Bally-Allie

Saturday was Allie's very first dance recital.

She danced to Jingle Bells and did a fabulous job!!

I wasn't sure how she'd do...

maybe she'd be so scared of the crowd, she'd stand in her place in total bewilderment.

Or maybe she'd run off the stage crying...

Or maybe she'd totally rock it.

Well she totally rocked it!

I think her favorite part of dance is getting to play with her BFF Grace-Lynn...

or maybe its the huge mirrors in the dance studio.

Either way... these two are quite the pair. And completely adorable in their tu-tus.

I hope this is the first of many dance recitals we attend!

I'm so proud of my little Bally-Allie!

And a big thank you to her teacher, Miss Amanda for a wonderful year!

Busy Busy Busy...

We have been

Listen to Busy writing from Christmas

busy, busy, busy!!!

Christmastime is such a wonderful time. But there is always so much to do!
I can't say thank you enough to the nice ladies at the post office for putting up with me and my crazy kids... who graffiti-ed their names on some boxes, and for finding my lost keys and saving them for me! The Logandale post office needs two things.. a bigger parking lot and a bigger office.. but not better service! Now the last of my packages have been mailed and we're all still alive. So thank you post office people!!!

Allie had her first dance recital last Saturday (pictures to come), we've made cookies and cupcakes.. (haven't delivered them yet), wrapper presents, read stories, mailed cards and so much more.. so there hasn't been much time for blogging!

Here are some highlights from the last week or so...

More Sandsledding
The kids would go everyday if we could!

Christmas Cookie Decorating
After Allie's dance recital we had all the Hardy's come over and help us decorate sugar cookies. It was lots and lots of messy fun!!
I don't think we could've squeezed one more person at the kitchen table!

12 days of Christmas
For days 4, 5, 6 and 7 Grandpa and Grandma Nelson sent us stickers, sugar cookie stuff, a beautiful ornament with their picture inside and Christmas crafts. The kids have looked forward to opening their presents from them every night!!
We've also enjoyed reading "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" and our "24 days of Christmas" book each night.

34-35 Weeks
Here is my Santa belly!! I hit 34 weeks.. now I'm almost to 35! YAY!
Things are great. At my last check up baby was head down and riding low!
We're getting there slowly, but I'm feeling pretty good. :)

Just Been Havin' Fun
The belly shot photo encouraged lots of other silly Christmas ornament pictures!

Hopefully I can get the rest of our Christmas goodies delivered today... we'll see!
And that Christmas card you haven't gotten yet... its in the mail! Promise!!!

On the third day of Christmas...

Papa Jack and Grandma Gaye gave to us...

A bucket full of peppermint candy!

The last few days, I've started drafting posts about how tired, fat, lazy, moody, mean, fat, grouchy, huge, fat, uncomfortable, miserable, fat and so ready to be done being pregnant that I am. But I always stop and erase them, because posting pictures of my happy Christmas kids is way more fun.


So I'll eat another Christmas cookie, watch Elf again and enjoy the last 8 days til Christmas. Because once its here its gone again pretty fast!


I am however still eying the baby countdown fairly closely.. less than 40 days now!! YAY!

On the first (and second) day of Christmas...

Grandpa and Grandma Nelson gave to me.. er the whole family..

A tin full of shortbread cookies and

some ornaments for our Christmas tree!
Thank you, thank you Jack and Gaye for the box full of Christmas goodies.
The kids loved opening the first two and can't wait to open the next ones!!

Operation: Sunday Snack

Sunday afternoon, we decided that we needed a little snack.
And what better snack to make in December than...
Christmas COOKIES?!

I haven't gotten all my Christmas baking essentials bought yet... so we used the neon food coloring and colorful sprinkles that I had on hand.
Not your traditional Christmas colors, but they tasted just as good!

Mark ate more than he decorated. But he's cute so it was all good. :)

Operation: Sunday snack = Success!

More holiday baking to come, I'm sure!

Meeting Baby Ty!

On Saturday we went to Cedar to visit my little sister, Ashley and baby Ty!
Ashley went to the hospital to be induced on Tuesday night, November 30th and finally had Ty the morning of Thursday December 2nd.
She is a rock star. I think I would've given up after the first 24 hours!

Ty is the cutest little baby!
I loved holding him and can't wait til our new baby boy is here!!!!

Christmas Cards

Time to send out Christmas cards!
Now... which one should I print?

Life at 31 weeks

Oh me, oh my.. thirty one weeks down. Can you believe I only have about eight weeks left (if my doc still plans on inducing me early)! I was clicking through the "you might also like..." posts the other day and ran across this one where I mentioned I was ten weeks along and had only 30 weeks to go. Talk about a flip flop. Wasn't I just 10 weeks the other day? This year is sure flying by. November was an awesome month full of long weekends and holidays. Now that December is practically here and I've entered the last trimester, I'm fully enjoying maternity clothes that don't fit, Braxton Hicks, every two week doctor appointments, sleepless nights, restless leg syndrome, can't-get-comfortable-no-matter-what syndrome, baby hick ups and lots of movement and growing. I've put on some serious weight and I think we're going to welcome another 10lb baby in January!

