Thursday, November 29, 2007

Thanksgiving Adventures

For Thanksgiving we headed out to Queen Creek (Phoenix area), Arizona for some fun in the sun with Scott's family. We were able to convince Ryan, Scott's older brother and his family to come for a couple of days from Utah as well. His sister Ashley is living with his parents, so everyone was there except his little brother Taylor who is serving his mission in Washington state. We had a lot of fun!

Here is Jake and Nathan on their big wheels that Grandma and Grandpa Nelson bought for them. Nathan never did quite get the hang of the peddles, but they had a blast anyway.

Jacob Nelson, showing us how its done!

Nathan scooting himself with his feet instead of peddling.

I'm not quite sure how they managed this in the grass.

One day we decided to go for a hike. It took us a couple of hours to go just under a mile and back. All three boys ended up being carried back to the car. Nathan also decided that cactus' are scary and would cover his eyes every time he saw one (which was quite a lot as we were in the desert).

I tried to keep Caden covered as we forgot sunscreen. He ended up falling asleep, and sleeping most of the way.

This was one of the highlights of the trip. The little boys decided they wanted to do a bit more than just soak their feet in the water and started splashing to make sure the adults got in the fun. I am not sure if it was Scott or his mom that started it, but suddenly there was a war going on. The water was less than 60 degrees, and Jolene absolutely hates the cold, so this was a one time experience. Now I know who Scott gets his playfulness from!

Scott was doing just as much splashing, but I only kept catching Jolene getting him!


Here is a wet and cold Mama.

Ashley and I did are best to avoid the fight, and mostly succeeded.

Gary was smart and took control of the dinner, rendering himself immune from splashage. The dinner he cooked for us that night was excellent I must say.

Scott finally giving up.

This was a fun evening. It was the night before Thanksgiving and Gary was smoking a Turkey so he had to stay up until midnight to cook it. Scott, Ashley and I stayed up to keep him company, and Ashley ended up painting his toenails. As I took pictures, Gary warned me not to put them on my blog. So, here is a picture of happy Gary after his pedicure. We had matching red toenails.

Ashley was a big help with the boys while we were there. This night she kept them entertained by having them decorate and eat cupcakes. They loved it. All the way home Nathan would periodically cry for Ashley.



The boys watched a lot of movies too. Here is Jacob and Nathan curled up together. Nathan adores Jacob!

Friday I was finally able to get Cade and Arden awake at the same time. Arden was born just two weeks after Caden.


Aren't they cute!

Arden doesn't look a thing like Jacob did as a baby. Jolene thinks he looks a lot like Scott's cousins, Caitlin and Alaina.

They actually held hands for a while, it was so cute.

The big boys wanted to get in on the action.

Ahhhh, sweet cousins.

Friday night we went to the Phoenix Zoo to see the Zoo lights. It was so fun to see al the lights. Cade didn't make a peep the entire night. If someone tried to talk to him he completely ignored them and looked for more lights. It was so funny.

This Ashley and her friend PJ, who Scott sweetly dubbed Peanut Butter and Jelly. I think it made her feel like part of the family :).

Here is the whole crew. We had such a good time together, and hope it won't be so long until we can get together again!

Monday, November 12, 2007

My Twilight Cast

Okay, so most of you know about the Twilight books. If you haven't read them, go read them! I am on my second reading of Twilight right now. But here is my Edward. He was Stephenie Meyer's choice for Edward until she realized how old he was. I still think he is the best choice.


Here is a picture I thought would be Bella. I'm not sure who she is. See Jazmin, pale can be beautiful!

These are a couple of Stephenie's picks for Bella.
Emily Browning
Ellen Page

This is Rachel Leigh Cook for Alice. I really like Rachel Leigh Cook and think she would make a great Alice.

Stephenie's pick for Jacob Black, Steven Strait. I like this one, he certainly reminds me of my idea of Jacob.
If you go to Stephenie Meyer's website she has more ideas for who should be cast as which character. I love these books!

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Fun Run

So, every year USAA has a fitness 5k Fun Run. Last year we took Nathan who was 18 months old at the time, and he walked over 2 miles. We decided to make it a family tradition, and we came in last this year! We knew we would, but we got to walk with our good friends Kara and Doug Charlton and their two kiddos Timmy, 4yrs, and Tanner, 18 months. We had a fun time catching up with them. We all met in the singles ward way back when.

Here we are at the starting line

Shamu! And Momma and Nathan. Nathan was terrified of him, it was hard to snap a picture because he kept looking over at Shamu.

We love our Spurs! We had to get a picture with Coyote!
Here is Doug and Timmy Charlton.

Fat Lip

I know it is kind of hard to see, but Nathan's lips are all bloody. Scott and him were wrestling and Nathan got his first bloody lip. Scott was surprised when I grabbed the camera to document this most momentous occasion. He said, "You are taking this better than I thought you would." My reply was, "As long as Nathan isn't screaming I am fine." And Nathan only cried a little bit at the beginning. Maybe he is not such a wimpy kid after all!

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Happy Halloween!

Here are the pictures from our Halloween adventures. We went to my parents Ward Halloween Party (they didn't have a trunk-or-treat), our Ward's Halloween Party (with trunk-or-treat), and then trick-or-treating in our neighborhood with Daddy and Grandpa. Caden enjoyed all the excitement from mom's arms!


Here is Scott and Nathan carving our pumpkin.


The finished result!




This is what we've been getting lately when we try to take pictures of Nathan. At least it looks like he is flying!

My cute boys before we went to my parents Halloween party. Caden's onsie says, "I want my Mummy!"

This is at our Trunk-or-Treat. Nathan won the cupcake walk.

This is on Halloween. Nathan was waiting, not very patiently, to go trick-or-treating.

Fly Superman! Or as Nathan says, "Super-Maaan"

Watching the other kids trick-or-treat.

And he's off!

Eating a piece of his spoils (lollipop).

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