Daviana Jones

I love Frosted Flakes cereal and lately there have been Indiana Jones light up spoons inside each box. Estefan and Allie love to use them! When we got the first one Estefan said "Cool a Daviana Jones spoon!" I said "No, his name is Indiana Jones" .. but he insisted, so I let it go. Then we got another one in the next box of cereal and Estefan said it again, "...Daviana Jones." Now Indiana Jones is on the Wheat Thins box and there are toys everywhere at every store we go to. Estefan keeps saying Daviana Jones! Why didn't he say Indiana? Well today I figured it out! One of his favorite movies is Pirates of the Caribbean so...

Davey Jones +

Indiana Jones = Daviana Jones!

I thought I had finally cracked the code of what Estefan kept saying, but when I told Dustin he said "Well DUH!" Maybe its their father - son bond, maybe I'm just slow. But either way I thought it was so cute I had to share! And I think that Daviana is a cute name for a girl!

We love Daviana Jones (both of them!)

Whitney Reunion

We made it back from the Whitney Family reunion a little bit ago. Dustin, Allie and Estefan are past out on the couch, tired from playing all weekend. So me and Mark thought we'd post a few pictures.

Aunt Donna had lots of fun games for the kids to play. One game was a "Fish Pond" for the kids to fish for toys. Allie got a ring! We also played Grandkid Bingo. The Bingo cards had pictures of all the great-grandkids. They all liked to see their own pictures and it was fun to get to know eachother better. Then they played bells and sang songs. The Whitney's are very musical!

Estefan, Caleb and Will were too cool for the games so they played down in the creek near our campsite. When I went to check on them this is what I found! The little engineers had buit a wall. It was so cool. They stacked tons of rocks on top of each other to make what I called "The Great Wall of Cedar Mt." Their plan was to dam off the water to make a swimming pool below a little waterfall. They got it damed up enough but the water was really cold, so they just looked at their pool! The boys were in the creek all weekend. Estefan loves to get wet and play with Will and Caleb so he was in 7th Heaven!

I tried to get a long picture of the wall because it went up both sides of the creek bank. This picture doesn't do it justice but Estefan looks so cute!

And this is what Mark did all weekend. Aunt Judy loved holding him and as you can see he loved to be held. He was a good boy and loved being outside. It got pretty cold at night in the tent but he was a trooper. I had him wrapped up in three blankets and put him in his car seat to sleep. It worked pretty well but the next night we slept in the trailer with Jack and Gaye.

This is a picture of my twins! What you didn't know I had twins?! Just kidding - its Tacen and Mark. Tracen's mom is Dustin's cousin, SherriDawn.
Everyone kept mistaking the boys for eachother, even SherriDawn's dad was confused. So everyone started calling them "The Twins." They both have dark hair and steel blue eyes and they're both adorable. I guess they're Whitney babies!

It was so nice to get out of the heat for a few days and fun to see all the Whitney relatives. Thanks to all the Aunts and Uncles and Jack and Gaye for making food and planning such a fun trip. We can't wait til next year!

Hooray!

This might sound gross to some of you, so I'm sorry in advance - but its mommy talk..

Mark has been constipated for about three days and he hasn't been my happy little baby.

He's been super gassy and figity (who wouldn't be?) But today he finally pooped!

I'm so excited - he's good now.

No more tummy ache, or at least some pressure relief.

Hooray for POOP!

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Any suggestions from nursing mom's on

what foods give babies gas or

what to do for constipated babies?

Vacuum Cleaner or Lullaby?

Its kind of hard to get the house clean when you have a couple kids running around. First of all because there's usually toys everywhere and secondly because someone is always in need of something. But today I decided I have to vacuum! Its been on my list of things to do for about a week (ok maybe two). I got my room and the hallway done no problem. Then Mark starts to cry. I tried to get him to sleep with no luck.. so I put him in his bouncer crying and try to hurry and get the living room done. When I look back to check on him, he's sleeping! The vacuum cleaner had lulled him to sleep!! Allie hated the vacuum and still does. But to little Mark its a sweet loud lullaby! Silly boy. Now to get Allie and Estefan's toys picked up so I can vacuum their rooms. Hmmm, maybe I'll vacuum up the toys instead! Just kidding.