Here are some things we've been up to in the last week:
Went to the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1 premiere

How flippin' awesome was this movie???!
I think its been the best book adaption so far. I loooooooved the 7 Harry's scene. I laughed so hard! "Bill don't look at me, I'm hideous." LOL!
I also loved the Ministry of Magic scene. I think they did a great job staying true to the book. Ron was killing me as Reg, the Ministry worker.
Speaking of Ron (my love), did anyone else cry when left?! Oh.. maybe its just my hormones...
Then the final scene when Voldemort stole Dumbeldore's wand! Wowzazs. Perfect way to transition to the next movie. Per.fec.tion.
If I could sit in the movie theater for another 2 and half hours without dying I'd see it again!!!

Celebrated Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving at the Dalley's. Kristi made some yummy turkey, Corey did a great job mashing the potatoes (safety goggles and all), Grandma's salads and Aunt Susan's pies were to die for! I ate way too much and gain 5lbs... seriously though, just ask my doctor.

Went canoeing

After we ate, most everybody headed to the river to participate in the annual canoe run. It was over all quite a success. Nobody flipped their canoe.. the only wet moments were when Mark got his boots wet and Corey and Caleb bobbed under the water during launch. Estefan and Will even got to paddle their own canoe.. they are quite the grown up's if you did know!

Got a Christmas tree.. or two.. or four!
On Black Friday, we skipped the stores and headed for the hills. We went to Cedar Mountain to get our Christmas tree!!

If you follow the photos you'll see Dustin's hike from getting the "perfect" tree. The snow was up to his waist but he trucked through it to chop down the beauty, while the rest of us sat in the truck with the heater on!

Dust and the tree! He made it through the snow alive. Look how deep it was!!!!

Trimmed the trees

The kids love to decorate the tree, so after Dustin and I got the lights on it was all them! They did a great job. I think its our best tree yet!

Ta-DA! What do you think? Preettty awesome, huh!
And Estefan, Mark and Allie are pretty cute too!!

We may have gotten a little carried away and got little trees for each of the kids' rooms too, but we couldn't help it!!

Watched Christmas movies by the fire
The night we got our tree up and decorated, Dustin made a fire and pulled the kids' mattress into the living room. It was so fun! We ate popcorn, drank hot chocolate and watched Christmas movies til we fell asleep.. which was only about 8:30PM. I think playing in the snow wore the kids right out!!


Hung lights on the house
Saturday morning Dustin and the kids went to work putting lights on the house. We put icicle lights up this year. Love them! Now our house looks like a big ol' gingerbread house! Dustin insisted on putting lights on the chimney. I had to close my eyes and pretend I was okay with it. But he got them up and didn't get hurt!!! Thank goodness, but we won't be doing that again.

So life is good. 31 weeks down... Still can't believe it.
Bring on December. 25 days til Christmas, 59 days til Baby Boy comes!!!

Primary Spotlight

Every Sunday, in Primary a child gets to be the spotlight. One of the members of the Primary presidency reads a poem aloud, about the child of the day and everyone has to guess who they are. Yesterday, one of my children was spotlighted. Maybe you can guess who, here is the poem.

I came down to Las Vegas, Nevada from Heaven above,

My home has 8 people and one animal to love.

I like to ride four-wheelers with my family,

If you see someone with brown eyes and brown hair it could be me.

I like to learn about life skills when I go to school.

When I grow up I want to be a photographer/hiker/archeologist/geologist/artist. 

I think that would be cool!

In my spare time I think building things is fun,

and I like to eat steak with A1 when the day is done.

I like any color except pink when I'm making art.

When I read the scriptures Ammon chopping off arms is my favorite part.

On Sunday CTR 7 is the class I go to.

Singing Book of Mormon Stories is one of my favorite things to do.

On July 20th you can sing Happy Birthday to me.

Does anyone know who I could be?

I'm Estefan Nelson!!!

Angel Kisses

A few days ago Allie was in the bathroom brushing her teeth. All the sudden she started yelling and calling my name and ran into the living room where I was sitting.

I said, "Allie, what is wrong?"
and she answered, "Mom! There are dots all over my nose."





I giggled a little and told her to come look at my nose. I showed her that I had the dots too and that they're called freckles. I told her they are little angel kisses.

She thought about that for a minute and then said, "Did the angels kiss me because I'm so cute?"
"Yes, Allie they did."

Aloha Chase and Melissa!!!

Dustin and I got super lucky, our best friends married each other. Chase and Melissa are the coolest couple ever. I think Chase is secretly Will Farrell's little brother by the way.

But alas, the time has come to say good-bye, Chase's job has called him to the islands of Hawaii!!! Yes, our besties are moving to Hawaii. So sad.. I guess we'll just have to go and visit. Darn...


Call me sentimental.. or just mental, but I made them pose for some pictures. Dustin and Chase and a camera are not always a good mix but we got some good one's.. I think. Then we drank a Cream Soda to their future and said good-bye. We're starting to save our money now so we can come visit when you have your super human child. We'll miss you guys so much!! Love ya!!!

Little Lumberjacks

Dustin was cutting firewood the other day and the kids thought they needed to help him.

My Big Workin Men!

Mark has a wicked swing! Hi-YA!!!

Dustin cut Allie a little seat with the chainsaw. But don't let her innocent face fool you...

She a little crazy with the hatchet! Watch out!!!

 

Now we have lots of firewood ready for the winter and Allie and Mark have a greater appreciation for sharp objects. Not to worry, no one was greatly injured in the making of this blog post. ;)