures so I ran upstairs and got my camera, and I'm so glad I did since there aren't any leaves left to play in!

(sorry, I know there's a gillion pictures...but really how do you choose just one?! I need to figure out how to do one of those collage things.)





There's no way daddy was going to let the fact that we had no rake stop him from making Tyler the best pile of leaves...the kitchen broom would have to suffice! And what a man, he doesn't even take a second to change out of his work clothes or take off his backpack. He just gets right to work for his boy!


They were trying to shake more leaves down from the tree.








He gathers...


...he throws...


...and he is amazed!


Yea Tyler!






This was taken on a different day, but I just love the little expression on his face! He LOVES playing in the leaves.

32 Weeks

Everything's going pretty good right now. My doctor said my iron levels are a little low so he wants me to start taking a daily iron supplement, in addition to the pre-natals, so that when Kylie (we're pretty sure that will be her name :)) comes and I lose all that blood, my levels will still be high enough that I won't pass out, or feel extra tired or sick or whatever, so I just picked up some generic Iron pills from Walmart that are supposed to be gentle on your stomach...we'll see. I'm measuring under average right now so he thinks Kylie probably won't be too much bigger than Tyler was (5lbs. 9oz.). Needless to say we've picked up a few preemie outfits for her since that was the only thing that fit Tyler for the first 3-4 weeks. I can't believe I'm already to the 2 week appointments now, this pregnancy has gone by so much faster than the first one, but I'm much more nervous this time; isn't that weird?! Not so much for the delivery/recovery, but for the idea of having 2 kids. AHHHHH! Hopefully some of you other moms have felt this way too!!!

Um, can I just say...

That I LOVE this boy!!!! He has this crazy, goofy, quirky side to him that makes me laugh so hard I want to pee my pants (seriously, sometimes he'll be doing something so bizarre that Bobby and I just look at each other and wonder where in the world he came up with it and swear he can't be our child)

This is his Wow Wow Wubbzy face (Noggin anyone?)


and then he has this serious, super sweet, adorable side that makes me want to just kiss his cute little cheeks for hours (like when he comes up and gives me a kiss randomly during the day, or sits reverently during sacrament meeting, or follows along with his finger like he's actually reading when we read scriptures)


I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw him doing this. I had left him on the bed and went out to the kitchen to grab something and when I came back he had gotten the "pipturs" (scriptures) down from the book shelf next to the bed and had them opened and was "reading" them when I came back in. He loves the scriptures and it makes my heart just melt when I see him do things like this. We read them as a family (just 1 verse each) after his bath at night and he gets so excited. As soon as we have his diaper on he is asking for the "pipturs" and he just sits there and listens as we read, nodding his head enthusiastically as if to say, I totally know what you're talking about, and will repeat the words he knows when it's his turn to read. I just love this boy and am so thankful he's apart of our family!

What am I supposed to do?

The kid loves jewelry!


And just so one day when he sees that picture he can't say that it was a set-up or that I put those on him, I had to take proof that he

willingly goes to my drawer...


...and one...


...by one...


...puts every bracelet he can reach on.


At least he always puts them back in the drawer and doesn't get too mad when I tell him he can't wear them outside of the house. Sorry Tyler, I'm sure you'll laugh about this one day too!