Anyway we're headed to Cedar City to go camping for the Whitney reunion this weekend. Hope ya'll have a great weekend. Check back later from some fun camping pictures.

Soup, Salsa and Sauce

The title of this blog post is soup, salsa and sauce because that's what my life has consisted of the past week or so. My blogging has been dismal because its bottling season! Every morning before it gets too hot I go out to the garden and pick about this many tomatos. The onions, carrots and watermelons are all picked now. But there are still plenty of tomatoes and some peppers still coming on. Then after I'm done picking I head over to my mother in law, Gaye's house to do the daily bottling. So far we have 18 bottles of salsa, two of which are quart size, 31 bottles of tomato soup, 4 are quart size and 10 freezer bags full of spaghetti sauce. Today were making tomato puree and tomorrow we're going to make Enchilada sauce!!

Dustin with the last of the watermelons. They taste soooooo good on hot days. Which we have had plenty of. Today its supposed to hit 107 (but that's normal, and should get hotter)!

Swim anyone? This is were I unload the vegi's to wash them before we take 'em into the house. I think we should do like in the old days when people used to crush grapes with their feet to make wine.. but I'll settle for Gaye's help and just bottle them like normal people!


Green thumb? Heck, I've got ten green fingers! This is what your hands look like if you don't wear gardening gloves. My finger nails still have dirt under them. Dustin's hands are even greener. He's really the man in charge out in the garden. He's done so much hard work and I'm so proud of what he's done out in our garden. Now that its so hot when he gets home I've offered to pick in the mornings when its not too bad yet. So I've just got a little taste of what he's been doing all the time. Its literally back breaking work!! But after everythings finally bottled up and stored in our pantry I'll be so grateful to have it there! Then I'll get a little break til about October - Novemberish when the fall garden is ready to be harvested.

Allie's First Movie

Last night I took Allie to the"sticky shoes" theater in Overton to see Kung Fu Panda. We went with Jessica and Grace on a double date. Grace did so good. It was her first movie too. But Allie wouldn't sit still, she had to go out to use the bathroom and she kept trying to sit in the sticky shoes aisle. Finally I got her to sit on my lap. Then I noticed her head kept bobbing. So I turned her around and she was ASLEEP! So we didn't make it through her first movie.. Oh well. I guess she does have some of her mother in her. We're not night owls! But I really enjoyed the movie. I love Jack Black, he's perfect as a panda. Its a total underdog story. He gets chosen to be the Dragon Warrior to defeat the bad guy, Tai Lung. And he has to learn to believe in himself and become a Kung Fu master. I would recommend it - but not for sleepy two year olds!

Long Weekend

Returning home from a long trip is a very interesting experience. Dustin unloads the car and all our bags and everything that having three kids entails into our bedroom --toys, diapers, toys, cups, toys, dirty diapers, toys, you get the idea. Then the sorting begins - dirty clothes, clean clothes, Estefans stuff, Allie stuff and Mark's stuff... everywhere. Food, dishes you name it we had it in our car! My house was soooo messy. So all of Tuesday was spent cleaning what the previous four days had accumulated. Now finally after all the many many loads of laundry are done I sit back and look at the pictures we've taken and remember how much fun we had. I love the retelling of all the stories and the feeling of being there again. So sit back, relax and go through the next couple posts and enjoy our trip to Cannonville and the sights we saw there and back again...

Workin and Playin

We went to Cannonville last weekend to help Jack re-roof the cabin. Well I didn't help but Dustin and many others did. Here's Dustin and Kylee Bradshaw working hard. Before they redid it the cabin had shake shingles, which were so old Jack thought they were a fire hazard. Not to mention it leaked when it rained. So after talking about doing it for ten years or so its finally done!

Dustin and Kylee working hard

Dustin also helped Unlce Mark with the hay. He cut and bailed for almost two days straight. We even stayed a little longer Monday to get it all done! But Dustin enjoys working on the tractor and Uncle Mark was happy for the help. Plus the view from Mark's fields is amazing, the red rocks are beautiful so the job has its perks!

We always go to Bryce when we visit Cannonville. It's one of my favorite places! Here were all are at Fairyland Point. Its amazing. If you haven't been to Bryce Canyon go now! What are you waiting for?? I absolutely fell in love the first time I saw it. The hoodoos are so crazy. Estefan said, "Hey look six people all stood there and turned to sand!" What a perfect explaination of what it looks like. Really they look like millions of people frozen in the sand. It's breathe taking!!!

One of my favorite views in Cannonville! You can see some of the hoodoos at the bottom of the picture.

And of course we had to update our Nelson Boys picture now that Mark is here! Little Mark and Big Mark, Dustin, Jack, Estefan and Grandpa Bill. Four generations of Nelson's in front of Great-Grandpa June's (Bill's dad) old store building. The red thing they're standing in front of is an old gas pump. There's a sign hanging from it that says "Too pooped to pump." Its very old and had lots of significance to our family. Dustin and really all the men in his family are very sentimental. Jack's always taking pictures. We love and cherish all the memories a picture can give. I'm sure when they're older Estefan and Mark will love this picture and look back on it and memories from Cannonville and remember so many good times. Who knows maybe someday they'll be living there running the farm. The Nelson farm has been through five generations and I'm sure that someday Dustin will be doing more work on it. If he had his way we'd be living in the cabin he's been designing for years, out on the back forty, living off the land and being happy as can be!!

Mossy Cave

Saturday we hiked to Mossy Cave.

This is Will, Caleb and Estefan. They ran the entire way up and back. I wish I had their energy!
On the trail to Mossy Cave. Next to the cave is a waterfall and it drains to this little stream.
I caught Estefan and made him sit down by Allie for a picture.
This is him as soon as I was done with the picture. I love that his tongue is hanging out! What a stud! I told you he ran the whole way!!! And he "fell in" the water and got all muddy. I still haven't wahed out his pants yet. They would ruin my washer. I'm gonna have to hand wash them outside in the hose. Estefan get as muddy as possible whenever possible!

When we got about three quarters of the way there Allie gave up. You can tell by her face she's so excited to be hiking. She didn't have a nap the whole time we where gone. So she's pretty beat. I kept trying to tell her we're almost there! Let's keep going. But she sat down and said I'm DONE! I had Mark in the Snugglie front carrier so there was no way I could carry both kids so we sat at the bottom near the bridge crossing and waited til everyone got back. Allie can be stubborn sometimes (I wonder where she gets it?) But it was nice to sit and just admire the beautiful scenery so I won't complain too much!

Grafton

On the way up to Cannonville last weekend we decided to stop in the little town of Grafton. Grafton is an old ghost town where LDS settlers once lived. Its right outside of Zion and a very neat place to visit

This house is where they filmed "Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid." We love that movie so we were excited to see it. Back in the day some hippies lived in it and wrote stories and poems all over the walls. The park service is fixing it up and you can't go inside anymore. It looks really good but it would've been cool to go inside and read all the stories!

I love this picture. Dustin has been playing with our cameras settings and is becoming quite a photographer! That's Estefan in the corner.

Old farm life... There were cows grazing all over the fields and some came near the car. Estefan thought it was the coolest thing ever. Hey, cows are pretty cool!

The view of the mountains is beautiful. I could've stayed in Grafton forever!

Estefan and Allie standing outside the church/school house. You can't go inside it either, but there are little steps up the side where you can peak in the windows. The kids loved looking in and playing on the steps. It was so fun to stop here and stretch our legs for a bit. Then we headed up the mountain to Zion. It was dark by this time so I couldn't really see anything but driving through the mile long tunnel was fun. All the park rangers were gone so we got in for FREE! Also there weren't any other cars on the road so we stopped and looked out of all the windows cut through the sides of the tunnel. It was a good trip up, the kids slept pretty much the whole way after that and Dustin and I got to just talk. Car rides are good for that reason you are forced to talk or be bored. We have some of our best conversation just cruisin!

Smelling Memories and More

Bath and Body Works is having their Semi-Annual Sale! YAY! Tha means $5 Wallflowers!
I love the smell of Sweet Pea Wallflowers! Dustin and I got two Sweet Pea starter kits when we got married. We lived in this little duplex in Reno and I plugged both of them in. One when you first walk through the back door and one in our bedroom. Well as you can imagine, one Wallflower would've been fine in our little house. But I plugged them both in! So Sweet Pea filled the air almost overwhelmingly - but I love it. The smell is so refreshing. Now I'm addicted. The slightest scent of Sweet Pea and I'm living as a newly wed back in Reno. I always thought people who said smells bring back memories where a little crazy but now I'm one of them. I just bought two refills for $5 each. Big savings! I can't wait til they come in the mail. I'm going to plug one by the front door and one by the back door and hopefully the smell will go through out our house. Our house now is quite a bit larger than the one we lived in, in Reno. Did I mention I can't wait to get them. I've been checking the mail every other day but nothing yet. We leave for Cannonville tonight so hopefully when I get back they'll be waiting in the mail!!!

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Yesterday I took all the kids to Mesquite to the Rec Center with Jess, Grace and her cousin Jayden. It was sooooo much fun. But we forgot our cameras!!! So no pictures. We swam in the indoor pool for a while and then got to play in the outside pool. The outdoor pool is way more fun. They have a jungle gym in the water with spinklers and water shooting all over. Estefan and Allie loved it. Allie was bawling when we left and Estefan was bummed too. But we had to get back so he could go to school. We all want to go back as soon as possible.

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Mark got three shots today.. no fun. But he was so tuff! He barely cried on the first one but by the time he got the last one he was wailing! He cried so much he pooped! But he doesn't have a fever and he's sleeping so I guess he's over it.

Well we're off to Cannonville for a long weekend! Be sure to check back Tuesday for fun pictues!

What a Blessing!

Today Mark is TWO MONTHS OLD!!! And yesterday he was blessed! Dustin blessed him at our ward bright and early Sunday morning. Nine o'clock church is wonderful (sarcasm). Anyway we set our alarms for like 6:30 so we for sure wouldn't be late. Luckily for me I was already awake feeding Mark. So we weren't late! It was nice to go in and not have to worry about finding a place to sit! Dustin did a great job with the blessing. He's such a great daddy! And even though he doesn't think so sometimes he's very spiritual.. there wasn't a dry eye in the church. Or maybe I was teared up so much I had blurry vision. Anyway it was wonderful!!!

Mark William Nelson

Mom, Dad and Mark. I wanted a family picture but we couldn't find Allie or Estefan and Dustin gets restless if he has to pose for too long. The kids love it when their cousin come to play so it was alright, they were having so much fun!

Love his little suit.. I'm sure most of you would agree trying to take baby's pictures is so hard. I built up a little backdrop with a blanket my Grandma made and propped Mark up with the Boppie, a pillow, a blanket, a candle stick and he's sitting on a table. The things mommy paparazzi will do (hehehe)!

And to our surprise Uncle Mark showed up for the blessing! He drove down from Cannonville that morning and left right after church, just to be with us. He's so great. I hope he made it to work ok this morning! Gotta love family.

After church we all came back and had lunch at our house. It was a nice and relaxed day. Thanks for all who helped and brought food. We sure have the best family and friends. Love you guys!!!!

Pickin' Time

Most of the afternoons all this week we've spent in the garden. Our plants are full of fresh ripe vegetables!

How many pepper's did Peter Piper pick? I don't know but Dustin picked over 40!

And lots and lots of onions! We've pick about a third of them...

The second row, the one in the middle of this picture is the onions we have left to pick still.

Even more onions!

I told Dustin we should set up a little vegi stand in the front yard and have our own little version of a farmer's market! But instead we dried a lot of the onions and put them in the freezer as part of our food storage. We'll do the same thing with the peppers and carrots. Then with the tomatoes and left over peppers and onions I'll start bottling salsa and spagetti sauce, for more food storage. Also I plan to make fresh baby food from the carrots. I hope Mark really likes carrots! Now I just have to order a couple buckets of noodles and we could live on spagetti for a long long time. Little by little we're getting our year's supply built up :) But really we have plenty so if you're driving down main street through Logandale stop and we'll hook you up with lots of good stuff!

Paparazzi

***Allie Jean Nelson - My Little DIVA!***

"NO pictures, please!"

I couldn't resist putting these pictures up. The other day we were getting ready to go swimming at my sister in law, Jill's. It was a really sunny day so I told Allie to go get her hat and sunglasses and then I went to get the boys ready. She came out of her room walking and looking like "Little Miss Thang." I grabbed my camera and started chasing her around the house like paparazzi trying to get the money shot. The whole time she's yelling back at me "NO pictures!" I guess I really am my kids' personal paparazzi cuz I'm alway after that money shot too!

I'm Blue!

Last night was Enrichment night. I love enrichment! We had a fun activity- we all took personality tests. The colors you could be were Blue, Gold, Green and Orange. Most of the women there were gold/blue or blue/gold. There were a few greens and no oranges! I was a combination of blue/gold.

Blue Personality

Overall mood - enthusiasm

Strength - authenticity

Pride myself in - Being sincere and sympathetic

Symbolized by - the dove of peace

Dream of - love and clossness

Supports - growth in others

Virture - loyalty

Stressed by - feeling artificial

Strives for - love

At work - harmonizing

Esteemed by - helping people

Wants to be appreciated for - uniquness and contribution

Intrinsic intelligence - with people

When distrubed - hysterical

Searchig for - roles

Dislikes - hypocrisy

Thinks - dogmatically

In managment - the catalyst

Loves - integrity, honesty

Guilted by - letting someone down

Irritated by - being treated impersonally

Mood in relationships - meaningful

Rewarded by - accepting who they are

Nurtures - vision of a bett world.

So thats me- Blue.

Gold people are responsible, very organized and like lists, bins, and being in charge. They don't like it when people are late or messy. Their motto is"Be Prepared." I think mom's have to have a little gold in them. My mom is gold!

Dustin is green! Which is crazy because he's my opposite. Most the women at enrichment thougth their husbands were green or orange. Opposites attract!

Green people are nature lovers and love to learn. They are calm and cool, aloof. They are problem solvers, smart, fair and hard working. They like to work alone and don't express their feelings well.

Blue people love to be with family and friends and don't like to argue. They want everyone to get along. They like to talk and listen. They're romantic, loving and sweet. (See above list)

Orange people learn by doing. They are very active and free. They get bored easy and are restless. They like sports and competition and strive to be the center of attention. They are loud, physical and seek thrills.

This activity was given so we could better understand ourselves and others. By seeing what color others are, we can better understand them. I showed my list to Dustin and made him look at his list too. He wasn't to excited. But seeing what his needs are and what my needs are I think really helps! I need to talk and he needs to think first. I need love notes and dates - he likes to be alone sometimes. So compromising and being aware of each other! Who would've thought.

Now what color are you and your husband (kids, family, etc)?